Newbie needs help building a new pc

Hi guys,

i'm trying to get back into the pc world and need help building a new pc.

Ideally it would be used for gaming, streaming, recording and editing videos.

i already have a 4k monitor and my budget would be around £1200. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

thanks

hi Benj3,

4K output at that price is pushing it a bit. There is a review model with a good discount on it which gets you most of the way there - a great multicore processor for your streaming and editing, a very good graphics card etc. The Fusion RX:

https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/desktop-pcs/pc-of-the-month/

https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/configure-review/293/

It is a great use of your budget, but even so the RX590 will struggle to drive a lot of modern graphics intensive games at 4K. Depending on what you play and your willingness to turn down settings, you might do alright with it though. the other option would be to start with a new build, take out all of the bells and whistles (cheaper PSU & CPU, no M.2 SSD etc.) and use the savings for a better graphics card. Because the review build already comes with a discount though, it would mean a LOT of sacrifices to get a Vega 64 or a 2070 (and even then, you'd not be running every game on high settings).

If I were you, I'd either get the review build above and see how I go, saving up for a new GPU if needed.

*Edit* Here is a review of the RX590, it struggles at 4K with Ultra settings, but turn those down (or play games like Overwatch or CS:GO) and you might be OK: https://www.pcgamer.com/amd-radeon-rx-590-review/

This might work, cuts a lot of corners and a bit over budget but has more Graphics grunt:

Case
FRACTAL FOCUS G 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
ASUS® TUF X470-PLUS GAMING (DDR4, 6Gb/s, CrossFireX) - 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
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 550W VS SERIES™ VS-550 POWER SUPPLY
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
WIRELESS 802.11N 300Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD
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 6 to 8 working days
Quantity
1

Price £1,288.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure : https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-pc/ggWhNkz8GU/

The above are sound suggestions.

As another option to throw into the mix, and based strongly off the custom spec above, you could switch the graphics card to the RTX 2060 and the CPU to the R7 2700.

The 2070 isn't ideal for 4k gaming anyway. The 2060 will still let you play some titles at 4k, far more than the RX 590 would, but is a lot cheaper which lets you net the R7 CPU. The extra cores and threads may be very helpful for streaming.

Case
FRACTAL FOCUS G BLACK GAMING CASE (Window)
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 7 2700 Eight Core CPU (3.2GHz-4.1GHz/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
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
250GB Samsung 860 EVO 2.5" SSD, SATA 6Gb/s (upto 550MB/sR | 520MB/sW)
2[SUP]nd[/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 550W VS SERIES™ VS-550 POWER SUPPLY
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
WIRELESS 802.11N 300Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD
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 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 6 to 8 working days
Quantity
1

Price £1,227.00 including VAT and Delivery

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

Hi guys,

Thanks for the replies appreciate any help given to me. Would upping the budget to 1300 or 1400 (max) be able to tweak and make any worth while improvements to the builds?

What monitor do you have, exactly? The model will be written on the back quite often, or sometimes the underside of the screen. Or the product page of where you bought it

I've got a Samsung LU28E590DS/EN - that's the model code on the back of the monitor

For 4k gaming you'd ideally want an RTX 2080 or RTX 2080 ti. polycrac's spec with a 2080 non-ti goes to over £1540, as GPUs like these are expensive.

If you are really set on 4k gaming, I suggest waiting until February 7th for AMD's Radeon VII GPU to come out.

These are expected to offer performance in line with the 2080 and might weigh in a little cheaper. Or at least help squish Nvidia's prices down a little bit.

Also it supports Freesync, and your monitor has freesync.

4k isn't a need but if it was affordable I'd go for it. I'll probably go for one of the cheaper builds. The pc will be primarily used for streaming, video editing/uploading from games played on the ps4 pro but i will occasionally be playing games on the pc. Thanks alot guys for all the help and quick responses .

Then I'd probably suggest the build above with the R7 and the RTX 2060

thanks for the support, one last thing if i can please. I want to add a monitor, keyboard and mouse to the order. the monitor doesn't need to be 4k it'll be mostly used for editing/uploading videos and as a second monitor with streams whilst gaming on my other monitor.

Keyboard and mouse to be wired but just wondered what would be best for my money atm.

thanks

What's the budget for the extras?

around £150 - £200

Well, any 1080p 14" monitor around £120 will do then. Ideally one that's height adjustable for ergonomic purposes. Check other stores too as there are always sales so you might pick one up a bit cheaper. And the Cooler Master Devastator KB+M set is a good starter option for ~£30.

It's worth bearing in mind that there are holes in this plan.

You've got a 4k monitor, but you're not going to be able to play most demanding modern games at 4k on it. Instead you'll be playing them at below-native resolution (e.g. 1080p / 1440p), which a lot of people find looks worse than just playing at native res on a 1080p / 1440p monitor.

You're not going to get much value out of your 4k monitor in other words. Or at least not as much as you could.