PC for mid 1080p gaming

[IceWeasel]

I would very much appreciate any check/feedback of the following specs. The aim is to support some 1080p gaming, plus everyday dual-screen usage. I will sometimes be running single-threaded code for work. I don't care about speed here, but I may be running for extended periods of time (overnight, or for a few days, perhaps) and would want to be sure there is no issue with CPU cooling. I suspect this shouldn't be an issue, even with default cooling.

Thanks for your help!


Monitors:
2x 1080p @ 60Hz (HUAWEI AD80HW)

Budget:
Aiming for around 1000 CHF (approx £820). The build below is slightly on the high end of my budget. If there are obvious places to trim that would be excellent to know.


Full specs:

Case
FRACTAL FOCUS G BLACK GAMING CASE (Window)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i5 10-Core Processor i5-12600KF (3.7GHz) 20MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® PRIME B660-PLUS D4 (DDR4, USB 3.2, 6Gb/s) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3600MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
4GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1650 - HDMI
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB INTEL® 670p M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 3500MB/sR | 2500MB/sW)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W RM SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre Swiss Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
PCS FrostFlow 120 Series RGB High Performance Liquid 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 Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
3 DAY DELIVERY TO SWITZERLAND
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 4 to 7 working days
Price: CHF 1'095.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-z690-pc/3s5HRt9C2D/

 

[JUNI0R]

I would very much appreciate any check/feedback of the following specs. The aim is to support some 1080p gaming, plus everyday dual-screen usage. I will sometimes be running single-threaded code for work. I don't care about speed here, but I may be running for extended periods of time (overnight, or for a few days, perhaps) and would want to be sure there is no issue with CPU cooling. I suspect this shouldn't be an issue, even with default cooling.

Thanks for your help!


Monitors:
2x 1080p @ 60Hz (HUAWEI AD80HW)

Budget:
Aiming for around 1000 CHF (approx £820). The build below is slightly on the high end of my budget. If there are obvious places to trim that would be excellent to know.


Full specs:

Case
FRACTAL FOCUS G BLACK GAMING CASE (Window)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i5 10-Core Processor i5-12600KF (3.7GHz) 20MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® PRIME B660-PLUS D4 (DDR4, USB 3.2, 6Gb/s) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3600MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
4GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1650 - HDMI
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB INTEL® 670p M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 3500MB/sR | 2500MB/sW)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W RM SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre Swiss Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
PCS FrostFlow 120 Series RGB High Performance Liquid 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 Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
3 DAY DELIVERY TO SWITZERLAND
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 4 to 7 working days
Price: CHF 1'095.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-z690-pc/3s5HRt9C2D/

Heya! Before we start- on the budget, just to make sure you're aware, once the PC arrives in Switzerland, It'll face swiss customs where you'll be charged Swiss sales tax as PCS isn't VAT registered in Switzerland, is this something you've factored in?

 

[IceWeasel]

Thanks! Yes, I saw the point about sales tax being charged upon delivery here. With the budget I said, I am okay additionally paying the tax. So please consider that budget to be my target for the listed price on the site here.

 

[Scott]

Purely for gaming I would dial back the CPU. Brings the budget in-line a bit better. If you wanted to spend some extra cash I would get a second drive. I left it as it's easily added at any time.

Case
LIAN LI LANCOOL 215 GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i5 Six Core Processor i5-12400F (2.5GHz) 18MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING B660-PLUS WIFI D4: ATX, LGA1700, USB 3.2, SATA 6GBs - ARGB Ready
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3600MHz (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)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 850W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre Swiss Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
AKASA AK-CC6606BP01 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
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
3 DAY DELIVERY TO SWITZERLAND
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 4 to 7 working days
Price: CHF 1'024.17 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-z690-pc/8PdCbthyAX/

 

[IceWeasel]

Thanks for your help! Makes perfect sense to tweak the CPU as you suggested.

I have a couple of questions on the spec you posted:
-- Does the difference in motherboard matter? Looks like it would be a bit cheaper to select the PRIME B660-PLUS + AX200 network card.
-- Could the power supply be safely downgraded? I had originally selected the 650W because it seemed to cover everything at ~50 CHF cheaper.

 

[sck451]

Thanks for your help! Makes perfect sense to tweak the CPU as you suggested.

I have a couple of questions on the spec you posted:
-- Does the difference in motherboard matter? Looks like it would be a bit cheaper to select the PRIME B660-PLUS + AX200 network card.
-- Could the power supply be safely downgraded? I had originally selected the 650W because it seemed to cover everything at ~50 CHF cheaper.

The Prime B660 is fine for the 12400, but for anything else I would not recommend it. (Overall, the case for B660 is quite weak: the cost savings are minimal compared to Z690, while the performance differences can be substantial.) The difference is around 50 CHF, I think? If you are sure you will never upgrade the PC, the Prime is OK. If you think you may upgrade in the future, I'd probably go for something stronger so you don't run into motherboard bottlenecks in the future.

The power is an interesting question. Again, if you will never upgrade, 650W is more than enough. But if you want to leave yourself with the possibility of a stronger graphics card in the future, you want more capacity. So yes, I would personally go for 750W as a bare minimum, and 850W by preference, even for a fairly budget build like a 12400F+1650.

 

[IceWeasel]

Thanks @sck451. It looks like Scott was also suggesting a B660 chipset, just the "TUF GAMING" version rather than the "PRIME" option I had originally selected. I don't really know the differences between the two except that one has Wifi support built in. Are you saying that it would be worthwhile to go beyond to the Z690? What is the origin of the performance difference between these motherboards?

Good point on the power supply. I would give it low odds that I'm looking to upgrade some time in the next few years, but future proofing this long-term component is not a bad idea.

 

[sck451]

Thanks @sck451. It looks like Scott was also suggesting a B660 chipset, just the "TUF GAMING" version rather than the "PRIME" option I had originally selected. I don't really know the differences between the two except that one has Wifi support built in. Are you saying that it would be worthwhile to go beyond to the Z690? What is the origin of the performance difference between these motherboards?

Good point on the power supply. I would give it low odds that I'm looking to upgrade some time in the next few years, but future proofing this long-term component is not a bad idea.

Absolutely: that's exactly the rationale I'd suggest for the PSU. (Ironically, I didn't follow that advice when buying my PC. I'm regretting it now as I think about upgrades!)

The Tuf B660 Plus is better than the Prime as it's the tier up in Asus's product lineup. The difference is almost entirely about power delivery. The motherboard has the job of adjusting and regulating the voltage that goes to the CPU. This is quite a significant task on some CPUs (the 12900K, for instance, can use well over 300W of power, which puts a lot of stress on the motherboard's power delivery (the VRMs, specifically). The VRMs and their cooling is one of the major differences between motherboards. The Prime board has fairly weak VRMs; the Tuf has somewhat better ones. The Z690s are generally better again, though this can be a bit hit-or-miss and Intel boards tend to be a bit all over the place.

If you can see yourself upgrading to, say, a 12700K or even a 13700K in a few years' time, the stronger board is worthwhile. Having the WiFi built in rather than as a PCIe card is also nice, purely for aesthetics. But for saving cost, if you can't imagine ever replacing the CPU? The Prime board will be fine for the 12400F.

 

[IceWeasel]

Thank you, this is very helpful. I'll give it a bit more thought and then probably put in an order with some of these suggested modifications. Cheers!