New PC - £2,000 - £3,000 (Video editing, some gaming)

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I put up a thread back in November but with the new cards out it's time to buy now.

I mostly use the computer for video editing and streaming - gaming is not the priority for this computer but it's always nice to be able to handle whatever is needed and my current PC is over 5 years old, so I want it to last a while.

I think I'm fairly set on a 9950x CPU based on previous discussions on here. Previously I was looking at a 4080s but not sure they're coming back into stock, so the equivalent is probably the 5070ti or 5080 I would guess? I'm happy enough to wait, but I need to get a pre-order in so I can at least get into the queue.

64GB RAM because why not - a couple of SSD drives, maybe 2 TB each?

Would like at least one USB C connection, it may come in useful in the future.

I'm going to get OCUK to put it together and it will have to be shipped to Europe.

I don't really have the patience to be building computers so I guess an air-cooled PC might be better in case something goes wrong, but not sure if that's enough for the kind of specs I'm thinking of?

I'm open to being persuaded to better options on the above if there's a good reason to switch. Don't need keyboard/mouse/monitors as part of the budget.
 
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I don't really have the patience to be building computers so I guess an air-cooled PC might be better in case something goes wrong, but not sure if that's enough for the kind of specs I'm thinking of?
Possible to air cool, but if you do long run intensive stuff on a 9950X it won't be quiet. I don't think PC builders like shipping large tower coolers anymore, so OCUK might insist you install an AIO anyway.

so the equivalent is probably the 5070ti or 5080 I would guess? I'm happy enough to wait, but I need to get a pre-order in so I can at least get into the queue.
The 5080 is the equivalent, similar price too (or it is supposed to be, if they were actually available to buy!

My basket at OcUK:

Total: £2,725.87 (includes delivery: £11.98)​
 
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Possible to air cool, but if you do long run intensive stuff on a 9950X it won't be quiet. I don't think PC builders like shipping large tower coolers anymore, so OCUK might insist you install an AIO anyway.


The 5080 is the equivalent, similar price too (or it is supposed to be, if they were actually available to buy!

My basket at OcUK:

Total: £2,725.87 (includes delivery: £11.98)​
Thanks!

I may have asked before but how likely is a AIO cooler to break in comparison to standard air cooling?

Which 5080 is best to opt for? I guess at this stage that’s probably what I’ll have to wait for.
 
I may have asked before but how likely is a AIO cooler to break in comparison to standard air cooling?
Most decent units should survive until the PC is obsolete.

They're not really intended to be maintained, so you would almost certainly just replace the whole unit if it breaks, unless there is a known defect where you can just swap a bad part out.

The cheaper AIOs with a 1-3 year warranty, I wouldn't like to guess (which is a point reviewers made with some of the newer cheap AIOs too).

In terms of: is it more likely to break, well,.. yeah, there's more parts in an AIO and the only part that really goes wrong in an air cooler is the fan, which is usually replaceable without much trouble. You'd have to ask someone like OCUK for actual numbers (of returns) though and I doubt they're going to tell us :D

Which 5080 is best to opt for? I guess at this stage that’s probably what I’ll have to wait for.
There's a coil whine thread in the graphics forum, which I suggest you look at.

TPU did lots of reviews and you can find a comparison chart in any of their reviews which include all of the coolers.
 
Most decent units should survive until the PC is obsolete.

They're not really intended to be maintained, so you would almost certainly just replace the whole unit if it breaks, unless there is a known defect where you can just swap a bad part out.

The cheaper AIOs with a 1-3 year warranty, I wouldn't like to guess (which is a point reviewers made with some of the newer cheap AIOs too).

In terms of: is it more likely to break, well,.. yeah, there's more parts in an AIO and the only part that really goes wrong in an air cooler is the fan, which is usually replaceable without much trouble. You'd have to ask someone like OCUK for actual numbers (of returns) though and I doubt they're going to tell us :D


There's a coil whine thread in the graphics forum, which I suggest you look at.

TPU did lots of reviews and you can find a comparison chart in any of their reviews which include all of the coolers.
Okay, maybe I'll just go AIO though and hope it doesn't break.

So any 5080 that I go for should work in the setup above over a 4080s?
 
Okay, maybe I'll just go AIO though and hope it doesn't break.
I suspect they'll tell you to anyway, because of the risk of damage from shipping a huge lump weighing a few KGs (if it comes loose) across Europe.

So any 5080 that I go for should work in the setup above over a 4080s?
5080/5090 seem to be pretty big on average, so it might take up more space in the case, but other than that there's no difference.
 
