Advice on spec please - ~£1.5k budget

A

adrpil

Member
I have had my current computer (from PC Specialist) for 10 years, which is now dying, and so I am looking for a replacement. My main considerations are decent value and, fingers crossed, lasting for another 10 years (with maybe only minor upgrades).

I would appreciate any advice, particularly on any bottlenecks or components that are overkill. Thank you in advance

Budget: ~£1.5k (max £1.7k)
Use: Multi-tasking - I generally play games (@ mid-high settings for 1080p) while watching videos and browsing (no streaming or video editing)
Monitors: Currently 2 x BenQ GL2760H 27 Inch TN LED Monitor (1920 x 1080/2 ms/VGA/HDMI) - 75Hz refresh rate
Very likely to upgrade to 1440p and a 3rd monitor in the near future. Any recommendations would be appreciated

Case
FRACTAL DEFINE 7 BLACK QUIET MID-TOWER CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 7 7700X Eight Core CPU (4.5GHz-5.4GHz/40MB CACHE/AM5) (or the Intel i5-13600K)
Motherboard
ASUS® PRIME B650-PLUS (DDR5, USB 3.2, 6Gb/s) - ARGB Ready! (or motherboard suitable for Intel i5-13600K)
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE RGB DDR5 6000MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
16GB AMD RADEON™ RX 7800 XT GAMING - HDMI, DP - DX® 12
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
2TB SOLIDIGM P41+ GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 4125MB/sR, 3325MB/sW)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 550W CV SERIES™ CV-550 POWER SUPPLY
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
PCS FrostFlow 150 Series High Performance CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
ONBOARD 2.5Gbe 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 (will be installing windows 11)
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
Google Chrome™
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 6 to 8 working days
Price: £1,548.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am5-pc/V9rsa2fseG/
 
S

Steveyg

MOST VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
GPU's have gotten super power hungry mate so you really have to account for those transient spikes on the PSU. Solid build but I've tweaked it just a little to give you more performance, this would be a solid 1440p 144hz build but it has the best gaming CPU of this generation so should last many many years with GPU upgrades to suit

I wouldn't touch an Intel CPU with a barge pole to be honest they just aren't a competitive option at the minute. They are so far behind AMD it's alarming

Case
LIAN LI LANCOOL 205 MESH C GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D Eight Core CPU (4.2GHz-5.0GHz/104MB w/3D V-CACHE/AM5)
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING B650-PLUS WIFI (DDR5, USB 3.2, 6Gb/s)
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE RGB DDR5 6000MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
12GB AMD RADEON™ RX 6700 XT - HDMI, DP - DX® 12
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB SOLIDIGM P44 PRO GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 7000MB/sR, 4700MB/sW)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
2TB SOLIDIGM P41+ GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 4125MB/sR, 3325MB/sW)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 850W RMx 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 H100x RGB ELITE 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
ONBOARD 2.5Gbe 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
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 6 to 8 working days
Price: £1,548.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am5-pc/S6WBjts8bb/
 
A

adrpil

Member
Thank you for the configuration Steveyg

I have a few questions,
  1. I would prefer my computer to be a black box in the corner so don't need any RGB components. With that in mind, are there any changes I can make?
  2. As I don't need wi-fi would it be worth downgrading the motherboard to ASUS® PRIME B650-PLUS? Or are there other differences that make the ASUS® TUF GAMING B650-PLUS WIFI worth it?
  3. The component checker says only a 650W PSU is needed. Is the 850W to account for future upgrades?
 
S

Steveyg

MOST VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
adrpil said:
Thank you for the configuration Steveyg

I have a few questions,
  1. I would prefer my computer to be a black box in the corner so don't need any RGB components. With that in mind, are there any changes I can make?
  2. As I don't need wi-fi would it be worth downgrading the motherboard to ASUS® PRIME B650-PLUS? Or are there other differences that make the ASUS® TUF GAMING B650-PLUS WIFI worth it?
  3. The component checker says only a 650W PSU is needed. Is the 850W to account for future upgrades?
Click to expand...
1. There's more to case than being a black box mate, you want one with adequate space and airflow so the heat can be properly expelled from the case esepcially with higher end components that generate a lot of heat. RGB can be turned off though, I prefer minimal lights too but unfortunately we are a minority in the market so the best cases are designed with all the lights. Just turn them off, other option is the Fractal Define 7 XL but it's very expensive. It's a great looking "black box" and is brilliant for acoustic dampening but you pay a premium for it because it is a premium product

2. I would never recommend the PRIME motherboards personally they are just too basic and don't have the same build quality or features of the TUF. Although you don't need Wifi the Bluetooth is extremely useful with most peripherals now using BT5.2 as the connection method, this board has this built in. The TUF has great build quality so it's the go to recommendation around here

3. The PSU I'd honestly recommend higher on a higher budget, transient spikes are a big but recent issue on newer cards where the GPU pulls more than twice it's the power draw limits for a few moments the without the overhead on the PSU it would cause the system to crash or shut down. This helps fight that. Having an ATX 3.0 PSU would also solved this but PCS don't stock these at the minute, the high end GPUs are also pulling mental power so a 1000W PSU is generally the recommendation around here to make sure you'll have enough power to upgrade the GPU in future without having to upgrade the PSU at the same time which is a fairly big job to swap out. I wouldn't ever go less than 850W in a modern machine basically
 
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