Advice on new PC build

[Dark Shadow 231]

Thoughts on new build, mostly after a sense check, make sure processor, graphics, memory, motherboard are not out of step or anything



Case
CORSAIR 175R RGB MID TOWER GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 5600X Six Core CPU (3.7GHz-4.6GHz/35MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® PRIME B550-PLUS (DDR4, USB 3.2, 6Gb/s) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3600MHz (4 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3060 Ti - HDMI, DP, LHR
1st M.2 SSD Drive
2TB INTEL® 670p M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 3500MB/sR | 2700MB/sW)
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 240 Series RGB High Performance Liquid Cooler (AMD)
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Extra Case Fans
1x 120mm Black Case Fan (configured to extract from rear/roof)
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 [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 - Subject to stock availability on pre-order products
Welcome Book
PCSpecialist Welcome Book - United Kingdom & Republic of Ireland
Price: £1,696.00 including VAT and Delivery

 

[Dark Shadow 231]

Say a £2K budget, though not so much on a budget. Happy to spend for where there's a purpose.
Not looking for 4K or anything that high end. My current rig is 6 years old so just looking to upgrade.
(Big 7 days to die player if that makes any difference)

 

[JUNI0R]

Say a £2K budget, though not so much on a budget. Happy to spend for where there's a purpose.
Not looking for 4K or anything that high end. My current rig is 6 years old so just looking to upgrade.
(Big 7 days to die player if that makes any difference)

Heya! Some changes we could make here. In terms of monitors, are you going to use your current one? If so what is the make and model or resolution and refresh rate of that monitor? Or do you plan to buy a new one with this PC? If so do you have a budget in mind?

 

[Dark Shadow 231]

Heya! Some changes we could make here. In terms of monitors, are you going to use your current one? If so what is the make and model or resolution and refresh rate of that monitor? Or do you plan to buy a new one with this PC? If so do you have a budget in mind?

It's a viewsonic 144hz model. Was just going to keep using existing.
Not planning on replacing without good reason.

 

[JUNI0R]

It's a viewsonic 144hz model. Was just going to keep using existing.
Not planning on replacing without good reason.

What resolution is it? 1080p? 1440p? 4K? The resolution of the monitor would change how powerful the GPU we need to put in which obviously affects the rest of the build

 

[Dark Shadow 231]

What resolution is it? 1080p? 1440p? 4K? The resolution of the monitor would change how powerful the GPU we need to put in which obviously affects the rest of the build

Makes sense.

ViewSonic XG2401 24" 144Hz Gaming Monitor

The ViewSonic XG2401 is the ultimate 24’’ gaming display designed for avid gamers. It features a rapid 144Hz refresh rate, ultra-fast 1ms response time and Game mode to naturally and smoothly represent high-speed images and greater detail in dark scenes and images. Equipped with 1920 x 1080p...

www.viewsonic.com

 

[JUNI0R]

Makes sense.

ViewSonic XG2401 24" 144Hz Gaming Monitor

The ViewSonic XG2401 is the ultimate 24’’ gaming display designed for avid gamers. It features a rapid 144Hz refresh rate, ultra-fast 1ms response time and Game mode to naturally and smoothly represent high-speed images and greater detail in dark scenes and images. Equipped with 1920 x 1080p...

www.viewsonic.com

As a 1080p unit, I'd highly recommend going for a monitor upgrade with your budget- it seems a waste to spend £2K and be stuck at 1080p. For a decent 1440p 144hz gaming monitor you'd be looking at about £300, our current go to recommendations are the Dell S2721DGF, Gigabyte M27Q and ASUS VG27AQ which should all be around this price point. I've left enough in your budget to comfortably afford one of these monitors. Any questions, ask away!

Case
CORSAIR 4000D AIRFLOW TEMPERED GLASS GAMING CASE Much higher airflow case to help keep components cool. If you'd like some RGB then the Lian Li 215 and Cooler Master TD500 are solid options
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i5 Six Core Processor i5-12600 (3.3GHz) 18MB Cache I'd highly recommend going for an Intel 12th gen system. The 12600K would be ideal here, but is out of stock.
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING Z690-PLUS WIFI D4 (LGA1700, USB 3.2, PCIe 5.0) - ARGB Ready Ample motherboard for both the 12600 and 12600K
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 8GB) For 99% of gaming 16GB will be ample, also due to CL speeds, there's not much difference in performance betwen 3200mhz and 3600mhz
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3060 Ti - HDMI, DP, LHR Ample card for 1440p 144hz
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB INTEL® 670p M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 3000MB/sR | 1600MB/sW) I'd recommend splitting your storage into two drives, this one would be for Windows and applications
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (2200 MB/R, 1500 MB/W) This one would be for games
Power Supply
CORSAIR 850W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET Higher quality and higher wattage PSU that'll allow for a future GPU upgrade
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
PCS FrostFlow 200 Series High Performance CPU Cooler Ample cooling for both the 12600 and 12600K
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 personally stick to W10 for now
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 Left in here by mistake, but I'd remove and just use Windows Defender
Browser
Microsoft® Edge
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 - Subject to stock availability on pre-order products
Price: £1,591.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-z690-pc/8vXZe5FrTh/

