Looking for my next pc and I'm out of the loop

TheAntsAreBack

Active member
Hello,
My current desktop is about six years old has has been going great since I bought it from PC Specialist about five or six years ago. It's running slowly with occasional problems and it's GPU is starting to show it's age and I'm looking at my next setup. I've attached a picture of it's current specs. I'm looking to spend £1,000-1,200 if that's still feasible. I mostly use my PC for games, tinkering with music in DJ software and 3d printing.

Would anyone please be able to advise on a logical set of specs that would follow-on from my six-year old hardware? I really don't know my way around motherboard and GPU pros and cons especially.

EDIT - To elaborate, I'm looking to buy a whole new setup, not to upgrade individual components.

Cheers.
PC Specs.jpg
 
Last edited:

TonyCarter

VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
Could you post your full spec from your order page...

The CPU, GPU, and SATA SSD can be upgraded quite easily for faster components.

The best CPU that the X470 will support (but would need the BIOS updated) would be the 5800X3D or the 5700X3D if the former is unavailable.

The GPU will depend on how much power is available from the PSU (hence the request for the full build details above).
 

TheAntsAreBack

Active member
Could you post your full spec from your order page...

The CPU, GPU, and SATA SSD can be upgraded quite easily for faster components.

The best CPU that the X470 will support (but would need the BIOS updated) would be the 5800X3D or the 5700X3D if the former is unavailable.

The GPU will depend on how much power is available from the PSU (hence the request for the full build details above).
Thank you Tony, I should have been clearer - I'm looking to bin my old PC and buy a new setup rather than to upgrade components. I posted the specs the to illustrate the kind of specs that I've been on. I'm looking for the 2025 equivalent or better if I can work out what that might be. Cheers.
 

TonyCarter

VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
With current gaming CPU & GPU prices, we've been seeing these sort of prices for entry-level systems:
  • 1080p = £1650+
  • 1440p = £2100+
  • 2160p = £2600+
We think the current gen GPU prices have gone up over the last couple of months as supply is getting tighter in preparation for the next gen in Q1 2025.

As for the CPU, we'd be speccing the current king of gaming CPUs, the 9800X3D, but it's about £450 just for the CPU.
 

SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
They've stopped production of current gen GPU's so prices are only going to increase until next gen are released. They're just not worth this price.


£1200 won't even get you an entry level system currently. But it would afford a decent upgrade on your current PC which still has a lot of life left in it, it's nowhere near worthwhile retiring it just yet, kind of defeats the entire purpose of a custom PC.
 
Last edited:

TheAntsAreBack

Active member
They've stopped production of current gen GPU's so prices are only going to increase until next gen are released. They're just not worth this price.


£1200 won't even get you an entry level system currently. But it would afford a decent upgrade on your current PC which still has a lot of life left in it, it's nowhere near worthwhile retiring it just yet, kind of defeats the entire purpose of a custom PC.
It's certainly not true to say that £1200 won't get me even an entry level system. My current system runs most games on high or more at c50-60 fps.

My pc is having a lot of startup problems, it's fairly bloated and is now failing to recognise it's hard drive occasionally, so I figured it's time for a nice fresh start target than tinkering with component upgrades.
 

SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
It's certainly not true to say that £1200 won't get me even an entry level system. My current system runs most games on high or more at c50-60 fps.
I'm afraid it is, that's what we're saying, you're welcome to build a PC for 1200 but don't come crying to us when you have to bin the entire thing in a couple of years. The only way you can get it that cheap is by sacrificing the platform itself which means you eradicate any upgradeability, and you simply have to throw it out when it comes to needing to replace the GPU.

Gaming has been under a strangle hold by NVidia for years with regards to VRAM amounts, and now developers have basically stuck up two fingers and just gone ahead and made games how they would want to if those limits didn't exist. As a result and with how fast GPU technology is moving now we're on RTX, it's exponentially fast, and games that a 1080p card could run even 2 years ago, they now no longer can keep up.

My pc is having a lot of startup problems, it's hairline bloated and is now failing to recognise it's hard drive occasionally, so I figured it's time for a nice fresh start.
Sounds like it just needs a clean install. I would get some advice on troubleshooting it rather than just thinking it's dead.
 
Last edited:

TonyCarter

VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
Just to show where we’re coming from, and so you can see the sort of corner-cutting we’d have to make for that budget, I’ve stripped back 2 1080p builds (neither of which I’d recommend of course).

First is based on 2-gen old CPU/GPU/motherboard, and the second is based on 1-gen old CPU/GPU/motherboard.

A current gen build with the latest gaming CPU, motherboard, PSU, AIO cooler to match it is coming in well over £1700.

