A little help for a relative new comer?

[Foxhound]

Alright folks.. so I'm looking to go all out building a powerful pc, budget being between £1200 and £1500, I've been pc gaming for just under a year now on a really low end gaming laptop, its served me well but now I'm looking for the real deal, I have a understanding about most basics but couldn't tell you anything about graphics cards and the like, so long story short I built a pc on this site a while ago that looked great, plenty of ram and all that but i had a graphics card selected that stated it was 4k and vr ready.. the problem now is when building i can find graphics cards that say vr ready but not 4k ready?? So i was hoping you guys could tell me which graphics card is both vr and 4k ready and aslo some powerful build recommendations that are in my price range, thanks in advance also I'm completely new to these forums so I hope I'm posting this in the right place, if not I apologise in advance lol

 

[Oussebon]

Ignore everything PCS say about whether a GPU is 4k/ VR etc ready.

The tables they list that stuff on are meant to be helpful, but appear a little out of date or could be read the wrong way.

Moreover, it depends on the games you play and the setting you expect, etc.

Just wanted to get that warning in there before saying hi and welcome to the forums

With a gaming PC, you want a balanced system that gives you the option to upgrade, without overspending (or underspending).
e.g. if you're gaming on a 1080p 60hz monitor, and might upgrade to 4k next year, buying an RTX 2080 ti would be a waste of money because it's overkill for 1080p and will probably have been superseded by new hardware by the time you buy a new monitor.
Or if you buy an RTX 2060 Super because it's sort-of-okay at 4k for some games now, but will choke on more demanding titles at that resolution when you expand your interests in a few months, you'll have underspent for 4k and probably ought to have stuck with 1440p. For instance.

Before suggesting specs:

Do you need a monitor within your £1200-£1500 budget?

If you already have a monitor, what resolution and refresh rate is it?

If you are buying a monitor separately, what is your budget for that?

What sorts of games are you into?

 

[Foxhound]

Hey! I see, thanks so much for the info dude! So to reply.. basically I am just looking for something that is able to run in 4k and supports vr really, and I'm quite the amateur when it comes to all that so any help on what I should go for would be greatly appreciated!

As for the before specs questions..

I have bought a cheap 4k monitor for now at £160. An ElectriQ 28" 4K Ultra HD HDR 1ms FreeSync Gaming Monitor to be exact,

I will provide a screenshot for the specs and details for the Monitor with this reply. I do plan on getting a better one down the line, but will be using that one for the first while.

As for games: I do play a variety of games of all kinds and age but I mostly play open world RPGs Fallout, elder scrolls, dragon age and games similar to those old and new with mods.

Really hope this makes it abit more clear dude, would really appreciate it if you could give me some build recommendations or give your judgement on builds from pcspecialist I'm currently looking at, thanks again so much for taking the time to help a guy out!🤙🤙

 

[Oussebon]

4k gets talked about a lot, but needs very powerful PC hardware. It's out of reach for most people.

With £1500 you can just about do it:

Case
FRACTAL FOCUS G BLACK GAMING CASE (Window)
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 2600X Six Core CPU (3.6GHz-4.25GHz/19MB 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 3000MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 2080 SUPER - HDMI, 3x DP GeForce - RTX VR Ready!

Get Call of Duty: Modern Warfare with select NVIDIA GeForce RTX GPUs!
1st Storage Drive
1TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 64MB CACHE
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB ADATA SX6000 Pro PCIe M.2 2280 (2100 MB/R, 1500 MB/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
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
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: £1,527.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-pc/VUA82e!pG5/


While one of the great things about PC gaming is that you can upgrade components over time, be careful with that.
Of course you'll upgrade the GPU, when newer and more demanding games come out, to a next-generation GPU that doesn't exist yet.
But buying a cheap 4k monitor only to upgrade to another 4k monitor that already exists means you kinda wasted £160.
Also bear in mind 4k gaming GPUs are generally £600-£1200 a pop. Upgrades won't come cheap!

The spec above should do 4k decently, though it is also a bit of a minimum for 4k, especially with demanding titles like modded SSE or FO4 with ENBs, reshades, high poly meshes, texture mods, ini tweaks, etc.

With your budget level, 1440p 144hz with a GPU like a 2060 Super would probably have been a better fit, and been much cheaper for future upgrades.

 

[Foxhound]

Hey everyone, relatively new to pc gaming, purchasing a new powerful 4k ready pc very soon and I was hoping you all could let me know if this Monitor would be ideal/worth it? It's the ElectriQ 28" 4K Ultra HD HDR 1ms FreeSync Gaming Monitor

 

[SpyderTracks]

Doesn’t say what monitor it is?

 

[Foxhound]

Oh sorry dude my bad it's the ElectriQ 28" 4K Ultra HD HDR 1ms FreeSync Gaming Monitor

 

[SpyderTracks]

Well, there aren't any proper reviews of it other than a couple of Amazon, it's impossible to say really, it's a bit of a gamble.

If it were me, I'd up my budget a fraction and get a robustly tested monitor by a known 3rd party reviewer.

 

[Oussebon]

Merging this into your existing topic as it's ultimately the same issue.

I'd make the same comments I already made.

You can afford a PC that will do fine on 4k.

