My first gaming pc

[ahinks]

Hi All, im looking at building my first gaming pc, my build is below. any advice or changes you would make?
Case
PCS SR-628B RGB GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i7 Eight Core Processor i7-9700F (3.0GHz) 12MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF B360M-PLUS GAMING: Micro-ATX, LGA1151, USB 3.1, SATA 6GBs - RGB Ready
Memory (RAM)
8GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 2400MHz (2 x 4GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 2070 SUPER - HDMI, 3x DP GeForce - RTX VR Ready!
1st Storage Drive
1TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 64MB CACHE
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (2000 MB/R, 1100 MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 550W CV SERIES™ CV-550 POWER SUPPLY
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
Corsair H80i V2 Hydro Cooler w/ PCS Ultra Quiet Fans
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
LED Lighting
50cm Red LED Strip
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
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 [KUK-00001]
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10 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
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)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 16 to 18 working days
Price: £1,424.00 including VAT and Delivery

Cheers!

 

[Clear Angle]

I've done a little noseying around and found that 8GB of RAM is the minimum you want for gaming at the moment, but we're very close to 16GB being the minimum. One thing to take into account is although you may be tempted to get a single stick with the view of upgrading later you will leave a lot of performance on the table as memory likes to run in dual channel for maximum benefit. If you can squeeze out a little more for 2 x 8 GB sticks then you'll be a lot better off.

 

[ahinks]

To know if this is a good spec for your needs or not, we need the following information:


- Maximum budget? Helps to know if there is any room to upgrade things

- Monitor to be used with this system? Resolution and refresh rate or make and model if unsure. Gaming systems are always specced according to the monitor

- Any other uses to take into account? Editing? Streaming? things like that


Let us know the above and we can advise appropriately

Cheers for the reply!

- My Budget is probably around £1800.

- Monitor I use at the moment is a 24 inch ASUS VS248HR

- at the moment just gaming, I am not really looking to do anything else on it at the moment

 

[ahinks]

I have looked at improving my monitor but once again I’m not the most knowledgeable, do you have any recommendations?

 

[AgentCooper]

This spec would see you right for gaming, with a monitor included. I'd wait and see what @Nursemorph comes up with too as he's got the knowledge.

I would've gone for the Corsair H100i RGB Platinum to take you to £1801.00 but it's currently out of stock...

Case
FRACTAL FOCUS G BLACK GAMING CASE (Window)
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 3600XT Six Core CPU (4.5GHz/35MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING B550-PLUS (DDR4, USB 3.2, 6Gb/s) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3600MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 2070 SUPER - HDMI, 3x DP GeForce - RTX VR Ready!
1st Storage Drive
2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 256MB CACHE
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (2000 MB/R, 1100 MB/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
Corsair H100x Hydro Cooler w/ PCS Ultra Quiet Fans
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
LED Lighting
50cm Red LED Strip
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
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
Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KK3-00002]
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10 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
Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
Monitor
IIYAMA ProLite B2791QSU-B1 27" WQHD
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 18 working days
Price: £1,789.00 including VAT and Delivery

 

[ahinks]

That’s brilliant, I will wait for him to look over and go from there, cheers for your help!

 

[Scott]

This spec would see you right for gaming, with a monitor included. I'd wait and see what @Nursemorph comes up with too as he's got the knowledge.

I would've gone for the Corsair H100i RGB Platinum to take you to £1801.00 but it's currently out of stock...

Tut tut, no link included

The build above is excellent but you can drop the cooler. The 3600XT will be absolutely fine with the stock cooler, especially for gaming and general tasks.

With regards to the monitor I wouldn't recommend that particular one as you want 144hz for the 2070 Super (to make the most of it).

If you drop the monitor from the above, remove the cooler and leave the stock one then it should free up some cash for this...

