would like some advice about getting a gaming computer

beilondon

Member
Hi.

Thinking about buying a new gaming computer. Though I do not need to buy straight away. Maybe wait until the new AMD CPU's come out.
This is the general build I thought of so far.

Case
COOLERMASTER COSMOS C700M TOWER GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 9 3950X 16 Core CPU (3.5GHz-4.7GHz/73MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® CROSSHAIR VIII HERO WIFI (DDR4, PCIe 4.0, CrossFireX/SLI) - RGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3600MHz (4 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
24GB ASUS ROG STRIX GEFORCE RTX 3090 - HDMI, DP
1st M.2 SSD Drive
2TB SAMSUNG 980 PRO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 7000MB/R, 5000MB/W)
2nd M.2 SSD Drive
2TB SAMSUNG 980 PRO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 7000MB/R, 5000MB/W)
3rd Storage Drive
4TB Samsung 870 QVO 2.5" SSD, SATA 6Gb/s (up to 560MB/sR | 530MB/sW)
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 iCUE H150i ELITE CAPELLIX RGB Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
Extra Case Fans
4 x CoolerMaster SickleFlow 120 ARGB + Controller Kit
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 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KUK-00001]
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
Microsoft® Edge
Warranty
3 Year Platinum Warranty (3 Year Collect & Return, 3 Year Parts, 3 Year labour)

I think the memory is good for gaming and I want to get the best cooling that I can. I am thinking also about Liquid build version of this build but some of the cooling is out of stock so I cannot post that build.
 

JUNI0R

VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
Hi.

Thinking about buying a new gaming computer. Though I do not need to buy straight away. Maybe wait until the new AMD CPU's come out.
This is the general build I thought of so far.

Case
COOLERMASTER COSMOS C700M TOWER GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 9 3950X 16 Core CPU (3.5GHz-4.7GHz/73MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® CROSSHAIR VIII HERO WIFI (DDR4, PCIe 4.0, CrossFireX/SLI) - RGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3600MHz (4 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
24GB ASUS ROG STRIX GEFORCE RTX 3090 - HDMI, DP
1st M.2 SSD Drive
2TB SAMSUNG 980 PRO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 7000MB/R, 5000MB/W)
2nd M.2 SSD Drive
2TB SAMSUNG 980 PRO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 7000MB/R, 5000MB/W)
3rd Storage Drive
4TB Samsung 870 QVO 2.5" SSD, SATA 6Gb/s (up to 560MB/sR | 530MB/sW)
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 iCUE H150i ELITE CAPELLIX RGB Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
Extra Case Fans
4 x CoolerMaster SickleFlow 120 ARGB + Controller Kit
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 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KUK-00001]
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
Microsoft® Edge
Warranty
3 Year Platinum Warranty (3 Year Collect & Return, 3 Year Parts, 3 Year labour)

I think the memory is good for gaming and I want to get the best cooling that I can. I am thinking also about Liquid build version of this build but some of the cooling is out of stock so I cannot post that build.
Heya, this looks like a "select the most expensive option" build 😂 Is this serious? If so, do you have a budget for this system? And what monitors will you be using? A 3950X and 3090 wouldn't be a good pairing for gaming and Intel's new 12th gen would give you a lot more performance.

I personally wouldn't recommend a custom loop system for a number of reasons (upgradability, complexity of cleaning, maintainence, price, weight)
 

beilondon

Member
Yes this is serious. though i am not so knowledgeable about things. My budget is enough to get what I need.
I will thinking about monitors later though I am not sure what Dynamic Contrast Ratio is and would like some advice about this.

You said a 3950X would not be good for gaming. Why is this? What would you recommend and why?

Also you said a 3090 would not be good for gaming. I am curious to know why?

I have thought about Intel's new 12th gen!
 

beilondon

Member
Heya, this looks like a "select the most expensive option" build 😂 Is this serious? If so, do you have a budget for this system? And what monitors will you be using? A 3950X and 3090 wouldn't be a good pairing for gaming and Intel's new 12th gen would give you a lot more performance.

I personally wouldn't recommend a custom loop system for a number of reasons (upgradability, complexity of cleaning, maintainence, price, weight)
You mean something like the Intel® Core™ i9-12900K
 

SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
My budget is enough to get what I need.
But what is your max budget? We need an actual figure.

You said a 3950X would not be good for gaming. Why is this? What would you recommend and why?
3950x is not a gaming processor it's for heavy multithreaded workloads like data science or databases, it's also last generation and there are better newer chips.

Also you said a 3090 would not be good for gaming. I am curious to know why?
It's not a gaming card. The VRAM is what you're paying the money for, but that's no use for gaming, it's for rendering applications. The 3080ti is the best gaming GPU and outperforms the 3090
 

JUNI0R

VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
Yes this is serious. though i am not so knowledgeable about things. My budget is enough to get what I need.
I will thinking about monitors later though I am not sure what Dynamic Contrast Ratio is and would like some advice about this.

You said a 3950X would not be good for gaming. Why is this? What would you recommend and why?

Also you said a 3090 would not be good for gaming. I am curious to know why?

I have thought about Intel's new 12th gen!
Just wanted to make sure (y) I'm not so knowledgable about the ins and outs of monitors, so I'll leave that to someone else to explain. Generally though at this price tier you'd want to be looking into 4K 144hz (like the Gigabyte M28U or M32U) Or 1440p superwide which is effectively 2 monitors on a single screen (like the Samsung G9)

The 3950X (and 5950X which is just the newer generation) are designed to be high core multi core monsters meaning they're really good at tasks that require lots of cores (video editing, rendering, that sorta stuff) but it doesn't have the best single core performance, which is really what you want for gaming. It's not that they're bad for gaming, they just cost a lot more than their 3900X/5900X relatives for basically no performance gain.

Despite the 3090 being part of their gaming line, really isn't a gaming GPU, it's for workstations. If you want a monster GPU go for a 3080TI (which I'd struggle to recommend over the 3080 anyway)

Intel currently holds the performance crown so is the route I'd recommend in most use cases these days. If you're happy to wait for the AMD launch then you're more than welcome to, it's looking pretty impressive from what we've seen. Although if you wait for that, Intel's 13th gen will be out shortly after that, do you wait for that too? At some point you'll need to just go for it instead of waiting for the ever evolving tech- you'll never buy anything otherwise!

For a top end system, this is what I'd personally recommend

Case
CORSAIR 5000D AIRFLOW TEMPERED GLASS GAMING CASE Fantastic high airflow case (I'd recommend contacting PCS and asking to add 3 LL120 fans for more airflow though)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i9 16-Core Processor i9-12900K (3.2GHz) 30MB Cache Monster of a CPU, currently holds the performance crown, although not by much over the 12700K which runs a lot less hot and loses 4 of the efficency cores
Motherboard
GIGABYTE Z690 AORUS ELITE DDR4 (LGA1700, USB 3.2, PCIe 5.0) - ARGB Ready Top end motherboard for the 12900K
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE RGB PRO DDR4 3600MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
12GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3080 Ti - HDMI, DP, LHR Top end GPU
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SEAGATE FIRECUDA 530 GEN 4 PCIe NVMe (up to 7000MB/R, 3000MB/W) Fastest boot SSD available. this drive is just for Windows and applications
1st M.2 SSD Drive
2TB INTEL® 670p M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 3500MB/sR | 2700MB/sW) Plenty fast secondary drive for games. 2TB should be plenty
Power Supply
CORSAIR 1200W HX SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® PLATINUM, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Braided Power Supply Cables
CORSAIR Premium Individually Sleeved PSU Cable Kit Pro - Black Not needed, but really finish off the build
Processor Cooling
CORSAIR iCUE H150i ELITE LCD Display RGB CPU Cooler Top end cooler for the hot 12900K
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 Motherboard doesn't have WiFi so added in the AX200 WiFi 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 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KUK-00001]
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
Microsoft® Edge
Warranty
3 Year Platinum Warranty (3 Year Collect & Return, 3 Year Parts, 3 Year labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 9 to 12 working days
Price: £3,538.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-z690-pc/bFYdR!zjVk/
 

SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
I not decided yet what would you recommend? I am not sure what Dynamic Contrast Ratio means.
In gaming monitors, that refers to HDR 10.

At most gaming monitors at this level you'd be looking at a minimum of HDR 1000.

it basically increases brightness and colour contrast and makes everything pop.

 

beilondon

Member
I am going to bed as to tired to think. I will think about these things tomorrow and think about a monitor!
Thanks for all the advice.
 

beilondon

Member
Your idea for having super fast memory for 1st M.2 SSD DRIVE for windows is a really good idea as I will not install any games on it.

Though for second 1st M.2 SDD for game storage I would like something fast as possible for fast loading of games. At first I thought of 2SB SEAGATE FIRECUDA 530 GEN 4 but was told this was not good for gaming though I can't remember the season in the live chat on the main PCSPEIALIST web page. I think I was told to go for 2TB Samsung 870 QVO 6 Gb/s Up to 560MB/sR Up to 530MB/sR. Though thinking about it something to do with 6Gb/s!

For some reason I cannot post a reply directly for

JUNI0R

 

sck451

MOST VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
Your idea for having super fast memory for 1st M.2 SSD DRIVE for windows is a really good idea as I will not install any games on it.

Though for second 1st M.2 SDD for game storage I would like something fast as possible for fast loading of games. At first I thought of 2SB SEAGATE FIRECUDA 530 GEN 4 but was told this was not good for gaming though I can't remember the season in the live chat on the main PCSPEIALIST web page. I think I was told to go for 2TB Samsung 870 QVO 6 Gb/s Up to 560MB/sR Up to 530MB/sR. Though thinking about it something to do with 6Gb/s!

For some reason I cannot post a reply directly for

JUNI0R

The Seagate Firecuda 530 would be amazing for games, but it's thoroughly unnecessary. You'd be paying over the odds for performance gains you won't notice. The Intel 670p would probably be plenty, or there's the Firecuda 520 if you want to be extravagent and hope that Direct Storage comes to anything (it's been talked about for quite a while, but so far nada).

The 870 is actually slow by SSD standards. The 6Gb/s means "six gigabits a second", whereas the 670p is somewhere in the region of 25-30 gigabits a second. It would probably be OK for gaming, but it's definitely not luxury territory.
 

beilondon

Member
The Seagate Firecuda 530 would be amazing for games, but it's thoroughly unnecessary. You'd be paying over the odds for performance gains you won't notice. The Intel 670p would probably be plenty, or there's the Firecuda 520 if you want to be extravagent and hope that Direct Storage comes to anything (it's been talked about for quite a while, but so far nada).

The 870 is actually slow by SSD standards. The 6Gb/s means "six gigabits a second", whereas the 670p is somewhere in the region of 25-30 gigabits a second. It would probably be OK for gaming, but it's definitely not luxury territory.

Thanks for the information. You have cleared up a few things for me.
 

SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
I am thinking about this monitor Samsung Odyssey G7 32" or a ASUS TUF GAMING VG27BQ 27" at less than half price of the G7.

They're both 1440p monitors which would be suited to an RTX 3070, anything over that just wouldn't be used.

For the build you're suggesting you'd be looking at a superwide or 4k 144hz monitor at around £800 and upwards.
 

beilondon

Member
They're both 1440p monitors which would be suited to an RTX 3070, anything over that just wouldn't be used.

For the build you're suggesting you'd be looking at a superwide or 4k 144hz monitor at around £800 and upwards.
could you recommend me some please. I think with the suggestions that have been made the build will cost less so I will have more money to spend on a monitor. The current build I am thinking with a Intel 12 Gen CPU and 3080ti is less than before.
 

beilondon

Member
They're both 1440p monitors which would be suited to an RTX 3070, anything over that just wouldn't be used.

For the build you're suggesting you'd be looking at a superwide or 4k 144hz monitor at around £800 and upwards.

Oh superwide is probably not the best because of the space where the computer is going to be placed.
 

JUNI0R

VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
could you recommend me some please. I think with the suggestions that have been made the build will cost less so I will have more money to spend on a monitor. The current build I am thinking with a Intel 12 Gen CPU and 3080ti is less than before.
I recommended a couple above. The Gigabyte M28U and M32U are our current go to 4K 144hz choices. The M28U (28 inch) is a better monitor but the M32U (32 inch) is a more ideal size for 4K. On the 1440p superwide size, there's a few options but the Samsung and Samsung G9 Neo are the standouts.
 

SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
I recommended a couple above. The Gigabyte M28U and M32U are our current go to 4K 144hz choices. The M28U (28 inch) is a better monitor but the M32U (32 inch) is a more ideal size for 4K. On the 1440p superwide size, there's a few options but the Samsung and Samsung G9 Neo are the standouts.
Just be aware these 4k monitors are the cheapest you can get, so they don't have very good HDR, nor mini / nano led. They are great monitors, but they're extreme budget options and you can get far more performance wise spending not too much more.

They're both HDR 400 which is not classed as true HDR.

They're great as budget options but if you have budget available I would aim for HDR 1000 as minimum. It makes a huge difference.
 

JUNI0R

VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
Just be aware these 4k monitors are the cheapest you can get, so they don't have very good HDR, nor mini / nano led. They are great monitors, but they're extreme budget options and you can get far more performance wise spending not too much more.

They're both HDR 400 which is not classed as true HDR.

They're great as budget options but if you have budget available I would aim for HDR 1000 as minimum. It makes a huge difference.
What would be your suggestion for the top end? I don't really know that area of 4K
 
Top