PC build for Husband - No idea

XTMT · Tuesday at 09:14

Hey guys, looking for some advice please.

Currently trying to surprise my husband with a pc which he can build himself. I have little knowledge on components, but want to ensure I get the best ones for his gaming intentions (Cyberpunk, Doom, Assassins Creed) with also as little RGB as possible, he prefers LCD/LED.
This is my current list of components:

CPU: Ryzen 7 7800 x3D
Cooler: Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE
Motherboard: MSI MAG B650 Tomahawk WIFI ATX AM5
Memory: Corsair Vengeance RGB 32GB DDR5
Storage: Crucial P5 Plus 2TB M.2
Video Card: Asus PRIME OC GeForce RTX 5070 12GB
Case: Unknown currently
PSU: Be Quiet Pure-power 12 M 850W 80+ Gold
OS: Microsoft Windows 11 Home 64 Bit USB
Monitor: MSI MAG 275QF 2560 x 1440

Main concerns are: BIOS compatibility, would Intel be a better CPU, would the RX 9070 XT be a better GPU choice, and will by SSD be bottlenecked? Also, any other issues you may see, as most of my research has been youtube!

Thank you for any help!!!!!

throwaway4372 · Tuesday at 09:17

Sure he would appreciate you choosing components for him? I think half the fun is picking it yourself.

XTMT · Tuesday at 09:20

throwaway4372 said:
Sure he would appreciate you choosing components for him? I think half the fun is picking it yourself.

Oh really is it? I will have to think on that thank you.

JollyJamma · Tuesday at 09:42

XTMT said:
Oh really is it? I will have to think on that thank you.

Really up to you though and I'm sure that if you knew what his use case was, you could surprise him with a really good system that would be exactly what he needs.

Does your husband use any specific applications such as Adobe Premier or AI that would make better use of Nvidia GPUs than AMD?

I ask because the Nvidia RTX options aren't as good value as the AMD 9070XT but still have an advantage in professional applications and Ray-Tracing.

Your current build is great and any good SSD will be fine, there's little to be gained by expensive PCI-E 5.0 SSD drives for gaming.

XTMT · Tuesday at 09:47

JollyJamma said:
Really up to you though and I'm sure that if you knew what his use case was, you could surprise him with a really good system that would be exactly what he needs.

Does your husband use any specific applications such as Adobe Premier or AI that would make better use of Nvidia GPUs than AMD?

I ask because the Nvidia RTX options aren't as good value as the AMD 9070XT but still have an advantage in professional applications and Ray-Tracing.

Your current build is great and any good SSD will be fine, there's little to be gained by expensive PCI-E 5.0 SSD drives for gaming.

He currently has a Steamdeck and Xbox X, so it would have been with the intention to upgrade his overall experience. I believe he would most likely want to utilise anything like AI etc, if it improves the quality of his gaming.

tamzzy · Tuesday at 09:57

that's not a bad first try!
what is the budget?

hornetstinger · Tuesday at 10:01

throwaway4372 said:
Sure he would appreciate you choosing components for him? I think half the fun is picking it yourself.

And she should pickup a 286 12mhz say tadaa here's your new PC as trolling him

Is the component a system he's already got? Because upgrading that is a waste of time

12GB VRAM isn't enough, I'm noticing most games are way over 12GB now

JollyJamma · Tuesday at 10:01

XTMT said:
He currently has a Steamdeck and Xbox X, so it would have been with the intention to upgrade his overall experience. I believe he would most likely want to utilise anything like AI etc, if it improves the quality of his gaming.

That's fair.

The system you have already specc'ed is really good for gaming and if someone surprised me (or most people on this forum) with it, that would be an amazing gift.

XTMT · Tuesday at 10:30

tamzzy said:
that's not a bad first try!
what is the budget?

Thank you. I intended on Max £1,000-£1,500.

XTMT · Tuesday at 10:31

JollyJamma said:
That's fair.

The system you have already specc'ed is really good for gaming and if someone surprised me (or most people on this forum) with it, that would be an amazing gift.

Thank you

XTMT · Tuesday at 10:32

hornetstinger said:
And she should pickup a 286 12mhz say tadaa here's your new PC as trolling him

Is the component a system he's already got? Because upgrading that is a waste of time

12GB VRAM isn't enough, I'm noticing most games are way over 12GB now

Thank you. So possible 16GB instead, noted.

hornetstinger · Tuesday at 10:38

Go for Gen 4 NVME, no point in Gen 5

faceman123 · Tuesday at 11:05

get 9800x3d too close in price

tamzzy · Tuesday at 11:07

a bit overbudget, but this is a full white build

the case has rgb fans, but you don't have to run the rgb if you don't want to
i've also not specced windows 11 as it is not worth £100, you can get keys cheaper elsewhere - that £100 is better off being pumped into the hardware budget

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 MSI B850M Gaming Plus WIFI6E (AMD AM5) B850 DDR5 Micro-ATX Motherboard (SKU: MOT-MSI-05943) = £139.99
1 x Crucial Pro 32GB (2x16GB) DDR5 PC5-44800C36 6000MHz Dual Channel Kit - White (SKU: MEM-CRU-03115) = £80.00
1 x WD Blue SN5000 2TB SSD NVME M.2 2280 PCIe Gen4 Solid State Drive (SKU: STO-WDC-02651) = £109.99
1 x Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 White Mini CPU Air Cooler (SKU: COO-TLR-03283) = £24.95
1 x XFX Swift Radeon RX 9070 OC Triple 90mm Fan Gaming Edition White 16GB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GRA-XFX-05499) = £548.98
1 x Gigabyte 27" GS27QA 2560x1440 QHD SS IPS 180Hz 1ms AMD FreeSync HDR Ready Widescreen Gaming Monitor (SKU: MON-GIG-05194) = £134.00
1 x PHANTEKS XT M3 Micro-ATX Case, includes 3x 120mm Fans - White (SKU: CAS-PHK-05736) = £59.90
1 x Phanteks AMP GH 750W 80PLUS Gold ATX Power Supply Modular - White (SKU: POW-PHK-02518) = £94.99

Total: £1,558.79 (includes delivery: £15.99)

XTMT · Tuesday at 11:37

tamzzy said:
a bit overbudget, but this is a full white build
the case has rgb fans, but you don't have to run the rgb if you don't want to
i've also not specced windows 11 as it is not worth £100, you can get keys cheaper elsewhere - that £100 is better off being pumped into the hardware budget

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 MSI B850M Gaming Plus WIFI6E (AMD AM5) B850 DDR5 Micro-ATX Motherboard (SKU: MOT-MSI-05943) = £139.99

1 x Crucial Pro 32GB (2x16GB) DDR5 PC5-44800C36 6000MHz Dual Channel Kit - White (SKU: MEM-CRU-03115) = £80.00

1 x WD Blue SN5000 2TB SSD NVME M.2 2280 PCIe Gen4 Solid State Drive (SKU: STO-WDC-02651) = £109.99

1 x Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 White Mini CPU Air Cooler (SKU: COO-TLR-03283) = £24.95

1 x XFX Swift Radeon RX 9070 OC Triple 90mm Fan Gaming Edition White 16GB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GRA-XFX-05499) = £548.98

1 x Gigabyte 27" GS27QA 2560x1440 QHD SS IPS 180Hz 1ms AMD FreeSync HDR Ready Widescreen Gaming Monitor (SKU: MON-GIG-05194) = £134.00

1 x PHANTEKS XT M3 Micro-ATX Case, includes 3x 120mm Fans - White (SKU: CAS-PHK-05736) = £59.90

1 x Phanteks AMP GH 750W 80PLUS Gold ATX Power Supply Modular - White (SKU: POW-PHK-02518) = £94.99

Total: £1,558.79 (includes delivery: £15.99)

Thank you. Was actually looking for a full black build but all these elements look amazing thank you. I'm making notes haha!

hornetstinger · Tuesday at 11:46

Factored in a sound system?

XTMT · Tuesday at 11:55

hornetstinger said:
Factored in a sound system?

No I haven't. Any recommendations?

hornetstinger · Tuesday at 12:02

XTMT said:
No I haven't. Any recommendations?

Starting off headphones from £50 to £300 either headphone or one with microphone (headset)
Then 2.0 active stereo speakers or 2.1
Or stereo amp with passive speakers
Or something like wiim amp pro with passive speakers ( that is a audio streamer as well)
To avr with 4.1 speakers
Then decide use usb out to device or coaxial/optical or hdmi, or analogue out..if analogue out then probably want a soundcard

Budget could be from £50 to £500
Depends on need

Probably sort of thing he needs to browse listen and decide. You could buy him speakers and he might not like how they sound etc.

tamzzy · Tuesday at 12:04

XTMT said:
Thank you. Was actually looking for a full black build but all these elements look amazing thank you. I'm making notes haha!

full black build:

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 Asrock B850M Pro-A WiFi (Socket AM5) DDR5 mATX Motherboard (SKU: MOT-ASR-04010) = £145.00
1 x PNY XLR8 Gaming EPIC-X 32GB (2x16GB) DDR5 PC5-51200C36 6000MHz Dual Channel Kit (SKU: MEM-PNY-04564) = £77.99
1 x WD Blue SN5000 2TB SSD NVME M.2 2280 PCIe Gen4 Solid State Drive (SKU: STO-WDC-02651) = £109.99
1 x Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE CPU Cooler - 120mm (SKU: COO-TLR-02665) = £29.99
1 x PowerColor Radeon RX 9070 Reaper 16GB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GRA-PWC-04020) = £499.99
1 x Antec CX600M ARGB M-ATX Mini Tower - Black (SKU: CAS-ATC-04160) = £54.95
1 x Phanteks AMP GH 750W 80PLUS Gold ATX Power Supply Modular - Black (SKU: POW-PHK-02517) = £84.94
1 x Gigabyte 27" GS27QA 2560x1440 QHD SS IPS 180Hz 1ms AMD FreeSync HDR Ready Widescreen Gaming Monitor (SKU: MON-GIG-05194) = £134.00

Total: £1,502.83 (includes delivery: £15.99)

hornetstinger · Tuesday at 12:10

Also determine if he needs a "mass storage drive" 2tb is fine for a few games but if he has movies , music and lots of other games then 12tb example platter drive can come in handy ...as adding more and more 2tb nvme adds up

Having 12tb means he can move old games to that.

Plus if he has movies and music then platter drive is needed unless he has nas elseware