Looking for advice on a new Ryzen PC build.

[MrKrane]

Hello OCUK Forum!

I've lately been dipping my toe into upgrading my setup as I find myself needing more power for my work mostly and some for gaming. I had my old one custom built by Overclockers back in 2017 and while it is still going strong is it definitely lagging behind a bit now.

As it has been such a long time I find myself confused with what to look for, especially with a lot of newer stuff not being really worth it or drawing too much power (bloody energy prices).

So my primary use is using creative programs like clip studio paint (photoshop alternative if you aren't familiar) which benefits from cpu and memory (amount and speed) due to large canvases and many layers etc. I also use video editing software, while nothing complex right now I would like the option of being able to do more complex stuff if needed.

As for gaming I mainly play less demanding indie titles but definitely dip into larger AAA titles now and then and would like to be able to have a smooth experience at 1440p, not too bothered about not being on ultra settings on everything, ok with turning stuff down when needed but a smooth, consistent framerate is what I'm looking for.

I'm also looking for lower power draw due to the energy prices these days but again don't really know where the best balance for that is. I'm looking to go amd for both cpu and gpu with more importance on the cpu.
I want this to be a complete (sans extra drives as I'll be moving those over) build and not just a component swap out. I also want windows 10 pro but can't seem to find the option via OCUK, only win 11

Not completely settled on a budget yet but probably looking at around £1500ish.

Thank you!

Here are my current specs from 2017, pretty outdated:

In-Win 101 Midi-Tower Case - White Window

Corsair TX650M 650W 80 Plus Gold Semi Modular Power Supply (CP-9020132-UK)

AMD Ryzen 7 Eight Core 1700X 3.80GHz (Socket AM4) Processor

Palit GeForce GTX 1080 Super Jetstream 8192MB GDDR5X PCI-Express Graphics Card

Samsung 960 EVO Polaris 500GB M.2 2280 PCI-e 3.0 x4 NVMe Solid State Drive

Noctua NH-D9L CPU Cooler - 92mm

Asrock X370 Killer SLI AMD X370 (Socket AM4) DDR4 ATX Motherboard

Team Group Vulcan T-Force 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-24000C16 3000MHz

 

[koolpc]

That spec looks decent to me!

 

[Tetras]

Is there no option of upgrading, or do you really need a new PC? You could drop in a 5700X/5800X or 5900X (bios update permitting), 32GB of memory and a new graphics card.

A full-build:

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x AMD Ryzen 7 7700 Eight Core 5.30GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail (SKU: CP-3DV-AM) = £308.99
• 1 x Gigabyte B650 Gaming X AX (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MB-5BF-GI) = £189.95
• 1 x Corsair Vengeance EXPO 32GB (2X16GB) DDR5 PC5-44800C36 5600MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black (CMK32GX5M2B5600Z36) (SKU: MY-4DN-CS) = £109.99
• 1 x Asus GeForce RTX 4070 Dual 12GB GDDR6X PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GX-49B-AS) = £619.99
• 1 x Phanteks Eclipse P400 Air Midi Tower Case - Black (SKU: CA-09F-PT) = £72.95
• 1 x Seasonic Focus GX-650 650W 80+ Gold Modular Power Supply (SKU: CA-06V-SS) = £94.99
• 1 x Microsoft Windows 11 Home 64-Bit DVD - OEM (KW9-00632) (SKU: SW-18J-MS) = £99.95

Total: £1,508.80 (includes delivery: £11.98)​

CPU efficiency/power consumption results available in this article, GPU in this article.

Stock cooler assumed (wraith prism)

 

[MrKrane]

Is there no option of upgrading, or do you really need a new PC? You could drop in a 5700X/5800X or 5900X (bios update permitting), 32GB of memory and a new graphics card.

