Gaming PC - too many choices!

[Nirvanachaser]

Hi all,

I bought a Defiance gaming laptop a couple of years back from PCS ( https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/defianceIII-17/MsWr6wQ6U5/ - heartbreaking what that costs now 😛) and am very happy with it. But time has come to upgrade as it struggles with things like multi stack armies in total war games. So i’m looking at my first desktop since 1.19gb hard drives were standard.... I’ve been reading the forums which has pushed me towards amd (never had one) but not sure if it’s worth holding off for the new chips?

I’m sure I’ve gone for overkill out of fear of obsolescence so if you guys could take a look at the below and let me know what you think, that would be amazing! Thanks in advance!

Requirements:

- cope with any game for at least 2 years without lag, slowing or crashing
- good graphics
- preferably at least 3 years of functional gaming life
- I have absolutely no confidence re my ability to tinker with the computer so don’t want anything that requires me switching out/doing stuff myself
- smooth feel
- tend to play strategy games more (TW, Civ etc) but finding myself drawn more to AAA games like anthem, RDR etc as time goes on
- budget: no more than £2k excl. VAT as need to buy monitor (looking at the AGON AG273QCG 27" 2560x1440 QHD TN 165Hz 1ms G-Sync Curved Widescreen Gaming Monitor at the moment but it is very pricey), keyboard etc. Obviously cheaper is better but bear in mind I’ll likely keep this for at least 3-4 years then just replace the whole thing rather than tinker/upgrade.
- otherwise, I work from home via Citrix and would use it for that plus roll20, YouTube etc - no photo/video editing or similar fancy things.
- needs to have reliable WiFi as no cable reaches the study without being an eyesore in the hall and that’s been banned by my other half 😊

Questions:

- in addition to the above re new chips, what’s the benefit of 4x4gb ram vs 2x8gb?
- assume I don’t need more than 16gb ram based on what I’ve read elsewhere on the forums?
- no idea what I’m doing re monitors so tell me if I’m being stupid! Refresh rates are flying over my head. I’d want something decent, at least 27” that’ll last a few years and probably outlast the pc.
- ^ same re cases, I don’t really like the glass panels but otherwise just picked something that didn’t cause an error message!
- is this graphics card future proofed (as much as it can be) and/or could I get away with an amd one which seems to be cheaper but benchmarks a lot less favourably?

Case
FRACTAL DEFINE R6 BLACK QUIET MID-TOWER CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 2600X Six Core CPU (3.6GHz-4.25GHz/19MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® ROG STRIX X470-F GAMING (DDR4, USB 3.1, 6Gb/s) - RGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 2400MHz (4 x 4GB)
Graphics Card
11GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 2080 Ti - HDMI, 3x DP GeForce - RTX VR Ready!
1st Storage Drive
1TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 64MB CACHE
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SAMSUNG 970 EVO PLUS M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3500MB/R, 3300MB/W)

The Division 2 FREE with select SAMSUNG NVMe SSDs!
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
Corsair H100x Hydro Cooler w/ PCS Ultra Quiet Fans
Thermal Paste
COOLER MASTER MASTERGEL MAKER THERMAL COMPOUND
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
WIRELESS 802.11 AC1750 1,300Mbps/5GHz, 450Mbps/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
Genuine Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KK3-00002]
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 365 (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
BullGuard™ Internet Security - Free 90 Day License inc. Gamer Mode
Browser
Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
Surge Protection
6 Socket 2m Surge Protector
Cable Management
3 x PCS 1.5M Zip Cable Tidy - Professional Cable Management
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Home Installation
Technician Assisted Installation & Set-Up
Delivery
TIMED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND - MON-FRI (BEFORE 2PM)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 6 to 8 working days
Price: £2,360.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-pc/8zh26H2YbU/

 

[Nirvanachaser]

Also considering something like this as is it’s cheaper and would take much less space in a cramped study.... would this do what the above manages or should I only look at proper tower cases/builds?

Case
FRACTAL DEFINE S NANO GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 2600X Six Core CPU (3.6GHz-4.25GHz/19MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® ROG STRIX X470-I GAMING (DDR4, USB 3.1, 6Gb/s)
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 2666MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 2080 - HDMI, 3x DP GeForce - RTX VR Ready!
1st Storage Drive
1TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 64MB CACHE
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SAMSUNG 970 EVO PLUS M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3500MB/R, 3300MB/W)

The Division 2 FREE with select SAMSUNG NVMe SSDs!
Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W TXm SERIES™ SEMI-MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
Noctua NH-L9i Low Profile AM4, Super Quiet CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
COOLER MASTER MASTERGEL MAKER THERMAL COMPOUND
Extra Case Fans
2x 120mm Black Case Fan (configured to extract from rear/roof)
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
ASUS USB-AC68 Dual-Band AC1900 USB Wi-Fi Adapter ()
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 4 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Genuine Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KK3-00002]
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 365 (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
BullGuard™ Internet Security - Free 90 Day License inc. Gamer Mode
Browser
Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
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 6 to 8 working days
Price: £1,851.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-sff-gaming/SjtBc!aXy2/
Edit: actually, the more I think about it, the more I’m drawn to the “mini” pc. What’s the catch? The price difference would basically pay for a decent monitor...

 

[Oussebon]

- budget: no more than £2k excl. VAT as need to buy monitor (looking at the AGON AG273QCG 27" 2560x1440 QHD TN 165Hz 1ms G-Sync Curved Widescreen Gaming Monitor at the moment but it is very pricey),

My first comment would be this - above all, do not buy a ~£2000 gaming PC only to pair it with a cheap monitor. There's no point using the space shuttle for the school run, as it were.

