Spec me - Sentry 2.0 case

Sirrah · 22 Jun 2024 at 19:07

Hi all,

I have been away from desktop PC gaming for a few years, having used laptops which were overpriced and under-reliable. However I bought a sentry 2.0 case years ago (seriously) and almost put a rig together several times (including with one or more threads here where people were helpful as usual). However, now I'm finally coming around to it, and yet my knowledge of components has waned since I last looked around.

I'd be very grateful if anyone has any suggestions for a build. The idea would be to make a powerful but not top end PC gaming rig, budget flexible but I see no reason to spend a massive amount. I have a general preference for nvidia and intel because they've never died on me. I noticed that they recommend 65W CPUs in the case, but I'm unsure how much of a big deal that would be nowadays, thermally. I plan to play games up to 4k but would be happy at 2k or 1080 for the most demanding stuff, and of course I can always upgrade. Other than that, I'll take any ideas!

Thanks very much in advance.

Gray2233 · 22 Jun 2024 at 19:14

What's your budget? Do you need peripherals like a monitor or keyboard/mouse?

Sirrah · 22 Jun 2024 at 19:18

I'd say up to about £1500, I mean I could go above but my initial take was that it'd be overkill. Happy to go less than that as well on advice.

Peripherals not needed. I will at some point upgrade from the multiple dell just-above-1080 monitors I use for work, but right now they're fine.

One more thing, I do value a good CPU and a fair bit of RAM because I'm also a programmer/scientist and so will sometimes use this for 'activities'.

Thanks!

Tetras · 22 Jun 2024 at 19:37

nvidia/Intel option:

I read through the requirements of the case as best I could, but would strongly advise you double check.

I assumed you use the CPU cooler in the box.

My basket at OcUK:

1 x Intel Core i5-12400F 2.50GHz (Alder Lake) Socket LGA1700 Processor - Retail (SKU: CP-6AR-IN) = £98.99
1 x Asus ROG Strix B760-I Gaming WIFI (LGA 1700) DDR5 ITX Motherboard (SKU: MB-6KB-AS) = £184.98
1 x Crucial Pro 48GB (2x24GB) DDR5 PC5-44800C46 5600MHz Dual Channel Kit (SKU: MEM-CRU-01086) = £139.99
1 x Zotac GeForce RTX 4070 Super Twin Edge 12Gb Graphics Card (SKU: GRA-ZTC-01499) = £548.99
1 x WD Blue SN580 2TB SSD NVME M.2 2280 PCIe Gen4 Solid State Drive (SKU: STO-WDC-00541) = £104.99
1 x Lian Li SP750 SFX Modular 80 Plus Gold Power Supply (SKU: CA-79G-LL) = £119.98

Total: £1,205.92 (includes delivery: £7.99)

Gray2233 · 22 Jun 2024 at 19:46

AMD option:

My basket at OcUK:

1 x Corsair Vengeance EXPO 64GB (2X32GB) DDR5 PC5-44800C40 5600MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black (CMK64GX5M2B5600Z40) (SKU: MY-4DL-CS) = £199.99
1 x Lian Li SP750 SFX Modular 80 Plus Gold Power Supply (SKU: CA-79G-LL) = £119.99
1 x AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D Eight Core 5.00GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail (SKU: CP-3DT-AM) = £314.99
1 x MSI MPG B650I Edge WIFI (Socket AM5) DDR5 Mini ITX Motherboard (SKU: MB-374-MS) = £249.95
1 x Zotac GeForce RTX 4070 Super Twin Edge 12Gb Graphics Card (SKU: GRA-ZTC-01499) = £548.98
1 x WD Black SN770 2TB SSD M.2 2280 NVME PCI-E Gen4 Solid State Drive (WDS200T3X0E) (SKU: HD-58G-WD) = £119.99

Total: £1,553.89 (includes delivery: £0.00)

I don't know how critical the CPU is for your work usage, but for gaming the 7800X3D is pretty much the best processor currently on the market. You would need to add a low profile HSF, they're slim pickings on OCUK though so you'd need to look into them.

Sirrah · 22 Jun 2024 at 22:16

For the intel build, is there a 65w later gen CPU that's worth comparing against? Also, given the strength of the CPU, do you think the 4070 might be overkill vs a 4060ti?

Edit: For the AMD build, is the CPU maybe a bit too much thermally?

Thanks!

Tetras · 22 Jun 2024 at 22:55

Sirrah said:
Also, given the strength of the CPU, do you think the 4070 might be overkill vs a 4060ti?

No, if you're considering 1440p/4K I'd definitely still get the 4070 Super. The i5 might technically be two-gens behind, but the i5 non-K 13th/14th gen CPUs are still very similar (likely based on the same die as 12th gen). The main advantage of a 13400/14400 is that you get 4 e-cores, but the 12400 is really competitively priced and should be easy enough to cool even with the box cooler.

Also, the 4060 Ti is just..., not very good.

freddie64 · 23 Jun 2024 at 07:24

Does not look like there is a lot of room for the 4070 power connector, needs a lot of space to bend the cables.

The 4060ti uses normal 8 pin, so should not be a problem.