Gaming PCs Thread...time for a sticky / running thread?

Gaming PCs Thread...time for a sticky / running thread?

Author
Discussion

RRH

562 posts

246 months

Friday 13th January 2023
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The Motherboard is a320m-hdv r4.0

FourWheelDrift

88,381 posts

283 months

Friday 13th January 2023
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If you upgrade to a new CPU on that board check what BIOS version you have it might need an update for a newer CPU. You could try the 3600 and it if it's doesn't work you would need to put the 2600x back in to do the update, so do it before you get the 3600 or don't sell the 2600x before the 3600 is in and working.

HM-2

12,467 posts

168 months

Friday 13th January 2023
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RRH said:
The Motherboard is a320m-hdv r4.0
Theoretically with a BIOS update you could run 5000 series on it, but with those VRMs and a board that cheap I really, really wouldn't.
Something like a 3700X would represent a big jump in performance without being too taxing. You could risk a 5600X too depending on your workloads, that'll need the updated BIOS mind.

RRH

562 posts

246 months

Sunday 15th January 2023
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Is there much difference between a 3600 and a 3700? Sounds like that’s the first upgrade to make.

FourWheelDrift

88,381 posts

283 months

Sunday 15th January 2023
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RRH said:
Is there much difference between a 3600 and a 3700? Sounds like that’s the first upgrade to make.
For gaming, no difference at all.

RRH

562 posts

246 months

Monday 16th January 2023
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Thanks for your help

RRH

562 posts

246 months

Thursday 26th January 2023
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Ok.. a friend of his is selling a 3600x so I’ve said we’ll have that.
What you would you suggest, 150-200 budget.. and should I upgrade the motherboard?

FourWheelDrift

88,381 posts

283 months

Thursday 26th January 2023
quotequote all
RRH said:
Ok.. a friend of his is selling a 3600x so I’ve said we’ll have that.
What you would you suggest, 150-200 budget.. and should I upgrade the motherboard?
£60, no more than £80, you can get a 5600x for £158 new - https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08166SLDF?tag=pcp0f-2...

PS. you can pick up 3600x CPUs on Ebay for 60-80

Edited by FourWheelDrift on Thursday 26th January 18:15

Squirrelofwoe

3,181 posts

175 months

Thursday 26th January 2023
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I could also do with some assistance from the font of knowledge on here biggrin

Currently have a relatively old system that needs a pretty comprehensive upgrade- may as well go the route of an entire new PC from scratch, albeit I already have a GPU to work with.

Current system:

AMD FX-8350 cpu with compatible motherboard and big CPU cooler (REPLACE)
AMD RX 5700xt (re-use - only a couple of years old)
16GB Corsair DDR3 RAM (REPLACE)
250gb SSD (will probably re-use)
1TB HD (REPLACE - SSD if possible)
10+ year old power supply (REPLACE)
10+ year old case (REPLACE)
1440p 27" 144hz monitor (keep - this is only a couple of years old)

This system is still working surprisingly well but I know it's a few years past it's best now...

Just interested in seeing if I could build a decent system around my 5700xt GPU, that will handle current and upcoming titles at 60+ fps at 1440p for £1,000 max (ideally less). Is this in the realms of possibility or am I being too ambitious? I'm talking everything bar the GPU.

Would probably stick with AMD for the CPU and not too worried about chasing crazy performance numbers, just want something that will give a decent amount of headroom for another few years (current system was built in 2015 apart from GPU!).

I am many years out of the loop in terms of current tech, so any advice would be hugely appreciated!


Squirrelofwoe

3,181 posts

175 months

Thursday 2nd February 2023
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Further to the above I'm currently looking at the following:

-CPU: Ryzen 7700x
-Mobo: Asus ROG Strix B650E-F gaming wifi AM5
-RAM: Corsair vengeance (2 x 16GB) DDR5 - 5200 CL40
-CPU cooler: Corsair iCUE H100i RGB Elite liquid CPU cooler
-HD (1): Crucial P3 Plus 2TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 x4 NVME
-HD (2): Samsung Evo 256GB SSD - for Windows (will re-use this from existing PC)
-PSU: Corsair RM750x (2021) 750w 80+ Gold modular
-Case: NZXT H5 Flow white

All coming in at approx £1,200.

This will be used with my existing 5700xt GPU until I am in a position to upgrade this further down the line. Gaming at 1440p on a 27" monitor that supports Freesync up to 144hz.

My thinking is as I am going from AM3+ (FX-8350) I may as well skip AM4 completely and go for AM5 even though the initial cost is a bit more for the DDR5 RAM, on the basis that the core components should see me through a fair few years.

The chosen CPU is probably a bit overkill for my existing GPU, but I'd rather have the headroom to upgrade the GPU in a year or so. I couldn't see an obvious lower tier AM5 socket CPU- hence going for the 7700x. Is there anything immanent that would be worth waiting for? I guess they will do a 7700x3D but I'd imagine this will be noticeably more expensive anyway, and overkill for me.

