Gaming Desktop

DaveS00 · Jun 8, 2022

MY last PCspecialist machine has lasted many many years (circa 8+ years. It was bleeding edge at the time). It is now reaching it limits and starting to overheat (I have cleaned it out), and memory errors causing BSOD - time to replace. Considering how long I keep my PC, with only mild updates - my previous PC had the addition of a newer graphics card and an SSD drive, quiet case fans. Is the below spec ok. I play games, ripping cd & dvds I own to my (seperate server) NAS/Media centre server. Games are not high end regards frame rate but do include FPS and similar. I don't need anything VR ready etc. I will at times be running a VM on the machine hence the pro version of Windows.

I also want the PC to be reasonably quiet. I plan swap out the case fan for 2* quiet 120mm PWM fans I already own.

Is the below spec reasonable/overkill. Advice particularly sought on cooling and if sufficient.

Is Windows 11 as stable as 10? Supported by games that will run on Win 10? I've not used 11 - looks to me like 10 with a slight facelift (dare I saw to look more like MACos)

Thanks in advance

Case
FRACTAL FOCUS G BLACK GAMING CASE (Window) (Special Offer)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i5 10-Core Processor i5-12600KF (3.7GHz) 20MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® ROG STRIX Z690-F GAMING WIFI (LGA1700, USB 3.2, PCIe 5.0) - ARGB Ready
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR5 5600MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
8GB ASUS ROG STRIX GEFORCE RTX 3070 Ti - HDMI, DP, LHR
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SEAGATE FIRECUDA 530 GEN 4 PCIe NVMe (up to 7300MB/R, 6000MB/W)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Power Supply
CORSAIR 750W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Processor Cooling
Corsair H60 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
2 PORT (1 x TYPE A, 1 x TYPE C) USB 3.1 PCI-E CARD + STANDARD USB PORTS
Operating System
Windows 11 Professional 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence

Les Whyte · Jun 8, 2022

The experts will give you advice on your build tomorrow, I expect, but as for Win 11, I've used it for 6 months now. It's perfectly stable, faster and runs Win 10 programs/games without issue and it's constantly being enhanced.

Aza · Jun 8, 2022

So theres a few routes you can take.

1) If you could link your current system specs (and make any changes for upgrades youve made) you could look at options to squeeze a few more years out of what youve got... this could be a cpu upgrade to the max your current board will take, possible cooler upgrades and stuff like that.
You might also find that the overheating can be helped with a repaste, and BSOD could be resolved by doing a complete fresh install and generally cleaning up the software.

2) Other option is to look for a new build now, so a budget, what monitors you will be using and maybe a bit more about type of games or any other software you want to run on it.

3) Third option, and probably your best choice if going with a new build, is to wait a few months for the new releases all due around sept time. Theres new CPUs. GPUs, RAM, Storage and motherboards all due out and the AMD 7000 series CPUs are looking like they'll wipe the floor with anything currently available. RAM could also see DDR5 becoming a bit more viable (atm its a very high premium for little gain due to its latency values being so high, Storage is looking lie the next generation being released with PCIe 5 as well, new GPU's (4000 series Nvidia) and in particular, with the new AMD 7000 theres a brand new socket/platform so new motherboards and so on. Prices dont tend to be much more than current gen would cost you, but power/performance is set to drastically be increased.

General Stuff
Regarding Win Pro - the only real differences will be the domain features it brings, so more aimed at corporate buyers, its not like with Windows pre-win 10 where there was a whole host of extra features, however youve said youve got your own server so i'm guessing you want it for that.

In regard to your spec listed above, theres a few red flags;
Cooler is a very old model, decade maybe?, in short, look at the H100i/H115i/H150i models they are the current ones, and scale with CPU spec.

PSU dont go for anything less than 850W as a minimum, and realistically look at the 1000W (or more if taking a top spec GPU) to give reasonable headroom on full load, and room for future upgrades.

DDR5 i've kinda covered above, its not optimised atm, with CL values around 36 to 40 meaning the gain over DDR4 is very small yet costs much more... if looking for DDR5 i'd strongly suggest waiting for all the new release stuff to see what it brings.

Cases with DVD drives really limit choices, and normal advice would be to take an external one so you can get a decent modern case still and just plug the drive in when needed (they're pretty slim/compact these days)

If running virtual machines and stuff i'd also maybe push the cpu spec a little more, not an area I know much about but i'm thinking the extra cores a 12700 would give would be beneficial, waiting for the new AMD cpu's would probably be a better move still here as well.

I understand youve got your own server setup but it would also be recommend to have a separate OS drive (500GB) and then a 1Tb or larger as a games drive etc...then your NAS can be used as your archive/bulk storage etc. Microsoft Directaccess is going to make having a separate, fast games drive highly beneficial as it means it'll go direct to the GPU rather than via the CPU read more here

Hope that makes sense...i'm not the best and my knowledge only really scratches the surface but that should help bring you up to speed a little.

DaveS00 · Jun 8, 2022

Aza said:
So theres a few routes you can take.

1) If you could link your current system specs (and make any changes for upgrades youve made) you could look at options to squeeze a few more years out of what youve got... this could be a cpu upgrade to the max your current board will take, possible cooler upgrades and stuff like that.
You might also find that the overheating can be helped with a repaste, and BSOD could be resolved by doing a complete fresh install and generally cleaning up the software.

2) Other option is to look for a new build now, so a budget, what monitors you will be using and maybe a bit more about type of games or any other software you want to run on it.

3) Third option, and probably your best choice if going with a new build, is to wait a few months for the new releases all due around sept time. Theres new CPUs. GPUs, RAM, Storage and motherboards all due out and the AMD 7000 series CPUs are looking like they'll wipe the floor with anything currently available. RAM could also see DDR5 becoming a bit more viable (atm its a very high premium for little gain due to its latency values being so high, Storage is looking lie the next generation being released with PCIe 5 as well, new GPU's (4000 series Nvidia) and in particular, with the new AMD 7000 theres a brand new socket/platform so new motherboards and so on. Prices dont tend to be much more than current gen would cost you, but power/performance is set to drastically be increased.

General Stuff
Regarding Win Pro - the only real differences will be the domain features it brings, so more aimed at corporate buyers, its not like with Windows pre-win 10 where there was a whole host of extra features, however youve said youve got your own server so i'm guessing you want it for that.

In regard to your spec listed above, theres a few red flags;
Cooler is a very old model, decade maybe?, in short, look at the H100i/H115i/H150i models they are the current ones, and scale with CPU spec.

PSU dont go for anything less than 850W as a minimum, and realistically look at the 1000W (or more if taking a top spec GPU) to give reasonable headroom on full load, and room for future upgrades.

DDR5 i've kinda covered above, its not optimised atm, with CL values around 36 to 40 meaning the gain over DDR4 is very small yet costs much more... if looking for DDR5 i'd strongly suggest waiting for all the new release stuff to see what it brings.

Cases with DVD drives really limit choices, and normal advice would be to take an external one so you can get a decent modern case still and just plug the drive in when needed (they're pretty slim/compact these days)

If running virtual machines and stuff i'd also maybe push the cpu spec a little more, not an area I know much about but i'm thinking the extra cores a 12700 would give would be beneficial, waiting for the new AMD cpu's would probably be a better move still here as well.

I understand youve got your own server setup but it would also be recommend to have a separate OS drive (500GB) and then a 1Tb or larger as a games drive etc...then your NAS can be used as your archive/bulk storage etc. Microsoft Directaccess is going to make having a separate, fast games drive highly beneficial as it means it'll go direct to the GPU rather than via the CPU read more here

Hope that makes sense...i'm not the best and my knowledge only really scratches the surface but that should help bring you up to speed a little.

Thank you very much Aza - you current knowledge is much deeper than mine, and very helpful. Clearly a watch this space for the new releases that are coming down the road shortly. I will check on the Windows - for Win10 home there is no VM support. I'm really not interested in the corporate domain features (my media server is Linux, and i don't need domain login - I understand the security aspects/benefits etc).

Cooler and PSU - ty and noted.

VM will be run rarely so the extra uoomph not needed in this instance, but agreed may go for latest spec CPU. My old desktop is really EOSL - it had a clean isntall about 18 months ago, and is really sluggish - I think any upgrade ont hat would give me limited uplift to its speed.

Historically AMD ran hotter than Intel => more cooling => more noise - is this still the rule of thumb?

DDR5 - interesting and noted.

Internal CD-Drive - the only reason i spec'd that is due to FairStairs CD ripper which doesn't like me external drive on my laptop. Taking your advice I'll look into alternate rippers and get a more modern case.

Very interesting about the second drive - I was going to transfer my 1TB spinner as local data with current game on SSD, but will reconsider that. Really interesting about direct access drive => GPU - i was totally unaware of that; Good shout.

Games and Monitor i'm sorted on and understand in depth. I have a modern hi res monitor. Games will be looking at whats on the market for the past circa 3 years up tp now. I've been using older games that I know will run reasonably on my older PC.

Many Thanks for the advice and time you have taken
Dave

Aza · Jun 8, 2022

Intel have been the "hot" cpu's for at least the last few years, generally higher power usage and the 12900 in particular atm is a bit controversial where an issue with teh bracket design and the heat put out by the chip have lead to buckling/warping and increased problems with thermal control (Thermal Grizzly even making a bracket to help counter it).

From what i've seen of the new 7000 series the power usage it looks like its still lower than Intel 12th gen so temps should also be lower, pretty much all the info on them is positive news and a big leap on current gen
https://www.tomsguide.com/news/amd-ryzen-7000-release-date-specs-and-everything-we-know

Gaming Desktop

DaveS00

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