Need help building a game dev PC (tweak quoted spec or start from scratch?)

[sillygoose]

Hey hey! Firstly, apologies if this gets rambly, I have ASD and I'm not great at being concise! I contacted PC Specialist customer support for help & advice about getting a brand new PC as mine is over 10 years old and struggling with the tasks I want to do. The problem is, I am completely clueless when it comes to building PCs. I've only ever had 2 in my life and they were both pre-built gaming ones! I've tried looking into it, but it's really stressing me out. The sheer amount of choice is absolutely overwhelming to me.

I gave a fair bit of info and was sent a quote which I was advised to post here.

There are a few things I'd definitely change such as the case because the positioning of the USB sockets on the quoted build is not ideal for me, and I would also like to add more SSDs.

If you guys are able to help me come up with something suitable I would massively appreciate it.

Background & What I Need
So basically, I'm a (hobbyist) solo indie game dev, but also a gamer. I don't have the space for 2 separate PCs, so I was looking for something I can both create & play on. Though, being able to make games on it is more important to me than being able to play them if that makes any difference!

I need to be able to run graphical editing software smoothly, as well as audio-related software since I also make my own soundtracks for my projects. I don't currently do that much video editing, but part of the reason I avoid it is due to how terribly the software runs on my current PC, especially when rendering things, so it would be nice if I could perform video editing more smoothly too.

My current PC has a 1TB SSD which is nowhere near enough anymore to store all my project files & other assets. Ideally, I'd like to get 2 or 3 SSDs because my audio assets alone take up over 600GB of space.

I don't know if this matters at all, but I can't use an ethernet cable to get online due to the location of the PC, so I'm currently using an ancient Netgear WiFi adaptor thingy.

Unfortunately, the space I have to fit the PC in is quite awkward which restricts my choice of cases. I also need USB ports on the top rather than the front for easier access. After I measured the available space, as far as I can work out, the two most ideal cases I can see are:

Corsair ICUE 4000X RGB Tempered Glass Mid-Tower ATX Case - White
or
Fractal North TG Gaming Case (White)

Both of those would fit in the space I have + the USB sockets are positioned about as helpfully as possible for where I'd be putting the PC. I'm leaning towards the Fractal North one based on it having an extra USB 3.0 over the Corsair one.

My Budget
£1500-£3000 (I really don't mind going to the upper end of it if it means getting something that's going to massively improve my user experience)

The Quoted Spec

Case
HYTE Y40 BLACK MID-TOWER CASE
Promotional Item
Get a discount code for 20% off select peripherals at Corsair.com
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D Eight Core CPU (4.2GHz-5.0GHz/104MB w/3D V-CACHE/AM5)
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING X670E-PLUS WIFI (AM5, DDR5, PCIe 5.0, Wi-Fi 6E)
Memory (RAM)
64GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR5 5600MHz (4 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
16GB ASUS TUF GEFORCE RTX 4070 Ti SUPER OC EDITION - HDMI, DP
Graphics Card Support Bracket
NONE (BRACKET INCLUDED AS STANDARD ON 4070 Ti / RX 7700 XT AND ABOVE)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SAMSUNG 980 PRO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 7000MB/R, 5000MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 850W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead, 1.0mm Core)
Processor Cooling
CORSAIR iCUE H150i ELITE CAPELLIX XT RGB High Performance CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
ONBOARD 2.5Gbe LAN PORT
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Windows 11 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10/11 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Microsoft® Edge
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 5 to 7 working days
Welcome Book
PCSpecialist Welcome Book
Price: £2,543.00 including VAT and Delivery

 

[SpyderTracks]

Yeah, I can see where they’re coming from but I think that’s more catering purely for gameplay rather than developing and rendering, and given your budget I definitely think you can get a better all rounder.

Can you confirm what make and model monitor you’re gaming on?

 

[sillygoose]

Well, that's good to know! I always get extremely anxious about big tech purchases because I'm so out of my depth that I'm always afraid I won't be getting the best possible product for my budget.

I use 2 different Lenovo monitors side by side when I'm doing dev stuff cos it helps me see differences in colour, but the one I've currently got as my main is apparently a Lenovo C24-25.

If I'm being completely honest though, the dev stuff has occupied almost all of my former gaming time! I'm more likely to game on my Switch nowadays than my PC, so when it comes to building a new PC, the dev stuff definitely takes priority.

