£2k gaming PC recommendation

[Prestonian]

Good morning OCers.

Please can I request help and advise?
I am looking to buy a new PC for approx £2000 but I am not restricted on budget; so if there's a vast difference of performance for a few hundred more, then I would take the better performance option.

I would like the capability to stream and record gameplay comfortably, both FPS and storage wise; the genre of game I play is first-person-shooters such as Arma, Squad, Tarkov and DayZ. There's a likelihood I will venture into Star Atlas when (if) it is made, and maybe Star Citizen.

I prefer big when it comes to case and MB, and I couldn't care less about fancy fan lights.

I have not kept up with this industry for the past few years, so I have no clue on what what will bottleneck what, or if Intel beats AMD vice versa. I have no preference other than price/performance bang for buck.

I would prefer a prebuilt system, but if that privilege comes at a cost of a couple of hundred quid, I would take the time to self-build as long as OS installation and tuning is easily achieved.

I will be sticking with my current 1080 monitor for a while, but will upgrade for Christmas, so will prefer a GPU that can run the higher visuals.

Any advise will be gratefully received.

 

[Prestonian]

You can put parts together and then get a quote for building £100 to £150 approx

1080p gaming at the moment but will you be moving to 1440p , 4k ?

Yes, I will move up to 4k or 1440p. I'm more comfortable buying monitors second-hand than a PC, so happy to wait till a bargain presents itself on the market place. I don't want to risk second hand PC for obvious reasons.

When you say to get a quote to build it, do you mean from Overclockers themselves?

 

[Prestonian]

AM5 self-build (you can get a window version of the case for £12):

AMD Ryzen 9 7900 Twelve Core 5.40GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail - £439.99
Gigabyte B650 Aorus Elite AX (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard - £269.99
Kingston FURY Beast EXPO 32GB (2x16GB) DDR5 PC5-48000C36 6000MHz Dual Channel Kit (KF560C36BBEK2-32) - £139.99

Powercolor Radeon RX 6800 XT Red Dragon 16GB PCI-Express Graphics Card - £599.99
AMD Radeon™ Get The Game Bundle - The Last of Us™ Part I - £0.00

WD Black SN850X 2TB SSD M.2 2280 NVME PCI-E Gen4 Solid State Drive (WDS200T2X0E) - £149.99

be quiet! Silent Loop 2 360 High Performance CPU Water Cooler - 360mm - £149.95
Phanteks Eclipse P600S Silent Midi Tower Case - Black - £139.99
MSI MPG A1000G UK PSU 1000W 80 Plus Gold certified Fully Modular - £159.95

Microsoft Windows 11 Home 64-Bit DVD - OEM (KW9-00632) - £127.99

Grand Total: £2,189.82 (includes delivery charge, £11.99)

Intel pre-build:

OcUK Tech Labs Intel 13th Gen "Raptor Lake" Pro Gaming PC Configurator - £2,399.82
SKU: FS-022-TL

• 1 x Lian Li Lancool III Full Tower PC Case - Black
• 1 x Intel Core i5-13600KF (Raptor Lake) Socket LGA1700 Processor - OEM
• 1 x Gigabyte Z790 Gaming X AX (LGA 1700) DDR5 ATX Motherboard
• 1 x TeamGroup Vulcan 32GB (2X16GB) DDR5 PC5-44800C36 5600MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black (FLBD532G5600HC36BDC01)
• 1 x Alphacool Core Ocean T38 CPU Water Cooler - 360mm
• 1 x Asrock Radeon RX 7900 XT Gaming 20GB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card
• 1 x MSI MPG A850G PCIE5 UK PSU 850W 80 Plus Gold Modular Power Supply
• 1 x WD Black SN770 2TB SSD M.2 2280 NVME PCI-E Gen4 Solid State Drive (WDS200T3X0E)
• 1 x Microsoft Windows 11 Home 64-Bit DVD - OEM (KW9-00632)

Grand Total: £2,407.81 (includes delivery charge, £7.99)

Hey Tetras, I really appreciate the time you've taken to compile these lists; thank you.

May I ask which build is the better performer? The Ryzen states 12 cores, and the i5 no mention. Also there's no second drive, does it matter compatibility wise which brand and model to choose for a second drive?

