Questions And Advice For New Build

[MutenJoshi]

I know there is always a lot of threads for help but I'm very much in the early planning stages so hoping it's ok me asking these questions. I am looking to sell my Xbox Series X and possibly razer blade 15 (hopefully raise £800-900) to put towards a new gaming pc so I'm trying to work out how much extra is realistic to save without going overboard. Have some initial questions:

• I am hoping to be able to play 4k games on max settings for a good while before upgrading (few years). That being said, initially, I'd like to try to get an ultrawide monitor for games like Total War etc so, even though I can hopefully get a computer build capable of 4k, I may initially try 1440p ultrawide at min 120hz (4k at 120hz will of course be extremely expensive).
  
  Is £2k max budget realistic including an ultrawide monitor? (4k monitor would be ok at a decent size but may end up waiting until 4k high refresh monitors are more common).
• Obviously graphics cards are a big issue at the moment but what should I aim to get within that kind of budget? Would a 3070 be unrealistic in the budget, would it be needed or would it be overkill? Would a 3060 be a good option?
• If I wanted to try VR later down the line, would I need to take that into account with any selections I make?
• I know no one will know the answer to this right now should I assume a OC full build is the best way to go or are people starting to see prices start to fall again? Stupid question but are the full builds upgradable in future as with any build?
• Are there any components I should look to future proof (e.g. I'm guessing it's more difficult to upgrade a motherboard so should I look for one that would last through future upgrades or am I overthinking things?)?
• Assuming £2k seems a reasonable budget, what would a suitable split between tower and monitor be? (e.g. £1.3k for the tower and £700 for the monitor)?
• Intel or AMD?
• Obviously if I can get away with a smaller budget then even better and means I don't have to wait as long!

 

[dfour]

Looking at the 4k monitor slections there is on ultrawide varients. Even the 42" screens are still 3840*2160 wide and would potentially cost about a grand for a high refresh rate one alone.

You would alos need a 3080TI to get anywhere nears max settings at 144hz which in a lot of games without dlss is still impossible. Theres your budget gone .

1440p @ 144hz is easy to do on a 3070/ti even in ultrawide mode (game depending).

Everything is changing in the next 12 months with ddr5 coming outs so futute proofing is only possible to a point.

Yes OC's prebuilts are using industry standard items so all can be upgrades as anmd when unlike companies like Dell.

AMD at the momment are the best for performace and high core count although intel are under cutting them on price in some places (how the world has changed lol).

Hope this helps.

 

[MutenJoshi]

Looking at the 4k monitor slections there is on ultrawide varients. Even the 42" screens are still 3840*2160 wide and would potentially cost about a grand for a high refresh rate one alone.

You would alos need a 3080TI to get anywhere nears max settings at 144hz which in a lot of games without dlss is still impossible. Theres your budget gone .

1440p @ 144hz is easy to do on a 3070/ti even in ultrawide mode (game depending).

Everything is changing in the next 12 months with ddr5 coming outs so futute proofing is only possible to a point.

Yes OC's prebuilts are using industry standard items so all can be upgrades as anmd when unlike companies like Dell.

AMD at the momment are the best for performace and high core count although intel are under cutting them on price in some places (how the world has changed lol).

Hope this helps.

Thanks very much for your help, it's really appreciated. I'd probably be fine at either 4k standard monitor at 60 hz or 1440p @144hz (preferably ultrawide but depends on how much that would affect budget now). I'd potentially look to upgrade to 4k high refresh in a good few years time when it's more feasible.

Do you think £1,200 is reasonable for 1440p @ 144hz or 4k at 60hz? What would a 3060 be able to manage or would you look at 3070 as a minimum?

