Help deciding a PSU and Check Specs

[ghoul]

Hi all,

I decided to go down the route of getting a custom built PC, due to parts being extremely expensive this last year or two. Here are my specs, and would love to hear what you guys think.
Just a pre-warning, I decided to buy a 1TB M.2 NVMe as my main OS drive, and won't be using the PCS one supplied. And will likely get a 2TB hard drive for games.

My other question is, do you think this PSU is overkill for this build? If it is, and I was to keep it in the build, would it cost me more to run daily?

Case
Corsair 4000D Airflow
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 3600MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
8GB ASUS TUF GAMING GEFORCE RTX 3060 Ti - HDMI, DP, LHR
1st Storage Drive
256GB PCS 2.5" SSD, SATA 6 Gb (500MB/R, 400MB/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
CoolerMaster Hyper 212 (120mm) Fan CPU Cooler Black Edition
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
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 Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)

 

[JUNI0R]

Hi all,

I decided to go down the route of getting a custom built PC, due to parts being extremely expensive this last year or two. Here are my specs, and would love to hear what you guys think.
Just a pre-warning, I decided to buy a 1TB M.2 NVMe as my main OS drive, and won't be using the PCS one supplied. And will likely get a 2TB hard drive for games.

My other question is, do you think this PSU is overkill for this build? If it is, and I was to keep it in the build, would it cost me more to run daily?

Case
Corsair 4000D Airflow
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 3600MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
8GB ASUS TUF GAMING GEFORCE RTX 3060 Ti - HDMI, DP, LHR
1st Storage Drive
256GB PCS 2.5" SSD, SATA 6 Gb (500MB/R, 400MB/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
CoolerMaster Hyper 212 (120mm) Fan CPU Cooler Black Edition
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
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 Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)

Heya! Looks like a strong start! A few bits we could change though.

Couple questions first. What's the budget? What will the PC be used for? And what monitor will the PC be hooked up to? (either make and model or resolution and refresh rate would be ideal!) Also would you be able to provide the configurable link for the build? I'm assuming you already have the 1TB SSD and the 2TB HDD?

 

[ghoul]

Heya! Looks like a strong start! A few bits we could change though.

Couple questions first. What's the budget? What will the PC be used for? And what monitor will the PC be hooked up to? (either make and model or resolution and refresh rate would be ideal!) Also would you be able to provide the configurable link for the build? I'm assuming you already have the 1TB SSD and the 2TB HDD?

Hey!
Budget is around £1650
PC will mainly be used for gaming (Rainbow Six Seige, Warzone, Apex Legends, GTA V, Forza Horizon 5)
Regards to the monitor, it's not a gaming monitor, just one I use for work at the moment, a 29" Ultrawide (2560x1080)
I've bought the 1TB M.2, I got a 970 Evo Plus. Looking to use a old HDD or buy a 970 Evo Plus 2TB when they are back on sale.

PCSPECIALIST - Top Spec Custom PCs & Laptops Built to Order

Manufacturer of performance custom computers and laptops. Customise your ideal gaming PC or laptop using our advanced configurator.

www.pcspecialist.co.uk

 

[ghoul]

Sorry, another question,
Do I need a 1TB for the OS and 2TB for games, or is that overkill?

 

[JUNI0R]

Hey!
Budget is around £1650
PC will mainly be used for gaming (Rainbow Six Seige, Warzone, Apex Legends, GTA V, Forza Horizon 5)
Regards to the monitor, it's not a gaming monitor, just one I use for work at the moment, a 29" Ultrawide (2560x1080)
I've bought the 1TB M.2, I got a 970 Evo Plus. Looking to use a old HDD or buy a 970 Evo Plus 2TB when they are back on sale.

