New PC advice for my son

[Choccy13]

Hi all, I've not been here for a while, in fact so long I had to make a new account, as my old email expired. Well the advice I got last time did me well, and my PC is still going strong after 10 years, but now it's time to get a new PC capable of gaming for my son.

Just need a check on the following items to start with. I'll be adding SSD later in the build.

Asus Z270 ROG MAXIMUS IX CODE
Intel Core i5 9600KF
Corsair Vengeance RGB 16gb 3200
Corsair Hydro Series H100i
Asus GeForce GTX 1660 PHOENIX
Patriot Viper VPN100 M.2 512gb
Corsair iCue 220T RGB Airflow

Would this be good for gaming now (Fortnite etc) with ability to upgrade in the future.

Thanks in advance guys and gals.

Choccy...

 

[Quartz]

The GTX 1660 has been superceded by the 1660 Super.

Consider the below as the guts of your son's new system:

My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x Zotac GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER Twin Fan 6144MB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card= £229.99
• 1 x AMD Ryzen 5 3600 Six Core 4.2GHz (Socket AM4) Processor - Retail= £175.00
• 1 x MSI B450 TOMAHAWK MAX (Socket AM4) DDR4 ATX Motherboard= £106.99
• 1 x Corsair Vengeance LPX Black 16GB (2*8GB) 3600 MHz AMD Ryzen Tuned DDR4 Memory Kit= £79.99

Total: £603.07 (includes shipping: £11.10)​

​

Upgrades would be the Ryzen 3700 - 8 cores - and a X570 motherboard for PCI Express v4 support

 

[Choccy13]

The GTX 1660 has been superceded by the 1660 Super.

Consider the below as the guts of your son's new system:

My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x Zotac GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER Twin Fan 6144MB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card= £229.99
• 1 x AMD Ryzen 5 3600 Six Core 4.2GHz (Socket AM4) Processor - Retail= £175.00
• 1 x MSI B450 TOMAHAWK MAX (Socket AM4) DDR4 ATX Motherboard= £106.99
• 1 x Corsair Vengeance LPX Black 16GB (2*8GB) 3600 MHz AMD Ryzen Tuned DDR4 Memory Kit= £79.99

Total: £603.07 (includes shipping: £11.10)
​

Upgrades would be the Ryzen 3700 - 8 cores - and a X570 motherboard for PCI Express v4 support

Are the AMD more reliable now. I've had them before and had nothing but trouble (unstable clocking etc) but nothing like the same problems with Intel.

Will the processor be good for video editing and general use as well as gaming.

Thanks for quick reply Quartz.

Choccy...

 

[Journey]

Asus Z270 ROG MAXIMUS IX CODE
Intel Core i5 9600KF

Nope, Z270 will not work with 9 series CPU's. You'll need a Z370/Z390 board, or H370 if you want something more value orientated.

What is the budget you've set for the build?

 

[Choccy13]

Nope, Z270 will not work with 9 series CPU's. You'll need a Z370/Z390 board, or H370 if you want something more value orientated.

What is the budget you've set for the build?

Around £1-1.2k but more if it will last.

Choccy...

 

[Quartz]

Are the AMD more reliable now.

Absolutely. THey also don't suffer the CPU bugs like Spectre and Meltdown that affect Intel CPUs.

 

[Choccy13]

Absolutely. THey also don't suffer the CPU bugs like Spectre and Meltdown that affect Intel CPUs.

And what about an ASUS MB, as I'm a big fan of their boards also, or have they become junk too....I'm so out of touch.

Choccy...

 

[Quartz]

One of the reasons the MSI Tomahawk Max is recommended is that it does not require a BIOS update for the Ryzen 3xxx CPUs. Other B450 motherboards may do. It's also a good motherboard and very popular here.

 

[Hades]

If you get the MSI B450 Tomahawk max then make sure it is the MAX version. Don't get the non-Max one. It has a revised BIOS for the newest Ryzens.

 

[Journey]

Around £1-1.2k but more if it will last.

Choccy...

I'll put a build together in the morning.

 

[Choccy13]

I'll put a build together in the morning.

Thanks, that's very helpful. I've been doing a lot of research in the last hour to see what is compatible (processor/MB). Getting a better idea now. And also the budget is going up, roll on bonus day.

It would be very easy to spend a lot of money, very quickly.

Choccy...

 

[Journey]

Went slightly over budget, but a really solid build that will last a good while and has upgrade option in the future for you.

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 3700X 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor
CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i RGB PLATINUM 75 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler
Motherboard: Gigabyte X570 AORUS ELITE WIFI ATX AM4 Motherboard
Memory: Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory
Storage: Corsair MP510 960 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive
Video Card: MSI GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER 8 GB VENTUS OC Video Card
Case: Corsair iCUE 220T RGB Airflow ATX Mid Tower Case
Power Supply: RIOTORO ENIGMA G2 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply

Total: ~£1380.00

Pushed the NVMe drive upto ~1TB and went with a board that has Wi-Fi etc. and a fully modular PSU to keep things neat and tidy.

I stuck with your choice of case, and the RGB flashy stuff if that's what you want then who is anyone to argue

 

[Choccy13]

Went slightly over budget, but a really solid build that will last a good while and has upgrade option in the future for you.

