Build spec advice

[Kaeryndir]

Hi,

Looking for some advice on the below, for a decent spec primarily for gaming (1440 / 4k) on a budget of around £2000 (there's a bit of wiggle on that)

Ideally, I would like decent airflow for the system, monitor-wise, I have a single 28" wide-screen Asus monitor that can run up to 4k, and I'm looking to stay fairly minimal on the RGB components (and curious whether any I do end up with can potentially be turned off during the build stage), that's purely personal preference.

I'd also be interested in people's opinions around 32Gb of RAM, and whether Win11 is mature enough to adopt yet?

Case
LIAN LI LANCOOL 215 GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i5 10-Core Processor i5-12600KF (3.7GHz) 20MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING Z690-PLUS WIFI D4 (LGA1700, USB 3.2, PCIe 5.0) - ARGB Ready
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE RGB PRO DDR4 3600MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3070 - 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 SAMSUNG 970 EVO PLUS M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3500MB/R, 3300MB/W)
1st Storage Drive
2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 256MB CACHE
Power Supply
CORSAIR 850W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
Corsair H100x 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
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 4 to 7 working days
Price: £2,034.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-z690-pc/VxJVHCpWgQ/

 

[SpyderTracks]

Hiya, did you not buy a system a couple of years ago?

 

[Kaeryndir]

I did indeed! I decided it was time for a new one, and I'm giving that one to a friend.

 

[Scott]

If the flex is there on the budget I would spend a little more to both prop up some areas of the build and to aim for a better performing 4k GPU.

1440p won't scale well at all on 4k unfortunately.

Case
FRACTAL MESHIFY 2 LIGHT TEMPERED GLASS
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i5 10-Core Processor i5-12600KF (3.7GHz) 20MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING Z690-PLUS WIFI D4 (LGA1700, USB 3.2, PCIe 5.0) - ARGB Ready
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3600MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3070 Ti - 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 INTEL® 670p M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 3500MB/sR | 2700MB/sW)
1st Storage Drive
2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 256MB CACHE
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 H115i RGB PRO XT 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
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 4 to 7 working days
Price: £2,180.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-z690-pc/g9gcZPnb6w/

 

[Scott]

Moved Zotac discussion here to save derailing thread.

 

[Aza]

(Sorry)

 

[Scott]

(Sorry)

No need to apologise at all. It's a good discussion to be having and I was just as involved. It was getting on though so thought best to clean up the ops thread

 

[Kaeryndir]

Many thanks for the advice and answers, much appreciated! Just need to finish debating with myself now on Win10/11 🙂

 

[SpyderTracks]

Funnily enough, I have just finished posting something in a Discord server about Win 11 for gaming. Currently, Win 11 still has teething troubles so you are likely to get less issues on Win 10...however, for gaming, Win 11 is the better option apparently: Better Game Pass integration (if you use it), DirectStorage (although no clue which M.2 SSDs support that). There's a good article here about it:

Why Windows 11 Is Better for PC Gaming Than Windows 10

Windows 11 isn't all about better productivity, Microsoft has given plenty of attention to the gaming side of Windows 11

www.howtogeek.com

For gaming there aren't really my bugs in Windows 11 at this stage especially since the latest mega update

It's only really for professional apps that still haven't got proper support in Windows 11 that's its worth holding off for 22h2 in July