 

[Dark Shadow 231]

As a 1080p unit, I'd highly recommend going for a monitor upgrade with your budget- it seems a waste to spend £2K and be stuck at 1080p. For a decent 1440p 144hz gaming monitor you'd be looking at about £300, our current go to recommendations are the Dell S2721DGF, Gigabyte M27Q and ASUS VG27AQ which should all be around this price point. I've left enough in your budget to comfortably afford one of these monitors. Any questions, ask away!

Case
CORSAIR 4000D AIRFLOW TEMPERED GLASS GAMING CASE Much higher airflow case to help keep components cool. If you'd like some RGB then the Lian Li 215 and Cooler Master TD500 are solid options
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i5 Six Core Processor i5-12600 (3.3GHz) 18MB Cache I'd highly recommend going for an Intel 12th gen system. The 12600K would be ideal here, but is out of stock.
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING Z690-PLUS WIFI D4 (LGA1700, USB 3.2, PCIe 5.0) - ARGB Ready Ample motherboard for both the 12600 and 12600K
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 8GB) For 99% of gaming 16GB will be ample, also due to CL speeds, there's not much difference in performance betwen 3200mhz and 3600mhz
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3060 Ti - HDMI, DP, LHR Ample card for 1440p 144hz
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB INTEL® 670p M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 3000MB/sR | 1600MB/sW) I'd recommend splitting your storage into two drives, this one would be for Windows and applications
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (2200 MB/R, 1500 MB/W) This one would be for games
Power Supply
CORSAIR 850W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET Higher quality and higher wattage PSU that'll allow for a future GPU upgrade
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
PCS FrostFlow 200 Series High Performance CPU Cooler Ample cooling for both the 12600 and 12600K
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 personally stick to W10 for now
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 Left in here by mistake, but I'd remove and just use Windows Defender
Browser
Microsoft® Edge
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 - Subject to stock availability on pre-order products
Price: £1,591.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-z690-pc/8vXZe5FrTh/

Undecided on upgrading to 27" 1440p.

If I didn't and stick with 24" 1080p, do you think it makes sense to pair things back a bit?
If so w hat makes sense, move back to a 1660ti maybe? 3600 processor?

 

[JUNI0R]

Undecided on upgrading to 27" 1440p.

If I didn't and stick with 24" 1080p, do you think it makes sense to pair things back a bit?
If so w hat makes sense, move back to a 1660ti maybe? 3600 processor?

It'll be slightly different for you as you've already experienced 144hz, but I remember going from 1080p 60hz to 1440p 144hz and the difference was mind blowing, I literally never knew gaming could be so good. If you do the maths, 1080p is about 2 million pixels and 1440p is 3.7 million pixels meaning it's almost double the pixels which gives a massive boost to the graphical detail in the games you play. I'll leave it up to you but if I were you, I'd highly recommend making the upgrade.

If you decide to stay with 1080p, then the only think you'd really need to change is the GPU. My current choice is the AMD RX6600, it just offers far better value than any other 1080p card right now. If you generally wanted to spend less, then that's a slightly different kettle of fish

 

[Dark Shadow 231]

It'll be slightly different for you as you've already experienced 144hz, but I remember going from 1080p 60hz to 1440p 144hz and the difference was mind blowing, I literally never knew gaming could be so good. If you do the maths, 1080p is about 2 million pixels and 1440p is 3.7 million pixels meaning it's almost double the pixels which gives a massive boost to the graphical detail in the games you play. I'll leave it up to you but if I were you, I'd highly recommend making the upgrade.

If you decide to stay with 1080p, then the only think you'd really need to change is the GPU. My current choice is the AMD RX6600, it just offers far better value than any other 1080p card right now. If you generally wanted to spend less, then that's a slightly different kettle of fish

Not so much about spending less as is the improvement worth it.
If I was to pair things back to say
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 3600 Six Core CPU (3.6GHz-4.2GHz/36MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® PRIME B550-PLUS (DDR4, USB 3.2, 6Gb/s) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3000MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
6GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1660 Ti - HDMI, DP - GeForce GTX VR Ready!

or
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i3 Quad Core Processor i3-12100 (3.30GHz) 12MB 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
8GB AMD RADEON™ RX 6600 - HDMI, DP - DX® 12

and trim some extras, I'm still looking at £1300. With that in mind, I'm thinking the jump to 1440p isn't that much. With all the prices of chips inflated (thank you crypto miners), maybe it is worth it.

