Building for a friend

[KromaZone]

Ok so my friend wants me to build him an all white setup with his budget set around the £2500-£2700 mark. I have tried to get it as all white as I can, what do you guys think? can I do slightly better regarding the price or build? thanks.

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x Asus ROG Strix Z790-A Gaming WIFI II (LGA 1700) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MOT-ASU-01398) = £349.99
• 1 x Intel Core i9-14900K (Raptor Lake-S) Socket LGA1700 Processor - Retail (SKU: PRO-INT-00798) = £439.99
• 1 x Kingston FURY Beast 64GB (2x32GB) DDR5 PC5-44800C32 6400MHz Dual Channel Kit - White (SKU: MEM-KNG-03172) = £245.00
• 1 x Zotac GeForce RTX 4080 Super Trinity OC White 16Gb Graphics Card (SKU: GRA-ZTC-01495) = £989.98
• 2 x Crucial P3 PLUS 2TB M.2 2280 PCI-e 4.0 NVMe Solid State Drive (SKU: HD-07B-CR) = £101.00
• 1 x Lian Li Lancool III RGB Full Tower PC Case - White (SKU: CA-7AZ-LL) = £159.94
• 1 x NZXT Kraken 360 Elite White RGB AIO CPU Water Cooler - 360mm (SKU: HS-02U-NX) = £260.00

Total: £2,646.89 (includes delivery: £0.00)​

 

[Tetras]

can I do slightly better regarding the price or build? thanks.

Is he comfortable with going 14th gen, given the potential issues?

can I do slightly better regarding the price or build? thanks.

Is this a gaming PC only, or does it have other usage?

If it is a gaming PC only, you could easily step down to an i7, with a cheaper B760 or Z790 board and downgrade the AIO (or switch to a peerless assassin/phantom spirit) and case choice.

 

[KromaZone]

Is he comfortable with going 14th gen, given the potential issues?


Is this a gaming PC only, or does it have other usage?

If it is a gaming PC only, you could easily step down to an i7, with a cheaper B760 or Z790 board and downgrade the AIO (or switch to a peerless assassin/phantom spirit) and case choice.

yeah he knows about the potential issues regarding the 14th gen cpu. This will be a gaming computer as well as other things like editing etc.

 

[moppy89]

Get him a prebuilt so you're not tech support forever

 

[KromaZone]

Get him a prebuilt so you're not tech support forever

Hahahhaha good idea

 

[moppy89]

Especially relevant if he's going 14900 I guess!

 

[Tetras]

yeah he knows about the potential issues regarding the 14th gen cpu. This will be a gaming computer as well as other things like editing etc.

Ah, okay, so a downgrade wouldn't be to his liking.

Here's a spec with the new Intel CPU, just FYI.

The PSU and memory are black because the motherboard sockets are black.

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x Intel Core Ultra 9 285K (Arrow Lake) Socket LGA 1851 Processor - Retail (SKU: PRO-INT-03110) = £548.99
• 1 x Intel Holiday Bundle - Assassin's Creed Shadows + Ubisoft Plus (SKU: DIG-INT-03637) = £0.00
• 1 x Asrock Z890 Pro RS WIFI White (LGA 1851) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MOT-ASR-03362) = £224.99
• 1 x TeamGroup Vulcan 64GB (2X32GB) DDR5 PC5-51200C40 6400MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black (SKU: MEM-TMG-03146) = £179.98
• 1 x Zotac GeForce RTX 4080 Super Trinity OC White 16Gb Graphics Card (SKU: GRA-ZTC-01495) = £989.99
• 1 x NVIDIA - Star Wars: Outlaws Game Bundle (SKU: DIG-NVI-03030) = £0.00
• 1 x Crucial T500 2TB NVMe PCIe Gen4 M.2 Solid State Drive (SKU: STO-CRU-01090) = £133.99
• 1 x Team Group MP33 PRO 2TB SSD M.2 2280 NVME PCI-E Gen3 Solid State Drive (SKU: STO-TMG-02682) = £99.95
• 1 x Lian Li Lancool 216 Mid-tower PC case - White (SKU: CA-7B9-LL) = £114.95
• 1 x Phanteks AMP GH 1000W 80PLUS Platinum ATX Power Supply Modular - Black (SKU: POW-PHK-02521) = £128.99

• 1 x Lian Li Galahad II Trinity Performance AIO 360mm CPU Water Cooler - White (SKU: COO-LIA-01078) = £129.95

