Building my first PC - could I get some feedback on my proposed build?

[Skayj2]

Hi,

I am building my first PC.

I'm creating a workstation at home and investing in a higher-end mid-range PC for gaming and work (content creation, video editing, music production) that will last me a good few years but also with the capacity to upgrade.

I have a good general idea of what I want and am happy with the core components I've selected, feel like it's a good balance of strong performance without breaking the bank TOO much.

However, since I am a complete newbie at this and I have no concept of how this stuff will be physically put together (how dimensions of different parts and the casing interact) or how to optimise things. I thought I might try to solicit some feedback from veteran PC builders on my build before I sink the money into this thing.

Key Questions:

- Are there any performance-related efficiency bottlenecks in my chosen components?

- Does the current build inhibit future potential to upgrade?

- Are there any obvious cost-saving measures I've overlooked in my build? Any components I've gotten which are unneccessary and could warrant a downgrade to save cost without a significant decrease in performance.

- What cooling system should I get? Couldn't find anything reliable online - the current selection is a placeholder. If I'm honest the PC is likely over specced for what I will be using it for initially, so not sure I need a huge amount of cooling potential - but then again would like the ability to overclock (and I'm vaguely aware that cooling has something to do with overclocking). But yeah have no idea about this so advice on this with respect to my build would be greatly appreciated!

Also any other comments or observations regarding anything I may have overlooked are welcome.

This is my proposed build:

Case
PCS SPECTRUM G ARGB MID TOWER CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i5 14-Core Processor i5-13600K (3.5GHz) 24MB Cache
Motherboard
GIGABYTE Z690 GAMING X DDR5 (LGA1700, USB 3.2, PCIe 5.0) - ARGB Ready
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR5 5600MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3060 Ti - HDMI, DP, LHR

1st M.2 SSD Drive
2TB SEAGATE FIRECUDA 530 GEN 4 PCIe NVMe (up to 7300MB/R, 6900MB/W)
1st Storage Drive
4TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 5400RPM, 256MB CACHE
Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W 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 240 Series RGB High Performance Liquid Cooler
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
Creative Sound Blaster® Audigy Rx
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
Microsoft® 365 Personal (12 Month Subscription - Digital Key)
Anti-Virus
Norton 360 inc. Game Optimizer - Free 90 Day License
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 7 to 9 working days

Thank you so much!

 

[MrWilson]

Hi there,
Not a bad first attempt, but there are definitely areas to optimise.
Biggest save is probably going back to DDR4, as the performance gains from DDR5 aren’t quite there yet to justify the sizeable price increase. Cooling and PSU could be bumped up a bit too.
What’s your budget for the PC? That’ll help us know what we’re aiming for.

 

[Skayj2]

Hi there,
Not a bad first attempt, but there are definitely areas to optimise.
Biggest save is probably going back to DDR4, as the performance gains from DDR5 aren’t quite there yet to justify the sizeable price increase. Cooling and PSU could be bumped up a bit too.
What’s your budget for the PC? That’ll help us know what we’re aiming for.

Thanks for the response!

Yeah there was no option for DDR4 when building, is that because the i5 processor I have is only compatible with DDR5?

As for budget, i’ve allocated about £2000 for the pc and this build is currently sitting at £2150 - which is as far as I’m willing to stretch it.

I still have to buy a chair, monitors, keyboard and mouse.

 

[MrWilson]

Switching to the DDR4 configurator (the 13600k can support both DDR4 and DDR5, but the motherboard will only support one or the other) we can fit everything in nicely at the £2k mark.
Case
LIAN LI LANCOOL 215 GAMING CASE Better airflow case for the same price
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i5 14-Core Processor i5-13600K (3.5GHz) 24MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING Z690-PLUS D4 (LGA1700, USB 3.2, PCIe 5.0) - ARGB Ready
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE RGB PRO DDR4 3600MHz (2 x 16GB) RGB is cheaper than non-RGB
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3060 Ti - HDMI, DP, LHR Would recommend a 1440p 144hz display to go along with this.
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SAMSUNG 980 PRO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 6900MB/R, 5000MB/W) Fast primary drive for OS and programs
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SOLIDIGM P41+ GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 4125MB/sR, 2950MB/sW) Games and projects
1st Storage Drive
2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 256MB CACHE General mass storage
Power Supply
CORSAIR 850W RMe SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET Breathing room for when the CPU and GPU power spike, and a bit of headroom for the future.
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead, 1.0mm Core)
Processor Cooling
Corsair iCUE H100i RGB PRO XT Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler Strong cooler for the toasty CPU.
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
Microsoft® 365 Personal (12 Month Subscription - Digital Key)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE Even the trial version can slow down your system, Windows Defender does the job nicely
Browser
Microsoft® Edge
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) Silver warranty is well worth it for a fiver.
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 7 to 9 working days
Price: £1,974.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-z690-pc/PHs0Y4akV9/

 

[Skayj2]

You are a legend - thanks a lot man!

Appreciate it.

 

[Skayj2]

What prices do PC Specialist use for their components?

Want to build a PC with a RTX 3060 Ti card.

On the build a PC page on this website, the price of the 3060 Ti is about £500 incl. VAT (discerned from looking at the difference between options for an “intergrated gpu” and the 3060 Ti.

However the card is £369 incl. VAT on the geforce website (https://www.scan.co.uk/nvidia/products/3060ti/ryv9wkid8295bj?g=93f5c2e8-72b2-40f2-af3b-f118f1ed4efa).

Why is there such a difference between the build a pc price and the supplier? I thought pcspecialist’s whole thing is about giving a cost priced service. Is it a different spec/model being used in the pcspecialist store?

This has left me a little skeptical about the component prices listed on this website as now I’m just worried about being overcharged - I also need to buy monitors and a chair and the difference in the gpu price (and potentially other components) could go towards buying the other items.

However I’m also aware I may have overlooked something so if anyone could provide any info/assurance that would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Martinr36]

3060 Ti from PCS

 

[TonyCarter]

The MSRP of FE cards (Founder’s Edition) which is what your link diverts to, has very little to do with the price of aftermarket/AIB partner cards that PCS are supplying, and the FE cards are limited availability.

From that very same seller…the cheapest they currently have in stock is a PNY one for £439.

GeForce RTX 3060 Ti Graphics Cards - NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti Ray Tracing VR Ready Ampere GPU Graphics Card Gaming | SCAN UK

Welcome to our GeForce RTX 3060 Ti Graphics Cards - NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti Ray Tracing VR Ready Ampere GPU Graphics Card Gaming page. Here you will find leading brands such as ASUS, Gigabyte, MSI, Palit, PNY, Zotac.

www.scan.co.uk

 

[steaky360]

This has left me a little skeptical about the component prices listed on this website as now I’m just worried about being overcharged

I don't know the answer to your question in the OP, I think its likely based on the current price PCS are buying them for plus some markup (perhaps not, its likely much more complicated than that)... but I don't know. I'd imagine the cost of one component isn't strictly related to the consumer MSRP, I'm sure it tracks, but I don't think its going to be the same.

No one here knows for sure (most folk here don't work for PCS so we're all likely guessing). Not to say the above aren't reasonable responses (they absolutely are). But we don't really know for sure.

To perhaps assist in averting fears of being overcharged though you could 'build/spec' your PC to see how much the components come too, I would imagine you'll find the price isn't too far away from what PCS would be charging for the similar system. You'd obviously need to build it yourself going that way and fault find yourself etc.

The major benefits (as I see them) that you get from using PCS as opposed to building yourself are;

• Professionally built system fully checked prior to shipping
• Great customer service (in my opinion from using them myself) in pre-sale and aftersale.
• Easy RMA options should issues arise that require component swapping (many can be swapped at the door)
• Troubleshooting assistance via the tech support lines
• Warranty options that suit your needs (I'd always recommend silver as a minimum, but I personally chose Platinum for all my PCs for the extra RTB time period).

 

[SpyderTracks]

Founders edition cards are far cheaper than aftermarket cards.

It's not a like for like comparison