New PC Build

[Mach234 (or similar).]

Hey all, I'm looking at putting together a new rig. Last time I asked you helped me put together an awesome piece of kit, just looking at when that was I can't believe it was 8 years ago! And to be honest it can still handle almost anything I thrown at it!
Although its definitely getting rough round the edges now and the water cooling system is making some strange noises.

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 in the future.

I haven't been keeping up to date with the latest developments and kit for a while, but was thinking:

• i7 processor latest gen (Raptor/Alder) LGA1700
• As far as gfx cards go I'm completely out of the loop atm. I have a GeForce 1060 GTX 6GB which was in the best performance but still affordable bracket at the time so thinking a 4060 with 8GB+ would be about equivalent now?
• 32 GB of RAM, having done just a bit of reading some people were saying there isn't a massive improvement using DDR5 over DDR4 even though it goes up to 6600MHz? (in fact some people were saying they prefer to stick with DDR4), is this true?
• For storage 1TB SSD for OS and critical apps, and 2TB HDD for the bulk of apps, games, file storage. Also need a dual-layer Bluray writer.
• I love the water cooling in my current setup so would want to go with that again.
• Also looking for a funky clear sided full tower case with space for an optical drive, 2+ USB in front panel, and like to keep the cabling tidy so space to hide it away.

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 (see below).
But have a budget of around £1,400 (not including peripherals or OS) can go up or down depending.


First thoughts as a starting point:

• https://www.overclockers.co.uk/inte...t-lga1700-processor-retail-pro-int-00801.html (£389.99) (K for OC and F as don't need integrated graphics)
• https://www.overclockers.co.uk/giga...-lga-1700-ddr4-atx-motherboard-mb-5bp-gi.html (£269.99) (always liked Gigabyte)

If anyone could suggest a kick ass components list or some other pointers, would be really appreciated.


A couple questions:
What is the difference with Raptor Lake-S (rather than without the S)
From the little reading i've been doing the Alder/Raptor processors sounded pretty comparable and there wasn't a massive improvement in performance in the latest gen?
I haven't had time to do a detailed check on the Intel chip options, any better options in the price range?


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
[https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/threads/new-pc-spec-check.18723999/#post-29317081]


Any help in specing me a new PC would be great..
Thanks,
Mach45

Ode to Old Nelly c2016-2024:

 

[Tetras]

I haven't had time to do a detailed check on the Intel chip options, any better options in the price range?

The big productivity CPUs within your budget that I'd look at are:
13500/14500 (6 P-Cores, 8 E-Cores) (review here).
13700 (8 P-Cores, 8 E-Cores).
14700 (8 P-Cores, 12 E-Cores) (K review here).

Ryzen 7900 (review here).

Depending on your workload, the IGP can be more useful than just for backup purposes, so I'd avoid the -F/-KF unless the saving is substantial:

Creators, PLEASE DON'T Make This Mistake When Buying Intel 12th Gen! ❗❗

I've seen too many people about to make this mistake, so please don't YOU make it! Sponsored Message:30% Coupon Code: TN20Windows 10 Pro Oem Key($15): https:...

www.youtube.com

From the little reading i've been doing the Alder/Raptor processors sounded pretty comparable and there wasn't a massive improvement in performance in the latest gen?

The 12th gen CPUs are a fair chunk slower, because of some changes that were made with the 13th gen (especially the cache), but the 14th gen K CPUs are mainly just a small clock bump, except for the 14700K which has 4 more E-Cores than the 13700K.

What is the difference with Raptor Lake-S (rather than without the S)

-S is Intel's suffix for their desktop CPU range, so it probably doesn't mean anything. Can you show us where you saw it?

But have a budget of around £1,400 (not including peripherals or OS) can go up or down depending.

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x Intel Core i7-14700K (Raptor Lake-S) Socket LGA1700 Processor - Retail (SKU: PRO-INT-00800) = £399.95
• 1 x Gigabyte Z790 Aorus Elite AX (LGA 1700) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MB-5BK-GI) = £259.99
• 1 x Corsair Vengeance 64GB (2X32GB) DDR5 PC5-41600C40 5200MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black (CMK64GX5M2B5200C40 (SKU: MY-4DC-CS) = £169.99
• 1 x MSI GeForce RTX 3060 Ventus 2X OC 12GB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GX-374-MS) = £278.99
• 1 x Crucial P5 Plus 2TB M.2 2280 PCI-e 4.0 x4 3D NAND NVMe Solid State Drive (SKU: HD-075-CR) = £114.95
• 1 x Phanteks Eclipse P400S Glass Midi Tower Case - Noise Dampened Gun Metal (SKU: CA-06A-PT) = £69.95
• 1 x MSI MPG A850G PCIE5 UK PSU 850W 80 Plus Gold Modular Power Supply (SKU: CA-00Y-MS) = £109.99

Total: £1,415.80 (includes delivery: £11.98)​

Cooler: this.

