Gaming and general use PC

[Logicdon]

Hi all, I've put together a configuration for gaming and general use.

I am looking to upgrade to a 1440p monitor at some point. My budget is roughly £1300

Any advice is welcome.

Case
PCS SPECTRUM G ARGB MID TOWER CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i5 Six Core Processor i5-11400F (2.6GHz) 12MB Cache
Motherboard
GIGABYTE B560M DS3H (rev. 1.0) : LGA1200, DDR4, USB 3.2
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 2666MHz (4 x 4GB)
Graphics Card
12GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3060 - HDMI, DP, LHR
1st Storage Drive
2TB PCS 2.5" SSD, SATA 6 Gb (520MB/R, 470MB/W)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SAMSUNG 970 EVO PLUS M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3500MB/R, 3200MB/W)
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 120 Series RGB High Performance Liquid 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 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
Norton 360 For Gamers - Free 90 Day License
Browser
Microsoft® Edge
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 4 to 7 working days
Price: £1,311.00 including VAT and Delivery

 

[sck451]

That's really not an ideal build. It's on an old platform (B560/Intel 11th gen), has various suboptimal components (case, PSU, cooling, wifi card) and the graphics card you have chosen is not really ideal for a 1440p display.

Here's what I'd suggest for now for 1440p (and I'll agree I'm compromising a bit on various components!). Your other option is to do a strong 1080p build now and look to upgrade monitor and graphics card together in a year or two: I'll do a second post with that build.

Case
LIAN LI LANCOOL 215 GAMING CASE Strong case for cooling
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i5 Six Core Processor i5-12400F (2.5GHz) 18MB Cache Budget-friendly 12th-gen CPU
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) Faster RAM is important
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3060 Ti - HDMI, DP, LHR A strong 1440p card
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB INTEL® 670p M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 3500MB/sR | 2500MB/sW) I'd prefer more than one SSD, but this isn't a bad option
Power Supply
CORSAIR 850W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET Strong power supply, for silence, efficiency and upgrade paths
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
PCS FrostFlow 150 Series High Performance CPU Cooler Not a great cooler, but more reliable than the Frostflow 120 and probably more effective
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 [KK3-00027]
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 4 to 7 working days
Price: £1,454.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-z690-pc/yAs46!RMMK/

 

[sck451]

And here's the same build with a 1080p-appropriate graphics card. If you're going to upgrade your display in the next six months, go with the above option if your budget will stretch. Otherwise, this would be my suggestion:

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
1TB INTEL® 670p M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 3500MB/sR | 2500MB/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)
Processor Cooling
PCS FrostFlow 150 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 [KK3-00027]
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 4 to 7 working days
Price: £1,293.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-z690-pc/0gxkg40ARY/

 

[Logicdon]

Thanks for your reply.

I guess I was trying to budget too much for what I want. Might have to wait another month to hit that price but will definitely give it some thought. Storage isn't a problem, I have a 1TB sata SSD in my current build I can salvage that and add more later if needed.

I was thinking of liquid cooling for hopefully a quieter system and was under the impression it was better at cooling, is this not necessarily the case?

Thanks for your help.

 

[sck451]

Thanks for your reply.

I guess I was trying to budget too much for what I want. Might have to wait another month to hit that price but will definitely give it some thought. Storage isn't a problem, I have a 1TB sata SSD in my current build I can salvage that and add more later if needed.

I was thinking of liquid cooling for hopefully a quieter system and was under the impression it was better at cooling, is this not necessarily the case?

Thanks for your help.

Good liquid cooling, sure, it's very good indeed. Bad liquid cooling, definitely not. The FrostFlow 120 is a 120mm radiator, which is very small and therefore not terribly effective, and it's relatively noisy and there have been various reports on this forum of them failing, especially the pump. I'd strongly recommend an air cooler at this kind of budget, especially for a non-demanding CPU like the 12400F.

You could reasonably drop the 670p down to 500GB to act as a boot drive, which would save a bit as you can use the existing SATA SSD as game storage. Also, if you have a Windows install, you may be able to transfer it over to this build, which would save £90ish.

 

[Logicdon]

Ok, thanks for your advice.

I'm able up my budget a little.

I'm thinking of going with your first suggested build with slight change. I'm thinking I'm going to go for smaller M.2 and add a 2TB hdd and I'll put my 1TB ssd in as well.

You mentioned the Frost flow 150 cooler wasn't great! Would it be ok in this build? Otherwise I'm happy to go with less storage for the meantime if it means my CPU will be kept at good temps with a better cooler.

 

[MrWilson]

The Frostflow air coolers are pretty solid. The Frostflow 150 will be fine for the 12400f as it’s not a very hot CPU. The Frostflow AIO coolers are still a bit of an unknown, and many regulars tend to avoid recommending them because they stick with what they know.
Dropping down to a 500/512GB m.2 drive seems sensible with the storage that you’re importing over. Direct Storage is starting to be implemented which will start to drastically reduce load times for games, and you have another m.2 slot on the motherboard so you have the option to pick up another SSD down the line as the technology gets optimised and you’ll have some cash ready for an upgrade too. 🙂

 

[Steveyg]

Yeah I've had a couple Frostflow air coolers running in 3D modelling machines for the past year and they are doing a solid job, no issues so far. Generally the only issues that pop up tend to be the pumps on the Frostflow Liquid Coolers

 

[sck451]

Ok, thanks for your advice.

I'm able up my budget a little.

