At....... last....... a PC for me......

[SlimCini]

However many years later I can finally buy myself a PC. Kids junk re-arranged. Money no longer tight. Space now has appeared for a PC desk. Life is falling into place.

PC
Case
CORSAIR 5000D AIRFLOW TEMPERED GLASS GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i7 12-Core Processor i7-12700KF (3.6GHz) 25MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING B660-PLUS WIFI D4: ATX, LGA1700, USB 3.2, SATA 6GBs - ARGB Ready
Memory (RAM)
4GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 2400MHz (1 x 4GB)
Sourcing 16Gb 3600Mhz C16 RAM from amazon for £80: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Corsair-CMK16GX4M2D3600C16-VENGEANCE-PC4-28800-Optimized/dp/B08PW3RDPN/ref=sr_1_4?crid=33637WN5RUYF6&keywords=16gb+ddr4+3600mhz+c16&qid=1646135986&s=computers&sprefix=16gb+ddr4+3600mhz+c16,computers,65&sr=1-4
Graphics Card
8GB ASUS TUF GAMING GEFORCE RTX 3070 Ti - HDMI, DP, LHR
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SAMSUNG 980 PRO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 7000MB/R, 5000MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 1000W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
Corsair iCUE H115i 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
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
NO RECOVERY MEDIA REQUIRED
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Microsoft® Edge
Keyboard & Mouse
PCS BK110 USB KEYBOARD
Keyboard & Mouse
PCS M400 USB OPTICAL MOUSE
Mouse Pad
PCS Mouse Mat
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 9 to 12 working days
Price: £2,117.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-z690-pc/nzj47h92KM/

Monitor
Alienware AW3423DW when it launches end of March for maybe ~ £1000k

All in all, just over £3k on PC and monitor which is what I told myself I'd justify spending.

If that monitor launches at closer to £1300 then I'll still buy it and just lie to my wife and not tell her the real truth. I've got an OLED laptop panel and OLED from a PC is just different gravy so I want it.

CBA with DDR5 RAM.

TUF B660 going to be fine with that i7??

Still not quite deadset on the 3070ti ASUS TUF just yet. Regular 3070 would save me £152. 3070 ASUS TUF would save me £46. But the 3070Ti ASUS TUF is currently cheaper than the lottery-unbranded 3070Ti so I almost feel like that bargain should be made use of for very little reason whatsoever. Well... a few more frames on an OLED 175Hz widescreen panel would make me smile like a child.

Someone convince me that a 3070ti is justified over a 3070 for a 3440x1400 175Hz panel please....

 

[Steveyg]

Hi mate, I wouldn't bother with the ASUS brand GPU's. I mean it's entirely up to you but I just don't think they are worth the premium cost

I'd also like a different storage set up including a dedicated OS/Boot drive

Last thing I wouldn't bother with the mouse, keyboard and mousepad. If you want something cheap and cheerful there are actually cheaper options out there but I'd say invest in something good in these areas. You be suprised how much a quality of life improvment it is especially if you're planning to use them as much as I use mine

The rest of the build looks rock solid though, in terms of components selected it gets a thumbs up

 

[SlimCini]

Hi mate, I wouldn't bother with the ASUS brand GPU's. I mean it's entirely up to you but I just don't think they are worth the premium cost

I'd also like a different storage set up including a dedicated OS/Boot drive

Last thing I wouldn't bother with the mouse, keyboard and mousepad. If you want something cheap and cheerful there are actually cheaper options out there but I'd say invest in something good in these areas. You be suprised how much a quality of life improvment it is especially if you're planning to use them as much as I use mine

The rest of the build looks rock solid though, in terms of components selected it gets a thumbs up

Yeah but the ASUS TUF 3070ti is cheaper than the unbranded one right now, hence the choice for it...

Storage... yeah, toying with that. I have a 1Tb SSD in my laptop now and have never got anywhere near using it in 2 years. I rarely have more than 2-3 games installed on it and I don't save any files locally on it. I could reinstall Windows on my machine anytime I want. Most of my stuff is cloud saved. If I need the space I'll just buy a 2nd 1Tb in a year or two I think.

