£1700 Gaming PC

jmorri

Member
Hello! With the GTX 2060 now available, I decided to finally get a new PC rig for myself. This is what I've come up with and I would appreciate any suggestions on what I should adjust to this build. Maybe some further optimisations here and there. Like is the cooling for this PC adequate? Should I invest in better thermal paste for example?

I have a 1440p monitor and would like to run that ideally at the highest settings.

Many Thanks!


Case
CORSAIR CRYSTAL SERIES 570X RGB GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i7 Eight Core Processor i7-9700K (3.6GHz) 12MB Cache
Get Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 & More w/ select Intel CPUs!
Motherboard
ASUS® ROG STRIX Z390-E GAMING: ATX, LGA1151, USB 3.1, SATA 6GBs, WIFI - RGB Ready
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE RGB DDR4 3000MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
6GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 2060 - HDMI, DP, DVI - VR Ready!
Get Battlefield V -OR- Anthem with select NVIDIA GeForce RTX GPUs!
1st Storage Drive
2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 64MB CACHE
1st M.2 SSD Drive
250GB SAMSUNG 970 EVO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3400MB/R, 1500MB/W)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
NOT REQUIRED
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
Corsair H80i V2 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)
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 6 to 8 working days
Quantity
1

Price £1,696.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure : https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-z370-pc/XHG4xWQDxy/
 

Scott

Behold The Ford Mondeo
Moderator
A configuration link to work with!!!! Bliss :D

I don't know if an Intel build is the right choice here. I would possibly look towards an AMD build. If you did, the 2070 would be within budget. I've made a few changes and selected the 2070 on an Intel build.....

Cheaper case, Faster RAM, lesser spec MB, Slightly cheaper M2, better cooler (H100 is the minimum IMO).

Case
FRACTAL DEFINE S BLACK GAMING CASE (Window)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i7 Eight Core Processor i7-9700K (3.6GHz) 12MB Cache

Get Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 & More w/ select Intel CPUs!
Motherboard
Gigabyte Z390 AORUS PRO: ATX, LG1151, USB 3.1, SATA 6GBs - RGB Ready

Get an AORUS M3 Gaming Mouse w/ select GIGABYTE Motherboards!
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 2070 - HDMI, 3x DP GeForce - RTX VR Ready!

Get Battlefield V -OR- Anthem with select NVIDIA GeForce RTX GPUs!
1st Storage Drive
2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 64MB CACHE
1st M.2 SSD Drive
250GB WD Black™ M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 3000MB/s R | 1600MB/s W)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
NOT REQUIRED
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
Corsair H100x 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)
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 6 to 8 working days
Quantity
1

Price £1,765.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure : https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-z370-pc/V3vXEJhAq8/

Just over budget but a VERY good high end build.


AMD option...

Case
CORSAIR CRYSTAL SERIES 570X RGB GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 7 2700X Eight Core CPU (3.7GHz-4.35GHz/20MB CACHE/AM4)

Tom Clancy's The Division 2 FREE w/ select AMD Ryzen CPUs!
Motherboard
Gigabyte B450 AORUS ELITE: DDR4, USB 3.1 - RGB Ready
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 2933MHz ~ (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 2070 - HDMI, 3x DP GeForce - RTX VR Ready!

Get Battlefield V -OR- Anthem with select NVIDIA GeForce RTX GPUs!
1st Storage Drive
2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 64MB CACHE
1st M.2 SSD Drive
250GB WD Black™ M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 3000MB/s R | 1600MB/s W)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
NOT REQUIRED
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
Corsair H100x Hydro Cooler w/ PCS Ultra Quiet Fans
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 [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 6 to 8 working days
Quantity
1

Price £1,648.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure : https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-pc/NrGzfU0nTW/
 

Oussebon

Multiverse Poster
Agreed with the above comments, esp that it's worth looking at a Ryzen build.

What monitor exactly do you have? The model
 

jmorri

Member
Thanks for the responses!

I haven't really thought about an AMD build. I always assumed Intel was the way to go. Are there any noticeable disadvantages in performance if I choose an AMD Ryzen 7 2700X CPU over an i7 9600k CPU with this build? I can upgrade the graphics card easily in the future but I don't want the bottleneck to be on something I can't easily upgrade myself.

As for the monitor, it's 1440p but the monitor isn't gaming focused with a high refresh rate or anything. It's a Dell U2715H.
 

Scott

Behold The Ford Mondeo
Moderator
Thanks for the responses!

I haven't really thought about an AMD build. I always assumed Intel was the way to go. Are there any noticeable disadvantages in performance if I choose an AMD Ryzen 7 2700X CPU over an i7 9600k CPU with this build? I can upgrade the graphics card easily in the future but I don't want the bottleneck to be on something I can't easily upgrade myself.

As for the monitor, it's 1440p but the monitor isn't gaming focused with a high refresh rate or anything. It's a Dell U2715H.