Many thanks

 

[Prestonian]

I'm on the prebuild configuration page and have seen that the WiFi version (MB-6JR-AS) is £15 dearer; will opting for the Wifi version be detrimental to the build?
Also I have selected the i7 over the i5 as it was only £100 extra; is the extra cash worth the extra performance the i7 gives over the i5?

The option for 4070 TI has one available listed as...."*Build* Asus GeForce RTX 4070Ti TUF Gaming OC 12GB GDDR6X Graphics Card." Can I ask why this 4070ti only being 12GB is better in performance than a 7900 XT 20GB? The Radeon is £150 less expensive too. To me as pleb, that seems counterintuitive. I did read the link, and understand that the 7900 XT came in 4th, 7% lower on the bench tests. I will go for the 4070Ti 12GB if recommended. By the way, what is BGRADE, and what is *Build*?

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x OcUK Tech Labs Intel 13th Gen "Raptor Lake" Pro Gaming PC Configurator (SKU: FS-022-TL) = £2,432.82
  • Cases: 1 x Lian Li Lancool III Full Tower PC Case - Black
    
  • CPU: 1 x Intel Core i7-13700KF (Raptor Lake) Socket LGA1700 Processor - OEM
    
  • Motherboard: 1 x Asus Prime Z790-P WIFI (LGA 1700) DDR5 ATX Motherboard
    
  • CPU Cooler: 1 x Aerocool Mirage L360 ARGB Performance CPU Water Cooler - 360mm
    
  • Memory: 1 x TeamGroup Vulcan 32GB (2X16GB) DDR5 PC5-44800C36 5600MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black (FLBD532G5600HC36BDC01)
    
  • Graphics Card: 1 x Asrock Radeon RX 7900 XT Gaming 20GB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card
    
  • Power Supply: 1 x MSI MPG A850G PCIE5 UK PSU 850W 80 Plus Gold Modular Power Supply
    
  • Primary M.2 Solid State Drive: 1 x WD Black SN770 1TB SSD M.2 2280 NVME PCI-E Gen4 Solid State Drive (WDS100T3X0E)
    
  • Operating System: 1 x Microsoft Windows 11 Home 64-Bit DVD - OEM (KW9-00632)

Total: £2,440.81 (includes delivery: £7.99)​

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Hope you don't think I'm taking liberties with all the questions.

Much thanks.

 

[Prestonian]

No, but the Gigabyte motherboard in my spec had WIFI (AX means WIFI in Gigabyte).

Thanks; I will switch it back to your original suggestion.

I already mentioned how hard it is to predict the future (in terms of 6 P-Cores versus 8 P-Cores), so I'll resort to the usual cliché, if you want to keep it for a long time, e.g. 3-5+ years, then get the i7.

I do intend to keep it a long time, so I will opt for the i7. If the i9 wasn't such a high increase in cost, I would have gone for that.

Are you referring to games, or to productivity?

I was referring to games, but upon reflection I should consider video editing if I'm going to create content from gaming footage. I could also revisit a past hobby of photography which would benefit from a capable rig.

The general consensus in games is that the 7900 XT is faster than the 4070 Ti (TPU said 10% at 4K in this review, less for 1440p), but if ray tracing is enabled the 4070 Ti usually pulls ahead (VRAM permitting).

In productivity, NVIDIA has generally had better performance than AMD for a very long time, part of the reason is superior driver and app support, which leads to better optimisation and there's also CUDA and Tensor cores which AMD doesn't have. For you, I would assume you're more interested in the performance and utility of streaming technology like RTX voice, ReLive & ShadowPlay (video review, but old) and NVENC & VCN? Unless you just offload all this stuff to dedicated hardware? I'm clueless.

Regrettably the only tech I know in the above is Shadowplay, but yes, currently I am more interested in performance and utility of streaming technology and gaming.

I think build means stuff that they keep aside purposely for their own PCs (i.e. not part of the retail stock that is sold in the store). I don't know if it is OEM (no packaging or end-user warranty), but I assume it might be.

That makes a lot of sense. When I was last active here, I seem to remember measures similar to this, to combat the crypto miners buying up all the retail GPUs.

B-grade is equivalent to open box from other retailers, i.e. it might have damaged packaging, missing accessories, or be a customer return.

If it came with a standard guarantee I wouldn't mind B-grade, particularly if it was in a pre-build, but they only give 90 days. Thanks,


Updated build below, but the cooler is pre-order. Not knowing if the alternatives are compatible or inferior, I've left it on the list.

