Advice on 1440p gaming rig

S

Simon9531

Member
Hi all.

Stumbled on this thread a few weeks ago and have been reading away at advice already given. Am currently using a very aged pc set up i5 3rd gen with 1050ti...which has served me well but it's soon time to move things up a notch (or 9) and look to spec a 12th gen system.

I'm going to find a monitor separately which will be 1440p ready - around 144-165hz and close to 1ms response time, perhaps one with g sync too. Have seen several advised around the £300 mark.

Onto the system - I play a lot of role play strategy games like Warhammer 2, looking to get WH3 when it comes out. I want to branch into some of the current first person shooters and adventure games though and run them on high quality game settings to be able to make the most of the GPU and monitor set up at 1440p.

Budget is around 1600 (without monitor). I'm actually in a really fortunate position where I can stretch higher within reason. So I guess where I kind of am at the moment is in a price to performance balance - if anyone can twist my arm or weigh in with a good argument to stretch a little more then I'm all ears.

I have a few questions I'd like to get to the bottom of (mainly cooling for a 12400f and storage recommendations).

Thanks in advance...

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
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3600MHz (2 x 8GB) - was only £3 more over 3200mhz? Is the CL higher though on the 3600, almost every set up has 3200 advised.
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3060 Ti - HDMI, DP, LHR
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SEAGATE FIRECUDA 520 GEN 4 PCIe NVMe (up to 5000MB/R, 2500MB/W)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SEAGATE FIRECUDA 520 GEN 4 PCIe NVMe (up to 5000MB/R, 4400MB/W) - I did wonder if there is a huge gain Vs saving some cash and going with a gen 3 for the gaming drive.
Power Supply
CORSAIR 850W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET - potential upgrade to GPU at some point.
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
PCS FrostFlow 100 V3 Series High Performance CPU Cooler - lots of comments that this is sufficient for a 12400f but wondering if spending a bit more on a higher rated cooler would benefit?
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]
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 - Subject to stock availability on pre-order products
Price: £1,591.00 including VAT and Delivery
 
JUNI0R

JUNI0R

VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
Simon9531 said:
Hi all.

Stumbled on this thread a few weeks ago and have been reading away at advice already given. Am currently using a very aged pc set up i5 3rd gen with 1050ti...which has served me well but it's soon time to move things up a notch (or 9) and look to spec a 12th gen system.

I'm going to find a monitor separately which will be 1440p ready - around 144-165hz and close to 1ms response time, perhaps one with g sync too. Have seen several advised around the £300 mark.

Onto the system - I play a lot of role play strategy games like Warhammer 2, looking to get WH3 when it comes out. I want to branch into some of the current first person shooters and adventure games though and run them on high quality game settings to be able to make the most of the GPU and monitor set up at 1440p.

Budget is around 1600 (without monitor). I'm actually in a really fortunate position where I can stretch higher within reason. So I guess where I kind of am at the moment is in a price to performance balance - if anyone can twist my arm or weigh in with a good argument to stretch a little more then I'm all ears.

I have a few questions I'd like to get to the bottom of (mainly cooling for a 12400f and storage recommendations).

Thanks in advance...

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
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3600MHz (2 x 8GB) - was only £3 more over 3200mhz? Is the CL higher though on the 3600, almost every set up has 3200 advised.
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3060 Ti - HDMI, DP, LHR
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SEAGATE FIRECUDA 520 GEN 4 PCIe NVMe (up to 5000MB/R, 2500MB/W)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SEAGATE FIRECUDA 520 GEN 4 PCIe NVMe (up to 5000MB/R, 4400MB/W) - I did wonder if there is a huge gain Vs saving some cash and going with a gen 3 for the gaming drive.
Power Supply
CORSAIR 850W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET - potential upgrade to GPU at some point.
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
PCS FrostFlow 100 V3 Series High Performance CPU Cooler - lots of comments that this is sufficient for a 12400f but wondering if spending a bit more on a higher rated cooler would benefit?
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]
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 - Subject to stock availability on pre-order products
Price: £1,591.00 including VAT and Delivery
Click to expand...
Honestly, I think you're pretty much there!

RAM- I'd tend to stick to 3200mhz with the PCS options, if you were going to be video editing or using the PC for creative tasks then I might opt for 3600mhz, but as you say, due to the CL timings of the RAM, it means there's a very minimal difference between the two.

Storage- I don't think it makes much sense to have 2 Gen 4 drives at this price point (to be honest I rarely spec 2 gen 4 drives anyway). You're currently spending a lot of cash for not a whole lot more performance, now Direct Storage could change this but a gen 3 drive is already so blisteringly fast already, I don't think anyone really needs faster. TLDR: Approve of the 500GB 530, but something like the Intel 670p will be ample as a secondary drive.

Cooling: The 12400F is not a very hungry CPU both power and thermals wise so you don't need to spend tonnes on a cooler. The FF100 you have here would be ample for the 12400F for your uses. You could spend more if you wanted to, but I don't think you'd see huge gains by going from a FF100 to a Corsair H100i which is a £80+ difference.
 
S

Simon9531

Member
Thanks for the reply Junior, much appreciated.

Will probably stick with the 3200 ram then and a less pricier gaming drive. Depending on when I pull the trigger on this system it may be even less costlier (thinking when gen 5 comes out - although granted you can keep waiting forever and never get anywhere, a line needs to be drawn at some point).

Is there any benefit in moving up to the FF120 or 150 for less of an outlay on the cooling front?
 
JUNI0R

JUNI0R

VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
Simon9531 said:
Thanks for the reply Junior, much appreciated.

Will probably stick with the 3200 ram then and a less pricier gaming drive. Depending on when I pull the trigger on this system it may be even less costlier (thinking when gen 5 comes out - although granted you can keep waiting forever and never get anywhere, a line needs to be drawn at some point).

Is there any benefit in moving up to the FF120 or 150 for less of an outlay on the cooling front?
Click to expand...
I think PCIE 5.0 drives are a little way away yet. I believe that one company has announced one with eye watering speeds in the region of 14,000 mb/s read but it's not due out until the 2nd half of this year not to mention it'll be uber expensive, so not something worth waiting for in my opinion

The FF120 is a 120mm AIO. 120mm AIO's have never been a very effective way of cooling over a simple tower cooler, so not a move I'd recommend. Then the FF150 is currently out of stock. It adds an extra heatpipe and extra fan, but again, I think you'll be perfectly fine with the FF100
 
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