Building a gaming pc

[roadrunner08]

Looking to build a gaming pc for my son.

1st time building a pc so would like a bit of advice, I’ve picked some parts and would like to know people thoughts on the parts I e picked

Not sure if I’m going to be out of my depth completing the build my self, would I be better to get overclockers to complete the build for me? Or is it a pretty easy task

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/cart/restore/0e1f5d091d39fac9b24a95b2a13ebe6f

 

[Quartz]

That CPU - the 14700k - is a ticking timebomb and is to be avoided. Plus that’s an outdated platform. Better minds will be along shortly to spec you a better solution but I will offer that if your son is younger then building the PC with him will be a great experience for both of you.

 

[Tetras]

Not sure if I’m going to be out of my depth completing the build my self, would I be better to get overclockers to complete the build for me? Or is it a pretty easy task

It isn't hard, just take your time, watch videos on YouTube for anything you're not sure of, make sure you have the manuals available.

1st time building a pc so would like a bit of advice, I’ve picked some parts and would like to know people thoughts on the parts I e picked

What is the intended resolution to play games at?

What is the overall budget?

 

[roadrunner08]

It isn't hard, just take your time, watch videos on YouTube for anything you're not sure of, make sure you have the manuals available.


What is the intended resolution to play games at?

What is the overall budget?

He would like to play @ 1440p games like fortnight, gta5, cod etc

Around a £2k budget

 

[hornetstinger]

Swap to AMD system
Need a monitor
Keyboard, mouse, mouse mat, TV and speakers

 

[roadrunner08]

Swap to AMD system
Need a monitor
Keyboard, mouse, mouse mat, TV and speakers

I’m aware of the parts you mention obviously, I will get those parts elsewhere!

This was just for the pc tower build

And didn’t really want to go AMD

 

[hornetstinger]

I’m aware of the parts you mention obviously, I will get those parts elsewhere!

This was just for the pc tower build

And didn’t really want to go AMD

Look into Intel CPU degradation.

No way would I buy an Intel system.

 

[Rob_B]

If I was spending £500 on a CPU and motherboard I would be going AM5 too. Maybe a 7800X3D and a £150 B850

 

[Tetras]

He would like to play @ 1440p games like fortnight, gta5, cod etc

Around a £2k budget

Great!

Here's your spec for future readers:

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x Lian Li Vector V100 Mid Tower Case - Black (SKU: CAS-LIA-05153) = £69.98
• 1 x Asus ROG Strix B760-F Gaming WIFI (LGA 1700) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MB-6KD-AS) = £199.92
• 1 x Palit GeForce RTX 5070 Gaming Pro 12GB GDDR7 PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GRA-PAL-04302) = £494.99
• 1 x WD Black SN850X 2TB SSD M.2 2280 NVME PCI-E Gen4 Solid State Drive (WDS200T2X0E) (SKU: HD-591-WD) = £144.95
• 1 x Lian Li HydroShift II LCD-C 360R Black All In One CPU Cooler - 360mm (SKU: COO-LIA-04868) = £149.99
• 1 x Corsair Vengeance EXPO/XMP RGB 48GB (2X24GB) DDR5 PC5-48000C30 6000MHz Dual Channel Kit (SKU: MEM-CRS-03748) = £169.99
• 1 x Intel Core i7-14700K (Raptor Lake-S) Socket LGA1700 Processor - Retail (SKU: PRO-INT-00800) = £299.99
• 1 x ASRock Steel Legend 850W 80 Plus Gold Fully Modular Power Supply (SKU: POW-ASR-04178) = £128.97
• 1 x Microsoft Windows 11 Home 64-Bit DVD - OEM (KW9-00632) (SKU: SW-18J-MS) = £107.99
• 1 x Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut High Performance Thermal Paste - 1 Gramm (SKU: TH-020-TG) = £6.95
• 2 x Lian Li UNI FAN CL 120 WIRELESS Black RGB Fan - 120mm (SKU: COO-LIA-05073) = £14.99
• 1 x NVIDIA - Borderlands 4 Standard Edition & the Gilded Glory Pack DLC (SKU: DIG-NVI-06102) = £0.00
• 1 x Intel Gamers Days - Battlefield 6 Bundle (SKU: DIG-INT-06117) = £0.00

