Can you please spec me a build.

NE-Hops

NE-Hops

NE-Hops

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6 May 2014
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38
Hi I’m looking at replacing my old ryzen 2600x and 1080 gpu. My monitor is 4k and I’d ideally like to play current AAA games and future proof myself as I don’t really upgrade anything until I feel the need to. Storage isn’t really a bother as I’ve 2 1 tb m.2 drives, an ancient WD 2tb hdd for photos and videos and a Samsung 970 ssd that I only use as a windows boot drive.

Would it be worth waiting until April for the 7800x3d cpu to drop? I’m unsure if I should spend the extra money on a 4090 or just get a 7900xtx gpu. I’m not super into OC’ing hardware but the option is a nice one to have, I guess.

I’ll definitely need a new psu, mobo etc. but I wouldn’t need any accessories. I’d ideally like a case with a much smaller footprint than my bitfenix ronin.

Don’t really have a budget but my wallet would be happier if I could keep it around 3k.
Can’t say I’m a fan of the RGB trend either.
Thanks for reading, folks.

Tl;Dr

I need:
CPU
GPU
Cooler
Case
Ram
Mobo
Budget of around 3k with a muted colour scheme.
 
Question - What motherboard do you currently have with the 2600x in it?

There is a very high probability that you can upgrade bios and then slot in a 5600 or 5800x3d and then get a 6700xt. This would be a large upgrade for under £500. 18 months ago I went from a 1600x+1080 to 5800x+6800 and it was very significant performance uplift. If you feel like a 6700xt is not enough of an upgrade over a 1080 then there would be nothing stopping you from going for a higher tier of gpu, I am about to rebuild PC and pair the 5800x with a 7900xtx, with your plan to game at 4k the gpu is far more important than the cpu.
 
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Haz123 said:
Question - What motherboard do you currently have with the 2600x in it?

There is a very high probability that you can upgrade bios and then slot in a 5600 or 5800x3d and then get a 6700xt. This would be a large upgrade for under £500. 18 months ago I went from a 1600x+1080 to 5800x+6800 and it was very significant performance uplift. If you feel like a 6700xt is not enough of an upgrade over a 1080 then there would be nothing stopping you from going for a higher tier of gpu, I am about to rebuild PC and pair the 5800x with a 7900xtx, with your plan to game at 4k the gpu is far more important than the cpu.
Click to expand...

I’ve currently got an Aorus X470 AORUS ULTRA GAMING motherboard​

 
I've tried to keep away from RGB and keep the cases small, as requested, but I don't know if the 205M can turn off the fan LEDs.

AM5 MATX option:

AMD Ryzen 7 7700 Eight Core 5.30GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail - £338.98
Gigabyte B650M Gaming X AX (Socket AM5) DDR5 Micro ATX Motherboard - £219.95
Corsair Vengeance EXPO 32GB (2X16GB) DDR5 PC5-48000C36 6000MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black (CMK32GX5M2D6000Z36) - £179.99

Powercolor Radeon RX 7900 XTX Red Devil 24GB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card - £1,159.99
(* This model might be too large for the case, only 2mm less than the max length)

Lian Li Lancool 205M Mesh Micro-ATX PC Case Black - £69.95
MSI MPG A1000G UK PSU 1000W 80 Plus Gold certified Fully Modular - £159.95
ASUS ROG Ryuo 240 Performance AIO CPU Liquid Cooler with OLED Display - 240mm - £139.99

Grand Total: £2,280.79 (includes £11.99 delivery charge)

Intel ATX option:

Intel Core i7-13700K (Raptor Lake) Socket LGA1700 Processor - Retail - £419.99
Gigabyte B760 AORUS ELITE AX (LGA 1700) DDR5 ATX Motherboard - £239.99
Corsair Vengeance 32GB (2X16GB) DDR5 PC5-44800C36 5600MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black (CMK32GX5M2B5600C36) - £149.99

Sapphire Radeon RX 7900 XTX Pulse 24GB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card - £1,079.99

Lian Li Lancool 205 Midi-Tower Case - Black Window - £64.99
MSI MPG A1000G UK PSU 1000W 80 Plus Gold certified Fully Modular - £159.95
Corsair Hydro Series iCUE H115i RGB ELITE Performance Liquid CPU Cooler - 280mm (CW-9060059-WW) - £169.99
2x Phanteks SK140 Black PWM Fan - 140mm - £7.99

Grand Total: £2,312.86 (includes £11.99 delivery charge)
 
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NE-Hops said:
I’m assuming I’d need a new psu I’ve only currently got a 550w one installed. Any recommendations there?
Click to expand...


This is very much dependent on what GPU you go for. If you were to go for a 5800x3d with a 4090 then a decent ATX 3.0 psu over 1kw would be recommended but if you went for a lower tier of gpu you can get away with a lower capacity psu.

The good news is that your mobo is compatable with a 5800X3D if you upgrade the BIOS to the F60 version. Another bonus to the 5800X3D is that you do not even need top spec DDR4 , you lose very little performance even with slower 3200/3000mhz ram. If you are using 2400mhz modules then you may want to think about new sticks , DDR4 is now very reasonably priced.

You can buy an entire new system with new case etc but just buying a new cpu+gpu is a very enticing option to have. The PCIe 3.0 for your mobo is perfectly ok with a 4090 , it has been tested and you will only lose approx 2% performance.
 
Tetras said:
I've tried to keep away from RGB and keep the cases small, as requested, but I don't know if the 205M can turn off the fan LEDs.

AM5 MATX option:

AMD Ryzen 7 7700 Eight Core 5.30GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail - £338.98
Gigabyte B650M Gaming X AX (Socket AM5) DDR5 Micro ATX Motherboard - £219.95
Corsair Vengeance EXPO 32GB (2X16GB) DDR5 PC5-48000C36 6000MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black (CMK32GX5M2D6000Z36) - £179.99

Powercolor Radeon RX 7900 XTX Red Devil 24GB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card - £1,159.99
(* This model might be too large for the case, only 2mm less than the max length)

Lian Li Lancool 205M Mesh Micro-ATX PC Case Black - £69.95
MSI MPG A1000G UK PSU 1000W 80 Plus Gold certified Fully Modular - £159.95
ASUS ROG Ryuo 240 Performance AIO CPU Liquid Cooler with OLED Display - 240mm - £139.99

Grand Total: £2,280.79 (includes £11.99 delivery charge)

Intel ATX option:

Intel Core i7-13700K (Raptor Lake) Socket LGA1700 Processor - Retail - £419.99
Gigabyte B760 AORUS ELITE AX (LGA 1700) DDR5 ATX Motherboard - £239.99
Corsair Vengeance 32GB (2X16GB) DDR5 PC5-44800C36 5600MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black (CMK32GX5M2B5600C36) - £149.99

Sapphire Radeon RX 7900 XTX Pulse 24GB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card - £1,079.99

Lian Li Lancool 205 Midi-Tower Case - Black Window - £64.99
MSI MPG A1000G UK PSU 1000W 80 Plus Gold certified Fully Modular - £159.95
Corsair Hydro Series iCUE H115i RGB ELITE Performance Liquid CPU Cooler - 280mm (CW-9060059-WW) - £169.99
2x Phanteks SK140 Black PWM Fan - 140mm - £7.99

Grand Total: £2,312.86 (includes £11.99 delivery charge)
Click to expand...
Thank you for taking the time to reply!
 
Haz123 said:
This is very much dependent on what GPU you go for. If you were to go for a 5800x3d with a 4090 then a decent ATX 3.0 psu over 1kw would be recommended but if you went for a lower tier of gpu you can get away with a lower capacity psu.

The good news is that your mobo is compatable with a 5800X3D if you upgrade the BIOS to the F60 version. Another bonus to the 5800X3D is that you do not even need top spec DDR4 , you lose very little performance even with slower 3200/3000mhz ram. If you are using 2400mhz modules then you may want to think about new sticks , DDR4 is now very reasonably priced.

You can buy an entire new system with new case etc but just buying a new cpu+gpu is a very enticing option to have. The PCIe 3.0 for your mobo is perfectly ok with a 4090 , it has been tested and you will only lose approx 2% performance.
Click to expand...
In this climate if I can find a way to save money, I’ll take it. Just assumed that I’d need a new mobo given its relative age.

I think my Corsair vengeance ram is clocked at 3200 mhz
 
NE-Hops said:
I’m assuming I’d need a new psu I’ve only currently got a 550w one installed. Any recommendations there?
Click to expand...

I'd mirror what Haz123 said and pick a PCI-E 5.0 / ATX 3.0 PSU if you're going NVIDIA (1K or over, preferably, but a 4070 Ti you could go 850). With the XTX, PCI-E 5.0 doesn't matter because it uses the old 8 pin PCI-E connectors so that's up to you really.

Technically, you can just use an adapter, so even a native 12/16 pin isn't required if the PSU is big enough capacity to handle a 4090.

I usually suggest the MSI A850G PCI-E 5.0 (£180) for a 4070 Ti, or Toughpower GF3 1000 (£200, review) for 4080/4090. BeQuiet Pure Power 12 M is a more affordable alternative (review). For the XTX, I'd suggest MSI's A1000G (non PCI-E version) in my specs (£160, review).
 
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Tetras said:
I've tried to keep away from RGB and keep the cases small, as requested, but I don't know if the 205M can turn off the fan LEDs.

