Advice on build for friends first gaming PC

T

Thrasher

Bronze Level Poster
I've not kept much up to date with things so looking for a bit of advice after a friend has said he wants help with his first ever PC.

Use will be gaming (not necessarily AAA max settings) but wide range of titles at 1440p / 144hz range. Only other use case requirement will be running virtual machines for web dev / learning.

Budget is only £1000. If this is really hard to achieve given the cost of adding in a decent GPU I might do the guy a favour and gift him an old GTX 1080ti - although preference would be to have a newer card that can support DLSS/gsync/freesync etc etc - not even sure how a 1080ti would perform these days compared to say a 3060ti.

First build I have configured for a starter below

Case
CORSAIR 175R RGB MID TOWER GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 5600 Six Core CPU (3.5GHz-4.4GHz/35MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING B550-PLUS (DDR4, USB 3.2, 6Gb/s) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
12GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3060 - HDMI, DP, LHR
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (3300 MB/R, 2900 MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 550W TXm SERIES™ SEMI-MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
PCS FrostFlow 200 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 13 to 16 working days
Price: £986.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/X62HN05qcq/
 
Martinr36

Martinr36

MOST VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
Best idea would be for him to sign up here, trying to sort builds via a third party is a PITA
 
SpyderTracks

SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
Thrasher said:
I've not kept much up to date with things so looking for a bit of advice after a friend has said he wants help with his first ever PC.

Use will be gaming (not necessarily AAA max settings) but wide range of titles at 1440p / 144hz range. Only other use case requirement will be running virtual machines for web dev / learning.

Budget is only £1000. If this is really hard to achieve given the cost of adding in a decent GPU I might do the guy a favour and gift him an old GTX 1080ti - although preference would be to have a newer card that can support DLSS/gsync/freesync etc etc - not even sure how a 1080ti would perform these days compared to say a 3060ti.

First build I have configured for a starter below

Case
CORSAIR 175R RGB MID TOWER GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 5600 Six Core CPU (3.5GHz-4.4GHz/35MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING B550-PLUS (DDR4, USB 3.2, 6Gb/s) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
12GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3060 - HDMI, DP, LHR
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (3300 MB/R, 2900 MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 550W TXm SERIES™ SEMI-MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
PCS FrostFlow 200 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 13 to 16 working days
Price: £986.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/X62HN05qcq/
Click to expand...
1080ti is still very capable at 1440p, I'm currently still using a GTX1080 on a 5120x1440 screen, obviously mainly playing older titles and remasters but it's amazing how well the 1080 can still hold up, it was a golden GPU generation.

The 3060 is a good card as well although you'd have to reduce setting still for 1440p for decent frames and likely no Ray Tracing. The 3060ti is where you really want to be but just not possible within the budget.

I may suggest maxcing out the build sans GPU, use your 1080ti for now and save up for a current generation AMD GPU for which prices have already reduced since their launch in October. The 7900XT is now almost good value with very strong performance.

The build looks fine, I may suggest swapping the SSD for the Intel which is just a little more reliable for around the same cost.

I would also push for at least an 850w PSU as otherwise you're going to limit upgrade potential
 
sck451

sck451

MOST VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
SpyderTracks said:
1080ti is still very capable at 1440p, I'm currently still using a GTX1080 on a 5120x1440 screen, obviously mainly playing older titles and remasters but it's amazing how well the 1080 can still hold up, it was a golden GPU generation.

The 3060 is a good card as well although you'd have to reduce setting still for 1440p for decent frames and likely no Ray Tracing. The 3060ti is where you really want to be but just not possible within the budget.

I may suggest maxcing out the build sans GPU, use your 1080ti for now and save up for a current generation AMD GPU for which prices have already reduced since their launch in October. The 7900XT is now almost good value with very strong performance.

The build looks fine, I may suggest swapping the SSD for the Intel which is just a little more reliable for around the same cost.

I would also push for at least an 850w PSU as otherwise you're going to limit upgrade potential
Click to expand...
I fully agree with this. You can get a 6700 (non XT) for surprising little, though, and it's definitely approaching being a 1440p ready card. That's the best option currently in stock, but I agree that the 1080 Ti is probably a better choice.
 
T

Thrasher

Bronze Level Poster
OK so budget has increased slightly to around £1500, so I've made changes based on that. Any thoughts/comments welcome.


Case
CORSAIR 4000D AIRFLOW TEMPERED GLASS GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 7 7700X Eight Core CPU (4.5GHz-5.4GHz/40MB CACHE/AM5)
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING B650-PLUS WIFI (DDR5, USB 3.2, 6Gb/s)
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR5 5200MHz (1 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3060 Ti - HDMI, DP, LHR
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 PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (3300 MB/R, 2900 MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 750W RMe SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
CORSAIR iCUE H150i ELITE RGB 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 Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 13 to 16 working days
Price: £1,492.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am5-pc/p3urFFYvup/
 
sck451

sck451

MOST VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
Thrasher said:
OK so budget has increased slightly to around £1500, so I've made changes based on that. Any thoughts/comments welcome.


Case
CORSAIR 4000D AIRFLOW TEMPERED GLASS GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 7 7700X Eight Core CPU (4.5GHz-5.4GHz/40MB CACHE/AM5)
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING B650-PLUS WIFI (DDR5, USB 3.2, 6Gb/s)
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR5 5200MHz (1 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3060 Ti - HDMI, DP, LHR
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 PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (3300 MB/R, 2900 MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 750W RMe SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
CORSAIR iCUE H150i ELITE RGB 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 Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 13 to 16 working days
Price: £1,492.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am5-pc/p3urFFYvup/
Click to expand...
The problem is that AM5 needs faster RAM. It's best with DDR5-6000; anything else hampers it significantly.

I'd be inclined to go for one of the cooler chips (7600 or 7700) and a cheaper cooler, and upgrade the power supply and RAM. I'm not sure how that would balance out, however!
 
MrWilson

MrWilson

Godlike

Ryzen CPUs have always been quite sensitive to RAM speeds, very good 5600mhz, or 6000mhz is definitely the place to be if possible as performance does start to drop quite substantially if you cheap out here. Attached HWU video which has some reliable benchmarks about this.
 
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