New Gaming Rig Advice

Not a gamer, but I bought an i7 about 6 years ago from Dino PC who allowed me to spec each component. They put it together cheaper than I could have sourced and built myself. Apart from Microsoft turning their nose up at it for Windows 11 compatibility it still kicks bottom.
i7 32Gb 210Gb SSD. I have a RAID NAS 2Tb (upgrading to 8Tb) which everything other than operating system and prgrams sits on. I run twin graphics cards, one per monitor in a 3 monitor (one off the motherboard graphics) setup mainly for video work, Phtoshop and spreadsheets.

I think the key these days is a large wedge of memory, an SSD for the operating system and a meaty graphics card or two.

Yoo may find that an upgrade to memory and graphics might be all that you need for the next coupel of years. With the silicon shortage and current pricing holding off may be advisable.

 

I personally don't think it's worth it, a top level i7 will be cheaper for gaming with no discernible difference (only if you're video editing or really CPU intensive things will set the i9 apart).

As Hornmeister said, there's a good amount of places that'll let you configure a pre-built PC to your needs (and is around the same price as building it yourself these days), I used Mesh Computers for my new one last year and can't fault it.

 

One warning about the pre-built stuff: if you open it up to install, picking something entirely random, say a BR drive and something else develops a fault your warranty becomes voided for 'unauthorised' modifications - they're bloody strict on this.

 

Anyone getting a PC delivered I would recommend just popping the case open to ensure none of the cards have come loose before switchign it on. The method or securing cards isn't as robust as the old philips screw days and I've heard of a couple of cases where graphics cards have become dislodged in transit and

 

….

did your wi-fi card fall out mid-post?

 

I've been looking into this this week because we've had some issues with Windows 11 TPM 2.0 requirements and virtualisation. If this is the issue I can point you towards a utility that will create a bootable USB for Windows 11 without the TPM requirement.

 

Not really an issue just annoying that if I choose to upgrade it appears to be a fudge becasue Microsoft are being arses rather than for any good reason.
I can add a TPM module and Uefi or whatever it is already supported but my processor is old. So whilst I can support the hardware security requirements and my processor is faster than newer ones that are supported, strictly speaking unless I bodge it Win 11 isn't compatible.

The annoying thing is that Windows 10 was supposed to be the last operating system. A lot of people upgraded to avoid the possibility of future incompatibilities and security risks due to lack of updates when MS dropped support, but MS has just gone back on it's word and screwed us over in the name of "security".
A simple disclaimer on installation like " this feature is not compatible with your system which causes these drawbacks and as such are you happy to take the risk of installation y/n" would have meant not ******* off a large chink of it's userbase.

 

Join us!

 

My destop is wired into my gigabit network so that wouldn't have been an issue, anyway wifi is all onboard these days chap.
A friend of a friend purchased a computer and the graphics card had popped out. It took a while talking to customer support before they asked him to arrange a return, yet a quick 5 min bit of advice from me fixed the issue. I also read somewhere that someones HD popped out in transit and that hit had smashed the memory modules. Hence I woudl always pop open a desktop case before powering up after shipping.

 

I spent 2 years of university with two computer scientists in my house. That put me off Linux for life.
I pretty much only use Office, Photoshop and browse the internet for pictures of ladies so nver upgrading again is not really an issue.

Actually I think my NAS drive runs on some sort of Linux.

 

Shouldn't this thread be in the 'Massive Nerds' subforum?

 

Valid point, I'd completely forgotten that when my PC from Mesh arrived that the CPU cooler fan was just loose inside having fallen off in transit. Was a quick fix but glad I gave it the once over before turning it on!

 

Why not go for a console? Xbox series X you can use Microsoft edge pretty well I've heard.
I suppose it's all dependant on what the PC is used for most of all.

 

I'm running:
MSI MAG X570 TOMAHAWK WIFI
CPU Ryzen 5900x
RTX 3090 FE
32 gb of Ram
Noctua NH D15 with a smaller noctua fan in the middle
Sabrent rocket 4 plus 1 tb
Samsung 970 evo plus 1 tb
arctic fan as an exhaust

I only planned to get a 5900x and a 3080fe but because of the GPU crisis I had to pluck for what was there and went for the 3090.