PCSPECIALIST - Top Spec Custom PCs & Laptops Built to Order

Manufacturer of performance custom computers and laptops. Customise your ideal gaming PC or laptop using our advanced configurator.

www.pcspecialist.co.uk

Is there any plans to upgrade the monitor in the coming future? Realistically you could run that monitor perfectly fine off of a 1660 Super so the 3060TI would be vastly overspecced. Something like a 1440p 144hz monitor would be a great match with the 3060TI and would be an incredible upgrade over the current one (I upgraded from 1080p 60hz to 1440p 144hz and didn't realise gaming was so good)- a montior with those specs would set you back about £300. Doesn't have to be at the same time as the PC, but in the next 6-9 months or so, it'd make sense to spec a GPU for an incoming screen.

 

[JUNI0R]

Sorry, another question,
Do I need a 1TB for the OS and 2TB for games, or is that overkill?

The ideal spec we tend to do is a 5000GB SSD for Windows and applications, then a 1TB SSD for games (you really want to be loading games off of an SSD in 2021) then a 2TB HDD for general files, but we do any mixture of that depending on the uses and budget.

 

[ghoul]

Is there any plans to upgrade the monitor in the coming future? Realistically you could run that monitor perfectly fine off of a 1660 Super so the 3060TI would be vastly overspecced. Something like a 1440p 144hz monitor would be a great match with the 3060TI and would be an incredible upgrade over the current one (I upgraded from 1080p 60hz to 1440p 144hz and didn't realise gaming was so good)- a montior with those specs would set you back about £300. Doesn't have to be at the same time as the PC, but in the next 6-9 months or so, it'd make sense to spec a GPU for an incoming screen.

Hi, yes I do plan on upgrading the monitor in the coming months, to as you mentioned a 144hz so I can ideally play at 1440p!
Unfortunately, ill have to play on the ultrawide for a bit, unless some good deals come along at Christmas! Could I kindly ask if you could recommend some monitors for 1440p 144Hz gaming please?

As I'll be upgrading my monitor in the future, would it make sense to keep the same PSU at 750W? Or is that still overkill, I've seen online articles with that spec come with 550W, but that sounds underpowered to me!

 

[ghoul]

The ideal spec we tend to do is a 5000GB SSD for Windows and applications, then a 1TB SSD for games (you really want to be loading games off of an SSD in 2021) then a 2TB HDD for general files, but we do any mixture of that depending on the uses and budget.

I must admit, I was definitely thinking of putting my OS + Applications on a 500GB SSD, I thought my idea of a 1TB could be overkill for that. So might swap it for a 500GB and either use the 1TB as the game drive, or upgrade it to a 2TB M.2 (PCIe 3.0)

 

[JUNI0R]

Hi, yes I do plan on upgrading the monitor in the coming months, to as you mentioned a 144hz so I can ideally play at 1440p!
Unfortunately, ill have to play on the ultrawide for a bit, unless some good deals come along at Christmas! Could I kindly ask if you could recommend some monitors for 1440p 144Hz gaming please?

Sadly you've just missed out on Black Friday, but the prices of 4K monitors have really forced down the price of 1440p monitors so they're really fantastic value these days anyway. The current go to is the Gigabyte M27Q for about £300. There is also the Samsung G5 for £250 but with an inferior VA panel (compared to the IPS of the Gigabyte) I'd 100% recommend saving up the £30-40 difference and getting the M27Q.

I must admit, I was definitely thinking of putting my OS + Applications on a 500GB SSD, I thought my idea of a 1TB could be overkill for that. So might swap it for a 500GB and either use the 1TB as the game drive, or upgrade it to a 2TB M.2 (PCIe 3.0)

Little confused about your drive situation, what drives have you currently got in what sizes and formats? Then we can work around that in the build!

 

[JUNI0R]

As I'll be upgrading my monitor in the future, would it make sense to keep the same PSU at 750W? Or is that still overkill, I've seen online articles with that spec come with 550W, but that sounds underpowered to me!

