£1k-ish build list, could I get some feedback?

Gopher_By_Fende · 2 May 2025 at 00:07

Hey all,

I’m well out of date on the current state of hardware so could do with some review and feedback on this possible build I threw together. £1k-ish budget, will be used for some gaming (not fussed about highest gfx quality or framerate), will also be used for software development, bit of 3D printing design work and the usual browsing etc.

I already have peripherals/monitor and unless there’s anything important that’s changed with case design in the last few years I have an ATX case already.

Any thoughts welcome, thanks in advance

My basket at OcUK:

1 x AMD Ryzen 5 9600X Six Core 5.40GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail (SKU: PRO-AMD-02677) = £229.99
1 x AMD Ryzen - Monster Hunter Wilds Game Bundle (SKU: DIG-AMD-04648) = £0.00
1 x Asus TUF Gaming A620-Pro WIFI (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MOT-ASU-01162) = £139.99
2 x Crucial Pro 32GB (2x16GB) DDR5 PC5-44800C46 5600MHz Dual Channel Kit (SKU: MEM-CRU-01083) = £80.00
1 x Gigabyte GeForce RTX 3060 WindForce OC LHR 12GB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GX-1FH-GI) = £229.99
1 x Aerocool Integrator Gold 850W 80 Plus Gold Modular Power Supply (SKU: CA-23T-AE) = £89.99
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 Seagate 2TB Barracuda HDD 7200RPM 256MB Cache Internal Hard Drive (ST2000DM008) (SKU: HD-3A5-SE) = £57.95

Total: £1,007.84 (includes delivery: £0.00)

tamzzy · 2 May 2025 at 00:36

My basket at OcUK:

1 x AMD Ryzen 7 7700 Eight Core 5.30GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail (SKU: CP-3DV-AM) = £278.99
1 x AMD Ryzen - Monster Hunter Wilds Game Bundle (SKU: DIG-AMD-04648) = £0.00
1 x Asrock B850M Pro-A WiFi (Socket AM5) DDR5 mATX Motherboard (SKU: MOT-ASR-04010) = £144.99
1 x Corsair Vengeance EXPO/XMP 32GB (2X16GB) DDR5 PC5-48000C36 6000MHz Dual Channel Kit (SKU: MEM-CRS-00996) = £80.00
1 x Team Group MP44L 2TB SSD M.2 2280 NVME PCI-E Gen4 Solid State Drive (SKU: STO-TMG-03129) = £99.94
1 x Seagate 2TB Barracuda HDD 7200RPM 256MB Cache Internal Hard Drive (ST2000DM008) (SKU: HD-3A5-SE) = £57.95
1 x Phanteks AMP 650W 80 Plus Gold Modular Power Supply (SKU: CA-09Q-PT) = £89.99
1 x Sparkle Intel ARC B580 TITAN Luna OC 12GB GDDR6 Graphics Card (SKU: GRA-SPK-03944) = £259.99

Total: £1,011.85 (includes delivery: £0.00)

8 core cpu rather than 6 core, the 7700 also comes with a very respectable stock cooler (wraith prism)
better motherboard
faster ram
better ssd (TLC nand - the nv3 uses QLC nand with lower endurance)
higher quality psu with longer warranty 10 yrs vs 3 year
GPU is a bit unclear - on paper the intel b580 is 25-30% faster for gaming workloads compared to the 3060, though you may want to keep to the 3060 if you use nvidia specific features for your work, eg CUDA. also intel drivers aren't as polished (not that nvidia are doing particularly well on the driver front recently lol). other than the B580, there isn't any cheap GPUs with 12GB or more RAM

Tetras · 2 May 2025 at 01:08

Gopher_By_Fende said:
2 x Crucial Pro 32GB (2x16GB) DDR5 PC5-44800C46 5600MHz Dual Channel Kit (SKU: MEM-CRU-01083) = £80.00

If you meant to spec 2 of these, that's not recommended. Get a 64GB kit (32x2), or if you really need RAM, Crucial have a 96GB kit that's available for not much over £200.

