1st build since 2017...

[DavePa]

It will be 6 years in May since my last build and it's time for a new system

My financial situation has changed recently so I am able to spend more on my new system than I was originally planning and have decided to go all in and get a high spec system that should last at least another 5 years and hopefully more than that. I appreciate that this build is probably over the top and there are places that money could be saved but I'm more interested in whether or not it will all work together

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x Kingston FURY Beast 64GB (2x32GB) DDR5 PC5-44800C40 5600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KF556C40BBK2-64) (SKU: MY-29W-KS) = £389.99
• 1 x Gigabyte GeForce RTX 4090 Gaming OC 24GB GDDR6X PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GX-1FC-GI) = £1,829.99
• 1 x Intel Core i9-13900K (Raptor Lake) Socket LGA1700 Processor - Retail (SKU: CP-6AZ-IN) = £599.98
• 4 x Noctua NF-A15 PWM Chromax Premium Grade Fan - 140mm (SKU: FG-06M-NC) = £29.00
• 1 x Noctua NH-D15S Chromax Black CPU cooler - 140mm (SKU: HS-03R-NC) = £99.94
• 1 x Gigabyte Z790 Aero G (LGA 1700) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MB-5BL-GI) = £399.95
• 1 x Noctua NT-H2 Thermal Paste (3.5g) (SKU: TH-001-NC) = £11.99
• 1 x CORSAIR HXi Series HX1500i Fully Modular Ultra-Low Noise ATX Power Supply (SKU: CA-26Y-CS) = £279.95
• 1 x WD Black SN850X 1TB SSD M.2 2280 NVME PCI-E Gen4 Solid State Drive with Heatsink (WDS100T2XHE) (SKU: HD-593-WD) = £129.95
• 1 x WD Black SN850X 2TB SSD M.2 2280 NVME PCI-E Gen4 Solid State Drive with Heatsink (WDS200T2XHE) (SKU: HD-594-WD) = £269.98
• 1 x Corsair PCIe 5.0 12VHPWR Type-4 PSU Power Cable (SKU: CA-272-CS) = £18.95
• 1 x Fractal Design Meshify 2 Midi Tower Case - Black Solid (SKU: CA-098-FD) = £184.99

Total: £4,347.54 (includes delivery: £15.90)​

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I've always gone Intel/nVidia and although I was considering AMD/AMD this time around it seems the 7900XTX isn't that much of a bargain - had the price been lower or the performance higher I may have gone for it but it seems that, at the moment, if you want best performance you need a 4090. Another habit is using same motherboard/GPU manufacturer even though I am sure there is no advantage in doing so. Current setup is Asus/Asus prior to that I was running Gigabyte/Gigabyte and the Gigabyte RTX4090 is available from Overcloskers with a small price reduction so I'm happy to go with it. Other bits are latest versions of things I have used before - Corsair, Noctua and WD usually feature in my builds somewhere! I've not used Fractal Design cases before but have seen good reviews of them. My PC sits on a shelf alongside my desk and RGB is of no interest at all so a windowless case is ideal for me. I have added some case fans but may reduce the number - I probably don't need 4 of them. I already have KB/Mouse/Speaker/Monitor/Headset so no need to add them in, if I do decide to change them I will do so later on. I also don't need 64Gb of memory but I retire in a couple of years and want to play around with virtual machines so I may as well get a decent chunk of RAM to start with.

 

[DavePa]

I would get:My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x Arctic Liquid Freezer II High Performance CPU Water Cooler - 360mm (SKU: HS-07D-AR) = £119.99

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Check case can fit the 360mm cooler, change to 64GB if you think you will use it, 32GB will be more than enough for at least 3 years and much better RAM kits will be available then.

Is a 360mm CPU water cooler much better than a good air cooler? Is it quieter? I recall having a Corsair HS100 a few builds back and it sprung a leak after about 2 years which put me off them! I'm not going to be going mad overclocking the system - low noise levels and longeviety are more important to me

 

[DavePa]

OP said he likes all the same make so ASUS MB + ASUS GPU, the Asus ROG Crosshair X670E Hero is the MB I would go with but Choose Gigabyte if that’s preferred. The 13900K and 7950x are very close, sometimes Intel wins other times AMD wins. As the OP will be keeping the PC for 5+ years, AM5 should age much better and offer the opportunity for several generations of drop in CPU upgrades if required. Think it also has better PCIe gen 5 support for M.2 if that matters.

I can't be the only one that does this though right? Right? I'm 100% confident that a mix-and-match MB/GPU would work fine but I just prefer to buy the same manufacturer. Thankfully I am in a small minority as otherwise the likes of Palit and Inno3d would need to start making motherboards.

Good point about the future upgradability of the AM5 slot but I've only ever gone for a complete new system - wife always gets the old one - she is about to get my Asus ROG z270 MB with the i7700k, 16Gb of DDR4 (3200) and an Asus GTX1080ti - also an M.2 and a SATA SSD

 

[DavePa]

I do want an ATX 3.0 PSU but they seem to be a bit hard to get hold of ATM, particularly something over 1Kw which I want to make sure nothing is stressed - I could possibly get away with an 850w but it would be running flat out on occasion.

