Pc Specialist Currys Vortex ST-S

[alexmcq]

Hi,

I am sure you have probably had similar questions before but i have seen this on Curry's

Gaming PCs - Cheap gaming PC deals | Currys

Experience stunning graphics and lightning fast gameplay with a gaming PC from Currys. Check out the latest gaming heavyweights from Alienware and Acer today.

www.currys.co.uk

I thought it looked a bit too good to be true, i thought i would try and price it up on the pc specialist website itself and there is quite a price difference. Is there anything here I should be wary of? The reason i went to curry's is that i get a further 8% off through work.

I was planning on also buying a 4k monitor, seen a few 28 in models from samsung, LG and Benq around the £200 mark in black friday sales.

Basically i want to play Cyberpunk 2077 on as high spec as possible and have a PC that i will be able to upgrade and maintain for a good number of years. Also might want to dabble in VR (star citizen, maybe if its ever finished)

My current PC was 10 years old (i say that but GFX card and Ram have been replaced twice, installed SSD) but its got to the point where the motherboard, processor and GFX card (again) need replaced so feel its time for a fresh start.

Thanks in advance

 

[Bigfoot]

Going for an Intel build will limit your ability to upgrade in the future, as the CPU is basically a refresh of an old design. A new motherboard may well be required if you want to change the CPU in the future. The RAM and disks are slow compared to what you could get via the configuration, although you could always change these late. There s no detail of the PSU, which could also limit you in the future. The forum experts normally over spec this to allow room for upgrades in the future. In the end it depends how much you value this against the difference in price. It may be cheaper, but may need replacing sooner, so the lifecycle cost might end up being more.

 

[alexmcq]

Going for an Intel build will limit your ability to upgrade in the future, as the CPU is basically a refresh of an old design. A new motherboard may well be required if you want to change the CPU in the future. The RAM and disks are slow compared to what you could get via the configuration, although you could always change these late. There s no detail of the PSU, which could also limit you in the future. The forum experts normally over spec this to allow room for upgrades in the future. In the end it depends how much you value this against the difference in price. It may be cheaper, but may need replacing sooner, so the lifecycle cost might end up being more.

I actually contacted currys to ask what the motherboard was as it wasn't detailed in the specs. They said they couldn't tell me as its determined by PC specialist which i thought was weird.

 

[Mtgscouser]

I actually contacted currys to ask what the motherboard was as it wasn't detailed in the specs. They said they couldn't tell me as its determined by PC specialist which i thought was weird.

Just ordered one of these through my wife's work, she's with the NHS so its tax free. Not sure what the components are but interested to know 🤔

 

[alexmcq]

It's impossible to do a direct comparison compared to the configurator on PCS itself as Currys etc don't list all the components. However, those systems will generally have some higher level components (GPU, CPU whatnot) and pair them with budget options (case, motherboard, PSU)

Having just said that, I have just specced up what I would guess are the underlying components (PSU, motherboard etc) and I put it at just over £1400....so about £150 cheaper.

Personally, I wouldn't go near an Intel system these days..they are just not long-term worth the price. If you give us a maximum budget, we can run up something for you

I had been working to a budget of £1500. The reason the Currys one jumped out was it would leave me enough to buy a 4k monitor.

I think based on the above a better option would be a system with a Ryzen 5600x instead of the Intel i7.

I would like to drop the gfx below the rtx 3070.

I think I managed to price that around bang on £1500. If you guys have better advice though I'm very open to it.

 

[ubuysa]

My opinion (because I have no facts) is that high street retailers want systems built down to a price, but with one or two key components that they can headline.

Clearly Currys don't pay the same retail price that we do, which is why its cheaper than PCS sell the same build.

The problem for me is that like all high street builds, these Currys builds are a compromuse to hit the required price point.

Personally if I'm spending over £1000 on a PC I want it to be balanced and with the all the components the best I can get within my budget.

 

[alexmcq]

You won't get lower than the 3070 and still manage 4k graphics

This is what I'd have been looking at given your use, likely screen and budget:

Case
FRACTAL FOCUS G BLACK GAMING CASE (Window)
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 5600X Six Core CPU (3.7GHz-4.6GHz/35MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF X570-PLUS GAMING (USB 3.2 Gen 2, PCIe 4.0, CrossFireX) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3070 - HDMI, DP
1st Storage Drive
1TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 64MB CACHE
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (2000 MB/R, 1100 MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 850W RM SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
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
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)
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
Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence
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 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 13 to 15 working days
Price: £1,524.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/7AQK3QyDMj/

Looks good, will add it to my list of options. Shopping around, also looking at box and dell. I really like pc specialist site though. Love the config options. Ironically only discovered the brand via Currys

 

[Bigfoot]

I have also had 2 PCS builds: a desktop for me and a laptop for my wife. My brother in law independently bought a PCS desktop. I will soon be buying a new desktop from PCS, once the rush on the new CPUs and GPUs has died down a bit. I will be following the advice of the experts on this forum to make sure I get a well balanced solution for my needs.

 

[Ojl8867]

So I've been looking through pre built PCs being offered as black friday deals, mainly just looking at systems carrying 30 series cards at reasonable looking prices,due to the massive shortages and price gouging on new gpus.

