Help - Advice for PC Build (Beginner to PC gaming)

[FocusOnPoint]

Impossible to say

By the way, the Samsung G5 is a 1440p monitor, you can't reduce to 1080p on a 1440p monitor without significantly affecting the image quality, as 1080p doesn't factorise into 1440p ( x 1.33) so you end up with a lot of pixels not being where they should be

If you want to game at 1080p, you'd either need a high quality 1080p monitor, or pay a premium for a 4k gaming monitor and downscale.

I'm going for the BenQ EX240 monitor, will that do? Also is the case very important when planning on upgrades or not really as long as it has space?

 

[FocusOnPoint]

I've also

Room for upgrades, e.g.:

• Old platform, so no possibility to put a newer/faster CPU in to refresh the system (maybe 5-7 years time)
• Low power/quality PSU, which means you won’t be able to put in a more powerful GPU in (every 2-3 years)
• Low level motherboard with fewer RAM slots, fewer USB headers, fewer M.2 slots

Claimed GPU performance of 154+fps in COD (at 1080p medium), when COD will give you 100fps on a potato as it‘s not a demanding game (same for Fortnite, GTAV, Rocket League, etc.), but the Curry's website also claims EXACTLY the same performance in heavy games like Cyberpunk, Hogwarts, Alan Wake 2, so I’m not sure I believe any of it (it might simply be broken, but the link to the UL benchmarking explanation goes nowhere either).

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I've noticed that they don't even show the PSU in specifications on their website currys...kinda odd.

 

[Ekans2011]

I'm going for the BenQ EX240 monitor, will that do?

That's not exactly an high quality 1080p monitor. It's more a budget panel.

What's the max budget for the monitor?

I've noticed that they don't even show the PSU in specifications on their website currys...kinda odd.

Probably it would be a suboptimal power supply (as 99% of the prebuilt systems).

Also is the case very important when planning on upgrades or not really as long as it has space?

The case is one of the most important components of any respectable PC; people frequently underestimate the importance of a high-quality case, mistaking it for nothing more than a metal box... totally NOT!

It must have enough space for the main components, future upgrades, good airflow, and cable management choices.

NEVER understimate the cases !

 

[SpyderTracks]

It must have enough space for the main components, future upgrades, good airflow, and cable management choices.

NEVER understimate the cases !

So ultimately important.

The case dictates the effectiveness of the full system to be able to move air from input to output and over the relevant components.

On cheaper mass produced cases, there isn't much actual design that goes into them (as that costs a lot of money in R&D and expertise and tools).

A good case will have been designed with airflow in mind, and they will have done thorough flow analysis to determine where best to place internal pillars, literally the difference of .5mm placement of a post or pillar can mean a swing in the airflow path of 30 degrees further along. All that is of utmost importance to direct the air over the relevant components (CPU and GPU and motherboard VRMs) so that it can effectively dissipate it out of the extractor fans.

Without that level of engineering, what you end up with is simply a box with loads of dead spots, and those dead spots will just trap the warm air and temps across the whole system rise as a result. Or even worse in some cases, good airflow, but not hitting the relevant components, so effectively pointless.

Case design with good airflow is difficult. Case design with good airflow while looking killer is an art form.

 

[Ekans2011]

So ultimately important.

The case dictates the effectiveness of the full system to be able to move air from input to output and over the relevant components.

On cheaper mass produced cases, there isn't much actual design that goes into them (as that costs a lot of money in R&D and expertise and tools).

A good case will have been designed with airflow in mind, and they will have done thorough flow analysis to determine where best to place internal pillars, literally the difference of .5mm placement of a post or pillar can mean a swing in the airflow path of 30 degrees further along. All that is of utmost importance to direct the air over the relevant components (CPU and GPU and motherboard VRMs) so that it can effectively dissipate it out of the extractor fans.

Without that level of engineering, what you end up with is simply a box with loads of dead spots, and those dead spots will just trap the warm air and temps across the whole system rise as a result. Or even worse in some cases, good airflow, but not hitting the relevant components, so effectively pointless.

Case design with good airflow is difficult. Case design with good airflow while looking killer is an art form.

My English is too weak to explain the importance of a case so well... thank you, mate!

 

[FocusOnPoint]

That's not exactly an high quality 1080p monitor. It's more a budget panel.

What's the max budget for the monitor?


Probably it would be a suboptimal power supply (as 99% of the prebuilt systems).


The case is one of the most important components of any respectable PC; people frequently underestimate the importance of a high-quality case, mistaking it for nothing more than a metal box... totally NOT!

It must have enough space for the main components, future upgrades, good airflow, and cable management choices.

NEVER understimate the cases !

300 max budget for monitor and also is the Corsair 3000D and 4000D AIRFLOW good cases?

 

[SpyderTracks]

300 max budget for monitor and also is the Corsair 3000D and 4000D AIRFLOW good cases?

The recommendation is well balanced. 3000D wouldn't be suitable.

 

[Ekans2011]

300 max budget for monitor and also is the Corsair 3000D and 4000D AIRFLOW good cases?

It is worth seeing this video (1080p from minute 20:45).

Corsair cases are generally good; I'd like bigger ones (5000D/5000X/6500X), but the 4000D could be a decent (available) option.
If your favorite case is out of stock or not available, you can always send your own to PCS.

 

[FocusOnPoint]

The recommendation is well balanced. 3000D wouldn't be suitable.

Recommendation is well balanced ?? I don't quite understand what you meant by this. Ok, noted for the 3000D..I'll probably just opt for the 4000D or Fractal focus 2 ARGB case

 

[Ekans2011]

Recommendation is well balanced ?? I don't quite understand what you meant by this. Ok, noted for the 3000D..I'll probably just opt for the 4000D or Fractal focus 2 ARGB case

I believe @SpyderTracks is referring to the £2000 build I mentioned before (post #13).

