Gaming Spec feedback?

[chrbuc805]

Hi Peeps
Getting a new PC shortly mainly for gaming, wanted to get some advice on the spec I've put together below.
I'll be using a 27" QHD monitor. Tempted to get the iiyama GB2760QSU-B1 27"

Any suggestions, good or bad choices?

Case
COOLERMASTER MASTERCASE H500 GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i7 Eight Core Processor i7-9700K (3.6GHz) 12MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF Z370-PLUS GAMING II: ATX, LGA1151, USB 3.1, SATA 6GBs - RGB Ready
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3000MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
8GB AMD RADEON™ RX 5700 - HDMI, DP - DX® 12
1st Storage Drive (will be adding my own SSDs)
1TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 64MB CACHE -
Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W TXm SERIES™ SEMI-MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Processor Cooling
CoolerMaster Hyper 212X (120mm) Fan CPU Cooler Black Edition
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
LED Lighting
2x 50cm RGB LED Strip
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
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

Thanks all

Chris

 

[Oussebon]

Any specific favourite games?

In general it's not going to be worth going with an i7 + Z390 motherboard + RX 5700 GPU versus an AMD R5 3600 + B450 mobo + much better GPU for the same price. For 1440p 144hz gaming.

 

[chrbuc805]

Any specific favourite games?

In general it's not going to be worth going with an i7 + Z390 motherboard + RX 5700 GPU versus an AMD R5 3600 + B450 mobo + much better GPU for the same price. For 1440p 144hz gaming.

Nothing specific, console gaming at the mo as current pc is unreliable and Long in the tooth.
WoW, COD, rpgs, mmos, playing fallen Jedi atm.

Is it worth considering a 32” monitor 4K? the scaling issues I’ve read have been putting me off...

 

[Oussebon]

It's not worth buying a 4k monitor for a PC that won't be powerful enough to run games at 4k on it. You can usually get around UI scaling issues, but yes, it is a consideration.

The sweet spot for gaming currently is 1440p 144hz. Giving you a much higher resolution than 1080p, the smoothness of high refresh rate, while PC components to run games at 1440p high refresh rates are still basically affordable.

1440p 144hz monitors are mainly ~£300-£500 but some start around £220. See:

Gaming Monitors Guide

The monitor is probably the most important component in any gaming build – it defines how you experience games and the hardware the PC should have. Overlooking the monitor can be the single biggest bottleneck to your gaming experience. With recent monitor and graphics card launches, and wider...

www.pcspecialist.co.uk

An AMD R5 3600 CPU will be better value, giving very solid gaming performance for a lot less cash, saving you money towards a decent monitor that will hopefully serve you at least as long as the rest of the PC. And you can add in an SSD too, for faster Windows, program, and game loading times. And since you're going for RGB, you can go with an RGB CPU cooler too.

Case
COOLERMASTER MASTERCASE H500 GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 3600 Six Core CPU (3.6GHz-4.2GHz/36MB CACHE/AM4)

Get 3 Months of XBOX Game Pass for PC w/ select AMD Ryzen CPUs
Motherboard
ASUS® PRIME B450-PLUS (DDR4, USB 3.1, 6Gb/s) - RGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
8GB AMD RADEON™ RX 5700 - HDMI, DP - DX® 12

Get 3 Months of XBOX Game Pass for PC w/ select AMD Radeon Graphics

Ghost Recon: Breakpoint -OR- Borderlands 3 w/ select AMD Radeon GPUs
1st Storage Drive
1TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 64MB CACHE
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB INTEL® 660p M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (upto 1500MB/sR | 1000MB/sW)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
NOT REQUIRED
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
PCS FrostFlow 240 Series RGB High Performance Liquid Cooler
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
LED Lighting
2x 50cm RGB LED Strip
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
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 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence
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 12 to 15 working days
Price: £1,134.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/5GPYUQw8hC/

 

[ubuysa]

As the OP is using their own SSDs, I'd consider dropping the Baracuda completely...use an M2 drive as the main drive and the SSDs as storage/back-up

Where did the OP say they were using their own SSDs?

 

[ubuysa]

Next to "1st Storage drive" option...easy to miss as the bit about SSds was also in bold

Got it! Thanks.

 

[chrbuc805]

Thanks for the info, so considering dropping the CPU/MOBO as suggested, think i'm going to keep the RX 5700 should be enough for my QHD gaming and will allow me to keep my overall budget under £1300 inc monitor.

Is the PCS frostflow 24 any good? never used watercooling, any maintenance involved? or is a decent traditional cooler just as good?
Will keep the Barracuda as i have to have a drive on there and i already have decent SSDs i will use as main & secondary.