 

[dfour]

AMD build

My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x Gigabyte 34" G34WQC-EK 3440x1440 VA 144Hz 1ms FreeSync/G-Sync Compatible Curved LED Backlit Ultrawid= £439.99
• 1 x Lian-Li Lancool II Mesh RGB Midi-Tower Case - Black= £96.95
• 1 x AMD Ryzen 5 5600X - Gigabyte B550 Aorus Elite AX V2 Bundle= £444.94
• 1 x Corsair RM Series RM750 750W '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply (CP-9020195-UK)= £79.99
• 1 x WD Blue SN550 1TB SSD NVME M.2 2280 PCIe Gen3 Solid State Drive (WDS100T2B0C)= £89.99
• 1 x Lian-Li ST120 Addressable RGB 120mm Black Fan with Controller - Triple Pack= £34.99
• 1 x Alpenfohn Brocken ECO Advanced CPU Cooler - 120 mm= £29.99

Total: £1,237.66 (includes shipping: £20.82)​

​

Obvioously its missing the GPU. You will need a 3070 or equivilent/better and they are hovering about 1k atm unless you find a founders edition drop at near retail price and grab that.

 

[dfour]

Thanks very much for your help, it's really appreciated. I'd probably be fine at either 4k standard monitor at 60 hz or 1440p @144hz (preferably ultrawide but depends on how much that would affect budget now). I'd potentially look to upgrade to 4k high refresh in a good few years time when it's more feasible.

Do you think £1,200 is reasonable for 1440p @ 144hz or 4k at 60hz? What would a 3060 be able to manage or would you look at 3070 as a minimum?

Bear in mind an unltrawide screen has more pixels than a standard screen 3440*1440 vs 2560*1440 you will need extra pixel pushing power just for that alone. Just because of the prices of gpu's I dont think £1200 inc a monitor is enough.

 

[MutenJoshi]

Bear in mind an unltrawide screen has more pixels than a standard screen 3440*1440 vs 2560*1440 you will need extra pixel pushing power just for that alone. Just because of the prices of gpu's I dont think £1200 inc a monitor is enough.

Sorry, I meant £1,200 for just the tower without the monitor.

 

[dfour]

Its very tight just because of the stupid gpu prices.

My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x Corsair RM Series RM750 750W '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply (CP-9020195-UK)= £79.99
• 1 x BitFenix Nova Mesh TG SE A-RGB Midi-Tower, Tempered Glass - Black= £52.99
• 1 x AMD Ryzen 5 5600X - Gigabyte B550 Aorus Elite AX V2 Bundle= £444.94
• 1 x Palit GeForce RTX 3060 StormX 12GB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card= £569.99
• 1 x WD Blue SN550 500GB SSD NVME M.2 2280 PCIe Gen3 Solid State Drive (WDS500G2B0C)= £59.99

Total: £1,220.20 (includes shipping: £12.30)​

​

 

[dfour]

Cheaper Intel mini-atx build

My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x Corsair RM Series RM750 750W '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply (CP-9020195-UK)= £79.99
• 1 x Palit GeForce RTX 3060 StormX 12GB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card= £569.99
• 1 x WD Blue SN550 500GB SSD NVME M.2 2280 PCIe Gen3 Solid State Drive (WDS500G2B0C)= £59.99
• 1 x Kolink Citadel Mesh Micro-ATX Case - Black= £44.99
• 1 x MSI B560M PRO-VDH WIFI (Socket LGA 1200) DDR4 Micro ATX Motherboard= £99.95
• 1 x Intel Core i5-11400F 2.60GHz (Rocket Lake) Socket LGA1200 Processor - Retail= £149.99
• 1 x Team Group Vulcan Z T-Force 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C16 3200MHz Dual Channel Kit - Grey= £69.95
• 1 x Alpenfohn Brocken ECO Advanced CPU Cooler - 120 mm= £29.99

Total: £1,116.54 (includes shipping: £11.70)
​

 

[EsaT]

Are there any components I should look to future proof (e.g. I'm guessing it's more difficult to upgrade a motherboard so should I look for one that would last through future upgrades or am I overthinking things?)?

