Need help with Friend’s PC build please 😊

[Alyesa]

Helping friend build her first Gaming PC 😊 Would appreciate some help please. Have attached what I have suggested to her below, with her monitor stats. She was originally looking to spend £1000 but said she can stretch to what I have advised if best at £1400.
she is gaming anything from Stardew Valley to possibly Witcher on it, but mostly Apex Legends.

Many thanks 😊💜,
Alyesa

monitor she has:

Dell 27 Curved Gaming Monitor – S2722DGM​

27" QHD Curved Gaming Monitor with 1ms (MPRT)/ 2ms (gray to gray) response time, 165Hz refresh rate and 99% sRGB color for sharp gaming visuals and immersive gameplay. 1440p

Dell 27 Curved Gaming Monitor – S2722DGM | Dell UK

Dell 27-inch monitor featuring VA panel technology with 1ms response time, 165Hz refresh rate and stunning color on a 1500R curved screen.

www.dell.com

Case
PCS PRISM TG WHITE ARGB MID TOWER CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 5600X Six Core CPU (3.7GHz-4.6GHz/35MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF X570-PLUS GAMING WIFI (USB 3.2 Gen 2, PCIe 4.0, CrossFireX) - RGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3600MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
12GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3060 - HDMI, DP, LHR
1st M.2 SSD Drive
256GB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (2000 MB/R, 1100 MB/W)
1st Storage Drive
1TB Samsung 860 QVO 2.5" SSD, SATA 6Gb/s (up to 550MB/sR | 520MB/sW)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 550W TXm SERIES™ SEMI-MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
PCS FrostFlow 80 V2 Series High Performance CPU Cooler (AMD)
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
LED Lighting
2x 50cm RGB LED Strip
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
10/100/1000 GIGABIT 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 [KK3-00027]
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 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 3 to 6 working days
Price: £1,368.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/A3XwC4dfCG/

 

[MrWilson]

£1400 is going to be quite a challenge to put together a 1440p gaming PC I'm afraid. At this sort of budget we would normally be targeting 1080p, but your friend has a pretty decent monitor that will require a fairly beefy GPU to run well. The 3060 should do ok as Apex isn't massively demanding and the same can be said for older or indie titles. However, the other components are also a little lacking and might not do you justice.
My recommendation would be to ask your friend if they have any more they can spend on this, as it is much better to spend a little extra and get a build that will last 7-10 years, compared to a build that will save money in the short term, but has a much reduced longevity as a result.

 

[Alyesa]

£1400 is going to be quite a challenge to put together a 1440p gaming PC I'm afraid. At this sort of budget we would normally be targeting 1080p, but your friend has a pretty decent monitor that will require a fairly beefy GPU to run well. The 3060 should do ok as Apex isn't massively demanding and the same can be said for older or indie titles. However, the other components are also a little lacking and might not do you justice.
My recommendation would be to ask your friend if they have any more they can spend on this, as it is much better to spend a little extra and get a build that will last 7-10 years, compared to a build that will save money in the short term, but has a much reduced longevity as a result.

Thank you for your honesty 💜 what would you suggest and how much more money? She brought the monitor before asking unfortunately, if she got the build I suggested would it be a problem with it not managing the monitor then? Thank you for your advice 😊

 

[SpyderTracks]

Thank you for your honesty 💜 what would you suggest and how much more money? She brought the monitor before asking unfortunately, if she got the build I suggested would it be a problem with it not managing the monitor then? Thank you for your advice 😊

The 3060 is a 1080p card, Stardew will run fine, but Witcher, you'd have to dial settings right down to get it to run at 60fps at 1440p, but there are parts of the build like PSU and case which will cause issues with upgradeability and shorten the lifespan of the system.

 

[Aza]

Its a shame the 3060Ti isnt available atm
Advice I would give would be to wait, firstly to see some of the parts for a more suitable build now come into stock, but also because new CPU/GPU/Motherboard/RAM releases are all due in autumn... now is generally not a good time to buy.

Waiting for those releases will mean the same money would get better performance (normally incoming generation isnt that different in cost to current) but you may also see a reduction in cost for current generation stuff.

If buying now, it can be done but you would end up having to make a few sacrifices to the platform in terms of its upgradability, which in turn kills its lifespan (As MrWilson has said above)

The monitor thats been bought isnt great, but ok as a 1440p monitor goes... might be worth returning it though depending on how much was paid for it.

Custom builds are investments, you pay more upfront but then only have to replace the GPU every 3 years (ish) to keep it current for gaming rigs, so over 10 years its then less expensive than having gone through complete new machines every 3/4 years.

Waiting also means some more can be saved up to go towards it.

 

[Alyesa]

Its a shame the 3060Ti isnt available atm
Advice I would give would be to wait, firstly to see some of the parts for a more suitable build now come into stock, but also because new CPU/GPU/Motherboard/RAM releases are all due in autumn... now is generally not a good time to buy.

Waiting for those releases will mean the same money would get better performance (normally incoming generation isnt that different in cost to current) but you may also see a reduction in cost for current generation stuff.

If buying now, it can be done but you would end up having to make a few sacrifices to the platform in terms of its upgradability, which in turn kills its lifespan (As MrWilson has said above)

The monitor thats been bought isnt great, but ok as a 1440p monitor goes... might be worth returning it though depending on how much was paid for it.

Custom builds are investments, you pay more upfront but then only have to replace the GPU every 3 years (ish) to keep it current for gaming rigs, so over 10 years its then less expensive than having gone through complete new machines every 3/4 years.

Waiting also means some more can be saved up to go towards it.

What would suggest to match the monitor? Have linked her to the forum so she will see everything written 💜

 

[Aza]

When youre on a really restrictive budget like £1400 (which is already stretching the buyer a further £400 from the initial thought of £1000) for a custom buiild gaming rig, LED lighting strips really serve no purpose and just sap your budget, even at £1500 theres still a lot of cutbacks to fit a build in.

With 3060Ti's not being an option, thats already £100 of the budget burnt unnecessarily taking a 3070 instead, there are going to have to be areas that are cut back such as the motherboard (which will kill future upgrade potential such as M2 drive capacity) but every penny of that budget should be focused at actual structure, not decoration.

The only exception (and its situational) can be the RAM, where the 3600MHz RAM is often cheaper with RGB than without. Right now, its £1 difference @ 16GB

If buying now, and particularly with buying AMD which is a platform thats reached end of life (next series CPU's are on a new socket) if you are going to overspec anything it should be the PSU for future GPU's, budget restricts it to a 5600 cpu build and its likely going to be a 550 board to stay in budget but still maintain a balanced machine. The 5600 is fine on its stock cooler, particularly in a case like the 215 which has good thermals/airflow and Premium storage like the Samsung 980's is stretching a starting budget quite considerably.
Storage is also amongst the easier stuff to upgrade anyway, and £1400 really is entry level only for 1440p.

I still think the best thing to do is wait 3 or 4 months for the new releases and save in the meantime. You'd end up with something far better and with a much longer lifespan. Buying now means compromises and reduced lifespan/upgrade choices.

If you must buy now, ETA for the 3060 Ti is mid July, so i'd see what can be added to the budget in a month and spec then, or put in something with a 3060, and immediate amend it to a 3060 Ti to get in the queue for the card and just wait it out till July (you can amend orders without amendment charges right up until they start building, so you're only paying for parts)