New build advice, can build it myself.

Slade2

Slade2

Slade2

Associate
Joined
14 Apr 2011
Posts
1,154
Location
Stafford
As the titles says, looking to replace my extremly aging PC.

Its a 2500k, 12gig of ram, lots of drives and an SSD, its almost 13 years old but to be fair the old girl is still going strong, running a 970 currently but I am aware its time for an upgrade.

So, I need everything going forward as I think salvaging anything from this PC isnt wise, I`ll move the storage drives over so I`ll need a decent power supply

My budget is gonna be £1500, I wont need any periperals with that or any monitors as I just brought a monitor, so £1500 for the base unit.

it will be mainly used for gaming, two or three monitor setup for productivity if I can get a GFX card that will do that. I have a 1gig internet connection so would like to be able to use that to the maxx on this setup.

I have no peference to either AMD or Intel or AMD or Nvidia when it comes to CPU or GPU although like I have said my I5-2500k and my old 970 have done me very well for the past 7 years or so. (I had a 6950 originally with this build)

If anything I would prefer to spend more on the basics this time around with slighly less on the GPU so I can upgrade that in the future using the same setup, much like I did with my current setup (originally purchased in 2011, upgraded with SSD and 970 in 2015)

so, ladies and gents, fire away with your recommendations on maximum performance, I will need a decent sized case to house a number of drives, I believe it helps with cooling as well.

Cheers! I look forward to reading your replies.
 
Slade2 said:
I will need a decent sized case to house a number of drives
Click to expand...
The case has lots of capacity for drives and the motherboard supports 4x M.2 and 7x SATA. If you can get away with 3x M.2 and 4x SATA (the norm on modern boards) then that opens up your case and motherboard choice a lot.

My basket at OcUK:

Total: £1,461.89 (includes delivery: £11.98)​

Cooler: this.
 
Intel Core i5-13600K (Raptor Lake) Socket LGA1700 Processor - Retail
CP-6AV-IN
£330 (incl. VAT)
£260 (incl. VAT)
Find out more
TeamGroup Vulcan 32GB (2X16GB) DDR5 PC5-44800C36 5600MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black (FLBD532G5600HC36BDC01)
MY-0BB-TG
£87 (incl. VAT)
Find out more
Phanteks Enthoo Pro 2 Full Tower Case Closed Window Satin Black
CA-0A9-PT
£140 (incl. VAT)
Find out more
Phanteks AMP 650W 80 Plus Gold Modular Power Supply
CA-09Q-PT
£90 (incl. VAT)
Find out more
Thanks for your prompt reply @Tetras. I currently have a couple of 4tb drive and 1 6tb drive, I could go 4xsata without a major issue to be honest I would just have to get another larger drive into the build. Is a 650W power supply going to be enough? I currently have a 750W XFX and to fair its done very well over the years. I suppose if only 4 drives is max then 650 is enough? I currently have the i100 from corsair for my existing cooler and again this has worked flawlessly for 6 or 7 years, I would be happy to pay the difference over the air cooler but is this cooler so good for the money? (I dont like to bleat on but again the system I have now has served me so well, I need to try and build something that will last)
 
Drives only draw a tiny amount of power under load and even less whilst idle and I guess your not using all four at once so i really wouldn’t worry about the psu being adequate for them! Though yes 650 will be plenty for the above setup and a multitude of drives
 
Slade2 said:
Is a 650W power supply going to be enough?
Click to expand...
It is for that spec, but it would be prudent to get 750 or 850 for future graphics upgrades. If you're content with 4 SATA you have way more board choice, so I'd downgrade the motherboard to e.g. MSI B760 Gaming Plus (2x M.2, 4 SATA).
 
Last edited:
The 14600k is actually £20 cheaper than the 13600k.

I would be going AM5 for a bit of future proofing as there should be another two cpu releases on that socket before it gets replaced along with a 850w psu also for future proofing.

