Advice on full upgrade of new PC for office and (light/medium) gaming

[Rob.S]

Evening all,

I've decided to bite the bullet and consider a full PC upgrade but I am so far out of knowledge with the latest and best bang for components I am needing some assistance.

My current PC consists of: AMD Ryzen 5 2600, Nvidia 1070 Ti and 16GB RAM. I could probably make do with my current set up but I haven't done any real upgrades for about 6-8 years and now looking to 'futureproof' for at least 5+ years with the latest tech within my budget. Speaking of, I would say I have probably up to £2,000 to play with. As the title suggests, I am not a heavy gamer but do like to play CS2 from time to time and would like to play some similar AAA titles as well as strategy games such as the Total War series without dumbing down the graphics. Should also add I have a Dell S2721DGF monitor so I would like to play games at 1440p.

Couple of stipulations/questions:

1. Case: I'm really liking the look of small form factor cases and it seems they have come a very long way since I last looked at them around 10 years ago. The case I am looking to purchase is the Fractal Design Terra so all components would need to fit inside this case.

2. Graphics card: From my limited research I would very much like to stick with Nvidia, probably the 4070 version as this seems to be the sweet spot and cannot see any justification to spend more based on my needs.

3. Ram 32GB or 64GB: It lookslike latest games are becoming more memory hungry and 32GB is more of the standard if I want to keep up. However, I'm wondering if it's worth ever going up to 64gb as a form of future proofing. My only concern is whether games will ever reach this height and/or a new DDRX version will replace DDR5 rendering my 64GB ram useless and much slower than a newer version. Any advice on this point would be much appreciated. Having said that, if the price difference between 32GB/64GB is only £100 then I might consider upgrading to the latter.

Aside from from the above, I am open to any other suggestions as I am very behind on CPU, SSDs especially NVME versions so this is where I'm hoping you guys can help.

Cheers

 

[Tetras]

Having said that, if the price difference between 32GB/64GB is only £100 then I might consider upgrading to the latter.

The case I am looking to purchase is the Fractal Design Terra so all components would need to fit inside this case.

From my limited research I would very much like to stick with Nvidia, probably the 4070 version as this seems to be the sweet spot and cannot see any justification to spend more based on my needs.

Intel ITX, use of CPU box cooler assumed (Terra height restriction: 48mm, Intel Laminar RM1: 47mm):

Note that the Lian Li SP doesn't include a 16 pin connector and I'm not sure you want to be using the GPU's bundled adapter in an ITX case.

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x Intel Core i5-12400F 2.50GHz (Alder Lake) Socket LGA1700 Processor - Retail (SKU: CP-6AR-IN) = £98.99
• 1 x Asus ROG Strix B760-I Gaming WIFI (LGA 1700) DDR5 ITX Motherboard (SKU: MB-6KB-AS) = £184.98
• 1 x Crucial Pro 64GB (2x32GB) DDR5 PC5-44800C46 5600MHz Dual Channel Kit (SKU: MEM-CRU-01085) = £179.99
• 1 x Zotac GeForce RTX 4070 Super Twin Edge 12Gb Graphics Card (SKU: GRA-ZTC-01499) = £548.98
• 1 x NVIDIA - Black Myth: Wukong Standard Edition Game Bundle (SKU: DIG-NVI-02698) = £0.00
• 1 x Crucial T500 2TB NVMe PCIe Gen4 M.2 Solid State Drive (SKU: STO-CRU-01090) = £152.99
• 1 x Fractal Design Terra Mini-ITX Case - Graphite (SKU: CA-0AY-FD) = £175.00
• 1 x Lian Li SP750 SFX Modular 80 Plus Gold Power Supply (SKU: CA-79G-LL) = £119.99

Total: £1,460.92 (includes delivery: £0.00)​

AMD M-ATX:

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D Eight Core 5.00GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail (SKU: CP-3DT-AM) = £314.99
• 1 x Gigabyte B650M Aorus Elite AX (Socket AM5) DDR5 Micro ATX Motherboard (SKU: MB-5BE-GI) = £164.95
• 1 x G.Skill Trident Z5 Neo EXPO 64GB (2x32GB) DDR5 PC5-48000C30 6000MHz Dual Channel Kit - B (SKU: MEM-GSK-01361) = £239.99
• 1 x Zotac GeForce RTX 4070 Super Twin Edge 12Gb Graphics Card (SKU: GRA-ZTC-01499) = £548.99
• 1 x NVIDIA - Black Myth: Wukong Standard Edition Game Bundle (SKU: DIG-NVI-02698) = £0.00
• 1 x WD Black SN770 2TB SSD M.2 2280 NVME PCI-E Gen4 Solid State Drive (WDS200T3X0E) (SKU: HD-58G-WD) = £119.98
• 1 x Lian Li A3 mATX Black (SKU: CAS-LIA-02350) = £69.95
• 1 x Seasonic Focus GX-750 ATX3.0 750W 80 Gold Modular Power Supply (SKU: CA-08N-SS) = £119.99

• 1 x EK Water Blocks EK-Nucleus AIO CR240 Dark All In One CPU Water Cooler - 240mm (SKU: HS-015-EK) = £89.99

Total: £1,668.83 (includes delivery: £0.00)​

 

[Rob.S]

Thanks for this, interesting pick of components.