2 Gen Old​

Case
LIAN LI LANCOOL 205 MESH C GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 7 5700X3D Eight Core CPU (3.0GHz-4.1GHz/100MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING B550-PLUS (AM4, DDR4, PCIe 4.0)
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3600MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
8GB PALIT GEFORCE RTX 3060 Ti DUAL - HDMI, 3 x DP
1st M.2 SSD Drive
2TB SOLIDIGM P44 PRO GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 7000MB/sR, 6500MB/sW)
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
PCS FrostFlow 200 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 6E AX210 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
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 5 to 7 working days
Price: £1,216.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/aeQb3BeD8e/

1 Gen Old​

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)
Motherboard
ASUS® PRIME B650-PLUS (AM5, DDR5, PCIe 4.0)
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR5 5600MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
8GB MSI GEFORCE RTX 4060 Ti VENTUS 2X BLACK OC - HDMI, 3 x DP
1st M.2 SSD Drive
2TB SOLIDIGM P44 PRO GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 7000MB/sR, 6500MB/sW)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W RM SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
PCS FrostFlow 200 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
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
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
TIMED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND - MON-FRI (BEFORE 10:30AM)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 5 to 7 working days
Price: £1,263.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am5-pc/fsZ67CHPJu/

To get anything of similar performance for less, or better performance for £1200 would mean buying 2nd hand, prebuilt or something prebuilt on sale for Black Friday.
 
Last edited:

SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
Just to show where we’re coming from, and so you can see the sort of corner-cutting we’d have to make for that budget, I’ve stripped back 2 1080p builds (neither of which I’d recommend of course).

First is based on 2-gen old CPU/GPU/motherboard, and the second is based on 1-gen old CPU/GPU/motherboard.

A current gen build with the latest gaming CPU, motherboard, PSU, AIO cooler to match it is coming in well over £1700.

2 Gen Old​

Case
LIAN LI LANCOOL 205 MESH C GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 7 5700X3D Eight Core CPU (3.0GHz-4.1GHz/100MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING B550-PLUS (AM4, DDR4, PCIe 4.0)
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3600MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
8GB PALIT GEFORCE RTX 3060 Ti DUAL - HDMI, 3 x DP
1st M.2 SSD Drive
2TB SOLIDIGM P44 PRO GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 7000MB/sR, 6500MB/sW)
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
PCS FrostFlow 200 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 6E AX210 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
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 5 to 7 working days
Price: £1,216.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/aeQb3BeD8e/

1 Gen Old​

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)
Motherboard
ASUS® PRIME B650-PLUS (AM5, DDR5, PCIe 4.0)
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR5 5600MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
8GB MSI GEFORCE RTX 4060 Ti VENTUS 2X BLACK OC - HDMI, 3 x DP
1st M.2 SSD Drive
2TB SOLIDIGM P44 PRO GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 7000MB/sR, 6500MB/sW)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W RM SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
PCS FrostFlow 200 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
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
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
TIMED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND - MON-FRI (BEFORE 10:30AM)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 5 to 7 working days
Price: £1,263.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am5-pc/fsZ67CHPJu/

To get anything of similar performance for less, or better performance for £1200 would mean buying 2nd hand, prebuilt or something prebuilt on sale for Black Friday.
The point is that neither of these are better than your current system, you'd literally be replacing like for like, so it would be entirely fruitless.

Neither of those GPU's have enough VRAM for todays games at 1080p, 12Gb is now the baseline for 1080p gameplay.

Upgrading your current system will net you far far higher performance and a better build overall.
 

TheAntsAreBack

Active member
Thank you for the suggested builds, I'll check them out. I might perhaps up the budget to £1500+. I'm puzzled as to the rationale that I'm out of the running for 1080p gaming. I'm currently on a RX580 and it runs most stuff pretty well at high settings.
 

SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
Thank you for the suggested builds, I'll check them out. I might perhaps up the budget to £1500+. I'm puzzled as to the rationale that I'm out of the running for 1080p gaming. I'm currently on a RX580 and it runs most stuff pretty well at high settings.
If you read it, they’re not suggested in any way

At lower resolutions you’re more cpu limited, so you need a beefier cpu at 1080p to prevent further GPU bottlenecks. With a 6 core non-X3D you’re going to be heavily cpu limited, completely aside from the GPU, so you wouldn’t be able to achieve these results as your cpu would bottleneck the gpu

Im only commenting on the 7000 series build as the 5000 series, you already own, just needs upgrades.

Skip to 19:00 for a summary on VRAM limitations, be aware this review is for the model above the one in that spec, so performance would be even weaker

 
Last edited:

TheAntsAreBack

Active member
Would this off the shelf option be worth me considering perhaps?
 

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Ekans2011

VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
Would this off the shelf option be worth me considering perhaps?
Absolutely NOT! INTEL 13th & 14th are DOA, keep out!

 

SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
Would this off the shelf option be worth me considering perhaps?
Im not understanding why you’ve bought a custom pc yet you're dead set against upgrades?

Thats the area that needs to be discussed, you have no requirement for a replacement pc, its a waste of money for worse performance.

Im not following why you’re against upgrades? Not sure any custom pc is the right thing for you if that’s the case, an old gen branded system would make far more sense

Bear in mind that video above is about VRAM limitation LAST SUMMER, since then developers have basically said absolutely no to Nvidia strangling them anymore and have completely done away with catering for such low VRAM, so MOST games released since then just don't play properly on 8Gb VRAM. There are already games out now that even the 4080 struggles to maintain 60fps at 1080p, this will be the new normal going forwards, you need to plan for needing beefy graphics to be able to keep up.

