New System - £1,000 - Spec Check/Advice Please

volt9291 · 3 Dec 2023 at 14:38

So I think it is finally time for a new PC.

Looking to buy in the next few weeks.

I don't game as much as I used to but my current system, which is over 11 years old is struggling now with many games or can't even run them. So think I may treat myself to a new system.

Current Spec:

MSI GeForce GTX 560Ti OC - 2048MB
Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 (OC @ 4.2GHz)
Corsair XMS3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (2 sets, 16 Gb Total)
Gigabyte Z68XP-UD3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard
Samsung 500GB 850 EVO SSD
Cooler Master HAF 912 Plus Case - Black
Cooler Master Silent Pro Modular 600W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply
Gelid Tranquillo CPU Cooler
27" MSI PRO Monitor, IPS, 1920x1080, 75Hz, 5ms, FreeSync.

I will keep the Monitor and reuse the SSD as a second storage drive.
OS and any other peripherals are not needed

I need the best 'bang for the buck' as I don't expect to upgrade this over its lifetime. Having the option to is nice, but if I'm honest I will probably have the system for the next 5-10 years and let it die like my current one! Unless there is something I want to play and need to upgrade to do so.

Games I play/want to play:

Counter strike 2 and other FPS games
Flight Simulator (and FS 2024 when it's out)
DCS
Diablo 4
Racing games/Sims
Open World Games (GTA, RDR Etc.)

I am out of touch with what works together well. I have a couple of options below, if anyone could help advise on if they work, changes needed, and areas I could save money that would be great.

I am not fussed with RGB, if I did have any I would probably set it to one colour. I don't want a flashing rainbow under my desk!

The budget is £1,000.

Not too noisy (if possible).

Sleek looking, the smaller the better. It will only sit under my desk (for now, desk upgrade in the future may change that).

WiFi is needed. I could use my current WiFi card if i really needed to.

NVIDIA GPU is my preference. Will the 3060 allow me max settings at 1080p?

In the builds below I have gone for 64Gb RAM, assuming this would really help with Flight Simulator and the like. Not sure which is better, one 64 GB set or two 16 GB sets (cost Vs performance?) or is that overkill and 32GB set will be fine?

AM 5/DDR5 or DDR4 etc., I haven't got a clue!

Cooler/PSU/Case could be junk? just assumed they would work well together.

Does DDR4 work in a DDR5 motherboard?

Please help...

£210 Over budget!

My basket at OcUK:

1 x AMD Ryzen 5 7600X Six Core 5.30GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail (SKU: CP-3DG-AM) = £199.99
1 x Gigabyte B650 Gaming X AX (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MB-5BF-GI) = £189.95
1 x Corsair Vengeance EXPO 64GB (2X32GB) DDR5 PC5-44800C40 5600MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black (CMK64GX5M2B5600Z40) (SKU: MY-4DL-CS) = £179.99
1 x WD Black SN770 1TB SSD M.2 2280 NVME PCI-E Gen4 Solid State Drive (WDS100T3 (SKU: HD-58F-WD) = £68.99
1 x Asus GeForce RTX 3060 Dual V2 OC LHR 12GB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GX-467-AS) = £269.98
1 x be quiet! Pure Loop 240 Performance CPU Water Cooler - 240mm (SKU: HS-01M-BQ) = £69.95
1 x be quiet! Pure Power 12 M 850W ATX 3.0 80 Plus Gold Power Supply (SKU: CA-14R-BQ) = £139.00
1 x be quiet! Pure Base 500 Midi Tower Case - Black Tempered Glass (SKU: CA-13S-BQ) = £92.99

Total: £1,210.84 (includes delivery: £0.00)

£167 Over Budget.
Different case (also to give an idea of the style I like, I have put more below)
Different RAM, would DDR4 work?

