New PC for Starfield?

[davebispham]

Hi.

My current PC is ancient and it`s time for a new one.

I`m wanting to play Starfield when it`s released later this year so need something that will run it.

I`ve put this together online and I`m pretty sure it should do the job, but I`m no expert so wanted some advice.

Question 1. Am I right in thinking this will do the job?
Question 2. If it will run Starfield is there anything else you would recommend adding anyway?
Question 3. Does the price look right or could I find better elsewhere?

Many thanks in advance.

Case
PCS P209 ARGB MID TOWER CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i7 16-Core Processor i7-13700F (Up to 5.2) 30MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® PRIME B760-PLUS D4 (LGA1700, PCIe5.0, USB 3.2)
Memory (RAM)
32GB PCS PRO DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3060 Ti - HDMI, DP, LHR
Graphics Card Support Bracket
NONE (BRACKET INCLUDED AS STANDARD ON 4070 Ti AND ABOVE)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB INTEL® 670p M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 3500MB/sR | 2500MB/sW)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W CV SERIES™ CV-650 POWER SUPPLY
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
PCS FrostFlow 100 RGB V3 Series High Performance CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Extra Case Fans
2 x 120mm PCS Ultra Quiet Fan
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
ONBOARD LAN PORT
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Windows 11 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KUK-00003]
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10/11 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Google Chrome™
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 6 to 8 working days
Price: £1,355.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.************.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-z690-pc/3Knyg7pUwC/

 

[Tetras]

I can't find the system requirements anywhere, I don't think they have published yet?

 

[davebispham]

I can't find the system requirements anywhere, I don't think they have published yet?

Hi.

Thanks for the reply.

I know the requirements aren`t yet released but I`ve read a lot of predictions online and I think these specs exceed those predictions.

Like I said I`m no expert. I don`t want to spend all that money just to find it can`t run the game but I also don`t want to spend way more than I need to just to make sure it can.

 

[MissChief]

Why go 13th Gen and then use DDR4?

 

[throwaway4372]

Don't buy a PC for a game that isn't even out yet.
Let it get released, see what the system requirements are, see how it performs in reviews, then buy a PC if you still want to.

I think it's quite likely that the 8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3060 Ti isn't good enough. That will likely also mean you need a better power supply.

You also can't ask this question without telling us what monitor you have: resolution + refresh rate + gsync or freesync

 

[davebispham]

Why go 13th Gen and then use DDR4?

Thanks for the reply. What would you recommend?

 

[davebispham]

Don't buy a PC for a game that isn't even out yet.
Let it get released, see what the system requirements are, see how it performs in reviews, then buy a PC if you still want to.

I think it's quite likely that the 8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3060 Ti isn't good enough. That will likely also mean you need a better power supply.

You also can't ask this question without telling us what monitor you have: resolution + refresh rate.

Great advice, thank you.

I`m not actually using a monitor a the moment but a 24" TV 1080p 60Hz. Works well with my current PC and I suppose I was just going to keep using it for the time being, like I keep saying I`m no expert.

Will this be OK or will I be needing a new monitor? If so can you recommend a decent one that won`t cost a fortune?

 

[throwaway4372]

If you're connecting that via hdmi then you can keep using it if you want.

 

[davebispham]

If you're connecting that via hdmi then you can keep using it if you want.

Yes, Connected via HDMI.

Thank you for your help.

 

[Tetras]

Hi.

Thanks for the reply.

I know the requirements aren`t yet released but I`ve read a lot of predictions online and I think these specs exceed those predictions.

Like I said I`m no expert. I don`t want to spend all that money just to find it can`t run the game but I also don`t want to spend way more than I need to just to make sure it can.

I wouldn't trust the predictions online, from what I understand: this is a new engine, so that makes it a lot harder to predict than a game using e.g. Unreal Engine 4.

Like said above, the graphics card is more of a concern than the CPU, but the most sensible option is to wait until large tech sites release performance guides/reviews (example article, example video).

If I were to buy now, I definitely wouldn't want to get less than a RTX 4070 or RX 6800.

 

[davebispham]

I wouldn't trust the predictions online, from what I understand: this is a new engine, so that makes it a lot harder to predict than a game using e.g. Unreal Engine 4.

Like said above, the graphics card is more of a concern than the CPU, but the most sensible option is to wait until large tech sites release performance guides/reviews (example article, example video).

If I were to buy now, I definitely wouldn't want to get less than a RTX 4070 or RX 6800.

Thank you, I will take your advice and wait.

I hope it won`t need as much as a RTX 4070 to run Starfield, surely they would be limiting their sales if most PC gamers can`t actually run the game without a £600 GPU.

 

[MissChief]

Thanks for the reply. What would you recommend?

A DDR5 capable board and some DDR5.

 

[KompuKare]

I wouldn't trust the predictions online, from what I understand: this is a new engine, so that makes it a lot harder to predict than a game using e.g. Unreal Engine 4.

Like said above, the graphics card is more of a concern than the CPU, but the most sensible option is to wait until large tech sites release performance guides/reviews (example article, example video).

If I were to buy now, I definitely wouldn't want to get less than a RTX 4070 or RX 6800.

Well, Bethesda do have a bad habit of making CPU limited games. Mainly because the engine threads badly - and that's not just a problem with the rendering engine but also their tendency to do all NPC AI tasks on one main thread.

Time will tell, but I probably wouldn't touch a Bethesda game until the community has had a year or more to patch it!

I know catch-22 but I'm sure people like the OP will do a lot of beta testing for us fence-sitters!

