Advice on PC Spec.

[cossinsmatthew]

Currently looking at three options:

Option 1 (budget maxed out):

Case
LIAN LI LANCOOL 215 GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 7600X Six Core CPU (4.7GHz-5.3GHz/38MB CACHE/AM5)
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING B650-PLUS WIFI (AM5, DDR5, PCIe 4.0, Wi-Fi 6)
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR5 6000MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
16GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 4060 Ti - HDMI, DP, LHR
Graphics Card Support Bracket
NONE (BRACKET INCLUDED AS STANDARD ON 4070 Ti / RX 7700 XT AND ABOVE)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB SOLIDIGM P41+ GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 3500MB/sR, 1625MB/sW)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SOLIDIGM P41+ GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 4125MB/sR, 2950MB/sW)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 750W RMe SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
DeepCool AK400 Performance CPU Cooler ZERO DARK
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
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
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
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Google Chrome™
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 4 to 6 working days
Price: £1,499.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am5-pc/HYPnhMC8vc/

Option 2 (Saves 19 quid, gets me bluetooth, possibly better WiFi):
Case
LIAN LI LANCOOL 215 GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 7600X Six Core CPU (4.7GHz-5.3GHz/38MB CACHE/AM5)
Motherboard
ASUS® PRIME B650-PLUS (AM5, DDR5, PCIe 4.0)
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR5 6000MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
16GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 4060 Ti - HDMI, DP, LHR
Graphics Card Support Bracket
NONE (BRACKET INCLUDED AS STANDARD ON 4070 Ti / RX 7700 XT AND ABOVE)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB SOLIDIGM P41+ GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 3500MB/sR, 1625MB/sW)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SOLIDIGM P41+ GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 4125MB/sR, 2950MB/sW)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 750W RMe SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
DeepCool AK400 Performance CPU Cooler ZERO DARK
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
ONBOARD 2.5Gbe 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
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
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Google Chrome™
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 4 to 6 working days
Price: £1,480.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am5-pc/8cajYjcxK4/

Option 3 (same mobo as option 2 but cut the wifi/bluetooth card - can exclusively use ethernet and get bluetooth via usb dongle (what I do now - saves a further 23 quid):

Case
LIAN LI LANCOOL 215 GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 7600X Six Core CPU (4.7GHz-5.3GHz/38MB CACHE/AM5)
Motherboard
ASUS® PRIME B650-PLUS (AM5, DDR5, PCIe 4.0)
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR5 6000MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
16GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 4060 Ti - HDMI, DP, LHR
Graphics Card Support Bracket
NONE (BRACKET INCLUDED AS STANDARD ON 4070 Ti / RX 7700 XT AND ABOVE)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB SOLIDIGM P41+ GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 3500MB/sR, 1625MB/sW)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SOLIDIGM P41+ GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 4125MB/sR, 2950MB/sW)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 750W RMe SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
DeepCool AK400 Performance CPU Cooler ZERO DARK
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
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
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
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Google Chrome™
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 4 to 6 working days
Price: £1,457.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am5-pc/!fq9eubKYG/

Thoughts? Ultimately if its worth it I'll bite the bullet and get Option 1 but I don't want to throw money down the drain even 42 or 19 quid if there is no obvious benefit so basically it depends on whether the motherboard choice has serious issues in quality or something.

And if the recommendation is Option 1 - does Option 1 look alright?

 

[SpyderTracks]

Okay, for the sake of 8 quid difference I might as well get the 7600x for the higher base clock rate

Yeah, for that price difference it’s worth it, it can be up to about 5% performance uplift

 

[SpyderTracks]

Hold on hold on, I’ve just seen you need VR use, what headset are you using?

Has a max budget been mentioned? I did have a look over and couldn’t see one, edit, seen it now at £1500

VR headsets tend to be quite high resolution. A 4060ti is going to absolutely suck in VR if you need to account for motion sickness of any form, unless it’s an old 1st gen product

 

[cossinsmatthew]

Hold on hold on, I’ve just seen you need VR use, what headset are you using?