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 3700X 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor
CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i RGB PLATINUM 75 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler
Motherboard: Gigabyte X570 AORUS ELITE WIFI ATX AM4 Motherboard
Memory: Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory
Storage: Corsair MP510 960 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive
Video Card: MSI GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER 8 GB VENTUS OC Video Card
Case: Corsair iCUE 220T RGB Airflow ATX Mid Tower Case
Power Supply: RIOTORO ENIGMA G2 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply

Total: ~£1380.00

Pushed the NVMe drive upto ~1TB and went with a board that has Wi-Fi etc. and a fully modular PSU to keep things neat and tidy.

I stuck with your choice of case, and the RGB flashy stuff if that's what you want then who is anyone to argue

Thanks for that, I can't seem to find the wifi version on OCUK site.

Looks like a great build.

Choccy...

 

[Gray2233]

Alternative build for you with a bit of a saving:

My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x Seasonic Prime Ultra Snow Silent 650W 80 Plus Platinum Modular Power Supply= £92.99
• 1 x AMD Ryzen 7 3700X Eight Core 4.4GHz (Socket AM4) Processor - Retail= £289.99
• 1 x MSI B450 GAMING PRO CARBON AC (Socket AM4) DDR4 ATX Motherboard= £119.99
• 1 x Patriot Viper Steel 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-28800C17 3600MHz Dual Channel Kit (PVS416G360C7K)= £65.99
• 1 x Corsair iCUE 220T Airflow RGB Midi Tower Smart Case- Black Tempered Glass (CC-9011173-WW)= £82.99
• 1 x Cryorig H7 Quad Lumi Single Tower Heatsink with Lumi RGB System= £46.99
• 1 x Gigabyte 1TB M.2 PCIe x4 NVMe SSD/Solid State Drive= £98.99
• 1 x Gigabyte Radeon RX 5700 XT Gaming OC 8GB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card= £375.00
• 1 x Corsair SP120 RGB PRO 120mm High Performance Addressable RGB Fan (CO-9050093-WW)= £14.99

Total: £1,187.92 (includes shipping: £0.00)​

​

1. PSU is on a deep discount, it's a fantastic bit of kit with a huge 12 year warranty.
2. The motherboard listed is excellent at the price, I've been told OCUK are flashing these boards to support Ryzen 3000 out of the box, but I would verify with them prior to purchase.
3. Air cooler instead of an AiO, went for something with a little RGB bling as that seems to be your thing. It'll cool near as well as the AiO with fewer points of failure, although it's worth mentioning that the 3700X wont generate a ton of heat anyway.
4. Gigabyte SSD, they have a UK based customer support/RMA service, and there's even an active representative of theirs on this forum.
5. One of the better 5700XT's, it is slower than the 2070 Super but not by a huge margin, they even trade blows in some games, comes in a good deal cheaper.

Here's a picture of the H7 Quad Lumi in action, as the store page doesn't really do it justice (click the spoiler tag):

Spoiler

Edit: The video on the store page is a decent watch too, didn't notice that until just now!

 

[Journey]

Thanks for that, I can't seem to find the wifi version on OCUK site.

Looks like a great build.

Choccy...

Sorry I just pulled the build in from a comparison site, OCUK's basket system is a bit clunky at best. I'm not sure if they offer the Wi-Fi version.

As I said, it is a very solid build without being silly and burning money on pointlessly expensive motherboard features that will never be used, or over priced Samsung SSD's that have no benefit to an average user.

 

[Journey]

1. PSU is on a deep discount, it's a fantastic bit of kit with a huge 12 year warranty.

Just a heads up, it's not a real discount as the black and the white version have been available for 3+ months at £95-110, so it's just marketing really. They've probably had a kick back from the vendor to allow them to lower pricing on stock held, with new stock bought in however. Hard to argue about the quality though, I have one as my test bench PSU, and the Focus Platinum as well.

 

[Gray2233]

Just a heads up, it's not a real discount as the black and the white version have been available for 3+ months at £95-110, so it's just marketing really. They've probably had a kick back from the vendor to allow them to lower pricing on stock held, with new stock bought in however. Hard to argue about the quality though, I have one as my test bench PSU, and the Focus Platinum as well.

Really? Fair enough.

Still a cracking price for what it is, probably the longest warranty I've seen on a PSU too.

 

[Journey]

Really? Fair enough.

Still a cracking price for what it is, probably the longest warranty I've seen on a PSU too.

Yeah, it's an odd one really. I guess that £160+ 650w PSU's don't sell that fast, especially given how many PSU vendors there now are. It would be easy to end up with stock built up, even more so given some of the aggressive prices other manufacturers have been willing to support.

Lets not forget the huge margins that are put on PSU's, alongside cases they are the single most profitable item after the case fans etc.

 

[Gray2233]

Yeah, it's an odd one really. I guess that £160+ 650w PSU's don't sell that fast, especially given how many PSU vendors there now are. It would be easy to end up with stock built up, even more so given some of the aggressive prices other manufacturers have been willing to support.

Lets not forget the huge margins that are put on PSU's, alongside cases they are the single most profitable item after the case fans etc.

True.

While I'm a big advocate for buying quality power supplies, I can't see myself ever spending over £100 on one when I can get something 98% as good for £80 or under, let alone pushing the boat out at £160. I'd be willing to spend £90-95 on something like the Ultra Snow in large due to the warranty, but it's a rare case.