Gaming Building a gaming PC

Hamnat

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My video card is pretty out of date now still using Evga 2080ti. But I will likely wait until the Nvidia 4080/90ti series are out to upgrade at this point. I am glad I already had more power supply than I needed 1200W Corsair HX1200i. Won't have to upgrade that for awhile.
 

simonhch

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What kind of job do you have that would sponsor a build like that? Must be north of £3k. I'm very jealous.

I've been slowly improving the prebuilt I got during the pandemic, the only things left of the original build now are the motherboard and an m.2 SSD. Oh and the case. Should keep me going for a while now.

My specs, old and new:
i5-10400fi7-10700kf
Stock coolerCorsair H100i Elite LCD
Asus DUAL 3060 tiAsus TUF RTX 3080
Asus PRIME B460M-A-
Crucial 16gb 2666MHzCorsair Vengeance RGB Pro 32gb 3200MHz
Corsair CV650Corsair RM850 (and some individually sleeved cables)
1tb m.2 SSDAdditional 2tb m.2 SSD
Cooler Master MB320LUnchanged, but replaced all fans with Corsair ML120 RGB Elite
That’s a really nice build.

Im a sports and entertainment CEO. At the time of the build it was about $7k. The GPU alone was $2700. The motherboard was $1300. The 64Gb of DDR5 was exorbitant. The CPU was about $950 if I remember rightly. That’s $6k+ right there. The psu was about $500, the liquid cooler was $400ish. Then all the high capacity SSDs and the case. Yeah $7k+. More like 8. Can’t say I’m mad. I’ve been doing a whole bunch of AI consulting this last year so the GPU has been really helpful.
 

Mr Pigeon

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Man I wish I was in a position where I could consider a 2080ti outdated..
I just bought a 2060 a couple of weeks ago. Younger me would have felt a bit put out after seeing some of the builds in here but right now I'm as happy as a Cina's mum in shit.
 

Massive Spanner

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I just bought a 2060 a couple of weeks ago. Younger me would have felt a bit put out after seeing some of the builds in here but right now I'm as happy as a Cina's mum in shit.
I got a 2060 super three years ago before everything went crazy and that mother fecker is still killing it at 1440p. Beast of a card.
 

The Hilton

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That’s a really nice build.

Im a sports and entertainment CEO. At the time of the build it was about $7k. The GPU alone was $2700. The motherboard was $1300. The 64Gb of DDR5 was exorbitant. The CPU was about $950 if I remember rightly. That’s $6k+ right there. The psu was about $500, the liquid cooler was $400ish. Then all the high capacity SSDs and the case. Yeah $7k+. More like 8. Can’t say I’m mad. I’ve been doing a whole bunch of AI consulting this last year so the GPU has been really helpful.
You definitely paid a premium for some of those parts, but I imagine it was during the chip shortage and crypto mining explosion of the previous couple of years?

Still, if I could fund one via a company I'd do exactly the same thing.

Are you overclocking the GPU? I'm curious why you went for the FE rather than a ROG or another factory OC?
 

simonhch

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You definitely paid a premium for some of those parts, but I imagine it was during the chip shortage and crypto mining explosion of the previous couple of years?

Still, if I could fund one via a company I'd do exactly the same thing.

Are you overclocking the GPU? I'm curious why you went for the FE rather than a ROG or another factory OC?
So, the motherboard I didn't overpay for. It's an ASUS ROG Maximus Extreme Z690, it's still listed at the same price ($1089 before tax), but the GPU I definitely did. I looked for many different versions of the card, and in the end the best deal I could find was the Founder's Edition. I had been looking for the ROG version, but the best price I could find was about $3,500. In the end the Founder's edition already massively exceeded the capabilities I needed anyway, so I saved the $800 and went for that. The DDR5 RAM is still running at about $85o-900 for the 64gb, especially for the Corsair Dominator Platinum series. I paid a huge premium on the GPU, double the price in fact, but I had a short window to take advantage of it, so I wasn't too bothered. If it had been my own money, I would have waited. The 12900KF, which I have, I believe I paid about $900 for, but can be got now for more like $500. And yes, this was all during the peak of the chip shortage.