Knew I missed something. Realistically, the build above would run perfectly fine on a 650W, but to increase the lifespan (and future upgradability) of the system we tend to overspec the PSU's to make way for a more powerful GPU down the line for when the 3060TI gets a bit long in the tooth. Our go to on the budgets that have the headroom is 850W which is probably what I'd recommend here.

 

[ghoul]

Sadly you've just missed out on Black Friday, but the prices of 4K monitors have really forced down the price of 1440p monitors so they're really fantastic value these days anyway. The current go to is the Gigabyte M27Q for about £300. There is also the Samsung G5 for £250 but with an inferior VA panel (compared to the IPS of the Gigabyte) I'd 100% recommend saving up the £30-40 difference and getting the M27Q.


Little confused about your drive situation, what drives have you currently got in what sizes and formats? Then we can work around that in the build!

Oh that is good news (prices for 1440p.monitors have come down)! I had a brief look at that Gigabyte monitor, and it looks really good, thank you! You may tempt me to looking for an upcoming deals in the lead up to Christmas.

Sorry for the confusion on drives. I have a 1TB M.2 970 Evo Plus, which I bought as the OS drive.
But, I'll happily buy a 500GB M.2 too, so I can use this as the OS drive and the 1TB for the game SSD.
I originally thought getting a 2TB SSD would be needed for games (not sure how big these games are nowadays on PCs)
I have spare HDDs, which are some WD 3TB I think, but they are my last resort.

 

[ghoul]

Knew I missed something. Realistically, the build above would run perfectly fine on a 650W, but to increase the lifespan (and future upgradability) of the system we tend to overspec the PSU's to make way for a more powerful GPU down the line for when the 3060TI gets a bit long in the tooth. Our go to on the budgets that have the headroom is 850W which is probably what I'd recommend here.

Oh no problems, I appreciate you taking the time to reply to all my queries and questions!
Ah okay, at the moment, it has a 750W in it, but I'll amend the order to see how much price difference it would be to go for a 850W
(Btw, as you may have gathered from the above line, the PC is in Pre-Production, so can amend bits if needed)

 

[JUNI0R]

Oh that is good news (prices for 1440p.monitors have come down)! I had a brief look at that Gigabyte monitor, and it looks really good, thank you! You may tempt me to looking for an upcoming deals in the lead up to Christmas

Brilliant, it's a totally different experience, I'm sure you'll enjoy it!

Sorry for the confusion on drives. I have a 1TB M.2 970 Evo Plus, which I bought as the OS drive.
But, I'll happily buy a 500GB M.2 too, so I can use this as the OS drive and the 1TB for the game SSD.
I originally thought getting a 2TB SSD would be needed for games (not sure how big these games are nowadays on PCs)
I have spare HDDs, which are some WD 3TB I think, but they are my last resort.

I'd 100% use that TB 970 as a games SSD, it'd be a good use for that drive. If you're finding it not enough space (which can happen with how big games are these days) you could always put your less played games onto that 3TB HDD so they're still installed but not taking up your valuable SSD space.

Oh no problems, I appreciate you taking the time to reply to all my queries and questions!
Ah okay, at the moment, it has a 750W in it, but I'll amend the order to see how much price difference it would be to go for a 850W
(Btw, as you may have gathered from the above line, the PC is in Pre-Production, so can amend bits if needed)

I'd optimise the build a bit as you can see below. With the TUF 3060TI now out of stock, it's saved quite a lot of cash for other upgrades, if you're able to extend the budget by a bit this will be one awesome build. And no worries, I'm happy to help. Ofc, any questions ask away!

