Spec for replacement PC

[joffonon]

Hi all, I'm putting together a spec for a PC to replace my trusty but now-ancient system (i5 2500k 4.3GHz overclocked, GTX 1070 graphics). I game at 1080p 144Hz 24-inch, which suits me fine - mostly World of Warcraft, some Fifa and Elite Dangerous, also want to see what ray-tracing is like on Quake II (I fondly remember the original!).

Aiming to get a system within a £2k to £2.5k budget, with as good a spec as I can to turn everything up to 11 in 1080p both now and in a few years time (not interested at this point in going up to 1440p or 4K). I also want enough headroom power-wise for overclocking and whatever future GPU upgrades come along in the next few years. After reading up, I've opted to go for a Ryzen system for the first time (having been Intel-based since my first PC, a 486 DX2!), as the latest Intel generations appear to run quite hot and power-hungry. I've been running on SSD-only for a few years, so have opted for a Gen4 PCI-E M.2 drive with the aim of adding another M.2 drive in a year or so if I need to (no interest in stepping back to traditional hard drives!).

Thoughts welcome please on my spec - I'm holding off ordering until the RTX 3070 Ti comes out in a couple of weeks, as I'll opt for that instead of the 3070 if the difference is worth any price increase. Thanks!

Case
FRACTAL MESHIFY S2 TEMPERED GLASS
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 9 5900X 12 Core CPU (3.7GHz-4.8GHz/70MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® CROSSHAIR VIII HERO WIFI (DDR4, PCIe 4.0, CrossFireX/SLI) - RGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3600MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3070 - HDMI, DP
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SEAGATE FIRECUDA 520 GEN 4 PCIe NVMe (up to 5000MB/R, 4400MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 850W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
Corsair H150i RGB PRO XT Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT
Wireless Network Card
NOT REQUIRED
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
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
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 - Subject to stock availability on pre-order products

Price: £2,392.00 including VAT and Delivery

 

[AgentCooper]

Hi there. Your monitor is going to be a giant bottleneck, if you go for the 3070 you’re literally throwing money away. A 3060 would be a much more appropriate card for 1080p.

For a pure gaming system, this is what I’d go for and save the additional money towards your next monitor and GPU when you’re ready to go 1440p / 4K...

Case
FRACTAL MESHIFY S2 TEMPERED GLASS
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 7 5800X Eight Core CPU (3.8GHz-4.7GHz/36MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® ROG STRIX X570-F GAMING (USB 3.2 Gen 2, PCIe 4.0) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3600MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
12GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3060 - HDMI, DP
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SAMSUNG 980 PRO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 6900MB/R, 5000MB/W)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
2TB CORSAIR MP400 NVMe PCIe M.2 SSD (up to 3480 MB/R, 3000 MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 850W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
Corsair H150i RGB PRO XT 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
Wireless Network Card
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
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 - Subject to stock availability on pre-order products
Price: £2,118.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/UFrRMZrh9S/

 

[MrWilson]

Hey there,
If you're sticking with 1080p 144hz then the 3070 (ti) is massively overpowered. It's better suited to 1440p Ultrawide or 4k 60hz gaming. The 3060 is a much better fit and is £200 cheaper.
Downgraded to the 5800x and TUF x-570 motherboard. The 5800x is the top-end gaming card; the 5900x isn't any worse but is more geared towards productivity workloads to utilise the extra 4 cores. AMD CPUs are already well optimised for boost clocks; overclocking gives little to no increase in gaming performance.
You mentioned going for a 2nd m.2 drive which I took the liberty of adding in for you now. It'll be a few more years before games are optimised to load better off a gen 4 drive vs a gen 3.
Big fan of big cooling so left in the H150i. The Corsair coolers come with premium paste pre-applied so the Arctic paste isn't needed.
Motherboard doesn't come with wifi so added in the AX200 card. If you're using an ethernet connection you can definitely take it out.

