Upgrade advice Please. In two stages.

dpbadger · Sunday at 07:47

Hello I am looking for a bit of advice and spec help. I am planning to do an upgrade to my current rig in two stages then my current rig is to be used as a second machine at my parents house to use when I am there. I will mainly be playing Squad (UE5 update coming soon) on it at 1440p 240hz. When GTA 6 is out I want to be able to run that and I might possibly upgrade at a later date to a 4k monitor.

My current pc is built in a Lian li o11 air I really like the case the footprint on the desk is perfect but I can only get a 240mm AIO cpu cooler in it. It is an AM4 5800x3d, 64gb ram, MSI B450 Tomahawk Max M board, PCie3 NVME 1tb Sabrent rocket boot drive and a couple of 2.5"SSD's, 4080 gpu and a Corsair HX1200w PSU.
Apart from a new CPU and GPU this rig was built in 2019 so it has lasted me a good few years.

I was planning to do the first upgrade on everything apart from the GPU then at a later date pop a 5090 in it and put the 4080 back in the old rig. I was looking at the Lian li 207 digital case as I can put a 360mm AIO rad in the top as a 9950x3d runs hot and I'm not sure the 240mm rad is enough. I want to get a PCie 5 Mboard for future proofing GPU and boot drive. PSU wise I like to have it over powered and reliable with ATX3 cabling (i think if you start pushing higher on power you can maybe get coil whine)

So first upgrade I am thinking of OCUK bundle AMD Ryzen 9950x3d, ASUS ROG Strixx870f mboard, 64gb Gskill Z5 Neo, Cooler Master MasterLiquid PL360 Flux AIO CPU Cooler, (I also like the Tryx panaramic 360 AIO cooler) Crucial T705 2tb NVME PCIe5, I already have a spare unused 2tb Crucial PCIe4 for a steam drive. PSU i was looking at either the Corsair HX1500i, Seasonic Prime TX 1600w or the bequiet Dark power pro 13 1600w.

Then in 6 to 8 months I would grab a 5090 to put in it air cooled version.

Many thanks

mickyflinn · Sunday at 09:42

Hi.

Cpu, motherboard and memory is the only things you need unless you fancy a new case as well.

The 9800x3d is what to get for gaming unless you need the extra cores for editing extra that the 9950x3d has.

You can also reuse your cooler .

Pcie5 m2 won't give you any more performance unless you have 2 of them where transferring data from one to another saves you time and money.

So there's money to be saved unless you want the best

dpbadger · Sunday at 09:58

I think my current case will fit in a 5090 air cooled once I buy that. The reason I looked at the 9950x3d over the 9800x3d as from my googling UE5 likes lots of cores and is CPU heavy. Which then would mean I needed a new case for the bigger rad. If I got separate bits and not the OCUK overclocked package is the 9800x3d easy to overclock myself? Not going to undervolt or anything like that.

pastymuncher · Sunday at 10:09

Don't get hung up on PCI-e 5.0 M2 drives. They are expensive, run very hot and you won't notice any difference outside of benchmarks. Stick with PCI-e 4.0 for a good balance of performance and temps. I have a PCI-e 3.0 drive and a PCI-e 4.0 M2 drives and I can't tell any difference between them unless I bench them and my PCI-e 4.0 drives is one of the fastest available.

The 9800x3d is the gaming king and will be fine your 240mm AIO. Undervolting with PBO is better than playing around with overclocking which just isn't worth the hassle for a couple of hundred mhz these days. You get lower temps, lower power draw which in turn lets the cpu boost higher and for longer. There is nothing special in that overclocked bundle that you can't do yourself.

mickyflinn · Sunday at 10:12

dpbadger said:
I think my current case will fit in a 5090 air cooled once I buy that. The reason I looked at the 9950x3d over the 9800x3d as from my googling UE5 likes lots of cores and is CPU heavy. Which then would mean I needed a new case for the bigger rad. If I got separate bits and not the OCUK overclocked package is the 9800x3d easy to overclock myself? Not going to undervolt or anything like that.

Overclocking there isn't much to gain as these CPUs are close to thee limit so undervolting is the way to go or leave as is. I would look at benchmarks for ue5 to see if there's any advantage with the extra cores on the x3d CPUs.

Memory 6000mhz C30 is ideal for AM5.

There's nothing wrong in getting the best if you can afford its there's just better value . .

dpbadger · Sunday at 10:22

Eventually I will be using all the old bits for another PC build on a second system. So if I just get the CPU, Ram and another boot drive that will be a nice upgrade for now before I then get a 5090 in the new one, new bigger psu to go with it, then a cooler and case for the substituted bits to go in the second sytem.

mickyflinn · Sunday at 10:48

dpbadger said:
Eventually I will be using all the old bits for another PC build on a second system. So if I just get the CPU, Ram and another boot drive that will be a nice upgrade for now before I then get a 5090 in the new one, new bigger psu to go with it, then a cooler and case for the substituted bits to go in the second sytem.

Yep .

Just gotta pick the components.

dpbadger · Sunday at 10:55

My basket at OcUK:

1 x Asus ROG STRIX X870-F GAMING WIFI (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MOT-ASU-03086) = £389.99
1 x AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D Eight Core 5.20GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail (SKU: PRO-AMD-03517) = £449.99
1 x G.Skill Trident Z5 Neo EXPO RGB 64GB (2x32GB) DDR5 PC5-48000C30 6000MHz Dual Channel Kit (SKU: MEM-GSK-01357) = £229.99
1 x Kingston FURY Renegade 2TB PCI-e 4.0 NVMe M.2 Solid State Drive (SFYRS/2000G) (SKU: STO-KNG-01330) = £124.99

Total: £1,194.96 (includes delivery: £0.00)

dpbadger · Sunday at 10:58

I'm not sure on the which SSD to get. The new SSD I have already for my new steam drive is this 'Crucial P310 2TB M.2 2280 PCI-e 4.0 NVMe Solid State Drive'.

mickyflinn · Sunday at 13:04

Take a look at the Asrock X870e Nova.

ASRock Phantom Gaming X870E NOVA WiFi Review - Inexpensive Taichi alternative with experience report, teardown, material test and benchmarks | igor´sLAB

The ASRock Phantom Gaming X870E NOVA WiFi is a high-quality motherboard for the latest generation of AMD processors and is aimed at users who expect modern technologies and reliable performance.

www.igorslab.de

Tetras · Sunday at 14:07

dpbadger said:
The reason I looked at the 9950x3d over the 9800x3d as from my googling UE5 likes lots of cores and is CPU heavy.

The dual CCD CPUs park half the cores when you're gaming, so I doubt you'd notice much difference.

dpbadger said:
I was planning to do the first upgrade on everything apart from the GPU then at a later date pop a 5090 in it and put the 4080 back in the old rig. I was looking at the Lian li 207 digital case as I can put a 360mm AIO rad in the top as a 9950x3d runs hot and I'm not sure the 240mm rad is enough.

My opinion is that a 240mm AIO for the 9950X3D, is less of a problem than the cooling for a 5090.

I rarely watch case reviews/roundups, but my assumption would be that the 207 is a much less effective case for high-end cooling than a O11 Air (depending on how it is configured).

dfour · Monday at 13:03

mickyflinn said:
Take a look at the Asrock X870e Nova.

ASRock Phantom Gaming X870E NOVA WiFi Review - Inexpensive Taichi alternative with experience report, teardown, material test and benchmarks | igor´sLAB

The ASRock Phantom Gaming X870E NOVA WiFi is a high-quality motherboard for the latest generation of AMD processors and is aimed at users who expect modern technologies and reliable performance.

www.igorslab.de

I wouldnt put any x3d chips in any asrock boards ATM. They are suffering the most failures/burn outs on asrock boards compared to the other manufacturers which is a shame as I like their boards in gereral.

Ram same speeds but £35 cheaper. £40 cheaper without RGB.

My basket at OcUK:

1 x Corsair Vengeance EXPO RGB 64GB (2X32GB) DDR5 PC5-48000C30 6000MHz Dual Channel Kit (SKU: MEM-CRS-03749) = £194.99

Total: £194.99 (includes delivery: £0.00)

The kingston fury SSD looks like a good drive.

mickyflinn · Monday at 13:17

dfour said:
I wouldnt put any x3d chips in any asrock boards ATM. They are suffering the most failures/burn outs on asrock boards compared to the other manufacturers which is a shame as I like their boards in gereral.

Ram same speeds but £35 cheaper. £40 cheaper without RGB.

My basket at OcUK:

1 x Corsair Vengeance EXPO RGB 64GB (2X32GB) DDR5 PC5-48000C30 6000MHz Dual Channel Kit (SKU: MEM-CRS-03749) = £194.99

Total: £194.99 (includes delivery: £0.00)

The kingston fury SSD looks like a good drive.

Firmware update apparently resolved this which was a problem with memory but even so it mite be worth avoiding.

dpbadger · Monday at 15:21

My basket at OcUK:

1 x AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D Eight Core 5.20GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail (SKU: PRO-AMD-03517) = £449.99
1 x Asus ROG STRIX X870-F GAMING WIFI (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MOT-ASU-03086) = £389.99
1 x Kingston FURY Renegade 2TB PCI-e 4.0 NVMe M.2 Solid State Drive (SFYRS/2000G) (SKU: STO-KNG-01330) = £124.99
1 x Kingston FURY Renegade 4TB PCI-e 4.0 NVMe M.2 Solid State Drive (SFYRD/4000G) (SKU: STO-KNG-01331) = £259.99
1 x Corsair Vengeance EXPO RGB 64GB (2X32GB) DDR5 PC5-48000C30 6000MHz Dual Channel Kit (SKU: MEM-CRS-03749) = £194.99
1 x Thermal Grizzly KryoSheet Thermal Pad - 33 x 33 mm (SKU: COO-TGZ-01053) = £18.95
1 x Thermal Grizzly Cleaning Wipes (SKU: COO-TGZ-04892) = £7.99

Total: £1,446.89 (includes delivery: £0.00)

So this is my basket, I have added a 4tb steam/storage drive as the one I have is only 2tb and is not at my house to build. I have added the grizzly stuff as I am reusing my AIO cooler and need to clean it up. I think that's the right size as well.

dfour · Monday at 15:31

Nail varnish remover will do fine. Kyrosheets review very well but not for that cost when a tube of Thermal grizzly Duronaut 2g is only £9.

dpbadger · Monday at 15:44

dfour said:
Nail varnish remover will do fine. Kyrosheets review very well but not for that cost when a tube of Thermal grizzly Duronaut 2g is only £9.

I always put too much on. One time doing the cpu i got this weird liquid mercury one and it dribbled onto the motherboard.

dpbadger · Monday at 15:47

My basket at OcUK:

1 x AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D Eight Core 5.20GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail (SKU: PRO-AMD-03517) = £449.99
1 x Asus ROG STRIX X870-F GAMING WIFI (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MOT-ASU-03086) = £389.99
1 x Kingston FURY Renegade 2TB PCI-e 4.0 NVMe M.2 Solid State Drive (SFYRS/2000G) (SKU: STO-KNG-01330) = £124.99
1 x Kingston FURY Renegade 4TB PCI-e 4.0 NVMe M.2 Solid State Drive (SFYRD/4000G) (SKU: STO-KNG-01331) = £259.99
1 x Corsair Vengeance EXPO RGB 64GB (2X32GB) DDR5 PC5-48000C30 6000MHz Dual Channel Kit (SKU: MEM-CRS-03749) = £194.99
1 x Thermal Grizzly Duronaut - 2g (SKU: COO-TGZ-03948) = £8.99

Total: £1,428.94 (includes delivery: £0.00)

How does this look.

dfour · Monday at 15:52

dpbadger · Monday at 15:55

dfour said:

That looks easier lol.

dpbadger · Monday at 16:02

All ordered, thanks for the help everyone.

Edit, why does the delivery say up to 5 working days?