New PC build - AM5 Foundation

[Gudge]

Hi All,

After a long time, it's time to build a new PC.

While I had been thinking about it for a while, my hand has been forced by my previous PC going bang on me - so the matter has been pushed earlier than planned!
Historically I have always been an Intel user; I've decided to go with an AMD AM5 build this time; from the grumbles I've heard about the recent Intel chipsets and reading that AMD is in a decent place at the moment, it seems to be the way to go.

The use would be a mix of home/office use (Zoom/Teams/Power BI/Spreadsheets blah blah blah) + casual gaming (Total War games, Mechabellum, Rogue Trader, CIV VI, Doom Eternal, etc) and will probably try some more hardware testing games (Space Marine 2, Cyberpunk 2077, etc) with the new setup; I am not looking for a hardcore/mega spec or something to overclock till it can bend the space-time continuum - just some that a casual gamer can enjoy making the most of.

Due to the immediate nature of the build, my budget is not what I hoped it would be and I'd like to have all the parts ordered ASAP and be in the process of building/testing ASAP (The itch is getting THAT bad!) so I am mainly looking for available components.
In terms of future upgrades, I would hope to be at least 2-3 years before I need to revisit the system.

Budget: £1200 (ish)

I have done some build planning and have chosen some items but would like to have input from more knowledgeable people on the components, and the components that I have yet to choose, as I'm stuck with the balance between cost/'future proofing' (as in for the next couple of years):

Current Picks
My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x AMD Ryzen 7 7700X Eight Core 5.40GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail (SKU: CP-3DF-AM) = £289.99
• 1 x AMD Ryzen - Space Marine & Unknown 9 Awakening Games Bundle (SKU: DIG-AMD-02908) = £0.00
• 1 x Arctic Freezer 36 120m Black CPU Cooler - 2x 120mm (SKU: COO-ARC-02420) = £24.95
• 1 x Corsair RMe Series RM750e Fully Modular Low-Noise ATX Power Supply v2 (CP-9020262-UK) (SKU: CA-27S-CS) = £99.95
• 1 x Corsair Vengeance 32GB (2X16GB) DDR5 PC5-48000C30 6000MHz Dual Channel (SKU: MEM-CRS-01125) = £119.99
• 1 x Crucial P3 PLUS 2TB M.2 2280 PCI-e 4.0 NVMe Solid State Drive (SKU: HD-07B-CR) = £113.98

Total: £656.86 (includes delivery: £7.99)​

​

The items that I'm struggling with include 2 important ones though; Motherboard & GPU.

ATX MOBO
I've been searching around and checking the reviews on YouTube (Hardware Unboxed, PC Builder, JayzTwoCents, etc.) and I've narrowed it down to 2 boards so far - but am open to suggestions... Mainly I have picked them due to their High Vram scores. WIFI would be good but not an absolute and I am not bothered about RGB, I'd rather have a good cost-effective setup, rather than a show pony. Ideally, I wouldn't want to spend more than £150 on a Mobo.

Currently, I am toying with the idea of an ASROCK B650 PG LIGHTNING but have read on some forums to avoid it due to BIOS and 'memory training' issues (The posts were a couple of years ago so am hoping BIOS updates have resolved a lot of this) which rocked my certainty in it.

My other thought (preferred choice) is B650 STEEL LEGEND, due to the lack of availability of this board & its higher price it'll probably be the ASROCK PG Lightning unless there is a strong response not to.


GPU
I've been toying between the cheaper tier RTX 4060 TI 16GB or the RTX4070 12GB models.

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x Gainward GeForce RTX 4060Ti Panther 16GB GDDR6 Graphics Card (SKU: GRA-GNW-00762) = £419.99

OR

• 1 x Asus GeForce RTX 4070 Dual EVO OC 12GB GDDR6X PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GRA-ASU-02563) = £509.99

Total: £937.97 (includes delivery: £7.99)​

As this is the component I will probably be swapping out most over the lifetime of the system I am leaning toward the RTX 4060 TI 16GB - the main factor is it is about £100 cheaper! - Other than that, a requirement was that the card had to have at least 12GB+ in terms of memory & build compatibility!

I am hoping to run @1440 at a good quality setting (High at a minimum) but ULTRA settings are not critical for me, I use multiple screens; two of which are G-sync compatible, so would prefer an RTX card to make the most of them.

If there is any advice to think differently about my choices I am open to hearing it.

