Gaming Build Thoughts

Zero Gravitas

Zero Gravitas

Zero Gravitas

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23 Oct 2022
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Hi all,

It's been a (very, very!) long time since I have done anything with PC gaming so I am completely out of the loop and need some help. I currently game on a Series X and will continue with that but also want something for games that work better on keyboard/mouse, think Cities Skylines, Stellaris and the like. I'm not chasing ultimate FPS on shooters etc (I'm bad at those games!!) but I may still want to play games that benefit from some more oomph like No Mans Sky, Fallout 4, that sort of thing.

I have a keyboard, mouse and monitor (a lowly Dell U2715H) so only looking at the main PC. My budget is around £1,250 (excluding OS which I will need) but can push it up a bit if there if it will mean an easier route for future upgrades. I would like to get 1440p on older games but know that more recent titles 1080p may be the target at this stage.

What do you think to this build? Feel free to criticise my choices as I'm still trying to understand all the ins and outs.

My basket at OcUK:

Total: £1,250.03 (includes delivery: £13.20)​



​


For some reason my brain keeps wanting to change to INtel/Nvidia but AMD seems to be the best option at this price point.

Thanks in advance.
 
Nothing to crazy with your choices of components. If going for AM4 have a shop around for the 5600 non X and save some money , they are almost identical performance so not worth paying eXtra for an X.
Also artic silver is conductive so if buying from new get a newer style compound like MX5 imo. The cooler you have picked is v good but overkill for a 5600 so you can save 20-30 quid and go with a cheaper option if you like.

GPU pricing has been yoyoing around recently and whilst you have picked one of the better cards from a price/performance perspective I am expecting significant price drops soon. RDNA3 is launched/announced on Nov 3rd and it may have significant effects on current gen pricing. I know it is annoying to be told to wait all the time but if you do go ahead with the 6700xt then it may not be the perfect time to buy.

Edit - 3060ti FE is in stock at the current moment in time so that is another option and offers very good value.
 
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Intel alternative:

Intel Core i5-12400F 2.50GHz (Alder Lake) Socket LGA1700 Processor - Retail - £199.99
MSI Pro B660M-A WIFI DDR4 - Intel B660 DDR4 Micro ATX Motherboard - £159.94
Team Group Vulcan Z T-Force 32GB (2x16GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C16 3200MHz Dual Channel Kit - Grey - £99.95
PowerColor Radeon RX 6750 XT Red Devil 12GB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card - £499.99
WD Blue SN570 1TB SSD NVME M.2 2280 PCIe Gen3 Solid State Drive (WDS100T3B0C) - £74.99
Seasonic Focus GX-750 750W 80+ Gold Modular Power Supply - £94.99
Lian Li Lancool 205 Midi-Tower Case - White Window - £64.99
Akasa Alucia H4 Plus Premium CPU Cooler - £38.96

Grand Total: £1,247.00

Most significant benefit versus your build is 32GB which I'd definitely aim for.

For the record, this isn't that much better than the Series X you already have :o
 
Thanks both for the input some food for thought there in a few areas. I do keep seeing comments about 'wait for this...' about many things but I don't really want to get in the cycle of always waiting for the next thing just to drop a bit in the price. I'm getting a decent bonus from work and this is my treat out of that so while I want to maximise value it does come down to wanting to actually get the thing and start using it!

@Tetras a very good point about the Series X but that sort of highlights my intention with this. I'm increasingly seeing games that I want to play that either aren't on console or would benefit from playing on the PC, especially with the possibility of mods. So this would work alongside the X for a more involved gaming session vs a pick up and play. I like the idea of the additional RAM out the gate.

One question (which may open a can of worms!). Is there anything major I should be aware of when choosing AMD vs Intel and AMD vs Nvidia for CPU and GPU? I don't mean the minutiae of settings, optimising, overclocking and the like more in a general sense.

Thanks again.
 
Zero Gravitas said:
Hi

My basket at OcUK:

Total: £1,250.03 (includes delivery: £13.20)​

​
​
​


For some reason my brain keeps wanting to change to INtel/Nvidia but AMD seems to be the best option at this price point.

Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
I’m building a similar set up the only difference being the ram, graphics card and I’m just using the cooler that comes with the cpu.

www.overclockers.co.uk

Corsair Vengeance LPX Black 32GB (2x16GB) 3600 MHz AMD Ryzen Tuned DDR4 Memory Dual Kit (CMK32GX4M2Z3600C18)

Order Corsair Vengeance LPX Black 32GB (2x16GB) 3600 MHz AMD Ryzen Tuned DDR4 Memory Dual Kit (CMK32GX4M2Z3600C18) now online and benefit from fast delivery.
www.overclockers.co.uk www.overclockers.co.uk

Founders Edition RTX 3060ti at £360

Granted the 6700 in your build trades blows if not slightly faster in non ray traced scenarios.
 
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Zero Gravitas said:
Is there anything major I should be aware of when choosing AMD vs Intel and AMD vs Nvidia for CPU and GPU? I don't mean the minutiae of settings, optimising, overclocking and the like more in a general sense.
Click to expand...

AM4 and socket 1700 are probably dead platforms now, as far as we know, though there have been some rumours of new AM4 CPUs. That would leave your max upgrade as: AM4 (5950X or 5800X3D) or 1700 (13900K).
AM5 is supposed to have long-term support, similar to AM4, but who knows.
AM5 and 1700 are both pins on the board now, if you care about that.