 

[Dark Shadow 231]

As a 1080p unit, I'd highly recommend going for a monitor upgrade with your budget- it seems a waste to spend £2K and be stuck at 1080p. For a decent 1440p 144hz gaming monitor you'd be looking at about £300, our current go to recommendations are the Dell S2721DGF, Gigabyte M27Q and ASUS VG27AQ which should all be around this price point. I've left enough in your budget to comfortably afford one of these monitors. Any questions, ask away!

Case
CORSAIR 4000D AIRFLOW TEMPERED GLASS GAMING CASE Much higher airflow case to help keep components cool. If you'd like some RGB then the Lian Li 215 and Cooler Master TD500 are solid options
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i5 Six Core Processor i5-12600 (3.3GHz) 18MB Cache I'd highly recommend going for an Intel 12th gen system. The 12600K would be ideal here, but is out of stock.
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING Z690-PLUS WIFI D4 (LGA1700, USB 3.2, PCIe 5.0) - ARGB Ready Ample motherboard for both the 12600 and 12600K
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 8GB) For 99% of gaming 16GB will be ample, also due to CL speeds, there's not much difference in performance betwen 3200mhz and 3600mhz
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3060 Ti - HDMI, DP, LHR Ample card for 1440p 144hz
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB INTEL® 670p M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 3000MB/sR | 1600MB/sW) I'd recommend splitting your storage into two drives, this one would be for Windows and applications
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (2200 MB/R, 1500 MB/W) This one would be for games
Power Supply
CORSAIR 850W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET Higher quality and higher wattage PSU that'll allow for a future GPU upgrade
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
PCS FrostFlow 200 Series High Performance CPU Cooler Ample cooling for both the 12600 and 12600K
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 personally stick to W10 for now
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 Left in here by mistake, but I'd remove and just use Windows Defender
Browser
Microsoft® Edge
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 - Subject to stock availability on pre-order products
Price: £1,591.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-z690-pc/8vXZe5FrTh/

With that in mind, got a couple of questions on your build

Processor (CPU)
I assume this is just Intel is rated better for games than AMD at the moment?
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING Z690-PLUS WIFI D4 (LGA1700, USB 3.2, PCIe 5.0) -
Any reason for this over one of the lower ones, this seems to be one of the higher end ones. What does it bring over say ASUS PRIME B660-PLUS D4 ?
Memory (RAM)
Take on board your advice on memory. This is the one piece where moving from 16 to 32 later doesn't involve replacing anything so could always change my mind later.

 

[JUNI0R]

Not so much about spending less as is the improvement worth it.
If I was to pair things back to say
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 3600 Six Core CPU (3.6GHz-4.2GHz/36MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® PRIME B550-PLUS (DDR4, USB 3.2, 6Gb/s) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3000MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
6GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1660 Ti - HDMI, DP - GeForce GTX VR Ready!

or
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i3 Quad Core Processor i3-12100 (3.30GHz) 12MB 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
8GB AMD RADEON™ RX 6600 - HDMI, DP - DX® 12

and trim some extras, I'm still looking at £1300. With that in mind, I'm thinking the jump to 1440p isn't that much. With all the prices of chips inflated (thank you crypto miners), maybe it is worth it.

£1300? You mentioned a budget of £2000 above. Below is the spec I'd recommend for £1300

With that in mind, got a couple of questions on your build

Processor (CPU)
I assume this is just Intel is rated better for games than AMD at the moment?
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING Z690-PLUS WIFI D4 (LGA1700, USB 3.2, PCIe 5.0) -
Any reason for this over one of the lower ones, this seems to be one of the higher end ones. What does it bring over say ASUS PRIME B660-PLUS D4 ?
Memory (RAM)
Take on board your advice on memory. This is the one piece where moving from 16 to 32 later doesn't involve replacing anything so could always change my mind later.

In my opinion, there really isn't much point to go for AMD at the moment, it's an EOL platform which massively limits upgradability and an equal system from them would be more expensive.

The main reason we pick higher quality motherboards is for the VRM's (voltage regulator modules). These are the bits that control where the power goes on the board and having higher end VRM's means the board is able to handle a more power demanding CPU. The design on the Prime B660 is a 6+1 compared to a 14+1 on the TUF Z690

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 3200MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
8GB AMD RADEON™ RX 6600 - HDMI, DP - DX® 12
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB INTEL® 670p M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 3000MB/sR | 1600MB/sW)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (2200 MB/R, 1500 MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 850W RMx SERIES™ 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
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
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 12 to 14 working days
Price: £1,335.00 including VAT and Delivery

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

 

[Dark Shadow 231]

£1300? You mentioned a budget of £2000 above. Below is the spec I'd recommend for £1300


In my opinion, there really isn't much point to go for AMD at the moment, it's an EOL platform which massively limits upgradability and an equal system from them would be more expensive.