My basket at OcUK:

1 x AMD Ryzen 5 7600X Six Core 5.30GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail (SKU: CP-3DG-AM) = £199.99
1 x Gigabyte B650 Gaming X AX (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MB-5BF-GI) = £189.95
1 x WD Black SN770 1TB SSD M.2 2280 NVME PCI-E Gen4 Solid State Drive (WDS100T3 (SKU: HD-58F-WD) = £68.99
1 x Asus GeForce RTX 3060 Dual V2 OC LHR 12GB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GX-467-AS) = £269.99
1 x be quiet! Pure Loop 240 Performance CPU Water Cooler - 240mm (SKU: HS-01M-BQ) = £69.94
1 x be quiet! Pure Power 12 M 850W ATX 3.0 80 Plus Gold Power Supply (SKU: CA-14R-BQ) = £139.00
1 x Corsair Vengeance LPX 64GB (2x32GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C16 3200MHz Dual Channel Kit (Black) (SKU: MY-4CE-CS) = £149.99
1 x Fractal Design Pop Mini Silent Clear Tempered Glass Mini Tower Case - Black (SKU: CA-0AK-FD) = £79.99

Total: £1,167.84 (includes delivery: £0.00)

AM4 / DDR4

Over by £92, and i guess not as good as the two above...

My basket at OcUK:

1 x WD Black SN770 1TB SSD M.2 2280 NVME PCI-E Gen4 Solid State Drive (WDS100T3 (SKU: HD-58F-WD) = £68.99
1 x Asus GeForce RTX 3060 Dual V2 OC LHR 12GB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GX-467-AS) = £269.99
1 x be quiet! Pure Loop 240 Performance CPU Water Cooler - 240mm (SKU: HS-01M-BQ) = £69.94
1 x be quiet! Pure Power 12 M 850W ATX 3.0 80 Plus Gold Power Supply (SKU: CA-14R-BQ) = £139.00
1 x Corsair Vengeance LPX 64GB (2x32GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C16 3200MHz Dual Channel Kit (Black) (SKU: MY-4CE-CS) = £149.99
1 x Fractal Design Pop Mini Silent Clear Tempered Glass Mini Tower Case - Black (SKU: CA-0AK-FD) = £79.99
1 x AMD Ryzen 5 5600 Six Core 4.4GHz (Socket AM4) Processor - Retail (SKU: CP-3D2-AM) = £149.99
1 x Asus ROG Strix B550-F Gaming WIFI II (AMD AM4) B550 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MB-6J0-AS) = £164.99

Total: £1,092.88 (includes delivery: £0.00)

Intel.

I haven't got a clue...

Cases i like:
My basket at OcUK:

1 x Corsair 3000D Tempered Glass Mid-Tower - Black (SKU: CA-27M-CS) = £79.99
1 x Corsair 4000D Airflow Mid-Tower Case - Black Tempered Glass (CC-9011200-WW) (SKU: CA-25G-CS) = £94.99
1 x be quiet! Pure Base 500 Midi Tower Case - Black Tempered Glass (SKU: CA-13S-BQ) = £92.99
1 x Fractal Design Pop Mini Silent Clear Tempered Glass Mini Tower Case - Black (SKU: CA-0AK-FD) = £79.99

Total: £347.96 (includes delivery: £0.00)

Sorry for the long post, but hopefully it helps you understand what I want/need so you can help me.

If I am way off the mark I am happy for a complete new spec if you can do better for £1,000 or less!

Tetras · 3 Dec 2023 at 15:06

volt9291 said:
I need the best 'bang for the buck' as I don't expect to upgrade this over its lifetime. Having the option to is nice, but if I'm honest I will probably have the system for the next 5-10 years and let it die like my current one! Unless there is something I want to play and need to upgrade to do so.

volt9291 said:
NVIDIA GPU is my preference. Will the 3060 allow me max settings at 1080p?

The 3060 is a decent card, but there's no way it will last you 5-10 years, especially given the demanding (and upcoming) games you play.

I think the same applies to the 7600/7600X. They're great CPUs for right now, but I doubt they will stay current that long. Given the types of games (sims, racing, open world), I'd really try to get the X3D, unless you're content with a CPU upgrade later.

volt9291 said:
Different RAM, would DDR4 work?

No. AM5 doesn't support DDR4.

volt9291 said:
In the builds below I have gone for 64Gb RAM, assuming this would really help with Flight Simulator and the like. Not sure which is better, one 64 GB set or two 16 GB sets (cost Vs performance?) or is that overkill and 32GB set will be fine?

Not unreasonable to get 64GB for your usage. But, with a £1000 budget, I don't think it makes sense, since you'd get a lot more value out of putting that into the CPU or GPU.

Regardless of your budget or resolution, I think given that you want this PC to last 5-10 years with no (or minimal?) upgrades, I'd want a minimum CPU of 7800X3D and GPU of 7800 XT or 4070 (maybe the Super, if it arrives at a decent price :cry:

). E.g.

