New Build Advice

[KentMan]

Afternoon all,

Looking at replacing my aging rig and handing it to my youngest, budget is £2k. I have put together the below for comment. Basically playing 3440x1440p res, mainly play old school MMORPGs and a bit of CoD / BF.

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D Eight Core 5.20GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail (SKU: PRO-AMD-03517) = £428.99
• 1 x Asus ROG Strix B650E-F Gaming WIFI (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MB-6JX-AS) = £199.99
• 1 x Gigabyte Aorus Radeon RX 9070 XT Elite 16GB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GRA-GIG-04214) = £698.99
• 1 x Phanteks AMP GH 1000W 80PLUS Platinum ATX Power Supply Modular - Black (SKU: POW-PHK-02521) = £128.99
• 1 x UK Mains Plug with 13A Fuse to IEC C13 Socket Lead, 10A, 2m (SKU: ACC-OCS-01709) = £0.00
• 1 x Kingston FURY Beast RGB 32GB (2x16GB) DDR5 PC5-44800C32 6400MHz Dual Channel Kit (SKU: MEM-KNG-03167) = £124.99
• 1 x Crucial T500 2TB NVMe PCIe Gen4 M.2 Solid State Drive (SKU: STO-CRU-01090) = £128.99
• 1 x Phanteks Evolv Series X2 Case Tempered Glass Windows DRGB Brushed Black (SKU: CAS-PHK-03323) = £129.94
• 1 x Arctic Liquid Freezer III PRO ARGB High Performance All In One CPU Cooler - 360mm (SKU: COO-ARC-04930) = £89.99

Total: £1,930.87 (includes delivery: £0.00)[/INDENT

Open to critique!​

 

[JollyJamma]

Hi

Would you mind completing the template below?

Purchase Timeframe:

Budget: £2k

Preferences:

Current Hardware:

Peripherals:

Special Needs/Requirements:

 

[KentMan]

Purchase Timeframe: 2 - 3 weeks

Budget: £2k

Preferences: AMD CPU, No Gigabyte Motherboards (had bad experiences with them)

Current Hardware: 5900x,32GB Ram, X870 Asrock Taichi, 6800XT, 1000w PSU (all of this is going to my son)

Peripherals: Mechanical Keyboard, 3400x1440p Monitor (120hz), Steelseries wireless headset, Logitech G903 Mouse

Special Needs/Requirements: None

 

[tamzzy]

with a few smarter choices...you'd get a 5080 into the budget or thereabouts

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x Asrock B850 Pro-A WiFi (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MOT-ASR-04004) = £167.99
• 1 x AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D Eight Core 5.20GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail (SKU: PRO-AMD-03517) = £428.99
• 1 x Zotac GeForce RTX 5080 Solid Core 16GB GDDR7 PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GRA-ZTC-04544) = £989.98
• 1 x PNY XLR8 Gaming EPIC-X RGB 32GB (2x16GB) DDR5 PC5-48000C36 6000MHz Dual Channel Kit (SKU: MEM-PNY-04561) = £80.00
• 1 x Phanteks AMP GH 1000W 80PLUS Platinum ATX Power Supply Modular - Black (SKU: POW-PHK-02521) = £128.98
• 1 x UK Mains Plug with 13A Fuse to IEC C13 Socket Lead, 10A, 2m (SKU: ACC-OCS-01709) = £0.00
• 1 x Kingston FURY Renegade 2TB PCI-e 4.0 NVMe M.2 Solid State Drive (SFYRS/2000G) (SKU: STO-KNG-01330) = £125.00
• 1 x Phanteks XT View ATX Case Tempered Glass Windows, Black (SKU: CAS-PHK-01445) = £84.94
• 1 x Thermalright Aqua Elite 360 Black ARGB V3 All In One CPU Cooler (SKU: COO-TLR-03256) = £50.00

Total: £2,055.88 (includes delivery: £0.00)​

edit: spec change as i just saw you said no gigabyte motherboards
(odd belief just based off a single experience, but your money your choice)

 

[Tetras]

1 x Asus ROG Strix B650E-F Gaming WIFI (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MB-6JX-AS) = £199.99

This used to be recommended as (one of) the cheapest PCI-E 5.0 capable boards, but with B850 out you can get cheaper ones now. Except Asus, Asus have added about £100 on the price of their equivalent boards with this gen

1 x Arctic Liquid Freezer III PRO ARGB High Performance All In One CPU Cooler - 360mm (SKU: COO-ARC-04930) = £89.99

I assume you want the AIO for looks, but you don't need one for the 9800X3D. A peerless assassin can do the job, though maybe air cooling would be better in a different case.