Gaming PCs - Cheap gaming PC deals | Currys

Experience stunning graphics and lightning fast gameplay with a gaming PC from Currys. Check out the latest gaming heavyweights from Alienware and Acer today.

www.currys.co.uk

I came across this on Curry's website, there's a few others with 3070s inside at lower prices but with obvious poor quality parts that negate any kind of decent deal. This though at least the parts they actually tell you seem not too bad, good cpu even if ryzen is better. Since its PCspecialist built I figured the parts they don't detail in the description can't be that terrible. I tried to build a similar system on here with the parts I could deduce from the curry's page and the cheapest options otherwise and it still ended up in 1400-1500 ballpark.

Does anyone have any insight into the true specifications of this, specifically the motherboard?

 

[SpyderTracks]

So I've been looking through pre built PCs being offered as black friday deals, mainly just looking at systems carrying 30 series cards at reasonable looking prices,due to the massive shortages and price gouging on new gpus.

Gaming PCs - Cheap gaming PC deals | Currys

Experience stunning graphics and lightning fast gameplay with a gaming PC from Currys. Check out the latest gaming heavyweights from Alienware and Acer today.

www.currys.co.uk

I came across this on Curry's website, there's a few others with 3070s inside at lower prices but with obvious poor quality parts that negate any kind of decent deal. This though at least the parts they actually tell you seem not too bad, good cpu even if ryzen is better. Since its PCspecialist built I figured the parts they don't detail in the description can't be that terrible. I tried to build a similar system on here with the parts I could deduce from the curry's page and the cheapest options otherwise and it still ended up in 1400-1500 ballpark.

Does anyone have any insight into the true specifications of this, specifically the motherboard?

Would strongly recommend the same build above, just far superior quality and upgradeability.

 

[Mtgscouser]

Just received my vortex from pc World. Nice clean build.
Case corsair carbide 175R RGB
I7-10700
Zotac gaming RTX 3070
Corsair cm4x 16gb x2 8gb at 2400mhz
Asus B460-plus
Corsair CV 550w
2tb seagate barracuda
500gb ssd. Says pc specialist on it not sure if its their own ?

 

[Mtgscouser]

Sorry board is a B460-PLUS, even better

 

[alexmcq]

Sorry board is a B460-PLUS, even better

Is that pretty much the exact spec nursemorph posted

 

[Mtgscouser]

Is that pretty much the exact spec nursemorph posted

Yep seems that way m8.

 

[alexmcq]

FYI - what i went for in the end. The 1st one nurse posted but upped to a 1TB ssd
Case
FRACTAL FOCUS G BLACK GAMING CASE (Window)
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 5600X Six Core CPU (3.7GHz-4.6GHz/35MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF X570-PLUS GAMING (USB 3.2 Gen 2, PCIe 4.0, CrossFireX) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3070 - HDMI, DP
1st Storage Drive
1TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 64MB CACHE
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (2000 MB/R, 1100 MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 850W RM SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
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
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)
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
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 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Google Chrome™
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 13 to 15 working days
Promotional Item
Get 1-Year Founders Membership to GeForce Now w/ select RTX Cards
Welcome Book
PCSpecialist Welcome Book - United Kingdom & Republic of Ireland
Logo Branding
PCSpecialist Logo
Price: £0.00 including VAT and Delivery

 

[Ansuzgardaraivo]

I came across this PC too, still don't quite get it how's that possible especially that SAME build with RTX 2800 Ti instead of RTX 3070 is £950 more which makes no sense at all.
Another thing is that when I'm looking up the build posted by Nursemoph on PCS I can see this "pre-order only" bit next to RTX 3070. Is it not available yet? If so, do we know when it will be and why it seems to be available on Curry's?

 

[Mtgscouser]

I came across this PC too, still don't quite get it how's that possible especially that SAME build with RTX 2800 Ti instead of RTX 3070 is £950 more which makes no sense at all.
Another thing is that when I'm looking up the build posted by Nursemoph on PCS I can see this "pre-order only" bit next to RTX 3070. Is it not available yet? If so, do we know when it will be and why it seems to be available on Curry's?

Not sure m8 maybe they just shipped a load to curry's for sale.

 

[Ansuzgardaraivo]

As to the cost difference between that one and the 2080Ti, that is the price difference between the 2 cards...the 2080Ti was an immensely powerful GPU when it was released so was priced accordingly. The new 3000 series card then came along offering more performance for less money

I'm pretty sure I saw some GPU rankings where 3070 was right behind 2080Ti if not ahead of it with very similar score so I was convinced that one could even consider 3070 an upgrade... Is there something I am missing here?

 

[SpyderTracks]

I'm pretty sure I saw some GPU rankings where 3070 was right behind 2080Ti if not ahead of it with very similar score so I was convinced that one could even consider 3070 an upgrade... Is there something I am missing here?

The 3070 is around the same as a 2080ti, but each generation the power increases. The cost is based on tier, plus the 2000 series were a 1st gen product at a hardware level with tensor cores and RT cores so were very expensive to produce.

2080ti is top tier

3070 is mid tier

 

[Mtgscouser]

I'm pretty sure I saw some GPU rankings where 3070 was right behind 2080Ti if not ahead of it with very similar score so I was convinced that one could even consider 3070 an upgrade... Is there something I am missing here?

Yeah 3070 is meant to replace 2070 but turns out faster or on par with 2080 lol. 3080 and 3090 are a even better.