Dream Build for Flight Sim and photo editing.

[benji1867]

So this is a little vague to start with as I'm not certain on the direction i wanna go in.

I'm wanting to build my dream PC, (I'm selling some collectables, which will take a little time) to fund it plus a partial deposit in a house with the new mrs. Ive allocated £3k for the build, which ill be using for decent sized raw photo editing with Lightroom/Photoshop/Topaz as well as a decent level of gaming. ill be mainly playing MS flight Sim, War thunder and possibly Battlefield and the like.

I currently have a pair of very basic AOC monitors, that will be replaced in time (maybe in the £3k budget if it allows) if not then down the line.

Please can someone recommend a decent build for what im after, id also like a lot of RGB as im mostly a giant child.

thanks in advance
Ben

 

[AgentCooper]

Hi Ben. You can realistically have it all within your £3000 budget! Here’s a lovely spec for a system that’ll suit you…

Case
CORSAIR iCUE 5000X RGB MID TOWER GAMING 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)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE RGB PRO DDR4 3200MHz (4 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3070 Ti - 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 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
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
Firefox™
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
TIMED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND - MON-FRI (BEFORE 2PM)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 18 to 21 working days
Price: £2,577.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/qB6sNTsG!G/

The case has RGB, the cooler has RGB, the RAM has RGB. All the trimmings! You could even add in some LED strips as well for an extra few pennies. I did 😜

And here’s a monitor that’s a cracking bargain. 34 inch screen which will be great for immersion with Flight Sim, 144Hz refresh so capable of great frame rates, and it’s IPS panel so the colours in your editing work will really pop!

 

[benji1867]

Hi Ben. You can realistically have it all within your £3000 budget! Here’s a lovely spec for a system that’ll suit you…

Case
CORSAIR iCUE 5000X RGB MID TOWER GAMING 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)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE RGB PRO DDR4 3200MHz (4 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3070 Ti - 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 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
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
Firefox™
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
TIMED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND - MON-FRI (BEFORE 2PM)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 18 to 21 working days
Price: £2,577.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/qB6sNTsG!G/

The case has RGB, the cooler has RGB, the RAM has RGB. All the trimmings! You could even add in some LED strips as well for an extra few pennies. I did 😜

And here’s a monitor that’s a cracking bargain. 34 inch screen which will be great for immersion with Flight Sim, 144Hz refresh so capable of great frame rates, and it’s IPS panel so the colours in your editing work will really pop!

Hi Agent, im loving that build, ive done a little tweaking to add some extra RAM and RGB, im assuming it doesnt mess anything up too much, please see below.

Also, that monitor looks a beast, is there anything similar with HDR as well? In case i wanna use my PS5 on it too?

Case
CORSAIR iCUE 5000X RGB MID TOWER GAMING 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)
64GB Corsair VENGEANCE RGB PRO DDR4 3200MHz (4 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3070 Ti - HDMI, DP
Get Battlefield 2042 with select GeForce RTX™ 30 Series GPUs
1st Storage Drive
1TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 64MB CACHE
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SAMSUNG 980 PRO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 6900MB/R, 5000MB/W)
2nd M.2 SSD Drive
1TB INTEL® 670p M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 3500MB/sR | 2500MB/sW) (Special Offer)
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
LED Lighting
2x 50cm ARGB LED Strip
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
Firefox™
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
TIMED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND - MON-FRI (BEFORE 2PM)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 18 to 21 working days

thanks again
Ben

 

[AgentCooper]

There’s a few ultrawide monitors out there that have HDR, but they invariably seem to have a VA panel. IPS is ideal for photo editing due to the precise colours it offers. VA isn’t quite as good for that medium but it generally has a better response time when gaming.

As for the RAM, I’d be seeking the brains of our resident photo editing experts to see if 64GB would actually be necessary or a bit overkill. @Bigfoot and @NoddyPirate have a fair bit of knowledge on Lightroom and Photoshop, what do you guys think?

 

[Bigfoot]

I think 32GB will be fine for LR, PS and Topaz Labs. I have all these and 32GB seems enough. If you get 2x16GB now, you can always add more later. You are more likely to need 64GB for longer 4K video edits than for photography unless your are doing huge panoramas or similar merges.

 

[NoddyPirate]

Agree with @Bigfoot above. I have 32GB of RAM and have so far been unable to break it with some rather crazy experiments involving both Lightroom and Photoshop at the same time - mostly pointlessly big photomerges and exports and so on.

Lightroom is the Hungry Horace of the two - it basically does not give any RAM back to the system once it has been allocated to the program, and only releases it's allocation upon shutdown. So for example, if it needed 20 GB of RAM for a single operation, it will continue to reserve that 20GB - give or take - till you exit the app.

Photoshop is the better behaved by a long way, but even using the two together I'd 🐝 surprised if 32GB causes any problems.

Bigfoots suggestion of 32GB now and add more later if it turns out you need it is a good one. Adding RAM is easy peasy down the road.

 

[benji1867]

Appreciate the responses fellas, I’ll go with 32gb initially then, and see how it goes. I mostly live in LR for my edits, using some Nix and Topaz plug in’s along the way.

I just need to get hardcore selling done to fund it. I needed this as a goal and for when it invariably makes me sad tearing apart my collection 😂

have a good evening,
Ben