Case
FRACTAL MESHIFY S2 TEMPERED GLASS
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 7 5800X Eight Core CPU (3.8GHz-4.7GHz/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
12GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3060 - HDMI, DP
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SAMSUNG 980 PRO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 6900MB/R, 5000MB/W)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB CORSAIR MP400 NVMe PCIe M.2 SSD (up to 3480 MB/R, 1880 MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 850W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
Corsair H150i RGB PRO XT 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
Wireless Network Card
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
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
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 - Subject to stock availability on pre-order products
Price: £1,953.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/t604eMgBDC/

 

[joffonon]

Thanks both, food for thought there.

I've now discovered that I'll have to replace my monitor anyway, as it's only able to do 144Hz through DVI-D dual link. So I'll look into whether I will end up going 1440p by default, in which case the 3070/3070 Ti comes into play again.

 

[joffonon]

Forgot to post my final ordered spec, so here it is and thanks again for the advice on this thread. Went with a 3070 in the end, as I managed to get my quote on a day when the price of one dipped £100 or so to hardly anything more than a 3060Ti, so (a) it seemed rude not to, and (b) gives me scope to upgrade my monitor to 1440p or even 4k, when I'm ready to.

£2,086 for the system, upgraded the M.2 drive today for an additional £98 after my credit card statement came out (hooray for ~45 days' interest-free credit). So well within my original budget. 🕺

17 days pre-production so far...

Case	FRACTAL MESHIFY S2 TEMPERED GLASS
Processor (CPU)	AMD Ryzen 7 5800X Eight Core CPU (3.8GHz-4.7GHz/36MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard	ASUS® CROSSHAIR VIII HERO WIFI (DDR4, PCIe 4.0, CrossFireX/SLI) - RGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)	16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3600MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card	8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3070 - HDMI, DP
1st M.2 SSD Drive	500GB SAMSUNG 970 EVO PLUS M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3500MB/R, 3200MB/W) Change to: 1TB SAMSUNG 980 PRO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 7000MB/R, 5000MB/W)
Power Supply	CORSAIR 850W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Processor Cooling	Corsair H150i RGB PRO XT 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
Wireless Network Card	NOT REQUIRED
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]
Anti-Virus	NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser	Google Chrome™
Warranty	3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)

 

[SpyderTracks]

Forgot to post my final ordered spec, so here it is and thanks again for the advice on this thread. Went with a 3070 in the end, as I managed to get my quote on a day when the price of one dipped £100 or so to hardly anything more than a 3060Ti, so (a) it seemed rude not to, and (b) gives me scope to upgrade my monitor to 1440p or even 4k, when I'm ready to.

£2,086 for the system, upgraded the M.2 drive today for an additional £98 after my credit card statement came out (hooray for ~45 days' interest-free credit). So well within my original budget. 🕺

17 days pre-production so far...

Case	FRACTAL MESHIFY S2 TEMPERED GLASS
Processor (CPU)	AMD Ryzen 7 5800X Eight Core CPU (3.8GHz-4.7GHz/36MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard	ASUS® CROSSHAIR VIII HERO WIFI (DDR4, PCIe 4.0, CrossFireX/SLI) - RGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)	16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3600MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card	8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3070 - HDMI, DP
1st M.2 SSD Drive	500GB SAMSUNG 970 EVO PLUS M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3500MB/R, 3200MB/W) Change to: 1TB SAMSUNG 980 PRO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 7000MB/R, 5000MB/W)
Power Supply	CORSAIR 850W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Processor Cooling	Corsair H150i RGB PRO XT 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
Wireless Network Card	NOT REQUIRED
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]
Anti-Virus	NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser	Google Chrome™
Warranty	3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)

I would drop the motherboard to the X570 strix, there's no benefit to the Crosshair for that CPU.

Likewise, I would drop the cooler to the H115i Capellix

Then add the Intel AX200 wifi card

 

[joffonon]

I would drop the motherboard to the X570 strix, there's no benefit to the Crosshair for that CPU.

Likewise, I would drop the cooler to the H115i Capellix

Then add the Intel AX200 wifi card

Thanks for the suggestions, I'm sticking with the Crosshair as it gives me more options around rear USB ports and also for future-proofing with 2.5G ethernet (the wifi isn't needed, I'd have bought the non-wifi version if it were available).

Is there a performance or sound difference between the two coolers? I'm not fussed about RGB fans.