I also looked up the PSU, which is a Be Quiet! Dark Power Pro 12 Titanium 1500W. It is completely silent, very efficient, and rated about the best PSU you can get. And it better be, it was $600 with tax.

I am not currently overclocking the GPU, only done some minor CPU overclocking. I haven't really unlocked the full potential of this system yet, but I have been prioritizing stability and durability more than anything, because the base clocks and cores on everything are already so powerful, that I don't feel the need really for any overclock.

I had been using ASUS's AI overclocking suite, which had been running the 12900K at 5.5ghz on the 8 performance cores. The remaining 8 productivity cores running slower. But I was having significant system instability issues. The AI just wasn't smart enough to not overdo the voltage and I was BSODing under consistent stress. Since then I have deactivated the AI OC suite, and been running at the base turbo of 5.2ghz, and have started experimenting with manual settings to find the sweet spot for me. I can easily do 5.3 without any worries. The ROG Ryujin 360 II keeps the core incredibly cool, and the cooler master case is very spacious and has amazing venting from a completely sealed environment. I am now going to push it to 5.4ghz and see if I keep it there.
 

The Hilton

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So, the motherboard I didn't overpay for. It's an ASUS ROG Maximus Extreme Z690, it's still listed at the same price ($1089 before tax), but the GPU I definitely did. I looked for many different versions of the card, and in the end the best deal I could find was the Founder's Edition. I had been looking for the ROG version, but the best price I could find was about $3,500. In the end the Founder's edition already massively exceeded the capabilities I needed anyway, so I saved the $800 and went for that. The DDR5 RAM is still running at about $85o-900 for the 64gb, especially for the Corsair Dominator Platinum series. I paid a huge premium on the GPU, double the price in fact, but I had a short window to take advantage of it, so I wasn't too bothered. If it had been my own money, I would have waited. The 12900KF, which I have, I believe I paid about $900 for, but can be got now for more like $500. And yes, this was all during the peak of the chip shortage.

I also looked up the PSU, which is a Be Quiet! Dark Power Pro 12 Titanium 1500W. It is completely silent, very efficient, and rated about the best PSU you can get. And it better be, it was $600 with tax.

I am not currently overclocking the GPU, only done some minor CPU overclocking. I haven't really unlocked the full potential of this system yet, but I have been prioritizing stability and durability more than anything, because the base clocks and cores on everything are already so powerful, that I don't feel the need really for any overclock.

I had been using ASUS's AI overclocking suite, which had been running the 12900K at 5.5ghz on the 8 performance cores. The remaining 8 productivity cores running slower. But I was having significant system instability issues. The AI just wasn't smart enough to not overdo the voltage and I was BSODing under consistent stress. Since then I have deactivated the AI OC suite, and been running at the base turbo of 5.2ghz, and have started experimenting with manual settings to find the sweet spot for me. I can easily do 5.3 without any worries. The ROG Ryujin 360 II keeps the core incredibly cool, and the cooler master case is very spacious and has amazing venting from a completely sealed environment. I am now going to push it to 5.4ghz and see if I keep it there.
Some of those costs make my eyes water, but then mine is almost entirely for gaming - if it's improving your productivity and earning the money back, then it's fairly easy to justify. I'm very jealous though!

How do you find other temperatures? Particularly when the GPU is under load?
 

simonhch

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Some of those costs make my eyes water, but then mine is almost entirely for gaming - if it's improving your productivity and earning the money back, then it's fairly easy to justify. I'm very jealous though!