AM5 MATX option:

AMD Ryzen 7 7700 Eight Core 5.30GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail - £338.98
Gigabyte B650M Gaming X AX (Socket AM5) DDR5 Micro ATX Motherboard - £219.95
Corsair Vengeance EXPO 32GB (2X16GB) DDR5 PC5-48000C36 6000MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black (CMK32GX5M2D6000Z36) - £179.99

Powercolor Radeon RX 7900 XTX Red Devil 24GB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card - £1,159.99
(* This model might be too large for the case, only 2mm less than the max length)

Lian Li Lancool 205M Mesh Micro-ATX PC Case Black - £69.95
MSI MPG A1000G UK PSU 1000W 80 Plus Gold certified Fully Modular - £159.95
ASUS ROG Ryuo 240 Performance AIO CPU Liquid Cooler with OLED Display - 240mm - £139.99

Grand Total: £2,280.79 (includes £11.99 delivery charge)

Intel ATX option:

Intel Core i7-13700K (Raptor Lake) Socket LGA1700 Processor - Retail - £419.99
Gigabyte B760 AORUS ELITE AX (LGA 1700) DDR5 ATX Motherboard - £239.99
Corsair Vengeance 32GB (2X16GB) DDR5 PC5-44800C36 5600MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black (CMK32GX5M2B5600C36) - £149.99

Sapphire Radeon RX 7900 XTX Pulse 24GB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card - £1,079.99

Lian Li Lancool 205 Midi-Tower Case - Black Window - £64.99
MSI MPG A1000G UK PSU 1000W 80 Plus Gold certified Fully Modular - £159.95
Corsair Hydro Series iCUE H115i RGB ELITE Performance Liquid CPU Cooler - 280mm (CW-9060059-WW) - £169.99
2x Phanteks SK140 Black PWM Fan - 140mm - £7.99

Grand Total: £2,312.86 (includes £11.99 delivery charge)
Click to expand...
Y’know if I was to just embrace RGB fully, would it make it more expensive? This might sound dumb but in my head I’ve always equated rgb with more expense and that’s always put me off. Another silly question, perhaps… but is there any way to make everything look the same through software or whatever?

Sorry, I feel like an aul’ git asking such questions
 
You can go crazy with RGB and buy 360 AIO with OLED screens in them that cost +£250 or you can just stick to some RGB fans that cost an extra £10 over non RGB fans. The easiest way to add rgb to you build is to just have fans that light up and RAM sticks often have led strips on them as well- https://www.overclockers.co.uk/air-cooling/fans/rgb-fans

if you look at the aio in the above build -https://www.overclockers.co.uk/asus-rog-ryuo-240-performance-aio-cpu-liquid-cooler-with-oled-display-240mm-hs-04h-as.html

You can see it has an oled screen in it that you will be able to customise to have certain graphics on it.. It does not appear to have rgb fans whereas other , cheaper AIO often come with rgb fans but they do not have an oled screen so you get what you pay for.

Yes you can control RGB via software and have them all the same colour or have them cycle through certain styles and patterns. In general the RGB software available is horrible , atrocious , awful , garbage , tear your hair out crud but you can get it to work in the end. Gigabyte was voted as the worst of a terrible bunch in a recent survey by Derbauer , no piece of software got over 30% customer satisfaction and most were well under 10% so that should tell you how bad RGB software is.

When building a PC you first have to think about the performance and whether it fits your needs and then you can think about how it looks. You can spend £0 on improving the looks or you can spend £2000 with a massive custom watercooled loop, it is your choice.
 
NE-Hops said:
Y’know if I was to just embrace RGB fully, would it make it more expensive? This might sound dumb but in my head I’ve always equated rgb with more expense and that’s always put me off. Another silly question, perhaps… but is there any way to make everything look the same through software or whatever?

Sorry, I feel like an aul’ git asking such questions
Click to expand...

To try and get around the software issues that Haz123 mentions, sometimes it can help to match your gear so that it has the least complexity possible, e.g. only use Asus. There are also options even with the same hardware, e.g. some cases RGB can be controlled through a hub on the case, the motherboard and with their own software. I believe Microsoft are releasing a Windows 11 RGB utility at some point, to help address this (link).

With the Mesh-C version of the 205 in my Intel spec, you can connect the RGB fans to an ARGB header on the motherboard (which has 3).

The Asus AIO does not have RGB on the fans, but it does have an RGB strip around the part that sits on top of the CPU (a reviewer said this was rather disappointing). I believe you can control the RGB with Asus motherboards (which I included in the spec), I'm not sure about other boards.

If you buy the Mesh-C, you don't need the 2x 140mm Phanteks fans I Included, because the Mesh-C has bundled ARGB fans.

The 7900 XTX Pulse has no RGB, but the Nitro does, which can be plugged into the motherboard's ARGB headers and synchronised, or controlled via software. I believe the same applies to the Red Devil. The only problem is, I think the 205 Mesh-C has a 350mm max length, which is why I chose the Pulse. TPU measured the Nitro at 325mm, so perhaps best to stick with this, except it is also the most expensive :o

I personally would not recommend RGB memory and I don't buy it, so I can't help you there.
 
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