New gaming pc spec help

[DynamoDan7]

Hi,

Looking for some help. I bought my last PC from OCUK many moons ago (2012) and started on this very helpful forum and eventually bought it over the phone and had it built.

I'm looking to upgrade and get something decent to play PC games as mine is obviously slow now and technology has advanced massively. Saying this it still amazing works apart from having to replace a graphics card ( think its a Geforce 1050). It's obvious when your work laptop is faster than your old gaming pc.

Depending on the benefit i'd roughly want to spend around £1,300 give or take. I like the look at some of the below but I have no idea if they are great or if there is better for roughly the same cost? I would imagine I need to add Windows 11 to the build and more fans, not sure if I am missing anything else. I have Windows on this computer (the old one) but assuming it won't carry over? Part reason for the upgrade is Windows 11 isn't supported on my current one.

SAPPHIRE PULSE AMD Radeon™ RX 7800 XT Gaming Graphics Card with 16GB GDDR6, AMD RDNA™ 3 architecture £518.99 £469.99 (incl. VAT)​

Intel Core Ultra 5 245KF (Arrow Lake) Socket LGA 1851 Processor - Retail £278.99​

Asrock B860M-X WIFI (LGA 1851) DDR5 Micro-ATX Motherboard £127.99​

TeamGroup Vulcan 32GB (2X16GB) DDR5 PC5-44800C36 5600MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black (FLBD532G5600HC36BDC01) £89.99 £79.99​

Lian Li Lancool 205 Midi-Tower Case - Black Window £64.99 £54.95​

Team Group MP33 PRO 1TB SSD M.2 2280 NVME PCI-E Gen3 Solid State Drive £49.99 £43.99​

Asus Ultra Slim 9.5mm Internal DVDRW (SDRW-08U1MT) £19.99​

Aerocool Integrator 600W 80 Plus Bronze Power Supply £41.99
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/sapp...s-graphics-car-gra-spr-00764.html#see-reviews​

Thanks in advance

 

[DynamoDan7]

Thanks will take a look over. I'm not sure what OCUK do in terms of Window installs on builds if I have a key already but will ask.

Monitors, I have an MSI Optix G24 series, nothing great but does the job currently and the other is a crap HP elite display from work but to be fair I only watch stuff on the second screen. I will probably look at monitors and speakers at a later date as the speakers are from my first ever Gateway PC which was a very very long time ago.

 

[DynamoDan7]

The Core Ultra CPUs do pretty well (they're competitive) for productivity or mixed-usage PCs, but they're not yet ideal for gaming (inconsistent) even with the latest updates. That said, their performance isn't terrible, so if you're set on the latest Intel you're not losing much.


Probably fine, but seems a bit cheap for a nearly £300 K-CPU and I'm not sure how it performs thermally.


Not a bad case, I used to include them in my specs, but a bit dated by modern standards and doesn't come with much stock cooling.


This is 1080p?


What kind of monitor are you thinking of upgrading to? This is very important for knowing the overall balance of your PC (CPU versus GPU) and how much to spend on the graphics card.

At the lower-end (1080p or entry 1440p), I'd suggest something like this:

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x Intel Core i5-12600K 3.70GHz (Alder Lake) Socket LGA1700 Processor - Retail (SKU: CP-69X-IN) = £149.99
• 1 x Gigabyte B760 DS3H AX (LGA 1700) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MOT-GIG-03572) = £129.99
• 1 x Crucial Pro OC 32GB (2x16GB) DDR5 PC5-48000C36 6000MHz Dual Channel Kit (SKU: MEM-CRU-02219) = £80.99
• 1 x Sparkle Intel ARC B580 GUARDIAN 12GB GDDR6 Graphics Card (SKU: GRA-SPK-03945) = £274.00
• 1 x Crucial T500 2TB NVMe PCIe Gen4 M.2 Solid State Drive (SKU: STO-CRU-01090) = £127.99
• 1 x Montech AIR 903 Base Midi-Tower Tempered Glass - Black (SKU: CAS-MON-01227) = £49.99
• 1 x Asus TUF Gaming 750W 80 Plus Gold Power Supply (SKU: CA-061-AS) = £79.99

Total: £892.94 (includes delivery: £0.00)​

For max budget, if you still prefer Intel:

