Looking at getting a custom PC from overclockers and could do with some help.

[Some Random Guy]

After many years of faithful service, my old HP prebuilt is not only showing its age but sounding and acting like some parts are on their last legs. As a result I have decided a new machine is in order.

My goals are to basically have zero issues or concerns running the games I usually play (stuff like Civ, total war, modded elder scrolls/fallout) on max or high settings for hopefully at least the next few entires in their respective series. As well as be used for day to day use, 3D modeling and if it is at all capable of something like live streaming.

The specs for what I am looking to have built using the OcUK Tech Labs AMD Ryzen AM5 Midi Gaming PC Configurator (I don't trust myself to build from scratch yet) are as follows:

• 1x Phanteks XT Pro Ultra ATX Case Tempered Glass Window, Black
• 1x Build Stock AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D Eight Core 5.00GHz (Socket AM5) Processor -
• 1x Asus ROG Strix B650E-E Gaming WIFI (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard
• 1x Corsair Vengeance EXPO 64GB (2X32GB) DDR5 PC5-41600C40 5200MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black (CMK64GX5M2B5200Z40)
• 1x NZXT Kraken 240 Black AIO CPU Water Cooler - 240mm
• 1x MSI GeForce RTX 4070 VENTUS 2X E1 OC 12GB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card
• 1x Corsair RMe Series RM1000e Fully Modular Low-Noise ATX Power Supply v2 (CP-9020264-UK)
• 1x WD Black SN850X 4TB SSD M.2 2280 NVME PCI-E Gen4 Solid State Drive (WDS400T2X0E)
• 1x WD Black SN850X 4TB SSD M.2 2280 NVME PCI-E Gen4 Solid State Drive (WDS400T2X0E)

(Because I am having a company build it for me initially I am a limited to what they are offering)

My old machine consisted of:

Intel i7-4790
RAM 16.0 GB
NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 970
1.5TB split across a 500GB SSD & 1T HDD

(I apologies for the somewhat sparse information I have on it)

I am very new to all of this so I am not even too sure exactly what scale of improvement this would even be (if anyone could put it into context it would be greatly appreciated) I hope to be able to upgrade this machine as I go too so any recommendation what should be upgraded first would also be appreciated.

I also have a couple of questions about the process of getting a custom PC from overclockers if anyone can help me with that:

I would love to be able to get a slightly better GPU like a 4070 super TI in it but the choices I have seem to be arbitrarily locked off is there any way I can get around this limitation?

What do you actually get when you receive the machine? do you get all of the manuals for the components and bits that are not used in the build but come with the components?

Do Overclockers ever do things like sales on custom PCs?

Is there any way that I can request something like the cables for the 3.5 inch and 2.5 inch drives to be installed despite not having any of those drives included in the build (I would like to try and install these myself at a later date. Start myself off with something really small in terms of PC building) Is there any negatives to having this done if it is possible to ask for this and they are willing?

 

[Tetras]

I would love to be able to get a slightly better GPU like a 4070 super TI in it but the choices I have seem to be arbitrarily locked off is there any way I can get around this limitation?

Sometimes it is because the spec doesn't support it, like the PSU or case are not suitable, but for the PC you quoted I can't see anything that would impact compatibility. If the PC is configurable I can't imagine OCUK would mind if you ask.

Is there any way that I can request something like the cables for the 3.5 inch and 2.5 inch drives to be installed despite not having any of those drives included in the build (I would like to try and install these myself at a later date. Start myself off with something really small in terms of PC building) Is there any negatives to having this done if it is possible to ask for this and they are willing?

Yeah, I've seen people give OCUK custom requests with their builds. They will also build a spec of your own choice for a fee.

I am very new to all of this so I am not even too sure exactly what scale of improvement this would even be (if anyone could put it into context it would be greatly appreciated) I hope to be able to upgrade this machine as I go too so any recommendation what should be upgraded first would also be appreciated.

For games you can use TPU's GPU database, it is not exact (and doesn't include the resolution, upscaling or ray tracing) so I just take it as a rough number. I always subtract 100%, because that's the baseline (e.g. a 4070 is over 250% faster than the GTX 970):

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 Specs

NVIDIA GM204, 1178 MHz, 1664 Cores, 104 TMUs, 56 ROPs, 4096 MB GDDR5, 1753 MHz, 256 bit

www.techpowerup.com

For the CPU you can use PassMark, the first number is relative to single thread performance (and to games, except the 7800X3D's cache doesn't show up there), the second number is multi thread:

Intel i7-4790 vs AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D [cpubenchmark.net] by PassMark Software

I would generally recommend that you look at actual benchmarks in reviews, relative to the workload you're doing (e.g. from TPU, hardware unboxed or Puget), but your CPU and graphics card are too old to be included in recent reviews.