Has a max budget been mentioned? I did have a look over and couldn’t see one

VR headsets tend to be quite high resolution. A 4060ti is going to absolutely suck in VR if you need to account for motion sickness of any form, unless it’s an old 1st gen product

I don't currently have a headset but it is something I would consider over the next couple of years. Big Half Life fan so would probably go for the Valve Index to play Half Life Alyx. VR is certainly not the main goal, but reasonable performance in VR is something I am keen on having.

Ideally wanted budget at <£1400 but hard budget is £1500.

I selected the 4060ti as I intend on keeping this for a long while before upgrading (e.g. 5-10 years) so I decided the 16gb VRAM was a good amount of headroom since some games now are already putting 12GB as their recommended.

 

[TonyCarter]

The motherboard on Option 1 has WiFi/bluetooth built in, so you wouldn’t need an add-in card.

I’d also not recommend a Prime level motherboard for a gaming PC, as they’re meant for budget-level builds.

I’d also recommend upping the 512GB SSD to the P44 Pro version, as it’s much faster.

 

[cossinsmatthew]

The motherboard on Option 1 has WiFi/bluetooth built in, so you wouldn’t need an add-in card.

I’d also not recommend a Prime level motherboard for a gaming PC, as they’re meant for budget-level builds.

Okay but specifically what about them is bad - they are cheaper yes, but why go for the TUF over the Prime when I am trying to stick to a budget? Do they bottleneck speed somehow?

I’d also recommend upping the 512GB SSD to the P44 Pro version, as it’s much faster

Much faster in terms of what though? It involves adding £21 and exceeding my budget which is a no-go. What does the much faster actually translate into? I have read it may boot up in a few less seconds but in daily use and gaming I otherwise wouldn't notice a difference.

 

[TonyCarter]

The TUF motherboards tend to have more/better power stages and other circuitry is of a higher specification to ensure system stability during the heavier workloads of gaming or media creation.

A faster primary SSD makes anything using the primary SSD faster…so launching apps, security scans, file copying, Windows updates, background apps, games launchers, etc.

At the moment, the fastest drive in your config is the larger secondary drive, and you’ll have to ensure PCS install Windows on the slower drive, as they’d normally default install to the fastest drive in the build.

But, as you‘ve said, when working to a specific budget, you can’t always get everything you’d like

 

[SpyderTracks]

I don't currently have a headset but it is something I would consider over the next couple of years. Big Half Life fan so would probably go for the Valve Index to play Half Life Alyx. VR is certainly not the main goal, but reasonable performance in VR is something I am keen on having.

You'd unquestionably require a GPU upgrade if you ever did decide on VR in that case. 4060ti Super is end of life in a couple of months and not appropriate anyway for mainstream headsets, plus new headsets are on the way anyway by most of the major manufacturers off the back of Apple's VisionPro, and there will be a significant uplift in overall performance, plus I suspect more manufacturers will move to micro OLED screens at high resolution now they're available on the market.

I selected the 4060ti as I intend on keeping this for a long while before upgrading (e.g. 5-10 years) so I decided the 16gb VRAM was a good amount of headroom since some games now are already putting 12GB as their recommended.

That's not how PC graphics works, it's impossible to "future proof" a GPU, and when you try you actually spend far more for far worse performance in the long term. Match the GPU to your current requirements and then upgrade it when you need to.

If you factor in the Valve Index as an example, it's 1440 x 1600 per eye, that's 1440 x 3200 which is significantly over 1440p of 2560 x 1440, plus it's a general rule of thumb for most games that you need to average 90fps to avoid motion sickness in gaming (not so much SIMS)

You'd really need a XX70 or above tier as a bare minimum if you want an actually decent experience. I suspect the Index's replacement will be substantially higher resolution also given that the new Quest 3 is 2064 x 2208 per eye

I had the original HTC Vive which was only 1080 x 1200 running on a GTX1080 and still suffered motion sickness, although it was more prevalent on the older headsets as the pixelation and screen door effect was far more noticeable.

