Custom Build PC for Light Gaming & Design Work

[bhow093]

Hi, this is my first time building my own PC and I would love some advice if possible
I've been looking to upgrade to a decent desktop setup to be used mainly for Design work (Adobe Creative Suite - mostly Photoshop, InDesign and Illustrator) but I would also like to be able to use the PC for some light/casual gaming too.
I'd like a setup that can run most games to a decent standard (not too much lag), including fast-paced action games such as Fortnite (although I am happy to sacrifice graphics quality for efficiency!)

I was also wondering if this set up would work well with an Ultrawide (21:9) monitor? As I like the idea of using an Ultrawide rather than a dual-screen setup but I'm not sure if this would need any specific basic requirements in my build.

Here's a spec I've made, but as it's my first time building I'm a bit new to all of this so I may be completely off the mark:

Case
PCS SR-620C MID TOWER CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 7 3700X Eight Core CPU (3.6GHz-4.4GHz/36MB CACHE/AM4)

Get 3 Months of XBOX Game Pass for PC w/ select AMD Ryzen CPUs

The Outer Worlds -OR- Borderlands 3 w/ select AMD Ryzen CPUs
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF X570-PLUS GAMING (USB 3.2 Gen 2, PCIe 4.0, CrossFireX) - RGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 2666MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
6GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1660 Ti - HDMI, DP - GeForce GTX VR Ready!
1st Storage Drive
500GB SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 16MB CACHE
2nd Storage Drive
2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 256MB CACHE
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
STANDARD AMD CPU COOLER
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 8 CHANNEL (7.1) 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 & 6 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
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
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Google Chrome™
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 12 to 14 working days
Price: £1,154.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-workstation/!Y59KB4y6H/

Thanks in advance

 

[Oussebon]

1st Storage Drive
500GB SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 16MB CACHE
2nd Storage Drive
2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 256MB CACHE

Why the 2 HDDs?

Why the X570 motherboard?

What 21:9 monitor are you looking to get? There are different specs of monitor that fit that aspect ratio, some of which could be lovely to work on, some of which would be poor versus just getting a pair on monitors, in my opinion.

 

[bhow093]

Why the 2 HDDs?

Why the X570 motherboard?

What 21:9 monitor are you looking to get? There are different specs of monitor that fit that aspect ratio, some of which could be lovely to work on, some of which would be poor versus just getting a pair on monitors, in my opinion.

Ah sorry, I meant the first storage space to be 500GB SSD but I must have pressed the wrong thing by accident

I am very much a novice to all of this so apologies for any confusion from me.

Could you recommend a more appropriate motherboard?
Would the basic one be better for me?

For the monitor, if the difference in specs is the selling point, what specs would you recommend?

 

[Oussebon]

No worries - just to be clear, I was asking questions in case there was a specific reason (e.g. with the mobo), not because the choices are necessarily 'wrong' - but if there is no specific reason then cheaper or different options are open.

The X570 motherboard could be a good buy if you expect you'll need pretty extreme CPU horsepower and storage speed. It has decent VRMs so could be well suited to swapping the CPU for whatever AMD have up their sleeve in the shape of Zen 3 16+-core CPUs next year. And it supports PCIe 4.0 SSDs which will eventually get upto ~7000MB/S speeds.

But if you're not likely to take advantage of those options, a B450 mobo will do fine.

For the SSD, go with something off the M.2 SSD Drive menu as they're faster - some are more expensive, some are a similar price but still faster than Sata drives

Use the Ryzen Extreme configurator as it's basically the same thing, but with more options versus the one labelled "workstation".

PCSPECIALIST - Configure the AMD Am4 Gen3 PC to your ideal requirements.

PCSpecialist is an award-winning manufacturer of high quality custom PCs & Laptops. Configure the AMD Am4 Gen3 PC to your ideal requirements.

www.pcspecialist.co.uk

I'd probably get a better case, for improved cooling.

Faster RAM, as Ryzen CPUs can benefit a lot.

And since there's a little money left over after all that, maybe stretch to a better CPU cooler, which can help improve performance by keeping CPU frequencies up.

Case
CORSAIR CARBIDE SERIES™ 275Q QUIET CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 7 3700X Eight Core CPU (3.6GHz-4.4GHz/36MB CACHE/AM4)

Get 3 Months of XBOX Game Pass for PC w/ select AMD Ryzen CPUs

The Outer Worlds -OR- Borderlands 3 w/ select AMD Ryzen CPUs
Motherboard
ASUS® PRIME B450-PLUS (DDR4, USB 3.1, 6Gb/s) - RGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
6GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1660 Ti - HDMI, DP - GeForce GTX VR Ready!
1st Storage Drive
2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 256MB CACHE
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (2000 MB/R, 1100 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
CoolerMaster MasterLiquid Lite 240 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 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
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 12 to 14 working days
Price: £1,169.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/P!PU!7vqgs/

You could drop the GPU to a 1660 Super instead of a 1660 ti. It's near enough the same in performance, but cheaper.

 

[Oussebon]

Oh and drop the wifi card from my spec - I forgot to remove it and PCS include it by default these days. Assume you don't need wifi going by your original spec

 

[bhow093]

Thank you so much!

I'm happy to take the advice on where I can go cheaper in some areas and pay a bit more in others, as I wasn't 100% sure myself.

I think you're probably right about the B540 motherboard being right for me.
Thanks for the advice about the cooling and the GPU too.

No problem about the wifi, I think I may be connecting to the internet via ethernet cable, but if later down the line if I wanted to add wifi connectivity is that fairly simple to do?

Or would you say it's worth adding on now as a backup?

 

[Oussebon]

It'd be pointless to add as a backup imo.

In the extremely unlikely event your ethernet port dies you can buy a PCIe adapter for less than a tenner to plug in.

If you know you'll be moving to a wifi connection e.g. you'll be moving the PC to a different room where a wired connection isn't viable, then ofc do get a wifi card now if you like. The Intel AX200 card has a lot of features for the price and is the one I'd go with. Also has Bluetooth.

If you don't buiy a wifi card now, adding one in later or using a USB adapter is very easy though.

 

[bhow093]

It'd be pointless to add as a backup imo.

In the extremely unlikely event your ethernet port dies you can buy a PCIe adapter for less than a tenner to plug in.

If you know you'll be moving to a wifi connection e.g. you'll be moving the PC to a different room where a wired connection isn't viable, then ofc do get a wifi card now if you like. The Intel AX200 card has a lot of features for the price and is the one I'd go with. Also has Bluetooth.

If you don't buiy a wifi card now, adding one in later or using a USB adapter is very easy though.

Thanks!