PC Build Advice

A

AaronM

Member
Hi All,

Looking to make the switch from Laptop to Desktop but bit out of my depth when it comes to PC hardware so looking for some help!

Currently have Acer AN517-52 laptop which has served me well for the past few years but thinking about getting a desktop setup. Mainly an FM player so a half decent processor would be good but wouldnt mind trying some PC shooters like DayZ and Tarkov too. This would not be used for any streaming/video editing and purely just a gaming/general use system.

Currently dont have a monitor but would be looking at getting a 27" 1440 monitor. Have seen you get get an MSI on amazon for just over £300. Any recommendations on what to look for with a budget £2500 including the monitor?

Any help/advise would be much appreciated.

Thanks
Aaron
 
Last edited:
A

AaronM

Member
Thanks for sending this. Apologies for missing infomation!

Dont have a monitor but I have seen you can get a 27"1440 MSI monitor for about £300 so I would be looking for something like this. It would also not be used for any streaming ot video editing so purely a gaming/general use system. I will edit the first post, thanks again.
 
SpyderTracks

SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
At £1500 budget for the PC, you'd be restricted to a high end 1080p system, you wouldn't be able to reach a 1440p system.

You mention you could go higher which means that's not your maximum budget? We need the maximum you have available for this purchase.

I would say 1080p is very poor by todays standards and best avoided, it hugely sacrifices modern games.

So long as we know the available budget for the monitor we can design a 1080p system and suitable monitor to go with it unless your budget changes.
 
A

AaronM

Member
SpyderTracks said:
At £1500 budget for the PC, you'd be restricted to a high end 1080p system, you wouldn't be able to reach a 1440p system.

You mention you could go higher which means that's not your maximum budget? We need the maximum you have available for this purchase.

I would say 1080p is very poor by todays standards and best avoided, it hugely sacrifices modern games.

So long as we know the available budget for the monitor we can design a 1080p system and suitable monitor to go with it unless your budget changes.
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Thanks for this information. I will edit the first post but for maximum, I would say £2500 but this would need to include monitor too.
 
SpyderTracks

SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
AaronM said:
Thanks for this information. I will edit the first post but for maximum, I would say £2500 but this would need to include monitor too.
Click to expand...
That's easily doable for a really strong 1440p system.

The only outlier game here is DayZ which favours Intel GPU's, FM and Tarkov don't really mind on the GPU brand. All of them are heavily CPU focussed so we'll go for the 7800X3D which is the strongest for CPU bound games

Case
FRACTAL NORTH TG GAMING CASE (BLACK)
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D Eight Core CPU (4.2GHz-5.0GHz/104MB w/3D V-CACHE/AM5)
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING B650-PLUS WIFI (AM5, DDR5, PCIe 4.0, Wi-Fi 6)
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR5 6000MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
12GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 4070 SUPER - HDMI, DP, LHR
Graphics Card Support Bracket
NONE (BRACKET INCLUDED AS STANDARD ON 4070 Ti / RX 7700 XT AND ABOVE)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SOLIDIGM P44 PRO GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 7000MB/sR, 6500MB/sW)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
2TB SOLIDIGM P41+ GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 4125MB/sR, 3325MB/sW)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 1000W RMx 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 H100x RGB ELITE 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
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
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10/11 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
Microsoft® Edge
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 4 to 6 working days
Price: £2,081.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.ie/saved-configurations/amd-am5-pc/kryUSXkAxy/
 
A

AaronM

Member
SpyderTracks said:
That's easily doable for a really strong 1440p system.

The only outlier game here is DayZ which favours Intel GPU's, FM and Tarkov don't really mind on the GPU brand. All of them are heavily CPU focussed so we'll go for the 7800X3D which is the strongest for CPU bound games

Case
FRACTAL NORTH TG GAMING CASE (BLACK)
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D Eight Core CPU (4.2GHz-5.0GHz/104MB w/3D V-CACHE/AM5)
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING B650-PLUS WIFI (AM5, DDR5, PCIe 4.0, Wi-Fi 6)
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR5 6000MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
12GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 4070 SUPER - HDMI, DP, LHR
Graphics Card Support Bracket
NONE (BRACKET INCLUDED AS STANDARD ON 4070 Ti / RX 7700 XT AND ABOVE)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SOLIDIGM P44 PRO GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 7000MB/sR, 6500MB/sW)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
2TB SOLIDIGM P41+ GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 4125MB/sR, 3325MB/sW)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 1000W RMx 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 H100x RGB ELITE 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
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
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10/11 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
Microsoft® Edge
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 4 to 6 working days
Price: £2,081.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.ie/saved-configurations/amd-am5-pc/kryUSXkAxy/
Click to expand...
Really appreciate this. System looks great! What would be the weak link to a system like this? Down the line for like upgradeability etc?
 
