Gaming PC required

[Ollie83]

My friend is wanting to enter the world of PC gaming, for both he and his son to enjoy. He has no specific budget in mind but has no peripherals so will need a full setup. He has the following criteria,

1. Best bang per buck
2. Wants to get into Sim Racing/Flight sims for himself.
3. Son plays exclusively Fortnite.
4. Has to be appreciably better than a PS5/Xbox Series X
5. Rather than sticking with a certain budget, he wants to maximise price and performance

Any initial thoughts would be appreciated

 

[mickyflinn]

Hi.

PS5/Xbox Series X both do 4k @60hz gaming so what does he/you consider appreciably better ?

4k 144hz is going to need a £1000 GPU to run AAA titles is this an option ,what size monitor ? or a triple monitor set up for Sims is another option ?

 

[Tetras]

Hard to recommend you buy an expensive graphics card right now, there's too much due out soon.

The X3D is still fairly rare/short supply too (historically good for some racing, sims and flight sim) and has a price to match.

9800X3D & 7900 XT build can do 1440p pretty comfortably and 4K is decently doable in the majority of games, depending on your expectations.

Monitors and keyboards are not my thing.

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D Eight Core 5.20GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail (SKU: PRO-AMD-03517) = £539.99
• 1 x Asrock B850 Pro-A WiFi (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MOT-ASR-04004) = £167.99
• 1 x Corsair Vengeance EXPO 64GB (2X32GB) DDR5 PC5-4800040 6000MHz Dual Channel (SKU: MEM-CRS-02842) = £179.98
• 1 x Sapphire Radeon RX 7900 XT Pulse 20GB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GX-3A7-SP) = £599.99
• 1 x Crucial T500 2TB NVMe PCIe Gen4 M.2 Solid State Drive (SKU: STO-CRU-01090) = £124.99
• 1 x Lian Li Lancool 216 Mid-tower PC case - Black (SKU: CA-7BG-LL) = £89.99
• 1 x Arctic Liquid Freezer III High Performance CPU Water Cooler - 360mm (SKU: COO-ARC-01991) = £76.99
• 1 x MSI 27" PRO MP275Q 2560x1440 IPS 100Hz sRGB 100% Business Productivity Monitor (SKU: MON-MSI-02163) = £149.00
• 1 x ASUS U2000 Wired Keyboard and Mouse Bundle Black - UK Layout (SKU: KB-03C-AS) = £14.98

Total: £1,943.90 (includes delivery: £0.00)​

 

[Ollie83]

Hi.

PS5/Xbox Series X both do 4k @60hz gaming so what does he/you consider appreciably better ?

4k 144hz is going to need a £1000 GPU to run AAA titles is this an option ,what size monitor ? or a triple monitor set up for Sims is another option ?

Yes, I just thought of this as I clicked submit! 1440p at high frame rate as they will be using a 27"-32" monitor and 4K wouldn't bring all that much to the party.

 

[Ollie83]

Hard to recommend you buy an expensive graphics card right now, there's too much due out soon.

The X3D is still fairly rare/short supply too (historically good for some racing, sims and flight sim) and has a price to match.

9800X3D & 7900 XT build can do 1440p pretty comfortably and 4K is decently doable in the majority of games, depending on your expectations.

Monitors and keyboards are not my thing.

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D Eight Core 5.20GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail (SKU: PRO-AMD-03517) = £539.99
• 1 x Asrock B850 Pro-A WiFi (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MOT-ASR-04004) = £167.99
• 1 x Corsair Vengeance EXPO 64GB (2X32GB) DDR5 PC5-4800040 6000MHz Dual Channel (SKU: MEM-CRS-02842) = £179.98
• 1 x Sapphire Radeon RX 7900 XT Pulse 20GB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GX-3A7-SP) = £599.99
• 1 x Crucial T500 2TB NVMe PCIe Gen4 M.2 Solid State Drive (SKU: STO-CRU-01090) = £124.99
• 1 x Lian Li Lancool 216 Mid-tower PC case - Black (SKU: CA-7BG-LL) = £89.99
• 1 x Arctic Liquid Freezer III High Performance CPU Water Cooler - 360mm (SKU: COO-ARC-01991) = £76.99
• 1 x MSI 27" PRO MP275Q 2560x1440 IPS 100Hz sRGB 100% Business Productivity Monitor (SKU: MON-MSI-02163) = £149.00
• 1 x ASUS U2000 Wired Keyboard and Mouse Bundle Black - UK Layout (SKU: KB-03C-AS) = £14.98

Total: £1,943.90 (includes delivery: £0.00)​

That is a lot bang for buck on an initial look. I'd maybe spend a little more on the monitor, higher refresh rate.

 

[Tetras]

That is a lot bang for buck on an initial look. I'd maybe spend a little more on the monitor, higher refresh rate.

