First Gaming PC

[JavierBC]

Hello everyone

I am looking at purchasing my first proper gaming pc. The games I play are not extremely demanding but I was wondering if the below built looks good or if there's something I should change in order to have be better performing.

Your opinions/suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Case
PCS SPECTRUM G ARGB MID TOWER CASE (PWM)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i7 12-Core Processor i7-12700KF (3.6GHz) 25MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING Z790-PLUS WIFI (DDR5, LGA1700, USB 3.2, PCIe 5.0) - ARGB Ready
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR5 4800MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3060 Ti - HDMI, DP, LHR
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SOLIDIGM P41+ GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 4125MB/sR, 2950MB/sW)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W CV SERIES™ CV-650 POWER SUPPLY
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
PCS FrostFlow 100 RGB 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
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT
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 [KUK-00003]
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
Norton 360 inc. Game Optimizer - Free 90 Day License
Browser
Microsoft® Edge
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 13 to 16 working days

 

[smrluv]

this is gonna be good for most games. just make sure that if you require a wireless connection (wi-fi) then you will need a wireless card. i would go for the intel wi-fi 6 ax200.
i'd also recommend for getting the arctic thermal cooling solution that they offer if you are going to stick with a pcs cooler

 

[Steveyg]

The main issue is you're spending way more than you need to

You've gone for 4800Mhz DDR5 which is no faster than 3600Mhz DDR4. Essentially costing yourself a fortune for a motherboard to support DDR5 with no perceivable performance upgrade. I'd recommend just going for DDR4 it's going to be a long time before DDR5 becomes reasonably affordable unless something drastic happens on the cost of motherboards.

I would never aim for a cheap case, this thing has to house these components for up to 10 years if the spec is put together properly. There are some good cheap options like the Corsair 4000D or the Lian Li Lancool but I wouldn't select that case

Power supply is going to seriously hamper potential upgrades. You really want a minimum of 850W these days to account for potential upgrades in future. GPU's and CPU's are just getting hungrier and hungrier especially accounting for transient spikes, the PSU you selected is essentially for an office computer not a machine that'll potentially stress it like a gaming build. Txm models would be minimum for me

That cooler is not capable of keeping the 12700K which is a very hot chip cool. It just doesn't have the horse power, it'll thermal throttle badly

Norton is essentially a virus itself and cause more problems than it'll solve. Windows Defender is free with windows and just as good as any paid AV.

Lastly silver warranty is a fiver and well worth it. If you let me know your budget and what monitor you plan to use I can help you put something together that'll be more balanced and last a lot longer

 

[JavierBC]

The main issue is you're spending way more than you need to

You've gone for 4800Mhz DDR5 which is no faster than 3600Mhz DDR4. Essentially costing yourself a fortune for a motherboard to support DDR5 with no perceivable performance upgrade. I'd recommend just going for DDR4 it's going to be a long time before DDR5 becomes reasonably affordable unless something drastic happens on the cost of motherboards.

I would never aim for a cheap case, this thing has to house these components for up to 10 years if the spec is put together properly. There are some good cheap options like the Corsair 4000D or the Lian Li Lancool but I wouldn't select that case

Power supply is going to seriously hamper potential upgrades. You really want a minimum of 850W these days to account for potential upgrades in future. GPU's and CPU's are just getting hungrier and hungrier especially accounting for transient spikes, the PSU you selected is essentially for an office computer not a machine that'll potentially stress it like a gaming build. Txm models would be minimum for me

That cooler is not capable of keeping the 12700K which is a very hot chip cool. It just doesn't have the horse power, it'll thermal throttle badly

Norton is essentially a virus itself and cause more problems than it'll solve. Windows Defender is free with windows and just as good as any paid AV.

Lastly silver warranty is a fiver and well worth it. If you let me know your budget and what monitor you plan to use I can help you put something together that'll be more balanced and last a lot longer

Hello Steveyg

Thank you, this is exactly the input I needed as I am no expert.

I would like to spend around the £1.5k mark but I can go up a bit higher if needed.

I was going to use the Acer Nitro VG272UV 27" QHD 144Hz Gaming Monitor because I have an old one which has maximum refresh rate of 60Hz which is not ideal.

Thank you again for your help with this.

 

[Steveyg]

I'd be aiming here mate, you can get a 5800X3D build for just over £1500 but it depends on how much you want to stress that budget

Case
LIAN LI LANCOOL 215 GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 7 5700X Eight Core CPU (3.4GHz-4.6GHz/36MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING B550-PLUS (DDR4, USB 3.2, 6Gb/s) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3600MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3060 Ti - HDMI, DP, LHR
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB SOLIDIGM P41+ GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 3500MB/sR, 1625MB/sW)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SOLIDIGM P41+ GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 4125MB/sR, 2950MB/sW)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 850W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
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
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT
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 [KUK-00003]
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 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 13 to 16 working days
Price: £1,331.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/cxWqzs37yX/

 

[JavierBC]

That looks great, thank you so much. I could go up to £1600 or a bit higher.

I was going for a higher RAM because one of the games I have struggled before is City Skylines but I wonder if it would always be a struggle to make that game work.

 

[Steveyg]

Yeah City Skylines is one of the very few titles that can push the 16GB go to on RAM. If it's one of the main games you play then it's worth going for 32GB. There are only a handful of titles that require more than 32GB. With that said this is where I'd be aiming for a £1600 budget

Case
LIAN LI LANCOOL 215 GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D Eight Core CPU (3.4GHz-4.5GHz/100MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® ROG STRIX B550-F GAMING WIFI II (DDR4, USB 3.2, 6Gb/s) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3600MHz (4 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3060 Ti - HDMI, DP, LHR
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB SOLIDIGM P41+ GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 3500MB/sR, 1625MB/sW)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SOLIDIGM P41+ GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 4125MB/sR, 2950MB/sW)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 850W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
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
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT
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 [KUK-00003]
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 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 13 to 16 working days
Price: £1,640.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/ktYHF2CwnM/

 

[Scott]

That build is fantastic. The only consideration I would put to you is the cooler. It's a good enough performer to handle the 5800X3D, although it is quite a hot chip, but the quality of it is lacking for me. I genuinely wouldn't opt for anything other than a Corsair AIO for any system. If the chip is OK on air, I wouldn't have a problem with an air cooler over any of the PCS AIOs, but in this case I think the H100i or even the H115i is warranted (the H115i will make a difference to noise playing Skylines, my laptop sounded like a rocket ship).

 

[JavierBC]

Thank you so much guys for your suggestions. You got yourselves a sale lol.

Honestly, really appreciated.