Gaming PC - Approx. £1000 inc. monitor

TurboBoosters · 3 Mar 2023 at 17:38

Hi All,

Its been a while since an upgrade and my son wants a PC for his upcoming birthday, so the plan is he gets my current PC and I buy myself a modest upgrade. Everyone wins

My current specs are:

i5-4670k
MSI Z87-G43 (MS-7816)
GeForce GTX 750-Ti
Samsung EVO 850
8Gb DDR3 Memory
Corsair Hydro H100i

My replacement unit will be used for work (admin and coding) and FPS games (mainly CS:GO) and occasionally Fallout 4. I don't want to break the bank but want it to last a few years.

I've scanned through some of the recent posts around my budget and have come up with two options, but I would really appreciate some feedback to make sure the choices are sound.

Option 1
Motherboard - Gigabyte B660M DS3H - Intel B660 DDR4 Micro ATX - £109.99
Processor - Intel Core i3-12100F - £109.99
Graphics - Gainward GeForce RTX 3060 Pegasus LHR 8GB GDDR6 - £319.99
Memory - Team Group Vulcan Z T-Force 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C16 3200MHz - £44.99
Storage - WD Black SN770 1TB SSD M.2 2280 NVME PCI-E Gen4 - £74.99
Cooler - Arctic Liquid Freezer II High Performance CPU Water Cooler - 360mm - £119.99
Case - be quiet! Pure Base 600 Midi Tower Case - Black - £92.99
Power Supply -be quiet! System Power 9 600W 80 Plus Bronze Power Supply **OEM NO BOX** - £49.99

Monitor - BenQ MOBIUZ EX240 24 - £159.95

Total: £1082.87

Option 2
Motherboard - Gigabyte B550 AORUS Elite V2 (AMD AM4) B550 ATX - £139.99
Processor - AMD Ryzen 5 5600 Six Core 4.4GHz - £149.99
Graphics - Asus Radeon RX 6600 8GB - £289.99
Memory - Team Group Vulcan Z T-Force 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C16 3200MHz - £44.99
Storage - WD Black SN770 1TB SSD M.2 2280 NVME PCI-E Gen4 - 74.99
Cooler - Arctic Liquid Freezer II High Performance CPU Water Cooler - 360mm - £119.99
Case - be quiet! Pure Base 600 Midi Tower Case - Black - £92.99
Power Supply -be quiet! System Power 9 600W 80 Plus Bronze Power Supply **OEM NO BOX** - £49.99

Monitor - BenQ MOBIUZ EX240 24 - £159.95

Total: £1122.87

Cheers,
TB

Tetras · 3 Mar 2023 at 17:47

I'd dump the freezer and use the stock cooler or a cheap tower cooler, for both of those options, which would allow you to buy a better (not open box / b-grade) PSU.

I'd switch to the Intel Arc A750 to save even more.

TurboBoosters · 6 Mar 2023 at 18:25

Thanks for the advice.

I've made a few changes - ditching the cooler, uprated the PSU and added the ARC750. I do like a quiet machine so opted for the Fractal design mini silent case and will upgrade the stock cooler at a later date if needs be.

Nearly there, the only item I'm not sure about is the motherboard. Given the small case, can you think of any better alternatives for a budget mATX/mIDX board?

Thanks,

TB

My basket at OcUK:

1 x Fractal Design Pop Mini Silent Black Solid Mini Tower Case - Black (SKU: CA-0AJ-FD) = £94.99
1 x Gigabyte B660M DS3H - Intel B660 DDR4 Micro ATX Motherboard (SKU: MB-5AJ-GI) = £109.99
1 x Intel Core i3-12100F 3.30GHz (Alder Lake) Socket LGA1700 Processor - Retail (SKU: CP-6AS-IN) = £110.00
1 x WD Black SN770 1TB SSD M.2 2280 NVME PCI-E Gen4 Solid State Drive (WDS100T3X0E) (SKU: HD-58F-WD) = £74.98
1 x Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C16 3200MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black (CMK16GX4M2B32 (SKU: MY-456-CS) = £50.00
1 x Corsair RM Series RM650 650W '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply (CP-9020194-UK) (SKU: CA-24R-CS) = £94.99
1 x Intel ARC A750 Gaming 8GB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GX-08U-IN) = £249.95
1 x BenQ 24" MOBIUZ EX240N 1920x1080 VA 165Hz 1ms FreeSync HDR Widescreen Gaming Monitor (SKU: MO-13X-BQ) = £159.94

Total: £960.84 (includes delivery: £16.00)

tamzzy · 6 Mar 2023 at 19:53

i've ignored everything you said so that you can get the best deal

obviously some components are not in stock at ocuk, but are in stock elsewhere
similarly, some components may be cheaper elsewhere so do your homework too

to keep it in budget, had to sacrifice the gen 4 SSD for a gen 3, and a cheaper case

but in return...you get a 6700xt which will run rings around a 6600/3060/a750 AND a 27in 1440p 165Hz IPS monitor, and also a decent little cooler right off the bat
when you consider that the monitor is the thing you'd be staring at when you're gaming with the 6700xt providing buttery smooth framerates (+freesync), it's well worth the trade-off
the case also has 4 RGB fans, so you will find your kiddo will want your new PC instead of your hand-me-down

of course, if you're willing to stretch the £20 or so then just swap the SSD back to the SN770

