New PC Build

Xenlol1

Xenlol1

Xenlol1

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Joined
25 Dec 2011
Posts
35
Hello all,

I'm very out of the loop with PC parts, brands, what to avoid etc and haven't bought PC components in 7-10 years, so hoping to get some advice.

I'm wanting to build a new PC as my current one is failing with GPU issues (i think) and is about 6-7 years old anyway so i thought it was the right time to get a complete refresh.

Mainly for MMO/FPS gaming. I Might get a new widescreen monitor but havent decided yet, and will keep my current dual screens until I decide on that.

Budget of ideally up to £2,500. I have 2 relatively new Samsung 980 Pro NVME SSDs which hopefully I can use in this new build?

I really like the aesthetic of this case, so would like this to be in the build :D https://www.overclockers.co.uk/frac...-black-tempered-glass-case-cas-ftl-02137.html

Would also like to hear peoples' opinion on if you would watercool it or not?

This might be the last build I buy, so want to make it as future proof as possible.

Would it be worth waiting until the new gen stuff comes out? I've heard mixed opinions on that.

Appreciate some advice.

Thanks!
 
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Xenlol1 said:
Would it be worth waiting until the new gen stuff comes out? I've heard mixed opinions on that.
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If you haven't done an upgrade for 7+ years then whatever you buy now should be a big upgrade.

I don't have concerns about the CPU, but dumping a large amount of money on a GPU is probably unwise this late into the cycle.

Xenlol1 said:
Mainly for MMO/FPS gaming. I Might get a new widescreen monitor but havent decided yet, and will keep my current dual screens until I decide on that.
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What resolution do you game at, and/or intend to game at? It defines the whole PC (especially the graphics), so very important to know.

Xenlol1 said:
Would also like to hear peoples' opinion on if you would watercool it or not?
Click to expand...
Generally my advice would be that unless you want it for aesthetic reasons: no. You can put the money to better use elsewhere when even a £23 Freezer 36 can cool a 7800X3D.

Xenlol1 said:
I have 2 relatively new Samsung 980 Pro NVME SSDs which hopefully I can use in this new build?
Click to expand...
No problem, what size are they?
 
Tetras said:
If you haven't done an upgrade for 7+ years then whatever you buy now should be a big upgrade.

I don't have concerns about the CPU, but dumping a large amount of money on a GPU is probably unwise this late into the cycle.


What resolution do you game at, and/or intend to game at? It defines the whole PC (especially the graphics), so very important to know.


Generally my advice would be that unless you want it for aesthetic reasons: no. You can put the money to better use elsewhere when even a £23 Freezer 36 can cool a 7800X3D.


No problem, what size are they?
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply Tetras.

  • I want to be able to game at 4k, I might upgrade my screen setup to a single ultrawide and a secondary screen, . But currently my current screens are 27" 2560x1440 and 28" 3840x2160
  • The NVME sticks are 1x 1TB and 1x 2TB
 
Xenlol1 said:
I want to be able to game at 4k, I might upgrade my screen setup to a single ultrawide and a secondary screen, . But currently my current screens are 27" 2560x1440 and 28" 3840x2160
Click to expand...
That's tricky, because 4K gaming needs a big beast of a graphics card and that's exactly where it is dubious putting your money right now.

Do you have a graphics card that you could use (in the new PC, temporarily) until you're ready to do the upgrade?
 
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Tetras said:
That's tricky, because 4K gaming needs a big beast of a graphics card and that's exactly where it is dubious putting your money right now.

Do you have a graphics card that you could use (in the new PC, temporarily) until you're ready to do the upgrade?
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Not really, my Vega64 is on the brink and is currently on life support so deffo needs replacing.

When you say its dubious buying a GPU right now, do you mean because prices might decrease with new releases?
 
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cpu wise, a 7800x3d paired with a B650/B650E platform is more than enough. the problem that @Tetras is refering is that for 4k gaming, you're probably looking at a 4080Super or really a 4090 gpu(nvidia) and they're about to be replaced at the end of the year, beginning of next. They're powerful, but been atround now and dropping £1k to 1.8K(realistically you're loking at a 4080Super) is still a lot of money to spend when the replacement should hopefully be faster for the same price(though for the launch of the 4000 series, i'd of said that wasn't the case)
You could also go down the amd 7900xtx route, but still it's the same. They'll be replaced too, though AMD have said they will no longer be competing with high end, and concentrate on mid tier gpu's, so realistically for you're budget, we're back to nvidia...going that price now, I'd lean that way anyway as the 4080super did drop in price compared to the 4080 before it, making it slighty more palatable and also dlss is better than fsr, and when you're spending that much, to me that matters. If you wanyt to try raytracing also, the nvidia beats amd hands down also
With the fracal case, are you intested in any rgb at all to light up the inards a bit, or keeping it all non rgb..personally after having non rgb for year, went with it myself. Actually like it..set colour to static but lights up the inards a bit. also the case seems to have quite dark tinted glass, so you might need some if you want to see in , unless you like the stealth look
 
Xenlol1 said:
When you say its dubious buying a GPU right now, do you mean because prices might decrease with new releases?
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Well, to give you an example: if RDNA 4 releases soon and the 8800 XT has say... 4070 Ti Super performance at £450, you'd be pretty annoyed at having just paid £700+ for the same. It is unlikely that something this big is going to happen (it has not in GPUs for a long time), but you never know.

Xenlol1 said:
Not really, my Vega64 is on the brink and is currently on life support so deffo needs replacing.
Click to expand...
Here's an example build, remove the CPU cooler you don't want:

My basket at OcUK:

Total: £1,765.92 (includes delivery: £0.00)​

There are cheaper motherboards if you don't care about PCI-E 5.0 graphics. If you want 4x M.2 slots, you could look at an X670E motherboard.

