4K 120 PC Build - £2k Budget

Shikkaka · 4 Sep 2025 at 15:09

Hi all,

I used to be a PC gamer from about age 14 to 18. Then I discovered alcohol and women

.

I have since moved to being a console gamer, owning pretty much all of the Xbox consoles from the original right through to the Series X. I feel I want to scratch the PC gaming itch again.

Performance wise I would like to be getting as close to 120fps on the games mentioned below. I have a 48" LG B4 TV so full HDR capable, ALL, VRR. etc, etc

Purchase Timeframe: Between now and Xmas 2025

Budget: £2k ideally, could stretch to £2.5k if £2k isn't enough to meet my preferred performance.

Usage: Gaming - Battlefield 6, Flight Sim, PUBG, the PlayStation catalogue of games, God of War, TLoU, Spiderman. Basically any single player PS games worth playing as I've not touched any of them.

Preferences: Case - Function over form and smaller the better

Current Hardware: 48" LG B4 OLED TV
4TB SSD - could do with a small fast SSD for the OS.
Gaming Mouse

Peripherals: Could do with a better keyboard, just mid-range gaming will do.

Special Needs/Requirements (inc Wi-Fi): None

I build my last gaming PC myself and I think I'd like to have another crack at it. I imagine things have changed considerably in the last 22 years.

Would you advise getting pre-built or having a go myself?

Tetras · 4 Sep 2025 at 15:51

Shikkaka said:
I build my last gaming PC myself and I think I'd like to have another crack at it. I imagine things have changed considerably in the last 22 years.

Would you advise getting pre-built or having a go myself?

They haven't changed that much, I'd do it yourself.

Shikkaka said:
Peripherals: Could do with a better keyboard, just mid-range gaming will do.

I'm no good with keyboards.

Shikkaka said:
Preferences: Case - Function over form and smaller the better

Were you thinking of micro-atx?

Shikkaka said:
Purchase Timeframe: Between now and Xmas 2025

Hopefully the 50 Supers will be out by then. I would be very reluctant to dump £1K on a 16GB 5080 when they're upgrading the VRAM to 24GB.

My basket at OcUK:

1 x AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D Eight Core 5.20GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail (SKU: PRO-AMD-03517) = £399.95
1 x Gigabyte B850 EAGLE WIFI6E (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MOT-GIG-03859) = £149.99
1 x Crucial Pro 48GB (2x24GB) DDR5 PC5-48000C48 6000MHz Dual Channel Kit (SKU: MEM-CRU-01087) = £124.99
1 x Zotac GeForce RTX 5080 Solid Core 16GB GDDR7 PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GRA-ZTC-04544) = £949.99
1 x NVIDIA - Borderlands 4 Standard Edition & the Gilded Glory Pack DLC (SKU: DIG-NVI-06102) = £0.00
1 x Crucial T500 2TB NVMe PCIe Gen4 M.2 Solid State Drive (SKU: STO-CRU-01090) = £131.99
1 x Lian Li Lancool 216 Mid-tower PC case - Black (SKU: CA-7BG-LL) = £85.99
1 x be quiet! Pure Power 13 M 1000W ATX 3.1 80 Plus Gold Power Supply (SKU: POW-BEQ-05638) = £129.95
1 x Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE Black Dual Tower CPU Air Cooler (SKU: COO-TLR-03285) = £34.99

Total: £2,019.83 (includes delivery: £11.98)

P.B · 4 Sep 2025 at 15:54

I would up to 2.5k and aim for the following

Lian li A3 case
Micro atx Am5 board
32gb 6000mhz ddr5
7800x3d or 9800x3d
2nd hand 4090 for around 1200

Having the 4090 strix from release it will hit all them games at 4k120 90% of the time even BF6 beta ram at around 110fps fully maxed

Shikkaka · 6 Sep 2025 at 11:32

Tetras said:
They haven't changed that much, I'd do it yourself.

I'm no good with keyboards.

Were you thinking of micro-atx?

Hopefully the 50 Supers will be out by then. I would be very reluctant to dump £1K on a 16GB 5080 when they're upgrading the VRAM to 24GB.

My basket at OcUK:

1 x AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D Eight Core 5.20GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail (SKU: PRO-AMD-03517) = £399.95

1 x Gigabyte B850 EAGLE WIFI6E (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MOT-GIG-03859) = £149.99

1 x Crucial Pro 48GB (2x24GB) DDR5 PC5-48000C48 6000MHz Dual Channel Kit (SKU: MEM-CRU-01087) = £124.99

1 x Zotac GeForce RTX 5080 Solid Core 16GB GDDR7 PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GRA-ZTC-04544) = £949.99

1 x NVIDIA - Borderlands 4 Standard Edition & the Gilded Glory Pack DLC (SKU: DIG-NVI-06102) = £0.00

1 x Crucial T500 2TB NVMe PCIe Gen4 M.2 Solid State Drive (SKU: STO-CRU-01090) = £131.99

1 x Lian Li Lancool 216 Mid-tower PC case - Black (SKU: CA-7BG-LL) = £85.99

1 x be quiet! Pure Power 13 M 1000W ATX 3.1 80 Plus Gold Power Supply (SKU: POW-BEQ-05638) = £129.95

1 x Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE Black Dual Tower CPU Air Cooler (SKU: COO-TLR-03285) = £34.99

Total: £2,019.83 (includes delivery: £11.98)

Thanks for the suggestions. I'm happy to hold out another month or 2 if it's worth the wait for the 50 Super?