Gopher_By_Fende · 2 May 2025 at 08:51

tamzzy said:
8 core cpu rather than 6 core, the 7700 also comes with a very respectable stock cooler (wraith prism)
better motherboard
faster ram
better ssd (TLC nand - the nv3 uses QLC nand with lower endurance)
higher quality psu with longer warranty 10 yrs vs 3 year
GPU is a bit unclear - on paper the intel b580 is 25-30% faster for gaming workloads compared to the 3060, though you may want to keep to the 3060 if you use nvidia specific features for your work, eg CUDA. also intel drivers aren't as polished (not that nvidia are doing particularly well on the driver front recently lol). other than the B580, there isn't any cheap GPUs with 12GB or more RAM

Thanks for the reply, looks like I really am behind on my components knowledge :cry:

I hadn't even considered an Intel GPU, I think the last time I built a rig they didnt make them, but I'll take a look now. I don't have a need for any specific nVidia features, it was more what I'd seen a few people suggest as a good choice for a budget card.

One requirement I forgot to mention in my post was longevity and upgradability, as I'd want this to last me the foreseeable future - This current build has lasted me almost 13 years with a couple of upgrades along the way. From my reading socket AM5 is a good choice for that, but would you recommend any other mobo over the one you suggested given this additional requirement? Obviously your point on the PSU is a great shout with the decade long warranty

Tetras said:
If you meant to spec 2 of these, that's not recommended. Get a 64GB kit (32x2), or if you really need RAM, Crucial have a 96GB kit that's available for not much over £200.

Thanks for the suggestion, out of curiosity why is that not recommended? Is it some config/technical reason or more bang for buck while leaving slots for future expansion? Definitely getting 2x32gb would fit more into my need for future expansion

tamzzy · 2 May 2025 at 11:38

Gopher_By_Fende said:
One requirement I forgot to mention in my post was longevity and upgradability, as I'd want this to last me the foreseeable future - This current build has lasted me almost 13 years with a couple of upgrades along the way. From my reading socket AM5 is a good choice for that, but would you recommend any other mobo over the one you suggested given this additional requirement?

Honestly that's the least of your worries. If you're keeping any computer that long the next upgrade is a full new build rather than a CPU swap out.
For what it's worth any motherboard is fine unless you're running a high core count CPU (eg 9950x with 16 cores).

tamzzy · 2 May 2025 at 11:40

Gopher_By_Fende said:
Thanks for the suggestion, out of curiosity why is that not recommended? Is it some config/technical reason or more bang for buck while leaving slots for future expansion? Definitely getting 2x32gb would fit more into my need for future expansion

Ryzens don't do well with more than 2 ram sticks.
Do you need 64gb now?
If not, the likelihood is that it would be more cost effective to get 32gb now then swap them out for 64gb when you do need 64gb.

tamzzy · 2 May 2025 at 11:42

Gopher_By_Fende said:
I hadn't even considered an Intel GPU, I think the last time I built a rig they didnt make them, but I'll take a look now. I don't have a need for any specific nVidia features, it was more what I'd seen a few people suggest as a good choice for a budget card.

In the £250-ish category, intel b580 probably best value currently. Rest of the lineup gimped with 8gb vram.
Unsure where the new Radeon 9060 will land, may want to keep an eye on that depending on how quick you need to upgrade.

WARburton · 2 May 2025 at 12:07

for your budget and for gaming, your system choice is a bit of a mess really
you only need 32 of of ram, do you really need the extra 2tb hdd, you could save £140 there that really need to be pumped in to GPU.

the 9600x is a very good choice but pairing with a 3060 is very od.

if you want AM4 or intel 12gen your could save a lot of cash that could them be dumper into a better GPU giving you much better performing system

My basket at OcUK:

