Help me spec a new build please

Man of Honour
Joined
28 Nov 2007
Posts
12,736
Hi, I am totally out of the loop on current hardware. My current build is based around AMD Ryzen 5 Six Core 1600 3.60GHz overclocked and a radeon 64. It is around 6 years old I guess but has been great. That is going to be my kids' pc

I need to spec a new build. I am brand agnostic for processor and graphics card. I do like to overclock but once set I like to forget. I go between AMD and intel depending on what is good at the time and have no clue at the mo.

Seems like a lot of builds at the mo are AMD. Best bet?

Will be my everyday work PC and gaming PC. I currently have main screen 3440x1440 for gaming

I would like to keep options open for 4k i guess but do like ultra wide so can assume that. I also use PC with oculus. Just started Hogwarts.

Current build is not really struggling but a little creaky. I like to hold onto a pc for quite a while once built so want it to be quick.

Budget is around £2,000 to 2,500 but could stretch if worth it.

I need plenty of storage for work too.

Currently have AIO watercooling and would probably do similar unless good reason not to.

I have 32gb ram and would want at least that.

Full tower preferable (may be white for a change)

Any help much appreciated. I need to buy parts in coming week or so (before tax year ends at any rate!)

I originally put this in the wrong place, so apologies if you already saw it.

thanks for any pointers
 
Man of Honour
Joined
22 Jun 2006
Posts
11,758
I followed a white theme as much as possible, I think the black PSU is hidden by the shroud:

AMD Ryzen 7 7700 Eight Core 5.30GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail - £338.99
Asus ROG Strix B650-A Gaming WIFI (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard - £283.99 (white heatsinks, black PCB)
Corsair Dominator Platinum RGB 32GB (2X16GB) DDR5 PC5-44800C36 5600MHZ Dual Channel Kit - White (CMT32GX5M2B5600C36W) - £179.99

Gigabyte GeForce RTX 4070Ti Aero OC 12GB GDDR6X PCI-Express Graphics Card - £929.99

2
X WD Black SN850X 2TB SSD M.2 2280 NVME PCI-E Gen4 Solid State Drive (WDS200T2X0E) - £149.98

MSI MPG A850G PCIE5 UK PSU 850W 80 Plus Gold Modular Power Supply - £129.95

Phanteks Glacier One 280MP All In One CPU Water Cooler D-RGB Black - 280mm - £129.95 (black radiator, white fans)
Phanteks Eclipse P600S Matte White Mid-Tower - £174.95

Grand Total: £2,479.76 (includes delivery charge, £11.99)
 
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Associate
Joined
23 Jan 2021
Posts
44
1 X Intel Core i5-13600K (Raptor Lake) Socket LGA1700 Processor - Retail - £329.99
SKU
: CP-6AV-IN

1 X Gigabyte Z790 Gaming X AX (LGA 1700) DDR5 ATX Motherboard - £279.95
SKU
: MB-5BM-GI

1 X WD Black SN850X 2TB SSD M.2 2280 NVME PCI-E Gen4 Solid State Drive (WDS200T2X0E) - £149.98
SKU
: HD-591-WD

1 X Phanteks Eclipse G360A Mid Tower Airflow PC case - Matte White - £89.99
SKU
: CA-0B8-PT

1 X MSI MPG A850G PCIE5 UK PSU 850W 80 Plus Gold Modular Power Supply - £129.95
SKU
: CA-00Y-MS

1 X Palit GeForce RTX 4080 GameRock 16GB GDDR6X PCI-Express Graphics Card - £1,199.99
SKU
: GX-06U-PL

1 X Lian-Li GALAHAD AIO 360mm High Performance RGB CPU Water Cooler - Black - £149.99
SKU
: HS-007-LL

1 X Kingston FURY Renegade RGB 32GB (2x16GB) DDR5 PC5-48000C32 6000MHz Dual Channel Kit - £158.98
SKU
: MY-29Q-KS

Grand Total: £2,500.81

I went for more function over form
 
Last edited:
Man of Honour
OP
Joined
28 Nov 2007
Posts
12,736
Thank you both very much. Interesting you are both recommending Nvidia. Are they a better bet than the equivalent ATI at the mo?
 
Associate
Joined
23 Jan 2021
Posts
44
Thank you both very much. Interesting you are both recommending Nvidia. Are they a better bet than the equivalent ATI at the mo?
The 7900 XTX proposes pretty good value at its MSRP when looking at normal raster performance but compared to the software stack from Nvidia currently imo it's worth the £150 difference between the cheapest brand new 7900 XTX and that 4080 on OcUK. By software stack I mean better RT performance, CUDA/Optix acceleration, DLSS 3.0, Frame Generation, the new VSR that upscales videos in browsers, better looking AV1 and H264 video encoder. 4080 is also more power efficient.

Now of course if you don't really care about the things I mentioned, and you'd rather save some cash and get slightly more performance in non RT mode then by all means grab a 7900XTX. I am usually AMD biased but I can't deny the 4080 looks compelling, even if Nvidia are going nuts with prices and probably will price more people out next gen the more people buy 40 series. Maybe FSR 3.0 will be able to compete with DLSS 3.0 but AMD have been tight lipped about the release date.
 
Last edited:
Man of Honour
OP
Joined
28 Nov 2007
Posts
12,736
The 7900 XTX proposes pretty good value at its MSRP when looking at normal raster performance but compared to the software stack from Nvidia currently imo it's worth the £150 difference between the cheapest brand new 7900 XTX and that 4080 on OcUK. By software stack I mean better RT performance, CUDA/Optix acceleration, DLSS 3.0, Frame Generation, the new VSR that upscales videos in browsers, better looking AV1 and H264 video encoder. 4080 is also more power efficient.

Now of course if you don't really care about the things I mentioned, and you'd rather save some cash and get slightly more performance in non RT mode then by all means grab a 7900XTX. I am usually AMD biased but I can't deny the 4080 looks compelling, even if Nvidia are going nuts with prices and probably will price more people out next gen the more people buy 40 series. Maybe FSR 3.0 will be able to compete with DLSS 3.0 but AMD have been tight lipped about the release date.
thanks. I will be brushing up on some of my tech knowledge to better understand that (but I will enjoy it!)
 
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