Can I ask on the Intel pick, you've selected an Alder Lake processor rather than a newer generation yet for AMD it looks like one of the later versions. Any reason behind this at all, could it be due to the case I am considering and potential heat output of the CPU? If so, would you change the CPU if a larger case was purchased?

 

[Tetras]

Can I ask on the Intel pick, you've selected an Alder Lake processor rather than a newer generation yet for AMD it looks like one of the later versions. Any reason behind this at all, could it be due to the case I am considering and potential heat output of the CPU?

I don't know the Terra very well, but the CPU cooler in the Intel CPU's box appears to fit, so I thought that made the most sense. If you're forced to use the stock cooler for height reasons, then I don't think you want to run a hot/power hungry CPU. The 13400F or 14400F would probably be okay, but apart from higher clock speeds and the presence of 4 E-Cores, they're the same CPU die as the 12400F.

For the Lian Li A3, it says you can fit a 240mm AIO, so there was no issue with fitting the best gaming CPU for your budget.

If you want to dig further into what is possible with the Terra, you can probably fit something better.

If so, would you change the CPU if a larger case was purchased?

Yes, the 12400F was only chosen because of the height restriction on the CPU cooler.

 

[Rob.S]

Cheers, food for thought. I may have to change my view on the Terra in light of that.

 

[mickyflinn]

Cheers, food for thought. I may have to change my view on the Terra in light of that.

Could drop in a new CPU like the 5700x3d should give you a decent performance boost in games .

What motherboard do you have ?

 

[silvagti]

Wrong thread - please delete

 

[Rob.S]

Could drop in a new CPU like the 5700x3d should give you a decent performance boost in games .

What motherboard do you have ?

Thought about a small upgrade but I think as I have budget right I thought it time to give myself a little treat before the missus decides to change her mind.

But to answer your question, the mobo is a Gigabyte AB350M-Gaming 3.

 

[Craig_d1]

My thoughts
wouldn't bother with 64gb or ram..waste of money, esp if you not heavy gamer playing massively modded games...
when i bought 32gb ram ddr4 3600c18, it cost me £180 (ocuk were asking £230 for same kit at time)...most ram being sold was 16gb of 3200 at time for £85...now if I'd bought 16 gb, and wanted to upgrade, i could get 32gb for £50-70 and sell my 16gb...cheaperoption by far
DDR5 is also still maturing and ram getting faster..buying 64gb normally means buying slower kits at twice the price of faster 32GB kits...I'd just stick with 32gb...by the time you need 64gb, it'll be mainstream, cheaper and much faster sticks
as you keeping this for 5yrs plus ans say can hold on a bit....Hold on a bit...AMD 9000 series cpu's being launched end of month and the non x3d are far more efficient as well as faster...x3d will be closer to end sep onwards from rumours, along with the new x870/x870e motherboards
Intel also launching new cpu/mobo's also, which s/b far more efficent also as on a much smaller node...that should be more sep time onwards also if keeping it like last time
if you want to buy now, I'd get the 7800x3d..best gaming cpu right now, doesn't use a lot of power so ideal for smaller build...more than good enough for office work..

edit

and go form 4070 to 4070super..not much more for good uplift in performance

 

[Rob.S]

My thoughts
wouldn't bother with 64gb or ram..waste of money, esp if you not heavy gamer playing massively modded games...
when i bought 32gb ram ddr4 3600c18, it cost me £180 (ocuk were asking £230 for same kit at time)...most ram being sold was 16gb of 3200 at time for £85...now if I'd bought 16 gb, and wanted to upgrade, i could get 32gb for £50-70 and sell my 16gb...cheaperoption by far
DDR5 is also still maturing and ram getting faster..buying 64gb normally means buying slower kits at twice the price of faster 32GB kits...I'd just stick with 32gb...by the time you need 64gb, it'll be mainstream, cheaper and much faster sticks
as you keeping this for 5yrs plus ans say can hold on a bit....Hold on a bit...AMD 9000 series cpu's being launched end of month and the non x3d are far more efficient as well as faster...x3d will be closer to end sep onwards from rumours, along with the new x870/x870e motherboards
Intel also launching new cpu/mobo's also, which s/b far more efficent also as on a much smaller node...that should be more sep time onwards also if keeping it like last time
if you want to buy now, I'd get the 7800x3d..best gaming cpu right now, doesn't use a lot of power so ideal for smaller build...more than good enough for office work..

edit

and go form 4070 to 4070super..not much more for good uplift in performance

Cheers for that, good to know its not worth the money investing in 64gb over 32gb.

I wasn't aware AMD were releasing new CPUs this month, thought everything was September along with new mobos but in that case I think I might just hang back and see what the prices/reviews are looking like - not in any rush to buy anything right now but lining everything up ready to hit the buy button. Unless there is a significant increase in the X3D version I might be inclined to just go for a non-x3d version. As I said in my initial post, I am not a serious gamer anymore these days so just a few hours a week here and there and it is mostly office based stuff so I am not looking for the very best or close to it.

Looks like I'll be going for the 4070 Super as I can see there's a few deals that seem to be slightly more than the 4070 so hopefully end of the month I'll be able to nab something.

Still toying with the type of case to get and having looked around, the Fractal Terra still seems to be my choice. I liked the Lian-Li A3-MATX but I saw a video on YouTube comparing the size between that and the Terra and still looked significantly larger, so I think as it stands, the Terra is still my preference, assuming the 4070 Super fits. found out that Noctua have recently released the L12sx77 which seems to be the perfect fit for the Terra too, making me lean more towards the case.

Otherwise, appreciate everyone's input and may post back in a few weeks time if I've any more questions.

 

[Rob.S]

Evening chaps, I am back again but I have some questions in light of recent updates with the new CPUs.

I've seen some recent YouTube reviews concerning the 9700x in comparison with the 7800X3D and the general consensus is that the 78003XD seems to better the new CPUs. I do notice the 7800x3D has a higher TDP compared to the 9700x but somehow there suggestions that the 7800X3D TDP is a bit of red herring and is unlikely to get anywhere near the 120w mark.

As an update, I ended up going with the Fractal Terra as I got a deal/discount on it recently with Amazon so had a fairly significant saving meaning I purchased <£100. Still need to purchase the mobo and the GPU but before I jump into that, I was wondering if anyone can give me their opinion as to whether the 7800X3D makes sense to buy over the 9700X, particularly as I see the price for the 7800X3D has dropped and now both is pretty much the same.

Is the 7800X3D going to be an issue in the Terra in terms of heat and noise? Given the apparent negligibility between the two CPUs and considering my requirements, I am leaning towards the 9700X simply due to the fact it is a brand new CPU and I probably don't require the full capacity of the 7800X3D but then again is new always better? the pricing is so close to one another and aside from the supposed TDP on the 9700X, the 7800x3D seems to excel almost always over the 9700x

 

[Tetras]

I've seen some recent YouTube reviews concerning the 9700x in comparison with the 7800X3D and the general consensus is that the 78003XD seems to better the new CPUs. I do notice the 7800x3D has a higher TDP compared to the 9700x but somehow there suggestions that the 7800X3D TDP is a bit of red herring and is unlikely to get anywhere near the 120w mark.

The power consumption of the 7800X3D is pretty good. TPU's review had it lower in both apps and games (on average) and it is generally one of the best CPUs for fps per watt, but the 9700X does seem to run cooler, if I take kitguru and TPU's results. If that is consistent across all reviews and if it would matter realistically (in terms of the delta between them), I'm not sure. If you were using a regular case, then I'd say almost all coolers (except for the very cheapest) would have enough headroom that the temperature of the 7800X3D is of no concern. In a SFF case with very limited cooling? I couldn't say.

That said..., even if the 7800X3D does run hotter, if the 9700X dumps more heat into your small case due to higher power usage, then that's going to cause higher temps overall.

but somehow there suggestions that the 7800X3D TDP is a bit of red herring

It is, the 7800X3D has to work very hard to get near that TDP in regular usage.

 

[Rob.S]

Cheers, think I'm going to pull the trigger on the 7800X3D and pair it with the Noctua L12Sx77 which I am hoping will give the CPU as much cooling as it can. Since I don't game too much for too long, I think I should be alright.

One final question, on the 4070 Super.. is there any particular recommended brand to go for and is there any to avoid at all costs?

 

[Tetras]

Cheers, think I'm going to pull the trigger on the 7800X3D and pair it with the Noctua L12Sx77 which I am hoping will give the CPU as much cooling as it can.

You might want to have a look and see if you can find any reviews on the big websites or on reddit, I can see one person who mentioned using this cooler with the X3D (at a competitor), though they also said it restricts your graphics card to 40-42mm.

One final question, on the 4070 Super.. is there any particular recommended brand to go for and is there any to avoid at all costs?

TPU reviewed quite a few, there's a chart in this page:

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Super Founders Edition Review

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Super launches today, boasting a solid increase in GPU cores, ROP units and cache. This enhancement brings its performance much closer to that of the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti, at a price point of $600 that signals strong competition for AMD's Radeon RX 7800 XT.

www.techpowerup.com

Which RTX 4070 Super Should You Get? - 6 Models Tested & Compared

Testing 6 different GeForce RTX 4070 Supers - Shop for one here: https://geni.us/z7ZH (affiliate)*Sponsor: Seasonic Vertex PSUs are awesome! Get yours: https...

www.youtube.com

These are non-Super models, but I doubt many of the coolers were changed much, though worth checking:

9 RTX 4070's Tested, GPU & Memory Thermals, Clocks, Power & Noise Normalized Testing

Visit Newegg: https://www.newegg.com/GPUs-Video-Graphics-Devices/Category/ID-38Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/hardwareunboxedJoin us on Float...

www.youtube.com

 

[Threepwood]

AMD M-ATX:

OP go for this