New PC for Gaming

[Greavous]

is this build still advisable or would/should i wait for PCS to get the new AMD stuff in? (saw someone post that it had been released)

 

[Oussebon]

It's been announced at Computex. It's available on the shelves on 7th July.

In terms of performance, obviously we can't say what differences there are exactly and how those affect different PC game titles until there are third party reviews out there. There are sometimes published before release day, sometimes only on release day itself - depends what the NDA terms AMD are using are.

The new CPUs (and mobos) do come with PCIe 4.0, enabling some very fast SSDs. A couple of companies have already announced ones with upto 5000MB/S. As as well as the potential raw performance increase from new CPUs, there are the new features to consider.

If you do decide to proceed with the current offering, don't go with the PRO HDD, which is pretty expensive; stick with the regular HDD and invest the savings in a larger SSD.
As for the CPU cooler and thermal paste, it's arguably better value to just get an H100x (with standard paste, the paste it comes with is fine). AMD CPUs come with okay stock coolers, so the benefit of getting a mid-range air cooler is proportionately smaller; if getting an aftermarket cooler you might as well get a very good one. But the basic spec seems fine to me.

 

[Greavous]

Okay thanks. I got the pro because of the speed difference from the 5400s

 

[Oussebon]

What are you putting on there? If it's just for mass storage the speed won't be much of an issue, while a larger and faster SSD (larger often = faster too for SSDs) means more games/programs can live on it anyway

 

[Greavous]

What are you putting on there? If it's just for mass storage the speed won't be much of an issue, while a larger and faster SSD (larger often = faster too for SSDs) means more games/programs can live on it anyway

it will be for games, but as i said about my local speed its very bad so i need to store many, very big games at once to bypass constant downloading.

as examples Ark (100gb+), wow (70gb+), CoD (60gb+), overwatch, Civ 6, starcraft 2. and i move between games often so downloading is a massive neusance for me. i currently have a 120gb SSD and a 1TB HDD in my laptop and i cant store anywhere near what i want and a sfar as i am aware the 7200s are alot better than the 5200s even for games.

with the cooler my friend said get that one because its apparently stupidly good for the price award winning thing.

so the new AMD stuff hits shelves the 7th? when likely will PCS get it and when will the new M2/SSDs come out? i undertand "its worth waiting" but i dont want to be waiting weeks/months especially if something new comes onto the horizon and it becomes a waiting game again.

 

[Oussebon]

My download speeds are pretty awful too. What I do is keep the currently played games on an SSD, and the others on an HDD. Some of them can just be run from there as the loading times aren't an issue, while others can be swapped to the SSD with a few button clicks in the steam client.

If you have a lot of large games on the go at once, all the more reason to prioritise SSD space

A 1TB SX6000 M.2 SSD + 4TB regular drive is actually cheaper than a 250gb WD Black + 4TB Ripoff Pro

with the cooler my friend said get that one because its apparently stupidly good for the price award winning thing.

That doesn't quite work here. It might for an Intel CPU where the stock cooler's junk so you gotta buy an aftermarket cooler regardless, but since AMD's stock ones are decent the value that a £30 Cooler Master Evo adds plus £10 for the paste (~£40 total) is made much slimmer. The H100x is a stupidly powerful cooler, outdoing some 280mm AIOs. If you're spending £40 on cooling you might as well spend £75 on something really good.

so the new AMD stuff hits shelves the 7th? when likely will PCS get it and when will the new M2/SSDs come out?

Probably on 7th July. PCS, and most other major stores, will usually have these things in advance of release day ready to sell on day 1.

Possibly with preorders beforehand too (although - never preorder PC games or PC hardware unless reviews are out or else you don't know what you're buying!). But it's usual for PCS to have releases available for order on launch day.

Zen 2 has been about the worst kept secret ever. Everyone's known it's been coming for a long time. AMD have had ages to prepare this and there's no reason to launch before they're 100% ready. They're not racing Intel to a deadline.

 

[Greavous]

My download speeds are pretty awful too. What I do is keep the currently played games on an SSD, and the others on an HDD. Some of them can just be run from there as the loading times aren't an issue, while others can be swapped to the SSD with a few button clicks in the steam client.

If you have a lot of large games on the go at once, all the more reason to prioritise SSD space

A 1TB SX6000 M.2 SSD + 4TB regular drive is actually cheaper than a 250gb WD Black + 4TB Ripoff Pro

That doesn't quite work here. It might for an Intel CPU where the stock cooler's junk so you gotta buy an aftermarket cooler regardless, but since AMD's stock ones are decent the value that a £30 Cooler Master Evo adds plus £10 for the paste (~£40 total) is made much slimmer. The H100x is a stupidly powerful cooler, outdoing some 280mm AIOs. If you're spending £40 on cooling you might as well spend £75 on something really good.

Probably on 7th July. PCS, and most other major stores, will usually have these things in advance of release day ready to sell on day 1.

Possibly with preorders beforehand too (although - never preorder PC games or PC hardware unless reviews are out or else you don't know what you're buying!). But it's usual for PCS to have releases available for order on launch day.

Zen 2 has been about the worst kept secret ever. Everyone's known it's been coming for a long time. AMD have had ages to prepare this and there's no reason to launch before they're 100% ready. They're not racing Intel to a deadline.

okay ty

ill swap the M2 and HDD and remvoe the cooler, i dont really want to wait till july (thought it was june) so ill stick with what i have made now, i can always upgrade in the future. Unless its massively better to just wait for the mobo and pci4

 

[Oussebon]

Up to you ultimately. I'd wait, but it's a valid choice to go with the current gen stuff, for your uses, especially if you're going to start using it all straight away (if it's gonna get only light use for a month, you might as well wait)

What's the spec looking like now?

 

[Greavous]

still deciding on the screen(s), the iyama ones you recommended dont state 144hz. i have a mouse and keyboard ive found online. im guessing it isnt worth getting a ryzen 7 processr?

Case
FRACTAL MESHIFY C BLACK GAMING CASE (Window)
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 2600X Six Core CPU (3.6GHz-4.25GHz/19MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
Gigabyte X470 AORUS Ultra Gaming: ATX, USB 3.1, SATA 6GBs - RGB Ready
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 2933MHz ~ (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
11GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 2080 Ti - HDMI, 3x DP GeForce - RTX VR Ready!

Get Wolfenstein: Young Blood with select NVIDIA GeForce RTX GPUs!
1st Storage Drive
4TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 5400RPM, 256MB CACHE
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB ADATA SX6000 Pro PCIe M.2 2280 (2100 MB/R, 1500 MB/W)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
NOT REQUIRED
Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W 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 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 [KK3-00002]
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
Firefox™
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
Standard Build - Approximately 8 to 10 working days
Price: £1,969.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-pc/T7mtQEqtvG/

 

[Oussebon]

I was recommending the iiyama B2791QSU-B1 as an option for the 2nd monitor. You don't need the 2nd monitor to be 144hz.

So you might have:
1st monitor: Dell S2716DG (~£400)
2nd monitor: iiyama B2791QSU-B1

 

[Greavous]

I was recommending the iiyama B2791QSU-B1 as an option for the 2nd monitor. You don't need the 2nd monitor to be 144hz.

So you might have:
1st monitor: Dell S2716DG (~£400)
2nd monitor: iiyama B2791QSU-B1

ah i see, is there any huge benefit to buying one of the gaming monitors like the ROG, Predator, etc im guessing no (expect for free/g sync).

if i do decide to not wait, whenever i want to upgrade will it become difficult because everything is PCI4 and ill have to get a new mobo, cpu, etc or will the new stuff still work in my older mobo.

 

[Oussebon]

If you get a system now with PCIe 3.0, you'll be able to use PCIe 4.0 devices but limited to PCIe 3.0 speeds. Which obviously negates a lot of the point in many cases.

Though there are apparently some reports of 400-series motherboards actually being able to support PCIe 4.0 if a 3000 series CPU is installed, depending on BIOS updates: https://www.notebookcheck.net/Gigab...-AMD-X470-and-B450-motherboards.420880.0.html

However, buying a ~£200 CPU now only to replace it with a £200 CPU that's coming out in a few weeks anyway, and then gambling on what BIOS updates will provide, seems pretty questionable value and a lot of hassle versus just buying the new stuff outright.

ah i see, is there any huge benefit to buying one of the gaming monitors like the ROG, Predator, etc im guessing no (expect for free/g sync).

You want a decent monitor, high refresh rate, gsync / gsync compatible for your main monitor. So that Dell, or one of the ROG, Predator, AORUS, etc monitors for your main gaming monitor. And any old (cheaper) 1440p monitor for your 2nd monitor.

 

[Greavous]

alot of what i know of PC's is still abit old (like 1995-2006) i didnt know the new stuff was still compatabil. would it ever or how long would it be before i was forced to upgrade the base system (mobo, cpu, ram) or have to start buying old parts from ebay.

 

[Oussebon]

Most new standards are backwards compatible. So you can use USB 3 devices in USB 2 ports., and vice versa. PCIe 3 devices can be used in PCIe 2 slots. Though you don't get the full speeds they are capable of because they're limited to the speeds of the older standard, ofc.

But things like CPUs where they use sockets cooked up by Intel and AMD, rather than industry-wide standards, will be different and new gens may not be compatible with old ones.

As for how long until you need to upgrade the mobo, CPU, and RAM, who knows. Depends what you need/want in the future, and when you need/want it.

 

[Greavous]

Most new standards are backwards compatible. So you can use USB 3 devices in USB 2 ports., and vice versa. PCIe 3 devices can be used in PCIe 2 slots. Though you don't get the full speeds they are capable of because they're limited to the speeds of the older standard, ofc.

But things like CPUs where they use sockets cooked up by Intel and AMD, rather than industry-wide standards, will be different and new gens may not be compatible with old ones.

As for how long until you need to upgrade the mobo, CPU, and RAM, who knows. Depends what you need/want in the future, and when you need/want it.

well whenever it starts to either get slow (ram cpu) or my graphics start strugglnig to hit medium (gfx card) which maybe a few years as yet

 

[Oussebon]

Indeed. Unfortunately one needs a crystal ball to say anything other than "you'll probably be fine for a few years, at least in most titles"

 

[Greavous]

Indeed. Unfortunately one needs a crystal ball to say anything other than "you'll probably be fine for a few years, at least in most titles"

yes im expecting the gfzcard will be the first to go (3 years+) which most likely wont be affected by the mobo so itll be the cpu and ram so as lnog as thatll last longer (ill ask in the far future about upgrading anyway) ill be fine i guess.
im getting my "loan" monday so ill be ordering next week sometime so if theres anything else you reccomend on the build please do tell
i will be deciding the screens last minute msot likely my GF's bro has amazon prime so i can get it fast.

 

[Oussebon]

I'd have gone with the H100x cooler.

You may find that the CPU is a bit of a bottleneck for a monster GPU in 3-4 years. But by then we might already be seeing PCIe 5.0 (Intel might be pushing for this) and/or DDR5 RAM, so the brand new tech coming out now would already be a little passe. That's not to argue against the current build, just fair warning that you could find yourself looking at a CPU/mobo upgrade as well in that long, if you are still shopping at the ~£1000+ GPU range at the time

 

[Greavous]

I'd have gone with the H100x cooler.

You may find that the CPU is a bit of a bottleneck for a monster GPU in 3-4 years. But by then we might already be seeing PCIe 5.0 (Intel might be pushing for this) and/or DDR5 RAM, so the brand new tech coming out now would already be a little passe. That's not to argue against the current build, just fair warning that you could find yourself looking at a CPU/mobo upgrade as well in that long, if you are still shopping at the ~£1000+ GPU range at the time

3-4 years sounds perfectly fine for any upgrades, is the h100x neccesary or is it a future proof thing for when the card eventually starts to struggle/use alot of power?

 

[Greavous]

also sadly it seems my new home is abit mroe dated than i expected so all this may be for naught as i may not be able to afford it now but i shall see as ive been promising myself an upgrade for a while. but thanks for all in info and help even if i dont buy it soon (and end up waiting for zen 2 anyway)