I didn't include any storage because you already have the 980 Pro drives.

This video gives you some idea of what to expect (the 7900 GRE is a slower card, but close enough):
 
Fractal Design North XL Charcoal Black Tempered Glass Case
CAS-FTL-02137
£170 (incl. VAT)
Find out more
Asus TUF Gaming 1000W 80 Plus Gold Power Supply
CA-05Z-AS
£160 (incl. VAT)
Find out more
Arctic Liquid Freezer III High Performance CPU Water Cooler - 360mm
COO-ARC-01991
£77 (incl. VAT)
Find out more
Thanks Tetras. That's quite under-budget. Do you think I could get a significant enough increase in performance/reliability etc spending another £750 ish? Or would there not be enough in it to warrant the spend?
 
Xenlol1 said:
Thanks Tetras. That's quite under-budget. Do you think I could get a significant enough increase in performance/reliability etc spending another £750 ish? Or would there not be enough in it to warrant the spend?
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Well, it is like Craig_d1 said, a better GPU is worth it for 4K, but while I feel like £600 on a 7900 XT is something I can stomach right now, spending £1K+ with their replacements just around the corner is... not so nice.

If it is something you gotta do, then you gotta do it, but yeah... not a fan.
 
Craig_d1 said:
cpu wise, a 7800x3d paired with a B650/B650E platform is more than enough. the problem that @Tetras is refering is that for 4k gaming, you're probably looking at a 4080Super or really a 4090 gpu(nvidia) and they're about to be replaced at the end of the year, beginning of next. They're powerful, but been atround now and dropping £1k to 1.8K(realistically you're loking at a 4080Super) is still a lot of money to spend when the replacement should hopefully be faster for the same price(though for the launch of the 4000 series, i'd of said that wasn't the case)
You could also go down the amd 7900xtx route, but still it's the same. They'll be replaced too, though AMD have said they will no longer be competing with high end, and concentrate on mid tier gpu's, so realistically for you're budget, we're back to nvidia...going that price now, I'd lean that way anyway as the 4080super did drop in price compared to the 4080 before it, making it slighty more palatable and also dlss is better than fsr, and when you're spending that much, to me that matters. If you wanyt to try raytracing also, the nvidia beats amd hands down also
With the fracal case, are you intested in any rgb at all to light up the inards a bit, or keeping it all non rgb..personally after having non rgb for year, went with it myself. Actually like it..set colour to static but lights up the inards a bit. also the case seems to have quite dark tinted glass, so you might need some if you want to see in , unless you like the stealth look
Click to expand...

Thanks Craig, I'll have to look into some of the finer details you mentioned there.

And regarding RGB, yeah ideally would like a nice RGB setup, I've heard good things about the Corsair iCUE range?
 
Xenlol1 said:
Thanks Craig, I'll have to look into some of the finer details you mentioned there.

And regarding RGB, yeah ideally would like a nice RGB setup, I've heard good things about the Corsair iCUE range?
Click to expand...
others hate ICue, but I've got no problem with it at all. After going no rgb for years, I built a rig with a 5000X case, b550e-e 32gb ddr4 5800x etc..got a 360mm corsair xt aio and swapped out all the fans for ql120's. even got 2 fake ram lighting sticks (corsair ram without the actual ram in them) to populate all the slots. I've has no issues with the software. take a bit of learning to get to grips with it but you can set multiple profiles with control everything, so when my son goes on it and want his profile, he just clicks it and everything changes. the icue even controls the strix mobo and the lian li strimmers i have in there
My rig out here where I live and work I've got a lian li evo, b650e-e, 7800x3d, 32gb corsair ram(no lighting sticks available), an arctic a35argb air cooler and lian li sl inf fans

RGB asside, i find the icue far better than the lian li software. If i want to change or see a different rgb within the lian li software, if i click on a different preset effect, nothing happens till I actually set it to that...just makes the whole process slower as i can't just cycle through it all quickly and see what the effects do. Also, just realised that one set of triple fans is fet the wrong way as decided to change from just static to having a moving light move down the edge of the fans and go round from bottom to top...(ie bottom left to bottom right, then next set bottom side to top side and finally top right to top left...then back again...found out that my bottom tiple fan the light effect would start bottom right to bottom left...only way to fix that is open case up, take the 3 fans out and rotate them 180 degrees) With icue it doesn't matter what order you put the fans in etc...you can move the order on a per fan basis, and even control where the rotation of light would start etc, so even if a fan is placed 90 degrees wrong, can all be fixed in the software without removing and rotating the fan)

they're the only 2 systems I've tried so far...got a phanteks case and some fans for my son, but haven't built in that yet so can't tell you how that works
 
what i would go for is fans that link..my qli120's...oooff..9 fans, each with a pwm wire and an rgb wire...18 wires going into mulitple controllers etc...
my sl inf 9 fans..each bank of 3 fans connected together and 1 wire from each going to a controller box....18 wires down to 3(might be six..can't remember if the wire splits at end for controller box for rgb/pwm...but still, so much less hassle etc.
however, the fractal case you have with the wooden front will hide a lot of rgb, so doesn't have to be extravagant at all, if you just want to light up a bit of the inside. I'd get the componenet parts nailed down 1st and then, only then start looking at the rgb part....as price can escalate quickly...did with me, but I don't regret it.. have to look at my pc every day, so I was happy to spend the extra...others look at it as a tool only or have it under a desk, so paying the extra is money down the toilet so to speak
 
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