1 x Team Group MP44L 2TB SSD M.2 2280 NVME PCI-E Gen4 Solid State Drive (SKU: STO-TMG-03129) = £99.95
1 x AMD Ryzen 7 5700X Eight Core 4.6GHz (Socket AM4) Processor - Retail (SKU: CP-3D1-AM) = £139.99
1 x ASUS TUF GAMING A520M-PLUS II (Socket AM4) DDR4 mATX Motherboard (SKU: MOT-ASU-02590) = £91.99
1 x Corsair Vengeance LPX Black 32GB (2x16GB) 3600 MHz AMD Ryzen Tuned DDR4 Memory Dual Kit (CMK32GX4M2Z3600C18) (SKU: MY-4CL-CS) = £49.99
1 x be quiet! SYSTEM POWER 10 650W 80 Plus Bronze Power Supply (SKU: CA-14V-BQ) = £54.95
1 x Asrock Radeon RX 9070 Challenger 16GB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GRA-ASR-04037) = £578.99

Total: £1,015.86 (includes delivery: £0.00)

WARburton · 2 May 2025 at 12:16

My basket at OcUK:

1 x Team Group MP44L 2TB SSD M.2 2280 NVME PCI-E Gen4 Solid State Drive (SKU: STO-TMG-03129) = £99.95
1 x Corsair Vengeance LPX Black 32GB (2x16GB) 3600 MHz AMD Ryzen Tuned DDR4 Memory Dual Kit (CMK32GX4M2Z3600C18) (SKU: MY-4CL-CS) = £49.99
1 x be quiet! SYSTEM POWER 10 650W 80 Plus Bronze Power Supply (SKU: CA-14V-BQ) = £54.95
1 x Asrock Radeon RX 9070 Challenger 16GB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GRA-ASR-04037) = £578.99
1 x Intel Core i5-12400F 2.50GHz (Alder Lake) Socket LGA1700 Processor - Retail (SKU: CP-6AR-IN) = £98.98
1 x Asus Prime B760M-A WIFI D4 (LGA 1700) DDR4 Micro-ATX Motherboard (SKU: MB-6KG-AS) = £110.00

Total: £992.86 (includes delivery: £0.00)

Gopher_By_Fende · 2 May 2025 at 17:05

Thanks for all the input everyone, I was clearly right to come ask as my initial spec seems to be utter garbage lol

This is the updated build im considering

Changed the CPU/Mobo based on recommended, kept with AM5 for future possible upgrades
Split the difference between size and speed on the RAM with 48Gb 6000 instead of 64gb (My work machine chews up almost all the 32gb it has just running my IDEs and teams/chrome)
Added a case to the spec (Decided that I will keep the existing PC intact and refurb it for the wife for her occasional Sims use)
Went with the Intel GPU suggestion as that seems to be best value at the price point, gaming is almost a secondary requirement here (PS5/Series X/Switch mostly dominate that area for me) and I'm fine on lower qualities when I need to. I can always upgrade this down the line if/when it starts lagging behind too much

My basket at OcUK:

1 x AMD Ryzen 7 7700 Eight Core 5.30GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail (SKU: CP-3DV-AM) = £278.99
1 x AMD Ryzen - Monster Hunter Wilds Game Bundle (SKU: DIG-AMD-04648) = £0.00
1 x Asrock B850M Pro-A WiFi (Socket AM5) DDR5 mATX Motherboard (SKU: MOT-ASR-04010) = £144.99
1 x Team Group MP44L 2TB SSD M.2 2280 NVME PCI-E Gen4 Solid State Drive (SKU: STO-TMG-03129) = £99.95
1 x Seagate 2TB Barracuda HDD 7200RPM 256MB Cache Internal Hard Drive (ST2000DM008) (SKU: HD-3A5-SE) = £57.95
1 x Phanteks AMP 650W 80 Plus Gold Modular Power Supply (SKU: CA-09Q-PT) = £89.99
1 x Sparkle Intel ARC B580 TITAN Luna OC 12GB GDDR6 Graphics Card (SKU: GRA-SPK-03944) = £259.99
1 x Antec CX600M ARGB M-ATX Mini Tower - Black (SKU: CAS-ATC-04160) = £54.95
1 x Corsair Vengeance EXPO/XMP RGB 48GB (2X24GB) DDR5 PC5-48000C30 6000MHz Dual Channel Kit (SKU: MEM-CRS-03748) = £155.99

Total: £1,154.78 (includes delivery: £11.98)

Appreciate any further thoughts before I commit

Rob_B · 2 May 2025 at 17:19

Looks good.