1 x Gigabyte Aorus Radeon RX 9070 XT Elite 16GB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GRA-GIG-04214) = £698.99

If you don't like Gigabyte boards, I'm curious why you're paying extra for this card? The Hellhound is £630, I'd be more comfortable paying that, than very nearly 5070 Ti money.

1 x Kingston FURY Beast RGB 32GB (2x16GB) DDR5 PC5-44800C32 6400MHz Dual Channel Kit (SKU: MEM-KNG-03167) = £124.99

Not all CPUs can reach 6400, are you aware of that possibility and if so, comfortable with tweaking?

 

[KentMan]

This used to be recommended as (one of) the cheapest PCI-E 5.0 capable boards, but with B850 out you can get cheaper ones now. Except Asus, Asus have added about £100 on the price of their equivalent boards with this gen


I assume you want the AIO for looks, but you don't need one for the 9800X3D. A peerless assassin can do the job, though maybe air cooling would be better in a different case.


If you don't like Gigabyte boards, I'm curious why you're paying extra for this card? The Hellhound is £630, I'd be more comfortable paying that, than very nearly 5070 Ti money.


Not all CPUs can reach 6400, are you aware of that possibility and if so, comfortable with tweaking?

To answer your questions sir!

1. Motherboards - ok noted, will look at the B850 options prefer to steer clear of Gigabyte mobos though due to previous bad experiences with their mobos.
2. AIO for looks and cooling, although I wasn't sure if the 9800X3D required one ie was a hot chip, happy to stick with AIO though as I have an Arctic 360 at the mo on current rig and its been brilliant.
3. Saw a recent article on the differences in Ram modules used on 9070XT's and the Gigabyte Elite managed to reliably hit higher clock speeds on the ram, that is purely my reason to choose this card
4. Noted on the ram, happy to sit at 6000mhz and C30 or something, as I say I've not really looked at AMD cpu's since I bought my 5900X at release.

 

[JollyJamma]

To answer your questions sir!

1. Motherboards - ok noted, will look at the B850 options prefer to steer clear of Gigabyte mobos though due to previous bad experiences with their mobos.
2. AIO for looks and cooling, although I wasn't sure if the 9800X3D required one ie was a hot chip, happy to stick with AIO though as I have an Arctic 360 at the mo on current rig and its been brilliant.
3. Saw a recent article on the differences in Ram modules used on 9070XT's and the Gigabyte Elite managed to reliably hit higher clock speeds on the ram, that is purely my reason to choose this card
4. Noted on the ram, happy to sit at 6000mhz and C30 or something, as I say I've not really looked at AMD cpu's since I bought my 5900X at release.

Gigabyte are OK. Some good MB models and some bad. ASrock are the only brand in serious question at the moment over killing CPUs and they have said that they have fixed the issue now but they have said that twice so who knows.

The 9800X3D isn't as hot since they moved some components below the CPU cores so cooling is easier. It's a great CPU, just consider getting an AM5 mounting bracket to help improve contact.

RAM modules for a GPU or regular RAM can change batch to batch so there's no promise you'll get a golden sample.

I have a thread which I will link where Buildzoid indicates the best RAM for the 9800X3D. 6000 MT/s CL30 in any capacity is your go to.

Enjoy.

 

[KentMan]

Cheers guys have adjusted my basket accordingly! just trying to decide now which 9070XT to buy, not going down Nvidia route as I want to stick with AMD as they haven't let me down.

 

[tamzzy]

to decide now which 9070XT to buy, not going down Nvidia route as I want to stick with AMD as they haven't let me down.

brand loyalty is silly. for a £2k budget, getting an inferior graphics card is criminal.
thankfully, its not my money but yours

 

[KentMan]

brand loyalty is silly. for a £2k budget, getting an inferior graphics card is criminal.
thankfully, its not my money but yours

I appreciate that but ive been on AMD GPU's since 290 era, dabbled with a 3080 but ultimately went back to AMD, I don't use ray tracing and AMD Raster performance is more than acceptable to me, I'd rather just save some money on the build and not go NVidia and use that money elsewhere.

 

[tamzzy]

as long as you're bringing down the overall build cost accordingly
the premium cards aren't worth the extra cost IMO. you're not going to gain 10-15% performance nor are the acoustics massively better either
the base cards are good enough, and i'd just get the cheapest one available

 

[mickyflinn]

The PowerColor Radeon RX 9070 XT Hellhound at £660 would be my choice , dual bios is a bonus.

