Feedback on £3.5k+ Spec.

Ashley Long

Ashley Long

Ashley Long

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Joined
9 Feb 2009
Posts
110
My current spec isn't quite up to the job anymore, having waited for the new AMD processors to come out (and flop somewhat) i'm itching to pull the trigger on a new build.

Current Spec : i7-8700k, Asus ROG Strix Z370-F, 16GB DDR4, Sound Blaster Zx, Sapphire Radeon RX 6700 XT Nitro Gaming OC (I believe the powersupply is a XFX 850W 80 Plus Silver, which is about 10 years old). Samsung Odyssey G9 49inch 240Hz monitor (5120x1440).

Usage : Gaming (CS2, WOW, a few other random steam games), Media play back (i attached my 4k TV via a HDMI cable for watching SkyGO).

New Spec : My plan is to buy a 5090 in Dec/Jan when they are released. keep the ultrawide monitor, keyboard and mouse from my current rig. I might move the sound card across and get some desktop speakers. I'm undecided on the PSU and the Motherboard i picked out is currently Pre-Order, but others with similar features are all pre-order.

My basket at OcUK:

Total: £1,764.92 (includes delivery: £0.00)​


Any opinions and/or comments? I'm open to suggestions or optimisations.
 
NZXT H6 Flow RGB Mid-Tower Case - Black
CAS-NZX-01111
£110 (incl. VAT)
FREE DELIVERY
Find out more
AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D Eight Core 5.00GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail
CP-3DT-AM
£500 (incl. VAT)
£350 (incl. VAT)
Find out more
Corsair Vengeance RGB EXPO 64GB (2X32GB) DDR5 PC5-44800C40 5600MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black (CMH64GX5M2B5600Z40K)
MY-4DQ-CS
£170 (incl. VAT)
Find out more
Corsair Force MP600 ELITE 2TB NVMe PCIe 4.0 M.2 Solid State Drive
STO-CRS-01682
£145 (incl. VAT)
£140 (incl. VAT)
Find out more
Corsair HXi Series HX1200i 80 PLUS Platinum ATX Power Supply
POW-CRS-01895
£260 (incl. VAT)
£220 (incl. VAT)
Find out more
Corsair HXi Series HX1000i Fully Modular Ultra-Low Noise ATX Digital Power Supply (CP-9020259-UK)
CA-27Q-CS
£220 (incl. VAT)
£185 (incl. VAT)
Find out more
Ashley Long said:
Any opinions and/or comments? I'm open to suggestions or optimisations.
Click to expand...
Some cheaper alternatives. I tried to pick in-stock only, but cooler is not in stock (usually readily available elsewhere).

Motherboard retains PCI-E 5.0 graphics, I'd also look at MSI's X670E Gaming Plus. What features do you need from the board?

Case includes 7 stock RGB fans.

HCG Pro PSU is based on Seasonic's Vertex.

My basket at OcUK:

Total: £1,163.94 (includes delivery: £0.00)​
 
AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D Eight Core 5.00GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail
CP-3DT-AM
£500 (incl. VAT)
£350 (incl. VAT)
Find out more
Asus ROG Strix B650E-F Gaming WIFI (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard
MB-6JX-AS
£200 (incl. VAT)
£190 (incl. VAT)
FREE DELIVERY
Find out more
Corsair Vengeance EXPO 64GB (2X32GB) DDR5 PC5-44800C40 5600MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black (CMK64GX5M2B5600Z40)
MY-4DL-CS
£170 (incl. VAT)
Find out more
Antec C5 ARGB Midi Tower - Black
CAS-ATC-02729
£110 (incl. VAT)
Find out more
Antec HCG 1000 Pro Platinum 1000W ATX3.1 Full modular Power Supply
POW-ATC-02746
£190 (incl. VAT)
Find out more
Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE ARGB Black CPU Cooler - 120mm
COO-TLR-02724
£30 (incl. VAT)
Find out more
Personally I would stick with 32GB and also go 6000Mhz with EXPO not 5600Mhz. Can't see 64GB being required for casual gaming use. And personal taste, I'd swap out the M.2 for the Kingston Fury. Both saves you £100 from your original basket whilst giving you a bit more (better Mhz and CAS on memory, and better TBW and theoretical max write speed on the M.2):

My basket at OcUK:

Total: £274.98 (includes delivery: £3.99)​
 
Ashley Long said:
Any opinions and/or comments?
Click to expand...

