First custom PC! Would love any opinions/ advice from experienced pc users!

[crispyteaa]

Case
PCS SPECTRUM RGB MID TOWER CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 5600X Six Core CPU (3.7GHz-4.6GHz/35MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING B550-PLUS (DDR4, USB 3.2, 6Gb/s) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE RGB PRO DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3060 Ti - HDMI, DP, LHR
1st Storage Drive
512GB PCS 2.5" SSD, SATA 6 Gb (520MB/R, 450MB/W)
1st Storage Drive
1TB PCS 2.5" SSD, SATA 6 Gb (520MB/R, 470MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W TXm SERIES™ SEMI-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
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
LED Lighting
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 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]

This system has cost 1500GPB so far. I dont mind stretching the budget if necessary.

ASUS VG248 monitor (144hz)
PC will be used as a streaming and gaming machine. Currently, I'm streaming my Xbox to PC via capture card. When I play games on the PC I wont be streaming at the same time.... But I am looking to move to PC in future so I would like to be using the PC to stream and game simultaneously if possible.

I would be playing a variety of games. Some open world survival games to FPS games such as Apex legends, Warzone. Not bothered about 4K gaming. 1080 -1440p at 144frames is all i need for the games i play. (from benchmark videos i watched on youtube, this setup should be more than capable of this. hopefully this is the case.)

Maybe some very light video editing as well. Mainly gaming clips so nothing too heavy on the animations and effects.

Iv read some bad things about the case due to poor airflow? If its really that bad of a choice then ill happily upgrade if you guys can suggest a better alternative that isn't massively more expensive! Last thing i want is everything overheating.

Any recommendations or advice is welcome

Thanks in advance.

 

[Citrus_9]

Welcome! For streaming I recommend 5800X over 5600X. But this would require a better cooler and a better motherboard. PSU 650W seems too low, better at least 850W. Don't know why you picked 3060 Ti - it's overkill for a 1080p monitor. Pick 2060 or 3060.

 

[Smokitt10]

Welcome! For streaming I recommend 5800X over 5600X. But this would require a better cooler and a better motherboard. PSU 650W seems too low, better at least 850W. Don't know why you picked 3060 Ti - it's overkill for a 1080p monitor. Pick 2060 or 3060.

Not to hijack the thread but could I potentially ask why you’d suggest a better motherboard? I’ve ordered the same as OP but with the 5800x but all the documentation claims it’s compatible so might need to change that if there’s an issue!

 

[Citrus_9]

Not to hijack the thread but could I potentially ask why you’d suggest a better motherboard? I’ve ordered the same as OP but with the 5800x but all the documentation claims it’s compatible so might need to change that if there’s an issue!

5800X creates a lot of heat. Main reason is that X570 motherboard can support that better than B550. There are few other advantages too.

 

[sck451]

Welcome! For streaming I recommend 5800X over 5600X. But this would require a better cooler and a better motherboard. PSU 650W seems too low, better at least 850W. Don't know why you picked 3060 Ti - it's overkill for a 1080p monitor. Pick 2060 or 3060.

It wouldn't require a better motherboard: the 5800X will run just fine on the Tuf B550. But that doesn't mean a better motherboard isn't a good idea: the 5800X definitely has some heavy voltage requirements and a better grade of motherboard will help a lot with that. Cooling, though, definitely would want upgrading.

That said, there isn't a huge need for the 5800X if you're going for a Nvidia graphics card, because you can pass all the encoding to the Nvenc facility, which takes all the stress off the CPU. This is definitely a circumstance where the 5800X is nice, rather than needed. But I'd definitely want a current-gen graphics card to get the latest and greatest version of Nvenc.

5800X creates a lot of heat. Main reason is that X570 motherboard can support that better than B550. There are few other advantages too.

I'd be careful with that statement. Some B550 motherboards are better than some X570 motherboards, and the B550 standard is actually the newer one. But within a product family (e.g. the Tuf lineup) the X570 is likely to have better power, better VRM cooling, etc.