 

[cossinsmatthew]

You'd unquestionably require a GPU upgrade if you ever did decide on VR in that case. 4060ti Super is end of life in a couple of months and not appropriate anyway for mainstream headsets, plus new headsets are on the way anyway by most of the major manufacturers off the back of Apple's VisionPro, and there will be a significant uplift in overall performance, plus I suspect more manufacturers will move to micro OLED screens at high resolution now they're available on the market.


That's not how PC graphics works, it's impossible to "future proof" a GPU, and when you try you actually spend far more for far worse performance in the long term. Match the GPU to your current requirements and then upgrade it when you need to.

If you factor in the Valve Index as an example, it's 1440 x 1600 per eye, that's 1440 x 3200 which is significantly over 1440p of 2560 x 1440, plus it's a general rule of thumb for most games that you need to average 90fps to avoid motion sickness in gaming (not so much SIMS)

You'd really need a XX70 or above tier as a bare minimum if you want an actually decent experience. I suspect the Index's replacement will be substantially higher resolution also given that the new Quest 3 is 2064 x 2208 per eye

I had the original HTC Vive which was only 1080 x 1200 running on a GTX1080 and still suffered motion sickness, although it was more prevalent on the older headsets as the pixelation and screen door effect was far more noticeable.

Fair point - though budget means 4070 super is out of the question. Ultimately many people have successfully run VR games like Half Life Alyx on a 4060 Ti and been more than happy with the results. I would be hoping for high settings on conventional games going forwards for the next few years - not necessarily every lighting effect and extras but high quality textures etc. On VR I would be happier with lower settings.

Is there a card of similar or cheaper price that you think is better for my needs? Perhaps one that is superior or perhaps one that is slightly less good but much better value?

 

[SpyderTracks]

Fair point - though budget means 4070 super is out of the question.

That’s what I’m saying, you’d have to upgrade it later down the line if you wanted VR, youll have to upgrade the GPU no matter what in a few years anyway.

Ultimately many people have successfully run VR games like Half Life Alyx on a 4060 Ti and been more than happy with the results.

Have you got specific examples of that? It all depends what headset they're using, headsets range enormously in resolution, you're talking from 1080p up to about 8k, each of them have different hardware requirements. There are 2 types of VR games. Most of them are very basic line graphics, exactly because it’s very low power requirements. They're simple line graphics with most of the viewpoint as black which means pixel is off, things like Beatsaber,
Then you have ACTUAL VR games like Serious Sam, Half Life Alyx, Resident Evil and the upcoming Batman: Arkham Shadow, Metro: Awakening and Alien: Rogue Incursion games. Those are made as all out VR games, they don’t abide by the standard rules and simply are all about being a top tier gaming experience in VR. As such they’re far more complicated graphically and require a lot more horsepower

Is there a card of similar or cheaper price that you think is better for my needs? Perhaps one that is superior or perhaps one that is slightly less good but much better value?

As you’re not running VR now and have just alluded that you’re not looking for ultra graphics, it's eradicated the need for an expensive NVidia card.

The RX7700 XT is around the same performance as the 4060ti with 12Gb of VRAM which is plenty at 1080p. May be a better option until you need to upgrade.

 

[SpyderTracks]

That’s what I’m saying, you’d have to upgrade it later down the line if you wanted VR, youll have to upgrade the GPU no matter what in a few years anyway.