ASUS TUF Gaming VG27WQ 27" Curved WQHD 165Hz 1ms Gaming Monitor | Ebuyer.com

Get a great deal on a ASUS TUF Gaming VG27WQ 27" Curved WQHD 165Hz 1ms Gaming Monitor as well as thousands of products at Ebuyer!

www.ebuyer.com

Which would be an excellent pairing

 

[AgentCooper]

Tut tut, no link included

The build above is excellent but you can drop the cooler. The 3600XT will be absolutely fine with the stock cooler, especially for gaming and general tasks.

With regards to the monitor I wouldn't recommend that particular one as you want 144hz for the 2070 Super (to make the most of it).

If you drop the monitor from the above, remove the cooler and leave the stock one then it should free up some cash for this...

ASUS TUF Gaming VG27WQ 27" Curved WQHD 165Hz 1ms Gaming Monitor | Ebuyer.com

Get a great deal on a ASUS TUF Gaming VG27WQ 27" Curved WQHD 165Hz 1ms Gaming Monitor as well as thousands of products at Ebuyer!

www.ebuyer.com

Which would be an excellent pairing

@Scott to the rescue!

That stock AMD cooler is really rather good, isn't it? It's such a corker that it's inclusive of buying the chip. Consider me schooled 😀

 

[Scott]

@Scott to the rescue!

That stock AMD cooler is really rather good, isn't it? It's such a corker that it's inclusive of buying the chip. Consider me schooled 😀

Not at all, the entire build is fantastic and there are times where an additional cooler would be warranted, even with the 3600(X/T).

I would personally have an AIO on there myself..... as I like them..... but it's just not necessary for standard uses

 

[AgentCooper]

Not at all, the entire build is fantastic and there are times where an additional cooler would be warranted, even with the 3600(X/T).

I would personally have an AIO on there myself..... as I like them..... but it's just not necessary for standard uses

 

[ahinks]

Thanks for your help guys!

 

[Clear Angle]

To throw in my two cents:

I have access to all the top end Nvidia graphics cards at work (VFX company) so I have hands on with 980tis, 1080tis and 2080tis. In terms of mobile devices my laptops run from full GTX 980 to RTX 2070 both full and max-q. For my own personal usage at home I went from a GTX 980 to an RTX 2060 mobile. I've had a lot of experience with a lot of graphics cards.

Pairing the right monitor to the right card to the right game is like spinning plates. I went for a 1080p 144hz panel and thought yeaaaah a 2060 will be more than enough for 1080p. In theory I will push way over 60 FPS making the 144 panel worth it. Wrong.

To date no matter what game I play with everything cranked up I don't push much above or below 60 FPS. Unless it's a really old or light title like LOL. Skyrim SE with 130 mods looks incredible and you can expect 30 to 60 FPS. I've completely used up my VRAM with bonkers high res textures and the game brings my system to its knees. Ditto for The Witcher 3, and same again for Control. Same again for AC Odyssey. The processor hardly ever breaks a sweat so there was no real need to go for a top of the line i7 but rather get an i5 and pump the extra cash into a 2070.

So if you get a 120 or 144 Hz panel you will want an uber power card like a 2070 Super, a 2080 (super or no) or a Ti to actually get the benefit of it being above 60 Hz.

If instead you want to get a 60 Hz 1440p or 4k panel you will need the oomph to drive such a display so see the above again.

Some people will say "just turn down the settings!" but then you get a very interesting psychological contention coming into play. You just bought this new machine, you paid a heck of a lot of money for it and you're excited to load things up on it and bask in its glory. But when you have to turn the details slider down on your brand new machine you will not enjoy that. At the back of your mind you'll also know that your future consists of turning that slider down further and further until you upgrade. It is much better to get something that allows you to hit the happy sweet spot straight out of the box.

Furthermore, the 3000 series of Nvidia cards are very much on the horizon. This means that in theory the 2000 series will drop in price before the end of the year. It might be worth waiting a bit to get best bang for buck?

If I were making a purchase now I'd get a decent CPU (six core), 16 to 32 GB of RAM, two SSDs for OS and storage, as powerful a graphics card as I can get and see what is left over for the monitor. My top prize would be a 1440p 120Hz display but failing that a 4k 60Hz or 1080P 144Hz would do.

