Question Advice / recommendations wanted!

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PeterSullivan

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Jan 25, 2017
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Hi all - long time user, occasional poster :) I'm looking for some advice / input from the community about an upgrade to my 7 year old rig that I'm making. I've been saving up for ages for this, so would really appreciate knowing if this build looks;

  1. Good value for money
  2. Will play current games at 1440p at top settings
  3. Able to be relatively future proofed.

On me - I am a big fan of gaming but don't have as much time as I'd like for it, so when I can it's really important to me that I can play on max settings and with a good framerate. However, I don't do video editing or any of that stuff. Budget is £3,000 for a full upgrade but obvs would be happy to spend less if I can hit my objectives!

Potential upgrade specs are;

Case: Lian Li PC-O11 Dynamic Evo Gaming Case - White

CPU: Intel® Core™ i7-12700K - 12-Core [8P @ 3.60GHz-5.00GHz / 4E @ 2.70GHz-3.80GHz] - 25MB Cache + UHD Graphics, Ultimate OC Compatible

GPU: MSI GeForce® RTX 3080 12GB LHR - Ray Tracing Technology, DX12®, VR Ready, HDMI, DP - 4 MIN. Monitor Support (Single Card)

CPU Overclocking: Pro OC (Overclock up to 10%)

CPU Cooling: MSI MAG Coreliquid 240R V2 240mm RGB Liquid Cooler, Extreme OC Compatible

Motherboard: MSI MAG Z690 Tomahawk WIFI DDR5: ATX w/USB3.2, 4x M.2

RAM: 32GB (2x16GB) DDR5/4800mhz Dual Channel Memory (Corsair Vengeance w/Heat Spreader)

Power Supply: MSI MPG A850GF 850W 80+ Gold Modular Gaming Power Supply

NVME Drive: 1TB (1x1TB) MSI SPATIUM M450 M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD - 3600MB /s Read & 3000MB/s Write (Single Drive)

Hard Drive (HDD & SSHD): 1TB Seagate BarraCuda SATA-III 6.0Gb/s 7200RPM Hard Drive (1 Drive)

Operating System: Windows 11 Home - with FREE trial of Microsoft 365 and 1 month Xbox Game Pass (64-bit Edition) (No Recovery Media)

Monitor: iiyama G-Master Red Eagle GB3467WQSU-B1 34" WQHD VA 165Hz Curved Gaming Monitor
GB3467WQSU-B1 [I've gotten used to Ultrawide, so would rather this than 4K]

Total cost - £2,990 (like I said, been saving for ages!)

Any and all constructive comments really appreciated!
 
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Based on the terms used, this looks like a pre-built.

Exactly what is this:

Hard Drive (HDD & SSHD): 1TB Seagate BarraCuda SATA-III 6.0Gb/s 7200RPM Hard Drive (1 Drive)



Can you avoid a spinning drive entirely? That drive, whatever it is, is only 1 TB. An ordinary SSD replacement should be cheap.
 
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CompuGuy71 said:
This machine will definitely do what you want it to.

That CPU Overclocking line item though, what is that? Who is doing the overclocking? are you getting this system from an integrator or are you building it yourself?
Click to expand...

Ok amazing - thank you for the input! I'm going through a site called 'cyberpowersystem' and they offer this as an option - I've never overclocked before so thought it would be worth getting a professional to do it? Site is here; https://www.cyberpowersystem.co.uk/system/infinity-127-DDR5-gaming-pc
 
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Lafong said:
Based on the terms used, this looks like a pre-built.

Exactly what is this:

Hard Drive (HDD & SSHD): 1TB Seagate BarraCuda SATA-III 6.0Gb/s 7200RPM Hard Drive (1 Drive)



Can you avoid a spinning drive entirely? That drive, whatever it is, is only 1 TB. An ordinary SSD replacement should be cheap.
Click to expand...

Hey, yes pre-built but custom specced - the site I'm using is in my reply to "CompuGuy71" above. My thinking was that I should have a Hard Drive to complement the NVME Drive? Is that not necessary?

Sorry, it's been years since I looked at this stuff so am clearly a bit out of the loop! Appreciate all the feedback so far though
 
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PeterSullivan said:
Hi all - long time user, occasional poster :) I'm looking for some advice / input from the community about an upgrade to my 7 year old rig that I'm making. I've been saving up for ages for this, so would really appreciate knowing if this build looks;

  1. Good value for money
  2. Will play current games at 1440p at top settings
  3. Able to be relatively future proofed.
...
Any and all constructive comments really appreciated!
Click to expand...

1)The value for money with the speculated build isn't quite there.
-I'm currently using that case. It is awesome for its modularity. If you don't take advantage of it though, that's wasting cash. Plus it doesn't come with any fans.
-Overclocking isn't what it used to be. Now you gain performance in some apps while losing it in others. Z-series lost value as OCing lost relevancy. A good B-series should be the target value for money.

2)It should be fine.

3)Delete that term/concept from your memory. It is rigged for you to lose.
New products come out too often, with software usually playing catch up, thus being the limiting factor pretty often.
Every now and then there are products that age better than expected, but that is not a common occurrence.

Also, I would suggest skipping Msi MAG & MPG Coreliquid entirely because of THIS. It is unknown if Version 2 is free of this problem.
 
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PeterSullivan said:
Hey, yes pre-built but custom specced - the site I'm using is in my reply to "CompuGuy71" above. My thinking was that I should have a Hard Drive to complement the NVME Drive? Is that not necessary?

