Rate My Spec: Min/maxing a living room 4K gaming rig

[Pom]

Hello PCS members,

This is my first post and my first considerations for owning a form factor PC.

My background is engineering and computer enthusiast. I have delved into as much research as if I was going to build it myself, and have been mulling over the design for a few days now. I have settled on this spec will sit on it for a month and see how I still feel before proceeding further.

The spec is intended for gaming on a large 4K display, but not willing to aim for the 60++ FPS when it comes to high-load games (such as Far Cry 5 and Deus Ex: Mankind Divided). Tentatively plan to overclock the CPU/RAM to get the most out of the configuration.

I am still debating if the extra case fan is really needed for adequate air-flow, or if the single (CPU) exhaust will be sufficient, given the two fans are pushing airflow in?
In addition, where exactly would the CPU cooler fan be positioned on the roof? Presumably, at the rear with the additional fan nearside, but are there additional services/requests to replace this with a double-fan CPU cooler, something which maintains high static pressure, if available?

Case
CORSAIR CRYSTAL SERIES 280X RGB GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 3600 Six Core CPU (3.6GHz-4.2GHz/36MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® ROG STRIX X570-I GAMING (DDR4, USB 3.2, Wi-Fi)
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
8GB AMD RADEON™ RX 5700 XT - HDMI, DP - DX® 12
1st Storage Drive
256GB PCS 2.5" SSD, SATA 6 Gb (500MB/R, 400MB/W)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SAMSUNG 970 EVO PLUS M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3500MB/R, 3200MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 750W TXm SERIES™ SEMI-MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
Corsair H60 2018 Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
Extra Case Fans
1x 120mm Black Case Fan (configured to extract from rear/roof)
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
GIGABIT LAN PORT + Wi-Fi (Wi-Fi excluded on H310I-PLUS)
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 4 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® Office® 365 (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 12 to 14 working days
Promotional Item
Get up to 3 Games with select AMD Radeon RX 5000 Series Graphics Cards

I would welcome any feedback, comments, and suggestions.

Thank you.
Pom

Edit:

Price: £1,513.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-sff-gaming/6DVjV7RKRr/

 

[SpyderTracks]

Hiya

If you can provide your max budget we can rejiggle it for you for 4k. Can you also supply the configuration link at the bottom of the spec?

It's not going to be the same if you're not ordering for a while, because prices and parts will have changed by then, so it would be necessary to respect.

But food for thought, the RX5700XT isn't powerful enough for 4k, you'd need a 2080 Super just to get 4k 60Hz (TV).

Ryzen doesn't overclock like Intel does, in fact overclocking Ryzen for gaming will actually reduce performance as it will clock all cores to the highest frequency of the WEAKEST core which would be well under what the boost clocks can achieve on the healthiest cores. So it's best not to overclock the CPU.

Similarly the GPU, things have changed massively these days, and there's very little benefit to overclocking, that's because they're binned so high and the auto overclocking is so accurate that it's very hard to do much better

On that case, you wouldn't need any extra case fans. But I wouldn't suggest that cooler, the H80i as a minimum on almost any CPU.

 

[Pom]

Thanks for the quick response, I have edited the post to include price and URL.

You are correct about the RX5700XT not being enough for 4K (but more like 1440p). I guess that was what I was thinking since I will be not standing right in front of the display in my reasoning. I read the 2080 Super does meet 4k 60Hz but thought I would be paying extra for ray-tracing and other features which I just don't use at this present time. I guess in a month or two, that could all change as well.

I would welcome the offered rejiggle. Budget is around £1500 but could stretch to £2000 or further if it makes sense in the long run.

