Triggers Broom - Advice needed

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Hi All,

The trusty old Gigabyte P55-UD5 motherboard in my main computer has finally had its time and developed a fault that causes it to power off randomly or not start at all. I've gone through all the usual testing (replaced the PSU as well) to no avail. So it seems like as good a time as any (Black Friday) to build a new rig. My computer is a hodge-podge of parts replaced and updated over the years, so i will keep certain components to keep the price down. I want to build a reasonably high-end machine that will last, as i use it to game/work/study/run vm's, etc.

I just need some advice on the components i have selected, as i have not built anything in a long time, so RGB and funky pre-built water cooling solutions are new to me. There is a wide range in pricing for MB's as well.

Budget is ~1500 max. I'll keep the gtx980 for the mo as only have 1080 screens and i can alway upgrade down the road. I've got PSUs and i like the full tower i have, it should fit anything new and has the attachment points for a rad at the top. SSDs and rust I'll keep and utilise. M2 drive for the OS will be whatever the fastest is at a reasonable price and size, i might get a 2tb sata ssd for steam library, etc.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Current Spec
Intel i7 860 2.8GHz (With dirty great venom heatsink and fans)
Gigabyte P55-UD5 LGA1156 Motherboard
12GB DDR3 Ram
512GB SATA SSD (KEEP)
256GB SATA SSD
256GB SATA SSD
1TB Spinning rust (KEEP)
EVGA GTX980 (KEEP)
EVGA SuperNova P2 850w (KEEP as its only a few years old, otherwise i have a brand new Corsair 650w)
Corsair Obsidian 750D Full Towercase (KEEP)

New bits
v4ZfRz2j

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £1,605.45 (includes shipping: £10.50)​
 
Last edited:
Hi

If you want to post basket use the bb code button near the bottom of the basket and copy context of the box and paste here.

Whats the most demanding thing you do , how many vms do your run so do you need a 16 core cpu ?

Intel Alderlake cpu has just been released mite be worrh a look.
 
Hi
Thanks, been a while since posting in here!

I have been looking at the 5900x as well as it gets good reviews and to be honest, i'm sure it would be more than enough. As you can see from my current setup i dont upgrade often, so it was more of a "Get the best to cover all eventualities" thing, especially as the AMD socket is about to change and DDR5 is in its infancy.

Not sure what the availability is like for Alderlake but have seen the positive reviews, so will take a look. I obviously want to take advantage of BlackFriday deals, i doubt there will be any on alderlake stuff?
 
Hi
Thanks, been a while since posting in here!

I have been looking at the 5900x as well as it gets good reviews and to be honest, i'm sure it would be more than enough. As you can see from my current setup i dont upgrade often, so it was more of a "Get the best to cover all eventualities" thing, especially as the AMD socket is about to change and DDR5 is in its infancy.

Not sure what the availability is like for Alderlake but have seen the positive reviews, so will take a look. I obviously want to take advantage of BlackFriday deals, i doubt there will be any on alderlake stuff?
Msi x570 tomahawk is a great value board take check that reviews and 2 tb m2 drive great value which you mentioned with 1tb pcie4 m2 great prices.

ODE My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £263.68 (includes shipping: £8.70)
 
Do you really need a motherboard as expensive as the Asus? Take a look at the MSI Tomahawk X570. You will find the Noctua DH15 air cooler quieter and cheaper than an AIO.
 
Do you really need a motherboard as expensive as the Asus? Take a look at the MSI Tomahawk X570. You will find the Noctua DH15 air cooler quieter and cheaper than an AIO.
Probably not!

I just like their stuff and hear good things about the ease of their MB setup. This is one of the areas i am out of date! I dont really need wifi on the board (don't know if non-wifi bords are cheaper - or if they even do that?!) I just want 2 PCIe gen4 m.2 slots (at least) and a bit of future proofing with USB 3.2 and stuff like that.

I'm really open to suggestions on cooling, i just want cool and quiet. I'm probably not going to overclock but may dabble in the future as i believe its a lot easier these days.
 
My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £476.03 (includes shipping: £11.10)​

Some other items above you may want to consider. Another vote for Msi Tomahawk from me. I put in the Gigabyte because It is an X570S mobo that has a newer chipset with a passive heatsink. There is a MSI Tomahawk X570S but OCUK do not have them on open sale and only put them in some of their prebuilds.

The AIO cooler I linked is very good and saves you a bit of money over your choice.
 
So is there any advantage with these AIO coolers over something like a Noctua DH15, or are the gains not worth the hassle of watercooling? There are also more fans, does that mean more noise or less because there is more overall cooling and so they spin less?
 
So is there any advantage with these AIO coolers over something like a Noctua DH15, or are the gains not worth the hassle of watercooling? There are also more fans, does that mean more noise or less because there is more overall cooling and so they spin less?
There are gains on aio coolers but top coolers like the Noctua can compete to a point.
Fan Noise can be controlled via bios or software and they don't clutter your case. I've had both and don't mind either but air coolers are easier to maintain.
 
Alderlake option as saw you want nvme storage also..the Tomahawk DDR4(and other Z690 boards) can take 4 pcie4 drives, and the 12700k trades blows with the 5900X and 5950X...going up to the 12900k and the power draw jumps for that cpu, so would either stick with ryzen 5950X or get a biefier z690 board, but price escalates, such as the ROG Z690 Hero below(if you go that route buy in a bundle with ddr5 as that's sold out everywhere)..that can take 5 m.2 nvme, 3 on board and comes with a board that can take another 2, one of which is pcie5(although you can buy a pcie5 nvme at the mo I think)..The GPU slots on the z690 boards are pcie5 also, so future proofing a future gpu upgrade. I'm not an overclocker but if you do, check vrm's etc..tomahawk is 16+1+1 70A, Hero is 20+1 105A...I'm assuming similar differences in AM4 mobo's too but haven't checked to be honest

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSjGhAxR8d8&ab_channel=eTeknix roundup of z690 boards...I'd be going DDR4 board (tommy below) if it was me. DDR5 expensive and in gaming v little performance gains

The teamgroup ddr4 is sammy b die and just been dropped in price...that's the lowest I've ever seen it, and the sn850 trades blows with the sammy 980 pro, and is on offer too a great price(again, lowest I've ever seen it)

If sticking with Ryzen, and you need it now, I'd be tempted to get a 5800X on auction site for £300 odd and use it till the new v cache cpu's arrive end Jan/Feb and then get the 5900X/5950X variant then...you shouldn't loose too much on the cpu selling that out

I've got a Corsair 360 h150i XT pro aio...much prefer the clean look compared to a big air cooler, and at the mo, cpu is cool, and it's quiet...1st time with one so no idea about long term but at mo, don't think I'd go back to air atm. Believe its about 3 companies that make these(according to Gamernexus) and everyone just buys off them and sticks there own badges on..the rads on the artic are thicker and so best price performance, but most 360mm aio coolers will keep everything cool for you, paying £250 just means you get a gool looking lcd screen etc rather than just the pump on cheaper aio, so your paying for looks

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £909.46 (includes shipping: £10.50)


My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £530.45 (includes shipping: £10.50)
 
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