What are the chances that you'll step up to UE5 at some point? If you are, re-orienting some of those choices toward more graphics power is probably a good idea, even though the 3060 12GB has been the content creators pick for some time.

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x Intel Core i5-13400 (Raptor Lake) Socket LGA1700 Processor - Retail (SKU: CP-6BC-IN) = £229.99
• 1 x Gigabyte B760M DS3H DDR4 (LGA 1700) DDR4 Micro-ATX Motherboard (SKU: MB-5C0-GI) = £114.98
• 1 x Corsair Vengeance LPX 64GB (2x32GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C16 3200MHz Dual Channel Kit (Black) (SKU: MY-4CE-CS) = £149.99
• 1 x Gainward GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER Panther OC 16GB GDDR6X PCI-Express Graphics (SKU: GRA-GNW-01536) = £769.99
• 1 x WD Blue SN570 2TB SSD NVME M.2 2280 PCIe Gen3 Solid State Drive (WDS200T3B0C) (SKU: HD-58D-WD) = £93.95
• 1 x Lian Li Lancool 205M Mesh Micro-ATX PC Case Black (SKU: CA-7B2-LL) = £69.95
• 1 x MSI MPG A850G PCIE5 UK PSU 850W 80 Plus Gold Modular Power Supply (SKU: CA-00Y-MS) = £109.99

Total: £1,550.83 (includes delivery: £11.98)​

A build which includes 4TB storage, bluray and an AIO (not needed for this CPU, since the peerless assassin suggested for the first build is sufficient, or just the CPU's box cooler):

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x Intel Core i5-12400 2.50GHz (Alder Lake) Socket LGA1700 Processor - Retail (SKU: CP-6AL-IN) = £175.00
• 1 x Gigabyte B660 DS3H AX - Intel B660 DDR4 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MB-5AN-GI) = £124.99
• 1 x Team Group Vulcan Z T-Force 32GB (2x16GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C16 3200MHz Dual Channel Kit - Grey (SKU: MY-0AJ-TG) = £59.99
• 1 x Asus GeForce RTX 4070 Dual OC 12GB GDDR6X PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GX-49C-AS) = £529.99
• 1 x Crucial P5 Plus 2TB M.2 2280 PCI-e 4.0 x4 3D NAND NVMe Solid State Drive (SKU: HD-075-CR) = £114.95
• 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 Phanteks AMP 650W 80 Plus Gold Modular Power Supply (SKU: CA-09Q-PT) = £89.99
• 1 x NZXT Kraken 360 Black AIO CPU Water Cooler - 360mm (SKU: HS-02D-NX) = £159.95
• 1 x Asus Blu-Ray Combo 12x SATA BDXL & M-Disc Support Cyberlink Power2Go 8 - Retail (SKU: CD-064-AS) = £66.94

Total: £1,518.76 (includes delivery: £11.98)​

32 GB of RAM, having done just a bit of reading some people were saying there isn't a massive improvement using DDR5 over DDR4 even though it goes up to 6600MHz? (in fact some people were saying they prefer to stick with DDR4), is this true?

This article might be of interest for the impact of RAM speed:

Impact of DDR5 Speed on Content Creation Performance (2023 update)

DDR5 memory has kits rated for up to 8400 Mbps, while desktop CPUs only officially support up to 5600 Mbps. How much does running at official specifications actually impact performance in common content creation applications?

www.pugetsystems.com

It really depends on what you're doing, as not every app benefits and they can scale differently to latency and bandwidth. With DDR5 being fairly affordable now (in comparison to what it was on launch), I pretty much ignore DDR4 except for builds on a tight budget. The increased max capacity of 192GB or 256GB versus 128GB on DDR4 is worth considering too, if your projects eat a lot of RAM.

The biggest current downside I'm aware of is that running 4 sticks at high speeds can be problematic with current CPUs/boards, so I'd stick with 64GB or 96GB kits for the time being.

As far as gfx cards go I'm completely out of the loop atm. I have a GeForce 1060 GTX 6GB which was in the best performance but still affordable bracket at the time so thinking a 4060 with 8GB+ would be about equivalent now?