The 9600k has a higher frequency and IPC but the 2700x is no slouch. You would probably notice 1-10% FPS difference, honestly nothing that would phase me. However, the Ryzen has hyperthreading which gives it a boost in other applications. Additionally, the Ryzen motherboards are going to be compatible with the next iteration of Ryzen (Ryzen3) coming out in the summer-ish. For upgrading this is a much more viable option as your only option with the Intel is the 9900k which would be a huge waste of money. With the Ryzen 3 you would get a meaningful upgrade down the line.

In your shoes with your usage in mind I would be going down the AMD route.
 

Oussebon

Multiverse Poster
At 1440p the differences between CPUs shrink as the bottleneck shifts more towards the GPU. And as you're gaming at 60hz, it doesn't matter if your game pulls 100 or 110 FPS, you're only going to be displaying 60 of those fps anyhow.

I'd suggest a Ryzen system based on what The_Scotster said, but based on current pricing the R5 2600 is far more attractive. You probably don't need the ~5% performance difference:
relative-performance-games-2560-1440.png
(less than 5% in a lot of cases, since that was benchmarked with a more powerful GPU than yours).
https://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Intel/Core_i7_9700K/19.html

And the R5 2600 is £300 cheaper than a similar Intel build. Plus Zen 3 / Ryzen 3000 in an upgrade option, unlike future Intel CPUs that will likely need a new mobo.
Builds for purposes of comparing prices:
https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-z370-pc/mSmxnKbGwv/ (£1134)
https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-pc/dZcsfnNPaP/ (£833)
That's a pretty crazy price difference for the negligible performance loss.

The RTX 2070 is about £180 more than an RTX 2060 (50% more, £540 vs £360). But is ~15% more powerful. That's pretty sucky value when £180 is a big chunk of a future GPU upgrade. And the RTX 2060 is pretty solid at 1440p.
the-witcher-3_2560-1440.png
https://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/NVIDIA/GeForce_RTX_2060_Founders_Edition/28.html

With the savings from that and the CPU you'd be able to afford a 1440p 144hz monitor with gsync. Or a small holiday.

Case
FRACTAL DEFINE S BLACK GAMING CASE (Window)
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 2600 Six Core CPU (3.4GHz-3.9GHz/19MB CACHE/AM4)
---Tom Clancy's The Division 2 FREE w/ select AMD Ryzen CPUs!
Motherboard
Gigabyte X470 AORUS Ultra Gaming: ATX, USB 3.1, SATA 6GBs - RGB Ready
---Get an AORUS M3 Gaming Mouse w/ select GIGABYTE Motherboards!
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 2933MHz ~ (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
6GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 2060 - HDMI, DP, DVI - VR Ready!
---Get Battlefield V -OR- Anthem with select NVIDIA GeForce RTX GPUs!
1[SUP]st[/SUP] Storage Drive
2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 64MB CACHE
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
NOT REQUIRED
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
Corsair H100x Hydro Cooler w/ PCS Ultra Quiet Fans
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 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 6 to 8 working days
Quantity
1

Price £1,237.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure : https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-pc/4BXw5xTkuc/
 
Last edited:

jmorri

Member
A very well detailed and informative response! I was coming into this convinced that my build was solid but now I'm definitely more convinced at a cheaper AMD build, especially as you say, it can be upgraded down the line. It's something to think about.

Thank you The_Scotster and Oussebon for the help!
 

Scott

Behold The Ford Mondeo
Moderator
If you're looking to upgrade and it's purely for gaming the 2600 is a no brainer as suggested. Minimal core clock difference between it and the 2700x and there's enough cores in the 2600 for any game. The only reason to consider the 2700x would be for applications outside of gaming that require multi-core, or for streaming during gameplay etc. Purely for gaming I would save the cash and go with the 2600.

2060 is a good shout as well, for 1440 gaming, was only the other day that Oussebon put up some vital statistics for the 2060 so I should have twigged with that :D

The 2070 is a bit of an oddball fit at the moment.
 

jmorri

Member
I think I'm sold with this AMD build. :yes: So with this, is the H100x water cooler necessary in this case? Would air cooling such as HYPER 212X be sufficient enough to keep the temps down and the PC relatively quiet?

Thanks.
 

Oussebon

Multiverse Poster
CM212x would be fine, though if you're looking for top quiet the Noctua cooler is the way to go. It's also an extremely effective air cooler, comparable to many mid-higher end water coolers. It would likely allow for some overclocking on future CPU upgrades too.

If trying to maximise quiet, then the RM850x PSU is worth a look. In addition to being a very good quality unit, it's also semi-passive, meaning it can cool itself a lot of the time without needing to use its fan at all.

More expensive, but you're still making big savings versus the original spec.
 

