22 New year, new PC
A round-up of the best of British desktop PCS available now
A desktop computer is a collection of components that are yours to choose. That can make deciding what to buy a bit daunting, but there are really just a few key parts to think about.
Your PC’S central processor ( CPU) will be either an Intel Core or AMD Ryzen. Core i3 is good enough for general Windows use, i5 will cope better with multitasking and jobs like photo editing, while an i7 is preferable for the likes of 4K video editing. AMD’S new Ryzen 3 and 5 chips also start out adequate and progress to advanced. They generally run a little slower but have more cores, so when pushed harder they can do more work per second. Intel’s very latest eighth-generation chips also get more cores. Three of the PCS tested here have Ryzen processors; one has a seventhgeneration Core i5; and one has a brand new eighth-generation i3, which has four cores rather than the previous two.
If you ever play 3D games, or do creative jobs like video effects that can benefit from a dedicated graphics processor ( GPU), you’ll also want a graphics card. All the systems here have them, but note that these manufacturers offer endless configurations, so if you want to spend your money on a faster CPU instead, it’s still worth checking their websites or giving them a call (we’ve provided phone numbers). In our experience they all provide excellent customer service, offering jargon-free advice. Nvidia’s current 1050 and 1060 cards are incredibly powerful for the money, with AMD’S Radeon RX options offering decent rivals.
You’ll need at least 8GB of memory ( RAM); 16GB is preferable for more ambitious users, but modules are straightforward to add later, at around £85 for 8GB. For storage, consider a 1TB or 2TB hard drive, which is usually accompanied by a 120GB or 240GB SSD, on which Windows 10 comes installed. Other factors to consider are room for internal expansion (drive bays and SATA connections for more hard drives, M.2 for fast SSDS, PCI slots for Wi-fi or a TV tuner) and ports for external accessories (including USB 3.1 or Type-c for fast storage). Depending on where you’ll put your PC and how you use it, you might also want to know how loudly its fans run.
All these UK companies provide excellent, jargonfree customer service
This is an all-amd combination of a stock ock Ryze Ryzen 5 1600 processor and Radeon RX 570 grap graphics card, giving general performance nce scor scores near the top of the group and 3D D gami gaming results between those of the GTX 1050 Ti and GTX 1060 systems. Oddly, ther there’s a tiny micro-atx motherboard inside the nearly empty case (maybe it’s the echoes that make the fans sound so loud). A basic 802.11n Wi-fi card is included, but there are no more PCI slots free, and any memory upgrades would need to be on a low-profile module to fit behind the CPU fan. Still, you get a generous 2GB hard drive as well as an SSD, which is more than adequate, and there’s another 3.5in bay.