build assistance

stuart38

stuart38

stuart38

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Joined
15 Nov 2002
Posts
829
Location
Colchester
Long time overclocker... long time out of the game :)

My current rig is on its last legs and well overdue an upgrade. I need something that can play games (usually FPS but potentially some race sim in future) with a reasonable framerate on a 27" monitor, it also needs to be VR ready for my sons oculus quest VR headset as he wants to play minecraft. I'll want plenty of ram as I use the PC to run VMs for work time to time, and I also do a bit of amateur photo and video editing

I'm not looking for the absolute best - more bang for buck, and I would compromise on power vs cost if the jumps are significant

I can re-use my current power supply as its only 3 months old, and I don't need any HDD as I have decent m.2 and ssd's already. My gfx gard is a GTX Titan which while decent for my gaming needs, doesn't satisfy the VR Ready criteria for my sons Oculus. I've generally gone Intel but was biased due to flakey AMD chips years ago and would happily try AMD again if they are reliable

Any help appreciated
 
How painful would it be to wait 6 months?

A LOT of new stuff later this year and prices could get considerably better if the crypto crash deepens.
 
Fairly painful, but I could upgrade in stages.

The main reason for upgrading is that my wife uses the PC 1 day a week when she works from home. The USB ports on the motherboard are slowly dying 1 by 1 to the point where if another one goes, it will be a headache for me. Also there's some general instability that makes me nervous the PC is about to **** the bed

I could definitely wait for a graphics card, but the mainboard needs replacing, and I guess my CPU ( i7-5820K) and RAM (16GB 4 x Kingston KHX3000C15D4/4GX) would be incompatible these days!?
 
stuart38 said:
Fairly painful, but I could upgrade in stages.

The main reason for upgrading is that my wife uses the PC 1 day a week when she works from home. The USB ports on the motherboard are slowly dying 1 by 1 to the point where if another one goes, it will be a headache for me. Also there's some general instability that makes me nervous the PC is about to **** the bed

I could definitely wait for a graphics card, but the mainboard needs replacing, and I guess my CPU ( i7-5820K) and RAM (16GB 4 x Kingston KHX3000C15D4/4GX) would be incompatible these days!?
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How much ram would you need to use and would you consider DDR5, even if it’s poor value and DDR4 is almost as fast for less than half the price?

Edit: your core rig needs replacing entirely.
 
You could get an internal pcie usb hub and that would give you all the usb ports you need and it is through the pcie interface so it will bypass the USB issue entirely. This should keep the pc functional for the foreseeable future.

It is in general not a bad time to upgrade with 12th gen and 5xxx chips giving reasonable value for money but gpus are still expensive and new ones out at the end of the year. Lots of rumors of insane power useage and high prices for the next gen of gpu so it may not be the one gpu to rule them all that we all like to have.

Here is the core of a very reasonably priced build. I have left out a gpu because you need to research and see what you need for VR and then decide if you can stomach paying £1k+ just for a gpu. You can reuse the Titan until you get a new gpu or if you want a cheaper one the AMD 6600 is sub £300 or try and get an Nv founders edition 3060ti for £370, you need to get Telegram and join fepartalert channel to get a message for when the NV cards drop or you will have no chance of getting one.

My basket at OcUK:

Total: £529.01 (includes delivery: £11.10)​







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This is not really a build becuase it is not functional without a gpu. The 12400F in the build above does not have an igp, if your photo/video editing software utilizes the igpu with quicksync then you will need to get either the 12400 or 12400k. That depends on your particular software.
 
JollyJamma said:
How much ram would you need to use and would you consider DDR5, even if it’s poor value and DDR4 is almost as fast for less than half the price?

Edit: your core rig needs replacing entirely.
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my laptop has 64GB and I'm accustomed to using lots of it... 32GB would be the minimum I would consider. Good to know I can save some money on DDR4
 
Haz123 said:
You could get an internal pcie usb hub and that would give you all the usb ports you need and it is through the pcie interface so it will bypass the USB issue entirely. This should keep the pc functional for the foreseeable future.

It is in general not a bad time to upgrade with 12th gen and 5xxx chips giving reasonable value for money but gpus are still expensive and new ones out at the end of the year. Lots of rumors of insane power useage and high prices for the next gen of gpu so it may not be the one gpu to rule them all that we all like to have.

Here is the core of a very reasonably priced build. I have left out a gpu because you need to research and see what you need for VR and then decide if you can stomach paying £1k+ just for a gpu. You can reuse the Titan until you get a new gpu or if you want a cheaper one the AMD 6600 is sub £300 or try and get an Nv founders edition 3060ti for £370, you need to get Telegram and join fepartalert channel to get a message for when the NV cards drop or you will have no chance of getting one.

My basket at OcUK:

Total: £529.01 (includes delivery: £11.10)​

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This is not really a build becuase it is not functional without a gpu. The 12400F in the build above does not have an igp, if your photo/video editing software utilizes the igpu with quicksync then you will need to get either the 12400 or 12400k. That depends on your particular software.
Click to expand...

