AndrewZScorpion

Thank you all!

Budget (including currency): $600 (+$1000 for a GPU, but I think I'll wait) Country: US Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: F1, Forza, Civ 6, older/less demanding games Other details (existing parts lists, whether any peripherals are needed, what you're upgrading from, when you're going to buy, what resolution and refresh rate you want to play at, etc): PCPartPicker Part List CPU: Intel Core i5-13600K 3.5 GHz 14-Core Processor ($270.00 @ Amazon) CPU Cooler: Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE 66.17 CFM CPU Cooler ($33.90 @ Amazon) Motherboard: ASRock Z690 PG Velocita ATX LGA1700 Motherboard ($157.99 @ Newegg) Memory: TEAMGROUP T-Force Delta RGB 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 Memory ($92.99 @ Amazon) Total: $554.88 Have a case, PSU, and storage that I'll bring over from my old system, as well as my 6700 XT if I don't get a new GPU now. Upgrading because my current computer (10600K/6700 XT) has decided it no longer wants to work properly and I was already thinking about upgrading in the next year anyhow. My rationale for each of the parts: MOBO: High-end "last gen" (as far as I am aware Z690 and Z790 are barely different apart from memory support, if I'm wrong, let me know) board that has all the features I want and is super cheap (~$200 less than any comparable AM5 board I saw). The MSI MPG Z690 FORCE WIFI also looks good, but I'm not sure if it's worth another $30. Thoughts? CPU: Well over $50 cheaper than the other intel CPUs I would consider (13700K, 14600K, 14700K), and the MOBO is so cheap that it makes AMD look unattractive to me right now. Cooler: Other coolers that perform similarly to it are 2-3x the price and should easily be capable of handling just about anything. RAM: I hope to keep this for at least my next build, and from the reviews I've seen this kit has good overclocking potential. Don't think I'll do anything that would require 64GB. Also, do you think going for a faster binned kit would be a good idea? They're not that much more expensive, but if I can save money, why not? GPU (or lack thereof): My 6700 XT is currently just enough for me, and with the 40 Super series seemingly on the horizon, I want to see how the 4070 Ti Super and 4080 Super look and the impact they have on 7900 XT(X) prices. If I were to buy now I think I would go for a 7900 XT or XTX, not sure which though. (don't like that the 4070 Ti only has 12GB of VRAM and the 4080 is too expensive) Will be buying in the next week. Thanks in advance!

They're all good performers, check out some 7700 XT or 7800 XT reviews to get an idea of how they stack up against each other, and keep in mind the prices in your area. Hardware Unboxed and Gamers Nexus usually make high-quality reviews, and if someone reliable comes out with some AC Mirage or Cities 2 benchmarks when those games release, I would look at those, and I would also look for benchmarks of games you already play frequently, as performance in individual games can be quite different from the overall average.

Pretty much. Certain cards use way more power than they’re rated for for brief periods of time (IIRC, the 3090 would use 1.5 or 2x its rated power draw for something like 50 or 100 ms at a time) which can cause shutdowns if your PSU isn’t over-specced and has good protections. A 300W GPU would put you maxing out at ~500W power draw, which is close enough to 550W that this is something you should be thinking about. I think this was resolved with 40 series looking at a couple graphs, but be careful. Yes, as long as you run DDU/ do a fresh OS install and then install the correct drivers. Display Driver Uninstaller. It wipes your computer of whatever GPU drivers you tell it to. I think there’s an auto mode but I haven't used it in a while so I could be wrong. Only things you really need to worry about are CPU and memory (which can be found on the Asus website). Otherwise, since it's a relatively modern board I wouldn't be worried about it as long as you have the correct port/slot unless it’s ECC ram or something like that (don’t worry about PCIe 3.0 vs 4.0, they’re compatible). You might need to update your BIOS to enable ReBAR, which can boost GPU performance a substantial amount. It’s pretty simple, just make sure you get the right model and don’t unplug or shut down your computer in the middle of it. There are guides that explain it better than I could.

5600 vs 5600X is essentially zero difference, so I wouldn’t be worried about that. As for the GPU, I would wait and see whether or not you’re happy with the performance. If you are, leave it as is, no need to waste money. If not, to avoid needing a PSU upgrade you’ll want to get a GPU that uses ~300W (this is pushing it, especially if the GPU has big power draw spikes) or less, which, for ~2080 Ti performance or better, leaves you looking at a 6700 XT-6800 XT, a 7700 XT/7800 XT, a 3070/3070 Ti, or a 4070/4070 Ti. AMD has tended to be the better deal as of late, but it ultimately depends on your preferences and deals in your area. I also would advise against buying a 3070 (Ti) due to them only having 8 GB of vram, which has already proven to be an issue in multiple games. Also, be sure to either run DDU or do a fresh OS install if you upgrade your GPU, especially if you switch brands. If you don't it can lead to a lot of issues with GPU drivers fighting each other.

Basically, it just means that Corsair switched from using Micron DRAM chips to Samsung DRAM chips for this model. There is some chance it could cause a problem, but as long as it boots with XMP settings and you don't plan on overclocking them beyond that, it should be fine.

The 13700k is slightly better and the 13600k is slightly worse compared to the 7900. As far as I know there is no reason not to enable PBO, it basically just makes it perform like a 7900X.

I agree with everything Ronothan said, additionally, it may be worth looking into a 13700k or 13600k Intel system if the relative prices in Russia are similar to the US (they both perform slightly better than the 7900 stock, but with PBO enabled, the 7900 pulls just ahead of the 13600k). Edit- Misread parts list, corrected my reply for mistake.

Run away. There is no 3080 TI (at least not yet)

Probably don’t need such a large ssd, so much ram, and that cooler is eh (good value, just not especially great performance) Really good overall though.

OCs can be stable for some applications and not for others. If the OC is still stable in other games, it’s probably just Cyberpunk. If not, it is probably the driver update.

Unless you want to go used, it looks like your best option for a CPU is a 9600k (assuming you live in the US) If you are willing to go used, you should be able to get a 9700k just within your budget. Make sure you have plenty of RAM as well.

Even if you didn’t buy the board from them, I would think that most stores would be willing to update the bios for you if you pay for it.

Yes. If you bring it to a local store, they should be able to update the BIOS for you. They will probably do it for free or very cheap.

I will always advise against buying used storage, especially when the price is so close.

Go up step by step, testing for stability. If unstable, try loosening timings and adding voltage (stay at or below 1.5v). I’ve never had a very successful RAM OC, so that’s about as much as I can help.

Won’t be a profile for it, but you can try overclocking it.

Gsync vs freesync isn’t a big deal. Don’t buy a different GPU just because it supports a different kind of v-sync.

You will be able to use Freesync, but not Gsync. There shouldn't be any problems.

Wait and buy a 5800x instead if you don't need the cores. Otherwise, $400 is a great price.

If the motherboard ships with a recent enough BIOS, it will work out of the box. If not, you can take it to a local shop to have them update it for you.

It’s cheaper without having that much worse performance.

For the most part, but it can be important in constrictive cases as well.

I would mount the rad as top exhaust. QL140 fans are bad in this case because they have a low static pressure (less than half than that of some other Corsair fans), so they will have difficulty forcing air through the rad.

I would wait until Black Friday. I doubt 5000 series will actually be on sale so close to release, but who knows. We expect a huge performance bump. It won't be a long wait, they are releasing on November 5th. I meant a single 1TB Evo, since 1TB is a ton of NVME storage as is, so I would suggest any other SSD you buy be SATA. If you were to buy a second NVME drive, I would get another 1TB Evo and put them in RAID 0 (if you don't mind the risks associated with RAID 0)