[SOLVED] New gaming and coding PC (~£2500)

[DrAlexe]

Hello everyone!

Is it possible to get some expert advice from the the community of hardware aficionados (please )? Essentially, I want to put together a configuration for gaming/coding of around £2350-£2500 by the end of this month and maybe get some suggestions regarding which deposits/stores I should choose. And yes, I am from the UK, and the only store I know is Amazon . To be clear, I haven't built a computer or even possessed a PC in the last 10 years (it was all laptops or tablets for me). Nonetheless, the new RTX games and the fact that I need a coding server (to ssh into) convinced me to get a PC.

To get to business, I want a PC capable of handling games like Metro, Control and the new Tomb Raider at 1080p - 1440p with 60Hz with the rest of the graphics to max and of course all ray-tracing options maxed as well. I would also like if this configuration would last for at least 3 years without reducing the graphics quality in any upcoming games. On the coding front, I prefer many threads and of course an amazing video card; which is great news for Control and the rest! So is this even possible?

To start from something, I was thinking of a configuration like this:

Case: Be Quiet. bgw20 - £77.97
Motherboard: ASUS TUF Gaming X570-Plus ATX - £174.48
CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 3900X Processor - £438.00
CPU fan: Noctua NH-D15 Premium CPU Cooler with 2x NF-A15 PWM 140mm Fans - £77.13
Video Card: EVGA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti (the 2 cooler one) - £1,178.99
RAM: Corsair Vengeance LPX Black 32GB 3200 MHz - £144.34
Power Supply: Corsair CP-9020130-UK TXM Series 850 W - £88.49
Storage: Samsung 860 EVO 500 GB SATA 2.5" Internal SSD - £71
OS: Windows 10 Home - £119.99
Case Fans (?): upHere 3-PIN 120mm LED Computer Case Fan - £16.99
Total: £2,387.38
(the prices are taken from Amazon)

But I am no expert, so these components can definitely be improved or replaced/removed if they makes no sense to be there - like maybe the Noctua fan(?). Please let me know what you think! Thank you!

 

[DrAlexe]

Should I go for Gsync or not. I could go for a non-gsync, curved 1440p with 144 Hz . Or is this a bad idea?

 

[GarrettL]

No it's not a bad idea. But some Freesync behave better than others.

https://www.ign.com/articles/the-best-freesync-monitors-for-nvidia-gpus

 

[Hellfire13]

Whats your budget for the monitor now???

 

[DrAlexe]

About 150-250£ for the monitor. I was thinking of just getting a 1080p with gsync, 144Hz and 24.5". Next month I will get a curved 1440p and rotate the first monitor (which I am getting now) vertically for better coding environment .

Tonight I have spent some hours putting together the cables... it's a nightmare for a first timer like me 😕. The Noctua cooler is also making it proper hell. Nonetheless, I think I got everything in the right places. I will manage the cables tomorrow and plug them in the PSU.

I assume next time I will be faster and less frustrated at putting components together , but still... it blows my mind how much force you need to apply to get the MB power cable in... we need better engineering on these ports lol!

 

[Hellfire13]

About 150-250£ for the monitor. I was thinking of just getting a 1080p with gsync, 144Hz and 24.5". Next month I will get a curved 1440p and rotate the first monitor (which I am getting now) vertically for better coding environment .

Tonight I have spent some hours putting together the cables... it's a nightmare for a first timer like me 😕. The Noctua cooler is also making it proper hell. Nonetheless, I think I got everything in the right places. I will manage the cables tomorrow and plug them in the PSU.

I assume next time I will be faster and less frustrated at putting components together , but still... it blows my mind how much force you need to apply to get the MB power cable in... we need better engineering on these ports lol!

When that first time always makes you wonder.