Yeah, I can see where they’re coming from but I think that’s more catering purely for gameplay rather than developing and rendering, and given your budget I definitely think you can get a better all rounder.

Can you confirm what make and model monitor you’re gaming on?

 

[SpyderTracks]

Well, that's good to know! I always get extremely anxious about big tech purchases because I'm so out of my depth that I'm always afraid I won't be getting the best possible product for my budget.

I use 2 different Lenovo monitors side by side when I'm doing dev stuff cos it helps me see differences in colour, but the one I've currently got as my main is apparently a Lenovo C24-25.

If I'm being completely honest though, the dev stuff has occupied almost all of my former gaming time! I'm more likely to game on my Switch nowadays than my PC, so when it comes to building a new PC, the dev stuff definitely takes priority.

I’ll come back to this in the morning, gonna grab some zzz’s. But we can definitely put something better suited together

 

[sillygoose]

I’ll come back to this in the morning, gonna grab some zzz’s. But we can definitely put something better suited together

Yeah, I headed off to bed myself since it was pretty late, haha. That's awesome though! Thank you so much for your help. Hope you were able to get a decent snooze!

 

[SpyderTracks]

This is where I'd suggest. The Fractal North can only fit the radiator on the front of the case which then severely limits the length of the GPU you can have to the point where it's highly restrictive.

Case
CORSAIR 4000D RGB AIRFLOW TEMPERED GLASS GAMING CASE - WHITE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D 16 Core CPU (4.2GHz-5.7GHz/144MB w/3D V-CACHE/AM5)
Motherboard
ASUS® ROG STRIX X670E-A GAMING WIFI (AM5, DDR5, PCIe 5.0, Wi-Fi 6E)
Memory (RAM)
64GB Corsair VENGEANCE RGB DDR5 5600MHz (2 x 32GB) AMD
Graphics Card
16GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 4070 Ti SUPER - HDMI, DP, LHR
Graphics Card Support Bracket
NONE (BRACKET INCLUDED AS STANDARD ON 4070 Ti / RX 7700 XT AND ABOVE)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SOLIDIGM P44 PRO GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 7000MB/sR, 6500MB/sW)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
2TB SOLIDIGM P41+ GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 4125MB/sR, 3325MB/sW)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 1200W RMx SHIFT SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead, 1.0mm Core)
Processor Cooling
CORSAIR ICUE LINK H150i RGB HIGH PERFORMANCE CPU COOLER
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
ONBOARD 2.5Gbe LAN PORT
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Windows 11 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10/11 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Microsoft® Edge
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 4 to 6 working days
Price: £2,852.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am5-pc/5XDcXrD0C3/

 

[sillygoose]

This is where I'd suggest. The Fractal North can only fit the radiator on the front of the case which then severely limits the length of the GPU you can have to the point where it's highly restrictive.

Ah, right. That's a shame because it probably would've blended in well, but the look of the case isn't super important to me since I can't really see much of it when I'm sat at my desk anyhow. I'd never have realised something like that, so I'm glad you mentioned it!

Thanks so much for taking the time to suggest a better build. I didn't even know where to start or whether what was originally recommended to me was ideal or not. So yeah, I really appreciate it a lot! Cheers for all your help :3 It'll be nice to have an upgrade after so many years, haha.

 

[SpyderTracks]

Ah, right. That's a shame because it probably would've blended in well, but the look of the case isn't super important to me since I can't really see much of it when I'm sat at my desk anyhow. I'd never have realised something like that, so I'm glad you mentioned it!

Thanks so much for taking the time to suggest a better build. I didn't even know where to start or whether what was originally recommended to me was ideal or not. So yeah, I really appreciate it a lot! Cheers for all your help :3 It'll be nice to have an upgrade after so many years, haha.

Pleasure.

TLDR, the CPU is far far stronger for multithreaded workloads (rendering, image processing) while maintaining very much the same performance in gaming, better SSD layout (you never want one drive, always split the OS and other purposes. Assuming you have some HDD's which you can carry over from your existing build). They'd specced an extremely expensive GPU without any real cause, and this has a far better PSU to allow for any GPU upgrade you may wish to do in the future whereas the other system would have required a PSU replacement if you'd gone up a tier (which means a full system rebuild in essence)