Thoughts on this Gaming PC?

[DBack88]

Hi Everyone,

First time poster here so apologies if I get anything wrong. I'd like some input on the following build as my 10-year-old gaming PC just died.

Monitor - 1440p, 144 Hz
Uses - Primarily gaming, anything from indie games to AAAs (Mainly RPGs, RTS, grand strategy, deckbuilding)
Budget - 1200 - 1400 (maybe slightly higher at a push, if the justification is solid)

Case
LIAN LI LANCOOL 215 GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 7 5700X Eight Core CPU (3.4GHz-4.6GHz/36MB 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
12GB AMD RADEON™ RX 6700 XT - HDMI, DP - DX® 12
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB CORSAIR FORCE MP600 NVMe PCIe M.2 SSD (up to 4950 MB/R, 4000 MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W CV SERIES™ CV-650 POWER SUPPLY
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 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
Wireless Network Card
WIRELESS 802.11N 300Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD
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
Google Chrome™
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 16 working days
Price: £1,270.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/YNtH2s!sdF/

 

[Scott]

First half looks spot on, second half not so much though as there's a lot of compromise with the spec to hit the higher end components.

As your current system has died, I would gather that you possibly have a windows license you could transfer? If it's digitally aligned to a Microsoft account you can swap it to the new system and save the costs there.

Build below without the Windows license still has you nicely within budget but with certain areas propped up for a more rounded build.

Case
LIAN LI LANCOOL 215 GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 7 5700X Eight Core CPU (3.4GHz-4.6GHz/36MB 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
12GB AMD RADEON™ RX 6700 XT - HDMI, DP - DX® 12
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB SOLIDIGM P41+ GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 3500MB/sR, 1625MB/sW)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SOLIDIGM P41+ GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 4125MB/sR, 2950MB/sW)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 850W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead, 1.0mm Core)
Processor Cooling
CORSAIR iCUE H115i ELITE CAPELLIX RGB 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
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
Google Chrome™
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 16 working days
Price: £1,297.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/zymqBF6Wn7/

 

[SpyderTracks]

In case you need it, there's a guide on transferring a license

Transferring digital windows 10 license to new machine

Hi all Quite a few people already have a windows 10 License which they want to transfer over to the new PC. Windows 10 now makes this easy, even if you have an OEM license, you can legitimately turn it into a "digital license" by tying it to your microsoft account, and then transfer it legally...

www.pcspecialist.co.uk

 

[DBack88]

First half looks spot on, second half not so much though as there's a lot of compromise with the spec to hit the higher end components.

As your current system has died, I would gather that you possibly have a windows license you could transfer? If it's digitally aligned to a Microsoft account you can swap it to the new system and save the costs there.

Build below without the Windows license still has you nicely within budget but with certain areas propped up for a more rounded build.

Case
LIAN LI LANCOOL 215 GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 7 5700X Eight Core CPU (3.4GHz-4.6GHz/36MB 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
12GB AMD RADEON™ RX 6700 XT - HDMI, DP - DX® 12
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB SOLIDIGM P41+ GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 3500MB/sR, 1625MB/sW)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SOLIDIGM P41+ GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 4125MB/sR, 2950MB/sW)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 850W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead, 1.0mm Core)
Processor Cooling
CORSAIR iCUE H115i ELITE CAPELLIX RGB 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
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
Google Chrome™
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 16 working days
Price: £1,297.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/zymqBF6Wn7/

Thanks, Scott, appreciate you taking the time to help me out. I had a few questions based on your feedback:

I had initially avoided the Solidigm SSDs as their reviews aren't great compared to the other options - do you consider them to be good enough for normal purposes?

Is it best to have 2 SSDs rather than just one?

The builder suggests that the max power for this rig is ~450W - is the 850W PSU a little overkill? What makes you suggest it over the 750W?

I assume you don't think an air cooler will be enough to deal with the heat coming from the CPU? Would you say that I should be definitely aiming for liquid cooling?

Thanks for the suggestion on Windows license - great point. The only problem is I'm unable to boot up my existing computer to create the digital license. Is there any way to transfer the license without being able to boot it up?

Thanks again for your help!

 

[Scott]

Thanks, Scott, appreciate you taking the time to help me out. I had a few questions based on your feedback:

I had initially avoided the Solidigm SSDs as their reviews aren't great compared to the other options - do you consider them to be good enough for normal purposes?

Is it best to have 2 SSDs rather than just one?

The builder suggests that the max power for this rig is ~450W - is the 850W PSU a little overkill? What makes you suggest it over the 750W?

I assume you don't think an air cooler will be enough to deal with the heat coming from the CPU? Would you say that I should be definitely aiming for liquid cooling?

Thanks for the suggestion on Windows license - great point. The only problem is I'm unable to boot up my existing computer to create the digital license. Is there any way to transfer the license without being able to boot it up?

Thanks again for your help!

The Solidgm's are around where they're priced. It gets you a good storage capacity and options without breaking the bank. To get high end you would want the Firecuda drives, but they're expensive.

I would always opt for 2 drives. The first one you want to run as clean as you can to keep it performing well. The second drive allows fast storage for your games or fast access files and means should you need to format the primary, you won't need to consider backup etc. It's a quality of life addition to have multiple drives.

The builder isn't accurate unfortunately. It calculates TDPs rather than maximum power draw. Including headroom I think you would need around 600W to be comfortable. By the time you're at that level of PSU you're better to get the 10 year warranty options with the RMx PSUs. They're significantly better made, it's more to do with the RMx than the wattage (far more efficient etc). There's also considering future GPU upgrades. You want to ensure you have a bit of headroom so that you're not restricted with an upgrade or 2 down the line.

A high end aircooler would probably be fine with the 5700X but there are many benefits to having the AIO. It'll aid airflow through the case, it'll run almost silent even when at moderate loads, it saves a ton of space in the middle of the case and it just looks better. You're also covered for the 5800X3D chip down the line if you wanted to upgrade. You won't need to consider cooling for any chip you can put in.

With the digital license, as noted above by @SpyderTracks , if you have logged into your Microsoft account on the old system it will already be linked to your account so you can change it over by logging into the new system. If not, it'll be worthwhile trying to get the old system back up and running even just to tie in the license. It depends on what failed though, to decide whether it would be worthwhile.

 

[DBack88]

The Solidgm's are around where they're priced. It gets you a good storage capacity and options without breaking the bank. To get high end you would want the Firecuda drives, but they're expensive.

I would always opt for 2 drives. The first one you want to run as clean as you can to keep it performing well. The second drive allows fast storage for your games or fast access files and means should you need to format the primary, you won't need to consider backup etc. It's a quality of life addition to have multiple drives.

The builder isn't accurate unfortunately. It calculates TDPs rather than maximum power draw. Including headroom I think you would need around 600W to be comfortable. By the time you're at that level of PSU you're better to get the 10 year warranty options with the RMx PSUs. They're significantly better made, it's more to do with the RMx than the wattage (far more efficient etc). There's also considering future GPU upgrades. You want to ensure you have a bit of headroom so that you're not restricted with an upgrade or 2 down the line.

A high end aircooler would probably be fine with the 5700X but there are many benefits to having the AIO. It'll aid airflow through the case, it'll run almost silent even when at moderate loads, it saves a ton of space in the middle of the case and it just looks better. You're also covered for the 5800X3D chip down the line if you wanted to upgrade. You won't need to consider cooling for any chip you can put in.

With the digital license, as noted above by @SpyderTracks , if you have logged into your Microsoft account on the old system it will already be linked to your account so you can change it over by logging into the new system. If not, it'll be worthwhile trying to get the old system back up and running even just to tie in the license. It depends on what failed though, to decide whether it would be worthwhile.

Thanks for these explanations, they're very helpful. I'm going to do some more tinkering before I make a decision on the build.