New gaming rig - 1440p, £2,500 budget, FPS/RTS/MMO

[Zim]

Looking to secure a fairly top-end build to play most games at the highest settings at a fairly competitive level. £2,000-£2,500

Nice to haves would be a quiet, cool (temp), cool (look) set-up. Case wise, I like the simplicity of my selection, but thoughts on the practicality/footprint/cooling would be helpful. It will be a floor-based tower, but I would rather avoid buying an aircraft hanger unnecessarily if possible...

Also, guidance on how the LED light selection works - if i add, do PCS just put it in how they think looks best?

Monitor advice appreciated, as this is something I will look to upgrade asap once I move shortly. Currently not running a good gaming set (x2 Dell U2720Q which top at 60Hz) as current set-up was a WFH work set-up. Probs wouldnt want to go much above £500-600 or so.

Case
CORSAIR 5000D AIRFLOW TEMPERED GLASS GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i7 12-Core Processor i7-12700 (2.1GHz) 25MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING Z690-PLUS WIFI D4 (LGA1700, USB 3.2, PCIe 5.0) - ARGB Ready
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3070 Ti - HDMI, DP, LHR
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SAMSUNG 980 PRO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 6900MB/R, 5000MB/W)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
2TB INTEL® 670p M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 3500MB/sR | 2700MB/sW)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 850W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
Corsair iCUE H115i RGB PRO XT 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)
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 [KUK-00003]
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
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 11 to 13 working days
Price: £2,355.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-z690-pc/ScUQfDGSmF/

 

[sck451]

Looks an awesome build. The only change I'd suggest would be to go to the 12700K (or the KF to save a few quid at the cost of the option of ever using integrated graphics). Everything else in the setup (case, motherboard, cooling, power supply) is already ready to do that.

For monitors, I'd suggest the upper end of 1440p. I did a run-down thread of these the other day:

1440p monitor update

Hardware Unboxed recently released a "best 1440p gaming monitors" update video. They're a great summary, so here's what they say with some UK links, along with some of their reviews of individual displays. All prices current at the time of writing (17 February). Mid-range medium refresh This...

www.pcspecialist.co.uk

I'd suggest the MSI MAG274QRF-QD or the Acer Predator XB273U GX (since you may find 240Hz helpful for competitive gaming). I'd prefer the MSI myself.

 

[Zim]

Looks an awesome build. The only change I'd suggest would be to go to the 12700K (or the KF to save a few quid at the cost of the option of ever using integrated graphics). Everything else in the setup (case, motherboard, cooling, power supply) is already ready to do that.

For monitors, I'd suggest the upper end of 1440p. I did a run-down thread of these the other day:

1440p monitor update

Hardware Unboxed recently released a "best 1440p gaming monitors" update video. They're a great summary, so here's what they say with some UK links, along with some of their reviews of individual displays. All prices current at the time of writing (17 February). Mid-range medium refresh This...

www.pcspecialist.co.uk

I'd suggest the MSI MAG274QRF-QD or the Acer Predator XB273U GX (since you may find 240Hz helpful for competitive gaming). I'd prefer the MSI myself.

Thanks, good to know im at least on the right track! Will take a look at the 12700k.

I imagine the 240Hz is likely overkill vs the 165Hz for my level (much as it pains me to admit) so agree that MSI looks like a nice option. I'm a fan of the aesthetic too which is always a plus.

 

[Salmon Fisher]

I might be tempted to up the psu to 1000watts for the headroom but apart from that it looks pretty sweet.