Just wondered if people have any thoughts on the above parts selection- in particular is there anywhere obvious that I could save money, or anything fundamental I've overlooked?

Additionally, I know it's not worth much but is there any market for a used FX-8350, mobo, 16gb RAM, and Sapphire Tri-X R9 280x OC graphics card bundle?!

FourWheelDrift

88,381 posts

283 months

Thursday 2nd February 2023
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DDR5 5600Mhz CL 36 (so faster speed and lower latency) is just £139 (just £10 more than the cheapest 5200/CL40 I can see) if that's the type you are after?

https://www.box.co.uk/CMK32GX5M2B5600Z36-Corsair-V...

Squirrelofwoe

3,181 posts

175 months

Thursday 2nd February 2023
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FourWheelDrift said:
DDR5 5600Mhz CL 36 (so faster speed and lower latency) is just £139 (just £10 more than the cheapest 5200/CL40 I can see) if that's the type you are after?

https://www.box.co.uk/CMK32GX5M2B5600Z36-Corsair-V...
Good spot, I was going purely by the stuff showing up on PC part picker and the CL40 was the fastest Corsair one on there at a sensible price - I would definitely go for that CL36 at just £10 more thumbup

MesoForm

8,859 posts

274 months

Tuesday 7th February 2023
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Well after 8 years of service my PC is in need of upgrading as some of the games I play (eg. Darktide) I no longer meet the minimum spec, I've got an i5 4590 with a GeForce GTX 970 so it's new CPU, motherboard, GPU and memory time. Nothing wrong with the case so that can stay, the power supply I bought a couple of years ago when the old one died and looks fairly decent spec (Corsair TX 850M) so that can also stay.
Monitor is also new, an LG that runs at 1440 plus a 1080p Dell that's a few years old now.

What I'm looking at:
Intel Core i5-11400F 2.6 GHz 6-Core Processor
Asus TUF Gaming Z590-PLUS WIFI ATX LGA1200 Motherboard
Corsair Vengeance LPX 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3600 CL18 Memory
Western Digital Blue SA510 1 TB M.2-2280 SATA Solid State Drive
Western Digital Green SN350 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 3.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive
Asus TUF GAMING OC GeForce RTX 3060 Ti 8 GB Video Card

Comes out at about £1000 on Overclockers.
Is there anything in there that stands out as odd? Way overspecced / underspecced compared to everything else on the list?
The two hard drives are for programs (blue) and my photos/videos (green, slower).


Link to case specs
https://www.coolermaster.com/catalog/legacy-produc...
High-end component support – long graphics cards up to 423mm and tall CPU coolers up to 171mm

HM-2

12,467 posts

168 months

Tuesday 7th February 2023
quotequote all
MesoForm said:
Well after 8 years of service my PC is in need of upgrading as some of the games I play (eg. Darktide) I no longer meet the minimum spec, I've got an i5 4590 with a GeForce GTX 970 so it's new CPU, motherboard, GPU and memory time. Nothing wrong with the case so that can stay, the power supply I bought a couple of years ago when the old one died and looks fairly decent spec (Corsair TX 850M) so that can also stay.
Monitor is also new, an LG that runs at 1440 plus a 1080p Dell that's a few years old now.

What I'm looking at:
Intel Core i5-11400F 2.6 GHz 6-Core Processor
Asus TUF Gaming Z590-PLUS WIFI ATX LGA1200 Motherboard
Corsair Vengeance LPX 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3600 CL18 Memory
Western Digital Blue SA510 1 TB M.2-2280 SATA Solid State Drive
Western Digital Green SN350 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 3.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive
Asus TUF GAMING OC GeForce RTX 3060 Ti 8 GB Video Card

Comes out at about £1000 on Overclockers.
Is there anything in there that stands out as odd? Way overspecced / underspecced compared to everything else on the list?
The two hard drives are for programs (blue) and my photos/videos (green, slower).


Link to case specs
https://www.coolermaster.com/catalog/legacy-produc...
High-end component support – long graphics cards up to 423mm and tall CPU coolers up to 171mm
With a 1k budget I'd probably go something like:

Gigabyte B660 Gaming X DDR4 (£137.99, Scan)
32GB Corsair DDR4 Vengeance LPX 3200 CL16 (£74.99, Scan)
Intel i5 12400F (£162.00, Amazon)
Crucial P3 Plus 2TB M.2 PCIE Gen4 (£133.48, Amazon)
Gigabyte RTX 3070 Eagle 8GB (£529.98, Ebuyer)

That comes to a hair over £1k (£1,038), gets you a newer and faster processor, RAM that's basically identical, a perfectly adequate motherboard even if you wanted to upgrade, the same amount of (overall, faster) storage, and an RTX 3070 over the 3060ti.

You could also go AMD with a:
B550 Gaming (£114.95, Amazon)
Ryzen 7 5700X (£183.00 Amazon)
32GB Corsair DDR4 Vengeance LPX 3200 CL16 (£74.99, Scan)

This will cost about the same, and sacrifice marginally slower single thread performance (less than 5%) for 2 additional cores, 4 threads, and the ability to overclock if you wanted.

