New Gaming PC with Monitor, Spec Advice

[TimDur]

Hi all,

I was hoping for a small bit of advice please on my new purchase.

I only use this PC for gaming, and I only play first person games, so my preference is for high image quality (opposed to higher frame rates for esports etc). My fave game at the moment is Far Cry 5 (followed by Skyrim) and I'm really looking forward to the viking Assassins Creed & Cyberpunk 2077.

As a reference, this is my current build, which I've had for over 8 years (hence the upgrade):

NVidia GTX 680
Intel i7 3930k
16GB RAM
Monitor: Samsung S24E510C (1920x1080)

I've argued with myself about 1440p vs 4k monitor, and settled ith a 1440p with G-Sync, but I am very much open to advice on that front!

Lastly, I'm not bothered by lots of lights and LEDs (if anything, I'd rather have a plain black case - so long as the airflow/fans are good enough), but most of the correct-sized cases had windows *shrug*

Case	FRACTAL MESHIFY C BLACK GAMING CASE (Window)
Overclocked CPU	Overclocked Intel® Core™ i7-10700K Eight Core (3.8GHz @ up to 5.0GHz)
Motherboard	ASUS® ROG MAXIMUS XII HERO Wi-Fi (LGA1200, USB 3.2, CrossFireX/SLI) - ARGB Ready
Memory (RAM)	16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card	11GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 2080 Ti - HDMI, 3x DP GeForce - RTX VR Ready!
1st Storage Drive	1TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA 120 2.5" SSD, (up to 560MB/sR | 540MB/sW)
2nd Storage Drive	2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 256MB CACHE
External DVD/BLU-RAY Drive	8x Slim USB 2.0 External DVD-RW
Power Supply	CORSAIR 650W TXm SERIES™ SEMI-MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable	1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling	Corsair H100x Hydro Cooler w/ PCS Ultra Quiet Fans
Thermal Paste	ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
Sound Card	Asus Xonar SE 5.1-Channel Gaming Audio Card
Wireless/Wired Networking	10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)
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	NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser	Google Chrome™
Monitor	ASUS PG279QE 27" IPS G-Sync ROG Swift
Monitor Cables	1 x 2m DisplayPort Adapter Cable - Mini DP (m) to DP (m)

With the monitor this is coming out at the higher end of my budget, so if anything I have is superfluous I'd be interested to hear it. I don't plan on upgrading again any time soon so I hope the build lasts (as much as it can do, given how fast PCs evolve)

Your thoughts are very much appreciated.

p.s. I couldn't see a SSD Samsung 970 EVO? Only the 860?

 

[TimDur]

Apologies, found the quick link on the website for the spec if this helps:

Case
FRACTAL MESHIFY C BLACK GAMING CASE (Window)
Overclocked CPU
Overclocked Intel® Core™ i7-10700K Eight Core (3.8GHz @ up to 5.0GHz)
Motherboard
ASUS® ROG MAXIMUS XII HERO Wi-Fi (LGA1200, USB 3.2, CrossFireX/SLI) - ARGB Ready
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
11GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 2080 Ti - HDMI, 3x DP GeForce - RTX VR Ready!
1st Storage Drive
1TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA 120 2.5" SSD, (up to 560MB/sR | 540MB/sW)
2nd Storage Drive
2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 256MB CACHE
External DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
8x Slim USB 2.0 External DVD-RW
Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W TXm SERIES™ SEMI-MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
Corsair H100x Hydro Cooler w/ PCS Ultra Quiet Fans
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
Sound Card
Asus Xonar SE 5.1-Channel Gaming Audio Card
Wireless/Wired Networking
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)
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
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Google Chrome™
Monitor
ASUS PG279QE 27" IPS G-Sync ROG Swift
Monitor Cables
1 x 2m DisplayPort Adapter Cable - Mini DP (m) to DP (m)
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 20 to 22 working days
Price: £0.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-z490-overclocked/RUN0EjAhf2/

 

[TimDur]

Daft of me - I've now found the Samsung 970 EVO disk - updating:

Case
FRACTAL MESHIFY C BLACK GAMING CASE (Window)
Overclocked CPU
Overclocked Intel® Core™ i7-10700K Eight Core (3.8GHz @ up to 5.0GHz)
Motherboard
ASUS® ROG MAXIMUS XII HERO Wi-Fi (LGA1200, USB 3.2, CrossFireX/SLI) - ARGB Ready
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
11GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 2080 Ti - 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)
External DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
8x Slim USB 2.0 External DVD-RW
Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W TXm SERIES™ SEMI-MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
Corsair H100x Hydro Cooler w/ PCS Ultra Quiet Fans
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
Sound Card
Asus Xonar SE 5.1-Channel Gaming Audio Card
Wireless/Wired Networking
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)
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
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Google Chrome™
Monitor
ASUS PG279QE 27" IPS G-Sync ROG Swift
Monitor Cables
1 x 2m DisplayPort Adapter Cable - Mini DP (m) to DP (m)
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 20 to 22 working days
Price: £0.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-z490-overclocked/mwtgD4acHt/

 

[Chris-Wenger]

i would recommend changing the cpu to amd to a ryzen 9 3900x or ryzen 7 3800x as intel has fallen behind in performance and its still getting worse due to constant issues they have on old architecture and need to constantly patch it which reduces performance

 

[TimDur]

Thank you, that's interesting- I assumed the AMD/Intel thing was more like the iphone/android debate, but Intel is falling behind a bit? I read somewhere that as I'm primarily using it for gaming I didn't need to worry about the higher amount of AMD cores (or something!) 😊

What about the GPU and monitor for the graphics, do they all sound good, or is it worth bumping for a 4k now rather than down the road?

