New PC Build Advice

[monkeycid]

Hey!

So, my PC is about 6 years old now and recently started showing its age after extensive use on a near daily basis. I've started CTDing in modded Skyrim recently and during character creation in Baldur's Gate 3. The PC I have wasn't cheap but I feel like I've gotten my use out of it and ready to buy a new one.

Case: Fractal Design North XL
CPU: AMD Ryzen™ 9 9950X3D
Motherboard: ASUS ROG CROSSHAIR X870E HERO
Cooler: Noctua NH-U12A chromax.black
Memory: Corsair Vengeance Grey 64GB 6000MHz DDR5
GPU: 32GB NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090
PSU: Corsair HX1000i, 80PLUS PLATINUM
SSD: 4TB Corsair MP700 PRO

My current PC is lit up like a Christmas tree so I really want to shy away from RGB in this build. I really like the sleek look of the Noctua as well and I think it would look pretty cool in this particular case.

All in all, this build is sitting at around £5,000 give or take.

 

[Gray2233]

What do you use your PC For exactly? Is it just gaming or other tasks?

 

[monkeycid]

Gaming, pure and simple. I play for long periods of time and modded games such as Skyrim and Cyberpunk can push it to its limits. I spent £4,000 on my current PC which has a 2080 Ti but it's showing its age now and I'm ready for an upgrade.

 

[Thaifood]

What is the rest of the spec on your old pc ?

 

[monkeycid]

i9-9900K
ROG CROSSHAIR VII HERO
Hydro X Series XD3
32GB RAM
Corsair RM1000
2x500GB SSD

 

[Tetras]

Gaming, pure and simple. I play for long periods of time and modded games such as Skyrim and Cyberpunk can push it to its limits. I spent £4,000 on my current PC which has a 2080 Ti but it's showing its age now and I'm ready for an upgrade.

You could spend a fraction of your budget and still get a great upgrade.

The 9950X3D (with 16 cores!) is really meant for productivity/workstation usage, not just for gaming.

A 9070 XT would almost double the performance of your 2080 Ti and it costs less than a third of the price of a 5090.

PCI-E 5.0 drives don't really offer gamers hardly any benefit either, it is like a few seconds in loading time (at best).

 

[monkeycid]

I've not had a Radeon GPU since my very first PC over 25 years ago. Everyone seems to be raving about Nvidia's DLSS technology these days which is why I chose the 5090. I could save £1,000 going with an RX 7900 XTX, however.

 

[Gray2233]

I've not had a Radeon GPU since my very first PC over 25 years ago. Everyone seems to be raving about Nvidia's DLSS technology these days which is why I chose the 5090. I could save £1,000 going with an RX 7900 XTX, however.

The 7900XTX is the AMD flagship of the prior gen, if going AMD you want a 9070XT.

It's around on par and perhaps a little slow for raster performance, but has much better raytracing and supports FSR4 which is a vast improvement over prior AMD upscaling. I wouldn't say it's on par with DLSS, but it's close enough that I'd be happy enough to use it regardless.

If you don't like to upgrade frequently and budget isn't a concern, the 5090 is the best of the best right now by a good margin.

Ideally you want a build based on a 9800X3D, a 5090 if going for the best and I'd recommend reading reviews, or a 9070XT if price/performance metrics matter to you.

 

[Tetras]

Everyone seems to be raving about Nvidia's DLSS technology these days which is why I chose the 5090.

FSR4 with RDNA4 is a big improvement on RDNA3 and very competitive with DLSS.

The 5090 isn't a bad choice if you're going to overspend on something and have the cash to spare, but the 9070 XT is plenty good enough for 1440p and 4K.