 

[JUNI0R]

Case
CORSAIR iCUE 4000X RGB Tempered Glass Mid-Tower ATX Case I realised you had just added the 4000D to the spec, it currently isn't in stock so gone for the 4000X (currently my favourite and a very good case), you're more than welcome to keep the 4000D if you'd like, or you could go 4000X then buy the 4000D front panel seperately to keep the extra fan and RGB goodness
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 7 5800X Eight Core CPU (3.8GHz-4.7GHz/36MB CACHE/AM4) Saved cash can be put into this Ryzen 7
Motherboard
ASUS® STRIX B550-F GAMING (DDR4, USB 3.2, 6Gb/s) - ARGB Ready! Slightly better motherboard to handle the 5800X
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE RGB PRO DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 8GB) With the RAM PCS offers, the difference between 3200mhz and 3600mhz is minimal so I've saved some cash here
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) Super fast Gen 4 boot SSD, not 100% necessary, but you'll be blown away with it's speed
2nd M.2 SSD Drive
Your 1TB 970 Evo- I'd 100% use this as the games drive
Power Supply
CORSAIR 850W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET Upped the PSU for reasons previously discussed
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
Corsair H100i ELITE CAPELLIX RGB Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler Better cooler for the 5800X as it's a pretty warm CPU, will also look brilliant with the 4000X
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING The Corsair AIO's have high quality thermal paste pre-applied so the MX4 isn't necessary here
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 Assume this is intentional? Do you have a windows key ready to onto this PC?
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) Well worth the £5
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Subject to stock availability on pre-order products
Price: £1,693.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/0ZNBf8Xcwc/

 

[Bigfoot]

Where are you obtaining your MS Windows? Please be aware that if you are getting a cheap key online, it is almost certain to be dodgy. You can’t really get a legitimate Windows key for much less than PCS charge and they install it. Of course, you can legitimately transfer a licence from a previous PC you will no longer use.

 

[ghoul]

Brilliant, it's a totally different experience, I'm sure you'll enjoy it!


I'd 100% use that TB 970 as a games SSD, it'd be a good use for that drive. If you're finding it not enough space (which can happen with how big games are these days) you could always put your less played games onto that 3TB HDD so they're still installed but not taking up your valuable SSD space.


I'd optimise the build a bit as you can see below. With the TUF 3060TI now out of stock, it's saved quite a lot of cash for other upgrades, if you're able to extend the budget by a bit this will be one awesome build. And no worries, I'm happy to help. Ofc, any questions ask away!

I do agree with you in regards to the hard drive, I think I will swap the hard drives around and use the HDD as a last resort if I find storage to be a constraint. Thank you for the advice on that.

I believe I may still be getting the TUF 3060Ti, as I had it ordered when in stock, so at the moment, sticking with that option, I hope you don't mind. Is is a good choice of a GPU?

 

[ghoul]

Case
CORSAIR iCUE 4000X RGB Tempered Glass Mid-Tower ATX Case I realised you had just added the 4000D to the spec, it currently isn't in stock so gone for the 4000X (currently my favourite and a very good case), you're more than welcome to keep the 4000D if you'd like, or you could go 4000X then buy the 4000D front panel seperately to keep the extra fan and RGB goodness
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 7 5800X Eight Core CPU (3.8GHz-4.7GHz/36MB CACHE/AM4) Saved cash can be put into this Ryzen 7
Motherboard
ASUS® STRIX B550-F GAMING (DDR4, USB 3.2, 6Gb/s) - ARGB Ready! Slightly better motherboard to handle the 5800X
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE RGB PRO DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 8GB) With the RAM PCS offers, the difference between 3200mhz and 3600mhz is minimal so I've saved some cash here
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) Super fast Gen 4 boot SSD, not 100% necessary, but you'll be blown away with it's speed
2nd M.2 SSD Drive
Your 1TB 970 Evo- I'd 100% use this as the games drive
Power Supply
CORSAIR 850W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET Upped the PSU for reasons previously discussed
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
Corsair H100i ELITE CAPELLIX RGB Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler Better cooler for the 5800X as it's a pretty warm CPU, will also look brilliant with the 4000X
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING The Corsair AIO's have high quality thermal paste pre-applied so the MX4 isn't necessary here
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 Assume this is intentional? Do you have a windows key ready to onto this PC?
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) Well worth the £5
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Subject to stock availability on pre-order products
Price: £1,693.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/0ZNBf8Xcwc/

Thank you for your suggested build, for the total price being similar to mine, and with the TUF 3060Ti switched out, I may take this into consideration!
Do you know what brands of GPUs PCS supply when you go for the non-ASUS ones? I would just like to do some research on possible cards.

