Custom Pc - Help. (Poss mmm-five?)

[Djtemeka]

Hello everyone

Nothing wrong with my current pc but its showing its age on any AAA games where I'm having to turn graphics down to medium or worse so I'm looking at Overclockers and specing a pc but I cant get past the fact that I get carried away constantly with the builder and I don't have 3-4k for a great pc!

My current pc is..

windows 7 ultimate - Didnt like Windows 8 with its ipad styling etc. Not seen Win 10 yet. Can it be viewed in classic mode?
Intel i7-2600 3.4ghz
ram 20gb
64bit
Geforce GTX 1060 6gb
Acer G277HU monitor

Regular hard drive and a 500gb SSD for boot up etc

the pc is probably about 12 years old now and I've only upgraded the monitor, graphics and hard drive.


I'd like to spend as little as possible to play AAA games on full graphics but also am aware of parts prices this year being mega expensive.

Not sure what to spend? 2K?
I'm also not sure if my monitor is any good or not. It wasn't expensive in the grand scheme of things.

I also am unaware of what constitutes a good pc these days with regards to spec.

I don't want to have to upgrade it for a few years either. My current pc did well until Doom eternal came out.

ALSO. I don't mind a large case as mine currently doesn't fit under a desk.

What is important is that it's quiet. I'm also not bothered with fancy lights and the like. A plain look is fine. I'm not a teen anymore :P

Thanks
J

Edited by Djtemeka on Monday 30th August 06:38

[Djtemeka]

I think FPS and MHZ are important? is that right?

[Djtemeka]

Got carried away I think..

[Heres Johnny]

I'm in a similar boat. getting on for 10 year old AMD FX6300 processor, SSD hard drive which made a massive difference and a graphics car that can only be described as "Nothing Special". Not sure what AAA but I want to be able to play Microsft Flight sim which was very demanding on hardware although I believe has recently improved a lot. Performance wise this PC still works well for non graphics based work.

I'm looking at Scan as they seem to have a better selection of prespec'd machines. Overclockers Gaming PCs still seem to be quoted with an older processor

From my reading
- i5 11400F seems to be a cracking CPU, The 11th gen chip seems to have plenty more go than the 10th gen, the i7 seems to have issues, and the i9 is getting quite expensive.

- graphcs card wise, pay your money, take your choice, but the GTX3070 should last me another 10 years.

Above spec system with 16G of ram and plenty of storage but without monitor are around £1500-£1600, lesser graphics cards would be cheaper.

Windows 10 I've just got used to and can't even remember what the older versions look like. You're going to have to make the leap as I doubt the newer hardwre have drivers for the older versions of windows.

Not sure if that helps or I'm just looking for validation of my thinking, but I'll be pulling the trigger this week on something.

[Djtemeka]

Heres Johnny said:

I'm in a similar boat. getting on for 10 year old AMD FX6300 processor, SSD hard drive which made a massive difference and a graphics car that can only be described as "Nothing Special". Not sure what AAA but I want to be able to play Microsft Flight sim which was very demanding on hardware although I believe has recently improved a lot. Performance wise this PC still works well for non graphics based work.

I'm looking at Scan as they seem to have a better selection of prespec'd machines. Overclockers Gaming PCs still seem to be quoted with an older processor

From my reading
- i5 11400F seems to be a cracking CPU, The 11th gen chip seems to have plenty more go than the 10th gen, the i7 seems to have issues, and the i9 is getting quite expensive.

- graphcs card wise, pay your money, take your choice, but the GTX3070 should last me another 10 years.

Above spec system with 16G of ram and plenty of storage but without monitor are around £1500-£1600, lesser graphics cards would be cheaper.

Windows 10 I've just got used to and can't even remember what the older versions look like. You're going to have to make the leap as I doubt the newer hardwre have drivers for the older versions of windows.

Not sure if that helps or I'm just looking for validation of my thinking, but I'll be pulling the trigger this week on something.

AAA games means the latest greatest spec sucking games. I don't want to buy a new pc and find out I can't run the best games on the fastest speed and ultra graphics.

It's a total minefield out there. I used to be reasonably savvy with a pc but that was a loooooooong time ago. even then, I couldn't build my own pc. I'd pay someone to do it for me

[Sporky]

I'd say the bit that defines the rest of the system, for AAA games, is the resolution of the monitor. Based on yours being QHD I'd go 3070, 3070ti, or 3080 if that is an option - the higher up you go the longer it'll last you.

I recently went from a 980ti to a 3070ti on a 4KUHD monitor; I've been able to run pretty much anything at 60fps on Ultra settings without ray tracing or DLSS.

