New build for niece

[nutski1873]

My niece has got into PC gaming and loves playing on my PC, so thought it time to build her, her own, so I can actually get on mine again.

She is currently hooked on Baldur’s Gate 3.

I’m hoping to build her as good a one as possible that will last a few years. With a budget of about £1k - £1.2k. No need for a monitor, keyboard etc. is a 5070 upwards out of the realm of possibility for the budget?

Also already have a windows 11 key.

Your help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Rob_B]

For £1,200 that's fairly easily done I think.

Stock is a bit funky at the moment but under £600 gets you the bulk of the components leaving £600 for the GPU. You can just squeeze in a 9070XT for that price or get a better CPU and drop the GPU down a notch.

This is a sample build, stuff would need changed if you wanted anything specific, different case, more/faster storage etc but also due to stock levels. It gives you the outline of costs at least

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x Kolink Observatory HF Mesh Core Midi Tower Case - Black No Fans (SKU: CAS-KLK-01624) = £37.99
• 1 x Team Group MP33 PRO 1TB SSD M.2 2280 NVME PCI-E Gen3 Solid State Drive (SKU: STO-TMG-02681) = £43.99
• 1 x Crucial Pro OC 32GB (2x16GB) DDR5 PC5-48000C36 6000MHz Dual Channel Kit (SKU: MEM-CRU-02219) = £89.99
• 1 x Asus Prime B650M-A WIFI II (Socket AM5) DDR5 Micro-ATX Motherboard (SKU: MB-6K6-AS) = £119.99
• 1 x Phanteks AMP GH 850W 80PLUS Gold ATX Power Supply Modular - Black (SKU: POW-PHK-02519) = £104.99
• 1 x Thermalright Assassin Spirit 120 V2 PLUS CPU Air Cooler (SKU: COO-TLR-03264) = £19.99
• 1 x XFX Swift Radeon RX 9070 XT Triple Fan Gaming Edition 16GB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GRA-XFX-05454) = £589.99
• 1 x AMD Ryzen 5 9600X Six Core 5.40GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail (SKU: PRO-AMD-02677) = £188.99

Total: £1,195.92 (includes delivery: £0.00)​

 

[nutski1873]

How far to drop the GPU to get a good CPU and GPU COMBO?

 

[Rob_B]

I changed the CPU to a 9600X for the small extra, that + a 9070XT is a decent combination, certainly for a gaming PC. Unless she's doing content creation probably no need for more than 6 cores just yet (video below), plus you have headroom in the future for upgrade.

 

[nutski1873]

It is purely for gaming at best possible settings at either what 1440 or 4k?? and nothing else apart from usual internet stuff etc.

Thank you for helping

 

[sx_turbo]

Only thing I would change in the above is the SSD, 1tb goes really quick these days.

I was going to recommend looking at the last gen 8 core processors 7700x but they're just as expensive as the 9000 series.

The price of the 9600x is very good value at the moment and still plenty of horsepower to run the 9070xt.

With the 9070xt your getting 5070ti performance for £200 less.

 

[mickyflinn]

The case has no fans so you would want to add 3 x 120mm or change it and the b650 motherboard may need a bios update to accept the 9600x, b850 would be preferable.

As for CPU the best are the x3d like the 9800x3d but that will cost another £200 or the 78003d which is another £140.dropping to a 9070 gpu will save £100.

 

[Rob_B]

I'd not suggest buying that build, but those components were just to get an idea of cost. Stock on motherboards and some RAM doesnt seem to be great at the moment.

 

[nutski1873]

Ok so if not to buy this build. What build would you suggest if I was ordering parts today? So the build was complete with fans etc included

Ideally for as best a gaming rig as possible for the budget, and what quality you think the build would run at?

I assume AMD and Radeon are better to go with than intel and nvidia?

Also if you think it’s better to get a better cpu now with a lower graphics card, to then upgrade graphics card in 5-6mths

 

[sx_turbo]

Ok so if not to buy this build. What build would you suggest if I was ordering parts today? So the build was complete with fans etc included

Ideally for as best a gaming rig as possible for the budget, and what quality you think the build would run at?

I assume AMD and Radeon are better to go with than intel and nvidia?

Also if you think it’s better to get a better cpu now with a lower graphics card, to then upgrade graphics card in 5-6mths

The CPU difference in gaming is marginal other than the x3d chips people say is smoother, but really there isnt so much in it, certainly not enough to warrant downgrading the GPU.

And and Radeon provide better value for money than Nvidia/intel.

 

[sx_turbo]

This is my build, I've skimped on the case, it's not the prettiest, but it comes with fans that by all accounts are ok. But once everything is in it and working you won't be staring at it while gaming. The fans can be upgraded to something better later on.

You could save £100 by going for the 9070 rather than the xt, this would bring it back bang on budget.

The ram is C30 so I've pushed budget. But there, if you get a c36 ram you can save around £20 and put towards a better case

Also spent a bit more putting a larger M2 drive, you could save a few quid by going for a 1tb and upgrading later I suppose

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x AMD Ryzen 5 9600X Six Core 5.40GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail (SKU: PRO-AMD-02677) = £188.99
• 1 x MSI B850 Gaming Plus WIFI6E (AMD AM5) B850 DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MOT-MSI-05941) = £149.99
• 1 x XFX Swift Radeon RX 9070 XT Triple Fan Gaming Edition 16GB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GRA-XFX-05454) = £589.99
• 1 x Aerocool Integrator Gold 850W 80 Plus Gold Modular Power Supply (SKU: CA-23T-AE) = £89.99
• 1 x PNY XLR8 Gaming EPIC-X 32GB (2x16GB) DDR5 PC5-48000C30 6000MHz Dual Channel Kit (SKU: MEM-PNY-04563) = £109.99
• 1 x Crucial P310 2TB M.2 2280 PCI-e 4.0 NVMe Solid State Drive (SKU: STO-CRU-03050) = £105.95
• 1 x Kolink Observatory MX Glass ARGB Midi Tower Case - Black/White (SKU: CA-087-KK) = £29.98
• 1 x Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE ARGB Black CPU Cooler - 120mm (SKU: COO-TLR-02724) = £29.99

Total: £1,294.87 (includes delivery: £0.0
0)​

 

[nutski1873]

I was just thinking do I do that or build a cheaper system put in my existing 3060 12gb graphics card and get myself a new graphics card for me. But my system currently is a i7 12k, 64gb ddr 4 ram, 2tb m2 drive. I also have a 512gb m2 drive and 1tb hdd in my current system. Do I give her my old system and get the upgrade for myself.

 

[Tetras]

Do I give her my old system and get the upgrade for myself.

Your current system doesn't really need an upgrade for current games and will be fairly pricey to replace, but the 3060 is a good card for a starter system and not excessively expensive to meaningfully upgrade.

 

[nutski1873]

Your current system doesn't really need an upgrade for current games and will be fairly pricey to replace, but the 3060 is a good card for a starter system and not excessively expensive to meaningfully upgrade.

So could i stick a 9070xt or what you suggest is best in my system to free up the 3060 for the new build? What cost could i get away with for the system to stick the 3060 into?

 

[Tetras]

So could i stick a 9070xt or what you suggest is best in my system to free up the 3060 for the new build? What cost could i get away with for the system to stick the 3060 into?

Anything like a 9070 non-XT or 5070 (or better) would be a good upgrade.

You could run a 3060 on a Ryzen 5600 or 14400F, but given the relatively high price of DDR4 now, I think a build with a 7600/7600X/9600/9600X makes the most sense.

 

[nutski1873]

Anything like a 9070 non-XT or 5070 (or better) would be a good upgrade.

You could run a 3060 on a Ryzen 5600 or 14400F, but given the relatively high price of DDR4 now, I think a build with a 7600/7600X/9600/9600X makes the most sense.

So possibly the suggested above build minus the graphics card. Still the 3060 into that system and get a 5060ti/5070ti/9070 for current system? I know I’m being annoying but I keep thinking of different ways.

 

[Tetras]

So possibly the suggested above build minus the graphics card.

Yeah, something like that.

Still the 3060 into that system and get a 5060ti/5070ti/9070 for current system?

Yes, but I'd recommend higher than a 5060 Ti.

 

[nutski1873]

Yeah, something like that.


Yes, but I'd recommend higher than a 5060 Ti.

For the difference in cost in relation to a 5070 and 5070ti or the 9070 and the 9070xt is it worth the extra cost or are the base ones going to give me a good boost over the 3060? Last question I’m sure of it.

 

[Tetras]

For the difference in cost in relation to a 5070 and 5070ti or the 9070 and the 9070xt is it worth the extra cost or are the base ones going to give me a good boost over the 3060? Last question I’m sure of it.

The 5070 versus 5070 Ti is a different question, partly due to the future utility of the extra 4GB VRAM on the Ti. This could hamper the 5070 in the longer-term (similar to how the 3070 is by the 8GB now).

To be honest, the rumoured Super versions should be a much better buy than these cards. That said, if we take ~£450 versus ~£670, the Ti would struggle to justify it purely on frame per £.

The 9070 depends on price really, I think you need a decent discount for it to make sense, I'd be reluctant to pay much higher than £530 for one.

If you were planning on using these cards at a high resolution like 1440p, 4K or higher (like ultrawide), I'd definitely get the 5070 Ti or 9070 XT. For modestly demanding gaming at 1440p, the 9070 is fine. For light gaming at 1440p or any 1080p, the 5070 having 12GB is not a big long-term concern for me.

 

[Gray2233]

Is this a "Christmas" build thing?

I ask because the Nv refresh is about to hit and might provide better options for new purchases if you intend to shuffle your old card to your niece.