New 1440p Build

[MisterCrow]

Time for a new rig to replace my current (ancient, but bulletproof!) PCS 9 year old rig - an i7 4770, GTX 1060, 16GB RAM which is holding up remarkably well for its age!

Budget (excluding GPU): ~£1,200 (absolute maximum £1,300)
Use: Gaming - Hunt: Showdown, Elden Ring, Red Dead Redemption 2, Cyberpunk 2077, Satisfactory, Dying Light 2, etc.
Monitor: ASUS TUF VG27AQ1A (2560x1440 @ 165hz)
Intention: I want to play modern games at 1440p at around 100fps+ and the build needs to hold up reasonably well over the next 5-10 years or so, with perhaps a GPU upgrade later down the line. I won't be overclocking anything. Prefer no RGB. Reliability / stability is priority. I will be installing Win 10 myself.
GPU: Purchasing an ASUS Nvidia Geforce RTX 4070 Ti TUF Gaming 12GB (I'm aware AMD probably offer better value GPU's than Nvidia, but I've had bad experiences with Radeon cards in the past, and have never had an issue with any Nvidia cards I've ever owned).

Case
CORSAIR 4000D AIRFLOW TEMPERED GLASS GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i5 14-Core Processor i5-13600K (3.5GHz) 24MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING Z790-PLUS WIFI (DDR5, LGA1700, USB 3.2, PCIe 5.0) - ARGB Ready
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR5 5200MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
NONE, I ALREADY HAVE A GRAPHICS CARD
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SAMSUNG 980 PRO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 7000MB/R, 5000MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 1000W RMx SERIES™ - MODULAR 80 PLUS GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead, 1.0mm Core)
Processor Cooling
CORSAIR iCUE H115i ELITE CAPELLIX RGB 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
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 12 to 15 working days
Welcome Book
PCSpecialist Welcome Book - United Kingdom & Republic of Ireland
Logo Branding
PCSpecialist Logo
Price: £1,186 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-z790-ddr5-pc/JBk4sNvxE6/

- I know the PSU is a bit overkill, but thinking of future GPU upgrade power requirements.
- I'm conflicted about RAM. Does faster RAM really make much difference / worth the extra cost? Do I really need 32GB, or is 16GB still enough? Going DDR5 over DDR4 because a few years down the line it might be harder to get DDR4 RAM if I want to upgrade to 32GB. Whereas DDR5 is fairly young.
- I'm aware AMD probably offer better value GPU's than Nvidia, but I've had bad experiences with Radeon cards in the past, and have never had an issue with any Nvidia cards I've ever owned.
- Also conflicted about CPU. Tempted by the Ryzen 7 7700X because AM5 has far greater longevity than LGA 1700, but the 13600K seems to be better value. Based on my past experience, I'm unlikely to ever need to upgrade the CPU anyway, so the 13600K might be worth it. As I'm not in to overclocking, I was thinking about the 13600, but on the Intel website it does seem to be slightly slower than the K variant.
- I like the Corsair cases, but the Lian Li II looks good too. Chosen the 4000D here because it's a little cheaper and it's a brand I trust.
- CPU Cooler. Bit of a shot in the dark here, but this one seems decent. Not against having an air cooler though. Not a fan of the RGB, but guess I can turn it off. I hear air coolers last much longer and are far easier to fit, but AIO's offer better cooling performance and are quieter. Would the PCS Frostflow 200 be a decent alternative to an AIO?

Thoughts appreciated!

 

[Steveyg]

It's all good choices to be honest and plenty of info for us to work with. I'd suggest upping the RAM speed to 6000Mhz. The 5200Mhz I believe offers similar performance to DDR4 3600Mhz due to the timing on the 5200Mhz being exceptionally slow, that's to be expected on new RAM of course but to see a real difference your better at 6000Mhz speed

As for amount of RAM, generally 16GB is more than you'd need but the recent games being so horrifically and terribly optimised that having more system RAM has been a benefit. I see 32GB becoming the standard in the near future

I'd also want a dedicated boot drive for my OS completely separate from the rest of my files, but unless you already plan to do that with existing drives? Generally I'd recommend a 500GB Boot drive that you aim to keep under 50% full to ensure it runs at it's most optimal speeds at all times. Then user another M.2 SSD for your games

PSU is a good shout

The 4070Ti is a really really strong GPU and massively overkill for 1440p to be honest. You want to be aiming for 4K 144Hz with that card to get the most out of it. If you're planning to stay at 1440p you may as well just get a 3070 and save a small fortune

Overkilled on the cooler tbh but it's a really really good cooler at a really good price at the minute so it's a good call, I'd recommend the 5000D over the 4000D for that cooler though as it can only be front mounted in the 4000D which runs the risk of getting in the way of the massive GPU's that have been coming out. The H100i is probably the best pick for a cooler in the 4000D and it'll fit roof mounted in that case

Just an FYI the 500GB Samsung 980 Pro is the fastest 500GB drive but the Firecuda 1TB is actually the faster of the drives in the 1TB size. You could get a little more speed in the drive if you're planning to stick to a 1TB boot drive

 

[MisterCrow]

Thanks for that - great point about the cooler / case. There's a £45 difference between the 4000D and 5000D so keen to try and keep to the 4000D if I get the smaller cooler you recommend. I agree roof mounted is much more preferable.

