Looking to purchase a future proof PC for gaming, max budget around £1200 (but lower if possible)

[Daveydave]

Case
PCS P209 RGB MID TOWER CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 9 3900 12 Core CPU (3.1GHz-4.3GHz/70MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® PRIME B450-PLUS (DDR4, USB 3.1, 6Gb/s) - RGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3000MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 2070 SUPER - HDMI, 3x DP GeForce - RTX VR Ready!
1st Storage Drive
256GB PCS 2.5" SSD, SATA 6 Gb (500MB/R, 400MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 550W CV SERIES™ CV-550 POWER SUPPLY
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
PCS FrostFlow 100 V2 Series High Performance CPU Cooler (AMD)
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
WIRELESS 802.11N 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
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
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 (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 18 to 20 working days
Price: £1,242.00 including VAT and Delivery

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

I will be using this monitor : LG Class UltraGear 27GL850-B Quad HD 27" Nano IPS LCD Gaming Monitor (2560 x 1440p)

BUT if there is scope to dial back the price then please let me know as I would of course love to save money where possible.

 

[Grinty]

That CPU is an absolute beast - massive overkill for gaming. Do you have some other reason for needing that much power?

I've reduced the CPU and spread the saving around a bunch of upgrades to the rest of the system. I would add that 256GB of storage is pretty light - do you have a large drive you'll be adding yourself?

Case
FRACTAL FOCUS G BLACK GAMING CASE (Window)
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 3600X Six Core CPU (3.8GHz-4.4GHz/36MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF X570-PLUS GAMING (USB 3.2 Gen 2, PCIe 4.0, CrossFireX) - RGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 2070 SUPER - HDMI, 3x DP GeForce - RTX VR Ready!
1st M.2 SSD Drive
256GB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (1900 MB/R, 1100 MB/W)
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
STANDARD AMD CPU COOLER
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6 AX200 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
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
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 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 18 to 20 working days
Price: £1,242.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/dBnn6Xf9w8/

 

[Daveydave]

I went a bit giddy with the spec I will be honest.

I have an operating system bought and I have two SSDs I can use (1tb and one 500gb).

 

[Grinty]

Entirely understandable!

You could even downgrade further to the 3300X (still a very capable CPU, and generally considered the best value for money for gaming use), maybe step the power supply up to a 750W RXm to support a graphics card upgrade in a few years' time and pocket the rest of the money saved.

EDIT: Except both of those parts are out of stock until next month!

 

[Scott]

Switched it up a little. You could save and go with the PCS M2 drive but the 970 Evo really comes into its own and you won't regret it. Will make most SSDs look slow.

Case
FRACTAL FOCUS G BLACK GAMING CASE (Window)
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 3600 Six Core CPU (3.6GHz-4.2GHz/36MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING B550-PLUS (DDR4, USB 3.2, 6Gb/s) - RGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 2070 SUPER - HDMI, 3x DP GeForce - RTX VR Ready!
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SAMSUNG 970 EVO PLUS M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3500MB/R, 3200MB/W)
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
STANDARD AMD CPU COOLER
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6 AX200 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
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
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 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 18 to 20 working days
Price: £1,234.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/F9H2eUjnGQ/

 

[g85]

forgive me for disagreeing with a moderator, but i'm reliably informed that there's very little tangible difference with OS speed and game load times with the fastest NVMe drives, and they're aimed more at the larger-size file transfer market like 4k video editors who regularly need to move e.g. 80GB files.

my source: search Youtube: "Linus Tech Tips Does a Faster SSD Matter for Gamers?? - $h!t Manufacturers Say"

i wouldn't dare contradict a mod without something to back it up

regards
g85

P.S. I'm assuming that it's a gaming system given his initial posted spec. and i would absolutely agree with Scott's tweak that the B550 is the way to go!

 

[Scott]

forgive me for disagreeing with a moderator, but i'm reliably informed that there's very little tangible difference with OS speed and game load times with the fastest NVMe drives, and they're aimed more at the larger-size file transfer market like 4k video editors who regularly need to move e.g. 80GB files.

my source: search Youtube: "Linus Tech Tips Does a Faster SSD Matter for Gamers?? - $h!t Manufacturers Say"

i wouldn't dare contradict a mod without something to back it up

regards
g85

P.S. I'm assuming that it's a gaming system given his initial posted spec. and i would absolutely agree with Scott's tweak that the B550 is the way to go!

You're more than welcome to disagree, moderation status makes no odds to that..... we're just here to keep the SPAM out, keep the peace etc. Debate and discussion is always healthy.

Regarding making no odds, it'll boot a little faster to windows (probably a second or 2), but try opening Adobe Premiere and you will see quite a stark contrast in operating speed. Then when it comes to memory caching, the gulf gets wider. With games, large cache games will load MILES faster. Something like Civilisation is significantly quicker with the M2 drive.

There are many, many reasons that an M2 is far superior to an SSD, speed is only one aspect. Given the very slight price difference and allowing the SATA slots free for upgrades always makes more sense.

