Son has specced a gaming machine….

[Stickybloke]

My stepson has specced a gaming machine and I’d be grateful for any wisdom that the experts might be able to offer. It’s been ages since I was building PCs and am now horribly out of touch with things.

Looking at the spec I wondering if he’s just been dazzled by the big spec GPU at the expense of other things that might offer better “bang for buck”. Over-specced perhaps?

Case
CORSAIR 4000D AIRFLOW TEMPERED GLASS GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 7 5700G Eight Core CPU with Radeon™ Graphics (3.8GHz-4.6GHz/20MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® STRIX B550-F GAMING (DDR4, USB 3.2, 6Gb/s) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE RGB PRO DDR4 3600MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
10GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3080 - HDMI, DP, LHR
1st Storage Drive
1TB Samsung 870 QVO 2.5" SSD, SATA 6Gb/s (up to 560MB/sR | 530MB/sW)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SAMSUNG 980 PRO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 7000MB/R, 5000MB/W)
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
CoolerMaster MasterLiquid Lite 120 High Performance Liquid Cooler
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
LED Lighting
2x 50cm ARGB LED Strip
Extra Case Fans
2x 120mm Thermaltake TOUGHFAN 12 Case Fans
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT
Wireless Network Card
WIRELESS 802.11N 300Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD
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]

 

[AgentCooper]

Hi there! Few questions to get us rolling…What sort of budget are you working with? Any other uses than gaming, such as streaming and editing photos or videos? And also, what monitor does he have? We’re looking for make and model or resolution and refresh rate, this will influence the choice of graphics card. It’s pointless him getting a 3080 if the screen he’s using won’t be able to fully utilise it 🙂👍

 

[Stickybloke]

Thanks for the quick response - budget is around £2k.
He’s primarily into Gaming but wants to get into streaming and possibly some video editing.
In terms of monitor we’re eventually looking at a BenQ1080p 240Hz DyAc or 360Hz 😃

 

[AgentCooper]

Unless he’s into real top tier competitive gaming, a 1080p monitor feels like a bit of a waste of a great budget. We could easily go for 1440p, which is really where it’s at to experience great visuals. Pair a 1440p 144Hz monitor like the Samsung G5 with an appropriate build and he’s onto a winner. Have gone with the 3060Ti as that will give a good experience at this resolution, if he wants to go higher, the 3070 is about as far as is necessary (although it’s currently out of stock)

Case
CORSAIR iCUE 5000X RGB MID TOWER GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 7 5800X Eight Core CPU (3.8GHz-4.7GHz/36MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF X570-PLUS GAMING WIFI (USB 3.2 Gen 2, PCIe 4.0, CrossFireX) - RGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE RGB PRO DDR4 3200MHz (4 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3060 Ti - HDMI, DP, LHR
1st Storage Drive
2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 256MB CACHE
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
Corsair H115i 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
Wireless Network Card
NOT REQUIRED
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 10/11 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
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 18 to 21 working days
Price: £2,066.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/2hxjx5aEFx/

 

[sck451]

You have the budget to go for an extremely nice monitor. For these purposes, the MSI Optix MAG274QRF-QD is pretty amazing: really far better in performance than a VA monitor like the G5 (which is a really nice monitor, don't get me wrong). The 3060 Ti would be absolutely fine with it, but if the 3070 came back into stock I'd upgrade to that. The 3080 is definitely overkill.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/MSI-MAG274QRF-QD-Esports-Gaming-Monitor/dp/B08PKHV1R9/

Here's a great review of the monitor:

 

[JoeJoex4]

Unless he’s into real top tier competitive gaming, a 1080p monitor feels like a bit of a waste of a great budget. We could easily go for 1440p, which is really where it’s at to experience great visuals. Pair a 1440p 144Hz monitor like the Samsung G5 with an appropriate build and he’s onto a winner. Have gone with the 3060Ti as that will give a good experience at this resolution, if he wants to go higher, the 3070 is about as far as is necessary (although it’s currently out of stock)

Case
CORSAIR iCUE 5000X RGB MID TOWER GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 7 5800X Eight Core CPU (3.8GHz-4.7GHz/36MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF X570-PLUS GAMING WIFI (USB 3.2 Gen 2, PCIe 4.0, CrossFireX) - RGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE RGB PRO DDR4 3200MHz (4 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3060 Ti - HDMI, DP, LHR
1st Storage Drive
2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 256MB CACHE
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
Corsair H115i 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
Wireless Network Card
NOT REQUIRED
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 10/11 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
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 18 to 21 working days
Price: £2,066.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/2hxjx5aEFx/

Hi, Stepson here, I play R6 Siege competitively and I currently run on a 144hz monitor at around 210fps but fluctuating - one of the main goals of the upgrade is so I can run 240/360fps on a 240/360hz monitor (either a 240hz with backlight strobing or a 360hz, undecided as of yet). Do you have any advice regarding that path in terms of specs?

 

[sck451]

Hi, Stepson here, I play R6 Siege competitively and I currently run on a 144hz monitor at around 210fps but fluctuating - one of the main goals of the upgrade is so I can run 240/360fps on a 240/360hz monitor (either a 240hz with backlight strobing or a 360hz, undecided as of yet). Do you have any advice regarding that path in terms of specs?

Hi Joe. What we're essentially saying is that the benefits of going up to an extremely high refresh-rate are quite low: the bottleneck becomes the limit of what your eyes can perceive! You would probably find that a higher resolution would actually be a much more significant upgrade for you in terms of visual quality and enjoyment.