Been quoted about £3500 elsewhere for a machine built around a 9950x and a 5080 :cry:

And in typical fashion my current computer seems to be slowly dying...

This wait for 5080s to be readily available won't be fun.
 
So OCUK have quoted me about £3,000 with the above spec but with a Zotac GeForce RTX 5080 Solid Core 16GB 1GDDR7 PCI-Express Graphics Card instead of the 4080 super.

They also said this about cooling:

"Liquid coolers are significantly more reliable than they used to be, that being said, I'll always push customers towards air-cooling if possible, air-cooling will outlast the useful lifespan of the system and I have no doubt that most AIO coolers will too, but AIO coolers are more likely to fail as there's a lot more going on inside the cooler, compared to basically some metal and a fan, yes, I'll certainly quote using an air-cooler instead. "

It was this one that was put in the quote - Cooler Master Master Air MA824 Stealth Dual 1 Fan 8 Heat Pipe CPU Cooler

They also put in this PSU instead - Seasonic Focus GX-1000 ATX 3.1 1000W 80 1 Gold Modular Power Supply

Does that all seem decent enough?

Considering I was quoted about £3,500 for a 4080 build elsewhere, £3,000 for a 5080 doesn't seem so bad...

Should hopefully last me 5 years like the current one has!
 
Does that all seem decent enough?
Availability and pricing is terrible on 4000/5000 series high-end cards right now, so I think we're in whatever you can get territory.

The CPU cooler: I've never heard of it and have never seen a review, so I'm afraid I can't say. I can't imagine OCUK would recommend it if they thought you'd have problems.

The PSU: the latest Focus model was reviewed at hwbusters and they weren't overly complimentary. I think the HCG Pro (derived from the Vertex) is probably a better unit, but eh, I'm sure the Focus would be fine.
 
So OCUK have quoted me about £3,000 with the above spec but with a Zotac GeForce RTX 5080 Solid Core 16GB 1GDDR7 PCI-Express Graphics Card instead of the 4080 super.

They also said this about cooling:

"Liquid coolers are significantly more reliable than they used to be, that being said, I'll always push customers towards air-cooling if possible, air-cooling will outlast the useful lifespan of the system and I have no doubt that most AIO coolers will too, but AIO coolers are more likely to fail as there's a lot more going on inside the cooler, compared to basically some metal and a fan, yes, I'll certainly quote using an air-cooler instead. "

It was this one that was put in the quote - Cooler Master Master Air MA824 Stealth Dual 1 Fan 8 Heat Pipe CPU Cooler

They also put in this PSU instead - Seasonic Focus GX-1000 ATX 3.1 1000W 80 1 Gold Modular Power Supply

Does that all seem decent enough?

Considering I was quoted about £3,500 for a 4080 build elsewhere, £3,000 for a 5080 doesn't seem so bad...

Should hopefully last me 5 years like the current one has!

For the above build I'd say it's a fair price in the current market given you're having OCUK put it together for you, and of course you get the support/warranty on top with such a system.

My only concern would be the HSF on a 9950X under load, if going for a tower cooler I'd request something akin to the Thermalright Phantom Spirit or Peerless Assassin which perform on par or better for half the price of that Coolermaster option. That said, workloads with a CPU like that are one of the few use cases where I'd feel more comfortable with a good quality AiO such as the Arctic Freezer III. The 9950X does hover around the 200-210 TDP range under sustained heavy loads from what I can see, and the better air coolers can manage around 200-250 TDP in ideal conditions, so they should be fine. I just find it potentially knife edge depending on ambient conditions and other factors.

While I can't find reviews on the CM unit, it's a dual tower single fan 8 heatpipe model, whereas the Phantom Spirit and Peerless Assassin are both dual tower and fan models with 7 heatpipes. Unless OCUK are aware of a sleeping monster in terms of the CM I suspect they're trying to shift stock people aren't touching with it, that's not to say it's bad but both aforementioned Thermalright models are tried and tested whereas the MA824 is not as far as I'm aware.
 
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Availability and pricing is terrible on 4000/5000 series high-end cards right now, so I think we're in whatever you can get territory.

The CPU cooler: I've never heard of it and have never seen a review, so I'm afraid I can't say. I can't imagine OCUK would recommend it if they thought you'd have problems.

The PSU: the latest Focus model was reviewed at hwbusters and they weren't overly complimentary. I think the HCG Pro (derived from the Vertex) is probably a better unit, but eh, I'm sure the Focus would be fine.
That was my thinking around the 5080 really, £3k maybe not so bad right now.

Which PSU should I ask for instead, just the one you mentioned previously?

For the above build I'd say it's a fair price in the current market given you're having OCUK put it together for you, and of course you get the support/warranty on top with such a system.

