New build - any thoughts?

[Smoozle]

Hello hivemind, it's time to replace my aging (8 years old!) PC. (Long, long time lurker, first time poster.)

 

I'll certainly miss my 1080Ti, but I'm missing being able to play the newest of the new PC games that require the Hardware Raytracing cores.

 

Budget (including currency): $3000-3500 AUD

Country: Australia

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: After Effects (Motion Graphics, some VFX work (This is why I have 64GB of RAM)), and latest gaming at 2K. Cyberpunk, Indiana Jones, etc. I also stream, sometimes, and also play MSFS.

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): Going for brand new, so I'll be moving over my existing SSD's (2 additional) and swapping out my existing primary drive for the one in the list. Happy with my peripherals and monitors, so no external bits required. As mentioned above, looking for gaming at 2K 

 

I mostly struggled picking out the Motherboard, as that is my weak point in computer specs - so hints here would be lovely.

 

(PC Part Picker link: https://au.pcpartpicker.com/list/vnnV9C) - I've added some prices, as the parts, while listed, don't have the prices from my local PC store. I'll be getting everything from https://scorptec.com.au 

 

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D 4.2 GHz 8-Core Processor - $699
CPU Cooler: Thermalright Frozen Notte ARGB 72.37 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler - $99
Motherboard: Gigabyte B650 EAGLE AX ATX AM5 Motherboard - $259.00
Memory: G.Skill Trident Z5 Neo RGB 64 GB (2 x 32 GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 Memory - $375
Storage: MSI SPATIUM M470 PRO 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive - $175
GPU: XFX Swift Radeon RX 9070 XT 16 GB Video Card  - $1199
Case: Thermaltake View 200 TG ARGB ATX Mid Tower Case - $89
Power Supply: SeaSonic CORE GX ATX 3 (2024) 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply - $229

 

Total: $3124

[RONOTHAN##]

34 minutes ago, Smoozle said:

I mostly struggled picking out the Motherboard, as that is my weak point in computer specs - so hints here would be lovely.

There are 4 criteria for picking a motherboard:

1. Does it have all the features you need?
   1. USB port count, PCIe slot layouts, memory support, unique features for your specific use case (I.E. good IOMMU groups for the VFIO crowd), etc.
2. Does it have a good enough VRM to power the highest end CPU you're likely to put in the socket?
   1. With AM5, with few exceptions any board over $150 US is plenty for the top end CPUs. Check out reviews to be sure if you're curious, but this is more a concern if you're running or plan to be running a 9950X over the power sipping 7800X3D.
3. Does it have any known issues that would affect you?
   1. This is things like BIOS bugs, quality control issues, features breaking, etc. No board is perfect, but there are some that can make it annoying to use. I.E. the B550 Master has a bad dual BIOS implementation that means if you try to do memory overclocking it will just randomly clear your settings, so it's best to avoid for that purpose. 
4. Can you tolerate the aesthetics?
   1. Basically if you're a build you might look at, does it look good enough. I.E. if you're doing a white system, is the board white?

Other than that, get the cheapest one lets you answer yes to all those questions. The board you picked is a good option, and without knowing your exact needs it would probably be my pick. 

 

 

Everything else looks like good options. Prices seem high to me, but that's more because I always forget Australia gets screwed with imports and the dollar not being worth much. Looking on that website for the couple of components I'm most concerned about the price for, those are still are the options I'd pick. 

[Smoozle]

Thanks so much, that's super handy. I haven't seen anything drastically terrible about the board I've picked, and it has LOTS of I/O which is super important. I have a LOT of stuff plugged in via USB at any one time.

 

Camera + Streamdeck + Controller + KVM + Headset dongle, various chargers, microphone, etc, so that was a big consideration.

 

Thanks for allaying my concerns.

And yeah, Australia gets absolutely buggered on prices for PC Hardware. It's awful.

[Imakuni]

The one thing I don't like in this build is the case, which doesn't support a 360 rad in the top. For maximun performance, you want the GPU to be as cool as possible, and putting the rad on the front makes that a lot more difficult.

 

 

[Smoozle]

31 minutes ago, Imakuni said:

The one thing I don't like in this build is the case, which doesn't support a 360 rad in the top. For maximun performance, you want the GPU to be as cool as possible, and putting the rad on the front makes that a lot more difficult.

