How do you choose

Mike 702 · 19 Oct 2022 at 09:17

Just a general question, how do you all choose which items to go for - when as a rule so many are similar?

So case is a good example, is really hard I think to see the differences between them all and then if you look at reviews, I always have the suspicion that people will push what they are sponsored for etc.

Is the same in terms of memory, so many options. Then you have AIOs, the list goes on.

What do you guys do to decide?

I have been looking for a while, but no immediate rush.

I need a new system as donating my current one to my son.

mickyflinn · 19 Oct 2022 at 10:17

Everyone has a budget so getting the most performance for that is wise, but theres no point in having a 16 core cpu if your graphics card cant maintain the fps you want.

Expectations, example 4k gaming at 60fps when your budget for the pc is £600 it not achievable.

Haz123 · 19 Oct 2022 at 10:24

I am not sponsored by anyone and have used a fair few components over the years but some of the guys on here have handled thousands of cases+mobos+ram etc etc etc.
I am just a huge geek and watch a few benchmarks to get an idea of how things work and where the best performance is then recommend or buy depending on budget.

When you want to buy make a thread and post your budget and I am sure someone will help you out.

lsg1r · 19 Oct 2022 at 10:27

For me I suppose it goes something like this:

Do I need actually need an upgrade (yes in your case obviously)
Do I have disposable income for an upgrade
What do I want to use it for
What spec range do I need for it
Budget required for spec versus disposable income
How do I want it to look, ie rgb, small case, big case etc, am I restricted by spec range (ie rtx4090 in mitx isn't really going to work etc)
Then it's a case of deciding AMD/Intel
Then the rest of the parts

As to how I pick the parts...
Value proposition, looks (less important in a case without glass), reliability from other users or my own past experiences, will the parts work with the case and together (important), common sense (ie no point buying rgb aio if you're not going rgb or intend to swap out the fans for different rgb ones for example)

Mike 702 · 19 Oct 2022 at 10:37

Thanks all, I want to buy at the top end - hopeful that it will last me for a while.

I just don't have the knowledge sadly, so in terms of MB, so many features and I have no idea what is required against extra that I don't need.

mickyflinn · 19 Oct 2022 at 11:03

Mike 702 said:
Thanks all, I want to buy at the top end - hopeful that it will last me for a while.

I just don't have the knowledge sadly, so in terms of MB, so many features and I have no idea what is required against extra that I don't need.

Buying top end is not value for money, motherboard for example have features many wont use so a far less expensive alternative will do.

You should set out your requirements you want and cost it it up ,

Mike 702 · 19 Oct 2022 at 11:08

mickyflinn said:
Buying top end is not value for money, motherboard for example have features many wont use so a far less expensive alternative will do.

You should set out your requirements you want and cost it it up ,

Got it - how do I know what MB features I will use though - that is the question?

mickyflinn · 19 Oct 2022 at 11:18

Mike 702 said:
Got it - how do I know what MB features I will use though - that is the question?

Most motherboards will have common features that the average pc need the more expensive motherboards may have more of them and higher features like faster Ethernet connection .

You can always but an add on card if you need that which would be a fraction of the cost.

Your never going to know every feature you need in the future but paying 2 to 3 times as much on a motherboard for an if is not money well spent.

lsg1r · 19 Oct 2022 at 11:50

Mike 702 said:
Thanks all, I want to buy at the top end - hopeful that it will last me for a while.

I just don't have the knowledge sadly, so in terms of MB, so many features and I have no idea what is required against extra that I don't need.

Honestly unless you're doing something that requires heavy cpu cores, say 3D rendering or video editing, you can generally drop down 1 or 2 steps on the ladder.

Mike 702 said:
Got it - how do I know what MB features I will use though - that is the question?

Honestly most people will use the following on the motherboards (ignoring the obvious stuff like cpu/ram/fan headers etc), imo of course

Sata - only if you're running sata drives
nvme/m2 - yes, you'll be running your main storage from this. You might also run additional storage via this method too. Aim for gen4 support.
usb 3/c headers - only if your case has it, unless you get an adapter for the pcie
usb 2 header - yes for the case and in some case the aio/control box if running rgb etc
onboard sound - most cases it's more than good enough.
networking - try to get 2.5GBe minimum
usb sockets on backplate - unless you want hubs etc make sure there is enough
rgb headers - only needed if you intend to run rgb etc, you do need to make sure it's all compatible though.

Heatsinks on motherboard power delivery etc are nice to have, especially if you're thinking overclocking and while I'd always pick a board with them they're not 100% necessary.
RAM speeds, at least in the case of ryzen they prefer a certain ratio of speed to the cpu (I think it's ddr5 6000 for 7000 series) so that's something to consider

Armageus · 19 Oct 2022 at 11:56

lsg1r said:
networking - try to get 2.5GBe minimum

Again each to their own though - unless you've got a NAS that supports >1Gb, or a >1Gb internet connection, then there isn't really any point - Gigabit is still fine for the most part.

Often the 2.5Gb solutions are from cheaper manufacturers (rather than Intel which is generally the preferred networking chip), so you may be better off just buying an add-in card as and when you need 2.5Gb or better.

lsg1r · 19 Oct 2022 at 12:12

Armageus said:
Again each to their own though - unless you've got a NAS that supports >1Gb, or a >1Gb internet connection, then there isn't really any point - Gigabit is still fine for the most part.

Often the 2.5Gb solutions are from cheaper manufacturers (rather than Intel which is generally the preferred networking chip), so you may be better off just buying an add-in card as and when you need 2.5Gb or better.

