Sons gaming

[ColinHenderson289]

Hi,my 16 year old son put this together any advice or comments appreciated thanks colin(£2000 Budget)


Case
COOLERMASTER MASTERCASE H500 ARGB GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 9 3900X 12 Core CPU (3.8GHz-4.6GHz/70MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® ROG STRIX B450-F GAMING (DDR4, USB 3.1, 6Gb/s) - RGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE RGB PRO DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 2080 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
500GB SAMSUNG 970 EVO PLUS M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3500MB/R, 3200MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 750W TXm SERIES™ SEMI-MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
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
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
Google Chrome™
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 21 to 23 working days
Promotional Item
Get Death Stranding on PC with select NVIDIA GeForce RTX GPUs!
Welcome Book
PCSpecialist Welcome Book - United Kingdom & Republic of Ireland
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[Deleted member 17413]

Theres a good guide up about how to choose what build is suitable for you
https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/forums/threads/desktop-building-guide-may-2020.67892/ Its from May but the same ideas still apply.
What is the machine actually being used for? Say gaming, but anything else? Are you looking at video editing or things like CAD on it?
Do you have a monitor already, and if yes, what are its specs? It has a huge influence on what you would put in the specification for the machine.
Keyboard/Mouse - got already, or still need? and is that additional to the £2000 or needs to all come out the same budget? (Same with the monitor if you need a monitor).

What what has already been put, its a bit mismatched... Motherboard will be a restraint given other parts, and limits how well it can be upgraded in the future, GPU is possibly a big overshoot (will depend on uses and monitor)
Would choose a better cooler (H100i Platinum, especially with the components you have chosen)
WiFi would be much much better with the AX200, Do you have an existing Win 10 that this will be replacing? (Can transfer licence and save some money there).

Quite a few tweeks actually... but importantly, need to know what you will use it for, and what monitor before putting a build together.

 

[Deleted member 17413]

I think this would be a far better starting point for you, I think your son has been seduced by the idea of 32Gb RAM (which is largely pointless with gaming, its more video editing and CAD/Photoshop type stuff at high level) and also by the CPU name, a 3800X or 3800XT is still going to be far more than capable, again, 3900X and above you are looking at the editing side of things.

2080 Super is a big overshoot, and pointless expense ATM, if you warrant such a high spec card, wait two months and get one of the new release ones, even a basic model will make the current ones look old (expected to be a MASSIVE improvement)
a 2070 Super will happily eat anything currently out there, and even do 4K gaming, 2080 is better at 4K and VR than the 2070, but if thats what you are aiming for...honestly wait for the new ones.

Choise of motherboard means you will be able to put Gen 4 M.2 drives in (like the firecuda) so opens up more upgrade options for the future but also can take the next gen CPU's (AMD 4000 series) when they come out too... so you can step it up in a year or two if wanted.
(Think of the machine lasting a good 8/10 years... upgrade the GPU a couple of times as you go, upgrade primary drive for the OS, can upgrade CPY etc etc... the machine will grow with you that way)

This is also on the assumption that you have a 1440p 144Hz monitor already, or will be buying one to go with it. If you are looking at a 1080p (HD) monitor, then even the 2060 is overshoot. If a Mod can check it over, they are far better at this than me, but i think im on the right lines.
Your son seems to have spec'd on the principle of "what looks like a bigger number"... dont worry, we all know the urge...

Case
COOLERMASTER MASTERCASE H500 ARGB GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 7 3800X Eight Core CPU (3.9GHz-4.5GHz/36MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF X570-PLUS GAMING (USB 3.2 Gen 2, PCIe 4.0, CrossFireX) - 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 120 2.5" SSD, (up to 560MB/sR | 540MB/sW)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SAMSUNG 970 EVO PLUS M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3500MB/R, 3200MB/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
Corsair H100i RGB PLATINUM 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)
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 [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 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 21 to 23 working days
Price: £1,923.00 including VAT and Delivery

But before going ahead with anything, really need to know about the basics like monitor, budget, uses etc.
Machine can be drastically different depending on use.

 

[debiruman665]

As pointed out above, we need to know what the monitor is to avoid over-shooting or under-shooting on the GPU side of things...pointless putting in a 2080S if you have a 1080p monitor as a GPU can only output what the monitor can display.

Also need to know other uses as that could have a bearing.

I've seen people mentioning about the monitor needing to be paired the GPU, I can understand that perhaps a GPU can be no suitable for a monitor by being underpowered but surely any overpowering will give greater framerates.

I currently have a 2080 MXM and it only gets around 80-120fps on ultra settings on a 144hz 1080p monitor. Surely a Super wouldn't be waster and would let me hit higher fps?