My basket at OcUK:

1 x AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D Eight Core 5.00GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail (SKU: CP-3DT-AM) = £347.99
1 x AMD - Avatar Ryzen Bundle (SKU: DIG-AMD-01185) = £0.00
1 x Asus TUF Gaming B650-Plus WIFI (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MB-6K0-AS) = £159.99
1 x Kingston FURY Beast EXPO 32GB (2x16GB) DDR5 PC5-44800C36 5600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KF556C36BBEK2-32) (SKU: MY-29U-KS) = £100.00
1 x Zotac GeForce RTX 4070 Twin Edge OC 12GB GDDR6X PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GX-13Q-ZT) = £559.99
1 x NVIDIA - PC Game Pass and Geforce Now Bundle (SKU: DIG-NVI-01340) = £0.00
1 x Crucial P5 Plus 2TB M.2 2280 PCI-e 4.0 x4 3D NAND NVMe Solid State Drive (SKU: HD-075-CR) = £114.95
1 x Phanteks Eclipse G300A Mid-Tower High Airflow PC Case - Black (SKU: CA-0C0-PT) = £64.99
1 x Phanteks AMP 650W 80 Plus Gold Modular Power Supply (SKU: CA-09Q-PT) = £89.99

Total: £1,437.90 (includes delivery: £0.00)

volt9291 said:
I haven't got a clue...

A close(ish) to budget build, though I wouldn't expect it to last 5-10 years.

My basket at OcUK:

1 x Intel Core i5-12400F 2.50GHz (Alder Lake) Socket LGA1700 Processor - Retail (SKU: CP-6AR-IN) = £154.99
1 x Gigabyte B660M DS3H AX - Intel B660 DDR4 Micro ATX Motherboard (SKU: MB-5AH-GI) = £129.95
1 x Corsair Vengeance LPX 32GB (2x16GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C18 3600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMK32GX4M2D3600C18) (SKU: MY-4D1-CS) = £64.99
1 x Gigabyte Radeon RX 7700 XT Gaming 12GB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GRA-GIG-01266) = £419.99
1 x AMD - Avatar Radeon Bundle (SKU: DIG-AMD-01186) = £0.00
1 x WD Black SN770 2TB SSD M.2 2280 NVME PCI-E Gen4 Solid State Drive (WDS200T3 (SKU: HD-58G-WD) = £112.99
1 x Lian Li Lancool 205M Mesh Micro-ATX PC Case Black (SKU: CA-7B2-LL) = £69.95
1 x Seasonic Focus GX-750 750W 80+ Gold Modular Power Supply (SKU: CA-06U-SS) = £109.99

Total: £1,062.85 (includes delivery: £0.00)

volt9291 · 3 Dec 2023 at 15:17

@Tetras Thanks for the reply.

I don't expect the system to last 5-10 years, badly worded by myself.

I just mean what is the best I can get now for £1,000. I don't expect to be upgrading anytime soon but would like to play the mentioned games.

I'll have a good look at what you have put...

Tetras · 3 Dec 2023 at 16:12

volt9291 said:
@Tetras Thanks for the reply.

I don't expect the system to last 5-10 years, badly worded by myself.

I just mean what is the best I can get now for £1,000. I don't expect to be upgrading anytime soon but would like to play the mentioned games.

I'll have a good look at what you have put...

Fair enough

I was also swayed by you mentioning the next flight sim (since the first one has been pretty demanding on old PCs) and I assume the next GTA and so on.., so even in the immediate future (the next year or two), I suspect even a decent 1080p system may come off badly when put up against these newer games.

You can buy a decent enough £1000 build to play everything now, but it probably won't be a good investment, longer-term. If you can afford the next step up in CPU/GPU, I believe they'll brace the next gen of games much better than a 12400/5600 and 3060.

volt9291 · 3 Dec 2023 at 17:27

Thanks for the advice.

My only limit on the budget was to have a balance on the amount I would spend to how much I would use the system (I also have a PS5, 2 young kids, and a full-on job, so free time for PC gaming is sparse

but want to enjoy it when I can!)

If it was a big difference, and hopefully covers me for FS 2024 and possibly the new GTA, I could go to £1500.

I see you didn't specify a cooler, either air or AIO?

What would you do with £1,500?

I see you put a Phanteks case and PSU in, what was the reason for that? Price, good make? I have no idea what a good case is (brand/build quality).