I can content create at a fast pace, It used to take me 20-30 minutes to process a 20-30 minute video, it now takes 30 seconds, legitimately.

I can play games seamlessly and stream at the same time with no issues.

The only issue I had was getting the parts which was a journey in itself (graphics card more so), it cost me a lot of money, took a lot of waking up early and joining discords and telegrams but I got there in the end and am incredibly happy with the finished product.

Not sure why you would go for intel over Ryzen these days, especially as I can upgrade my mobo without the need for a diff cpu.

I did a lot of research into buying parts and there are a lot of youtube channels that I found of great help:

1. Gamers Nexus, give great comparisons, are maybe more for the enthusiasts but cover a lot for consumers too for all pc parts.

https://www.youtube.com/c/GamersNexus

2. Tech Team GB, does a weekly Q & A every Thursday, knows his stuff, good reviews

https://www.youtube.com/c/TechteamGB

3. Too Much Tech, great reviewer on peripherals

https://www.youtube.com/c/TooMuchTech

 

Feel free to drop me a dm if you want to know anything in particular re my set up or anything else.

 

Xbox game pass is well worth looking at then if you're sticking with a PC.

 

Unreal set up that, Aymondo.

@SkylaRose, are you looking to run games at high settings and in 1440p/4K, or do you just want something that'll run the top games but only at medium settings/1080p?

Without spending a huge sum of money (like Aymondo has!) 4K gaming at max settings and high frame rate is basically out the window, especially games with ray tracing. I'm currently running with a RTX 2060 Super (overclocked) and a Ryzen 3700X - which are both well behind the curve now - but manage to get the vast majority of games running at 60fps, 1440p, high-ultra settings.

If you want something that's going to run basically everything at a consistent 60fps, 1440p, max settings and ray tracing enabled for a good few years, the following would probably do the job very nicely, and is also what I'll be upgrading to in the next 6 months or so:

GeForce RTX 3070 Ti
Ryzen 5900X (5800X is also very capable if you want to save a few quid)
16GB 3600MHz RAM
An X570 motherboard
A 2TB M.2 SSD (forget old school HDD's at this point)
Liquid CPU cooler
850-1000W Modular PSU

 

To be honest given the scarcity of chips, supply chains being scrambled and inflation in general it’s a fair bit everything will have gone up in price by the new year.

 

Have a look at PC Specialist. I got a monster custom build from them about four years ago and it is still running hot!

They seem to have the largest range of parts and the highest specs. They have an informative forum (no politics section though) that discusses different users rigs.

That said, dont believe their lead times, and, unfortunately, the last time I purchased from them, the PC arrived with damage that could only have occurred before packaging, but yhat was during the peak of the first lock-down.

They have good support though, and took full responsibity without fuss.

I do gaming (some VR - Google Earth in VR is phenomenal), music production, video editing and web design, and my old beast still copes with all very acceptably.

 

You have to pay for build costs as well with pre builds I believe, building is the most fun part and that is an expense you can save on.

There are countless tutorials online that will tell you what goes where, so you'll unlikely go wrong, there are a couple of moments you'll have to make sure you follow to the tee, i.e flashing the bios (if you go ryzen) and inserting cpu + applying paste but it's easy enough.

I sort of built as I went along as opposed to building all on the same day which kept me motivated to finish building the pc.

Black Friday/Cyber Monday is round the corner which provide a lot of tech discounts, I have found some decent discounts on both CCLonline and Scan, I have rang up both before and asked for a product and seen if they can apply a discount or do a deal and if im recalling correctly, they did.

 

Just need a decent liquid cooler for the CPU as opposed to a conventional one. Most modern gaming cases have good air flow and a lot of them come with extra fans.

 

Got a new one coming tomorrow. Gone for a HP OMEN 40L which was on offer at a great price:

GeForce RTX 3070 Ti
Intel Core i7-12700K
HyperX 16GB 3733 MHz Heatsink RAM
2TB WD Black M.2 SSD

 

Upgrading from Atari 520STE to 1040 FM.

 

Every HD I've ever owned that has failed has been WD.

Samsung IBM Toshiba have all been fine but been exclusively Segate for a few years now. Have a NAS which I've just popped 2x Seagate Ironwolf 8Tbs in