Total: £1,815.68 (includes delivery: £11.98)​

Here's a suggested AMD spec from me:

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D Eight Core 5.00GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail (SKU: CP-3DT-AM) = £349.99
• 1 x Asus ROG Strix B650E-F Gaming WIFI (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MB-6JX-AS) = £184.92
• 1 x Crucial Pro 48GB (2x24GB) DDR5 PC5-48000C48 6000MHz Dual Channel Kit (SKU: MEM-CRU-01087) = £124.99
• 1 x PNY GeForce RTX 5070 Ti OC Triple Fan 16GB GDDR7 PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GRA-PNY-04063) = £680.00
• 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) = £131.98
• 1 x (unchanged) Lian Li Vector V100 Mid Tower Case - Black (SKU: CAS-LIA-05153) = £69.99
• 1 x be quiet! Pure Power 13 M 850W ATX 3.1 80 Plus Gold Power Supply (SKU: POW-BEQ-05637) = £109.99
• 1 x Thermalright Frozen Notte 360 Black ARGB V2 All In One CPU Cooler (SKU: COO-TLR-03260) = £69.95
• 1 x (unchanged) Microsoft Windows 11 Home 64-Bit DVD - OEM (KW9-00632) (SKU: SW-18J-MS) = £107.99

Total: £1,841.78 (includes delivery: £11.98)​

And didn’t really want to go AMD

Max budget Intel build:

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x Intel Core Ultra 7 265K (Arrow Lake) Socket LGA 1851 Processor - Retail (SKU: PRO-INT-03111) = £289.99
• 1 x Intel Gamers Days - Battlefield 6 Bundle (SKU: DIG-INT-06117) = £0.00
• 1 x Gigabyte Z890 EAGLE WIFI7 (LGA1851) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MOT-GIG-03487) = £194.98
• 1 x Crucial Pro 48GB (2x24GB) DDR5 PC5-44800C46 5600MHz Dual Channel Kit (SKU: MEM-CRU-01086) = £99.95
• 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 KIOXIA EXCERIA PRO 2TB SSD NVME M.2 2280 Solid State Drive (SKU: STO-TSH-01448) = £116.99
• 1 x Lian Li Lancool 216 RGB Mid-tower PC case - Black (SKU: CA-7B8-LL) = £89.99
• 1 x Phanteks AMP GH 850W 80PLUS Gold ATX Power Supply Modular - Black (SKU: POW-PHK-02519) = £104.99
• 1 x Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE ARGB Black CPU Cooler - 120mm (SKU: COO-TLR-02724) = £29.99
• 1 x (unchanged) Microsoft Windows 11 Home 64-Bit DVD - OEM (KW9-00632) (SKU: SW-18J-MS) = £107.99

Total: £1,996.85 (includes delivery: £11.98)​

I don't recommend you go 14th gen anymore, unless you're willing to roll the dice on the extended warranty.

One of Intel's latest updates:

Intel Core 13th and 14th Gen Desktop Instability Root Cause Update

Following extensive investigation of the Intel® Core™ 13th and 14th Gen desktop processor Vmin Shift Instability issue, Intel can now confirm the root cause diagnosis for the issue. This post will cover Intel’s understanding of the root cause, as well as additional mitigations and next steps for...

community.intel.com

They say it is fixed now, but only time will tell. If it was me and I was determined to go Intel, I'd get the Core Ultra instead.

 

[roadrunner08]

Great!

Here's your spec for future readers:

