New gaming PC

[udinabi]

I'm looking at picking up the below spec, it's very similar to one of the base gaming PC's on the site (interestingly the base spec didn't have a sufficient power supply).

What do you guys think? The cost atm is £1,542 but my budget is around £1,800 so very open to suggestions for upgrades that will improve performance.

I want to make sure the spec is suitable for VR (i have a Oculus Rift which does function ok on my current gpu (970) but it's not fantastic).

Case
CORSAIR CARBIDE SERIES™ 275R TEMPERED GLASS GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 7 2700X Eight Core CPU (3.7GHz-4.35GHz/20MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
Gigabyte B450 AORUS ELITE: DDR4, USB 3.1 - RGB Ready
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 2400MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 2080 - HDMI, 3x DP GeForce - RTX VR Ready!
1st Storage Drive
4TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 5400RPM, 256MB CACHE
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
NOT REQUIRED
Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W VS SERIES™ VS-650 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

 

[udinabi]

I should also add, that i don't have a specific gaming monitor, so i'm probably needing to add one of them however i've no idea where to start on this.

 

[Mustafo95]

AMD processors love faster ram, so get faster one.
Also get half-terabyte ssd as well. Even the cheapest one still is literally 100s or 1000s times more responsive compared to a spinning hard drive. You can keep the OS and most played games and programs on the ssd

 

[udinabi]

is 2666Mhz a more suitable speed? I already have a external 500GB ssd which i use for games so i figured that would be suitable. Although i guess having the OS on it too would be a good idea?

 

[Mustafo95]

is 2666Mhz a more suitable speed? I already have a external 500GB ssd which i use for games so i figured that would be suitable. Although i guess having the OS on it too would be a good idea?

3200MHZ or 3000MHZ is the sweet spot. They technically can be OC'd up to 4000-4200+ MHZ but obviously there is a point of diminishing returns. I guess in your case, get the 2933 MHZ.
Having your OS on the SSD is THE reason for getting an SSD. It gives you way faster boot times, since windows uses many small services and reads from and writes to a lot of small files, that's where SSDs shine. Video games are the same, they load many small files dynamically all the time, modern games load huuuuuge maps and textures so again, that's begging for a SSD.
Now static files such as music, videos, pictures, documents they don't really benefit from SSD. You can keep them on a HDD.
Just to explain it quickly, SSDs work at the speed of electrons, which is virtually the same as speed of light, universe's fastest constant speed available. And then you have spinning hard drives that spin, what 6000 times a minute. Speed of light could circle the earth 7 times and then some in a SECOND. The access times of SSDs is just on another level.

 

[Tony1044]

3200MHZ or 3000MHZ is the sweet spot. They technically can be OC'd up to 4000-4200+ MHZ but obviously there is a point of diminishing returns. I guess in your case, get the 2933 MHZ.
Having your OS on the SSD is THE reason for getting an SSD. It gives you way faster boot times, since windows uses many small services and reads from and writes to a lot of small files, that's where SSDs shine. Video games are the same, they load many small files dynamically all the time, modern games load huuuuuge maps and textures so again, that's begging for a SSD.
Now static files such as music, videos, pictures, documents they don't really benefit from SSD. You can keep them on a HDD.
Just to explain it quickly, SSDs work at the speed of electrons, which is virtually the same as speed of light, universe's fastest constant speed available. And then you have spinning hard drives that spin, what 6000 times a minute. Speed of light could circle the earth 7 times and then some in a SECOND. The access times of SSDs is just on another level.

You get next to no benefit in games with an SSD other than the level loading - games don't load content dynamically, so by all means put your most commonly played ones on the SSD but don't expect a boost to how they play, just faster loading between levels.

SSD's do not work at the speed of electrons. There is a delay whilst the controller decides which cells to write to or read from. There is a delay when the cell is actually accessed. The SATA bus is limited to 6GB/s transfer speeds. Whilst it's true that they can be an order of magnitude faster than HDD's they're not as fast as light.

 

[Scott]

This is a more fitting system for not a lot more cash....

Case
FRACTAL DEFINE S BLACK GAMING CASE (Window)
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 2600X Six Core CPU (3.6GHz-4.25GHz/19MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
Gigabyte X470 AORUS Ultra Gaming: ATX, USB 3.1, SATA 6GBs - RGB Ready
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 2933MHz ~ (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 2080 - HDMI, 3x DP GeForce - RTX VR Ready!
1st Storage Drive
3TB SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 64MB CACHE
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB WD Black™ SN750 M.2 NVMe SSD (up to 3470MB/s R | 2600MB/s W)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
NOT REQUIRED
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
Corsair H100x Hydro 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)
Wireless/Wired Networking
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Genuine 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® Office® 365 (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
BullGuard™ Internet Security - Free 90 Day License inc. Gamer Mode
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 5 to 7 working days
Price: £1,693.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-pc/Ydn5EfYTGh/

You could stick with the 2700x but there's no real benefit to be honest. Couple that with the fact that there are new chips around the corner that will be compatible with the motherboard and you have the option to upgrade in a year or so using the saved cash now.

