New build incl monitor ~£3500

[~Tealeaf~]

Hi all,

I built my last system in 2019 and looking to build a complete system including a new monitor and looking for some feedback/advice on parts.
Overall the rig will be mainly used for games (Overwatch, Finals, CK3...future games), with some minor work related tasks occasionally, so what I'm looking for is:

Ultra Wide OLED curved monitor, for immersive games and some productivity, the KVM as part of the monitor I've selected below will be quite useful I think for swapping between work laptop and my desktop.
48 or 64 GB of RAM as my work programs are quite RAM hungry. I'm not sure the best way of getting the RAM whether four sticks of 16GB is better vs 2 sticks of 32GB, there seems to be a fair difference in price, I've chucked both into the shopping basket for comparison.
3-4TB of disk space, my work data takes a lot of space.
I'd probably be looking at a 9070XT when one is available.
I was going for a white colour scheme this time but willing to go for anything really, preferably some general theme in case I decide to have it above the desk for a change.

I'm not much of a tinkerer, so will likely build the desktop and forget about it until I notice performance issues in 5 years time or whenever....

Would appreciate any comments for better or price / performance components etc. Budget ideally <£3500 including monitor.

Cheers,
~Tealeaf~

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 Asrock X870 Pro RS WIFI (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MOT-ASR-03308) = £219.99
• 2 x Crucial Pro OC 32GB (2x16GB) DDR5 PC5-48000C38 6400MHz UDIMM Dual Channel Kit - White (SKU: MEM-CRU-03386) = £98.00
• 1 x Kingston NV3 4TB PCI-e 4.0 NVMe M.2 Solid State Drive (SNV3S/4000G) (SKU: STO-KNG-03397) = £219.94
• 1 x Phanteks NV7 D-RGB with Front and Side Glass Panels Full Tower Case - White (SKU: CA-0BR-PT) = £189.95
• 1 x Phanteks Glacier One D30 240mm White RGB All In One CPU Water Cooler (SKU: HS-01Q-PT) = £129.95
• 1 x MSI 34" MAG 341CQP QD-OLED 3440x1440 175Hz 0.03ms A-Sync Ultrawide Curved Gaming Monitor (SKU: MON-MSI-01776) = £898.99
• 1 x Asus ROG Loki SFX-L 850W Platinum Power Supply - White (SKU: CA-06F-AS) = £209.99
• 1 x Kingston FURY Beast 64GB (2x32GB) DDR5 PC5-44800C32 6400MHz Dual Channel Kit - White (SKU: MEM-KNG-03172) = £244.99

Total: £2,759.78 (includes delivery: £0.00)​

 

[~Tealeaf~]

Posted my basket twice by accident. Removed.

 

[Tetras]

1 x Phanteks NV7 D-RGB with Front and Side Glass Panels Full Tower Case - White (SKU: CA-0BR-PT) = £189.95

I'd have a look Antec's C5 ARGB, just because it is good value with 7x 120mm fans included.

I'm not sure the best way of getting the RAM whether four sticks of 16GB is better vs 2 sticks of 32GB, there seems to be a fair difference in price, I've chucked both into the shopping basket for comparison.

2x32 is more likely to be trouble free on DDR5, so I'd always suggest that over 4x16. I assume you're aware that 6400 may or may not work "out of the box", regardless of the EXPO profile being present?

1 x Kingston NV3 4TB PCI-e 4.0 NVMe M.2 Solid State Drive (SNV3S/4000G) (SKU: STO-KNG-03397) = £219.94

Is this a storage drive, and/or a main drive?

 

[~Tealeaf~]

I assume you're aware that 6400 may or may not work "out of the box", regardless of the EXPO profile being present?

Not too clued up on that, I guess there are some threads on this in the Memory discussions I can browse over? Thanks for raising it.

Is this a storage drive, and/or a main drive?

Yes I was going to use it as the main drive + storage.

 

[Tetras]

Not too clued up on that, I guess there are some threads on this in the Memory discussions I can browse over? Thanks for raising it.

