Gaming base unit - best bang for buck in price range £1000 - £1400

[2Drunk2Funk]

Hi

Looking for a gaming base unit. Son already had decent keyboard, mouse, headset and 2 x 144mhz 1080p screens (to be updated later for 1440p gaming)

He plays fortnite and other FPS style games. The view is to get a nice 27" 1440p monitor later on when saved some more money.

I have read other threads of similar range like This one with a nice option for someone elses ask.

What I am trying to establish is best bang for buck in the price range, i.e. going to £1200 will give best components and longevity whereas say going to £1300 is not as good value, if that makes sense?

He has £1400 but would like to not spend all his savings unless base will really last a good few years.

Would like the M-ATX size case.
He is not bothered about RGB, not sure if can save money with components without RGB.. assuming can even get without nowadays!
Wifi would be useful not not essential.

Looked at pre-built on O/C but seem expensive for components.
I have built quite a few PCs in the past, just not the last 4 years. Happy to build myself if means can get more for the money.

Any advise and help would be great, thanks

 

[Tetras]

What I am trying to establish is best bang for buck in the price range, i.e. going to £1200 will give best components and longevity whereas say going to £1300 is not as good value, if that makes sense?

It depends on the kind of games being played (esports are their own thing really), but I'd say for 1440p you'll definitely get longer legs out of e.g. a 9070 XT, rather than a 9060 XT.

The CPU, that is also depending on the game, e.g. mainly esports at low settings, I'd just go for the X3D CPU now, but otherwise you could get something like a 7600/9600 and upgrade later, maybe to the next gen AM5 CPU which is believed to have 12 cores per CCD instead of the current 8.

 

[mickyflinn]

Yep just swap the CPU to a 9600x and it's £1300 build .


My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x Asrock B850M Pro-A WiFi (Socket AM5) DDR5 mATX Motherboard (SKU: MOT-ASR-04010) = £145.00
• 1 x Crucial Pro OC 32GB (2x16GB) DDR5 PC5-48000C36 6000MHz Dual Channel Kit (SKU: MEM-CRU-02219) = £89.98
• 1 x PowerColor Radeon RX 9070 XT Reaper 16GB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GRA-PWC-04017) = £599.99
• 1 x Crucial P310 2TB M.2 2280 PCI-e 4.0 NVMe Solid State Drive (SKU: STO-CRU-03050) = £105.95
• 1 x Phanteks AMP GH 750W 80PLUS Gold ATX Power Supply Modular - Black (SKU: POW-PHK-02517) = £84.95
• 1 x Antec CX500M ARGB M-ATX Mini Tower - Black (SKU: CAS-ATC-04158) = £54.95
• 1 x Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE ARGB Black CPU Cooler - 120mm (SKU: COO-TLR-02724) = £29.98
• 1 x AMD Ryzen 5 9600X Six Core 5.40GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail (SKU: PRO-AMD-02677) = £188.99

Total: £1,311.78 (includes delivery: £11.98)​

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Total: £1,302.34 (includes delivery: £11.98)​

 

[mickyflinn]

No RGB build.

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x Asrock B850M Pro-A WiFi (Socket AM5) DDR5 mATX Motherboard (SKU: MOT-ASR-04010) = £145.00
• 1 x Crucial Pro OC 32GB (2x16GB) DDR5 PC5-48000C36 6000MHz Dual Channel Kit (SKU: MEM-CRU-02219) = £89.98
• 1 x PowerColor Radeon RX 9070 XT Reaper 16GB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GRA-PWC-04017) = £599.99
• 1 x Crucial P310 2TB M.2 2280 PCI-e 4.0 NVMe Solid State Drive (SKU: STO-CRU-03050) = £105.95
• 1 x Phanteks AMP GH 750W 80PLUS Gold ATX Power Supply Modular - Black (SKU: POW-PHK-02517) = £84.95
• 1 x AMD Ryzen 5 9600X Six Core 5.40GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail (SKU: PRO-AMD-02677) = £188.99
• 1 x Kolink Citadel Mesh Micro-ATX Case - Black (SKU: CA-051-KK) = £45.50
• 1 x Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE CPU Cooler - 120mm (SKU: COO-TLR-02665) = £29.99

Total: £1,302.34 (includes delivery: £11.98)​

 

[2Drunk2Funk]

For arguments sake, if wanted to know next best 2 CPUs up the tree, would that be? the 9700X and the 7700X or to an X3D? I can see £60 off the 9600X makes it an attractive price though.