I hear you about the 4070 Ti, but I think games like Cyberpunk 2077 will struggle to pull 100fps on high at 1440p on a 3070. Plus the 4070 Ti will last much longer.

With SSDs, I plan to use the 1TB one below for the while for everything, then later in the year when finances allow, I plan to get a 4TB gen 3 NVMe as a dedicated games drive and use the 1TB as a boot and documents drive (I have about 200-300GB of docs).

With the above in mind, I'm looking at this for £1,319. It's now overbudget by £19, but I can live with that:

Case
CORSAIR 4000D AIRFLOW TEMPERED GLASS GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i5 14-Core Processor i5-13600K (3.5GHz) 24MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING Z790-PLUS WIFI (DDR5, LGA1700, USB 3.2, PCIe 5.0) - ARGB Ready
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR5 6000MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
NONE, I ALREADY HAVE A GRAPHICS CARD
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SEAGATE FIRECUDA 530 GEN 4 PCIe NVMe (up to 7300MB/R, 6000MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 1000W RMx SERIES™ - MODULAR 80 PLUS GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
CORSAIR H100i ELITE CAPELLIX RGB 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
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 12 to 15 working days

 

[Steveyg]

Thanks for that - great point about the cooler / case. There's a £45 difference between the 4000D and 5000D so keen to try and keep to the 4000D if I get the smaller cooler you recommend. I agree roof mounted is much more preferable.

I hear you about the 4070 Ti, but I think games like Cyberpunk 2077 will struggle to pull 100fps on high at 1440p on a 3070. Plus the 4070 Ti will last much longer.

With SSDs, I plan to use the 1TB one below for the while for everything, then later in the year when finances allow, I plan to get a 4TB gen 3 NVMe as a dedicated games drive and use the 1TB as a boot and documents drive (I have about 200-300GB of docs).

With the above in mind, I'm looking at this for £1,319. It's now overbudget by £19, but I can live with that:

Case
CORSAIR 4000D AIRFLOW TEMPERED GLASS GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i5 14-Core Processor i5-13600K (3.5GHz) 24MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING Z790-PLUS WIFI (DDR5, LGA1700, USB 3.2, PCIe 5.0) - ARGB Ready
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR5 6000MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
NONE, I ALREADY HAVE A GRAPHICS CARD
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SEAGATE FIRECUDA 530 GEN 4 PCIe NVMe (up to 7300MB/R, 6000MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 1000W RMx SERIES™ - MODULAR 80 PLUS GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
CORSAIR H100i ELITE CAPELLIX RGB 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
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 12 to 15 working days

Mate I use a 3060Ti on Cyberpunk at 1440p and get around 100+FPS without Raytracing of course but Raytracing is just flatout not worth the performance hit in my opinion

I think you're grossly underestimating the 4070Ti but hey it's your money and if you're happy that's all that matters.

The build is a real solid one and the storage addition makes sense, it should last you a very long time

 

[Scott]

I wouldn't buy a new system at all to be honest. A GPU upgrade would see you hitting pretty much the same level of performance as anything current would (un-noticeable IMO).

What PSU do you currently have? As suggested, the 4070Ti is massive overkill for 1440p. You're well into 4k territory by that point, especially with the games in mind where it's about the visuals more than the FPS. The 3070 would have you covered for 1440p but the 3080 would offer nice cushion and is going for decent money just now.

It would all depend on the PSU of course, but I would personally be looking to upgrade the GPU rather than the system.

 

[SpyderTracks]

I wouldn't buy a new system at all to be honest. A GPU upgrade would see you hitting pretty much the same level of performance as anything current would (un-noticeable IMO).

What PSU do you currently have? As suggested, the 4070Ti is massive overkill for 1440p. You're well into 4k territory by that point, especially with the games in mind where it's about the visuals more than the FPS. The 3070 would have you covered for 1440p but the 3080 would offer nice cushion and is going for decent money just now.

It would all depend on the PSU of course, but I would personally be looking to upgrade the GPU rather than the system.

With an i7 4770?

 

[Scott]

With an i7 4770?

Pretty sure, I guess Cyberpunk & RDR2 may ask a bit of the CPU but I can't see it massively struggling at 1440p.... as in spend £1200 struggling.

I don't think the timing is right for a new build, and certainly not an Intel build. Having gotten a good innings out of the 4770 is due to getting a good platform at the right time. I don't think the same can be said with the 13th gen with a view to replace the 4770.