You have two PSUs listed.

Ashley Long said:
I might move the sound card across and get some desktop speakers.
Click to expand...

I have a Soundblaster Katana v2 soundbar + sub (not sold by OCUK) with which I am very happy - but I am no audiophile - and it saves a lot of space.

Tetras said:
Corsair Vengeance EXPO 64GB (2X32GB) DDR5 PC5-44800C40 5600MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black
Click to expand...

The sweet spot is C30 6000. I agree with @Tetras that 64 GB is overkill, but if you think you're going to play games like DCS, or maybe Cities Skylines 2 then you might as well go for it.

For a case, take a look at the RGB version of the Montech King Air 95 Pro (I have the red model).

My basket at OcUK:

Total: £343.98 (includes delivery: £0.00)​
 
Last edited:
Tetras said:
Some cheaper alternatives. I tried to pick in-stock only, but cooler is not in stock (usually readily available elsewhere).

Motherboard retains PCI-E 5.0 graphics, I'd also look at MSI's X670E Gaming Plus. What features do you need from the board?

Case includes 7 stock RGB fans.

HCG Pro PSU is based on Seasonic's Vertex.
Click to expand...

For cooler i AIO was a cosmetic choice as my PC will be on display, I don't mind spending the extra, even if there are minimal performance gains.

When i was first looking at Motherboards i was looking at the PCIe 5.0 for both GFX card and M.2 drive, however looking at the extra cost per performance of the M.2 it's not worth the extra so a B650E board will do.

I was looking at that case before settling for the NZXT. I didn't spot extra fan's being included, which makes it more appealing. i'll need to think it over.

Thanks for the PSU suggestion, i have swapped your suggested one in to my basket.


Firegod said:
Personally I would stick with 32GB and also go 6000Mhz with EXPO not 5600Mhz. Can't see 64GB being required for casual gaming use. And personal taste, I'd swap out the M.2 for the Kingston Fury. Both saves you £100 from your original basket whilst giving you a bit more (better Mhz and CAS on memory, and better TBW and theoretical max write speed on the M.2):

My basket at OcUK:

Total: £274.98 (includes delivery: £3.99)​
Click to expand...

I know 32GB is already overkil for most games, i was looking at future proofing and factoring in how hungry chrome can be (figured Windows + Chrome + Discord + a Game might start to push 32GB in the next few years). In general would 6000MHz be better than 5600MHz? I believe it was bottlenecked by the processor speed so there were minimal advantages to fast speeds? (i have fairly poor knowledge when it comes to RAM so forgive me for asking dumb questions).

EDIT : After posting @Quartz mentioned about the sweetspot being C30 6000MHz. Thanks for the information.
 
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Ashley Long said:
In general would 6000MHz be better than 5600MHz
Click to expand...
The reason I didn't include it in my spec is just because it cost £49 and I was trying to suggest cheaper alternatives to your spec. For a 3K5 build, the extra cost is not a big deal.

The performance difference is small for X3D CPUs, especially if you're playing at 4K.

Ashley Long said:
For cooler i AIO was a cosmetic choice as my PC will be on display, I don't mind spending the extra, even if there are minimal performance gains.
Click to expand...
Have you looked at the freezer III? Is still a good performer, but costs substantially less. I'd advise checking case/motherboard compatibility if you switch.