How do you find other temperatures? Particularly when the GPU is under load?
I’ll get you some readings but in general the whole Rig stays really cool. I got a full tower, so the extra space and ventilation helps a lot
 

Gringo

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Here I am still running DDR3. Last upgrade was GPU to a GTX1080. I can't upgrade anymore, will have to be a whole new rig and turn the old one into a server I guess.
 

hellhunter

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Considering getting some upgrades for my gaming PC. I'm not gaming all that much anymore, but may give Dragonflight and then Diablo 4 next spring a go. I only play FullHD but I like my fps to be high.

Currently on a AM4 mainboard with a Ryzen 5 1600 and a 1070 GPU.

Going to AM5 seems not very lucrative at the moment with the mainboard and DDR5 prices, so I'd like to upgrade the CPU on the AM4 platform. The Ryzen 5 5600 is dirt cheap (110€) in Germany currently, so I'm torn between this one as a budget option and the 5800x3d as the best in class (~350€). Any suggestions or recommendations?

Upgrading the GPU right now seems like a bad time with the new generation just around the corner, would look at an 4060(ti) or similar once it launches.
 

balaks

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I haven't updated my pc in many years and currently sitting with i5-4690K processor, 16GB RAM and a GTX 980.

I have started saving for what will be the best possible PC I can afford in around 18 months time - aiming for a budget of £3000-3500 so I should be seeing one hell of a performance improvement! What I'm aiming for is the ability to play games in 4K at an acceptable frame rate. It should be like moving from my old Spectrum +2 to an Amiga.
 

mitChley

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Going to AM5 seems not very lucrative at the moment with the mainboard and DDR5 prices, so I'd like to upgrade the CPU on the AM4 platform. The Ryzen 5 5600 is dirt cheap (110€) in Germany currently, so I'm torn between this one as a budget option and the 5800x3d as the best in class (~350€). Any suggestions or recommendations?
I went 5800x3D and it's fantastic and only getting cheaper.
 

The Hilton

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I haven't updated my pc in many years and currently sitting with i5-4690K processor, 16GB RAM and a GTX 980.

I have started saving for what will be the best possible PC I can afford in around 18 months time - aiming for a budget of £3000-3500 so I should be seeing one hell of a performance improvement! What I'm aiming for is the ability to play games in 4K at an acceptable frame rate. It should be like moving from my old Spectrum +2 to an Amiga.
I assume "acceptable" means 60 as a minimum? Luckily solid frame rates in 4k are feasible now with beefy cards like the 4090, hopefully they won't be quite so hideously expensive by the time you come to get them.

You could save a ton of money (and upgrade much sooner) if you were after 1440p instead, could grab a 3080 (£750), an i5-12400f (£190) with a B660 mobo (~£150), 32gb of DDR4 RAM (~£180), a decent 850w PSU (~£100), and whatever case you like, and the difference would still be absolutely huge! There's room for improvement if you wanted, but that would get you an excellent future proof rig for 2k gaming.
 

balaks

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I assume "acceptable" means 60 as a minimum? Luckily solid frame rates in 4k are feasible now with beefy cards like the 4090, hopefully they won't be quite so hideously expensive by the time you come to get them.

You could save a ton of money (and upgrade much sooner) if you were after 1440p instead, could grab a 3080 (£750), an i5-12400f (£190) with a B660 mobo (~£150), 32gb of DDR4 RAM (~£180), a decent 850w PSU (~£100), and whatever case you like, and the difference would still be absolutely huge! There's room for improvement if you wanted, but that would get you an excellent future proof rig for 2k gaming.
Yeah I'm aiming for a 4090 - I get what you are saying but the way I see it is I'd rather save and spend top dollar for the best I can possibly get to future proof myself for the next 6-8 years as a minimum. I don't upgrade often (obviously) but when I do I try to go all out so I'd rather wait and do that than get a good but not amazing upgrade sooner.
 