 

[Tetras]

Well, Bethesda do have a bad habit of making CPU limited games. Mainly because the engine threads badly - and that's not just a problem with the rendering engine but also their tendency to do all NPC AI tasks on one main thread.

Time will tell, but I probably wouldn't touch a Bethesda game until the community has had a year or more to patch it!

I know catch-22 but I'm sure people like the OP will do a lot of beta testing for us fence-sitters!

True, but I feel pretty confident that a i7-13700F will have no problem either way, since it has decent single core performance and 16 cores if Beth go all thread-ey on us.

 

[BUDFORCE]

Don't buy an Asus motherboard.

 

[Disco_P]

Ask all the people who upgraded or bought a new PC for Cyberpunk about their experiences

 

[Tetras]

I hope it won`t need as much as a RTX 4070 to run Starfield, surely they would be limiting their sales if most PC gamers can`t actually run the game without a £600 GPU.

Me too, but I guess we'll find out

The reason I said that is because 'entry' cards are struggling to maintain 60 fps at the highest settings in the latest games, even @ 1080p, so to ensure my new PC had some legs for the future and will support a monitor upgrade, that's why I'd want a minimum 4070 or 6800. It might seem like a lot of money for the graphics card, but it is doable for your budget.

If we keep the same CPU:

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x Intel Core i7-13700F (Raptor Lake) Socket LGA1700 Processor - Retail (SKU: CP-6BD-IN) = £359.99
• 1 x Gigabyte B760 DS3H DDR4 (LGA 1700) DDR4 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MB-5BX-GI) = £144.98
• 1 x Lexar Hades 32GB (2x16GB) DDR4 PC4-28800C18 3600MHz Dual/Quad Channel Kit (SKU: MY-018-LE) = £68.99
• 1 x Sapphire Radeon RX 6800 Pulse 16GB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GX-39D-SP) = £458.99
• 1 x WD Blue SN570 1TB SSD NVME M.2 2280 PCIe Gen3 Solid State Drive (WDS100T3B0C) (SKU: HD-589-WD) = £44.99
• 1 x Phanteks Eclipse G300A Mid-Tower High Airflow PC Case - Black (SKU: CA-0C0-PT) = £64.99
• 1 x be quiet! Pure Power 12 M 750W ATX 3.0 80 Plus Gold Power Supply (SKU: CA-14S-BQ) = £109.99
• 1 x Microsoft Windows 11 Home 64-Bit DVD - OEM (KW9-00632) (SKU: SW-18J-MS) = £127.99

Total: £1,392.90 (includes delivery: £11.99)​

With this cooler (< £50).

Different CPU, but with a 4070:

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x Intel Core i5-13400F (Raptor Lake) Socket LGA1700 Processor - Retail (SKU: CP-6BB-IN) = £199.99
• 1 x Gigabyte B760M DS3H DDR4 (LGA 1700) DDR4 Micro-ATX Motherboard (SKU: MB-5C0-GI) = £114.98
• 1 x Lexar Hades 32GB (2x16GB) DDR4 PC4-28800C18 3600MHz Dual/Quad Channel Kit (SKU: MY-018-LE) = £68.99
• 1 x Gainward GeForce RTX 4070 Ghost 12GB GDDR6X PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GX-20Y-GW) = £578.99
• 1 x Nvidia Game Promotion - Rise Against Evil - DIablo IV (SKU: XX-048-NV) = £0.00
• 2 x WD Blue SN570 1TB SSD NVME M.2 2280 PCIe Gen3 Solid State Drive (WDS100T3B0C) (SKU: HD-589-WD) = £44.99
• 1 x Lian Li Lancool 205M Mesh Micro-ATX PC Case Black (SKU: CA-7B2-LL) = £69.95
• 1 x be quiet! Pure Power 12 M 750W ATX 3.0 80 Plus Gold Power Supply (SKU: CA-14S-BQ) = £109.99
• 1 x Microsoft Windows 11 Home 64-Bit DVD - OEM (KW9-00632) (SKU: SW-18J-MS) = £127.99

Total: £1,372.85 (includes delivery: £11.99)​

With same cooler as above, or stock cooler bundled with CPU.

 

[Mr Jack]

Why go 13th Gen and then use DDR4?

Because DDR5 is still overpriced, and doesn't offer a performance advantage sufficient for that cost, especially for gaming. It really only makes sense if you intend to carry that DDR5 forward to a future build but even that doesn't really stand up since by the time you're likely to be upgrading there will be much better DDR5 memory available.

For some applications or if you're already bleeding edge on everything else, DDR5 makes sense; for any mid-range PC builder, the money is almost always going to be better spent elsewhere

 

[Mysterae_]

If it's for this one game in particular you're upgrading for, you might be better served by buying an Xbox and upgrading your TV.

 

[bfar]

Don't buy a PC for a game that isn't even out yet.
Let it get released, see what the system requirements are, see how it performs in reviews, then buy a PC if you still want to.

I think it's quite likely that the 8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3060 Ti isn't good enough. That will likely also mean you need a better power supply.

You also can't ask this question without telling us what monitor you have: resolution + refresh rate + gsync or freesync

This is the absolute best and wisest advice imo. We don't know if the title will live up to expectations or if it will be well optimized at launch. Reports are coming in that it will be locked at 30 fps on consoles, which would suggest it's going to be another rough launch from an optimisation perspective. Definitely a wait-and-see scenario before you drop 100's of £ on hardware. Unless of course there are other titles you'd like to try? It's PC gaming at the end of the day, you'll get value out of it one way or another, but obviously I wouldn't recommend buying new PC hardware with a view to targeting one title.