1440p Build - Advice and Recommendations

[LumpyLenny]

Budget (including currency): £1,600 - £1,900

Country: United Kingdom

 

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Exclusively gaming, including titles like Rust, KSP, Space Engineers and AAA titles like The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077

 

Other details: This is my first build and is aimed at 1440p gaming at high to ultra settings with high FPS. Existing parts list is here:

 

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/user/LumpyLenny/saved/32FjZL

 

In terms of peripherals, I need everything from a wifi card through to a monitor, with the exception of a mouse and keyboard.

 

I want to buy ASAP and will likely get the LG 27GL850-B today.

 

A couple of things I'm unsure about are whether I should futureproof and go for 32 GB RAM, if that PSU is powerful enough for the build and whether that i7 will cause any bottlenecking issues for the 3070. Aside from those questions, any general feedback on this would be really helpful.

 

Thanks

 

 

 

[Helpful Tech Witch]

Go for a R5 5600x, or if you are a intel fanboy, at least 10th gen,

[LumpyLenny]

10 minutes ago, HelpfulTechWizard said:

Go for a R5 5600x, or if you are a intel fanboy, at least 10th gen,

Thanks for the response, why the Ryzen 5? I have no preference for brands so happy to get the best option, AMD or Intel.

[Mateyyy]

Good choice for the monitor, though going with Z390 nowadays makes little to no sense, especially considering what the 9700K looks to be priced at for you locally.

 

I would recommend going for something along the lines of:

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 5 5600X 3.7 GHz 6-Core Processor	£311.51 @ Overclockers.co.uk
CPU Cooler	Noctua NH-U12S chromax.black 55 CFM CPU Cooler	£64.98 @ Amazon UK
Motherboard	MSI MPG B550 GAMING EDGE WIFI ATX AM4 Motherboard	£139.97 @ Amazon UK
Memory	Crucial Ballistix 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 CL16 Memory	£82.99 @ Amazon UK
Storage	ADATA XPG SX8200 Pro 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive	£109.99 @ Amazon UK
Video Card	Sapphire Radeon RX 6800 XT 16 GB Video Card	£692.95 @ Overclockers.co.uk
Case	Corsair 275R Airflow ATX Mid Tower Case	£54.95 @ AWD-IT
Power Supply	Super Flower Leadex III Gold 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply	£89.99 @ Currys PC World
Monitor	LG 27GL850-B 27.0" 2560x1440 144 Hz Monitor	£339.00 @ Currys PC World
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	£1886.33
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-11-21 11:41 GMT+0000

Managed to fit in a 6800XT, though whether you can actually get your hands on one is a different question.

 

Getting a Windows key for 100 quid would mean that you'd need to drop to a 3070 (or maybe a 6800) to stay within budget, so honestly, I'd probably just look for a cheap key online. Or just run Windows unactivated for a while.

[Helpful Tech Witch]

5 minutes ago, LumpyLenny said:

Thanks for the response, why the Ryzen 5? I have no preference for brands so happy to get the best option, AMD or Intel.

It out preforms intels 10900k (the flagship) is almost all games.

[LumpyLenny]

14 minutes ago, HelpfulTechWizard said:

It out preforms intels 10900k (the flagship) is almost all games.

So it does, thanks for the tip

[LumpyLenny]

20 minutes ago, Mateyyy said:

Good choice for the monitor, though going with Z390 nowadays makes little to no sense, especially considering what the 9700K looks to be priced at for you locally.

 

I would recommend going for something along the lines of:

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 5 5600X 3.7 GHz 6-Core Processor	£311.51 @ Overclockers.co.uk
CPU Cooler	Noctua NH-U12S chromax.black 55 CFM CPU Cooler	£64.98 @ Amazon UK
Motherboard	MSI MPG B550 GAMING EDGE WIFI ATX AM4 Motherboard	£139.97 @ Amazon UK
Memory	Crucial Ballistix 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 CL16 Memory	£82.99 @ Amazon UK
Storage	ADATA XPG SX8200 Pro 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive	£109.99 @ Amazon UK
Video Card	Sapphire Radeon RX 6800 XT 16 GB Video Card	£692.95 @ Overclockers.co.uk
Case	Corsair 275R Airflow ATX Mid Tower Case	£54.95 @ AWD-IT
Power Supply	Super Flower Leadex III Gold 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply	£89.99 @ Currys PC World
Monitor	LG 27GL850-B 27.0" 2560x1440 144 Hz Monitor	£339.00 @ Currys PC World
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	£1886.33
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-11-21 11:41 GMT+0000

Managed to fit in a 6800XT, though whether you can actually get your hands on one is another story.

Getting a Windows key for 100 quid would mean that you'd need to drop to a 3070 (or maybe a 6800) to stay within budget, so honestly, I'd probably just look for a cheap key online. Or just run Windows unactivated for a while.

Thanks for this, I like your suggested build - one thing is that on pcpartpicker it flags a compatibility issue, is that something to worry about?

 

 

[Mateyyy]

1 minute ago, LumpyLenny said:

Thanks for this, I like your suggested build - one thing is that on pcpartpicker it flags a compatibility issue, is that something to worry about?