This writing applies equally to 7000 and 9000 series CPUs, though it is believed that 9000 CPUs have a higher probability of it working:

The first thing always worth mentioning in these reviews is compatibility for both Intel and AMD. Given that there are just so many different system configurations possible, it is hard to give an absolute yes or no to what will work. However, a general range of support can be suggested for the best chances of success. Even though G.SKILL does not mention AMD support on the packaging or website for this specific memory kit, it will in fact work since XMP profiles do load up on AM5 motherboards. However, it is still not recommended being paired with a Ryzen 7000 CPU. To get slightly technical here, the reason is due to how CPU memory controller functions. Ever since the AMD AGESA 1.0.0.7b update, motherboards now have the option to allow the system memory to operate in a 2:1 ratio to the CPU memory controller. This does offer much greater compatibility, but comes with a disadvantage due to how the memory controller will increase latency and negatively impacts performance in a 2:1 ratio configuration. What this all alludes to, is that not all motherboards and Ryzen 7000 CPUs can handle dual-rank 6400 MT/s memory in this optimal 1:1 ratio, forcing the system into 2:1 mode that is far from ideal. G.SKILL has other memory kits better suited for AMD systems. In the right system, it is great, but not everyone will have this same experience.

G.SKILL Trident Z5 RGB DDR5-6400 64 GB CL32 Review

G.SKILL aims to keep the competition at bay with another 64 GB kit. By combining high-capacity for content creators and enthusiast-tier timings for gamers, we get this DDR5-6400 memory kit! Follow along as we put this memory through its paces and see where it lands on the charts.

www.techpowerup.com

You can tweak it to run at 6000 (while still using XMP/EXPO) instead on most (all?) boards, but that might be a complication you don't want.

Yes I was going to use it as the main drive + storage.

I wouldn't recommend using the NV3 as a primary drive.

The main problem with the NV drives is that Kingston doesn't guarantee/state any of the components and that is reflected in some of the numbers (which allow them to potentially use substandard parts).

E.g. endurance for the 2TB capacity is rated at 640 TB, whereas Kioxia's Exceria Pro is guaranteed to be TLC and rated to 800 TB, as is Kingston's Fury Renegade, which is rated to a hefty 2000 TB

For a primary drive, I'd get any TLC & DRAM drive like WD's SN850X, Crucial T500 or Samsung 990 Pro.

Budget ideally <£3500 including monitor.

Here is an alternative build.

The 9070 XT is just a price placeholder for a card of your choice (white ones I'm aware of: Sapphire Pure, Powercolor Red Devil white and Spectral Hellhound and ASRock Steel Legend).

I chose black memory because the RAM slots are black.

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x (unchanged) AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D Eight Core 5.20GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail (SKU: PRO-AMD-03517) = £449.99
• 1 x Gigabyte B650E AORUS ELITE X AX ICE (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MOT-GIG-03568) = £224.99
• 1 x Kingston FURY Beast EXPO 64GB (2x32GB) DDR5 PC5-44800C30 6000MHz Dual Channel Kit (SKU: MEM-KNG-03707) = £199.99
• 1 x Sapphire Nitro + Radeon RX 9070 XT Gaming OC 16GB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GRA-SPR-03987) = £719.99
• 1 x Crucial T500 4TB NVMe PCIe Gen4 M.2 Solid State Drive (SKU: STO-CRU-02889) = £236.98
• 1 x Lian Li Lancool 216 Mid-tower PC case - White (SKU: CA-7B9-LL) = £95.98
• 1 x Phanteks AMP GH 1000W 80PLUS Platinum ATX Power Supply Modular - White (SKU: POW-PHK-02522) = £138.95
• 1 x Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 White ARGB CPU Air Cooler (SKU: COO-TLR-03282) = £49.99

• 1 x (unchanged) MSI 34" MAG 341CQP QD-OLED 3440x1440 175Hz 0.03ms A-Sync Ultrawide Curved Gaming Monitor (SKU: MON-MSI-01776) = £899.00

Total: £3,015.86 (includes delivery: £0.00)​

 

[Craig_d1]

Nv5 a bit more proportional...nv7 has big gap above the mother board...you'll need the phite phanteks 360mm d30 aio to go with below...ocuk not selling it for some reason. might also need a controller for the fans..i'll be able to check in a few days as going home and theres one there for my son's build
I'd still with 6000c30 ram for am5..above 6000 speed the memory controller goes to 2:1 ratio..with a latency penalty so you have to get much faster ram to compensate...6000 speed is 1:1 ratio..
put a diff mobo in. b850 more than enough for gaming also and work..both have 3 m.2, wifi 7 etc..doesn't have usb4 though, but prefer the cleaner look...
whatever you coose, bottom and side you'll need reverse fans, rear standar fan and roof will be aio with standard fans..nv7 you can fit 4 360mm fans on side or 3 140mm i think..in which case i'd choose 420mm aio for roof(but need to double check that)
you don't need to use phantek fans though...

