New new pc build

[Mach234 (or similar).]

Hey, I'm putting a new build together. Last time I asked about 8 years ago you helped me put together an awesome piece of kit that can still pretty much handle almost anything I thrown at it (here).
I use it for UE4 games development so a lot of lighting builds, video editing, some heavy number crunching, as well as gaming and want to invest in a VR setup at some point.
I haven't been keeping up to date with the latest developments and kit for a while, but was thinking along the lines of:

• i7 processor latest gen (Raptor/Alder) LGA1700
• 3060/4060 gfx with 12GB?
• 32 GB RAM
• 1TB SSD for OS and critical apps
• 2TB HDD for bulk of apps, games, file storage
• Water cooling
• Dual-layer Blu-ray writer (internal or external)
• Also looking for a funky clear sided full tower case (optionally with space for an optical drive) 2+ USB in front panel and like to keep the cabling tidy so space to hide it away.
• In the past have always liked/gone for the Gigabyte motherboards and Intel cpus..

I posted earlier this year (here) but kind of got side-tracked and this was the setup I was going to go for but have heard it might be better to avoid 14th gen cores as its had some issues..

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x Intel Core i7-14700K (Raptor Lake-S) Socket LGA1700 Processor - Retail (SKU: PRO-INT-00800) = £359.99
• 1 x Gigabyte Z790 Aorus Elite AX (LGA 1700) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MB-5BK-GI) = £214.99
• 1 x Corsair Vengeance EXPO 32GB (2X16GB) DDR5 PC5-41600C40 5200MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black (CMK32GX5M2B5200Z40) (SKU: MY-4DP-CS) = £89.99
• 1 x MSI GeForce RTX 3060 Ventus 2X OC 12GB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GX-374-MS) = £248.99
• 1 x Crucial P3 1TB M.2 2280 PCI-e 3.0 NVMe Solid State Drive (SKU: HD-077-CR) = £71.98
• 1 x WD 2TB Blue HDD 5400rpm 64MB Cache Internal Hard Drive (WD20EARZ) (SKU: STO-WDC-01659) = £59.99
• 1 x Phanteks Enthoo Pro Glass Midi Tower Case - Black (SKU: CA-075-PT) = £124.98
• 1 x Asus Blu-Ray Combo 12x SATA BDXL & M-Disc Support Cyberlink Power2Go 8 - Retail (SKU: CD-064-AS) = £66.95
• 1 x be quiet! Pure Loop 2 FX 240 ARGB High Performance CPU Water Cooler - 240mm (SKU: HS-024-BQ) = £109.99
• 1 x DeepCool LS520 All In One Black CPU Water Cooler - 240mm (SKU: HS-01W-DC) = £109.99
• 1 x Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound (3.5g) (SKU: AC-000-AC) = £8.00

Total: £1,465.84 (includes delivery: £0.00)​

I'm not too sure what the price range would be to give me a pc in a similar performance bracket relative to todays standards as last time, but have a budget of around £1,400 (not including peripherals or OS) can go up or down a bit depending.
If anyone could suggest a kick ass components list or some other pointers, would be really appreciated.



Previous Spec (2016)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA Z170 Sniper
CPU: Intel Core i7-6700K (8M Cache, up to 4.20 GHz)
GPU: Gainward GeForce GTX 760 Phantom (upgraded to 2047MB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB (Gigabyte))
Chipset: Intel Z170
RAM: Ninja-V DDR4 3000
SSD: Samsung 850 Evo 250GB
HDD: Western Digital Blue 1TB 7200rpm
£974


Any help in specing me a new PC would be great..
Thanks,
Mach234 (or similar)

 

[Werewolf]

One thing I might suggest is if possible go for more ram, I went with 64gb for my new machine about a year ago on the basis that you can never have too much memory* and it helped my old machine last nearly 10 years (32gb helped my 4770k last until my 14700).


