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

[BlueMR2]

A deleted member on toms hardware stated

""High" idle temps on Ryzen is nothing to worry about. Ryzen concentrates all tasks/background services onto one core while the rest are sleeping, unlike Intel who uniformly distributes loads across all cores. On Intel, you see a few degrees increase on each core at idle. On Ryzen, you see about 45-50 degrees on a single core while the rest are asleep. The temperature you see in Ryzen Master isn't the whole CPU temp, but only the hottest core.
"

https://forums.tomshardware.com/threads/high-idle-...

[papa3]

Anyone fancy lending me a hand with a build? Have been using www.pcspecialist.co.uk after good experiences previously.

This is solely a gaming machine, looking to run flight sims, starfield, COD etc. at decent res without losing frame rate.

I have built a few examples but keep hitting overkill/overbudget. Ideally I'd like a 4090 card, need a decent monitor with it and don't want to break £3500 delivered.

Below ticks the boxes for spec but is well over budget and doesn't leave anything for a monitor/keyboard etc.

Any help appreciated.

Case CORSAIR iCUE 5000T RGB MID TOWER GAMING CASE - WHITE

Processor (CPU) Intel® Core™ i9 24-Core Processor i9-13900KS (Up to 6.0 GHz) 36MB Cache
Motherboard ASUS® ROG STRIX Z790-A GAMING WIFI (DDR5, LGA1700, USB 3.2, PCIe 5.0) - ARGB Ready
Memory (RAM) 64GB Corsair DOMINATOR PLATINUM RGB DDR5 5600MHz (2 x 32GB) - WHITE
Graphics Card 24GB GIGABYTE GEFORCE RTX 4090 AERO OC - WHITE - HDMI, DP

1st M.2 SSD Drive 2TB SAMSUNG 990 PRO M.2, PCIe 4.0 NVMe (up to 7450MB/R, 6900MB/W)
Power Supply CORSAIR 1200W RMx SHIFT 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 H150i ELITE CAPELLIX XT RGB High Performance CPU Cooler - WHITE
Thermal Paste ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
Extra Case Fans 3 x Corsair AF120 RGB ELITE PWM Fan + Controller Kit - WHITE
Sound Card ASUS Xonar AE 7.1-Channel Gaming Audio Card
Network Card ONBOARD 2.5Gbe 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 Windows 11 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KUK-00003]

[Digger]

Would you be able to put the prices next to the items?

[papa3]

Digger said:

Would you be able to put the prices next to the items?

Their configurators shows price difference rather than price (i.e. adding this costs £x more). Build link attached if that helps.



https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configuration...

Edited by papa3 on Saturday 21st October 14:49 to fix awful url

Edited by papa3 on Saturday 21st October 14:50

[Digger]

A slight downgrade to a 4080 & a slightly lesser spec CPU will get you under budget & allow you to nearly budget for a monitor etc . . .

[papa3]

Digger said:

A slight downgrade to a 4080 & a slightly lesser spec CPU will get you under budget & allow you to nearly budget for a monitor etc . . .

And, excusing my ignorance, still run the games as desired?

[Digger]

papa3 said:

Digger said:

A slight downgrade to a 4080 & a slightly lesser spec CPU will get you under budget & allow you to nearly budget for a monitor etc . . .

And, excusing my ignorance, still run the games as desired?

I have no idea

Depends on your expectations

[Digger]

Have a play with this configurator. I have no idea how accurate it is though . . .


https://pc-builds.com/fps-calculator/result/1j01ci...

[MissChief]

papa3 said:

Anyone fancy lending me a hand with a build? Have been using www.pcspecialist.co.uk after good experiences previously.

This is solely a gaming machine, looking to run flight sims, starfield, COD etc. at decent res without losing frame rate.

I have built a few examples but keep hitting overkill/overbudget. Ideally I'd like a 4090 card, need a decent monitor with it and don't want to break £3500 delivered.