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x Lian Li Vector V100 Mid Tower Case - Black (SKU: CAS-LIA-05153) = £69.98
• 1 x Asus ROG Strix B760-F Gaming WIFI (LGA 1700) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MB-6KD-AS) = £199.92
• 1 x Palit GeForce RTX 5070 Gaming Pro 12GB GDDR7 PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GRA-PAL-04302) = £494.99
• 1 x WD Black SN850X 2TB SSD M.2 2280 NVME PCI-E Gen4 Solid State Drive (WDS200T2X0E) (SKU: HD-591-WD) = £144.95
• 1 x Lian Li HydroShift II LCD-C 360R Black All In One CPU Cooler - 360mm (SKU: COO-LIA-04868) = £149.99
• 1 x Corsair Vengeance EXPO/XMP RGB 48GB (2X24GB) DDR5 PC5-48000C30 6000MHz Dual Channel Kit (SKU: MEM-CRS-03748) = £169.99
• 1 x Intel Core i7-14700K (Raptor Lake-S) Socket LGA1700 Processor - Retail (SKU: PRO-INT-00800) = £299.99
• 1 x ASRock Steel Legend 850W 80 Plus Gold Fully Modular Power Supply (SKU: POW-ASR-04178) = £128.97
• 1 x Microsoft Windows 11 Home 64-Bit DVD - OEM (KW9-00632) (SKU: SW-18J-MS) = £107.99
• 1 x Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut High Performance Thermal Paste - 1 Gramm (SKU: TH-020-TG) = £6.95
• 2 x Lian Li UNI FAN CL 120 WIRELESS Black RGB Fan - 120mm (SKU: COO-LIA-05073) = £14.99
• 1 x NVIDIA - Borderlands 4 Standard Edition & the Gilded Glory Pack DLC (SKU: DIG-NVI-06102) = £0.00
• 1 x Intel Gamers Days - Battlefield 6 Bundle (SKU: DIG-INT-06117) = £0.00

Total: £1,815.68 (includes delivery: £11.98)​

Here's a suggested AMD spec from me:

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D Eight Core 5.00GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail (SKU: CP-3DT-AM) = £349.99
• 1 x Asus ROG Strix B650E-F Gaming WIFI (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MB-6JX-AS) = £184.92
• 1 x Crucial Pro 48GB (2x24GB) DDR5 PC5-48000C48 6000MHz Dual Channel Kit (SKU: MEM-CRU-01087) = £124.99
• 1 x PNY GeForce RTX 5070 Ti OC Triple Fan 16GB GDDR7 PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GRA-PNY-04063) = £680.00
• 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) = £131.98
• 1 x (unchanged) Lian Li Vector V100 Mid Tower Case - Black (SKU: CAS-LIA-05153) = £69.99
• 1 x be quiet! Pure Power 13 M 850W ATX 3.1 80 Plus Gold Power Supply (SKU: POW-BEQ-05637) = £109.99
• 1 x Thermalright Frozen Notte 360 Black ARGB V2 All In One CPU Cooler (SKU: COO-TLR-03260) = £69.95
• 1 x (unchanged) Microsoft Windows 11 Home 64-Bit DVD - OEM (KW9-00632) (SKU: SW-18J-MS) = £107.99

Total: £1,841.78 (includes delivery: £11.98)​

Max budget Intel build:

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x Intel Core Ultra 7 265K (Arrow Lake) Socket LGA 1851 Processor - Retail (SKU: PRO-INT-03111) = £289.99
• 1 x Intel Gamers Days - Battlefield 6 Bundle (SKU: DIG-INT-06117) = £0.00
• 1 x Gigabyte Z890 EAGLE WIFI7 (LGA1851) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MOT-GIG-03487) = £194.98
• 1 x Crucial Pro 48GB (2x24GB) DDR5 PC5-44800C46 5600MHz Dual Channel Kit (SKU: MEM-CRU-01086) = £99.95
• 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 KIOXIA EXCERIA PRO 2TB SSD NVME M.2 2280 Solid State Drive (SKU: STO-TSH-01448) = £116.99
• 1 x Lian Li Lancool 216 RGB Mid-tower PC case - Black (SKU: CA-7B8-LL) = £89.99
• 1 x Phanteks AMP GH 850W 80PLUS Gold ATX Power Supply Modular - Black (SKU: POW-PHK-02519) = £104.99
• 1 x Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE ARGB Black CPU Cooler - 120mm (SKU: COO-TLR-02724) = £29.99
• 1 x (unchanged) Microsoft Windows 11 Home 64-Bit DVD - OEM (KW9-00632) (SKU: SW-18J-MS) = £107.99

Total: £1,996.85 (includes delivery: £11.98)​

I don't recommend you go 14th gen anymore, unless you're willing to roll the dice on the extended warranty.