 

[Clear Angle]

@Clear Angle But mobile GPUs are completely different...the 2060 Mobile would probably not even be the equivalent of the 1660 Super so it's no surprise you would struggle with fps. I run a 2060 Super on a 1440p 60-75Hz monitor and I can push 150fps on my main racing game

Not hugely different, just underclocked to consume less power. There are games where I can get 100+ FPS (as I said, old or light games) but if I use up my VRAM then it doesn't matter what my clockspeeds are doing.

Contrast that to a 2070 with 2GB more VRAM and you're laughing. If you're going 4k you need all the VRAM you can get. Anything less than 8GB and you're wasting your time. More than 10 is where you should be aiming. The mobile 1080 I have here in the office doesn't peform miles off the desktop 1080 I have knocking about (it's not a Ti so it's not in use) with some tweaks.

 

[ahinks]

Cheers for that. So I have put on 16GB RAM, 8GB nvidia 2060 super graphics Card, and AMD Ryzen 5 3400G Quad core CPU, which will cost me about £1116. Which then I have a bit of money to splash on a nice monitor. I will probably go with this, thanks for your help everyone

 

[Scott]

If you have a 2080Ti with the settings maxed out you'll be lucky to hit 60fps with most games. It's the way these things are, the key is finding the right balance of settings to match the performance you are looking for.

I have my 2080 on its knees with PC2 using certain settings. One of those settings is the grass, I put it to low and gain 10FPS. Some of the settings defy logic, I'm doing 120mph around Stow..... I'm not checking out the DPI of the grass!

 

[Scott]

Cheers for that. So I have put on 16GB RAM, 8GB nvidia 2060 super graphics Card, and AMD Ryzen 5 3400G Quad core CPU, which will cost me about £1116. Which then I have a bit of money to splash on a nice monitor. I will probably go with this, thanks for your help everyone

Not sure how you have came to the conclusion of the 3400G as being a good choice but I'll bow to your knowledge

 

[ahinks]

To be honest, The 3600XT that has been suggested is not on my choices to choose, I only have 3400G and 2600X on there to put on

 

[AgentCooper]

Cheers for that. So I have put on 16GB RAM, 8GB nvidia 2060 super graphics Card, and AMD Ryzen 5 3400G Quad core CPU, which will cost me about £1116. Which then I have a bit of money to splash on a nice monitor. I will probably go with this, thanks for your help everyone

A quad core seems a little bit low-end considering the rest of the set-up. I would consider re-considering on that move. But like @Scott says, if there's a logic behind it, let us know.

 

[Clear Angle]

If you have a 2080Ti with the settings maxed out you'll be lucky to hit 60fps with most games. It's the way these things are, the key is finding the right balance of settings to match the performance you are looking for.

I have my 2080 on its knees with PC2 using certain settings. One of those settings is the grass, I put it to low and gain 10FPS. Some of the settings defy logic, I'm doing 120mph around Stow..... I'm not checking out the DPI of the grass!

I've had similar experiences, in the aforementioned Skyrim SE turn the grass slightly down to gain 10-15 FPS average.

If one is looking at a well or normally optimised game (looking at you Horizon Zero Dawn) then one can reasonably extrapolate performance of different cards with a fixed reference point. If you have the FPS for Card X with all settings turned up you can then predict with reasonable accuracy what you will get with Card Y as Card Y is Z% faster than Card X. Therefore, using my wheezy little 2060 as a starting reference since I am close to 60 with everything turned up then a 2060 Super will be able to push over that line. A 2070 will push further and a Super further still now getting into the territory of high refresh displays. A 2080 further still, and a Super and Ti even more. I think if you're in this day and age not getting 60+ on a 2080 or such then it might just be the game (the 2080 Tis I have here in the office crush most titles).

Either that or I only have old and light titles in my library! That may be a possibility!

 

[AgentCooper]

@ahinks That's because you are on the wrong configurator...you need to be on the Extreme one, not the home/office one.

Good spot there, it blew my mind when he said they were the only options! I was having a fit trying to figure out why!