The Hilton

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Yeah I'm aiming for a 4090 - I get what you are saying but the way I see it is I'd rather save and spend top dollar for the best I can possibly get to future proof myself for the next 6-8 years as a minimum. I don't upgrade often (obviously) but when I do I try to go all out so I'd rather wait and do that than get a good but not amazing upgrade sooner.
Yeah I get that, and if you want something that runs 4k well then you'd need a 4090, I just find that any monitor big enough to make 4k worthwhile gives me a headache, at least sitting within PC range.

Is the plan to put it together yourself? Or just buy the best prebuilt you can find within the budget?
 

balaks

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Yeah I get that, and if you want something that runs 4k well then you'd need a 4090, I just find that any monitor big enough to make 4k worthwhile gives me a headache, at least sitting within PC range.

Is the plan to put it together yourself? Or just buy the best prebuilt you can find within the budget?
I've always built it myself previously however this time I'm more likely to buy the best pre-built I can find.
 

VidaRed

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I need a new pc. Which cpu is the best for productivity and gaming and everyday use ?

I just checked the 13900k and its thermals are insane, so thats out of the question. Out of 13700k, 7700x and 7950x which would be good ?

According to hardware unboxed 7950x is the best in productivity and near the top in gaming while 7700x is the best in gaming and not so much in productivity, the 13700k sits in between them but its thermals are still a question mark.
 

botond

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the new gen seems overpriced . ddr5 and the new am5 mobos are at stupid prizes . go with a am4 5800x3d save a ton of money for 15-20% less performance.
 

Hamnat

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Just got my ROG Strix GeForce RTX™ 4090 OC Edition 24GB GDDR6X to replace the evga 2080ti. These things are massive. Happened to see there were 3 at the store when I woke up and was there when they opened and its a work from home day.
 

balaks

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I just spent an obscene amount of cash on a new PC build. I haven't upgraded in 9 years so I am certainly due a new one and I've tried to ensure this is about a future proof as I can get right now for 4K gaming.


Graphics Card 1: GIGABYTE RTX 4090 24GB GDDR6X

Model Of Processor: Intel Core i7-13700K 5.4GHz 16 Core

Intel Motherboard: GIGABYTE Z790 Motherboard (DDR5)

DDR5 Memory / RAM: Corsair Vengeance 64GB DDR5 5600MHz (2x 32GB)

Solid State Drive M.2: 4TB M.2 NVMe PCIe 3.0 SSD ( 3500MB/R & 3000MB/W )

Solid State Drive: 2TB M.2 NVMe PCIe 3.0 SSD ( 3500MB/R & 3000MB/W )


Power Supply: 1200W - 1600W: Corsair HX1200 1200W 80+ Platinum Modular

High Performance Cooler: Corsair 240mm H100X Liquid Cooler (250W TDP)



Will take a week or two to get built depending on the availability of the 4090 but I can't wait although my wife may divorce me. Oh and I can't yet afford a 4k monitor so Ill need to wait a few months for that! :lol:
 

George Owen

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I just spent an obscene amount of cash on a new PC build. I haven't upgraded in 9 years so I am certainly due a new one and I've tried to ensure this is about a future proof as I can get right now for 4K gaming.


Graphics Card 1: GIGABYTE RTX 4090 24GB GDDR6X

Model Of Processor: Intel Core i7-13700K 5.4GHz 16 Core

Intel Motherboard: GIGABYTE Z790 Motherboard (DDR5)

DDR5 Memory / RAM: Corsair Vengeance 64GB DDR5 5600MHz (2x 32GB)

Solid State Drive M.2: 4TB M.2 NVMe PCIe 3.0 SSD ( 3500MB/R & 3000MB/W )

Solid State Drive: 2TB M.2 NVMe PCIe 3.0 SSD ( 3500MB/R & 3000MB/W )


Power Supply: 1200W - 1600W: Corsair HX1200 1200W 80+ Platinum Modular

High Performance Cooler: Corsair 240mm H100X Liquid Cooler (250W TDP)



Will take a week or two to get built depending on the availability of the 4090 but I can't wait although my wife may divorce me. Oh and I can't yet afford a 4k monitor so Ill need to wait a few months for that! :lol:
What a freaking beast. Will serve you well for the next 10 years for sure.
 

