Planning an Autumn PC Build...

[mdtaUK]

Can't believe I have not posted here since planning my last PC build back in 2017...

 

So I am planning to build a mid-range new PC in the autumn.  I've been nurturing a parts list since last Autumn, but wanted to wait for AM5 so I have more options available to me.  I am looking for any input which doesn't increase the amount I will need to pay really, but want to get the best for my money and hoping for another 4-5 years of use as with my previous 2 PCs.

 

Until recently I was considering am RTX 4060 but with the rumours of delays, and the 3060 Ti finally available at MSRP - I brought it and am now just planning for September and Ryzen 7000.

 

Budget (including currency): around the £1700 - £2000

Country: United Kingdom

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Light gaming as well as 3DS Max, Adobe After Effects, Premiere, Photoshop, etc

Other details: Parts List WIP...  https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/VfLytn

 

So my current PC with its mess of storage is one thing I am trying to get comfortable with, as of typing this, I am considering:

 

Primary OS Drive:
WD Black SN850 1TB NVME SSD - £118.98

 

Games storage and media project files:

2x Crucial P2 2TB NVME SSD - £326.98

 

Media collection/archive:

WD Black 8TB 7200RPM HDD - £287.98

 

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Thinking a good X670 board, something like the Asrock Steel Legend, around the £200 - £240 price range
https://www.asrock.com/mb/AMD/X670E Steel Legend/index.asp

 

Ryzen 7800 (unless they announce a 7700, something with 8 cores, 16 threads (am hoping its not much more than the 5800X so £250 - £280)

 

RTX 3060 Ti Founders Edition - already brought for £369.99

 

DeepCool AK620 WH for Air Cooling

Fractal Meshify 2 RGB white case

32GB DDR 5 RAM at a fair price (hoping AM5 brings price drops for DDR 5) currently considering 6000MT/s basically I will be looking for guidance once AM5 is out as Ryzen has a history of RAM sensitivity.

850W Power Supply.  80 Platinum would be nice, but will settle for 80 Gold.

 

---

 

I brought an X470 board and a Ryzen 3700X to repurpose my existing PC for my Sister to use, and to ensure she can move to Windows 11 and get future updates, but I will keep my current monitors, speakers, mouse and keyboard.

 

[KaitouX]

59 minutes ago, mdtaUK said:

Until recently I was considering am RTX 4060 but with the rumours of delays, and the 3060 Ti finally available at MSRP - I brought it and am now just planning for September and Ryzen 7000.

In the last few generations the x60(xx106 die) GPU from Nvidia is released some time after the big ones, so regardless of delays, a 4060 would probably only be released next year. Also pretty big chance that the 4060 won't be that much faster than the 3060Ti, probably close to the 3070. So I think getting a 3060Ti was a good idea.

 

1 hour ago, mdtaUK said:

Ryzen 7800 (unless they announce a 7700, something with 8 cores, 16 threads (am hoping its not much more than the 5800X so £250 - £280)

A 7800X is more likely to be the same price or more than the 5800X(400 USD) was at launch, also fast DDR5 will still be expensive, and likely higher motherboard prices because DDR5 and PCIe Gen5 support seems to be pretty expensive when looking at Z690 boards. Performance wise, if they don't increase the core count, it probably wouldn't be that different from a 12700K. I can't think that Zen 4 will be the best for your money like you said you want this to be. Alder Lake and possibly Raptor lake are probably going to be better value than Zen4, maybe with exception of the 16-core part. Hopefully AMD drop their prices and everything I said becomes wrong, but recent AMD launches don't make me optimistic in their pricing.

 

1 hour ago, mdtaUK said:

850W Power Supply.  80 Platinum would be nice, but will settle for 80 Gold.

Platinum PSUs are a waste of money in most cases, they're way more expensive and won't really save enough money over its lifetime to cover that extra cost.

[mdtaUK]

52 minutes ago, KaitouX said:

In the last few generations the x60(xx106 die) GPU from Nvidia is released some time after the big ones, so regardless of delays, a 4060 would probably only be released next year. Also pretty big chance that the 4060 won't be that much faster than the 3060Ti, probably close to the 3070. So I think getting a 3060Ti was a good idea.

The RTX 3060 Ti should be a noticeable and appreciable upgrade over my GTX 1060 6GB 

 

52 minutes ago, KaitouX said:

A 7800X is more likely to be the same price or more than the 5800X(400 USD) was at launch, also fast DDR5 will still be expensive, and likely higher motherboard prices because DDR5 and PCIe Gen5 support seems to be pretty expensive when looking at Z690 boards. Performance wise, if they don't increase the core count, it probably wouldn't be that different from a 12700K. I can't think that Zen 4 will be the best for your money like you said you want this to be. Alder Lake and possibly Raptor lake are probably going to be better value than Zen4, maybe with exception of the 16-core part. Hopefully AMD drop their prices and everything I said becomes wrong, but recent AMD launches don't make me optimistic in their pricing.