As for the monitor...
1440p/144hz/1ms/27"/IPS

PCPartPicker Part List

Type|Item|Price
:----|:----|:----
Monitor | Acer VG270U Pbmiipx 27.0" 2560x1440 144 Hz Monitor | £269.00 @ Currys PC World
| Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts |
| Total | £269.00
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-03-05 18:51 GMT+0000 |

 

[DrAlexe]

Assembled the computer last weekend. Found some time for proper testing yesterday. I got these extras:

3 of Corsair CO-9050019-WW Air Series SP120 LED 120mm Low Noise High Pressure LED Fan Single Pack, Red. But I'm using only 2 because I think the PSU is struggling; I will explain

I went all in with the keyboard - Corsair CH-9127014-UK K95 Platinum RGB Rapid Fire Cherry MX Speed Multi-Colour Backlit Mechanical Gaming Keyboard - Black

Mouse is just a £10 Corsair

Monitor borrowed, 1080p, 60Hz

Bought Windows 10 and Control

With all of the above, I went in Control and just switched every possible thing to maximum (but at 1080p and 60Hz) and played for a strong 7 hours. It looks amazing and it never falls under 60Hz. Benchmarks looked good and I don't get over 67 degrees C in Furmark (and same with Control).

However, Yesterday I noticed in Control, that if I am ingame I hear a sort of coil sound coming from the Graphics card I think. I believe it's from the graphics card because when I press escape (and the Graphics card usage goes under 40%) the coil sound is gone. If I return to the game and the card goes above 60%, the coil is back. I don't mind the sound at all because I am using headphones anyway, but I do mind if my components stop working 😢. I am also not sure if it's the graphics card.

Additionally, I noticed that when I did not have the 2 additional case coolers, the front coolers were lighting up. After I added the 2 case coolers, the front ones don't light up anymore.

So is this a problem with the PSU, the Graphics card or just the power from the house. I additionally had a drop in power to the keyboard as well, which is weird... maybe it was a bug (as it happened when I turned on the computer some days ago).

So to solve this, I just did some Googling and I found out that first I can pinpoint the sound using a straw and second, I should plug 2 separate power connectors in the graphics card instead of 1 with a splitter.

Nonetheless, let me know if you guys have any suggestions? Maybe I need a higher power PSU? I will calculate the power usage from the components for this.

 

[DrAlexe]

I have used this website https://outervision.com/power-supply-calculator to compute the power supply just now. Apparently the PSU should be fine:

Load Wattage:514 W
Recommended UPS rating:1100 VA
Recommended PSU Wattage:564 W

unless I just forgot something very big to add to the list. So it might just be the splitter problem. I will check when I get back home

I will also conclude this post once I sort everything up. Thank you to everyone here who helped!!

 

[DrAlexe]

I changed for two separate connectors instead of one with a splitter and the noise is still there. I also tried listening closer and I really think the noise is coming from the video card...

 

[DrAlexe]

Very sorry for the spam. I have the video card on two connectors now instead of one with splitter. Should I switch back to one connector with splitter?

I read more about this coil sound and it's apparently the card performance and longevity are not affected. So I'm OK with this

 

[Hellfire13]

How bad is it? If its unbearable, you can always RMA it. Sometimes even good quality parts can have manufacturing defects. Nothing to panic there.
Beside that, why is it on splitter. Isnt there a second slot on the PSU, or are you short on cable?

 

[DrAlexe]

It is not that bad, I was just concerned of it's longevity. I don't mind it even if it was a loud sound, because I have headphones anyway.

I have many PSU slots, but the computer building video I followed, the person plugged 8+6 connector with one cable. I now used 2 connectors with 8 instead of having 1 connector with 8+8. Both these connectors are automatically split (8+8), but I'm only using one of the 8 groups from each of them (if that makes sense).

Basically, if you think the video card is fine, I will keep it. But if it is affected, I'll definitely RMA it

 

[Hellfire13]

It is not that bad, I was just concerned of it's longevity. I don't mind it even if it was a loud sound, because I have headphones anyway.

I have many PSU slots, but the computer building video I followed, the person plugged 8+6 connector with one cable. I now used 2 connectors with 8 instead of having 1 connector with 8+8. Both these connectors are automatically split (8+8), but I'm only using one of the 8 groups from each of them (if that makes sense).

Basically, if you think the video card is fine, I will keep it. But if it is affected, I'll definitely RMA it

Makes perfect sense.
Well, actually the noise you can hear is relative to the ambient. Sometimes if the ambient is too quiet even rudimentary mild noises can sound aggravated, specially if you are consciously looking for one. We have no way have gauging that. So, you have to take that call mate. I would say, get another neutral party involved and get an opinion. If its too bad, definitely RMA the card. But do make sure that you are certain of the card being the source.