Here's an example build:

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D Eight Core 5.20GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail (SKU: PRO-AMD-03517) = £479.99
• 1 x Asus ROG Strix B650E-F Gaming WIFI (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MB-6JX-AS) = £209.99
• 1 x Kingston FURY Beast EXPO 64GB (2x32GB) DDR5 PC5-44800C30 6000MHz Dual Channel Kit (SKU: MEM-KNG-03707) = £199.99
• 1 x Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 9070 XT Gaming 16GB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GRA-SPR-03983) = £649.99
• 1 x Crucial T500 2TB NVMe PCIe Gen4 M.2 Solid State Drive (SKU: STO-CRU-01090) = £127.99
• 1 x Lian Li Lancool 216 Mid-tower PC case - Black (SKU: CA-7BG-LL) = £85.99
• 1 x CORSAIR RM1000x Gold ATX 3.1 PCIe 5.1 Fully Modular Power Supply (SKU: POW-CRS-02467) = £144.95

• 1 x Thermalright Phantom Spirit 120 Dual Tower CPU Cooler -120mm (SKU: COO-TLR-02719) = £38.99

Total: £1,937.88 (includes delivery: £0.00)​

 

[ezekial]

I always just say if you have the budget and are happy to spend why not get the best of everything? 9950x3d and 5090 would be wonderful

 

[Craig_d1]

FSR4 with RDNA4 is a big improvement on RDNA3 and very competitive with DLSS.

The 5090 isn't a bad choice if you're going to overspend on something and have the cash to spare, but the 9070 XT is plenty good enough for 1440p and 4K.

Here's an example build:

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D Eight Core 5.20GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail (SKU: PRO-AMD-03517) = £479.99
• 1 x Asus ROG Strix B650E-F Gaming WIFI (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MB-6JX-AS) = £209.99
• 1 x Kingston FURY Beast EXPO 64GB (2x32GB) DDR5 PC5-44800C30 6000MHz Dual Channel Kit (SKU: MEM-KNG-03707) = £199.99
• 1 x Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 9070 XT Gaming 16GB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GRA-SPR-03983) = £649.99
• 1 x Crucial T500 2TB NVMe PCIe Gen4 M.2 Solid State Drive (SKU: STO-CRU-01090) = £127.99
• 1 x Lian Li Lancool 216 Mid-tower PC case - Black (SKU: CA-7BG-LL) = £85.99
• 1 x CORSAIR RM1000x Gold ATX 3.1 PCIe 5.1 Fully Modular Power Supply (SKU: POW-CRS-02467) = £144.95
• 1 x Thermalright Phantom Spirit 120 Dual Tower CPU Cooler -120mm (SKU: COO-TLR-02719) = £38.99

Total: £1,937.88 (includes delivery: £0.00)​

nice..all black though, gotta be the black cooler
My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 Black Dual Tower CPU Air Cooler (SKU: COO-TLR-03280) = £44.99
• 1 x Thermalright Peerless Assassin 140 Black Dual Tower CPU Air Cooler (SKU: COO-TLR-03288) = £44.99

Total: £93.97 (includes delivery: £3.99)

@monkeycid , you can eek out a bit more performance going for the higher end model such as the nitro+ (added benefit of hidden cables but will loose the black theme), or the black powercolour Red devil. Good news you can undervolt them easily and get a fair bit more out of them too. coming from using 3080fe and 3070tife I'm impressed. It's not a 5090 though, which at 4k will double the performance...though you're over 3 times the price. 5090 just a different level​

 

[monkeycid]

I appreciate all the advice but my OCD has got the better of me these past few days and I've been going back and forth between cases, CPU coolers and everything in-between.

Once I know what I really want, I'll be back. I think looking at the builds on ************ doesn't help and makes things more complicated after you see all the pretty PC setups.

 

[monkeycid]

I'm back again.

I do apologize for wasting anyone's time. It's so hard to build a PC these days with all the different combinations and aesthetic choices. I don't typically like to upgrade parts and opt instead to build a PC that can withstand 6+ years of gaming before replacing so that in itself makes choosing parts even harder.

Here's my new build idea:

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x Lian Li O11 Vision Compact Black (SKU: CAS-LIA-02812) = £109.99
• 1 x AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D Eight Core 5.20GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail (SKU: PRO-AMD-03517) = £449.99
• 1 x Sapphire Radeon RX 7900 XTX Nitro+ Vapor-X 24GB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GX-3A4-SP) = £899.99
• 1 x AMD Radeon - Monster Hunter Wilds Game Bundle (SKU: DIG-AMD-04649) = £0.00
• 1 x G.Skill Trident Z5 Neo EXPO RGB 64GB (2x32GB) DDR5 PC5-48000C30 6000MHz Dual Channel Kit (SKU: MEM-GSK-01357) = £229.99
• 1 x Lian Li Edge Gold 1000W Black (with USB HUB) Power Supply (SKU: POW-LIA-03762) = £129.95
• 1 x UK Mains Plug with 13A Fuse to IEC C13 Socket Lead, 10A, 2m (SKU: ACC-OCS-01709) = £0.00

Total: £1,831.90 (includes delivery: £11.98)​

I'm undecided on cooler, storage and motherboard but those other parts seem pretty much set in stone.

Storage: I was thinking about either Samsung 990 Pro or WD Black SN850X. Both seem very popular with good ratings. Normally I would opt for one smaller SSD for Windows and a second SSD for games but that's when we only had 500GB has an option. Now with these bigger drives, it seems one big SSD (2TB+) is enough for everything?

Motherboard: I have no idea. Asrock X870E Taichi or Asus ROG Strix X870E-E GAMING, maybe?

CPU Cooler: At first I wanted to use a dual-tower air cooler but I think an AIO would suit this particular case more. I'd like one which has matching fans I can buy separately so everything matches inside the case because I'm OCD.

 

[Gray2233]

The 7900XTX is a last gen card, you should be looking at the 9070XT.

While the 7900XTX has more VRAM and is a little faster in raster, it falls behind in upscaling as it only supports FSR 3.1 whereas the 9070XT supports the much improved FSR4 and is weaker in RT.

I'm not sold on that PSU either, reviews are quite middling and most voice concerns about the quality of the secondary capacitors.

 

[Tetras]

1 x Lian Li O11 Vision Compact Black (SKU: CAS-LIA-02812) = £109.99

Do you have spare fans? I don't think those come with any? I'd suggest Antec's C5 ARGB instead, similar price and style, but comes with 7x120mm fans.

I'm undecided on cooler

CPU Cooler: At first I wanted to use a dual-tower air cooler but I think an AIO would suit this particular case more. I'd like one which has matching fans I can buy separately so everything matches inside the case because I'm OCD.

Yeah, those kind of cases usually use AIOs for looks, but any decent air cooler can handle it and it would be cheaper.

Storage: I was thinking about either Samsung 990 Pro or WD Black SN850X. Both seem very popular with good ratings. Normally I would opt for one smaller SSD for Windows and a second SSD for games but that's when we only had 500GB has an option. Now with these bigger drives, it seems one big SSD (2TB+) is enough for everything?

The problem with M.2 slots is that you can only get a few (depending on the motherboard, ofc), so it is a waste to fill one with a small drive. There's a cost benefit too, since 1TB and 2TB are usually the best value and 250/500GB the worst.

Motherboard: I have no idea. Asrock X870E Taichi or Asus ROG Strix X870E-E GAMING, maybe?

For a higher-end build I think it makes sense to get PCI-E 5.0 graphics at this point, but you definitely do not need to spend £500. For example: if you only have 1 or 2 M.2 drives and a 9800X3D, practically any motherboard from around £130 onwards is sufficient. I'd suggest B850 as a baseline because most have PCI-E 5.0 graphics, or X870 if you want USB4, but beyond that I'd only spend more when you know that you need the features. The VRM on the Taichi, for example, is way overkill for any current (and I suspect any future) AM5 CPU.

 

[monkeycid]

Thanks for the feedback, Gray and Tetras. I'll switch out the GPU for a 9070XT. I chose Lian Li PSU simply based on the idea that it would fit the case seamlessly but reading about those reviews is troubling. I had problems with my current PC when I first bought it. Multiple fans, SSD and GPU had to be replaced within the first year of purchase. Luckily they were covered by warranty and no labour charge but it's a pain when you have to take the PC to the retailer and sit around for 2-4 weeks waiting for it to be fixed.

I'll look around some more and update my build.

 

[mickyflinn]

You could save £30 with this memory

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/kingston-fury-beast-expo-rgb-64gb-2x32gb-ddr5-c30-6000mhz-dual-channel-ki-mem-kng-03708.html