Gaming PC advice

x43r0

Just looking for some opinions on the following spec before I pull the trigger on it. I haven't used a PC primarily for gaming purposes since the mid-00's when I was lugging it around to friend's houses playing CS 1.6 and TF2.

Would really appreciate if anyone could run an eye over the below and let me know if it sounds sensible. Set budget for the PC is £3k (£1k set aside for monitor).

Some notes to explain my thinking:

- I'm not building this. Getting it from PC Specialist because there isn't enough of a price difference from what I can see to motivate me to build. I haven't found any major red flags to put me off PCS but would appreciate input on them as a choice to buy from if anyone has had good/bad experiences with them

- No plans to overclock at the moment.

- Primary use: Gaming, I mostly play Fortnite and Call of Duty but expecting this to handle some titles with heavier graphics. I'll use it for work too but don't expect database software or programming IDE's to be an issue.

- I'm well aware this is probably overkill but this is intended be an alternative to buying one of the new gen consoles out this year so I don't want to have to even think about upgrading parts for a long time.

- For monitor I've been driven mad trying to figure out what I want by balancing all the various factors but I think I've settled on a MSI Optix MPG341CQR 1440p ultrawide with 144hz refresh rate to give the best balance between gaming performance and screen real estate for work

- CPU: I went with the 3900XT purely because there was such little price difference between 3900/3900X/3900XT

- GPU: I had the choice between the standard 2080 ti and the ROG Strix one. Only went with the strix because it came in on budget but happy to save the money if someone tells me it's a waste. From what I could gather then main benefits I'd get are it runs quieter and cooler. I'm on the fence as to whether this justifies the ~£200 difference tbh

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 3900XT 3.8 GHz 12-Core Processor (£479.93 @ More Computers)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-U14S 82.52 CFM CPU Cooler (£62.91 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: Asus ROG Strix X570-F Gaming ATX AM4 Motherboard (£244.99 @ AWD-IT)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory (£139.98 @ Aria PC)
Storage: Seagate FireCuda 520 500 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive (£111.97 @ Laptops Direct)
Storage: Seagate BarraCuda 120 1 TB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£101.99 @ CCL Computers)
Storage: Seagate IronWolf Pro 6 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£196.97 @ Laptops Direct)
Video Card: Asus GeForce RTX 2080 Ti 11 GB ROG Strix Gaming OC Video Card (£1200.00 @ Currys PC World)
Case: Cooler Master MasterCase H500 ATX Mid Tower Case
Power Supply: Corsair RMx (2018) 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply (£424.99 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £2963.73
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-08-07 18:07 BST+0100

K.O.Kiki

That is a frankly dumb amount to pay for a PC.

Firstly, new graphics cards are releasing mid-September. That 2080 Ti? It's going to get replaced by a card that outperforms it MASSIVELY.

Second, you're going overkill on everything.
I know it's nice to be able to click "max everything" but half these items are server-grade & completely overkill for gaming.

Case
COOLERMASTER MASTERCASE H500 ARGB GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 9 3900XT 12 Core CPU (4.7GHz/70MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING B550-PLUS (DDR4, USB 3.2, 6Gb/s) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE RGB PRO DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 2070 SUPER - HDMI, 3x DP GeForce - RTX VR Ready!
1st Storage Drive
2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 256MB CACHE
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SAMSUNG 970 EVO PLUS M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3500MB/R, 3300MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 750W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
Noctua NH-U14S Ultra Quiet Performance CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6 AX200 2,400Mbps/5GHz, 300Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD + BT 5.0
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KUK-00001]
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Supplied on USB Drive
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
BullGuard™ Internet Security - Free 90 Day License inc. Gamer Mode
Browser
Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
2 - 3 DAY DELIVERY TO REPUBLIC OF IRELAND
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 16 to 18 working days

Price: €2,354.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.ie/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/37ad9F54gE/

Above cuts a €824 off your machine's price (€3,178.00 inc. VAT) and is still overkill for Fortnite/COD.

Also look at other UK boutique builders, e.g. CCL: https://www.cclonline.com/pc/gaming-pcs/shadow-hawk/ccl-shadow-hawk-xt-gaming-pc/0603040404020000000001/

Samuel T. Cogley

Either wait until the new GPUs are out in September, or reduce the budget to allow for a new card come September IMHO.

If you're maxing out everything 3600 instead of 3200 RAM with as tight a timings as budget allows.

BloodBath

Threw a build together as well to show you what you could get from a self build. There's probably a few on here who would build it for you for free or a small fee.

You could save a fair bit or get better parts. I'd also advise going for a cheaper GPU like the 2070S for now then selling and upgrading to a higher end RTX 3000 series when they release in Sept/Oct.

You only have 2 x m.2 slots so I'd advise getting a good PCIe3 2TB SSD like the one here and leaving the second slot free for a better higher capacity 4TB PCIe 4.0 SSD when they become cheaper and more mainstream in a couple of years time.

Instead of getting 1 high capacity HDD I put 2 x 2TB HDD's instead as they are more cost effective and less likely to fail. Single platter drives go up to 2TB. Multi platter are anything above that. The multi platter designs are far more prone to failures and you lose everything when you do. A 2TB drive fails it's an easy cheap replacement and it's less likely to fail.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 3900X 3.8 GHz 12-Core Processor (£418.09 @ Senetic)
CPU Cooler: NZXT Kraken X63 98.17 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler (£129.97 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: MSI MAG X570 TOMAHAWK WIFI ATX AM4 Motherboard (£219.95 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: G.Skill Trident Z RGB 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3600 CL17 Memory (£160.32 @ More Computers)
Storage: ADATA XPG SX8200 Pro 2 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive (£227.99 @ CCL Computers)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda Compute 2 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£52.95 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda Compute 2 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£52.95 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER 8 GB WINDFORCE OC 3X Video Card (£474.98 @ AWD-IT)
Case: Cooler Master MasterCase H500M ATX Mid Tower Case (£214.99 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: Corsair RM (2019) 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply (£109.99 @ Box Limited)
Total: £2062.18
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-08-09 20:49 BST+0100

x43r0

Thanks all - I'm gonna hold off and re-assess after the new GPUs are out