Get a high-end desktop gaming PC for £999 in this Black Friday special • Eurogamer.net
Building a desktop gaming PC is good fun, but with extremely high graphics card prices it’s got a lot harder recently. Thankfully, prebuilt PCs are a great alternative, offering a complete system at a much more reasonable price. The best Black Friday deal we’ve found so far is on a £999 build by PC makers Stormforce, which includes an RTX 3060 Ti graphics card, Core i5 10400F CPU and strong Asus components throughout for £100 less than the usual price.
Here’s why we think this PC is worth the money, component by component, and what sort of performance you should expect.
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The Stormforce PC is powered by the Intel Core i5-10400F. This CPU has been one of our favourites for budget gaming systems for its incredible combination of cost and performance. Even though it has been superseded by newer models, it remains a top pick for most budget builders today.
The 10400F is combined with the Asus Prime B460M-A motherboard with 2x8GB sticks of Crucial DDR4 2666 CL19 memory and a 1TB WD Blue SN550 M.2 NVMe SSD. These components are perfectly adequate for budget to mid-range gaming systems and you always have the option of upgrading them down the line.
For graphics, we have the Asus Dual RTX 3060 Ti, a powerful graphics card that can handle high refresh rate 1440p gaming or 4K 60fps in even AAA titles. Thanks to its 2nd generation ray-tracing cores and 3rd generation Tensor cores, the RTX 3060 Ti also has stellar ray tracing performance and DLSS to boost frame-rates even higher. The dual fan design of the Asus card should also ensure it runs cool and quiet.
The PC is packaged inside the Cooler Master MasterBox MB320L mini tower case. The compact design takes considerably less space than a full-size tower while also providing adequate space and ventilation. The case also comes with dual 120mm red LED intake fans on the front and a single 120mm exhaust fan at the back with space for optional front or top mounted radiator support.
Rounding off the component list is a 650W power supply, which is more than enough for this hardware configuration and can also handle a few upgrades down the line. And finally, the PC also comes pre-installed with Windows 11 Home Plus, although you can obviously replace it with any OS you want.
All things considered, we calculated that this PC would cost £508 if you bought all of the components yourself except for the graphics card, while RTX 3060 Ti models are going for upwards of £700 on Ebay. Put the two together, and you have around £1200 – so getting this PC for £999, including assembly and service, is a pretty good deal!
As this is a regular desktop PC, you have complete freedom when it comes to upgrading it down the line. You could, for example, look into upgrading the stock Intel CPU cooler and replacing it with something more substantial so you could unlock the power limit on the 10400F, or upgrade to a new Z690 motherboard and 12th-gen CPU while keeping your other components in place. You could also replace the memory and storage with larger or faster options.
Also worth mentioning is one of the most underrated aspects of a pre-built system, which is warranty on the complete package. Stormforce offers a 3-year Collect and Return warranty, where they will pick up the computer, repair it, and return it at no extra cost as long as it is within the warranty period, regardless of which component is at fault. This isn’t the luxury you have when you build your own PC.
Stormforce PCs are also built to high standards and assembled by professionals with strict quality control procedures. They feature cable management so your PC looks neat and tidy out of the box and they ship with protective cushions inside the case to protect sensitive components such as the graphics card.
For the price, we think this is a great deal for someone who just wants to get into PC gaming with minimal fuss. If that sounds like you or someone you know then check out the link above. Also, check out our Black Friday PC deals guide for your keyboard, mouse, and monitor to pair with your new PC. And don’t forget to follow us @dealsfoundry for more such deals this Black Friday.
https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-stormforce-asus-10400f-3060ti-pre-built-black-friday-2021