 

[sck451]

It's your call, of course, but you do already have eleven (with the Strix) or ten (with the Tuf) USB ports, all of them at least USB 3.0 or whatever it's called now. Moreover, a 2.5Gbps PCIe card is about £30 when you want to do that upgrade. I'm not saying it's the wrong call, just that I wouldn't spend over £150 on that upgrade!

You could just about order the Strix+5900X combination instead, which would get you much more power; I'd definitely do that rather than attempt to future-proof my motherboard...

 

[CMP01]

Thanks for the suggestions, I'm sticking with the Crosshair as it gives me more options around rear USB ports and also for future-proofing with 2.5G ethernet (the wifi isn't needed, I'd have bought the non-wifi version if it were available).

Is there a performance or sound difference between the two coolers? I'm not fussed about RGB fans.

You definitely don't necessarily absolutely need the H150i tbh. I got a 5800X, cooled by a H100i Capellix. Temps are fine, aside from my initial surprise at the higher idle/low load temps this CPU has compared to my old 6700K, generally sticking to 70C whether gaming, benchmarking or stress testing. Max was 75C on a brief spike running Time Spy. All fans (3 at front, 1 at rear and the 2 with cooler up top) and pump on balanced preset and not much higher temps on quiet tbh. You'll be fine with a H115i tbh, even if your case is a bit less airflowy (but if it's still as well equipped fanwise) just make sure whatever AiO you get can clear the RAM ok, if it's top mounted.

 

[joffonon]

You definitely don't necessarily absolutely need the H150i tbh. I got a 5800X, cooled by a H100i Capellix. Temps are fine, aside from my initial surprise at the higher idle/low load temps this CPU has compared to my old 6700K, generally sticking to 70C whether gaming, benchmarking or stress testing. Max was 75C on a brief spike running Time Spy. All fans (3 at front, 1 at rear and the 2 with cooler up top) and pump on balanced preset and not much higher temps on quiet tbh. You'll be fine with a H115i tbh, even if your case is a bit less airflowy (but if it's still as well equipped fanwise) just make sure whatever AiO you get can clear the RAM ok, if it's top mounted.

Thanks. If I switch the H150i to the H115i Capellix on the order it costs £8 more, so unless there's a performance gain or noise reduction then I'll stick with the H150i.

 

[sck451]

T

Thanks. If I switch the H150i to the H115i Capellix on the order it costs £8 more, so unless there's a performance gain or noise reduction then I'll stick with the H150i.

There is negligible performance difference. The H150i has three 120mm fans, whereas the H115i has two 140mm fans. I would expect the latter to be a little quieter, though it's probably also negligible.

 

[joffonon]

It's your call, of course, but you do already have eleven (with the Strix) or ten (with the Tuf) USB ports, all of them at least USB 3.0 or whatever it's called now. Moreover, a 2.5Gbps PCIe card is about £30 when you want to do that upgrade. I'm not saying it's the wrong call, just that I wouldn't spend over £150 on that upgrade!

You could just about order the Strix+5900X combination instead, which would get you much more power; I'd definitely do that rather than attempt to future-proof my motherboard...

I'm just counting rear USB ports though, to keep cables out of sight - there are 8 on the Strix and 12 on the Crosshair, which means I can lose a USB hub I have to keep hidden and relocate it with the old PC. The difference is actually only £97 if I downgrade, plus I've been told further up this thread that the 5900X is overkill, so for various reasons I'm happy with the MB choice. Thanks for the info though.

There is negligible performance difference. The H150i has three 120mm fans, whereas the H115i has two 140mm fans. I would expect the latter to be a little quieter, though it's probably also negligible.

In which case it appears to be an aesthetics choice, as there's also a negligible cost difference! Thanks again.

 

[CMP01]

Thanks. If I switch the H150i to the H115i Capellix on the order it costs £8 more, so unless there's a performance gain or noise reduction then I'll stick with the H150i.

I should clarify, I only mentioned the Capellix specifically as that's what I got and the major difference is that lovely (for some) extra RGB on the pump and fans. The vanilla H115i etc are just as good for practical purposes as the Capellix versions, they just don't host the Mardi Gras inside your case. My old non RGB H100i was just as competent a cooler 5 years ago and I'd have used that but for it's already long service, I decided to go new with (almost) everything that counts.