Ashley Long said:
When i was first looking at Motherboards i was looking at the PCIe 5.0 for both GFX card and M.2 drive, however looking at the extra cost per performance of the M.2 it's not worth the extra so a B650E board will do.
Click to expand...
B650E boards still give you that, but you do normally lose 1x M.2 slot overall.

The Strix B650E-E retains 4x M.2 slots like most X670E boards, but steals some lanes from the graphics card to have 2x PCi-E 5.0 M.2 slots (X670E doesn't need to do that). The B650E-F I suggested has 1x PCI-E 5.0 and 2x PCI-E 4.0.
 
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New X870/X870E boards coming at the end of the month so new options and may effect pricing of the 600 series boards.


Ashley Long said:
For cooler i AIO was a cosmetic choice as my PC will be on display, I don't mind spending the extra, even if there are minimal performance gains.
Click to expand...
Tetras said:
Have you looked at the freezer III
Click to expand...
The freezer III RGB is a great option for a top performing AIO with a bit of bling.
 
5090 rated for power draw of 500w, 5080 350w..
7800x3d power draw didn't look like it went over 70w from below
www.techpowerup.com

AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D Review - The Best Gaming CPU

AMD's Ryzen 7 7800X3D is everything that gamers want: eight fast cores, in a single CCD, with 3D VCache stacked on top at a price point of $450. In our review we can confirm that 7800X3D is indeed the fastest gaming CPU available, beating Intel's 13900K and even the 7950X3D.
www.techpowerup.com www.techpowerup.com
think 1000w adequate as doubt 5090 will be going full pelt all the time, so even with all the other peripherals you'll prob be using 500W I'm guessing while gaming so 50% of the 1000w psu..well within the most efficient band..my rm1000x hits peak efficiency at 30% load so in theory 1200W probably just as good...comes down to how much you want to spend..got a rm1000x shift also which is £140 i think now, more than enough

I'm with @Firegod for ammount of Ram..32 more than enough for gaming....unless you play a specific game that requires it..and go 6000c30...not that much more..may only be a few % more than slower ram, but if you're sticking a £2k gpu in, 3% is £60

www.techspot.com

How Much RAM Do Gamers Need? 16GB vs. 32GB vs. 64GB

How much RAM do gamers need? It's a question we get asked a lot, and it's one we used to answer yearly with a good old-fashioned benchmark...
www.techspot.com www.techspot.com

Case is subjective, and H6 flow has good reviews. @tetrus right though..no need for an aio. got a a35 artcic on my 7800x3d..putting a a36 freezer on it, as bored and it looks nicer, £23 for the dual rgb fan model...b650-e-f above is more than enough for gaming too...x870e boards will give you usb4 if you want..can't think what else apart from different looks..the x870 non e boards will be equivalent of b650e boards...I run a b650e-e board and good..like the eroor code display..but price back up...was down at £235 a month or so ago
 
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Do you really need a X670E motherboard? Your SSD is PCI 4.0 so won't be taking advantage of all that extra bandwidth. If you really want PCI 5.0 the Asus TUF Gaming B650-E WIFI is surprisingly cheap for an E level 650. I really don't see the point of investing into a X670 if your spending most gaming.

£200 is expensive for a 360 AIO, you can get a cooler like the Thermaltake TH360 V2 ARGB for less than half that price.

Too much ram to little speed. Get at least 6000 MHz for 7800x3d and 32Gb will be amble, you can always get more later if you think your going to need it.

Power supplies are fine but I would consider waiting for a ATX 3.1 spec (I think some have come onto the market). Not a big deal but it means you don't have to use adapter cables to power the GPU (given you want a RTC 5090).

With the £300 I've saved you can wire 15% of the saving to me (call it a consultancy fee), send me a message via the Trust button for bank details. Thank you.
 