Case
COOLERMASTER MASTERCASE H500 GAMING CASE
AMD Ryzen 5 3600X Six Core CPU (3.8GHz-4.4GHz/36MB CACHE/AM4)
ASUS® PRIME B450-PLUS (DDR4, USB 3.1, 6Gb/s) - RGB Ready!
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 2666MHz (2 x 8GB)
8GB AMD RADEON™ RX 5700 - HDMI, DP - DX® 12
CORSAIR 650W TXm SERIES™ SEMI-MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
PCS FrostFlow 240 Series RGB High Performance Liquid Cooler

Monitor
IIYAMA G-MASTER GB2760QSU-B1 27"

 

[Oussebon]

It's fine, you don't need a particularly powerful cooler for an R5 CPU.

No maintenance required beyond that of an air cooler i.e. periodic dusting.

I suggested the Frostflow 240 RGB as you seemed to be going for RGB. An alternative that is less flashy and perhaps even better is the Cooler Mastre Lite 240

There's no point to the R5 3600x over the R5 3600 performance wise. The difference is beyond negligible. The only reason to get the R5 3600x is if you were going to buy one of the bundled games it comes with anyway at full price

Monitor looks like a good pick for the budget

 

[chrbuc805]

It's fine, you don't need a particularly powerful cooler for an R5 CPU.

No maintenance required beyond that of an air cooler i.e. periodic dusting.

I suggested the Frostflow 240 RGB as you seemed to be going for RGB. An alternative that is less flashy and perhaps even better is the Cooler Mastre Lite 240

There's no point to the R5 3600x over the R5 3600 performance wise. The difference is beyond negligible. The only reason to get the R5 3600x is if you were going to buy one of the bundled games it comes with anyway at full price

Monitor looks like a good pick for the budget

Thanks for the help Oussebon.

Last thing, I've always liked the idea of an SFF Case but never felt comfortable building one myself (but as i'm not building this one)
Are they worth considering for a gaming build? Space isn't an issue just like the idea of having something smaller.

Spec idea below-

Case
CORSAIR CRYSTAL SERIES 280X RGB GAMING CASE
AMD Ryzen 5 3600 Six Core CPU (3.6GHz-4.2GHz/36MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
Gigabyte B450 I AORUS PRO WIFI (DDR4, USB 3.1, 6Gb/s)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 2666MHz (2 x 8GB)
8GB AMD RADEON™ RX 5700 - HDMI, DP - DX® 12
500GB SAMSUNG 970 EVO PLUS M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3500MB/R, 3200MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 550W TXm SERIES™ SEMI-MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Processor Cooling
Noctua NH-L9i Low Profile AM4, Super Quiet CPU Cooler
50cm RGB LED Strip
IIYAMA G-MASTER GB2760QSU-B1 27"

 

[Oussebon]

They're almost never worth considering, in my opinion.

They're either so small that they restrict what you can put in, or so large that they're barely any smaller than ATX systems - and can still end up limiting what you put in. For instance the Nano S is little smaller than some ATX cases, but despite that Fractal still recommend only the thinnest GPUs should be installed.

If you want a reasonably compact case there are options. You could use the 'Send in your own case' option PCS have and go for the Corsair Crystal 460X or Corsair iCUE 220T to name a couple that spring to mind.

Or the Fractal Meshify C which PCS stock is very compact. The fans are not RGB but you can always swap out the fans.

 

[SpyderTracks]

There are some extremely clever Mini ITX cases, but they do come at a premium due to the research and development costs and low volumes.

A relatively new design that actually acts as a passive cooler is the Streacom DB4

Streacom DB4 Mini-ITX Aluminium Fanless Chassis - Silver

The DB4 is a design masterpiece featuring a bisymmetrical design that blurs the lines between technology and art.

www.overclockers.co.uk

I'm a bit in awe of this case and plan a build around it, probably as a NAS server.

Streacom ST-DB4 Fanless Aluminium Bi-Symmetrical Chassis

Every 10 years or so a product is released that defies belief. It screams quality and is utterly gorgeous, the Streacom DB4 is this decade's product!

www.quietpc.com

Or the Lian Li TU150 which is a lot cheaper:

Lian Li TU150 | OVERCLOCKERS UK

Lian Li TU150 - @ OVERCLOCKERS UK

www.overclockers.co.uk

 

[chrbuc805]

They were the concerns I had.
Always liked Lian Li cases, but PCS have enough case options I don’t think I’ll about sending in my own.

thanks all, think I’ve got enough info to make my decision.
Appreciate the help.