[SOLVED] £1000 Gaming Build - Please Advise

Readycheck

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Good evening all,

Currently looking to replace a 6 year old rig that's still running strong for basic use but needs refreshing for any next gen titles. As my priorities have changed massively after becoming a father and not spending half as much time on a PC as I used to, I was looking to limit myself to about £1000 and was HOPING to build something that will at least hold it's own for 2 years minimum and run things like (firstly) Borderlands 3, potentially new Elder Scrolls when announced, Cyber punk etc. The build below is based around a Scan XS customer 1660 build but swapped out a few parts and improved the processor (i think)

Reviews for the 1660TI seem good enough and picked the processor on Bench marking vs rating vs price ratio.


Revised version


I would love your feedback on anything that is great/awful and any tweaks that may be required. Also anywhere where shelling out another £50 would be advantageous. Honesty is good as if I'm parting with a grand it needs to be a good decision and reviewed by people much more in the know than myself.

Peripherals not required.

Thank you
 
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Solution
PCPartPicker Part List

Type|Item|Price
:----|:----|:----
CPU | AMD Ryzen 5 3600X 3.8 GHz 6-Core Processor | £218.99 @ Amazon UK
CPU Cooler | be quiet! Pure Rock Slim 35.14 CFM CPU Cooler | £19.99 @ Amazon UK
Motherboard | MSI B450M GAMING PLUS Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard | £71.99 @ CCL Computers
Memory | Kingston HyperX Predator 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory | £81.58 @ Amazon UK
Storage | Intel 660p Series 1.02 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive | £97.97 @ CCL Computers
Video Card | MSI Radeon RX 5700 XT 8 GB Video Card | £377.97 @ CCL Computers
Case | Fractal Design Focus G ATX Mid Tower Case | £51.15 @ CCL Computers...

Eximo

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Overclocking CPU on non-overclocking motherboard. Limited CPU cooler.

Not a huge fan of the power supply. Splurge a little and pick up a Corsair RM550x or something. Protect your investment.

Everything else is okay.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i5-9600K 3.7 GHz 6-Core Processor (£221.58 @ Aria PC)
CPU Cooler: CRYORIG H7 49 CFM CPU Cooler (£34.99 @ AWD-IT)
Motherboard: Asus PRIME Z390-P ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (£110.42 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory (£79.54 @ Box Limited)
Storage: Intel 660p Series 512 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive (£56.10 @ CCL Computers)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda Computer 2 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£53.99 @ Box Limited)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti 6 GB XC GAMING Video Card (£268.98 @ Technextday)
Case: Corsair Carbide Series 275R ATX Mid Tower Case (£69.95 @ Box Limited)
Power Supply: Corsair RMx (2018) 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply (£79.00 @ AWD-IT)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Pro OEM 64-bit
Total: £974.55
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-08-16 22:15 BST+0100
 

Readycheck

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Mar 24, 2014
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Tweaked to the below, hopefully on the right track?


Noticed in the other £1000 rig build thread, 90% of people are option for AMD Ryzen over Intel. Is that something I should be considering or not required? I don't want to have to replace or upgrade for ideally 3 years or. (obviously nobody knows realistically what the future holds but you know where I'm coming from)
 
Here is the list:

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor (£188.99 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: Gigabyte B450M DS3H Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard (£64.99 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory (£86.98 @ CCL Computers)
Storage: Intel 660p Series 512 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive (£56.10 @ CCL Computers)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce RTX 2070 8 GB Black Video Card (£436.40 @ Alza)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case (£56.56 @ CCL Computers)
Power Supply: SeaSonic FOCUS Plus Gold 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply (£72.77 @ CCL Computers)
Total: £962.79
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-08-17 06:41 BST+0100


This will be the best performing build for that budget.
 

Readycheck

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Mar 24, 2014
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Thank you for your reply,

That's quite a change. Can you clarify a just a few things please?

- GFX Card has jumped by £170. No doubt the RTX is a serious card but is it really worth the extra money based on the difference between that at the 1660 TI?

- Processor swapped from I5 9600 to AMD Ryzen 5 3600. Is there a specific reason for swapping Intel to AMD or just a personal preference?

- Case swapped for a slightly cheaper alternative but from what I can see the 275R is a better option?

I also noticed the cooler/storage drive are now gone which I need so I can add another £100 to that price.
 
Thank you for your reply,

That's quite a change. Can you clarify a just a few things please?

- GFX Card has jumped by £170. No doubt the RTX is a serious card but is it really worth the extra money based on the difference between that at the 1660 TI?

- Processor swapped from I5 9600 to AMD Ryzen 5 3600. Is there a specific reason for swapping Intel to AMD or just a personal preference?

- Case swapped for a slightly cheaper alternative but from what I can see the 275R is a better option?