A full-build:

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x AMD Ryzen 7 7700 Eight Core 5.30GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail (SKU: CP-3DV-AM) = £308.99
• 1 x Gigabyte B650 Gaming X AX (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MB-5BF-GI) = £189.95
• 1 x Corsair Vengeance EXPO 32GB (2X16GB) DDR5 PC5-44800C36 5600MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black (CMK32GX5M2B5600Z36) (SKU: MY-4DN-CS) = £109.99
• 1 x Asus GeForce RTX 4070 Dual 12GB GDDR6X PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GX-49B-AS) = £619.99
• 1 x Phanteks Eclipse P400 Air Midi Tower Case - Black (SKU: CA-09F-PT) = £72.95
• 1 x Seasonic Focus GX-650 650W 80+ Gold Modular Power Supply (SKU: CA-06V-SS) = £94.99
• 1 x Microsoft Windows 11 Home 64-Bit DVD - OEM (KW9-00632) (SKU: SW-18J-MS) = £99.95

Total: £1,508.80 (includes delivery: £11.98)​

CPU efficiency/power consumption results available in this article, GPU in this article.

Stock cooler assumed (wraith prism)

Thank you for the recommendation. I wouldn't say the upgrade is completely off the table but a new build is preferred. That being said I could always slowly make a new build while enjoying the upgrade in the mean time.

As for upgrading, I'm not sure I want to mess around with updating bios for a 5900x and risk bricking my system or something, but if I can drop a 5800x in it right away then could be a good direction.
I'd like to keep to amd for gpu too, is there one you'd suggest? I hear the 6000 series is good?

Also would swapping out cpu/gpu and ram cause issues with my OS at all? I know microsoft can get weird about it.

 

[Tetras]

As for upgrading, I'm not sure I want to mess around with updating bios for a 5900x and risk bricking my system or something, but if I can drop a 5800x in it right away then could be a good direction.

You'd need to check the BIOS version that you currently have (you can use CPU-Z). If you haven't updated the BIOS in a long time (or ever) then it won't boot, cos your board wil go "WTF?" to a CPU from some 3 years in the future. If you're going this route, I'd email ASRock and ask for their recommendation, because you may not be able to jump that many years in just one update and sometimes the BIOS loses support for older CPUs in the process. It has been done successfully (there are users on here with updated 1st gen ASRock boards).

I'd like to keep to amd for gpu too, is there one you'd suggest? I hear the 6000 series is good?

This is not normally recommended for workstation usage, are you sure it won't affect any of your apps?

To stay within budget, you may be limited to a high-end 6000, yes, because the 7900 XT starts at around 750. You may find this (and other Puget) article useful for evaluating non-gaming usage.

The 6800 non-XT has 16GB of VRAM, decent efficiency (you can find the numbers in the same article I linked above) and is plenty capable at 1440p. It is around £450. Stock power consumption is similar to the 4070, but it is a bit slower (15% or so).

Also would swapping out cpu/gpu and ram cause issues with my OS at all? I know microsoft can get weird about it.

Motherboard is the usual culprit for this, CPU, RAM and GPU are less likely.

 

[MrKrane]

This is not normally recommended for workstation usage, are you sure it won't affect any of your apps?

Why is it not normally recommended? Like having both a amd cpu and gpu or just having a amd gpu at all? I'm not sure if it would affect any of my apps since I'm not sure how or why it would yet, def need more info on why its not recommended.

 

[Tetras]

or just having a amd gpu at all?

This.

1. driver support/optimisation
2. app support/optimisation
1+2. performance
3. CUDA

There's no rule and it changes all the time as AMD update their drivers, but you can never guarantee that you'll get 100% performance with an AMD card for workstation usage, they often underperform for the hardware present and they are more likely to have weird glitches and/or need unofficial patches. You can port AMD cards to CUDA with third party help, but this also isn't 100% reliable.

If you're just a casual/hobby user in popular programs then it is no big deal, but if it is anything more serious I'd do some checking about how AMD-happy each app is before you buy an AMD GPU.

 

[dfour]

Unfortunatly it looks like there is no support for the 5*** series cpu in bios on the asrock x370 killer board so a complete upgrade will be needed.

