Is this spec good for gaming and all-round performance?

[films&games]

Case
FRACTAL FOCUS G BLACK GAMING CASE (Window)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i9 Eight Core Processor i9-9900K (3.6GHz) 16MB Cache

Get Total War: Three Kingdoms & More w/ select Intel CPUs!
Motherboard
Gigabyte Z390 UD: ATX, LG1151, USB 3.1, SATA 6GBs - RGB Ready
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 2060 SUPER - HDMI, DP - VR Ready!
1st Storage Drive
2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 256MB CACHE
1st M.2 SSD Drive
256GB ADATA SX6000 Pro PCIe M.2 2280 (2100 MB/R, 1200 MB/W)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
16x BLU-RAY WRITER DRIVE, 16x DVD ±R/±RW & SOFTWARE
Power Supply
CORSAIR 550W VS SERIES™ VS-550 POWER SUPPLY
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
PCS FrostFlow 120 Series RGB High Performance Liquid Cooler
Thermal Paste
COOLER MASTER MASTERGEL MAKER THERMAL COMPOUND
Extra Case Fans
2x 120mm Black Case Fan (configured to extract from rear/roof)
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
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
Genuine Windows 10 Professional 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [MUP-00003]
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Supplied on DVD
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 365 (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
BullGuard™ Internet Security - Free 90 Day License inc. Gamer Mode
Browser
Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
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 14 working days
Price: £1,676.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-z370-pc/UT8A7ShD7H/

Should I change anything about this spec?

I will also be using this PC for web and software development too.

Any advice or suggestions would be appreciated, please?

Thank you.

 

[Oussebon]

I assume the budget is around £1700, preferably under?

What monitor are you gaming on?

If you need to buy a monitor, what is your budget for that?

 

[films&games]

Hi,

My max budget is £1700 - I would prefer to it to be less.

My current monitor is a Iiyama 24-inch widescreen, which I probably will upgrade in about 3-4 months after I have had the PC.

My max budget for a new monitor would be £250.

One more question. I know that I have chosen a spec based upon an Intel i9 9900k processor - but what are the AMD Ryzen 7 3800X and Ryzen 9 3900X professor's like for performance in comparison?

Thank you.

 

[Oussebon]

What are you using the system for? Gaming? Anything other than straight gaming? e.g. specific software, video editing, photo editing, do you stream to Twitch?

 

[films&games]

Just standard gaming, no Twitch or other live broadcasting. Basic photo editing, e.g. not using Photoshop.

Web development, e.g. HTML, CSS, Javascript etc. I Would like to be able to run Android Studio for developing Android apps. I will like to be able to run Dosbox to play older PC games.

Any advice would be appreciated, please.

Thank you.

 

[Oussebon]

An i9, or indeed an R9, CPU for your uses is very poor value.

For this kind of cash you should be able to get a very decent 1440p gaming system, and a monitor to boot.

An R7 3800x is also not worth it as it's more expensive than the 3700x for very little extra performance.

But tbh an R7 3700x doesn't really seem worth it either. The R5 3600 seems to give the best bang for buck for your uses.

e.g.

Case
FRACTAL FOCUS G BLACK GAMING CASE (Window)
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 3600 Six Core CPU (3.6GHz-4.2GHz/36MB CACHE/AM4)

Get 3 Months of XBOX Game Pass for PC w/ select AMD Ryzen CPUs
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF X470-PLUS GAMING (DDR4, 6Gb/s, CrossFireX) - RGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 2060 SUPER - HDMI, DP - VR Ready!
1st Storage Drive
2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 256MB CACHE
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB ADATA SX6000 Pro PCIe M.2 2280 (2100 MB/R, 1500 MB/W)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
16x BLU-RAY WRITER DRIVE, 16x DVD ±R/±RW & SOFTWARE
Power Supply
CORSAIR 550W 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)
Wireless/Wired Networking
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
Genuine Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KK3-00002]
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 365 (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
BullGuard™ Internet Security - Free 90 Day License inc. Gamer Mode
Browser
Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
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 10 to 14 working days
Price: £1,322.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/X0eRMWXhWs/

Plus the monitor, with a spec of 1440p, 144hz, with freesync / gsync compatible / gsync. There are a lot of options in the £200-£450 range.

 

[films&games]

Thank you for your suggestions. Just to clarify I will also like to be able to play the latest games with very decent graphics as well as what I have already mentioned.

With this in mind, would my choice of processor still need to be changed?

Thank you.

 

[Oussebon]

You're not going to get any meaningful advantage from an i9 versus an R5 CPU.

Whereas, the extra resolution and refresh rate from a high refresh 1440p monitor will make an immediate difference to the gaming experience, as will adaptive sync.

 

[films&games]

Could you make any suggestions on a monitor, please?

Thank you.

 

[Oussebon]

I've posted some pointers here: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/forums/threads/new-pc-build-for-gaming-budget-£-2-5k.64292/#post-445051 (end of my post)

and here:
https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/foru...th-august-2019-fusion-fury.64132/#post-445566

Most websites that sell monitors will let you search / filter by resolution, refresh rate, freesync, etc.

This is at the upper end of your price range but the new LG 27GL850-B is supposed to be excellent.

 

[films&games]

Hi,

I have a few questions before I actually build/buy a new PC.

1. 
   
2. What make/model(s) are the 16x speed Blu-ray drives that PCS stock?
   
   Can the fans pre-installed in the FRACTAL FOCUS G BLACK GAMING CASE (Window) be changed for a different colour?
   • If the pre-installed fans cannot be changed, would anyone be able to suggest which colour LED strip would look ok for this particular case?
     
     I am thinking of having the OS installed on the m.2 SSD. But having a standard 3.5 2TB HDD for applications and games. Would this affect the performance of any applications and or games that I might be running?
     
     In addition to applications and games, I will also be just using some of the space for file storage. Would it be best to partition the HDD?
   • 
     
   • Are there any advantages of choosing Windows 10 Pro over Home? Can you delay Windows Updates longer than a few hours if needed from being installed if there has been an update(s) that have not been installed properly?
     
     
   • Any advice or suggestions would be appreciated, please.

Thank you.

 

[Oussebon]

What make/model(s) are the 16x speed Blu-ray drives that PCS stock?

No idea, you'd need to ask.

Can the fans pre-installed in the FRACTAL FOCUS G BLACK GAMING CASE (Window) be changed for a different colour?

They're not RGB LED, I think they're just white LED. If you were to change the fans yourself/ buy new ones, the smarter spend would instead be to buy a better case with RGB fans e.g. Corsair Crystal 460X (I'm avoid some of the cheaper ones).

I am thinking of having the OS installed on the m.2 SSD. But having a standard 3.5 2TB HDD for applications and games. Would this affect the performance of any applications and or games that I might be running?

Yes. OS + programs + favourite / most played games on the SSD. Rest on the HDD. I don't think it's worth partitioning. Just separate things out with a sensible system of folders

 

[films&games]

Hi,

Are either of these monitors suitable to have a good gaming/user experience?

AOC G2790PX 27" LED Gaming Monitor

IIYAMA G-MASTER GB2760QSU-B1 27"

I have also been looking at the m.2 SSD drives that PCS have available.

With some games + latest patches etc taking up 100GB space, would it better to get a 2TB m.2 SSD?

For example, I might get either one of these below and use it as the main drive with the OS, games and applications on this and also get a smaller internal HDD, e.g. 500GB or 1TB for file storage.

2TB INTEL® 760p M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (upto 3230MB/sR | 1625MB/sW)

2TB SAMSUNG 970 EVO PLUS M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3500MB/R, 3300MB/W)


Would this work ok? Or is it not recommended?


Any advice or suggestions would be appreciated, please.

Thank you.

 

[Oussebon]

Are either of these monitors suitable to have a good gaming/user experience?

AOC G2790PX 27" LED Gaming Monitor

IIYAMA G-MASTER GB2760QSU-B1 27"

You ideally want a 1440p, 144hz, monitor with adaptive sync. The iiyama monitor has that. The AOC one is only 1080p.

With some games + latest patches etc taking up 100GB space, would it better to get a 2TB m.2 SSD?

For example, I might get either one of these below and use it as the main drive with the OS, games and applications on this and also get a smaller internal HDD, e.g. 500GB or 1TB for file storage.

2TB INTEL® 760p M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (upto 3230MB/sR | 1625MB/sW)

2TB SAMSUNG 970 EVO PLUS M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3500MB/R, 3300MB/W)


Would this work ok? Or is it not recommended?

That's the wrong way around. Small HDD and large SSD is poor value for a gaming system. To get a 2TB SSD, you'd be spending a huge amount. But if you were going to spend another £300-400 on your gaming PC, it would make more sense to spend it on a better monitor and a better GPU to go with the better monitor.

500gb is fine for an SSD, but if you want more space then swap to a 1TB SX6000 SSD.

And buy a 3TB HDD.

You can move games between drives very easily, with just a few mouse clicks within Steam. So when you stop playing a game but don't want to uninstall it just yet, swap it over to the HDD and move your new game(s) to the SSD.

You can always add more storage in the future. Whereas the monitor and the key components in the PC you'll want to keep for as long as reasonably possible, and also matter much more to gaming performance. So if you want to spend more on the PC invest in those, before spending £300+ more on storage

For now, if you want more storage, I suggest upgrading the SX6000 to 1TB, and the HDD to 3TB.

 

[films&games]

Hi,

Which motherboard out of the three below is the best option?

ASUS® TUF X570-PLUS GAMING (USB 3.2 Gen 2, PCIe 4.0, CrossFireX) - RGB Ready!

ASUS® ROG STRIX X570-F GAMING (USB 3.2 Gen 2, PCIe 4.0) - RGB Ready!

Gigabyte X570 GAMING X: ATX (USB 3.2 Gen 2, PCIe 4.0) - RGB Ready!


I would want to be able to play the latest games especially from next year onwards with very high graphics settings.

Also when using virtualisation in relation to when running Android Studio for the Android emulator with no problem.

Watching videos on Youtube and on Blu-ray too.

Would this processor still be ok to do all of these tasks?

I have thought about storage space and I am possibly going to go for the following:

512GB ADATA SX6000 Pro PCIe M.2 2280 (2100 MB/R, 1500 MB/W) m.2 storage

2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 256MB CACHE


Any advice or suggestions would be appreciated, please.

Thank you.

 

[Oussebon]

ASUS® TUF X570-PLUS GAMING (USB 3.2 Gen 2, PCIe 4.0, CrossFireX) - RGB Ready!

ASUS® ROG STRIX X570-F GAMING (USB 3.2 Gen 2, PCIe 4.0) - RGB Ready!

Gigabyte X570 GAMING X: ATX (USB 3.2 Gen 2, PCIe 4.0) - RGB Ready!


I would want to be able to play the latest games especially from next year onwards with very high graphics settings.

Also when using virtualisation in relation to when running Android Studio for the Android emulator with no problem.

Performance wise they're all the same.

The X570 motherboards have PCIe 4.0 which could make them more futureproof, in that they support PCIe 4.0 SSDs and GPUs. That said, a PCIe 3.0 SSD can already be pretty damn fast, and PCIe 3.0 isn't a bottleneck for GPUs yet.

If you were buying an X570 mobo, however, go for the X570 Plus. It has more features than the Gaming X, and is much cheaper than the Strix.

I would want to be able to play the latest games especially from next year onwards with very high graphics settings.

Also when using virtualisation in relation to when running Android Studio for the Android emulator with no problem.

Watching videos on Youtube and on Blu-ray too.

Gaming should be fine. The hardware is fine, just make sure you have an appropriate monitor to let you enjoy the hardware.

Watching media is trivial in terms of hardware requirements.

And having a google, it appears that Android Studio has been working on AMD's Ryzen CPUs (which are a relatively new family of CPUs) since July 2018. The CPU has 6 cores and 12 threads so should be fine for VMs.

An R7 3700x could be worth considering for the extra cores, depending on your projects.

I have thought about storage space and I am possibly going to go for the following:

512GB ADATA SX6000 Pro PCIe M.2 2280 (2100 MB/R, 1500 MB/W) m.2 storage

2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 256MB CACHE

That sounds fine. If you have budget potentially the 1TB SSD, but the above is fine too.

 

[films&games]

Hi,

This is my revised spec based upon what you have suggested.

Case
FRACTAL FOCUS G BLACK GAMING CASE (Window)
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 7 3700X Eight Core CPU (3.6GHz-4.4GHz/36MB CACHE/AM4)

Get 3 Months of XBOX Game Pass for PC w/ select AMD Ryzen CPUs
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF X570-PLUS GAMING (USB 3.2 Gen 2, PCIe 4.0, CrossFireX) - RGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 2060 SUPER - HDMI, DP - VR Ready!

Get Call of Duty: Modern Warfare with select NVIDIA GeForce RTX GPUs!
1st Storage Drive
2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 256MB CACHE
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB ADATA SX6000 Pro PCIe M.2 2280 (2100 MB/R, 1500 MB/W)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
16x BLU-RAY WRITER DRIVE, 16x DVD ±R/±RW & SOFTWARE
Power Supply
CORSAIR 550W TXm SERIES™ SEMI-MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
PCS FrostFlow 100 V2 Series High Performance CPU Cooler (AMD)
Thermal Paste
COOLER MASTER MASTERGEL MAKER THERMAL COMPOUND
Extra Case Fans
2x 120mm Black Case Fan (configured to extract from rear/roof)
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
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
Genuine Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KUK-00001]
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 365 (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
BullGuard™ Internet Security - Free 90 Day License inc. Gamer Mode
Browser
Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
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 14 working days
Price: £1,617.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/3Bqu6A2uXM/

I will probably be also getting this monitor at a later date: IIYAMA G-MASTER GB2760QSU-B1 27".

Any advice or suggestions would be appreciated, please.

 

[Oussebon]

Define later date?

If you're buying the above spec you should probably instead just buy:

PCSPECIALIST - Custom Computers and Laptops Built to Order

PCSpecialist is a manufacturer of high quality custom computers and laptops. Configure your ideal computer in just a few simple steps with a broad range available.

www.pcspecialist.co.uk

and an external bluray drive

 

[films&games]

I would be getting the monitor about 1 month later.

Thanks for suggesting the above 'fixed' spec but I prefer to able to customise my PC, e.g. with a higher capacity m.2 drive for the OS, games, applications etc. But it is a very good price.

What type of performance for games do you think I would be able to get out of my revised spec?

Any advice or suggestions would be appreciated, please.

Thank you.

 

[Oussebon]

The savings for the fixed spec are £140 for which you could buy your own 1TB drive and still save money in fairness. Worth bearing in mind anyway

1 month seems fine. If you weren't buying for a few months, I'd raise an eyebrow, but as long as you're getting the system and monitor at about the same time then it sounds fine

As for performance, performance will be in line an RTX 2060 Super. You can google reviews of the RTX 2060 Super and see if any articles benchmark it in your favourite titles. Note that reviewers tend to benchmark things on the Ultra presets, whereas you'll often play on lower than the ultra preset. Because e.g. Ultra shadows looks the same as High shadows and costs 10% of your framerate for no reason.

So if you tweak setting a a bit you can expect higher performance than in the reviews without much/any real fidelity hit.

A few titles:

ZOTAC GeForce RTX 2060 Super Mini Review

Zotac's GeForce RTX 2060 Super Mini is priced at $400, matching the NVIDIA Founders Edition. As the name suggests, it is a bit shorter than the FE, which should help improve compatibility with smaller cases. Unfortunately, the card isn't overclocked, and its power limit isn't increased either.

www.techpowerup.com

Nvidia RTX 2060 Super and RTX 2070 Super Review - OC3D

Introduction The Nvidia RTX cards brought Ray Tracing and improved Super Sampling to the market and there is no doubting at all that they have proved to be a roaring success. The RTX 2060 in particular has been flying off the shelves almost as fast as Nvidia can produce the Turing GPUs that...

www.overclock3d.net

For instance, they average 65 FPS in The Division 2 with a 2060 Super. I'm at a capped 70fps on my RTX 2060 (periodically hits as high as ~92 when uncapped), running mostly Very High settings. My drops in FPS, such as I have them, I think are mostly down to my 7 year old CPU.