New PC

[jforrow]

Looking at upgrading my 5 year old desktop, currently an i5-7600, with a GTX950 gpu.

Two specs, one AMD and one Intel, any comments please? Looking at under a grand total, and will be used for general computing as well as gaming, train simulator, flight simulator etc.

Not looking for 4k visuals, monitor supports up to 1920x1080, and not looking at a new monitor, so no need for a big increase in gpu power.

Really after a matching spec, so processor, mobo and memory. Not certain which processor line is the best in today's market, so appreciate input.

Case
PCS 3601 CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 4500 Six Core CPU (3.6GHz-4.1GHz/11MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
GIGABYTE X570 GAMING X: ATX (USB 3.2 Gen 1, PCIe 4.0) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 2666MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
4GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1650 - HDMI
1st M.2 SSD Drive
256GB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (2000 MB/R, 1100 MB/W)
1st Storage Drive
2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 256MB CACHE

OR

Case
PCS 3601 CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i5 Six Core Processor i5-12600 (3.3GHz) 18MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® PRIME B660-PLUS D4 (DDR4, USB 3.2, 6Gb/s) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
16GB PCSpecialist PRO DDR4 2666MHz (1 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
4GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1650 - HDMI
1st M.2 SSD Drive
256GB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (2000 MB/R, 1100 MB/W)
1st Storage Drive
2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 256MB CACHE

 

[budgie]

Hi there, a few comments on your choices (others might set out full specs)

You should get a better case, the PCS ones aren't good for airflow to keep things running cool, the LIAN LI LANCOOL 215 GAMING CASE is commonly recommended for budget builds

You'd ideally want a 512GB primary drive to keep the OS on, you want it no more than half capacity to keep it running as efficiently as possible, the PCS one is much slower than the Intel one and only a couple of pounds cheaper but unfortunately the Intel one is out of stock at the moment, and Samsung 970 EVO is a fair bit more expensive which might push the budget too high

You'd ideally want faster RAM, 3200MHz minimum - you might be able to find RAM cheaper elsewhere and could order the PC with 1 stick of 4GB 2666MHz and install the other RAM yourself?

You could drop the Intel CPU to a i5-12400KF and save £50 for not much drop in performance

 

[budgie]

Also, what PSU and cooling options have you gone for? It's helpful for others if you list the full spec with the link at the bottom - see the pinned post on How to post your specification to the forums

 

[Aza]

Looking at the type of specs youre putting, wouldnt it be cheaper to buy one off the shelf?

The whole point of a custom build is that you invest in it, so it then lasts 10 years with just a couple of GPU changes along the way.
Its a longterm investment thats cheaper over the course of 10 years than buying a new setup every 3 years, but you are specing systems that would be considered throwaway builds, that you would need to replace or may significant changes to to allow upgrades later.

You're also sitting on 1080p, which is a dying resolution, a custom build would normally aim at 1440p as the current standard.

Have you looked at places like PCWorld/Currys etc to see what prebuilt options there are? I'd imagine you could save yourself some money given the price/spec level you are looking at, taking a mass produced machine often means they are cheaper.

 

[jforrow]

Thanks for the input so far. I have revised my original spec, to something similar to the recommendations. I appreciate I am stuck at 1440p at the moment, but I have a grand to build a new machine. Something that in the future I can change the GPU and buy a new monitor, and will be at 4k, so cpu. mobo etc are reasonably future proof.

I've been burnt in the past with off the shelf, lack of upgradeability etc, so not really interested in throwing my money in that direction.

So I've upgraded the case, but still need access to a DVD drive. Also, from the research I've done, the X570 mobo's offer better performance with the AMD processors. My second hard drive is dropped back to a standard drive. I've kept the RAM in at the moment, but will look in to the option of specifying a cheaper RAM for now, and buying faster elsewhere.

I'll look at transferring my old OS across, hopefully I can do that, then gain access to Windows 11.

Thanks

Case
FRACTAL FOCUS G BLACK GAMING CASE (Window)
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 5600 Six Core CPU (3.5GHz-4.4GHz/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 3200MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
4GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1650 - HDMI
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB INTEL® 670p M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 3000MB/sR, 1600MB/sW)
1st Storage Drive
2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 256MB CACHE
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
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
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
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
Microsoft® Edge
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 3 to 6 working days
Price: £993.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/6mcXn3gasn/

 

[Aza]

I wouldnt strongly recommend against the above build.

550w TXm PSU, not enough power, and also a pain in teh butt should you upgrade it later (which youll need to in order to upgrade gpu or anything else)
Storage configuration doesnt make sense as a gaming machine, and seems very restrictive for otyher uses
Dont get why a cdrom drive? Do you actually need one?
Case choice isnt the, the Lancool 215 is your best option as a budget case.


I genuinely think you would be better off buying off the shelf, trying to put a custom build together for £1K is a road to ruin.

 

[SpyderTracks]

I wouldnt strongly recommend against the above build.

550w TXm PSU, not enough power, and also a pain in teh butt should you upgrade it later (which youll need to in order to upgrade gpu or anything else)
Storage configuration doesnt make sense as a gaming machine, and seems very restrictive for otyher uses
Dont get why a cdrom drive? Do you actually need one?
Case choice isnt the, the Lancool 215 is your best option as a budget case.


I genuinely think you would be better off buying off the shelf, trying to put a custom build together for £1K is a road to ruin.

Or just build a solid platform with integrated graphics now and then buy a GPU later on.

But personally I wouldn't buy now, worst time to, new platform coming shortly along with new GPUs

 

[Aza]

So go the intel platform/cpu route and build a "bones only" kinda build?

Something along these lines maybe?
Case
LIAN LI LANCOOL 215 GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i5 10-Core Processor i5-12600K (3.7GHz) 20MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING B660-PLUS WIFI D4: ATX, LGA1700, USB 3.2, SATA 6GBs - ARGB Ready
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
INTEGRATED GRAPHICS ACCELERATOR (GPU)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB INTEL® 670p M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 3000MB/sR, 1600MB/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 H100i 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 [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
Microsoft® Edge
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 3 to 6 working days
Price: £1,068.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-z690-pc/jbjuQfANs2/

Or wait and save up a little more budget, and take advantage of the new releases around autumn time.

 

[SpyderTracks]

Just for information: The Focus G is an excellent case for airflow, even when running at minimum fan speeds....however, that and the stock AMD cooler gets noisy when pushed so, if noise is an issue, I'd advise against that combination (I know this from personal experience). I love the case but, if I was pushing the system more often than I do, I'd replace it with another case.

I would reiterate what others have said above: If you want something with the future in mind, then you need more budget, especially if you plan to get a 4k monitor and game at 4k as you will need an 850w minimum PSU for the graphics card required. 550w will just about cover 1440p gaming (again, from personal experience).

And again, this is only the case for current gen GPUs, next gen will use up to 800w just for the GPU alone. 1200w is widely recommended as a baseline for future proofing now.