First time buying a custom PC

A

AdamRaw626

Member
Hey. Last PC I bought was about £500 six or seven years ago. Want something future proof that will play all the Microsoft exclusives I can't get on PS5.

It will be used almost entirely for gaming. Mostly just playing World of Warcraft at the moment, but planning on getting Baldur's Gate 3, Diablo 4, Elder Scrolls 6, Fable and others when they come out and I want to run them on high settings.

My monitor is 1080p, 60 hz, may upgrade to 1440 at some point. I have a Windows license I can copy over. I have a second monitor that I usually have YouTube or something up on. Budget is around £1700, can be a bit flexible.

Go easy on me, I get very confused about all this stuff. A friend helped me select these options. Also, how long is the wait for 3060ti or 3070 cards roughly? Selected the 3070 but I'm thinking that might be overkill.

Any tips on what I should change with the build?

Case
LIAN LI LANCOOL 215 GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i7 Eight Core Processor i7-11700K (3.6GHz) 16MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING Z590-PLUS WIFI (LGA1200, USB 3.2, PCIe 4.0) - ARGB Ready
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 2400MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3070 - HDMI, DP, LHR
1st Storage Drive
2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 256MB CACHE
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SAMSUNG 970 EVO PLUS M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3500MB/R, 3200MB/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
PCS FrostFlow 150 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
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
Firefox™
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 - Subject to stock availability on pre-order products
Promotional Item
Get Chivalry 2 & HITMAN 3 with select Intel® Core™ Processors
Welcome Book
PCSpecialist Welcome Book - United Kingdom & Republic of Ireland
Logo Branding
PCSpecialist Logo
Price: £0.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-z590-pc/sha9hXV56x/
 
Last edited:
Citrus_9

Citrus_9

Expert
Amd is currently the way to go. Stay away from Intel. If you get a 1440p monitor (and you basically need it now as there's no point buying a properly good PC and pair it with a 1080p 60Hz monitor), then 3070/6700 isn't overkill.

If you're capped at 1700 budget, you'll need to cut the corners. Say, swap a 5800X 8 core to 5600X 6 core etc and make some other amendments.
Case
COOLERMASTER MASTERBOX TD500 MESH ARGB GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 7 5800X Eight Core CPU (3.8GHz-4.7GHz/36MB 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 3200MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
12GB AMD RADEON™ RX 6700 XT - HDMI, DP - DX® 12
1st Storage Drive
2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 256MB CACHE
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SAMSUNG 980 PRO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 6900MB/R, 5000MB/W)
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 RGB PRO XT 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
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 16 to 19 working days
Price: £1,922.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/VXFqc234FG/
 
A

AdamRaw626

Member
Citrus_9 said:
Amd is currently the way to go. Stay away from Intel. If you get a 1440p monitor (and you basically need it now as there's no point buying a properly good PC and pair it with a 1080p 60Hz monitor), then 3070/6700 isn't overkill.

If you're capped at 1700 budget, you'll need to cut the corners. Say, swap a 5800X 8 core to 5600X 6 core etc and make some other amendments.
Case
COOLERMASTER MASTERBOX TD500 MESH ARGB GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 7 5800X Eight Core CPU (3.8GHz-4.7GHz/36MB 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 3200MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
12GB AMD RADEON™ RX 6700 XT - HDMI, DP - DX® 12
1st Storage Drive
2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 256MB CACHE
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SAMSUNG 980 PRO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 6900MB/R, 5000MB/W)
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 RGB PRO XT 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
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 16 to 19 working days
Price: £1,922.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/VXFqc234FG/
Click to expand...
Why stay away from Intel? Are they more expensive/worse quality or something? My previous PCs have all been Intel so I just went with that.
 
MrWilson

MrWilson

Godlike
AdamRaw626 said:
Why stay away from Intel? Are they more expensive/worse quality or something? My previous PCs have all been Intel so I just went with that.
Click to expand...
Intel used to be top dog, but they’ve got complacent in recent years. AMD have made huge performance gains and are now the better choice. You can find a more detailed explanation in the thread below.

AMD Vs Intel

So some of you aren't aware of the reasons why so many people are heading away from Intel to AMD, so thought it would be important to lay that out for people to refer back to. A lot of you will go to cpubenchmark or userbenchmark to find performance metrics for CPU's. These sites are complete...
www.pcspecialist.co.uk www.pcspecialist.co.uk
 
D

DarTon

Well-known member
Your current spec pairs a 11700K with higher end motherboard, with a low grade cooler and lower grade PSU just isn't going to work. The motherboard will be good for frying eggs on but pretty sub-optimal for long-term gaming.

I agree with @Citrus_9, that you need to decide now whether you are going to buy a 1440p monitor or you are going to put that off. If you stick with current 1080p 60Hz monitor, the GPU doesn't need to be any better than a 2060 and you can spec an 8-core system that with the appropriate motherboard and cooling so that a 3070 class GPU can be slotted in later. You obviously need to budget for the new monitor and GPU at a later time.