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x OcUK Tech Labs Intel 13th Gen "Raptor Lake" Pro Gaming PC Configurator (SKU: FS-022-TL) = £2,553.78
  • Cases: 1 x Lian Li Lancool III Full Tower PC Case - Black
    
  • CPU: 1 x Intel Core i7-13700KF (Raptor Lake) Socket LGA1700 Processor - OEM
    
  • Motherboard: 1 x Gigabyte Z790 UD AX (LGA 1700) DDR5 ATX Motherboard
    
  • CPU Cooler: 1 x Alphacool Core Ocean T38 CPU Water Cooler - 360mm
    
  • Memory: 1 x TeamGroup Vulcan 32GB (2X16GB) DDR5 PC5-44800C36 5600MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black (FLBD532G5600HC36BDC01)
    
  • Graphics Card: 1 x *Build* Asus GeForce RTX 4070Ti TUF Gaming OC 12GB GDDR6X Graphics Card
    
  • Power Supply: 1 x MSI MPG A850G PCIE5 UK PSU 850W 80 Plus Gold Modular Power Supply
    
  • Primary M.2 Solid State Drive: 1 x WD Black SN770 1TB SSD M.2 2280 NVME PCI-E Gen4 Solid State Drive (WDS100T3X0E)
    
  • Operating System: 1 x Microsoft Windows 11 Home 64-Bit DVD - OEM (KW9-00632)

Total: £2,561.77 (includes delivery: £7.99)​

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Does the pre-build service includes installation of OS, Bios and hardware updates, and optimising/tuning the build?​

Is there a recommended way to pay such a large sum? Through the check-out or telephone?

Again Tetras, I am really grateful for your help and time.

 

[Prestonian]

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x Lian Li Lancool III Full Tower PC Case - Black (SKU: CA-7AW-LL) = £149.99
• 1 x Intel Core i7-13700K (Raptor Lake) Socket LGA1700 Processor - Retail (SKU: CP-6AX-IN) = £439.99
• 1 x Gigabyte Z790 UD AX (LGA 1700) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MB-5BN-GI) = £269.99
• 1 x TeamGroup Vulcan 32GB (2X16GB) DDR5 PC5-44800C36 5600MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black (FLBD532G5600HC36BDC01) (SKU: MY-0BB-TG) = £119.99
• 1 x Gainward GeForce RTX 4070Ti Phoenix 12GB GDDR6X PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GX-20X-GW) = £799.99
• 1 x MSI MPG A850G PCIE5 UK PSU 850W 80 Plus Gold Modular Power Supply (SKU: CA-00Y-MS) = £129.95
• 1 x WD Black SN770 1TB SSD M.2 2280 NVME PCI-E Gen4 Solid State Drive (WDS100T3X0E) (SKU: HD-58F-WD) = £69.94
• 1 x Microsoft Windows 11 Home 64-Bit DVD - OEM (KW9-00632) (SKU: SW-18J-MS) = £128.00
• 1 x Aerocool Mirage L360 ARGB Performance CPU Water Cooler - 360mm (SKU: HS-00B-AE) = £89.98

Total: £2,209.81 (includes delivery: £11.99)​

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Hi again Tetras.

While prebuild was my preference, I had to consider home building if the cost difference justified it, which it does as the parts cost is £2209.81 making a saving of over £300. The only snag is the prebuild GPU can't be bought retail, so I selected the cheapest 4070Ti available, made by Gainward.
This GPU is not available for selection in the prebuild configuration page; with it being a couple of hundred quid cheaper than its counterparts, it's clearly this that swings the significant cost difference between home build and prebuild. So does the lower priced GPU reflect on the build's performance, or is it a 'brand thing' like in fashion?

I'm not tyre kicking btw; trigger will be pulled on one or the other very soon.

Thanks again.

 

[Prestonian]

Heres a list i put together for you,Its over budget by around £370 but i think its worth it..you could drop down to an i5 to reduce the cost.

