The Time Has Come

MrWilson

Godlike
Been waiting to do this for about 7 months, and now it is time to hit send and buy the PC I have been waiting for next week. Back in November I was full of optimism that things would start to normalise around this time; sadly this hasn't come to pass. I have been very patient though so am saying sod this and I'll pay a little extra; I've waited long enough for this!

Given myself essentially carte blanche to do this properly. Looking to get the build I want and then cry about the price later... It has come out to around £2500 for the tower though which is nice.
PC is going to be for gaming and streaming, with a bit of editing thrown in.
Monitor wise I'm looking at something in the £400-500 range, hopefully with a nice discount on Prime Day on Monday week. Frontrunners here are the VG27AQ in standard 1440p, or looking at Ultrawide going for the Gigabyte G34WQC or the AC approved AOC CU34G2X.

Case
FRACTAL DEFINE 7 BLACK QUIET MID-TOWER CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 9 5900X 12 Core CPU (3.7GHz-4.8GHz/70MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® ROG STRIX X570-F GAMING (USB 3.2 Gen 2, PCIe 4.0) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
4GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 2400MHz (1 x 4GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3070 - HDMI, DP
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 PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (2000 MB/R, 1100 MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 1000W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
Corsair H115i RGB PRO XT 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
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 - Subject to stock availability on pre-order products
Price: £2,307.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/5FGzbkNTaE/

General considerations so far:
Do I need the 5900x? Probably not, but for £200 extra I get 50% more cores, better thermals and shiny bauble so I'm keeping it in.
RAM: Self sourced from Amazon
Storage: Debating whether to go for the Intel m.2 over the PCS drive, currently only £3 extra.
PSU: Is a big boi, but after recommending futureproofed PSUs on other people's builds it only seems right to do the same with my own!
 

loso64

Well-known member
Been waiting to do this for about 7 months, and now it is time to hit send and buy the PC I have been waiting for next week. Back in November I was full of optimism that things would start to normalise around this time; sadly this hasn't come to pass. I have been very patient though so am saying sod this and I'll pay a little extra; I've waited long enough for this!

Given myself essentially carte blanche to do this properly. Looking to get the build I want and then cry about the price later... It has come out to around £2500 for the tower though which is nice.
PC is going to be for gaming and streaming, with a bit of editing thrown in.
Monitor wise I'm looking at something in the £400-500 range, hopefully with a nice discount on Prime Day on Monday week. Frontrunners here are the VG27AQ in standard 1440p, or looking at Ultrawide going for the Gigabyte G34WQC or the AC approved AOC CU34G2X.

Case
FRACTAL DEFINE 7 BLACK QUIET MID-TOWER CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 9 5900X 12 Core CPU (3.7GHz-4.8GHz/70MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® ROG STRIX X570-F GAMING (USB 3.2 Gen 2, PCIe 4.0) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
4GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 2400MHz (1 x 4GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3070 - HDMI, DP
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 PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (2000 MB/R, 1100 MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 1000W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
Corsair H115i RGB PRO XT 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
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 - Subject to stock availability on pre-order products
Price: £2,307.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/5FGzbkNTaE/

General considerations so far:
Do I need the 5900x? Probably not, but for £200 extra I get 50% more cores, better thermals and shiny bauble so I'm keeping it in.
RAM: Self sourced from Amazon
Storage: Debating whether to go for the Intel m.2 over the PCS drive, currently only £3 extra.
PSU: Is a big boi, but after recommending futureproofed PSUs on other people's builds it only seems right to do the same with my own!
the only thing i would put into consideration. If you do have extra money to spare (or maybe you can remove windows license and transfer old one, or outsource it), i would consider 2TB m.2 for gaming.
My reasoning is, that the games are nowadays getting massive. Games are easily hitting 100+GB in size, and will be only increasing.
As you may or may not know, SSDs require at least 10-20% space always empty for ideal performance, otherwise it will degrade
 

Steveyg

MOST VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
Yeah that's about as optimal as it gets mate, not much I'd go about changing

The case is the only thing I'm not familiar with, I don't know a whole lot about the Fractal cases to be honest but I'm sure you know what your doing (y)
 

sck451

MOST VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
My only question would be the case. I get it if you want to the discreet looks of the Define 7, but you can also get the Define 7 with a dark tempered glass side panel. Not quite as quiet, but it's soooo elegant.

 
Last edited:

AgentCooper

At Least I Have Chicken
Moderator
Well, well, well…

3BBDFA78-EF4B-44E4-A958-2E4899DCC682.gif


You’ve got my blessing, old bean 👍

4A0A192F-F1BB-46B6-9E9A-DFA52236AC2C.gif


Glad you’re finally pulling the trigger!

6323E262-0066-4023-A297-DA5B2DFE3A1E.gif
 

JUNI0R

VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
Been waiting to do this for about 7 months, and now it is time to hit send and buy the PC I have been waiting for next week. Back in November I was full of optimism that things would start to normalise around this time; sadly this hasn't come to pass. I have been very patient though so am saying sod this and I'll pay a little extra; I've waited long enough for this!

Given myself essentially carte blanche to do this properly. Looking to get the build I want and then cry about the price later... It has come out to around £2500 for the tower though which is nice.
PC is going to be for gaming and streaming, with a bit of editing thrown in.
Monitor wise I'm looking at something in the £400-500 range, hopefully with a nice discount on Prime Day on Monday week. Frontrunners here are the VG27AQ in standard 1440p, or looking at Ultrawide going for the Gigabyte G34WQC or the AC approved AOC CU34G2X.

Case
FRACTAL DEFINE 7 BLACK QUIET MID-TOWER CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 9 5900X 12 Core CPU (3.7GHz-4.8GHz/70MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® ROG STRIX X570-F GAMING (USB 3.2 Gen 2, PCIe 4.0) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
4GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 2400MHz (1 x 4GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3070 - HDMI, DP
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 PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (2000 MB/R, 1100 MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 1000W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
Corsair H115i RGB PRO XT 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
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 - Subject to stock availability on pre-order products
Price: £2,307.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/5FGzbkNTaE/

General considerations so far:
Do I need the 5900x? Probably not, but for £200 extra I get 50% more cores, better thermals and shiny bauble so I'm keeping it in.
RAM: Self sourced from Amazon
Storage: Debating whether to go for the Intel m.2 over the PCS drive, currently only £3 extra.
PSU: Is a big boi, but after recommending futureproofed PSUs on other people's builds it only seems right to do the same with my own!
Looks like an absolute peach! One thing though Pro XT > Capellix AIO? And agree with @sck451 about that Tempered Glass sided Define 7, it looks incredible! ;)
 

marnay

New member
Been waiting to do this for about 7 months, and now it is time to hit send and buy the PC I have been waiting for next week. Back in November I was full of optimism that things would start to normalise around this time; sadly this hasn't come to pass. I have been very patient though so am saying sod this and I'll pay a little extra; I've waited long enough for this!

Given myself essentially carte blanche to do this properly. Looking to get the build I want and then cry about the price later... It has come out to around £2500 for the tower though which is nice.
PC is going to be for gaming and streaming, with a bit of editing thrown in.
Monitor wise I'm looking at something in the £400-500 range, hopefully with a nice discount on Prime Day on Monday week. Frontrunners here are the VG27AQ in standard 1440p, or looking at Ultrawide going for the Gigabyte G34WQC or the AC approved AOC CU34G2X.

Case
FRACTAL DEFINE 7 BLACK QUIET MID-TOWER CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 9 5900X 12 Core CPU (3.7GHz-4.8GHz/70MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® ROG STRIX X570-F GAMING (USB 3.2 Gen 2, PCIe 4.0) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
4GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 2400MHz (1 x 4GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3070 - HDMI, DP
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 PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (2000 MB/R, 1100 MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 1000W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
Corsair H115i RGB PRO XT 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
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 - Subject to stock availability on pre-order products
Price: £2,307.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/5FGzbkNTaE/

General considerations so far:
Do I need the 5900x? Probably not, but for £200 extra I get 50% more cores, better thermals and shiny bauble so I'm keeping it in.
RAM: Self sourced from Amazon
Storage: Debating whether to go for the Intel m.2 over the PCS drive, currently only £3 extra.
PSU: Is a big boi, but after recommending futureproofed PSUs on other people's builds it only seems right to do the same with my own!
Bearing in mind I'm not that knowledable
Memory (RAM)
4GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 2400MHz (1 x 4GB)
 

MrWilson

Godlike
Appreciate the feedback from everyone! :love:
My only question would be the case. I get it if you want to the discreet looks of the Define 7, but you can also get the Define 7 with a dark tempered glass side panel. Not quite as quiet, but it's soooo elegant.

Tempered glass panel is tempting, not sure if I can justify the extra £30 there though, which I know is laughable considering the overall cost of the build. (Case linked is the compact version, found listings for the Define 7 with Glass panel for £149).
Looks like an absolute peach! One thing though Pro XT > Capellix AIO? And agree with @sck451 about that Tempered Glass sided Define 7, it looks incredible! ;)
Similarly don't need the RGB of the Capellix with a closed case. I know the Capellix fans have a slightly more aggressive curve, but with a H115i AIO I don't see the need to go for the Capellix.

Stop dithering about, you've got the 3070 in there so go ultrawide
You're probably right, hopefully one of the ultrawides dips below £400 next week!
the only thing i would put into consideration. If you do have extra money to spare (or maybe you can remove windows license and transfer old one, or outsource it), i would consider 2TB m.2 for gaming.
My reasoning is, that the games are nowadays getting massive. Games are easily hitting 100+GB in size, and will be only increasing.
As you may or may not know, SSDs require at least 10-20% space always empty for ideal performance, otherwise it will degrade
That's a fair point. I don't tend to play a lot of games at the same time though, so might reinstall games as and when, or transfer them to the HDD. Intel 2tb m.2 is OOS at the moment so if I were looking at a 2tb drive I would probably self source that too.
 

AgentCooper

At Least I Have Chicken
Moderator
You're probably right, hopefully one of the ultrawides dips below £400 next week!
The non-X version of my AOC is around £370 and runs at a still respectable 100Hz.

 

DarTon

Well-known member
Cannot argue with your build since I also went with a 5900X/Strix 570/H115i/3070 combo.

For me, the raison d'etre of a custom build is to know exactly what components I've bought. Since I have no idea what brand I'd get with a PCS SDD, I would tend to go with the Intel 670 or just buy/fit an NVMe SDD yourself.

Do even need to buy a new HDD? Can you strip one off from another PC as archival storage? I know it's only £50-60 but I just feel that is money that could go towards more NVMe SDD storage.

Monitor-wise I can't recommend except to say that I think 27" is a bit small. Go large, you know you want to! As an aside does anyone know if the new Dell 34 WQHD is any good (https://www.dell.com/en-uk/shop/del...g/apd/210-azze/monitors-monitor-accessories)? Haven't seen any reviews yet.
 

Elhan

Bronze Level Poster
I had a monitor purchase planned out (namely this) but I'm holding off to see where this one will sit pricing-wise, since it has a pretty good spec and ticks several boxes. As well as these, but ideally 34 would be better. Probably a couple of months' wait, but then with current PC build times it doesn't make a huge difference anyway. 😂

Although these are probably not going to fall into the £4-500 bracket, but perhaps one of them will be of interest. Best of luck with whichever you go with.
 
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