1st Gaming Set Up - Advice Appreciated!

[MarkusDraconis]

Hi all,

I'm looking to buy my first gaming PC, and was hoping if you good folks could help me please? Never had one before but I thought now's the time, as my current laptop is pretty ancient and I'm solely a console gamer at the moment.

My budget is around roughly £2500 all in, so it needs to include monitor and keyboard.

I've currently got this build in mind, does anything stand out as glaringly inappropriate or lacking in certain areas? I've no idea regarding the difference between NVIDIA and AMD etc. Can I improve the SSD drive in terms of config? Like have a faster but smaller drive to boot, then a larger drive for gaming? Would that work?

Is the case suitable?

Thanks!

Case
CORSAIR 175R RGB MID TOWER GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i9 24-Core Processor i9-13900K (Up to 5.8GHz) 36MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® PRIME Z790-P (DDR5, LGA1700, USB 3.2, PCIe 5.0) - ARGB Ready
Memory (RAM)
64GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR5 4800MHz (2 x 32GB)
Graphics Card
12GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 4070 Ti - HDMI, DP, LHR
1st M.2 SSD Drive
4TB CORSAIR CORE XT MP600 NVMe PCIe M.2 SSD (up to 5000 MB/R, 4400 MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 750W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
DeepCool AG400 Performance ARGB CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
ONBOARD LAN PORT
Wireless Network Card
WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6E AX210 2,400Mbps/5GHz, 300Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD + BT 5.0
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Windows 11 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KUK-00003]
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10/11 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
Norton 360 inc. Game Optimizer - Free 90 Day License
Browser
Microsoft® Edge
Monitor
ASUS TUF GAMING VG249Q1A 24"
Keyboard & Mouse
CORSAIR K55 RGB PRO XT Gaming Keyboard
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 8 to 10 working days

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-z790-ddr5-pc/0gqb6f9Kpk/

 

[TonyCarter]

With that budget you should be aiming at a 1440p build, rather than 1080p.

Also, and to be blunt, the only items I’d not argue with are the wi-fi card and Windows 11.

If we keep £350 aside for a good 1440p monitor (something like the MSI MAG274QRF-QD), then we’ve got £2150 for the PC…and at that budget, I’d be going for the latest AMD offering, something like this…

Case
CORSAIR 4000D RGB AIRFLOW TEMPERED GLASS GAMING CASE - much better case for thermals & quality
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D Eight Core CPU (4.2GHz-5.0GHz/104MB w/3D V-CACHE/AM5) - the fastest gaming CPU at the moment, and uses much less power than the 13th gen i7/i9, also has years of upgrade options
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING B650-PLUS WIFI (DDR5, USB 3.2, 6Gb/s) - higher quality board than the Primes
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE RGB DDR5 6000MHz (2 x 16GB) - much faster RAM, and will perform much better with it (as much as 10% more performance than 4800MHz)
Graphics Card
16GB AMD RADEON™ RX 7900 GRE - HDMI, DP - DX® 12 - broadly equivalent to the 4070Ti, but cheaper and has more VRAM (there’s also the option of saving £100 and going for the 6800XT)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB SOLIDIGM P44 PRO GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 7000MB/sR, 4700MB/sW) - fast boot/app drive, as you surmised
1st M.2 SSD Drive
2TB SOLIDIGM P41+ GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 4125MB/sR, 3325MB/sW) - not quite as fast, but still great for games storage
Power Supply
CORSAIR 1000W RMx SERIES™ - MODULAR 80 PLUS GOLD, ULTRA QUIET - gives some headroom for a CPU or GPU upgrade in a few years if you move to 4K
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead, 1.0mm Core)
Processor Cooling
CORSAIR iCUE H100i ELITE CAPELLIX XT RGB High Performance CPU Cooler - decent 240mm (2x120mm fans) cooler for this CPU, you’d need a 360mm (3x120mm) min for the equivalent Intel CPUs
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
ONBOARD 2.5Gbe LAN PORT
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Windows 11 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KUK-00003]
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
NO RECOVERY MEDIA REQUIRED
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Microsoft® Edge
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 8 to 10 working days
Price: £2,124.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am5-pc/5gzzaAVWyP/

Monitor

MSI 27" Quad HD 165Hz G-SYNC Compatible HDR IPS Gaming Monitor Fully Adjustable

Buy from Scan - 27" MSI Optix MAG274QRF-QD Monitor, IPS, 2560x1440, 1ms, 165Hz, HDR, 1000:1, 300cd/m², HDMI/DP/USB, G-SYNC Compatible

www.scan.co.uk

 

[SpyderTracks]

Remember, the 7800XT is just about to be released as well, wait for 3rd party reviews if you're interested, but so far it's looking like a promising card just from the specs.

AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT vs Radeon RX 7800 XT: What's the difference?

AMD has added two new graphics cards to its RX 7000 lineup: the AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT and AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT.

www.trustedreviews.com

 

[MarkusDraconis]

Thanks for the feedback.

Can you guys clarify something please? I checked CPUbenchmark, and the AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D processor is ranked way lower than the one I initially selected and is only flagged as a "reasonable" performance, yet the general feedback is that it's the best on the market? Is the CPUbenchmark site inaccurate? Wouldn't it be better to have a Ryzen 9 or i9?

Cheers.

 

[SpyderTracks]

Thanks for the feedback.

Can you guys clarify something please? I checked CPUbenchmark, and the AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D processor is ranked way lower than the one I initially selected and is only flagged as a "reasonable" performance, yet the general feedback is that it's the best on the market? Is the CPUbenchmark site inaccurate? Wouldn't it be better to have a Ryzen 9 or i9?

Cheers.

Cpubenchmark is generally for workstation benchmarks.

The 7800x3d is a gaming processor, it’s the top performer for games.

But in workstation tasks it suffers as it trades frequency for extra 3dvcache.

So depends what benchmarks you’re looking at and what uses you have in mind.

Also, the 13900k just cannot be cooled by normal coolers, so you’ll never get it’s possible performance, plus the price of entry is far higher because of the ludicrous power and heat it generates. But for gaming the 13900k performs so marginally better than the 13700k anyway that it’s generally not considered even if you were to choose intel for inferior performance over AMD.

 

[sck451]

Thanks for the feedback.

Can you guys clarify something please? I checked CPUbenchmark, and the AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D processor is ranked way lower than the one I initially selected and is only flagged as a "reasonable" performance, yet the general feedback is that it's the best on the market? Is the CPUbenchmark site inaccurate? Wouldn't it be better to have a Ryzen 9 or i9?

Cheers.

The question is, do you want good performance in games or in artificial (and, in the case of UserBenchmark, heavily biased) benchmarks? The 7800X3D is the best gaming CPU there is.

The 13900K is a monster for productivity (because it has a vast number of efficiency cores, which are useless for gaming), but it is behind the cheaper and more power-efficient (therefore cooler) 7800X3D.

 

[AccidentalDenz]

Thanks for the feedback.

Can you guys clarify something please? I checked CPUbenchmark, and the AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D processor is ranked way lower than the one I initially selected and is only flagged as a "reasonable" performance, yet the general feedback is that it's the best on the market? Is the CPUbenchmark site inaccurate? Wouldn't it be better to have a Ryzen 9 or i9?

Cheers.

Ryzen 9 and i9s tend to be geared more towards workstation uses more than gaming. The 13900K also runs hot enough that it will actually damage itself in a farily short space of time.

Others have given more detail just in the time I've been typing, but yeah, a lot of the benchmark sites have particular biases that they don't always disclose.

 

[MarkusDraconis]

Cpubenchmark is generally for workstation benchmarks.

The 7800x3d is a gaming processor, it’s the top performer for games.

But in workstation tasks it suffers as it trades frequency for extra 3dvcache.

So depends what benchmarks you’re looking at and what uses you have in mind.

Also, the 13900k just cannot be cooled by normal coolers, so you’ll never get it’s possible performance, plus the price of entry is far higher because of the ludicrous power and heat it generates. But for gaming the 13900k performs so marginally better than the 13700k anyway that it’s generally not considered even if you were to choose intel for inferior performance over AMD.

Thanks, that makes sense.

Regarding the graphics card, is there much difference between the RX 7900 GRE and RX 7900 XT?

 

[sck451]

Thanks, that makes sense.

Regarding the graphics card, is there much difference between the RX 7900 GRE and RX 7900 XT?

The 7900 GRE is around 20% slower than the 7900 XT. AMD's naming scheme is a colossal mess. Personally I'd go for the 6900 XT as it's much better value than either and in between them in performance.

 

[MarkusDraconis]

The 7900 GRE is around 20% slower than the 7900 XT. AMD's naming scheme is a colossal mess. Personally I'd go for the 6900 XT as it's much better value than either and in between them in performance.

Thanks. How about compared to the 4070 TI in terms of power/speed? Does it go 4070TI > 7900 XT > 6900 XT > 7900 GRE in order of performance, or is the TI interchangeable with the XT? I'm still iffy on the graphics card.

 

[TonyCarter]

Thanks. How about compared to the 4070 TI in terms of power/speed? Does it go 4070TI > 7900 XT > 6900 XT > 7900 GRE in order of performance, or is the TI interchangeable with the XT? I'm still iffy on the graphics card.

