12th gen intel gaming PC

[RioCroc]

Hi, this is my config and any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

This PC will be used for moderate gaming (mostly just small indie games, games from the Xbox 360 era, or some RTS games), video streaming and occasional programming work in the likes of Python or Java. I will be pairing this with a 1080p, 1920*1080, 60Hz monitor and a Geforce 1050Ti GPU. I plan on upgrading to an RTX 3060 (and also upgrading my monitor along with it) in a couple of years if I feel the need to play modern AAA games, hence the large overkill for the PSU.

In case it may be useful I am currently using a ~10yr old Dell office PC (i5-3330 3.0GHz) with 8Gb of ram and the 1050Ti I mentioned above (it is only 2-3yrs old and has no issues with it unlike the slowing down of the rest of the PC).

My budget is £700 ideally with £750 being my maximum.

Case
COOLERMASTER MASTERBOX TD500 MESH ARGB GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i5 Six Core Processor i5-11400F (2.6GHz) 12MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® PRIME B560-PLUS (DDR4, USB 3.2, 6Gb/s) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
NONE, I ALREADY HAVE A GRAPHICS CARD
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SAMSUNG 970 EVO PLUS M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3500MB/R, 3300MB/W)
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
PCS FrostFlow 150 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
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
Firefox™
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 10 to 12 working days
Price: £686.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-z590-pc/96WbrvK!Rr/


Thank you in advance for any help.

 

[DarTon]

Hi. Welcome. That's a tight budget but at least you have the GPU and don't need an OS.

I think it would be probably best for you to go the Intel i6-12400F. Early benchmarks are showing it performs way better than the 11400F, is cooler and requires less power at max load. It may actually perform marginally better than the Ryzen 5 5600X.

If you can wait a month or so, then we should have some more info on this CPU's actual performance and how effective/quiet the new stock cooler is. This may mean you can cut out a third party cooler completely to save money. More important the new B660 boards will be available which should be £30-50 cheaper than the equivalent Z690 boards.

Something like this might be a starting point. It's coming in at £789 but once the B660 boards are available it should come in below £750. If you don't need two SSD drives, you could delete one to save money though 2 drives is recommended.

Case
COOLERMASTER MASTERBOX TD500 MESH ARGB GAMING CASE - Consider also the Lian Li Lancool 215 case to save £12.
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i5 Six Core Processor i5-12400F (2.5GHz) 18MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® PRIME Z690-P D4 (LGA1700, USB 3.2, PCIe 5.0) - ARGB Ready - Replace this with B660 board when available to save perhaps £30 to £50.
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
NONE, I ALREADY HAVE A GRAPHICS CARD
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB INTEL® 670p M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 3000MB/sR | 1600MB/sW) - Drive for OS and programs.
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (2200 MB/R, 1500 MB/W) - Separate storage drive for games/data.
Power Supply
CORSAIR 750W TXm SERIES™ SEMI-MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET - 750W is better now, if a GPU upgrade is likely
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
PCS FrostFlow 150 Series High Performance CPU Cooler - Delete this if we find Intel stock cooler is adequate to save £31.
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
Firefox™
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 10 to 12 working days
Price: £789.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-z690-pc/S72dhhJC4W/

 

[RioCroc]

Hi. Welcome. That's a tight budget but at least you have the GPU and don't need an OS.

I think it would be probably best for you to go the Intel i6-12400F. Early benchmarks are showing it performs way better than the 11400F, is cooler and requires less power at max load. It may actually perform marginally better than the Ryzen 5 5600X.

If you can wait a month or so, then we should have some more info on this CPU's actual performance and how effective/quiet the new stock cooler is. This may mean you can cut out a third party cooler completely to save money. More important the new B660 boards will be available which should be £30-50 cheaper than the equivalent Z690 boards.

Something like this might be a starting point. It's coming in at £789 but once the B660 boards are available it should come in below £750. If you don't need two SSD drives, you could delete one to save money though 2 drives is recommended.

Case
COOLERMASTER MASTERBOX TD500 MESH ARGB GAMING CASE - Consider also the Lian Li Lancool 215 case to save £12.
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i5 Six Core Processor i5-12400F (2.5GHz) 18MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® PRIME Z690-P D4 (LGA1700, USB 3.2, PCIe 5.0) - ARGB Ready - Replace this with B660 board when available to save perhaps £30 to £50.
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
NONE, I ALREADY HAVE A GRAPHICS CARD
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB INTEL® 670p M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 3000MB/sR | 1600MB/sW) - Drive for OS and programs.
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (2200 MB/R, 1500 MB/W) - Separate storage drive for games/data.
Power Supply
CORSAIR 750W TXm SERIES™ SEMI-MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET - 750W is better now, if a GPU upgrade is likely
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
PCS FrostFlow 150 Series High Performance CPU Cooler - Delete this if we find Intel stock cooler is adequate to save £31.
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
Firefox™
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 10 to 12 working days
Price: £789.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-z690-pc/S72dhhJC4W/

Thank you very much for your help. I will definitely take your advice and wait for the reviews on the 12400f with stock cooler and b660 boards and bare in mind the PSU upgrade you mentioned as well.

 

[RioCroc]

Hi guys,

It's been a few weeks since I last posted a spec for review, I took the advice to wait for the 12th gen reviews and then built a 12th gen PC.

This PC will be used for casual gaming on mostly indie titles, RTS and Xbox 360 era games - no recent AAA games from the last few years as well as video streaming and the odd bit of programming. I will be pairing it up with a 1920x1080 1080p 60Hz monitor and a GTX 1050Ti that is about 3 years old now, in the next year I plan to upgrade to a 3060/3060Ti (or a 40 series equivalent if it is released by then), hence the overkill PSU as recommended last time. but I'm in no rush to do so. As well as a second SSD for a dedicated game drive, if it becomes necessary. My budget is £800-£900 including the OS.

I'd also like to prioritise the longevity of components even if I spend a little more now rather than a lot more in the future on replacements, so my budget can stretch if needed. That's why I'd rather have an SSD with a DRAM cache but I noticed that not all those on the parts picker had one (if my research was correct??).

Currently, I have selected the Asus prime b660-plus D4 motherboard just bassed on value, I have seen in other PC specs posted that the B660 TUF gaming is recommended (along with the Rmx power supply). Does this give noticeable performance/longevity benefits to warrant the extra cost?


Thank you in advance for any help, it'll all be much appreciated.



Case
LIAN LI LANCOOL 215 GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i5 Six Core Processor i5-12400F (2.5GHz) 18MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® PRIME B660-PLUS D4 (DDR4, USB 3.2, 6Gb/s) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
NONE, I ALREADY HAVE A GRAPHICS CARD
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SAMSUNG 970 EVO PLUS M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3500MB/R, 3300MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 750W TXm SERIES™ SEMI-MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
PCS FrostFlow 100 V3 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 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 [KK3-00027]
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
Mouse Pad
PCS Mouse Mat - XXL
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 9 to 12 working days
Price: £832.00 including VAT and Delivery

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

 

[JUNI0R]

Hi guys,

It's been a few weeks since I last posted a spec for review, I took the advice to wait for the 12th gen reviews and then built a 12th gen PC.

This PC will be used for casual gaming on mostly indie titles, RTS and Xbox 360 era games - no recent AAA games from the last few years as well as video streaming and the odd bit of programming. I will be pairing it up with a 1920x1080 1080p 60Hz monitor and a GTX 1050Ti that is about 3 years old now, in the next year I plan to upgrade to a 3060/3060Ti (or a 40 series equivalent if it is released by then), hence the overkill PSU as recommended last time. but I'm in no rush to do so. As well as a second SSD for a dedicated game drive, if it becomes necessary. My budget is £800-£900 including the OS.

I'd also like to prioritise the longevity of components even if I spend a little more now rather than a lot more in the future on replacements, so my budget can stretch if needed. That's why I'd rather have an SSD with a DRAM cache but I noticed that not all those on the parts picker had one (if my research was correct??).

Currently, I have selected the Asus prime b660-plus D4 motherboard just bassed on value, I have seen in other PC specs posted that the B660 TUF gaming is recommended (along with the Rmx power supply). Does this give noticeable performance/longevity benefits to warrant the extra cost?


Thank you in advance for any help, it'll all be much appreciated.



Case
LIAN LI LANCOOL 215 GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i5 Six Core Processor i5-12400F (2.5GHz) 18MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® PRIME B660-PLUS D4 (DDR4, USB 3.2, 6Gb/s) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
NONE, I ALREADY HAVE A GRAPHICS CARD
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SAMSUNG 970 EVO PLUS M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3500MB/R, 3300MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 750W TXm SERIES™ SEMI-MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
PCS FrostFlow 100 V3 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 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 [KK3-00027]
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
Mouse Pad
PCS Mouse Mat - XXL
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 9 to 12 working days
Price: £832.00 including VAT and Delivery

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

Heya! If you're able to stretch the budget a bit further this is what I'd recommend, especially if you're looking to improve longevity and upgradability of your system. Any questions, ask away!

Case
LIAN LI LANCOOL 215 GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i5 Six Core Processor i5-12400F (2.5GHz) 18MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING B660-PLUS WIFI D4: ATX, LGA1700, USB 3.2, SATA 6GBs - ARGB Ready The TUF B660 is a higher quality board than the Prime and comes with more features and more IO. But the main difference is the VRM's- the Prime only has a 6+1 layout where as the TUF has a 10+1 (effectively meaning it can handle more power hungry CPU's). If you're really looking to increase longevity and upgradability (although overspecced for now) it might be worth spending the extra £15 or so and getting the Z690 TUF, this is another step up from the B660 with a 14+1 design and an unlocked chipset to fully support a high end K SKU CPU in the future
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
NONE, I ALREADY HAVE A GRAPHICS CARD
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB INTEL® 670p M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 3000MB/sR | 1600MB/sW) I'd recommend going for a dua; drive layout. This means if windows decides to brick itself (it's happened to a family member before) or you need to do a fresh install of windows for whatever reason, you don't lose all of your data. This 500GB drive will be a perfectly good Boot drive for Windows and applications
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (2200 MB/R, 1500 MB/W) This secondary drive will act perfectly well as a games drive
Power Supply
CORSAIR 850W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET The RMx is a higher quality PSU hence the reason it gets our recommendation, it's always worth investing in a high quality PSU from the start. This quality is partly shown from the Manufacturer warranties that Corsair give these units- the TXm has a 7 year warranty, where as the RMx has a 10 year warranty. Having a higher wattage PSU will also allow the system to run more efficently and allow more space for future upgrades.
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
PCS FrostFlow 100 V3 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
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] I'd stick to Windows 10 for now. Although worth mentioning, if you're transferring your GPU, would you not also be able to transfer your Windows licence? It's a pretty simple process these days and would save you about £80 you could pocket or use to bolster the build
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
Mouse Pad
PCS Mouse Mat - XXL Nice choice
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) Well worth the £5
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 9 to 12 working days
Price: £925.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-z690-pc/eaX8dMwB6T/

 

[DarTon]

It's not as though the Prime board is poor but the TUF board does have a few clear advantages. First, unlike the Prime board, it has a PCIe5 capability, which while not usable right now, will be in the next year or two. It has better VRMs, not a big deal for the 12400F but it would be if you upgraded to a hotter CPU. It also has built in Wifi 6 which means you can cut out the separate card. Your current spec has the old Wifi card. Once you take that into account, the real price difference between the boards is just £30-35 which is decent value. The Z690 board at less than £20 more is also good value but might be overkill.

Both of those boards require an RMx series PSU. Given that you might aswell go for the 850W version.

You can make some savings by ditching the Samsung Evo 970 for a Intel 670p.