New build - Next Steps?!?

[kpsmithuk]

Hi

So I recently rebuilt my rig as my 3770k was beginning to struggle and although my two 650ti boost could play most games I wanted too I’ve been pushing the hardware hard and it ran - hot when gaming.

So below is current build, the only retained parts are the psu and 2.5” HDD

trying to work out what to upgrade next out of the drives and psu. Head says PSU but it’s been fine for at least 5 years and actually better than more expensive ones I’ve had before. I think it’s probably now a little underpowered with the new gpu compared to previous where I had some headroom. The WD green is ok but at 5400 it’s noisier than I’d like and a little slow but not slow enough to cause issues

All advice and feedback welcome I know it’s not a premium build or all the best parts but I am on a budget and most bar the case board and cpu were second hand. It’s miles better than what it replaced but always learning.

Windows 11 Pro

Motherboard
Gigabyte Z490 Aorus Pro AX

CPU
Intel I7 10700k

RAM
64GB DDR4 PC3200

• 16GB Crucial Ballistix Black
• 16GB Crucial Ballistix Black
• 16GB Kingston HyperX Fury Black
• 16GB Kingston HyperX Fury RGB

GPU
Gigabyte Aorus GeForce RTX 3070 Ti Master8GB

CPU Cooling
NZXT Kraken X73 360mm AiO Cooler

Case
GameMax Abyss ARGB PC Gaming Case E-ATX

PSU
CCL Artic Blue 850W

Storage
OS: 500GB Crucial P2 M.2 (22x80) PCIe 3.0 (x4) NVMe SSD, 3D NAND, Read 2300MB/s

Steam/Games: 4TB Western Digital WD20EARS Caviar Green 3.5" SATA Hard Disk Drive

General: Toshiba 500GB L200 Internal 2.5" Laptop Hard Disk Drive HDWJ105UZSVA

Cooling
3x 120mm NZXT Aer-p top (exhaust)
1x 120mm Artic Cooling F12 + 2x 120mm NZXT Aer-p argb front (intake)
1x 120mm game master argb rear (exhaust)

pictures link https://www.dropbox.com/sh/cnchdw6jtastssb/AABSQ4k2Uox2rVNhRt1gVOAda?dl=0

 

[kpsmithuk]

Pics will follow of the build.

The build itself was straightforward, case made running cables easy and relatively tidy for an amateur. Someone better would make this really clean.

biggest headache was actually the front fans, the front panel wasn’t the easiest to remove and awkward due to the led wiring.

The HDD bays for the 3.5” are screwless and simple.

hardest part was actually the pipe and cable if for the x73 as made it messy and physically fitting in the 3070 - it’s bloody huge!

PSU will need to be changed - i don’t like adapting and I’m having to steal 2x molex for the third - yes third 8 pin and another converter for a 6 to 8 pin for the second one

Any suggestions for a 850w that won’t break the bank but will cater for my build?

Overall physical build was relatively easy.

However the x73 doesn’t play nice with rgb fusion (which looks bloody aweful)

CAM the NZXT software conflicts and the leds on the x73 don’t work with rgb fusion installed

And that was once it actually booted - ram hd to be set in bios to enable xmp and the bios needed to know what gpu I was using and a few other things before it would finally boot up.

All that said if the manuals are read for setup then I would have avoided many headscratches - certainly not quite plug and play and “throw together” like some old builds have been.

However - it boots almost imediatly the nvme ssd is incredible and 64GB although overkill is future proof and packs a punch.

windows 11 is cool but don’t rush - it’s not worth building a rig for just yet in my opinion.

I need to figure out the oc settings in the bios to get the best from the 10700k so help appreciated there as well

however as it stands it’s like usaine bolt crossed with arnie compared to my old rig which was bloody good for its time.

 

[mickyflinn]

You have to get rid of the Psu and replace it with a quality unit .

 

[kpsmithuk]

You have to get rid of the Psu and replace it with a quality unit .

I do see it as the weakest part, however what would you recomend without spending silly amounts - gpu aside which was a rather mad moment (glad on reflection) I’ve built to budget month by month. The CCL has held up well so far over both builds so what makes a “decent” unit in your opinion

not a criticism but interested as

 

[mickyflinn]

I do see it as the weakest part, however what would you recomend without spending silly amounts - gpu aside which was a rather mad moment (glad on reflection) I’ve built to budget month by month. The CCL has held up well so far over both builds so what makes a “decent” unit in your opinion

not a criticism but interested as

Build quality , warranty 10 year preferred , gold rated and modular cables as a preference .