Keep in mind that the Fractal Focus 2 can only accommodate 240mm rads on top.

Focus 2

Focus 2 offers a precise straight-forward design which has been carefully engineered to leverage its airflow potential. Its innovative approach to the internal layout creates flow throughout the case, making it enjoyable to build and upgrade in, while optimizing direct cooling to components.

www.fractal-design.com

 

[FocusOnPoint]

I believe @SpyderTracks is referring to the £2000 build I mentioned before (post #13).

Keep in mind that the Fractal Focus 2 can only accommodate 240mm rads on top.

Focus 2

Focus 2 offers a precise straight-forward design which has been carefully engineered to leverage its airflow potential. Its innovative approach to the internal layout creates flow throughout the case, making it enjoyable to build and upgrade in, while optimizing direct cooling to components.

www.fractal-design.com

Is Rads liquid cooling because I'm opting for Air cooling which is what I prefer.

 

[Ekans2011]

Is Rads liquid cooling because I'm opting for Air cooling which is what I prefer.

Any reason to prefer the aircoolers?

Anyway, there are no good air coolers available on PCS; on modern high-end CPUs (such as the 9800X3D), aircoolers aren't enough to achieve the available boost clocks.

 

[FocusOnPoint]

I believe @SpyderTracks is referring to the £2000 build I mentioned before (post #13).

Keep in mind that the Fractal Focus 2 can only accommodate 240mm rads on top.

Focus 2

Focus 2 offers a precise straight-forward design which has been carefully engineered to leverage its airflow potential. Its innovative approach to the internal layout creates flow throughout the case, making it enjoyable to build and upgrade in, while optimizing direct cooling to components.

www.fractal-design.com

Easier maintenance and to swap out. Also, I'm afraid of leaks and etc....I need to refill the liquid and do regular maintenance every 6 months etc..which im afraid to do and possibly damage the components.

 

[Ekans2011]

Easier maintenance and to swap out. Also, I'm afraid of leaks and etc....I need to refill the liquid and do regular maintenance every 6 months etc..which im afraid to do and possibly damage the components.

Wrong, AIOs don't require any particular maintenance beyond what is required for air coolers (dust cleaning).

You're talking about custom open loop, which is a completely different cooling system (barely useless for 99% of the users).

 

[FocusOnPoint]

Wrong, AIOs don't require any particular maintenance beyond what is required for air coolers (dust cleaning).

You're talking about custom open loop, which is a completely different cooling system (barely useless for 99% of the users).

Case
FRACTAL FOCUS 2 ARGB GAMING CASE (BLACK)
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 7 7700 Eight Core CPU (3.8GHz-5.3GHz/40MB CACHE/AM5)
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING B650-PLUS WIFI (AM5, DDR5, PCIe 4.0, Wi-Fi 6)
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR5 6000MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
12GB GIGABYTE RADEON™ RX 7700 XT GAMING OC - 2 x HDMI, 2 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
1TB SOLIDIGM P41+ GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 4125MB/sR, 2950MB/sW)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 750W RMe SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
CORSAIR H100x RGB ELITE 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
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: £1,553.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am5-pc/bH9d69ctcw/


In this build you gave as a suggestion for a subpar 1080 build, If I swapped the CPU cooling to: PCS Frostflow 200 series High performance cpu cooler (250W TDP) - Would that be fine and keep temps low still? despite it being Air cooling. Thanks

 

[Ekans2011]

In this build you gave as a suggestion to someone for a mid end GPU, If I swapped the CPU cooling to: PCS Frostflow 200 series High performance cpu cooler (250W TDP) - Would that be fine and keep temps low still? despite it being Air cooling. Thanks

That configuration was a subpar system for a 1080p PC with a tight budget.
It's definitely not something I would suggest on a £2000 gaming PC.

PCS rebrand coolers are low-quality, not very reliable products, thus even if they might work for a 7700, I would never recommend them unless you're looking for very low-end PCs on a very tight budget.

 

[FocusOnPoint]

That configuration was a subpar system for a 1080p PC with a tight budget.
It's definitely not something I would suggest on a £2000 gaming PC.

PCS rebrand coolers are low-quality, not very reliable products, thus even if they might work for a 7700, I would never recommend them unless you're looking for very low-end PCs on a very tight budget.

Looking at it, I can tell PCS fans are not going to do it. I'm thinking of the Noctua nh-d15 cooler. If I send that to PCS would they fit it in with my build?

 

[Ekans2011]

Looking at it, I can tell PCS fans are not going to do it. I'm thinking of the Noctua nh-d15 cooler. If I send that to PCS would they fit it in with my build?

I don't think it's possible to send in your own cooler; anyway, the NH-D15 costs the same, if not more, than the Corsair H115i Capellix, so I don't see the sense in choosing it.

 

[SpyderTracks]

Recommendation is well balanced ?? I don't quite understand what you meant by this. Ok, noted for the 3000D..I'll probably just opt for the 4000D or Fractal focus 2 ARGB case

A full spec has already been recommended that's well balanced. You keep reverting to an unsuitable build. Will leave you to it, all the best

Easier maintenance and to swap out. Also, I'm afraid of leaks and etc....I need to refill the liquid and do regular maintenance every 6 months etc..which im afraid to do and possibly damage the components.

You're getting confused, an AIO has zero maintenance. you're thinking of a custom loop which costs more like £500 just for CPU cooling and is a completely different thing.

All the best with your choices, but I'd strongly recommend taking the advice that's been offered as the system you keep proposing is going to be sub par vs what's been recommended.

 

[Cammers123]

Question.....do you reckon the Nvidia RTX 5090 will be worth it?