Pls spec me a new setup for these crazy times!

[gizmo1990]

Hey everyone.

I've been out of the upgrade loop for many years (2018), mainly due to being well, broke! I'm now in a position to upgrade and hurrah(!) the world's gone insane and AI is going to screw us all! The basics of my current setup, i3 8100, ASRock H310M motherboard, 16gb ram, Nvidia 1030GT (yep, I know!).

With this in mind I need to spec out a new build but I refuse to pay into the gouging that's going on more than I have to. Hence, I don't need bleeding edge performance I just want to get a decent uplift (which shouldn't be hard!) and if possible allow me a pathway to upgrade down the line. So component choices dating back a few years are all on the table along with newer ones

My only non-negotiables are a mini-itx motherboard and a Nvidia video card. I like small pcs and I prefer to keep to Nvidia because of gfx compatability work. I would also given the choice prefer to stay intel cpu wise but happy to see AMD suggestions too. I know I'll have to sink most of my budget into a video card and I'd probably picture me spending between £600- £800 on one? For the entire setup, minus monitor/mouse/keyboard and case, I'm imagining a budget of say £1600?

I know I could go on parts picker but I'd rather get a few general suggestions here after having explained my specific requirements. Plus I really don't know my way around current hardware nowadays.

Any good advice and suggestions much appreciated.

 

[Tetras]

What is the overall purpose of the upgrade?

If you just want to play some modern games, you could get a used i7-8700 and 9060 XT 16GB * and that'll do the business (buy the card now, while Gibbo's special is on).

* I know you said nvidia, but the driver overhead is worse on older CPUs and some reports the 50 series don't like running on older boards either.

 

[gizmo1990]

Thanks for the reply. No games are pretty far down the list now.

The main purpose is to get a good performance uplift as I'm going to be doing a lot more 3d gfx work and I want to be able to handle it comfortably. I also want to protect myself as much as possible from the impending insanity of the component market in 2026 and onwards. So upgrade now to get me through the next few years.

I'll look into the 9060 XT, although it gives me jitters going AMD for GFX. I've always come access compatibility issues in the past.

Keep the suggestions coming please!

 

[Gray2233]

With the current gouging you're doing yourself a disservice by sticking yourself to Nvidia, If it's a driver concern, I'd say AMD have been superior to Nvidia this generation by a good amount. ITX is really going to eat into your budget too, I prefer smaller form factors myself but I'd consider M-ATX if at all possible. Some of the cases are surprisingly small but will save you a healthy chunk of money.

Edit: What applications do you use for "3D gfx work" exactly? This can have a major impact in regards to component choices and whether or not to go intel/amd/nvidia etc.

 

[jarvis82]

Thanks for the reply. No games are pretty far down the list now.

The main purpose is to get a good performance uplift as I'm going to be doing a lot more 3d gfx work and I want to be able to handle it comfortably. I also want to protect myself as much as possible from the impending insanity of the component market in 2026 and onwards. So upgrade now to get me through the next few years.

I'll look into the 9060 XT, although it gives me jitters going AMD for GFX. I've always come access compatibility issues in the past.

Keep the suggestions coming please!

Despite having been an AMD CPU user for years (2700x, 3700x, 5700x, and now 9700x), I was always reluctant to jump to AMD GPUs, and was stuck as an nvidia fan through and through. The last AMD GPU I had was in 2004 in fact. Recently did a new build with an AMD 9070 XT, and could not be happier. Amazing performance for the money - A real eye opener.

 

[DotA]

You say you dont need a case, what one do you have now as that can limit a lot of GPUs?

 

[Quartz]

Thanks for the reply. No games are pretty far down the list now.

Then you should take a long look at Intel's B570 and B580, maybe the professional variants. The former is a little faster than a GTX 1080 ti.

 

[Tetras]

The main purpose is to get a good performance uplift as I'm going to be doing a lot more 3d gfx work and I want to be able to handle it comfortably.

Ah, in that case, AMD card is probably out anyway.

I also want to protect myself as much as possible from the impending insanity of the component market in 2026 and onwards. So upgrade now to get me through the next few years.

The awkward answer to that, is that you're actually baking in the insanity, because you're buying at high prices already.

