Novice to PC building - advice appreciated

[Konstantin_P]

Good time of day to all LTT Forum members,

 

I'm new to PC building and would really appreciate your input. I’ve spent the past 10+ years using macOS, and while my MacBook Pro with the M2 Max is excellent for work, I’ve recently felt the urge to build a Windows desktop — both for creative workflows and some occasional gaming.

After doing some research, I’ve put together a potential build. If anyone has constructive suggestions on how I could optimise or improve it, I’d be very grateful.

 

Budget: £2000–£2600 (roughly $2600–$3400 USD)
Use Case: Motion design (After Effects), 3D work (Blender, SolidWorks), light-to-moderate gaming

Proposed Build:

• CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D

• CPU Cooler: ARCTIC Liquid Freezer III 360 A-RGB

• Motherboard: MSI PRO X870-P WIFI (ATX, AM5, PCIe 5.0, DDR5)

• Memory: 64 GB (2x32 GB) Corsair Vengeance RGB DDR5-6000 CL30

• Storage: 2x Samsung 990 EVO Plus 2TB PCIe 5.0 NVMe SSD

• GPU: Zotac GeForce RTX 5080 Solid Core 16GB GDDR7

• Case: Montech AIR 903 MAX Mid-Tower

• PSU: be quiet! Straight Power 12 1000W 80+ Platinum (ATX 3.1, PCIe 5.1)

 

The main area of concern I have is the CPU - is it worth going with the 9950X3D, or should I consider switching to the Ryzen 7 9800X3D instead?

Also, PCPartPicker indicates that I might need to update the BIOS for this setup. It doesn't look too difficult, but if anyone here has done it recently, I’d appreciate an honest difficulty rating from 1 to 10.

Lastly, do I really need to buy a Windows key for £140, or are the discounted keys from third-party sites (under £50) a reliable option?

 

Looking forward to your thoughts and feedback — thanks in advance!

 

[Hinjima]

31 minutes ago, Konstantin_P said:

 

 

 

Good time of day to all LTT Forum members,

 

I'm new to PC building and would really appreciate your input. I’ve spent the past 10+ years using macOS, and while my MacBook Pro with the M2 Max is excellent for work, I’ve recently felt the urge to build a Windows desktop — both for creative workflows and some occasional gaming.

After doing some research, I’ve put together a potential build. If anyone has constructive suggestions on how I could optimise or improve it, I’d be very grateful.

 

Budget: £2000–£2600 (roughly $2600–$3400 USD)
Use Case: Motion design (After Effects), 3D work (Blender, SolidWorks), light-to-moderate gaming

Proposed Build:

• CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D

• CPU Cooler: ARCTIC Liquid Freezer III 360 A-RGB

• Motherboard: MSI PRO X870-P WIFI (ATX, AM5, PCIe 5.0, DDR5)

• Memory: 64 GB (2x32 GB) Corsair Vengeance RGB DDR5-6000 CL30

• Storage: 2x Samsung 990 EVO Plus 2TB PCIe 5.0 NVMe SSD

• GPU: Zotac GeForce RTX 5080 Solid Core 16GB GDDR7

• Case: Montech AIR 903 MAX Mid-Tower

• PSU: be quiet! Straight Power 12 1000W 80+ Platinum (ATX 3.1, PCIe 5.1)

 

The main area of concern I have is the CPU - is it worth going with the 9950X3D, or should I consider switching to the Ryzen 7 9800X3D instead?

Also, PCPartPicker indicates that I might need to update the BIOS for this setup. It doesn't look too difficult, but if anyone here has done it recently, I’d appreciate an honest difficulty rating from 1 to 10.

Lastly, do I really need to buy a Windows key for £140, or are the discounted keys from third-party sites (under £50) a reliable option?

 

Looking forward to your thoughts and feedback — thanks in advance!

 

If you do a lot of core heavy work then a 9950X3D is absolutely recommended.  That being said, if you think you can get by with a 9800X3D then its the best option for gaming.  The 9950X3D has twice the cores / threads of a 9800X3D.

Rest of the system looks great!   

 

Updating the BIOS on modern motherboards is very simple.  From a scale between 1-10 I would say a 2, its pretty straight forwards these days.

Maybe a 7 if it was my 67 year old mother doing it.

I can also help you with this if you want   The motherboard you have chosen has BIOS Flash button that makes this incredibly easy and you dont need a supported CPU to do this, you can update the BIOS without anything installed in the motherboard except for the CPU power cables and motherboard power from the PSU.

 

I personally only buy my keys from third-party sites, I am not paying 140 bucks for a windows key.  I don't think we are allowed to say what websites we use here openly on the Forum.  I could be wrong about this.

 

Here is how to use the BIOS Flash function on your MSI motherboard.

 

[PDifolco]

What @Hinjimasaid

Plus you don't really need a windows key, you can install it "non authenticated", will have a watermark but won't lose much functionality afaik

OR you can just use Linux (free), Blender works on it, but Solidworks requires a VM

As for gaming it's ok except with games having low level anticheat (malware technically..), if you play Steam games for examples it works neatly with Proton (kinda VM)

[Why_Me]

Here's another option to look at.

 

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: *Intel Core Ultra 9 285K 3.7 GHz 24-Core Processor  (£519.99 @ Currys PC World) 
Motherboard: *Asus TUF GAMING Z890-PLUS WIFI ATX LGA1851 Motherboard  (£225.50 @ Amazon UK) 
Memory: *Patriot Viper Venom 64 GB (2 x 32 GB) DDR5-6400 CL32 Memory  (£151.99 @ Amazon UK) 
Power Supply: *Super Flower Leadex III Gold UP 1000 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply  (£149.99 @ Overclockers.co.uk) 
Total: £1047.47
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2025-06-18 23:41 BST+0100

 

https://www.tomshardware.com/software/windows/windows-11-free-or-cheap 

[Konstantin_P]

Thank you very much for the insight, I will definitely give it a little more thought of what CPU to choose. @Hinjima I guess it will be manageable for me to update BIOS, and thanks for the BIOS tip video. I will probably use the third party webpages to source a windows key, cause the reward is too damn good. 