*And that 3 years down the line adding more memory is often much more difficult than updating the graphics or storage as memory standards seem to change more often and aren't usually backwards compatible (unlike video card slots).

 

[Tetras]

I posted earlier this year (here) but kind of got side-tracked and this was the setup I was going to go for but have heard it might be better to avoid 14th gen cores as its had some issues..

Here's a rebuilt AMD spec, many of the parts are the same, but I have upgraded the GPU which has taken the money down on the CPU, because with the talk of gaming and VR I think a 4070 is a better bet.

7900/7900X versus 9700X isn't an easy decision. The 9700X has higher single core/thread performance and better AVX512 support, which can be very helpful in some workloads, but when the task is fully multithreaded the 12 cores of the 7900/7900X pull ahead. If the price cuts on the 9000 series elsewhere happen here then I'd get the 9900X.

Is there meant to be a PSU in the spec?

Water cooling

I removed this for cost reasons and you don't need an AIO to cool the AMD CPUs anyway.

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x AMD Ryzen 7 9700X Eight Core 5.50GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail (SKU: PRO-AMD-02676) = £338.99
• 1 x AMD Ryzen - Space Marine & Unknown 9 Awakening Games Bundle (SKU: DIG-AMD-02908) = £0.00
• 1 x Gigabyte B650 Gaming X AX (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MB-5BF-GI) = £149.99
• 1 x Corsair Vengeance EXPO 64GB (2X32GB) DDR5 PC5-44800C40 5600MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black (CMK64GX5M2B5600Z40) (SKU: MY-4DL-CS) = £169.99
• 1 x MSI GeForce RTX 4070 VENTUS 2X E1 OC 12GB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GRA-MSI-03202) = £458.99
• 1 x WD Black SN770 1TB SSD M.2 2280 NVME PCI-E Gen4 Solid State Drive (WDS100T3X0E) (SKU: HD-58F-WD) = £59.99
• 1 x (unchanged) WD 2TB Blue HDD 5400rpm 64MB Cache Internal Hard Drive (WD20EARZ) (SKU: STO-WDC-01659) = £59.98
• 1 x (unchanged) Phanteks Enthoo Pro Glass Midi Tower Case - Black (SKU: CA-075-PT) = £124.98

• 1 x Thermalright Phantom Spirit 120 SE Dual Tower CPU Cooler - 120mm (SKU: COO-TLR-02723) = £36.95
• 1 x (unchanged) Asus Blu-Ray Combo 12x SATA BDXL & M-Disc Support Cyberlink Power2Go 8 - Retail (SKU: CD-064-AS) = £66.95

Total: £1,466.81 (includes delivery: £0.00)​

A spec to hit nearer the budget, including a PSU, but with more CPU power and the original 3060 12GB:

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x AMD Ryzen 9 9900X Twelve Core 5.60GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail (SKU: PRO-AMD-02675) = £428.98
• 1 x AMD Ryzen - Space Marine & Unknown 9 Awakening Games Bundle (SKU: DIG-AMD-02908) = £0.00
• 1 x Gigabyte B650 Gaming X AX (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MB-5BF-GI) = £149.99
• 1 x Corsair Vengeance EXPO 64GB (2X32GB) DDR5 PC5-44800C40 5600MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black (CMK64GX5M2B5600Z40) (SKU: MY-4DL-CS) = £169.99
• 1 x (unchanged) MSI GeForce RTX 3060 Ventus 2X OC 12GB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GX-374-MS) = £248.99
• 1 x KIOXIA EXCERIA G2 1TB SSD NVME M.2 2280 Solid State Drive (SKU: STO-TSH-00981) = £52.99
• 1 x (unchanged) WD 2TB Blue HDD 5400rpm 64MB Cache Internal Hard Drive (WD20EARZ) (SKU: STO-WDC-01659) = £59.99
  