You could shave a fiver off the RAM with no RGB (but I'm guessing you want that) or as you've already mentioned you could go 64GB (C40) for £15 more so see what software you run and how it likes timings vs capacity.

Tetras · 2 May 2025 at 20:03

Gopher_By_Fende said:
Split the difference between size and speed on the RAM with 48Gb 6000 instead of 64gb (My work machine chews up almost all the 32gb it has just running my IDEs and teams/chrome)

If you really use that much RAM I'd just get 64GB, it won't cost much more, especially if you're willing to step the speed down a little.

tamzzy · 2 May 2025 at 20:45

Gopher_By_Fende said:
Split the difference between size and speed on the RAM with 48Gb 6000 instead of 64gb (My work machine chews up almost all the 32gb it has just running my IDEs and teams/chrome)

do you hit the 32gb limit and then start using the virtual ram?
if you do then 64gb is the better option for more headroom
seeing as you do indeed use a lot of ram, then 64gb is the better option, rather than constraining yourself just to find out that 48gb isn't sufficient

what actually is your maximum budget, seems like you have some wiggle room to play with. knowing your actual budget means we can spec parts that may be better suited.

Gray2233 · 2 May 2025 at 20:59

You could probably fit a 16gb 5060ti into the above build for similar money with a little bit of wiggling around of components, not the best GPU in the world but for under £400 it's not terrible and offers a fair bit of uplift over the Intel 580.

Not that it matters if you don't actually play anything demanding/are a console guy but worth considering, especially if anything you do can make use of Nv features as mentioned earlier.

MSI GeForce RTX 5060 Ti Gaming OC 16 GB Review

The MSI GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16 GB Gaming OC comes with a factory overclock and powerful cooler that achieves whisper-quiet noise levels. The card is shorter than most competing models, which ensures it can fit into smaller cases without problems.

www.techpowerup.com

Poor performance for the price increase too in fairness.

Gopher_By_Fende · 2 May 2025 at 21:16

Rob_B said:
Looks good.

You could shave a fiver off the RAM with no RGB (but I'm guessing you want that) or as you've already mentioned you could go 64GB (C40) for £15 more so see what software you run and how it likes timings vs capacity.

Haha yeah the extra fiver was just a pure indulgence since I'm now getting a new case with a glass panel, completely needless but who doesn't like a bit of shiny lol

Tetras said:
If you really use that much RAM I'd just get 64GB, it won't cost much more, especially if you're willing to step the speed down a little.

tamzzy said:
do you hit the 32gb limit and then start using the virtual ram?
if you do then 64gb is the better option for more headroom
seeing as you do indeed use a lot of ram, then 64gb is the better option, rather than constraining yourself just to find out that 48gb isn't sufficient

what actually is your maximum budget, seems like you have some wiggle room to play with. knowing your actual budget means we can spec parts that may be better suited.

I think you've all convinced me to just push the budget one more little step, so i'm thinking of 64gb of the same RAM, keeping the higher speed https://www.overclockers.co.uk/cors...c5-48000c30-6000mhz-dual-c-mem-crs-03749.html

That pushes me to about £1.2k which would need to be my top end, as usual you start down this build path and end up 20% past your expected finish point :cry:

Gray2233 said:
You could probably fit a 16gb 5060ti into the above build for similar money with a little bit of wiggling around of components, not the best GPU in the world but for under £400 it's not terrible and offers a fair bit of uplift over the Intel 580.

Not that it matters if you don't actually play anything demanding/are a console guy but worth considering, especially if anything you do can make use of Nv features as mentioned earlier.

MSI GeForce RTX 5060 Ti Gaming OC 16 GB Review

The MSI GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16 GB Gaming OC comes with a factory overclock and powerful cooler that achieves whisper-quiet noise levels. The card is shorter than most competing models, which ensures it can fit into smaller cases without problems.

www.techpowerup.com

Poor performance for the price increase too in fairness.

