Help a imac user looking to switch over

iooal3xooi

iooal3xooi

iooal3xooi

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31 Jan 2020
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As the title states im looking to get out of the Apple eco system. Currently using a 2010 imac ( was top spec at the time before they added the pro)
for mainly playing League of Legends.The reason im changing is because I want to play total war 3 kingdoms but my os is out of date.
Looking for a build that will be mainly used for gaming, and maybe some light adobe work if I ever get back in to photography.

My budget is around £2500, also looking for a 27+ curved monitor.

currently I have my eyes on
Battlebox Ultimate - Intel Core i7 9700K @ 4.6GHz, GeForce RTX 2080Ti which is featured.

Case Phanteks Evolv Micro ATX Glass
Power Supply 700W 80Plus Gold Rated PSU
CPU Intel Core i7-9700K Coffee Lake Eight Core Processor Overclocked to 4.6GHz
Motherboard Asus Z390 (Socket 1151) DDR4 Micro ATX Motherboard
Cooler Alpenfohn Matterhorn Black 120mm Tower Cooler- probably switch this to some rgb fan
Memory 16GB DDR4 3200MHz Dual Channel Kit
Primary Hard Drive Samsung 860 Evo 500GB Solid State Drive
Secondary Hard Drive Seagated 2TB 7200RPM Hard Drive
Graphics Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080Ti 11GB GDDR6 Graphics Card
Audio 7.1 High Definition Audio
Operating System Windows 10 64 Bit

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/ocuk...700k-4.6ghz-geforce-rtx-2080ti-fs-1b8-og.html

Any suggestions would be highly appreciated.

thanks.
 
Hi and welcome to the forum.

Not a great time to be buying top-end Nvidia as they'll be releasing newer and faster ones in the next few months. And from what I see, TW3 Kingdoms is very demanding (at least on Ultra) for a 2080Ti at 3440x1440. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbA3YQbIC44

27" is not a good size for curved unless one just can't get enough curves. 34" Ultrawide yes.

You can probably do better with a custom spec, as well as know exactly what power supply and graphics card you're getting, and getting a quote from OcUK to build it. Plenty in budget for an NVME SSD boot drive as well instead of SATA.

A Ryzen 3700X is better value for money than 9700K, and has more threads for the future.

What's your total budget for PC + monitor, and are you in fact interested in a 34" screen?
 
I would say about £3000 would be the total budget, I don't mind going over if its worth it. However I don't really know anything so my opinion in worth is going to be based of help from here.

34 seems big for a pc monitor but im open to suggestions.

thanks Danny
 
iooal3xooi said:
34 seems big for a pc monitor but im open to suggestions.
Click to expand...

Remember that it's an ultra-wide. 34" is the diagonal.


Anyway, here's a 27" 4K system for your delectation:

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £2,562.69 (includes shipping: £20.82)​
​


I have that monitor and it's awesome. I also have a 34" 3440x1440 UW monitor and that's awesome too. Different games play better on different monitors.
 
You can go 4K as in Quartz' spec. Even harder to run than 3440x1440 though, keeping in mind TW3 Kingdoms' performance at the latter resolution with a 2080Ti. CPU usage was pretty low on an 8 core/16 thread CPU so a 12 core/24 thread isn't needed.


My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £1,127.56 (includes shipping: £14.70)
​


The build quote should add about £100. Inquire in the Customer Service forum here once you decide on a spec.

You can offset the build fee by removing Windows 10 and installing it yourself.

Yes there's a B-Grade RX 590 GPU in there. Don't laugh. It's the way I'd go about it - grab a 3440x1440 120Hz monitor, set in-game resolution to 2560x1080, and have a bit of fun with the RX 590 for now. In March we'll know when the new RTX cards arrive. And an RX 590 won't lose too much resell value at that price + existing 2000 series Nvidia cards will drop in price after that, if you're in a hurry, or wait till the 3000 series is released.