[Djtemeka]

Sporky said:

I'd say the bit that defines the rest of the system, for AAA games, is the resolution of the monitor. Based on yours being QHD I'd go 3070, 3070ti, or 3080 if that is an option - the higher up you go the longer it'll last you.

I recently went from a 980ti to a 3070ti on a 4KUHD monitor; I've been able to run pretty much anything at 60fps on Ultra settings without ray tracing or DLSS.

I wasn't sure of the monitor needed. I just specc'd a half decent one. From what I hear, 4k gaming isn't as good as QHD. Something about your brain not being able to process everything so quickly which is why proper games use QHD. It could all be b0llox though. I'm not an online gamer though. Just a casual gamer.

[Taita]

Go with Win10, there are things like Classic Shell to give it the 'old' look.

[Sporky]

Djtemeka said:

I wasn't sure of the monitor needed. I just specc'd a half decent one. From what I hear, 4k gaming isn't as good as QHD. Something about your brain not being able to process everything so quickly which is why proper games use QHD. It could all be b0llox though. I'm not an online gamer though. Just a casual gamer.

That sounds rather mangled!

If you're playing competitively, frame rate is more important than resolution, so 120fps at QHD is preferable to 60fps at 4KUHD.

I'm not sure what games can run at QHD but not at UHD. If any. I do know that whenever someone says "proper" they're expressing their preferences as fact.

[Djtemeka]

Sporky said:

That sounds rather mangled!

If you're playing competitively, frame rate is more important than resolution, so 120fps at QHD is preferable to 60fps at 4KUHD.

I'm not sure what games can run at QHD but not at UHD. If any. I do know that whenever someone says "proper" they're expressing their preferences as fact.

4K at a decent frame rate and resolution would be ace. Not sure I could afford that though. I love immersive graphics though. Loved tomb raider but had to turn it down quite.

I remover an Apple Mac I bought a few years ago and it looked awesome on some YouTube GoPro videos

[Sporky]

I'd stick to QHD for now. I went UHD more for productivity. QHD is half the pixels so doesn't need anything like the GPU power.

[Djtemeka]

I don’t mind a new monitor as mi e is a bit on the small side for the big games. Fine for c&c generals/ Kane’s wrath etc.

[mmm-five]

What is the current monitor (make/model or size/resolution/frequency)?

What type of games do you want to play - anything needing ultra-fast competitive framerates (i.e. above 144hz)?

Would you prefer a 27" 1440p 140-240hz monitor (the sweet spot for a 27" monitor, and reasonably priced) or a 32"+ 4K 60-120hz monitor (more expensive, but about the smallest I'd go for in 4k)?

Have you any aversion to curved gaming monitors, or ultra-wide monitors, or would you prefer a more standard 16:9 display?

Do you need 5GB of relatively slow SATA storage? Why the need for 2x2TB SATA SSDs and a 1TB SATA HDD?

Is your £2.5k budget just for the PC, or does it need to include the monitor?

---

Whilst you think about those questions, I'll have a play on the OCUK configurator (not recommending one builder over another, just using the one you're familiar with) to see what's available for both 1440p and 4k options.

Edited by mmm-five on Monday 30th August 11:58

[Djtemeka]

Thanks

Currently have an Acer G277Hu.

https://www.displayspecifications.com/en/model/e2f...

2014 model. Not sure if this is a decent monitor or not. Didn't notice any difference from my original HD monitor if I'm honest. Using a standard HDMI cable.
27inch is ok. It's what I have at the moment but it may be a little on the small side. 32inch may be too big. My monitor is 50cm from my face. Desk is only 45cm deep so can't push the monitor back.
No real preference on monitor style but I use the pc for excel spreadsheets as well and for browsing.


--

Games: a mixed bag. I like the old games like C&C generals/Kanes wrath etc but also like the newer games like Tomb Raider and Doom eternal.

--

Hard drive: Don't know whats slow or not. I currently have a 500gb SDD for boot up and windows and a regular 2tb drive for hte rest. I've run out of space on the 2tb drive.

--

Ideally 2k all in but from looking about online that doesn't seem realistic. Might add the monitor to that budget.

I'm vat registered so can at least claim the vat back.


ps, I've just gone on SCAN and specced a £3k pc without looking at the price. You can certainly get carried away!

I just want the best possible immersive experience when it comes to visual brilliance.




Thanks!

[Djtemeka]

Ps, need to sneak this past the wife so a boring quiet case is preferred :P

[mmm-five]

Sounds like a 144/165hz 1440p set up would be perfect then...something like this...

