Got a 3070, now what?

Associate
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22 Jan 2021
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Hey all,

I'm looking to upgrade my 5 year old laptop (currently i7-5500U, GTX 850M, 16GB RAM) with a new self-built desktop. I'd be looking to use this primarily for gaming running games like Smite, Path of Exile, Civ 5 & Cyberpunk. I'm not bothered with 4k but I want to stop running on potato mode.

I've managed to nab myself a 3070 (one of these specifically https://www.overclockers.co.uk/asus...ddr6-pci-express-graphics-card-gx-451-as.html).
I'm now looking for some advice as to what to pair it with. My budget is ~£1.5k inc a new monitor.

What i've pulled together so far...
My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £1,370.18 (includes shipping: £12.30)​

The nvme will be the boot drive, the SSD the drive i'll save all my games to etc. To my understanding there is minimal improvement in loading times in having games saved to a nvme, is that correct?

Case wise - Definitely open to other suggestions. I've seen a case I would love from a specific place but I think they only come in prebuilt. This is probably the closest one i've seen to that. I hate cases that look like a Citroen Cactus.

Monitor - No idea, I'm thinking 1440p, 144Hz, 30ish inches?

Components - Not wedded to anything here in particular, I tried to select things which were a nice balance of cost, performance and longevity.

As this is my first build, not counting I "helped" my brother with when I was 5, I'd be really grateful if anyone had any input or suggestions on any of the above.

Thanks!
 
Soldato
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Unless you have a ton of stuff on your boot drive, 500GB is overkill & 256GB is plenty, so save yourself ~£50 and put it towards something else. NVME doesn't feel much faster in terms of real world difference but you could swap the games drive to one so that you've got less cables.
 
Man of Honour
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The nvme will be the boot drive, the SSD the drive i'll save all my games to etc. To my understanding there is minimal improvement in loading times in having games saved to a nvme, is that correct?

There are some uses where it makes more difference but the load times in Cyberpunk between my Kingston 3K SSD (0.5GB/s) and Samsung 970 EVO Plus (3.5GB/s) are around 10% different if that.
 
Soldato
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Soldato
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2560x1440 100+ Hz models in 32" size are very new for IPSes with not much choises and high prices.
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/asus...atible-led-backlit-gaming-moni-mo-0b9-as.html
But 27" size has lots of choises starting from after £350
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/benq...-widescreen-led-gaming-monitor-mo-131-bq.html

Though if you prefer dark room IPS has standard LCD contrast and VA with far best contrast of LCDs give better looking picture.
But pretty much all VAs have "challenges" in dark shade transitions with sluggish response times causing so called "black smear":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VENEpp6mQkQ
It's simply all trade off in something with these Liquid Crap Displays, which should be on their way to museum of tech history instead of getting rebranded and sold again and again.


Are you looking for PC to last 5+ years with upgrades along the way, or something good for 3-4 years?
While 10700K is for once in case of Intel well priced CPU, Intel just doesn't have much for that long term compared to AMD with upgrade path up to 16 cores.
Anyway there's zero sense in motherboard of that price for any CPU.
It doesn't make CPU any faster, but only you that much poorer.
Even on AMD side there's no sense to pay much over £210.


Forget Samsung drives, which are more or less horribly brand overpriced.
2TB WD Blue SN550 would have plenty of space to last saving budget for monitor and with up to five times the read speed of SATA SSD.
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/wd-b...-solid-state-drive-wds200t2b0c-hd-57n-wd.html
(partitioning is for keeping OS separate from rest in case of needing to nuke Windows for fresh install)


Already 750W PSU would be more than enough for non-top model graphics cards and 650W would be enough for 3070.
That would save upwards 50 and more toward monitor.

Coolerhamster is another fashion overprice product.
That 25mm slim mid size radiator just doesn't have specially much surface area to dissipate heat in continuous load compared to high end heatpipe coolers and absorpting short load spikes is the only advantage.
For comparison £50 Scythe Mugen 5 has fin stack depth of 85mm to give surface area.
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/scyt...-cpu-cooler-with-pwm-fan-120mm-hs-04c-sy.html
Though for AMDs with convex heatspreader flat base heatsink would be surer fit.

That Aerocrap case is pretty much garbage with front fans blocked by that front glass touching them.
But at least tempered glass would be easy to get rid off completely...
Just hit corner with hammer and it disappears.
 
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