One of Intel's latest updates:

Intel Core 13th and 14th Gen Desktop Instability Root Cause Update

Following extensive investigation of the Intel® Core™ 13th and 14th Gen desktop processor Vmin Shift Instability issue, Intel can now confirm the root cause diagnosis for the issue. This post will cover Intel’s understanding of the root cause, as well as additional mitigations and next steps for...

community.intel.com

They say it is fixed now, but only time will tell. If it was me and I was determined to go Intel, I'd get the Core Ultra instead.

After listening to people’s thought I think AMD might be a better option,
I would rather have the other parts I selected I know they are more expensive that other you picked and limits me to 5070 gpu choice with budget, but the 5070 should be sufficient For needs?

Does the pick now look ok
My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x Lian Li Vector V100 Mid Tower Case - Black (SKU: CAS-LIA-05153) = £69.98
• 1 x Palit GeForce RTX 5070 Gaming Pro 12GB GDDR7 PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GRA-PAL-04302) = £494.99
• 1 x WD Black SN850X 2TB SSD M.2 2280 NVME PCI-E Gen4 Solid State Drive (WDS200T2X0E) (SKU: HD-591-WD) = £144.95
• 1 x Lian Li HydroShift II LCD-C 360R Black All In One CPU Cooler - 360mm (SKU: COO-LIA-04868) = £149.99
• 1 x Corsair Vengeance EXPO/XMP RGB 48GB (2X24GB) DDR5 PC5-48000C30 6000MHz Dual Channel Kit (SKU: MEM-CRS-03748) = £169.99
• 1 x Microsoft Windows 11 Home 64-Bit DVD - OEM (KW9-00632) (SKU: SW-18J-MS) = £107.99
• 1 x Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut High Performance Thermal Paste - 1 Gramm (SKU: TH-020-TG) = £6.95
• 2 x Lian Li UNI FAN CL 120 WIRELESS Black RGB Fan - 120mm (SKU: COO-LIA-05073) = £14.98
• 1 x NVIDIA - Borderlands 4 Standard Edition & the Gilded Glory Pack DLC (SKU: DIG-NVI-06102) = £0.00
• 1 x Asus ROG Strix B650E-F Gaming WIFI (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MB-6JX-AS) = £184.92
• 1 x AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D Eight Core 5.00GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail (SKU: CP-3DT-AM) = £350.00
• 1 x be quiet! Pure Power 13 M 850W ATX 3.1 80 Plus Gold Power Supply (SKU: POW-BEQ-05637) = £109.99

Total: £1,831.70 (includes delivery: £11.98)​

 

[hornetstinger]

I'd get a GPU with more than 12GB, I've seen it at 14GB on most games now @ 1440p.

 

[Tetras]

After listening to people’s thought I think AMD might be a better option,
I would rather have the other parts I selected I know they are more expensive that other you picked and limits me to 5070 gpu choice with budget, but the 5070 should be sufficient For needs?

Does the pick now look ok

Well, a 5070 is a reasonable 1440p card, so it will do the business for now, but if you're spending nearly £2K to only have a 5070 is really not a good deal. The largest part of your budget should always go into the GPU, because that's where most of the gaming performance comes from.

To be blunt: you'll barely notice the difference between your £170 48GB RAM kit and the Crucial £100 48GB kit and the cooler is overkill for that CPU, which can be cooled by a £30 tower cooler. However, if you put that ~£170 into a 5070 Ti, you WILL notice that and it'll impact the longevity of this PC.

 

[hornetstinger]

yeah good point about AIO, get £35 thermelright dual tower and put the difference in the GPU.

I fitted a thermelright Evo, nice cooler at £45

 

[Gray2233]

I would have the other parts I selected I know they are more expensive that other you picked and limits me to 5070 gpu choice with budget, but the 5070 should be sufficient For needs?

I'm going to be frank, you're spending a whole lot of money in the wrong areas to make a worse PC for no good reason. I would never spend that sort of money on a PC intended for gaming with a 12gb mid range GPU, and that's exactly what the 5070 is. You're doing yourself a disservice by getting caught up on silly unnecessary junk like a £150 AiO when a £30 air cooler would be more than adequate, and if it's aesthetics you're after Thermalright do excellent 360mm AiO's for around £50.