Freddie1980 said:
Do you really need a X670E motherboard? Your SSD is PCI 4.0 so won't be taking advantage of all that extra bandwidth. If you really want PCI 5.0 the Asus TUF Gaming B650-E WIFI is surprisingly cheap for an E level 650. I really don't see the point of investing into a X670 if your spending most gaming.
Click to expand...
The tuf b650-E is not an E level board. it's a cut down tuf gaming b650 plus wifi... the '-E' is cheap marketing tactic to make people think they're getting an 'e' board, but there's no pcie5 on the gpu. i/o connections are slightly different , the b650-e is a newer board so does have wifi 6e and bluetooth 5.3 whereas the plus is wifi 6 and bluetooth 5.2, though does have a usb54 header on main board, but main diff is the b650-E vrm's are a 8+2 60A config, whereas the b650 plus wifi is a stronger 12+2 60A setup..
 
Craig_d1 said:
The tuf b650-E is not an E level board. it's a cut down tuf gaming b650 plus wifi... the '-E' is cheap marketing tactic to make people think they're getting an 'e' board, but there's no pcie5 on the gpu. i/o connections are slightly different , the b650-e is a newer board so does have wifi 6e and bluetooth 5.3 whereas the plus is wifi 6 and bluetooth 5.2, though does have a usb54 header on main board, but main diff is the b650-E vrm's are a 8+2 60A config, whereas the b650 plus wifi is a stronger 12+2 60A setup..
Click to expand...
That's a good spot, very cheap marketing trick but given Asus's track record it's to be expected
 
Thanks for all the discussions and suggestions. I have lowered the RAM to 32GB and swapped out the case and MoBo for the two suggested above (Antec and B650E-F). I have decided to keep the CPU cooler, £110 extra for an LCD screen, seems mad but price isn't the greatest priority with this build (plenty of space in the budget).


My basket at OcUK:

Total: £1,288.94 (includes delivery: £0.00)​
 
AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D Eight Core 5.00GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail
CP-3DT-AM
£500 (incl. VAT)
£350 (incl. VAT)
Find out more
Antec HCG 1000 Pro Platinum 1000W ATX3.1 Full modular Power Supply
POW-ATC-02746
£190 (incl. VAT)
Find out more
Asus ROG Strix B650E-F Gaming WIFI (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard
MB-6JX-AS
£200 (incl. VAT)
£190 (incl. VAT)
FREE DELIVERY
Find out more
Antec C5 ARGB Midi Tower - Black
CAS-ATC-02729
£110 (incl. VAT)
Find out more
Corsair Vengeance RGB EXPO 32GB (2X16GB) DDR5 PC5-48000C30 6000MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black (CMH32GX5M2B6000Z30K)
MY-4DU-CS
£150 (incl. VAT)
£120 (incl. VAT)
Find out more
only £10 between the nzxt flow case and the antec c5 case....I'd keep the nzxt personally if going with the nzxt aio, just for the sake of trying to keep the rgb fans under same control...though, to be fair, haven't looked into nzxt stuff, so not sure how it's all controlled etc

edit: also, if looking at that aio due to the lcd screen, be aware nzxt do 2 screens..that's the low res 1.54" screen you have..the elite aio have same size pump etc, but screen is hi res 2.36" screen
 
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Craig_d1 said:
only £10 between the nzxt flow case and the antec c5 case....I'd keep the nzxt personally if going with the nzxt aio, just for the sake of trying to keep the rgb fans under same control...though, to be fair, haven't looked into nzxt stuff, so not sure how it's all controlled etc

edit: also, if looking at that aio due to the lcd screen, be aware nzxt do 2 screens..that's the low res 1.54" screen you have..the elite aio have same size pump etc, but screen is hi res 2.36" screen
Click to expand...

That was my first though, NZXT Case and AIO for the same fan controler. However after looking at a few reviews the case's both have the same downsides (Cable management is tricky, no rubber in the cable management holes, no shield between the side/front fan section and the PSU/cable management chambers), but the Antec is a bit easier to build in (wider and shorter).

The £10 difference is a bit of a false economy, as the Antec has 7 installed fans, the NZXT only has 3, so the cost is more like £75 after factoring in fans.