ASRock > X370 Killer SLI

ASRock Super Alloy; Supports AMD Socket AM4 A-Series APUs (Bristol Ridge) and Ryzen Series CPUs (Summit Ridge & Raven Ridge); Supports DDR4 2933+ (OC) (Ryzen CPU) / 2400 (A-series APU); 2 PCIe 3.0 x16, 4 PCIe 2.0 x1, 1 M.2 (Key E); NVIDIA Quad SLI™, AMD Quad CrossFireX™; Graphics Output: HDMI...

www.asrock.com

This my build idea

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x Gigabyte B650 Gaming X AX (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MB-5BF-GI) = £189.95
• 1 x AMD Ryzen 7 7700 Eight Core 5.30GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail (SKU: CP-3DV-AM) = £308.99
• 1 x Kingston FURY Renegade 32GB (2x16GB) DDR5 PC5-48000C32 6000MHz Dual Channel Kit (SKU: MY-29P-KS) = £128.98
• 1 x Powercolor Radeon RX 6800 XT Red Dragon 16GB PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GX-19U-PC) = £500.00
• 1 x MSI MAG A750GL 750W 80 Plus Gold ATX 3.0 PCIE5 Modular Power Supply (SKU: CA-013-MS) = £99.94
• 1 x Phanteks Eclipse G300A Mid-Tower High Airflow PC Case - Black (SKU: CA-0C0-PT) = £65.00
• 1 x WD Black SN850X 2TB SSD M.2 2280 NVME PCI-E Gen4 Solid State Drive (WDS200T2X0E) (SKU: HD-591-WD) = £134.98
• 1 x Cooler Master Hyper 212 Halo² Black Edition CPU Cooler - 120mm (SKU: HS-090-CM) = £39.95
• 1 x Phanteks SK120 Black DRGB PWM Fan - 120mm (SKU: FG-02D-PT) = £7.99

Total: £1,475.78 (includes delivery: £0.00)​

​

Ignore the pants cooler I used as a placeholder and buy a peerless assassin as they are awesome for the price.

Peerless Assassin – Thermalright

www.thermalright.com

Also get a windows 10 pro key between 10 and 15 from various e-tailers (not ebay).

 

[MrKrane]

This.

1. driver support/optimisation
2. app support/optimisation
1+2. performance
3. CUDA

There's no rule and it changes all the time as AMD update their drivers, but you can never guarantee that you'll get 100% performance with an AMD card for workstation usage, they often underperform for the hardware present and they are more likely to have weird glitches and/or need unofficial patches. You can port AMD cards to CUDA with third party help, but this also isn't 100% reliable.

If you're just a casual/hobby user in popular programs then it is no big deal, but if it is anything more serious I'd do some checking about how AMD-happy each app is before you buy an AMD GPU.

As far as I can tell my main and most important program (Clip Studio Paint) relies on cpu and ram amount and speed. It has 3D features that use gpu but I don't use those. I don't believe I'm doing anything too intensive like 3d rendering or super complex video editing.
So a pro of getting a new pc is to be able to get a ryzen 7000 series which I can't just plop in my current motherboard unfortunately. I may be wrong but I hear that ryzen benefits from certain ram speeds but honestly that stuff confuses me, I'd like a good out of the box experience without needing to mess around in the bios.

 

[dfour]

If you dont want the extra storage (on my above build) you could always swap the cpu for a 12 core for more umph.

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x AMD Ryzen 9 7900 Twelve Core 5.40GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail (SKU: CP-3DU-AM) = £399.95

Total: £399.95 (includes delivery: £0.00)​

​

​

​

 

[MrKrane]

Unfortunatly it looks like there is no support for the 5*** series cpu in bios on the asrock x370 killer board so a complete upgrade will be needed.

