desktop upgrade

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petecles

Member
Hi all.

I'm looking to upgrade my PC for use with relatively modern gaming at a decent spec, (e.g. PubG, Halo), as a media centre (i.e. streaming downloaded content, films/tv etc. to smart TV), and some light programming (eg MATLAB). Nothing requiring too much heavy-lifting, but wanting a solid upgrade which'll last hopefully longer than the 5-years my existing gaming laptop managed. It's been about 18 years since I last knew anything detailed about building a PC so could do with a little help!

I've put together the below spec. Comments on its self-compatibility, appropriateness for purpose, considerations I may have missed (and do I really want windows 11 vs 10?)... would all be appreciated! Also my current monitor is garbage and I haven't thought too much about that yet. Not inc. monitor, I'd rather not spend > £1300... Thanks!

Case FRACTAL FOCUS G BLACK GAMING CASE (Window)
Processor (CPU)AMD Ryzen 5 5600X Six Core CPU (3.7GHz-4.6GHz/35MB CACHE/AM4)
MotherboardASUS® PRIME B550-PLUS (DDR4, USB 3.2, 6Gb/s) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3600MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card8GB AMD RADEON™ RX 6600 - HDMI, DP - DX® 12
1st M.2 SSD Drive512GB INTEL® 670p M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 3000MB/sR | 1600MB/sW)
1st Storage Drive2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 256MB CACHE
DVD/BLU-RAY DriveNOT REQUIRED
Power SupplyCORSAIR 650W CV SERIES™ CV-650 POWER SUPPLY
Power Cable1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor CoolingSTANDARD AMD CPU COOLER
Thermal PasteSTANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound CardONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT
Wireless Network CardWIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6 AX200 2,400Mbps/5GHz, 300Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD + BT 5.0
USB/Thunderbolt OptionsMIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating SystemWindows 11 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KUK-00003]
Price£1277
Maximum Required Power293W
 
S

Steveyg

MOST VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
£1,300 is really tight in todays market mate so I've gone for solid base that really only needs a GPU upgrade in future to turn it into a really good gaming machine. This would be fine for 1080p for now though and offer plenty of room for upgrades later

Personally I would stick with Windows 10 for now, Windows 11 is still kind of mess and a long way before I'll use it myself

Case
PCS PRISM TG BLACK ARGB MID TOWER CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 5600X Six Core CPU (3.7GHz-4.6GHz/35MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING B550-PLUS (DDR4, USB 3.2, 6Gb/s) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
6GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1660 SUPER - HDMI, DP - GeForce GTX VR Ready!
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 750W TXm SERIES™ SEMI-MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
STANDARD AMD 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
Wireless Network Card
WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6 AX200 2,400Mbps/5GHz, 300Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD + BT 5.0
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: £1,296.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/tqXRMvWtNt/
 
P

petecles

Member
Hi Stevey, thanks for the build. It looks like the main difference is you've gone for a slightly cheaper GPU to allow for a higher spec PSU and a second SSD. Is that to better support future upgrades, or would that also make a better system now? Or was there an incompatibility issue with the AMD gpu? 750W PSU seems excessive to me?

Cheers,

Pete
 
S

Steveyg

MOST VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
petecles said:
Hi Stevey, thanks for the build. It looks like the main difference is you've gone for a slightly cheaper GPU to allow for a higher spec PSU and a second SSD. Is that to better support future upgrades, or would that also make a better system now? Or was there an incompatibility issue with the AMD gpu? 750W PSU seems excessive to me?

Cheers,

Pete
Click to expand...
Trust me mate 750W is far from excessive these days, in fact I generally recommend 850W as a minimum. New GPU's starting with the 3000 Series from Nvidia are extremely power hungry and this only seems to be creeping upwards

If you look around the forums you'll see a lot of people speccing for 1000W PSU's

The minimum for example that Nvidia recommend for a 3070 is a 750W PSU and you shouldn't spec on minimums, you spec on what you might need in future.

The model of PSU you've chosen is very basic too and more in line with office computers and not really gaming machines. The CV models are not ideal

Also yes I've allowed for two M.2 SSD's one for your OS/boot drive and the other for general storage. It's just the new standard of storage and much much faster than other storage out there

All of this sures up the base to ensure longevity of the build
 
P

petecles

Member
Steveyg said:
Trust me mate 750W is far from excessive these days, in fact I generally recommend 850W as a minimum. New GPU's starting with the 3000 Series from Nvidia are extremely power hungry and this only seems to be creeping upwards

If you look around the forums you'll see a lot of people speccing for 1000W PSU's

The minimum for example that Nvidia recommend for a 3070 is a 750W PSU and you shouldn't spec on minimums, you spec on what you might need in future.

The model of PSU you've chosen is very basic too and more in line with office computers and not really gaming machines. The CV models are not ideal

Also yes I've allowed for two M.2 SSD's one for your OS/boot drive and the other for general storage. It's just the new standard of storage and much much faster than other storage out there

All of this sures up the base to ensure longevity of the build
Click to expand...
Righto, makes sense. Do you think it's worth stretching to the 8GB AMD RADEON™ RX 6600 if my budget permits an extra £60?
 
P

petecles

Member
Fair enough, thanks! Final question (I think) - is there any kind of "minimum" spec I should look at for a monitor? It seems a much more complicated environment than I expected, ie "number of pixels" is maybe not the only critical figure of merit..
 
S

Steveyg

MOST VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
petecles said:
Fair enough, thanks! Final question (I think) - is there any kind of "minimum" spec I should look at for a monitor? It seems a much more complicated environment than I expected, ie "number of pixels" is maybe not the only critical figure of merit..
Click to expand...
For an RTX 3060 I would want a 24" 1080p 144Hz IPS monitor. There are some that are better than others for sure but if you get a monitor that meets those specs it should be fine

The 3060 will also let you get into 1440p but it wouldn't be ideal, it could probably handle 27" 1440p 60Hz fine but I think the sweet spot is 144Hz
 
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