[SOLVED] Help buying a prebuilt gaming PC with a £2500 budget ?

[clagbag]

A friend of mine wants to get a prebuilt gaming PC from PC Specialist, so he can pay over a year.

He'll be gaming at 1440P

I had a look on their site and came up with this configuration:
Corsair icue 465x case
Intel I7 12700K CPU
Gigabyte z690 Aorus elite AX (DDR5)
32gb Corsair Vengance DDR5 5200MHz (2x16gb)
8GB Nvidia RTX 3070 ti
1TB Samsung 970 EVO PLUS M.2 PCIe NVMe
Corsair 750W RMx Series Modular 80 Plus Gold ultra quiet PSU
Cooler - not sure Should he go liquid or air? He won't be overclocking , what should he go for?
MX-4 paste
2x 120mm Thermaltake fans ?
Wireless 802.11N PCI-E card
Windows 11

Total £2409, he is willing to spend a bit more, but he wants Monitor, keyboard, mouse and PC for under £3000.

Is the CPU/GPU combo a good match? Should he get 3080 instead?
Should He get another NVMe? or SSD?
Which cooler should he go for? Please suggest a liquid and an air
Should he get 2 extra fans? If so which ones?

Appreciate any help/suggestions.

 

[vov4ik_il]

Wireless 802.11N PCI-E card

Money wasted here

Edit:
With his budget... this includes keyboard, mouse and 27" gaming screen. It is waaaaaay stronger than the build you listed.

 

[jacob249358]

Ok, don't get an Alienware. They suck. Would he be willing to build one himself?

 

[vov4ik_il]

Ok, don't get an Alienware. They suck. Would he be willing to build one himself?

Is this based on something? Or just a groundless opinion?
Do you know something special about it? Do (did) you ever own one or have your hands on it? I do, and it is (in my opinion) a very well-rounded OEM desktop build. And it has a warranty with a big reputable company so if it ever breaks or has issues, you do not have to hunt different vendors which is a usual problem with custom builds.
This same set of specs (to assemble) will be around 4000£ to buy in parts. Just the RTX 3090 would probably be about 2800£.
The way I see it, 3090 is way more important nice-to-have when compared to DDR5... There are similar specs at MSI, ASUS, and Acer but the pricing is significantly higher or the spec is lower. The very reason I mentioned it as I had the same choice to do myself, it came to replace my 9900/2080 custom build. Another (cheaper) prebuilt (10700/3070) by Acer had replaced 8700k/rx580 custom I had from earlier. So far I’m happy with both choices and already opened the BIOS in the Acer build.
Sadly, custom builds will return to be relevant once GPU will again become available to buy for sane prices, which will likely not happen anytime soon.

 

[sizzling]

A friend of mine wants to get a prebuilt gaming PC from PC Specialist, so he can pay over a year.

He'll be gaming at 1440P

I had a look on their site and came up with this configuration:
Corsair icue 465x case
Intel I7 12700K CPU
Gigabyte z690 Aorus elite AX (DDR5)
32gb Corsair Vengance DDR5 5200MHz (2x16gb)
8GB Nvidia RTX 3070 ti
1TB Samsung 970 EVO PLUS M.2 PCIe NVMe
Corsair 750W RMx Series Modular 80 Plus Gold ultra quiet PSU
Cooler - not sure Should he go liquid or air? He won't be overclocking , what should he go for?
MX-4 paste
2x 120mm Thermaltake fans ?
Wireless 802.11N PCI-E card
Windows 11

Total £2409, he is willing to spend a bit more, but he wants Monitor, keyboard, mouse and PC for under £3000.

Is the CPU/GPU combo a good match? Should he get 3080 instead?
Should He get another NVMe? or SSD?
Which cooler should he go for? Please suggest a liquid and an air
Should he get 2 extra fans? If so which ones?

Appreciate any help/suggestions.

Paying a massive premium for DDR5 which for gaming brings no benefit. You can find a much faster DDR4 system for this price.

