Mid-range gaming build

[Parkplatzruepel]

Hi guys,

I need to get a decent PC for playing CSGO and other games at medium/high. Will not be streaming/editing/processing.

My budget is a maximum of 1400 pounds.

I already have a monitor, Lenovo G27q-20 27" QHD.

Are there any changes you would recommend?

Case
CORSAIR 175R RGB MID TOWER GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 5600X Six Core CPU (3.7GHz-4.6GHz/35MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® PRIME B550-PLUS (DDR4, USB 3.2, 6Gb/s) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3600MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
6GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 2060 - HDMI, DP - VR Ready!
1st Storage Drive
1TB Samsung 870 QVO 2.5" SSD, SATA 6Gb/s (up to 560MB/sR | 530MB/sW)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 550W CV SERIES™ CV-550 POWER SUPPLY
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)
Network Card
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT
Wireless Network Card
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 [KK3-00002]
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 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
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 10 to 12 working days
Price: £1,184.00 including VAT and Delivery

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

Thanks in advance for reading.

 

[JUNI0R]

Hi guys,

I need to get a decent PC for playing CSGO and other games at medium/high. Will not be streaming/editing/processing.

My budget is a maximum of 1400 pounds.

I already have a monitor, Lenovo G27q-20 27" QHD.

Are there any changes you would recommend?

Case
CORSAIR 175R RGB MID TOWER GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 5600X Six Core CPU (3.7GHz-4.6GHz/35MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® PRIME B550-PLUS (DDR4, USB 3.2, 6Gb/s) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3600MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
6GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 2060 - HDMI, DP - VR Ready!
1st Storage Drive
1TB Samsung 870 QVO 2.5" SSD, SATA 6Gb/s (up to 560MB/sR | 530MB/sW)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 550W CV SERIES™ CV-550 POWER SUPPLY
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)
Network Card
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT
Wireless Network Card
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 [KK3-00002]
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 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
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 10 to 12 working days
Price: £1,184.00 including VAT and Delivery

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

Thanks in advance for reading.

Hi there, in the current climate, a 1440p build for £1400 is really quite difficult. This is really the minimum I'd want to recommend

The 4000D has much better airflow than the 175R and is a generally higher quality case. For gaming, there really isn't all that much difference between 3200mhz and 3600mhz, so swapped to 3200 to save some money. If you were to just play CSGO then you might be okay for 1440p with the 2060 as that game produces a tonne of frames but for anything else, I'd really be looking at a 6700XT for your monitor. The 3060TI would be the ideal card but it just seems non existent and sadly isn't orderable with PCS right now. For SSD, I've swapped to an M.2 for significantly faster speeds, the PCS drive is great value for money. For the PSU, you'll want a 750w with future upgradabiliy in mind, the TXm is also a gold rated unit instead of bronze, this is the minimum I'd want to go. If you need WiFi the AX200 is a must but if you use ethernet it can be removed entirely. I've also upped to the silver warranty as it's well worth the £5.

If you have a pre-existing Windows PC or Laptop, you could take the Windows key from that to save about £85, to get it closer to your budget. If you have other storage devices (3.5 inch HDD's/ 2.5 inch SSD's), you could put them into this computer and consider dropping the SSD to a 512GB model for Windows and a few games but realisitically I don't see where else you might be able to drop the price while still keeping a well balanced 1440p rig.

Case
CORSAIR 4000D AIRFLOW TEMPERED GLASS GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 5600X Six Core CPU (3.7GHz-4.6GHz/35MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING B550-PLUS (DDR4, USB 3.2, 6Gb/s) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
12GB AMD RADEON™ RX 6700 XT - HDMI, DP - DX® 12
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (2000 MB/R, 1100 MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 750W 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)
Network Card
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT
Wireless Network Card
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
Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KK3-00002]
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 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
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 10 to 12 working days
Price: £1,501.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/p!A!uNUb6R/
3-pc/yfgazWVaZu/

 

[Parkplatzruepel]

Hi there, first of all thanks a lot for your well-constructed reply, I really appreciate your time!

What you say makes a lot of sense, and really I could afford pushing my budget out a further 100 pounds to accomodate the better GPU. In addition, thanks for making me aware that you can move windows 10 keys! That'll save me a decent chunk of cash.

I'll probably go with the below (right under the original 1400 budget) which is your list with windows 10 and the wireless network card removed, but will I need to worry about cooling at all with the below?

Case
CORSAIR 4000D AIRFLOW TEMPERED GLASS GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 5600X Six Core CPU (3.7GHz-4.6GHz/35MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING B550-PLUS (DDR4, USB 3.2, 6Gb/s) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
12GB AMD RADEON™ RX 6700 XT - HDMI, DP - DX® 12
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (2000 MB/R, 1100 MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 750W 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)
Network Card
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT
Wireless Network Card
NOT REQUIRED
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
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
Standard Build - Approximately 10 to 12 working days
Price: £1,398.00 including VAT and Delivery

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

 

[sck451]

That will be fine for cooling. The AMD stock cooler is pefectly good enough for the 5600X in most circumstances (especially gaming) and the 4000D is a great case for airflow. If you can afford an extra £40 for a 1TB hard drive, I'd think that well worth it because it's a faff to add later and it would double your storage.