You don't need to buy thermal paste, it'll come with whatever hsf you buy, and despite what some people claim there's only a couple of degrees between the worst and best when under most loads.

I could go on.

Asking for advice while gimping your system and forcing any advice onto a narrow window really isn't the best way to go.

 

[Quartz]

You don't need to buy thermal paste,

While this is true, having a tube of paste on hand will prevent a halt from any mistakes. It’s an inexpensive insurance.

 

[Gray2233]

While this is true, having a tube of paste on hand will prevent a halt from any mistakes. It’s an inexpensive insurance.

Any Thermalright HSF/AiO actually comes with a tube that's capable of 4-6 applications, it's about on par with MX-4 too, one of those usually unspoken added value things for products that are already incredibly good value.

 

[roadrunner08]

I’ve now swapped the aio cooler for one half the price and swapped the 5070 for a 5070 TI

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x Lian Li Vector V100 Mid Tower Case - Black (SKU: CAS-LIA-05153) = £69.98
• 1 x WD Black SN850X 2TB SSD M.2 2280 NVME PCI-E Gen4 Solid State Drive (WDS200T2X0E) (SKU: HD-591-WD) = £144.95
• 1 x Corsair Vengeance EXPO/XMP RGB 48GB (2X24GB) DDR5 PC5-48000C30 6000MHz Dual Channel Kit (SKU: MEM-CRS-03748) = £169.99
• 1 x Microsoft Windows 11 Home 64-Bit DVD - OEM (KW9-00632) (SKU: SW-18J-MS) = £107.99
• 1 x Asus ROG Strix B650E-F Gaming WIFI (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MB-6JX-AS) = £184.92
• 1 x AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D Eight Core 5.00GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail (SKU: CP-3DT-AM) = £349.99
• 1 x be quiet! Pure Power 13 M 850W ATX 3.1 80 Plus Gold Power Supply (SKU: POW-BEQ-05637) = £110.00
• 1 x Thermalright Frozen Notte 360 Black ARGB V2 All In One CPU Cooler (SKU: COO-TLR-03260) = £69.94
• 1 x PNY GeForce RTX 5070 Ti OC Triple Fan 16GB GDDR7 PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GRA-PNY-04063) = £680.00
• 1 x NVIDIA - Borderlands 4 Standard Edition & the Gilded Glory Pack DLC (SKU: DIG-NVI-06102) = £0.00

Total: £1,899.74 (includes delivery: £11.98)​

 

[hornetstinger]

Can you get Windows on a code key, much cheaper and legal?

 

[Craig_d1]

personally, i haven't come close to using up 32gb ram while gaming, let alone 48gb...so I'd just plumb for 32gb, save yourself £70, and i game at 4k with a 9070xt, which can be had for £580/£600, saving another £80 to £100...at 1440p it'll fly. that and agree with @hornetstinger , you can get a windows key for £20 (save close to £90)
cpu, rather than the 7800x3d, if spending £350 just get the new 9800x3d for £399(it's a better cpu, redesigned so actually for non gaming productivity, performs way better than the 7800x3d too)...don't get me wrong, nothing wrong with the 7800x3d, it's excelent, and that's what my son is using(with his asus mobo), and my other(jet to get rest of his build together atm, but it's been replaced, and if going that route, they're about £250 2nd hand and not that hard to come by

alternative to the asus mobo(my son has a b650e-e i gave him) is the b850 tomahawk max wifi which can be had for £193 if you look...not much in it but can take 4 ssd, has wifi7 and 5gb ethernet connection...not a huge amount in it but think the msi board is better...but if you like the look of the asus board, wont argue

 

[Tetras]

1 x Corsair Vengeance EXPO/XMP RGB 48GB (2X24GB) DDR5 PC5-48000C30 6000MHz Dual Channel Kit (SKU: MEM-CRS-03748) = £169.99

Are you sticking with this kit because of the RGB? If so, I get it, but It is really bad value for money, you can get 64GB RGB kits for that price and 32GB RGB for less than half.