Is this a balanced build for gaming?

D

dodgy duck

Member
Case
CORSAIR 5000D AIRFLOW TEMPERED GLASS GAMING CASE
Promotional Item
Get a discount code for 20% off select peripherals at Corsair.com
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 7 5700X3D Eight Core CPU (3.0GHz-4.1GHz/100MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® ROG STRIX B550-F GAMING WIFI II (AM4, DDR4, PCIe 4.0, Wi-Fi 6E)
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
12GB ZOTAC GEFORCE RTX 4070 GDDR6 TWIN EDGE - HDMI, 3 x DP
1st M.2 SSD Drive
2TB CORSAIR CORE XT MP600 NVMe PCIe M.2 SSD (up to 5000 MB/R, 4400 MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W CX SERIES™ CX-650 POWER SUPPLY
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
PCS FrostFlow 240 Series ARGB High Performance Liquid Cooler
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
Extra Case Fans
3 x 120mm PCS Black Case Fan
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT
Wireless Network Card
NONE OR ONBOARD Wi-Fi (MOTHERBOARD DEPENDENT)
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

Any suggestions would be much appreciated.
 
T

TonyCarter

VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
If the questions we need answering don't pop out of that link provided, then in summary we need:
  1. MAX budget (so we don't keep getting asked "What can you do with another £100")?
  2. The make & model, or resolution (1080p, 1440p, 2160p), refresh rate (60Hz, 120Hz, 144Hz, 360Hz, etc.), panel type (TN, VA, IPS, OLED)?
  3. Is it more than 75% a gaming PC, or is there some other significant usage (video/photo editing, 3D, ML)?
  4. Is it going to be expected to run a VR rig?
 
D

dodgy duck

Member
1. Max budget is pretty much £1500 so I am already at it, however I am still not sure if it is correctly distributed to each part for my purposes.
2. I plan to use a 1440p, 180Hz, IPS, monitor.
3. It is going to be around 90% gaming, with a possible light video editing aspect, but I am definitely more focused on the gaming side and would prioritise its performance over the editing.
4. It will, however only games that are compatable with the Meta Quest 2. Again, I would like to prioritise gaming on the 1440p monitor to those in VR.
Hope this is what you need, sorry I have not used this site before.
 
Ekans2011

Ekans2011

VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
dodgy duck said:
1. Max budget is pretty much £1500 so I am already at it, however I am still not sure if it is correctly distributed to each part for my purposes.
2. I plan to use a 1440p, 180Hz, IPS, monitor.
3. It is going to be around 90% gaming, with a possible light video editing aspect, but I am definitely more focused on the gaming side and would prioritise its performance over the editing.
4. It will, however only games that are compatable with the Meta Quest 2. Again, I would like to prioritise gaming on the 1440p monitor to those in VR.
Hope this is what you need, sorry I have not used this site before.
Click to expand...
I'm afraid your budget is too low for a decent 1440p gaming PC. You'd need at least £1900-2000 for something meaningful.

Something similar, for example

Case
LIAN LI LANCOOL 205 MESH C GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 7 9700X Eight Core CPU (3.8GHz-5.5GHz/40MB CACHE/AM5) - This is only a placeholder until the 9800X3D or 7800X3D become available again.
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING B650-PLUS WIFI (AM5, DDR5, PCIe 4.0, Wi-Fi 6)
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR5 6000MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
12GB MSI GEFORCE RTX 4070 SUPER VENTUS 2X OC - HDMI, DP, LHR
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB SOLIDIGM P44 PRO GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 7000MB/sR, 4700MB/sW)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
2TB SOLIDIGM P41+ GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 4125MB/sR, 3325MB/sW)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 750W RMe SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
CORSAIR iCUE H115i ELITE CAPELLIX XT 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
ONBOARD 2.5Gbe LAN PORT
Wireless Network Card
NONE OR ONBOARD Wi-Fi (MOTHERBOARD DEPENDENT)
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
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
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 - Approximately 4 to 6 working days
Price: £1,915.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am5-pc/FhrJ7fkDas/
 
Last edited:
D

dodgy duck

Member
Really because I have seen the 4070 and 5700X3D tesed at 1440p and it seems to perform well. It might not be able to handle full graphics settings but surely it is a valid purchase?
 