Intel Core i7-13700K (Raptor Lake) Socket LGA1700 Processor - Retail

Order Intel Core i7-13700K (Raptor Lake) Socket LGA1700 Processor - Retail now online and benefit from fast delivery.

www.overclockers.co.uk

Gigabyte Z790 UD AX (LGA 1700) DDR5 ATX Motherboard

Order Gigabyte Z790 UD AX (LGA 1700) DDR5 ATX Motherboard now online and benefit from fast delivery.

www.overclockers.co.uk

Corsair Vengeance EXPO 32GB (2X16GB) DDR5 PC5-48000C36 6000MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black (CMK32GX5M2D6000Z36)

Order Corsair Vengeance EXPO 32GB (2X16GB) DDR5 PC5-48000C36 6000MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black (CMK32GX5M2D6000Z36) now online and benefit from fast delivery.

www.overclockers.co.uk

Samsung 990 Pro 1TB M.2 2280 PCI-e 4.0 x4 NVMe 1.3c Solid State Drive

Order Samsung 990 Pro 1TB M.2 2280 PCI-e 4.0 x4 NVMe 1.3c Solid State Drive now online and benefit from fast delivery.

www.overclockers.co.uk

Arctic Liquid Freezer II High Performance CPU Water Cooler - 240mm

Order Arctic Liquid Freezer II High Performance CPU Water Cooler - 240mm now online and benefit from fast delivery.

www.overclockers.co.uk

MSI GeForce RTX 4070Ti Ventus 3X OC 12GB GDDR6X PCI-Express Graphics Card

Order MSI GeForce RTX 4070Ti Ventus 3X OC 12GB GDDR6X PCI-Express Graphics Card now online and benefit from fast delivery.

www.overclockers.co.uk

Corsair Professional Series HX 750W '80 Plus Platinum' Modular Power Supply (CP-9020137-UK )

Order Corsair Professional Series HX 750W '80 Plus Platinum' Modular Power Supply (CP-9020137-UK ) now online and benefit from fast delivery.

www.overclockers.co.uk

Fractal Design Torrent Gray TG Light Tint Mid Tower Case

Order Fractal Design Torrent Gray TG Light Tint Mid Tower Case now online and benefit from fast delivery.

www.overclockers.co.uk

Its quite difficult Graphics wise to put a build together as Graphics card prices are all over the place still,Mostly all are still too overpriced,For what you pay for a mid to high tier 3000 series Nvidia you maswel go a it more and get the 4070ti.

As for a copy of Windows 11,You can get that for next to nothing if you shop around..certainly not at the prices they charge for a Physical copy!

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Hi there

Thank you for your suggestion. It's a good point about the OS, particularly if I home build.

So many options for essentially the same model numbers (4070Ti); it leaves me confused somewhat.

Cheers Nevakonaza.

 

[Prestonian]

If you have the opportunity to ask before the build, I'd recommend switching the 13700KF to a 13700K. The IGP can be pretty handy and doesn't usually cost much extra.

Hi Tetras

Ready to order tomorrow, either pre-build or self build. If you don't mind, would you bless either or both of the selections as good to go?

Firstly I'll type out my thoughts....

Self build without Windows 11 is £2119.87 and that's with the recommended 13700K CPU (over the KF). The Windows 11 available from OCUK is on DVD, but my build will not have a DVD player, so I may as well DL it from MS.
I am entirely capable of physically building it, but dealing with BIOS settings and such like is a different matter. Is it a case of plug and play (update autonomously) these days when installing an OS on a brand new built rig? If not, will there be guides available on here or Youtube?

Here's self build......
My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x Lian Li Lancool III Full Tower PC Case - Black (SKU: CA-7AW-LL) = £149.99
• 1 x Intel Core i7-13700K (Raptor Lake) Socket LGA1700 Processor - Retail (SKU: CP-6AX-IN) = £409.99
• 1 x Gigabyte Z790 UD AX (LGA 1700) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MB-5BN-GI) = £269.99
• 1 x TeamGroup Vulcan 32GB (2X16GB) DDR5 PC5-44800C36 5600MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black (FLBD532G5600HC36BDC01) (SKU: MY-0BB-TG) = £119.99
• 1 x MSI MPG A850G PCIE5 UK PSU 850W 80 Plus Gold Modular Power Supply (SKU: CA-00Y-MS) = £129.94
• 1 x Aerocool Mirage L360 ARGB Performance CPU Water Cooler - 360mm (SKU: HS-00B-AE) = £89.99
• 1 x Zotac GeForce RTX 4070Ti Trinity OC 12GB GDDR6X PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GX-13N-ZT) = £859.99
• 1 x WD Black SN850X 1TB SSD M.2 2280 NVME PCI-E Gen4 Solid State Drive (WDS100T2X0E) (SKU: HD-590-WD) = £89.99

Total: £2,119.87 (includes delivery: £0.00)​

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The prebuild is almost identical with the exception of the Windows 11 OS, ASUS (build) 4070Ti GPU, and the watercooler. This comes in at £372.92 heavier @ £2620.78 The pros are...3 year guarantee, built and tuned by OCers. The cons are the obvious £370 and 2-3 weeks wait, plus I have to build and install everything myself.

