Advice Please on Desktop Build

A

Aiddar

Active member
Hi there.

Looking to put together a new desktop, price range £800-£1,200, aimed at gaming plus some art work (but the driver will be mainly the games :) ). Obviously, at that price, not looking for leading/bleeding edge, but just advice on best bang for buck.

Agnostic about AMD Vs Intel, but would like a lot of RAM - 16GB min, and an SSD main drive. No need for monitor, mouse etc. Just the base unit. Even better if there is a minimal sound of fans whirring away!

Anyone any suggested specs/options?

Cheers!

Paul
 
MrWilson

MrWilson

Godlike
Hi Paul.
Had a look at the BenQ monitor. Seems like it's a 1080p 60hz monitor, which is really going to hamper your gaming experience. For gaming the minimum specs most people on here would recommend would be 1080p 144hz, and I would personally recommend the AOC 24G2U which is under £200 at the moment:
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AOC 23.8" 24G2U/BK FreeSync 144Hz IPS Gaming Monitor Height/Tilt/Pivot/Swivel Adjustable

Buy from Scan - 23.8" AOC 24G2U/BK 144Hz FreeSync IPS Gaming Monitor, 1920x1080, 4ms (1ms MPRT), DP/HDMI/VGA
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Let us know what you think and we'll see if we can advise you further :)
 
A

Aiddar

Active member
Thank you for the reply - appreciated.

At the moment, for now the monitor is fixed. The type of games we like to play do not normally require incredible resolutions being thrown around on screen - we play mainly something like Guild Wars 2 (where in big fights there are a lot of graphics to resolve, but not of incredibly high resolution), CIV 5 (6 sometimes) where it seems processing power is more important (?) - those sorts of things. The users of this system will not be doing a lot of FPS for example...

Does that help at all? As mentioned - really appreciate any help (and I should have put the above notes in the original post - sorry!!!)
 
MrWilson

MrWilson

Godlike
Aiddar said:
Thank you for the reply - appreciated.

At the moment, for now the monitor is fixed. The type of games we like to play do not normally require incredible resolutions being thrown around on screen - we play mainly something like Guild Wars 2 (where in big fights there are a lot of graphics to resolve, but not of incredibly high resolution), CIV 5 (6 sometimes) where it seems processing power is more important (?) - those sorts of things. The users of this system will not be doing a lot of FPS for example...

Does that help at all? As mentioned - really appreciate any help (and I should have put the above notes in the original post - sorry!!!)
Click to expand...
That's fair enough, strategy games are less reliant on high frame rate and if you want to stick with the current monitor that's up to you. However I would recommend considering upgrading your monitor later down the line, you may find you like >60fps once you give it a try.
Specced the build below for you. It should last you for 7-10 years. The GPU will handle all of your games at your current resolution; if you did want to upgrade to a 144hz display you will also need to upgrade this.
As it stands it is in budget, but if you can spare an extra £100 I would recommend investing in a second m.2 SSD for your games library. With this you would see an appreciable increase in load times with your large strategy games such as Civ 6 if you install your games library on it. However, when you are working to a strict budget unfortunately some things have to give.


Case
NZXT H511 MID-TOWER GAMING CASE (BLACK)
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 DDR4 3600MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
4GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1050 Ti - DVI, HDMI, DP
1st Storage Drive
1TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 64MB CACHE
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SAMSUNG 970 EVO PLUS M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3500MB/R, 3200MB/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
STANDARD AMD 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
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)
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
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 17 to 19 working days
Price: £1,185.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/X7YdA7erER/
 
A

Aiddar

Active member
Thanks - looks nice.

The 16GB of RAM looks good - but is there any benefit to going to 32GB now? Apart from blowing the budget of course :)

I use a 1TB SSD on my own machine - you have suggested a 500GB SSD, and 1 TB SATA. I (assume!!) the the SSD is for the OS, the SATA for the games etc. ? Is it worthwhile simply replacing the combined SSD/SATA with a single SSD? Again, though, I suspect it would blow the budget.