I'd rather have a small bit of future proofing, there's no guarantee you'll have a free slot left these days, especially with the current size of gpu's...

Also I've never had any issue with realtek built in networking, same goes for intel for that matter.

arc@css · 19 Oct 2022 at 17:13

Unless you're expecting bleeding-edge performance, you can get a good PC for not that much, all considered.
Maybe the GPU will be a bit pricey, but the rest of it should be more reasonable.

It's only when you start dabbling semi-seriously in things like digital content creation e.g. video editing, that the resources can quickly escalate. Surprisingly so.
I went from a 980Ti to a 3070 and only the other day, I can recall being very surprised by just how long a relatively simple sequence took to render.

Mike 702 · 21 Oct 2022 at 16:51

Ok, I have done some research and waited until the new CPUs came out.

I am looking at the below, seems a good compromise, I really want a lot of USB ports, so this seemed like the best board.

DDR4 seemed ok for now, doesn't seem the upgrade for DDR5 in terms of MB etc is worth it from what I can see at the moment.

Case I am not sure on, but this looked a decent option, but open to suggestions of course.

I will be getting a 4090FE when I have the chance.

Machine will mostly be used for gaming, sim racing and some work. I do crunch large amounts of data, but I think this CPU should be enough for me, I don't do any encoding etc.

My basket at OcUK:

1 x Lian Li O11D EVO Mid-Tower Case - Black (SKU: CA-7A4-LL) = £179.99
1 x Corsair Hydro Series iCUE H150i Elite LCD Display Performance Liquid CPU Cooler - 360mm (SKU: HS-048-CS) = £279.95
1 x ASUS ROG THOR 1200W 80 Plus Platinum Modular Power Supply (SKU: CA-057-AS) = £329.98
1 x Samsung 980 Pro 1TB M.2 2280 PCI-e 4.0 x4 NVMe Solid State Drive (SKU: HD-248-SA) = £128.99
1 x Intel Core i5-13600K (Raptor Lake) Socket LGA1700 Processor - Retail (SKU: CP-6AV-IN) = £379.99
1 x Gigabyte B660 AORUS MASTER DDR4 - Intel B660 DDR4 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MB-5AG-GI) = £219.95
1 x Team Group 8Pack Edition 32GB (2x16GB) DDR4 PC4-28800C16 3600MHz Dual Channel Kit (SKU: MY-002-8P) = £169.99

Total: £1,688.84 (includes delivery: £0.00)

lsg1r · 21 Oct 2022 at 17:15

Mike 702 said:
snip

Case makes my life easier, I have the same one and for all intense purposes it's fine... I made my life harder by fitting 4x2.5ssd's in the 3.5inch bays.... cabling was not fun lol

You might run into issues with the psu length (190mm) and the internal cable clips, easy fix in as much as unscrewing a couple of screws but something to consider.
I didn't have any major issues with my rm850x (stiff cables) but Mattp1986 seems to have had issues with his 1200w corsair at 200mm long

011 evo Psu clearance?

Hi all in the middle of building my 40 series rig and just discovered my hx1200 won't fit in the 011 evo. The cable management hooks are blocking it from pushing in. Anyone had this issue, or would I be better off returning the hx1200 and opting for a high wattage sfx power supply instead. Thanks

forums.overclockers.co.uk

You also need case fans, the o11 evo doesn't come with any

Mike 702 · 21 Oct 2022 at 17:22

lsg1r said:
Case makes my life easier, I have the same one and for all intense purposes it's fine... I made my life harder by fitting 4x2.5ssd's in the 3.5inch bays.... cabling was not fun lol

You might run into issues with the psu length (190mm) and the internal cable clips, easy fix in as much as unscrewing a couple of screws but something to consider.
I didn't have any major issues with my rm850x (stiff cables) but Mattp1986 seems to have had issues with his 1200w corsair at 200mm long

011 evo Psu clearance?

Hi all in the middle of building my 40 series rig and just discovered my hx1200 won't fit in the 011 evo. The cable management hooks are blocking it from pushing in. Anyone had this issue, or would I be better off returning the hx1200 and opting for a high wattage sfx power supply instead. Thanks

forums.overclockers.co.uk

You also need case fans, the o11 evo doesn't come with any

Thanks, any suggestion on good fans to get?

lsg1r · 21 Oct 2022 at 18:41

Mike 702 said:
Thanks, any suggestion on good fans to get?

I went noctua chromax (non rgb), bequiet silent wings 4(pro) are another option as are phanteks t30 (iirc) which are 30mm deep rather than the usual 25, both are non rgb and should all be pretty good on the low noise, good performance front.

If you want rgb (I'm not a huge fan.... sigh, that was not on purpose)... I'd stick with ML RGB ELITE Series PWM 120mm fans purely to reduce the extra software/management side of things although I'm not sure if the commander core that comes with the aio supports 9/10 fans or not.

Mike 702 · 21 Oct 2022 at 19:37

lsg1r said:
I went noctua chromax (non rgb), bequiet silent wings 4(pro) are another option as are phanteks t30 (iirc) which are 30mm deep rather than the usual 25, both are non rgb and should all be pretty good on the low noise, good performance front.

If you want rgb (I'm not a huge fan.... sigh, that was not on purpose)... I'd stick with ML RGB ELITE Series PWM 120mm fans purely to reduce the extra software/management side of things although I'm not sure if the commander core that comes with the aio supports 9/10 fans or not.

Thanks, will have a look