I'm thinking of going with your first suggested build with slight change. I'm thinking I'm going to go for smaller M.2 and add a 2TB hdd and I'll put my 1TB ssd in as well.

You mentioned the Frost flow 150 cooler wasn't great! Would it be ok in this build? Otherwise I'm happy to go with less storage for the meantime if it means my CPU will be kept at good temps with a better cooler.

To be clear, the Frost Flow 150 is an air cooler and is fine for undemanding chips. The 120 is an AIO liquid cooler and is both of uncertain quality and too small to be very effective.

 

[Logicdon]

Ok, thanks for all you advice.

Think I'm going to pull the trigger to buy the first suggested build with adjusted storage as I mentioned.

Going to mull it over the next day or so so I can mourn the loss of £1.5k

You lot have been a great help, and it is much appreciated.

 

[Logicdon]

Hi all, hate to be a pain, but I have one query before I order.

You mentioned the i5 12400f is cool running CPU. However the i5-12400 has integrated graphics and is only about 30 quid more.

Does the i5-12400 run much hotter than the i5-12400f?

I haven't had a GPU die on me in any of my systems but knowing I have integrated graphics means I can trouble shoot, and you know, at least email and stuff if the GPU did fail.

Should I be concerned at all?

 

[SpyderTracks]

Hi all, hate to be a pain, but I have one query before I order.

You mentioned the i5 12400f is cool running CPU. However the i5-12400 has integrated graphics and is only about 30 quid more.

Does the i5-12400 run much hotter than the i5-12400f?

I haven't had a GPU die on me in any of my systems but knowing I have integrated graphics means I can trouble shoot, and you know, at least email and stuff if the GPU did fail.

Should I be concerned at all?

It's all down to the value, and personal preference.

For me, the price increase to include integrated graphics makes it worthwhile spending the extra, but if you're on a really tight budget, this may not be possible without amending the budget slightly.

But yes, I would say it's always beneficial to have an iGPU for troubleshooting alone.

 

[sck451]

Hi all, hate to be a pain, but I have one query before I order.

You mentioned the i5 12400f is cool running CPU. However the i5-12400 has integrated graphics and is only about 30 quid more.

Does the i5-12400 run much hotter than the i5-12400f?

I haven't had a GPU die on me in any of my systems but knowing I have integrated graphics means I can trouble shoot, and you know, at least email and stuff if the GPU did fail.

Should I be concerned at all?

It's a very similar chip thermally. The same cooler will be just fine.

Good call to go with the iGPU as a backup IMO.

 

[Logicdon]

Thank you for your rapid reply.

Would it effect cooling, I know it's basically the same CPU, but just need to check.

 

[Logicdon]

It's a very similar chip thermally. The same cooler will be just fine.

Good call to go with the iGPU as a backup IMO.

Thank you.

For an extra 30 quid or so on a 1.5k system it would be silly to compromise.

 

[SpyderTracks]

Thank you for your rapid reply.

Would it effect cooling, I know it's basically the same CPU, but just need to check.

No, same from a cooling standpoint, no issue at all there

 

[Logicdon]

Hi all, just ordered the PC.

But I was just browsing the forum and saw that 'SpyderTracks' advised someone it was a bad time to buy as new hardware is on the way?
Have I been daft buying this build?

 

[SpyderTracks]

Hi all, just ordered the PC.

But I was just browsing the forum and saw that 'SpyderTracks' advised someone it was a bad time to buy as new hardware is on the way?
Have I been daft buying this build?

In September we'll get announcements for the following:

New motherboards on X670, B650 chipsets for AMD

New PCIe 5 M2 SSD's with double the available speed of current gen (dependent on motherboard, won't work on current boards)

New ATX 3.0 PSU's with inclusion of the new 12pin GPU connector that's on upcoming GPU's

New AMD Ryzen 7000 cpu's, set to be quite a significant uplift in performance especially multi core

New AMD RDNA 3 GPU, set to be relative performance of nVidia while using half the power

New nVidia RTX4000 GPU's.

All these will offer more performance at the same cost.

You'd be crazy to buy now IMHO unless you really can't be without a PC at the moment. If you can hold off then do.

 

[Logicdon]

Not sure what to do now. I payed on Monday evening and the build is in 'processing'.

My current machine is ok, a bit old but handles 1080p gaming at reasonable level (GTX 1060). The idea was me getting something new and donating my current build to my daughter as she's been without a pc for about 6 months now (as she trashed her laptop).

I probably won't be upgrading this build for a long time - apart from maybe storage. Am I really making a big mistake?

 

[sck451]

In September we'll get announcements for the following:

New motherboards on X670, B650 chipsets for AMD

New PCIe 5 M2 SSD's with double the available speed of current gen (dependent on motherboard, won't work on current boards)

New ATX 3.0 PSU's with inclusion of the new 12pin GPU connector that's on upcoming GPU's

New AMD Ryzen 7000 cpu's, set to be quite a significant uplift in performance especially multi core

New AMD RDNA 3 GPU, set to be relative performance of nVidia while using half the power

New nVidia RTX4000 GPU's.

All these will offer more performance at the same cost.

You'd be crazy to buy now IMHO unless you really can't be without a PC at the moment. If you can hold off then do.

But on the other hand all of these will launch with the top tier components first. A 12400 and RX 6600 equivalent is likely to be at least six months away. For a top-end system, I'd hold off. For a low mid tier system, I wouldn't expect anything better soon, certainly not this year.