First time building a PC

[1974 Trabant]

Budget (including currency):  2,500 pounds roughly

Country: Wales

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for:  Occasional rendering for engineering but mostly gaming

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): 

Already got a mouse, keyboard, monitor and headphones 

Aiming to play at 1440p at 160Hz

Spec list ive picked out, is this any good? been a while since I got a pc last was a prebuilt i got 10 years ago or so

 

[FI Fheonix]

6 minutes ago, 1974 Trabant said:

Budget (including currency):  2,500 pounds roughly

Country: Wales

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for:  Occasional rendering for engineering but mostly gaming

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): 

Already got a mouse, keyboard, monitor and headphones 

Aiming to play at 1440p at 160Hz

Spec list ive picked out, is this any good? been a while since I got a pc last was a prebuilt i got 10 years ago or so

 

Your CPU cooler is a little overkill, but if you are going to be rendering I guess it makes sense. Overall I wouldn't change anything else except maybe switch to like a 360mil AIO.

[Brando212]

solid looking build. Can't go wrong with Noctua coolers, even if that one IS a bit overkill. IMO better to over cool than risk it when under load.

[Dr. Will0hlep]

I'd suggest Kingston NV2s instead of 970 Evo Plus, it's a bit cheaper and it dosn't sound like you need the Dram cache (plus it gets you PCIe gen 4 speeds, not that you need those much either).

I'd go cheaper on the RAM, the difference between CL30 and CL36 DDR5-6000 is tiny and not worth the premium your spending.

The SeaSonic PSU feels overpriced for this build.

Your better off buying windows keys for £5-10 off third party sites.

With the money you save, consider a 7900XT instead of a 6950XT. It's not much faster, but the extra Vram will keep the card relevent for longer.

Finally, if you really like that case then fair enough, but keep in mind a fancy £200 case dosn't improve performance and you could get cases that look just as good at a lower price point.

[filpo]

7 minutes ago, 1974 Trabant said:

Budget (including currency):  2,500 pounds roughly

Country: Wales

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for:  Occasional rendering for engineering but mostly gaming

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): 

Already got a mouse, keyboard, monitor and headphones 

Aiming to play at 1440p at 160Hz

Spec list ive picked out, is this any good? been a while since I got a pc last was a prebuilt i got 10 years ago or so

 

good build but i would say go for an ak620 instead for cooler. Get the white version of the lian li o11D evo to make your room a bit brighter and get the rm100x instead for psu. Also pretty sure you can fit a 7900 xtx in this build

 

go for this build

PCPartPicker Part List: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/WhtkVw

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D 4.2 GHz 8-Core Processor  (£436.02 @ Amazon UK) 
CPU Cooler: Deepcool AK620 68.99 CFM CPU Cooler  (£64.98 @ Amazon UK) 
Motherboard: Gigabyte B650 AORUS ELITE AX ATX AM5 Motherboard  (£239.98 @ Amazon UK) 
Memory: G.Skill Trident Z5 Neo RGB 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 Memory  (£165.01 @ Newegg UK) 
Storage: Samsung 970 Evo Plus 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 3.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive  (£99.99 @ Amazon UK) 
Storage: Samsung 970 Evo Plus 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 3.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive  (£99.99 @ Amazon UK) 
Video Card: XFX Speedster MERC 310 Black Edition Radeon RX 7900 XTX 24 GB Video Card  (£1012.52 @ Amazon UK) 
Case: Lian Li O11 Dynamic EVO ATX Mid Tower Case  (£188.99 @ AWD-IT) 
Power Supply: Corsair RM1000x (2021) 1000 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply  (£169.98 @ Box Limited) 
Total: £2477.46
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2023-05-03 17:24 BST+0100

[filpo]

6 minutes ago, will0hlep said:

'd go cheaper on the RAM, the difference between CL30 and CL36 DDR5-6000 is tiny and not worth the premium your spending.

not exactly true with ryzen 7000. it benefits a lot from lower CAS latency ram, that ram they picked is the sweet spot

 

 

then again it is a few fps so? 