 

@PDifolco

As for Linux, it seems to me a little too extreme. I obviously used Windows at some point in my life, but Linux is like an uncharted territory. May be at some point I will be able to give it a shot, but for now, it just seems difficult. 

 

Thank you one more time for the great advise!

[Hinjima]

1 minute ago, Konstantin_P said:

Thank you very much for the insight, I will definitely give it a little more thought of what CPU to choose. @Hinjima I guess it will be manageable for me to update BIOS, and thanks for the BIOS tip video. I will probably use the third party webpages to source a windows key, cause the reward is too damn good. 

 

@PDifolco

As for Linux, it seems to me a little too extreme. I obviously used Windows at some point in my life, but Linux is like an uncharted territory. May be at some point I will be able to give it a shot, but for now, it just seems difficult. 

 

Thank you one more time for the great advise!

No Problem at all  

You managed to make an account on LTT Forum and make a post, you are absolutely able to update the BIOS  

Just remember if you get to that point, a 4GB-32GB Flash Drive is recommended and it has to be FAT32 formatted ( Most flash drives above 32GB are not FAT32 ) 

 

 

[Konstantin_P]

3 minutes ago, Why_Me said:

Here's another option to look at.

 

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: *Intel Core Ultra 9 285K 3.7 GHz 24-Core Processor  (£519.99 @ Currys PC World) 
Motherboard: *Asus TUF GAMING Z890-PLUS WIFI ATX LGA1851 Motherboard  (£225.50 @ Amazon UK) 
Memory: *Patriot Viper Venom 64 GB (2 x 32 GB) DDR5-6400 CL32 Memory  (£151.99 @ Amazon UK) 
Total: £897.48
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2025-06-18 23:33 BST+0100

 

https://www.tomshardware.com/software/windows/windows-11-free-or-cheap 

I did think of similar configuration, but LTT was too convincing of AMD Ryzen 9000 series superiority, that I decided to go with it. It would definitely save me £150, but there isn't an argument to switch to Intel except for the price difference. 

[Konstantin_P]

2 minutes ago, Hinjima said:

No Problem at all  

You managed to make an account on LTT Forum and make a post, you are absolutely able to update the BIOS  

Just remember if you get to that point, a 4GB-32GB Flash Drive is recommended and it has to be FAT32 formatted ( Most flash drives above 32GB are not FAT32 ) 

 

 

Cheers man

 

I have a Kingston flash drive 64GB, can't I just format it to FAT 32 and then load the BIOS update onto it?

[Hinjima]

2 minutes ago, Konstantin_P said:

Cheers man

 

I have a Kingston flash drive 64GB, can't I just format it to FAT 32 and then load the BIOS update onto it?

You can try!  Might be doable.  

You could try to partition a FAT32 on it as well but the motherboard might struggle reading that.

Any cheap USB drive will work as long as its FAT32 though.

I use a 3 dollar USB Drive from 2004!

[Konstantin_P]

2 minutes ago, Hinjima said:

You can try!  Might be doable.  

You could try to partition a FAT32 on it as well but the motherboard might struggle reading that.

Any cheap USB drive will work as long as its FAT32 though.

I use a 3 dollar USB Drive from 2004!

Got it, will get one then. 

 

I don't particularly want to partition the flash drive and make the motherboard struggle. It is going to be my first build, and I really don't want to reach a point of no return. I can build a dredger ship from ground up, but when it comes to PCs I have nearly non-existent experience

[Hinjima]

3 minutes ago, Konstantin_P said:

Got it, will get one then. 

 

I don't particularly want to partition the flash drive and make the motherboard struggle. It is going to be my first build, and I really don't want to reach a point of no return. I can build a dredger ship from ground up, but when it comes to PCs I have nearly non-existent experience

Smart!   

It will now be your BIOS Flash drive, forever!

 

You'll manage!  Watch some guides, that helps a lot.

I have helped over 70 people from LTT Forums over Discord while they built their first systems, actually helped someone today while they installed everything in the case they bought.

Front panel connectors are a bitch!

 

If you want, you can add me on Discord and I can be available when you build, so if you get stuck I can quickly guide you forwards so you can continue on your own again.  I dont mind it at all, its free of course  

[Konstantin_P]

4 minutes ago, Hinjima said:

Smart!   

It will now be your BIOS Flash drive, forever!

 

You'll manage!  Watch some guides, that helps a lot.

I have helped over 70 people from LTT Forums over Discord while they built their first systems, actually helped someone today while they installed everything in the case they bought.

Front panel connectors are a bitch!

 

If you want, you can add me on Discord and I can be available when you build, so if you get stuck I can quickly guide you forwards so you can continue on your own again.  I dont mind it at all, its free of course  

I will shoot you a message when I get all of the parts, if that is okay? Even living in London, UK, the shortage is being ridiculous and need to order some parts from EU.  

Thanks again for the offer!

 

[Hinjima]

Just now, Konstantin_P said:

I wish shoot you a message when I get all of the parts, if that is okay? Even living in London, UK, the shortage is being ridiculous and need to order some parts from EU.  

Thanks again for the offer!

 

Yep!  Just dont forget that I am here to help when needed  

Been a bit of shortages in the UK unfortunately.

 

I live Norway myself so not too far away!