First PC - Advice Appreciated!

M

mikanees

Member
Hi everyone!

I'm looking into finally getting my first PC - I've only used gaming laptops up until this point so I'm very excited! I'm going to use this PC to play games and stream, so it does need to be somewhat powerful. My budget is around £2500. Please let me know what you think (also this is my first time doing any of this so please be nice lol)!

Here are the specs:

Case
PCS PRISM TG BLACK ARGB MID TOWER CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 7 5800X Eight Core CPU (3.8GHz-4.7GHz/36MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
GIGABYTE X570S AORUS ELITE AX : ATX (USB 3.2 Gen 1, PCIe 4.0, CrossFireX) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE RGB PRO DDR4 3600MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
12GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3080 Ti - HDMI, DP, LHR
Graphics Card Support Bracket
PCS ARGB GRAPHICS CARD SUPPORT BRACKET
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SAMSUNG 980 PRO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 7000MB/R, 5000MB/W)
1st Storage Drive
2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 256MB CACHE
Power Supply
CORSAIR 850W RMe SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead, 1.0mm Core)
Processor Cooling
Corsair iCUE H100i 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
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 [KUK-00003]
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
Norton 360 inc. Game Optimizer - Free 90 Day License
Browser
Google Chrome™
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 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
Promotional Item
Get Spider-Man Remastered with select GeForce RTX 30 Series GPUs!
Welcome Book
PCSpecialist Welcome Book - United Kingdom & Republic of Ireland
Price: £2,372.00 including VAT and Delivery

Thank you! ^^
 
sck451

sck451

MOST VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
Hi! Only one major unanswered question: what monitor will you be using?

Honestly this build is quite hard to recommend because (as of tomorrow) it's out of date. I'd suggest getting something based on the X670 platform, probably the 7700X (though we'll see what the overall package looks like tomorrow!). I personally wouldn't hang on for either of the 4080s because they seem ludicrously overpriced; in your shoes I'd probably go for a 3080 (the base 10GB version).
 
M

mikanees

Member
sck451 said:
Hi! Only one major unanswered question: what monitor will you be using?

Honestly this build is quite hard to recommend because (as of tomorrow) it's out of date. I'd suggest getting something based on the X670 platform, probably the 7700X (though we'll see what the overall package looks like tomorrow!). I personally wouldn't hang on for either of the 4080s because they seem ludicrously overpriced; in your shoes I'd probably go for a 3080 (the base 10GB version).
Click to expand...
Thanks for answering! My monitor is the ACER NITRO VG240Y S 23 8 FHD G MONITOR.

How much of a difference will there be between the X670 and the 7700X? I'm not looking into actually purchasing this PC until around December-January (I just wanted to make a build so I'd know approximately what to save up for), so will the newer motherboard/graphics card be significantly better/expensive?
 
robin h 25

robin h 25

Well-known member
mikanees said:
I'm not looking into actually purchasing this PC until around December-January
Click to expand...
Your best to come back to the forums when you're closer to ordering what you're wanting, prices and parts may change by the time you get to ordering.

mikanees said:
My monitor is the ACER NITRO VG240Y S 23 8 FHD G MONITOR.
Click to expand...
As for your monitor and the idea of getting a 3080ti, you'll be throwing money away, the 3080ti is way to powerful for a 1080p 165hz monitor, you'll never get to use the full potential of the 3080ti,
A 3080 or higher is a 4K 144hz gaming card, at 1080p it's just a waste,
You'll have two options,
Drop the GPU down to what suits the monitor or upgrade your monitor to suit the GPU.
 
SpyderTracks

SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
TSMC have announced that they'll be increasing prices in the 4th quarter (September to December)

www.theregister.com

TSMC to hike some chip prices 'by as much as 20%'

If you want all these new fabs, you're gonna pay for 'em, pal
www.theregister.com www.theregister.com

Intel have already admitted they're raising prices by around 20% with release of 13th gen in a couple of weeks

So basically all prices will be different by December so it's not going to be possible to estimate prices currently.
 
M

mikanees

Member
Hello,

I posted on this forum last year, but didn't have a chance to buy it yet, so I wanted to check if my build still holds up! I'll be using this PC for playing games and streaming, and I would like this build to hold up for many years in the future. I play games like Genshin Impact, Overwatch 2, and Red Dead Redemption 2. I'm very new to PC building, so I started with one of the PCS premade builds. My budget is £2,000-2,500. If you have any criticism, please use simple terms! Thanks so much!

Case
PCS PRISM TG BLACK ARGB MID TOWER CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D Eight Core CPU (3.4GHz-4.5GHz/100MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® ROG STRIX B550-F GAMING WIFI II (DDR4, USB 3.2, 6Gb/s) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE RGB PRO DDR4 3600MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3070 Ti - HDMI, DP, LHR
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SAMSUNG 980 PRO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 7000MB/R, 5000MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 750W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
Corsair iCUE H150i ELITE RGB 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
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 [KUK-00003]
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 (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 8 to 10 working days
Promotional Item
Get Company of Heroes™ 3 when you buy select AMD Ryzen™ 5000 Series processors!
Welcome Book
PCSpecialist Welcome Book - United Kingdom & Republic of Ireland
 
Last edited:
M

mikanees

Member
Oh also I forgot to note that my current monitor is the Acer Nitro VG240YS 24 Inch 165Hz FHD Gaming Monitor.

