Review of this spec + motherboard help

thaqo

Member
Hello Everyone,

I have spent a while working on this spec and I think I have done a pretty good job with it but I would like someone with a bit more experience to advise me on any issues I may not have picked up on.

The main thing I am concerned about and am struggling to decide on is the motherboard. The main two options that seem best and also fit within the maximum amount I would spend are the Asus Tuf x570 Plus and the Asus rog strix B550-f gaming - I have heard of some issues relating to the 2.5gb intel ethernet that may have been fixed in newer versions of the boards (if you more about this can you update me on the situation) . I am unsure which I should choose so if anyone can help me with that it would be much appreciated.

I will mainly be using this build for gaming at 1080p with a 240hz monitor as I mostly play competitive games.

Thanks.

PS: my aim for the budget is for it to end up less than £1.9k.



Case
COOLERMASTER MASTERBOX TD500 MESH ARGB GAMING CASE
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 RGB PRO DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3070 Ti - HDMI, DP
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SAMSUNG 970 EVO PLUS M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3500MB/R, 3300MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W TXm SERIES™ SEMI-MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
Corsair H100x Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
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)
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
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 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 16 to 19 working days
Price: £1,825.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/rpJ7SbVcaz/
 
Last edited:

Martinr36

MOST VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
Can you post the configuration link that you'll find at the bottom of the spec as it will make it easier to tweak
 

thaqo

Member
Can you post the configuration link that you'll find at the bottom of the spec as it will make it easier to tweak
I’ve been trying to figure out what you mean but I don’t quite understand 😅
If this is not worth your time then I don’t want to hold you up or anything so it’s absolutely fine if you aren’t bothered to respond to this. Sorry!
 

SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
I’ve been trying to figure out what you mean but I don’t quite understand 😅
If this is not worth your time then I don’t want to hold you up or anything so it’s absolutely fine if you aren’t bothered to respond to this. Sorry!
 

sck451

MOST VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
I've gone ahead and recreated your setup since you seem to be struggling! Here it is with a few tweaks I'd be inclined to make.

If you think the 2.5Gbps ethernet is useful, go for the Strix B550. If you don't need that, the Tuf B550 will be fine for you. I've not heard of problems with the 2.5Gbps port till now, though I do see a few forum posts from earlier this year... I doubt you'll need it in all honesty. I've changed your storage around to make the whole system much faster. This won't have any real effect on gaming performance (except loading times), but it's definitely an improvement in quality oflife. I've beefed up the power supply: 650W is marginal for the 3070Ti in my book. 850W is nice, with room to grow if you end up with a more power-thirsty graphics card in future. I've given you a slightly lesser cooler: the 5600X isn't all that hot. And finally I've removed the unnecessary antivirus and added an extra bit of warranty.

With the drives, this gives you the super-fast 980 as a boot drive and a second M.2 SSD (also very fast) to store the games on.

Case
COOLERMASTER MASTERBOX TD500 MESH ARGB GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 5600X Six Core CPU (3.7GHz-4.6GHz/35MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® STRIX B550-F GAMING (DDR4, USB 3.2, 6Gb/s) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE RGB PRO DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3070 Ti - HDMI, DP
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SAMSUNG 980 PRO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 6900MB/R, 5000MB/W)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB INTEL® 670p M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 3500MB/sR | 2500MB/sW)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 850W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
CoolerMaster MasterLiquid Lite 240 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
Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KUK-00001]
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
Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
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 16 to 19 working days
Price: £1,887.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/9ScmvdK9aa/
 

thaqo

Member
I've gone ahead and recreated your setup since you seem to be struggling! Here it is with a few tweaks I'd be inclined to make.

If you think the 2.5Gbps ethernet is useful, go for the Strix B550. If you don't need that, the Tuf B550 will be fine for you. I've not heard of problems with the 2.5Gbps port till now, though I do see a few forum posts from earlier this year... I doubt you'll need it in all honesty. I've changed your storage around to make the whole system much faster. This won't have any real effect on gaming performance (except loading times), but it's definitely an improvement in quality oflife. I've beefed up the power supply: 650W is marginal for the 3070Ti in my book. 850W is nice, with room to grow if you end up with a more power-thirsty graphics card in future. I've given you a slightly lesser cooler: the 5600X isn't all that hot. And finally I've removed the unnecessary antivirus and added an extra bit of warranty.

With the drives, this gives you the super-fast 980 as a boot drive and a second M.2 SSD (also very fast) to store the games on.