SpyderTracks

SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
dodgy duck said:
Really because I have seen the 4070 and 5700X3D tesed at 1440p and it seems to perform well. It might not be able to handle full graphics settings but surely it is a valid purchase?
Click to expand...
It’s not that, to fit those components under the budget you have to sacrifice basically the rest of the build which will lead to short lifespan and bottlenecks.

designing a system is about balancing from input (PSU) to output (monitor) as any system can only perform to the weakest component in the chain.

So you’ve fitted a 4070 and 5700x3d, but you wouldn’t achieve that performance because of other components bottlenecking it and when it came to upgrading the GPU (which you have to do no matter what you you select now) you’re stuck and have to replace the whole pc
 
D

dodgy duck

Member
SpyderTracks said:
It’s not that, to fit those components under the budget you have to sacrifice basically the rest of the build which will lead to short lifespan and bottlenecks.

designing a system is about balancing from input (PSU) to output (monitor) as any system can only perform to the weakest component in the chain.

So you’ve fitted a 4070 and 5700x3d, but you wouldn’t achieve that performance because of other components bottlenecking it and when it came to upgrading the GPU (which you have to do no matter what you you select now) you’re stuck and have to replace the whole pc
Click to expand...
Which components are going to be bottlenecking the CPU and GPU (as i assume that these are not the problem) can i ask, as i was under the impression that it was pretty well balanced?
 
sck451

sck451

MOST VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
Also, the 5700X3D is a very, very good gaming chip. However, it is now essentially old. It is limited to DDR4 memory, which will become more and more outdated. It will never be upgradable. It will go out of support earlier than more moden chips (it's now three generations old).

I would happily upgrade an existing AM4 platform to the 5700X3D, but I would not buy a new system with one in today. It's just not a good long-term use of money.
 
D

dodgy duck

Member
SpyderTracks said:
So you saw the questions it asked about your requirements And the links on how to post specs etc?
Click to expand...
Yes and it said not to ammend your post but to leave a comment with the extra info underneath so that's what i did. Again, this is my first time using this forum so im not entirely sure what i'm meant to be doing.
 
D

dodgy duck

Member
sck451 said:
Also, the 5700X3D is a very, very good gaming chip. However, it is now essentially old. It is limited to DDR4 memory, which will become more and more outdated. It will never be upgradable. It will go out of support earlier than more moden chips (it's now three generations old).

I would happily upgrade an existing AM4 platform to the 5700X3D, but I would not buy a new system with one in today. It's just not a good long-term use of money.
Click to expand...
Ok so would it be better to configure a AM5 build with a potentially worse GPU and CPU in turn for the longevity fo the system?
 
sck451

sck451

MOST VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
dodgy duck said:
Ok so would it be better to configure a AM5 build with a potentially worse GPU and CPU in turn for the longevity fo the system?
Click to expand...
Well, at this budget everything is a compromise. That doesn't mean it's bad, but it means there are inevitably compromises. One of them will be performance right now, versus long-term upgradability and indeed support.

Other compromises you are making are:
  • choosing the slower GDDR6 version of the 4070
  • having only one storage device (I myself wouldn't go without my dual-SSD approach), and that being the decent-but-not-blazing-fast Corsair drive
  • going with the fairly cheap/lower-quality CX power supply rather than a higher quality one (more efficient, quieter, more capacity to deal with power spikes, ultimately more upgradable); also going with a fairly low 650W version
  • going with the PCS own-brand 240mm cooler, which is not a device I'd choose (it's not so much that it's bad as that it's relatively noisy, hard to configure and definitely prone to failure)
Now, if you want 1440p gaming and are willing to live with those compromises, I'm not sure your system can be bettered for the price. (Well, it could, but only with an AMD graphics card and if you want VR, that might not be the best option...) Personally, that wouldn't be a move I'd want to live with, but ultimately it's your PC and your money!

That said, if you were willing to go with a six-core non-X3D CPU and an AMD graphics card, you could get near £1500 with many fewer of these compromises. In your shoes, that's what I'd do and I could post a build along those lines if it were helpful.
 
Ekans2011

Ekans2011

VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
dodgy duck said:
Ok so would it be better to configure a AM5 build with a potentially worse GPU and CPU in turn for the longevity fo the system?
Click to expand...
Personally, the three most critical components that you should never touch in any build are the case, the motherboard, and the power supply. If you have to replace one of these during the life of a computer (7-10 years), it indicates that it was poorly designed.
 
D

dodgy duck

Member
sck451 said:
Well, at this budget everything is a compromise. That doesn't mean it's bad, but it means there are inevitably compromises. One of them will be performance right now, versus long-term upgradability and indeed support.