 

[keithbeaks]

Regarding gaming and intel I think it makes a difference for pro gamers, but outside of that you won't notice the difference.

There's a few people on here with great knowledge, who are very helpful as well. What's your max budget? There's a few things to consider like new gen GPU's out this autumn/winter and what monitor you will be using for this system?

You probably want to bump your PSU up to an Rmx model and the platinum cooler's, 110/115i, are considered better than the model you have currently.

But I don't know enough to help with the overall build. There's a great guide here which gave me a better understanding:

Desktop Building Guide - April 2023

A "quick" reference guide to building the perfect system. This is the sort of logic I go through when suggesting systems, so thought I would jot it down on the page. Clearly this is an ever changing suite of options but I'll update periodically as my default go-to's change... I'm noticing the...

www.pcspecialist.co.uk

 

[TimDur]

Thank you Keith,

This spec is coming out at around £3.2k including the monitor, which is at the top end of my budget, but I can stretch to a better PSU for sure.

The monitor is the ASUS PG279QE 27" IPS G-Sync ROG Swift, which isn't a 4k monitor, but rated highly overall. I am very interested in GPU and monitor advice at this end of the specs, given I'm not an eSports gamer and don't do online matches so a huge frame rate is less important to me than graphics. I like it to look pretty! Lol

 

[SpyderTracks]

I personally would do it differently, I would just cater for your current monitor with the purchase, so get a GTX1660 Super, then when you get a better monitor (I would strongly advise 1440p Ultrawide or Superwide if budget allows, far better than anything else), then I would upgrade the GPU to an upcoming RTX3080.

Reason being, 3080 will outperform an RTX2080ti by quite a margin whilst being substantially cheaper. Plus it will have much stronger Tensor cores so will handle Ray Tracing much better, it's just a much better buy.

So by splitting the GPU's, you'd actually pay about the same money as you would if you bought a 2080ti, but you'd overall get much better performance.

 

[TimDur]

Unfortunately I haven't the space for an ultra-wide monitor, so I'd probably stick closer to a 27-30 inch screen I think - which is a shame to say the least!

I like the rest of your suggestions - am I right in saying that as 4k isn't really a thing yet regardless of frame rates that I may as well not go with the 2080ti and stick with the super for 1440p? I'd like some thoughts on the whole 2080 super vs ti if possible - I'm guessing that the increase in price doesn't reflect the same increase in power between the GPUs?

 

[TimDur]

I personally would do it differently, I would just cater for your current monitor with the purchase, so get a GTX1660 Super, then when you get a better monitor (I would strongly advise 1440p Ultrawide or Superwide if budget allows, far better than anything else), then I would upgrade the GPU to an upcoming RTX3080.

Reason being, 3080 will outperform an RTX2080ti by quite a margin whilst being substantially cheaper. Plus it will have much stronger Tensor cores so will handle Ray Tracing much better, it's just a much better buy.

So by splitting the GPU's, you'd actually pay about the same money as you would if you bought a 2080ti, but you'd overall get much better performance.

I wrote my last post before I saw this.

If I get the larger monitors now, with the specs you list above, then when it comes out purchase the RTX3080 and plug it in to 'complete the build'?

But if I don't go for an ultrawide monitor, there's no point in having a high level GPU?

 

[TimDur]

Yes.....the GPU will plug straight in without any other upgrades as the basic system is at a high enough level.,

Even without Ultrawide, you will still need a high-level card.....of the current cards, for 1440p 144Hz gaming you would need the 2070 Super (am not sure of it's equivalent within the new lineup coming)

Right, so normally I'd need a 2070 Super or there abouts, but as I intend on going for the 3080 when it's released I'd best go for a lower level one now, and use the savings to go towards the next card.

Either way, even if I stuck with around a 27 inch screen and decided not to wait for the 3080 to be released, the 2080ti is still unnecessary and overpriced for my needs.

 

[SpyderTracks]

Right, so normally I'd need a 2070 Super or there abouts, but as I intend on going for the 3080 when it's released I'd best go for a lower level one now, and use the savings to go towards the next card.

Either way, even if I stuck with around a 27 inch screen and decided not to wait for the 3080 to be released, the 2080ti is still unnecessary and overpriced for my needs.

If you’re getting 1440p 144hz then you wouldn’t need a 3080 it’s waaay overpowered, a 3060 would be more than enough.

