£1200 build for AAA gaming

invasionlord

invasionlord

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Hi guys, this will be a birthday present for my girlfriend so i'm really nervous about what to buy on here, so please help!

I will need the PC and a monitor, will use unactivated windows. She loves MW/Sims 4, and the newer AAA releases. Would like the PC to comfortably run them at higher settings if possible and not require any upgrades for a while.

Bonus points for a pink case that is relatively quiet.

Many thanks <3
 

Danny75

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invasionlord said:
Would prefer OcUK to build but if building myself means a significant upgrade then i'd give it a go.

Kind regards
Click to expand...

Fee for build is quoted on case-by-case basis but you'd want to set apart roughly £100.

If there's no pink case, choosing a white or black case with ARGB fans that she can set to pink/rainbow/whatever she likes, is probably best (and adds to expense). You could spend the £100 on that if you build yourself. And so end up with the same hardware performance as you would if OcUK built it and gain the looks.
 

invasionlord

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Danny75 said:
Fee for build is quoted on case-by-case basis but you'd want to set apart roughly £100.

If there's no pink case, choosing a white or black case with ARGB fans that she can set to pink/rainbow/whatever she likes, is probably best (and adds to expense). You could spend the £100 on that if you build yourself. And so end up with the same hardware performance as you would if OcUK built it and gain the looks.
Click to expand...

I'll give building it a go then :)
 

Freddie1980

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I forgot some of those tiles showing the monitors aren't work safe :o

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £1,255.82 (includes shipping: £15.90)

​
A bit over budget so if you wanted to save money you could swap out the RAM for something a bit cheaper and put in a smaller SSD or cheaper PSU.

For a colour scheme your best bet IMO is to get some RGB fans (as supplied in the case above) and set them to whatever vomit inducing colour you want.

I picked the monitor because this is clearly a gaming focused build, although it's only 1080p the screen is 144hz so it should push the graphics card. Ideally I wanted to include a 1440P 144hz IPS display but they start at around £400 each.
 
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Danny75

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You want the B450 Pro Carbon for Addressable RGB like the type the Lian Li Lancool II brings. Tomahawk doesn't have ARGB.

For memory you can find Thermaltake ToughPower Z-ONE RGB 3200MHz 2x8GB DDR4* for £76 which is also Addressable and compatible with MSI RGB software (don't use the Thermaltake software as using both will cause conflict and it's easier to synch everything from the MSI Mystic Light software).

* Crucial Ballistix RGB, G.Skill Trident Z RGB and the above Corsair Vengeance RGB will also work but are more expensive.

Move all three 120mm case fans to the front (those don't need to be RGB).

You wanted quiet so don't use the stock cooler. Get an aftermarket cooler and replace its fan with a NB-eLoop ARGB 120mm which is probably currently the best (noise-to-air-volume), as it's based on their quality non-RGB fans. And add another eLoop for the rear of the case.

Then add a splitter so you can use the two ARGB fans and the case ARGB.

See below.


My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £1,220.71 (includes shipping: £15.90)
​

The faster spinning B12-P is for the CPU cooler and the slower spinning B12-PS for the rear of the case.

Threw in a 3700X based on your requirement to not have to upgrade for a while. RTX 2060 plenty for 1080p 144Hz and Nvidia has better chance of being a smoother experience for her, driver/issue-wise. The Zotac can be registered for 5-year warranty. You lose a bit of unnecessary extra performance v 5700 XT but with graphics cards by the time you need to upgrade the 2060 you'd be just about ready to upgrade a 5700 XT as well because that's how it goes (they improve at a faster rate than CPUs).

Can also go with the BeQuiet Pure Base 500 for even more silence. Move the 2 x 140mm case fans to front. Keep the eLoop B12-P for the CPU cooler, but exchange the B12-PS for a B14-P which can go on rear of the Pure Base 500. Like so:


My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £1,225.43 (includes shipping: £19.62)



To bring cost down if needed, go with Ryzen 3600 instead. And remember these two specs need the RAM adding, as mentioned previously. i.e.:


My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £1,105.71 (includes shipping: £15.90)​
​

+ up to £100 for RAM and stays in budget.​
 
Noiseblocker NB-eLoop X B12-P ARGB White Edition - 120mm
FG-067-NB
£23 (incl. VAT)
Find out more
Noiseblocker NB-eLoop X B12-PS ARGB White Edition - 120mm
FG-06A-NB
£18 (incl. VAT)
Find out more
be quiet! Pure Base 500 Midi Tower Case - White Tempered Glass
CA-13T-BQ
£98 (incl. VAT)
Find out more
Noiseblocker NB-eLoop X B14-P ARGB White Edition - 140mm
FG-069-NB
£27 (incl. VAT)
Find out more
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jigger

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I’d probably go with something like this plus a couple of RGB fans set to pink.

