Looking for a new gaming PC

[dmoney]

The motherboard on my old PC I've had since 2015 died, it survived three international moves.

I'm looking for a new PC that I can use for gaming, hopefully somewhat future proofed. I'll also use it to do some video editing, but nothing professional, and run regular productivity apps.

Budget is up to 1,500 Euro (I'm in Ireland)

I plan to salvage the 500 GB SSD and 1 TB HHD from my old rig and install it in the new one, I feel like I can never have too much storage.

I'm not sure what the best Intel processor I should be looking at in my price range. I think going with 32GB RAM would be better, though perhaps I can start with 16GB and upgrade in the future if necessary.

Don't need any optical drives, would need a WiFi receiver.

Inclined to a heavy duty PSU, I had a bad experience a few years back when the PSU failed, so maybe I need 700W?

 

[sck451]

Hi -- lots of useful information there. One thing you're missing -- what monitor will you be using?

Also, you say Intel -- is there a reason you specifically need Intel rather than AMD?

 

[dmoney]

No reason for Intel only, I read somewhere that Intel is better, though I've previously had AMD without issue, so I'm open up either.

I'm not sure what you mean by monitor? Are you talking output? I have an existing 22"with HDMI, though I'd like to upgrade to a widescreen.

Also, not in a rush to get this before Christmas, any advantage in waiting until after?

 

[Steveyg]

I read somewhere that Intel is better, though

Yeah they aren't these days Intel are considerably worse than AMD in both cost and performance

If you let us know what monitor you're using we can help put something together, the monitor will determine the GPU

 

[sck451]

No reason for Intel only, I read somewhere that Intel is better, though I've previously had AMD without issue, so I'm open up either.

I'm not sure what you mean by monitor? Are you talking output? I have an existing 22"with HDMI, though I'd like to upgrade to a widescreen.

Also, not in a rush to get this before Christmas, any advantage in waiting until after?

You'll get a better overall deal with AMD: it's a more future-looking platform and is more efficient/cooler.

Yes, I mean the display you'll use. A 22" one doesn't sound like a gaming monitor so I'd definitely consider upgrading it. What kind of money could you spend on that?

If you have Windows 10 already you might be able to transfer the licence, which would save a lot of money. And one last question: what is the SSD precisely? I'm guessing it's a SATA one?

 

[dmoney]

You'll get a better overall deal with AMD: it's a more future-looking platform and is more efficient/cooler.

Yes, I mean the display you'll use. A 22" one doesn't sound like a gaming monitor so I'd definitely consider upgrading it. What kind of money could you spend on that?

If you have Windows 10 already you might be able to transfer the licence, which would save a lot of money. And one last question: what is the SSD precisely? I'm guessing it's a SATA one?

Yes it's SATA, I don't have a Windows 10 license (I think).

For monitors I'm looking at curved 4K models, though I tend to play more strategy games (think Civilization)

 

[dmoney]

I've done some research and I think I can find a monitor for 350 EUR; my PC budget would remain at 1500 EUR.

 

[sck451]

I've hesitated to answer this because frankly I don't think you can achieve what you want to achieve with PCS on this budget.

The problem is that realistically at this budget the best graphics card PCS stocks that you can afford is the 4060 Ti 8GB. This is not a great card. It's a decent bet for 1080p, but not for 1440p and certainly not for 4K.

And that's assuming that you go for the last-gen Ryzen 5000 platform and cut down on things like fast storage, and you still end up over budget by my reckoning.

For a current-gen CPU, you're looking at nothing better than the 7600, which is definitely a 1080p card.

So I find it very hard to know what to recommend for you, other than extending your budget or making your resolution ambitions rather less...

 

[dmoney]

Thank you, that is very helpful. I didn't think about the different resolutions.

I have a PS5 connected to a 4K tv, so I don't need 4k on the PC. As I said above, I tend to play strategy games, so I don't think top of the line resolution is important.

Now for the stupid question: does a widescreen monitor necessarily require a higher resolution (I think the answer is obvious, but as I am getting back into this, I'm behind)

 

[sck451]

Depends what strategy game you play. Anno 1800, for example, is pretty demanding. Other games less so. But I'd still not be sure about a 6650 XT at 4K...

And I'm a little confused about what you mean by widescreen. Widescreen typically refers to the 16:9 aspect ratio, which is standard 1080p/1440p/4K. Do you mean ultrawide? If so, yes, that is inherently a higher resolution (which is the same as saying "more pixels").

 

[SpyderTracks]

For a low down

1080p is 1920 x 1080
1440p is 2560 x 1440
4k is 3840 x 2160

Ultrawide is 1.5 1.33 x on the horizontal of any resolution (corrected thankfully swiftly)
Superwide is 2 x on the horizontal of any resolution

 

[sck451]

For a low down

1080p is 1920 x 1080
1440p is 2560 x 1440
4k is 3840 x 2160

Ultrawide is 1.5 x on the horizontal of any resolution
Superwide is 2 x on the horizontal of any resolution

Ultrawide is about 1.33x, not 1.5x, but yes.