Also, two more questions:
  1. I have to get a motherboard with a WiFi chip as I do not have ethernet right?
  2. Do you need both an SSD Drive and a Storage Drive? They were two different options in the part picker, so I wasn't sure.
Thanks so much!
 
M

mikanees

Member
SpyderTracks said:
Can you include the configurable link at the bottom of the quote so we can edit it?
Click to expand...
Oh sorry! Here it is again:

Case
PCS PRISM TG BLACK ARGB MID TOWER CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D Eight Core CPU (3.4GHz-4.5GHz/100MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® ROG STRIX B550-F GAMING WIFI II (DDR4, USB 3.2, 6Gb/s) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE RGB PRO DDR4 3600MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3070 Ti - HDMI, DP, LHR
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SAMSUNG 980 PRO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 7000MB/R, 5000MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 750W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
Corsair iCUE H150i ELITE RGB 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
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 [KUK-00003]
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 (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 9 to 11 working days
Promotional Item
Get Company of Heroes™ 3 when you buy select AMD Ryzen™ 5000 Series processors!
Price: £0.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/d3Uf8CXKnH/
 
Scott

Scott

Behold The Ford Mondeo
Moderator
Around here is where I would land for your uses. No need for such a high end GPU. The 3060Ti is massive overkill as it is for 1080p.
Case
LIAN LI LANCOOL 215 GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D Eight Core CPU (3.4GHz-4.5GHz/100MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® ROG STRIX B550-F GAMING WIFI II (DDR4, USB 3.2, 6Gb/s) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE RGB PRO DDR4 3600MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3060 Ti - HDMI, DP, LHR
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 CORSAIR FORCE MP600 NVMe PCIe M.2 SSD (up to 4950 MB/R, 4000 MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 850W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead, 1.0mm Core)
Processor Cooling
Corsair iCUE 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
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 [KUK-00003]
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 9 to 11 working days
Price: £1,901.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/RRsCWk8qUE/
 
M

mikanees

Member
Scott said:
Around here is where I would land for your uses. No need for such a high end GPU. The 3060Ti is massive overkill as it is for 1080p.
Case
LIAN LI LANCOOL 215 GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D Eight Core CPU (3.4GHz-4.5GHz/100MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® ROG STRIX B550-F GAMING WIFI II (DDR4, USB 3.2, 6Gb/s) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE RGB PRO DDR4 3600MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3060 Ti - HDMI, DP, LHR
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 CORSAIR FORCE MP600 NVMe PCIe M.2 SSD (up to 4950 MB/R, 4000 MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 850W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead, 1.0mm Core)
Processor Cooling
Corsair iCUE 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
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 [KUK-00003]
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 9 to 11 working days
Price: £1,901.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/RRsCWk8qUE/
Click to expand...
Hi!

I appreciate the quick response! I have a question though, why is there two SSD Drives of different sizes instead of one big one?

Thank you!
 
Martinr36

Martinr36

MOST VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
mikanees said:
Hi!

I appreciate the quick response! I have a question though, why is there two SSD Drives of different sizes instead of one big one?

Thank you!
Click to expand...
The smaller faster one is for the OS and programs, and the larger one for your games, this means that should you have to reinstall the OS at any time, you don't have to reinstall all your games
 
Scott

Scott

Behold The Ford Mondeo
Moderator
Additionally, think of the drives as lanes. If you have a dedicated lane for your games and storage, it leaves Windows with a dedicated lane for smooth & fast OS operation :)
 
sck451

sck451

MOST VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
Also it makes for better value for money. You want the fastest possible storage for the operating system. It's less crucial for game storage. If you go for two drives, you can have less of the fastest and most expensive storage and more of the slightly slower and cheaper one. You end up with the best of both worlds.
 
M

mikanees

Member
Thanks for all the responses everyone, I've learned something new today! :)

Another question - If I plan on upgrading my monitor in the future, would a better/high end GPU be worth it?

Thank you!
 
SpyderTracks

SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
mikanees said:
Thanks for all the responses everyone, I've learned something new today! :)

Another question - If I plan on upgrading my monitor in the future, would a better/high end GPU be worth it?

Thank you!
Click to expand...
Only if you're planning on upgrading shortly, otherwise just upgrade the GPU when you upgrade the monitor else you'll have poorer performance and pay more than you need to for that.
 
M

mikanees

Member
SpyderTracks said:
Only if you're planning on upgrading shortly, otherwise just upgrade the GPU when you upgrade the monitor else you'll have poorer performance and pay more than you need to for that.
Click to expand...
Ok got it thank you!

Sorry one last question - about the suggested build above, is there any specific reason that the 500GB SSD Drive is the Samsung 980 Pro and the 1TB SSD Drive is the Corsair Force MP600? Because if it's the price difference, two Samsung 980 Pro SSD Drives is only a little bit more expensive.

Thank you again!
 
Martinr36

Martinr36

MOST VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
mikanees said:
Ok got it thank you!

Sorry one last question - about the suggested build above, is there any specific reason that the 500GB SSD Drive is the Samsung 980 Pro and the 1TB SSD Drive is the Corsair Force MP600? Because if it's the price difference, two Samsung 980 Pro SSD Drives is only a little bit more expensive.

Thank you again!
Click to expand...
As @sck451 said you want nice and fast for the OS (hence the 980), however games don't benefit from those high speeds, hence the slower, but still fast corsair for the games
 
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