 

[Scott]

I've seen people mentioning about the monitor needing to be paired the GPU, I can understand that perhaps a GPU can be no suitable for a monitor by being underpowered but surely any overpowering will give greater framerates.

I currently have a 2080 MXM and it only gets around 80-120fps on ultra settings on a 144hz 1080p monitor. Surely a Super wouldn't be waster and would let me hit higher fps?

It's all based on the law of averages. Rule of thumb, and whichever other sayings you want to chuck in there

Ultra settings is completely customised for every game. There are games that running Ultra Settings will see 300FPS with a 1660 Super at 1080p, there are other games where running Ultra Settings will see 80 FPS with a 2080Ti at 1080p.

There are a few things that need to be understood..... firstly, some games are really poorly optimised. These games are considered outliers and shouldn't be taken into account unless specifically mentioned as a reason for GPU choice. Secondly, some games preset options are poorly optimised. A good personal example of this I can give is GTAV. This game has insane demands when you set everything to ultra as per the preset.... I thought my CPU was going to go on fire on my laptop for example. IIRC I dropped 2 settings, couldn't see a blind bit of difference and hit 100+ continuous fps.

The most obvious other thing to consider is budget. If we are on the ragged edge of a budget and there's a new GPU out in a few months, why not save now, have something that will work just fine and put the budget towards an upgrade next year.

Anyone can have any AAA game on its knees with unrealistic settings. I've had some games on medium vs on ultra and can barely tell a difference, especially at 1080p.

One very obvious thing to point out, settings wise, is MXAA. Running a 1080p game at 4xMXAA is effectively running at at 4k. This is quickly going to eat up GPU framerates with certain games (Project Cars 2 hammers this for me).

There's no need to continually break all this down though as most consumers, when purchasing a system, aren't actually thinking about the background or goings on behind the choices. They just read that x = y and want it. It's pointless and a waste of money. Running a 2080 Super for 1080p is just extremely wasteful. It's fine if you aren't fussed about the money and want to dump 3k on a PC anyway, but for most punters it's ill advised. I always try to give meaningful, insightful and responsible advice. I would always try to steer anyone away from making such leaps, they're only going to end up wanting to drop another £1k on a GPU down the line anyway..... better to make it £500 each time for the sake of 2x MSAA over 4x MSAA when after 30 seconds it's not even noticed.

 

[Scott]

Something to add, as per the mention of MXM 2080....

Laptops are actually the exception for me regarding this sort of advice. I would always advocate getting the highest spec CPU/GPU you can afford in a laptop regardless of what's out next year..... as whatever you get, you're stuck with.

Sure, it'll nail 1080p games at insane settings just now..... but ffwd a few years and it'll barely break even with medium. This is where it will pay off though as if you had went for the 2070 or lower, you would potentially be off the board for anything that looks remotely nice or even potentially playable. There's nowhere left to turn as an MXM upgrade is unlikely and even if available it would cost the earth.

 

[debiruman665]

Thank you @Scott You explained it far better than I would've. I agree with frame rate etc...some games you can't tell the difference even in huge fps changes. For example, I play Forza Horizon 4 lots and, until recently it was running at a constant 60fps on Ultra settings and was silky smooth....then I started having major issues with lag and the graphics would pause every second for a fraction. Investigated it and found that the FPS, at some point, had gone from the steady 50fps to running 130-150fps (or bouncing between 150fps down to 60 on the lags) and yet there had been no difference in the graphics of the game at all (none that I noticed anyway)..dropped the settings from Ultra to High and that made no difference to fps or graphics

Obviously, some games it may be noticeable but fps is not the be all and end all

I personally find the acceleration and deceleration of frames what is unnerving. We watch movies in 24fps and its completely fine because it's a constant rate. But having a 60fps drop down to 24fps and then back up again will feel really choppy.

 

[Grumpywurzel]

Like everyone has said, need to know the monitor or what the intended monitor spec will be (1080p, 1440p or 4K). If it's purely gaming then you've overshot big time on the processor (and RAM). Personally i'd put the money saved into a larger Samsung SSD

Have a look at this vid

really explains things AMD wise. Of course if your son wants to do gucci stuff like streaming on the fly, then extra cores on the 3900x will be handy

 

[SpyderTracks]

We watch movies in 24fps and its completely fine because it's a constant rate. But having a 60fps drop down to 24fps and then back up again will feel really choppy.

That's exactly what adaptive sync is for. Smooths it out almost entirely so you wouldn't have any idea if it was 140fps or 30fps, all looks buttery smooth.