 

 

Not really. 
The B550 Gaming Edge (and most B550 boards in general, in fact) feature BIOS Flashback functionality, meaning that even if your board doesn’t support Ryzen 5000 out of the box, you can update the BIOS without needing a compatible CPU.

[LumpyLenny]

10 minutes ago, Mateyyy said:

Not really. 
The B550 Gaming Edge (and most B550 boards in general, in fact) feature BIOS Flashback functionality, meaning that even if your board doesn’t support Ryzen 5000 out of the box, you can update the BIOS without needing a compatible CPU.

Great, and is 650 W enough for the PSU? 

 

Just to see what you think, if I raised the budget to £2,000, what would you improve/add to this build? 

[Mateyyy]

5 minutes ago, LumpyLenny said:

Great, and is 650 W enough for the PSU? 

 

Just to see what you think, if I raised the budget to £2,000, what would you improve/add to this build? 

650W is fine, especially considering that the 5600X is only a 70ish watt chip.

The extra 100 quid could maybe go towards things like more storage or a nicer case.

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 5 5600X 3.7 GHz 6-Core Processor	£311.51 @ Overclockers.co.uk
CPU Cooler	Noctua NH-U12S chromax.black 55 CFM CPU Cooler	£64.98 @ Amazon UK
Motherboard	MSI MPG B550 GAMING EDGE WIFI ATX AM4 Motherboard	£139.97 @ Amazon UK
Memory	Crucial Ballistix 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 CL16 Memory	£82.99 @ Amazon UK
Storage	ADATA XPG SX8200 Pro 2 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive	£209.99 @ AWD-IT
Video Card	Sapphire Radeon RX 6800 XT 16 GB Video Card	£692.95 @ Overclockers.co.uk
Case	Lian Li Lancool II Mesh ATX Mid Tower Case	£79.58 @ Box Limited
Power Supply	Fractal Design Ion+ 760 W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply	£120.46 @ Amazon UK
Monitor	LG 27GL850-B 27.0" 2560x1440 144 Hz Monitor	£339.00 @ Currys PC World
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	£2041.43
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-11-21 12:41 GMT+0000

2TB of storage, better case and a 760W PSU - though granted, this is a little over 2000 quid. Keeping just the SSD upgrade however would make the £2000 limit.

[LumpyLenny]

23 minutes ago, Mateyyy said:

650W is fine, especially considering that the 5600X is only a 70ish watt chip.

The extra 100 quid could maybe go towards things like more storage or a nicer case.

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 5 5600X 3.7 GHz 6-Core Processor	£311.51 @ Overclockers.co.uk
CPU Cooler	Noctua NH-U12S chromax.black 55 CFM CPU Cooler	£64.98 @ Amazon UK
Motherboard	MSI MPG B550 GAMING EDGE WIFI ATX AM4 Motherboard	£139.97 @ Amazon UK
Memory	Crucial Ballistix 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 CL16 Memory	£82.99 @ Amazon UK
Storage	ADATA XPG SX8200 Pro 2 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive	£209.99 @ AWD-IT
Video Card	Sapphire Radeon RX 6800 XT 16 GB Video Card	£692.95 @ Overclockers.co.uk
Case	Lian Li Lancool II Mesh ATX Mid Tower Case	£79.58 @ Box Limited
Power Supply	Fractal Design Ion+ 760 W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply	£120.46 @ Amazon UK
Monitor	LG 27GL850-B 27.0" 2560x1440 144 Hz Monitor	£339.00 @ Currys PC World
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	£2041.43
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-11-21 12:41 GMT+0000

2TB of storage, better case and a 760W PSU - though granted, this is a little over 2000 quid. Keeping just the SSD upgrade however would make the £2000 limit.

Thanks again, very useful to see this. I think I'll stick with your original cheaper build, while I'd like the extra storage I think I'll upgrade it further down the line. As long as you think all the core components complement each other, I'm happy. You don't foresee any issues with having just the one 1TB SSD to save OS and games to?

[Mateyyy]

8 minutes ago, LumpyLenny said:

Thanks again, very useful to see this. I think I'll stick with your original cheaper build, while I'd like the extra storage I think I'll upgrade it further down the line. As long as you think all the core components complement each other, I'm happy. You don't foresee any issues with having just the one 1TB SSD to save OS and games to?

I don't see why it'd be bad to have both your OS and games on the same SSD.

Just don't completely fill the drive up - I'd try and leave at least 50-75GB free, ideally around 100-125GB. Filling up SSDs isn't a good thing to do in general (not just with the SX8200 Pro), since it could potentially be detrimental to both performance and endurance.

[LumpyLenny]

1 hour ago, Mateyyy said:

I don't see why it'd be bad to have both your OS and games on the same SSD.

Just don't completely fill the drive up - I'd try and leave at least 50-75GB free, ideally around 100-125GB. Filling up SSDs isn't a good thing to do in general (not just with the SX8200 Pro), since it could potentially be detrimental to both performance and endurance.

Ok noted. Thanks for the advise, very happy with the build you've proposed so I think I'll run with that