Acheron

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Will take a week or two to get built depending on the availability of the 4090 but I can't wait although my wife may divorce me. Oh and I can't yet afford a 4k monitor so Ill need to wait a few months for that! :lol:
Yup, those things are expensive. Normally the pc build guides don't factor the cost of peripherals but when it comes to buying a premium gpu it wouldn't make sense to pair it with a budget cpu or a cheap monitor. So that should be a consideration when buying a brand new pc and you don't already have a monitor.

It's disgusting isn't it. Yeah I'm hoping this will serve me well for the guts of the next decade.
It will run minecraft alright, don't worry about it. :lol:
 

Igor Drefljak

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Will take a week or two to get built depending on the availability of the 4090 but I can't wait although my wife may divorce me. Oh and I can't yet afford a 4k monitor so Ill need to wait a few months for that! :lol:
Well, thats a good thing isn't it? Who wants a 4k monitor?
 

balaks

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What games do you usually play?
And how much are you wanting to throw at a monitor?
I'll be spending around £500 on a monitor - probably something like this: GIGABYTE M28U 28" 144Hz Gaming Monitor, 3840 x 2160 SS IPS Display, 2ms (MPRT) Response Time, 9‎4% DCI-P3, VESA Display HDR400, FreeSync Premium Pro, 1x Display Port 1.4, 2x HDMI 2.1 (amazon.com) - although I may go for a 30 inch or a 32. Depends on how much money I can scrape together over the next few months - I like this one as well though it's expensive: https://www.amazon.com/Philips-Comp...x=philips+momentum+monito,aps,223&sr=8-1&th=1


Right now I play a lot of Warhammer TW 3 but what I hope to play this year is Diablo, Baldur's Gate and also be finally able to play Cyberpunk.
 

Igor Drefljak

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I'll be spending around £500 on a monitor - probably something like this: GIGABYTE M28U 28" 144Hz Gaming Monitor, 3840 x 2160 SS IPS Display, 2ms (MPRT) Response Time, 9‎4% DCI-P3, VESA Display HDR400, FreeSync Premium Pro, 1x Display Port 1.4, 2x HDMI 2.1 (amazon.com) - although I may go for a 30 inch or a 32. Depends on how much money I can scrape together over the next few months - I like this one as well though it's expensive: https://www.amazon.com/Philips-Computer-Monitors-279M1RV-Height-Adjustable/dp/B09ZMCV9YF/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1LPYL9T90QO1Z&keywords=philips+momentum+monitor&qid=1678994311&sprefix=philips+momentum+monito,aps,223&sr=8-1&th=1


Right now I play a lot of Warhammer TW 3 but what I hope to play this year is Diablo, Baldur's Gate and also be finally able to play Cyberpunk.

If you're willing to spend around the money of the philips, then I'd deffo have a look at:
https://www.dell.com/en-uk/shop/ali...dwf/apd/210-bfrq/monitors-monitor-accessories

or when it finally hits the market
https://rog.asus.com/uk/monitors/27-to-31-5-inches/rog-swift-oled-pg27aqdm/
 

balaks

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Igor Drefljak

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Oh nice thanks - may be worth waiting an extra month or so to get one of those beauties.
None are 4k, but both being OLED, apparently at the screen size, the picture quality is excellent.
The guy I watch on youtube who does TV reviews said the Asus looks as good as 4k because of the OLED tech.

For the games you play, I'd probably sway towards the Dell, ultrawide would be nice on the games you play, whereas I am deffo picking up the Asus
 

Beachryan

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Q for the PC tech folk: currently have a 2070, can just about afford a 4070. Ryzen 7 3800 build.

Would you do it? The perks I can see are: the card will deffo fit in my box, and it doesn't need a new PSU. Downside...$600!?!?
 

Donut

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Do you guys with your 5000€ builds then actually play video games? :nervous: