A high end PC for gaming and a bit of “work” - no graphics card included for now

[JohnT13]

Hi all,

I am looking to upgrade my ancient PC having sat on my hands for a bit.

I am waiting for the new 5000 series graphics card – no decisions made yet (waiting to see the reviews) on going for semi-skimmed (5070 Ti or 5080) or full fat (5090).

So graphics card is not included, for now, but thought it would be helpful to get advice on the rest of the build and how well the components “connect” together or not. Whilst I appreciate can order a founders edition I am probably heading toward a PCSpecialist graphics card so everything can be tested/quality checked together when built.

Overall aim is for high end (gaming) PC with ability to upgrade iteratively.

Monitor – just bought a 4K MSI MPG 321U QD-OLED 240 Hz. It's a fantastic display and will be primary game monitor but will also coupled with a 1440p ASUS VG27AQL1A 144 Hz when doing productivity stuff.

Whilst totally not necessary to share with you – have just got a RAINY 75 Pro keyboard. It is amazing to tip tap on….

Uses – 75% gaming; 25% productivity – this may include some video processing (my son is getting into animation and other stuff). I will sometimes do large-scale imaging analyses (mainly CPU intensive) and also have an irritating habit of keeping multiple chrome/edge tabs open along with about 20 MS Office things on the go. VR is a near future possibility for my son although not really my thing. My wife has a LOT of photos and stuff that she also wants me to archive in a drive and I have huge number of files on the one-drive locally and have work outlook emails stored since the millennium (I don't delete anything). So drive space for archive and optimal MS Office efficiency is a must for me as I work from home a lot of the time.

Max Budget – Aiming for £4000 or a bit under but will go up to £4600 at a push. Depends a little on graphics card that I will finally opt for. Tending toward the magic “5090” given had some life events that make me think life is too short and you can’t take the money with you. But will see what the reviews are like and the cold hard price is when it is out in a few weeks.

Notes – No graphics card included as yet until 5000 series is out; have opted for iCUE TITAN 240 RX as placeholder because the 360 RX is temporarily out of stock. Will choose the latter when it comes in to stock.

Questions

• Any comments from the expert gurus on here re: parts selected hugely appreciated.
• What are people’s thoughts on the case choice? I would probably have preferred a Corsair 5000D series but they don’t seem to have these anymore. That said the Lian looks good and has good reviews (except not so good base dust filter). I appreciate you can send in your own case so I suppose that is an option but would prefer not to.
• I really would prefer 1 TB primary drive and 2 TB secondary but the Crucial T705 options doesn’t allow for more than 1TB. Have opted for a 3rd SOLIDGIM drive in interim but thoughts appreciated. I hate the way my current computer takes longer to load (Total War Warhammer I am talking to you) than my Spectrum 48K took back in the day.
• Fans – the Lian apparently can accommodate up to 10 fans. Assuming a x3 120 mm fan for CPU cooling that should leave 7 to play with. Was thinking on putting in iCUE ones for the remainder but the system won’t allow me to select more than 4 which seems a bit odd. Flashy lights aren't my thing but my son has begged me to get something "cool".
• Is the 1200W RMX SHIFT sufficient (even for 5090?).
• Any comments on the motherboard choice. Had done some comparative reviews but not easy to decide which one would be optimal for this build.

Cheers all – really appreciate you taking time to respond to this post. I have to say I have been following the forums for a while now and you guys are great in giving really sound and sensible advice.

Best John


Case
LIAN LI O11DYNAMIC EVO RGB GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D Eight Core CPU (Up to 5.2GHz/104MB w/3D V-CACHE/AM5)
Motherboard
ASUS® ROG CROSSHAIR X870E HERO (AM5, DDR5, M.2 PCIe 5.0, Wi-Fi 7)
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair DOMINATOR TITANIUM DDR5 7200MHz (2 x 16GB) KIT
Graphics Card
NONE, I ALREADY HAVE A GRAPHICS CARD
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB CRUCIAL T705 GEN 5 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 14,500MB/sR, 12,700MB/sW)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB CRUCIAL T705 GEN 5 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 14,500MB/sR, 12,700MB/sW)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
2TB SOLIDIGM P44 PRO GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 7000MB/sR, 6500MB/sW)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 1200W RMx SHIFT 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 LINK TITAN 240 RX LCD RGB HIGH PERFORMANCE CPU COOLER
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Extra Case Fans
4 x Corsair ICUE LINK RX120 RGB PWM Fan + Controller Kit
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
ONBOARD 2.5Gbe LAN PORT
Wireless Network Card
NONE OR ONBOARD Wi-Fi (MOTHERBOARD DEPENDENT)
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
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 5 to 7 working days
Price: £2,521.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am5-pc/tZ03qmSNTK/

 

[JohnT13]

Forgot to add planned games to played will include BG3, cyberpunk, Indiana Jones, Manor Lords, flight simulator, and GTA6 (when out). Cheers

 

[sck451]

It's obviously an amazing PC. I'd just suggest toning it down a little!

For instance, the two PCIe gen 5 SSDs are not going to benefit you. One might (might!) be the ultimate boot drive, but it's 100% not necessary, and there is no evidence of it being of any benefit to any gaming/productivity system. It makes sense in a server, but really not in a regular PC. And even if I bought one of them, I certainly wouldn't buy two. I'd suggest getting either a 1TB P44 Pro as a boot drive and a 4TB drive like the Corsair one, or if you really want to splurge then go for one of the Crucial drives and the 4TB one. I think you'd do much better going for more capacity than theoretical blazing speed that's never a thing in reality.

Similarly, the motherboard is amazing, a really amazing board. However it will not offer you one jot of performance over one that is literally £250 cheaper (the Aorus Elite board). There's really nothing to be gained by spending that money unless you have very, very specific requirements about PCIe connections, which for a gaming and video editing PC you really don't.

Finally, I'd be a little hesitant in buying that super-fast RAM. I know PCS are stocking it and offering it, but I really don't think it's a good choice. It may run stably, but it will not offer any significant performance advantage over more reasonable DDR5-6000 memory.

But otherwise, what a PC! I'm deeply envious.

 

[JohnT13]

That is extremely helpful - just the advice I am needing. I am all for getting good stuff but want good value as well. I like Corsair SSDs and agree (again for the missus' very large photo collection) that may be 4TB secondary would be good. I worry also if I have a smallish second drive that this will get easily eaten up by today's AAA games which are pretty bloated and hard on drive space. So great to have your thoughts on this.

On the motherboard front - just went back and realised that actually had meant to choose the Aorus Elite but goofed up (I was tired ) on the dropdown selection... but very pleased that this is a good choice.

On the RAM front - would you plump for 32 GB DDR5-6000 (x2 16 GB) or go all the way to 64 GB? I know this is still a hotly debated topic mind and my direction of travel is still toward 32 GB with a view that I can upgrade later.

As for being envious - I might coming back on here with a somewhat more lean spec 😬 if the prices on the 5000 graphics cards are what they are rumoured to be!

Big thanks!

ps: any thoughts on case and fan count also appreciated.

 

[SpyderTracks]

If you’re planning of MSFS2024 then 64Gb is warranted, 32Gb is fine otherwise

 

[Rus308]

Regarding the Lian LI Fans, just get Intouch with pcspecialist to ask if you can replace the 3 lian Li fans with 3 iCUE ones. That's what I will be doing after the tests of the new GPU's that have come out. The lian li o11dynamic evo rgb gaming case looks so nice. That is what I will also be going for too

 

[JohnT13]

Regarding the Lian LI Fans, just get Intouch with pcspecialist to ask if you can replace the 3 lian Li fans with 3 iCUE ones. That's what I will be doing after the tests of the new GPU's that have come out. The lian li o11dynamic evo rgb gaming case looks so nice. That is what I will also be going for too

It does indeed. I wasn't initially convinced on RGB (being a person of a certain age) but my Wobkey Rainy keyboard has converted me and of course my teenage son has mandated that any new computer must come with lots of lights 😆

 

[JohnT13]

I know this might be a "heretical" question - but what do people feel about the Scan 3xs systems vs. PCSpecialist?

Had a 3xs before (worked well) but I think pound for pound PCspecialist offer much better deals. Just curious and please don't feel the need to answer!

 

[sck451]

I know this might be a "heretical" question - but what do people feel about the Scan 3xs systems vs. PCSpecialist?

Had a 3xs before (worked well) but I think pound for pound PCspecialist offer much better deals. Just curious and please don't feel the need to answer!

We can't comment on other companies' products: this forum is for PCS only.

 

[JohnT13]

no worries - thought that might be the case.

 

[Scott]

As above, it's against the rules to discuss competitors etc.

However, in general, all integrators will be very similar in what they can offer. The only time you would notice something different would be if there was customisation in the components.

The chassis all tend to come from the same supplier, the CPUs/GPUs will come from the same supplier. All the parts and options, like for like, are exactly the same...... so in theory they should all be the same.

Where there may be slight differences is the BIOS, as these can be customised in-house to lock down or allow certain features. That's about it though.