Question Advice for buying a prebuilt mid/high end gaming P.C

[Terrence Flew]

Hi I am considering buying a new P.C. I am in the U.K and my budget is around £1750. I mostly play 3D games in 1080p on a 42inch Sony LCD T.V with some light amateur Unity game development/ modding and Blender. I currently have a GTX 1650/16 GB/ i7 6700 from Stone computers. I upgraded the CPU from a i5 6400, and it is has lasted me well for a few years but I would like to have a future proof system that can play new games on high graphic settings. I play a lot of 7 days to die which relies single core CPU performance, and Rust. I may upgrade to a 4K T.V/ monitor, does not need to be included in price.

I would like to use an Intel CPU, I have used them for a long time. I hear the 13th/ 14th gen are tending to break so would like to have a good 12th gen like a 12700K, with a decent GPU like an Nvidia RTX 4070. I am also tempted by the Battlemage, just because I like the name.

I would prefer a prebuilt system, I could assemble myself but I would rather spend a little more and have somebody to blame if it does not work. I would like to have 32 GB of fast RAM and 2 TB SSD, I have an external 7 TB HDD I use for media/ productivity storage so just need space for games. I do not require RGB lighting, and case colour is unimportant, but I would like good airflow and cooling.

I have found this system from UK Gaming Computers https://www.ukgamingcomputers.co.uk/cerberus-extreme-custom-pc

I would upgrade RAM to 32GB 6000 MHZ and add 'moderate' overclocking for a total of £1719 with Windows 10 (would prefer to stick to this because I don't want more AI)

My questions are: 1) Is it worth getting overclocking? They also offer an 'extreme' version for claimed maximum 40% gain, moderate is 20%. My gut feeling is moderate would be better because it would put less strain CPU, but I have no idea if that is correct. Price is the same. Would cooler require an upgrade?
2) When is a good time to buy? Is it better to wait until after Christmas/ release of the 50 series GPU? Will prices on 4070 drop any time soon?
3) Is the ukgamingcomputers website a good place to buy? Are there any other decent U.K suppliers offering a better deal? This seems very competitive.

Any other advice would be appreciated.

 

[turtletarget111]

Let's break down your questions here.

I don't see an option on the website to purchase an overclocking service. If it's more than twenty pounds, I wouldn't spend the money. If it is the same price for the overclocked version, then go with that, as the liquid cooler should be adequate to handle your chip. Unless they are replacing the CPU and GPU with better components, I guarantee you the "40%" improvement with the extreme version is deceitful at best. I understand you want to stick with Intel, but I would implore you at least consider all your options so you make an informed purchasing decision you are happy with. If you are sticking to 1080p for the foreseeable future, you would be far better off on a Ryzen X3D chip over anything from Intel.

It would be advantageous if you can wait another four months for Nvidia's 5000 series cards. As you alluded to earlier, even if you don't invest in a 5000 card, 4000 cards will come down in price. It is of my opinion that you hold out, assuming your system still does what you need it to for the most part, and the components are still holding up.

As far as who to buy from, I have never heard of or used UK Gaming Computers, however, they seem to have decent reviews on their site and elsewhere like Trust Pilot. They are clearly cheaping out on the memory and storage, but that is par for the course with SI's. If NZXT has service in the UK, that might be another option to consider, as they have solid reviews and competitive prices. Furthermore, I'll link a parts list here so you can see for yourself how much UKGC is charging compared to building it yourself. You will notice the price is significantly lower, despite choosing far better storage and memory.

 

[Terrence Flew]

Thankyou for your reply. The overclocking is an option that can be selected from one of the drop down boxes, it is the third option down below processor. Cost is £40 for both moderate and extreme, they actually quote an improvement range of 5-20% and 5-40%, I assume it would be closer to the lower end! It already has a liquid cooler that I think might support both versions, but I am unsure.

Does overclocking have any negative effects on performance/ lifespan? Is it something I could easily do myself later?

That is good advice to wait for the 50 series, and I will look into the Ryzen X3D I have read good things about it. The only reason I want to stick to Intel is I have used their CPUs since 1993 and never had a problem. It really is a significant saving if I build it myself isn't it.. Perhaps I might go down that route. That partpicker website is very helpful. It seems like I could get a 12900K and 64GB of 6000MHZ RAM for £1600 which is very tempting.

The bit that concerns me the most about building myself is installing the operating system, I am O.K with working on hardware, but I seem to have bad luck with software. I guess it would help that I already have a working P.C.

 

[turtletarget111]

First and foremost, if you aren't comfortable building your own system, there is no shame in buying from a SI. I was simply sharing the price of the individual parts to give you an idea of how much they are charging, and for shopping around other boutiques if available to you.

If you want to purchase the pre-built machine, the forty pound charge for any overclocking is a little too much for my taste. If you're okay with the price, then going with the moderate would be best. Overclocks can result in parts degrading faster, but there are lots of factors, like increasing or improperly adjusting voltage and not supplying adequate cooling. Even ignoring the price, keep in mind that you could be unlucky in the silicone lottery, and you might get a CPU or GPU that isn't particularly stable, even in the hands of an experienced overclocker, meaning you could be out forty pounds with minimal performance improvements.

If you do want to take the plunge and build it yourself, then congrats. You can take that forty pounds and just buy a better CPU outright. If you want to stick with Intel, I wouldn't change much about the parts list I linked in the previous post. The 12900K is marginally faster than the 12700K, and it isn't worth the extra sixty pounds, especially considering your use case won't come close to using all those extra cores. If you are going with a standard ATX tower, I would forgo the Arctic Liquid Freezer 240 for the 360 model for better cooling, especially considering the price difference. I would also throw in some faster memory, a better GPU, a nicer case. Here's the updated Intel list for your reference.

If you are willing to take the plunge with AMD (which I would recommend for 1080p gaming) the story is much the same, but with memory that will play nicer with Ryzen. Here's the AMD list. I'll also link to a video guide on how to build a PC to steer you in the right direction. You can skip ahead to 38:10 once your parts arrive and you're ready to build, as we have already done the work of configuring your system.

 

[Terrence Flew]

That is incredibly helpful. I think I might have a crack at building it myself. The last time I attempted it in the 90s I got traumatised because it took months to get working, but that was before easy access to build videos and drivers. I still have nightmares about autoexec.bat. I will watch the video. If it is just a case of inserting a USB I can manage that. I assume these parts would be enough for a complete system, apart from maybe some case fans?