 

[sizzling]

Here you go. Upgrade the RAM to 2x16gb 3200-3600 and the CPU to either a 5800x or 5900x and you get a 3080Ti for the same money. This would destroy that original pc for gaming.

https://www.awd-it.co.uk/awd-master...a-rtx-3080-ti-12gb-desktop-pc-for-gaming.html

Here DDR5 is a waste of money at the moment for a gaming pc

View: https://youtu.be/tN7Bv_adHs0

 

[jacob249358]

Is this based on something? Or just a groundless opinion?
Do you know something special about it? Do (did) you ever own one or have your hands on it? I do, and it is (in my opinion) a very well-rounded OEM desktop build. And it has a warranty with a big reputable company so if it ever breaks or has issues, you do not have to hunt different vendors which is a usual problem with custom builds.
This same set of specs (to assemble) will be around 4000£ to buy in parts. Just the RTX 3090 would probably be about 2800£.
The way I see it, 3090 is way more important nice-to-have when compared to DDR5... There are similar specs at MSI, ASUS, and Acer but the pricing is significantly higher or the spec is lower. The very reason I mentioned it as I had the same choice to do myself, it came to replace my 9900/2080 custom build. Another (cheaper) prebuilt (10700/3070) by Acer had replaced 8700k/rx580 custom I had from earlier. So far I’m happy with both choices and already opened the BIOS in the Acer build.
Sadly, custom builds will return to be relevant once GPU will again become available to buy for sane prices, which will likely not happen anytime soon.

Yes its based on something. Reviews, thermals, OEM parts. Just watch a few gamers nexus videos. And yes I've handle a case for one of them and they are poorly made and have terrible thermals. (something that is %1000 essential with a 3090). Ive also known lots of people with one and they don't seem to like it. I don't know what well-rounded means to you because the only box this checks is the price to spec ratio. Not to mention OP said 1440p which the 3090 is overkill for. Alienware isn't bad in some cases but the GPU would just thermal throttle in this one. I agree that ddr5 isn't important. This build and the parts wouldn't have good resell value. Upgrading is difficult with OEM parts. In general, it's very difficult to suggest an Alienware. Keep in mind when you say "building a PC with these specs would cost way more" that these are all OEM parts. And warranties aren't hard to come by. It sounds like your opinion might be groundless.

 

[clagbag]

Thanks for all the replies
He needs to buy from PC specialist because of the finance they offer.

What about this:

Corsair icue 465x rgb
Gigabyte b550 Aorus Elite AX V2
32 GB corsair vengeance ddr4 3200mhz
12gb nviadia rtx 3080 ti
1TB Samsung 970 EVO PLUS M.2 PCIe NVMe
Corsair 750W RMx Series Modular 80 Plus Gold ultra quiet PSU
Cooler - not sure Should he go liquid or air? He won't be overclocking , what should he go for?
MX-4 paste
2x 120mm Thermaltake fans ?
Windows 11

Are the CPU and GPU a good match?
Is mobo good enough for the CPU?

 

[jacob249358]

Thanks for all the replies
He needs to buy from PC specialist because of the finance they offer.

What about this:

Corsair icue 465x rgb
Gigabyte b550 Aorus Elite AX V2
32 GB corsair vengeance ddr4 3200mhz
12gb nviadia rtx 3080 ti
1TB Samsung 970 EVO PLUS M.2 PCIe NVMe
Corsair 750W RMx Series Modular 80 Plus Gold ultra quiet PSU
Cooler - not sure Should he go liquid or air? He won't be overclocking , what should he go for?
MX-4 paste
2x 120mm Thermaltake fans ?
Windows 11

Are the CPU and GPU a good match?
Is mobo good enough for the CPU?

Unless I'm missing something you dont have a CPU listed. But if it's just for 1440p gaming I wouldn't get anything more than a 3070ti because you don't want to buy more GPU than you need with these outrageous prices. i think a 5600x and a 3070/3070 ti would be great for 1440p. Or the first list you had is good except a 12600k and ddr4 ram and motherboard would be cheaper and just as good.

 

[clagbag]

Thanks for your reply

I meant to suggest the Ryzen 7 5800x

I will tell him that anything more than 3070 ti is over kill for 1440p.

so you are saying the i5 12600k is the way to go ?

 

[sizzling]

I will tell him that anything more than 3070 ti is over kill for 1440p.

I would not call a 3080 or 3080Ti overkill for 1440p if running 144Hz or higher, especially when you factor in the extra VRAM. I’m running a 3080 at 1440p but I was incredibly lucky and got it at RRP when released. It’s more that with current pricing it’s hard to justify anything over a 3070/3070Ti. At the price of a 3070Ti I would also look at the RX6800. The RX6800 is at least as good when not using Ray Tracing and has twice the VRAM. It depends if you care about Ray Tracing which in my opinion adds nothing to the games I play and I leave it switched off so not to take the performance hit.