There's room in the budget for a 2080Ti but at only 20% improvement over the 2080 Super and nearly double the cost, with new faster cards imminent, it's just not worth it, imo. If you don't go with cheap GPU option for now, then the 2080 Super Zotac Triple Fan that Quartz specced would be my current choice as well. Remember to ask OcUK to send you all the boxes and spare PSU cables and motherboard accessories, the lot. And register the Zotac card so it has 5 year warranty instead of 3.

As for which monitor, check the Monitors forum for more ideas.
 
Hello again guys,

So with a little better knowledge of what I want. I am back with this idea of a itx build.

Could you please guide me with your wisdom before I commit. Does it all fit? I also plan to message OcUk for a quote to build it.

Thanks


My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £1,805.06 (includes shipping: £13.20)​
​
 
You won't need the cable extensions. And I prefer Zotac and Gigabyte over MSI for components for the UK RMA.
 
iooal3xooi said:
oo I just chose the extensions for the looks ahha, right I will checkout others. How about RX 5700 XT
Click to expand...

The 5700XT is not quite as fast for a lot less money. Given your initial interest in the 2080 Ti, I expect you'll be upgrading to the 3080 Ti (or whatever it gets called) later this year, so you'll lose a lot less money.
 
Right I have just placed my order with OCUK.

NZXT H210i Mini-ITX RGB Gaming Case
Corsair RM Series RM650 650W '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply
AMD Ryzen 7 3700X Eight Core 4.4GHz (Socket AM4) Processor
Zotac GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER 8192MB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card
Samsung 970 EVO Plus 1TB M.2 2280 PCI-e 3.0 x4 NVMe Solid State Drive 1
NZXT Kraken X52 AIO Water Cooling Unit - 240mm 1
ASUS ROG STRIX B450-I GAMING Motherboard
Corsair Vengeance RGB PRO Black 32GB
CORSAIR LL120 RGB 3 fan

Thanks for all the help gents.

Now for monitors

Samsung LC49HG90DMUXEN 49" ultrawide seems pretty good for £740

Acer Nitro EI491CRPbmiiipx 49 inch DFHD Ultrawide for £600

I would like a curved screen and for the prices that I've seen I might as well stretch my budget and go ultrawide?

Any thoughts?
 
True. The order is placed and im happy with what I’ve chosen now. Reading up on all the parts is definitely time consuming and a little frustrating, especially now that I have to go on to choose between tn, ips and whatever the monitors are called.

I could’ve paid a premium and got something all in one out of the box, but like I mentioned I wanted something different and a curved monitor.

New imac 5k would've been a solid choice.
 
iooal3xooi said:
Now for monitors

Samsung LC49HG90DMUXEN 49" ultrawide seems pretty good for £740

Acer Nitro EI491CRPbmiiipx 49 inch DFHD Ultrawide for £600

I would like a curved screen and for the prices that I've seen I might as well stretch my budget and go ultrawide?

Any thoughts?
Click to expand...

So, at 32:9 you get stretch effect on the sides. That's something you'd want to look up. Not all games support 32:9 either. You also lose vertical pixel real estate as those two screens are 1080 vertical. Would probably recommend a 21:9 3440x1440, preferably 100Hz+. Like:

ASUS ROG SWIFT PG348Q
Acer Predator X34P
LG 34GK950G-B
LG 34GK950F-B
Dell Alienware AW3420DW
Dell Alienware AW3418DW
Asus ROG SWIFT PG349Q

I believe all are curved. The Dells are usually better to purchase direct from manufacturer, tends to be lower price, and Dell's monitor support is second-to-none. £717.25 currently for the 3418DW.
 
I'd probably recommend 27" or 32" wide-screen 1440p or maybe ultra wide but read up the differences, also too big may be a concern if you're close it.

If you go UW 28" 1080 is too low Res, you'd want 1440. But 1440 ultra wide pushing a lot more pixels compared to 1440 wide-screen, 2560 versus 3440 so you'll get a drop in fps

Also read differences between TN, IPS, and VA. Each have pros and cons. Typically TN is best for fast FPS where you ghosting is minimum. Good even backlight typically, but poor viewing angles which has colour shift (but curved should sort that) colours that that accurate.