 

 

Ah fantastic. That's the sort of feedback that's super helpful to learn!

Any recommendations on a case that would work better?

[Imakuni]

7 minutes ago, Smoozle said:

Ah fantastic. That's the sort of feedback that's super helpful to learn!

Any recommendations on a case that would work better?

Not really, I'm a bit out of the case game, and browsing on mobile is painful (Im on a trip right now). But as long as it fits that criterea and has great air intake, it should be fine.

[KidKid]

6 hours ago, Smoozle said:

Hello hivemind, it's time to replace my aging (8 years old!) PC. (Long, long time lurker, first time poster.)

 

I'll certainly miss my 1080Ti, but I'm missing being able to play the newest of the new PC games that require the Hardware Raytracing cores.

 

Budget (including currency): $3000-3500 AUD

Country: Australia

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: After Effects (Motion Graphics, some VFX work (This is why I have 64GB of RAM)), and latest gaming at 2K. Cyberpunk, Indiana Jones, etc. I also stream, sometimes, and also play MSFS.

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): Going for brand new, so I'll be moving over my existing SSD's (2 additional) and swapping out my existing primary drive for the one in the list. Happy with my peripherals and monitors, so no external bits required. As mentioned above, looking for gaming at 2K 

 

I mostly struggled picking out the Motherboard, as that is my weak point in computer specs - so hints here would be lovely.

 

(PC Part Picker link: https://au.pcpartpicker.com/list/vnnV9C) - I've added some prices, as the parts, while listed, don't have the prices from my local PC store. I'll be getting everything from https://scorptec.com.au 

 

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D 4.2 GHz 8-Core Processor - $699
CPU Cooler: Thermalright Frozen Notte ARGB 72.37 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler - $99
Motherboard: Gigabyte B650 EAGLE AX ATX AM5 Motherboard - $259.00
Memory: G.Skill Trident Z5 Neo RGB 64 GB (2 x 32 GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 Memory - $375
Storage: MSI SPATIUM M470 PRO 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive - $175
GPU: XFX Swift Radeon RX 9070 XT 16 GB Video Card  - $1199
Case: Thermaltake View 200 TG ARGB ATX Mid Tower Case - $89
Power Supply: SeaSonic CORE GX ATX 3 (2024) 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply - $229

 

Total: $3124

I can't believe the RTX 5050 now can reach the performance of raster games on the GTX 1080ti... not to mention ray tracing and DLSS.

That build looks great! The 9800X3D will be a touch better if it's in your budget, and the 9070XT is great.

[Why_Me]

 

Look for a board that supports PCIe 5.0 for the gpu seeing how these new AMD and Nvidia cards support PCIe 5.0.

 

https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/guides/broadcasting-guide/

 

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D 4.2 GHz 8-Core Processor  ($690.45 @ Amazon Australia) 
CPU Cooler: *Thermalright Phantom Spirit 120 SE ARGB 66.17 CFM CPU Cooler  ($59.00 @ Scorptec) 
Motherboard: *MSI PRO B850-P WIFI ATX AM5 Motherboard  ($299.00 @ JW Computers) 
Memory: *G.Skill Flare X5 64 GB (2 x 32 GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 Memory  ($350.89 @ Amazon Australia) 
Storage: MSI SPATIUM M470 PRO 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive  ($189.00 @ PCCaseGear) 
Video Card: *MSI SHADOW 3X OC GeForce RTX 5070 Ti 16 GB Video Card  ($1509.00 @ PCCaseGear) 
Case: *Montech AIR 903 MAX ATX Mid Tower Case  ($99.00 @ PLE Computers) 
Power Supply: *be quiet! Pure Power 13 M 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply  ($159.00 @ PCCaseGear) 
Total: $3355.34
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2025-07-14 21:29 AEST+1000

 

[Smoozle]

1 hour ago, Imakuni said:

Not really, I'm a bit out of the case game, and browsing on mobile is painful (Im on a trip right now). But as long as it fits that criterea and has great air intake, it should be fine.

https://www.scorptec.com.au/product/cases/atx/112007-xr-(b)

 

This Montech XR suits a top mounted 360mm Rad, so this might be a good swap-in. Not a fan of the front IO placement, but otherwise, looks good. It's really pretty too!