 

[jacob249358]

I would not call a 3080 or 3080Ti overkill for 1440p if running 144Hz or higher, especially when you factor in the extra VRAM. I’m running a 3080 at 1440p but I was incredibly lucky and got it at RRP when released. It’s more that with current pricing it’s hard to justify anything over a 3070/3070Ti. At the price of a 3070Ti I would also look at the RX6800. The RX6800 is at least as good when not using Ray Tracing and has twice the VRAM. It depends if you care about Ray Tracing which in my opinion adds nothing to the games I play and I leave it switched off so not to take the performance hit.

Unless you are playing cyberpunk at ultra or something really demanding and need 144 fps, 3070ti is all you need. It hits 100fps at 1440p at ultra settings.

 

[sizzling]

Unless you are playing cyberpunk at ultra or something really demanding and need 144 fps, 3070ti is all you need. It hits 100fps at 1440p at ultra settings.

Not disputing that a 3070Ti is a great choice. Just that a 3080 is not overkill for 1440p. I upgraded to a 3080 from a 2080S as I found the 2080S underwhelming and I got the 3080 at RRP. Given the current price difference the 3080 isn’t worth the extra money in my mind but if prices were more normal it would be worth considering. We have seen Halo stretching the 10gb of the 3080 at 1440p, over the next 1-2 years that’s likely to become more common.

 

[jacob249358]

Not disputing that a 3070Ti is a great choice. Just that a 3080 is not overkill for 1440p. I upgraded to a 3080 from a 2080S as I found the 2080S underwhelming and I got the 3080 at RRP. Given the current price difference the 3080 isn’t worth the extra money in my mind but if prices were more normal it would be worth considering. We have seen Halo stretching the 10gb of the 3080 at 1440p, over the next 1-2 years that’s likely to become more common.

Yeah, i agree. If prices were normal I think the 3080 and 3060ti would be the best bang for the buck. I've never really experienced a normal GPU market cause I've only been into pcs for like a year. I can't wait for better prices.

 

[geofelt]

What kinds of games will friend play?
Some are cpu centric where the single thread performance matters most.
Others are fast action games where the graphics card matters most.
I think your original post was very reasonable.

A good balance between cpu and gpu.
3070ti should be more than enough for 1440P.

To address your questions?
On the cooler, I always advocate air unless you have restricted space of will be heavily overclocking and need a 360 size radiator.
Noctua makes some of the best.
Here is a review of the NH-U12s chromax black:

Noctua NH-U12A chromax.black CPU Cooler Review

Today, we will take a look at one of the latest CPU coolers from Noctua - the NH-U12A chromax.black. It's basically a refreshed version of probably my favorite

www.funkykit.com

It had no problem with a 12900K.

The cooler comes wit a very good paste; no more is needed.

The case comes with 3 rgb front intakes.
A single 120mm exhaust fan could be added.
The main use is to direct the airflow past the cpu cooler and motherboard vrm coolers.
Whatever cooling air that comes in the front will exit somewhere, taking component heat with it.

My reading of the specs for that motherboard indicates that wifi is included; no need for an add in card.

Windows 11 is probably right for a new build.
Particularly if someone else sets it up.

A few thoughts:
Today, you pay a premium for DDR5. Both for the motherboard, and for the ram.
DDR4 today performs equally well. If budget is an issue, check out the difference in cost.
If not too great, stick with DDR5.

Love the samsung quality. I think I would get the same samsung 970 pcie ssd in 2tb size.
Synthetic benchmarks will show the samsung 980 pro to be faster.
But, in actual use the increased sequential speed will not make a noticeable difference.

Lastly, 3000 series graphics cards can have sharp power spikes.
750w is normally sufficient, but a 850w unit is not likely to cost much more.
The rm units are top quality with a 10 year warranty.

 

[vov4ik_il]

Thanks for all the replies
He needs to buy from PC specialist because of the finance they offer.

With that pricing, Dell or Lenovo financing might be not the worst option...

