Gaming + programming PC

J

jlwalker

Member
First time getting into PC gaming and will probably still play most AAA titles on PS5 but I'd like to be able to play the occasional AAA title on PC too. Not too fussed about being able to play at ultra max settings or anything, just about it running smoothly with good settings. Also planning to play some VR games.

I'm also a software developer and will be using this daily for work. Don't think there's anything too demanding I use for work. The only thing I can think of is Docker but I don't think that's too bad.

Monitor: 4k 27" BenQ PD2700U, 5ms response time, 60 Hz refresh rate. (Xmas gift so I already have this).

Budget: a little flexible but was thinking around £1500-£1800.

Note that I'm planning to wait for the RTX 3070 to come back in stock so the 3060 Ti graphics card is just a temporary placeholder here as it wouldn't let me proceed with a graphics card that's out of stock... The below build comes to £1573 with the 3070 selected.

A few questions:
  1. Are there any glaring savings I could be making?
  2. Is there anywhere it would be worth spending a little bit more for a big benefit?
  3. Unsure if it’s recommended to get the motherboard with wifi, or get one without and buy the wifi card separate as I have done with this build?
  4. Unsure how much storage I’ll need so I’ve just gone for 1 ssd thinking I can always add more later if necessary, right?
  5. What processor cooler would you recommend? I just chose a random one for this build as I was unsure which to choose.

Case
COOLERMASTER MASTERBOX TD500 MESH ARGB GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 5600X Six Core CPU (3.7GHz-4.6GHz/35MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING B550-PLUS (DDR4, USB 3.2, 6Gb/s) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3600MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3060 Ti - HDMI, DP, LHR
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SAMSUNG 970 EVO PLUS M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3500MB/R, 3300MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 750W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
CoolerMaster MasterLiquid Lite 120 High Performance Liquid Cooler
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT
Wireless Network Card
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
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 (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 14 to 17 working days
Price: £1,418.00 including VAT and Delivery (£1573 with RTX 3070)

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/HbHsf5XSkC/
 
S

Steveyg

MOST VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
I've tweaked a few things mate, it was a good start though. Not sure I'm the biggest fan of your monitor choice but that ship has sailed unfortunately

3060Ti as a placeholder for a 3070 and can I ask where you plan to get your operating system?

Case
CORSAIR 4000D AIRFLOW TEMPERED GLASS GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 5600X Six Core CPU (3.7GHz-4.6GHz/35MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING B550-PLUS (DDR4, USB 3.2, 6Gb/s) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE RGB PRO DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3060 Ti - HDMI, DP, LHR
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB INTEL® 670p M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 3000MB/sR | 1600MB/sW)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (2000 MB/R, 1100 MB/W)
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
CoolerMaster Hyper 212 (120mm) Fan CPU Cooler Black Edition
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 (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 14 to 17 working days
Price: £1,386.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/vBHES!EZgg/
 
B

Bigfoot

Grand Master
Steveyg said:
I've tweaked a few things mate, it was a good start though. Not sure I'm the biggest fan of your monitor choice but that ship has sailed unfortunately

3060Ti as a placeholder for a 3070 and can I ask where you plan to get your operating system?

Case
CORSAIR 4000D AIRFLOW TEMPERED GLASS GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 5600X Six Core CPU (3.7GHz-4.6GHz/35MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING B550-PLUS (DDR4, USB 3.2, 6Gb/s) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE RGB PRO DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3060 Ti - HDMI, DP, LHR
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB INTEL® 670p M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 3000MB/sR | 1600MB/sW)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (2000 MB/R, 1100 MB/W)
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
CoolerMaster Hyper 212 (120mm) Fan CPU Cooler Black Edition
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 (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 14 to 17 working days
Price: £1,386.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/vBHES!EZgg/
Click to expand...
That is an excellent monitor for design, CAD/CAM, animation, etc., but is not a gaming monitor. I have a similar BenQ photo editing monitor, but I don't use it for games. With the build from @Steveyg you have room in the budget for a 1440p gaming monitor to supplement your existing screen.
 
J

jlwalker

Member
Steveyg said:
I've tweaked a few things mate, it was a good start though. Not sure I'm the biggest fan of your monitor choice but that ship has sailed unfortunately

3060Ti as a placeholder for a 3070 and can I ask where you plan to get your operating system?

Case
CORSAIR 4000D AIRFLOW TEMPERED GLASS GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 5600X Six Core CPU (3.7GHz-4.6GHz/35MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING B550-PLUS (DDR4, USB 3.2, 6Gb/s) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE RGB PRO DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3060 Ti - HDMI, DP, LHR
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB INTEL® 670p M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 3000MB/sR | 1600MB/sW)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (2000 MB/R, 1100 MB/W)
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
CoolerMaster Hyper 212 (120mm) Fan CPU Cooler Black Edition
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 (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 14 to 17 working days
Price: £1,386.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/vBHES!EZgg/
Click to expand...