Shikkaka · 6 Sep 2025 at 11:33

P.B said:
I would up to 2.5k and aim for the following

Lian li A3 case
Micro atx Am5 board
32gb 6000mhz ddr5
7800x3d or 9800x3d
2nd hand 4090 for around 1200

Having the 4090 strix from release it will hit all them games at 4k120 90% of the time even BF6 beta ram at around 110fps fully maxed

From what I can see, used 4090's are around the £1500-1600 mark. Unless I'm not looking hard enough.

Quartz · 6 Sep 2025 at 12:41

Shikkaka said:
Current Hardware: 48" LG B4 OLED TV

Are you looking for a desktop monitor as well? If so, there's a cheap 4k 1020 Hz option:

Shikkaka said:
Purchase Timeframe: Between now and Xmas 2025

This is actually critical as Nvidia may be releasing its 5000-series refresh GPUs - the RTX 50x0 Super cards - late this year. And there's the faint possibility that Intel may have a contender too.

mickyflinn · 6 Sep 2025 at 13:07

Quartz said:
there's a cheap 4k 1020 Hz option:
.

Gonna need a powerful GPU to hit them hz.

Mite need the Super Duper.

Shikkaka · 6 Sep 2025 at 13:29

Quartz said:
Are you looking for a desktop monitor as well? If so, there's a cheap 4k 1020 Hz option:

This is actually critical as Nvidia may be releasing its 5000-series refresh GPUs - the RTX 50x0 Super cards - late this year. And there's the faint possibility that Intel may have a contender too.

No, I intend on using the OLED. 120Hz is plenty for me in my middle age

I'm happy to hold off for another month or 2 if it's worth waiting for the 50 Super series of cards.

mickyflinn · 6 Sep 2025 at 14:25

Shikkaka said:
No, I intend on using the OLED. 120Hz is plenty for me in my middle age

I'm happy to hold off for another month or 2 if it's worth waiting for the 50 Super series of cards.

Gonna cost £1200 I predict for the super.

Dreadi · 6 Sep 2025 at 15:21

And is only rumoured for Q4? May well be Q1 2026?

Tetras · 6 Sep 2025 at 15:53

Dreadi said:
And is only rumoured for Q4? May well be Q1 2026?

Rumours seem consistent about Q4, but that might not include all of the new Super models.

WARburton · 6 Sep 2025 at 16:19

Shikkaka said:
Thanks for the suggestions. I'm happy to hold out another month or 2 if it's worth the wait for the 50 Super?

100% wait if your not in a rush. if its the same as last time the supers came out they will be at the same price point.
and even better the 5070ti super could same you a few £££'s if it at 5080 sort of speeds

P.B said:
Lian li A3 case
Micro atx Am5 board

with a simple board swap to Matx the build by @Tetras would fit in this case no problem.
the only thing i was say it get a board where the PCIE is in position one. mine is in position two and if you want the run bottom into fans you are hard limited to a 2 slot GPU
if i had known this i would have picked a different motherboard.

Shikkaka said:
Budget: £2k ideally, could stretch to £2.5k if £2k isn't enough to meet my preferred performance.

~~at £2500 a 5090 maybe possible, at 4k native you dont really need an X3D chip a 9700x would be fine, or a second hand 7800x3d(£250ish) again would be perfect~~
***ignore that

Shikkaka · 6 Sep 2025 at 19:20

WARburton said:
100% wait if your not in a rush. if its the same as last time the supers came out they will be at the same price point.
and even better the 5070ti super could same you a few £££'s if it at 5080 sort of speeds

with a simple board swap to Matx the build by @Tetras would fit in this case no problem.
the only thing i was say it get a board where the PCIE is in position one. mine is in position two and if you want the run bottom into fans you are hard limited to a 2 slot GPU
if i had known this i would have picked a different motherboard.

