Help spec me a gaming PC

Jonny889

Jonny889

Jonny889

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manged to convince the wife (boss) into letting me get a gaming PC, budget is around £1000 for the base system.

I will require a monitor and keyboard but I will pay the extra for this (already have a RAT mouse)

I have looked at something like the following so she can still do her business bits on it as well:

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £1,014.56 (includes shipping: £11.70)​
​

I have no idea if I could get better for the money and what Case I would need. I have seen a lot about a serbrant SSD but i am not sure if that is still the best option to go for.


Main games I will play are:
ARK
COD
Battle field
Fallout
Diablo
 

Danny75

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Sabrent Rocket 1TB NVME / Gigabyte 1TB NVME / TeamGroup MP34 1TB NVME / Corsair MP510 1TB NVME / Crucial P1 1TB NVME.

There could be a couple of others worth considering. Just get the cheapest.

If you need WiFi, then spend the money for that WiFi card on the slightly better B450 Pro Carbon Gaming motherboard*, which has a lot faster WiFi than that card.

* If you get it, look at the box to see if it's Ryzen 3XXX ready. If it's not, then read up on how to use BIOS Flashback to update without a CPU in it.

Save some money on the RAM:


My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £473.35 (includes shipping: £10.50)​
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This is a lot of cooler for the money if you don't want to put up with the more noisy stock cooler:


My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £38.69 (includes shipping: £8.70)​
​


Good choices of PSU and GPU there.

What's your budget for a case? As cheap as possible, while having decent airflow potential for that GPU, perhaps?
 

Jonny889

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Yea tbh it will mainly be used for the wife to do her buisness stuff on and streaming videos she does so if its quieter it would be better.

Gaming is an added extra so I can use it in the evenings but If I can get it all (without monitor and keyboard) for around the £1000 mark that would be great.

No idea what my Wifi supports tbh its a BT broadband router lol.
 

Danny75

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Jonny889 said:
Yea tbh it will mainly be used for the wife to do her buisness stuff on and streaming videos she does so if its quieter it would be better.
Click to expand...

CPU cooler along the lines of that Alpenfohn (doesn't have to be too expensive) will help, then.

Some case ideas, not too cheap, not too expensive:


My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £358.01 (includes shipping: £39.06)
​


The two CoolerMasters with RGB come with an RGB splitter already so as long the motherboard you get has one 12v RGB header, you're good.

To power the actual fans, you'll need to check the fan header amount on the mobo you go for, together with how many fans in total there'll be (case fans + CPU cooler fan). If you're short, then add a splitter:


My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £11.69 (includes shipping: £8.70)



And then control fan speed through the motherboard to get the sound to your liking.​
 

Jonny889

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So far looking something like this:

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £954.24 (includes shipping: £12.30)​
​


Im unsure what MOBO and SSD to go for at the moment, I need WIFI due to the location of the PC in the house compared to my router but I do not want the hassle of updating the BIOS because this is my first build.

Anything that should be changed that would keeps it a reasonable price (I do not mind a little extra up to around £1300 if its worth it). Also do I need anything else to assemble the PC such as thermal paste/wire clips?

Also what screens should I be looking at for 1440p gaming because I guess thats what this will be ideal for?
I dont need anything too fancy tbh and ideal size would be around a 24 because I plan to run two screens (one will be cheap so she can display office whilst using the main screen)


Thanks for the help
 

Danny75

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I'd be surprised if that top-class Seasonic PSU does not come with velcro ties or at least cable ties. And the cooler comes with paste. Just need a screwdriver.

As mentioned, the MSI B450 Pro Carbon Gaming is your best bet if you need WiFi.

24" and 1440p don't go so good together, are scarce, and the gaming monitors that size even more limited or non-existent.

My pick for a 24" gaming monitor just now would be:

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £191.09 (includes shipping: £11.10)​
​

Going up from that one to decent 27" 1440p IPS 144Hz panels there's quite a leap in price. You could notch down the GPU power a tad and save some money.


My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £1,274.49 (includes shipping: £19.62)​
​


Could also cut down on processor because the Ryzen 3600 is a very good gaming CPU. However if your wife wouldn't take kindly to more than a GPU upgrade within the next 3 years, then best to nab the Ryzen 3700X now for a bit more longevity than the 3600 would provide. :)

Can chop £20 off by looking for the Riotoro Enigma G2 750W 80+Gold which is a very good PSU as well with 10 year warranty. Both 650W and 750W are way overspecced for the RTX 2060 but for that money it's worth it as a quality 550W will only cost a tenner less or so.
 

Jonny889

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stretching to £1300 would be without the monitor and is just for the base unit, my budget is fairly flexible I just do not want to go daft on my first build. If a 27" suits 1440p better I will happily pay the extra for one.

The issue with that MOBO is doing the BIOS, I would much rather a plug and play even if it cost me a little extra. Would a tomohawk with a better wifi card be worth it or would it just be easier to look at a 570 MOBO?

I have been told I need an anti static wrist band is this true?

Thanks for all the help
 

Danny75

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Two forum members have bought the B450 Pro Carbon from OcUK very recently and it already had the updated BIOS. Can I guarantee the one you get will be the same? No. But the fact that they already have these boards with updated BIOS would be good enough for me, and like I said, there's always the backup plan which will probably be unnecessary.

https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/posts/33182677/

https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/posts/33182723/

If you go for Tomahawk + WiFi card the WiFi card has to be pretty good to match the WiFi on the Pro Carbon. Talking £35+ off the top of my head. Or just settle for slightly slower WiFi, up to you.

For example, this one is not as fast as the Pro Carbon's onboard:

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £43.69 (includes shipping: £8.70)
​

No need for anti-static wristband. Just ground yourself by touching a radiator, and once the PSU is installed (do that first thing) and plugged into the wall (with PSU switch set to off), you can touch the PSU casing regularly to make sure you're still grounded. Even if you do none of this, you'd have to be very unlucky for something to go wrong in that sense.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwSAKa5s9F0
 
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Jonny889

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Case cooling:

Been running my build for a little while now and starting to look at cooling it better, current build is:

My GPU runs at 75 with the case side cover on and 65 with it removed so im thinking I might make a few changes to improve the case air flow.

My CPU runs at 73 under the Ryzen Stress test which I might also try to bring down a bit lower.


1. Should I replace my case fans with something a bit better and add more?
2. If I change the case fans/add more which way should they blow? (into or out of case)
3. What options would I have to improve my CPU temps? Water cooling or Noctua?
 

Danny75

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As @Plec said, those temps are decent when a 5700 XT is inside a case (reviewers test on open bench). But if you are a tinkerer, then a bit of undervolting and slight notch up of GPU fan RPM can work wonders, as well as maintain a high frequency without downclocking. Can do both inside AMD Software > Performance > Tuning.

You may also benefit from a better rear fan to help exhaust quicker. Or not.

The CPU temps are absolutely fine. It's Ryzen's nature to get fairly warm, plus they're basically overclocked to near their limit already so it's not exactly like Intel at stock. Guessing you've already been inside the BIOS (Hardware Monitor) to tune the CPU and case fans. If you haven't, then there might be some wiggle room to improve a couple of degrees there.
 

Noughtboy

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The problem with cases with glass/acrylic side panels is you cannot really add fans to pump cold air directly where you need it...to the GPU and CPU.

However, seeing as that case is a given, you are currently running with a positive pressure of 3x120mm to 1x120mm which is fine as tends to stop dust entering so long as you have dust filters over intake fans.

I don't know that case but my order of improving temperatures would be:

Undervolt both CPU and GPU. Current AMD hardware reacts better to undervolting than overclocking...i.e you will probably achieve better overall speed close to standard at a lower voltage than adding volts to achieve a faster overclock. So, start with that to lower voltage whilst retaining standard clocks and temps will improve significantly.

If these does not improve temps, then consider moving those three front 120mm RGB fans to the rear and top mounts. Then buy 2x140mm fans to fit in the front. The exact ones would depend on whether you need to prioritise air flow or static pressure (if there is little blocking the airflow from the front of the case to the centre prioritise airflow and something like https://www.overclockers.co.uk/be-quiet-pure-wings-2-140mm-pwm-high-speed-fan-fg-03p-bq.html ).

If there are "blockages", consider a higher SP fan and something like this (https://www.overclockers.co.uk/arctic-cooling-p14-pwm-pst-black-fan-140mm-fg-04k-ar.html ).

As I said, I don't know that case but I imagine the 2x140mm intake will be approximately equal to the fitted 3x120mm vents resulting in an equal pressure case. Should you want to run an overpressure setup as it currently is, consider running the front most top 120mm fan as an intake and the rear most as a vent.

Obviously, if you want the 140mm to also be RGB, you would need to use the AP and SP theory to select one but at least you can now look with some idea of what to search for. But start with the undervolting first.
 
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