New PC Build - Update

[mickyflinn]

Fantastic - all ordered

Thank you everyone who replied to this thread for all your guidance and ideas

On First boot it may take some time as the motherboard will be training the memory and can restart a few times.

Be patient and Give it at least 5 mins before you see anything on screen.

Enjoy.

 

[Noughtboy]

So .... mulled over this last night - and got to this - a little over-budget but I have two game codes to get rid of and I expect I can get a few pounds for some of my old PC parts (CEX will pay £50 for my old Vega 56 for example). And the 7800X3D has come down in price...

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D Eight Core 5.00GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail (SKU: CP-3DT-AM) = £329.99
• 1 x AMD - Avatar Ryzen Bundle (SKU: DIG-AMD-01185) = £0.00
• 1 x MSI MAG B650 Tomahawk WIFI (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MB-375-MS) = £199.99
• 1 x Corsair RMx Series RM850x 80 PLUS Gold Fully Modular ATX Power Supply (CP-9020200-UK) (SKU: CA-267-CS) = £109.99
• 1 x Sapphire Radeon RX 7900 XT Pulse 20GB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GX-3A7-SP) = £739.99
• 1 x AMD - Avatar Radeon Bundle (SKU: DIG-AMD-01186) = £0.00
• 1 x TeamGroup Vulcan EXPO 32GB (2X16GB) DDR5 PC5-48000C38 6000MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black (FLABD532G6000HC38ADC01) (SKU: MY-0B2-TG) = £119.99
• 1 x Phanteks Eclipse G300A Mid-Tower High Airflow PC Case - Black (SKU: CA-0C0-PT) = £64.99
• 1 x Arctic P12 PWM MAX Black Fan - 120mm (SKU: FG-05E-AR) = £8.00
• 1 x MSI SPATIUM M480 Pro 2TB SSD PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 Solid State Drive (SKU: STO-MSI-00815) = £114.94

Total: £1,687.88 (includes delivery: £0.00)​

And then Thermalright Phantom Spirit PS120 SE from 'somewhere else'.

Does this give me a PC which has some degree of future proofing for the next few years - with the capability to upgrade elements over time? With the upgraded CPU would the memory still be a good fit?

@Tiny Clanger that is a cracker of a gaming system. As @Tetras says, should keep you going for 4-5 years before an upgrade is necessary (assuming you won't want to move to 4K 144Hz ).

Enjoy the build and if you have any problems building, drop a line.

 

[Tiny Clanger]

Enjoy the build and if you have any problems building, drop a line.

Thanks for the offer - I plan to lock myself away next weekend and attempt the build - currently watching youTube 'How to Build a PC' in preparation! But - doubtlessly there will be issues so please be prepared for further crys for help

 

[Noughtboy]

@Tetras - brilliant - I can't thank you enough for your help - will go and order the bits now.

One thing I forgot - thermal paste - what would you recommend? The cooler seems to come with some thermal paste - would that be adequate?

I would recommend MX4 as it is relatively inexpensive and generally performs pretty close to the expensive TC's.

Because it is inexpensive, you could really reapply every year if you are so inclined because it comes in a larger 4g or even 8g tube.

 

[Tiny Clanger]

I would recommend MX4 as it is relatively inexpensive and generally performs pretty close to the expensive TC's.

Thanks - having read the thread that @Tetras kindly linked to I've ordered some MX4 which comes with a spatula

 

[Noughtboy]

Thanks for the offer - I plan to lock myself away next weekend and attempt the build - currently watching youTube 'How to Build a PC' in preparation! But - doubtlessly there will be issues so please be prepared for further crys for help

Nah. It really isn't overly complex.

CPU fits in one way but be very careful making sure the triangle on the corner line up. That is the part you need to be very careful with

After that, things like RAM and GPU only fit one way.

The fiddliest bit is attaching all those little connections in the bottom right corner for your USB, HDD/CPU/POWER LED, sound jacks etc and cable routing. Technically easy just fiddly.