Case:
I've not put much thought into the case yet as I have been focused on the MOBO & GPU research, but I am beginning to look into this - Probably something around the £100 area - black or Grey/Silver mainly but a Window side could be nice.
I would prefer it to be as quiet as possible (I know fans are the main culprit of that) and some USB 3.0 access to the front/top & I have 2 old HDDS that I'd like to SATA link in until I can transfer & upgrade them in the future.

Thanks for getting this far and I would appreciate any feedback.

 

[ben1987]

A 7900 GRE can still be had around the £500 mark which in a lot of titles has performance similar to a 4070ti so would wipe the floor with a 4060ti

The general consensus with the 4060/ti cards is their extreme poor value for money. Usually more useful when playing at 1080p

 

[Quartz]

1 x AMD Ryzen 7 7700X Eight Core 5.40GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail (SKU: CP-3DF-AM) = £289.99

If you're gaming you want the Ryzen 7800X3D.

1 x Arctic Freezer 36 120m Black CPU Cooler - 2x 120mm (SKU: COO-ARC-02420) = £24.95

You'll want something better, like the Thermaltake Peerless Assassin for £29.95

 

[Tetras]

I am hoping to run @1440 at a good quality setting (High at a minimum) but ULTRA settings are not critical for me, I use multiple screens; two of which are G-sync compatible, so would prefer an RTX card to make the most of them.

If there is any advice to think differently about my choices I am open to hearing it.

I'd get the 4070, but I'd way prefer the MSI Ventus at £470 (white, black is an extra £10) because otherwise you start getting near Super money.

I would not buy the 4060 Ti for a few reasons: 1. it barely improved from the 3060 Ti, so you're effectively buying into a card that has aged 3-4 years before purchase. 2. they didn't increase the bus width with the memory, so it is still bandwidth starved which doesn't do you much good with performance at higher resolutions (or at least, less than it should have) and 3. they're just overpriced for the performance they offer.

I would prefer it to be as quiet as possible (I know fans are the main culprit of that) and some USB 3.0 access to the front/top & I have 2 old HDDS that I'd like to SATA link in until I can transfer & upgrade them in the future.

PWM fans are super common now and most coolers can ramp down to very quiet levels (GPU fans turn off, for example), so I don't think fans matter like they used to. I'd also advise that you don't get fans that are super quiet because then you start hearing electrical noise (even SSDs are not silent) and that's way more annoying than a constant low hum.

If there is any advice to think differently about my choices I am open to hearing it.

1 x AMD Ryzen 7 7700X Eight Core 5.40GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail (SKU: CP-3DF-AM) = £289.99

I used to be a fan of the 7700, but since we haven't received the discount it got elsewhere in the world they look vastly overpriced now, especially when the 7900 non-X and often far better performing (for gaming) 7800X3D are very close.

Another point of note is that the 7700X does not include a cooler and the 7700 does (it is a cooler you could realistically use too, or at least keep as a backup).

Corsair RMe Series RM750e Fully Modular Low-Noise ATX Power Supply v2 (CP-9020262-UK) (SKU: CA-27S-CS) = £99.95

This is not one of Corsair's best models, I'd get the SHIFT if your case is compatible with it (side mounted cables).

Corsair Vengeance 32GB (2X16GB) DDR5 PC5-48000C30 6000MHz Dual Channel (SKU: MEM-CRS-01125) = £119.99

Is this on the QVL? I'd try to go for EXPO if you can, though Intel XMP does work fine with most AMD boards.

Crucial P3 PLUS 2TB M.2 2280 PCI-e 4.0 NVMe Solid State Drive (SKU: HD-07B-CR) = £113.98

I'd switch to WD's SN770, which is cheaper and superior, since it uses TLC and has much write higher endurance than the QLC-based P3 Plus.

Build with suggested changes (I tried to avoid out of stock items, since you said you're getting itchy):

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D Eight Core 5.00GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail (SKU: CP-3DT-AM) = £349.99
• 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 TeamGroup Vulcan EXPO 32GB (2X16GB) DDR5 PC5-48000C38 6000MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black (FLABD532G6000HC38ADC01) (SKU: MY-0B2-TG) = £89.99
• 1 x MSI GeForce RTX 4070 Ventus 2X E OC 12GB GDDR6X PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GRA-MSI-02561) = £479.99
• 1 x NVIDIA - Star Wars: Outlaws Game Bundle (SKU: DIG-NVI-03030) = £0.00
• 1 x WD Black SN770 2TB SSD M.2 2280 NVME PCI-E Gen4 Solid State Drive (WDS200T3X0E) (SKU: HD-58G-WD) = £103.99
• 1 x Lian Li Lancool 216 RGB Mid-tower PC case - Black (SKU: CA-7B8-LL) = £109.99
• 1 x Corsair RM850x Shift ATX 3.0 80 Plus Gold Power Supply (CP-9020252-UK) (SKU: CA-279-CS) = £119.00