 

[DavePa]

Thanks all for the feedback which I am taking on board and changing specs - 13900k might have been overkill but I currently have a 7700k - which replaced a 3770k. I seem to usually pick the i7 and so have included the 13700k. I've also changed to 4*16gb for RAM, it means no expansion without removing some RAM but I'm hoping 64Gb will see out the life of this PC. The Gigabyte Aero has gone although I've replaced it with a different board to the Gaming X AX kindly suggested by @Tetras above - I've gone with the Aorus Elite AX which is more expensive than the Gaming X AX but still £70 cheaper than the Aero and is also in stock so I'll have to see what it available when I actually place the order this week. Same with the PSU - the Corsair HXi 1500 is currently not in stock at Overclockers - I may be able to pick one up elsewhere but my last 3 or 4 systems have been 100% from Overclockers - I always try and buy everything from the same place which is just another of those odd habits I have!

I've changed the cooler to the dual fan version and removed the thermal paste as the CPU cooler includes this. I've also reduced the additional fans - 3 instead of 4 and these may replace the original fans rather than give additional cooling although once I've read a few reviews that could change either way

The Gigabyte boards include a cover (heat spreader?) which may clash with the heatsinks on the M.2 drives (thanks @FredFlint ). Non-heatsink versions are available and are cheaper so that may be an option.

Key things for me are:

• Good performance - I used to play MS Flight Simulator 10+ years back and keep thinking about trying it again and don't want to have a max of 30fps
• Low noise levels in general use - I'm hoping that overspeccing everything means nothing is stressed. I don't mind hearing the fans if I am gaming but want office work to be silent!
• Longeviety - I hope to build it and then only go back to it every few months to clean the dust filters. In 5 or so years time I'll be on here again asking about an upgrade to a nVidia 8000 series and an Intel 18900k with 256Gb of RAM

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x Gigabyte GeForce RTX 4090 Gaming OC 24GB GDDR6X PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GX-1FC-GI) = £1,829.99
• 3 x Noctua NF-A15 PWM Chromax Premium Grade Fan - 140mm (SKU: FG-06M-NC) = £28.99
• 1 x CORSAIR HXi Series HX1500i Fully Modular Ultra-Low Noise ATX Power Supply (SKU: CA-26Y-CS) = £279.95
• 1 x WD Black SN850X 1TB SSD M.2 2280 NVME PCI-E Gen4 Solid State Drive with Heatsink (WDS100T2XHE) (SKU: HD-593-WD) = £129.95
• 1 x WD Black SN850X 2TB SSD M.2 2280 NVME PCI-E Gen4 Solid State Drive with Heatsink (WDS200T2XHE) (SKU: HD-594-WD) = £269.98
• 1 x Corsair PCIe 5.0 12VHPWR Type-4 PSU Power Cable (SKU: CA-272-CS) = £18.95
• 1 x Fractal Design Meshify 2 Midi Tower Case - Black Solid (SKU: CA-098-FD) = £184.99
• 2 x Corsair Vengeance EXPO 32GB (2X16GB) DDR5 PC5-44800C36 5600MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black (CMK32GX5M2B5600Z36) (SKU: MY-4DN-CS) = £170.00
• 1 x Intel Core i7-13700K (Raptor Lake) Socket LGA1700 Processor - Retail (SKU: CP-6AX-IN) = £449.98
• 1 x Noctua NH-D15 Chromax Pure Black CPU Cooler with Dual 140m Fans (SKU: HS-03M-NC) = £110.00
• 1 x Gigabyte Z790 Aorus Elite AX (LGA 1700) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MB-5BK-GI) = £329.98

Total: £4,046.64 (includes delivery: £15.90)​

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[DavePa]

I'd be buying Samsung 990 Pro's not WD 850X's especially at those prices.

I added these in place of the WD drives as I ended up buying different components from different suppliers - not something I usually do (sorry overclockers) but I was able to put in the 990s to replace the WD drives and up the memory to 6000mhz (2*32Gb) and still save £100 even after paying delivery charges.

 

[DavePa]

Decided to build this weekend so ordered everything on Tuesday from 6 different suppliers. Everything turned up Wednesday - apart from the bits I ordered from Overclockers

Called Wednesday PM to check my order had shipped and was told there was a delay but they hoped to get it out that day so I was still on to build this weekend but the order didn't arrive on Thursday...or Friday. I called Friday PM and was effectively told 'Oops, our bad, we've not shipped it yet' so I guess that means I have a weekend free to do things other than build a PC.

 

[DavePa]

Gigabyte 4090 - was in stock at time of order and still in stock now although price has gone up by £30 and the Corsair 12vhpwr lead or whatever it is called - the 600w adaptor lead from the PSU to the 4090 - which was/is also in stock. I work all week so I'm rather hoping the parts will turn up before next weekend!