A humble noob beseeches the wise ones!

[thoben]

Hi all,

Intending to replace a gaming laptop I bought from PCS 4 years ago now that I actually have a desk and some space for a proper tower again. I've thrown together the below spec and tried to follow available advice. But I am a massive noob and don't understand everything.

Uses:
Primary use is gaming and I play WarThunder, Tarkov, Virmintide 2 - not anything super crazy, nor do I want the ultimate, pixel perfect, 4k experience. I'm genuinely wanting something that will give good, consistent performance across the board. I don't stream and have no real interest in it, I would consider some very light touch VR as I have wanted to try something like DCS which sounds like is a far better experience with VR. Something relatively quiet would be nice as well. Unsurprisingly the laptop can be a Harrier Jump Jet when it is really performing...

Monitor:
On the shopping list. In the region of £500 for a budget. As mentioned above, dont need anything super-fancy.

Budget:
The below is probably the most I want to spend on the PC, with c. £500 for a monitor.

Case
PCS PRISM TG WHITE ARGB MID TOWER CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i9 Eight-Core Processor i9-11900F (2.5GHz) 16MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® ROG STRIX Z590-E GAMING WIFI (LGA1200, USB 3.2, PCIe 4.0) - ARGB Ready
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE RGB PRO DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3070 Ti - HDMI, DP, LHR
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (3300 MB/R, 2200 MB/W)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
4TB CORSAIR MP600 PRO NVMe PCIe M.2 SSD (up to 7000 MB/R, 6850 MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 850W RMe SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
PCS FrostFlow 360 Series ARGB High Performance Liquid Cooler
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
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 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
Promotional Item
Get Spider-Man Remastered with select GeForce RTX 30 Series GPUs!

Price: £2,675.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-z590-pc/4MQUgwr4WF/

Thank you for taking the time to look, and for any advice.

 

[MrWilson]

You have a very healthy budget, you can definitely get into 4K gaming, or alternatively this will be great for 1440p Ultrawide and VR too. Jumping into a meeting but will go into more detail when I come out.
Case
COOLERMASTER MASTERBOX TD500 MESH ARGB GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i5 14-Core Processor i5-13600K (3.5GHz) 24MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING Z690-PLUS D4 (LGA1700, USB 3.2, PCIe 5.0) - 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 M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SAMSUNG 980 PRO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 6900MB/R, 5000MB/W)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
2TB SOLIDIGM P41+ M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 4125MB/sR, 3325MB/sW)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 1000W RMe SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead, 1.0mm Core)
Processor Cooling
Corsair iCUE H100i ELITE CAPELLIX RGB 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
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 - Subject to stock availability on pre-order products
Price: £2,336.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-z690-pc/EnE68hJS8N/

 

[MrWilson]

This Gigabyte monitor is a great Ultrawide pick at £500, might be cheaper if you shop around a little.
If you want to stick with standard 16:9 resolution 4K is achievable with your budget. This Acer monitor is only £400 for a powerful 4K 144hz display. There are quite a few strong options around the £650 mark but this remains a solid pick for sure.

 

[thoben]

Much obliged MrWilson!
I'll have a look at those Monitors you have suggested.

Just on the PC spec for my own knowledge and learning, I can see the most notable changes were CPU, GPU and the network card.

For the CPU, I assumed that i9's would always be a better choice? Is there a specific stat I should be looking at when determining my need?

And for the Network card, i've seen PCS' builder suggest a network card is not needed? Presumably that's only if you can go for a wired network?

 

[AccidentalDenz]

Much obliged MrWilson!
I'll have a look at those Monitors you have suggested.

Just on the PC spec for my own knowledge and learning, I can see the most notable changes were CPU, GPU and the network card.

For the CPU, I assumed that i9's would always be a better choice? Is there a specific stat I should be looking at when determining my need?

And for the Network card, i've seen PCS' builder suggest a network card is not needed? Presumably that's only if you can go for a wired network?

I'm far from a wise one, but I think I can answer the i9 question. i9s are typically the most powerful CPUs that Intel produce in each generation, but of equal importance in relation to performance are the next numbers. The i9 in your build (11900F) is from the 11th Intel generation which released middle of last year and was a bit pants (technical term) as generations go. The i5 that MrWilson posted in his build (13600K) is from Intel's 13th generation which is just out and is quite a bit more powerful than the 11th gen. Due to the improvements that Intel have made in the last year, that i5 is more powerful (and cheaper!) than the i9 you were looking at.

If I'm wrong, someone will be along to correct me shortly!

 

[sck451]

@ActuallyDenz is 100% correct.

There's more, though: modern i9s are very similar to an i5, just with more: you get more of the same cores. Most games can't actually make use of the extra cores, so the difference in performance in gaming is minimal. Better to get the lower-tier chip, which is also easier to power and cool, and spend the money on other components than getting the top-tier when it doesn't benefit you anyway!

 

[thoben]

@ActuallyDenz @sck451 thanks very much for the answers!