 

[Mustafo95]

You get next to no benefit in games with an SSD other than the level loading - games don't load content dynamically, so by all means put your most commonly played ones on the SSD but don't expect a boost to how they play, just faster loading between levels.

SSD's do not work at the speed of electrons. There is a delay whilst the controller decides which cells to write to or read from. There is a delay when the cell is actually accessed. The SATA bus is limited to 6GB/s transfer speeds. Whilst it's true that they can be an order of magnitude faster than HDD's they're not as fast as light.

Yeah you're about games loading stuff to RAM and VRAM most of the time. I forgot what I was talking about. SSDs for sure dramatically improve load times, so at least that part is accurate.

Again my lack of electronic circuits knowledge is showing. I know SSDs work at micro-second levels and HDDs with milli-seconds, there is definitely at least 10,000 times the difference in access speeds. I don't know how that translates to speed of light etc, but it's hell of a lot faster.

 

[Tony1044]

Oh I'm not disagreeing they're faster - as you rightly said, a HDD has to spin a disk and the heads have to track to the right location prior to accessing the data and that takes a number of milliseconds.

I'd imagine that the time it takes to alter the magnetic properties of the specific part of a disc platter vs the time it takes to write to an SSD cell aren't much different - it's just the time it takes to get to that data where SSD's win out.

Interestingly I was reading recently about how Seagate now manufacturers HDD's with a read head and a write head as a separate entity.

That was one of those moments where you think "such a simple idea...surprised no one else thought of that before".

Found their blog post: https://blog.seagate.com/enterprises/multi-actuator-technology-a-new-performance-breakthrough/

Faster, probably, than other HDD's but still not going to touch an SSD.

 

[udinabi]

This is a more fitting system for not a lot more cash....

Case
FRACTAL DEFINE S BLACK GAMING CASE (Window)
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 2600X Six Core CPU (3.6GHz-4.25GHz/19MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
Gigabyte X470 AORUS Ultra Gaming: ATX, USB 3.1, SATA 6GBs - RGB Ready
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 2933MHz ~ (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 2080 - HDMI, 3x DP GeForce - RTX VR Ready!
1st Storage Drive
3TB SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 64MB CACHE
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB WD Black™ SN750 M.2 NVMe SSD (up to 3470MB/s R | 2600MB/s W)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
NOT REQUIRED
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
Corsair H100x Hydro 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)
Wireless/Wired Networking
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Genuine 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® Office® 365 (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
BullGuard™ Internet Security - Free 90 Day License inc. Gamer Mode
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 5 to 7 working days
Price: £1,693.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-pc/Ydn5EfYTGh/

You could stick with the 2700x but there's no real benefit to be honest. Couple that with the fact that there are new chips around the corner that will be compatible with the motherboard and you have the option to upgrade in a year or so using the saved cash now.

Cheers, that looks like a very decent build.

Does anyone have any thoughts on a suitable monitor? I know a decent monitor is going to put me over my budget but it's something i'd be able to pick up within a couple of months. Not looking to spend to much though (between £2-400).

 

[Oussebon]

The spec above by The_Scotster looks very solid

If ~£400 is an option, then the Dell S2716DG is worth looking at. It's 1440p 144hz, with gsync, and is more or less the least expensive monitor going to sport those specs. And it's a pretty decent quality monitor by all accounts.

I know the 2080 is because VR, but monitor-wise a 2080 paired with anything less would be a bit of a waste

Also, did you consider just upgrading the GPU in your current system?

 

[udinabi]

The spec above by The_Scotster looks very solid

If ~£400 is an option, then the Dell S2716DG is worth looking at. It's 1440p 144hz, with gsync, and is more or less the least expensive monitor going to sport those specs. And it's a pretty decent quality monitor by all accounts.

I know the 2080 is because VR, but monitor-wise a 2080 paired with anything less would be a bit of a waste

Also, did you consider just upgrading the GPU in your current system?

My current Motherboard and CPU are as follows, no idea if the 2080 is compatiable?

Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Processor i7-4790 (3.6GHz) 8MB Cache
ASUS® Z97-P: ATX, LG1150, USB 3.0, SATA 6GBs

 

[Oussebon]

That's more than fine for the GPU. As long as your case and PSU are fine you could just upgrade the GPU.