But that's a great build and will make the most of that lovely monitor you have.

 

[NoddyPirate]

That will be fine for cooling. The AMD stock cooler is pefectly good enough for the 5600X in most circumstances (especially gaming) and the 4000D is a great case for airflow. If you can afford an extra £40 for a 1TB hard drive, I'd think that well worth it because it's a faff to add later and it would double your storage.

But that's a great build and will make the most of that lovely monitor you have.

Might be worth pondering the cooler in my opinion. Some discussion on it here - it is only my findings and research so it's far from conclusive - but the last few posts might be quite relevant.

If the OP had a little extra money to spare I would personally upgrade the cooling just to take that worry out of the picture......?

 

[JUNI0R]

Hi there, first of all thanks a lot for your well-constructed reply, I really appreciate your time!

What you say makes a lot of sense, and really I could afford pushing my budget out a further 100 pounds to accomodate the better GPU. In addition, thanks for making me aware that you can move windows 10 keys! That'll save me a decent chunk of cash.

I'll probably go with the below (right under the original 1400 budget) which is your list with windows 10 and the wireless network card removed, but will I need to worry about cooling at all with the below?

Case
CORSAIR 4000D AIRFLOW TEMPERED GLASS GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 5600X Six Core CPU (3.7GHz-4.6GHz/35MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING B550-PLUS (DDR4, USB 3.2, 6Gb/s) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
12GB AMD RADEON™ RX 6700 XT - HDMI, DP - DX® 12
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (2000 MB/R, 1100 MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 750W 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)
Network Card
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT
Wireless Network Card
NOT REQUIRED
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
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
Standard Build - Approximately 10 to 12 working days
Price: £1,398.00 including VAT and Delivery

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

You're welcome, it's what we're here for! With Windows, I'd just like to warn you that it'll basically make the unusable as you're effectively stripping it of Windows. The download process is pretty simple these days, and this is a good video to help. It's going from a HDD to an SSD but the process is the same, and if you have any question's we'd be happy to help.

Airflow will be perfectly fine with this case, and the stock cooler will handle the 5600X just fine, if it's something you're worried about you could add an extra case fan but it's not necessary at all.

You said above that you're happy to spend another £100 for the better GPU, if you're still happy to extend the budget to £1500 for other parts I'd change a few pieces. I've gone with @sck451 's suggestion of adding a Hard drive, it's super cheap storage that will be useful for general files and less commonly played games if you're running out on the SSD. I've upgraded to a top of the line RMx 850 PSU which gives you another 100w to play with and is fully modular along with adding a Liquid AIO, this will help a lot with CPU temps and effectively add 2 fans in the top of the case to help with general cooling.

Case
CORSAIR 4000D AIRFLOW TEMPERED GLASS GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 5600X Six Core CPU (3.7GHz-4.6GHz/35MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING B550-PLUS (DDR4, USB 3.2, 6Gb/s) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
12GB AMD RADEON™ RX 6700 XT - HDMI, DP - DX® 12
1st Storage Drive
1TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 64MB CACHE
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (2000 MB/R, 1100 MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 850W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
CoolerMaster MasterLiquid Lite 240 High Performance Liquid 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
NOT REQUIRED
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
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
Standard Build - Approximately 10 to 12 working days
Price: £1,516.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/jj8AXe9VUu/

 

[sck451]

Might be worth pondering the cooler in my opinion. Some discussion on it here - it is only my findings and research so it's far from conclusive - but the last few posts might be quite relevant.

If the OP had a little extra money to spare I would personally upgrade the cooling just to take that worry out of the picture......?

My experience has been quite different (though less scientific than yours!). I'm wouldn't for a second say a different cooler is a bad idea (I upgraded mine, after all!), but if my money was limited I'd prefer to upgrade the graphics card than the cooler.

 

[NoddyPirate]

My experience has been quite different (though less scientific than yours!). I'm wouldn't for a second say a different cooler is a bad idea (I upgraded mine, after all!), but if my money was limited I'd prefer to upgrade the graphics card than the cooler.

Totally valid view @sck451 👍 You do need a functioning system first I guess.

I only mentioned it really because the OP suggested he had some spare change. 🙂

 

[Citrus_9]

My experience has been quite different (though less scientific than yours!). I'm wouldn't for a second say a different cooler is a bad idea (I upgraded mine, after all!), but if my money was limited I'd prefer to upgrade the graphics card than the cooler.

Depending on a PC case. With a good airflow, such as 4000D, case, probably you're right that putting the money for a GPU would be a good idea. Just a small thing: the price difference between 240 and H115i is 60+ Euro while 3060 vs 6700XT is 110+ Euro.