Old but seasoned gamer seeking spec advice

I may be well past my sell by date but I still enjoy online gaming with my son and his friends. With this in mind I have decided to update my PC which is now 4 years old and, WOW how things have changed
Budget is around £1200 per unit and I am looking to buy 2 systems. I have spent half a day investigating, studying and trying to figure out what's what and have come up with the following choices for a custom PC. Playing games such as GTA, Minecraft (with shaders), and Warframe at present which all run OK on my PC but it's definitely being pushed to it's limits.
Any help/guidance appreciated. I did initially select the ASUS gaming motherboard, but as I am buying a reasonable graphics card I would assume the onboard graphics capabilities of the Z590-E would be made redundant?
My brain is now officially fried

Case
CORSAIR iCUE 220T RGB AIRFLOW MID TOWER GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i5 Six Core Processor i5-11600KF (3.9 GHz) 12 MB Cache
Motherboard
GIGABYTE Z590 UD AC (LGA1200, USB 3.2, PCIe 4.0, CrossFireX, Wi-Fi) - ARGB Ready
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3000MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
6GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1660 SUPER - HDMI, DP - GeForce GTX VR Ready!
1st Storage Drive
512GB PCS 2.5" SSD, SATA 6 Gb (520MB/R, 450MB/W)
2nd Storage Drive
2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 256MB CACHE
Power Supply
CORSAIR 450W CV SERIES™ CV-450 POWER SUPPLY
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
PCS FrostFlow 150 Series High Performance CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
LED Lighting
50cm White LED Strip
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
Windows 11 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KUK-00003]
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10/11 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 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)
 

DarTon

Well-known member
Welcome.

Would you mind telling us what monitor you will be using (exact model ideally but resolution and frequency if not). Could you also provide the configuration link so that forum members can edit your spec.

I would hope this can definately be improved to some degree. The use of an 11th gen CPU is suboptimal. The storage combination is outdated with no M2 drives and the PSU looks inadequate.

Do you have any flex at all on the £1,200 budget?

EDIT: Also wondering if you are willing to transfer Windows licenses from the old machines to the new machines (assuming the old machines aren't to be used) as this could save some cash.
 
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Salmon Fisher

Enthusiast
Personally (waits to get jumped on ) I would have gone for the 11400F slightly cheaper and not a lot slower, do you need 32Gb of ram? Personally I would go for 16Gb of 3200. Then change the data drive for something like 512GB INTEL® 670p M.2 NVMe PCIe.
Can you then stretch to the RTX 3060? And I would put a larger PSU in. Windows 10 rather than 11, and throw away the antivirus.

Be a great idea if you put up the link to this and let us know what monitor your using?.
 
I have a dual monitor setup, one for gaming ( a standard LG 32" 1080p TV) and my monitor for discord, chat etc which is an LG 27M45 (1920x1080@60Hz)
Here is the spec link, hope it works

I have a little flexibility on the budget. Don't want to save a couple of quid and miss out on my dream PC :)
 

DarTon

Well-known member
This is a litte overbudget but will perform better as uses 12th Gen Intel CPU and has faster storage.
Ideally the cheaper B660 boards would be available to take you back toward £1,200 (reckon by end of month probably). I note you have no Wifi in the spec so you may want to add this.

Case
LIAN LI LANCOOL 215 GAMING CASE - Really good case with excellent cooling
Processor (CPU)

Intel® Core™ i5 Six Core Processor i5-12400F (2.5GHz) 18MB Cache - 12th Gen 12400F performs better for gaming than most of 11th Gen
Motherboard

ASUS® PRIME Z690-P D4 (LGA1700, USB 3.2, PCIe 5.0) - ARGB Ready - Ideally wait for cheaper B660 boards to appear as this is overkill
Memory (RAM)

16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 8GB) - 16GB of fast RAM is good enough. Can add extra two sticks later if required
Graphics Card
6GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1660 SUPER - HDMI, DP - GeForce GTX VR Ready!
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB INTEL® 670p M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 3000MB/sR | 1600MB/sW) - Fast PCIe3 M2 SSD for OS
1st M.2 SSD Drive

1TB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (2200 MB/R, 1500 MB/W) - Fast PCIe3 SSD for games/data
Power Supply

CORSAIR 750W TXm SERIES™ SEMI-MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET - PSU will provide room for GPU upgrade in 2-3 years and be quieter than low end CV series.
Power Cable

1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
PCS FrostFlow 100 RGB V3 Series High Performance CPU Cooler - Simple tower fan cooler is enough for 12400F
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
Windows 11 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KUK-00003]
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10/11 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 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) - £5 for Silver warranty is good value
Delivery

STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 8 to 11 working days
Price: £1,238.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-z690-pc/Xh0WCD!cZN/
 
Sorry to be a pain, but may I ask one more question before I order.
Will I see a significant gaming difference between the new machine and my existing PC?
I think I know the answer but just thought I'd get an expert to confirm before I blow £2,5K
Spec attached.

Thanks yet again.
 

Attachments

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DarTon

Well-known member
I think it's a difficult one.

Your system is essentially a 2017 one and thus getting on for 5 years old. It's not ready for the scrapheap but it will be quite expensive to upgrade the components. The clearest bottlenecks are the RAM (8GB RAM is really too low now) and the 1050 Ti. 16GB of faster RAM is £50, the new GPU will be £350-400 as a standalone given the rather elevated levels of card prices. You may well need a new PSU etc. So it's going to cost perhaps £400-500 to get the machine updated.

If you are going to continue to game with 1080p 60Hz monitors, rather than say 1080p 144Hz monitors, then 1050 Ti may struggle to hit 60 fps at the highest settings but it's can probably do the job with fidelity dialled down a bit. I'm not sure it's really worth it to pay £500 to upgrade or £1200+ to get a new system. A 1660 Super may find itself bottlenecked by the monitor in some cases.

Perhaps getting just another 8GB of compatible RAM for say £30, would be the best short term solution. Might allow you to kick the can down the road six months, in the hope of getting a drop in GPU prices etc.

I'd also repeat that the B660 boards will probably be a bit cheaper (£25-50) and they should arrive in the next few weeks. Plus you may be able to transfer that Win10Pro license to save £90.
 
Thanks for that info. To be honest I really cannot be bothered to build my own machines anymore, too old and lazy, so I think I'll just go with your recommended build and just plumb for a new one rather than throwing good money after bad. As long as it is significantly faster than my old unit and will hopefully last me 3 or 4 years I will be more than happy.
 

DarTon

Well-known member
Technically, the motherboard and case are compatible with an i9-12900K (and Intel is implying it will be fine for their 13th Gen Raptor Lake but always take anything that Intel say with a dose of salt). The issue is that the i9-12900K is very onerous in thermal terms. It needs a top end motherboard with good VRM, high end AIO cooler and a good PSU. It's an extreme CPU.

More realistically, if you wanted to upgrade to something less extreme such as a i7-12700 then this build would be fine, probably with the addition of a better cooler.
 

Steveyg

MOST VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
Technically, the motherboard and case are compatible with an i9-12900K (and Intel is implying it will be fine for their 13th Gen Raptor Lake but always take anything that Intel say with a dose of salt). The issue is that the i9-12900K is very onerous in thermal terms. It needs a top end motherboard with good VRM, high end AIO cooler and a good PSU. It's an extreme CPU.

More realistically, if you wanted to upgrade to something less extreme such as a i7-12700 then this build would be fine, probably with the addition of a better cooler.
The 12700K is still a power hungry monster though and generates a lot of heat. I wouldn't want the PRIME series of motherboard for that personally I would go with at least a TUF but ideally if your planning on upgrading to high end CPU in future I would go with the Z690 STRIXX Personally
 
Thanks again. I was wondering if, for the sake of another £80 or so, it would be worth upping the CPU to an i5 12600 KF?
Sorry for all the questions
 
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