That CPU will still be around about an R5 in gaming performance anyway, a lot of the time. If you think a CPU upgrade would benefit you, perhaps it would make sense to:

1) Just buy the GPU. Upgrade that. See the results before buying anything else

2) If you are having CPU-related performance issues after your GPU upgrade, wait for AMD's Zen 2 CPUs to be out in a few months.

 

[udinabi]

That's more than fine for the GPU. As long as your case and PSU are fine you could just upgrade the GPU.

That CPU will still be around about an R5 in gaming performance anyway, a lot of the time. If you think a CPU upgrade would benefit you, perhaps it would make sense to:

1) Just buy the GPU. Upgrade that. See the results before buying anything else

2) If you are having CPU-related performance issues after your GPU upgrade, wait for AMD's Zen 2 CPUs to be out in a few months.

doesn't sound like a bad idea tbh, can save a lot of money that way. Again though, no idea if my case or psu are suitable, my exact specs for my current pc are as follows (got it from here). I'm not adverse to upgrading parts but i want to ensure everything is compatiable. If i'm going to go down the router of upgrading I definitely feel i need more RAM as that's something that is definitely causing some issues atm.

All your continued advice is awesome

COOLERMASTER CM690 III ADVANCED CASE (GREEN)
Processor (CPU)	Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Processor i7-4790 (3.6GHz) 8MB Cache
Motherboard	ASUS® Z97-P: ATX, LG1150, USB 3.0, SATA 6GBs
Memory (RAM)	8GB KINGSTON HYPER-X FURY DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz (1 x 8GB)
Graphics Card	4GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 970 - 2 DVI, 1 HDMI, 1 DP - 3D Vision Ready
2nd Graphics Card	NONE
3rd Graphics Card	NONE
1st Storage Drive	120GB KINGSTON HYPERX SAVAGE SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 560MB/sR | 360MB/sW)
2nd Storage Drive	1TB 3.5" SATA-III 6GB/s HDD 7200RPM 32MB CACHE
3rd Storage Drive	NONE
4th Storage Drive	NONE
1st M.2 SSD Drive	NONE
1st PCI-E SSD Drive	NONE
RAID	NONE
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive	24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
2nd DVD/BLU-RAY Drive	NONE
External Hard Drive	NONE
Memory Card Reader	NONE
Power Supply	CORSAIR 550W VS SERIES™ VS-550 POWER SUPPLY
Power Cable	1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling	INTEL STANDARD CPU COOLER
Thermal Paste	STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING

 

[Oussebon]

PSU ought to be fine.

Case specs are here: http://www.coolermaster.com/case/mid-tower-cm690-series/cm693/
So the length depends on which cages are installed.

If you're buying a 2080, the manufacturer web pages for each model usually list the length. And you can just use a tape measure to measure whether you have the requisite length.

And of course if you have any PCIe cards other than the GPU, then you need to factor that in. Most GPUs only use 2 PCIe brackets at the back of the PC, but the coolers can be bulky and occupy the space of a 3rd. But that's a non-issue if your PC isn't stuffed with sound cards, wifi cards, etc.

My expectation is that you'll be fine if you already have a powerful GPU in there. But best to check.

 

[Mustafo95]

Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Processor i7-4790 (3.6GHz) 8MB Cache

8GB KINGSTON HYPER-X FURY DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz (1 x 8GB)

It's a minor thing but in general, it's definitely better to have your memory in a dual channel mode, so 2x4 is in theory better than 1x8 memory stick. The idea is that you basically double the available memory throughput. Again, it might not improve gaming performance per se, but it provides solid speed boost if you have to compile programs, render, encode videos etc. At minimum you'd get 10% improvement, however insignificant that may be.

P.S. Dual channel memory would use more elECtRiciTY compared to a single channel memory.... JK

 

[Oussebon]

It depends on what you're doing. Even video encoding can see much less than 10% gains (see handbrake and Premiere).
https://www.gamersnexus.net/guides/1349-ram-how-dual-channel-works-vs-single-channel/Page-3
Probably depends a bit on specific workloads too, not just the software.

And on the other hand of course while most games see little difference, some games can see a bit more.

The real question is whether it's worth spending more cash to upgrade RAM on a system that you might soon replace with a Zen 2 (or whatever) based one. Probably better to leave the RAM as it is for now, upgrade the GPU, and then review all options.

 

[udinabi]

I don't have any PCIe cards or anything installed (i used a wired connection). 2080 will fit fine as my case will take up to 16.6". Reckon i'll go down that route which gives me plenty left in my budget to purchase a decent monitor. I'll stick with the RAM for now, can also pick up another 8gb stick at a later date.
Cheers for all the help guys