Budget is king a corsair rm 850w can be had for £100.

 

[kpsmithuk]

Build quality , warranty 10 year preferred , gold rated and modular cables as a preference .

Budget is king a corsair rm 850w can be had for £100.

Thanks - will take a look we used to use the CCL units in fruit machine pcs that sit in pubs and get moved site to site quite a lot - they are for the money surprisingly robust and strong.

However I knew it was a weak point plus the modular approach would let me build cleaner and also the 10 year warranty side and efficiency are def worth it.

 

[Haz123]

Look forwards to seeing pics. I am not sure if the mismatched ram will make my OCD explode or if I might like it. Certainly get a decent PSU. They are not that expensive compared to the rest of your components and keep the ccl for emergencies and testing, or return it if you can.

I feel your pain with the RGB software. I think I swore more dealing with the Asus and Corsair software than I did with the rest of my build combined. I have Asus Fan expert 4 installed as a standalone piece of software because the Armoury crate pos is a crime against technology and the Corsair garbage is even worse. In comparison the Lian Li L-Connect software is great and actually works so it can be done without making the end user tear their hair out.

 

[kpsmithuk]

Look forwards to seeing pics. I am not sure if the mismatched ram will make my OCD explode or if I might like it. Certainly get a decent PSU. They are not that expensive compared to the rest of your components and keep the ccl for emergencies and testing, or return it if you can.

I feel your pain with the RGB software. I think I swore more dealing with the Asus and Corsair software than I did with the rest of my build combined. I have Asus Fan expert 4 installed as a standalone piece of software because the Armoury crate pos is a crime against technology and the Corsair garbage is even worse. In comparison the Lian Li L-Connect software is great and actually works so it can be done without making the end user tear their hair out.

To be honest the mis match of ram is annoying and I will for OCD reasons be switching the hyper x to crucial rgb at some point to keep it uniform but they work well together so happy for now - 64GB is overkill so no rush.

Looking at PSUs and should have pics of rig up tonight

makes more sense after research and comments on PSU - def want to be protecting the components as they aren’t cheap items to be replacing in comparison

 

[mickyflinn]

Do you need 64gb of memory 32gb is more than enough for gaming ?

 

[kpsmithuk]

Do you need 64gb of memory 32gb is more than enough for gaming ?

for gaming alone no 32 would have been plenty but I also do some video editing which eats RAM when publishing the finished piece so helps massively with that

Also to an extent future proofs for a good number of years, I normally rebuild every 5 roughly depending on what current reqs are vs available upgrade routes

My old rig was just on the limit but wouldn’t of coped with win 11 and was struggling cpu wise to keep up so needed to be rebuilt

GPU probably would have given it another year but was flat out and struggling with some games on cpu also

 

[mickyflinn]

for gaming alone no 32 would have been plenty but I also do some video editing which eats RAM when publishing the finished piece so helps massively with that

Also to an extent future proofs for a good number of years, I normally rebuild every 5 roughly depending on what current reqs are vs available upgrade routes

My old rig was just on the limit but wouldn’t of coped with win 11 and was struggling cpu wise to keep up so needed to be rebuilt

GPU probably would have given it another year but was flat out and struggling with some games on cpu also

Fair enough just thought selling some ram would fund a new psu.

 

[kpsmithuk]

Fair enough just thought selling some ram would fund a new psu.

I did debate it myself to be honest in all seriousness lol

 

[kpsmithuk]

Ok so here are some pics of the rig I’ve uploaded them to a Dropbox folder so I can add to them and cut down to best shots

they are pre 3070 I will post the pictures of this beast tomorrow I don’t use the leds a lot of the time currently- still trying to get them all to play nicely -

I think I’m going to need an NZXT controller for the aer-p as they don’t work with the controller the case came with. they are behind the infinity mirror anyway so rarely seen the rear exhaust and the front panel are the most noticeable as will the MB leds now the 3070 is in place

oh if I haven’t mentioned it already it’s huge - incomprehensibley huge

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/cnchdw6jtastssb/AABSQ4k2Uox2rVNhRt1gVOAda?dl=0

 

[Haz123]

O M G that ram will haunt my nightmares and the mismatched 650tis made me shudder and that SLi cable is ......what I think of it is best left unsaid. I am sure this PC has served you well over the years but it did not score highly in the Miss World competition. The only thing missing for the full Frankenstein look is an old ribbon cable across the middles of the mobo

You will love how snappy the new PC will feel with the NVME drive for the OS and the performance will be on a different planet. Welcome to the 2020s.

 

[kpsmithuk]

O M G that ram will haunt my nightmares and the mismatched 650tis made me shudder and that SLi cable is ......what I think of it is best left unsaid. I am sure this PC has served you well over the years but it did not score highly in the Miss World competition. The only thing missing for the full Frankenstein look is an old ribbon cable across the middles of the mobo

You will love how snappy the new PC will feel with the NVME drive for the OS and the performance will be on a different planet. Welcome to the 2020s.

The NVME is rediculous speed wise compared to before.

The RAM isn’t as bad as it looks to be honest the RGB is so bright you can’t see the mix however if i went back I would probably have matched and actually on reflection not gone for rgb - it’s nice but detracts from the subtle led lighting on the board. Gigabyte really got the look right - subtle and classy vs loud rainbow unicorn vomit

However another rgb stick would look better so every other is lit. Not sure about all 4 would be like a lighthouse!

RAM donations welcome to cure your OCD nightmares

the two 650s were never meant to be even in the old build - originally was just the evga but needed more to keep up and found one cheaper to sli than a single better card - I don’t like the look either and the open fan is a bloody nightmare as it blows straight onto the evga before the 3070 I had no choice but to carry them onto the new build

can assure you the 3070 looks much better

She wasn’t built for looks originally previous Builds all non led so still finding my way. The new one is far better than what it replaced

when I find software that plays nice I’ll change the rainbow vomit look to solid colours or a nice rolling blend

I’d love someone to show me how to really tidy the wiring - from the front it’s relatively clean but behind it’s still a bit of a mess to be honest

modular psu will help but I just lack the skill and eye to finesse the wire tidying!

 

[Haz123]

I was not criticising mate , just having a bit of fun

Ram sticks are very bright, I have 4 glowing away in my case and have them around 50% brightness with a solid colour. The Corsair software is such garbage that I dare not mess with them too much or I could be stuck on rainbow puke for all time
From the front my case looks very nice but look behind near the PSU and the octupi mating frenzy is in full swing , out of sight out of mind. Without getting custom cables that are the exact length it is almsot impossible to make it look pro. A lot of the newer cases have finally worked out where to put the holes for cables to come out in the correct place but that took 20 darn years. How hard was it to put the 24 pin pass through in the correct place , is always in same spot on an ATX mobo but for over a decade so many cases would have that passthrough in the wrong place

Was the 650ti the generation where it was cheaper to get 2 of those and sli them than get a 680 that had similar performance?

 

[mickyflinn]

Change those red sata cable's for black ones.

 

[kpsmithuk]

@Haz123 It’s all good I know your messing

Yeah my two 650’s out perform a 680 in games that use sli fairly comfortably however they run hot and loud to do so - that bridge really is horrible to look at.

I was jesting on the RAM donation. I was going to stop at 32GB and the crucial were on a deal. When I decided to go to 64 I had to take what I could find on eBay as had spent a bit much on other parts

know what you mean about the holes, oh and don’t get me started on case manufacturers- the front panel connector cables are so long and stiff it’s almost impossible to hide literally the only one bar fans that were a royal PITA

@mickyflinn Hadn’t even thought of black sata - just got used to having spare red ones everywhere and with everything- this idea i like! Def won’t break the bank either

 

[kpsmithuk]

Added a couple of pics of the card but they don’t do it justice

https://www.gigabyte.com/Graphics-Card/GV-N307TAORUS-M-8GD#kf

it’s huge but reasonably quiet and bloody impressive I’ve run everything I’ve got up to fc5, shadow of Mordor, crisis 3 etc all at max settings and it doesn’t break sweat.

Going to throw a few more games at it fc6 maybe Elite Dangerous and see what it does.

Any recommendations for gpu heavy stuff I can throw at it game wise? Not sure what the big hitters are these days used to be crysis and far cry but open to other things to try.

to get an idea of size just google people unboxing videos size is L=324 W=142 H=70 mm

doesn’t support sli apparently- I mean I don’t know where I’m meant to fit another one but that’s beside the point

however I am now firmly resolved to sourcing a new psu - I hate adapters and splitters as always worry about overloading a rail or cable run. Given the cost of components I am hell no risking it so new psu is def up next!

 

[mickyflinn]

Cyberpunk 2077.