Scott

Behold The Ford Mondeo
Moderator
Does the 2600 not come with one of the Wraith coolers? Those are pretty good and from what I've read almost comparable to the Noctua, at least performance wise. In between I don't think there's much point.
 

Oussebon

Multiverse Poster
Ahh.. I think a wraith cooler won't be comparable to an NH-U14S...

Maybe one of the smaller or low profile Noctua coolers.

Also not all Wraiths are made equal:
https://www.techspot.com/review/1635-amd-wraith-coolers-compared/

The 2600 apparently has the Wraith Stealth:
https://www.amd.com/en/technologies/cpu-cooler-solution

Even the biddly NH-L9a apparently out-does the Wraith Stealth:
https://turbofuture.com/computers/Noctua-NH-L9a-AM4-CPU-Cooler-Review-and-Benchmarks
If this review is any good anyway, I've not gone into it.

But no, AMD won't be shipping stock coolers capable of rivaling one of the best single tower coolers on the market costing ~£60. As nice as their stock coolers are.
 
Last edited:

Scott

Behold The Ford Mondeo
Moderator
That's a shame then, not even close to the claims. Not sure where it was I read it but it sounded really promising.
 

jmorri

Member
After all your advice and suggestions, here's the build as it stands now. The 212X seems like sufficient for the time being and I added a slightly more expensive thermal paste for extra cooling (I think?). I went with the 860 instead of 970 as it seems like there is no significant benefit to gaming and boot up speeds. Slightly more expensive Fractal Define case to remove the glass case which looks a bit tacky imo. I think if this can be upgraded to stay competitive for a while, I'm happy with it.

Are other changes I should make with this build? I'm going to take on Oussebon's suggestion to buy 1440p 144hz monitor so that just about reaches the budget limit there. Is the build below going to be ready for that?

Thanks guys!

Case
FRACTAL DEFINE R6 BLACK QUIET MID-TOWER CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 2600 Six Core CPU (3.4GHz-3.9GHz/19MB CACHE/AM4)
Tom Clancy's The Division 2 FREE w/ select AMD Ryzen CPUs!
Motherboard
Gigabyte X470 AORUS Ultra Gaming: ATX, USB 3.1, SATA 6GBs - RGB Ready
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 2933MHz ~ (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
6GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 2060 - HDMI, DP, DVI - VR Ready!
Get Battlefield V -OR- Anthem with select NVIDIA GeForce RTX GPUs!
1st Storage Drive
250GB Samsung 860 EVO 2.5" SSD, SATA 6Gb/s (upto 550MB/sR | 520MB/sW)
2nd Storage Drive
2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 64MB CACHE
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
NOT REQUIRED
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
CoolerMaster Hyper 212X (120mm) Fan CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
COOLER MASTER MASTERGEL MAKER THERMAL COMPOUND
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
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 6 to 8 working days
Quantity
1

Price £1,275.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure : https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations//4fMKkBZvxm/
 

Oussebon

Multiverse Poster
Spec looks solid.

Just so you know the window in the Define S is plastic rather than tempered glass. It came out a little before everything had to be tempered glass.

The spec looks solid to me.

1440p 144hz gsync would be the thing to aim for I think. You can get the Dell S2716DG for ~£430 if you don't mind a TN panel.
 

jmorri

Member
One last question.

If not overclocking would getting a 2600x with stock cooling be a better choice than the 2600 with 212x? 2600x apparently has the Wraith coolers you were both talking about earlier and the CPU performs slightly better than the 2600. The price equals to roughly the same.

I think the noise issue is not a real problem for me as long as it's not like an aircraft going off but temperatures could very well be during the summer months.

Thanks.
 

Oussebon

Multiverse Poster
The discussion of coolers earlier might have muddied the waters a bit.

All AMD Ryzen 3, 5, 7 CPUs have wraith coolers.

But, there are 3/4 different kinds of wraith cooler - the Wraith Stealth, the Wraith Spire (with/without LED), and the Wraith Prism. The Wraith Prism is the one that is, according to AMD, in the same league as the 212 Evo. And that only comes with the R7 2700x, not the 2600x or any of the others.

However, any of the AMD stock coolers are fit for purpose.

2600 vs 2600x is splitting hairs a little. Though if spending over £1000 on a PC, splitting hairs is no bad thing!

I'd probably argue against the 2600x at the moment. The 2600 non-x's performance is fine. But if you find you need more CPU performance down the line, the 2600x probably wouldn't have made the difference between X game's performance being a total mess and it being great. The answer would probably be to upgrade to a Zen 2 CPU, in which case the 2600 + stock cooler would have saved you ~£30 towards that.

But if you don't have those £30 earmarked for anything else you could just get the 2600x + stock cooler and end up with a slightly better CPU and slightly better stock cooler (Spire instead of Stealth). Although the 2600x gets a better cooler because its TDP is higher so is deemed to need it.

£30 spread over several years of using the CPU isn't much money so up to you really. :)
 
Last edited:
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