Would like to hear your thoughts - new spec ordered

[tartine]

I tried my best to keep it really good, without cutting corners, but also trying to make it as cheap as possible. Looking to keep it as it is for minimum of 5 years.

Case
PCS SPECTRUM II ARGB MID TOWER CASE (PWM) *WHITE*
Promotional Item
Get a discount code for 20% off select peripherals at Corsair.com
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D Eight Core CPU (Up to 5.2GHz/104MB w/3D V-CACHE/AM5)
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING B650-PLUS WIFI (AM5, DDR5, PCIe 4.0, Wi-Fi 6)
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR5 6000MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
16GB ASUS TUF GAMING RADEON™ RX 7800 XT OC - HDMI, 3 x DP - DX® 12
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB CORSAIR ELITE MP600 NVMe PCIe M.2 SSD (up to 7000 MB/R, 6200 MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 750W RMe SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
CORSAIR H100x RGB ELITE 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
ONBOARD 2.5Gbe LAN PORT
Wireless Network Card
NONE OR ONBOARD Wi-Fi (MOTHERBOARD DEPENDENT)
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Windows 11 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence
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 Standard Warranty (6 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 4 to 6 working days
Welcome Book
PCSpecialist Welcome Book
Logo Branding
PCSpecialist Logo
Packaging
PCS Trade Pack - New 2023
Price: £0.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am5-pc/bGXSNJpmzZ/

 

[sck451]

What's the budget? What monitor will you be using? What will you be using it for?

And the other question, I guess, is how willing you are to do upgrades over the life of the PC...

 

[tartine]

I mean I already paid for it - so the budget is what it is^^ - mainly will use for gaming and video editing. I am upgrading from nvidia 1660ti and my screen is 140hz acer.
Not willing to do much upgrades for the first 5 years of the pc life - after that willing to upgrade gpu - I guess the cpu will be okay - but open to upgrade as well.

 

[sck451]

Well you can still change your order for a couple of days after purchase.

I would definitely change some things:

• Get a better case. I'd suggest the Corsair 4000X (also white and RGB) as a major upgrade.
• Get a better cooler. I'd suggest either one of the H115i or H100i options.
• Lose the special thermal paste.
• Go for the cheaper graphics card model (the Gigabyte) to save £40 unless you're willing to spend extra for no gain in performance.
• Go for a 500GB primary drive as you don't want to be filling it up that much anyway.
• Add the £5 extension to the warranty.

Then I'd consider the two areas where I think you're probably spending wrong. These are the CPU and your monitor. I don't think the CPU is the value option for you. Yes, it's amazing, but it's £300 more than the 7700 and in most games you probably won't actually have a perceptible difference. I would go with the cheaper CPU and, if in, say, four years, you need more CPU performance, you'll have cheaper upgrade options (even a second-hand 9800X3D will probably be a cheap option by then!). That to me is a more efficient way of spending. It would be a slight downgrade in performance for video editing, but realistically you'll be offloading a lot of that work to the GPU anyway.

I'm going to guess your monitor is 1080p, and perhaps not a very good one. That's not what I'd recommend for gaming at this budget. Frankly, it will be more of a bottleneck to your system than anything else. I would replace it with a 1440p monitor such as the AOC Q27G4X (currently £160) which would be a massive upgrade to your gaming experience, and a way better way to spend your money than the shiny top-of-the-range-and-scandalously-overpriced 9800X3D.

So, with all that said, here's how I'd modify your build:

Case
CORSAIR iCUE 4000X RGB TEMPERED GLASS MID-TOWER ATX CASE - WHITE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 7 7700 Eight Core CPU (3.8GHz-5.3GHz/40MB CACHE/AM5)
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING B650-PLUS WIFI (AM5, DDR5, PCIe 4.0, Wi-Fi 6)
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR5 6000MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
16GB GIGABYTE RADEON™ RX 7800 XT GAMING OC - 2 x HDMI, 2 x DP
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB SOLIDIGM P44 PRO GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 7000MB/sR, 4700MB/sW)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
2TB SOLIDIGM P41+ GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 4125MB/sR, 3325MB/sW)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 750W RMe SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
CORSAIR iCUE H100i ELITE CAPELLIX XT RGB High Performance CPU Cooler You could even go cheaper here, such as to an air cooler, which would save a further £80ish
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
ONBOARD 2.5Gbe LAN PORT
Wireless Network Card
NONE OR ONBOARD Wi-Fi (MOTHERBOARD DEPENDENT)
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Windows 11 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence
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 4 to 6 working days
Price: £1,738.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am5-pc/HJd0zdDvhf/

 

[tartine]

Oh wow thank you so much for the detailed answer. Could I just ask, out of curiousity:
- Will the PC case upgrade have a huge impact? Is it in terms of cooling or what would be the benefit?
- The special thermal paste - is that for savings purposes or the the special thermal paste has an issue?
- The cooler - I was looking at the details and didnt see much difference - I will take your advise, but just curious about the difference and whether the one I chosen is bad.

Will take a look and review my order - thank you

 

[tartine]

oh and this is my monitor -

ED273UR P Widescreen LCD Monitor​

 

[sck451]

Oh wow thank you so much for the detailed answer. Could I just ask, out of curiousity:
- Will the PC case upgrade have a huge impact? Is it in terms of cooling or what would be the benefit?
- The special thermal paste - is that for savings purposes or the the special thermal paste has an issue?
- The cooler - I was looking at the details and didnt see much difference - I will take your advise, but just curious about the difference and whether the one I chosen is bad.

Will take a look and review my order - thank you

The case affects cooling, and the quality of the fans affects cooling and noise, and the Corsair one is prettier! And also if you ever do any upgrades, having a nicer case makes it much easier.

The thermal paste isn't needed because Corsair coolers come with good thermal paste.

The coolers that end in an i can be controlled through iCue, which is much easier and more intuitive. For cooling they're not much different, but as a quality of life thing, I wouldn't touch the H100x.

 

[sck451]

oh and this is my monitor -

ED273UR P Widescreen LCD Monitor​

That's an ok monitor, actually. Not great by modern standards but not bad. Replacing it is not necessary, so sorry for being misleading.

Also, that's all the more reason not to get the 9800X3D: the higher the resolution the less the CPU affects framerate.