~~at £2500 a 5090 maybe possible, at 4k native you dont really need an X3D chip a 9700x would be fine, or a second hand 7800x3d(£250ish) again would be perfect~~
***ignore that

I'm very much liking this case, it matches the decor in my living room perfectly. Noted with the PCIe positioning

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/lian-li-a3-matx-md-black-glass-side-panel-cas-lia-04811.html

Shikkaka · 6 Sep 2025 at 20:46

P.B said:
I would up to 2.5k and aim for the following

Lian li A3 case
Micro atx Am5 board
32gb 6000mhz ddr5
7800x3d or 9800x3d
2nd hand 4090 for around 1200

Having the 4090 strix from release it will hit all them games at 4k120 90% of the time even BF6 beta ram at around 110fps fully maxed

Was that 110fps native without all the DLSS and Frame Generation wizardry?

Just want to set my expectations.

Shikkaka · 7 Sep 2025 at 10:41

Also, am I shooting myself in the foot going for an mATX motherboard and case when it comes to future upgradeability?

WARburton · 7 Sep 2025 at 10:47

no not really

Tetras · 7 Sep 2025 at 14:16

Shikkaka said:
Also, am I shooting myself in the foot going for an mATX motherboard and case when it comes to future upgradeability?

Depends on what you mean by future upgradeability.

The main negative of MATX is that you lose expansion (PCIE) slots and possibly M.2 slots (storage capacity), depending on what boards you're comparing, which would impact ability to add say, a sound or wifi card, or M.2 card.

If the case is a compact case, you may also have more restrictions for:
- CPU cooler (size or fan mounts for AIO).
- Cooling (number of fans, size of fans).
- GPU length (and width/slots).
- PSU format or length.

A case like Antec's CX600M doesn't really have any of those disadvantages, since it still supports large CPU coolers, lots of fans and long GPUs/PSUs.

Lian Li's A3 is complicated, because it has multiple positions for parts which can change the overall compatibility. It is still decently capable of housing the majority of gaming builds.

Personally, if you particularly like this design:

Shikkaka said:
I'm very much liking this case, it matches the decor in my living room perfectly. Noted with the PCIe positioning

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/lian-li-a3-matx-md-black-glass-side-panel-cas-lia-04811.html

But, do not care about the smaller format, then I'd look at Lian Li's 217 instead, which has a similar appearance, but is full-size ATX.

Edit: Fractal North is another popular case with this style.

RC182 · 7 Sep 2025 at 15:05

Shikkaka said:
Hi all,

I used to be a PC gamer from about age 14 to 18. Then I discovered alcohol and women .

I have since moved to being a console gamer, owning pretty much all of the Xbox consoles from the original right through to the Series X. I feel I want to scratch the PC gaming itch again.

Performance wise I would like to be getting as close to 120fps on the games mentioned below. I have a 48" LG B4 TV so full HDR capable, ALL, VRR. etc, etc

Purchase Timeframe: Between now and Xmas 2025

Budget: £2k ideally, could stretch to £2.5k if £2k isn't enough to meet my preferred performance.

Usage: Gaming - Battlefield 6, Flight Sim, PUBG, the PlayStation catalogue of games, God of War, TLoU, Spiderman. Basically any single player PS games worth playing as I've not touched any of them.

Preferences: Case - Function over form and smaller the better

Current Hardware: 48" LG B4 OLED TV
4TB SSD - could do with a small fast SSD for the OS.
Gaming Mouse

Peripherals: Could do with a better keyboard, just mid-range gaming will do.

Special Needs/Requirements (inc Wi-Fi): None

I build my last gaming PC myself and I think I'd like to have another crack at it. I imagine things have changed considerably in the last 22 years.

Would you advise getting pre-built or having a go myself?

Def build yourself, that's where half the fun is.

sastusbulbas · 7 Sep 2025 at 18:50

I spent years on MicroATX, and the biggest problem I had in smaller cases was simply cable management, drive spaces, more heat and more fan noise.

The better MicroATX cases that can actually cool well are often still compromised, or bulky.
For instance the NZXT H3 is a gorgeous little thing, sadly I cannot fit my old MicroATX system in it, but it would be great with a simple lower end 9060xt build that only uses NVMe. Another case I would like to try is the Phanteks M3 XT, sadly I use an optic drive on my old PC, but the M3 can at least take one most of my old PC internals, meaning I only lose one HDD and the 5.25 bay.
I am sorely tempted to get the RGB version of that Phanteks M3, but need to remind myself I am supposed to get rid of all the old PC's and all my old case needs is better fans until it is retired.

With many of these cases, your footprint isnt that far off a compact ATX mid tower or ATX dual chamber case. The H3 as an example is only a little smaller than the NZXT mid towers, themselves smaller than my massive Phanteks Enthoo Mini XL.

My lad is looking at the NZXT H6 for his new ATX build, simply isn't entertaining MicroATX as he feels all he is saving is a few inches in height only, for a more compromised PC. It also means instead of paying the small tax he can put money towards the white tax. Dual chamber is certainly a direction that interests me.

adrichardson81 · 8 Sep 2025 at 08:43

I'd take atx over micro ATX if it came with a better m.2 slot selection.