Case
COOLERMASTER MASTERBOX TD500 MESH ARGB GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 5600X Six Core CPU (3.7GHz-4.6GHz/35MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® STRIX B550-F GAMING (DDR4, USB 3.2, 6Gb/s) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE RGB PRO DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3070 Ti - HDMI, DP
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SAMSUNG 980 PRO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 6900MB/R, 5000MB/W)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB INTEL® 670p M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 3500MB/sR | 2500MB/sW)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 850W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
CoolerMaster MasterLiquid Lite 240 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
Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KUK-00001]
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
Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
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 16 to 19 working days
Price: £1,887.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/9ScmvdK9aa/
Thank you very much for going to the effort of doing this!! It’s very helpful and I will take all of the things you mentioned into consideration. I would like to ask, what are the benefits of having two separate ssd’s? Is it so you can separate what you store on each ?
I will post the updated version of my build now so that if anyone else has something they would like to say they can.

Case
COOLERMASTER MASTERBOX TD500 MESH ARGB GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 5600X Six Core CPU (3.7GHz-4.6GHz/35MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® STRIX B550-F GAMING (DDR4, USB 3.2, 6Gb/s) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE RGB PRO DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3070 Ti - HDMI, DP
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SAMSUNG 980 PRO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 6900MB/R, 5000MB/W)
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 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
CoolerMaster MasterLiquid Lite 240 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
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 16 to 19 working days
Price: £1,876.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/xVQd6AKphn/
 
Last edited:

thaqo

Member
Thank you. I had read those steps but missed the bit explaining the re-configuration link. I have edited my post and it is now included.
 

B Poot

Bronze Level Poster
I would like to ask, what are the benefits of having two separate ssd’s? Is it so you can separate what you store on each ?
It's good to have your operating system on a fast drive so that your boot times and running of Windows are fast. However, having a massive super fast drive for everything would get expensive! So putting media (games, photos, files) on a separate disk that isn't quite as high spec saves some money.

The other major reason is that it is good to periodically do a clean install of Windows (once or twice a year after the major updates). This is better than just doing updates on top of updates as sometimes they conflict and cause issues. By having your operating system on one disk and your media on another, you can do a clean install of Windows without losing all of your media.
 

SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
Worth highlighting that windows 11 has a new technology called direct storage which does direct loading of game assets from the NVME SSD straight to the GPU, vastly improving game load times. Currently this is only for gaming, but will no doubt branch into other areas as it matures.

With that in mind, having a games library, you want the fastest NVME drive you can afford as it will make a difference.
 

thaqo

Member
Worth highlighting that windows 11 has a new technology called direct storage which does direct loading of game assets from the NVME SSD straight to the GPU, vastly improving game load times. Currently this is only for gaming, but will no doubt branch into other areas as it matures.

With that in mind, having a games library, you want the fastest NVME drive you can afford as it will make a difference.
With this is mind, what exactly would you recommend? 1 nvme ssd and 1 normal ssd or 2 nvme’s?
In my updated build above, I have chosen 2 nvme’s. Would this be optimal or is there another better option?
 

thaqo

Member
It's good to have your operating system on a fast drive so that your boot times and running of Windows are fast. However, having a massive super fast drive for everything would get expensive! So putting media (games, photos, files) on a separate disk that isn't quite as high spec saves some money.

The other major reason is that it is good to periodically do a clean install of Windows (once or twice a year after the major updates). This is better than just doing updates on top of updates as sometimes they conflict and cause issues. By having your operating system on one disk and your media on another, you can do a clean install of Windows without losing all of your media.
Thanks for the info!
 

SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
With this is mind, what exactly would you recommend? 1 nvme ssd and 1 normal ssd or 2 nvme’s?
In my updated build above, I have chosen 2 nvme’s. Would this be optimal or is there another better option?
You want as fast as possible for the OS drive, and as fast as possible for the games drive so both of those need to be fast NVME's.

You've got a gen 3 NVME as the secondary drive, what I'm saying is ideally you want the 980 pro again as the games drive.
 

thaqo

Member
Hello everyone,
I have a couple of queries relating to case fans for my build. I have chosen the Cooler Master TD500 mesh and in the description it says that there are 3 fans included. When the PC is being built by the guys at PCS, I’m assuming these will be used as the 3 intake fans at the front and so in order to have a fan to extract at the rear, I will have to select an option within the “extra case fans” section. Is this this true as I remember seeing somewhere that any necessary additional fans will be installed during the build process?
Here is my build in case anyone wants to refer to it.
Case
COOLERMASTER MASTERBOX TD500 MESH ARGB GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 5600X Six Core CPU (3.7GHz-4.6GHz/35MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® STRIX B550-F GAMING (DDR4, USB 3.2, 6Gb/s) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE RGB PRO DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3070 Ti - HDMI, DP
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SAMSUNG 980 PRO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 6900MB/R, 5000MB/W)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SAMSUNG 970 EVO PLUS M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3500MB/R, 3200MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 850W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
CoolerMaster MasterLiquid Lite 240 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
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 16 to 19 working days
Price: £1,893.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/zCe2G5KEmC/
 
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