Thanks, it's a good suggestion but I think at the moment the intel will do what I need it to do and keep the price down which can go to parts, and I don't need any of the specific nVidia features

tamzzy · 2 May 2025 at 21:31

Gopher_By_Fende said:
That pushes me to about £1.2k which would need to be my top end, as usual you start down this build path and end up 20% past your expected finish point

haha oh yes absolutely, blowing the budget is nice, but i'd always rather stick to it and not overspend/spend needlessly

Tetras · 2 May 2025 at 21:32

Gopher_By_Fende said:
I think you've all convinced me to just push the budget one more little step, so i'm thinking of 64gb of the same RAM, keeping the higher speed

If DDR5 was better running with 4 sticks I'd be way less inclined to recommend it, but since you're already pushing 32GB I think it is a sensible investment.

tamzzy · 2 May 2025 at 21:46

My basket at OcUK:

1 x AMD Ryzen 7 7700 Eight Core 5.30GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail (SKU: CP-3DV-AM) = £278.99
1 x AMD Ryzen - Monster Hunter Wilds Game Bundle (SKU: DIG-AMD-04648) = £0.00
1 x Team Group MP44L 2TB SSD M.2 2280 NVME PCI-E Gen4 Solid State Drive (SKU: STO-TMG-03129) = £99.95
1 x Seagate 2TB Barracuda HDD 7200RPM 256MB Cache Internal Hard Drive (ST2000DM008) (SKU: HD-3A5-SE) = £57.94
1 x Kingston FURY Beast 64GB (2x32GB) DDR5 PC5-44800C40 5600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KF556C40BBK2-64) (SKU: MY-29W-KS) = £149.99
1 x Gigabyte Radeon RX 7700 XT Gaming 12GB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GRA-GIG-01266) = £359.99
1 x AMD Radeon - Monster Hunter Wilds Game Bundle (SKU: DIG-AMD-04649) = £0.00
1 x Antec CX600M ARGB M-ATX Mini Tower - Black (SKU: CAS-ATC-04160) = £54.95
1 x Seasonic G12 GM-650 650W 80 Plus Gold Semi-Modular Power Supply (SKU: POW-SSC-03185) = £79.99
1 x Asrock B850M-X (Socket AM5) DDR5 mATX Motherboard (SKU: MOT-ASR-04011) = £115.00

Total: £1,196.80 (includes delivery: £0.00)

Ok, so within the £1200 budget to squeeze in the 7700XT, which is 20% on top of the B580 performance (and don't have to deal with intel drivers)
the compromises:
ddr5600 rather than 6000 for the 64gb ram, you do lose some performance, but given the hefty amount of ram, there's no guarantee that the cpu will support 64gb of 6000 ram in the first place
cheaper psu
cheaper mobo (lose the pcie 5 to the gpu and also wifi - the same board with wifi is £10 dearer but OOS at the moment)

is cramming in the 7700xt worth the tradeoffs? personally, yes.
(though if you have the £30 extra then i would get the £145 asrock pro-a as previously specced - better vrms, pcie 5 to the gpu slot and wifi)

Gray2233 · 2 May 2025 at 22:01

tamzzy said:
My basket at OcUK:

1 x AMD Ryzen 7 7700 Eight Core 5.30GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail (SKU: CP-3DV-AM) = £278.99

1 x AMD Ryzen - Monster Hunter Wilds Game Bundle (SKU: DIG-AMD-04648) = £0.00

1 x Team Group MP44L 2TB SSD M.2 2280 NVME PCI-E Gen4 Solid State Drive (SKU: STO-TMG-03129) = £99.95

1 x Seagate 2TB Barracuda HDD 7200RPM 256MB Cache Internal Hard Drive (ST2000DM008) (SKU: HD-3A5-SE) = £57.94

1 x Kingston FURY Beast 64GB (2x32GB) DDR5 PC5-44800C40 5600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KF556C40BBK2-64) (SKU: MY-29W-KS) = £149.99