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/powercolor-radeon-rx-9070-xt-hellhound-16gb-gddr6-pci-express-graphics-card-gra-pwc-04016.html

 

[Tetras]

I appreciate that but ive been on AMD GPU's since 290 era, dabbled with a 3080 but ultimately went back to AMD, I don't use ray tracing and AMD Raster performance is more than acceptable to me, I'd rather just save some money on the build and not go NVidia and use that money elsewhere.

If you're paying £700 you're very nearly into 5070 Ti territory, which is a better card overall, or you could rejig the choices for a 5080 (RE: tamzzy's build) which is significantly better.

The 9070 XT launched at ~£570 (hard to believe now, but eh) for the base models, so £700 is way over the odds. If you're happy paying it and the memory is worth it, your call, but for me, AMD can kiss my censored @ £700.

 

[Craig_d1]

brand loyalty is silly. for a £2k budget, getting an inferior graphics card is criminal.
thankfully, its not my money but yours

well lets hope you never buy an audi or vw when the skoda is cheaper..after all, it'll be the same engine inside so the same performance(same goes for buying a higher spec model of the same car). your statement comes across as belittling someone for choosing a more expensive case etc, rather than going cheaper case and more expensive gpu. Some people do like, me included, to build in more premium cases etc. As long as we know it's going to cost more, that's fine..or as well as putting your 5080 build in there, do the same with the cheaper case, pointing out he can gave the same 9070xt performance for £1700 rather than £2k

, but the 'getting an inferrior card is criminal, thankfully, it's not my money' part just screams to me of you looking down your nose at someone as you disagree with their choices because they don't align with you views on how they should spend 'their' money. and sorry as probably not what you meant, just the way I read it (probably because I 'choose' to have a more premium case etc sitting on my desk, seeing as i see it for multiple hours a day, along with a lot of other people if you look at the most sold tab for cases), so wound me up a bit. if it going on the floor out the way, so be it, but if its on your desk as a showpiece also, I want more than a budget case,, esp at that price point. By all means point out you can get the same for less with cheaper components, or get more performance for the same money with again some cheaper components to offset the more expensive gpu, but lets not just condescend they they are wrong and you are right

the 9070xt isn't inferior..it's just at a different price point/tier card..talking from £640 to £700 really for a 9070xt to £975 to £1400 for a 5080, and the card he's selected for £700 is the equivalent of the oc gaming 5080, which is £1200, or £500 more..nvidia cards are a shed load more if you want a bigger cooler etc). personally, after being nvidia all my life, i switched to 9070xt nitro+ this time round, as I'm never going to spend £1k on a graphics card, and at the time, and still where I am, the 5070ti is far more expensive. I gave myself a £650 limit on the gpu(currency equiv), and stuck to it
and I'm perfectly happy with the 9070xt performance..coming from a 3080 it's leaps ahead...though as 5070ti would be tempting now it's just over £700 now, but it's 3% faster relative performance, at 4k, 4%... playing a game at 100fps, you're not going to notice 4 extra frames. and you can't compare the 9070xt to previous gen..when transplanting my build to my son, I bought him a 7800xt for his gpu as didn't want him to have my 3070ti with 8gb vram...started indy jones up (which i was getting 80fps on with medium ray tracing at 4k), and the 7800xt was about 10fps..basically unplayable

thinking about it, even now, at £668 for a nitro+, but metal case 3 slot plus gpu, vs a 2 slot basic 5070ti at £700, I'll take the nitro+.....not even a contest for me. I'm playing 4k just fine, looks gorgeous, wont notice the difference when playing

 

[Craig_d1]

Afternoon all,

​

Open to critique!​

the evo2 case is ashowpiece, but you'll still need 3 intake fans for the bottom, and probably uanother intaske at the rear to feed some cool air for the rad at top..and being 3 sided glass, I would keep it an aio...also check that the arctic can fit..also with the thicker rad you don't want the fans sticking out the top a bit...you're paying for the looks after all. just built the nv5 case with d30 fans for my son..the fans link into the hub and all the rgb can be controlled directly via the case..not sure evolve case is similar, you might want to check
but even so, you'll have to budget more money for fans

below is a buils with a good mobo, which is what @tamzzy was alluding too (and sorry tamzzy, that just triggered me a bit, I know you mean well)...you can get the same performance for less....I've used still premium parts (ram/mobo/gpu), and it's still £150 cheaper than your build. going cheaper board, 6000c36 ram and maybe the basic 9070xt gigabyt 3 fan gpu, will probably knock off another £100. so
also be aware the psu cables are loose, so you'll need to really cable tie them a bit to smarten then up a bit..



My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x Antec C3 ARGB Midi Tower - Black (SKU: CAS-ATC-02727) = £79.99
• 1 x MSI MAG B850 TOMAHAWK MAX WIFI (AMD AM5) B850 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MOT-MSI-03993) = £220.00
• 1 x AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D Eight Core 5.20GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail (SKU: PRO-AMD-03517) = £419.99
• 1 x G.Skill Trident Z5 Neo EXPO RGB 32GB (2x16GB) DDR5 PC5-48000C30 6000MHz Dual Channel Kit (SKU: MEM-GSK-01356) = £109.99
• 1 x Kingston FURY Renegade 2TB PCI-e 4.0 NVMe M.2 Solid State Drive (SFYRS/2000G) (SKU: STO-KNG-01330) = £124.99
• 1 x Phanteks AMP GH 1000W 80PLUS Platinum ATX Power Supply Modular - Black (SKU: POW-PHK-02521) = £128.99
• 1 x UK Mains Plug with 13A Fuse to IEC C13 Socket Lead, 10A, 2m (SKU: ACC-OCS-01709) = £0.00
• 1 x Arctic Freezer 36 A-RGB 120m Black CPU Cooler - 2x 120mm (SKU: COO-ARC-02418) = £36.95
• 1 x Sapphire Nitro + Radeon RX 9070 XT Gaming OC 16GB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GRA-SPR-03987) = £668.98

Total: £1,789.88 (includes delivery: £0.00)​

 

[tamzzy]

@Craig_d1 don't get your knickers in a twist mate

as i specced in my post, you can see that i've also put a showpiece case and aio etc, so no holds barred, and with a zotac 5080
whilst i understand where you're coming from, he had a £2k budget, the individual part prices don't matter
£2k 9800x3d + 9070xt build vs £2k 9800x3d + 5080 build...i know which one i would take any day of the week

i also did point out that he should be lowering the budget if he was sticking with a 9070xt

as long as you're bringing down the overall build cost accordingly

but as always, not my money not my problem

ps: and no, i don't drive a VAG auto

 

[Tetras]

and the memory is worth it

I just dig into the specs a little more and Gigabyte still use sleeve bearings with this £700 card

That had me curious, so I checked the 5090.
5090 Windforce: sleeve.
5090 Gaming OC: sleeve.
5090 Aorus Master: ball.

How much do I have to pay for a ball bearing, Gigabyte? Is a wonder they even fit fans below £1K.

 

[Gray2233]

I just dig into the specs a little more and Gigabyte still use sleeve bearings with this £700 card

That had me curious, so I checked the 5090.
5090 Windforce: sleeve.
5090 Gaming OC: sleeve.
5090 Aorus Master: ball.

How much do I have to pay for a ball bearing, Gigabyte? Is a wonder they even fit fans below £1K.

If I was spending over two grand for a good time I'd want at least a couple of balls.

 

[Craig_d1]

@Craig_d1 don't get your knickers in a twist mate

as i specced in my post, you can see that i've also put a showpiece case and aio etc, so no holds barred, and with a zotac 5080
whilst i understand where you're coming from, he had a £2k budget, the individual part prices don't matter
£2k 9800x3d + 9070xt build vs £2k 9800x3d + 5080 build...i know which one i would take any day of the week

i also did point out that he should be lowering the budget if he was sticking with a 9070xt


but as always, not my money not my problem

ps: and no, i don't drive a VAG auto

been a long week, appologies
side note..anyone played phasmophobia? Just finished a couple hours playing with my son. Headphones and in the dark. I'm already on heart meds..it doesn't half make me jump when a ghost breathes in your ear or starts hunting you. First time that happenned scared the ***p out of me...my sons didn't actually explain the game to me 1st. Went in blind. Looking forward to subnautica 2 coming out where I can just be chased by a leviathan instead

 

[Gray2233]

been a long week, appologies
side note..anyone played phasmophobia? Just finished a couple hours playing with my son. Headphones and in the dark. I'm already on heart meds..it doesn't half make me jump when a ghost breathes in your ear or starts hunting you. First time that happenned scared the ***p out of me...my sons didn't actually explain the game to me 1st. Went in blind. Looking forward to subnautica 2 coming out where I can just be chased by a leviathan instead

Too warm, would promptly poo myself and pass out only to wake up in a festering clammy stink many hours later.