My only concern would be the HSF on a 9950X under load, if going for a tower cooler I'd request something akin to the Thermalright Phantom Spirit or Peerless Assassin which perform on par or better for half the price of that Coolermaster option. That said, workloads with a CPU like that are one of the few use cases where I'd feel more comfortable with a good quality AiO such as the Arctic Freezer III. The 9950X does hover around the 200-210 TDP range under sustained heavy loads from what I can see, and the better air coolers can manage around 200-250 TDP in ideal conditions, so they should be fine. I just find it potentially knife edge depending on ambient conditions and other factors.

While I can't find reviews on the CM unit, it's a dual tower single fan 8 heatpipe model, whereas the Phantom Spirit and Peerless Assassin are both dual tower and fan models with 7 heatpipes. Unless OCUK are aware of a sleeping monster in terms of the CM I suspect they're trying to shift stock people aren't touching with it, that's not to say it's bad but both aforementioned Thermalright models are tried and tested whereas the MA824 is not as far as I'm aware.
Okay thanks - so maybe I should go back and ask for a Thermalright Phantom Spirit or Peerless Assassin? Any preference on either?

I'm a little wary of AIO because I suspect it will be harder to fix if it goes wrong, I know it's all under warranty but I'm in Ireland so will just make it tougher.
 
For the above build I'd say it's a fair price in the current market given you're having OCUK put it together for you, and of course you get the support/warranty on top with such a system.

My only concern would be the HSF on a 9950X under load, if going for a tower cooler I'd request something akin to the Thermalright Phantom Spirit or Peerless Assassin which perform on par or better for half the price of that Coolermaster option. That said, workloads with a CPU like that are one of the few use cases where I'd feel more comfortable with a good quality AiO such as the Arctic Freezer III. The 9950X does hover around the 200-210 TDP range under sustained heavy loads from what I can see, and the better air coolers can manage around 200-250 TDP in ideal conditions, so they should be fine. I just find it potentially knife edge depending on ambient conditions and other factors.

While I can't find reviews on the CM unit, it's a dual tower single fan 8 heatpipe model, whereas the Phantom Spirit and Peerless Assassin are both dual tower and fan models with 7 heatpipes. Unless OCUK are aware of a sleeping monster in terms of the CM I suspect they're trying to shift stock people aren't touching with it, that's not to say it's bad but both aforementioned Thermalright models are tried and tested whereas the MA824 is not as far as I'm aware.

the coolermaster MA824 outperforms the peerless assassin, and is a competitor the the noctua D15S...different level when you account the noise level(or lack of) when using it

'Cooler Master aimed to create an air cooling champion with the MasterAir MA824 Stealth, and the company certainly achieved its goals. The MA824 Stealth provides supreme cooling performance while running quieter than its direct competitor, Noctua’s NH-D15S. If you can afford its $99 price, you won’t have any regrets if choosing Cooler Master’s MA824 Stealth. It’s a great pairing for any modern Intel or AMD processor.'

 
I put up a thread back in November but with the new cards out it's time to buy now.

I mostly use the computer for video editing and streaming - gaming is not the priority for this computer but it's always nice to be able to handle whatever is needed and my current PC is over 5 years old, so I want it to last a while.

I think I'm fairly set on a 9950x CPU based on previous discussions on here. Previously I was looking at a 4080s but not sure they're coming back into stock, so the equivalent is probably the 5070ti or 5080 I would guess? I'm happy enough to wait, but I need to get a pre-order in so I can at least get into the queue.

64GB RAM because why not - a couple of SSD drives, maybe 2 TB each?

Would like at least one USB C connection, it may come in useful in the future.

I'm going to get OCUK to put it together and it will have to be shipped to Europe.

I don't really have the patience to be building computers so I guess an air-cooled PC might be better in case something goes wrong, but not sure if that's enough for the kind of specs I'm thinking of?

I'm open to being persuaded to better options on the above if there's a good reason to switch. Don't need keyboard/mouse/monitors as part of the budget.

What's situation when it comes to warranty to UK to europe parts? I'd look into that first.

Plus issue with any import/export fees etc, I remember when I sent stuff to europe they wanted fees of some kind
 
Right! The 9950x3d is up for pre-order now.

How does this build look? Anything that needs changing?

The motherboard has bluetooth by looks of it? Might be handy for headphones.

I asked about the 5080 on GPU thread, not sure I need to spend extra on a different 5080? 9950x3d for £100 more than 9950x seems worth it.

Hoping this will last me 5 years like the last one!

My basket at OcUK:

Total: £3,030.78 (includes delivery: £11.98)​
 
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