Mouse, keyboard, mat. Again, toying with it. I'm thinking I'll get people to get me those for birthdays and stuff which will be in a few months. I could just commandeer cheapo's from my work place until then I suppose actually.

 

[Steveyg]

Wild the ASUS TUF is cheaper right now, guess that's a no brainer

Case
CORSAIR 5000D AIRFLOW TEMPERED GLASS GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i7 12-Core Processor i7-12700KF (3.6GHz) 25MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING Z690-PLUS WIFI D4 (LGA1700, USB 3.2, PCIe 5.0) - ARGB Ready
Memory (RAM)
4GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 2400MHz (1 x 4GB)
Graphics Card
8GB ASUS TUF GAMING GEFORCE RTX 3070 Ti - HDMI, DP, LHR
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SEAGATE FIRECUDA 530 GEN 4 PCIe NVMe (up to 7000MB/R, 3000MB/W)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB INTEL® 670p M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 3500MB/sR | 2500MB/sW)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 1000W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
Corsair iCUE H115i 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
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
NO RECOVERY MEDIA REQUIRED
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 - Approximately 9 to 12 working days
Price: £2,076.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-z690-pc/tgc3bxSs0e/

 

[Scott]

Some fairly minor changes that I would suggest:

The Motherboard is OK for the chip, but there's so little difference in price that there's no reason to go for the B660 IMO. The Z690 offers better features & storage.

Storage, with the 1 and done approach I would do it right now. That way you don't even need to consider it. Primary drive you don't want to be over 50% utilisation, to keep the speed, and having the games loading from a separate drive gives much better potential for significant load advantages when direct storage lands. Not to mention you can wipe Windows and do what you like on the primary without having to re-organise & re-download the games again. They can just happily live on the secondary.

Have you thought about the shiny shiny with the case? The 5000X isn't that much more

Similar thoughts on the peripherals but left them in. Rest of the build is bob on IMO.

Case
CORSAIR 5000D AIRFLOW TEMPERED GLASS GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i7 12-Core Processor i7-12700KF (3.6GHz) 25MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING Z690-PLUS WIFI D4 (LGA1700, USB 3.2, PCIe 5.0) - ARGB Ready
Memory (RAM)
4GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 2400MHz (1 x 4GB)
Graphics Card
8GB ASUS TUF GAMING GEFORCE RTX 3070 Ti - 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
1TB SEAGATE FIRECUDA 530 GEN 4 PCIe NVMe (up to 7300MB/R, 6000MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 1000W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
Corsair iCUE H115i 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
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
NO RECOVERY MEDIA REQUIRED
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Microsoft® Edge
Keyboard & Mouse
PCS BK110 USB KEYBOARD
Keyboard & Mouse
PCS M400 USB OPTICAL MOUSE
Mouse Pad
PCS Mouse Mat
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 9 to 12 working days
Price: £2,162.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-z690-pc/V0DJ05Uddr/

 

[SlimCini]

Wild the ASUS TUF is cheaper right now, guess that's a no brainer

Case
CORSAIR 5000D AIRFLOW TEMPERED GLASS GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i7 12-Core Processor i7-12700KF (3.6GHz) 25MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING Z690-PLUS WIFI D4 (LGA1700, USB 3.2, PCIe 5.0) - ARGB Ready
Memory (RAM)
4GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 2400MHz (1 x 4GB)
Graphics Card
8GB ASUS TUF GAMING GEFORCE RTX 3070 Ti - HDMI, DP, LHR
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SEAGATE FIRECUDA 530 GEN 4 PCIe NVMe (up to 7000MB/R, 3000MB/W)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB INTEL® 670p M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 3500MB/sR | 2500MB/sW)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 1000W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
Corsair iCUE H115i 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
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
NO RECOVERY MEDIA REQUIRED
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 - Approximately 9 to 12 working days
Price: £2,076.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-z690-pc/tgc3bxSs0e/

Yeah, yeah. I get it. You want me to have 2xSSds.