Pre build......

• 
  
  • Cases: 1 x Lian Li Lancool III Full Tower PC Case - Black
  • CPU: 1 x Intel Core i7-13700KF (Raptor Lake) Socket LGA1700 Processor - OEM
  • Motherboard: 1 x Gigabyte Z790 UD AX (LGA 1700) DDR5 ATX Motherboard
  • CPU Cooler: 1 x Alphacool Core Ocean T38 CPU Water Cooler - 360mm
  • Memory: 1 x TeamGroup Vulcan 32GB (2X16GB) DDR5 PC5-44800C36 5600MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black (FLBD532G5600HC36BDC01)
  • Graphics Card: 1 x *Build* Asus GeForce RTX 4070Ti TUF Gaming OC 12GB GDDR6X Graphics Card
  • Power Supply: 1 x MSI MPG A850G PCIE5 UK PSU 850W 80 Plus Gold Modular Power Supply
  • Primary M.2 Solid State Drive: 1 x WD Black SN850X 1TB SSD M.2 2280 NVME PCI-E Gen4 Solid State Drive (WDS100T2X0E)
  • Operating System: 1 x Microsoft Windows 11 Home 64-Bit DVD - OEM (KW9-00632)

Total: £2,620.78 (includes delivery: £0.00)​

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I suppose I'm just asking if the self build list is all compatible, and if there's anything I may have overlooked in the whole process?

Thanks again for the input thus far.

 

[Prestonian]

Looks fine, the only thing I can think of is just to double check the AIOs fit based on the mounting position you intend (75mm for top mount, I think). The 1TB SN850X is also less optimal value than the 2TB version.

The thing is, the prebuild is talking itself out of a sale as I tweak the build as per the recommendations.

To upgrade to the 2TB SN850X on the self build will cost an extra £60 which is worth it and is more optimal on a price per GB ratio.

However, to do the same upgrade on the prebuild will cost an extra £120 which dissuades me even further from the prebuild. I suspect however, that this anomaly is an oversight on the updating of latest offers; you can see the 2TB option has had 50 quid knocked off on retail, but not on build sales. Any OCUK staff able to say if this discrepancy in price for the same item will be rectified? I've called the sales number but they don't work on Saturdays

I think you're right though, 2TB is the way. Modern PC usage eats through storage space so quickly, I think 1TB would be full in a few months. I hate uninstalling games to reclaim space, so yeah, 2TB it is.

 

[Prestonian]

Dragged my feet a bit, so when I came to order, some things were no longer in stock. I've tweaked it a little but everything should be compatible as it was in their configure tool.

I'm going to call in the AM and have the 13700kf changed to the 13700K, and maybe change the GPU to the Zotac version for the 5 year guarantee.

Thanks

• 1x Lian Li Lancool III Full Tower PC Case - Black
• 1x Intel Core i7-13700KF (Raptor Lake) Socket LGA1700 Processor - OEM
• 1x Gigabyte Z790 UD AX (LGA 1700) DDR5 ATX Motherboard
• 1x Alphacool Core Ocean T38 CPU Water Cooler - 360mm
• 1x TeamGroup Vulcan 32GB (2X16GB) DDR5 PC5-44800C36 5600MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black (FLBD532G5600HC36BDC01)
• 1x *Build* Asus GeForce RTX 4070Ti TUF Gaming OC 12GB GDDR6X Graphics Card
• 1x Kolink Continuum 850W 80 Plus Platinum Modular Power Supply
• 1x WD Black SN850X 2TB SSD M.2 2280 NVME PCI-E Gen4 Solid State Drive (WDS200T2X0E)
• 1x Microsoft Windows 11 Home 64-Bit DVD - OEM (KW9-00632)