Have you got specific examples of that? It all depends what headset they're using, headsets range enormously in resolution, you're talking from 1080p up to about 8k, each of them have different hardware requirements. There are 2 types of VR games. Most of them are very basic line graphics, exactly because it’s very low power requirements. They're simple line graphics with most of the viewpoint as black which means pixel is off, things like Beatsaber,
Then you have ACTUAL VR games like Serious Sam, Half Life Alyx, Resident Evil and the upcoming Batman: Arkham Shadow, Metro: Awakening and Alien: Rogue Incursion games. Those are made as all out VR games, they don’t abide by the standard rules and simply are all about being a top tier gaming experience in VR. As such they’re far more complicated graphically and require a lot more horsepower


As you’re not running VR now and have just alluded that you’re not looking for ultra graphics, it's eradicated the need for an expensive NVidia card.

The RX7700 XT is around the same performance as the 4060ti with 12Gb of VRAM which is plenty at 1080p. May be a better option until you need to upgrade.

I've just seen PCS only have the white Sapphire model which is the most premium of all of them in the 7700XT lineup I think. It's still a bit cheaper than the 4060ti and I would say a better card, certainly Sapphire are the premium brand when it comes to AMD cards

 

[cossinsmatthew]

That’s what I’m saying, you’d have to upgrade it later down the line if you wanted VR, youll have to upgrade the GPU no matter what in a few years anyway.


Have you got specific examples of that? It all depends what headset they're using, headsets range enormously in resolution, you're talking from 1080p up to about 8k, each of them have different hardware requirements. There are 2 types of VR games. Most of them are very basic line graphics, exactly because it’s very low power requirements. They're simple line graphics with most of the viewpoint as black which means pixel is off, things like Beatsaber,
Then you have ACTUAL VR games like Serious Sam, Half Life Alyx, Resident Evil and the upcoming Batman: Arkham Shadow, Metro: Awakening and Alien: Rogue Incursion games. Those are made as all out VR games, they don’t abide by the standard rules and simply are all about being a top tier gaming experience in VR. As such they’re far more complicated graphically and require a lot more horsepower

This shows both the 8GB and 16GB 4060ti running Half Life Alyx and other games.

I've just seen PCS only have the white Sapphire model which is the most premium of all of them in the 7700XT lineup I think. It's still a bit cheaper than the 4060ti and I would say a better card, certainly Sapphire are the premium brand when it comes to AMD cards

It looks like a good option but appears to be more expensive by £18, exceeding the budget. I'm not too familiar with AMD graphics cards having only used Nvidia previously. What would be the next step down? It is a shame PCS is so limited on options, though understandable.

I could theoretically make an exception in this case though as you can get two games (one of which being Starfield) free through steam with this processor and I could effectively subtract that from the cost as I intend to get it eventually.

 

[cossinsmatthew]

The TUF motherboards tend to have more/better power stages and other circuitry is of a higher specification to ensure system stability during the heavier workloads of gaming or media creation.

A faster primary SSD makes anything using the primary SSD faster…so launching apps, security scans, file copying, Windows updates, background apps, games launchers, etc.

Understand this, but is there a way to understand what the noticeable speed-up, if any, would likely be? Would I realistically notice a difference in gaming or day to day tasks?

At the moment, the fastest drive in your config is the larger secondary drive, and you’ll have to ensure PCS install Windows on the slower drive, as they’d normally default install to the fastest drive in the build.

Ah yes, is there a way to specify this llater on in the order or is it something I need to email/call them about?

But, as you‘ve said, when working to a specific budget, you can’t always get everything you’d like

 

[SpyderTracks]

This shows both the 8GB and 16GB 4060ti running Half Life Alyx and other games.

Ok, that is interesting, I didn't appreciate Alyx could eat up so much VRAM either. It does seem there are other VR titles that benefit from over 12Gb VRAM also.

It looks like a good option but appears to be more expensive by £18, exceeding the budget. I'm not too familiar with AMD graphics cards having only used Nvidia previously. What would be the next step down? It is a shame PCS is so limited on options, though understandable.

Damn, you're right, I was looking at the Asus 4060ti 16Gb which is insanely expensive! Yep, at that point, the 4060ti is a better buy.

I think I need to call it a night, my brain has obviously switched off some time ago and I'm just not reading things properly!

