Advice on Gaming PC & Monitor

[meegwel]

Hi all,

I'm looking to get a new gaming PC and monitor and would appreciate any advice on what would be most suitable as I've been away from gaming for some time. I don't really have a set budget but I am looking for something reasonably high end (capable of 4k gaming) and from some of my searching it seems around 3.5k, for PC and monitor, is a realistic figure but I'm happy to be corrected on that.

From another recent forum post, I have directly lifted the specification below which was suggested for a 4k build, it doesn't include a monitor and the ones available didn't seem particularly suitable for 4k gaming but please correct me if I'm wrong.

I'm not sure why 4x8GB RAM was suggested over 2x16GB but I've left it that way for now and would appreciate any opinions or suggestions on any changes and also on a suitable monitor for this type of setup.

Thanks ever so much

Case
CORSAIR iCUE 5000X RGB MID TOWER GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i7 12-Core Processor i7-12700K (3.6GHz) 25MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING Z690-PLUS WIFI D4 (LGA1700, USB 3.2, PCIe 5.0) - ARGB Ready
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (4 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
10GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3080 - HDMI, DP, LHR
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SAMSUNG 980 PRO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 6900MB/R, 5000MB/W)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
2TB SEAGATE FIRECUDA 530 GEN 4 PCIe NVMe (up to 7300MB/R, 6900MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 1000W RMx 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 CAPELLIX RGB Hydro 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 11 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KUK-00003]
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 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 4 to 7 working days
Price: £2,650.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-z690-pc/js9PTFSpVF/

 

[Steveyg]

Hi all,

I'm looking to get a new gaming PC and monitor and would appreciate any advice on what would be most suitable as I've been away from gaming for some time. I don't really have a set budget but I am looking for something reasonably high end (capable of 4k gaming) and from some of my searching it seems around 3.5k, for PC and monitor, is a realistic figure but I'm happy to be corrected on that.

From another recent forum post, I have directly lifted the specification below which was suggested for a 4k build, it doesn't include a monitor and the ones available didn't seem particularly suitable for 4k gaming but please correct me if I'm wrong.

I'm not sure why 4x8GB RAM was suggested over 2x16GB but I've left it that way for now and would appreciate any opinions or suggestions on any changes and also on a suitable monitor for this type of setup.

Thanks ever so much

Case
CORSAIR iCUE 5000X RGB MID TOWER GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i7 12-Core Processor i7-12700K (3.6GHz) 25MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING Z690-PLUS WIFI D4 (LGA1700, USB 3.2, PCIe 5.0) - ARGB Ready
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (4 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
10GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3080 - HDMI, DP, LHR
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SAMSUNG 980 PRO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 6900MB/R, 5000MB/W)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
2TB SEAGATE FIRECUDA 530 GEN 4 PCIe NVMe (up to 7300MB/R, 6900MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 1000W RMx 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 CAPELLIX RGB Hydro 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 11 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KUK-00003]
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 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 4 to 7 working days
Price: £2,650.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-z690-pc/js9PTFSpVF/

Yeah that looks like my build and it's a monster will handle anything at 4K no problem with plenty of room to grow in future

Two options on the monitor, personally I would want a Samsung G9 but if you don't want something that size then the ASUS ROG Swift PG32UQ is a good option too at 32".

 

[MrWilson]

Very strong build above, nicely specced to smash gaming for the next few years.
RAM-wise for 4K gaming you won't see a difference, having 4 sticks might benefit slightly in productivity tasks but for GPU bound 4k gaming either will work fine. 4 sticks look nice to fill up your slots if that matters to you, and for gaming you won't need more than 32GB of RAM.
Still not the greatest 4k monitor availability in the UK but the PG32UQ is a great option. On the more budget end the Gigabyte M32U is a good pick, and the Hardware Unboxed current recommendation is the MSI MPG321UR-QD as demonstrated in their recent 4K monitor guide:

 

[meegwel]

Thank you, most appreciated...

@Steveyg you're correct, this was your suggested build from a recent post which seemed to fit my requirements so thank you for putting it together

I think I will swap the RAM for 2x16 if it makes no difference for gaming performance, just to offer more future expansion capabilities by not filling up the slots but other than that, it sounds like I have the PC sorted.

Thanks for the 4k monitor info, I'm quite tempted by the MSI one but it seems I can get either on a next day delivery so I can decide whilst the PC order is fulfilled.

