£1500 Build

Jimbeam3678 · 6 Jun 2025 at 18:18

Purchase Timeframe:
No rush

Budget:
£1500

Usage:
Gaming at 1440p or 4K undecided yet. Currently have a 4k monitor

Preferences:
None

Current Hardware:
Mac Mini M4

Peripherals:
None required

Special Needs/Requirements:
A way to connect the system up to my Caldigit Dock - USB4? Or USB 3 Gen 2?

Jimbeam3678 · 6 Jun 2025 at 18:46

Thanks. Would an AMD CPU and Motherboard work with USB 3 Gen 2, assuming I connect the monitors via HDMI/DP? Intel route with the additional cost seems like a big compromise for TB4.

Or do I have any other options? I should have included this in the opening post, the dock is a https://www.caldigit.com/thunderbolt-4-element-hub/

Jimbeam3678 · 6 Jun 2025 at 19:02

Quick Google suggests it will. Assuming it does, what would you recommend? Is it worth stretching to 9070 XT?

Jimbeam3678 · 6 Jun 2025 at 19:16

What are my options? I don't really want to go about £1500 but £100 or so should be ok.

Jimbeam3678 · 6 Jun 2025 at 19:33

Any reason for the 5070Ti over the 9070 XT?

Jimbeam3678 · 6 Jun 2025 at 19:44

If I lowered the spec on the CPU, would it be a Ryzen 5 to be looking at? Which model provides the best bang for buck?

Thanks for all the suggestions and help so far.

Jimbeam3678 · 6 Jun 2025 at 20:55

So presumably, I could swap out the X870 and live without the USB 4 and replace it with ASRock B850m-X micro ATX M5 to shave off £85.

Thanks again, given me some real food for thought

Jimbeam3678 · 6 Jun 2025 at 22:16

Of course need to sell my Mac mini and check with the boss of the house first! Genuinely thanks to all of you for the help and advice. Will bump this when before I pull the trigger.

Jimbeam3678 · 7 Jun 2025 at 10:04

Tetras said:
FYI: this board only has 1x Type-C on the rear, which is USB 3.2 Gen 1. It also has a pretty basic VRM and the primary PCI-E is gen 4.0, but it does have 2x M.2 slots.

I’m back with more questions.. is there something between x870 and the card I suggested? USB 3.2 gen 2 is what I need after some experimenting with my work laptop.

At a push usb 3.2 gen 1 could work but I’d rather avoid it if possible.

Any reason why I couldn’t use this case

Phanteks XT PRO ULTRA ATX Mid Tower Case?

Some of the suggested items are on pre order PSU and Ssd any alternatives?

Jimbeam3678 · 7 Jun 2025 at 13:30

My basket at OcUK:

1 x Gainward GeForce RTX 5070 Ti Phoenix V1 16GB GDDR7 PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GRA-GNW-04853) = £719.99
1 x Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE ARGB Black CPU Cooler - 120mm (SKU: COO-TLR-02724) = £29.99
1 x Phanteks XT Pro Ultra ATX Case Tempered Glass Window, Black (SKU: CAS-PHK-01443) = £74.98
1 x Asrock B850 Pro-A WiFi (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MOT-ASR-04004) = £167.99
1 x Kingston NV3 2TB PCI-e 4.0 NVMe M.2 Solid State Drive (SNV3S/2000G) (SKU: STO-KNG-02943) = £99.95
1 x be quiet! Pure Power 12 M 850W ATX 3.0 80 Plus Gold Power Supply (SKU: CA-14R-BQ) = £109.99
1 x Corsair Vengeance 32GB EXPO (2X16GB) DDR5 PC5-48000C30 6000MHz Dual Channel (SKU: MEM-CRS-02786) = £98.99

Total: £1,313.87 (includes delivery: £11.98)

AMD Ryzen 7800X3D from elsewhere

Anything else I need to build it myself? Thermal paste, tool kit or anything else? Its been 15 - 20 years since I built a PC!

Jimbeam3678 · 7 Jun 2025 at 14:12

Tetras said:
The main difference between X870 and B850 is USB4 is required to be present on X870.

USB 3.2 Gen 2: I'd check the motherboard specs. From what I can see, the board suggested above has 1x USB 3.2 Gen 2 and 1x USB 3.2 Gen 1 (on the rear I/O panel).

That’s how I read it was well. 1 x 3.2 gen 2 is enough for me. Everything else look ok? Anything additional I need tools etc?

Jimbeam3678 · 7 Jun 2025 at 14:22

I was just about to pay the extra £30 for usb 4 then noticed it’s on pre order

Guessing the below would work but more expensive again … too many choices

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/asrock-x870-pro-rs-socket-am5-ddr5-atx-motherboard-mot-asr-03309.html

Jimbeam3678 · 7 Jun 2025 at 14:41

mickyflinn said:
For an extra £10 you can get the Zotac 5070ti which comes with a 5 year warranty if registered within 30 days.

Check customer reviews on Overclockers.

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/zotac-geforce-rtx-5070-ti-solid-sff-16gb-gddr7-graphics-card-gra-ztc-04898.html

I'm trying to reduce my spending

Revised basket
My basket at OcUK:

1 x Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE ARGB Black CPU Cooler - 120mm (SKU: COO-TLR-02724) = £29.99
1 x Phanteks XT Pro Ultra ATX Case Tempered Glass Window, Black (SKU: CAS-PHK-01443) = £74.99
1 x Kingston NV3 2TB PCI-e 4.0 NVMe M.2 Solid State Drive (SNV3S/2000G) (SKU: STO-KNG-02943) = £99.94
1 x be quiet! Pure Power 12 M 850W ATX 3.0 80 Plus Gold Power Supply (SKU: CA-14R-BQ) = £110.00
1 x Corsair Vengeance 32GB EXPO (2X16GB) DDR5 PC5-48000C30 6000MHz Dual Channel (SKU: MEM-CRS-02786) = £98.98
1 x Zotac GeForce RTX 5070 Ti Solid SFF 16GB GDDR7 Graphics Card (SKU: GRA-ZTC-04898) = £728.99
1 x Asrock X870 Pro RS (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MOT-ASR-03309) = £209.99

Total: £1,364.87 (includes delivery: £11.98)

Jimbeam3678 · 7 Jun 2025 at 15:56

Urghh so I have settled on the below, CPU is the last remind question. If I am gaming at 4k today and maybe 1440 in the near future possible what CPU 7800 3d, 9700x or the 7600X would I notice much difference if I got the 7600X? 9700X seems like the middle ground which achieves nothing.

@mickyflinn @Tetras thoughts? I've asked Chat GPT, and that didn't give a definitive answer!

Jimbeam3678 said:
I'm trying to reduce my spending

Revised basket
My basket at OcUK:

1 x Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE ARGB Black CPU Cooler - 120mm (SKU: COO-TLR-02724) = £29.99

1 x Phanteks XT Pro Ultra ATX Case Tempered Glass Window, Black (SKU: CAS-PHK-01443) = £74.99

1 x Kingston NV3 2TB PCI-e 4.0 NVMe M.2 Solid State Drive (SNV3S/2000G) (SKU: STO-KNG-02943) = £99.94

1 x be quiet! Pure Power 12 M 850W ATX 3.0 80 Plus Gold Power Supply (SKU: CA-14R-BQ) = £110.00

1 x Corsair Vengeance 32GB EXPO (2X16GB) DDR5 PC5-48000C30 6000MHz Dual Channel (SKU: MEM-CRS-02786) = £98.98

1 x Zotac GeForce RTX 5070 Ti Solid SFF 16GB GDDR7 Graphics Card (SKU: GRA-ZTC-04898) = £728.99

1 x Asrock X870 Pro RS (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MOT-ASR-03309) = £209.99

Total: £1,364.87 (includes delivery: £11.98)

Jimbeam3678 · 7 Jun 2025 at 19:44

Thanks all, went with the below and went with the 7600X CPU there didn't seem to be £200 worth of value in the X3D chips for me.
My basket at OcUK:

1 x Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE ARGB Black CPU Cooler - 120mm (SKU: COO-TLR-02724) = £29.99
1 x Phanteks XT Pro Ultra ATX Case Tempered Glass Window, Black (SKU: CAS-PHK-01443) = £74.99
1 x Kingston NV3 2TB PCI-e 4.0 NVMe M.2 Solid State Drive (SNV3S/2000G) (SKU: STO-KNG-02943) = £99.94
1 x be quiet! Pure Power 12 M 850W ATX 3.0 80 Plus Gold Power Supply (SKU: CA-14R-BQ) = £110.00
1 x Corsair Vengeance 32GB EXPO (2X16GB) DDR5 PC5-48000C30 6000MHz Dual Channel (SKU: MEM-CRS-02786) = £98.98
1 x Zotac GeForce RTX 5070 Ti Solid SFF 16GB GDDR7 Graphics Card (SKU: GRA-ZTC-04898) = £728.99
1 x Asrock X870 Pro RS (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MOT-ASR-03309) = £209.99

Jimbeam3678 · 7 Jun 2025 at 20:14

mickyflinn said:
@Jimbeam3678

Something to note that on first boot it can take up to 15mins for anything to show on screen and may reboot a few times this is because the motherboard is training the memory so be patient.

Lets us know how you get on.

Thank you again and @Tetras for all your help and even more so for the above!

Quartz said:
Don't Asrock motherboards currently have issues with killing 9800X3D CPUs?

I did read about this, it seemed to be a storm in a teacup only affecting a few cases and predominantly on 9800X3D only

Jimbeam3678 · 7 Jun 2025 at 20:18

Craig_d1 said:
there was the 7600x3d cpu also. OCuk are selling it

To be honest, watching the hardware unboxed video convinced me, for now at least to stick with 7600 as the price is within my original budget as @Gilbert89 said.

I don't mind spending cash if there is some value to be had..

Jimbeam3678 · 7 Jun 2025 at 20:25

Craig_d1 said:
7800x3d at least dropped a bit more...£350 now, though not on ocuk website

Trust me I've spent most of the day umming and rrring about it. Was ******* me off, as I normally make a decision quite easily once I've done a bit of research!

Jimbeam3678 · 7 Jun 2025 at 22:58

Craig_d1 said:
gamernexus wasn't too convinced after the interview with them at computex
that's the thread, and some people reporting cpu's dyinga after lastest bios..plenty of other boards to choose from

https://www.reddit.com/r/ASRock/comments/1iui7lx/9800x3d_failuresdeaths_megathread/

Urghh any alternatives you’d suggest which have usb 4 on them? Might have to drop a message over to them on Monday morning to swap it

Jimbeam3678 · 7 Jun 2025 at 23:04

Gray2233 said:
You're not running an X3D chip so I'd not be concerned, by the point you might upgrade to one it'll be a non issue.

Reading that thread there are similar reports to the chip I’ve bought. Unless it’s coincidental

£1500 Build

Phanteks XT PRO ULTRA ATX Mid Tower Case?​

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Phanteks XT PRO ULTRA ATX Mid Tower Case?