What about this:
Corsair icue 465x rgb
Gigabyte b550 Aorus Elite AX V2
32 GB corsair vengeance ddr4 3200mhz
12gb nviadia rtx 3080 ti
1TB Samsung 970 EVO PLUS M.2 PCIe NVMe
Corsair 750W RMx Series Modular 80 Plus Gold ultra quiet PSU
Cooler - not sure Should he go liquid or air? He won't be overclocking , what should he go for?
MX-4 paste
2x 120mm Thermaltake fans ?
Windows 11

Are the CPU and GPU a good match?
Is mobo good enough for the CPU?

Which CPU? 5800x?

For cooling, the larger the cooling area the less air has to go through to achieve heat dissipation. There are limits of heatsink size and weight that can be installed on a CPU. Liquid cooling sacrifices some efficiency of heat transfer but allows for a larger heat dissipation area which gives the ability to build a quieter system.

 

[mxnty]

Just providing an input based on earlier replies that I see, I am currently running a 1440p system with a 5900x and a 3080 Ti. I wouldn’t call it overkill, because I can very easily reach 200-240 FPS with graphics on high-ultra. If I decide to switch to 4K, I’m going to be able to run a decent 120 FPS on this system. My opinion: get a 5800x, a 3080 Ti (or non Ti) (difference between 3080 Ti and 3090 is about 5-10% with a 33% price increase in the same model.) I would go with a cheaper AIO just because of how simple it is and while there is minimal difference, AIO often provide better support in the long term and (usually) have a longer warranty. My friend purchased a $50 air cooler with a 2 year warranty while his new $120 water cooler allows him lower temps and a 10 year warranty. This seems like a good build and just meets his budget with a mouse, keyboard, monitor, and mousepad. It has a 5900X and 3080 Ti (your friend may have to wait a bit because the 3080 Ti is a pre-order item: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/computers/amd-am4-gen3-pc/

 

[clagbag]

Thanks for all the replies

Geofelt - He has only mentioned GTA V so far, which I know is really old. He says he wants it to be able to run any new game that comes out and may get a 4k monitor.

He wants to go with an air cooler, the best one on PCspecialist is a PCS Frost flow 200, so he's going with that.

I will mention the 850W psu to him, providing he's not already ordered it.

We sat down on Friday, read this thread and priced it up, it was less than he expected, so he decided on Ryzen 9 5900x. I don't know much about motherboards, but don't you need a decent one if pairing it with a high end CPU? is the Gigabyte b550 Aorus Elite AX V2 good enough?

This is what we came up with:

Corsair icue 465x rgb case
Ryzen 9 5900x
Gigabyte b550 Aorus Elite AX V2
32 GB corsair vengeance RGB PRO ddr4 3200mhz
RTX 3080 ti
1TB Samsung 970 EVO PLUS M.2 PCIe NVMe
Corsair 750W RMx Series Modular 80 Plus Gold ultra quiet PSU
2x 120mm Thermaltake fans
Windows 11

Appreciate any feedback/thoughts

 

[jacob249358]

Thanks for all the replies

Geofelt - He has only mentioned GTA V so far, which I know is really old. He says he wants it to be able to run any new game that comes out and may get a 4k monitor.

He wants to go with an air cooler, the best one on PCspecialist is a PCS Frost flow 200, so he's going with that.

I will mention the 850W psu to him, providing he's not already ordered it.

We sat down on Friday, read this thread and priced it up, it was less than he expected, so he decided on Ryzen 9 5900x. I don't know much about motherboards, but don't you need a decent one if pairing it with a high end CPU? is the Gigabyte b550 Aorus Elite AX V2 good enough?

This is what we came up with:

Corsair icue 465x rgb case
Ryzen 9 5900x
Gigabyte b550 Aorus Elite AX V2
32 GB corsair vengeance RGB PRO ddr4 3200mhz
RTX 3080 ti
1TB Samsung 970 EVO PLUS M.2 PCIe NVMe
Corsair 750W RMx Series Modular 80 Plus Gold ultra quiet PSU
2x 120mm Thermaltake fans
Windows 11

Appreciate any feedback/thoughts

It seems like you have a large budget so upping the ram to 3600mhz would be good. Also if you want to have a lot of big games you should go 2tb of storage. The newer cod games are around 200gb each. So 1/5th of your storage. And if you want to save money a 5800x will do fine for any game. If you are at 1440p or 4k chances are the GPU will be the fps limiter.