My basket at OcUK:

1 x AMD Ryzen 5 5600 Six Core 4.4GHz (Socket AM4) Processor - Retail (SKU: CP-3D2-AM) = £149.99
1 x Gigabyte B550 Gaming X V2 (AMD AM4) B550 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MB-594-GI) = £115.99
1 x Team Group Vulcan Z T-Force 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C16 3200MHz Dual Channel Kit - Grey (SKU: MY-0AK-TG) = £44.99
1 x PowerColor Radeon RX 6700 XT Fighter 12GB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GX-1A5-PC) = £374.99
1 x WD Blue SN570 1TB SSD NVME M.2 2280 PCIe Gen3 Solid State Drive (WDS100T3B0C) (SKU: HD-589-WD) = £58.99
1 x be quiet! System Power 9 600W 80 Plus Bronze Power Supply **OEM NO BOX** (SKU: CA-13V-BQ) = £49.99
1 x Raijintek Aidos II Direct Contact CPU Cooler - Black (SKU: HS-03J-RT) = £14.99
1 x Kolink Observatory Lite Mesh ARGB Midi Tower Gaming Case - Black (SKU: CA-04S-KK) = £62.99
1 x AOC 27" Q27G2S/EU 2560x1440 IPS 165Hz 1ms FreeSync/G-Sync Widescreen Gaming Monitor (SKU: MO-05U-AO) = £269.98

Total: £1,154.89 (includes delivery: £11.99)

TurboBoosters · 9 Mar 2023 at 17:46

thanks all for your advice!

Capitano · 3 Apr 2023 at 10:00

you sure a 1080p monitor is the one you want to go for? I would recommend a 1440p

I know you said its mainly CS:GO, but I would still get a 1440p as everything looks much nicer

TurboBoosters · 3 Apr 2023 at 10:24

You know what, I wouldn't have considered a 1440p monitor but actually got a great deal on one and went for the AOC mentioned above. I totally agree with you - everything does look much nicer.

Ended up with the following kit, prices varied but came in around the £1000 mark.

My basket at OcUK:

1 x Gigabyte B550M AORUS ELITE (AMD AM4) B550 Micro-ATX Motherboard (SKU: MB-58U-GI) = £99.95
1 x Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C16 3200MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black (CMK16GX4M2B32 (SKU: MY-456-CS) = £49.99
1 x AMD Ryzen 5 5600 Six Core 4.4GHz (Socket AM4) Processor - Retail (SKU: CP-3D2-AM) = £139.99
1 x PowerColor Radeon RX 6700 XT Fighter 12GB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GX-1A5-PC) = £374.99
1 x AMD Radeon™ Get The Game Bundle - The Last of Us™ Part I (SKU: XX-03D-AM) = £0.00
1 x WD Black SN770 1TB SSD M.2 2280 NVME PCI-E Gen4 Solid State Drive (WDS100T3X0E) (SKU: HD-58F-WD) = £74.99
1 x Raijintek Aidos II Direct Contact CPU Cooler - Black (SKU: HS-03J-RT) = £14.99
1 x AOC 27" Q27G2S/EU 2560x1440 IPS 165Hz 1ms FreeSync/G-Sync Widescreen Gaming Monitor (SKU: MO-05U-AO) = £269.98
1 x Fractal Design Pop Mini Silent Black Solid Mini Tower Case - Black (SKU: CA-0AJ-FD) = £95.00

Total: £1,135.87 (includes delivery: £15.99)

PSU was a Corsair TX-M series TX650M ATX power supply.

The only thing that I've had an issue with is the memory. The XMP settings would cause WHEA errors in windows and reboot frequently. It turns out the 3200 is not on the compatibility list for the gigabyte motherboard.

Cheers

tamzzy · 3 Apr 2023 at 13:55

@TurboBoosters good to hear you're enjoying your new rig. And with a 6700xt + 1440p monitor

Suggest you try updating the bios, might be able to make 3200mhz work after a bios update.

Plec · 3 Apr 2023 at 15:48

TurboBoosters said:
The only thing that I've had an issue with is the memory. The XMP settings would cause WHEA errors in windows and reboot frequently. It turns out the 3200 is not on the compatibility list for the gigabyte motherboard.

tamzzy said:
Suggest you try updating the bios, might be able to make 3200mhz work after a bios update.

As above.

You shouldn't be having issues running memory at 3200MHz (XMP) on a B550 - but sometimes the CPU (IMC) or the MB (AGESA) can be fussy. As already stated a BIOS update should address the issue - regardless of compatibility list.

If it doesn't, alternate sticks at XMP and see if one stick can stay stable at 3200MHz. If one is stable return/swap out as faulty. If both are unstable I would return the sticks for a sluttier pair. If you still have issues with new sticks then that would indicate a MB issue or CPU - but rare for it to be the CPU (but said this a few times with Ryzen and has come back to bite me in the...)

tamzzy · 3 Apr 2023 at 18:48

Plec said:
but rare for it to be the CPU (but said this a few times with Ryzen and has come back to bite me in the...)

yeah lol. i never say that nowadays. it can still be the cpu