It's not that straightforward, it depends on the game and settings used. On average the 4070Ti sits closer to the 6950XT, in some games/resolutions the AMD wins, and others are Nvidia wins...and then there's the decision on Ray Tracing...as the Nvidia will perform better than AMD here.

You could have a look at some of the Hardware Unboxed or Gamers Nexus YouTube benchmarks to see if the games you're playing favour AMD or Nvidia...but you will be paying considerably (i.e. about £250) more for the 4070Ti vs the 6900XT (notice PCS now offer this as a MBA/reference card) or £100 more than the 6950XT.

 

[SpyderTracks]

It’s also worth pointing out that both nvidia and AMD are about to release new AI frame generation updates, DLSS 3.5 for NVidia and FSR 3 for AMD.

From timelines, it does appear that nvidia announced DLSS 3.5 as a knee jerk defence against AMD previously announcing FSR 3, perhaps they’ve seen a leak that showed something more promising than they were expecting, could be nothing like that at all. But they’ve opened it up to all RTX generations where DLSS 3.0 was limited to only RTX4000 series and up (even though there was no legitimate reason for them to do this other than to try force upgrading people). The fact they’ve opened it up to previous gen RTX cards is very unusual for nvidia, and IMHO they would only do this if they felt threatened by AMDs upcoming improvements.

Obviously wait for 3rd party reviews, but it could be interesting.

 

[MarkusDraconis]

It's not that straightforward, it depends on the game and settings used. On average the 4070Ti sits closer to the 6950XT, in some games/resolutions the AMD wins, and others are Nvidia wins...and then there's the decision on Ray Tracing...as the Nvidia will perform better than AMD here.

You could have a look at some of the Hardware Unboxed or Gamers Nexus YouTube benchmarks to see if the games you're playing favour AMD or Nvidia...but you will be paying considerably (i.e. about £250) more for the 4070Ti vs the 6900XT (notice PCS now offer this as a MBA/reference card) or £100 more than the 6950XT.

Thanks, it's all a bit confusing to me, haha. If you had to choose, which would you go for? 4070 TI or 7900 XT?

 

[SpyderTracks]

Thanks, it's all a bit confusing to me, haha. If you had to choose, which would you go for? 4070 TI or 7900 XT?

7900XT personally.

 

[MarkusDraconis]

7900XT personally.

Ta, would it work well with the 7800X3D?

 

[SpyderTracks]

Ta, would it work well with the 7800X3D?

Yes, any gpu would, the 7800x3d is the best gaming cpu available.

 

[MarkusDraconis]

Thanks everyone, really appreciate the advice!

 

[sck451]

Thanks. How about compared to the 4070 TI in terms of power/speed? Does it go 4070TI > 7900 XT > 6900 XT > 7900 GRE in order of performance, or is the TI interchangeable with the XT? I'm still iffy on the graphics card.

I did some vague calculations of value/cost per frame of the PCS offering of graphics cards. (I'm working off Hardware Unboxed data, though the 6900 XT performance is inferred as they haven't tested it for a while.)

Card	FPS (1440p avg.)	Position by FPS	£ (on PCS)	£ per frame	Position by value
6900 XT	117	6	534	4.56	1
6950 XT	123	5	571	4.64	2
6800 XT	105	8	495	4.71	3
7900 GRE	113	7	588	5.20	4
7900 XT	139	3	729	5.24	5
7900 XTX	160	1	889	5.56	6
4070 Ti	128	4	721	5.63	7
4080	159	2	980	6.16	8

I would see the best options here as being the 6900 XT or, if you want "only the best" performance, the 7900 XTX. Everything else seems a significantly inferior value offering.

 

[SpyderTracks]

I did some vague calculations of value/cost per frame of the PCS offering of graphics cards. (I'm working off Hardware Unboxed data, though the 6900 XT performance is inferred as they haven't tested it for a while.)

Card	FPS (1440p avg.)	Position by FPS	£ (on PCS)	£ per frame	Position by value
6900 XT	117	6	534	4.56	1
6950 XT	123	5	571	4.64	2
6800 XT	105	8	495	4.71	3
7900 GRE	113	7	588	5.20	4
7900 XT	139	3	729	5.24	5
7900 XTX	160	1	889	5.56	6
4070 Ti	128	4	721	5.63	7
4080	159	2	980	6.16	8

I would see the best options here as being the 6900 XT or, if you want "only the best" performance, the 7900 XTX. Everything else seems a significantly inferior value offering.

Nice, that’s a really good table

 

[Scott]

The only consideration against AMD for me is VR. If you're flat panel only the AMD is the way to go