Around £2k Gaming build advice please

[samie]

Purchase Timeframe: ASAP really please

Budget: ~£2,000 willing to go a bit over if its worth it

Usage: Play boarderlands, CoD, Overwatch. Want to future proof for the next 3 years plus please

Preferences: Like the 9800X3D chip and I have a 1440 g-sync monitor which I plan to keep for now

Current Hardware: My computer as it stands is 10 years old and has a Nvidia 1080 and i7 4790k

Peripherals: not needed

Special Needs/Requirements (inc Wi-Fi): I multi box games like everquest and worlds of warcraft so have 6-10 versions of the game open at once so thinking might be worth atleast 64GB of RAM maybe?
I have had a go below but really would like feedback and help please...
My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x Crucial T705 2TB NVMe PCIe Gen5 M.2 Solid State Drive (SKU: STO-CRU-01870) = £192.95
• 1 x Thermalright Frozen Notte 360 Black ARGB V2 All In One CPU Cooler (SKU: COO-TLR-03260) = £69.95
• 1 x Phanteks AMP GH 850W 80PLUS Gold ATX Power Supply Modular - Black (SKU: POW-PHK-02519) = £104.98
• 1 x Phanteks XT Pro Ultra ATX Case Tempered Glass Window, Black (SKU: CAS-PHK-01443) = £74.99
• 1 x Corsair Vengeance XMP 64GB (2X32GB) DDR5 PC5-48000C38 6000MHz Dual Channel (SKU: MEM-CRS-05105) = £175.99
• 1 x Sapphire Nitro+ B850A WiFi 7 (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MOT-SPR-05688) = £158.00
• 1 x Gainward GeForce RTX 5070 Ti Phoenix V1 16GB GDDR7 PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GRA-GNW-04853) = £719.98
• 1 x NVIDIA Game Bundle - Arc Raiders Deluxe Edition PLUS Astro Cosmetic Pack (SKU: DIG-NVI-06436) = £0.00
• 1 x AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D Eight Core 5.20GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail (SKU: PRO-AMD-03517) = £399.95

Total: £1,908.78 (includes delivery: £11.98)​

Thanks

 

[Tetras]

I multi box games like everquest and worlds of warcraft so have 6-10 versions of the game open at once so thinking might be worth atleast 64GB of RAM maybe?

Those type of games tend to hog RAM, so yeah, sounds like a good idea. I'd support getting more memory than maybe you need, since DDR5 (though improved) is still iffy with running 4 sticks.

You could upgrade the PSU to the 1000 watt platinum-rated version. Not needed, but the cost is small (£25).

 

[Dreadi]

2k should easily get you a 9800x3d/5080 build.
I've just done one for a friend for a little touch over as he wanted specific parts

 

[Gray2233]

M-ATX version that'll save you a few bob and perform identically:

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x Zotac GeForce RTX 5070 Ti Solid SFF 16GB GDDR7 Graphics Card (SKU: GRA-ZTC-04898) = £698.99
• 1 x NVIDIA Game Bundle - Arc Raiders Deluxe Edition PLUS Astro Cosmetic Pack (SKU: DIG-NVI-06436) = £0.00
• 1 x Phanteks AMP GH 1000W 80PLUS Platinum ATX Power Supply Modular - Black (SKU: POW-PHK-02521) = £128.99
• 1 x Sapphire Nitro+ B850M WiFi (Socket AM5) DDR5 Micro-ATX Motherboard (SKU: MOT-SPR-05690) = £139.99
• 1 x Antec CX600M ARGB M-ATX Mini Tower - Black (SKU: CAS-ATC-04160) = £54.95
• 1 x Gigabyte Aorus 7300 2TB SSD M.2 2280 NVME PCI-E Gen4 Solid State Drive (SKU: STO-GIG-05732) = £119.98
• 1 x AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D Eight Core 5.20GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail (SKU: PRO-AMD-03517) = £399.95
• 1 x Thermalright Aqua Elite 360 Black ARGB V3 All In One CPU Cooler (SKU: COO-TLR-03256) = £49.99
• 1 x Corsair Vengeance XMP 64GB (2X32GB) DDR5 PC5-48000C38 6000MHz Dual Channel (SKU: MEM-CRS-05105) = £176.00

Total: £1,780.82 (includes delivery: £11.98)​

Higher capacity PSU also, so more future headroom if necessary.

