1440p Gaming Build for around £1500?

Muustache · 23 Feb 2020 at 12:07

Hey chaps,

I'm looking to build a gaming build for around £1500 for 1440p gaming. Generally FPS and RPGs.

I was thinking along the lines of:

AMD Ryzen 3900X, GeForce 2070 Super, 32GB 3600mhz RAM...

I used to build PCs back in the 2000s, but I've been slumming it on Xbox for the past 10 years

What I can't work out is whether I should go for:

Ryzen 9 vs Intel i9

GeForce 2070 Super vs AMD 5700 XT

Anyone help?

Cheers!

The Muustache

Kohaashi · 23 Feb 2020 at 12:14

5700 XT is better value. But 2070 Super is cooler and quieter and Nvidia generally have better drivers.

Danny75 · 23 Feb 2020 at 12:37

3900X will be wasted on gaming, especially above 1080p. AMD plans to launch faster Ryzen 4000 series anyway, this year, so if you fancied a 12-core just for kicks, probably best to get a cheap £150 Ryzen 3600 for now and then upgrade it. Or 8-core Ryzen 3700X and call it quits.

Unlikely to need more than 16GB RAM unless you use mods in certain games.

Nvidia plans to announce new GPUs in late March if you're in no hurry and can wait for further news of actual release date.

Muustache · 23 Feb 2020 at 19:00

Cool! So a 3700X.... how does that compare with an i7 for gaming?

And the 5700 XT... I've got a monitor with Freesync/Adaptive Sync.... would I be better off with going for the AMD as the compatibility with freesync is better?

tamzzy · 23 Feb 2020 at 19:08

i7 9700k is a better outright chip for gaming compared to the 3700x/3900x
BUT and it's a big but...
you're buying into a dead, powerhungry platform...and the only upgrade from a 9700k is a 9900k

the difference at 1440p isn't that much to warrant going down the intel z390 route imo
i wouldn't recommend it...the better and more sensible option would be an b450/x570 platform where you can easily get a 16c chip (or ryzen 4000 probably) in the future for upgrades

Muustache · 25 Feb 2020 at 20:47

Ok!

I've settled on:

AMD Ryzen 3800x
Asus 5700 XT OC
16GB Ram
X570 board with wifi

I've got £1500 to spend, and I'm not really sure what to go for!

I'd prefer a silent case, a small amount of RGB, and liquid cooling. I don't need a monitor, as I've got a 27" 144hz one already

Can anyone help with a suggested build?

tamzzy · 25 Feb 2020 at 20:49

Muustache said:
AMD Ryzen 3800x
Asus 5700 XT OC
16GB Ram
X570 board with wifi

meh. money in all the wrong places.

Muustache · 25 Feb 2020 at 20:50

Cool - what would you suggest instead? It's my first build since AMD Athlons were amazing.

tamzzy · 25 Feb 2020 at 20:55

Muustache said:
Cool - what would you suggest instead?

My basket at Overclockers UK:

1 x AMD Ryzen 7 3700X Eight Core 4.4GHz (Socket AM4) Processor - Retail= £269.99
1 x MSI B450 GAMING PRO CARBON AC (Socket AM4) DDR4 ATX Motherboard= £119.99
1 x Team Group Vulcan T-Force 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C16 3200MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black/Grey (TLGD= £74.99
1 x MSI GeForce RTX 2070 Super Ventus OC 8192MB PCI-Express Graphics Card= £479.99
1 x Seasonic Core Gold GM-650 650W 80+ Gold Modular Power Supply= £74.99
1 x WD Blue SN550 1TB NVME M.2 2280 PCIe Gen3 Solid State Drive (WDS100T2B0C)= £109.99
1 x Phanteks Eclipse P360X Midi Tower DRGB Case - Black= £67.99
1 x NZXT Kraken X52 AIO Water Cooling Unit - 240mm= £99.95
1 x Two Fan Bundle - Phanteks PH-F120MP PWM 120mm Fan - Radiator Performance= £14.99

Total: £1,327.57 (includes shipping: £14.70)

fan bundle for the front mounts
aio for the top mounts
(and under budget too)

Muustache · 25 Feb 2020 at 21:10

Sweet!

Only one question... the b450 over the x570?

tamzzy · 25 Feb 2020 at 21:13

Muustache said:
Only one question... the b450 over the x570?

only one question too...what do you need from x570 that b450 cannot provide?

Muustache · 25 Feb 2020 at 21:17

It was just the PCI4 support that I thought made a difference to the NWME drives, and I'd heard they were generally *better* quality. But... I'm very aware of being sucked in by marketing!

tamzzy · 25 Feb 2020 at 21:19

Muustache said:
It was just the PCI4 support that I thought made a difference to the NWME drives

LOL. no. for big number benchmarks only
real world usage = zilch in nearly all normal home-based workloads
(of course in some niche uses will yield benefits)

tamzzy · 25 Feb 2020 at 21:21

Muustache said:
and I'd heard they were generally *better* quality. But... I'm very aware of being sucked in by marketing!

totally

Bios? AMD have stated support until 2020 (Ryzen 4000) and all board OEMs have released bios updates on time for the last couple years...no reason to doubt this will be any different for the last generation of AM4 processors... especially with a board that's a best seller
VRMs? We're not recommending bargain basement b450...and tomahawk/mortar/pro carbon b450 can handle high core counts decently.
Sli? Lol dead tech
Pci-e 4? Pointless for GPU (and to a lesser extent, SSDs as i've already mentioned)
More SATA ports? How many does the average user use? how many do you use?
More nvme ports? See above
Usb 3.2? Maybe

So...

Muustache · 25 Feb 2020 at 21:24

Awesome reply Tamzzy. Super appreciated.

Generally looks like the adviced is.... spend the money on the graphics card, a decent motherboard, fast ram and cooling. And get a CPU that'll handle most things, unless heavy use of multi threads.

tamzzy · 25 Feb 2020 at 21:34

in most cases gpu will be the main bottleneck
so the bulk of the money goes there
then the cpu

and the rest...just peeing in the wind really

Muustache · 25 Feb 2020 at 22:00

Alright then.... So with the spare cash - I could just go 2080 Super.

tamzzy · 25 Feb 2020 at 22:01

could do, but in terms of value (cost-per-fps gain) not a very good deal.
2070 super is kinda pushing it already

Carl81 · 26 Feb 2020 at 05:46

Chadd said:
5700 XT is better value. But 2070 Super is cooler and quieter and Nvidia generally have better drivers.

i can say this is true...

had to sell my 5700xt for £300 due to constant crashes ..
Bought a non super rtx for £349 and it geforce card just works ...really well.