PC Upgrade Advice

[Ummuna]

Hi all!

 

Was hoping to get some help with an idea I had recently about upgrading my current gaming rig and converting my old rig into a NAS Server (for storage and running Plex [Up to 4 users at once]). My current rig is looking like:

 

CPU: Ryzen 5 5600

Cooler: Noctua NH-U14S

GPU: RTX 2070 SUPER

MOBO: ASUS Prime X470

RAM: T-Force Dark 3200mhz 4x8gb (32gb total)

PSU: Corsair RM650x

CASE: Fractal Design Meshify C TG (the front Tempered Panel no longer exists... i did a Linus and now waiting on a replacement)

FANS: 3x 140mm Noctua NF-A14; 1x 120mm Noctua A12x25

BOOT: Samsung 970 EVO Plus (500gb); 

 

(Any tips on if this would work for a NAS / What NAS HDD's to use would be appreciated!!)

 

Having looked around a little bit over the Christmas weekend I've come up with two potential builds but, given their price, wanted to seek some feedback or ideas on them before doing it (all pricing and availability is for Australia primarily using PCCG). A few things to note:

• WiFi is a must (but I do already have a WiFi card if this will reduce the cost significantly)
• GPU is optional, and happy to keep my RTX 2070 Super into the new build until pricing steadies on 40 series cards (or when RX 7900's are back in stock)
• Gaming / Tasks is on a 1440p Ultrawide
• Games generally played include examples like:
  • Overwatch 2
  • Valorant
  • Dead by Daylight
  • Tiny Tina's Wonderlands
  • Gotham Knights
  • Dark Pictures Anthologies Series
  • Dying Light 2
  • Uncharted
  • High on Life
• I will not be doing any form of video editing (at most the occasional Twitch stream when we all get that "I'm going to be famous on twitch!" moment
• I am open to any and all changes to the below attempts and won't be offended if all of the choices are rubbish (especially given how expensive this is!)
• I would prefer to keep it below $5,000 AUD as the upper limit (University graduation present for myself!)

 

INTEL BUILD

 

CPU: i5 13600KF ($465)

COOLER: Noctua NH-D15 ($189)

GPU: (can be omitted for 2070S) Gigabyte RTX 4080 Gaming OC 16gb ($2,399)

MOBO: ASUS Prime Z790-A Wi-Fi CSM DDR5 ($599)

RAM: Team T-Force Delta RGB 6400MHz CL40 DDR5 2x16gb WHITE ($369)

PSU: Corsair RM1000e Gold ($269)

Case: Phanteks Eclipse G360A Airflow D-RGB ($165)

Boot: Samsung 970 EVO Plus (500gb) ($99)

Storage: Samsung 980 PRO M.2 Gen4 2TB ($389)

 

Total: $4,943 AUD (4080) / $2,544 AUD (2070S)

 

AMD BUILD

 

CPU: Ryzen 5 7600X ($399)

COOLER: Noctua NH-D15 ($189)

GPU: (can be omitted for 2070S) Gigabyte RTX 4080 Gaming OC 16gb ($2,399)

MOBO: Gigabyte X670 Aorus Elite AX DDR5 ($539)

RAM: Team T-Force Delta RGB 6400MHz CL40 DDR5 2x16gb BLACK ($369)

PSU: Corsair RM1000e Gold ($269)

Case: Lian Li Lancool 216 A-RGB ($195)

Boot: Samsung 970 EVO Plus (500gb) ($99)

Storage: Samsung 980 PRO M.2 Gen4 2TB ($389)

 

Total: $4,847 AUD (4080) / $2,448 AUD (2070S)

 

Thank you and appreciate any advice or feedback!

[jamie.three]

17 minutes ago, Ummuna said:

INTEL BUILD

 

CPU: i5 13600KF ($465)

COOLER: Noctua NH-D15 ($189)

GPU: (can be omitted for 2070S) Gigabyte RTX 4080 Gaming OC 16gb ($2,399)

MOBO: ASUS Prime Z790-A Wi-Fi CSM DDR5 ($599)

RAM: Team T-Force Delta RGB 6400MHz CL40 DDR5 2x16gb WHITE ($369)

PSU: Corsair RM1000e Gold ($269)

Case: Phanteks Eclipse G360A Airflow D-RGB ($165)

Boot: Samsung 970 EVO Plus (500gb) ($99)

Storage: Samsung 980 PRO M.2 Gen4 2TB ($389)

 

Total: $4,943 AUD (4080) / $2,544 AUD (2070S)

 

AMD BUILD

 