The Zotac card has a 5 year warranty vs 3 if registered within 30 days.

You don't need an expensive Gen 5 NvME for gaming, there's zero benefit over a Gen 4 such as the above.

I'd consider the Sapphire Pulse 9070XT for £560 over a 5070ti given how close they are performance wise, but it will depend on the games that you play. AMD absolutely demolishes Nvidia in CoD, but I've no idea regarding the likes of Borderlands 4.

 

[jigger]

I’d be tempted to go with a 16 core chip and 96gb, maybe 128gb of RAM if running 6-10 instances. And maybe even an Arc Pro B60 dual.

 

[Gray2233]

I’d be tempted to go with a 16 core chip and 96gb, maybe 128gb of RAM if running 6-10 instances. And maybe even an Arc Pro B60 dual.

The RAM should be fine at 64gb but the CPU might be a bit of a bugger depending on what exactly he's doing and in what iteration of the game, a 9950X3D would fit into the above build within budget but again depending on what he's doing he'd only get half of the cores running the extra L3. I've no idea how that could impact multiboxing as WoW does very much like that extra cache.

Might actually be worth waiting for the upcoming 9950X3D2 but I can't imagine it being remotely within budget.

It's a pretty niche gaming related scenario tbh.

 

[samie]

Thanks all this is great and very helpful! I tend to box Everquest more at this time so maybe less intense than wow but the cpu choice is very interested. Is there any disadvantage to going up in cores if you are playing a single game like cod etc?

Also is the 5080 worth stretching my budget?

Thanks gray for the updated build too I will have a look in detail now!

 

[Quartz]

1 x Corsair Vengeance XMP 64GB (2X32GB) DDR5 PC5-48000C38 6000MHz Dual Channel (SKU: MEM-CRS-05105) = £175.99

For AMD you want EXPO, not XMP.

 

[Gray2233]

Thanks all this is great and very helpful! I tend to box Everquest more at this time so maybe less intense than wow but the cpu choice is very interested. Is there any disadvantage to going up in cores if you are playing a single game like cod etc?

Not in traditional gaming, outside of the caveat that the 9950X3D only offers the extra L3 on half the cores which can (albeit very rarely) be problematic in getting X game to use the right cores, I imagine that would be compounded by mulitboxing if the allocation of said L3 cache was important to your uses.

I don't know if Everquest 1/2 have seen the same level of engine updates over the years by comparison to WoW.

The 5080 isn't much faster than the 5070ti/9070XT and is absurdly poor value, I'd not personally touch one with a ten foot pole but it's not my money.

For AMD you want EXPO, not XMP.

Given current RAM prices I'd just go for the cheapest 64gb/6000 kit for any X3D build tbh, modern AMD chips work just fine with XMP and for the small gamble with an easy return window I'd not be fussed.

 

[Tetras]

I don't know if Everquest 1/2 have seen the same level of engine updates over the years by comparison to WoW.

EQ 1 should be pretty trivial for a modern PC to run, though that's with the caveat of massive raids, particle effects and what not.

EQ 2 can be surprisingly demanding if all the shinies are enabled, but it is still an old game.

 

[rchads89]

For AMD you want EXPO, not XMP.

I also thought cl30 6000 was the sweet spot for amd also

 

[Gray2233]

I also thought cl30 6000 was the sweet spot for amd also

The extra L3 on the X3D CPU's mitigates that by a fair bit, it's technically true with non X3D 9XX0 series chips but became painfully overblown imo.

It's peed quite a few people out of dollars and pounds for improvements (at least with X3D) which are small enough to be considered margins of error.

 

[jigger]

Thanks all this is great and very helpful! I tend to box Everquest more at this time so maybe less intense than wow but the cpu choice is very interested. Is there any disadvantage to going up in cores if you are playing a single game like cod etc?

Also is the 5080 worth stretching my budget?

Thanks gray for the updated build too I will have a look in detail now!

Possibly, but what you”ll want ideally is a decent amount of VRAM. Something like a 7900XTX or 4090 with 24gb of memory might be a better fit.