• 1 x (unchanged) Phanteks Enthoo Pro Glass Midi Tower Case - Black (SKU: CA-075-PT) = £124.98
• 1 x Phanteks AMP GH 750W 80PLUS Gold ATX Power Supply Modular - Black (SKU: POW-PHK-02517) = £84.95

• 1 x Thermalright Phantom Spirit 120 SE Dual Tower CPU Cooler - 120mm (SKU: COO-TLR-02723) = £36.95
• 1 x (unchanged) Asus Blu-Ray Combo 12x SATA BDXL & M-Disc Support Cyberlink Power2Go 8 - Retail (SKU: CD-064-AS) = £66.95

Total: £1,436.75 (includes delivery: £11.98)​

 

[Mach234 (or similar).]

Thanks looks good, will have a proper look tonight..

 

[Boomstick777]

Building now, AMD makes more sense, future upgrade options and avoiding all the 13th / 14th gen vmin drama.

 

[Mach234 (or similar).]

Thanks for the build recommend. So this is the build I'm looking at the moment:

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x AMD Ryzen 7 9700X Eight Core 5.50GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail (SKU: PRO-AMD-02676) = £338.99
• 1 x AMD Ryzen - Space Marine & Unknown 9 Awakening Games Bundle (SKU: DIG-AMD-02908) = £0.00
• 1 x Corsair Vengeance EXPO 64GB (2X32GB) DDR5 PC5-44800C40 5600MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black (CMK64GX5M2B5600Z40) (SKU: MY-4DL-CS) = £169.99
• 1 x MSI GeForce RTX 3060 Ventus 2X OC 12GB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GX-374-MS) = £265.00
• 1 x WD Black SN770 1TB SSD M.2 2280 NVME PCI-E Gen4 Solid State Drive (WDS100T3X0E) (SKU: HD-58F-WD) = £59.98
• 1 x WD 2TB Blue HDD 5400rpm 64MB Cache Internal Hard Drive (WD20EARZ) (SKU: STO-WDC-01659) = £59.99
• 1 x Thermalright Phantom Spirit 120 SE Dual Tower CPU Cooler - 120mm (SKU: COO-TLR-02723) = £36.95
• 1 x Asus Blu-Ray Combo 12x SATA BDXL & M-Disc Support Cyberlink Power2Go 8 - Retail (SKU: CD-064-AS) = £66.95
• 1 x Phanteks Enthoo Pro Glass Midi Tower Case - Black (SKU: CA-075-PT) = £124.98
• 1 x Phanteks AMP GH 750W 80PLUS Gold ATX Power Supply Modular - Black (SKU: POW-PHK-02517) = £84.95

Total: £1,207.78 (includes delivery: £0.00)​

64GB DDR5 as was mentioned a couple times, upgrading a gfx card a few years down the line will be easier than the RAM.
GeForce RTX 3060 as its more than enough for what I need atm and £220 less than the 4070.

Still to decide between the 9700X and 9900X. Only questions:

* I usually try and avoid brand new technologies for the first 6months/yr to let them work through teething problems, how stable is the feedback do you think this is something to worry about?
* Noticed this article comparing the 9700/9900/14700k : article
* Was pretty surprised the 9700 outperformed the others on single core processes (blender/handbrake), which I actually use quite a lot as well.
* The 9700 runs at 65W and 9900 on 120W but the tests showed pretty similar power draws so I'm guessing there's no real difference to your electricity bills between the 3?

The Gigabyte X AX motherboard looks good but is out of stock atm. Also forgot to mention:

* I have a Logitech 5.1 sound system so need c/sub, front, and rear output. But the Gigabyte motherboards only seem to have line out.
* Also noticed it only has 3 PCIx16 slots (looks like when it says networking: wifi/bluetooth these have dedicated inputs so won't need a separate PCI card?
(my current mobo has 3x16, 2x8, 1x1, maybe a bit overkill?)
* I'm guessing PCIex16 5.0 is pretty much a prerequisite?
* Also is there a big difference between the X670 and B650 chipsets?