The main reason we pick higher quality motherboards is for the VRM's (voltage regulator modules). These are the bits that control where the power goes on the board and having higher end VRM's means the board is able to handle a more power demanding CPU. The design on the Prime B660 is a 6+1 compared to a 14+1 on the TUF Z690

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 3200MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
8GB AMD RADEON™ RX 6600 - HDMI, DP - DX® 12
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB INTEL® 670p M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 3000MB/sR | 1600MB/sW)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (2200 MB/R, 1500 MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 850W RMx SERIES™ 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
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
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 12 to 14 working days
Price: £1,335.00 including VAT and Delivery

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

Hi @JUNI0R ,
First thank you for your continued help on this.
The budget is loosely £2000.

The point I was making was, the 1440p upgrade will depend on the "relative" cost. How much would the 1080p build be, then how much more (%) would the 1440p be.
The 1440p was about £1700. If the 1080p was say £1000, I'd probably think 1440p wasn't worth it. However the 1080p is about £1300, the increase is about 30%.
If I'm going to spend a Minimum of £1300, I'm thinking £400 for the 1440p upgrade does make sense.

 

[DarTon]

@Dark Shadow 231 . You can spec a 1440p build with nothing more than a change of GPU. Take the £1,335 build by @JUNI0R and switch the 6600 for a 3060Ti. Hey presto ... 1440p build at £1,500. The 3060 Ti is ideal for a 1440p build with a 27" 16:9 1440p 144/165Hz IPS monitor that costs around £300.

Of course, many people may decide the 12400F CPU is a bit weak and also change that to something else, perhaps a 12700K, which then makes it worth paying a bit more for the Z690 board and also requires AIO cooling from an H100i/H115i. Also they might want to change the PCIe3 M2 SSDs for PCIe4 M2 SSDs. Bigger case perhaps? 1000W PSU? By then the price is £2,000. It's still a 1440p system but a more powerful one. Switch the 3060 Ti for a 3070 Ti and it's £2,250. Now a top of the range 1440p system.

So realistically, you can get a 1440p system from anything from £1,500 to £2,250+.

 

[Dark Shadow 231]

@DarTon ,
That build is too low spec on other things, that was only put forward because of a miscommunication over the budget.

Let's focus on the build juni0r put forward

Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i5 Six Core Processor i5-12600 (3.3GHz) 18MB Cache .
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING Z690-PLUS WIFI D4 (LGA1700, USB 3.2, PCIe 5.0) -
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3060 Ti - HDMI, DP, LHR
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB INTEL® 670p M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 3000MB/sR | 1600MB/sW)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (2200 MB/R, 1500 MB/W) This one would be for games
Power Supply
CORSAIR 850W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Processor Cooling
PCS FrostFlow 200 Series High Performance CPU Cooler

Does this all make sense, anything people think is too much or too little, or better alternative?

 

[DarTon]

The build by @JUNI0R is fine. As he said probably you really want a 12600KF but it's out of stock. If you wait for the 12600KF, I'd then consider an upgrade of the cooler to a H100i since the K variants can get rather hotter. I'd also consider an upgrade of the 500GB PCIe3 M2 SSD to a PCIe4 one such as the Samsung 980 Pro. Not essential but nice to have.

I'm still confused though because it seems you want to buy a PC with a 1440p grade GPU but don't want to buy a 1440p monitor. Your current monitor will just bottleneck the 3060 Ti GPU.

I'd either a) go for a cheaper 1080p build or b) buy a 1440p build and a new monitor. You can get a very good 27" IPS 1440p 144/165Hz monitor for around £300 and keep the old 1080p as a second monitor for web and other things.

 

[Dark Shadow 231]

The build by @JUNI0R is fine. As he said probably you really want a 12600KF but it's out of stock. If you wait for the 12600KF, I'd then consider an upgrade of the cooler to a H100i since the K variants can get rather hotter. I'd also consider an upgrade of the 500GB PCIe3 M2 SSD to a PCIe4 one such as the Samsung 980 Pro. Not essential but nice to have.

I'm still confused though because it seems you want to buy a PC with a 1440p grade GPU but don't want to buy a 1440p monitor. Your current monitor will just bottleneck the 3060 Ti GPU.

I'd either a) go for a cheaper 1080p build or b) buy a 1440p build and a new monitor. You can get a very good 27" IPS 1440p 144/165Hz monitor for around £300 and keep the old 1080p as a second monitor for web and other things.

If I go for the 1440p build then I would buy a new monitor.