I‘ll bow out, it’s not something I can advise on, pointless getting a custom pc if you’re not actually going to utilise the benefits of it.
 
Last edited:

TheAntsAreBack

Active member
Im not understanding why you’ve bought a custom pc yet you're dead set against upgrades?

Thats the area that needs to be discussed, you have no requirement for a replacement pc, its a waste of money for worse performance.

Im not following why you’re against upgrades? Not sure any custom pc is the right thing for you if that’s the case, an old gen branded system would make far more sense

Bear in mind that video above is about VRAM limitation LAST SUMMER, since then developers have basically said absolutely no to Nvidia strangling them anymore and have completely done away with catering for such low VRAM, so MOST games released since then just don't play properly on 8Gb VRAM. There are already games out now that even the 4080 struggles to maintain 60fps at 1080p, this will be the new normal going forwards, you need to plan for needing beefy graphics to be able to keep up.

I‘ll bow out, it’s not something I can advise on, pointless getting a custom pc if you’re not actually going to utilise the benefits of it.
I'm not trying to be awkward. It's just that regarding upgrades I feel like I would quite like to replace my CPU, my GPU, add another 16GB of RAM add perhaps a 2TB SSD and add Bluetooth connectivity. I would not be surprised to hear that this might involve more power or a different motherboard. Also my current pc is not compatible with Windows 11 so will be unsupported in less than a year. Or also occasionally sounds like a helicopter taking off. So it just feels like sibce I have the money, a completely fresh start might be a nice way to go.
 

TheAntsAreBack

Active member
Absolutely NOT! INTEL 13th & 14th are DOA, keep out!

Good to know. If that's the case it's a bit of a worry to see that deal being advertised front and centre here at PCSpecialist.
 

SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
Also my current pc is not compatible with Windows 11 so will be unsupported in less than a year.
This is wholly false though, why do you think this? This would suggest you’ve never updated the BIOS as the required settings for windows 11 were enabled by default in later BIOS versions. But it’s simply a few toggle switches that need enabling in the BIOS to be ready for windows 11.

So it just feels like sibce I have the money, a completely fresh start might be a nice way to go.
That’s entirely the point, you don’t have the money! You’re replacing a poor design with another poor design due to low finances, you’re simply repeating the same mistakes. If this current pc had been designed properly from the start, all it would require is a GPU replacement, the rest would already be enough for it. If You keep repeating this mistake of sacrificing the platform design, you’ll never actually have the option for an actual upgrade of gaming tier as you’re going to be spending far far more than you need to for poor performance.

Take a breather, put some faith in those that understand these things better, upgrade your current system and you’ll have a FAAAR better gaming experience than you’ve had to date or what you could have by upgrading.

If your budget is £1200, you don’t have the option to buy new, and upgrading would make far more sense.

If you’re budget is £1700 or above, then replacing would make more sense
 
Last edited:

TheAntsAreBack

Active member
This is wholly false though, why do you think this? This would suggest you’ve never updated the BIOS as the required settings for windows 11 were enabled by default in later BIOS versions. But it’s simply a few toggle switches that need enabling in the BIOS to be ready for windows 11.

That’s entirely the point, you don’t have the money! You’re replacing a poor design with another poor design due to low finances, you’re simply repeating the same mistakes. If this current pc had been designed properly from the start, all it would require is a GPU replacement,
Regarding windows 11 compatibility, I'm only going on what windows itself is specifically telling me in it';s system settings, which I'd hope you'd concede is not entirely unreasonable for a casual user who knows rather little about BIOS. For the money - I could spend more if I chose to, maybe £1800?
 

TheAntsAreBack

Active member
Could you post your full spec from your order page...

The CPU, GPU, and SATA SSD can be upgraded quite easily for faster components.

The best CPU that the X470 will support (but would need the BIOS updated) would be the 5800X3D or the 5700X3D if the former is unavailable.

The GPU will depend on how much power is available from the PSU (hence the request for the full build details above).
Hello, these are my full specs, hope this might help,

Case
PCS CYCLONE GAMING CASE (Blue LED Fans)
Promotional Item
Get 3 Months of XBOX Game Pass for PC w/ select AMD Ryzen CPUs
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 3600 Six Core CPU (3.6GHz-4.2GHz/36MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF X470-PLUS GAMING (DDR4, 6Gb/s, CrossFireX) - RGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
8GB AMD RADEON™ RX 580 - HDMI, DP - DX® 12
1st Storage Drive
480GB ADATA SU630 2.5" SSD, SATA 6 Gb (520MB/R, 450MB/W)
1st Storage Drive
1TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 64MB CACHE
Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W VS SERIES™ VS-650 POWER SUPPLY
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
STANDARD AMD CPU COOLER
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
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
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
BullGuard™ Internet Security - Free 90 Day License inc. Gamer Mode
Browser
Google Chrome™
Monitor
AOC G2590PX 24.5" 144Hz Gaming Monitor
Keyboard & Mouse
CoolerMaster MasterKeys Lite L Combo Keyboard and Mouse
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (6 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 5 to 7 working days
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/amd-am4-gen3-pc/rYbcYHvBMF/
 
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