 

[TimDur]

Thank you both for your very helpful advice

 

[Scott]

I think you're missing a trick not opting for the ultrawide to be honest. I would definitely take some time to actually view the screens in person now that stores are open (PCworld maybe?).

I would definitely opt for the 1660 Super right now. The Odyssey screens are selling out from Samsung but I would love one of those for a system such as this.

As you have a working system right now it definitely makes sense to hold out for some real juice in September. Only time to go all out right now is if you are starting from scratch.

 

[TimDur]

I think you're missing a trick not opting for the ultrawide to be honest. I would definitely take some time to actually view the screens in person now that stores are open (PCworld maybe?).

I would definitely opt for the 1660 Super right now. The Odyssey screens are selling out from Samsung but I would love one of those for a system such as this.

As you have a working system right now it definitely makes sense to hold out for some real juice in September. Only time to go all out right now is if you are starting from scratch.

Yes, I decided to hold off for a small bit to give it some thought and look at options in shops where possible (a measuring tape can only tell you so much!)

Also, while I'm updating some bits in the next few months, what do you think about a soundbar? I may get a sound card to go with it, but interested as to your thoughts on them. I currently have an old (but fully functioning) Logitech 5.1 system (though for the life of me I couldn't tell you its model)

 

[Scott]

I would be quite happy with an old 5.1 sound system to be honest. Believe it or not, the tech doesn't really change that much so if you have a working 5.1 sound system from Logitech, it's not going to be much different from a modern day 5.1 system.

Starting from scratch I wouldn't go down the soundbar route, I would be more interested in a good quality 2.1 system.

Regardless, the on-board audio is going to have you covered there. There's no need to think about a soundcard until you are into spatial audio setups (9-11 channels I believe).

The irony is, that a decent set of cans would knock this out the park for you with minimal fuss. Stick on some regular old headphones and stick some 8D Audio on youtube to experience what can be done with stereo headphones.

With regards to the monitor. If you aren't at a hard stop at either end of the desk then the monitor will happily overhang. I would be surprised if you couldn't get at least an ultrawide on just about any desk though.

 

[Scott]

I agree about the headphones....a decent set with on-board audio is unbelievable. I recently bought a Steelseries headset and the audio through those is actually better than it is through my very good, albeit near 20 year old, Technics sound system

Yeah, it's a different style of audio altogether. Gaming audio is all effects and basically tricks. There's no real finesse to it, it's very much in your face. This makes it sound very, very impressive.

The great thing now is that the gaming headsets, when you spend some cash, are decent headphones too. I have a set of WH1000xm3's. They are astounding headphones for wireless, right on point for my preferred sound too (I like a bit of bass). They make cracking gaming headphones too thanks to their overall good sound stage. The gaming headsets that I have tried don't have the precision that they do, but they do have the sound stage (which is what matters with gaming), the key thing is though that they're half the freaking price. £100-£200 you can't really go wrong with any of them. I'm really impressed with where the headsets have came over the past 5 years.

BTW... check out the 8D audio. It's a gimmick and no good for actual listening as the sound is all over the place..... but you'll understand what I mean about the sound stage and the elevation of the sound.

 

[SpyderTracks]

I don't know...my Steelseries headset has a good deal of audio quality rather the just quantity...the trebles and mids are clear, the bass is, well, bassy (and I haven't even moved them out of the default audio setting yet)...I admit that maybe most of the music I listen to (drum n bass, dance, EDM etc) doesn't need clarity and maybe the headsert wouldn't sound so good with Classical or something. I certainly wasn't expecting the audio to be as good as it is when I bought them as my impression had always been that gaming headsets had poor audio...then again, for £150, I'd expect them to have some good quality

I bought a steelseries Arctic 7 wireless headset at the end of last year and I’m blown away by how good they are, and as you say, not just for surround gaming, but also for music and media, punch well above their price point, best headset I’ve ever owned hands down, and that’s including some true 7.1 cans with individual drivers for each position which were 3 times the cost.

 

[Scott]

I don't know...my Steelseries headset has a good deal of audio quality rather the just quantity...the trebles and mids are clear, the bass is, well, bassy (and I haven't even moved them out of the default audio setting yet)...I admit that maybe most of the music I listen to (drum n bass, dance, EDM etc) doesn't need clarity and maybe the headsert wouldn't sound so good with Classical or something. I certainly wasn't expecting the audio to be as good as it is when I bought them as my impression had always been that gaming headsets had poor audio...then again, for £150, I'd expect them to have some good quality

No doubt, that's kind of my point. Years ago they weren't anywhere near as good as they are now. What I'm saying is they aren't that far off the cans I have for audio quality when they aren't even particularly designed to compete. There is a noticeable difference in clarity in the mids/trebles and there is a bit more separation to note.... but that's being really critical on an area that they aren't designed to compete in.

 

[TimDur]

Ha, this is all great, thank you - I'll check out some headsets too.

In the meantime, I'll also look at some ultrawide monitors - do most single player games support it, or will I usually end up with black bands on either side of my screen?