If you want to buy a 1440p monitor with a high refresh now, then a 3070 class GPU is correct but you'll need to compromise with a 6-core CPU like the 5600X. The 5600X allows a cheaper motherboard, cheaper cooling and possibly to reduce the PSU to some degree. That just helps cut costs to something close to £1,700 without any horrible compromises.

The 5600X CPU is in no way a slouch in performance terms. It's got better single core performance than any 10th gen Intel CPU and is very comparable to an 11700K. In multi-core terms it beats any 10th gen, with the exception of the 10-core i9s and is perhaps 5% worse than the 11700K despite having 25% less cores.

Example 5600X build

Case
FRACTAL FOCUS G BLACK GAMING CASE (Window) - Case is really up to you; this is a decent cheaper 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! - B550 board pairs well with less onerous thermals of 5600X
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3070 - HDMI, DP, LHR - Ideal for 1440p, fast refresh monitor. Bit cheaper than 6700XT.
1st Storage Drive
1TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 64MB CACHE - Archival storage
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SEAGATE FIRECUDA 520 GEN 4 PCIe NVMe (up to 5000MB/R, 2500MB/W) - Fast PCIe4 NVMe SSD for OS and core programs
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB INTEL® 670p M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 3500MB/sR | 2500MB/sW) - Second fast PCIe3 NVMe SSD for games
Power Supply
CORSAIR 750W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET - High quality modular 750W PSU (go 850W if you want)
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
CoolerMaster MasterLiquid Lite 240 High Performance Liquid Cooler - 5600X doesn't need as expensive cooling solution
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 - Modern wifi card
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 - Subject to stock availability on pre-order products
Price: £1,715.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/b!8nwnUah6/
 
A

AdamRaw626

Member
Thanks, I'll play around with those configurations. Also been informed that my windows license won't work on a new computer because its OEM or something.
 
Martinr36

Martinr36

MOST VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
AdamRaw626 said:
Ok I'll Google some more about that when I'm at home, thanks.
Click to expand...
Read here

Transferring digital windows 10 license to new machine

Hi all Quite a few people already have a windows 10 License which they want to transfer over to the new PC. Windows 10 now makes this easy, even if you have an OEM license, you can legitimately turn it into a "digital license" by tying it to your microsoft account, and then transfer it legally...
www.pcspecialist.co.uk www.pcspecialist.co.uk
 
AgentCooper

AgentCooper

At Least I Have Chicken
Moderator
AdamRaw626 said:
Ok I'll Google some more about that when I'm at home, thanks
Click to expand...
Off topic, but it still blows my mind that the word ‘google’ has essentially now replaced the word ‘search’.

Although not on every occasion... If I’d had a rough time and needed to do some introspective thinking I wouldn’t be asking myself some very googling questions. And I wouldn’t necessarily listen to the 60s band The Googlers.

I think I’ve had not enough sleep and too much coffee. I’ll get me coat.
 
A

AdamRaw626

Member
I liked your suggestions, Darton. I've removed the wireless since my PC lives right next to the ethernet socket, is there another reason to have one? Also went with the 850 PSU and upgraded the case to one I really liked the aesthetics of.

Is there a rough estimation for current wait times for the 3070? Don't mind if it takes a while to arrive, but I'm on holiday at the start of September so ideally I need to avoid that week if possible.

Case
FRACTAL DEFINE 7 BLACK QUIET 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 DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3070 - HDMI, DP, LHR
1st Storage Drive
1TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 64MB CACHE
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SEAGATE FIRECUDA 520 GEN 4 PCIe NVMe (up to 5000MB/R, 2500MB/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
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT
Wireless Network Card
NOT REQUIRED
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 - Subject to stock availability on pre-order products
Price: £1,829.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/qesWNPaHtB/
 
Martinr36

Martinr36

MOST VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
That's looking good Adam (y)

For idea on 3070 build times check out this thread

rtx 3070 sales preference according to upgrade / build ?

No. Its not true that items are 'reserved' for you when you order. Your name isn't put on anything until you come to the top of the build queue and your items are picked. This is because people can change their order anytime before it goes into building, so an item that was in stock when you...
www.pcspecialist.co.uk www.pcspecialist.co.uk
 
A

AdamRaw626

Member
So I was having a look at the amend order just now, and it seems upgrading to the 3070ti over the 3070 would be £15 less. Is this right? Is there a downside to upgrading, like would a 3070ti take a lot longer to arrive? I'm currently on 19 working days and I don't want to slow my order down too much.
 
MrWilson

MrWilson

Godlike
AdamRaw626 said:
So I was having a look at the amend order just now, and it seems upgrading to the 3070ti over the 3070 would be £15 less. Is this right? Is there a downside to upgrading, like would a 3070ti take a lot longer to arrive?
Click to expand...
Looking back at the thread looks like you hit buy at the start of July when the 3070 was quite expensive. GPU prices have dipped since then. Should be a similar wait time, and saving money for a slightly better GPU is worth it in my book!
 
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