How much VRAM are you using right now? I'd be very cautious of buying something with only 8GB for a development machine you're hoping to last for many years. I don't consider the 4060 equivalent, because performance of the xx60 parts has stagnated since the crypto boom and their specs are not comparable. Is the 4060 a decent upgrade in gaming performance? Sure, but is it appropriate for a development PC in 2024? I don't think so.

The two nvidia cards with substantial VRAM (16GB) and are reachable in your budget are the 4060 Ti, or the 4070 Ti Super, but only the 4070 Ti Super gets two encoders (if that matters to you) and the 4060 Ti didn't get a bus width or bandwidth bump, so the memory isn't as helpful as you'd think.

 

[Mach234 (or similar).]

The big productivity CPUs within your budget that I'd look at are:
13500/14500 (6 P-Cores, 8 E-Cores) (review here).
13700 (8 P-Cores, 8 E-Cores).
14700 (8 P-Cores, 12 E-Cores) (K review here).

Ryzen 7900 (review here).

Depending on your workload, the IGP can be more useful than just for backup purposes, so I'd avoid the -F/-KF unless the saving is substantial:

Creators, PLEASE DON'T Make This Mistake When Buying Intel 12th Gen! ❗❗

I've seen too many people about to make this mistake, so please don't YOU make it! Sponsored Message:30% Coupon Code: TN20Windows 10 Pro Oem Key($15): https:...

www.youtube.com

The 12th gen CPUs are a fair chunk slower, because of some changes that were made with the 13th gen (especially the cache), but the 14th gen K CPUs are mainly just a small clock bump, except for the 14700K which has 4 more E-Cores than the 13700K.


-S is Intel's suffix for their desktop CPU range, so it probably doesn't mean anything. Can you show us where you saw it?


My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x Intel Core i7-14700K (Raptor Lake-S) Socket LGA1700 Processor - Retail (SKU: PRO-INT-00800) = £399.95
• 1 x Gigabyte Z790 Aorus Elite AX (LGA 1700) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MB-5BK-GI) = £259.99
• 1 x Corsair Vengeance 64GB (2X32GB) DDR5 PC5-41600C40 5200MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black (CMK64GX5M2B5200C40 (SKU: MY-4DC-CS) = £169.99
• 1 x MSI GeForce RTX 3060 Ventus 2X OC 12GB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GX-374-MS) = £278.99
• 1 x Crucial P5 Plus 2TB M.2 2280 PCI-e 4.0 x4 3D NAND NVMe Solid State Drive (SKU: HD-075-CR) = £114.95
• 1 x Phanteks Eclipse P400S Glass Midi Tower Case - Noise Dampened Gun Metal (SKU: CA-06A-PT) = £69.95
• 1 x MSI MPG A850G PCIE5 UK PSU 850W 80 Plus Gold Modular Power Supply (SKU: CA-00Y-MS) = £109.99

Total: £1,415.80 (includes delivery: £11.98)​

Cooler: this.

What are the chances that you'll step up to UE5 at some point? If you are, re-orienting some of those choices toward more graphics power is probably a good idea, even though the 3060 12GB has been the content creators pick for some time.

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x Intel Core i5-13400 (Raptor Lake) Socket LGA1700 Processor - Retail (SKU: CP-6BC-IN) = £229.99
• 1 x Gigabyte B760M DS3H DDR4 (LGA 1700) DDR4 Micro-ATX Motherboard (SKU: MB-5C0-GI) = £114.98
• 1 x Corsair Vengeance LPX 64GB (2x32GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C16 3200MHz Dual Channel Kit (Black) (SKU: MY-4CE-CS) = £149.99
• 1 x Gainward GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER Panther OC 16GB GDDR6X PCI-Express Graphics (SKU: GRA-GNW-01536) = £769.99
• 1 x WD Blue SN570 2TB SSD NVME M.2 2280 PCIe Gen3 Solid State Drive (WDS200T3B0C) (SKU: HD-58D-WD) = £93.95
• 1 x Lian Li Lancool 205M Mesh Micro-ATX PC Case Black (SKU: CA-7B2-LL) = £69.95
• 1 x MSI MPG A850G PCIE5 UK PSU 850W 80 Plus Gold Modular Power Supply (SKU: CA-00Y-MS) = £109.99

Total: £1,550.83 (includes delivery: £11.98)​

A build which includes 4TB storage, bluray and an AIO (not needed for this CPU, since the peerless assassin suggested for the first build is sufficient, or just the CPU's box cooler):