I have a 5800X3D in my PC but looking at price on Oc its dearer, but CPU comparison, even to the 9600X shows the 5800X3D lagging behind?

 

[freddie64]

If you wanted a X3D CPU, you could drop down to a RX 9070 and get a 7600X3D (when/if they come back in stock).

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x PowerColor Radeon RX 9070 Reaper 16GB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GRA-PWC-04020) = £499.99
• 1 x AMD Ryzen 5 7600X3D Six Core 4.70GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail (SKU: PRO-AMD-04829) = £280.00

Total: £787.98 (includes delivery: £7.99)​

 

[adrichardson81]

I'd look at x3d as a future upgrade option. For now, you're better putting the money towards the 9070 xt.

 

[Tetras]

For arguments sake, if wanted to know next best 2 CPUs up the tree, would that be? the 9700X and the 7700X or to an X3D? I can see £60 off the 9600X makes it an attractive price though.

I have a 5800X3D in my PC but looking at price on Oc its dearer, but CPU comparison, even to the 9600X shows the 5800X3D lagging behind?

Yes, the 9700X is the next up from the 9600X/9600, but personally I wouldn't bother, because at some point you'll switch out the 7600/9600 for a X3D CPU anyway.

 

[2Drunk2Funk]

Just put items in basket to order but the Crucial memory is now on pre-order.

Any suggestions for alternative compatible memory?

I have the first list from Mickyflinn in basket.

 

[mickyflinn]

Just put items in basket to order but the Crucial memory is now on pre-order.

Any suggestions for alternative compatible memory?

I have the first list from Mickyflinn in basket.

If you don't mind grey then this , although there's not much in stock at Overclockers.

Corsair Vengeance EXPO/XMP 32GB (2X16GB) DDR5 PC5-48000C36 6000MHz Dual Channel Kit

Order Corsair Vengeance EXPO/XMP 32GB (2X16GB) DDR5 PC5-48000C36 6000MHz Dual Channel Kit now online and benefit from fast delivery.

www.overclockers.co.uk

 

[2Drunk2Funk]

Found same memory elsewhere for same price so will get that separately.

Rest ordered, looking forward to the build and see how it performs

Thanks for help

 

[2Drunk2Funk]

Put together powers on but have solid red and solid yellow leds on mobo
CPU and Memory issues according to manual (When did they stop shipping manual with mobo, not as easy when have to page through a PDF)

First build ever where had failed first boot

Not sure yet issue, memory seated firmly in A2/B2 and CPU seems solid even though pig to screw in 2 retaining screws for the thermaright cooler.

/edit
re-seated memory and although lights all going loopy, it stopped and booted up

Got a whiny fan... I think one of the thermalright peerless ones.
Also, the mobo has a black section near cpu area which blocks me fitting the cpu fan flush with cooler columns. I thought these units were compatible from a fitting together perspective?

 

[mickyflinn]

Motherboard maybe was training the memory which can take up to 15mins for anything to show on screen, check the memory is running at the correct speed.



Whiny fan unfortunate is it at a certain speed , set a custom fan curve in the bios and they are suppose to be compatible with your board but guess thats a loose statement.

Paper manuals have been gone for years were in the digital age .

Apart from the initial scare how is it ? ?