 

[WARburton]

based on budget id go with ever a 9070xt that will out preform the 5070ti, or complete shake up and 9700x with a 5080

 

[samie]

Thanks again all I have done some reading and still a little confused if I could get the larger core CPU or what RAM to get but came up with this as a balance. If the 9070 is that close to the 9080 I could drop to the 9070 and free up budget for the other bits but would appreciate more advise on getting the RAM, CPU, GPU balance for now and lasting 5 years ish if possible

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x Sapphire Nitro+ B850M WiFi (Socket AM5) DDR5 Micro-ATX Motherboard (SKU: MOT-SPR-05690) = £139.99
• 1 x Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 9070 XT Gaming 16GB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GRA-SPR-03983) = £559.99
• 1 x AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D Sixteen Core 5.70GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail (SKU: PRO-AMD-04501) = £599.99
• 1 x Phanteks AMP GH 1000W 80PLUS Platinum ATX Power Supply Modular - Black (SKU: POW-PHK-02521) = £128.99
• 2 x Gigabyte Aorus 7300 2TB SSD M.2 2280 NVME PCI-E Gen4 Solid State Drive (SKU: STO-GIG-05732) = £119.99
• 1 x Thermalright Aqua Elite 360 Black ARGB V3 All In One CPU Cooler (SKU: COO-TLR-03256) = £49.99
• 1 x Antec CX600M ARGB M-ATX Mini Tower - Black (SKU: CAS-ATC-04160) = £54.95
• 1 x Corsair Vengeance EXPO/XMP 96GB (2X48GB) DDR5 PC5-48000C30 6000MHz Dual Channel Kit (SKU: MEM-CRS-03746) = £359.99

Total: £2,145.85 (includes delivery: £11.98)​

Thanks

PS some of them are pre-order (like the hdd) are there options here or do they come back into stock generally in a few days?

 

[Tetras]

PS some of them are pre-order (like the hdd) are there options here or do they come back into stock generally in a few days?

You could get the 4TB T500, comes out roughly the same price.

and still a little confused if I could get the larger core CPU

Can you clarify, how well does your current CPU (4790K) handle your multiboxing?

If it handles it acceptably already, then I would say that the 8-core 9800X3D is more than good enough.

 

[samie]

When I play 6-8 Eq1 boxes its maxxed out if i try and use a browser or do anything else on the computer I am waiting but could be also RAM maxxing out as I only have 16G or and the 1080 in play too so hard to put my finger on the bottle neck.

with the hdd, is it ok to just have everything on 1 drive OS and then the games? I guess I have always had separate drives which is why I went for 2 I could even just do a single 2TB maybe if its ok to have everything on one?

Thanks

 

[Tetras]

with the hdd, is it ok to just have everything on 1 drive OS and then the games? I guess I have always had separate drives which is why I went for 2 I could even just do a single 2TB maybe if its ok to have everything on one?

For a typical gamer, yes, that's fine to use one drive, but I can't say what the demand of your multiboxing is like? These games can take a long time to load, for example, so maybe it isn't a good idea?

When I play 6-8 Eq1 boxes its maxxed out if i try and use a browser or do anything else on the computer I am waiting but could be also RAM maxxing out as I only have 16G or and the 1080 in play too so hard to put my finger on the bottle neck.

Hmm, could you confirm that with task manager? It would be useful to know, because I'd hate for you to spend £600 on a 16 core CPU you don't need.

 

[samie]

100% CPU used 70% RAM 40% GPU showing in task manager with 8 boxes running

Thats a i7-4790k @ 4Ghz - 16BG DDR3 and a GTX 1080 plus mid range ssd

Thanks

 

[Tetras]

100% CPU used 70% RAM 40% GPU showing in task manager with 8 boxes running

Thats a i7-4790k @ 4Ghz - 16BG DDR3 and a GTX 1080 plus mid range ssd

Thanks

Ahh, okay, looks like those cores get loaded up!

The 9800X3D would still double your core count and each core is much faster than what you have now.

Another option would be the 265K, which has 8 P-cores and 12 E-Cores. OCUK have a bundle available (CPU+motherboard) for £450.