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x Intel Core i5-12400 2.50GHz (Alder Lake) Socket LGA1700 Processor - Retail (SKU: CP-6AL-IN) = £175.00
• 1 x Gigabyte B660 DS3H AX - Intel B660 DDR4 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MB-5AN-GI) = £124.99
• 1 x Team Group Vulcan Z T-Force 32GB (2x16GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C16 3200MHz Dual Channel Kit - Grey (SKU: MY-0AJ-TG) = £59.99
• 1 x Asus GeForce RTX 4070 Dual OC 12GB GDDR6X PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GX-49C-AS) = £529.99
• 1 x Crucial P5 Plus 2TB M.2 2280 PCI-e 4.0 x4 3D NAND NVMe Solid State Drive (SKU: HD-075-CR) = £114.95
• 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 Phanteks AMP 650W 80 Plus Gold Modular Power Supply (SKU: CA-09Q-PT) = £89.99
• 1 x NZXT Kraken 360 Black AIO CPU Water Cooler - 360mm (SKU: HS-02D-NX) = £159.95
• 1 x Asus Blu-Ray Combo 12x SATA BDXL & M-Disc Support Cyberlink Power2Go 8 - Retail (SKU: CD-064-AS) = £66.94

Total: £1,518.76 (includes delivery: £11.98)​

This article might be of interest for the impact of RAM speed:

Impact of DDR5 Speed on Content Creation Performance (2023 update)

DDR5 memory has kits rated for up to 8400 Mbps, while desktop CPUs only officially support up to 5600 Mbps. How much does running at official specifications actually impact performance in common content creation applications?

www.pugetsystems.com

It really depends on what you're doing, as not every app benefits and they can scale differently to latency and bandwidth. With DDR5 being fairly affordable now (in comparison to what it was on launch), I pretty much ignore DDR4 except for builds on a tight budget. The increased max capacity of 192GB or 256GB versus 128GB on DDR4 is worth considering too, if your projects eat a lot of RAM.

The biggest current downside I'm aware of is that running 4 sticks at high speeds can be problematic with current CPUs/boards, so I'd stick with 64GB or 96GB kits for the time being.


How much VRAM are you using right now? I'd be very cautious of buying something with only 8GB for a development machine you're hoping to last for many years. I don't consider the 4060 equivalent, because performance of the xx60 parts has stagnated since the crypto boom and their specs are not comparable. Is the 4060 a decent upgrade in gaming performance? Sure, but is it appropriate for a development PC in 2024? I don't think so.

The two nvidia cards with substantial VRAM (16GB) and are reachable in your budget are the 4060 Ti, or the 4070 Ti Super, but only the 4070 Ti Super gets two encoders (if that matters to you) and the 4060 Ti didn't get a bus width or bandwidth bump, so the memory isn't as helpful as you'd think.

Hey Tetras, Thanks for the awesome reply. I think the first spec you posted looks pretty spot on (the S I mentioned was actually for the cpu you posted in the spec).
The projects i'm working on are all UE4 for the long foreseeable, i'm not working on anything AAA so no nanite or volumetric lighting , 12GB VRAM for the gpu should be ample, the 6GB I have atm is starting to max out but not by much.
Thanks again for the awesome post, I'll have a proper look this weekend.

 

[Tetras]

I think the first spec you posted looks pretty spot on

Thanks! Just FYI: the only case that has the optical bay is my third build (which I think is actually very similar the case you already own?), but you could buy an external USB drive.

The 14700K is the only one that would actually benefit from having the Kraken, too.

the S I mentioned was actually for the cpu you posted in the spec

Oh yeah, I just noticed that

I'm pretty sure it is meaningless. E.g. if you look at Wikipedia, they list the suffix for each line and -S is just "desktop". Both 13th and 14th gen desktop CPUs are Raptor Lake S, except 14th is officially Raptor Lake Refresh.

The projects i'm working on are all UE4 for the long foreseeable, i'm not working on anything AAA so no nanite or volumetric lighting

Ahh, yeah, that definitely makes it easier, since UE5's graphical requirements are pretty high.

12GB VRAM for the gpu should be ample, the 6GB I have atm is starting to max out but not by much.

Great!

 

[Mach234 (or similar).]