£40 more for an extra 500Gb of good SSD is tempting does tempt me I have to say.

 

[SlimCini]

Some fairly minor changes that I would suggest:

The Motherboard is OK for the chip, but there's so little difference in price that there's no reason to go for the B660 IMO. The Z690 offers better features & storage.

Storage, with the 1 and done approach I would do it right now. That way you don't even need to consider it. Primary drive you don't want to be over 50% utilisation, to keep the speed, and having the games loading from a separate drive gives much better potential for significant load advantages when direct storage lands. Not to mention you can wipe Windows and do what you like on the primary without having to re-organise & re-download the games again. They can just happily live on the secondary.

Have you thought about the shiny shiny with the case? The 5000X isn't that much more

Similar thoughts on the peripherals but left them in. Rest of the build is bob on IMO.

Case
CORSAIR 5000D AIRFLOW TEMPERED GLASS GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i7 12-Core Processor i7-12700KF (3.6GHz) 25MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING Z690-PLUS WIFI D4 (LGA1700, USB 3.2, PCIe 5.0) - ARGB Ready
Memory (RAM)
4GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 2400MHz (1 x 4GB)
Graphics Card
8GB ASUS TUF GAMING GEFORCE RTX 3070 Ti - 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
1TB SEAGATE FIRECUDA 530 GEN 4 PCIe NVMe (up to 7300MB/R, 6000MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 1000W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
Corsair iCUE H115i 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
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
NO RECOVERY MEDIA REQUIRED
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Microsoft® Edge
Keyboard & Mouse
PCS BK110 USB KEYBOARD
Keyboard & Mouse
PCS M400 USB OPTICAL MOUSE
Mouse Pad
PCS Mouse Mat
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 9 to 12 working days
Price: £2,162.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-z690-pc/V0DJ05Uddr/

Add on £80 for the RAM though so it's price-creep at £2242. Need to decide how much creep I can get away with without my boss wife finding out.

Still not convinced about two drives. I get the argument as I read it all the time on here but I don't see me needing it. Not for a long while anyway.

5000X is eye-candying me though. As is the Z690. I could go get those two into it for £2127 (https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-z690-pc/tXRYk0!cQx/).

In fact I don't even know what I've done. £2127 is only £10 more than the quote in the first post and yet I've added a better case and motherboard and both of those are more than £10 more than what I replaced them with. Prices updated and dropped that fluidly within the last hour? Bargain.

 

[DarTon]

On the GPU. How much are you paying for that ASUS 3070 Ti? I'm seeing that at £866 when it's at £800 with a third party. A Zotac one at £790 . I can also get a Palit 3070 for £730. Seems poor value. PCS is better for vanilla GPU prices than the Asus ones.

Also £80 for 16GB of RAM seems a bit expensive. OC has 2x8GB 3600 CL16 at £69 but I suppose delivery is a bit more. For £100 though you can get 32GB (2x16GB) of 3600 CL18. Yes, you don't need 32GB and CL18 is slower than CL16 but it will very probably overclock to CL16.

 

[SlimCini]

On the GPU. How much are you paying for that ASUS 3070 Ti? I'm seeing that at £866 when it's at £800 with a third party. A Zotac one at £790 . I can also get a Palit 3070 for £730. Seems poor value. PCS is better for vanilla GPU prices than the Asus ones.

Also £80 for 16GB of RAM seems a bit expensive. OC has 2x8GB 3600 CL16 at £69 but I suppose delivery is a bit more. For £100 though you can get 32GB (2x16GB) of 3600 CL18. Yes, you don't need 32GB and CL18 is slower than CL16 but it will very probably overclock to CL16.

£871 for the TUF 3070Ti on PCS right now. Good point. £800 for TUF 3070Ti elsewhere. Didn't even think to check too carefully and assumed PCS would be good value. So 3rd party 3070Ti will drop price by £71.

16Gb C16 ram, again yes can find it for £68.99. So another £11 saved.

£10.50 delivery so all in all maybe another £70 saved there.

Price drops from £2127 to £2057.

Lovely stuff.