ASRock > X370 Killer SLI

ASRock Super Alloy; Supports AMD Socket AM4 A-Series APUs (Bristol Ridge) and Ryzen Series CPUs (Summit Ridge & Raven Ridge); Supports DDR4 2933+ (OC) (Ryzen CPU) / 2400 (A-series APU); 2 PCIe 3.0 x16, 4 PCIe 2.0 x1, 1 M.2 (Key E); NVIDIA Quad SLI™, AMD Quad CrossFireX™; Graphics Output: HDMI...

www.asrock.com

This my build idea

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x Gigabyte B650 Gaming X AX (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MB-5BF-GI) = £189.95
• 1 x AMD Ryzen 7 7700 Eight Core 5.30GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail (SKU: CP-3DV-AM) = £308.99
• 1 x Kingston FURY Renegade 32GB (2x16GB) DDR5 PC5-48000C32 6000MHz Dual Channel Kit (SKU: MY-29P-KS) = £128.98
• 1 x Powercolor Radeon RX 6800 XT Red Dragon 16GB PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GX-19U-PC) = £500.00
• 1 x MSI MAG A750GL 750W 80 Plus Gold ATX 3.0 PCIE5 Modular Power Supply (SKU: CA-013-MS) = £99.94
• 1 x Phanteks Eclipse G300A Mid-Tower High Airflow PC Case - Black (SKU: CA-0C0-PT) = £65.00
• 1 x WD Black SN850X 2TB SSD M.2 2280 NVME PCI-E Gen4 Solid State Drive (WDS200T2X0E) (SKU: HD-591-WD) = £134.98
• 1 x Cooler Master Hyper 212 Halo² Black Edition CPU Cooler - 120mm (SKU: HS-090-CM) = £39.95
• 1 x Phanteks SK120 Black DRGB PWM Fan - 120mm (SKU: FG-02D-PT) = £7.99

Total: £1,475.78 (includes delivery: £0.00)​

​

​

​

Ignore the pants cooler I used as a placeholder and buy a peerless assassin as they are awesome for the price.

Peerless Assassin – Thermalright

www.thermalright.com

Also get a windows 10 pro key between 10 and 15 from various e-tailers (not ebay).

Thank you for your recommendation! Regarding the windows 10 key, do you have any suggestions of what the best/trustworthy e-tailers are?

 

[dfour]

You have to be careful with recomendations as OCUK dont allow competitor mentions (which is fair enough).

groupon have it for £15 if you want a name most people recognize.

 

[Tetras]

As far as I can tell my main and most important program (Clip Studio Paint) relies on cpu and ram amount and speed. It has 3D features that use gpu but I don't use those. I don't believe I'm doing anything too intensive like 3d rendering or super complex video editing.

I should imagine that'll be fine, then.

So a pro of getting a new pc is to be able to get a ryzen 7000 series which I can't just plop in my current motherboard unfortunately.

Yes, you can see the 7700 compared to many older CPUs in this article. This video compares the fastest AM4 (i.e. fits in your current board) gaming CPU, 5800X3D, versus the 7700:

Ryzen 7 5800X3D vs. Ryzen 7 7700, Best Value AMD 8-Core CPU in 2023?

Australia, Cloud III: https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B0C3BV19Q3New Zealand, Cloud III: https://www.mightyape.co.nz/product/hyperx-cloud-iii-gaming-headset-bl...

www.youtube.com

 

[MrKrane]

You have to be careful with recomendations as OCUK dont allow competitor mentions (which is fair enough).

groupon have it for £15 if you want a name most people recognize.

Fair enough, I'm sad that OCUK don't offer win10 anymore, win11 is terrible. Thank you for the suggestion though, I was previously looking at ebay sellers, though sealed, physical options only but they go for about 35-50 quid and I can't be certain. I'm sure some are selling legit copies but still.

 

[MrKrane]

Yes, you can see the 7700 compared to many older CPUs in this article. This video compares the fastest AM4 (i.e. fits in your current board) CPU, 5800X3D, versus the 7700:

Thank you for the links, def gonna give that a watch. I'll have to take some time to think about what I want to do in terms of going for the latest stuff or not. Thank you for all the help

 

[Tetras]

I may be wrong but I hear that ryzen benefits from certain ram speeds but honestly that stuff confuses me, I'd like a good out of the box experience without needing to mess around in the bios.