So is there another motherboard you might recommend? The Asus ones seem to fit the bill:

Asus ROG Strix B650E-F Gaming WIFI (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard

Order Asus ROG Strix B650E-F Gaming WIFI (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard now online and benefit from fast delivery.

www.overclockers.co.uk

MSI MAG B650 Tomahawk WIFI (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard

Order MSI MAG B650 Tomahawk WIFI (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard now online and benefit from fast delivery.

www.overclockers.co.uk

Asus TUF Gaming B650-Plus WIFI (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard

Order Asus TUF Gaming B650-Plus WIFI (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard now online and benefit from fast delivery.

www.overclockers.co.uk

Gigabyte X670 Aorus Elite AX (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard

Order Gigabyte X670 Aorus Elite AX (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard now online and benefit from fast delivery.

www.overclockers.co.uk

Asus TUF Gaming X670E-Plus WIFI (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard

Order Asus TUF Gaming X670E-Plus WIFI (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard now online and benefit from fast delivery.

www.overclockers.co.uk

Thanks,
Mach234

 

[Tetras]

* I usually try and avoid brand new technologies for the first 6months/yr to let them work through teething problems, how stable is the feedback do you think this is something to worry about?

AM5 is not new anymore and the 9000 series CPUs are an improvement on the 7000 series (rather than a revolution), so I consider it fairly mature at this point.

DDR5 is still troublesome, but much better than it was on release.

Was pretty surprised the 9700 outperformed the others on single core processes (blender/handbrake), which I actually use quite a lot as well.

This is common with Ryzen CPUs, the single CCD CPUs often have an advantage on single core/thread heavy stuff, whereas you buy the dual CCD Ryzen 9 CPUs when you know that you are doing heavily multithreaded work. With long run (e.g. 1-2 hour) the dual CCD CPUs will overwhelm any advantage that you get from a single CCD CPU. Note that the early reviews for the 9000 series CPUs are not particularly reliable due to Windows shenanigans and the core-to-core latencies having an issue that has been addressed with a new AGESA/BIOS update.

* The 9700 runs at 65W and 9900 on 120W but the tests showed pretty similar power draws so I'm guessing there's no real difference to your electricity bills between the 3?

This is a 'mare of a question to answer in just a few sentences, so I'm just going to say: buy the performance you need, don't handicap yourself because you're afraid of spending a few pennies more on the power bill.

If you want a detailed answer, I can do it, but don't make any decisions based on the TDP.

* I have a Logitech 5.1 sound system so need c/sub, front, and rear output. But the Gigabyte motherboards only seem to have line out.

The Tomahawk has plenty of jacks and rear SPDIF.

Also noticed it only has 3 PCIx16 slots (looks like when it says networking: wifi/bluetooth these have dedicated inputs so won't need a separate PCI card?

Yeah, you shouldn't need any additional cards. These boards are designed to have a max of 1 really, because the graphics card usually swallows up most of those slots.

I'm guessing PCIex16 5.0 is pretty much a prerequisite?

No, but if you plan to buy midrange cards like the 3060/4060 in the future it is more important than if you buy high-end cards, for the reason that the fewer lanes the card has, the bigger the performance impact of being a gen behind. The B650E-F is usually one of the cheapest, though the X670E boards have come down quite a bit.

* Also is there a big difference between the X670 and B650 chipsets?

The main difference is that X670 often has 1 more usable M.2 slot than a B650 board, but they're not particularly popular because if you have enough money for X670, you'd get B650E with PCI-E 5.0 graphics or spend a bit extra for the X670E equivalent. The Aorus Elite AX boards often have decent VRM/thermal performance against the competition, so that's worth noting, but it does only have 3 jacks (the Tomahawk is a better board for sound).

 

[Mach234 (or similar).]