CASE

• Phanteks Eclipse P600S Glass Silent Midi Tower Case - Black

CPU

• AMD Ryzen 5 5600X Six Core 4.6GHz (Socket AM4) Processor - Retail

MOTHERBOARD

• MSI MPG X570 Gaming Plus (AMD AM4) DDR4 X570 Chipset ATX Motherboard

GPU

• Build Stock* Gigabyte GeForce RTX 3070 Vision OC 8GB GDDR6 Graphics Card

AIO COOLER

• Corsair Hydro Series iCUE H100i PRO XT RGB Performance Liquid Cooler - 240mm (CW-9060043-WW)

RAM

• Corsair Vengeance LPX Black 32GB (2x16GB) 3600 MHz AMD Ryzen Tuned DDR4 Memory Dual Kit

1ST M.2 (for the OS and apps only) - would have put a really fast WD SN850 or Samsung 980 in there but OCUK don't list them

• WD Black 500GB SN750 M.2 2280 NVME PCI-E Gen3 Solid State Drive (WDS500G3X0C)

2ND M.2 (for all your games, so that if you need to wipe & reinstall Windows you don't have to reinstall all your games)

• WD Black 2TB SN750 M.2 2280 NVME PCI-E Gen3 Solid State Drive (WDS200T3X0C)

HDD STORAGE (for music/video/documents)

• Seagate BarraCuda 2TB 7200RPM 256MB Cache Hard Drive - *System Stock*

PSU

• Seasonic Focus PX-850 850W 80+ Platinum Modular Power Supply

OS

• Microsoft Windows 10 Home Advanced - Systems

MONITOR

• Samsung 27" Odyssey G5 LC27G55TQWRXXU 2560x1440 VA 144Hz 1ms FreeSync Premium Curved Widescreen Gaming Monitor

PRICE
£2581.76 all in (so £2151.38 exc. 20% VAT)

I've put a better monitor on the config, along with a newer, more efficient CPU (similar performance from less cores and less power), gone up a level with the GPU, faster RAM, quieter cooler, better quality PSU, faster M.2 SSDs (instead of the slower SATA ones - 3000mbps vs 500mbps) bigger storage HDD and for about the same price as you originally configured...albeit at the expense of a smaller boot M.2.

I've limited the unicorn vomit (RGB) where appropriate, removed the soundcard as this is built into the motherboard, and removed Bullguard as it causes more issues than it solves...and W10 built in security software is very good these days.

This would also just about be okay for a 60hz 4k or 1440p ultra-wide monitor if that's the way you go. Asking it to push any more pixels or any faster would warrant more outlay for an RTX3080, a motherboard with better cooling/power delivery, and a 4k monitor of course...so adding at least another £750 to the price.

Edited by mmm-five on Monday 30th August 12:53

[mmm-five]

Djtemeka said:

Ps, need to sneak this past the wife so a boring quiet case is preferred :P

Flashy, curved gaming monitor may not be the best choice then

[Djtemeka]

Thanks mmm-five.

Will this spec run all games at full pelt graphics at a good frame rate (apart from 4k)?

[Sporky]

Djtemeka said:

Thanks mmm-five.

Will this spec run all games at full pelt graphics at a good frame rate (apart from 4k)?

Given that my 3070ti will run 4K at 60fps with ultra settings, a 3070 should be more than enough for QHD.

[mmm-five]

Djtemeka said:

Thanks mmm-five.

Will this spec run all games at full pelt graphics at a good frame rate (apart from 4k)?

Depends what 'full pelt' settings you plan to run it at.

Reviewing some of the youtube videos I checked out when I bought mine about 9 months ago ( this for example and this), a 5600X and RTX3070 should expect the following (using high to ultra settings, but no ray tracing) @ 1440p:

• 200-300fps+ in some lighter games (Apex Legends, GTA V, CSGO, Overwatch, PUBG, RSS, Valorant, Fortnite, DOTA2)
• 120fps+ in first-person shooters (Battlefield 5, Borderlands 3, COD, Fallout 4, COD MW) + acing games (Forza Horizon/7, etc.)
• 90fps+ in other adventure games (AC Odyssey, AC Valhalla, FarCry 5, Kingdom Come, Metro Exodus, RDR, Witcher 3, Watch Dogs 2)

Of course some heavier games will only get 60fps if you have everything on Ultra and even lower with ray tracing on (40fps in Cyberpunk & Watch Dogs Legion for example vs 60-70fps without ray tracing)...but that's where Nvidia's DLSS helps to give you better frame rates at the expense of very little image fidelity loss.