Baeger

I just bought this beauty (I didn't build it, it's bespoke but....technically not a pre-built I guess?) 
BIG step up from an i7-6700K and a GTX 1080 - Games run amazingly at 1440p and my first experience with RTX (and VR since I bought a VR Headset recently).  
Specs in my signature 😄
 
 
 

I just bought this beauty (I didn't build it, it's bespoke but....technically not a pre-built I guess?) 
BIG step up from an i7-6700K and a GTX 1080 - Games run amazingly at 1440p and my first experience with RTX (and VR since I bought a VR Headset recently).  
Specs in my signature 😄
 
 
 

~250 x 160 x 338mm or 12.7 liters. Perhaps a tad bit bigger now if you include the taller legs I installed.

Yep it's the power button, just used something I had laying around in a drawer 😄
 
PSU is FlexATX form factor

Would you say the substantially higher price tag compared to a regular desk is worth it in your experience?  LOVE the wood finish though.  That's always been something other desks have lacked.  

I just bought this beauty (I didn't build it, it's bespoke but....technically not a pre-built I guess?) 
BIG step up from an i7-6700K and a GTX 1080 - Games run amazingly at 1440p and my first experience with RTX (and VR since I bought a VR Headset recently).  
Specs in my signature 😄
 
 
 

Probably just grab the 980, but it's because the Ryzen 8 core doesn't have an iGPU, so you just need something to output with.
 
R7 1700s are going on crazy sales currently, can just run one in a cheap ASrock Pro 4 board, maybe 350 GBP for that whole upgrade with 16Gbs of 3000mhz or better RAM.

Tip on buying RAM- you should be able to buy a single 8GB stick of LDDR3 SDRAM for your laptop, instead of buying a new 16GB kit. Only one of your two slots is occupied.
 
Good luck!

Yeah...no, that's just ridiculous. 
 
A comparable Skylake/Polaris-based system would be 520-550GBP. So 400GBP would be fair. 

Fair point  

That's an older machine.  Give him back 150 bucks or so.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news but AMD doesn't have any DDR4 compatible sockets as of this moment. It's best to go Intel as of this moment since there's no real competitor to the Skylake Intel i5s. If you're deadset on AMD, there's Zen which will hopefully be alot better than their current offerings + comes with DDR4 RAM.

He'll probably care about the case and peripherals but the components themselves, probably not haha

Nah, he's a PC Novice so I doubt he'll be OCing anytime soon.  He just wants me to find parts for him and build it for him when I travel over there in the summer.
So Intel it is then.

I'm a big Halo player so I know what you mean.
Check out Insurgency, I think that'll be right up your alley.  It's a fairly basic shooter where a lot of weapons are 1 shot kill and you basically get points assigned each round to choose your loadouts, you can use more points on grenades or more points on a better gun or more points on better attachments or balance it all out.  Very intense game. 
The setting is nothing like Halo though which is worth noting.

I've never been a CSGO guy (or much of a competitive guy either) but Siege is getting me into more competitive shooters, It's a lot more focused on positioning and tactics than CSGO and less so on skill (still important though).  The different operators really make the game special though because as a defender, you have to learn to deal with every type of attacker and as an attacker, you've really got to check your corners and watch out for traps or gadgets that'll blow your position.  Intelligence is also a big part of siege.  the little drone things will save your life.

Well I just looked into RAM, since I thought DDR4 was still pretty expensive but you're definitely right, it's certainly come down a lot in price. This might be a good alternative so thanks!

Wow, that's perfect!  the colours seem a little neon-y in the photos but otherwise that seems brilliant!
Now I need a good air cooler

That shouldn't be the case, FO4 runs like shit anyway. If your GPU isn't maxed out, then you have a bottleneck. Motherboards also don't need to be a determining factor of performance.
That makes sense if you want to go for a LAN rig for that reason. 

I'm rocking an Aerocool XPredator (full size) so I think I'm good for a H110, but yeah, great idea really, good way to save money and hopefully a little OC will let me Stream on OBS.