At the very least, the GPU being purchased regardless would make for an optional "suck it and see". By that point the 7800X3D would likely be an option around this budget, and offer a far better return.

 

[Scott]

Got to love Youtube. There's almost a vid for everything

At 1080p it's going to be a whitewash but at 1440p I reckon it'll drop ITRO 20% to a modern offering. The big surprise below is that Cyberpunk has zero difference between the chips at 4k. I'm really surprised at that but it shows how much of a GPU crusher it is.

 

[SpyderTracks]

Got to love Youtube. There's almost a vid for everything

At 1080p it's going to be a whitewash but at 1440p I reckon it'll drop ITRO 20% to a modern offering. The big surprise below is that Cyberpunk has zero difference between the chips at 4k. I'm really surprised at that but it shows how much of a GPU crusher it is.

That's true actually, at higher res over 1080p it's less of an impact. But at 9 years old I'd say it may be time for an upgrade although I definitely wouldn't go intel.

 

[Steveyg]

Got to love Youtube. There's almost a vid for everything

At 1080p it's going to be a whitewash but at 1440p I reckon it'll drop ITRO 20% to a modern offering. The big surprise below is that Cyberpunk has zero difference between the chips at 4k. I'm really surprised at that but it shows how much of a GPU crusher it is.

Not everything is as badly optimised as Cyperpunk though and there's plenty of modern games that lean on the CPU that would cause the 4770k to fall short

 

[MisterCrow]

Not everything is as badly optimised as Cyperpunk though and there's plenty of modern games that lean on the CPU that would cause the 4770k to fall short

Yes, I agree.

I'm already finding that playing Hunt: Showdown at 1440p on Medium, my CPU is frequently maxing out at 100% (again, another poorly optimised game) and I struggle to reach 50fps at that resolution.

 

[MisterCrow]

That's true actually, at higher res over 1080p it's less of an impact. But at 9 years old I'd say it may be time for an upgrade although I definitely wouldn't go intel.

Is that because of AM5 being relatively new, and therefore having many more options for a CPU upgrade later down the line? In which case, yes that's true, but from what I've seen, the 13600K seems to slightly outperform the 7700X at this price point, whilst being slightly cheaper. CPUs remain competitive for ages these days, so the prospect of upgrading the Ryzen CPU probably isn't something I'll ever likely need to do during AM5's lifetime (though I admit it's a nice option to have).

Have a Corsair 450W PSU btw

 

[SpyderTracks]

Is that because of AM5 being relatively new, and therefore having many more options for a CPU upgrade later down the line? In which case, yes that's true, but from what I've seen, the 13600K seems to slightly outperform the 7700X at this price point, whilst being slightly cheaper. CPUs remain competitive for ages these days, so the prospect of upgrading the Ryzen CPU probably isn't something I'll ever likely need to do during AM5's lifetime (though I admit it's a nice option to have).

Have a Corsair 450W PSU btw

I just don't like Intel for their behaviour since about 2015, iterative updates, stagnating the market, insider trading, ripping off loyal customers. They're only behaving better now because AMD are all over them, if it were up to them, they'd still be screwing us. I refuse to buy intel again.

 

[MisterCrow]

I just don't like Intel for their behaviour since about 2015, iterative updates, stagnating the market, insider trading, ripping off loyal customers. They're only behaving better now because AMD are all over them, if it were up to them, they'd still be screwing us. I refuse to buy intel again.

Fair point. Nvidia are doing the same sort of thing too. Sad times

 

[Scott]

Yes, I agree.

I'm already finding that playing Hunt: Showdown at 1440p on Medium, my CPU is frequently maxing out at 100% (again, another poorly optimised game) and I struggle to reach 50fps at that resolution.

You may be misunderstanding the numbers here though. Your system will likely be struggling at 1440p due to the GPU. The CPU should sit at 100% when being used properly, regardless of how much work it's actually doing. CPU cores are typically working (100%) or not (5%).

The 450w PSU is going to bring about a major bottle neck though so a new system probably makes sense.

I would hold out for the 7800X3D though, I think you'll get the most longevity with that and you're only a month away from release.

 

[SpyderTracks]

Fair point. Nvidia are doing the same sort of thing too. Sad times

100%, it's just so out of order at a time when the world is on it's knees both due to financial markets and political issues (which aren't for this forum).

 

[MisterCrow]

You may be misunderstanding the numbers here though. Your system will likely be struggling at 1440p due to the GPU. The CPU should sit at 100% when being used properly, regardless of how much work it's actually doing. CPU cores are typically working (100%) or not (5%).

The 450w PSU is going to bring about a major bottle neck though so a new system probably makes sense.

I would hold out for the 7800X3D though, I think you'll get the most longevity with that and you're only a month away from release.

That absolutely makes sense. The 7800X3D could well be a complete game changer. Been planning a new rig for over a year now, saving and holding out for when I have the spare cash! But you're right, it's not too much longer to wait, and it's definitely worth doing so.

Thanks all