 

[Some Random Guy]

Sometimes it is because the spec doesn't support it, like the PSU or case are not suitable, but for the PC you quoted I can't see anything that would impact compatibility. If the PC is configurable I can't imagine OCUK would mind if you ask.


Yeah, I've seen people give OCUK custom requests with their builds. They will also build a spec of your own choice for a fee.


For games you can use TPU's GPU database, it is not exact (and doesn't include the resolution, upscaling or ray tracing) so I just take it as a rough number. I always subtract 100%, because that's the baseline (e.g. a 4070 is over 250% faster than the GTX 970):

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 Specs

NVIDIA GM204, 1178 MHz, 1664 Cores, 104 TMUs, 56 ROPs, 4096 MB GDDR5, 1753 MHz, 256 bit

www.techpowerup.com

For the CPU you can use PassMark, the first number is relative to single thread performance (and to games, except the 7800X3D's cache doesn't show up there), the second number is multi thread:

Intel i7-4790 vs AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D [cpubenchmark.net] by PassMark Software

I would generally recommend that you look at actual benchmarks in reviews, relative to the workload you're doing (e.g. from TPU, hardware unboxed or Puget), but your CPU and graphics card are too old to be included in recent reviews.

Thats a lot of really useful information thanks a lot!

 

[Craig_d1]

@Some Random Guy

I've just listed the parts you've used as a rough idea of cost. I'm assuming if you're happy to want to upgrade to include a 4070tisuper then there's room to spare? I'm also assuming the pc will be more expensive as these are just the parts costs, and ocuk will be putting there build cost and windows on on top(plus you get the 3 year warranty etc)

Firstly. ignore the prebuild part of OCuk website. THEY WILL build any pc you want..it's in their interest. Once you get a setup you like, phone them up and send them an email with the parts(I'd take the pdf from the order basket they provide and include that in email...they'll just add the build cost on (about £300 mark from seeing recent rebuilds..can be more if loads of fans etc, and they'll add windows). If going this route I would consider not having windows and paying the £100, but googling how to get a windows key a lot cheaper and adding that yourself

below build
7800x3d...swap for a 9800x3d for £20. on average it's 11% faster than the 7800x3d, more so for productivity which you'll want for your 3d modelling
B650e-e is a lovely board( I have one) but at £259, just get the x870 tomahawk instead...has everything the b650e-e has (including the digital led debug display on mobo) but also wifi7 now and2 usb4 40gbs type-c connections on back
I'd swap out the rm1000e at £154 also
4070 ventus looking a bit undewhelming for build

discounts on prebuild...if the components are discounted, you get a discount though on prebuilt section the list price reflects cost of components at time they put it together

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x Phanteks XT Pro Ultra ATX Case Tempered Glass Window, Black (SKU: CAS-PHK-01443) = £74.99
• 1 x AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D Eight Core 5.00GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail (SKU: CP-3DT-AM) = £428.99
• 1 x Asus ROG Strix B650E-E Gaming WIFI (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MB-6JW-AS) = £259.99
• 1 x Corsair Vengeance 64GB (2X32GB) DDR5 PC5-41600C40 5200MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black (CMK64GX5M2B5200C40 (SKU: MY-4DC-CS) = £155.99
• 1 x NZXT Kraken 240 Black AIO CPU Water Cooler - 240mm (SKU: HS-02B-NX) = £89.98
• 1 x MSI GeForce RTX 4070 VENTUS 2X E1 OC 12GB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GRA-MSI-03202) = £479.99
• 1 x Corsair RMe Series RM1000e Fully Modular Low-Noise ATX Power Supply v2 (CP-9020264-UK) (SKU: CA-27P-CS) = £152.99
• 2 x WD Black SN850X 4TB SSD M.2 2280 NVME PCI-E Gen4 Solid State Drive (WDS400T2X0E) (SKU: HD-592-WD) = £274.99

Total: £2,192.90 (includes delivery: £0.00)

Below is what I'd send them(if me...I'd ask them to put the 9800x3d in also ...just can't add it as out of stock for parts so 7800x3d is placeholder to get idea of cost. they should have some 9800x3d held back for prebuilds and seeing as you're getting a whole new pc, you should get one)


​

 

[Craig_d1]

For a bit of fun and using same gpu so budget same, swapped a few components to give youy a more premium case and a psu with 10yrs warranty( rm1000e is 7yrs), and upgraded the 4070 (367% faster) to 4070super(426% faster) and bumped you from 5200c40 to 6000c30 ram
case can take 5 x 2.5 ssd also or 3 and 2 3.5 drives.plenty of airflow and dust filters(can take 10 fans if you want)

C7 ARGB - Antec

www.antec.com

just knock £55 if you want the phanteks xt pro back in. as is, it's £10 more than yours above, (£45 cheaper if you switch back to the phanteks case)