With consoles having seven cores dedicated exclusively for games, future of high end gaming is strongly multithreaded.
Those millions of consoles with guaranteed hardware as base level will make game developers find ways to use those cores/new uses.
And of course most demanding games will scale even higher.
CyberPunk 2077 actually has fps minimums scaling up to 12 cores at heaviest settings:
https://overclock3d.net/reviews/software/cyberpunk_2077_performance_review_and_optimisation_guide/4

So for long lasting motherboard you need availability of high core counts, especially if you like having things open on background.
And Intel who is behind AMD in per core performance also lacks core counts to compete.
With the price of GPU that budget can't really fit high end CPU.
But Ryzen 5600X now and then later update to 12 core (there should be improved CPU coming for AM4) when those are better priced would extend time at high performance level.


In monitors so far only really good 4K gaming monitors cost like £900.
2560x1440 would cost half and below, including one of the best panels.

 

[EsaT]

WD Blue SN550 500GB SSD NVME M.2 2280 PCIe Gen3 Solid State Drive (WDS500G2B0C)= £59.99

Zero sense in very small drive, which would start to fill after couple bigger games especially when it has such lousy GB price.
Only £30 more gives doubled capacity.

 

[MutenJoshi]

I think it's clear that I go with 1440p with a future upgrade for 4k when it's more realistic.

 

[jigger]

Just keep the Xbox. It’s better than any PC you could build.

 

[dfour]

Zero sense in very small drive, which would start to fill after couple bigger games especially when it has such lousy GB price.
Only £30 more gives doubled capacity.

I agree. It was a legacy from the amd build that I was trying to squeeze into his budget. The intel build was £100 cheaper and I just forgot to change it up with the extra budget avaialbe.

 

[MutenJoshi]

Just keep the Xbox. It’s better than any PC you could build.

I went through over the decision in my head for ages but the Xbox was sitting there for a good 6 months in just the box. Just really wasn't worth keeping. There aren't enough games I like on it for me to want to keep it. I'd prefer to have a gaming pc for strategy games etc on a big monitor.

That and I traded it in today. Got £10 less than what I paid on release so not too bad. Traded in a few other items too so hoping once they've been tested, I'll have £700 which is a good start to the PC fund.

 

[MutenJoshi]

I agree. It was a legacy from the amd build that I was trying to squeeze into his budget. The intel build was £100 cheaper and I just forgot to change it up with the extra budget avaialbe.

Got rid of the Xbox and a few other things for close to £700 so hoping I'd be able to get to £1,500 roughly in a few months time. Hoping GPUs may have dropped in price by then. Does that seem a more realistic budget for a good 1440p ultrawide build? Monitor would be separate but I'd hope £500 could get me a good one? £2k total. Might even end up sacrificing ultrawide if it's going to cause issues with my build or require a lot more.

 

[dfour]

The gigabyte I linked to in my first build for £439 is a good ultrawide 1440p for your budget.

Hopefully all gpu prices will have dropped to a more sensible level in a few months but then there might be more things on the market to choose fom. Decisions, decisions

 

[MutenJoshi]

The gigabyte I linked to in my first build for £439 is a good ultrawide 1440p for your budget.

Hopefully all gpu prices will have dropped to a more sensible level in a few months but then there might be more things on the market to choose fom. Decisions, decisions

The monitor is bookmarked! Thanks for the help and advice, it's really appreciated.

I think I'll try to make a build around a 3070 or better. What is the typical RRP for a 3070? Looks to be around £550? If I find one around retail price, what specific things do I need to make sure it has? The prices of the same type graphics cards seem to differ quite massively? Is it mainly down to the manufacturer or is it specific specs that make some more expensive? Just means if I see a 3070 at around £600, I'll know if the specific card is worth the price.

 

[Haz123]

I will not make you a basket like other have because there are sensible options up above, I will try and put down some thoughts on what you want.