Basically... damn, I need more money! :) That is the problem with PC builds.. there is ALWAYS "something" JUST over the horizon that if you spend "just" an extra £10/50/100, you can get :)

Thanks again - Much appreciated. I'll go get an order sorted out in the New Year I think.

Cheers!

Paul
 
G

Gavras

Master Poster
Aiddar said:
Thanks - looks nice.

The 16GB of RAM looks good - but is there any benefit to going to 32GB now? Apart from blowing the budget of course :)

I use a 1TB SSD on my own machine - you have suggested a 500GB SSD, and 1 TB SATA. I (assume!!) the the SSD is for the OS, the SATA for the games etc. ? Is it worthwhile simply replacing the combined SSD/SATA with a single SSD? Again, though, I suspect it would blow the budget.

Basically... damn, I need more money! :) That is the problem with PC builds.. there is ALWAYS "something" JUST over the horizon that if you spend "just" an extra £10/50/100, you can get :)

Thanks again - Much appreciated. I'll go get an order sorted out in the New Year I think.

Cheers!

Paul
Click to expand...
Due to the games you play, there is no reason to go to 32GB, that would be if you played MSFS 2020.

keep the drives separate, makes installing OS simpler and you have room to install the odd game that benefits from fast access on to the M.2.

You could drop the 1TB HDD and install your own SSD.

That would free up a bit of cash for something else, possibly a PCS M.2.
 
MrWilson

MrWilson

Godlike
Aiddar said:
Thanks - looks nice.

The 16GB of RAM looks good - but is there any benefit to going to 32GB now? Apart from blowing the budget of course :)
Click to expand...
16GB will be plenty for your needs. You only really need to look at 32GB when you’re interested in playing Microsoft Flight Simulator.
Aiddar said:
I use a 1TB SSD on my own machine - you have suggested a 500GB SSD, and 1 TB SATA. I (assume!!) the the SSD is for the OS, the SATA for the games etc. ? Is it worthwhile simply replacing the combined SSD/SATA with a single SSD? Again, though, I suspect it would blow the budget.
Click to expand...
Yes, the SSD is for your OS and the SATA hard drive is for everything else. You could get a 1TB SATA SSD for about the same price as the current m.2 SSD and HDD combo. Doing that however will mean a slower load time for Windows. In terms of gaming performance your games will run the same on a HDD or a SSD, the difference being that on an SSD load times will be slightly faster.
 
MrWilson

MrWilson

Godlike
As @Gavras pointed out, you can save a bit more money if you are retiring your old PC as you can transfer some parts across.
If you dropped the HDD and carried across your current SSD, and also transferred Windows 10 across, you would save enough to where you can add a 1TB m.2 PCS SSD into your build and keep it within budget.
 
A

Aiddar

Active member
Thank you all.

For info - the system I am replacing is my wife's 7 years old desktop.... The one with the SSD is my own 1-year old PC (which I am keeping away from her in case she "acquires" it :) )

Cheers
 
MrWilson

MrWilson

Godlike
Aiddar said:
Thank you all.

For info - the system I am replacing is my wife's 7 years old desktop.... The one with the SSD is my own 1-year old PC (which I am keeping away from her in case she "acquires" it :) )

Cheers
Click to expand...
Thank you for clarifying. With that information in mind, I've got some adjustments below. You can save a bit of money transferring Windows from your wife's old desktop to this new build, and with that savings you can add in a second m.2 SSD to store your games on.

Case
NZXT H511 MID-TOWER GAMING CASE (BLACK)
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 DDR4 3600MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
4GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1050 Ti - DVI, HDMI, DP
1st Storage Drive
1TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 64MB CACHE
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SAMSUNG 970 EVO PLUS M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3500MB/R, 3200MB/W)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (2000 MB/R, 1100 MB/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
STANDARD AMD 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
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)
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
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
NO RECOVERY MEDIA REQUIRED
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 17 to 19 working days
Price: £1,208.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/u8wVfNA22n/
 
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