[SOLVED] 1440p @120fps Gaming Build

andy80

Commendable
Sep 14, 2019
9
0
1,510
Hi guys,

I apologise in advance for the noobiness.

New to gaming and building PC's but I'm keen to learn.

I used to play UT back in 2004 (I think) when I was a kid when it was available on Mac's. I would like to build a PC capable of gaming at 1440p @ 140fps.
As I understand it, different games use different amounts of your computers resources. I'm mainly into first person shooters, Call of Duty and UT (when it comes out) etc.

I've been watching YouTube videos to get a rough idea of costs and I want to spend around $1000-1200. Is this realistic? I'm not bothered at all about fancy looking RGB lights and stuff. I don't know what hardware I should go with though. For example, can I get away with an AMD 5 or will I need a 7 etc. And whats the difference if I use Intel? I've seen RTX 2070 seems adequate but again I don't really know. More interested in performance at low cost, but not absolute minimum cost if that makes sense (so that its future proof to a certain degree).

I'm not interested in 4K gaming if that has an effect on things.

Also I do photo editing so would like this PC to be capable of performing as a workstation too.

My monitor specs: 27” 1440p 144Hz

So.... My question is... What should my shopping list look like?

Thanks in advance,

Andy
 
Hi guys,

I apologise in advance for the noobiness.

New to gaming and building PC's but I'm keen to learn.

I used to play UT back in 2004 (I think) when I was a kid when it was available on Mac's. I would like to build a PC capable of gaming at 1440p @ 140fps.
As I understand it, different games use different amounts of your computers resources. I'm mainly into first person shooters, Call of Duty and UT (when it comes out) etc.

I've been watching YouTube videos to get a rough idea of costs and I want to spend around $1000-1200. Is this realistic? I'm not bothered at all about fancy looking RGB lights and stuff. I don't know what hardware I should go with though. For example, can I get away with an AMD 5 or will I need a 7 etc. And whats the difference if I use Intel? I've seen RTX 2070 seems adequate but again I don't really know. More interested in performance at low cost, but not absolute minimum cost if that makes sense (so that its future proof to a certain degree).

I'm not interested in 4K gaming if that has an effect on things.

Also I do photo editing so would like this PC to be capable of performing as a workstation too.

My monitor specs: 27” 1440p 144Hz

So.... My question is... What should my shopping list look like?

Thanks in advance,

Andy
Depends on the settings you want to use. Because the new COD has RTX and you won’t be getting near 100 at 1440p with that on. Would you like a build list? What size of PC/colour you looking for, do you need a mouse and KB etc?
 
This is what i'd do:
PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor ($194.79 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: MSI X570-A PRO ATX AM4 Motherboard ($149.89 @ OutletPC)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 Memory ($87.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial P1 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($99.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER 8 GB WINDFORCE OC 3X Video Card ($499.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Phanteks Eclipse P400A ATX Mid Tower Case ($72.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: SeaSonic FOCUS Plus Gold 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($89.89 @ OutletPC)
Total: $1195.52
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-09-14 14:03 EDT-0400
 
Solution

andy80

Commendable
Sep 14, 2019
9
0
1,510
Depends on the settings you want to use. Because the new COD has RTX and you won’t be getting near 100 at 1440p with that on. Would you like a build list? What size of PC/colour you looking for, do you need a mouse and KB etc?

Thanks for your reply LordVile!

I really appreciate you getting back to me. I've been looking around this evening and on Youtube and seen that the RTX 2070 Super with MSI fans on looks like a good card. I can stretch the budget a bit but not too much. Also whats the difference between a low end AMD Ryzen 7 and the highest AMD Ryzen 5 apart from the number of cores? Is the performance worth it? Also is it worth having a high spec SSD for the OS and a 7200RPM HDD for saving game content/general storage worthwhile?

A list would be v much appreciated. Not bothered about colour/aesthetics and I have all the peripherals already.
 
Last edited:

andy80

Commendable
Sep 14, 2019
9
0
1,510
This is what i'd do:
PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor ($194.79 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: MSI X570-A PRO ATX AM4 Motherboard ($149.89 @ OutletPC)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 Memory ($87.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial P1 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($99.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER 8 GB WINDFORCE OC 3X Video Card ($499.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Phanteks Eclipse P400A ATX Mid Tower Case ($72.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: SeaSonic FOCUS Plus Gold 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($89.89 @ OutletPC)
Total: $1195.52
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-09-14 14:03 EDT-0400

Thankyou for taking the time to do this! I really appreciate it. Thanks the exact card I was looking at. Would getting a higher spec processsor be overkilling it/wasting unnecessary money?
 
Thankyou for taking the time to do this! I really appreciate it. Thanks the exact card I was looking at. Would getting a higher spec processsor be overkilling it/wasting unnecessary money?
The single core performance is pretty much identical across all 3rd gen Ryzen cpus. With Ryzen 7 though you get 2 more cores over the Ryzen 5.
However, most games don't use more than 6 threads as of now so paying over $100 for those 2 extra cores isn't really worth it.
 
Thanks for your reply LordVile!

I really appreciate you getting back to me. I've been looking around this evening and on Youtube and seen that the RTX 2070 Super with MSI fans on looks like a good card. I can stretch the budget a bit but not too much. Also whats the difference between a low end AMD Ryzen 7 and the highest AMD Ryzen 5 apart from the number of cores? Is the performance worth it? Also is it worth having a high spec SSD for the OS and a 7200RPM HDD for saving game content/general storage worthwhile?