If I get the below Corsair case (just going off looks, again don't know about the quality) should I also go for a Corsair PSU?

Would it be worth getting the 64GB Kit?

No PSU or CPU cooler in this build, £18 left :cry:

My basket at OcUK:

1 x Corsair 3000D Tempered Glass Mid-Tower - Black (SKU: CA-27M-CS) = £79.99
1 x AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D Eight Core 5.00GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail (SKU: CP-3DT-AM) = £347.99
1 x AMD - Avatar Ryzen Bundle (SKU: DIG-AMD-01185) = £0.00
1 x Corsair Vengeance EXPO 64GB (2X32GB) DDR5 PC5-44800C40 5600MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black (CMK64GX5M2B5600Z40) (SKU: MY-4DL-CS) = £179.99
1 x Gigabyte GeForce RTX 4070 WindForce OC 12GB GDDR6X PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GX-1G2-GI) = £569.99
1 x NVIDIA - PC Game Pass and Geforce Now Bundle (SKU: DIG-NVI-01340) = £0.00
1 x Gigabyte B650 Gaming X AX (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MB-5BF-GI) = £189.94
1 x Crucial P5 Plus 2TB M.2 2280 PCI-e 4.0 x4 3D NAND NVMe Solid State Drive (SKU: HD-075-CR) = £114.95

Total: £1,482.85 (includes delivery: £0.00)

Tetras · 3 Dec 2023 at 20:28

volt9291 said:
I see you didn't specify a cooler, either air or AIO?

For the 12400, I'd use the box cooler (because of the limited budget, to squeeze everything in).

For the 7800X3D, I'd get a peerless assassin.

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volt9291 said:
I see you put a Phanteks case and PSU in, what was the reason for that? Price, good make? I have no idea what a good case is (brand/build quality).

Case: just the price, with fans included. It has decent clearance for the CPU cooler and graphics card.

PSU: Phanteks AMP is a Seasonic built PSU, with a pretty well proven design (used in lots of PSUs, like Asus Rog Strix, Antec HCG, Seasonic GX) with a 10 year warranty.

The GX-750 gives you a bit more headroom, if you have the £20, which might or might not pay off with a graphics card upgrade one day.

volt9291 said:
If I get the below Corsair case (just going off looks, again don't know about the quality) should I also go for a Corsair PSU?

Doesn't matter which PSU you choose, there's lot of clearance.

FYI: the Corsair SHIFT PSUs have cables on the side, so you do need to check case compatibility for that PSU (Corsair have a list of compatible cases on their website).

volt9291 said:
Would it be worth getting the 64GB Kit?

For now? Probably not. RAM is one of the easier things to upgrade. But, for the type of games you play, I expect it will pay off eventually with AM5, especially if you like to use third party mods.

volt9291 said:
If it was a big difference, and hopefully covers me for FS 2024 and possibly the new GTA, I could go to £1500.

I can't promise it obviously, but I believe you will have a much better chance of decent longer-term gameplay in newer games with the £1500 PC. Cards on a level of the 3060 are pretty much the minimum level of playability in modern AAA games and they're starting to struggle already (we can call that bad optimisation, but either way,...).

volt9291 · 3 Dec 2023 at 22:05

@Tetras Thanks for the advice, really appreciate it.

I will look into everything you have said and weigh up my options.

volt9291 · 9 Dec 2023 at 14:44

@Tetras I have upped my budget. How does this look to you? Would you change anything and why?

Shopping around I can get it all for just under £1,600

I'd get a Peerless Assassin for the CPU Cooler. Would I also need to get thermal paste or does it come with anything?

My basket at OcUK:

1 x AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D Eight Core 5.00GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail (SKU: CP-3DT-AM) = £349.99
1 x AMD - Avatar Ryzen Bundle (SKU: DIG-AMD-01185) = £0.00
1 x Gigabyte B650 Gaming X AX (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MB-5BF-GI) = £189.95
1 x Gigabyte GeForce RTX 4070 WindForce OC 12GB GDDR6X PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GX-1G2-GI) = £569.99
1 x NVIDIA - PC Game Pass and Geforce Now Bundle (SKU: DIG-NVI-01340) = £0.00
1 x Corsair Vengeance EXPO 64GB (2X32GB) DDR5 PC5-44800C40 5600MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black (CMK64GX5M2B5600Z40) (SKU: MY-4DL-CS) = £179.99
1 x WD Black SN850X 2TB SSD M.2 2280 NVME PCI-E Gen4 Solid State Drive (WDS200T2X0E) (SKU: HD-591-WD) = £145.99
1 x Corsair RM850x Shift ATX 3.0 80 Plus Gold Power Supply (CP-9020252-UK) (SKU: CA-279-CS) = £129.99
1 x Corsair 4000D Airflow Mid-Tower Case - Black Tempered Glass (CC-9011200-WW) (SKU: CA-25G-CS) = £74.99