1 x Gigabyte Radeon RX 7700 XT Gaming 12GB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GRA-GIG-01266) = £359.99

1 x AMD Radeon - Monster Hunter Wilds Game Bundle (SKU: DIG-AMD-04649) = £0.00

1 x Antec CX600M ARGB M-ATX Mini Tower - Black (SKU: CAS-ATC-04160) = £54.95

1 x Seasonic G12 GM-650 650W 80 Plus Gold Semi-Modular Power Supply (SKU: POW-SSC-03185) = £79.99

1 x Asrock B850M-X (Socket AM5) DDR5 mATX Motherboard (SKU: MOT-ASR-04011) = £115.00

Total: £1,196.80 (includes delivery: £0.00)

Ok, so within the £1200 budget to squeeze in the 7700XT, which is 20% on top of the B580 performance (and don't have to deal with intel drivers)
the compromises:
ddr5600 rather than 6000 for the 64gb ram, you do lose some performance, but given the hefty amount of ram, there's no guarantee that the cpu will support 64gb of 6000 ram in the first place
cheaper psu
cheaper mobo (lose the pcie 5 to the gpu and also wifi - the same board with wifi is £10 dearer but OOS at the moment)

is cramming in the 7700xt worth the tradeoffs? personally, yes.
(though if you have the £30 extra then i would get the £145 asrock pro-a as previously specced - better vrms, pcie 5 to the gpu slot and wifi)

It's going to be a struggle to do better than this for 1.2k and the OP's use case, very nice setup for the price.

Gopher_By_Fende · 2 May 2025 at 22:06

tamzzy said:
My basket at OcUK:

1 x AMD Ryzen 7 7700 Eight Core 5.30GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail (SKU: CP-3DV-AM) = £278.99

1 x AMD Ryzen - Monster Hunter Wilds Game Bundle (SKU: DIG-AMD-04648) = £0.00

1 x Team Group MP44L 2TB SSD M.2 2280 NVME PCI-E Gen4 Solid State Drive (SKU: STO-TMG-03129) = £99.95

1 x Seagate 2TB Barracuda HDD 7200RPM 256MB Cache Internal Hard Drive (ST2000DM008) (SKU: HD-3A5-SE) = £57.94

1 x Kingston FURY Beast 64GB (2x32GB) DDR5 PC5-44800C40 5600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KF556C40BBK2-64) (SKU: MY-29W-KS) = £149.99

1 x Gigabyte Radeon RX 7700 XT Gaming 12GB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GRA-GIG-01266) = £359.99

1 x AMD Radeon - Monster Hunter Wilds Game Bundle (SKU: DIG-AMD-04649) = £0.00

1 x Antec CX600M ARGB M-ATX Mini Tower - Black (SKU: CAS-ATC-04160) = £54.95

1 x Seasonic G12 GM-650 650W 80 Plus Gold Semi-Modular Power Supply (SKU: POW-SSC-03185) = £79.99

1 x Asrock B850M-X (Socket AM5) DDR5 mATX Motherboard (SKU: MOT-ASR-04011) = £115.00

Total: £1,196.80 (includes delivery: £0.00)

Ok, so within the £1200 budget to squeeze in the 7700XT, which is 20% on top of the B580 performance (and don't have to deal with intel drivers)
the compromises:
ddr5600 rather than 6000 for the 64gb ram, you do lose some performance, but given the hefty amount of ram, there's no guarantee that the cpu will support 64gb of 6000 ram in the first place
cheaper psu
cheaper mobo (lose the pcie 5 to the gpu and also wifi - the same board with wifi is £10 dearer but OOS at the moment)

is cramming in the 7700xt worth the tradeoffs? personally, yes.
(though if you have the £30 extra then i would get the £145 asrock pro-a as previously specced - better vrms, pcie 5 to the gpu slot and wifi)

Just when I thought I was out, you pull me back in :cry:

Thats definitely worth further review, especially if I tiptoe one step further and keep the original mobo, but then I'll be picking it up so I'll save on delivery, the reasoning is solid for me :cry: