Gaming PC for £3500

Doravos

New member
I want this spec to last me for some time. I'll be using a 25" 1920x1080 HD 240Hz Monitor.

Case
CORSAIR CARBIDE SERIES™ 275R TEMPERED GLASS GAMING CASE
Overclocked CPU
Overclocked Intel® Core™ i9-9900X Ten Core (3.50GHz @ up to 4.5GHz)
Motherboard
ASUS® PRIME X299-A: ATX, USB 3.1, SATA 6 GB/s, RGB Ready
Memory (RAM)
64GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3000MHz (4 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 2080 - HDMI, 3x DP GeForce - RTX VR Ready!
1st Storage Drive
NOT REQUIRED
2nd Storage Drive
8TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA PRO 3.5", 7200 RPM 256MB CACHE
1st M.2 SSD Drive
2TB SAMSUNG 970 EVO PLUS M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3500MB/R, 3300MB/W)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
NOT REQUIRED
Power Supply
CORSAIR 750W TXm SERIES™ SEMI-MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
Corsair H100x Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
COOLER MASTER MASTERGEL MAKER THERMAL COMPOUND
Sound Card
Asus Xonar AE 7.1-Channel Gaming Audio Card
Wireless/Wired Networking
WIRELESS 802.11 AC1900 1,300Mbps/5GHz, 600Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 6 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Genuine 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
Google Chrome™
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
TIMED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND - MON-FRI (BEFORE 2PM)
Build Time
FAST TRACK 3 WORKING DAY DISPATCH
Price: £3,524.00 including VAT and Delivery
 

Oussebon

Multiverse Poster
This is a bad spec. You can do much better.

Intel's CPUs on the Z390 motherboards will offer better performance for gaming (and incidentally are cheaper).

There's 0 point to more than 16gb RAM for gaming. 0 point. You'll get no benefit, and it is not futureproof. Because by the time games benefit from even 32gb RAM, it won't matter how much you bought today because everything else in the PC will be obsolete. And we'll be on DDR5 RAM by then. All 64gb RAM does for gaming is waste your money. Stick to 16gb,

If you have uses other than gaming (e.g. you are a professional video editor and use Premiere Pro for a living) please specify :)

That is a really cheap case for the budget. Get something with better airflow. This will help improve performance by helping to keep GPU boost clocks as high as possible.

And obviously get a better GPU.

Ditch the sound card; onboard audio is fine, and if you're an audiophile you may want to look into different gear to gamer-oriented soundcards.

I'd also get a better quality PSU personally.

e.g.

Case
FRACTAL MESHIFY C BLACK GAMING CASE (Window)
Overclocked CPU
Overclocked Intel® Core™ i7-9700K Eight Core (3.60GHz @ up to 5.0GHz)
Motherboard
Gigabyte Z390 AORUS Master: ATX, LG1151, USB 3.1, SATA 6GBs WIFI - RGB Ready
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
11GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 2080 Ti - HDMI, 3x DP GeForce - RTX VR Ready!
1st Storage Drive
8TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA PRO 3.5", 7200 RPM 256MB CACHE
1st M.2 SSD Drive
2TB SAMSUNG 970 EVO PLUS M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3500MB/R, 3300MB/W)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
NOT REQUIRED
Power Supply
CORSAIR 850W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
Corsair H115i PRO Cooler w/ PCS Ultra Quiet Fans
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 [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 Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
TIMED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND - MON-FRI (BEFORE 2PM)
Build Time
FAST TRACK 3 WORKING DAY DISPATCH
Price: £3,041.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-z370-overclocked/yY6nFEQcMW/

NB: mobo has onboard wifi and BT, so no wifi card
 

Doravos

New member
Given the monitor I'm looking at is AMD, what about a future proofed AMD processor and graphics card build?
 

Oussebon

Multiverse Poster
The monitor is AMD? Do you mean it's a Freesync monitor?

What's the exact model e.g. Dell Alienware AW2518HF ?
 

Oussebon

Multiverse Poster
It will work fine with an Nvidia GPU and Intel CPU.

"Freesync" is adaptive sync. Nvidia have recently started supporting it, so it should work fine on an Nvidia GPU. However, even if freesync wasn't playing nice, the monitor would still work fine and run 240hz.

Note that there is a gsync version as well ( AW2518H ) - gsync is a kind of adaptive sync that works exclusively with Nvidia GPUs.

Nvidia's top end GPUs at the moment are a lot better than AMD's top end GPUs.

Are you sure you want a 1080p 240hz monitor and not 1440p 144hz or 4k? Is it mostly ultra-competitive shooters you play?
 

Doravos

New member
I'm thinking more of my limited deskspace. A monitor wider than 60 cm will not do. My personal preference is FPS over resolution.
 

Oussebon

Multiverse Poster
There are 24" 1440p 144hz monitors in fairness, though if you are sure you are going to benefit from the difference between 144hz and 240hz (are you?) then that's your choice.

You get some people who play games like WoW on medium to get 300fps.. on their 1080p 60hz monitors.. because they think more FPS = better. So I feel obliged to ask whenever someone says framerate is their preference :)

As above, Nvidia's top end GPUs are head and shoulders above AMD's. And unfortunately that's likely to remain the case for a while yet. So RTX 2080 ti it is.

As for CPUs, currently Intel's outperform AMDs in gaming. They're a lot more expensive, and not necessarily 'worth' buying for 99.9% of people, but as you are planning on using 1080p 240hz monitor and have a very large budget, this is one of the cases where an Intel CPU could actually be the best fit.

Although - if the purchase is not urgent you may wish to hold off. AMD are announcing new CPUs over the next few days, and these may match or possibly even outcompete Intel's offerings. They will also introduce new features like PCIe 4.0. So you could wait a few days and then decide.

Otherwise, the 9700k overclocked to 5ghz is probably your best bet (as per the spec I posted)
 
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