It's (a bad?) time for an upgrade

[DeanT77]

It's finally time for me to replace my 3700x and 2070S with something that will last me for a few years - maybe not the best time to buy but needs must.

What I have;
Monitors (1 x 1440p, 144hz) for games and 1 x 1080p 60hz for second monitor shenanigans
keyboard
mouse
headphones
DAC / Amp & headphones / speakers


What I need is the pc box itself and everything inside of it

Primary use is gaming and I would like to future proof a bit hence the 64gb ram (skyrim mods and VR may come a calling, who knows).

What I have come up with so far is the below but I'm unsure on mobo and GPU - I would like to stay with a 5080 and wouldn't want to drop to a lower card but which 5080 is the question, which is the best or are they all relatively equal?
I've heard issues about PCI lanes being shared with GPU on some boards - would this stop me adding a second nvme drive, if I wanted one?


My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D Eight Core 5.20GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail (SKU: PRO-AMD-03517) = £449.99
• 1 x Asus TUF Gaming B650-Plus WIFI (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MB-6K0-AS) = £159.99
• 1 x G.Skill Trident Z5 Neo EXPO RGB 64GB (2x32GB) DDR5 PC5-48000C30 6000MHz Dual Channel Kit (SKU: MEM-GSK-01357) = £218.99
• 1 x Seasonic Focus GX-1000 ATX 3.1 1000W 80 Gold Modular Power Supply (SKU: POW-SSC-03149) = £169.99
• 1 x Asus GeForce RTX 5080 TUF Gaming OC 16GB GDDR7 PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GRA-ASU-03930) = £1,250.00
• 1 x WD Black SN850X 4TB SSD M.2 2280 NVME PCI-E Gen4 Solid State Drive (WDS400T2X0E) (SKU: HD-592-WD) = £269.98
• 1 x Fractal Design North XL Full Tower Charcoal Black Case (SKU: CAS-FTL-02372) = £170.00
• 1 x Noctua NH-D15 Chromax Pure Black CPU Cooler with Dual 140m Fans (SKU: HS-03M-NC) = £109.99
• 1 x Noctua NF-A14 PWM Chromax Premium Grade Fan - 140mm (SKU: FG-06L-NC) = £26.95

Total: £2,825.88 (includes delivery: £0.00)​

After watching a build in this case it seems than the fan controller doesnt like to have 4 x fans attached to it so can someone recommend a fan hub which is decent please and can take a minimum of 5 fans - as I may add an extra exhaust fan at the top of the case.

Thanks all, appreciate any knowledge shared

 

[Tetras]

What I have come up with so far is the below but I'm unsure on mobo

Well, the motherboard is fine, buuuut..., if you're spending £3K I would just get PCI-E 5.0, even though it doesn't matter with the 5080. Which would mean going B650E, B850 or (if you want USB4) X870/X870E.

I've heard issues about PCI lanes being shared with GPU on some boards - would this stop me adding a second nvme drive, if I wanted one?

Generally: no, you can use 2x drives on any board.

But, boards with USB4 (X870/X870E) will often steal 4 of the CPU's 8 spare lanes, which leaves you only one CPU connected M.2 slot. You could then use a chipset connected slot, or use of the slots they share with the graphics card.

 

[Gray2233]

I'd be more inclined to go with something like this:

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x Fractal Design North XL Full Tower Charcoal Black Case (SKU: CAS-FTL-02372) = £169.99
• 1 x Seasonic Focus GX-1000 ATX 3.1 1000W 80 Gold Modular Power Supply (SKU: POW-SSC-03149) = £169.99
• 1 x Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE Black Dual Tower CPU Air Cooler (SKU: COO-TLR-03285) = £35.00
• 1 x Corsair Vengeance EXPO RGB 64GB (2X32GB) DDR5 PC5-48000C30 6000MHz Dual Channel Kit (SKU: MEM-CRS-03749) = £184.99
• 1 x Gigabyte B850 GAMING X WIFI6E (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MOT-GIG-03858) = £174.99
• 1 x Crucial T500 4TB NVMe PCIe Gen4 M.2 Solid State Drive (SKU: STO-CRU-02889) = £239.99
• 1 x Arctic P14 Black Fan - 140mm (SKU: FG-04M-AR) = £6.95
• 1 x Zotac GeForce RTX 5080 Solid Core 16GB GDDR7 PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GRA-ZTC-04544) = £999.95
• 1 x AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D Eight Core 5.20GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail (SKU: PRO-AMD-03517) = £449.99

Total: £2,443.82 (includes delivery: £11.98)​

You get a 5 year warranty with Zotac, 3 as standard and another 2 if you register within 30 days.

The Thermalright HSF will perform within a couple of degrees of the Noctua at a fraction of the price. There's actually a version of it for £30 but it's not all black, I can't tell if the case you've went with has a blacked out window or not, you could save another fiver on the RAM too if not.

T500 is about on par with the SN850X but you save a few bob, similar story with the RAM.

It could be worth spending another £50 on the Zotac Solid (non Core) version as I believe the HSF is a little better, but I'm not sure how much of a difference there is or whether you'd be likely to notice it.

Regardless, it'll perform identically and save you best part of £400.

 

[DeanT77]

Cheers, I'll amend my basket to the Zotac and take a look on those other points too.

Well, the motherboard is fine, buuuut..., if you're spending £3K I would just get PCI-E 5.0, even though it doesn't matter with the 5080. Which would mean going B650E, B850 or (if you want USB4) X870/X870E.


Generally: no, you can use 2x drives on any board.

But, boards with USB4 (X870/X870E) will often steal 4 of the CPU's 8 spare lanes, which leaves you only one CPU connected M.2 slot. You could then use a chipset connected slot, or use of the slots they share with the graphics card.

Agreed on the mobo, this area is without doubt my weakest research area as there just seems too much choice. If this was your build, which mobo would you go for? I wouldn't mind a debug led too if possible

E: If you need a Budget, c. £250 - would that work?

 

[Gray2233]

Unless I'm going blind (which is a possibility) the cheapest B850 with a debug light that I'm aware of is the MSI EDGE:

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x MSI MPG B850 EDGE TI WIFI (AMD AM5) B850 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MOT-MSI-03992) = £259.99

Total: £259.99 (includes delivery: £0.00)

Motherboards with those sorts of features used to be more common around the £150-200 mark I swear.​

 

[Tetras]

Agreed on the mobo, this area is without doubt my weakest research area as there just seems too much choice. If this was your build, which mobo would you go for? I wouldn't mind a debug led too if possible

E: If you need a Budget, c. £250 - would that work?

If it was me, I'd probably just buy the cheapest, like the board Gray2233 suggested. The 9800X3D is very mild on power, so it doesn't need a high-end board.

The B850 Tomahawk is a good spec for the money. Decent VRM, 8-layer PCB, 5 Gb LAN, rear SPDIF, 4x M.2 slots. The rear I/O is a bit weird, lots of USB 2.0 and type-C ports, but not a deal breaker.

 

[Gray2233]

I really don't think that I'd spend £50-80 more just for a debug light tbh, unless you really like the way more expensive boards look or for some reason desperately need the (sometimes) added connectivity you're better off saving.

Regarding that £400 or so difference between the initial build and the one I listed, I realise you have a 1440P/144hz monitor, but how old/what exact monitor is it? If you're on an old VA/TN/IPS screen the savings you're looking at could move you into 1440P OLED territory.

 

[DeanT77]

If it was me, I'd probably just buy the cheapest, like the board Gray2233 suggested. The 9800X3D is very mild on power, so it doesn't need a high-end board.

The B850 Tomahawk is a good spec for the money. Decent VRM, 8-layer PCB, 5 Gb LAN, rear SPDIF, 4x M.2 slots. The rear I/O is a bit weird, lots of USB 2.0 and type-C ports, but not a deal breaker.

After making this thread yesterday I started down the road on motherboard options and I'm a bit more up to speed now - I've decided on the B850 tomahawk, as that seems to be fairly reliable so gave me some reassurance to see you suggest it too

Thanks for your advice too @Gray2233

Will hopefully be ordering for a friday delivery this Week.

 

[Mercurial]

I've recently built a system with the Gigabyte board mentioned above. It does have debug LEDs but not a debug code display. Works fine with a 9700x, no complaints.

Personally, I chose a Gigabyte board as it has a UK RMA centre. MSI you have to send to Poland now if issues (MSI used to be my manufacturer of choice).

Edit - I also used a Thermalright cooler (albeit a Phantom Spirit), really impressed with it for the cost, so much so I bought another to fit to an older i7 12700K system (which is capable of running hotter than the sun comparative to AMD CPUs).

 

[Mercutio]

I've recently built a system with the Gigabyte board mentioned above. It does have debug LEDs but not a debug code display. Works fine with a 9700x, no complaints.

Personally, I chose a Gigabyte board as it has a UK RMA centre. MSI you have to send to Poland now if issues (MSI used to be my manufacturer of choice).

Edit - I also used a Thermalright cooler (albeit a Phantom Spirit), really impressed with it for the cost, so much so I bought another to fit to an older i7 12700K system (which is capable of running hotter than the sun comparative to AMD CPUs).

After recent issues with RMA to Europe (6 weeks in, still not had a return. BOTH couriers fumbled on export/import almost as much as they could short of it falling off the ferry/out of the plane over the channel. Gonna try and pick it up today as delivering it is apparently a head scratcher for a courier firm. RM/DHL going out, UPS coming back), it's not inconsequential. Maybe will ease with the EU trade deal.

Edit: and after 2 months without it (the laptop in sig, been slumming it on a 10th Gen with 3060M since March 30th) it's finally back, this morning. But yeah **** EU RMA at the moment. Global en****ification is in full swing. Charged £677 to "import" my laptop back from free repair, despite customs docs from XMG/Schenker (saw a copy) being pretty good + additional mountain of evidence asked for and got by UPS on the return. Despite "free repair" being one of the most glaring import waivers, evidence of UK purchase a year ago, the full shipping tracking on it's way out "oh, we didn't see it was a repair, too bad, you'll have to talk to HMRC about it, that's £677 if you want to see your laptop again, thanks".

Run, screaming from anyone without a UK repair base or a retail returns until/unless that EU trade deal takes affect and there's some good feedback on it.