 

[SpyderTracks]

Ultrawide is about 1.33x, not 1.5x, but yes.

Damn, I just posted claiming correctness, you are of course correct, simple maths almost always evades me! Thanks for the correction.

 

[dmoney]

Depends what strategy game you play. Anno 1800, for example, is pretty demanding. Other games less so. But I'd still not be sure about a 6650 XT at 4K...

And I'm a little confused about what you mean by widescreen. Widescreen typically refers to the 16:9 aspect ratio, which is standard 1080p/1440p/4K. Do you mean ultrawide? If so, yes, that is inherently a higher resolution (which is the same as saying "more pixels").

yes I meant ultrawide, sorry for the lack of precision.

I'm focused more on games like Civ VI (And Civ VII soon hopefully!) and Crusader Kings 3.

Considering I will have my VAT refunded, I can expand my budget to 1800 EUR.

I'm a bit lost on what I should be looking for with graphics cards.

 

[SpyderTracks]

yes I meant ultrawide, sorry for the lack of precision.

I'm focused more on games like Civ VI (And Civ VII soon hopefully!) and Crusader Kings 3.

Considering I will have my VAT refunded, I can expand my budget to 1800 EUR.

I'm a bit lost on what I should be looking for with graphics cards.

At the budget, you'd be limited to 1080p Ultawide. You wouldn't be able to get anywhere close to 4k or even 1440 Ultrawide.

 

[sck451]

I disagree! If you are prepared to make some compromises (that I'd kind of advise against, but which wouldn't look out of place among the vast majority of gaming PCs) you can do it.

The compromises:

• A 120mm liquid cooler. I'd really prefer something simpler, like a tower air cooler, but there are none in stock. A 120mm off-brand AIO isn't what I'd put in my own system, but it will be sufficient for the 7600.
• A single 1TB SSD. You're adding more storage, though it's not ideal. I'd much rather have separate boot and storage drives, and I'd rather have more than 1TB. But it would work, and it would be upgradable...
• A 7700 XT graphics card. This is a little marginal for 1440p ultrawide, but depending on your games and settings it would do an OK job.

Fixing these issues would bring the cost to around €2000, obviously above your (enhanced!) budget. I'd do that if I could. If I couldn't, I would at least consider this build:

Case
CORSAIR 4000D AIRFLOW TEMPERED GLASS GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 7600 Six Core CPU (4.0GHz-5.2GHz/38MB 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 AMD RADEON™ RX 7700 XT GAMING - HDMI, DP - DX® 12
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
PCS FrostFlow 120 Series ARGB High Performance Liquid Cooler I'd really like a better cooler, but nothing cheaper is in stock
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
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
Google Chrome™
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
2 - 3 DAY DELIVERY TO REPUBLIC OF IRELAND
Build Time
Christmas Delivery No Longer Guaranteed
Price: €1,795.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am5-pc/J2PwxkbA0G/

 

[SpyderTracks]

I would strongly NOT recommend as low as the 7600 for 2 reasons.

OP has mentioned they mainly play strategy games. These are CPU bound anyway even as you scale up resolution.

6 cores just aint gonna cut it even at a basic level for the kinds of games you're talking about, it kind of defies the whole point of investing in a new platform.

I would much rather have 1080 ultra wide performing well than 1440p stuttering plus with low frame rates. The argument is there that you could upgrade the processor at a later date, I'd argue having the right processor at the outset and then upgrading the GPU at a later date for higher resolution is a far better way to approach it.

If it were me, especially for strategy games, I wouldn't want anything less than the 7800X3D at the outset.

I though the budget was 1500 euros?

 

[sck451]

I would strongly NOT recommend as low as the 7600 for 2 reasons.

OP has mentioned they mainly play strategy games. These are CPU bound anyway even as you scale up resolution.

6 cores just aint gonna cut it even at a basic level for the kinds of games you're talking about, it kind of defies the whole point of investing in a new platform.

I would much rather have 1080 ultra wide performing well than 1440p stuttering plus with low frame rates. The argument is there that you could upgrade the processor at a later date, I'd argue having the right processor at the outset and then upgrading the GPU at a later date for higher resolution is a far better way to approach it.

If it were me, especially for strategy games, I wouldn't want anything less than the 7800X3D at the outset.

I though the budget was 1500 euros?

I had forgotten the strategy game aspect. Yes, add that to "compromises I wouldn't make myself". But the 7700 XT will handle most strategy games at UWQHD at a decent framerate and quality. I'd prefer better, but it's not absurd.

 

[SpyderTracks]

I had forgotten the strategy game aspect. Yes, add that to "compromises I wouldn't make myself". But the 7700 XT will handle most strategy games at UWQHD at a decent framerate and quality. I'd prefer better, but it's not absurd.

I'd agree on the GPU front, especially for strategy games, but think the platform needs to be stronger to support it and think doing that takes it above budget.