I think the motherboard might be on its last legs generally. It fails to start from cold and seems to need a bit of a warm up to get going, otherwise I would have considered a quickfix. I can't remember exactly when I built the PC, but motherboard is an X99S SLI PLUS (MS-7885) which was released in 2014, so it is potentially 8yrs old!

Is there no point going for an i7?

And absolutely, I'm not paying 1k + for a graphics card!
 
Yes it does sound like the mobo is on its way out , shame about that.

The i7 12700 chips are very good but they are much more expensive than the 12400 chips and do not give the same bang for your buck. A 12700 is around twice the price of a 12400 and that gives you approx +25% performance, if you are after value the 12400 is the way to go.

You can build the core of a new pc for a relatively low cost with cpu + mobo + ram being reasonably priced. It is only really the GPU that will be expensive and that is because you are thinking about VR. If you forget about getting the best VR experience for the time being then you are good to go. The new gpus at the end of the year may finally give us the VR performance that is really needed to make it worthwhile but we will have to wait and see.
 
stuart38 said:
I think the motherboard might be on its last legs generally. It fails to start from cold and seems to need a bit of a warm up to get going, otherwise I would have considered a quickfix. I can't remember exactly when I built the PC, but motherboard is an X99S SLI PLUS (MS-7885) which was released in 2014, so it is potentially 8yrs old!

Is there no point going for an i7?

And absolutely, I'm not paying 1k + for a graphics card!
Click to expand...
Typically, the life of a motherboard is around 6 years.

I’m sure higher quality motherboards will last longer but that’s the general expected age they will last.

A lot of OEM motherboards (DELL, HP, ETC) die really early because their VRMs are garbage and run really hot.
 
I've decided to add a little bit more money to this as I'm expecting a bonus pay packet this month, and in retrospect I'm unlikely to upgrade the machine for several years (other than to add a new GPU when they are more sensibly priced).

I get the impression DDR5 isn't going to add much to this generation of machine, so probably unnecessary? But 64GB seems sensible

Is there a better motherboard with noticeable improvement or future proofing?

I have an uneasy feeling buying a i5 CPU and would prefer to overbuild at this point with a view to extending the workable life of the PC (My current machine lasted 8yrs)

I'm happy to spend more on a case, but I actually like the mesh appearance of the Kolink Citael and don't want loads of flashy RGB lights. I was advised to cool the CPU with an AIO water system, but the Kolink looks a bit tight for that if top mounted? I also have a bunch of drives hanging around that I've grown accustomed to keeping connected, a touch more drive bay space would be ideal, although a smaller case is going to keep me in the good books with my wife!

Where would you spend extra to amp the performance and lifespan?

My basket at OcUK:

Total: £883.98 (includes delivery: £11.10)​

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Your component choice above is sensible, if you shop around you should be able to find the standard 12700 (not a K not a F not a KF just the non letter version) for a bit cheaper and with the B660 mobo thats the one to go for.

A 240 or 280 AIO will fit in the case. I would get a 240 and if it does not fit at the top due to a clearance issue you can mount it at the front and move the fans that are already there upto the top.

If you are going for 64gb then I am not even going to check how much it would cost to get decent speed DDR5, I am sure it would hurt so DDR4 is more budget friendly. I am not trying to change your mind on this but video editing is one of the only use cases where DDR5 does make a noticeable difference, if you were doing that professionally it may be worthwhile.

The Kolink case has mounting for 2 x 3.5" drives and also 2 x 2.5". If you need more than that then a bigger case may be needed, or a nas storage solution. If you did go for a larger case it would open up more options for full sized ATX mobos but the Msi Mortar is very good according to reviews and can handle a 12700 due to it having proper heatsinks.

The motherboard is on B660 chipset so yes the Z690 mobos do have more features so in theory would be more future proof. You have just come from a HEDT X99 platfrom so you can ask yourself just how much of that potential did you actually use and need.
 
stuart38 said:
I have an uneasy feeling buying a i5 CPU and would prefer to overbuild at this point with a view to extending the workable life of the PC (My current machine lasted 8yrs)
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If you helps you sleep at night you should do what feels right for you, don't let us influence your decision - this has to be right for you (it's your money after all!)
 
stuart38 said:
Where would you spend extra to amp the performance and lifespan?
Click to expand...
I would be inclined to spend less than you've chosen to - I'd take 32gb of RAM and a 12400f with a view to upgrading down the line if I felt it was needed (that board is expected to accomdate another generation of CPUs and I bet DDR4 is a lot cheaper per GB in 8 years' time!).

However, if there was an area where you could spend more it's probably the case. Something like a Fractal Torrent might be a similar look and a bit nicer to work with. Such a case might still be a good option, even in 8 years' time.

My basket at OcUK:

Total: £219.95 (includes delivery: £0.00)​



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