My basket at OcUK:

Total: £868.96 (includes delivery: £0.00)​

If the 7800x3d doesn't meet your needs on the productivity side swap it for the 7700/7800/7900 non 3d cpus. The 7800x3d is one of the best gaming cpu's ever though./
 
Intel Core i5-14600K (Raptor Lake-S) Socket LGA1700 Processor - Retail
PRO-INT-00802
£320 (incl. VAT)
£195 (incl. VAT)
Find out more
AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D Eight Core 5.00GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail
CP-3DT-AM
£500 (incl. VAT)
£350 (incl. VAT)
Find out more
Asus ROG Strix B650E-E Gaming WIFI (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard
MB-6JW-AS
£280 (incl. VAT)
£200 (incl. VAT)
Find out more
G.Skill Trident Z5 Neo EXPO 32GB (2x16GB) DDR5 PC5-48000C30 6000MHz Dual Channel Kit - B
MEM-GSK-01360
£150 (incl. VAT)
Find out more
MSI MAG A850GL 850W 80 Plus Gold ATX 3.0 PCIE5Modular Power Supply
CA-012-MS
£120 (incl. VAT)
£105 (incl. VAT)
Find out more
Thanks, @pastymuncher, It was always my intention to upgrade my current system with a new CPU at some point but that never happened. What I would want to ensure is that in a couple of years time I could swap out the 4070 for whatever the latest card would be then (6070 or 7070 by then maybe) I was able to give a bit more life to my current rig by swapping the 6950 to a 970 and as long as I could do that with this system that would be great. I would like to get at least 5 to 6 years of decent gaming on the new system so I can save a bit in-between for upgrades.

The above with the AMD cpu and case and the 4070 totals out to about £1540, I`ll need a decent M2 drive and a CPU cooler so I`m already over budget. I can increase it a little as I already have some items I can use but not sure I would want to re-use my i100 cooler its like 8 years old now. So, anyone got any other suggestions and could throw in an altogether basket for around the £1750 mark?
 
Slade2 said:
So, anyone got any other suggestions and could throw in an altogether basket for around the £1750 mark?
Click to expand...
My basket at OcUK:

Total: £1,714.88 (includes delivery: £11.98)​

Cooler: this.

The 14700F is available around the same price, but you would likely need to update the BIOS with USB flashback.
 
Intel Core i7-13700F (Raptor Lake) Socket LGA1700 Processor - Retail
CP-6BD-IN
£350 (incl. VAT)
Find out more
TeamGroup Vulcan 32GB (2X16GB) DDR5 PC5-44800C36 5600MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black (FLBD532G5600HC36BDC01)
MY-0BB-TG
£87 (incl. VAT)
Find out more
Zotac GeForce RTX 4070 TI Super Trinity Black 16Gb Graphics Card
GRA-ZTC-01497
£800 (incl. VAT)
Find out more
I dont think I`ll have any issue with flashing the BIOS from a usb so probably will opt for the 14700F. Would this build be ok for now with a 4060? how do those cards perform in games? given that I`ll be spending a bit more on this PC i could do with saving some cash elsewhere. I`ll need to factor in a cooler as well. My limit was really £1500 but I can stretch if the step up is a decent one in terms of longevity. I`ll be gaming on a new Dell S2722DGM that arrived today so as long as whatever I get looks good on that monitor for now I would be happy.
 
Slade2 said:
Would this build be ok for now with a 4060? how do those cards perform in games?
Click to expand...
The only thing the 4060 has going for it is low power consumption, removing 4GB from the card it replaced is just dumb. To save money, I would downgrade the 4070 Ti Super to a 4070 or 4070 Super, since that will be fine at 1440p for quite awhile. E.g.

My basket at OcUK:

Total: £1,444.88 (includes delivery: £11.98)​

Slade2 said:
I'll need to factor in a cooler as well.
Click to expand...
I included the cooler cost in the 1750 budget and the 1500 budget above.
 
if you're predominantly gaming then the 7800x3d is a no-brainer. it's faster and with much, much less power consumption

if you're wanting productivity, then 14700 would be preferable to the 13700, as it has an extra 4e-cores (13700 = 8p/8e, 14700 = 8p/12e)

if you're wanting upgradeability, then AM5 wins that race hands down. the current intel platform is a dead end.
 
Ok, after reading all the posts and taking it all on board. I heve the following basket:

My basket at OcUK:

Total: £1,675.92 (includes delivery: £11.98)​

I have changed a few things, gone for a 2TB drive for a little extra and gone for a 4070 super as its currently in stock. Does that baskey look good? will it all work together? will the Phantom Spirit fit inside this case for example? Is there a better AIO water cooler like the i100? or is the Phanton Spirit that good?
 