Hey Tetras,

Thanks for your answers again. Went for the ASUS TUF B650 in the end as I just use the audio for listening to music mostly so as long as its got 5.1 I'm happy ands seems PCI5.0 is still a way off yet.
(and updated the case as think this one looks slicker will get an external blu-ray)

So the build I'm thinking of now:

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x AMD Ryzen 9 9900X Twelve Core 5.60GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail (SKU: PRO-AMD-02675) = £428.99
• 1 x AMD Ryzen - Space Marine & Unknown 9 Awakening Games Bundle (SKU: DIG-AMD-02908) = £0.00
• 1 x Asus TUF Gaming B650-Plus WIFI (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MB-6K0-AS) = £169.99
• 1 x Corsair Vengeance EXPO 64GB (2X32GB) DDR5 PC5-44800C40 5600MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black (CMK64GX5M2B5600Z40) (SKU: MY-4DL-CS) = £169.99
• 1 x MSI GeForce RTX 3060 Ventus 2X OC 12GB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GX-374-MS) = £265.00
• 1 x WD Black SN770 1TB SSD M.2 2280 NVME PCI-E Gen4 Solid State Drive (WDS100T3X0E) (SKU: HD-58F-WD) = £59.99
• 1 x WD 2TB Blue HDD 5400rpm 64MB Cache Internal Hard Drive (WD20EARZ) (SKU: STO-WDC-01659) = £59.98
• 1 x Phanteks AMP GH 750W 80PLUS Gold ATX Power Supply Modular - Black (SKU: POW-PHK-02517) = £84.95
• 1 x Thermalright Phantom Spirit 120 SE Dual Tower CPU Cooler - 120mm (SKU: COO-TLR-02723) = £36.95
• 1 x Phanteks Eclipse G500A Performance Mid-tower PC case - Black (SKU: CA-0BJ-PT) = £139.99
• 1 x Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound (3.5g) (SKU: AC-000-AC) = £7.99

Total: £1,423.82 (includes delivery: £0.00)​

Just noticed the 9900X, WD HDD, and cooler are out of stock, I don't suppose you know when they might be coming back in?
Unless there's anything you think I've missed (or think the tomahawk is a better board) i'll put the order in tomorrow..

Many thanks again,
Mach234

 

[Tetras]

or think the tomahawk is a better board)

There's an argument to make that the Tomahawk is objectively a better board, e.g. it has a higher spec VRM on paper, rear spdif, more rear USB 3.x ports and 2 more SATA ports. It does lack a PCI-E 5.0 M.2 slot (TUF has 1) and only has 1x Type-C on the rear (TUF has 2).

I'd honestly be happy enough with either board.

FYI: lots of X870 videos out today.

(and updated the case as think this one looks slicker will get an external blu-ray)

Fair enough, seems a bit pricey though, when the P400S is just £55.

This is worth a look too:

Just noticed the 9900X, WD HDD, and cooler are out of stock, I don't suppose you know when they might be coming back in?

I've no idea I'm afraid. The 9900X looks a bit light elsewhere, so might be an idea to snap one up soon (if you're sure this is the CPU for you).

 

[Mach234 (or similar).]

Thanks I was thinking about the extra usbs at the back but to be honest I only ever need 3 maybe 4 max.
Ooh I didn't spot the P400 might go for it but to be fair I think the rest of the build is pretty tight so I don't mind splashing out a bit on one item
Thanks again for the build spec, really looking forward to putting it together
Thanks again

 

[chongker]

Just to throw my hat into the ring, Nvidia's 50 series is out quite soon, have you considered running your old Gpu temporarily to tide you over until they're out?

 

[Mach234 (or similar).]

Just to throw my hat into the ring, Nvidia's 50 series is out quite soon, have you considered running your old Gpu temporarily to tide you over until they're out?

Ooh thanks didn't know that, i'll keep an eye out for them but to be honest think it might pop my budget out of shape