Borderlands 4 without breaking the bank

[HughBeeDooBeeDoo]

Good evening, I'm not a massive gamer so don't own a super rig, but I do love the Borderlands series and have played them all so far perfectly fine on an elderly PC. Having had smelling salts to help me get over the spec requirements for No 4, ( https://www.pcgamebenchmark.com/borderlands-4-system-requirements) I am trying to spec up a PC to cope with it, and modernise me generally, but it's a long time since I bought a PC and the number of options is headspinning. Working on a budget of £1200, does the following get the job done please?

Case
CORSAIR 3000D AIRFLOW MID TOWER GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 7 7700X Eight Core CPU (4.5GHz-5.4GHz/40MB CACHE/AM5)
Motherboard
ASUS® PRIME A620M-K (mATX, AM5, DDR5, PCIe 4.0)
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR5 5200MHz CL40 (1 x 32GB)
Graphics Card
16GB GIGABYTE RADEON™ RX 7600 XT GAMING OC - 2 x HDMI, 2 x DP
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (3500 MB/R, 3200 MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 750W CX SERIES™ CX-750 POWER SUPPLY
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
PCS FrostFlow 100 V3 Series High Performance CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
ONBOARD 2.5Gbe LAN PORT
Wireless Network Card
NONE OR ONBOARD Wi-Fi (MOTHERBOARD DEPENDENT)
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Windows 11 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10/11 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Microsoft® Edge
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (6 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 5 to 7 working days
Price: £1,167.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am5-pc/K8EZgjqFGm/

 

[Ekans2011]

The £1200 budget is insufficient for a decent, modern gaming PC; something worthwhile would cost not less than £1500-1600.
The above build is poorly designed in several areas, severely limiting the system's upgrade capabilities which is the paramount of the custom PC.

What monitor will you pair with it, anyway?

 

[HughBeeDooBeeDoo]

My monitor is an AOC Q27B3MA 27" 75hz VA Frameless Monitor. I know that isn't enough for high level gaming, but I can upgrade that in due course. As I say, I'm not really a big gamer, could you kindly advise what changes I should make to that spec to get the best value for money and run this particular game pretty well?

 

[Ekans2011]

My monitor is an AOC Q27B3MA 27" 75hz VA Frameless Monitor. I know that isn't enough for high level gaming, but I can upgrade that in due course.

That monitor is not suitable for gaming; it's a budget 1440p office panel with low refresh rate, high response time and no HDR.

As I say, I'm not really a big gamer, could you kindly advise what changes I should make to that spec to get the best value for money and run this particular game pretty well?

As previously stated, £1200 is nowhere near enough for a gaming system capable of playing modern games at any resolution.

This is the very minimum I'd go for a non-throwaway, entry-level, 1080p gaming PC but higher resolutions require higher-tier GPUs.

Case
CORSAIR 3500X ARGB TEMPERED GLASS MID-TOWER (PCS)
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 7 7700X Eight Core CPU (4.5GHz-5.4GHz/40MB CACHE/AM5)
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING B850-PLUS WIFI (AM5, DDR5, M.2 PCIe 5.0, Wi-Fi 7)
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR5 6000MHz CL30 (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
16GB SAPPHIRE PULSE RADEON™ RX 9060 XT GAMING OC - 2 x HDMI, 2 x DP
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB CORSAIR ELITE MP600 NVMe PCIe M.2 SSD (up to 7000 MB/R, 6200 MB/W)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
2TB CORSAIR CORE XT MP600 NVMe PCIe M.2 SSD (up to 5000 MB/R, 4400 MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 850W RMx SERIES™ ATX 3.1, MODULAR, CYBENETICS GOLD
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead, 1.0mm Core)
Processor Cooling
PCS FrostFlow 200 Series High Performance CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
ONBOARD 2.5Gbe LAN PORT
Wireless Network Card
NONE OR ONBOARD Wi-Fi (MOTHERBOARD DEPENDENT)
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Windows 11 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10/11 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Firefox™
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 5 to 7 working days
Price: £1,608.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am5-pc/HamPsT65s3/

 

[HughBeeDooBeeDoo]

Thank you, I appreciate your help.

Just out of curiosity, the choice of cases alone is massive these days! How much a difference does a case choice make?

 

[Martinr36]

Thank you, I appreciate your help.

Just out of curiosity, the choice of cases alone is massive these days! How much a difference does a case choice make?

The case is one of the major components in a modern gaming system, if the case doesn't have decent airflow then things won't get cooled properly;y causing them to thermal throttle