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £1,190.78 (includes shipping: £15.90)​
​
 

EsaT

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Danny75 said:
...replace its fan with a NB-eLoop ARGB 120mm which is probably currently the best (noise-to-air-volume), as it's based on their quality non-RGB fans.
Click to expand...
Marketing hype doesn't equal quality.

Visually, the B12-PS is identical to the B12-2 but we noticed an immediate difference the moment it was turned on. The B12-PS was easily the worst sounding fan of the roundup. It was a buffet of all the sounds you don't want to hear in a fan. At top speed, it whined, buzzed, and hummed, all simultaneously, and from there it just got worse. At 1,100 RPM the fan slowed to the point where a very strong, dirty tone revealed itself. As we slowed the fan further, this tone started to fluctuate, vacillating in frequency. We thought at first that there was something wrong with our motherboard's PWM controller so we tried it on another motherboard and a voltage controller but it sounded the same.

The three samples we had on hand exhibited slight differences from one another. If you consider the one we tested as the norm, the second fan had some extra clicking at 1,100 RPM, while the third was whinier at 1,400 RPM. At other speeds, the trio all sounded very similar.

We also had a triple set of the B12-P, a second PWM version that spins at 2,000 RPM. It had a similar character but when dialed down to speeds equivalent to the B12-PS, it developed an odd rattle. This, combined with its high optimal speed made it a unsuitable test candidate.
https://www.silentpcreview.com/Fan_Roundup_7​
 

Danny75

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EsaT said:
Marketing hype doesn't equal quality.

Visually, the B12-PS is identical to the B12-2 but we noticed an immediate difference the moment it was turned on. The B12-PS was easily the worst sounding fan of the roundup. It was a buffet of all the sounds you don't want to hear in a fan. At top speed, it whined, buzzed, and hummed, all simultaneously, and from there it just got worse. At 1,100 RPM the fan slowed to the point where a very strong, dirty tone revealed itself. As we slowed the fan further, this tone started to fluctuate, vacillating in frequency. We thought at first that there was something wrong with our motherboard's PWM controller so we tried it on another motherboard and a voltage controller but it sounded the same.

The three samples we had on hand exhibited slight differences from one another. If you consider the one we tested as the norm, the second fan had some extra clicking at 1,100 RPM, while the third was whinier at 1,400 RPM. At other speeds, the trio all sounded very similar.

We also had a triple set of the B12-P, a second PWM version that spins at 2,000 RPM. It had a similar character but when dialed down to speeds equivalent to the B12-PS, it developed an odd rattle. This, combined with its high optimal speed made it a unsuitable test candidate.
https://www.silentpcreview.com/Fan_Roundup_7​
Click to expand...

@EsaT

Does not correlate with other reviews such as https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVPV9omPuyw

Or my own experience.

May have been a bad batch.

Also, what I said has nothing to do with marketing hype. It's simply my own guess of what are probably the best-performing RGB fans out there right now.
 
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Drizmod

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Some good builds here but personally I would stay away from bigger 1080p monitors. Above 25 inches and you want a 1440p monitor. If your going for an AMD card then get a monitor which has Freesync.
 

EsaT

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Danny75 said:
Does not correlate with other reviews such as https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVPV9omPuyw
Click to expand...
Doubt noise measuring standards are anywhere near SilentPCreview.
There's certainly some slack in standards.
You can see straight from video how badly that fan vibrates:
https://youtu.be/XVPV9omPuyw?t=13m6s
Attach such vibrator to average case and there's going to be extra noise.

Also curious how Kaze Flex does well in case and radiator but not in heatsink even when it's in between them in impedance.
I wonder if there's "pothole" in P-Q curve and that Noctua heatsinks hits that exactly.
 

Danny75

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EsaT said:
Doubt noise measuring standards are anywhere near SilentPCreview.
Click to expand...

Noise-measuring will vary no doubt. But this has nothing to do with noise-measuring accuracy. SilentPCReview obviously got hold of fans with real issues, that other fans don't suffer from. Whining, buzzing, humming all at once. They even mentioned being surprised and trying another voltage controller.



EsaT said:
You can see straight from video how badly that fan vibrates:
https://youtu.be/XVPV9omPuyw?t=13m6s
Attach such vibrator to average case and there's going to be extra noise.
Click to expand...

1. It's not attached to anything so the more air being pushed the more it will vibrate. How do you know what speed each fan was running at in those shots? Or how much air they were pushing?

2. Look closely at the design of the frame. The Noiseblocker has a raised edge on each side that is approximately just one-third of the full length of a side. That means less stability when it's just standing like that without being attached to anything.

So seeing it vibrate a little in those conditions doesn't say anything at all.

The Noiseblocker B14-PS is the best case fan in my system. Outperforming other 140s which I need to run at 1,000 RPM while the Noiseblocker runs at 1,100 RPM, for silence.
 
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