Below ticks the boxes for spec but is well over budget and doesn't leave anything for a monitor/keyboard etc.

Any help appreciated.

Case CORSAIR iCUE 5000T RGB MID TOWER GAMING CASE - WHITE

Processor (CPU) Intel® Core™ i9 24-Core Processor i9-13900KS (Up to 6.0 GHz) 36MB Cache
Motherboard ASUS® ROG STRIX Z790-A GAMING WIFI (DDR5, LGA1700, USB 3.2, PCIe 5.0) - ARGB Ready
Memory (RAM) 64GB Corsair DOMINATOR PLATINUM RGB DDR5 5600MHz (2 x 32GB) - WHITE
Graphics Card 24GB GIGABYTE GEFORCE RTX 4090 AERO OC - WHITE - HDMI, DP

1st M.2 SSD Drive 2TB SAMSUNG 990 PRO M.2, PCIe 4.0 NVMe (up to 7450MB/R, 6900MB/W)
Power Supply CORSAIR 1200W RMx SHIFT 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 H150i ELITE CAPELLIX XT RGB High Performance CPU Cooler - WHITE
Thermal Paste ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
Extra Case Fans 3 x Corsair AF120 RGB ELITE PWM Fan + Controller Kit - WHITE
Sound Card ASUS Xonar AE 7.1-Channel Gaming Audio Card
Network Card ONBOARD 2.5Gbe 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 Windows 11 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KUK-00003]

Absolutely no need for such a bleeding edge machine to play Starfield and CoD.

Drop the CPU to something mid range from the new 14 series. 14700 or similar.
64GB of RAM is pure overkill, even 32 some will say isn't needed but I still would. And did 18 months ago.
Consider a 7900XTX for half the price of the NVidia card you have put in.
The AIO will come with thermal compound so you won't need to buy any and can be cut back to the Artic cooling 360mm saving you a good wedge too.
The case is absolutely massive and vastly overpriced. Drop down to the 4000D is you must have a white one with RGB. Onboard sound is decent these days, drop the sound card. It all feels like you've just taken the most expensive component you could find.

My basket at OcUK:
[LIST]
[*] 1 x Intel Core i7-14700KF (Raptor Lake-S) Socket LGA1700 Processor - Retail (SKU: PRO-INT-00801) = £398.99
[*] 1 x Powercolor Radeon RX 7900 XTX HellHound Spectral White 24GB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GX-1AW-PC) = £998.99
[*] 1 x Corsair iCUE 4000D RGB AIRFLOW Mid-Tower Case - White (CC-9011241-WW) (SKU: CA-275-CS) = £164.98
[*] 1 x Asus Prime Z790-A WIFI (LGA 1700) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MB-6JQ-AS) = £239.99
[*] 1 x Crucial P5 Plus 2TB M.2 2280 PCI-e 4.0 x4 3D NAND NVMe Solid State Drive with Heatsink (SKU: HD-07N-CR) = £112.99
[*] 1 x Thermaltake Toughpower GF A3 80 Plus Gold 1050W Power Supply (SKU: CA-1C1-TT) = £139.98
[*] 1 x TeamGroup Vulcan 32GB (2X16GB) DDR5 PC5-44800C36 5600MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black (FLBD532G5600HC36BDC01) (SKU: MY-0BB-TG) = £99.95
[*] 1 x Corsair Hydro Series iCUE H150i RGB ELITE White Performance Liquid CPU Cooler - 360mm (SKU: HS-04U-CS) = £181.99
[/LIST]

[INDENT] Total: £2,345.86 (includes delivery: £7.99)[/INDENT]

[INDENT]

[/INDENT]


If you absolutely must have a 4090:

My basket at OcUK:
[LIST]
[*] 1 x Intel Core i7-14700KF (Raptor Lake-S) Socket LGA1700 Processor - Retail (SKU: PRO-INT-00801) = £398.99
[*] 1 x Corsair iCUE 4000D RGB AIRFLOW Mid-Tower Case - White (CC-9011241-WW) (SKU: CA-275-CS) = £164.99
[*] 1 x Asus Prime Z790-A WIFI (LGA 1700) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MB-6JQ-AS) = £239.98
[*] 1 x Crucial P5 Plus 2TB M.2 2280 PCI-e 4.0 x4 3D NAND NVMe Solid State Drive with Heatsink (SKU: HD-07N-CR) = £113.00
[*] 1 x Thermaltake Toughpower GF A3 80 Plus Gold 1050W Power Supply (SKU: CA-1C1-TT) = £139.98
[*] 1 x TeamGroup Vulcan 32GB (2X16GB) DDR5 PC5-44800C36 5600MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black (FLBD532G5600HC36BDC01) (SKU: MY-0BB-TG) = £99.94
[*] 1 x Corsair Hydro Series iCUE H150i RGB ELITE White Performance Liquid CPU Cooler - 360mm (SKU: HS-04U-CS) = £182.00
[*] 1 x MSI GeForce RTX 4090 Ventus 3X OC 24GB GDDR6X PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GX-38Z-MS) = £1,639.99
[*] 1 x NVIDIA - Alan Wake 2 Game Bundle (SKU: DIG-NVI-01056) = £0.00
[/LIST]

[INDENT] Total: £2,986.86 (includes delivery: £7.99)[/INDENT]

[INDENT]

[/INDENT]

[papa3]

MissChief said:

Absolutely no need for such a bleeding edge machine to play Starfield and CoD.

Drop the CPU to something mid range from the new 14 series. 14700 or similar.
64GB of RAM is pure overkill, even 32 some will say isn't needed but I still would. And did 18 months ago.
Consider a 7900XTX for half the price of the NVidia card you have put in.
The AIO will come with thermal compound so you won't need to buy any and can be cut back to the Artic cooling 360mm saving you a good wedge too.
The case is absolutely massive and vastly overpriced. Drop down to the 4000D is you must have a white one with RGB. Onboard sound is decent these days, drop the sound card. It all feels like you've just taken the most expensive component you could find.

My basket at OcUK:
[LIST]
[*] 1 x Intel Core i7-14700KF (Raptor Lake-S) Socket LGA1700 Processor - Retail (SKU: PRO-INT-00801) = £398.99
[*] 1 x Powercolor Radeon RX 7900 XTX HellHound Spectral White 24GB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GX-1AW-PC) = £998.99
[*] 1 x Corsair iCUE 4000D RGB AIRFLOW Mid-Tower Case - White (CC-9011241-WW) (SKU: CA-275-CS) = £164.98
[*] 1 x Asus Prime Z790-A WIFI (LGA 1700) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MB-6JQ-AS) = £239.99
[*] 1 x Crucial P5 Plus 2TB M.2 2280 PCI-e 4.0 x4 3D NAND NVMe Solid State Drive with Heatsink (SKU: HD-07N-CR) = £112.99
[*] 1 x Thermaltake Toughpower GF A3 80 Plus Gold 1050W Power Supply (SKU: CA-1C1-TT) = £139.98
[*] 1 x TeamGroup Vulcan 32GB (2X16GB) DDR5 PC5-44800C36 5600MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black (FLBD532G5600HC36BDC01) (SKU: MY-0BB-TG) = £99.95
[*] 1 x Corsair Hydro Series iCUE H150i RGB ELITE White Performance Liquid CPU Cooler - 360mm (SKU: HS-04U-CS) = £181.99
[/LIST]

[INDENT] Total: £2,345.86 (includes delivery: £7.99)[/INDENT]

[INDENT]

[/INDENT]


If you absolutely must have a 4090:

My basket at OcUK:
[LIST]
[*] 1 x Intel Core i7-14700KF (Raptor Lake-S) Socket LGA1700 Processor - Retail (SKU: PRO-INT-00801) = £398.99
[*] 1 x Corsair iCUE 4000D RGB AIRFLOW Mid-Tower Case - White (CC-9011241-WW) (SKU: CA-275-CS) = £164.99
[*] 1 x Asus Prime Z790-A WIFI (LGA 1700) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MB-6JQ-AS) = £239.98
[*] 1 x Crucial P5 Plus 2TB M.2 2280 PCI-e 4.0 x4 3D NAND NVMe Solid State Drive with Heatsink (SKU: HD-07N-CR) = £113.00
[*] 1 x Thermaltake Toughpower GF A3 80 Plus Gold 1050W Power Supply (SKU: CA-1C1-TT) = £139.98
[*] 1 x TeamGroup Vulcan 32GB (2X16GB) DDR5 PC5-44800C36 5600MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black (FLBD532G5600HC36BDC01) (SKU: MY-0BB-TG) = £99.94
[*] 1 x Corsair Hydro Series iCUE H150i RGB ELITE White Performance Liquid CPU Cooler - 360mm (SKU: HS-04U-CS) = £182.00
[*] 1 x MSI GeForce RTX 4090 Ventus 3X OC 24GB GDDR6X PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GX-38Z-MS) = £1,639.99
[*] 1 x NVIDIA - Alan Wake 2 Game Bundle (SKU: DIG-NVI-01056) = £0.00
[/LIST]

[INDENT] Total: £2,986.86 (includes delivery: £7.99)[/INDENT]

[INDENT]

[/INDENT]

MissChief, you are a star! This is exactly what I needed and owe you a beer!

[Blib]

Delivery's a bit steep, IMO.

[FourWheelDrift]

You could probably knock another £100 off that if you order the same things via Scan and drop the 4090 FE into the basket. They are in stock, just need to go via the Nvidia site first then when you go to Scan it will be in your basket and add the others.

[Digby]

Could save a bit more if you’re not worried about the fancy cooler. Something like a Noctua NH-D15S will do just as good a job for £100 less.

It might also be worth considering a TV if you prefer a large screen. I use a 120hz 48inch oled for my main pc screen and it’s also connected to a 75” 144hz screen. I doubt I’ll ever buy a dedicated pc monitor again.

[CopperBolt]

Another build a few months on...

Is the following all going to work together nicely does anyone know? In particular will the cpu cooler fit inside the case?

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i5-13400F 2.5 GHz 10-Core Processor (£194.00 @ Amazon UK)
CPU Cooler: Deepcool AK620 ZERO DARK 68.99 CFM CPU Cooler (£69.00 @ Computer Orbit)
Motherboard: MSI PRO Z790-P WIFI ATX LGA1700 Motherboard (£193.48 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6000 CL36 Memory (£114.13 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Samsung 980 Pro 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive (£90.79 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: Gainward Ghost GeForce RTX 4070 12 GB Video Card (£567.98 @ Overclockers.co.uk)
Case: Corsair 4000D Airflow ATX Mid Tower Case (£79.00 @ Computer Orbit)
Power Supply: NZXT C850 (2022) 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply (£144.44 @ Amazon UK)
Monitor: Asus TUF Gaming VG27AQ 27.0" 2560 x 1440 165 Hz Monitor (£275.04 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £1727.86
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2023-11-14 15:16 GMT+0000

Cheers all

[Digger]

My immediate reply speed-reading the list . . .

you picked a F locked Intel CPU with an overclockable Z790 motherboard & the rest of the parts suggest you will be gaming.

If that is your max budget then consider tweaking to fit in a 13600K thereabouts.

Others more knowledgeable than me can now comment

[RizzoTheRat]

I last built a PC about 5 years ago so a bit out of touch with what the latest stuff should be. My soon to be 13 yr old nephew want to build his own and I've been asked for advice on his current suggestions for components.