Sorry, it's been years since I looked at this stuff so am clearly a bit out of the loop! Appreciate all the feedback so far though
Click to expand...

No. You don't need an HDD.

You need storage space.

That could be an HDD, an ordinary 2.5 inch SSD, or an M.2 SSD.

At your budget, you might consider a 2 TB choice if you think you might eventually be cramped with 1 TB.
 
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Phaaze88 said:
1)The value for money with the speculated build isn't quite there.
-I'm currently using that case. It is awesome for its modularity. If you don't take advantage of it though, that's wasting cash. Plus it doesn't come with any fans.
-Overclocking isn't what it used to be. Now you gain performance in some apps while losing it in others. Z-series lost value as OCing lost relevancy. A good B-series should be the target value for money.

2)It should be fine.

3)Delete that term/concept from your memory. It is rigged for you to lose.
New products come out too often, with software usually playing catch up, thus being the limiting factor pretty often.
Every now and then there are products that age better than expected, but that is not a common occurrence.

Also, I would suggest skipping Msi MAG & MPG Coreliquid entirely because of THIS. It is unknown if Version 2 is free of this problem.
Click to expand...

Really helpful comment - thank you!

If I'm understanding correctly I should remove the overclocking, perhaps downgrade the case a bit, and change the CPU cooling (great tip here btw, thank you!!) Does that roughly sum it up? Thanks again!
 
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PeterSullivan said:
Ok amazing - thank you for the input! I'm going through a site called 'cyberpowersystem' and they offer this as an option - I've never overclocked before so thought it would be worth getting a professional to do it? Site is here; https://www.cyberpowersystem.co.uk/system/infinity-127-DDR5-gaming-pc
Click to expand...

So I have one friend who bought a PC from Cyberpower and they were unhappy with the post delivery support but once I went and got the machine working they haven't had any issues. Several of the connections had come loose during shipping.

I always recommend people source the parts on their own instead of buying from a boutique shop like this, but I understand not everyone is comfortable with that. I like the people over at buildredux.com if you were looking for a 2nd option. They have less of an upcharge and what I'm given to understand is they have better end user support.
 
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CompuGuy71 said:
So I have one friend who bought a PC from Cyberpower and they were unhappy with the post delivery support but once I went and got the machine working they haven't had any issues. Several of the connections had come loose during shipping.

I always recommend people source the parts on their own instead of buying from a boutique shop like this, but I understand not everyone is comfortable with that. I like the people over at buildredux.com if you were looking for a 2nd option. They have less of an upcharge and what I'm given to understand is they have better end user support.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice, have read some reviews online and noted one or two cautioned about the delivery - so will check out buildredux now!
 
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PeterSullivan said:
Really helpful comment - thank you!

If I'm understanding correctly I should remove the overclocking, perhaps downgrade the case a bit, and change the CPU cooling (great tip here btw, thank you!!) Does that roughly sum it up? Thanks again!
Click to expand...
Correct, no OC.
Not necessarily downgrade the case. There's the original O11 Dynamic, which should be a bit cheaper than the Evo. Still doesn't come with its own fans though.
Yeah, don't take any chances with that cooler.
 
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PeterSullivan said:
Really helpful, thank you - so you would recommend changing the HD to an SSD, and keeping the NVME drive?
Click to expand...

Look for SSDs by Western Digital or Samsung or Crucial.

I didn't check to see how many M.2 drives your motherboard can accept.

A standard 2.5 inch SSD would be fine. Decide how large it needs to be. Likely 1 TB or 2 TB.

No big reason your storage drive would need to be an M.2. It's an option....if your motherboard has a port for it.

Yes, keep the NVME.
 
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Phaaze88 said:
Correct, no OC.
Not necessarily downgrade the case. There's the original O11 Dynamic, which should be a bit cheaper than the Evo. Still doesn't come with its own fans though.
Yeah, don't take any chances with that cooler.
Click to expand...

Thank you so much - really appreciate the speedy support I'm getting! Great community here!

I have found a new case (Fractal Design Meshify 2 High Airflow Gaming Case - Black) - have you ever encountered that? Bit cheaper and has fans inbuilt it seems?
 
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Lafong said:
Look for SSDs by Western Digital or Samsung or Crucial.

I didn't check to see how many M.2 drives your motherboard can accept.

A standard 2.5 inch SSD would be fine. Decide how large it needs to be. Likely 1 TB or 2 TB.

No big reason your storage drive would need to be an M.2. It's an option....if your motherboard has a port for it.

Yes, keep the NVME.
Click to expand...

Amazing, thank you - this one seemed reasonable value; 1TB Samsung 870 QVO 2.5" SSD - 560MB/s Read / 530MB/s Write. I don't save loads and loads down so don't think I should need more than 1TB to start at any rate?
 
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OC. Don't bother. There's honestly not enough gain to warrant the expense in heat and issues.

Psu. Can do better. Should do better.

Cooler. NO. Msi makes good motherboards. They dabble in everything else, and it doesn't always work out in their favor.

HDD. In that budget? Absolutely not.

Case. There are better, for an air cooled system unless you really, really like the look. The Meshify 2 is considerably better, if same build quality, for airflow.

WQHD is standard 1440p (2560x1440) resolution, 16:9 ultrawide. Get those same sizes in 1080p or 4k.

Nice ideas, but honestly what you are doing is buying a Ferrari and thinking about paying someone to put grandma's rims and tires on it.
 
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