SpyderTracks

SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
For a monitor, all the games you mention don't really benefit from Ultrawide which we'd normally suggest.

This is a really strong Fast IPS panel at 180Hz


There's a massive gap between Fast IPS and OLED monitors when it comes to price at the 1440p level. Most of the OLED options are over £600
 
SpyderTracks

SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
AaronM said:
Really appreciate this. System looks great! What would be the weak link to a system like this? Down the line for like upgradeability etc?
Click to expand...
No matter how high you spec the GPU now, that will be the first thing that needs upgrading.

Because GPU's are released bi-annually roughly, technology moves fast, especially at the moment with RayTracing and Frame Generation still being so new.

So "future proofing" a GPU is not a thing, you pair the GPU with your monitor and upgrade it when performance starts dipping in newer titles or if you upgrade the monitor.

Most people will upgrade a GPU every other release, so you'd be looking around the 6000 series in 4 years or so

The rest of the system shouldn't need changing in its lifecycle. BUT should you find you're wanting a CPU upgrade, on the AM5 platform, it will be compatible with the upcoming 9000 series CPU's so you'd have the option to upgrade to one of those down the line for more cores or the updated X3D version if your needs change.

But I've been running custom PC's since early 2000's and never had to upgrade a CPU in the lifecycle of the PC.

For a normal PC lifecycle, you're looking 7 - 10 years.
 
A

AaronM

Member
SpyderTracks said:
No matter how high you spec the GPU now, that will be the first thing that needs upgrading.

Because GPU's are released bi-annually roughly, technology moves fast, especially at the moment with RayTracing and Frame Generation still being so new.

So "future proofing" a GPU is not a thing, you pair the GPU with your monitor and upgrade it when performance starts dipping in newer titles or if you upgrade the monitor.

Most people will upgrade a GPU every other release, so you'd be looking around the 6000 series in 4 years or so

The rest of the system shouldn't need changing in its lifecycle. BUT should you find you're wanting a CPU upgrade, on the AM5 platform, it will be compatible with the upcoming 9000 series CPU's so you'd have the option to upgrade to one of those down the line for more cores or the updated X3D version if your needs change.

But I've been running custom PC's since early 2000's and never had to upgrade a CPU in the lifecycle of the PC.

For a normal PC lifecycle, you're looking 7 - 10 years.
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thanks alot for the advice! Much appreciated
 
A

AaronM

Member
Afternoon! Do you feel its would spending the extra to get the 4070 ti super for the extra vram? If i could stretch my budget to 2500 for just the PC, would this be benefical or are there better options for the budget?

Do you also have any advice regarding the case? I like the look of the fractal north case but are there any other better options for cololing etc?

Sorry if these are stupid questions!
 
SpyderTracks

SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
AaronM said:
Afternoon! Do you feel its would spending the extra to get the 4070 ti super for the extra vram? If i could stretch my budget to 2500 for just the PC, would this be benefical or are there better options for the budget?

Do you also have any advice regarding the case? I like the look of the fractal north case but are there any other better options for cololing etc?

Sorry if these are stupid questions!
Click to expand...
Apologies, I thought you were using it for gaming? What did you need the extra VRAM for?

This is why we ask for the max budget at the outset is to avoid all this "what if I increase the spend", a max budget is a fixed amount, it doesn't change based on anything.

If your needs have changed and you're doing some kind of rendering or something that requires the extra VRAM, it's likely we'd design a completely different system.
 
A

AaronM

Member
SpyderTracks said:
Apologies, I thought you were using it for gaming? What did you need the extra VRAM for?

This is why we ask for the max budget at the outset is to avoid all this "what if I increase the spend", a max budget is a fixed amount, it doesn't change based on anything.

If your needs have changed and you're doing some kind of rendering or something that requires the extra VRAM, it's likely we'd design a completely different system.
Click to expand...
Nothings changed for its use mate, just going through everything before putting the order through. I just saw online whilst reading about the cards that vram is important so thought I would ask as you know a lot more than me about this stuff!

I get that about the budget, sorry for being a nuisance.
 
SpyderTracks

SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
AaronM said:
I just saw online whilst reading about the cards that vram is important so thought I would ask as you know a lot more than me about this stuff!
Click to expand...
VRAM is important for things that require it.

For 1440p standard res, 12gb is fine. If you were at ultra wide, then it may be worth it, but not at standard 1440p I'd say.

For DayZ properly optimised, on the 4070 Super, you'd be maxing out the monitor anyway, so I don't think there's not going to be any benefit from the 4070 ti Super at all

Tarkov you'd be looking at around 120fps with the 4070 super, but that's not really down to the GPU, it's more than it's still in Beta and just isn't properly optimised yet, it's more of a CPU heavy game anyway, so that will be the bottleneck.

I wouldn't say it's worth it personally for a £250 increase, it's really poor value IMHO.
 
A

AaronM

Member
SpyderTracks said:
VRAM is important for things that require it.

For 1440p standard res, 12gb is fine. If you were at ultra wide, then it may be worth it, but not at standard 1440p I'd say.

For DayZ properly optimised, on the 4070 Super, you'd be maxing out the monitor anyway, so I don't think there's not going to be any benefit from the 4070 ti Super at all

Tarkov you'd be looking at around 120fps with the 4070 super, but that's not really down to the GPU, it's more than it's still in Beta and just isn't properly optimised yet, it's more of a CPU heavy game anyway, so that will be the bottleneck.

I wouldn't say it's worth it personally for a £250 increase, it's really poor value IMHO.
Click to expand...
thanks for this, very helpful. I had no plans for ultrawide and I assume the monitors would push over budget anyway so I think that answers my question about the gpu!

Just one more if I may, do you know if the build would be better suited cooling wise to the fractal north or the Corsair 5000x? Both are nice!
 
SpyderTracks

SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
AaronM said:
thanks for this, very helpful. I had no plans for ultrawide and I assume the monitors would push over budget anyway so I think that answers my question about the gpu!

Just one more if I may, do you know if the build would be better suited cooling wise to the fractal north or the Corsair 5000x? Both are nice!
Click to expand...
They're both top tier cases.

The Fractal North is a very premium case, it's not all about looks, Fractal make some of the very best cases related to cooling, plus with ease of building in as well. It's all a bit subjective, but Fractal cases have been really quite exceptional for the last 3 or so years, before then they did have some airflow issues with closed fronts and got some critical reviews by people like Gamers Nexus, but they really listened to feedback and came back stronger and stronger each time.

The 5000X is no slouch either, both from a cooling perspective and design.

At this level though, it's rare to get a poor performing case related to airflow, the premiums they charge at this level is exactly because so much more time is spent on R&D to get good airflow along with the design. Ironically the actual Bill of Materials on a case is negligible, it's the initial tooling costs as the tolerances are so much tighter on a good case and the R&D costs.

They're both exceptional, I would say comfortably you'd be very safe and happy with either, it's all down to how you like the design between them.
 
SpyderTracks

SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
AaronM said:
I assume no extra fans would be required? I see it’s an option on the builder
Click to expand...
On the Fractal or the Corsair?

120mm fans are standard, they rotate at higher RPM to move the required air quantity, so would be noisier compared to a 140mm which can move the same amount of air at lower RPM. That being said though, both Corsair and Fractal fans are such high quality, noise is really minimal when it comes to case fans as there's just no need to have them at anywhere near high RPM. They're not doing any active cooling in a system, all they do is direct the intake air through the case to the outtake at a steady pace to keep the air new and cool, this doesn't require massive high rates at all

The Fractal has 2 x 140mm at the front
The Corsair has 3 x 120mm on the front

Then you'd have 2 x 120mm on the cooler radiator extracting out of the roof.

I believe on both these that PCS add a rear 120mm fan as an extractor, but that would be a basic PCS fan, you may want to add an RGB fan in it's place.

You don't NEED any more, that configuration is the optimum really in this form factor of case, but it's again very much a personal thing, some people like to put as many fans in as they can for aesthetic reasons.
 
SpyderTracks

SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
AaronM said:
Thanks yet again for the helpful info. I think I can go ahead and get the order placed! Appreciate the advice mate 👍🏻
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No worries, apologies for being snippy at the start tonight, was more me than anything you did, had to coax myself into not being a drongo.
 
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