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x Intel Core Ultra 5 245K (Arrow Lake) Socket LGA 1851 Processor - Retail (SKU: PRO-INT-03113) = £289.99
• 1 x Intel Core Ultra Bundle - Assassin's Creed Shadows and Civilization VII (SKU: DIG-INT-04525) = £0.00
• 1 x Gigabyte B860M EAGLE (LGA 1851) DDR5 Micro-ATX Motherboard (SKU: MOT-GIG-04116) = £130.00
• 1 x TeamGroup Vulcan 32GB (2X16GB) DDR5 PC5-51200C40 6400MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black (SKU: MEM-TMG-03145) = £89.99
• 1 x PowerColor Radeon RX 7800 XT 16GB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GRA-PWC-04339) = £439.99
• 1 x Kingston FURY Renegade 2TB PCI-e 4.0 NVMe M.2 Solid State Drive (SFYRS/2000G) (SKU: STO-KNG-01330) = £124.99
• 1 x Lian Li Lancool 207 M-ATX case - Black (SKU: CAS-LIA-02814) = £74.99
• 1 x Asus TUF Gaming 850W 80 Plus Gold Power Supply (SKU: CA-060-AS) = £89.99

Total: £1,251.92 (includes delivery: £11.98)​

I'd suggest the same cooler for both:

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x Arctic Freezer 36 120m Black CPU Cooler - 2x 120mm (SKU: COO-ARC-02420) = £22.99

Total: £26.99 (includes delivery: £3.99)​

Thanks for this. Is there any big differences in the RX7800xt vs the Sapphire one I had in mind? The current screen I have is MSI - Optix G241VC Full HD 23.6 but will probably aim for 1440p as it seems the new 1080p!

 

[DynamoDan7]

There's definitely better to be had for that sort of money, and you really don't want to skimp on the PSU as it's arguably the most important part in your entire computer.

It is a little bit of an iffy time to buy as we're transitioning to a new generation of GPU's, with the 5070ti launching on the 20th and a new AMD lineup next month sometime, I'd also opt for AMD/AM5 over Intel at the moment, especially for gaming.

Edit:

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x AMD Ryzen 5 9600X Six Core 5.40GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail (SKU: PRO-AMD-02677) = £239.99
• 1 x Corsair Vengeance 32GB EXPO (2X16GB) DDR5 PC5-48000C30 6000MHz Dual Channel (SKU: MEM-CRS-02786) = £89.99
• 1 x Crucial T500 1TB NVMe PCIe Gen4 M.2 Solid State Drive (SKU: STO-CRU-01089) = £73.99
• 1 x Asrock B850M Pro RS (Socket AM5) DDR5 mATX Motherboard (SKU: MOT-ASR-04007) = £149.99
• 1 x Aerocool Dryft Mini v2 Micro-ATX Case (SKU: CAS-AER-00607) = £54.99
• 1 x Asus TUF Gaming 750W 80 Plus Gold Power Supply (SKU: CA-061-AS) = £79.99
• 1 x Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE ARGB Black CPU Cooler - 120mm (SKU: COO-TLR-02724) = £29.99

Total: £730.92 (includes delivery: £11.98)​

This would leave you around £600 for a new GPU, you could save a further £30-40 by dropping down to a 7600X, in gaming on average there's only around a 5% difference, but the odd game such as Asseto Corsa sees much more uplift at around 20-30%, whether or not that's worth it is up to you.

You can find W11 licences for around £10-20, or even run without activating and only lose some very minor functionality, if you have a W10 key you should be able to use that to upgrade to W11 without spending money.

I would recommend trying to nab a 5070ti if the price is right, or one of the aforementioned new AMD cards.

What monitor/resolution do you run? That's also going to factor in certain things, and if old enough might be worth upgrading too.

Just read some reviews of that Intel chip and reread what you said. Definitely not keen on the Intel now and leaning more towards the Ryzen 5 or even Ryzen 7 9700x if I could.

 

[DynamoDan7]

After sleep and a lot of reading I have ended up here so far... Leaves me about 300-400ish for a mobo and case

Edit: also regarding the monitors, I can look at those once I have my new build in place. I'll try sell my current computer for few pennies and monitor.

