Office PC that I can upgrade to a gaming PC

joshtunn

joshtunn

joshtunn

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Hi everyone,

It's been a long long time since I have put together a system and I can see times have changed a lot,

I'm looking to put together a system that I will primarily be using as an office PC to begin with but later in the year, once the new GPU's come out and (hopefully) the current crop come down in price, put something along the lines of a 5700 XT or 2070 Super inside.

Here is what I have so far, any advice would be great, I have an old GPU to use in the mean time until I pick up the new GPU, thanks in advance!

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £831.12 (includes shipping: £13.20)​
​
 

Noughtboy

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I am not sure whether that MB comes already comes with the new BIOS to support Ryzen 3600. Most people here will recommend this one which is compatible out the box:
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/msi-b450-tomahawk-max-socket-am4-ddr4-atx-motherboard-mb-33t-ms.html

Additionally, for the extra £3, go for the faster 3600Mhz RAM https://www.overclockers.co.uk/patr...dual-channel-kit-pvs416g360c7k-my-104-pa.html

You don't really need to put the 3600 under water. If you won't overclock, keep the box cooler otherwise a good air cooler should set you back between £25 - £30. Something along the lines of https://www.overclockers.co.uk/alpenfohn-brocken-eco-advanced-cpu-cooler-120-mm-hs-05j-al.html or https://www.overclockers.co.uk/alpenfohn-ben-nevis-advanced-cpu-cooler-130mm-hs-058-al.html as examples will both fit as that case has 194mm of clearance.

That saves you anywhere from £90 to £65.

Finally, you can get the Windows 10 key for around £20 - £25 saving you a further £80 odd bringing you around the £700 mark. I couldn't tell you where but you can probably find some pointers somewhere here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-GZXavC5aU&ab_channel=TechDeals

Good luck
 

EsaT

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Case is somehat pricy if purpose is to make best bang per buck PC.

£6 less for 3200MHz CL16:
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/team...al-channel-kit-black-grey-tlgd-my-09s-tg.html

£27 off from SSD.
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/teamgroup-mp34-512gb-nvme-pcie-m.2-solid-state-drive-hd-00a-tg.html

Gigabyte and most Asus B450 boards aren't worth their price with market PC trash level CPU VRMs.
This has way better VRM for £5 less:
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/msi-b450-tomahawk-max-socket-am4-ddr4-atx-motherboard-mb-33t-ms.html
With good airflow that would do decently even for update to 12 core in gaming use.

For higher end GPU upgrades in future 650W PSU would be better.
This would be 7 year warranty model.
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/bitf...plus-gold-modular-power-supply-ca-22b-bx.html
This is fully modular with 10 year warranty
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/phanteks-amp-650w-80-plus-gold-modular-power-supply-ca-09q-pt.html

And waterpipes in place of heatpipes don't make heat disappear magically.
High end heatpipe coolers beat those slim small radiators in continuous cooling per noise.
And for 6-8 core this £20 cooler would be more than enough.
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/arctic-freezer-34-cpu-cooler-120mm-hs-077-ar.html
And sub £50 gets very high end heatpipe coolers.
 

Noughtboy

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EsaT said:
Case is somehat pricy if purpose is to make best bang per buck PC.

£6 less for 3200MHz CL16:
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/team...al-channel-kit-black-grey-tlgd-my-09s-tg.html

£27 off from SSD.
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/teamgroup-mp34-512gb-nvme-pcie-m.2-solid-state-drive-hd-00a-tg.html

Gigabyte and most Asus B450 boards aren't worth their price with market PC trash level CPU VRMs.
This has way better VRM for £5 less:
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/msi-b450-tomahawk-max-socket-am4-ddr4-atx-motherboard-mb-33t-ms.html
With good airflow that would do decently even for update to 12 core in gaming use.

For higher end GPU upgrades in future 650W PSU would be better.
This would be 7 year warranty model.
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/bitf...plus-gold-modular-power-supply-ca-22b-bx.html
This is fully modular with 10 year warranty
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/phanteks-amp-650w-80-plus-gold-modular-power-supply-ca-09q-pt.html

And waterpipes in place of heatpipes don't make heat disappear magically.
High end heatpipe coolers beat those slim small radiators in continuous cooling per noise.
And for 6-8 core this £20 cooler would be more than enough.
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/arctic-freezer-34-cpu-cooler-120mm-hs-077-ar.html
And sub £50 gets very high end heatpipe coolers.
Click to expand...

PSU and SSD are not my area of expertise :)

I personally feel he can get by with 550W on that CPU with extra to spare but for the £5 - £10 extra, go for one of the 650w ones above and pay for it with the £27 saved on the SSD.

MB is the same so my assertion about it being recommended is confirmed.

I think the 3600Mhz RAM is a better option for the £10 and the Alpenfohn coolers are both beefier and lower profile but you now also have a £21 option.