[SorryBella]

34 minutes ago, 1974 Trabant said:

 

Spec list ive picked out, is this any good? been a while since I got a pc last was a prebuilt i got 10 years ago or so

Is this gonna be built around O11 Dynamic? I think applying some cost compression would get us 7900XT for not much of a sacrifice in quality if at all.

[Why_Me]

26 minutes ago, will0hlep said:

I'd suggest Kingston NV2s instead of 970 Evo Plus, it's a bit cheaper and it dosn't sound like you need the Dram cache (plus it gets you PCIe gen 4 speeds, not that you need those much either).

I'd go cheaper on the RAM, the difference between CL30 and CL36 DDR5-6000 is tiny and not worth the premium your spending.

The SeaSonic PSU feels overpriced for this build.

Your better off buying windows keys for £5-10 off third party sites.

With the money you save, consider a 7900XT instead of a 6950XT. It's not much faster, but the extra Vram will keep the card relevent for longer.

Finally, if you really like that case then fair enough, but keep in mind a fancy £200 case dosn't improve performance and you could get cases that look just as good at a lower price point.

I wouldn't touch that Kingston SSD with a ten foot pole.

https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/kingston-nv2-ssd

[1974 Trabant]

4 minutes ago, SorryClaire said:

Is this gonna be built around O11 Dynamic? I think applying some cost compression would get us 7900XT for not much of a sacrifice in quality if at all.

Nope I just like the 011 but was thinking 200 for no fans is a bit steep

 

[SorryBella]

1 minute ago, 1974 Trabant said:

Nope I just like the 011 but was thinking 200 for no fans is a bit steep

Exactly my point.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D 4.2 GHz 8-Core Processor  (£436.02 @ Amazon UK) 
CPU Cooler: Deepcool AK620 68.99 CFM CPU Cooler  (£65.00 @ Computer Orbit) 
Motherboard: Gigabyte B650 GAMING X AX ATX AM5 Motherboard  (£199.98 @ Amazon UK) 
Memory: G.Skill Flare X5 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-5600 CL30 Memory  (£113.54 @ Amazon UK) 
Storage: Seagate FireCuda 510 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 3.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive  (£126.90 @ Amazon UK) 
Storage: Seagate FireCuda 510 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 3.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive  (£126.90 @ Amazon UK) 
Video Card: ASRock Phantom Gaming OC Radeon RX 7900 XTX 24 GB Video Card  (£989.99 @ Amazon UK) 
Case: Fractal Design Pop XL Air ATX Full Tower Case  (£99.82 @ Amazon UK) 
Power Supply: Gigabyte AORUS P GM 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply  (£99.99 @ AWD-IT) 
Total: £2258.14
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2023-05-03 18:00 BST+0100

220 pounds less than @filpo build, spend the 100 pounds for official W11 copy or dont bother with it for now. Up to you.

[Why_Me]

Just showing you another option. This cpu down below mops the floor with the 7800X3D in regards to rendering and it's no slouch in gaming.  btw the usual standard when running dual M.2 SSD's is 500GB for your O/S and 2TB for storage.  Add a 2.5" SATA 3 SSD later on if you ever feel the need for more storage. 

 

https://www.awd-it.co.uk/asus-tuf-gaming-h770-pro-wifi-intel-ddr5-atx-motherboard-lga-1700.html 

ASUS TUF GAMING H770-PRO WIFI £199.99  

 

https://www.asus.com/motherboards-components/motherboards/tuf-gaming/tuf-gaming-h770-pro-wifi/ 

  