CPU: Ryzen 5 7600X ($399)

COOLER: Noctua NH-D15 ($189)

GPU: (can be omitted for 2070S) Gigabyte RTX 4080 Gaming OC 16gb ($2,399)

MOBO: Gigabyte X670 Aorus Elite AX DDR5 ($539)

RAM: Team T-Force Delta RGB 6400MHz CL40 DDR5 2x16gb BLACK ($369)

PSU: Corsair RM1000e Gold ($269)

Case: Lian Li Lancool 216 A-RGB ($195)

Boot: Samsung 970 EVO Plus (500gb) ($99)

Storage: Samsung 980 PRO M.2 Gen4 2TB ($389)

 

Total: $4,847 AUD (4080) / $2,448 AUD (2070S)

At the moment i think intel is probably the way to go (the 13600kf is faster than the 7600x with both better single thread performace and more threads) but its worth noting that if you do go AMD then you might want to go for RAM with lower clock speeds but tighter timings. I think that AMDs memory controler will struggle with 6400MHz and really benifits more from slower RAM with better timings.

Also i dont think there is any noticable advantage to having seperate boot drives so id probably just stick to 1 2TB drive and keep an extra M.2 slot free for future upgrades. you might want to have a look at a WD SN850x which have the same read/write speeds for a fair bit cheaper

Edited December 26, 2022 by jamie.three
just noticed i was looking at US$ for SSD pricing

[4PcBuilder]

It depends on what you want, I mean if you want the most performance at the moment then go Intel, no question about it. But, for upgradability and future performance, I would go amd. I personally would say amd, but that’s my opinion which may be biased because I love amd. Anyways, I fixed up that am5 build of yours, I do not know what was up with that pricing in your list since I fit a ryzen 9 7900x and Rtx 4090 in there with almost 100 aud to spare. Ofc you can drop to a 7700x or 7600x if you don’t need 12 cores. If not the 2070 super or 4090, I would secondly recommend the rx 7900 xtx for how much value it has over the 4080. If you do ryzen 5/7 with sapphire 7900 xtx in the list I made it should be around $3500 aud give or take 250. Here is the list:https://au.pcpartpicker.com/user/Pcbuild12123/saved/nzgDjX

[Ummuna]

23 minutes ago, jamie.three said:

At the moment i think intel is probably the way to go (the 13600kf is faster than the 7600x with both better single thread performace and more threads) but its worth noting that if you do go AMD then you might want to go for RAM with lower clock speeds but tighter timings. I think that AMDs memory controler will struggle with 6400MHz and really benifits more from slower RAM with better timings.

Also i dont think there is any noticable advantage to having seperate boot drives so id probably just stick to 1 2TB drive and keep an extra M.2 slot free for future upgrades. you might want to have a look at a WD SN850x which have the same read/write speeds for a fair bit cheaper

 

Makes sense! I was thinking about not doing the separate drives so I'm glad to find out it isn't a silly idea! I've always been very keen on AMD and their CPU's but after looking into the latest Intel CPU's performance and honestly pricing here in Australia, Intel seemed like the way to go.

 

13 minutes ago, 4PcBuilder said:

It depends on what you want, I mean if you want the most performance at the moment then go Intel, no question about it. But, for upgradability and future performance, I would go amd. I personally would say amd, but that’s my opinion which may be biased because I love amd. Anyways, I fixed up that am5 build of yours, I do not know what was up with that pricing in your list since I fit a ryzen 9 7900x and Rtx 4090 in there with almost 100 aud to spare. Ofc you can drop to a 7700x or 7600x if you don’t need 12 cores. If not the 2070 super or 4090, I would secondly recommend the rx 7900 xtx for how much value it has over the 4080. If you do ryzen 5/7 with sapphire 7900 xtx in the list I made it should be around $3500 aud give or take 250. Here is the list:https://au.pcpartpicker.com/user/Pcbuild12123/saved/nzgDjX

 

Thanks! In terms of the pricing, those were all sourced from a single site (PCCG) where I do a majority of my PC Part Shopping as I generally prefer to avoid ordering from multiple places (for example, in your list I would have to pay $89.42 AUD in shipping costs). Similarly, I did also note you only include a 500gb NVME M.2 SSD (which for all intents and purposes would be nearly filled with Windows alone). In terms of wants, this upgrade was primarily sparked by wanting to (as I wrote in the post) create my own NAS Server with the old hardware, so considering I was already upgrading it made sense to go for the most performance that would last as long as possible before necessitating future upgrades.

 

I really appreciate the help but just wanted to provide a bit of clarity on those points!