New PC - £1k budget

ZXSpekky48k · 16 Nov 2020 at 16:00

Hi all - I last built a pc AGES ago and can barely remember how - it's core2duo one which is on its last legs now and due to kids etc wasn't really used for a while.

Anyway I'm looking to build a new one - budget around about £1k. I will prob be able to reuse the power supply (a 60w good quality one) and the case. Beyond that it's all new. I'd appreciate people suggesting what cables etc I might need too.

Budget is around £1000 - I'd spring a bit more for cpu or maybe gfx if people thought it would make a difference. Do I need 32gb ram these days?

I'd also appreciate a heads up on anything coming out soon which i might want to hang on for.

Thanks

dfour · 16 Nov 2020 at 17:08

It all depends what your going to be doing with and what resolution monitor your going to use.

Heres a base for a ryzen 5 series setup:

My basket at Overclockers UK:

1 x WD Blue SN550 1TB NVME M.2 2280 PCIe Gen3 Solid State Drive (WDS100T2B0C)= £109.99
1 x Team Group Vulcan TUF Gaming Alliance 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-28800C19 3600MHz Dual Channel Kit - Blac= £68.99
1 x MSI MAG B550M Mortar WiFi (AMD AM4) B550 Micro-ATX Motherboard= £119.99

Total: £309.47 (includes shipping: £10.50)

WIFI because I dont know if you need it.

Just add a ryzen 5 5600x and a Radeon 6800 for a machine capable of playing 1080p or 1440p games.
Upgrade to a ryzen 5800X for more cores but you will also need to buy a cooler for it.

My basket at Overclockers UK:

1 x Arctic Freezer 34 eSports Duo Red CPU Cooler - 2 x 120mm= £34.99

Total: £37.73 (includes shipping: £2.74)

Very few games use 32 gig ATM but heres some if you want to future proof it a bit.

My basket at Overclockers UK:

1 x Team Group Vulcan Z T-Force 32GB (2x16GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C16 3200MHz Dual Channel Kit - Grey= £109.99

Total: £118.69 (includes shipping: £8.70)

EsaT · 16 Nov 2020 at 19:30

ZXSpekky48k said:
I will prob be able to reuse the power supply (a 60w good quality one) and the case.

Any PSU from Core2 time is probably badly outdated or worser.

Also not many cases at that time were properly designed.
Design with PSU at top as case exhaust pretty much ad its best before date expire 15 years ago.

dfour said:
My basket at Overclockers UK:

1 x Arctic Freezer 34 eSports Duo Red CPU Cooler - 2 x 120mm= £34.99

Total: £37.73 (includes shipping: £2.74)

Zero sense to pay £10 extra for another fan.
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/arctic-freezer-34-co-cpu-cooler-120mm-hs-079-ar.html
Cryorig H7 Ultra would actualyl have heavier heatsink for £37.
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/cryorig-h7-ultra-cpu-heatsink-with-black-120mm-fan-hs-012-cy.html

dfour · 16 Nov 2020 at 19:53

EsaT said:
Zero sense to pay £10 extra for another fan.
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/arctic-freezer-34-co-cpu-cooler-120mm-hs-079-ar.html

its only another fiver over the single fan version

My basket at Overclockers UK:

1 x Arctic Freezer 34 eSports Red CPU Cooler - 120mm= £29.99

Total: £32.73 (includes shipping: £2.74)

You must be one of the only people on here at the moment who isnt recommending this cooler lol. I added it because of its popularity on here. I would use the scythe fuma 2 or mugen 5. The cryorig is a good recommendation only because it has 23% off atm. Im not saying its a bad heatsink as I dont know much about it, just a bargain at £37.

ZXSpekky48k · 17 Nov 2020 at 11:13

Thanks so much for that - my case was the Akasa Eclipse-62 Midi Tower Case from back in the day - what do people think?

Power was 500w Seasonic S12-500 SLi aPFC PSU - but if you reckon I should it could go.

It’s not for playing everything maxed out but it would be nice to have some longevity built in! I like strat games mainly and some FPS.

thanks!

Gray2233 · 17 Nov 2020 at 11:41

dfour said:
You must be one of the only people on here at the moment who isnt recommending this cooler lol

its only another fiver over the single fan version.

I'm not a fan of the eSports Duo myself at its current price point.

The £25 (up until very recently it was £20) Freezer 34 suggested by @EsaT is the exact same HSF as the eSports kit, you're essentially paying for a paint job.

There's better options for a similar price or the same option for less.

The eSports versions of the Freezer 34 are essentially the new CM 212, a perfectly solid bit of kit that's become a go-to for everyone and their dog but often not the best option for the price.

ZXSpekky48k said:
Thanks so much for that - my case was the Akasa Eclipse-62 Midi Tower Case from back in the day - what do people think?

https://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Com...lipse+62+MIDI+Alu+Case+BLK+++?productId=15876

Power was 500w Seasonic S12-500 SLi aPFC PSU - but if you reckon I should it could go.

It’s not for playing everything maxed out but it would be nice to have some longevity built in! I like strat games mainly and some FPS.

thanks!

I'd be inclined to update your case to something with better airflow, the PSU is something I'd definitely upgrade given its age.

mickyflinn · 17 Nov 2020 at 12:30

Let's clarify the arctic coolers, the e34 sport has a third more cooling capacity over the standard and a fancy paint job.

Gray2233 · 17 Nov 2020 at 13:55

mickyflinn said:
Let's clarify the arctic coolers, the e34 sport has a third more cooling capacity over the standard and a fancy paint job.

Due to the fans.

You could buy the cheap £20 version and a couple of superior fans to mount and still pay less than the Duo.

ZXSpekky48k · 17 Nov 2020 at 14:59

Thanks all so the add processors are best currently? Also are there any issues with processors working with motherboards ie will the 5800x work out of the box with no bios changes needed? (I don’t want to do this - I seem to recall biosflashes being a ‘mare - although this may have changed!)

mickyflinn · 17 Nov 2020 at 15:25

ZXSpekky48k said:
Thanks all so the add processors are best currently? Also are there any issues with processors working with motherboards ie will the 5800x work out of the box with no bios changes needed? (I don’t want to do this - I seem to recall biosflashes being a ‘mare - although this may have changed!)

You will need to update the bios on the motherboard so make sure the motherboard you choose has bios flashback . You can update the bios without a cpu.

The motherboard @dfour specced has this feature.

EsaT · 17 Nov 2020 at 15:48

dfour said:
its only another fiver over the single fan version

It's £10 over it when forgetting gamer hype.
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/arctic-freezer-34-co-cpu-cooler-120mm-hs-079-ar.html
And that's actually already more expensive version with ball bearing in fan.
Whose point I don't see when Arctic already gives 10 year warranties for their "standard" bearing fans.
(also while taking longer to fail completely noise level of ball bearing increases lot earlier before failure)
Cooler with that costs £21. Only being out of stock at the moment.
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/arctic-freezer-34-cpu-cooler-120mm-hs-077-ar.html

ZXSpectrum · 17 Nov 2020 at 16:22

Just a heads up.. Some good advice here regarding parts but I would a) suggest you remove the link to a competitors website from your previous post and b) read the rules on why this is..

Those Arctic coolers do the job.. Nothing spectacular but offer decent cooling on AMD CPUs at the price.

I would definitely look at getting another PSU. 500-550w Bronze/Gold should do the trick.

I also don't see any mention of graphics cards. Do you have a preference for AMD or Nvidia? I have seen a couple of good deals lately on 1660 Super and even 2060. It might be a good idea to wait until the Black Friday/Cyber Monday deals come around.

ZXSpekky48k · 17 Nov 2020 at 16:26

Thanks all don’t really mind re Gfx card manufacturers

ZXSpekky48k · 18 Nov 2020 at 16:21

On GFX what do people think? I will be forced to use my work monitors as I'm wfh etc and will use the same workstation. They're 1600x 1200 - what do you reckon?

Ta!

dfour · 18 Nov 2020 at 17:07

3070 or 6800 would be fine and give you a good framerate at 16*12

ZXSpekky48k · 22 Nov 2020 at 15:57

Ok looking at prices and availability what do people think of 3900x processor and 5700xt gfx. With 32gb 3600 ram MSi board at £160 ish 2tb seagate hd this comes out to £1,100 ish?

thoughts? Looks like new gfx cards will be eye wateringly expensive and won’t fit in a build of around £1k. Cpu thoughts are it’s not that different in performance to 5800x and has more cores.

what do you think?

thanks!

ZXSpekky48k · 23 Nov 2020 at 12:12

Ah well what the heck - just ordered a 5900x, will use my old gfx card for a while till the new ones come in the shop... in for a penny....

ZXSpekky48k · 24 Nov 2020 at 14:33

Ok what kind of power supply do I need - what should I be looking at on the specs please?

dfour · 24 Nov 2020 at 14:49

ZXSpekky48k said:
Ok what kind of power supply do I need - what should I be looking at on the specs please?

If your looking to use a 3070 or 6800 then your looking at a 650 watt. Make sure its a gold rated one and modular if you can afford it as it just makes tiding up the cable spaghetti much easier.

Heres my selection

My basket at Overclockers UK:

1 x Corsair TX650M 650W 80 Plus Gold Semi Modular Power Supply (CP-9020132-UK)= £79.99
1 x Corsair RM Series RM650 650W '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply (CP-9020194-UK)= £87.95
1 x Silverstone SST-ST65F-G Strider Gold Series - 650 Watt Modular= £89.99
1 x Super Flower Leadex III 650W 80 Plus Gold Modular Power Supply - Black= £89.99
1 x Seasonic Core Gold GM-650 650W 80+ Gold Modular Power Supply= £89.99
1 x be quiet! Pure Power 11 700W 80 Plus Gold Modular Power Supply= £94.99
1 x Super Flower Leadex III 750W 80 PLUS Gold Modular Power Supply - Black= £99.95
1 x Seasonic Focus GX-650 650W 80+ Gold Modular Power Supply= £103.99
1 x Corsair RMx Series RMx650 650W '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply (CP-9020178-UK)= £104.99

Total: £855.93 (includes shipping: £14.10)

ZXSpekky48k · 24 Nov 2020 at 14:52

Cheers for that much appreciated