I play Total War Warhammer II on a 34" 3440x1440 monitor and it is a fantastic experience and I love the 21-9 apect ratio for gaming and web browsing as well. My monitor is just 60 hz and fine for TW and World of tanks , I no longer play shooters so high refresh rate not needed for me. 3440x1440 is around half the pixels of 4k and is actually a way to future proof your gpu. 3070 is closer to a 3080 at lower res so if you go 4k you do need more gpu power.

You cannot really future proof a system , you can only make sensible choices. Decent B550 mobo with 5600x or 5800x if you really want 8 cores with a 3070 are all sensible choices. I have been trying to snag a 3080 past couple of weeks and what I have seen is that BOTs are autobuying 3070s at £750, I saw a bunch of 3070 TUF on sale for £700 and then they were gone in a minute and later a different card was up for £750 and gone almost instantly but 3070s at slightly higher prices will hang around to be purchased. To get a 3070 at near MSRP needs a lot of luck at the moment.

I did see an ex display version of a 3080 at just over £800 up for sale and when I clicked on it the message said 100+ people are trying to buy this item. 1 3080 and 100 bots and me trying to buy it .... I fought the bots and the bots won.

 

[MutenJoshi]

I've had a go at putting together a custom build to see if I've learned anything! It's very slightly over my £2,000 budget (without OS) but that's ok. Could someone give me some feedback to give me and idea of if I'm on the right track? Anything I could improve on at this price? I have a good few months of saving to come so hopefully the GPUs come down in price by then.

With a CPU cooler added on of course!

My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x Palit GeForce RTX 3070 Gaming Pro OC 8GB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card= £859.99
• 1 x AMD Ryzen 5 5600X Six Core 4.6GHz (Socket AM4) Processor - Retail= £259.99
• 1 x Gigabyte B550 AORUS Elite V2 (AMD AM4) B550 ATX Motherboard= £139.99
• 1 x Crucial Ballistix 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-28800C16 3600MHz Dual Channel Kit= £79.99
• 1 x Corsair RM Series RM750 750W '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply (CP-9020195-UK)= £79.99
• 1 x WD Blue SN550 1TB SSD NVME M.2 2280 PCIe Gen3 Solid State Drive (WDS100T2B0C)= £89.99
• 1 x NZXT H510 Midi Tower Gaming Case - White Tempered Glass= £74.99
• 1 x Gigabyte 34" G34WQC-EK 3440x1440 VA 144Hz 1ms FreeSync/G-Sync Compatible Curved LED Backlit Ultrawid= £439.99

Total: £2,044.54 (includes shipping: £19.62)
​

 

[MutenJoshi]

I will not make you a basket like other have because there are sensible options up above, I will try and put down some thoughts on what you want.

I play Total War Warhammer II on a 34" 3440x1440 monitor and it is a fantastic experience and I love the 21-9 apect ratio for gaming and web browsing as well. My monitor is just 60 hz and fine for TW and World of tanks , I no longer play shooters so high refresh rate not needed for me. 3440x1440 is around half the pixels of 4k and is actually a way to future proof your gpu. 3070 is closer to a 3080 at lower res so if you go 4k you do need more gpu power.

You cannot really future proof a system , you can only make sensible choices. Decent B550 mobo with 5600x or 5800x if you really want 8 cores with a 3070 are all sensible choices. I have been trying to snag a 3080 past couple of weeks and what I have seen is that BOTs are autobuying 3070s at £750, I saw a bunch of 3070 TUF on sale for £700 and then they were gone in a minute and later a different card was up for £750 and gone almost instantly but 3070s at slightly higher prices will hang around to be purchased. To get a 3070 at near MSRP needs a lot of luck at the moment.

I did see an ex display version of a 3080 at just over £800 up for sale and when I clicked on it the message said 100+ people are trying to buy this item. 1 3080 and 100 bots and me trying to buy it .... I fought the bots and the bots won.

Thanks for the advice. It's very likely I'll stick to 1440p and eventually if I really want to, upgrade for 4K.

Any ideas on requirements for VR? Would the kind of build I've included in the above post be able to handle VR at a reasonable level? Again more a nice to have but just out of curiosity.