I am kind of hoping that there will be a price war between 13th and 12th gen Intel, alongside Ryzen 7000.  The 7700X would be perfect, but that is likely to be a later released SKU, and so I may have to agonise over a 7600X and 7800X - if other things like Motherboard and RAM come down enough, I may be able to stretch to it.

 

52 minutes ago, KaitouX said:

Platinum PSUs are a waste of money in most cases, they're way more expensive and won't really save enough money over its lifetime to cover that extra cost.

I know Platinum is more of a marketing thing, and Gold is perfectly efficient and performant enough.  The £135.98 for the Fractal Ion+ 2 Platinum 860W seems reasonable, but there are more affordable modular supplies, so that is also somewhere I can find some slight savings.

[mustafa654]

I don't think u should get ddr5 right now its a waste of money because most motherboard rn cant use all of the  ddr5 capability  so its not that much better then ddr4 also the motherboard u chose does not support 3  m.2 so i think u should go for this https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/CsLcRv or this https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/skJn8r

[mdtaUK]

14 minutes ago, mustafa654 said:

I don't think u should get ddr5 right now its a waste of money because most motherboard rn cant use all of the  ddr5 capability  so its not that much better then ddr4 also the motherboard u chose does not support 3  m.2 so i think u should go for this https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/CsLcRv or this https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/skJn8r

The Motherboard and CPU are placeholders until Ryzen 7000 and X670 is out - AM4 lasted a good amount of time, and if AM5 does similar, it makes more sense for a PC I want to last 4-5 years.

 

13th Gen Intel will follow soon after, and I could go with that option if it makes sense following the reviews. If I went with Intel, then DDR4 would be an option.

[mustafa654]

30 minutes ago, mdtaUK said:

The Motherboard and CPU are placeholders until Ryzen 7000 and X670 is out - AM4 lasted a good amount of time, and if AM5 does similar, it makes more sense for a PC I want to last 4-5 years.

 

13th Gen Intel will follow soon after, and I could go with that option if it makes sense following the reviews. If I went with Intel, then DDR4 would be an option.

Oh ok then forget what i said u already have a solid build

 

[mdtaUK]

Right now I think I am happy enough with it, to share it with others - but I overthink things, and the release of X670 boards and Ryzen 7000 CPUs will through things in the air a bit - trying to manage my budget.

[mdtaUK]

Went ahead and brought the 

WD Black SN850 1TB NVME SSD

 

It went on sale today for £89.99, down from the previous £118.98

 

 

[Somerandomtechyboi]

On 7/11/2022 at 2:08 AM, mdtaUK said:

32GB DDR 5 RAM at a fair price (hoping AM5 brings price drops for DDR 5) currently considering 6000MT/s 

Likely the opposite will happen, especially if am5 turns out to be amazing vs raptor lake, also do not even bother with non bare pcb ram as theyre overpriced and most likely trash non hynix ic for lowbins like 6000 since the heatspreader does not allow you to see the ics

 

I suggest buying bare pcb hynix ddr5 at 100$ per 16gb stick off ebay, just request for the same ic as high bin 6400+ kits and now you have a cheap equivalent capable of high speeds. Minimum 7000+ for futureproofing ddr5 but ram oc capability may also increase with better cpu imcs and better boards with better ram topologies so ddr5 6800 now may do 7600+ later but thats not exactly predictable, though ddr4 ics can be used as a reference for this since there are really old ics like samsung 4gbit e die that may not have done much more than 3000 on x99 but now can do 4000+ with ease on newer platforms

 

On 7/11/2022 at 2:08 AM, mdtaUK said:

Fractal Meshify 2 RGB white case

Case can be cheaped out on as theyre unimportant money sinks, just choose a decent looking and good airflow case sub 80£ like the zalman s2 or any good airflow rgb cases that seem to be floating around the 60£ mark for whatever reason

 

On 7/11/2022 at 2:08 AM, mdtaUK said:

Games storage and media project files:

2x Crucial P2 2TB NVME SSD - £326.98

sn770 going for 132£ which is a much better deal than the sad excuse of a lowend slow qlc crucial p2

[venomtail]

On 7/10/2022 at 8:08 PM, mdtaUK said:

Thinking a good X670 board, something like the Asrock Steel Legend, around the £200 - £240 price range

No way X670 will be that cheap. I think X670 board will start around £350, X650 starting at some £270 and X670E at £400 no less.

New Ryzen CPU's will also cost a fortune. Don't see a reason why a Ryzen 5 7000 series will start below £300.