First off I've suggested looking at pcpartpicker and I'll run his list of components through there tonight to see if it suggests any compatibility issues, but what are people's thoughts on:

MSI B650 motherboard https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0C3R2TXHJ/?coliid=IQZ...
Ryzen 5 7600 https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0BMQJWBDM/?coliid=I3U...
MSI RTX 4060 https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0C7W8GZMJ/?coliid=I1Z...
Gigabyte power supply looks decent to me https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0BWH4C6YT/?coliid=I1L...

He's also looking at water coolers like this ThermalRight, am I right in thinking that's a massive overkill unless he's overclocking it? the processor he's linked has a cooler, but I went for a 120mm fan air cooler in mine which is lovely and quiet. https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0CCP3SM7B/?coliid=I1M...

He seems to be looking at 1920x1080 240Hz monitors like this, now sure yet what games he plans to play but seems like he's focusing on refresh rate rather than resolution, is that needed for gaming or would slower but higher resolution be better? https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0CLGSZNYJ/?coliid=I39... (I tend to play games where refresh rate isn't that important)

Is it still sensible to get an SSD for the OS and a spinning drive for bulk storage, if so what size SSD is a good price point these days?

The amount of RGB on the case he's suggesting makes me shudder but he is 12 https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0C9Q93KP5/?coliid=I14...

Edited by RizzoTheRat on Thursday 11th January 15:29

[FourWheelDrift]

With that if you wanted an air cooler the best cooler and great value for money is the Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE or the newer Phantom Spirit. The 7600 doesn't really need AIO cooling unless the case has poor airflow.

Tech Jesus agrees, he gave it best overall cooler of 2023 - https://youtu.be/ow0crBSKIXw?t=216

[RizzoTheRat]

I bunged his suggested components in to PC part picker to get an idea of total price
https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/86DKkJ

[MesoForm]

It's time for me to upgrade my ancient PC as a lot of the games I play it moans I'm below the minimum specs (i5 4590, GTX 970...), as I'm sure is the case with a lot of people I was fairly clued up when buying my last PC but then didn't really pay much attention so I've got a few general questions. My budget is about £2k for a pre-built system, not including the monitor as I have a 1440p monitor already. I mainly play slower games like Total War, War Thunder, World of Tanks more than the twitch FPS games, but I do dabble with the likes of Borderlands, Darktide. I also edit quite a few photos with PhotoShop.

1) what's the sweet spot for price vs performance with graphics cards? I'm vaguely aware of the 40x0 Super series being released recently, problems with the 4090 overheating but I am out of the loop a bit.
2) AMD vs Intel - seems to be a higher clocks speed vs more cores/threads decision? With the RTS games I'm more erring towards Inrel with the cores and threads?

Think I can figure the rest out!

[MissChief]

MesoForm said:

It's time for me to upgrade my ancient PC as a lot of the games I play it moans I'm below the minimum specs (i5 4590, GTX 970...), as I'm sure is the case with a lot of people I was fairly clued up when buying my last PC but then didn't really pay much attention so I've got a few general questions. My budget is about £2k for a pre-built system, not including the monitor as I have a 1440p monitor already. I mainly play slower games like Total War, War Thunder, World of Tanks more than the twitch FPS games, but I do dabble with the likes of Borderlands, Darktide. I also edit quite a few photos with PhotoShop.

1) what's the sweet spot for price vs performance with graphics cards? I'm vaguely aware of the 40x0 Super series being released recently, problems with the 4090 overheating but I am out of the loop a bit.
2) AMD vs Intel - seems to be a higher clocks speed vs more cores/threads decision? With the RTS games I'm more erring towards Inrel with the cores and threads?

Think I can figure the rest out!

If you abjsolutely insist on a pre-built then you can't really go wrong with something like this: https://www.overclockers.co.uk/refract-gaming-cele... although I'd prefer a slightly beefier graphics card.

Perhaps this could take Sir's fancy? https://www.overclockers.co.uk/ocuk-gaming-khopesh...