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x Crucial T500 1TB NVMe PCIe Gen4 M.2 Solid State Drive (SKU: STO-CRU-01089) = £73.99
• 1 x Corsair Vengeance 32GB EXPO (2X16GB) DDR5 PC5-48000C30 6000MHz Dual Channel (SKU: MEM-CRS-02786) = £89.99
• 1 x Asus Ultra Slim 9.5mm Internal DVDRW (SDRW-08U1MT) (SKU: CD-06D-AS) = £19.99
• 1 x SAPPHIRE PULSE AMD Radeon™ RX 7800 XT Gaming Graphics Card with 16GB GDDR6, AMD RDNA™ 3 architecture (SKU: GRA-SPR-00764) = £469.99
• 1 x Asus TUF Gaming 750W 80 Plus Gold Power Supply (SKU: CA-061-AS) = £80.00
• 1 x Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE ARGB Black CPU Cooler - 120mm (SKU: COO-TLR-02724) = £29.98
• 1 x AMD Ryzen 7 7700 Eight Core 5.30GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail (SKU: CP-3DV-AM) = £278.99

Total: £1,050.92 (includes delivery: £7.99)​

 

[DynamoDan7]

Few cases will be able to support that, most don't have the slots anymore and I think that's actually a laptop drive?

To be fair I didn't even look I just put the first one that came to mind, I don't really use disc often but some of my old classics might get a revival one day( Windows allowing). I'll keep an eye out on the case spec

Edit: or worse case just buy an external one when/if I ever need it

 

[DynamoDan7]

If you want a dvd drive you'll need to choose a very specific case I'm afraid, it will limit your choices a lot.

Alternative is an external one you plug in via USB.

Yeh I hadn't realised how far technology had moved on from discs! It seems usb stick is the main method for Windows install etc so disc drive can be on the back burner.

Any recommendations for a mobo and case based on my build from yesterday using the ryzen 7 7700

 

[DynamoDan7]

Stock fans (bundled with the case) are as follows:

Montech 903: 3x 140mm.
Montech 903 MAX: 3x 140mm ARGB (front), 1x 140mm (rear).
Phanteks XT Pro: 1x120mm (rear).
Phanteks XT Pro Ultra: 4x 140mm ARGB.
Lian Li 216: 2x160mm (front), 1x140mm (rear), ARGB option is available.
Antec C5: 7x 120mm ARGB.

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x Montech AIR 903 Base Midi-Tower Tempered Glass - Black (SKU: CAS-MON-01227) = £49.99
• 1 x Montech AIR 903 Max Midi-Tower Tempered Glass - Black (SKU: CAS-MON-01229) = £59.99
• 1 x Phanteks XT Pro ATX Case Tempered Glass Window, Black (SKU: CAS-PHK-01442) = £54.95
• 1 x Phanteks XT Pro Ultra ATX Case Tempered Glass Window, Black (SKU: CAS-PHK-01443) = £74.99
• 1 x Lian Li Lancool 216 Mid-tower PC case - Black (SKU: CA-7BG-LL) = £85.99
• 1 x Antec C5 ARGB Midi Tower - Black (SKU: CAS-ATC-02729) = £109.99

Total: £463.90 (includes delivery: £27.99)​

B650 Eagle is the most basic, only has 1Gb LAN, PCIE 4.0 graphics, quite a few USB 2.0 ports on the rear panel and one of the M.2 slots is only 2 lane.
B850 Gaming Plus gets you PCI-E 5.0 graphics, 5Gb LAN, quite a few USB 2.0 ports on the rear panel and one of the M.2 slots is only 2 lane.
X870 Eagle has PCI-E 5.0 graphics, 2.5Gb LAN and 2x USB4 (Type-C, rear panel).

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x Gigabyte B650 EAGLE AX (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MOT-GIG-03573) = £139.99
• 1 x MSI B850 GAMING PLUS WIFI (AMD AM5) B850 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MOT-MSI-03994) = £179.99
• 1 x Gigabyte X870 EAGLE WIFI7 (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MOT-GIG-03322) = £219.98

Total: £539.96 (includes delivery: £0.00)​

I would suggest spending a lot on either (case or motherboard) doesn't make sense if you're sticking with the 7700 and 7800 XT combination, because otherwise you could use the money for a better CPU and graphics card.

Nice one, really appreciate the support.

I think even with the antec case (heard they are a good brand) and the x870 mobo it brings me to around the £1300 mark (and seems to have enough cooling)

For the cpu and gpu, if there's better for a abit more I'm open to changing them they just seem middle of the road and fairly decent. When we get to discussing cores and threads the little knowledge I have goes out the window

 

[DynamoDan7]

Well, you save around £150 between the cheapest and most expensive case and motherboard, so within that range:

CPU
- 9700X
- 7900 (12 cores)
- 7800X3D

Graphics
- 7900 GRE
- 7900 XT (??? poor availability)
- 9070 (??? not released yet)
- RTX 5070 (??? not released yet)

The 9700X is not much faster than the 7700/7700X in most games, but the price is similar to the 7700X, so it is worth considering. No bundled cooler.