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: *Intel Core i7-13700F 2.1 GHz 16-Core Processor  (£353.98 @ Amazon UK) 
CPU Cooler: *Deepcool AK620 68.99 CFM CPU Cooler  (£65.00 @ Computer Orbit) 
Memory: *G.Skill Ripjaws S5 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 Memory  (£152.42 @ Newegg UK) 
Storage: *Samsung 970 Evo Plus 500 GB M.2-2280 PCIe 3.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive  (£49.98 @ Scan.co.uk) 
Storage: *Samsung 970 Evo Plus 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 3.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive  (£99.99 @ Amazon UK) 
Video Card: *MSI VENTUS 3X OC GeForce RTX 4070 Ti 12 GB Video Card  (£809.99 @ Amazon UK) 
Power Supply: *MSI MPG A850G PCIE5 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply  (£135.69 @ Box Limited) 
Operating System: *Microsoft Windows 11 Pro Retail - Download 64-bit  (£64.98 @ Amazon UK) 
Total: £1732.03
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2023-05-03 18:15 BST+0100 

 

[Dr. Will0hlep]

1 hour ago, filpo said:

not exactly true with ryzen 7000. it benefits a lot from lower CAS latency ram, that ram they picked is the sweet spot

 

 

then again it is a few fps so? 

Looking at that graph it is no extra fps at all.

DDR5-6000 CL30 with 253 1% and 290 avg, while DDR5-6000 CL40 (worse than the CL36 I suggested) gets 255 1% and 289 avg.

Those results are clearly equal (or within error), It might make more difference in other games but (IMO) it will never be worth stupidly large premiums you'll pay.

tbh, looking at those graphs I might start recommending people buy DDR5-5600 CL36 instead of DDR5-6000 CL36 (if it is cheaper).

[Dr. Will0hlep]

1 hour ago, Why_Me said:

I wouldn't touch that Kingston SSD with a ten foot pole.

https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/kingston-nv2-ssd

tomshardware don't give a great review, I admit, however if you look at other reviewers it is often cited as a decent option for gamers. While a PCIe 4 samsung drive will get you better sequential write speeds (which is what tomshardware base their review on), it won't get you substainially better random reads which is what actually matters for gaming (even despite the NV2s variable hardware).

 

Furthermore, vs a PCIe 3 samsung drive (which is what has been spec'd and is still more expensive than the NV2) it should actually win out in sequential write speeds over any write smaller than 100GBs.

[Why_Me]

13 minutes ago, will0hlep said:

tomshardware don't give a great review, I admit, however if you look at other reviewers it is often cited as a decent option for gamers. While a PCIe 4 samsung drive will get you better sequential write speeds (which is what tomshardware base their review on), it won't get you substainially better random reads which is what actually matters for gaming (even despite the NV2s variable hardware).

 

Furthermore, vs a PCIe 3 samsung drive (which is what has been spec'd and is still more expensive than the NV2) it should actually win out in sequential write speeds over any write smaller than 100GBs.

The reason the Samsung cost more is because it's it has DRAM cache and uses a better controller.  The Kingston on the other hand sells cheap for a reason. 

[Dr. Will0hlep]

1 hour ago, Why_Me said:

The reason the Samsung cost more is because it's it has DRAM cache and uses a better controller.  The Kingston on the other hand sells cheap for a reason. 

Yes, I understand that is why is costs more. What I'm trying to explain is that: if you are gaming then these things matter very little.

 

DRAM is faster storage into which data is placed before it is written to the slower the flash chips on the SSD (which need time to find and make the space for the data). This means that when your performing a write over 100GB the CPU won't get stuck waiting for the flash chips on the SSD. However when reading (or performing small writes), the DRAM cache is basically pointless and not really improving performance in any meaningful way. As gaming is almost entirely small random reads and only occational small writes (and not large writes where DRAM is a benefit), having DRAM cache isn't useful for gaming.

Now, the better controller is an advantage for gaming, however it's often not a noticable one since it often aquates to a second or so of reduced load times. Once playing, it makes basically no difference at all. This might change with the advent of direct storage but the uptake on that tech is very low atm and even if it does take off in the next three years, (IMO) you'd probably be better off getting 1 NV2 (for non direct storage titles) and 1 faster drive (for direct storage titles), instead of 2 mid teir drives.

[1974 Trabant]

New revised parts list,