Please advise me on my build

[Rubyjuno]

PCSPECIALIST.CO.UK SPECIFICATION

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Case
FRACTAL FOCUS G BLACK GAMING CASE (Window)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i5 14-Core Processor i5-13600K (3.5GHz) 24MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING Z690-PLUS WIFI D4 (LGA1700, USB 3.2, PCIe 5.0) - ARGB Ready
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3060 Ti - HDMI, DP, LHR
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SAMSUNG 970 EVO PLUS M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3500MB/R, 3200MB/W)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SAMSUNG 970 EVO PLUS M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3500MB/R, 3200MB/W)
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 750W TXm SERIES™ SEMI-MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
PCS FrostFlow 200 Series High Performance CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
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 10 Professional 64 Bit - inc Single License
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
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 8 to 10 working days
Price: £1,813.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-z690-pc/F3EQmSGHEa/

Hello all, although I've been building PCs for many years (my first PC was over 30 years ago and had a 40MHz CPU, 4Mb RAM, a 105Mb HD and a 1Mb GPU!), I haven't done one for several years so I've lost touch with recent technology.

1. My budget is up to £2000 max.
2. You may laugh, but I mostly play older games (Panzer Corps, AoE2 DE, C&C remastered) but I do occasionally play a "more modern" FPS such as Battlefield 1, Metro 2033 Redux. I want to keep my options open for future games (although my best years on FPS games are behind me), hence the higher spec than required. I do a lot of other stuff on my PC, but nothing demanding. I also want to keep the PC I get for many years.
3. My monitor is an Iiyama ProLite XUB2390HS, 1080p @ 60Hz and I'm very happy with it, but it's possible I may upgrade at a future date, although I find 1080p to be fine.

Note that I require an internal CD/DVD drive, and this limits the case to the one I've chosen. in turn, the case limits the CPU cooler, and this is one thing I would like advice on as the experts in this forum tend to advise against the PCS FrostFlow coolers. Finally, I do wish to use Windows 10, although I may take the next step when support ends. Any comments/suggestions on my build would be very welcome. Thank you.

 

[Steveyg]

Couple things mate first off the monitor is only fine because you haven't used a better monitor. Trust me it's not fine and upgrading the monitor to a 1440p 144hz IPS will GREATLY improve your experience

Secondly get an external disk drive, no need for internal drives and most cases simply don't support them anymore the same way they don't support floppy disk drives. I'll throw something together here hopefully get you the most bang for your buck and leave enough to get a proper monitor

 

[Steveyg]

This is where I'd go, almost leaves around £250 which should be enough to get a good monitor to suit

Case
LIAN LI LANCOOL 215 GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i5 14-Core Processor i5-13600K (3.5GHz) 24MB 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
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3060 Ti - HDMI, DP, LHR
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB SOLIDIGM P41+ GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 3500MB/sR, 1625MB/sW)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SOLIDIGM P41+ GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 4125MB/sR, 2950MB/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, 1.0mm Core)
Processor Cooling
Corsair iCUE H100i ELITE CAPELLIX RGB 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 10 Professional 64 Bit - inc Single License
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
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 8 to 10 working days
Price: £1,776.00 including VAT and Delivery

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

 

[Rubyjuno]

This is where I'd go, almost leaves around £250 which should be enough to get a good monitor to suit

Case
LIAN LI LANCOOL 215 GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i5 14-Core Processor i5-13600K (3.5GHz) 24MB 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
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3060 Ti - HDMI, DP, LHR
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB SOLIDIGM P41+ GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 3500MB/sR, 1625MB/sW)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SOLIDIGM P41+ GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 4125MB/sR, 2950MB/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, 1.0mm Core)
Processor Cooling
Corsair iCUE H100i ELITE CAPELLIX RGB 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 10 Professional 64 Bit - inc Single License
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
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 8 to 10 working days
Price: £1,776.00 including VAT and Delivery

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

Thanks for your answer, but as I said in my original post I need an internal DVD/CD drive, and that case doesn't support it.

 

[sck451]

Thanks for your answer, but as I said in my original post I need an internal DVD/CD drive, and that case doesn't support it.

There are essentially no good cases with internal drive bays. It's essentially impossible to make one because you end up putting a drive bay precisely where you want air to come into the case to cool the components. I'd strongly suggest that an external drive, connected by USB, will be a superior solution; it won't be any difference in the performance of the drive.

 

[SpyderTracks]

Thanks for your answer, but as I said in my original post I need an internal DVD/CD drive, and that case doesn't support it.

Is there any particular reason you specifically want an internal drive?

I would agree with @sck451 it's not worth sacrificing one of the most important aspects of the build to house legacy hardware.

 

[Rubyjuno]

Thanks for the replies. I understand the comments, but I've tried external drives and had nothing but trouble with them, and it's much more convenient having everything in on case. Would heat be such an issue with this build? Also, I'd really appreciate it if someone could tell me what the problem is with PCS FrostFlow CPU coolers, as everyone seems to be against them.

 

[SpyderTracks]

Also, I'd really appreciate it if someone could tell me what the problem is with PCS FrostFlow CPU coolers, as everyone seems to be against them.

The 13600k TDP is too high for a frostflow, the pump wouldn't be sufficient to move the amount of liquid as was required.

Would heat be such an issue with this build?

Absolutely. 13th Gen pump out extraordinary amounts of heat and need absolutely premium cooling

but I've tried external drives and had nothing but trouble with them,

This likely would have required troubleshooting or was an early external drive, I guarantee that's just not how things work these days.

 

[Rubyjuno]

Many thanks for your help.