Taking it all into account, I would get the bigger PSU, get the cheaper SSD and stick with my coolers and RAM and you save a further £17 - £23 taking you to the £680 range
 

joshtunn

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Hi guys,

Thanks a lot for your replies, I was going to be planning on overclocking the 3600 so I decided to go for the AIO cooler. Reading up about the 3600 they have a fairly friendly one-click overclock. If there is a better/cheaper alternative then I'm happy to go down that route, I just also kind of like the cleaner look of an AIO compared to a big heatsink on top of the CPU.

With regards to the case, this was based on a nice clean look, I couldn't really find anything that I liked the look of that had an open front to help airflow. If anyone has any other suggestions then please let me know, I'd be happy to look at alternatives but I'd like a similar clean look.

Thanks for the advice on the PSU, I've swapped it to the first recommendation.

Is there any major performance difference between the SSD that I selected and the one that was recommended? I haven't used anything from TeamGroup before so this is out of my knowledge sphere. For now I've swapped it to your recommendation,

I'll have to shop around for the windows key, good to know I can save myself 20-30 on it

Again thanks for the help!
 

EsaT

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joshtunn said:
Thanks a lot for your replies, I was going to be planning on overclocking the 3600 so I decided to go for the AIO cooler. Reading up about the 3600 they have a fairly friendly one-click overclock.
Click to expand...
There's no real overclocking on Ryzen.
Ryzens boost the most heavily loaded cores automatically quite high compared to what silicon can do.
While in manual overclocking you clock all cores, which makes it harder to achieve high clock speeds.
(that actually lowers performance in games with high core count CPUs)
And no amount of overclocking will make 6 cores better for games of the future expecting 8 cores to run well.
We don't have Core 2 era true overclocks with 30% extra speed anymore...

And especially when building on budget AIOs are throwing money into toilet.
Unlike what marketing lies waterpipes in place of heatpipes don't make heat disappear magically and typical slim radiators just don't have excess of heat dissipation area.
Hence in continuous cooling per noise high end heatpipe coolers beat average AIOs, while costing less.
Here very pricy H115i RGB Platinum struggles to keep up with sub £50 Mugen 5 in continuous cooling per noise:
https://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/8...platinum-liquid-cpu-cooler-review/index6.html


joshtunn said:
With regards to the case, this was based on a nice clean look

Is there any major performance difference between the SSD that I selected and the one that was recommended?
Click to expand...
I don't consider offspring of aquarium mating with box of electric razor mesh exactly clean looking... Besides those need lot more effort in cable management.
This is what clean look means:
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/cool...0-silent-midi-tower-case-black-ca-37w-cm.html

There are also some cases, which try to avoid looking completely like square boxes.
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/be-quiet-pure-base-600-midi-tower-case-black-ca-11l-bq.html

TeamGroup uses same controller and NAND as Seagate and while Seagate might have some slight differences in firmware, those won't cause big differences.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1B27_j9NDPU3cNlj2HKcrfpJKHkOf-Oi1DbuuQva2gT4/edit#gid=0
In fact there's very little real world difference in loading time of Windows even between marketed as lot faster NVMe SSDs and "old slow" SATA SSDs.

There's actually WD drive for £69.
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/wd-b...-solid-state-drive-wds500g2b0c-hd-56k-wd.html
 

joshtunn

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Thanks for the reply EsaT,

Seeing as there is no real overclocking on the Ryzen processors, would you recommend to stick to the 3600 or move to an intel CPU? When are the next round of CPU's expected to be released? I can wait a few months before purchasing if there are going to be any significant changes on the horizon?

Appreciate the case recommendations, the first one looks really nice, I take it there are no drawbacks on the thermal capability of the case if the front only has the top/side vents for intake?

I've swapped out the NVMe for the WD as you mention there is no real world difference between using the two.

I'll make some updates to my basket with your recommendations and post accordingly,

Thanks again!
 

joshtunn

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This is what I now have in the basket, sourcing a copy of W10 from somewhere else. I have an old GPU which should be okay until later in the year,

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £647.09 (includes shipping: £13.20)​
​

Anything else I should look to change/tweak?

Thanks
 

tamzzy

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Blimey that's not a very good use of £650. :/
Can get a full system with an rx590 for that lol
My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £656.51 (includes shipping: £11.70)
​
 

joshtunn

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Hi tamzzy,

Appreciate your input, that Kolink case doesn't have the best reviews when it comes to airflow and doesn't the rx590 run quite hot?

Also the PSU isn't modular and with a window panel I would imagine you'd want to use a modular PSU so you haven't got cables everywhere?

I was also going to wait for the next generation of GPU's to come out before purchasing one as I don't really need a GPU until the second half of the year.

I see you put in a 'normal' SSD instead of NVMe, not much difference in load times I take it?

3200 MHz vs 3600 MHz, again not much difference in the real world?
 

tamzzy

tamzzy

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joshtunn said:
Appreciate your input, that Kolink case doesn't have the best reviews when it comes to airflow
Click to expand...
It's decent enough for the price

joshtunn said:
rx590 run quite hot?
Click to expand...
It's a 230w tdp part. Yes it's less efficient than its Nvidia counterpart, but it's the best value GPU out right now.

joshtunn said:
Also the PSU isn't modular and with a window panel I would imagine you'd want to use a modular PSU so you haven't got cables everywhere?
Click to expand...
Case has a PSU shroud. So a bit of a moot point :)
And the bitfenix formula is a really good performance part and great value

joshtunn said:
I was also going to wait for the next generation of GPU's to come out before purchasing one as I don't really need a GPU until the second half of the year
Click to expand...
I know you said that. I'm just making the point that for 650 notes, value-wise, you can get better.

joshtunn said:
I see you put in a 'normal' SSD instead of NVMe, not much difference in load times I take it?
Click to expand...
Have a read: https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/t...sata2-ssd-disappointing-performance.18861669/

joshtunn said:
3200 MHz vs 3600 MHz, again not much difference in the real world?
Click to expand...
Correct
 

joshtunn

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Did not notice that the case has a PSU shroud so yeah moot point indeed!

Realistically I have a budget of 1k for the system, not including monitor/keyboard/mouse

With this in mind, is there a lot you'd change from what you spec'd above?

As a minimum I'd be going with the 16GB of RAM, 0.5 TB SSD for the OS and main windows applications

I'd like to be able to game at 1440p high/ultra with minimum 60 FPS in the latest games

I'm not set on either an mATX case or ATX case so flexible on that one,

Thanks for your help so far, learning a lot over here
 

tamzzy

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joshtunn said:
With this in mind, is there a lot you'd change from what you spec'd above?
Click to expand...
a grand is loads. can get a very capable 1440p gaming system for that kinda cash easily

3700x, 5700xt + gold modular psu, nvme ssd for tidiness and a better ventilated case

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £1,001.55 (includes shipping: £11.70)
​
 

joshtunn

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That is a pretty beastly CPU

Is there much difference in real terms between the 3700 and the 3700X? I'm not chasing the ultimate highest FPS so if the difference between the two is minimal I could perhaps use a 3700 and pop in a 500GB SSD?

Are there any similar performaing case without the red lights on the fans? I've seen that RGB is all the rage at the moment but it's not for me,

Thanks for the help
 

tamzzy

tamzzy

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joshtunn said:
Is there much difference in real terms between the 3700 and the 3700X?
Click to expand...
there's no such thing as a 3700 non-x

joshtunn said:
pop in a 500GB SSD?
Click to expand...
tamzzy said:
1 x WD Blue SN550 500GB NVME M.2 2280 PCIe Gen3 Solid State Drive (WDS500G2B0C)= £69.95
Click to expand...

joshtunn said:
Are there any similar performaing case without the red lights on the fans? I've seen that RGB is all the rage at the moment but it's not for me,
Click to expand...
just get the same case without the rgb fans...google is your friend
 

joshtunn

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Should have been clearer, I meant an additional SSD but fair enough I didn't realise there was a non X version of the 3700.

Thanks for all your help
 

joshtunn

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On the CPU again,

Is there a big uplift from 6 to 8 cores for gaming? an extra 100 on the CPU if there isn't gonna be a big uplift could be saved? or are games using this many cores nowadays?
 

tamzzy

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joshtunn said:
Is there a big uplift from 6 to 8 cores for gaming? an extra 100 on the CPU if there isn't gonna be a big uplift could be saved? or are games using this many cores nowadays?
Click to expand...
6 cores are sufficient currently for gaming
but if you're going to keep your system for 4-5y+ without upgrading then the sensible choice is an 8 core cpu
and if the past predicts the future that you've gone that long without upgrading, hence choosing an 8 core rather than 6 core
 

tamzzy

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joshtunn said:
I meant an additional SSD but fair enough I didn't realise there was a non X version of the 3700.
Click to expand...
just get a 1tb sata3 ssd for ~£90-100 instead of the 500gb nvme ssd
the extra cost should be easily offset by you getting the non-rgb version of the case
 

joshtunn

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Is it the norm to be recommending AMD for this generation of CPU's?

Or is it just better bang for buck so to speak? I'm not married to either Intel or AMD just curious :)

Thanks for the advice on the SSD. I don't mind spending the extra 30 quid as I wouldn't be buying the graphics card until it is needed later in the year.

Would it be worth buying an additional silent fan for the roof in the case?

Any thoughts on the below case?

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/cool...-atx-case-black-tempered-glass-ca-37q-cm.html

Thanks!
 
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