Total: £2,559.77 (includes delivery: £7.99)​

 

[Craig_d1]

is a 7950x3d no good for editing? I wouldn't touch intel, and the new intel cpu's are dogs atm. just watched pc centric, and his 285k was no better than a 7600x in a lot of instances for gaming

 

[tamzzy]

Get him a prebuilt so you're not tech support forever

if you don't have the time or patience then this is very important

i've built quite a number of computers for friends, you end up being the go-to if anything goes wrong
if building/troubleshooting computers is a hobby then fine
but know that you will likely not get paid for your time and if anything goes wrong it's on your head

 

[KromaZone]

is a 7950x3d no good for editing? I wouldn't touch intel, and the new intel cpu's are dogs atm. just watched pc centric, and his 285k was no better than a 7600x in a lot of instances for gaming

It will be mainly used for gaming, I did tell him about the amd cpu but he wants intel.

 

[KromaZone]

if you don't have the time or patience then this is very important

i've built quite a number of computers for friends, you end up being the go-to if anything goes wrong
if building/troubleshooting computers is a hobby then fine
but know that you will likely not get paid for your time and if anything goes wrong it's on your head

TBH he does know quite a bit about computers and troubleshooting but just doesn't have time to build one. I said I don't mind at all so there should be no issue.....hopefully lol

 

[KromaZone]

Ok i have managed to pull the price down a bit as well as include the psu that was missing lol

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x Asus ROG Strix Z790-A Gaming WIFI II (LGA 1700) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MOT-ASU-01398) = £349.99
• 1 x Intel Core i9-14900K (Raptor Lake-S) Socket LGA1700 Processor - Retail (SKU: PRO-INT-00798) = £439.99
• 1 x Zotac GeForce RTX 4080 Super Trinity OC White 16Gb Graphics Card (SKU: GRA-ZTC-01495) = £989.99
• 2 x Crucial P3 PLUS 2TB M.2 2280 PCI-e 4.0 NVMe Solid State Drive (SKU: HD-07B-CR) = £100.99
• 1 x Lian Li Lancool III RGB Full Tower PC Case - White (SKU: CA-7AZ-LL) = £159.95
• 1 x Intel Holiday Bundle - Assassin's Creed Shadows + Ubisoft Plus (SKU: DIG-INT-03637) = £0.00
• 1 x NVIDIA - Star Wars: Outlaws Game Bundle (SKU: DIG-NVI-03030) = £0.00
• 1 x Phanteks AMP GH 1000W 80PLUS Platinum ATX Power Supply Modular - White (SKU: POW-PHK-02522) = £138.95
• 1 x Kingston FURY Beast EXPO 32GB (2x16GB) DDR5 PC5-48000C36 5600MHz Dual Channel Ki (SKU: MEM-KNG-02958) = £115.00
• 1 x NZXT Kraken 280 White RGB AIO CPU Water Cooler - 280mm (SKU: HS-02J-NX) = £139.99

Total: £2,535.84 (includes delivery: £0.00)​

 

[sx_turbo]

I'd be tempted to go for a 360mm cooler rather than 280 as he is insistent on that cpu

 

[freddie64]

Swap the Crucial P3 Plus to something better if it is going to be the main drive.

The T500 sugested by Tetras Looks good and maybe the WD SN770 for the 2nd drive.

If you do go for the SN770 make sure to update the firmware as it has a problem with latest Windows.

 

[hornetstinger]

Especially relevant if he's going 14900 I guess!

He calls you 3am in the morning "I didn't know you included a smoke and burning electronics machine in the Intel CPU" that's cool!

 

[ED209]

He calls you 3am in the morning "I didn't know you included a smoke and burning electronics machine in the Intel CPU" that's cool!

At this point you refer him to the supplier of the CPU or Intel! lol

 

[Nathlm]

I'd go with a different case tbh, I think there are much better options out there now

 

[sx_turbo]

TBH he does know quite a bit about computers and troubleshooting but just doesn't have time to build one. I said I don't mind at all so there should be no issue.....hopefully lol

If he's so tech savvy, Why does he not tell you the parts he wants then and you just build it?

Seems pretty pointless asking for advice here then saying he doesn't like most the advice.

 

[Nathlm]

If he's so tech savvy, Why does he not tell you the parts he wants then and you just build it?

Seems pretty pointless asking for advice here then saying he doesn't like most the advice.

I agree with this, you'll either be on the hook for any problems/things they don't like, or the friend can build it themselves in this situation