And to @crispyteaa (this was meant to be a separate post, but I keep getting browser error messages):

This isn't a bad start at all. I'd make a few changes, to the case, the storage, the power supply, the cooling and the WiFi card. I'd also tentatively make a change to the graphics card, depending on your maximum budget. The 3060 Ti is designed for the 1440p market, so you won't see the full benefit from it. On the other hand, the 3060 isn't all that much cheaper and has significantly worse performance, so there's definitely an argument for spending the extra £75 and going for the Ti model. As I said above, I'd definitely want to have a current-gen card (3000 series) for the latest Nvenc encoder. In OBS, you can change to the Nvenc encoder very easily and with negiligible loss of quality.

This will have similar performance to your original (bar the graphics card difference that probably won't be noticeable on your monitor), but has better foundations that will offer a longer lifespan and better upgradability.

Case
CORSAIR 4000D AIRFLOW TEMPERED GLASS GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 5600X Six Core CPU (3.7GHz-4.6GHz/35MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING B550-PLUS (DDR4, USB 3.2, 6Gb/s) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE RGB PRO DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
12GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3060 - HDMI, DP
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
CoolerMaster MasterLiquid Lite 240 High Performance Liquid Cooler
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
LED Lighting
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
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 12 to 15 working days
Price: £1,606.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/vgZ8hSQN7r/

 

[crispyteaa]

@sck451 @Citrus_9 Massive thanks for getting back to me! Certainly appreciate the time you took for your input.

Yes I will be running The Nvenc encorder for the stream as I do that now and works great. (as long as the new GPU can handle streaming and gaming as well).
If not then i will probably use the CPU for encoding the stream so the GPU can focus on the game. I currently stream using a
Intel i5-4460 CPU @ 3.20GHz, 3201 Mhz, 4 Core and a Geforce GTX 960 which actually does the job running my stream.....just. (running at a good 80-90 percent for just the stream/ couple of chrome tabs and spotify.)

So, my thoughts with the hardware I originally selected that it should handle it way better i would imagine. I went with the 3060ti as i may upgrade the monitor to a 1440p down the road at some point. With that in mind do you feel the 3060ti would be the better choice?


Can i also ask if there is any added benefit to the M.2 drives apart from faster loading times?

Many thanks again!

 

[MrWilson]

@sck451 @Citrus_9 Massive thanks for getting back to me! Certainly appreciate the time you took for your input.

Yes I will be running The Nvenc encorder for the stream as I do that now and works great. (as long as the new GPU can handle streaming and gaming as well).
If not then i will probably use the CPU for encoding the stream so the GPU can focus on the game. I currently stream using a
Intel i5-4460 CPU @ 3.20GHz, 3201 Mhz, 4 Core and a Geforce GTX 960 which actually does the job running my stream.....just. (running at a good 80-90 percent for just the stream/ couple of chrome tabs and spotify.)

So, my thoughts with the hardware I originally selected that it should handle it way better i would imagine. I went with the 3060ti as i may upgrade the monitor to a 1440p down the road at some point. With that in mind do you feel the 3060ti would be the better choice?


Can i also ask if there is any added benefit to the M.2 drives apart from faster loading times?

Many thanks again!

With regards to the 3060ti, it depends how long you're going to wait until upgrading to a 1440p display. If it's longer than about 6 months I would recommend sticking with the 2060 for now, and then upgrading the GPU alongside the monitor, either to a 3060ti or the 1440p card from the 4000 series if it's released by the time that you're looking to upgrade. The 2060 is still highly capable, and offers much better value than the 3060. Yes, it is from the previous generation, but that's still 2 generations more advanced than the 960 you currently have, and still packs NVENC, DLSS and ray tracing.
2 m.2 drives mean that if your primary drive gets corrupted or you have to reinstall windows you don't have to redownload your games library.

 

[crispyteaa]

With regards to the 3060ti, it depends how long you're going to wait until upgrading to a 1440p display. If it's longer than about 6 months I would recommend sticking with the 2060 for now, and then upgrading the GPU alongside the monitor, either to a 3060ti or the 1440p card from the 4000 series if it's released by the time that you're looking to upgrade. The 2060 is still highly capable, and offers much better value than the 3060. Yes, it is from the previous generation, but that's still 2 generations more advanced than the 960 you currently have, and still packs NVENC, DLSS and ray tracing.
2 m.2 drives mean that if your primary drive gets corrupted or you have to reinstall windows you don't have to redownload your games only a couple of months realistically.