Total: £1,640.89 (includes delivery: £0.00)

mickyflinn · 9 Dec 2023 at 14:56

The Corsair shift PSU has comnnectors on the side so you need to make sure theres enough room to clear the case side panel or change the PSU .

The 7800xt is faster and cheaper than the 4070 but if you prefer ray tracing then the 4070 performs better.

Peerless assassin wil come with paste but having an extra tube around can be handy , Arctic mx 4 is cheap and reliable.

This Motherboard is cheaper and has 1 more m2 slot

Asus TUF Gaming B650-Plus WIFI (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard

Order Asus TUF Gaming B650-Plus WIFI (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard now online and benefit from fast delivery.

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Tetras · 9 Dec 2023 at 15:09

volt9291 said:
Would you change anything and why?

1 x WD Black SN850X 2TB SSD M.2 2280 NVME PCI-E Gen4 Solid State Drive (WDS200T2X0E) (SKU: HD-591-WD) = £145.99

P5 Plus 2TB is a bit cheaper @ OCUK.

volt9291 · 9 Dec 2023 at 15:13

mickyflinn said:
The Corsair shift PSU has comnnectors on the side so you need to make sure theres enough room to clear the side panel or change the PSU .

The 7800xt is faster and cheaper than the 4070 but if you prefer ray the 4070 performs better.

Peerless assassin wil come with paste but having an extra tube around can be handy , Arctic mx 4 is cheap and reliable.

ThisMotherboard is cheaper and has 1 more m2 slot

Asus TUF Gaming B650-Plus WIFI (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard

Order Asus TUF Gaming B650-Plus WIFI (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard now online and benefit from fast delivery.

www.overclockers.co.uk

@mickyflinn Thanks. I prefer NVIDIA and think I will stick with them.

PSU should be fine as it's going into a Coesair case, their website says it fits in the 4000 cases (if I'm reading it correctly).

The motherboard elsewhere is currently in a bundle deal with the CPU (saving me £10), so I'd have to look at the differences and if it's worth changing, probably not.

volt9291 · 9 Dec 2023 at 15:16

Tetras said:
P5 Plus 2TB is a bit cheaper @ OCUK.

Currently not in stock at OCUK, not sure how long the wait would be.

The WD elsewhere is £139, so a little more, but it is also quicker.

Tetras · 9 Dec 2023 at 15:17

volt9291 said:
but it is also quicker.

You'll never notice the difference between any of the high-end PCI-E 4.0 drives and the reviews tend to be redundant anyway, because they're constantly updating/tweaking them with new firmware & nand, so I'd just get whatever is cheaper.

volt9291 · 9 Dec 2023 at 15:25

Tetras said:
You'll never notice the difference between any of the high-end PCI-E 4.0 drives and the reviews tend to be redundant anyway, because they're constantly updating/tweaking them with new firmware & nand, so I'd just get whatever is cheaper.

ok, Thanks.

mickyflinn · 9 Dec 2023 at 15:29

volt9291 said:
@mickyflinn Thanks. I prefer NVIDIA and think I will stick with them.

PSU should be fine as it's going into a Coesair case, their website says it fits in the 4000 cases (if I'm reading it correctly).

The motherboard elsewhere is currently in a bundle deal with the CPU (saving me £10), so I'd have to look at the differences and if it's worth changing, probably not.

Probably worth it if delivery doesn't affect cost.

Take a look at the Zotac GeForce RTX 4070 Twin Edge OC as there GPUs come with a 5 year warranty if registered within 30 days otherwise it's 3 years.

Gray2233 · 9 Dec 2023 at 15:41

mickyflinn said:
Probably worth it if delivery doesn't affect cost.

Take a look at the Zotac GeForce RTX 4070 Twin Edge OC as there GPUs come with a 5 year warranty if registered within 30 days otherwise it's 3 years.

I actually have a Twin Edge and it's a great card.