 

[mxnty]

It seems the link leads to a new build, not what I added, but here are the new specs. If you want a higher end motherboard, probably the (ASUS TUF Gaming X570-Plus WiFi) (X570 allows for full PCIe 4.0 support) Now. the thing is that you would have to buy more fans from somewhere else, because in order to fill up the case with fans, you need 5 more, and PC Specialist has a 5 pack of Corsair LL120s, however the total then is 3,018.33 pounds. This is why I would highly recommend an AIO because you can fill up the fan slots and get better cooling. I'm not quite sure of the cooling on that air cooler, but I can assure the cooling of this AIO. With the AIO, your total is 2,972.50 pounds. This way you get better cooling. AIO's are very easy to manage and mount for the most part.

Fractal Meshify 2 (a fan-favorite and said to be easy to build in and great to display) (Also comes with one fan in the back.)
AMD Ryzen 9 5900x
ASUS TUF Gaming X570-Plus WiFi
32GB Corsair Vengeance DDR4 3600 MHz (2x16GB) (The same details in the Vengeance RGB Pro are available for the same price it seems.)
12GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3080 Ti (pre-order)
4TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, SATA 6GB/s
1TB Samsung 970 EVO Plus M.2., PCIe NVMe Drive
Corsair 850W RMx series Modular, 80 Plus Gold, Ultra Quiet
Corsair H150i Elite Capellix RGB Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler (I would recommend top mounting this in your case as an exhaust, so heat can be pushed out.)
Artic MX-4 Thermal Paste
2x 120mm Thermaltake TOUGHFAN 12 (These 2 will go on the bottom as intake, pulling cold air in.)
(Refinements - Select "No WiFi Card Needed" and let the rest be for OS and Software as well)
Peripherals - (your friend can also get more suitable peripherals from another place like a local tech store if they want.)
MSI 27" Optix MAG272CQR - 2560 x 1440, 1 ms response time, 165 Hz (special offer apparently)
Keyboard - Razer BlackWidow v3 Tenkeyless (Green Switch)
Mouse - Razer Basilisk X Hyperspeed Wireless Mouse
Headset - Fnatic REACT Gaming Headset (has a mic as well)
Mouse Pad - PCS Gaming Mouse Mat - XXL (should be able to cover most of his gaming area)

TOTAL - 2,972.50 (ex. VAT (not sure what this means as I'm in the US))
This is about $4k USD which should be lasting.

Hope this helps.

 

[clagbag]

Thank you both for your input
MXNTY - ex. vat mean excluding VAT, we will have to pay the price with VAT, so need the need inc. (including) VAT Price

Sorry to switching CPU's again but after doing some research, intel i7 12700k appears to be the way to go for gaming

Here is what I was thinking for my friend:

Fractal Meshify 2
Intel i7 12700K
ASUS® TUF GAMING Z690-PLUS WIFI D4 (LGA1700, USB 3.2, PCIe 5.0) - ARGB Ready
32GB Corsair Vengeance RGB PRO DDR4 3600 MHz (2x16GB)
RTX 3080 (pre-order)
2TB Samsung 970 EVO Plus M.2., PCIe NVMe Drive (prefer not to have HDDs in 2022)
Corsair 850W RMx series Modular, 80 Plus Gold, Ultra Quiet
Corsair H150i Elite Capellix RGB Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler
Arctic MX4 paste
H150i ELITE CAPELLIX RGB Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler
3x Corsair LL120 RGB LED Fan + Controller Kit (£56)
MSI 27" Optix MAG272CQR - 2560 x 1440, 1 ms response time, 165 Hz

Total including VAT is £2894, which leaves 106 for mouse and keyboard.

Any tweaking needed? please let me know.

 

[emitfudd]

You can get a lot more PC by building your own. I did a Dell financing one time and I don't remember what the interest rate was, but it was high. Just get a credit card with a decent rate and build a PC for less than any prebuilt of comparable quality. Prebuilts also come with a ton of bloatware and some have limited BIOS and proprietary components and connectors. I'll never buy another prebuilt, ever.

 

[Wolfshadw]

People - Please accept that people have their own experiences and opinions. Do NOT get sidetracked on what other's may think and stick to answering the questions the OP has asked.

Wolfshadw
Moderator