They do, yes, but you'll usually need to enable XMP (DDR4), DOCP (DDR4) or EXPO (DDR5) in the BIOS, or with DDR4 it will run at 2133 or 2666 and DDR5 at 4800 or 5200. You don't have to use them, in many apps you lose nearly nothing, but gaming performance can definitely be impacted (less so at 1440p or 4k).

You can see the impact for a 7700X in this video:

Ryzen 9 7950X3D Memory Scaling Benchmark, Does DDR5 Performance Matter?

Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/hardwareunboxedJoin us on Floatplane: https://www.floatplane.com/channel/HardwareUnboxedBuy relevant products ...

www.youtube.com

 

[jigger]

This.

1. driver support/optimisation
2. app support/optimisation
1+2. performance
3. CUDA

There's no rule and it changes all the time as AMD update their drivers, but you can never guarantee that you'll get 100% performance with an AMD card for workstation usage, they often underperform for the hardware present and they are more likely to have weird glitches and/or need unofficial patches. You can port AMD cards to CUDA with third party help, but this also isn't 100% reliable.

If you're just a casual/hobby user in popular programs then it is no big deal, but if it is anything more serious I'd do some checking about how AMD-happy each app is before you buy an AMD GPU.

Intel Arc user? Nvidia can be plenty dire particularly recently. Maybe it’s because of the number of games released or Intel pinching engineers.

 

[MrKrane]

They do, yes, but you'll usually need to enable XMP (DDR4), DOCP (DDR4) or EXPO (DDR5) in the BIOS, or with DDR4 it will run at 2133 or 2666 and DDR5 at 4800 or 5200. You don't have to use them, in many apps you lose nearly nothing, but gaming performance can definitely be impacted (less so at 1440p or 4k).

You can see the impact for a 7700X in this video:

Ryzen 9 7950X3D Memory Scaling Benchmark, Does DDR5 Performance Matter?

Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/hardwareunboxedJoin us on Floatplane: https://www.floatplane.com/channel/HardwareUnboxedBuy relevant products ...

www.youtube.com

I can change stuff in the bios no problem if its just turning options on and off, however I tried to manually change the timings and voltage on my current build and it was such a hassle and didn't work that I don't want to have to deal with that again.
It seems expo is at least simpler to use from what I can see. I'm looking to see what the highest recommended ram speed is for ryzen 7000, don't want to miss out on performance nor overspend on something it can't use or will cause it to bluescreen.

 

[Tetras]

I can change stuff in the bios no problem if its just turning options on and off, however I tried to manually change the timings and voltage on my current build and it was such a hassle and didn't work that I don't want to have to deal with that again.
It seems expo is at least simpler to use from what I can see. I'm looking to see what the highest recommended ram speed is for ryzen 7000, don't want to miss out on performance nor overspend on something it can't use or will cause it to bluescreen.

The video I linked is with a 4090 and at 1080p, so in reality there's less difference than their results suggest. If you're using a 6800 or 4070 at 1440p, then I think you'll be fine with the memory I suggested (5600 C36) or the memory in defour's build. I wouldn't bother with anything higher than that.

Nvidia can be plenty dire particularly recently.

With workstation apps?

Unfortunatly it looks like there is no support for the 5*** series cpu in bios on the asrock x370 killer board so a complete upgrade will be needed.

I think ASRock are just lazy and didn't update the CPU support page, if you look at the BIOS download page, they have a BIOS available which supports Zen 3.

 

[freddie64]

I think ASRock are just lazy and didn't update the CPU support page, if you look at the BIOS download page, they have a BIOS available which supports Zen 3.

Looks to be correct going by the description of the latest bios (7.30).

1. Update AMD AM4 AGESA Combo V2 PI 1.2.0.7
2. Support Renoir, Vermeer, and Cezanne CPU
3. Remove Bristol Ridge(AMD A-series/Athlon X4 series) CPU support.
4. Improve GPU compatibility for GeForce RTX 40 series.

*This BIOS doesn't support Bristol Ridge CPU, do NOT update this BIOS if Bristol Ridge CPU is being used.
**It requires to update BIOS to 7.00 before updating this version.
*** User will not able to flash previous BIOS once upgrading to this BIOS version.