The more reasonable option to get you through a few years is to upgrade what you have, though I'm assuming you only have 2 memory slots on that board?

The previous popular card for 3D work was a 3060 12GB, but I wouldn't buy one new anymore unless the price was very good. Honestly though, almost anything is an upgrade on a 1030

It would be helpful to know the software you're using.

The 8700 I suggested would add 2 cores and 8 threads, so it is no small upgrade on the 8100 in any CPU heavy app.

I would also given the choice prefer to stay intel cpu wise but happy to see AMD suggestions too. I know I'll have to sink most of my budget into a video card and I'd probably picture me spending between £600- £800 on one? For the entire setup, minus monitor/mouse/keyboard and case, I'm imagining a budget of say £1600?

Here's a possible Intel option. 265K is a better choice for CPU heavy stuff (performs around a 9900X), but that seems to have gone back up to the old price, I'd suggest an AIO in this case too if you went that route.

I chose micro-atx because it was easier to find the parts.

5060 Ti is expensive, so need to know for sure if you need VRAM or not, when the 5070 isn't that far off. The Dual is also a base model, so you're paying a lot, even with 16GB cards expected to climb in price.

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x Intel Core Ultra 5 245K (Arrow Lake) Socket LGA 1851 Processor - Retail (SKU: PRO-INT-03113) = £194.99
• 1 x Intel Holiday Bundle - Choose One Of Four Premium Games (SKU: DIG-INT-06664) = £0.00
• 1 x Asus TUF Gaming B860M-Plus WIFI (LGA 1851) DDR5 Micro-ATX Motherboard (SKU: MOT-ASU-04071) = £169.99
• 1 x Crucial Pro OC 32GB (2x16GB) DDR5 PC5-48000C36 6000MHz Dual Channel Kit (SKU: MEM-CRU-02219) = £329.99
• 1 x Asus GeForce RTX 5060 Ti Dual OC 16GB GDDR7 PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GRA-ASU-05013) = £428.99
• 1 x Team Group G70 PRO 2TB SSD M.2 2280 NVME PCI-E Gen4 Solid State Drive (SKU: STO-TMG-02618) = £209.98
• 1 x Lian Li A3-mATX Tempered Glass Micro-ATX Case (Black) (SKU: CAS-LIA-04811) = £59.99
• 1 x Phanteks AMP GH 750W 80PLUS Gold ATX Power Supply Modular - Black (SKU: POW-PHK-02517) = £84.95
• 1 x Arctic Freezer 36 120m Black CPU Cooler - 2x 120mm (SKU: COO-ARC-02420) = £34.99

Total: £1,513.87 (includes delivery: £0.00)​

 

[Gray2233]

Ah, in that case, AMD card is probably out anyway.


The awkward answer to that, is that you're actually baking in the insanity, because you're buying at high prices already.

The more reasonable option to get you through a few years is to upgrade what you have, though I'm assuming you only have 2 memory slots on that board?

The previous popular card for 3D work was a 3060 12GB, but I wouldn't buy one new anymore unless the price was very good. Honestly though, almost anything is an upgrade on a 1030

It would be helpful to know the software you're using.

The 8700 I suggested would add 2 cores and 8 threads, so it is no small upgrade on the 8100 in any CPU heavy app.


Here's a possible Intel option. 265K is a better choice for CPU heavy stuff (performs around a 9900X), but that seems to have gone back up to the old price, I'd suggest an AIO in this case too if you went that route.

I chose micro-atx because it was easier to find the parts.

5060 Ti is expensive, so need to know for sure if you need VRAM or not, when the 5070 isn't that far off. The Dual is also a base model, so you're paying a lot, even with 16GB cards expected to climb in price.