[mdtaUK]

39 minutes ago, Somerandomtechyboi said:

Likely the opposite will happen, especially if am5 turns out to be amazing vs raptor lake, also do not even bother with non bare pcb ram as theyre overpriced and most likely trash non hynix ic for lowbins like 6000 since the heatspreader does not allow you to see the ics

 

I suggest buying bare pcb hynix ddr5 at 100$ per 16gb stick off ebay, just request for the same ic as high bin 6400+ kits and now you have a cheap equivalent capable of high speeds. Minimum 7000+ for futureproofing ddr5 but ram oc capability may also increase with better cpu imcs and better boards with better ram topologies so ddr5 6800 now may do 7600+ later but thats not exactly predictable, though ddr4 ics can be used as a reference for this since there are really old ics like samsung 4gbit e die that may not have done much more than 3000 on x99 but now can do 4000+ with ease on newer platforms

Compared to the 4800 default I thought 6000 was pretty good.  I watched Buildzoid talking through DDR5 and he said anything about 5600 is likely to be Samsung or SK Hynix.  My main focus for that is pricing tbh.
I think most sticks of 16GB will be single rank with DDR5.  And I could always get an additional kit in the future and go to 64GB without having to worry about dual rank in 4 slots, becoming an issue.

 

39 minutes ago, Somerandomtechyboi said:

Case can be cheaped out on as theyre unimportant money sinks, just choose a decent looking and good airflow case sub 80£ like the zalman s2 or any good airflow rgb cases that seem to be floating around the 60£ mark for whatever reason

 

sn770 going for 132£ which is a much better deal than the sad excuse of a lowend slow qlc crucial p2

I am happy with the case, I originally wanted the Torrent, but persuaded myself that the Meshify 2 RGB would work nicely.  If I were to go down in price, I'd probably go for one of the new Fractal Pop XL cases though - I am into their aesthetic, and it would be enough to hold my PC together

 

39 minutes ago, Somerandomtechyboi said:

sn770 going for 132£ which is a much better deal than the sad excuse of a lowend slow qlc crucial p2

I did consider that, As its a Prime Day sale, I just need to decide how much of my savings to spend now, vs once I have more money saved and what pricing may look like further down the line.  Any M.2 SSD will be faster than the HDDs I currently use, so whether they are gen 3 or gen 4 - it will be an improvement for project assets in After Effects, and running games.

[mdtaUK]

39 minutes ago, venomtail said:

No way X670 will be that cheap. I think X670 board will start around £350, X650 starting at some £270 and X670E at £400 no less.

New Ryzen CPU's will also cost a fortune. Don't see a reason why a Ryzen 5 7000 series will start below £300.

I am worried about that being the case.  I have read that X670 chipsets are cheaper to produce than Z690 - and there is always the B650 options I could go to.  The Ryzen CPUs will carry a premium, but Intel 13th gen will follow behind, so there may be some incentive to challenge on price.  Either way going for an AM4 board now, and hoping it will last me 5 years or beyond, is a hard pill to swallow.

[mdtaUK]

I brought the 8TB WD Black drive, got it for £197.99

[mdtaUK]

2 hours ago, Somerandomtechyboi said:

sn770 going for 132£ which is a much better deal than the sad excuse of a lowend slow qlc crucial p2

I gave in and grabbed em

 

All in all not a bad day, brought all the storage I need, with better 2TB SSDs and saved £89.99

[venomtail]

1 hour ago, mdtaUK said:

I am worried about that being the case.  I have read that X670 chipsets are cheaper to produce than Z690 - and there is always the B650 options I could go to.  The Ryzen CPUs will carry a premium, but Intel 13th gen will follow behind, so there may be some incentive to challenge on price.  Either way going for an AM4 board now, and hoping it will last me 5 years or beyond, is a hard pill to swallow.

I remember there was a pricing leak of one undetermined X670 board that starts at 500euro in Spain or Portugal. That's £423, I just round it off to the nearest 50th and that would be £400, even more expensive. And that's not even the X670E boards...

 

Let's yolo with someone who can't do maths:

If we take cost of cheapest motherboards of each tier right now is

B660 to Z690 is a 50% increase

B550 to X570 is a 75% increase

If we take the average from both that would be 62.5%

 

Sounds stupid but if I apply the 62.5% from the previous boards to the leaked price of an X670 board (rounded)

B650 could cost at the cheapest £270 and a

X670E could cost at the cheapest (unlikely that the jump between X670 to E is as expensive as B650 to X670) could be £700... even if it's half the increased cost 31.25%, that's still £555.

 

 

Not looking good but awfully close with the B650 guess.

[mdtaUK]

I was looking at between the X570 and Z690 prices - and I think there will be cheaper options like the Asus Prime, or MSI Pro.  Any savings in the meantime, gives me more leeway when it comes to CPU and Motherboard costs.  Almost £90 saved today with the storage, makes a £270 - £300 motherboard achievable.