One more bit of advice that would be appreciated is around audio output, do people still use speakers or is it only headsets now? My preference would be speakers so if anyone can make any suggestions or recommendations that would be useful, or tell me that I'm a fool for even considering speakers

Thanks again for the helpful responses

 

[SpyderTracks]

One more bit of advice that would be appreciated is around audio output, do people still use speakers or is it only headsets now? My preference would be speakers so if anyone can make any suggestions or recommendations that would be useful, or tell me that I'm a fool for even considering speakers

Speakers are still definitely used, there's various methods of doing it, really depends what kinds of thing you're looking for sound for? Purely gaming, or music too?

What's your budget for the speakers?

 

[meegwel]

Gaming will definitely be the prime purpose, I guess I will probably watch some movies etc. but nothing music related.

In terms of budget, it's not that I have an unlimited budget I just don't have much of an idea of what would be sensible, I think last time I purchased some PC speakers the main choice was Active or Passive I don't know if I should only be considering surround sound or if some decent stereo speakers will be sufficient so based on advice and recommendation would determine the budget.

 

[SpyderTracks]

Gaming will definitely be the prime purpose, I guess I will probably watch some movies etc. but nothing music related.

In terms of budget, it's not that I have an unlimited budget I just don't have much of an idea of what would be sensible, I think last time I purchased some PC speakers the main choice was Active or Passive I don't know if I should only be considering surround sound or if some decent stereo speakers will be sufficient so based on advice and recommendation would determine the budget.

Ok, so PC speaker are almost all active these days.

It's hard to gauge your budget level but judging by the rig and monitor you're going for, it's pretty high end so I've posted some of the premium offerings.

Main thing that's changed with PC audio is that you no longer require a dedicated soundcard for gaming audio, motherboards are so good (audio wise) that they've kind of made them redundant.

That board has especially good audio up to the full 7.1, but 7.1 has become quite niche and hard to find, 5.1 is really where the mainstream high end offerings are

I'd suggest, looking at a decent 5.1 setup if you want the most out of gaming. For gaming you really want a surround setup so you can really hear the footsteps coming up behind you etc, you want really accurate placement of sound.

The usual manufacturers to look out for are:

Logitech Z906 @ £270- Usually easy to get hold of, good quality mainstream stuff.

Razer Leviathan Dolby 5.1 @ £180 - This is an unusual setup with a soundbar and sub, but results are impressive

I'll mention some 2.1 systems for some further options, these are so very good if you're willing to sacrifice a little of the surround sound

Edifier M3200 2.1 @ £275 - Incredible speakers for the money, edifier make some amazing speakers, they bridge the gap between PC and high end audio.

Harman Kardon Soundsticks 4 @ £530 - Iconic speakers, fantastic sound, amazing design. These things tend to become extremely collectable, designed by Jonny Ive of Apple in early 2000's and these are the 3rd iteration I believe.

Razer Nommo Pro @ £500 - Again, one of the most impactful 2.1 speaker systems for computers.

 

[meegwel]

Just thought I'd share what I had ordered based on the helpful advice provided here, thanks guys.

I went for the Logitech Z906 speakers in the end, the Razer was tempting but I just thought true 5.1 would be that bit better overall.

For the monitor I have chosen the Samsung G7 S28, I'm still not 100% sure this is the right decision and maybe a high end 1440p would have been wiser but I guess I will find out.

The PC I ordered was pretty much exactly as the original post with just a couple of minor tweaks:

Case
CORSAIR iCUE 5000X RGB MID TOWER GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i7 12-Core Processor i7-12700K (3.6GHz) 25MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING Z690-PLUS WIFI D4 (LGA1700, USB 3.2, PCIe 5.0) - ARGB Ready
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE RGB PRO DDR4 3600MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
10GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3080 - HDMI, DP, LHR
Graphics Card Support Bracket
PCS GRAPHICS CARD SUPPORT BRACKET
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SAMSUNG 980 PRO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 6900MB/R, 5000MB/W)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
2TB SEAGATE FIRECUDA 530 GEN 4 PCIe NVMe (up to 7300MB/R, 6900MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 1000W RMx 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 CAPELLIX RGB Hydro 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 11 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KUK-00003]
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 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 4 to 7 working days
Price: £2,672.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-z690-pc/Htdkh7maVn/