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x MSI MAG X870 Tomahawk WIFI (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MOT-MSI-03298) = £265.00
• 1 x AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D Eight Core 5.00GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail (SKU: CP-3DT-AM) = £428.98
• 1 x Kingston FURY Beast EXPO RGB 64GB (2x32GB) DDR5 PC5-44800C30 6000MHz Dual Channel Kit (SKU: MEM-KNG-03708) = £200.00
• 1 x Arctic Freezer 36 A-RGB 120m Black CPU Cooler - 2x 120mm (SKU: COO-ARC-02418) = £29.98
• 1 x Asus TUF Gaming 1000W 80 Plus Gold Power Supply (SKU: CA-05Z-AS) = £119.99
• 2 x Team Group G70 PRO 4TB SSD M.2 2280 NVME PCI-E Gen4 Solid State Drive (SKU: STO-TMG-02619) = £249.95
• 1 x Antec C7 ARGB Mid Tower Case - Black (SKU: CAS-ATC-03473) = £129.95
• 1 x Zotac GeForce RTX 4070 Super Twin Edge 12Gb Graphics Card (SKU: GRA-ZTC-01499) = £529.99
• 1 x NVIDIA - Indiana Jones and The Great Circle Game Bundle (SKU: DIG-NVI-03769) = £0.00

Total: £2,203.79 (includes delivery: £0.00)​

if more in the budget, put a 4080super in...that'll be 581% faster than your current gpu...

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x MSI MAG X870 Tomahawk WIFI (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MOT-MSI-03298) = £265.00
• 1 x AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D Eight Core 5.00GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail (SKU: CP-3DT-AM) = £428.98
• 1 x Kingston FURY Beast EXPO RGB 64GB (2x32GB) DDR5 PC5-44800C30 6000MHz Dual Channel Kit (SKU: MEM-KNG-03708) = £200.00
• 1 x Arctic Freezer 36 A-RGB 120m Black CPU Cooler - 2x 120mm (SKU: COO-ARC-02418) = £29.98
• 1 x Asus TUF Gaming 1000W 80 Plus Gold Power Supply (SKU: CA-05Z-AS) = £119.99
• 2 x Team Group G70 PRO 4TB SSD M.2 2280 NVME PCI-E Gen4 Solid State Drive (SKU: STO-TMG-02619) = £249.95
• 1 x Antec C7 ARGB Mid Tower Case - Black (SKU: CAS-ATC-03473) = £129.95
• 1 x NVIDIA - Indiana Jones and The Great Circle Game Bundle (SKU: DIG-NVI-03769) = £0.00
• 1 x Zotac GeForce RTX 4080 Super Trinity Black 16Gb Graphics Card (SKU: GRA-ZTC-01496) = £899.99

Total: £2,573.78 (includes delivery: £0.00)​

 

[pastymuncher]

Just a word of warning. While the Asus ROG Strix B650E-E is a excellent board it uses a Intel nic that is buggy as hell so if you are going to connect to the internet or a network using the LAN port look elsewhere unless you are prepared to put up with a lot of hassle. I have the "F" version of the board which has the same Intel nic and I connect to the internet via my modem/router and a very good quality LAN cable tp my pc. I have had a nightmare with the Intel nic and so have a great many others. Problems range from lag to completely dropping the connection which won't reconnect until you reboot the pc and many times not even then. In the end I got so fed up with it that I bought a Amazon Basics USB-C to Gigabit Ethernet Adapter and disabled the LAN port altogether. Since then I haven't had a single problem plus the internet is much more responsive.

I wouldn't be paying that price for the 7800x3d when it was £100 cheaper just a month or so ago. I would rather hang on until the 9800x3d is more widely available and get one of those rather than pay the current rip off prices for a 7800x3d.

 

[Some Random Guy]

For a bit of fun and using same gpu so budget same, swapped a few components to give youy a more premium case and a psu with 10yrs warranty( rm1000e is 7yrs), and upgraded the 4070 (367% faster) to 4070super(426% faster) and bumped you from 5200c40 to 6000c30 ram
case can take 5 x 2.5 ssd also or 3 and 2 3.5 drives.plenty of airflow and dust filters(can take 10 fans if you want)

C7 ARGB - Antec

www.antec.com

just knock £55 if you want the phanteks xt pro back in. as is, it's £10 more than yours above, (£45 cheaper if you switch back to the phanteks case)