nv5 below shows size

nv7 in white with d30 fans

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x Phanteks NV5 v2 - White (SKU: CAS-PHK-02323) = £104.99
• 1 x Phanteks D30 Reverse Airflow 120mm DRGB PWM Fan Triple Pack - White (SKU: FG-03J-PT) = £77.99
• 1 x Phanteks D30 120mm DRGB PWM Fan - White (SKU: FG-03C-PT) = £25.99
• 1 x Phanteks D30 Reverse Airflow 120mm DRGB PWM Fan - White (SKU: FG-03G-PT) = £25.99
• 1 x Gigabyte B850 AORUS ELITE WIFI7 ICE (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MOT-GIG-03857) = £224.99
• 1 x AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D Eight Core 5.20GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail (SKU: PRO-AMD-03517) = £449.99
• 1 x G.Skill Trident Z5 Neo EXPO RGB 64GB (2x32GB) DDR5 PC5-48000C30 6000MHz Dual Channel Kit (SKU: MEM-GSK-01359) = £229.99
• 1 x Crucial T500 4TB NVMe PCIe Gen4 M.2 Solid State Drive (SKU: STO-CRU-02889) = £236.99
• 1 x Seasonic Focus GX-1000 ATX 3.1 1000W 80 Gold Modular Power Supply - White (SKU: POW-SSC-03191) = £179.98

Total: £1,556.90 (includes delivery: £0.00)​

 

[~Tealeaf~]

Thank you both for the feedback, I've adjusted my basket to match almost what you have Craig_d1 has with the addition of Lian Li HydroShift LCD 360R AIO CPU Cooler 360mm - White.

The 1000W for the phanteks and seasonic are both pre-order and I am going to wait till a white 9070xt is available too. Do I need 1000W or would 850W be enough?

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 MSI 34" MAG 341CQP QD-OLED 3440x1440 175Hz 0.03ms A-Sync Ultrawide Curved Gaming Monitor (SKU: MON-MSI-01776) = £898.99
• 1 x Lian Li HydroShift LCD 360R AIO CPU Cooler 360mm - White (SKU: COO-LIA-02328) = £134.99
• 1 x Phanteks NV5 v2 - White (SKU: CAS-PHK-02323) = £104.99
• 1 x Phanteks D30 Reverse Airflow 120mm DRGB PWM Fan Triple Pack - White (SKU: FG-03J-PT) = £77.98
• 1 x Phanteks D30 120mm DRGB PWM Fan - White (SKU: FG-03C-PT) = £26.00
• 1 x Phanteks D30 Reverse Airflow 120mm DRGB PWM Fan - White (SKU: FG-03G-PT) = £25.99
• 1 x Gigabyte B850 AORUS ELITE WIFI7 ICE (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MOT-GIG-03857) = £224.99
• 1 x G.Skill Trident Z5 Neo EXPO RGB 64GB (2x32GB) DDR5 PC5-48000C30 6000MHz Dual Channel Kit (SKU: MEM-GSK-01359) = £229.99
• 1 x Crucial T500 4TB NVMe PCIe Gen4 M.2 Solid State Drive (SKU: STO-CRU-02889) = £236.99
• 1 x Phanteks AMP GH 1000W 80PLUS Platinum ATX Power Supply Modular - White (SKU: POW-PHK-02522) = £138.94

Total: £2,549.84 (includes delivery: £0.00)​

 

[Craig_d1]

Thank you both for the feedback, I've adjusted my basket to match almost what you have Craig_d1 has with the addition of Lian Li HydroShift LCD 360R AIO CPU Cooler 360mm - White.

The 1000W for the phanteks and seasonic are both pre-order and I am going to wait till a white 9070xt is available too. Do I need 1000W or would 850W be enough?

850w will be enough for a 9070xt..think it'll draw 330w, and the 9800x3d 88w while gaming..max 180...ust put the 1000w as gives you room to upgrade as decent psu should last next upgrade cycle
using a lian li aio and phatels fans.....I'm beginning to twitch ..if you want the rgb to all sync together, I'd try and keep to the same...hadn't actually sen that aio before from lian li, but uses l connect 3 software so prob connects into a control box...I've got lian li sl inf fans that do same..sorry at work at mo then dashing to catch flight home for easter..doubt I'll have time to look until sunday, though prob be xbox'ing with kids or watching film with my wife...only have the week off. will try to look though

 

[Tetras]

Thank you both for the feedback, I've adjusted my basket to match almost what you have Craig_d1 has with the addition of Lian Li HydroShift LCD 360R AIO CPU Cooler 360mm - White.