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x Intel Core Ultra 5 245K (Arrow Lake) Socket LGA 1851 Processor - Retail (SKU: PRO-INT-03113) = £194.99
• 1 x Intel Holiday Bundle - Choose One Of Four Premium Games (SKU: DIG-INT-06664) = £0.00
• 1 x Asus TUF Gaming B860M-Plus WIFI (LGA 1851) DDR5 Micro-ATX Motherboard (SKU: MOT-ASU-04071) = £169.99
• 1 x Crucial Pro OC 32GB (2x16GB) DDR5 PC5-48000C36 6000MHz Dual Channel Kit (SKU: MEM-CRU-02219) = £329.99
• 1 x Asus GeForce RTX 5060 Ti Dual OC 16GB GDDR7 PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GRA-ASU-05013) = £428.99
• 1 x Team Group G70 PRO 2TB SSD M.2 2280 NVME PCI-E Gen4 Solid State Drive (SKU: STO-TMG-02618) = £209.98
• 1 x Lian Li A3-mATX Tempered Glass Micro-ATX Case (Black) (SKU: CAS-LIA-04811) = £59.99
• 1 x Phanteks AMP GH 750W 80PLUS Gold ATX Power Supply Modular - Black (SKU: POW-PHK-02517) = £84.95
• 1 x Arctic Freezer 36 120m Black CPU Cooler - 2x 120mm (SKU: COO-ARC-02420) = £34.99

Total: £1,513.87 (includes delivery: £0.00)​

Hah, you beat me to it with a very similar build:
My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x Thermalright Aqua Elite 360 Black ARGB V3 All In One CPU Cooler (SKU: COO-TLR-03256) = £49.99
• 1 x Crucial Pro OC 32GB (2x16GB) DDR5 PC5-48000C36 6000MHz Dual Channel Kit (SKU: MEM-CRU-02219) = £329.99
• 1 x Phanteks AMP GH 750W 80PLUS Gold ATX Power Supply Modular - Black (SKU: POW-PHK-02517) = £84.95
• 1 x Team Group G70 PRO 2TB SSD M.2 2280 NVME PCI-E Gen4 Solid State Drive (SKU: STO-TMG-02618) = £209.99
• 1 x Intel Core Ultra 7 265K (Arrow Lake) Socket LGA 1851 Processor - Retail (SKU: PRO-INT-03111) = £299.98
• 1 x Intel Holiday Bundle - Choose One Of Four Premium Games (SKU: DIG-INT-06664) = £0.00
• 1 x Asus Prime B860M-A WIFI (LGA 1851) DDR5 Micro-ATX Motherboard (SKU: MOT-ASU-04075) = £140.00
• 1 x Zotac GeForce RTX 5060 Ti Twin Edge 16GB GDDR7 PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GRA-ZTC-04916) = £399.94
• 1 x Lian Li A3 mATX Wood Edition - Black (SKU: CAS-LIA-02630) = £69.95

Total: £1,596.78 (includes delivery: £11.98)​

- AiO with the A3 as the case doesn't come with any fans and the 360 acts as a good full exhaust/airflow system.
- Went windowless as I suspect the OP wanting a super small form factor might partially be due to it standing out less but you oddly end up paying a tenner more.
- 265K as you mentioned is quicker.
- Zotac Twin Edge 5060ti is (was?) £399 currently on sale, might have changed since I last checked my basket.

 

[Tetras]

- Zotac Twin Edge 5060ti is (was?) £399 currently on sale, might have changed since I last checked my basket.

I think that was the Gibbo special (3)hour, gone up £50

 

[Gray2233]

I think that was the Gibbo special (3)hour, gone up £50

Damn shame, I've bought a few Twin Edge cards and they've been spot on. Great warranty with Zotac too which is a big plus.

 

[gizmo1990]

Thanks for all the advice everyone.

@Gray2233 Probably the likes of Substance, Max, Maya, ZB.

The 5060ti looks like the only viable route (price/performance wise) if I go the Nvidia route. I think I'd prioritise vram over a fairly small grunt increase. Mainly because of texture work. Hence the 5070 doesn't look a good buy.

@DotA Case wise I've a spare Silverstone SG13 to stick it all in. It should hold a 5060ti.

I am tempted to stick with my current motherboard and maybe goto 32gb via some Crucial Vengeance ddr4 3200 and run them at 2666? But if I do I'd probably have to go the AMD route with a video card, since I'd heard about the Nvidia incompatibility issues too with older hardware.

Tbh I do feel like a fairly full on upgrade is needed, so a motherboard too etc, since my setup is so old and I do wonder if I don't do it now I'll be priced out in the future.

 

[Gray2233]

Thanks for all the advice everyone.