I also noticed the cooler/storage drive are now gone which I need so I can add another £100 to that price.
RTX 2070 is about 50-60% more powerful than GTX 1660Ti which is a huge performance gain. That big difference in performance will surely improve your gaming experience.

Intel i5-9600K brings your total budget allotment for CPU+CPU Cooler+Motherboard way higher than what R5 3600 is offering. When it comes to performance thanks to big jump in performance for AMD from 2nd to 3rd gen Ryzen CPU. R5 3600 is very-much near to i5-9600K and performs even better depending on the game and its CPU utilization as i5-9600 comes with 6C/6T while R5 3600 offers 6C/12T.

Yes both 200R and 275R are great cases. 275R is newer version no big difference so yes you can choose 275R.
 
PCPartPicker Part List

Type|Item|Price
:----|:----|:----
CPU | AMD Ryzen 5 3600X 3.8 GHz 6-Core Processor | £218.99 @ Amazon UK
CPU Cooler | be quiet! Pure Rock Slim 35.14 CFM CPU Cooler | £19.99 @ Amazon UK
Motherboard | MSI B450M GAMING PLUS Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard | £71.99 @ CCL Computers
Memory | Kingston HyperX Predator 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory | £81.58 @ Amazon UK
Storage | Intel 660p Series 1.02 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive | £97.97 @ CCL Computers
Video Card | MSI Radeon RX 5700 XT 8 GB Video Card | £377.97 @ CCL Computers
Case | Fractal Design Focus G ATX Mid Tower Case | £51.15 @ CCL Computers
Power Supply | SeaSonic FOCUS Plus Gold 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply | £72.77 @ CCL Computers
| Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts |
| Total | £992.41
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-08-17 10:14 BST+0100 |

Cpu = i7 8700k (but cheaper)
Gpu = RTX 2070 (but cheaper)
 
Solution

Readycheck

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Mar 24, 2014
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Thank you for the detailed responses and explanations, it's massively appreciated. I have taken everything in to account and come up with the below. Can you just confirm if it's solid or If I've missed something obvious. Had the 2 flagged issues below but not sure if they just need flagging as invalid or if I have messed up.

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/dGgNJ8

  • Warning!Some AMD B450 chipset motherboards may need a BIOS update prior to using Zen 2 CPUs. Upgrading the BIOS may require a different CPU that is supported by older BIOS revisions.
  • Note:Some physical dimension restrictions cannot (yet) be automatically checked, such as cpu cooler / RAM clearance with modules using tall heat spreaders

One final question before I submit a tweaked build for your approval and hit BUY NOW.

Noticed a fair few builds in the £1000 budget list, including the first one posted by King Dranzer have no CPW cooler listed. Is this intentional or just missed? I tried adding a few to the build and got an error along the lines of may need additional mounting brackets so I opted for a fan rather than direct attachment.
 
All AMD ryzen 2xxx or 3xxx processors include a stock cooler. Heck, newer Ryzen 7s and r9s come with RGB coolers oemed by cooler master.

The 3600 comes with a small Wraith Stealth CPU cooler. It can be used with no performance issues, but the cpu will runs in the 80c under load the cooler will be a little loud. The pure rock slim should be a cheap fix.

Some older coolers are not compatible with am4 so they need brackets to work with newer ryzen motherboards. The pure rock slim should ship with compatable mounting hardware for AM4.
 
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Will the cooler/case have added in my newest build be sufficient to support the cpu temp or will it sound like a jet engine on the desk? I just want to protect my investment. Only ran 50 over budget in the end. If swapping case to a fractal is beneficial that's fine. My current tower is a fractal r4 and its served me well.

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/dGgNJ8
I would recommend going with better motherboard
https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/product/hpRzK8/gigabyte-b450m-ds3h-micro-atx-am4-motherboard-b450m-ds3h

That MSI board is low-tier B450 board. The Gigabyte board which I provided link for is mid-tier B450 board. That low-tier MSI board has meany features cut down to save on budget still. Limited features etc.
 

Readycheck

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Mar 24, 2014
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You timed that post beautifully because the Mobo was out of stock on Scan anyway so I have switched back to your recommendation.

Noticed the SSD below is very popular but nobody seems to use it on the budget £1000 builds. Am I missing something glaring or can the Intel 660p be swapped out safely for this Samsung?

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/product/6yKcCJ/samsung-860-evo-500gb-25-solid-state-drive-mz-76e500bam

The 750W version of the SeaSonic PSU you recommended is also on offer and only £10 more than the 550w version. Is there any advantage at all to jumping up to 750?
 
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Intel 660p is very good SSD and is very fast NVME drive unlike SAMSUNG 860 EVO which is SATA drive and is comparatively slow. There is no issue with 660p probably the reason they are not included in £1000 listings is that many of them were unaware of its existence(not doing enough research) or was not available for meaningful price as it is now.