Purely from a performance per ££ perspective, I'd dump the X3D and maybe buy one second hand much later or new when availability improves (especially if planning to play at 4K), but it is true that the gains are significant in some games.

 

[Ollie83]

Purely from a performance per ££ perspective, I'd dump the X3D and maybe buy one second hand much later or new when availability improves (especially if planning to play at 4K), but it is true that the gains are significant in some games.

Yeh, that would make sense.

 

[freddie64]

How about a MATX white build?

Not as powerful as the build Tetras put together (missing a PSU though), but upgrade CPU later and a 7800XT should be ok for 1440p. Added a better mouse and keyboard as well and a 165Hz monitor.

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x Asrock B850M Steel Legend WiFi (Socket AM5) DDR5 mATX Motherboard (SKU: MOT-ASR-04006) = £166.00
• 1 x G.Skill Trident Z5 Neo EXPO RGB 32GB (2x16GB) DDR5 PC5-48000C30 6000MHz Dual Channel Kit (SKU: MEM-GSK-01358) = £128.98
• 1 x AMD Ryzen 5 7600 Six Core 5.10GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail (SKU: CP-3DW-AM) = £179.99
• 1 x WD Black SN770 2TB SSD M.2 2280 NVME PCI-E Gen4 Solid State Drive (WDS200T3X0E) (SKU: HD-58G-WD) = £104.99
• 1 x SAPPHIRE PURE AMD Radeon™ RX 7800 XT Gaming Graphics Card with 16GB GDDR6, AMD RDNA™ 3 architecture - White (SKU: GRA-SPR-00765) = £439.99
• 1 x Phanteks AMP GH 750W 80PLUS Gold ATX Power Supply Modular - White (SKU: POW-PHK-02518) = £94.99
• 1 x Antec CX500M RGB M-ATX Mini Tower - White (SKU: CAS-ATC-02735) = £54.95
• 1 x Arctic Freezer 36 A-RGB 120m White CPU Cooler - 2x 120mm (SKU: COO-ARC-02419) = £29.99
• 1 x Gigabyte 27" M27Q V2 2560x1440 SS IPS 165Hz 1ms FreeSync Widescreen Gaming Monitor (SKU: MO-011-GI) = £248.99
• 1 x Ducky One 3 Classic TKL USB RGB Mechanical Gaming Keyboard Cherry Brown - Pure White UK Layout (SKU: KB-2B8-DK) = £83.99
• 1 x Endgame Gear OP1 USB Optical Gaming Mouse - White (SKU: PER-EGG-01637) = £49.99

Total: £1,582.85 (includes delivery: £0.00)​

 

[Ollie83]

How about a MATX white build?

Not as powerful as the build Tetras put together (missing a PSU though), but upgrade CPU later and a 7800XT should be ok for 1440p. Added a better mouse and keyboard as well and a 165Hz monitor.

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x Asrock B850M Steel Legend WiFi (Socket AM5) DDR5 mATX Motherboard (SKU: MOT-ASR-04006) = £166.00
• 1 x G.Skill Trident Z5 Neo EXPO RGB 32GB (2x16GB) DDR5 PC5-48000C30 6000MHz Dual Channel Kit (SKU: MEM-GSK-01358) = £128.98
• 1 x AMD Ryzen 5 7600 Six Core 5.10GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail (SKU: CP-3DW-AM) = £179.99
• 1 x WD Black SN770 2TB SSD M.2 2280 NVME PCI-E Gen4 Solid State Drive (WDS200T3X0E) (SKU: HD-58G-WD) = £104.99
• 1 x SAPPHIRE PURE AMD Radeon™ RX 7800 XT Gaming Graphics Card with 16GB GDDR6, AMD RDNA™ 3 architecture - White (SKU: GRA-SPR-00765) = £439.99
• 1 x Phanteks AMP GH 750W 80PLUS Gold ATX Power Supply Modular - White (SKU: POW-PHK-02518) = £94.99
• 1 x Antec CX500M RGB M-ATX Mini Tower - White (SKU: CAS-ATC-02735) = £54.95
• 1 x Arctic Freezer 36 A-RGB 120m White CPU Cooler - 2x 120mm (SKU: COO-ARC-02419) = £29.99
• 1 x Gigabyte 27" M27Q V2 2560x1440 SS IPS 165Hz 1ms FreeSync Widescreen Gaming Monitor (SKU: MO-011-GI) = £248.99
• 1 x Ducky One 3 Classic TKL USB RGB Mechanical Gaming Keyboard Cherry Brown - Pure White UK Layout (SKU: KB-2B8-DK) = £83.99
• 1 x Endgame Gear OP1 USB Optical Gaming Mouse - White (SKU: PER-EGG-01637) = £49.99

Total: £1,582.85 (includes delivery: £0.00)​

Yeh that looks like a nice little build. I will check with my friend and see what route he wants to go down