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I'm looking to upgrade my system from the laptop I'm currently working on to a high-powered PC. I'll be using it for

  • a lot of programming, though not that much compiling
  • some gaming (I imagine the amount of gaming I do will increase when I have a PC that can actually handle games)
  • occasional video & audio editing
  • small amounts of graphics work

To that end, I'm looking for a pre-built system (much as I'd like to build my own, I'm far too likely to mess up) with minimum specifications of:

  • CPU: 3.0 GHz or more - don't mind who makes it
  • GPU: 4 GB VRAM or more
  • Disk: 1 TB or more; don't mind whether it's an SSD or HDD
  • RAM: 8 GB or more DDR3 or later
  • WiFi card built in

I'd prefer this to cost me £500 or less (~$650 at time of writing), but I can stretch that to £600 ($780) if necessary.

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  • I like to use this as a general guide. I kind of pick and choose depending on my budget and what I already have. Its a pretty decent resource. logicalincrements.com/#
    – user1691
    Commented Aug 2, 2016 at 16:11
  • @SiXandSeven8ths That's useful, thanks - I assume they don't do pre-builds, but if I do end up self-building, that'd be a good place to start.
    – ArtOfCode
    Commented Aug 2, 2016 at 18:10
  • No, but you could use the parts recommendations to compare to pre-builts and get a gist of what would work for you.
    – user1691
    Commented Aug 2, 2016 at 18:14
  • Alas, if you were here in the states, I'd build and ship one for you. I'm not well-versed in what is on the market over the pond, but if it's anything like what's available in stores here, you're in for a bad time. I will say that some of the most competitive machines I've seen offered anywhere are the ones being marketed as Steam Machines; these tend to have better specs than the generic "gaming" rigs that I've seen bandied about, and they usually come with Windows instead of SteamOS despite their name (which is a shame from my point of view, but oh well).
    – Adam Wykes
    Commented Aug 2, 2016 at 19:34
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    I'd recommend building your own pc, it's not actually that hard. Building your own pc is often much more inexpensive than buying a prebuilt one
    – 0-60FPS
    Commented Aug 2, 2016 at 23:45

2 Answers 2

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I've been searching, from what I can find, it's nearly impossible to get a pre-built computer for under $800 with a video card with 4GB of VRAM. All of the other specifications are easy to achieve for less.

If it consoles you, the difference between 2GB and 4GB of VRAM in low end cards is negligible to nonexistent. Therefore, the pre-built computer I recommend to you contains a 2GB GT 730.

Dell Inspiron 3650 - US - UK

  • Price: $619.99 USA, £439 UK
  • CPU: i5-6400, 2.7Ghz base, 3.3Ghz turbo.
  • GPU: GT 730, 2GB VRAM
  • Disk: Generic 1TB 7200RPM HDD
  • RAM: Generic 1x8GB DDR3L-1600Mhz
  • WiFi: 802.11 b/g/n

enter image description here
Dell Inspiron 3650

Some Stuff

If you were thinking - "oh the high end graphics cards have 4GB of VRAM, so 4GB of VRAM automatically classifies a GPU as good," you were completely and totally wrong. In fact, if you were to custom build a computer, a 2GB GTX 960 would be vastly superior to a 4GB GT 730, and the performance difference between the 4GB GT 730 and the 2GB GT 730 would be practically nonexistent.

In case you still doubt this, here is a link to a 3DMark Firestrike benchmark comparison

Both graphics cards have 2GB VRAM.

Furthermore, clock speed also doesn't dictate performance. Intel has a vastly superior IPC (Instructions per cycle) than AMD, and therefore can provide incredibly higher levels of performance with a 2.7Ghz clock speed than AMD can with 3Ghz or even 4Ghz.

Cinebench scores:

2.7Ghz i5-6400, quad core: 521
3.5Ghz FX-6300, hexa core: 412

You can see how clock speed, and even amount of cores bow down before IPC in the benchmark above.

Therefore, I think that this will have plenty of power, and I have proved that even if there were a way to make the GPU have more VRAM and the CPU more clock speed, it would not matter.

Hopefully you take these benchmarks and tips into consideration when purchasing.

If this does not suit your needs, please notify me. If there is a particular reason you need exactly 3Ghz clock speed or 4GB VRAM, also please notify me.

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  • This GT 730 is a dog of a gaming GPU, unfortunately. This is the kind of crap I was talking about when I said that most prebuilts have stupid, stupid configurations.
    – Adam Wykes
    Commented Aug 3, 2016 at 1:40
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    @AdamWykes And I completely agree with you. I would never, ever put this trash in my computer. However, I feel this was slightly more proof-of-4GB doesn't mean anything than anything else. It's nearly impossible to get a prebuilt, perfectly good gaming rig for under $1k.. :(
    – Rubydesic
    Commented Aug 3, 2016 at 1:44
  • Like I was saying, for some reason the "Steam Machine" configurations seem to have better specs on offer for better prices. Check this one out (available in the UK, no less): amazon.co.uk/Syber-Console-Wireless-Keyboard-Touchpad/dp/… Here is the complete spec for it: sybergaming.com/products/v-series-core.aspx#more-spec
    – Adam Wykes
    Commented Aug 3, 2016 at 1:48
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    @AdamWykes That is indeed impressive, however, the RAM is only a pathetic 4GB according to the amazon page. I find that having less than six gigabytes can make your life rather difficult.
    – Rubydesic
    Commented Aug 3, 2016 at 13:46
  • I totally agree, which is why I'm not offering an answer on this page. I tend to believe 4gb of RAM is less debilitating than a low-end GPU, but that's a matter of user preference really (I've found most people do not run their PCs as spartan as I tend to). Infuriatingly, if you look at the Syber spec page, they list a different GPU and a different RAM configuration, so who knows what you'd really get?
    – Adam Wykes
    Commented Aug 3, 2016 at 13:47
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First of all, I have to say, on this topic, I definitely agree with Adam Wykes who had made a comment earlier that parts in prebuilt computers are not always chosen in the best configuration and that building a computer yourself would get you a better price to performance ratio, to say nothing of you getting the advantage of choosing what parts you would like to save on and which ones you would like to pick a really high-end one of. Besides it might be intimidating at first but it is honestly not that hard to build a PC...

However, I am guessing you heard this enough and your question was very straight forward, you asked for a prebuilt desktop.

Now, I also don't think (solely based on what you said you were going to use the PC for) that you need 4 GB of VRAM but if you do for some specific reason here you go:

http://m.newegg.com/Product/index?itemnumber=N82E16883227670

Though, I realize the included mouse and keyboard combo makes the device look really cheap, keep in mind that iBUYPOWER PC is a really reputable brand, and even if it was not the parts are only put together by them not made by them.

Now, if you getting 4 GB of VRAM wasn't a necessity for you you could get a computer that still offers a great performance but does not push the limits of tour budget as much like this:

http://m.newegg.com/Product/index?itemnumber=N82E16883102038

This is one of those rare prebuilt desktops that are actually worth their price and also offer a good configuration of components.

Also, I was surprised that nobody else in the comment section found anything like these, so I would like to apologize in advance if I missed any of your criteria that the above linked computers might not meet. I do not know how international shipping can be arranged with newegg, but I'm sure it can be solved somehow.

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