The 7900 gives a nice uplift in productivity and is not much more than the 7700X/9700X, but not a CPU I'd choose for only a gaming PC.

The 7800X3D gives a really nice boost in games that love the 3D cache, like MMOs, sims and some racing games, but availability is still poor on these CPUs which has pushed the price up a lot. Definitely worth thinking about, if you play the kind of games that love the cache, though the benefit does diminish somewhat at higher resolutions.

7900 GRE is around 10% faster than the 7800 XT, while the 7900 XT is another 15+% on top with an extra 4GB of VRAM and a larger memory bus. I'd definitely consider the 7900 GRE or preferably a 7900 XT if you were thinking of going 4K, as that extra grunt is useful to hit a solid 60 fps and the VRAM could be handy later too.

Not sure how the 9070 or 5070 will compare yet.


I think fishbowl cases are an acquired taste, so I don't know if that's what you want, but I'd say the overall value is great with 7x bundled ARGB fans.

Thanks, great write up.

With the processors there isn't much difference in cost. Is the 7900 12 core cpu on par with the others gaming wise? Some games I play I think would benefit (football manager for example or cities skyline) but wouldn't want to sacrifice much graphical performance as having a good pc opens my world up for gaming.

For the sake of a bit more I could change cpu and looking at the price difference seems daft not to. The graphics card I think only the 7900GRE would be in my price range potentially when it comes into stock again!

 

[DynamoDan7]

I'm not sure where to find benchmarks for those particular games, I'm afraid.

Generally speaking, the 12 core models are a little slower than the 8 core models for gaming, due to their 6x6 core config (adds latency) and maintaining lower boost clocks, but the difference is not that big.


The GRE used to be around £500-£550 and the 7900 XT £600-£650, but I'm guessing due to nvidia's 5000 series shortages and the upcoming AMD cards, nearly everything seems to have sold out.

If you're happy to hang onto the 1050 for a month or two, I'd recommend it, because once the shortages are over the market could look rather different. That said, I don't know if AMD/nvidia will restock their older cards, or just move on.

I'll probably stick with the 9700x then.

Funnily enough I have my 1050ti because there was barely any graphics cards about at the time and paid over the odds!

Might have to be the 7800xt unless the 7900gre comes back in stock. I'd have to ask them

 

[DynamoDan7]

It's most unlikely the gre will be back in stock, AMD announced they stopped producing these cards back in December, and they were selling out everywhere at the time

Thanks, yeah I think I'm pretty limited on graphics card, depending on the new ones and costs but heard good things about the 7800xt.

The only question I have left is whether the Gigabyte eagle WiFi 7 (socket am5) Ddr5 is overkill for this build?

 

[DynamoDan7]

You're referring to the X870 version? The main thing you're paying for with that board is USB4, though it does have PCI-E 5.0 graphics.

Personally, I think the B650 version is fine, but it is that old chestnut of "future proofing" with the newer features.

Yeh that's the one. Is this the one you mean?

Gigabyte B650 EAGLE AX (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard

Order Gigabyte B650 EAGLE AX (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard now online and benefit from fast delivery.

www.overclockers.co.uk

To be fair back in 2012 I got usb2 and never used it once!

 

[DynamoDan7]

Yeah, that's the 'cheap' one. It only has PCI-E 4.0 graphics, 1 Gb LAN, there's no USB4. It does have 1x PCI-E 5.0 M.2 slot though, not sure why they bothered with that.

Nice one, will probably just stick with what I have then. Bit of a strange combo

 

[DynamoDan7]

Was about to pull the trigger but noticed there were 2 gfx cards at the same price. Is there any major difference? I can't see it apart from obvious number of fans and more is usually better!

SAPPHIRE PULSE AMD Radeon™ RX 7800 XT Gaming Graphics Card with 16GB GDDR6, AMD RDNA™ 3 architecture

Order SAPPHIRE PULSE AMD Radeon™ RX 7800 XT Gaming Graphics Card with 16GB GDDR6, AMD RDNA™ 3 architecture now online and benefit from fast delivery.

www.overclockers.co.uk

Gigabyte Radeon RX 7800 XT Gaming OC 16GB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card

Order Gigabyte Radeon RX 7800 XT Gaming OC 16GB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card now online and benefit from fast delivery.

www.overclockers.co.uk