But if you hadn't already bought the monitor, I'd probably have told you not to aim for 4k - instead to aim for 1440p and get a better quality, 1440p monitor. The experience would probably be better overall, and GPU upgrades would be cheaper in the future too.

And since you've already bought the monitor, replacing it is kind of wasting money that you don't really have. ~£1500-£1600 is enough for a 4k gaming PC, but it's not a lot for a 4k gaming PC.

 

[Foxhound]

Hey, so sorry it's been awhile..
story is, I had purchased that Monitor but something went wrong on their end and I got refunded that's why one post contradicts the other about buying it.
So currently have not got a Monitor, planning on purchasing the pc next month. Have been thinking about what some of you have said about 1440p instead just not 100% sure what to to do as of yet, but it's getting closer to the time when I'll have to make a decision.
Any recommendations again would be greatly appreciated, sorry if It seems like I'm wasting anyone's time just want to look over any and all opinions before having to choose, so dont be afraid to put it how it is folks.
Reason im splashing out specific amounts of money is because I'm also planning on getting a new desk and chair because my old ones just simply need replaced lol and as you all know buying everything from scratch ain't cheap lol.
Just want to say a massive thanks again to those of you that have commented I really do appreciate the help!
So yeah, anyone who sees this keep those recommendations coming assuming you have the time and I'll be sure to reply back and update when I finally make a decision based on what I see here, cheers🤙

 

[SpyderTracks]

What's your budget for the monitor?

 

[Foxhound]

I'm willing to pay what I have to for it dude, but for now lets say £250/£270?

 

[SpyderTracks]

I'm willing to pay what I have to for it dude, but for now lets say £250/£270?

That's gonna restrict your choices at 1440p really, really should be looking around £350 for a monitor to do that PC justice.

 

[Scott]

What about a really pretty 1440p build......

Case
CORSAIR iCUE 220T RGB AIRFLOW MID TOWER GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 3600 Six Core CPU (3.6GHz-4.2GHz/36MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF X470-PLUS GAMING (DDR4, 6Gb/s, CrossFireX) - RGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE RGB PRO DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 2060 SUPER - HDMI, DP - VR Ready!
1st Storage Drive
3TB SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 64MB CACHE
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB ADATA SX6000 Pro PCIe M.2 2280 (2100 MB/R, 1500 MB/W)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
NOT REQUIRED
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 240 Series RGB High Performance Liquid 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 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 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 7 to 9 working days
Price: £1,332.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/daj8qWXMee/


Would give you enough change from your maximum budget to get a first class 1440p monitor.

 

[Scott]

BTW, there are savings that could be made there if you wanted to lessen the financial hit. They wouldn't have any impact on current performance. However, the above is a decent base for just about any sort of gaming level you want to get to as things stand right now.

The only thing you would maybe want to consider upping slightly, to cover all bases, would be the PSU to a 650w (I would actually opt for 750 but 650 is generally enough).

 

[Foxhound]

That's gonna restrict your choices at 1440p really, really should be looking around £350 for a monitor to do that PC justice.

Fair enough, any Monitor in particular you recommend then?

 

[Foxhound]

What about a really pretty 1440p build......

Case
CORSAIR iCUE 220T RGB AIRFLOW MID TOWER GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 3600 Six Core CPU (3.6GHz-4.2GHz/36MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF X470-PLUS GAMING (DDR4, 6Gb/s, CrossFireX) - RGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE RGB PRO DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 2060 SUPER - HDMI, DP - VR Ready!
1st Storage Drive
3TB SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 64MB CACHE
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB ADATA SX6000 Pro PCIe M.2 2280 (2100 MB/R, 1500 MB/W)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
NOT REQUIRED
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 240 Series RGB High Performance Liquid 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 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 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 7 to 9 working days
Price: £1,332.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/daj8qWXMee/


Would give you enough change from your maximum budget to get a first class 1440p monitor.

Nice, thanks for taking the time there bud, I'll be sure to look that over, 1440p is looking like the way to go so far🤙

 

[Foxhound]

Case	THERMALTAKE V200 TEMPERED GLASS RGB EDITION GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)	Intel® Core™ i7 Eight Core Processor i7-9700 (3.0GHz) 12MB Cache
Motherboard	ASUS® ROG MAXIMUS XI HERO: ATX, LGA1151, USB 3.1, SATA 6GBs - RGB Ready
Memory (RAM)	32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 2400MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card	8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 2080 SUPER - HDMI, 3x DP GeForce - RTX VR Ready!
1st Storage Drive	1TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 64MB CACHE
1st M.2 SSD Drive	256GB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (2000 MB/R, 1100 MB/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	PCS FrostFlow 240 Series RGB High Performance Liquid Cooler
Thermal Paste	STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
LED Lighting	50cm RGB LED Strip
Sound Card	ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking	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 10 Professional 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence
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 5 to 7 working days

Price: £1,862.00

Thoughts on this build out of curiosity?? Worth the price?

 

[SpyderTracks]

Overpowered for your uses and wouldn’t perform any better than @The_Scotster build above

 

[Scott]

As above, you've gone off at a bit of a tangent with that build.

If you're going for 1440p the 2080 Super is a mile past what you need. Additionally a locked Intel matched with the best overclocking motherboard and 32GB of slow RAM is a bit bonkers to be honest.