Gaming PC Advice RW

[RyanWilky]

Hello all, and happy Christmas!

I am looking to buy a new PC for gaming, playing poker, and potentially some video editing in the future, and I was hoping the PC Specialist community could help by sharing some advice on what to buy. As you will see from the images below, I have a Samsung Odyssey G9 Neo gaming monitor, which I use for work at the moment. I work in tech sales and was lucky enough to get some decent discounts from my mate who works for Samsung. However, it is frankly a criminal offence that I haven't gamed on it yet, and that needs to change!

I was a massive Call of Duty 4 player on Xbox 360 back in the day, and I want to play Black Ops 6 on PC cross-platform and use an Xbox controller. The system requirements for playing CoD in 4k Ultra are below. As mentioned above, I also want to play online poker and potentially Twitch stream and do some video editing in the future.

I have a standup desk and would preferably like something that's light and not too big and can fit in the back left corner behind my monitor (2nd image below will help you understand the space we are working with). I'd also prefer to have a cool-looking machine which lights up and adds some ambience to my office when it's on.

Budget: I was looking to spend £2-3k, but happy to increase to get a solid machine for my requirements.

Would it be possible to help with some recommendations? This will be the first time I've purchased a CTO gaming PC, so I'm all ears and would really appreciate your advice.

Thank you,
Ryan

Competitive / 4K Ultra​

Competitive specs to run at a high FPS for use with a high refresh monitor, and Ultra specs to run the game at a high FPS in 4K resolution:

OS: Windows 10 64 Bit (latest update) or Windows 11 64 Bit (latest update)*
CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 2700X or Intel Core i7-8700K
RAM: 16 GB
Video Card: AMD Radeon RX 6800XT or NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 / RTX 4070
Video Memory: 10 GB
Storage Space: SSD with 102 GB† available space at launch

PC System Requirements for Call of Duty: Black Ops 6

support.activision.com

 

[LVC1999]

Hi,

It would be really useful to know what budget you have in mind as without this it's quite difficult to make recommendations.

The Samsung Odyssey G9 Neo is a very high-resolution monitor at 7680x2160 and therefore you will need a beefy GPU to run games at high frame rates on such a high resolution. If you intend on streaming that adds another layer of load on the system.

Everyone will probably chip in with their own ideas, and feel free to call PCS directly to get their advice. But given what you've described to me, I would probably go for a specification along the lines of:

Case
FRACTAL FOCUS 2 ARGB GAMING CASE (BLACK)
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 9 7900X3D 12 Core CPU (4.4GHz-5.6GHz/140MB w/3D V-CACHE/AM5)
Motherboard
ASUS® PRIME X870-P WIFI (AM5, DDR5, M.2 PCIe 5.0, Wi-Fi 7)
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR5 6000MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
16GB ZOTAC GEFORCE RTX 4080 SUPER TRINITY BLACK EDITION - HDMI, 3 x DP
1st M.2 SSD Drive
2TB SOLIDIGM P44 PRO GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 7000MB/sR, 6500MB/sW)
2nd M.2 SSD Drive
2TB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (3500 MB/R, 3100 MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 850W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Processor Cooling
CORSAIR H100x RGB ELITE HIGH PERFORMANCE CPU COOLER

Generally speaking, my recommendations are:
Any AMD processor that ends in X3D is a winner and something I would recommend.
32GB of RAM sounds about right for your use case.
Something between a 4070 Super and up to 4090 (if within budget) would be suitable.
1 faster primary SSD for OS and most important games (e.g. COD), and one slower but larger SSD for other things such as video files, would be my recommendation for the most cost-effective storage solution.

The dimensions of all the cases are on the website if you click the case images, so you might want to get a tape measure out and try to figure out which of those will and won't fit. You might even want/need a "small form factor" PC, though this does present it's own challenges. See the following configurators for reference: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/top-spec-mini-pcs/

Edit: For reference, I used the following configurator for the Fractal Focus build seen above: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/computers/amd-am5-pc/

 

[RyanWilky]

Thank you, LVC, I really appreciate the above. The budget I had in mind is circa £2-3k, but I am open to spending more to get a solid machine.

The 4090 starts at £1,699 on Nvidia's website, so it looks like I will need to up my budget.

What budget would you say it reasonable to get a quality PC for my use case?

https://marketplace.nvidia.com/en-gb/consumer/graphics-cards/msi-nvidia-geforce-rtx-4090-gaming-x-slim-24gb-gddr6x-graphics-card/

 

[Ekans2011]

The budget I had in mind is circa £2-3k, but I am open to spending more to get a solid machine.