Thanks for the feedback mate. I'm a bit dim when it comes to PC specs/hardward so excuse the dumb questions...

I'm assuming most of the things you've swapped out are a bit cheaper with no real loss in performance/features etc for my use case? E.g. 3200 MHz RAM instead of 3600 MHz, cheaper case, cheaper 1 TB ssd drive. Do you think 3200 MHz RAM is plenty?

I'll need wifi so I'll add the card back in, unless it's better to get it built into the motherboard?

Also curious why 2 m.2 ssd drives instead of 1? I've seen people recommend a ~500 GB one for the OS, and a separate one for storage. What's the reason for this?

I was planning to install windows myself and purchase a key online to activate it, e.g. from https://www.buy-keys.com/product/windows-11-professional-retail. A mate recommended me to do so as it works out a bit cheaper. Is that a bad idea?
 
S

Steveyg

MOST VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
I'll take this one by one mate

3200Mhz RAM that PCS supply is CL16 in timings. The 3600Mhz is CL18 in timing. Now what this means in terms of gaming is that they're practically identical. There would be very little if any performance difference between them

The Wifi card if required I would recommend the B550 TUF Wifi motherboard. The Wifi on board is the AX200 and I believe it comes in a little cheaper than separating them. It also frees up a PCie slot

Two drives let you have your OS on one drive. That way should you ever have to make changes to your OS like update, repair, reinstall, etc it wont affect the rest of your files. You won't have to download all your games again if you have to reinstall Windows for example. It also helps ensure your OS is running at optimal speeds at all times as the drive wont get cluttered

Be very careful when buying Windows these days. Only buy from reputable suppliers, sneaking software into dodgy keys is a massive market right now. For example you buy a dodgy Windows key that looks completely and totally legit but any time your computer is idle it can me used remotely to mine crypto for the person who created the dodgy key. Just be very careful where you get it this is one of the many many OS scams going about at the minute
 
B

Bigfoot

Grand Master
jlwalker said:
Thanks for the feedback mate. I'm a bit dim when it comes to PC specs/hardward so excuse the dumb questions...

I'm assuming most of the things you've swapped out are a bit cheaper with no real loss in performance/features etc for my use case? E.g. 3200 MHz RAM instead of 3600 MHz, cheaper case, cheaper 1 TB ssd drive. Do you think 3200 MHz RAM is plenty?

I'll need wifi so I'll add the card back in, unless it's better to get it built into the motherboard?

Also curious why 2 m.2 ssd drives instead of 1? I've seen people recommend a ~500 GB one for the OS, and a separate one for storage. What's the reason for this?

I was planning to install windows myself and purchase a key online to activate it, e.g. from https://www.buy-keys.com/product/windows-11-professional-retail. A mate recommended me to do so as it works out a bit cheaper. Is that a bad idea?
Click to expand...
Be very careful where you buy your Windows licence key. There are lots of bogus sites around. If it is much cheaper, then the licence key will not be legitimate. It might work for a while, but it could stop your PC working. Personally, I wouldn't want to download anything from someone who is flouting regulations. If they do that, what else will they do.

The rationale for the 2 drives is that your OS and programmes are on the fastest disk. Your games and current projects sit on the slightly slower (but still fast) second m.2 drive. This allows things to run faster and also means you don't have to reinstall all your games, if you have to reinstall Windows.

There is a WiFi version of the motherboard.

Case is partly a matter of aesthetics, but mainly about airflow. I believe both cases have good air flow, so it is a matter of choice and budget.
 
J

jlwalker

Member
Alright thanks everyone for the great advice. I like the RGB case so I'll stick with the original one I chose, and I'll get the motherboard with built-in wifi. I've also updated my build with the other recommendations (3200 MHz RAM, 2 m.2 SSD drives).

As for the windows key, I'll consider just getting it pre-installed then or maybe see if I've an old laptop with w7 I can upgrade or something. Although I thought the key is just a string of text that gets sent to microsoft to active windows? I.e. doesn't contain any dodgy software. The actual software itself I expected to download from microsoft and put it onto a usb myself.
 
SpyderTracks

SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
jlwalker said:
Alright thanks everyone for the great advice. I like the RGB case so I'll stick with the original one I chose, and I'll get the motherboard with built-in wifi. I've also updated my build with the other recommendations (3200 MHz RAM, 2 m.2 SSD drives).

As for the windows key, I'll consider just getting it pre-installed then or maybe see if I've an old laptop with w7 I can upgrade or something. Although I thought the key is just a string of text that gets sent to microsoft to active windows? I.e. doesn't contain any dodgy software. The actual software itself I expected to download from microsoft and put it onto a usb myself.
Click to expand...
It's not rhe software that's dodgy, the keys are not legitimate, often stolen or illegally sold volume keys which often get retracted so you'll find one day it's not licensed any more and you'd have to buy a new one.
 
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