Edited by HM-2 on Tuesday 7th February 18:01

FourWheelDrift

88,381 posts

283 months

Tuesday 7th February 2023
quotequote all
MesoForm said:
Well after 8 years of service my PC is in need of upgrading as some of the games I play (eg. Darktide) I no longer meet the minimum spec, I've got an i5 4590 with a GeForce GTX 970 so it's new CPU, motherboard, GPU and memory time. Nothing wrong with the case so that can stay, the power supply I bought a couple of years ago when the old one died and looks fairly decent spec (Corsair TX 850M) so that can also stay.
Monitor is also new, an LG that runs at 1440 plus a 1080p Dell that's a few years old now.

What I'm looking at:
Intel Core i5-11400F 2.6 GHz 6-Core Processor
Asus TUF Gaming Z590-PLUS WIFI ATX LGA1200 Motherboard
Corsair Vengeance LPX 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3600 CL18 Memory
Western Digital Blue SA510 1 TB M.2-2280 SATA Solid State Drive
Western Digital Green SN350 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 3.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive
Asus TUF GAMING OC GeForce RTX 3060 Ti 8 GB Video Card

Comes out at about £1000 on Overclockers.
Is there anything in there that stands out as odd? Way overspecced / underspecced compared to everything else on the list?
The two hard drives are for programs (blue) and my photos/videos (green, slower).


Link to case specs
https://www.coolermaster.com/catalog/legacy-produc...
High-end component support – long graphics cards up to 423mm and tall CPU coolers up to 171mm
A Z board is a waste of money for an F CPU that you can't overclock.

RRH

562 posts

246 months

Thursday 9th February 2023
quotequote all
FourWheelDrift said:
RRH said:
Ok.. a friend of his is selling a 3600x so I’ve said we’ll have that.
What you would you suggest, 150-200 budget.. and should I upgrade the motherboard?
£60, no more than £80, you can get a 5600x for £158 new - https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08166SLDF?tag=pcp0f-2...

PS. you can pick up 3600x CPUs on Ebay for 60-80

Edited by FourWheelDrift on Thursday 26th January 18:15
Ok.. Ryzen 3600 has arrived and due to be fitted. With a budget of £200.. which GPU do I go for?


MissChief

7,095 posts

167 months

Thursday 9th February 2023
quotequote all
RRH said:
FourWheelDrift said:
RRH said:
Ok.. a friend of his is selling a 3600x so I’ve said we’ll have that.
What you would you suggest, 150-200 budget.. and should I upgrade the motherboard?
£60, no more than £80, you can get a 5600x for £158 new - https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08166SLDF?tag=pcp0f-2...

PS. you can pick up 3600x CPUs on Ebay for 60-80

Edited by FourWheelDrift on Thursday 26th January 18:15
Ok.. Ryzen 3600 has arrived and due to be fitted. With a budget of £200.. which GPU do I go for?
You might struggle to get one for £200 but if you could stretch to a 1080ti you’d be very happy.

RRH

562 posts

246 months

Thursday 9th February 2023
quotequote all
FourWheelDrift said:
RRH said:
Ok.. a friend of his is selling a 3600x so I’ve said we’ll have that.
What you would you suggest, 150-200 budget.. and should I upgrade the motherboard?
£60, no more than £80, you can get a 5600x for £158 new - https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08166SLDF?tag=pcp0f-2...

PS. you can pick up 3600x CPUs on Ebay for 60-80

Edited by FourWheelDrift on Thursday 26th January 18:15
Ok.. Ryzen 3600 has arrived and due to be fitted. With a budget of £200.. which GPU do I go for?


RRH

562 posts

246 months

Thursday 9th February 2023
quotequote all
I’ll have a look. Thank you.

FourWheelDrift

88,381 posts

283 months

Thursday 9th February 2023
quotequote all
RRH said:
FourWheelDrift said:
RRH said:
Ok.. a friend of his is selling a 3600x so I’ve said we’ll have that.
What you would you suggest, 150-200 budget.. and should I upgrade the motherboard?
£60, no more than £80, you can get a 5600x for £158 new - https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08166SLDF?tag=pcp0f-2...

PS. you can pick up 3600x CPUs on Ebay for 60-80

Edited by FourWheelDrift on Thursday 26th January 18:15
Ok.. Ryzen 3600 has arrived and due to be fitted. With a budget of £200.. which GPU do I go for?
If trying 2nd hand just over £200 (they can sell on Ebay for £210-£220) would be the AMD Radeon 6600XT and if it's a Sapphire card all the better. Buy it now cards around £250, auction sales go for less.

Older cards for £200 and lower would be the AMD RX 5700XT or from Nvidia an RTX 2060 or 2060 Super, all around the same as the newer and better 6600XT. Other more older cards as mentioned above 1080Ti, or 1080 (roughly equal to a 2060 in performance but without the benefit of useable DLSS)

Go onto Ebay have a look, go to advanced and select sold prices and you'll see what they are all selling for in case you see one for sale and try an offer.