Thanks! Just FYI: the only case that has the optical bay is my third build (which I think is actually very similar the case you already own?), but you could buy an external USB drive.
The 14700K is the only one that would actually benefit from having the Kraken, too.
Oh yeah, I just noticed that
I'm pretty sure it is meaningless. E.g. if you look at Wikipedia, they list the suffix for each line and -S is just "desktop". Both 13th and 14th gen desktop CPUs are Raptor Lake S, except 14th is officially Raptor Lake Refresh.
Ahh, yeah, that definitely makes it easier, since UE5's graphical requirements are pretty high.
Great!

Hey Tetras,
Sorry for the slow reply, things got a bit busy.

So this is my shopping list atm:

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x Intel Core i7-14700K (Raptor Lake-S) Socket LGA1700 Processor - Retail (SKU: PRO-INT-00800) = £399.95
• 1 x Gigabyte Z790 Aorus Elite AX (LGA 1700) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MB-5BK-GI) = £259.99
• 1 x Corsair Vengeance EXPO 32GB (2X16GB) DDR5 PC5-41600C40 5200MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black (CMK32GX5M2B5200Z40) (SKU: MY-4DP-CS) = £99.95
• 1 x MSI GeForce RTX 3060 Ventus 2X OC 12GB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GX-374-MS) = £278.99
• 1 x Crucial P3 1TB M.2 2280 PCI-e 3.0 NVMe Solid State Drive (SKU: HD-077-CR) = £58.99
• 1 x WD 2TB Blue HDD 5400rpm 64MB Cache Internal Hard Drive (WD20EARZ) (SKU: STO-WDC-01659) = £59.99
• 1 x Phanteks AMP 650W 80 Plus Gold Modular Power Supply (SKU: CA-09Q-PT) = £89.98
• 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 Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound (3.5g) (SKU: AC-000-AC) = £7.99

Total: £1,459.75 (includes delivery: £11.98)​

I downgraded a couple of items to save on the pennies:

• 64GB RAM to 32GB (can always upgrade later)
• 2GB SSD to 1TB + 2TB HHD (always running out of space).
• Do you think I could get away with the Phanteks 650W PSU over the MSI 850W?

The only other thing is the water cooling system, would either of these (or another) be enough:

• https://www.overclockers.co.uk/be-q...ormance-cpu-water-cooler-240mm-hs-024-bq.html
• https://www.overclockers.co.uk/deepcool-ls520-all-in-one-black-cpu-water-cooler-240mm-hs-01w-dc.html

(was umming and ahhing between the two Phantek cases as the one without the external bays does look funky and same price when paired with external ASUS blu-ray, but 4 USB front panel and improved airflow won out..)

A couple of the items on the list say out of stock/preorder (motherboard, SSD, HDD), any idea when these guys will be back in stock?

Anyway, thanks again
Mach45

 

[Tetras]

2GB SSD to 1TB + 2TB HHD (always running out of space).

I don't recommend the P3, because it uses QLC memory and has a poor endurance rating, especially if you're going to use it for the OS and important apps.

2TB drives also have higher endurance ratings in general, because there's a lot more flash to spread the wear over.

Do you think I could get away with the Phanteks 650W PSU over the MSI 850W?

Yeah, but the price difference is quite small, so I'm not sure it is worth the loss of utility with upgrades.

64GB RAM to 32GB (can always upgrade later)

Fair enough, but keep in mind that current DDR5 systems don't seem to like running with 4 sticks.

The only other thing is the water cooling system, would either of these (or another) be enough:

• https://www.overclockers.co.uk/be-q...ormance-cpu-water-cooler-240mm-hs-024-bq.html
• https://www.overclockers.co.uk/deepcool-ls520-all-in-one-black-cpu-water-cooler-240mm-hs-01w-dc.html

Probably, but keep in mind where you can place them in the case (and what impact that might have on your build) and the often small price difference between 240mm and 360mm.

Personally, I'd rather keep the 64GB memory and 2TB SSD and switch the cooler to the peerless assassin, even if it will need a little more management/tweaking than an AIO to keep the temps and noise down.

About the stock: I've no idea I'm afraid.

 

[Mach234 (or similar).]

Thanks, good spot, I meant to add the P5 1TB, the MSI 850 PSU has gone up to £140 now unfortunately but will keep it in mind, yep i'd probably just replace the sticks if there was ever the need a few years down the road.
With a clear sided case I just prefer the cleaner look of keeping the radiator clear of the motherboard plus the other bits are upgradeable I wouldn't feel comfortable upgrading the cooler
Okay i'll keep an eye out for if they come back in stock..
Thanks again for all your help..