Question Advice / recommendations wanted!

[PeterSullivan]

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!

 

[PeterSullivan]

The ROG makes sense if you plan on overclocking but tbh OC waste with these Intel 12 gens.

Ok fantastic - I've updated the storage and case and think I'm good to go!!

 

[PeterSullivan]

Windows takes up about 30 GB. That is 3 percent of a 1 TB drive.

An NVMe M.2 drive for the operating system and a 2.5 inch SSD for storage IS a good option.

The question is which of each, particularly as regards size.

Standard procedure would be to put Windows and applications on the NVMe and all else on the SSD.

My own operating system drive is small...only 128 GB and has never been even half full. I don't game.

Gaming aside, do you have even a remote idea of how much storage space you would need? 30 GB for Windows plus what for applications plus what for personal data like mp3s or movies or pictures?

I have no idea if games are best put on the operating system drive. If not, you may be perfectly fine with a much smaller NVMe. And maybe a larger 2.5 inch SSD to hold your games.

Yeah, so from my research it sounds like you only need the games you're playing regularly on the speedy drive - so probably need about 150 / 200 GB of fast storage, and then have settled on 2 TB of slightly slowed SSD storage

So think I'm good to go now!!

Thanks to everyone (particularly you and "Why_Me") for all the helpful and insightful responses - would've done this all wrong without your help!!

 

[Why_Me]

Yeah, so from my research it sounds like you only need the games you're playing regularly on the speedy drive - so probably need about 150 / 200 GB of fast storage, and then have settled on 2 TB of slightly slowed SSD storage

So think I'm good to go now!!

Thanks to everyone (particularly you and "Why_Me") for all the helpful and insightful responses - would've done this all wrong without your help!!

500GB is the norm for Windows SSD these days and 2TB SSD for storage.

 

[Nighthawk117]

Yeah, so from my research it sounds like you only need the games you're playing regularly on the speedy drive - so probably need about 150 / 200 GB of fast storage, and then have settled on 2 TB of slightly slowed SSD storage

So think I'm good to go now!!

Thanks to everyone (particularly you and "Why_Me") for all the helpful and insightful responses - would've done this all wrong without your help!!

NVME makes no perceivable difference for existing video games. It will one day when they make use of Microsoft Direct Storage. However only one game currently does and it doesn't release until next year. I would put all your games on the SATA SSD's for now.

 

[CompuGuy71]

@PeterSullivan

Ok we are all on the edge of our seat to see what you ultimately decided on! You have to share pics and everything when it gets to you

 

[PeterSullivan]

@PeterSullivan

Ok we are all on the edge of our seat to see what you ultimately decided on! You have to share pics and everything when it gets to you

Absolutely - will do! Very pleased with it and didn't get buyer's remorse immediately after purchasing - so fingers crossed!

Appreciate the help from everyone who engaged, and want to say again that it's a great community here - thank you!