New Build

Syralys · May 27, 2022

Budget (including currency): $1200

Country: USA

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: MMOs, FPS, and video edits

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): Starting a new build and giving my nephew a few of my old parts. Currently have a 3900x and an RTX 3080. I'm letting him use the 3900x and my old rtx 2080 I had laying around. I have 16gbs of ram for him to use as well with the 3900x.

So I just need a new cpu motherboard and ram. I'm also planning on getting a new nvme drive and letting him use smaller one with a 1tb ssd for other games he might play. I play at 4k resolution and nephew will be playing at 1080p

I was looking to just jump into the 12900k and ddr5 ram, but have seen videos from Gamers Nexus and others that ddr5 is not a big jump from ddr4 as of now.

Any suggestions and advice is greatly appreciated.

RONOTHAN## · May 27, 2022

2 minutes ago, Syralys said:

I was looking to just jump into the 12900k and ddr5 ram, but have seen videos from Gamers Nexus and others that ddr5 is not a big jump from ddr4 as of now.

Yeah, DDR5 really isn't a big upgrade, and DDR5 is a pain to work with. If you're going with one of the 2 DIMM boards it's OK, but unless you have one of the few workloads that really benefits from the extra bandwidth, you're better off sticking with DDR4 since it's a lot easier to deal with to get any sort of impressive memory settings.

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/wdyspH

This is basically the limits for what's practical. The 12700 is a pretty good value, it performs about as well as the 12700K, plus There are reports of that motherboard being able to do non-K overclocking so even that's not a loss.

Syralys · May 28, 2022

19 hours ago, RONOTHAN## said:

Yeah, DDR5 really isn't a big upgrade, and DDR5 is a pain to work with. If you're going with one of the 2 DIMM boards it's OK, but unless you have one of the few workloads that really benefits from the extra bandwidth, you're better off sticking with DDR4 since it's a lot easier to deal with to get any sort of impressive memory settings.

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/wdyspH

This is basically the limits for what's practical. The 12700 is a pretty good value, it performs about as well as the 12700K, plus There are reports of that motherboard being able to do non-K overclocking so even that's not a loss.

Great suggestions, but I am looking for a long term cpu which I am set on the 12900k and I don't plan on upgrading for a few years. I managed to find an MSI z690 pro-a for about $50 more. Just not sure on the vrms, but all things I've read about the board it's a good entry level board. I don't plan on overclocking since watching videos on it the 12900k gets too hot to sustain a long term overclock.

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/msi-pro-z690-a-ddr4-socket-lga-1700-usb-3-2-intel-motherboard/6485158.p?skuId=6485158&loc=pdpShare&ref=app_android

I found a 32gb set of ram I forgot I had and so I can use that. I just need a new cooler for the 3900x. Probably just a good air cooler. Nephew doesn't need a fancy aio cooler that I am using now. Just waiting on the lga1700 bracket for my cooler.

RONOTHAN## · May 28, 2022

1 hour ago, Syralys said:

Great suggestions, but I am looking for a long term cpu which I am set on the 12900k and I don't plan on upgrading for a few years. I managed to find an MSI z690 pro-a for about $50 more. Just not sure on the vrms, but all things I've read about the board it's a good entry level board. I don't plan on overclocking since watching videos on it the 12900k gets too hot to sustain a long term overclock.

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/msi-pro-z690-a-ddr4-socket-lga-1700-usb-3-2-intel-motherboard/6485158.p?skuId=6485158&loc=pdpShare&ref=app_android

I found a 32gb set of ram I forgot I had and so I can use that. I just need a new cooler for the 3900x. Probably just a good air cooler. Nephew doesn't need a fancy aio cooler that I am using now. Just waiting on the lga1700 bracket for my cooler.

The difference in performance between the 12700 and 12900K is actually pretty small. It's worth no where near the $200-300 price jump for just 4 more E cores and slightly higher binned P cores. The 12700 should last you a few years no problem, it's a very respectable CPU and should still be quite a bit faster than the 3900X that you're coming from.

The Z690-A Pro is a pretty good board, VRM is very solid (wouldn't look too out of place on a low end Threadripper board), and has a decent amount of features. That said, if you don't plan on overclocking, you might as well save your money and go for a B660 board instead. The B660-A Pro is a similar board, VRM is very respectable, they share most of the same features, but the B660 board is $50 cheaper. Why spend that extra money if you're not gonna get any benefit from it?