More than that, extremely high refresh-rate monitors are generally TN panels, which are fairly awful in terms of colour accuracy, which in turn is not going to be good for video editing if you do indeed take that up.

So I for one (and I'm sure I wouldn't be alone!) would advise against aiming for the super-high refresh-rates.

For the sake of comparison, though, what CPU and graphics card is your current system?

 

[JoeJoex4]

Hi Joe. What we're essentially saying is that the benefits of going up to an extremely high refresh-rate are quite low: the bottleneck becomes the limit of what your eyes can perceive! You would probably find that a higher resolution would actually be a much more significant upgrade for you in terms of visual quality and enjoyment.

More than that, extremely high refresh-rate monitors are generally TN panels, which are fairly awful in terms of colour accuracy, which in turn is not going to be good for video editing if you do indeed take that up.

So I for one (and I'm sure I wouldn't be alone!) would advise against aiming for the super-high refresh-rates.

For the sake of comparison, though, what CPU and graphics card is your current system?

Currently running a i7-6700k (bought 2nd hand and has been consistently overclocked and heavily used since ~2016 so showing some wear) and a GTX-1060 6GB.

I'm also very open to a higher res monitor with a lower refresh rate because, as you said, my current 144hz TN panel is a tad awful in terms of colour.

 

[AgentCooper]

Hi, Stepson here, I play R6 Siege competitively and I currently run on a 144hz monitor at around 210fps but fluctuating - one of the main goals of the upgrade is so I can run 240/360fps on a 240/360hz monitor (either a 240hz with backlight strobing or a 360hz, undecided as of yet). Do you have any advice regarding that path in terms of specs?

Howdy! If you’re using a 144Hz monitor the maximum FPS you’re getting is 144, your frame counter likely isn’t taking into account what your screen is capable of outputting.

If you’re looking to go the competitive route then sticking with 1080p might be worth it for you, just bear in mind that the
majority of us normal humans lose the ability to tell the difference once it gets to about 120FPS. And even the superhumans who have that ability lose it with age. I definitely wouldn’t go above 240Hz, 360Hz is a marketing thing designed to sap people of their hard earned money.

As stated by @sck451, the monitor you have in mind is a TN panel. They’re outstanding for high refresh gaming but… they look horrible. And if you’re playing competitively, you’ll be looking to lower settings for maximum refresh and it looks even worse.

A decent 144Hz screen is the most the majority of us need and you’ll enjoy your gaming experience that much more 🙂👍

 

[JoeJoex4]

Had a quick additional question, we're planning on going with the 4000D for the case (since I'm not the biggest fan of RGB) and I was wondering how many fans the case comes with/how they would be configured by you guys (along with where the rad would be placed, assuming we end up going with a 240mm)?

Thanks for all the help

 

[sck451]

Had a quick additional question, we're planning on going with the 4000D for the case (since I'm not the biggest fan of RGB) and I was wondering how many fans the case comes with/how they would be configured by you guys (along with where the rad would be placed, assuming we end up going with a 240mm)?

Thanks for all the help

The AIO @AgentCooper suggested is a 280mm one; in the 4000D it would be mounted in the top of the case. (It's also RGB, but you can turn that off.)

The case comes with two Corsair fans, which are fine, albeit not amazing. By default they come with one in the front and one in the back, though it's possible PCS may move the back one to the front of the case instead. I personally would be inclined to replace them with higher quality PWM fans because I like a really silent computer, but you don't need to by any stretch of the imagination.

 

[DarTon]

I got a 4000D Airflow with 280mm AIO. PCS top-mounted the AIO, and placed one 120mm fan at the front (mid way down) and the other 120mm fan at the rear.

Now, I've the ROG Strix X570-F motherboard and one issue with top mounting the AIO in the 4000D is that the clearance for the RAM DIMMs is very limited. I'm ok since I've got Corsair Vengeance LPX DIMMs with a height of just 33.5mm. The Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro DIMMs, however, are 51mm, and wouldn't have fitted, resulting in PCS having to front mount the AIO. This would have then reduced the clearance for GPU cards from 360mm to <320mm.

With a B550 board, the clearances may be different but I'd check with PCS if want to keep the RGB Pro RAM. Else switch to the LPX ones they offer if you are not fussed.

 

[Martinr36]

I got a 4000D Airflow with 280mm AIO. PCS top-mounted the AIO, and placed one 120mm fan at the front (mid way down) and the other 120mm fan at the rear.

Now, I've the ROG Strix X570-F motherboard and one issue with top mounting the AIO in the 4000D is that the clearance for the RAM DIMMs is very limited. I'm ok since I've got Corsair Vengeance LPX DIMMs with a height of just 33.5mm. The Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro DIMMs, however, are 51mm, and wouldn't have fitted, resulting in PCS having to front mount the AIO. This would have then reduced the clearance for GPU cards from 360mm to <320mm.

With a B550 board, the clearances may be different but I'd check with PCS if want to keep the RGB Pro RAM. Else switch to the LPX ones they offer if you are not fussed.

if you front mount the AIO you don't have to have a radiator sandwich, you can put the AIO fans on the roof, this of cours works better if yo have more than a single fan in the front

 

[jamiephillips909]

I used to play cs 1.6 competitively and tf2 at amature events like I lnsomia series etc 1440p provides more of a edge in this day and age black objects in shadows spotting enemys in low light situations distant image quality of battle royal shooters etc £700 for a 360hz 1080p isnt going to provide the edge most competitive gamers want most cant see or notice a diffrence past 120hz I cant past 144hz I have given csgo a play at 240hz no diffrence to me from 144hz my play in valorant has certainly improved going from 1080p to 1440p