Most likely will upgrade the monitor in couple of months. Ill certainly have a think about going down to a standard 3060 though if its not going to make a huge difference! appreciate the input!

The case and cooling is one of main concerns as I saw on a previous forum post that the case isnt good for airflow and that it wasnt being sold for a while. Wondering if PCS have since sorted the issues out with the case so it can be sold again?

I can happily upgrade the CPU cooler if needs be or/and the case if the temperatures are going to be an issue.
last thing i want is for it all break or suffer because of poor cooling!

 

[sck451]

The 4000D Airflow is an excellent case, just about best in class for its size. It probably wasn't being sold because it was out of stock, not because it was problematic. That case with the 240mm AIO would be fine; the 5600X isn't even a terribly hot chip.

 

[MrWilson]

Most likely will upgrade the monitor in couple of months. Ill certainly have a think about going down to a standard 3060 though if its not going to make a huge difference! appreciate the input!

The case and cooling is one of main concerns as I saw on a previous forum post that the case isnt good for airflow and that it wasnt being sold for a while. Wondering if PCS have since sorted the issues out with the case so it can be sold again?

I can happily upgrade the CPU cooler if needs be or/and the case if the temperatures are going to be an issue.
last thing i want is for it all break or suffer because of poor cooling!

If it's a couple of months I would recommend the 3060ti then.

 

[crispyteaa]

The 4000D Airflow is an excellent case, just about best in class for its size. It probably wasn't being sold because it was out of stock, not because it was problematic. That case with the 240mm AIO would be fine; the 5600X isn't even a terribly hot chip.

Awesome, thanks!!

Is there a case with RBG fans that you would also recommend for around the same cost as the 4000d? not that its completely necessary but it would be nice to have the option if there is a good value/quality case thats better then the spectrum mid tier.

 

[MrWilson]

So the cheapest case with RGB I would consider is the Lian Li 215 which is actually £1 cheaper than the 4000D and does a great job at its price point. But for me the gold standard budget RGB case is the Coolermaster TD500 Mesh. It's only £9 more than the 4000D (which in a £1500 really isn't much) but offers great airflow and aesthetics.

 

[crispyteaa]

So the cheapest case with RGB I would consider is the Lian Li 215 which is actually £1 cheaper than the 4000D and does a great job at its price point. But for me the gold standard budget RGB case is the Coolermaster TD500 Mesh. It's only £9 more than the 4000D (which in a £1500 really isn't much) but offers great airflow and aesthetics.

Sounds great! I was wondering if the Coolmaster case was any better At least i have some good options to choose from now.

with the 4000D or the Coolmaster TD500 as well as a frostflow 240 that should offer plenty of cooling? Or is the standard AMD cooler enough seeing as the case would be better ventilated? also Is it worth adding in a top exhaust fan as well? or would that be overkill?

sorry for the bulk of questions! want to make sure its right before building commences.

Edit- just a thought.... if i amend the order when its in pre-production, will that reset the order so ill have to wait longer?

 

[MrWilson]

The 5600x don’t require a whole lot of cooling. I don’t rate the frost flow cooler to be honest. It doesn’t offer a whole lot extra over the standard cooler. I would either stick with the standard cooler or go for the Coolermaster 240 lite. The 4000D only has 2 case fans so having the AIO would be worthwhile, especially if you’re streaming for a long time as that will mean the CPU is working quite hard over a sustained period of time.

Amendments won’t affect your place in the queue, that is determined based on the date that you put in your initial order. Obviously though, if you switch to a low stock item such as a 3080 GPU you may end up waiting longer than average.

 

[Smokitt10]

Awesome, thanks!!

Is there a case with RBG fans that you would also recommend for around the same cost as the 4000d? not that its completely necessary but it would be nice to have the option if there is a good value/quality case thats better then the spectrum mid tier.

Just as I ended up doing this myself, you could also look to source something like the Corsair 4000x RGB from another reseller and ship that in to PC Specialist through the ‘send your own case’ option.

It was actually really easy and I just used the PCS address instead of my own at checkout for the case. PCS supply full details when you click on that as an option in the configurator if you wanted any more info!