• 1 x Arctic Freezer 36 A-RGB 120m Black CPU Cooler - 2x 120mm (SKU: COO-ARC-02418) = £29.98

Total: £1,452.92 (includes delivery: £0.00)​

Probably something around the £100 area - black or Grey/Silver mainly but a Window side could be nice.

I like me a bit of gun metal grey for silver, the P400S is a reasonable price too:

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x Phanteks Eclipse P600S Glass Silent Midi Tower Case - Gunmetal Grey (SKU: CM-02S-PT) = £152.99
• 1 x Phanteks Eclipse P400S Glass Midi Tower Case - Noise Dampened Gun Metal (SKU: CA-06A-PT) = £54.54

Total: £219.52 (includes delivery: £11.98)​

 

[Gray2233]

Given the sort of games you play, I'd absolutely recommend spending the extra on the 7800X3D as suggested by others.

It'll make a massive difference, possibly more so than another GPU tier would in some cases.

 

[Gudge]

Thanks for all the responses so far.

With all the new suggestions I've been looking at the recommendations and have tweaked the current plan:

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x WD Black SN770 2TB SSD M.2 2280 NVME PCI-E Gen4 Solid State Drive (WDS200T3X0E) (SKU: HD-58G-WD) = £103.99
• 1 x AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D Eight Core 5.00GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail (SKU: CP-3DT-AM) = £349.99
• 1 x AMD Ryzen - Space Marine & Unknown 9 Awakening Games Bundle (SKU: DIG-AMD-02908) = £0.00
• 1 x Corsair Vengeance 32GB EXPO (2X16GB) DDR5 PC5-48000C30 6000MHz Dual Channel (SKU: MEM-CRS-02786) = £125.00
• 1 x MSI MAG B650 Tomahawk WIFI (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MB-375-MS) = £179.98
• 1 x Arctic Freezer 36 120m Black CPU Cooler - 2x 120mm (SKU: COO-ARC-02420) = £24.95
• 1 x Corsair RMe Series RM750e Fully Modular Low-Noise ATX Power Supply v2 (CP-9020262-UK) (SKU: CA-27S-CS) = £99.95

Total: £883.86 (includes delivery: £0.00)​

​

The RAM has been updated to the EXPO versions and kept with the Vengeance.

If you're gaming you want the Ryzen 7800X3D.

I've changed the build to include the 7800X3D after multiple recommendations, I'm justifying that the investment will be better for the medium term.

I'd switch to WD's SN770, which is cheaper and superior since it uses TLC and has much write higher endurance than the QLC-based P3 Plus.

Switched to this due to the recommendation.

This is not one of Corsair's best models, I'd get the SHIFT if your case is compatible with it (side-mounted cables).

I've decided to stick to my initial PSU until I've decided on the case, mainly due to the side-loading cables, but once that decision has been made It'll be a toss-up between my current choice and the Shift.

I thought sucking up the extra £10 over the TUF, and the initially planned Thunderbolt, in going for a MSI MAG B650 Tomahawk WIFI (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MB-375-MS) - it seems to be positively reviewed in numerous sites so seemed like the way to go; More VRAM, better Audio Codec and ditches the Gen 5 PCIE for an extra Gen 4 PCIe.

Still need to decide on the GPU; The 4070 tier is the max tier I can go to at the moment and seems to be the one that has been recommended so will be looking more into these. Is there any particular manufacturer that I should look to/avoid or are they all a 'much-of-a-muchness' at this band in the 4070 tier?

 

[Tetras]

Still need to decide on the GPU; The 4070 tier is the max tier I can go to at the moment and seems to be the one that has been recommended so will be looking more into these. Is there any particular manufacturer that I should look to/avoid or are they all a 'much-of-a-muchness' at this band in the 4070 tier?

For me it is entirely defined by price because there are so many cards in the £400-£600 range and £50 either way can make a previously good value pick bad value. That's especially true for the 4070 and 7800 XT, since the 4070 Super and 7900 GRE are better cards if they're priced anywhere close.

There are quite a few roundups on the Internet though:

TPU tested a fair few models (there's a chart on the page I have linked).

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