IPS best for video and best viewing angle, but poor backlight evenness. Worst for gaming ghosting.

VA has pretty good colour accuracy, good to mediocre ghosting, good angles. Typically good backlight but mine is not even, and black.levels not deep either (used to plasma and oled)

I've owned TN and now VA. It depends on the games you play if you're RTS player then ghoating is minimal so IPS ok, but I'd you're pure twitcher FPS where you zoom around then TN.

VA in the middle.

Also read up on sync tech, matching your gpu. I've gone freesync 144hz and it is a upgrade over vsync 60hz.

I'd only go massive screen if you're TV distance away, not arm's reach.

Also ultra wide means extra pixels so find out if rig can push those extra pixels.

A regular.widescreen will probably higher refresh.comparer to ultra wide 100hz versus 144hz.

Check monitor sync range some are limited I think freesync usually poorer but mine I think is pretty good (Samsung 27" va 144hz 2560x1440)

Also you want to keep pixel density to your preference, viewing distance, and system

A lower end of best get a 1920*1080 monitor max size 24" but I had 1200 and 1080 24" and 1080 bit pixelly at this size.

If you go 1440p then either 27" or 32"

4k only if high end rig or very big screen. Pointless getting 24" 4k.

Name a bit pointless doubt notice difference.
Get a regular spinner HD for mass storage, 1tb is nothing. I use spinner HD for games, there's not much difference for gaming .
 
Once again, some really useful info here guys, I really appreciate the help.

I will check up with OCUK and see if the BIOS is flashed Ryzen 3000 compatibility. Is it hard to do myself?

27-32" curve was actually my choice but got side tracked with the amount of youtube videos and setups/reviews.

I will check those suggestions Danny thank you.

Also thanks Hornetstinger for the break down of the monitors. For me 1tb is plenty, I dont think I would use it all tbh, but I could upgrade myself later on if I felt the need.


 
Last edited:
iooal3xooi said:
Once again, some really useful info here guys, I really appreciate the help.

I will check up with OCUK and see if the BIOS is flashed Ryzen 3000 compatibility. Is it hard to do myself?
Click to expand...

They're building it for you so they'll take care of that.

Sgarrista and Soldato are just "titles" auto-assigned by the forum when you surpass a certain number of posts. Somebody liked The Godfather a lot. :)
 
hahaha ooright :rolleyes:

Any thoughts on this? MSI Optix MAG322CQRV Curved Gaming Monitor 31.5 Inch, WQHD, VA, 144 Hz, 1ms, 2560 x 1440, 1440p, 1500R, RGB Mystic Light, DisplayPort, 2x HDMI, USB, AMD FreeSync - £430 which seems quite good.

Or ROG STRIX XG32VQ 32" 2560x1440 VA FreeSync 144Hz Gaming Widescreen 1800R Curved LED Monitor - £500
 
hornetstinger said:
IPS best for video and best viewing angle, but poor backlight evenness. Worst for gaming ghosting.

VA has pretty good colour accuracy, good to mediocre ghosting, good angles. Typically good backlight but mine is not even, and black.levels not deep either (used to plasma and oled)


Get a regular spinner HD for mass storage, 1tb is nothing. I use spinner HD for games, there's not much difference for gaming .
Click to expand...
Looks like you got those backwards.
IPS has way more consistent response times than VA, for which some transitions are very slow:
https://www.tftcentral.co.uk/reviews/lg_38gl950g.htm#gaming_comparisons

Also VA has the way best contrast and hence black level of LCD making it good for watching movies etc and dimmer lightning.
While contrast of IPS at standard LCD level, with "IPS glow" being another challenge making it need decent room lightning to look good with darker content.
(though VA's high contrast comes at a price in dark shade gamma behaviour being very horizontal viewing angle dependant)


SSD makes decent difference to game loading times:
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=nvme+ssd+hdd
Next-gen games made with new consoles in mind could increase difference.
Also any asset loadings during gameplay cause less fps dips.
And SSD aren't that bad priced when not paying Samsung's brand hype tax.
 
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