Regarding the main M.2, is there much difference between PCIe 4.0 and 3.0 for gaming? Just asking due to the price difference in hard drives.

 

[ghoul]

Where are you obtaining your MS Windows? Please be aware that if you are getting a cheap key online, it is almost certain to be dodgy. You can’t really get a legitimate Windows key for much less than PCS charge and they install it. Of course, you can legitimately transfer a licence from a previous PC you will no longer use.

I am taking a licence off an old machine that I will no longer be using

 

[JUNI0R]

I believe I may still be getting the TUF 3060Ti, as I had it ordered when in stock, so at the moment, sticking with that option, I hope you don't mind. Is is a good choice of a GPU?
Thank you for your suggested build, for the total price being similar to mine, and with the TUF 3060Ti switched out, I may take this into consideration!
Do you know what brands of GPUs PCS supply when you go for the non-ASUS ones? I would just like to do some research on possible cards.

The configurator shows current stock levels, not what will be in stock when you go into build- the ability to amend your would make this a logistical nightmare for PCS to work out. As the TUF 3060TI has now gone out of stock, I wouldn't be surprised if you get contacted by PCS asking if you'd like to change card as the lead time for a specific card can be ages.

The TUF is a nice card, but it'll perform within margin of every other 3060TI as the actual 60TI dye is made by NVIDIA themselves then sold to all these companies to put on their GPU's. The main thing that changes between the cards is power delivery, cooling and aesthetics (as this is down to the different brands) but performance wise, again, they'll be within a margin of error. The 'normal' PCS GPU brands tend to be Zotac or Palit but we have had a couple of Gigabyte and even EVGA cards- I'd imagine due to the shortages. As much as a Zotac isn't the flashiest card, I had a 2070 from them that has did me very well, plus in your situation the saving allows you to go from a 5600X to a 5800X, it seems like a no brainer to me.

Regarding the main M.2, is there much difference between PCIe 4.0 and 3.0 for gaming? Just asking due to the price difference in hard drives.

Speed. For gaming a Gen 3 drive will be more than fast enough, I mean SATA SSD's aren't far off PCIe3 for game loading times anyway, as long as it's on SSD, that's the main thing. I've gone for a gen 4 SSD for boot just so you have a destinct difference between the Boot SSD and Games drive- I wouldn't put any games on that 500GB gen 4 drive and I'd only go for a secondary Gen 4 drive if the budget was insane.

I am taking a licence off an old machine that I will no longer be using

Brilliant, this is good to hear 👌

 

[ghoul]

Hi all, another question.
At the moment I have opted for the CM Hyper 212 Black Edition along with the Artic thermal paste.

If I was to save on those two costs, and put the money saved into buying myself a Noctua NH-U12S, would that be advisable? I've also seen the Dark Rock Pro 4, is a similar price to the Noctua.
Background on why I'm thinking of changing coolers, at the moment, during the middle of the day while I work in the room the PC is going in, it currently reaches 22.5-23 degrees, so I suspect in the summer it will increase of top of that. So the pc will be in a fairly earn room and I want to keep temperatures as cool as possible

I have some MX4 thermal paste at home to use.
I have re-thermal pasted a PS4 before, so happy to do that.

I also saw PCS used to let you choose Noctua coolers last year, does anyone know why they don't stock their products anymore? Was there something wrong or bad with their coolers?

I wonder,
1. Would this affect my warranty, if I replaced the stock cooler with a Noctua one?
2. Would I see thermal/temperature differences if I was to swap from the Hyper 212 Black Edition to the NH-U12S?
3. Would I be able to do this, within the 4000D Airflow case, with everything still inside the case?