Looking for advice on build

[nickclem11]

Hello,

I am looking to buy my first desktop PC. I have a budget of £1500. I asked my friend for advice and he put together the below. I mainly want to use it for gaming, some minor video editing, and generally just a fast user experience with many tabs and Windows open. Not to fussed by the monitors at this stage (just using some basic ones from my work) but would appreciate any recommendations for the future.

Can anybody give any thoughts?
Case
CORSAIR 3000D AIRFLOW MID TOWER GAMING CASE
Promotional Item
Get a discount code for 20% off select peripherals at Corsair.com
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 7 5700X3D Eight Core CPU (3.0GHz-4.1GHz/100MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® PRIME B550-PLUS (AM4, DDR4, PCIe 4.0)
Memory (RAM)
32GB PCS PRO DDR4 3200MHz (1 x 32GB)
Graphics Card
8GB ASUS DUAL GEFORCE RTX 4060 OC V2 - HDMI, 3 x DP
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (2200 MB/R, 1500 MB/W)
1st Storage Drive
8TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 5400RPM, 256MB CACHE
Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W RM SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
PCS FrostFlow 100 V3 Series 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
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT
Wireless Network Card
WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6E AX210 2,400Mbps/5GHz, 300Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD + BT 5.0
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
NO RECOVERY MEDIA REQUIRED
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Google Chrome™
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (6 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 7 to 9 working days
Welcome Book
PCSpecialist Welcome Book
Logo Branding
PCSpecialist Logo
Packaging
PCS Corsair Carton Upright
Price: £0.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-home-office/q9BAFT2Cb8/

 

[TonyCarter]

That build is using a 3 generation old CPU (on an end-of-life platform), and a GPU that was terrible when it was launched...and hasn't aged well either.

Besides those two key items, the rest of the build is not configured for future upgrades (i.e. low-end motherboard, bare minimum PSU, poor cooler, poor RAM config, poor storage config).

However, any config is largely dictated by the monitor...so there's no point getting a 200FPS 1080p GPU when you're work monitor is an old 60hz model. But there's also no point in a 1080p GPU with low VRAM if you're going to go out and buy a 240Hz 1440p monitor in the next couple of months.

With the current GPU/component prices going up every day (with tariffs and supply restriction) we're currently configuring previous/current-gen 1080p builds in the £1800+ range...and £2000+ using all current gen components.

Even just tweaking your original config in the sake of upgradability would probably add a few hundred pounds to the build...which would entail:

• better, more configurable case - the Corsair 4000 Frame is the current budget king
• decent level of PSU - min 850w to allow for a GPU upgrade or two over the next 5-10 years
• dual-stick RAM config as 2 sticks are faster than 1
• non-PCS boot SSD as they're not as reliable as the Solidigm, Corsair, Crucial models
• non-PCS cooler, again as they're not as reliable as the Corsair/NZXT models
• secondary SSD for your game installs as a HDD is too slow for a lot of new games
• don't know if you still need a large HDD for other usage?

 

[nickclem11]

Thanks for taking the time to respond!