Other compromises you are making are:
  • choosing the slower GDDR6 version of the 4070
  • having only one storage device (I myself wouldn't go without my dual-SSD approach), and that being the decent-but-not-blazing-fast Corsair drive
  • going with the fairly cheap/lower-quality CX power supply rather than a higher quality one (more efficient, quieter, more capacity to deal with power spikes, ultimately more upgradable); also going with a fairly low 650W version
  • going with the PCS own-brand 240mm cooler, which is not a device I'd choose (it's not so much that it's bad as that it's relatively noisy, hard to configure and definitely prone to failure)
Now, if you want 1440p gaming and are willing to live with those compromises, I'm not sure your system can be bettered for the price. (Well, it could, but only with an AMD graphics card and if you want VR, that might not be the best option...) Personally, that wouldn't be a move I'd want to live with, but ultimately it's your PC and your money!

That said, if you were willing to go with a six-core non-X3D CPU and an AMD graphics card, you could get near £1500 with many fewer of these compromises. In your shoes, that's what I'd do and I could post a build along those lines if it were helpful.
Click to expand...
Yes if you wouldn't mind that would be very helpful, I have also looked at an AM5 system with a Ryzen 7 7700X and a 4060 ti but I am not sure is this is limiting my GPU too much and whether or not this is a suitable CPU. So would it be possible for you to send a suitable build for AM5 at around the same budget. Thanks.
 
D

dodgy duck

Member
Ekans2011 said:
Personally, the three most critical components that you should never touch in any build are the case, the motherboard, and the power supply. If you have to replace one of these during the life of a computer (7-10 years), it indicates that it was poorly designed.
Click to expand...
Yea that makes sense I do think AM5 would be a better choice.
 
sck451

sck451

MOST VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
dodgy duck said:
Yes if you wouldn't mind that would be very helpful, I have also looked at an AM5 system with a Ryzen 7 7700X and a 4060 ti but I am not sure is this is limiting my GPU too much and whether or not this is a suitable CPU. So would it be possible for you to send a suitable build for AM5 at around the same budget. Thanks.
Click to expand...
Here's what I'd do with your money. The compromises here are (a) CPU power, (b) a "meh" cooler, and (c) a graphics card that isn't going to be great in VR.

Case
LIAN LI LANCOOL 205 MESH C GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 7600 Six Core CPU (4.0GHz-5.2GHz/38MB CACHE/AM5) Not the fastest CPU for gaming. However, at 1440p with a 7800 XT (or indeed a 4070 Super), you are unlikely to be CPU-limited in most games, and this gets you on the AM5 platform, so upgradibility is now a thing
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING B650-PLUS WIFI (AM5, DDR5, PCIe 4.0, Wi-Fi 6)
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR5 6000MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
16GB XFX RADEON™ RX 7800 XT SWFT 210 - HDMI, 3 x DP A good option for 1440p; faster than the plain 4070 GDDR6 and a lot cheaper
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB SOLIDIGM P44 PRO GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 7000MB/sR, 4700MB/sW) Boot drive
1st M.2 SSD Drive
2TB SOLIDIGM P41+ GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 4125MB/sR, 3325MB/sW) Games drive
Power Supply
CORSAIR 750W RMe SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET Really strong power supply, with good opportunities for upgrades
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
PCS FrostFlow 150 Series High Performance CPU Cooler Enough cooling for the 7600; a CPU upgrade in the future might also necessitate a cooler upgrade as well
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
ONBOARD 2.5Gbe LAN PORT
Wireless Network Card
NONE OR ONBOARD Wi-Fi (MOTHERBOARD DEPENDENT)
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 If you already have Windows, you can transfer the licence and save £100
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
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 - Approximately 4 to 6 working days
Price: £1,531.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am5-pc/aqCZsuYk7Y/
 
D

dodgy duck

Member
Great thanks this is definaitely a better build to the one i did have and has a lot more future proofing, however I do have a few questions.

1. What do you think about lowering the speed of the RAM to save a small amount of money, would this be worth it, could the money be saved elsewhere or is this as economical as the build can get?
2. Will the graphics card still perform aswell as the 4070 or is it limited by things such as ray-tracing and DLSS (or AMDs version)?
3. Will the fans included with the LIAN LI LANCOOL be enough? Also could the PCS Prism TG White ARGB case be an option as it is larger and has more fans which could be beneficial for thermals and future ungrades?
 
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