AM4 doesn't support PCI-E 5.0, AM5 and 1700 (not all boards!) do.
AM5 CPUs have (crappy) integrated graphics, most AM4 CPUs (except G models) don't.

AMD RDNA 2 has poor ray tracing and nvidia supports DLSS for res-scaling, which I believe (?) is more widely supported than FSR 2.0, which could help with making the system last longer or playing at higher resolutions (or playing at higher resolutions for longer).
nvidia has better support for workstation apps, if you ever plan to do art/render-ey type work.
 
Thanks again for the detailed info. Typically for me I'm now switching it all completely around to Intel/Nvidia, partly to get the extra RAM and also for the DLSS. My new setup is:

My basket at OcUK:

Total: £793.96 (includes delivery: £13.20)​

​
​
​

Then add on a 3060Ti FE @ £369 I come in a bit cheaper than the original build which could net me another a SSD or contribution to a better monitor further down the line. Any thoughts on that m/b, I have ethernet available so I don't need WiFi and if I want bluetooth I'll get a USB thingy.

Is there anything anyone can see that would cause problems? Yes, I know I've kept the overspecced cooler :D
 
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Zero Gravitas said:
or would benefit from playing on the PC, especially with the possibility of mods.
Click to expand...

Have been playing Stellaris today and I do not even want to think about playing that without keyboard and mouse. Only other game I play is Warhammer 3 so I am firmly embedded into PC gaming so I see your needs.

The only major thing you need to be aware of when picking AMD/Intel or Nv/AMD is if you go for an Intel chip with both P and E cores then you should be looking at Win 11, all other choices work just fine with Win10. There is nothing else you need to know really, its all quite even and competitive at the moment.
 
Haz123 said:
Have been playing Stellaris today and I do not even want to think about playing that without keyboard and mouse. Only other game I play is Warhammer 3 so I am firmly embedded into PC gaming so I see your needs.

The only major thing you need to be aware of when picking AMD/Intel or Nv/AMD is if you go for an Intel chip with both P and E cores then you should be looking at Win 11, all other choices work just fine with Win10. There is nothing else you need to know really, its all quite even and competitive at the moment.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the heads up on Win11. I've posted a new set up which I think would work but it's stuck in moderation at the moment!

Edit: it's now appeared a couple of posts above, thanks mods.
 
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I think your builds are decent but I want you to please think about the fact your monitor is 60hz! You won’t benefit from that sweet 6700 or 3060ti as they can easily pump out 90++ FPS at 1080 or 1440p.

I build a second pc recently which is verrry similar. I went Intel and 12400f for £185. I liked how it performed for gaming and 1700 platform if I wanted to upgrade in future. I got a used 5700xt to chuck into it for the meantime while I wait for new GPUs. I have a 1440p monitor and the system (mine has 16gb 3200 ram cl16) runs games like overwatch/d2r/bannerlord/) very smoothly far above 60fps.

You really can’t go wrong with 5600x or 12400f but I wouldn’t pay more than 200. I think you could probably eek out a few savings and find a 1440p monitor 144hz for 200-250. That way you’ll be set. My 2c
 
Thanks Leww, I know its a bottleneck and a new monitor is definitely on the cards just a bit closer to Christmas. I can live without the refresh rate in the short term due to the types of games I'll mainly be playing.

The current one was bought for working from home so it will get relegated to a second screen for use with my work laptop at that point.
 
I’d even highly recommend an ultra wide 34 if I were you.. warhammer 3 would be amazing on it. I’ve played some civ 5/6 and other story games on mine and love it.
 
Just thought I'd come back on to say a thank you to all that helped me out. I went with the Intel/3060TiFE build above with the only change to the mesh version of the case. The build went well and everything is running, only a bit of cable mgt to sort and trying to figure out how to get the m/b to control the RGB on the fans through the controller on the case (not too bothered as I'm OK with it just being a static colour).

Next up will be a new monitor @Leww which ultrawide do you have?

Is there anything I should look at software/setup wise. As per my OP I'm not looking to spend ages changing loads of settings and optimising but just some general tips. Point me to another thread/link if that's easier! One specific question I have: is GeForce Experience worth running? I've seen mixed feelings when searching, but it seems to be aimed at my approach of minimal fiddling.

Again, thanks everyone for the help.
 
You went with Asus mobo in the end ? I personally hated armoury crate but I did manage to find a link to instal Aura synch as standalone programme, I would suggest you have a google and try to find it and not instal the entire bloated crate.

If you want to mess around with the settings then Intel XTU. It is a very user friendly piece of software and you can get some nice undervolting and performance increases in most cases. I never instal geforce experience and just choose the driver, no idea what it actually did and seemed a total waste of time to me.

Monitors. Go look at hwunboxed on youtube and go with whatever they suggest in your price bracket. Always try to find as upto date review as you can because sometimes a manufacturer will have an initial production run with a certain panel but then swap it to a lower quality panel at a later date. I have a 34" ultrawide and I love the aspect ratio in games like Stellaris and total war games, 3440x1440 is a good res for the mid range cards as well.

Glad the build went well and good choice in changing to the mesh version of the case.
 
Ah no, that was the other change, I went with the suggestion from Tetras with the MSI Pro B660-A, I'm sure I'll figure out the RGB eventually (not a high priority for me).

Thanks for the other info, I'll take a look at Intel XTU and have a play. Seems like GeForce Experience is getting uninstalled, I'm more than capable of updating drivers manually!
 
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