 

[Ekans2011]

Ignoring future upgrade potential, do you think 750W is sufficient for the current system?

I'm not the correct person to answer that because neglecting the future upgrades makes no sense to me.
Anyway, 750W (assuming is a newer ATX 3.0) may be sufficient if you plan to remain with mid-low level GPUs in the future.

Any opinions on going for a non-wifi motherboard and then adding a wifi card? Cheaper overall and provides bluetooth so seems a good idea?

An ASUS Prime B650-Plus + PCIe WiFi card is another non-sense option, since you'll have a worser MB to save only £15.

FYI, ASUS TUF B650-PLUS has WiFi and BT 5.2.

Previously you selected the P44 Pro for the OS drive, instead of the P41+. Bearing in mind that if the benefit can be summed up as shaving a few seconds off boot I wouldn't consider it worth it, what is the reason to go for this more expensive option? I have seen some stuff about longer lifespan - was that your reasoning?

@TonyCarter already replied to this. No need to add anything.

Scraping the barrel to save on fundamental components such as the Motherboard and PSU, and then spending on things such as Arctic paste, I believe is an illogical choice, and thus I can't recommend it under any circumstances.

The minimum build for your purposes, in my opinion, is the one I listed in post #4, which is only £23 over budget.
Having stated that, I'll leave the discussion to those who are currently assisting you as best as possible.

 

[cossinsmatthew]

I'm not the correct person to answer that because neglecting the future upgrades makes no sense to me.
Anyway, 750W (assuming is a newer ATX 3.0) may be sufficient if you plan to remain with mid-low level GPUs in the future.


An ASUS Prime B650-Plus + PCIe WiFi card is another non-sense option, since you'll have a worser MB to save only £15.

FYI, ASUS TUF B650-PLUS has WiFi and BT 5.2.


@TonyCarter already replied to this. No need to add anything.

Scraping the barrel to save on fundamental components such as the Motherboard and PSU, and then spending on things such as Arctic paste, I believe is an illogical choice, and thus I can't recommend it under any circumstances.

Okay, fair enough. I am persuaded with regards to the motherboard. With regards to PSU, I do plan to stick with this for many years without upgrading - as games get newer, my settings will decrease - I just wanted to be able to run current and near-future games (next 3 years) at high settings but games further away I will be happier at medium and eventually lower settings so won't be changing GPU for a while. I have to draw the line budget-wise somewhere so getting a PSU that meets my current needs with still a significant headroom for spikes and smaller upgrades seems the best place to do it without sacrificing performance.

If the "sufficient paste" used by PCS is believed to be alright I will stick with that. I do have some MX-4 around somewhere so can replace in the future but don;t really want to be reapplying thermal paste soon after the purchase so that was the reasoning for going with mx-4 in ther build. If the PCS paste is good I won't bother.

The minimum build for your purposes, in my opinion, is the one I listed in post #4, which is only £23 over budget.
Having stated that, I'll leave the discussion to those who are currently assisting you as best as possible.

Thank you for your help - I think my final build will resemble it reasonably closely with a few minor changes.

Ok, that is interesting, I didn't appreciate Alyx could eat up so much VRAM either. It does seem there are other VR titles that benefit from over 12Gb VRAM also.


Damn, you're right, I was looking at the Asus 4060ti 16Gb which is insanely expensive! Yep, at that point, the 4060ti is a better buy.

I think I need to call it a night, my brain has obviously switched off some time ago and I'm just not reading things properly!

Cheers, I will go with the 4060ti in that case!

I don;t suppose anyone has any opinions on the PCS SSDs? For example I thought that I could maybe increase the OS drive to be the P44 Pro as has been suggested, but to keep within my budget I could reduce my 1TB storage drive from using solidigm to using PCS own brand. The R/W speeds are less but would this be noticeable for a drive used only for storage and not for the OS? I have heard the PCS drives are made by adata so still a reasonably well-known ssd brand.

 

[TonyCarter]

The standard paste is fine. We normally warn people off extra/premium paste as the Corsair coolers come with their own, pre-applied paste and it's pointless to remove that just to put more on...and potentially do a poor job of applying it. I believe the Deepcool coolers come with their own paste anyway, and if not PCS will just use whatever they have.

Regarding the SSD, the reason we recommend the Solidigm versions (Pro for speed, Plus for value) over even the Samsungs, is that they've consistently shown that they're more reliable...and vs PCS ones tend to be faster as well.

Even if you don't want to take our word for it, just research the Solidigm reputation yourself (it was Intel's SSD business, before SK Hynix bought it)...and then try to find anything about the PCS ones or who makes them.

Put it this way, I'd rather send you the extra £20 out of my own pocket than recommend a PCS one.

 

[SpyderTracks]

I just wanted to be able to run current and near-future games (next 3 years) at high settings

That's not possible though, that's what we're trying to tell you.
Next gen GPUs are due in about October, any games released say 6 months after that will be built to the new power availability, even if you bought a 4090 now, it wouldn't be able to play games at ultra settings in 3 years.

No matter what card you buy now, you'd need to replace it within 3 years or so, doesn't matter what you buy now.

That's just how GPU's work, especially now with how fast hardware is moving due to Ray tracing and frame genration still being so new and each new generation card has a new architecture.

 

[TonyCarter]

That's not possible though, that's what we're trying to tell you.
Next gen GPUs are due in about October, any games released say 6 months after that will be built to the new power availability, even if you bought a 4090 now, it wouldn't be able to play games at ultra settings in 3 years.

No matter what card you buy now, you'd need to replace it within 3 years or so, doesn't matter what you buy now.

That's just how GPU's work, especially now with how fast hardware is moving due to Ray tracing and frame genration still being so new and each new generation card has a new architecture.

Especially if anything is built using UE5...some of the demos I've rub (admittedly at ultra and 3440x1440) make my RTX4090 shudder.

 

[cossinsmatthew]

The standard paste is fine. We normally warn people off extra/premium paste as the Corsair coolers come with their own, pre-applied paste and it's pointless to remove that just to put more on...and potentially do a poor job of applying it. I believe the Deepcool coolers come with their own paste anyway, and if not PCS will just use whatever they have.

Regarding the SSD, the reason we recommend the Solidigm versions (Pro for speed, Plus for value) over even the Samsungs, is that they've consistently shown that they're more reliable...and vs PCS ones tend to be faster as well.

Even if you don't want to take our word for it, just research the Solidigm reputation yourself (it was Intel's SSD business, before SK Hynix bought it)...and then try to find anything about the PCS ones or who makes them.

Put it this way, I'd rather send you the extra £20 out of my own pocket than recommend a PCS one.

Fair enough - sorry to badger the point but if I opt for Pro P44 over P41+, what would the difference be noticeable in gaming or in daily browsing/use of non-intensive programs. Or is it just going to shave a few seconds off boot time?

That's not possible though, that's what we're trying to tell you.
Next gen GPUs are due in about October, any games released say 6 months after that will be built to the new power availability, even if you bought a 4090 now, it wouldn't be able to play games at ultra settings in 3 years.

No matter what card you buy now, you'd need to replace it within 3 years or so, doesn't matter what you buy now.

That's just how GPU's work, especially now with how fast hardware is moving due to Ray tracing and frame genration still being so new and each new generation card has a new architecture.

When I say high I'm ignoring absolute ultra, ray-tracing, photo-realism - more talking about high-quality textures, being able to render in all vegetation etc. - essentially setting the graphics in a game to High, but not enabling all the extra fancy stuff that really adds the load. And I will be sticking with 1080p at least for a few years. My standards are fairly lower than you guys - I'm used to running RDR2 on a 1050ti and an i7-3770 haha. If this PC exceeds the recommended requirements on steam for the vast majority of games released over the next few years - which I am fairly certain it will and by a fair degree, then that is good for me!