The 1000W for the phanteks and seasonic are both pre-order and I am going to wait till a white 9070xt is available too. Do I need 1000W or would 850W be enough?

I'd get 1000 just to give you some more headroom from power spikes and for future upgrades, especially since you have the budget for it.

I'd suggest again you take a look at the C5 ARGB or the Flux though, you're spending £130 on fans there which are included with those cases.

 

[~Tealeaf~]

Thanks again, with the C5 installed fans will the CPU cooler I've chosen below be able to sync the RGB?

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 MSI 34" MAG 341CQP QD-OLED 3440x1440 175Hz 0.03ms A-Sync Ultrawide Curved Gaming Monitor (SKU: MON-MSI-01776) = £898.99
• 1 x Gigabyte B850 AORUS ELITE WIFI7 ICE (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MOT-GIG-03857) = £224.99
• 1 x G.Skill Trident Z5 Neo EXPO RGB 64GB (2x32GB) DDR5 PC5-48000C30 6000MHz Dual Channel Kit (SKU: MEM-GSK-01359) = £229.99
• 1 x Crucial T500 4TB NVMe PCIe Gen4 M.2 Solid State Drive (SKU: STO-CRU-02889) = £236.99
• 1 x Phanteks AMP GH 1000W 80PLUS Platinum ATX Power Supply Modular - White (SKU: POW-PHK-02522) = £138.95
• 1 x Antec C5 ARGB Midi Tower - White (SKU: CAS-ATC-02730) = £109.99
• 1 x EK Water Blocks EK-Nucleus CR360 Lux D-RGB All In One CPU Water Cooler - White (SKU: HS-018-EK) = £139.99

Total: £2,429.88 (includes delivery: £0.00)​

 

[Craig_d1]

or antec c3, as that was designed purely to undercut the nv5...the phateks are more premium though

 

[~Tealeaf~]

The problem is I can't find the phanteks 360mm d30 aio anywhere!

 

[~Tealeaf~]

Ok so now I've added a pre-order for the GPU to the basket, and I think I'll put the order in, in a day or two. Thanks for the help sorting me out with the parts!

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 MSI 34" MAG 341CQP QD-OLED 3440x1440 175Hz 0.03ms A-Sync Ultrawide Curved Gaming Monitor (SKU: MON-MSI-01776) = £898.99
• 1 x Gigabyte B850 AORUS ELITE WIFI7 ICE (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MOT-GIG-03857) = £224.99
• 1 x G.Skill Trident Z5 Neo EXPO RGB 64GB (2x32GB) DDR5 PC5-48000C30 6000MHz Dual Channel Kit (SKU: MEM-GSK-01359) = £229.99
• 1 x Crucial T500 4TB NVMe PCIe Gen4 M.2 Solid State Drive (SKU: STO-CRU-02889) = £236.99
• 1 x Phanteks AMP GH 1000W 80PLUS Platinum ATX Power Supply Modular - White (SKU: POW-PHK-02522) = £138.95
• 1 x Antec C5 ARGB Midi Tower - White (SKU: CAS-ATC-02730) = £109.99
• 1 x EK Water Blocks EK-Nucleus CR360 Lux D-RGB All In One CPU Water Cooler - White (SKU: HS-018-EK) = £139.99
• 1 x Asrock Radeon RX 9070 XT Steel Legend 16GB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GRA-ASR-04036) = £689.99

Total: £3,119.87 (includes delivery: £0.00)​

 

[Journey]

Is look at the Dell 34" OLED, which is around £500, and I'd also spilt my SSD's into 2x 2TB, and ensure you can back up your work data on top of that.

You've not said what % work Vs personal is, and you say it is RAM heavy but not core heavy then?

 

[~Tealeaf~]

Thanks Journey, its mainly going to be for personal use 90%. My work laptop has 64GB RAM and 8 cores/16 threads, so I just wanted the build to meet those specs too. Under load whilst generating an output, or loading multiple files into my software, I've noticed that the RAM really gets eaten up.

 

[Craig_d1]

Ok so now I've added a pre-order for the GPU to the basket, and I think I'll put the order in, in a day or two. Thanks for the help sorting me out with the parts!

did you get everything? Ended up building my son's pc while on hol at home with the nv5 case...such a lovely case...I'd actually swap my 011d evo for it here if i could but can't buy it here. interested to hear what you think of the C5 case you decided on