@Gray2233 Probably the likes of Substance, Max, Maya, ZB.

The 5060ti looks like the only viable route (price/performance wise) if I go the Nvidia route. I think I'd prioritise vram over a fairly small grunt increase. Mainly because of texture work. Hence the 5070 doesn't look a good buy.

@DotA Case wise I've a spare Silverstone SG13 to stick it all in. It should hold a 5060ti.

I am tempted to stick with my current motherboard and maybe goto 32gb via some Crucial Vengeance ddr4 3200 and run them at 2666? But if I do I'd probably have to go the AMD route with a video card, since I'd heard about the Nvidia incompatibility issues too with older hardware.

Tbh I do feel like a fairly full on upgrade is needed, so a motherboard too etc, since my setup is so old and I do wonder if I don't do it now I'll be priced out in the future.

If you're dead set on ITX and want to reuse your case, this is the best I can come up with with OCUK pricing:

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x Gigabyte B860I AORUS PRO ICE (LGA 1851) DDR5 ITX Motherboard (SKU: MOT-GIG-04105) = £199.99
• 1 x Asus ROG Loki SFX-L 750W Platinum Power Supply (SKU: CA-05Y-AS) = £139.99
• 1 x Intel Core Ultra 7 265K (Arrow Lake) Socket LGA 1851 Processor - Retail (SKU: PRO-INT-03111) = £299.99
• 1 x Intel Holiday Bundle - Choose One Of Four Premium Games (SKU: DIG-INT-06664) = £0.00
• 1 x Crucial Pro OC 32GB (2x16GB) DDR5 PC5-48000C36 6000MHz Dual Channel Kit (SKU: MEM-CRU-02219) = £329.99
• 1 x Team Group G70 PRO 2TB SSD M.2 2280 NVME PCI-E Gen4 Solid State Drive (SKU: STO-TMG-02618) = £209.99
• 1 x Asus GeForce RTX 5060 Ti Dual OC 16GB GDDR7 PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GRA-ASU-05013) = £428.99

Total: £1,608.94 (includes delivery: £0.00)​

For the sort of work you'll be doing, you're very likely better off with Nvidia. AMD tends to fall behind in a number of work related apps, and you're using quite a few different ones.

There's no HSF in the above, according to the Silverstone spec page for the SG13 the max HSF height is 61mm which is super restrictive. I can't see anything on OCUK that would fit, although someone else might well be aware of something.

Apparently, the case does support a 120mm AiO, which seem to be like hens teeth at the moment but might well be your best option. There is the Thermalright AQUA ELITE 120 V3 L which can be found for £30 if you have a look around the usual sites.

 

[Craig_d1]

If you're dead set on ITX and want to reuse your case, this is the best I can come up with with OCUK pricing:


For the sort of work you'll be doing, you're very likely better off with Nvidia. AMD tends to fall behind in a number of work related apps, and you're using quite a few different ones.

There's no HSF in the above, according to the Silverstone spec page for the SG13 the max HSF height is 61mm which is super restrictive. I can't see anything on OCUK that would fit, although someone else might well be aware of something.

Apparently, the case does support a 120mm AiO, which seem to be like hens teeth at the moment but might well be your best option. There is the Thermalright AQUA ELITE 120 V3 L which can be found for £30 if you have a look around the usual sites.

Are 120mm aio's any good? (i know you saying it as nothing else available and trying to get something to fit, so not a critism, just interested if you know the answer). I look at those and think, can't be much liquid in them and the surface area in the rad has to be worse than a 120mm air cooler...extended use of pc must just warm the rad up to such a point you'd still be rtunning hot. I've just neverseen the point, esp with mordern cpu's that require more cooling

edit
you got my interest up on it now, so had a look..found deu8auer did a vid on it. the compramise for a sff

 

[Gray2233]

Are 120mm aio's any good? (i know you saying it as nothing else available and trying to get something to fit, so not a critism, just interested if you know the answer). I look at those and think, can't be much liquid in them and the surface area in the rad has to be worse than a 120mm air cooler...extended use of pc must just warm the rad up to such a point you'd still be rtunning hot. I've just neverseen the point, esp with mordern cpu's that require more cooling

edit
you got my interest up on it now, so had a look..found deu8auer did a vid on it. the compramise for a sff

I've never thought much of them, there's just no air cooler I've found that's under 61mm height wise.

They used to be popular in prebuilds and were almost always crap, I think they were more of a marketing excuse to claim a build had liquid cooling.

Funnily enough the top comment on that video is from someone with the same case as the OP and he recommends the Aqua 120, poor as they are compared to similar cost regular air coolers they're probably still superior to low profile air.

 

[DotA]

From what a i remember when looking into this case a good few years back when i was considering it was the AIO performed better then the air cooler as it had access to fresh air from the front. I remember that the recomendation was to put some fans somwhere in the back as it was all dead air there. I remember that lots of people said to put a side fan on somehow to get some of that airflow going.

 

[Gray2233]

From what a i remember when looking into this case a good few years back when i was considering it was the AIO performed better then the air cooler as it had access to fresh air from the front. I remember that the recomendation was to put some fans somwhere in the back as it was all dead air there. I remember that lots of people said to put a side fan on somehow to get some of that airflow going.

Judging from the inside of the case, you're absolutely correct that an AiO is going to be a much better option (not that I can find any low profile air coolers that would fit anyway, but even if they did).

The PSU is going to be sat right above the CPU socket. The GPU is intaking air from side vents so that's good. I'd fit however many extra fans that you can, apparently it also fits 140mm AiO's but they can be a touch tricky. Honestly, it's a bit of a shame design wise as with the right GPU and a little bit more width I could see you fitting a 240mm in there without it being notably larger.

I've seen a few people attaching fans externally too, as in doubling up on the vents.

 

[DotA]

The other option is get an sfx psu and you can fit something like an noctua nh-l12s in there, but you still have the problem of hot air build up at the back.

I remember that 140mm AIOs wherent recomended as they then take up the space where the GPU went dropping you down to some very short low power GPUS.

Iv had a quick google and you can ziptie a 92mm to the side, in the picture above its ziptide to the holes wher the PSU support gos into, This was also with and SFX PSU.

Also got to be picky with the AIOs as some 120s also have a large top and bottoms where the pipes come out and where rad end is, the solve for this was to have it so the pipes where "on top" but again need an sfx PSU.

 

[DotA]

Heres my go at it.

Needs a cooler still.

Went with a 5070, only 12gb but should be faster then the 16gb 5060ti unless your doing large models and need the extra VRAM.

Forgot to ask what res your playing at as well but again should be ok unless your doing high spec 4k gaming.

May need to put the CPU in an ECO mode to try and controll temps but thats always the case with MITX builds. In some ways the 65Wat AM5 9700 are better for this due to thier lower TDP.

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x Crucial Pro OC 32GB (2x16GB) DDR5 PC5-48000C36 6000MHz Dual Channel Kit (SKU: MEM-CRU-02219) = £329.99
• 1 x CORSAIR SF Series SF750 Fully Modular 80 PLUS Platinum SFX Power Supply (SKU: POW-CRS-02468) = £144.95
• 1 x Intel Core Ultra 7 265K (Arrow Lake) Socket LGA 1851 Processor - Retail (SKU: PRO-INT-03111) = £299.98
• 1 x Intel Holiday Bundle - Choose One Of Four Premium Games (SKU: DIG-INT-06664) = £0.00
• 1 x MSI B860I Edge TI WIFI (LGA 1851) DDR5 ITX Motherboard (SKU: MOT-MSI-05938) = £200.00
• 1 x Inno3D GeForce RTX 5070 Twin X2 12GB GDDR7 PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GRA-INO-04775) = £529.99
• 1 x Crucial P310 1TB M.2 2280 PCI-e 4.0 NVMe Solid State Drive (SKU: STO-CRU-03049) = £109.99

Total: £1,622.89 (includes delivery: £7.99)​

 

[Craig_d1]

vid of a build with the case...they didn't like the 120mm aio so went with a low profile Noctua air cooler which i've listed below..as another option

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x Noctua NH-L9a Chromax Pure Black CPU Cooler - 92mm (SKU: HS-03P-NC) = £49.99

Total: £49.99 (includes delivery: £0.00)​