Opinions on this build?

[Wolfsbane1000]

Case
FRACTAL NORTH TG GAMING CASE (WHITE)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i5 14-Core Processor i5-13600 (Up to 5.0GHz) 24MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® PRIME B760-PLUS D4 (LGA1700, DDR4, PCIe 5.0)
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 4060 - HDMI, DP, LHR
1st M.2 SSD Drive
2TB SOLIDIGM P41+ GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 4125MB/sR, 3325MB/sW)
External DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
8x Slim USB 2.0 External DVD-RW
Power Supply
CORSAIR 750W RMe SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
PCS FrostFlow 100 V3 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
ONBOARD 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
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 5 to 7 working days
Price: £1,341.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-z690-pc/2HH9gY6DKg/

Monitor is a HP x2301, 1920 x 1080p resolution, 60hz

I'm not very experienced when it comes to pc's but I'm looking to get a mid tier pc as my old one is ancient & on it's way out. I play games but nothing too fancy, something like Euro Truck simulator at 1080p playing smoothly on high would be good enough for me. I play games like project zomboid which stutters on my current pc when lots of zombies are on screen so again, playing that smoothly would be nice. Watching youtube videos, occasional work on an office document.

Budget wise £1,200 to £1,300 would be good, I'm going a bit over as I really like the Fractal design North case it's a shame btw PCS doesn't have the black version

I do tend to keep anything I own for a long time so main things for me are reliability, being quiet, not stressing parts out & energy efficiency.

I was wondering what the opinions are on this build? I've just been going on the prices of components in the spec options & what I've been reading up on as to what I can fit in my budget.

I based this on the Atlas Elite pre built as a base & hopefully parts I chose don't have a waiting time.

CPU I was wondering if the i7 12700k is the better choice as it's around the same price as this i5 13600 but I'm not sure what the differences are between them? Benchmarks seem to be roughly the same?

GPU was a 3050 in the original machine spec & the bottleneck calculator said that was a good match with the cpu performance. The upgrade to 4060 is around £100 which seems like decent value but Is the 4060 actually going to be an upgrade or is the rest of the system going to throttle it? Is the upgrade to a 4060 overkill for the kind of gaming I do?

Cooling wise do the two 140mm fans included on the front of the case plus the Frostflow 100 v3 seem sufficient? Would I need an extra case fan as an exhaust?
Would liquid cooling be a good idea instead of the air cooler?

Thanks for reading, hopefully this isn't too long.

 

[SpyderTracks]

This is assuming you can carry across your existing windows license (if it's windows 10 or 11), and has the black version of the case which must have been out of stock when you put yours through.

It's on an AMD platform which is substantially more efficient both thermally and with regards to power useage. Also has the benefit of future CPU generational upgrades so I think realistically with the usual GPU updates (and factoring in a CPU upgrade many years down the line if required), you'd be looking 10 years upwards for this system

Case
FRACTAL NORTH TG GAMING CASE (BLACK)
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 7 7700 Eight Core CPU (3.8GHz-5.3GHz/40MB CACHE/AM5)
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING B650-PLUS WIFI (AM5, DDR5, PCIe 4.0, Wi-Fi 6)
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR5 6000MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
8GB AMD RADEON™ RX 6650 XT - HDMI, DP - DX® 12 (roughly on par with the 4060)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB SOLIDIGM P44 PRO GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 7000MB/sR, 4700MB/sW)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB CORSAIR CORE XT MP600 NVMe PCIe M.2 SSD (up to 5000 MB/R, 3500 MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 750W RMe SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
PCS FrostFlow 150 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
ONBOARD 2.5Gbe 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
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 5 to 7 working days
Price: £1,340.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am5-pc/VQZdBWj5yX/

 

[Wolfsbane1000]

Thanks that's great news on the case being available in black, PCS must've heard me hehe

Unfortunately my existing pc is running Windows 7 so I can't carry the license over.

Windows 11 is £119 to add in so I might have to have a tinker & see if I can lower something to fit.

Thanks for the info regarding the AMD platforms being better on heat & energy use.

I'm not sure for the type of gaming I do if a 4060 was needed, price wise it was equivalent or cheaper than a 3060 or 3070 so seemed to make sense in my head as an upgrade to the 3050 in the original spec that I modified.

 

[SpyderTracks]

Thanks that's great news on the case being available in black, PCS must've heard me hehe

Unfortunately my existing pc is running Windows 7 so I can't carry the license over.

Windows 11 is £119 to add in so I might have to have a tinker & see if I can lower something to fit.

Thanks for the info regarding the AMD platforms being better on heat & energy use.

I'm not sure for the type of gaming I do if a 4060 was needed, price wise it was equivalent or cheaper than a 3060 or 3070 so seemed to make sense in my head as an upgrade to the 3050 in the original spec that I modified.

Have PMd you

Newer gen cards are still at the same resolutions, so 4060 is basically a 3060 which is basically a 2060, they’re all 1080p cards. It’s just newer cards have newer technologies.

Your current monitor will bottleneck any card, it’s worth getting a proper gaming monitor. You can pick up a budget 1080p one for say £130

 

[Wolfsbane1000]

Thanks, I'll look into that too while I'm at it.

Yeah it's difficult without having the knowledge of this stuff, it's probably the newbie mistake of higher number = better.

It confuses me all the options for example I had a look at the Ryzen 7700 in the configurator & the next option the 7700x is higher performance numbers but £19 cheaper so it's a lot to take in & I guess the 7700x will have different specs in power use & heat generated so it might be casung problems in another way that someone in the know will understand.

My main motivator is Steam is finishing it's support for windows 7 at the end of the month so I won't be able to play the games I have on there any more on my old PC (It's an ancient HP that can't be upgraded).

It's going to be an expensive decision to pull the trigger on, so far I'm thinking new desk & chair to put it all on, now a new monitor in the mix & the new pc itself.

Thanks again for your help & I'll give it a think over.

 

[SpyderTracks]

Thanks, I'll look into that too while I'm at it.

Yeah it's difficult without having the knowledge of this stuff, it's probably the newbie mistake of higher number = better.

It confuses me all the options for example I had a look at the Ryzen 7700 in the configurator & the next option the 7700x is higher performance numbers but £19 cheaper so it's a lot to take in & I guess the 7700x will have different specs in power use & heat generated so it might be casung problems in another way that someone in the know will understand.

My main motivator is Steam is finishing it's support for windows 7 at the end of the month so I won't be able to play the games I have on there any more on my old PC (It's an ancient HP that can't be upgraded).

It's going to be an expensive decision to pull the trigger on, so far I'm thinking new desk & chair to put it all on, now a new monitor in the mix & the new pc itself.

Thanks again for your help & I'll give it a think over.

Don't get wound up by numbers, you need to understand what they refer to. The 7700 replaced the 7700x which came about 4 months before it. The non x versions are further optimised chips that run significantly more efficiently, but they're exactly the same CPU, if you want you can just set a PBO overclock on the 7700 in the BIOS and it is exactly the same as the 7700x but still uses less power.