Asus ROG Strix B650E-E Gaming WIFI (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard
MB-6JW-AS
£280 (incl. VAT)
£200 (incl. VAT)
Find out more
AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D Eight Core 5.00GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail
CP-3DT-AM
£500 (incl. VAT)
£350 (incl. VAT)
Find out more
G.Skill Trident Z5 Neo EXPO 32GB (2x16GB) DDR5 PC5-48000C30 6000MHz Dual Channel Kit - B
MEM-GSK-01360
£150 (incl. VAT)
Find out more
MSI MAG A850GL 850W 80 Plus Gold ATX 3.0 PCIE5Modular Power Supply
CA-012-MS
£120 (incl. VAT)
£105 (incl. VAT)
Find out more
just get the E-F for £80 saving rather than the E-E
do you really need a full-tower case?
would also change the ssd to either: m480 spatium pro, or the 850x or firecuda 530
 
Last edited:
tamzzy said:
just get the E-F for £80 saving rather than the E-E
do you really need a full-tower case?
would also change the ssd to either: m480 spatium pro, or the 850x or firecuda 530
Click to expand...
I will swap the mother boards over, doesnt look like there is much difference between the 2 at all. I would prefer a full tower case for sure. I`ll easily want to get the 4 sata slots filled and can do that with the drives I already have, hence the reason I have gone for a larger M2 initially. This PC will act as my plex server as well so I do need the drive space.
 
Last edited:
Do you really need a Nvidia gpu? If not then the 7900 GRE would be a cheaper but better alternative to the 4070S. It has 16Gb of memory and is not far off 4070ti performance and the cooler is much better than that on the Zotac 4070s. The downside is it draws a little extra power (up to 90w extra) and ray tracing performance isn't as good as the Nvidia cards. I have ordered the Asrock RX 7900 GRE Steel Legend for myself because at £530 a card with that much performance is a steal at todays prices and it has double the vram of my current 3070. You can read a review of the Steel Legend here.
 
pastymuncher said:
Do you really need a Nvidia gpu?
Click to expand...
I spec nvidia cards in my builds because of the mention of productivity & multimonitor, but I didn't know if the OP actually does anything that prefers nvidia.

Slade2 said:
I would prefer a full tower case for sure. I`ll easily want to get the 4 sata slots filled and can do that with the drives I already have, hence the reason I have gone for a larger M2 initially.
Click to expand...
FYI: the Pop XL spec only says 3x 2.5 or 3.5 mounts are included and 2x 2.5 mounts. It also has 2x 5.25 mounts and adapters exist to convert these into 3.5 or 2.5.
 
I will be using 2 monitors, when talking about productivity its nothing more than watching youtube and maybe a bit of office thats it, easily handles with a gaming cpu. I will need a case that can handle 4 drives and at least 2 m2s. I have a coolermaster case currently and it would all fit in that, but its battered so need a new one
 
My basket at OcUK:

Total: £1,654.92 (includes delivery: £0.00)​

I think with the above I`m almost there, I have watched some reviews on the POP XL and for price nothing comes close, I can live with 3 drives for now and save up and replace them with larger ones anyway, how I would love to get a brand new Coolermaster CM690III. I have changes out the SSD for the MSI one. (not sure what was wrong with the WD one?) I dont think I need anything else apart from a windows 11 key but I believe I can get one of those through work anyway. Is there anything else I`ll need to buy to ensure I can built this when it all arrives? Cables or thermal paste? or does that come with the CPU cooler? I have opted for a AIO rather than the Air cooler, is this one a good option for the CPU? or is that air cooler really that good?
 
AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D Eight Core 5.00GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail
CP-3DT-AM
£500 (incl. VAT)
£350 (incl. VAT)
Find out more
G.Skill Trident Z5 Neo EXPO 32GB (2x16GB) DDR5 PC5-48000C30 6000MHz Dual Channel Kit - B
MEM-GSK-01360
£150 (incl. VAT)
Find out more
MSI MAG A850GL 850W 80 Plus Gold ATX 3.0 PCIE5Modular Power Supply
CA-012-MS
£120 (incl. VAT)
£105 (incl. VAT)
Find out more
Asus ROG Strix B650E-F Gaming WIFI (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard
MB-6JX-AS
£195 (incl. VAT)
£180 (incl. VAT)
Find out more
Asrock Radeon RX 7900 GRE Steel Legend 16GB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card
GRA-ASR-01794
£570 (incl. VAT)
Find out more
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom