6.5 years from last build, 2nd build ever
Posted by bobthepig12@reddit | buildapc | View on Reddit | 8 comments
built my 1st pc in jan 2020, but now looking for a new pc for gaming in the US. used to be into all the nerdy pc stuff, but with working full time now im just lookin for a moderate upgrade over my 16gb of ram, 2070s and 3700x pc from early 2020
current monitor is 1080p 360 hz, and other is 1440p 165 hz. would love to be able to hit 80 fps on the more visually demanding games coming out; something my current pc is sadly struggling to hit.
budget is a hard $5000, but im not pressed about reaching it. think everything below is fine, im not pressed about fully min maxing and getting the best value. also think the nh-d15s w/ the case and 44m tall ram hopefully will be able to all fit in.
was honestly thinking to wait till gta 6 releases on PC, but i doubt prices of anything are ever going to stay or go down, so best time is now even if RAM prices are disgustingly bad
CPU: Ryzen 7 9800X3D (\~$420)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D15S chromax black (\~$115)
Motherboard: Gigabyte X870E AORUS ELITE WIFI7 ATX AM5 (\~$270) (sidenote could not quickly figure out the difference between X870E WIFI7 and X870E X3D, but one was like $90 cheaper).
RAM: G.Skill Trident Z5 64 GB (2 x 32gb) DDR5-6000 (\~$960)
STORAGE: Samsung 990 EVO Plus 1TB + Samsung 990 EVO Plus 2TB (\~$262 + \~$422). Gonna bring over my 970 EVO 1TB and 3TB hard drive from my current PC too.
GPU: Gigabyte WINDFORCE OC SFF RTX 5070 TI 16 GB (\~$1000)
Case: Fractal Design Meshify 3 ATX Mid Tower Case (\~$155)
PSU: Corsair SF1000 (2024) 1000W 80+ Platinum (\~$240)
Total Cost: \~$3844
Again, not too pressed about getting 100% best value, but making sure there's no compatibility issues and not totally boning myself on something related to value, or somehow buying at the worst possible time
WherePoetryGoesToDie@reddit
You are buying at the worst possible time since the pandemic, but if your hard ceiling is $5k, it doesn't really matter.
Since you have money to play with, I'd pick up a 5080, preferably not an SFF model since your case can accommodate larger cards and bigger = better when it comes to cooling.
If you want to save a bit of money pretty much no one needs an X-series board, and the only people who do know exactly why they need it.
I have no idea why you want 3 separate NVMe drives, especially at the extremely elevated prices we're seeing right now. Samsungs are also way overpriced for speeds/features that don't make a noticeable difference in day-to-day usage.
Better air coolers for less, but at your budget the difference is chump change.
You're paying a premium for a small form factor PSU when your case isn't an SFF case.
The X3D CPUs aren't very RAM-sensitive due to the extra cache. The old 6000/CL30 recommendation was for 1. non-x3D CPUs, and 2. was a sweetspot/bang-for-buck recommendation when DDR5 wasn't so expensive. Kits with that spec are now incredibly, incredibly overpriced because that's what everyone used to recommend. You can legit save $500 or more if you go with 5200/5600 and/or 32-36 CL. It'll barely make a difference performance-wise in games.
bobthepig12@reddit (OP)
Made a revised one and am curious if you have the time:
CPU: Ryzen 7 9800X3D (\~$420) Same
CPU Cooler: Thermalright Peerless Assassin (\~$35) Cheaper fan. Do let me know if you think there's a specific better one for same price.
Motherboard: Gigabyte B850 Eagle WIFI6E ATX (\~$147) Cheaper motherboard.
RAM: G.Skill Trident Z5 64 GB (2 x 32gb) DDR5-6000 CL36 (\~$850) Found one with a worse CL and this was the lowest price/gb for 64 gb of ram on pcpartpicker.
STORAGE: Western Digital WD_Black SN850X 2 TB + Silicon Power UD90 1 TB (\~$350 + \~$153). Gonna bring over my 970 EVO 1TB and 3TB hard drive from my current PC too. (Not Samsung to save)
GPU: Gigabyte GAMING OC GeForce RTX 5080 16 GB (\~$1500) (better GPU that's not SFF)
Case: Fractal Design Meshify 3 ATX Mid Tower Case (\~$155) Same
PSU: be quiet! Power Zone 2 1000 W 80+ Platinum ATX PSU (\~$160) Cheaper PSU that hopefully is still fine.
Total Cost: \~$3770
https://pcpartpicker.com/list/WVDXyF
Think the above is better and w/o anything egregiously bad? The idea of just kinda upgrading and not dealing with the hassle of a whole new computer is compelling so I have list of the things for that:
CPU: Ryzen 9 5950X (\~$434) think this one is best for AM4? don't know how much better it is compared to my current 3700x though
CPU Cooler: NH-D15S (Already have). $0
Motherboard: Gigabyte X570 AORUS ULTRA ATX (Already have). $0
RAM: G.Skill Trident Z RGB 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 CL18. This is a duplicate of my current ram to have 32gb total. Looked over the receipt in 2020 and this was $80 last time :( (\~$155).
STORAGE: Western Digital WD_Black SN850X 2 TB + Silicon Power UD90 1 TB (\~$350 + \~$153). Gonna keep my 970 EVO 1TB and 3TB hard drive from my current PC too. (Not Samsung to save). Still gonna get two more SSDs even if they're overpriced now.
GPU: Gigabyte WINDFORCE OC SFF GeForce RTX 5070 Ti (\~$1000) I'm kinda assuming I'm gonna be bottlenecked by CPU if I stick with AM4 so thought this was solid value. I think 304mm just barely fits into my current case too.
Case: Fractal Design Meshify C ATX Mid Tower Case (Already have). $0
PSU: SeaSonic FOCUS Plus Platinum 750 W 80+ Platinum (Already have). $0
Total Cost for upgrading: \~$2092
Not gonna ask if i should definitively start from scratch or upgrade my current one, but just curious if these two are viable options that don't have anything egregiously bad. TYSM
WherePoetryGoesToDie@reddit
On the RAM: I saw this on pcpartpicker. You'll definitely have to downclock to 6k to get it stable on AM5.
On the cooler: The Peerless Assassin provides better price-to-performance, but I didn't know you already had a NH-D15S. Most AM4 coolers are compatible with AM5. Double-check with Noctua. If the NH-D15 isn't, they'll send you a free kit to make it so.
For the drop-in upgrade, get a 5800xt. Or wait for the 5800x3d re-release. The 5950x has more cores, which doesn't matter much for gaming, and may even be worse than the 8-core CPUs because more cores = more heat = less overhead on boost clocks.
On the 5070ti: I didn't mention it because with a $5k hard ceiling on the new build you may as well get the 5080, but if you're getting a 5070ti, that specific Gigabyte model had an issue with leaking thermal gel.
Otherwise looks good. Note that with four drives you may run into PCIe lane issues. You'd have to look up the lane-sharing schematics for your MB (example) and compare it against your own use case to see if it'll be problematic. One of the reasons I'd advise having three NVMe drives. That said, it also shouldn't be a huge deal for most.
Ripe-Avocado-12@reddit
noctua coolers are great, but a phantom spirit will work just as well and save you a few bucks. Consider a b850 motherboard unless you need the usb4 from the x870 chipset. Maybe consider slightly worse ram to save some money, $1000 for ram sucks to see.
You have an sff gpu and psu, but a full atx case. I'd get a non-sff gpu which should run quieter as they usually have larger heatsinks, and a cheaper psu designed for an atx case since you don't need the space savings. 1000w is really overkill. 750-850 would be plenty.
bobthepig12@reddit (OP)
Made a revised one and am curious if you have the time:
CPU: Ryzen 7 9800X3D (\~$420) Same
CPU Cooler: Thermalright Peerless Assassin (\~$35) Cheaper fan. Do let me know if you think there's a specific better one for same price.
Motherboard: Gigabyte B850 Eagle WIFI6E ATX (\~$147) Cheaper motherboard.
RAM: G.Skill Trident Z5 64 GB (2 x 32gb) DDR5-6000 CL36 (\~$850) Found one with a worse CL and this was the lowest price/gb for 64 gb of ram on pcpartpicker.
STORAGE: Western Digital WD_Black SN850X 2 TB + Silicon Power UD90 1 TB (\~$350 + \~$153). Gonna bring over my 970 EVO 1TB and 3TB hard drive from my current PC too. (Not Samsung to save)
GPU: Gigabyte GAMING OC GeForce RTX 5080 16 GB (\~$1500) (better GPU that's not SFF)
Case: Fractal Design Meshify 3 ATX Mid Tower Case (\~$155) Same
PSU: be quiet! Power Zone 2 1000 W 80+ Platinum ATX PSU (\~$160) Cheaper PSU that hopefully is still fine.
Total Cost: \~$3770
https://pcpartpicker.com/list/WVDXyF
Think the above is better and w/o anything egregiously bad? The idea of just kinda upgrading and not dealing with the hassle of a whole new computer is compelling so I have list of the things for that:
CPU: Ryzen 9 5950X (\~$434) think this one is best for AM4? don't know how much better it is compared to my current 3700x though
CPU Cooler: NH-D15S (Already have). $0
Motherboard: Gigabyte X570 AORUS ULTRA ATX (Already have). $0
RAM: G.Skill Trident Z RGB 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 CL18. This is a duplicate of my current ram to have 32gb total. Looked over the receipt in 2020 and this was $80 last time :( (\~$155).
STORAGE: Western Digital WD_Black SN850X 2 TB + Silicon Power UD90 1 TB (\~$350 + \~$153). Gonna keep my 970 EVO 1TB and 3TB hard drive from my current PC too. (Not Samsung to save). Still gonna get two more SSDs even if they're overpriced now.
GPU: Gigabyte WINDFORCE OC SFF GeForce RTX 5070 Ti (\~$1000) I'm kinda assuming I'm gonna be bottlenecked by CPU if I stick with AM4 so thought this was solid value. I think 304mm just barely fits into my current case too.
Case: Fractal Design Meshify C ATX Mid Tower Case (Already have). $0
PSU: SeaSonic FOCUS Plus Platinum 750 W 80+ Platinum (Already have). $0
Total Cost for upgrading: \~$2092
Not gonna ask if i should definitively start from scratch or upgrade my current one, but just curious if these two are viable options that don't have anything egregiously bad. TYSM
Ripe-Avocado-12@reddit
I'd still go AM5 if you can afford it, but sticking with a 5070ti is fine as it's way better value than the slightly better 5080.
However looking at your revised am5 build compared to your first, it's way better value so great job on the changes! The only swap you could consider is staying with the 5070ti but just a cheaper model like https://pcpartpicker.com/product/Cpbypg/asus-prime-geforce-rtx-5070-ti-16-gb-video-card-prime-rtx5070ti-16g otherwise, solid system!
The AM4 route is still fine, just cpu upgrade from 3000 to 5000 isn't going to be huge. Do you do any type of content creation or professional work with your pc that would use the extra cores in the 59xx chips? The advantage of the 5950/5900 over the 5800/5700 is 8/6 extra cores which don't really do anything for gaming performance. AMD recently announced they are re-releasing the 5800x3d which is an 8 core but with that sweet 3d vcache that helps with gaming workloads. That would be the chip to get, assuming it's not priced stupidly and you can get one when it comes out. If you could get one of those, I'd say that route with the GPU upgrade is the way to go.
No_Entertainer_3052@reddit
almost 4 grand for a 5070TI build is diabolical mate
youre spending way too much money on the auxiliary stuff and cheaping out on thing that actually matters (the gpu)
search for 5080/9800x3d buillds theres been tons posted and copy one of thsoe youre spending way too much on the stuff that doesnt really matter but cheaping out on the thing that does
5k isnt enough for a 5090 build nowadays so id aim to spend like ~3k for a a 5080/9800x3d one instead and if you really hate money can do 64 GB of Ram isntad of 32, go with the brand name hard drives
Withinmyrange@reddit
Lgtm, the build looks fine but slight value optimizations
Cooler: a peerless assassin is a fraction of the price but will do the same job.
Mobo: mobo manufacture always add weird selling points but most of the times, it’s useless. A b850 will do the exact same job as the ones you mentioned before. Good enough for 99.9% of consumers.
Ram: damn