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x MSI MAG X870 Tomahawk WIFI (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MOT-MSI-03298) = £265.00
• 1 x AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D Eight Core 5.00GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail (SKU: CP-3DT-AM) = £428.98
• 1 x Kingston FURY Beast EXPO RGB 64GB (2x32GB) DDR5 PC5-44800C30 6000MHz Dual Channel Kit (SKU: MEM-KNG-03708) = £200.00
• 1 x Arctic Freezer 36 A-RGB 120m Black CPU Cooler - 2x 120mm (SKU: COO-ARC-02418) = £29.98
• 1 x Asus TUF Gaming 1000W 80 Plus Gold Power Supply (SKU: CA-05Z-AS) = £119.99
• 2 x Team Group G70 PRO 4TB SSD M.2 2280 NVME PCI-E Gen4 Solid State Drive (SKU: STO-TMG-02619) = £249.95
• 1 x Antec C7 ARGB Mid Tower Case - Black (SKU: CAS-ATC-03473) = £129.95
• 1 x Zotac GeForce RTX 4070 Super Twin Edge 12Gb Graphics Card (SKU: GRA-ZTC-01499) = £529.99
• 1 x NVIDIA - Indiana Jones and The Great Circle Game Bundle (SKU: DIG-NVI-03769) = £0.00

Total: £2,203.79 (includes delivery: £0.00)​

if more in the budget, put a 4080super in...that'll be 581% faster than your current gpu...

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x MSI MAG X870 Tomahawk WIFI (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MOT-MSI-03298) = £265.00
• 1 x AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D Eight Core 5.00GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail (SKU: CP-3DT-AM) = £428.98
• 1 x Kingston FURY Beast EXPO RGB 64GB (2x32GB) DDR5 PC5-44800C30 6000MHz Dual Channel Kit (SKU: MEM-KNG-03708) = £200.00
• 1 x Arctic Freezer 36 A-RGB 120m Black CPU Cooler - 2x 120mm (SKU: COO-ARC-02418) = £29.98
• 1 x Asus TUF Gaming 1000W 80 Plus Gold Power Supply (SKU: CA-05Z-AS) = £119.99
• 2 x Team Group G70 PRO 4TB SSD M.2 2280 NVME PCI-E Gen4 Solid State Drive (SKU: STO-TMG-02619) = £249.95
• 1 x Antec C7 ARGB Mid Tower Case - Black (SKU: CAS-ATC-03473) = £129.95
• 1 x NVIDIA - Indiana Jones and The Great Circle Game Bundle (SKU: DIG-NVI-03769) = £0.00
• 1 x Zotac GeForce RTX 4080 Super Trinity Black 16Gb Graphics Card (SKU: GRA-ZTC-01496) = £899.99

Total: £2,573.78 (includes delivery: £0.00)​

Thanks for the input, thats all really helpful. A common theme with the advice I have been getting wherever I have asked has been that I should probably look at swapping to something like a RTX 4070 TI Super. I also spoke to overclockers today about using different parts than in the configurators and they said that they can but it will need to be a custom quote. So as a result I am going to go back to the drawing board and reconsider the parts and come up with two specs, one a configurator spec and the other an cstom spec and see what the difference in price is after getting a quote from them. I will probably stickboth specs here first though to see if anyone is willing to give another round of feedback.

 

[Some Random Guy]

Just a word of warning. While the Asus ROG Strix B650E-E is a excellent board it uses a Intel nic that is buggy as hell so if you are going to connect to the internet or a network using the LAN port look elsewhere unless you are prepared to put up with a lot of hassle. I have the "F" version of the board which has the same Intel nic and I connect to the internet via my modem/router and a very good quality LAN cable tp my pc. I have had a nightmare with the Intel nic and so have a great many others. Problems range from lag to completely dropping the connection which won't reconnect until you reboot the pc and many times not even then. In the end I got so fed up with it that I bought a Amazon Basics USB-C to Gigabit Ethernet Adapter and disabled the LAN port altogether. Since then I haven't had a single problem plus the internet is much more responsive.

I wouldn't be paying that price for the 7800x3d when it was £100 cheaper just a month or so ago. I would rather hang on until the 9800x3d is more widely available and get one of those rather than pay the current rip off prices for a 7800x3d.

Thanks for the warning about the mother board and input on the 7800x3d. I will keep both in mind, chances are I will stick with the 7800x3d for a few reasons though. Most prevalent being that the 9800x3d is out of stock at the moment and time is a bit of a factor as my old machine is absolutely dying me.

 

[Craig_d1]

Thanks for the warning about the mother board and input on the 7800x3d. I will keep both in mind, chances are I will stick with the 7800x3d for a few reasons though. Most prevalent being that the 9800x3d is out of stock at the moment and time is a bit of a factor as my old machine is absolutely dying me.

if you doing a full build, be it from one of their preconfigured, or a custom build, OCuk generally hold stock back for the prebuild/custom build market. It would be silly for them not to. they make a more money from that than just selling the cpu alone, or in the crypto boom, they held gpu stock bsack only for the custom/prebuild. custom build is the same markup as a prebuild..they tot the price up and all the build costs (dependent on no fans etc that need installing etc). Warranty the same as a prebuild