Yep i noticed the difference in screen being the only change between the Kraken Elite and Kraken.
 
Here you go, this would be my take with that kind of budget. You could get a 4Tb SSD if you wanted or another 2TB SSD for backup/extra storage but I'm assuming you will have a drive carried over from your last system you can use for anything that's mission critical.

The case is personal preference, I just so happen to love the Fractal Design North with the wood panelling (although I would go with the white version). Also the PSU is ATX 3.1 spec.

My basket at OcUK:

Total: £1,216.93 (includes delivery: £0.00)​

Edit
Updated the AIO
 
AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D Eight Core 5.00GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail
CP-3DT-AM
£500 (incl. VAT)
£350 (incl. VAT)
Find out more
Corsair Vengeance RGB 32GB (2X16GB) DDR5 PC5-48000C30 6000MHz Dual Channel
MEM-CRS-01124
£150 (incl. VAT)
£110 (incl. VAT)
Find out more
MSI MAG B650 Tomahawk WIFI (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard
MB-375-MS
£165 (incl. VAT)
£155 (incl. VAT)
Find out more
Fractal Design North Charcoal Black TG Dark Windowed Mid Tower Case - Black
CA-0AV-FD
£140 (incl. VAT)
Find out more
Antec HCG 1000 Pro Platinum 1000W ATX3.1 Full modular Power Supply
POW-ATC-02746
£190 (incl. VAT)
Find out more
Last edited:
NZXT CAM software controls their case fans and AIO’s - fan RGB, speed, LCD screens etc.

One thing to consider when choosing NZXT is a lot of their AIO’s with LCD screens are not compatible with Signal RGB. There is a workaround 3rd party software that supposedly allows you to control the screen and lets signal RGB take care of the fans but it has never picked up my Kraken elite. Signal RGB wants you to uninstall all other control software before it takes over.

The CAM software is ok ish, but I’d recommend getting everything NZXT where possible so it’s all under one bit of control software.
 
Ashley Long said:
Thanks for all the discussions and suggestions. I have lowered the RAM to 32GB and swapped out the case and MoBo for the two suggested above (Antec and B650E-F). I have decided to keep the CPU cooler, £110 extra for an LCD screen, seems mad but price isn't the greatest priority with this build (plenty of space in the budget).


My basket at OcUK:

Total: £1,288.94 (includes delivery: £0.00)​
Click to expand...
by the way, B650e-e board has been reduced to £250 again, and has a £20 cashback on it bringing it down to £230...that's a decent price for the board. has a led debug display on it, 4 m.2 slots, and has a 18 (16+2) phase vrm setup, 16 x70A dedicated to vcore. the b650e-f has a 12+2 setup though the 12 are 80A..mind you, the b650e-f has a £20 cashback on it also. got to make purchase up to 23rd Sep, claim by 7th oct...just be prepared to wait awhile for the cashback to come through..did it on a b550 e-e board(£50)..took a fair few months, by which i got in contact with them for a prod, but it did come thru eventually
 
AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D Eight Core 5.00GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail
CP-3DT-AM
£500 (incl. VAT)
£350 (incl. VAT)
Find out more
Antec HCG 1000 Pro Platinum 1000W ATX3.1 Full modular Power Supply
POW-ATC-02746
£190 (incl. VAT)
Find out more
Asus ROG Strix B650E-F Gaming WIFI (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard
MB-6JX-AS
£200 (incl. VAT)
£190 (incl. VAT)
FREE DELIVERY
Find out more
Antec C5 ARGB Midi Tower - Black
CAS-ATC-02729
£110 (incl. VAT)
Find out more
Corsair Vengeance RGB EXPO 32GB (2X16GB) DDR5 PC5-48000C30 6000MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black (CMH32GX5M2B6000Z30K)
MY-4DU-CS
£150 (incl. VAT)
£120 (incl. VAT)
Find out more
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