PC/Monitor combo for £3000

[Dobe110]

Hi,

I'd be really grateful for any advice or even full builds for my new PC/monitor. My max combined budget is £3000 but would rather spend closer to £2750 if the extra spending isn't worth it. PC will primarily be used for gaming, and some dev. In terms of monitor, fps definitely takes priority to a minimum of 144 Hz which I assume may make 4k out of reach of my budget? I do also like the idea of the curved ultrawide screens, so would appreciate anyone that has one sharing their views/recommendations? I really don't know what makes a good monitor so specific recommendations would be great.

Thanks a lot

 

[sck451]

Curved ultrawide is a great choice. The two I'd suggest would be the AOC CU34G2X for around £435 or, in an ideal world, the astonishingly good LG 34GN850-B, which is around £800.

The biggest problem is that the ideal graphics card for UWQHD (the resolution of both those monitors) is the Nvidia 3070. That's currently out of stock and looks like being out of stock for some time. This leaves you with the option of going a little lower than is ideal (the 3060 Ti or the AMD 6700 XT) or spending more than is ideal (with the 3080). With your budget, I'd be inclined to go for the 3080.

Here's the build I'd want. It needs the AOC monitor to fit in your budget, sadly! I'm presuming that gaming is the only significant use. If you will be doing streaming or video editing, it would be wise to go for 32GB of RAM.

Case
CORSAIR iCUE 5000X RGB MID TOWER GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 7 5800X Eight Core CPU (3.8GHz-4.7GHz/36MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF X570-PLUS GAMING (USB 3.2 Gen 2, PCIe 4.0, CrossFireX) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE RGB PRO DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
10GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3080 - HDMI, DP, LHR
1st Storage Drive
2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 256MB CACHE
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SEAGATE FIRECUDA 530 GEN 4 PCIe NVMe (up to 7000MB/R, 3000MB/W)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
2TB INTEL® 670p M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 3500MB/sR | 2700MB/sW)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 850W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
Corsair H115i RGB PRO XT Hydro 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
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
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 (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 16 to 19 working days
Price: £2,554.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/tnUNB!vsU7/

 

[Dobe110]

Thanks a lot for the great reply! I do think I'd prefer to overshoot slightly with the 3080 than potentially be lacking performance. I'd love to get the LG monitor but unfortunately, I really don't want to go above budget. Having had a quick look at reviews of the AOC monitor I see black smearing being mentioned in a few of them. I'm guessing this wouldn't be too major of a problem, but it has definitely made me wonder whether going for a higher quality standard 1440p monitor could be a better option.

 

[sck451]

Thanks a lot for the great reply! I do think I'd prefer to overshoot slightly with the 3080 than potentially be lacking performance. I'd love to get the LG monitor but unfortunately, I really don't want to go above budget. Having had a quick look at reviews of the AOC monitor I see black smearing being mentioned in a few of them. I'm guessing this wouldn't be too major of a problem, but it has definitely made me wonder whether going for a higher quality standard 1440p monitor could be a better option.

Understood. A degree of smearing is inevitable at that price: it's simply impossible to avoid at that price. You have several options, really.

The first is to cut back on the PC build fundamentals. You could bring this build down to £2200 by dropping to the 5600X, the Tuf B550 and a lesser cooler. You could then afford the LG. I'm not sure I'd recommend this; while the 5600X is a great CPU, it is more likely to age faster than the 5800X is. (Probably.)

The second is to go for the same fundamentals, but with the 3060 Ti instead of the 3080, which would bring the LG into budget, while accepting that, for now, you won't get 100% of the monitor's performance in at least some games.

The third is to go for a top-line QHD (1440p) display, such as the MSI Optix MAG274QRF-QD, for £450. At this point, the 3080 is ludicrous overkill, so you could go down to the 3060 Ti and end up saving quite a lot of money, perhaps at £2600 all in.

And the fourth is of course to suck it up and go with either the extra money or the slightly smeary (but still really excellent) AOC monitor.

I'm not honestly sure which of these options I myself would pick. (Who am I kidding? I can easily talk myself into raising any budget once I get excited!) But these are the options in 2021, worst of years for buying a gaming PC...

 

[Dobe110]

Thank you for such a well-written and helpful response! For me, it's definitely between the last couple of options you mentioned. I'm sure I would be very happy with whichever of these I end up going for. If I had to decide right now I'd probably go for the build you suggested with the AOC ultrawide monitor, but I'll take a bit of time to think about it.

Thanks again, you've been a massive help!

 

[radiotwiz]

Curved ultrawide is a great choice. The two I'd suggest would be the AOC CU34G2X for around £435 or, in an ideal world, the astonishingly good LG 34GN850-B, which is around £800.

The biggest problem is that the ideal graphics card for UWQHD (the resolution of both those monitors) is the Nvidia 3070. That's currently out of stock and looks like being out of stock for some time. This leaves you with the option of going a little lower than is ideal (the 3060 Ti or the AMD 6700 XT) or spending more than is ideal (with the 3080). With your budget, I'd be inclined to go for the 3080.

Here's the build I'd want. It needs the AOC monitor to fit in your budget, sadly! I'm presuming that gaming is the only significant use. If you will be doing streaming or video editing, it would be wise to go for 32GB of RAM.

Case
CORSAIR iCUE 5000X RGB MID TOWER GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 7 5800X Eight Core CPU (3.8GHz-4.7GHz/36MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF X570-PLUS GAMING (USB 3.2 Gen 2, PCIe 4.0, CrossFireX) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE RGB PRO DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
10GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3080 - HDMI, DP, LHR
1st Storage Drive
2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 256MB CACHE
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SEAGATE FIRECUDA 530 GEN 4 PCIe NVMe (up to 7000MB/R, 3000MB/W)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
2TB INTEL® 670p M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 3500MB/sR | 2700MB/sW)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 850W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
Corsair H115i RGB PRO XT Hydro 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
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
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 (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 16 to 19 working days
Price: £2,554.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/tnUNB!vsU7/

Hey hope you don't mind me jumping in, would you go with the 850w over 750w power supply in this build? When I configure similar PCSpecislist suggest 750 is enough?

Also would you suggest Win11 over Win10? Even with it being so new?

 

[sck451]

Hey hope you don't mind me jumping in, would you go with the 850w over 750w power supply in this build? When I configure similar PCSpecislist suggest 750 is enough?

Also would you suggest Win11 over Win10? Even with it being so new?

Yeah, I'd definitely recommend 850W. 750W is probably enough, but I don't want "probably" at £3000. Moreover, it's always wise to exceed the minimum power requirements: it offers more efficiency and quietness and leaves room for an upgrade down the road.

And it's definitely personal choice on Windows. I'd be inclined to do 11 just so I didn't have to install it myself at some point, but YMMV.

 

[Martinr36]

If you're going 850, the 1000W is only another £18

 

[Dobe110]

Hey, I've just noticed that the ASUS DUAL GTX 3070 appears to be in stock. Is this a new restock that I should be considering or is there a significant difference between this and the standard nvidia 3070?

 

[sck451]

Hey, I've just noticed that the ASUS DUAL GTX 3070 appears to be in stock. Is this a new restock that I should be considering or is there a significant difference between this and the standard nvidia 3070?

I generally overlook the Asus branded cards because they're just not value for money: they offer the same performance as the Palit/Zotac branded cards for more money. But actually, now I look at it, that Dual card looks really quite reasonable. I can hardly say it's good value (nothing is) but yes, it's definitely an option for you. If you then cut your second SSD down to 1TB, you could just about afford the LG monitor...