The best bit of advice is to touch something metallic before handing your parts to discharge any static and then build it on your MB box by plugging everything in.

Test it works on your monitor. Then just unplug the PSU, put the assembled motherboard into your case and reconnect PSU after routing wires.

Oh, make certain you have your standoff screws in place in your case before putting on the MB.

 

[Tiny Clanger]

@Noughtboy - Cheers! I have build a few PC's in the past - but it's been years since I did my current one (which is a i5 4690k) and so I'm starting from first principles in terms of 'how to do it'

 

[Noughtboy]

Thanks - having read the thread that @Tetras kindly linked to I've ordered some MX4 which comes with a spatula

You don't need a spatula. In fact I wouldn't spread the paste it isn't a metallic one Let the mounting pressure from the cooler do it's thing.

There is an endless debate about pea size dot Vs cross.

I split the difference. I do a cross and then 4 smallish dots in the middle of each triangle

 

[Tiny Clanger]

Okay - so problem number one...

The Phanteks case comes with the standoffs preinstalled in (for me) the correct locations. However - 2 of the standoffs are a different height to the others and look as if they haven't been finished correctly - would that be correct?

 

[Tetras]

2 of the standoffs are a different height to the others and look as if they haven't been finished correctly - would that be correct?

Does the manual indicate anything about where to place them? They might be done that way to help you position the board while you screw the other ones in.

 

[Tiny Clanger]

@Tetras - I'm afraid not - it simply says that they are already installed. In terms of position - if you were to look at the case the locations were top centre, middle centre. The other 7 locations are all the same height as the one on the left in my picture. I would have thought that the board would need to be flat - whereas if I screw these in it will (I guess) produce a warp.

Unfortunately there's only one spare provided (which is the height of the one on the left too) and anything I've got from historical builds are all the wrong height too.

 

[mickyflinn]

Okay - so problem number one...

The Phanteks case comes with the standoffs preinstalled in (for me) the correct locations. However - 2 of the standoffs are a different height to the others and look as if they haven't been finished correctly - would that be correct?

I believe the slightly raised standoffs is to align the motherboard and stops it slipping around.

 

[Tiny Clanger]

I believe the slightly raised standoffs is to align the motherboard and stops it slipping around.

Ah - okay then - will make a start then - thanks guys

 

[mickyflinn]

Ah - okay then - will make a start then - thanks guys

Check the raised standoff on your motherboard first to make sure.

 

[Tiny Clanger]

Check the raised standoff on your motherboard first to make sure.

Yup - checked and the raised part fitted - when you explained it's function it made sense

 

[Tiny Clanger]

All done - with lots of breaks to watch informative videos between each step!

Everything seems to be working so far (touching wood and of course metal in case of static ). One question though - according to HWMonitor the CPU idles at ~40 - however it also randomly spikes for no apparent reason - sometimes up to 60. I've run the 3D Mark Timespy benchmarks and the temps are in the 60's for the graphics tests and 73 on the CPU test. Is this normal behavior for a 7800x3d or is there something I need to address/resolve?

 

[mickyflinn]

All done - with lots of breaks to watch informative videos between each step!

Everything seems to be working so far (touching wood and of course metal in case of static ). One question though - according to HWMonitor the CPU idles at ~40 - however it also randomly spikes for no apparent reason - sometimes up to 60. I've run the 3D Mark Timespy benchmarks and the temps are in the 60's for the graphics tests and 73 on the CPU test. Is this normal behavior for a 7800x3d or is there something I need to address/resolve?

It's normal , it's a single core boosting to some process in the background, check task manager you mite fund it.

As long as your CPU fans are not anoyingly boosting at the same time but that's easy sorted.

 

[Tiny Clanger]

That’s a relief - thank you. I was worried that I’d stuffed up putting the CPU cooler on in some way. But, I suppose the idle temps would be higher if I had made an error?