Mid range gaming/home office desktop

[AlastairTomlinson929]

Hi all

Been working through the very helpful advice posts and am starting to settle on a specification. This is to replace my current desktop which is now 11 years old (also a PCS build). Typical usage is daily home working (for now and likely to continue for some time - mainly office apps with some statistical software, I have to record short video lectures but no heavy video editing) and leisure gaming - typically open world RPG/exploration (Witcher, skyrim etc) and strategy type (total war, civ v etc) rather than FPS - though anything in the past 5 years has been pretty much beyond the current model! No plans to stream or anything like that.

Planning to get a new 1080p 144hz monitor too though this not shown in the spec as still deciding on that - only have a limited desk space so something in the 22-24" range as part of a 2 screen set up (replacing an existing 1080 60hz).

Spec is below, would welcome any advice especially on case selection as I'm struggling to differentiate the options on the PCS configurator, not interested in any RGB stuff, just something functional and fairly unobtrusive but with suitable space for expansion, reasonable airflow etc at a reasonable price. No OS as can obtain windows 10 license at discount through employee benefits programme at work. Will be ethernet connected but included WiFi card for flexibility in the future. Price shown (just under £1100) is about my max budget taking into account extra cost for the new monitor not included in this spec.

Case
CORSAIR CARBIDE SERIES™ 275Q QUIET CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 5600X Six Core CPU (3.7GHz-4.6GHz/35MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® PRIME B550-PLUS (DDR4, USB 3.2, 6Gb/s) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
6GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1660 SUPER - HDMI, DP - GeForce GTX VR Ready!
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB CORSAIR MP400 NVMe PCIe M.2 SSD (up to 3480 MB/R, 1880 MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W TXm SERIES™ SEMI-MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
STANDARD AMD CPU COOLER
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)
Wireless Network Card
WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6 AX200 2,400Mbps/5GHz, 300Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD + BT 5.0
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
NO RECOVERY MEDIA REQUIRED
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Google Chrome™
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 10 to 12 working days
Welcome Book
PCSpecialist Welcome Book - United Kingdom & Republic of Ireland
Logo Branding
PCSpecialist Logo
Price: £1088.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/UKPGAQwK7N/

Thanks in advance for any advice and tips!

 

[ColEyt]

Is there anything in your old pc that you are planning to utilise, ie hard drives, whether mechanical or ssd etc.

I'd ditch the wifi card for now, as you say its something you don't need at present, and you can also buy a USB dongle in the future should wifi become a requirement. This would allow you to up the spec on your PSU to either a 750 or 850. Whilst again maybe this is not needed at present, it does allow for an easier upgrade path in the future.

Getting rid of the wifi card and upping the PSU to Corsair 850RM, would save you £3.

I'm sure one of our more experienced posters will be along shortly, who will be able to guide you better on cases and the overall build, but just wanted to share my initial thoughts

 

[Steveyg]

Hey hey
Couple questions I need to know firstly mostly important what kind of budget are we working with? Just realizing you answered most of the questions I would have other than budget

 

[Steveyg]

This is what I'd be looking at, I made a few changed to give your build more longevity. I have went over the budget but I've included for a better motherboard, better PSU to allow longer life and easier upgrades and better CPU cooling to extend the life of the CPU itself. I've also gone for a slightly larger case that has better airflow to help keep things cool.

The big advantage of this build is that it's ready for an upgrade any time you want to throw one into it. It's ready for the jump to 1440p should you change the GPU and there's enough room to add other things to it in the coming years

Case
CORSAIR iCUE 220T RGB AIRFLOW MID TOWER GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 5600X Six Core CPU (3.7GHz-4.6GHz/35MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING B550-PLUS (DDR4, USB 3.2, 6Gb/s) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
6GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1660 SUPER - HDMI, DP - GeForce GTX VR Ready!
1st M.2 SSD Drive
256GB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (1900 MB/R, 1100 MB/W)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (2000 MB/R, 1100 MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 850W TXm SERIES™ SEMI-MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
CoolerMaster MasterLiquid Lite 240 High Performance Liquid Cooler
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)
Wireless Network Card
WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6 AX200 2,400Mbps/5GHz, 300Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD + BT 5.0
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
NO RECOVERY MEDIA REQUIRED
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Google Chrome™
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 10 to 12 working days
Price: £1,198.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/YrUmkeRqM!/

 

[ColEyt]

Hey hey
Couple questions I need to know firstly mostly important what kind of budget are we working with? Just realizing you answered most of the questions I would have other than budget

He said his budget was £1100, basically he had built to his max budget

 

[AlastairTomlinson929]

Thanks all for the responses. Yes I'm aiming at a budget around £1100 leaving around another £150ish on top of that for a new monitor. I have a bit of wriggle room if there's a significant improvement/value add, but not looking to creep up too much more than that.

Good tip @ColEyt on trading the WiFi card for a higher power supply, thanks. I may reuse an old HDD for storage and data transfer in the short term but the old PC is probably going to be handed on to my youngest son for school work so I'll be keeping most of it intact. It's so old that most other things like memory etc are now outmoded.

@Steveyg, thanks for the suggestions. How much benefit is there in the 2 separate m2 drives? Over a single 1tb m2. I get the benefit when pairing ssd for system and hdd for storage (which I have on my current pc) but when the whole thing is m2 ssd does it make much difference? I'll have a proper look at the case you suggested and come back if I have any other questions, thank you.

 

[ColEyt]

I've adapted the build from @Steveyg

The reason for having two drives is to have your OS installed on the smallest and fastest of the drives, the second which would normally be larger and not as fast would have your main programs/games etc on it. At this budget with two drives you dont have the privilege of having a super fast drive as your OS drive, but it will still be lightening fast compared to a mechanical drive or even a sata ssd.

I've gone for the modular 850 PSu as opposed to the semi modular, more convenient and also cheaper.

Kept the stock cooler as whilst an AIO is a nice to have, its an extra £47 on the budget

Case wise I've gone with something decent for airflow, you can turn the RGB off if need be. Someone with more experience on cases may be able to advise better

Case
LIAN LI LANCOOL 215 GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 5600X Six Core CPU (3.7GHz-4.6GHz/35MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® PRIME B550-PLUS (DDR4, USB 3.2, 6Gb/s) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
6GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1660 SUPER - HDMI, DP - GeForce GTX VR Ready!
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (2000 MB/R, 1100 MB/W)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (2000 MB/R, 1100 MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 850W RM SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
STANDARD AMD CPU COOLER
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
NO RECOVERY MEDIA REQUIRED
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Google Chrome™
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 10 to 12 working days
Price: £1,129.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/HvsAXXKz6z/