The price difference would basically pay for a decent monitor...

Savings on a spec can/should pay for an appropriate monitor.

However, don't go with the mini ITX spec.

1) A lot of the savings in your mini ITX spec have nothing to do with the form factor, and relate to e.g. the cheaper GPU.
2) There are 'regular' ATX cases that are actually not much bigger than the "mini" ITX cases, because the mini-ITX cases aren't that mini. That's not surprising when you think they are still being used to fit basically the same hardware.

Fractal R6: 465mm x 233mm 543mm (Approx H x W x D)
Fractal Nano S: 330mm x 203mm x 400mm (Approx H x W x D)

Corsair 275R: 436.5mm x 211mm x 446mm (Approx H x W x D)
Fractal Meshify C: 453mm x 217 x 409*
https://www.fractal-design.com/home/product/cases/meshify/meshify-c

In addition to the size thing, mini ITX systems also have fewer upgrade options. Maybe fewer storage bays, fewer slots for PCIe cards, etc, while not usually being much, if any, cheaper. Sometimes they're more expensive.

So I usually argue that if they're not much smaller, not much che

but not sure if it’s worth holding off for the new chips?

Entirely up to you.

Worth noting that the difference in performance at 1440p of an R5 2600x versus Intel's 8-core 16-thread, upto-5-GHz beast of a 9900k is, on average, around 5%. You're not really going to notice a 5% difference in framerate, especially with gsync. So if you forge ahead now, it's unlikely your gaming performance will really suffer by not having the new tech. I assume we're talking Zen 2 CPUs here.

- in addition to the above re new chips, what’s the benefit of 4x4gb ram vs 2x8gb?

None. 2x8gb is preferable. It's usually cheaper, there's less load on the IMC, I believe it's easier to make it play nice with higher frequencies on Ryzen mobos (PCS are doing this for you, so arguably irrelevant, but still..).

- assume I don’t need more than 16gb ram based on what I’ve read elsewhere on the forums?

Correct

- no idea what I’m doing re monitors so tell me if I’m being stupid! Refresh rates are flying over my head. I’d want something decent, at least 27” that’ll last a few years and probably outlast the pc.

For this budget level, 1440p, 144hz, with some kind of adaptive sync i.e. gsync (or Freesync, which now generally works with modern Nvidis GPUs, but not always without some fiddling - so probably gsync).

There are TN and IPS panels. TN (the kind that AOC is) is cheaper, and there are more choices. Things like the Dell S2716DG for ~£430. The Dell has been very popular on these forums.

- is this graphics card future proofed (as much as it can be) and/or could I get away with an amd one which seems to be cheaper but benchmarks a lot less favourably?

That could be a very long conversation.

The short of it isn't AMD vs Nvidia with "Nvidia = Premium" and "AMD = savings". The question is, how much do you want to spend on a graphics card? If you want 1440p gaming, with as much futureproofing as you can get without entering the territory or really wasteful spending, the RTX 2080 level is about the right fit.
The AMD "equivalent" is the Radeon VII. Which performs a little worse overall, consumes somewhat more power, and is £40 more expensive at PCS's prices.

You could buy an RTX 2060 and save money. This gives decent 1440p performance. The competitors to the 2060 from AMD are the Vega 56/64. Overall the 2060 outperforms the 56, and is very similar to the 64. And is a lot cheaper at PCS's prices, and uses less power. So that's an easy choice.

The 2080 ti is a bit overkill for 1440p, especially if your funds aren't unlimited.

 

[Oussebon]

e.g.


Case
FRACTAL MESHIFY C BLACK GAMING CASE (Window)
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 2600X Six Core CPU (3.6GHz-4.25GHz/19MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
Gigabyte B450 AORUS ELITE: DDR4, USB 3.1 - RGB Ready
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 2933MHz ~ (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 2080 - HDMI, 3x DP GeForce - RTX VR Ready!
1st Storage Drive
3TB SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 64MB CACHE
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SAMSUNG 970 EVO PLUS M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3500MB/R, 3300MB/W)

The Division 2 FREE with select SAMSUNG NVMe SSDs!
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
NOT REQUIRED
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
Corsair H100x Hydro Cooler w/ PCS Ultra Quiet Fans
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
WIRELESS 802.11 AC1750 1,300Mbps/5GHz, 450Mbps/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
Genuine Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KK3-00002]
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 365 (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
BullGuard™ Internet Security - Free 90 Day License inc. Gamer Mode
Browser
Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
Surge Protection
6 Socket 2m Surge Protector
Cable Management
3 x PCS 1.5M Zip Cable Tidy - Professional Cable Management
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 6 to 8 working days

Price: £1,849.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-pc/xEW8Wvttz4/

 

[Nirvanachaser]

Oooh, that’s very nice and brings down the price considerably- I was worried I was going the “chuck money at it cos I don’t understand” route.

Thank you.

Do you think this will be a smooth gaming experience? E.g. new games or Total War with lots of stacks on screen at once? Theee latter is where my laptop leads me to rage quit when it freezes/slows into unplayable mess.

 

[Oussebon]

It will do very well in Total War.
https://bit-tech.net/reviews/tech/graphics/nvidia-geforce-rtx-2060-founders-edition-review/8/
https://www.anandtech.com/show/13762/nvidia-geforce-rtx-2060-founders-edition-6gb-review/12

YMMV of course, depending on exact settings, the map, the units present, blah, but the point is a 2080 does well at 1440p even on a brute like TW:WH2

And a gsync monitor will smooth out gameplay too.

The CPU is fine, and should do its part very capably.