 

[SpyderTracks]

Slightly rejiggled, I forgot it was a micro build, you actually had it fairly spot on:

Case
CORSAIR CRYSTAL SERIES 280X RGB GAMING CASE Amazing case!
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 3600 Six Core CPU (3.6GHz-4.2GHz/36MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® ROG STRIX X570-I GAMING (DDR4, USB 3.2, Wi-Fi)
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 2080 SUPER - HDMI, 3x DP GeForce - RTX VR Ready! 4k support
1st Storage Drive
2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 256MB CACHE Decent size data / game drive
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SAMSUNG 970 EVO PLUS M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3500MB/R, 3200MB/W)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
NOT REQUIRED
Power Supply
CORSAIR 750W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET Better PSU, semi passive, so much quieter as fan hardly on. Also supports any GPU upgrade in the future.
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
Corsair H60 2018 Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING Cooler comes pre applied with high quality paste
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
GIGABIT LAN PORT + Wi-Fi (Wi-Fi excluded on H310I-PLUS)
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 4 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® Office® 365 (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) Only 5er
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 12 to 14 working days
Price: £1,879.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-sff-gaming/ZBvErqYn2n/

 

[Scott]

Non-micro option..... works out a bit cheaper. Depends if you want the smaller footprint though

Case
CORSAIR 275R AIRFLOW TEMPERED GLASS GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 3600 Six Core CPU (3.6GHz-4.2GHz/36MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF X570-PLUS GAMING (USB 3.2 Gen 2, PCIe 4.0, CrossFireX) - RGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 2080 SUPER - HDMI, 3x DP GeForce - RTX VR Ready!
1st Storage Drive
2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 256MB CACHE
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SAMSUNG 970 EVO PLUS M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3500MB/R, 3200MB/W)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
NOT REQUIRED
Power Supply
CORSAIR 750W RMx 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)
Wireless/Wired Networking
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® Office® 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
TIMED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND - MON-FRI (BEFORE 2PM)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 12 to 14 working days
Price: £1,735.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/yttAU!G26z/

 

[Pom]

Hi Scott, Hi Spyder,

I think I will opt for Spyder's suggested edits. I appreciate the cheap option available but am quite taken by the case and mini style of it. I will exclude the HDD as suggested because I have a handful here already but I hope you can help to answer a few questions I had.

It was very interesting to hear your feedback w.r.t. OC. I see that you have OC for other AMD builds but I assume it is for newer CPUs. Regardless, and given that the bottle-neck of performance will be the GPU, I will likely opt for the 2080S as recommended and not tamper the CPU/GPU. Is there still merit in OC and tightening the RAM frequency or just stick to the 3200Hz as advatised?

In your first comment, you mentioned "H80i as a minimum on almost any CPU" but that option is not available in my configure - could you explain what disadvantages I might see ahead with the selected H60 2018 Hydro? From my configure URL, is my current choice the best for a gaming rig?

I decided on the selected CPU and MORO on paining the balance that work very well together in the phase and heat sink features. One thing that is not clear to me is what the PCIe 4 are available to: Is it supported for both the GPU and M2 modules, or only one or the other?

Noted that the prices and parts will have changed in a month or two but your help will assist me in making the right decision sooner than later.

Thanks in advance.
Pom

 

[SpyderTracks]

It was very interesting to hear your feedback w.r.t. OC. I see that you have OC for other AMD builds but I assume it is for newer CPUs. Regardless, and given that the bottle-neck of performance will be the GPU, I will likely opt for the 2080S as recommended and not tamper the CPU/GPU. Is there still merit in OC and tightening the RAM frequency or just stick to the 3200Hz as advatised?

Ryzen doesn't overclock the way intel does and it will actually reduce performance for gaming rather than improve it as it will lower single core boost speeds to the highest available for the weakest core. So best to avoid.

There's not going to be any need in overclocking the RAM either, nor the GPU, modern stuff is so well optimised, there's very little benefit to overclocking these days.

But overclocking would never be recommended in a Micro case anyway, the cooling just isn't capable.

In your first comment, you mentioned "H80i as a minimum on almost any CPU" but that option is not available in my configure - could you explain what disadvantages I might see ahead with the selected H60 2018 Hydro? From my configure URL, is my current choice the best for a gaming rig?

Ignore my comment about the H80i, I hadn't taken into account it was a micro build.

One thing that is not clear to me is what the PCIe 4 are available to: Is it supported for both the GPU and M2 modules, or only one or the other?

It's available for any PCIe device, M2, GPU, and PCIe cards.

If you're not ordering for a while, do get some advice closer to the time as lots will have changed by then.

 

[Pom]

Thank you. You have been very helpful.
Regards,
Pom