So, what's the max budget? £2000? £3000? more?

The 4090 starts at £1,699 on Nvidia's website, so it looks like I will need to up my budget.

There's no reason to buy an overpriced 4090 now when will be superseded by a 5080 in a couple of weeks (at roughly £700 less).

What budget would you say it reasonable to get a quality PC for my use case?

We will certainly recommend a suitable build once you have stated your maximum budget.

 

[RyanWilky]

So, what's the max budget? £2000? £3000? more?
I've just built LVC's reccomended config on the website and the price is £2,668.00. If the 5080 offers better performance for £700 less, I would be happy to wait another couple of weeks to get the latest generation GPU. As this meets my requirements, I'd be looking at a budget of £2,750, £3k absolute max.

There's no reason to buy an overpriced 4090 now when will be superseded by a 5080 in a couple of weeks (at roughly £700 less).

Thanks for the advice. It's usually always good to have the latest and greatest.

We will certainly recommend a suitable build once you have stated your maximum budget.

£3k

 

[Scoped Badger]

I would 100% wait for what's revealed at CES in the first week of January before committing to buying a new PC. We're going to see both the new CPU's and GPU's and £3k is a lot to spend on a PC that will be outdated in 2 weeks time.

 

[Ekans2011]

Thanks for the advice. It's usually always good to have the latest and greatest.

£3k

Here's an example of a high-end gaming PC that fits your budget.

N.B. As previously stated, I'd recommend to wait until CES on January 6th to see the new hardware before purchasing.

Case
CORSAIR 6500X TEMPERED GLASS MID TOWER DUAL CHAMBER CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D Eight Core CPU (Up to 5.2GHz/104MB w/3D V-CACHE/AM5)
Motherboard
GIGABYTE X870E AORUS ELITE WIFI7 (AM5, DDR5, M.2 PCIe 5.0, Wi-Fi 7)
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR5 6000MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
16GB ZOTAC GEFORCE RTX 4080 SUPER TRINITY BLACK EDITION - HDMI, 3 x DP
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 1200W RMx SHIFT 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 ICUE LINK TITAN 360 RX RGB HIGH PERFORMANCE CPU COOLER
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Extra Case Fans
3 x Corsair ICUE LINK RX120 RGB PWM Fan + Controller Kit
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
ONBOARD 2.5Gbe LAN PORT
Wireless Network Card
NONE OR ONBOARD Wi-Fi (MOTHERBOARD DEPENDENT)
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
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
Firefox™
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
Christmas Delivery No Longer Guaranteed
Price: £2,885.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am5-pc/gHyDMpX8Wy/

 

[RyanWilky]

I would 100% wait for what's revealed at CES in the first week of January before committing to buying a new PC. We're going to see both the new CPU's and GPU's and £3k is a lot to spend on a PC that will be outdated in 2 weeks time.

Thanks, SB; I will do just that and circle back after CES.

 

[RyanWilky]

Hi all,

With CES now finished, I was hoping we could pick this up and that the community could support me in finding a suitable PC for the above use cases. Have any innovative new products been released at CES that you recommend adding to the suggested configs above?

Additionally, I was keen to get your thoughts on potentially looking at a high-spec laptop instead of a desktop PC, which would obviously allow me mobility with my set-up. Are there any shortcomings in going for a laptop over a gaming PC when playing games like COD on my Samsung Odyssey G9 Neo?

Thanks for your support, and I wish you a successful 2025!

Ryan

 

[Scott]

On a new system I think the 5080 fits well. It's RRP is less than the 4080 but not 100% sure where PCS prices will land. 4080 on PCS is coming in around £1100 just now so think the 5080 would be less, yet offer more performance.

In your shoes I would probably purchase without a GPU and try to get my hands on a Founders Edition 5080. They look brilliant, but always wait for the 3rd party reviews to come out. Typically this is 0 to -2 days before launch so start looking around the 28th for review.

 

[RyanWilky]

On a new system I think the 5080 fits well. It's RRP is less than the 4080 but not 100% sure where PCS prices will land. 4080 on PCS is coming in around £1100 just now so think the 5080 would be less, yet offer more performance.

In your shoes I would probably purchase without a GPU and try to get my hands on a Founders Edition 5080. They look brilliant, but always wait for the 3rd party reviews to come out. Typically this is 0 to -2 days before launch so start looking around the 28th for review.

Thanks, Scott. I will hang fire until after the 28th to purchase and see what the reviews are saying.

Me and some of my friends are looking to start a YouTube podcast soon so I want to ensure I have quality machine to support the production.