A list would be v much appreciated. Not bothered about colour/aesthetics and I have all the peripherals already.

honestly would probably go R5 with a 5700XT AMD SSDs aren’t expensive now you can get a 1TB model for 100~
 

andy80

Commendable
Sep 14, 2019
9
0
1,510
The single core performance is pretty much identical across all 3rd gen Ryzen cpus. With Ryzen 7 though you get 2 more cores over the Ryzen 5.
However, most games don't use more than 6 threads as of now so paying over $100 for those 2 extra cores isn't really worth it.
:)Thanks for the input Finstar
 
Last edited:
This will last you longer with same performance...

PCPartPicker Part List

Type|Item|Price
:----|:----|:----
CPU | AMD Ryzen 7 3700X 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor | $329.00 @ Amazon
Motherboard | MSI X570-A PRO ATX AM4 Motherboard | $149.89 @ OutletPC
Memory | G.Skill Ripjaws V 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 Memory | $87.99 @ Newegg
Storage | HP EX920 512 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive | $61.99 @ Newegg
Video Card | MSI Radeon RX 5700 XT 8 GB MECH OC Video Card | $424.99 @ Newegg
Case | Fractal Design Focus G ATX Mid Tower Case | $55.88 @ Amazon
Power Supply | SeaSonic FOCUS Plus Gold 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply | $99.99 @ Amazon
| Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts |
| Total (before mail-in rebates) | $1229.73
| Mail-in rebates | -$20.00
| Total | $1209.73
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-09-14 16:54 EDT-0400 |
 
  • Like
Reactions: helper800

andy80

Commendable
Sep 14, 2019
9
0
1,510
This will last you longer with same performance...

PCPartPicker Part List

Type|Item|Price
:----|:----|:----
CPU | AMD Ryzen 7 3700X 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor | $329.00 @ Amazon
Motherboard | MSI X570-A PRO ATX AM4 Motherboard | $149.89 @ OutletPC
Memory | G.Skill Ripjaws V 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 Memory | $87.99 @ Newegg
Storage | HP EX920 512 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive | $61.99 @ Newegg
Video Card | MSI Radeon RX 5700 XT 8 GB MECH OC Video Card | $424.99 @ Newegg
Case | Fractal Design Focus G ATX Mid Tower Case | $55.88 @ Amazon
Power Supply | SeaSonic FOCUS Plus Gold 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply | $99.99 @ Amazon
| Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts |
| Total (before mail-in rebates) | $1229.73
| Mail-in rebates | -$20.00
| Total | $1209.73
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-09-14 16:54 EDT-0400 |
Hi Hellfire13
Thanks for replying. What gives this setup better longevity? I read in reviews from late August that the 5700 XT runs at like 100 degrees because theres something wrong with the drivers at the moment. And won't I need an RTX to play COD at 100fps? I did see an article from PC World saying that the 5700XT is more bang for buck and gets better performance from non gamin tasks too
 
Last edited:
Hi Hellfire13
Thanks for replying. What gives this setup better longevity? I read in reviews from late August that the 5700 XT runs at like 100 degrees because theres something wrong with the drivers at the moment. And won't I need an RTX to play COD at 100fps? I did see an article from PC World saying that the 5700XT is more bang for buck and gets better performance from non gamin tasks too
The build has a better processor with more cores and threads which will last you longer.
AMD cards run a bit moderate during launch but they eventually run similar to NVidia cards with driver improvements, which AMD is a bit sluggish while launching a card. The 5700xt and the 2070 Super are pretty similar in performance while being pretty different price wise. NVidia marketing gimmick and all that. COD will run all the same with AMD cards as well, maybe a few fps here or there but nothing really noticeable.
 

andy80

Commendable
Sep 14, 2019
9
0
1,510
The build has a better processor with more cores and threads which will last you longer.
AMD cards run a bit moderate during launch but they eventually run similar to NVidia cards with driver improvements, which AMD is a bit sluggish while launching a card. The 5700xt and the 2070 Super are pretty similar in performance while being pretty different price wise. NVidia marketing gimmick and all that. COD will run all the same with AMD cards as well, maybe a few fps here or there but nothing really noticeable.
Thanks for the input mate 👍🏻 So ray tracing isn’t an integral part of gaming yet. Do you think it will be soon?
 

andy80

Commendable
Sep 14, 2019
9
0
1,510
With these set ups, is it possible to overclock? I take it if a part is marked as 'unlocked' or 'OC' that means its overclockable? And if I do overclock, am I going to need to get a better cooler and power supply than the ones stated here?

I appreciate your responses guys 👍
 
CPU, GPU, RAM everything is overclockable in that build. Your cooling depends on how hard you are going to push the clocks. Ryzen chips dont have too much room for overclocking. For mild to medium clocks the stock cooler is sufficient. Everything should be good if you keep the case air flow and ambient cool.
 
Thanks for the input mate 👍🏻 So ray tracing isn’t an integral part of gaming yet. Do you think it will be soon?
It will be eventually, the RTX series however is still pretty much an early adaptation of the technology and more of a "cool thing to have" instead of a must have feature.
The current generation of RTX gpus won't be powerful enough to run RT once it eventually becomes mainstream.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Hellfire13

andy80

Commendable
Sep 14, 2019
9
0
1,510
It will be eventually, the RTX series however is still pretty much an early adaptation of the technology and more of a "cool thing to have" instead of a must have feature.
The current generation of RTX gpus won't be powerful enough to run RT once it eventually becomes mainstream.

Cool. So definitely not worth the extra $100. Thanks for the heads up 👍