 

[ubuysa]

forgive me for disagreeing with a moderator, but i'm reliably informed that there's very little tangible difference with OS speed and game load times with the fastest NVMe drives, and they're aimed more at the larger-size file transfer market like 4k video editors who regularly need to move e.g. 80GB files.

my source: search Youtube: "Linus Tech Tips Does a Faster SSD Matter for Gamers?? - $h!t Manufacturers Say"

i wouldn't dare contradict a mod without something to back it up

regards
g85

P.S. I'm assuming that it's a gaming system given his initial posted spec. and i would absolutely agree with Scott's tweak that the B550 is the way to go!

Thanks for making me sit through the most useless 13 minutes of my life. That was so bad I'm at a loss to know where to start.

Three guys subjective opinions is a test? No measurements, no hard data, just 'well that feels faster'. That's worthless.

What they forget, and it's important, is that with just one process accessing the drive you probably won't see a massive difference. But that's not real world.

When you have several processes accessing the same drive they have to queue because only one read/write can be in operation at a time.

When you have read/writes queuing the speed of the drive is critical, you need to get each operation completed as fast as possible to reduce the time other processes spend queueing.

So if you're gaming whilst running a program compile or a background download, or you also have music playing, or if any other processes, are accessing the same drive (and that includes Windows processes),then to reduce queue times you need the fastest drive you can get.



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[keithbeaks]

I can show you hundreds of videos about my area of expertise that are absolute garbage and are actually dangerous.

That said you shouldn't believe everything on these forums, but I tend to as everything I read here stack's up with other information out there.

Just build a PC from watching YouTube.

 

[g85]

@Scott i agree with you for the most part. i forgot to specify that i was theoretically comparing the PCS m.2 vs the evo or firecuda (rather than SATA SSD).

real world, you might lose a second or two of your life loading premiere or civ. is that worth the extra £55 or £85? endlessly debatable.

@ubuysa i'm really sorry man, hahah!

the point of the video though was exactly to disregard benchmarks, as mentioned in the vid. i thought it rather refreshing for a youtube channel to do. if you're a regular youtube tech watcher, it's pretty much all benchmarks and graphs. lord knows gamers nexus has sent me to sleep a few times! the point of the video was exactly does it feel any different.

also if you're deadly serious about your frame-rates and smooth gameplay you'd be closing your RAM hungry chrome and background processes anyway, no? we are assuming that this is a primarily gaming machine, aren't we?

@keithbeaks "I can show you hundreds of videos about my area of expertise that are absolute garbage and are actually dangerous." exactly the same in mine! some luthiers make me cringe so hard.

regards
g85

thanks to scott and ubuysa for expanding my knowledge even just a tiny bit.

 

[Scott]

Ahhh, yes there's next to no performance gain between the M2s. There will be for certain uses, but for the most part..... 2TB/s is plenty haha.

There IS another aspect to premium vs budget though. Premium drives will generally last substantially longer than the non-premium drives. A good example is the fact that the 970 Evo has twice the lifespan of the 660p. I'm not sure on the PCS drives, and I always put them first when budget is of a premium, but the 660p is never in any of my recommendations now.

The SX6000 was ALWAYS my go-to for recommendations as it doesn't have the brand name, but it does have the write performance and longevity of any big name. Unfortunately PCS sold out of them and they don't seem to be getting them back in.

I'll even put my money where my mouth is and show that if you look at my specs, I actually have a 950 evo and a 970 evo as my primary drives in laptop/desktop and on my desktop my secondary drive is a 1TB SX8200 Pro (Adata, big brother of the SX6000). I have huge faith in the ADATA range, would be nice to see them in the configurators.

 

[g85]

@Scott "Premium drives will generally last substantially longer than the non-premium drives." A top notch point, sir. with my experience though, all my SSDs have lasted long beyond their useful lifespan before they get replaced with higher capacity. granted, i'm not constantly re-writing them (though that may change soon since i read @SpyderTracks linked articles about re-installing windows every major update - though i'm not on the bleeding edge of the fastest tech out there, so maybe i'll compromise at once a year or (knowing the lazy me intimately) whenever windows throws a small tantrum

https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/forums/threads/quick-note-to-prospective-buyers.68098/#post-485737 (spydertracks' links)

 

[Scott]

I can't consider everyone's individual needs and circumstances when I recommend items. I just recommend based on what I think will fit best for the budget that's available. If the cloth needs to be cut..... it's usually around the bells, whistles and brands. I always add the caveats though.

 

[ubuysa]

also if you're deadly serious about your frame-rates and smooth gameplay you'd be closing your RAM hungry chrome and background processes anyway, no? we are assuming that this is a primarily gaming machine, aren't we?

Wnen your PC is idle open up Task Manager, click the details tab and check out all the processes that are running. Any of them could read or write to your system drive - and that's with nothing running.

It's perfectly fine to select a slwer drive if your budget requires it, but in any PC whether gaming or not you want the fastest system drive you can afford. [emoji846]

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