 

[2Drunk2Funk]

build has gone well aside from that initial scare.
I have not checked for BIOS updates yet, just set memory speed to 6000 as Auto put at 5600.
Also not looked at BIOS in terms of settings for this mix of components. (any tips if known are welcome)

Fan noise was when cpu doing anything in windows, where it needed to speed up slightly. Not worked out which one doing it. Will look at custom curve.

All set to stock other than memory in bios so would hope its stable.
CPU temp was 42 idle. Not checked under load as son to busy enjoying a PC that is instantly responding and smooth in game even on max settings

Son played about 45 mins of Fortnite, then switched to CS2 but the game did crash to window after a 30 odd minute session

 

[Tetras]

I have not checked for BIOS updates yet, just set memory speed to 6000 as Auto put at 5600.

Without XMP/EXPO? What memory is it? Unlikely that it will be long-term stable if you just manually changed the speed.

 

[2Drunk2Funk]

Without XMP/EXPO? What memory is it? Unlikely that it will be long-term stable if you just manually changed the speed.

The crucial memory in top basket
I thought Auto would set correctly nowadays but it showed wrong speed in BIOS.
Does that mean I have to find the memory settings and manually set in the BIOS?

 

[Tetras]

The crucial memory in top basket
I thought Auto would set correctly nowadays but it showed wrong speed in BIOS.
Does that mean I have to find the memory settings and manually set in the BIOS?

The OC edition has a JEDEC profile for 5600 and that is likely what the board defaulted to.

It does not have a JEDEC profile for 6000 and is probably not tested for this, so I don't recommend doing it manually (because silent data corruption is possible).

It is designed to use XMP/EXPO to run 6000/C36 and this will increase the memory voltage (among other things) when enabled. That is what you should use, unless you prefer the JEDEC profile of 5600.

 

[2Drunk2Funk]

The OC edition has a JEDEC profile for 5600 and that is likely what the board defaulted to.

It does not have a JEDEC profile for 6000 and is probably not tested for this, so I don't recommend doing it manually (because silent data corruption is possible).

It is designed to use XMP/EXPO to run 6000/C36 and this will increase the memory voltage (among other things) when enabled. That is what you should use, unless you prefer the JEDEC profile of 5600.

Not looked up JEDEC right now so not sure difference / benefit (if any) with it running at 5600, when memory states its capable of 6000.

Son using PC but when I get a moment I will jump on BIOS. I have looked at manual and see the option to turn on EXPO for the Dram which I assume from reading will profile the memory and set optimum use.
I will at minimum undo the manual change to 6000.
Thanks for advice and direction, been a while since I did anything like this

 

[Tetras]

Not looked up JEDEC right now so not sure difference / benefit (if any) with it running at 5600, when memory states its capable of 6000.

Son using PC but when I get a moment I will jump on BIOS. I have looked at manual and see the option to turn on EXPO for the Dram which I assume from reading will profile the memory and set optimum use.
I will at minimum undo the manual change to 6000.
Thanks for advice and direction, been a while since I did anything like this

JEDEC profiles are the standard for "plug and play". They are usually slow timings and use the stock voltage (for DDR5 this is 1.1v).

Almost all sticks have a JEDEC profile, just to ensure that you can get things working at a safe speed for the system and the memory.

The 9600X's max rated speed with no overclocking (of the CPU's memory controller) is 5600 for 2 sticks of memory.

XMP/EXPO are a form of automated overclocking. When enabled, it configures the memory and the motherboard, ready to achieve the speeds advertised on the stick.

Your memory is not rated to achieve 6000 with the selection of a manual frequency at the stock voltage, it is only rated to achieve 6000 using XMP/EXPO to configure the memory and the board (at a minimum, it will raise the memory voltage from 1.1v to around 1.35v).

You can see all of these profiles with software like CPU-Z or hwinfo.

 

[2Drunk2Funk]

@Tetras Thanks for info
Now updated bios to latest (was 3.20, now 3.40).
Set the memory to expo1 - attempting the 6000 settings. Shows in CPU-Z as well
See how that goes, can change to expo2 (5600) if any issues.