Gaming PCs Thread...time for a sticky / running thread?

[Digger]

Looks good - only comment is that I would have gone for 2 * 16GB sticks but regardless 32GB is plentiful anyway.

Also a larger than 500GB SSD would be preferable as that will fill up in no time at all.

I'd be interested to know how you get on with that GPU as that may well be my next purchase as well.

[Squirrelofwoe]

MissChief said:

Looks great! White GPU’s are thin on the ground. Basically you’re looking at Gigabyte or Asus for top level cards but apparently Zotac make some too. And the consequent pricing increase.

I've seen a couple but it depends what's available when I'm in a position to upgrade- I couldn't imagine ever spending much over £500 for a GPU so unless the market changes significantly my options might be somewhat limited!

[u6dw4]

Thinking of buying a new gaming Pc, current one is 8 years old.

Don't need the latest specification, play more memory intensive games than needing 4K graphics etc. (but good graphics is also important).

This is limit of my budget, went for better CPU and spent less on graphics card. (can upgrade later).

Intel® Core™ i9 14 Core Processor i9-10940X (3.3GHz) 19.25MB Cache
Motherboard GIGABYTE X299 UD4 Pro: USB 3.1, SATA 6 GB/s - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM) 64GB PCS PRO DDR4 2666MHz (2 x 32GB)
Graphics Card 12GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3060 - HDMI, DP, LHR

Power Supply CORSAIR 850W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable 1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead, 1.0mm Core)
Processor Cooling PCS FrostFlow 240 Series ARGB High Performance Liquid Cooler

what is liquid cooling? I get the idea of water cooling but is this normal now? I don't want high maintenance.

Thanks

[FourWheelDrift]

u6dw4 said:

what is liquid cooling? I get the idea of water cooling but is this normal now? I don't want high maintenance.

Thanks

It's called an All-in-one or AIO it's a closed loop water cooler consisting of a pump head usually inside the CPU heatsink block on top of the CPU with 2 flexible hoses that go to a radiator on which fans are mounted to cool the radiator. It's maintenance free apart from making sure you clear the dust out of the radiator and fans and rest of the PC on a semi-regular basis (not hard or difficult). There are some AIOs now that have a plug on the radiator so you can top up liquid but it's not necessary and they last years.

They look like this.



And the radiator/fans can be top mounted (like here) or front of the case mounted.


They are generally the best way to cool high wattage CPUs that like to get hot, you can get huge tower twin fan air coolers but they are big and often expensive for the best cooling.

Edited by FourWheelDrift on Saturday 1st April 20:03

[u6dw4]

ok thanks at least I don't have to do anything, it will just run.

[HM-2]

Don't buy the archaic Intel X series stuff. Even at its massively discounted rates it's far too expensive. An AMD 5900X and mid spec B550 motherboard is half the price, doesn't need stupid quad channel RAM, and will run rings around it in every use case whilst drawing literally half the power.

[u6dw4]

ok will take another look. have always bought intel.

budget is 2.2K approx (max) so what would you advise?

Thanks

edit: roughly on that budget i can afford the 7700X for AMD. is it worth the extra?

Edited by u6dw4 on Saturday 1st April 20:40

[HM-2]

u6dw4 said:

ok will take another look. have always bought intel.

budget is 2.2K approx (max) so what would you advise?

Thanks

edit: roughly on that budget i can afford the 7700X for AMD. is it worth the extra?

Edited by u6dw4 on Saturday 1st April 20:40

Yes.

[u6dw4]

balancing the CPU/GPU (AMD7700X / 3070ti), which is better?

Should I buy a lesser CPU for a better GPU? CPU / memory is more important, but it's a balance (for cost).

edit: the cost difference of the 7 series is minimal i.e 7600, 7700, 7700X

Edited by u6dw4 on Saturday 1st April 21:11

[trashbat]

u6dw4 said:

balancing the CPU/GPU (AMD7700X / 3070ti), which is better?

Should I buy a lesser CPU for a better GPU? CPU / memory is more important, but it's a balance (for cost).

You should prioritise the GPU which for the vast majority of games will be the limiting and defining factor. Unless you have other specific, well understood needs like professional video editing, IMO for gaming your listed spec is over-specified in terms of CPU (too high end, get an i5/i7) and memory (32GB is fine) and under-specified in GPU (try and get a 4070 or something).

[u6dw4]

trashbat said:

ou should prioritise the GPU which for the vast majority of games will be the limiting and defining factor. Unless you have other specific, well understood needs like professional video editing, IMO for gaming your listed spec is over-specified in terms of CPU (too high end, get an i5/i7) and memory (32GB is fine) and under-specified in GPU (try and get a 4070 or something).

OK so what is the AMD equivalent and cost? Getting a performance comparison is really difficult, although it only needs to last 3-4 years before replacement (I would prefer to replace the whole thing sooner, than try to make it last another 8 years).

edit: it, not ti

Edited by u6dw4 on Saturday 1st April 21:48

[MissChief]

My basket at OcUK:
[LIST]
[*] 1 x Nvidia Bite Back Promotion - Redfall Bite Back Edition Bundle (SKU: XX-046-NV) = £0.00
[*] 1 x OcUK Gaming Khopesh - Ryzen 7600X, GeForce RTX 4070 Ti Gaming PC (SKU: FS-1EM-OG) = £2,261.99
[LIST]
[*] [SIZE="1"]Case: 1 x *Build* Lian Li LANCOOL 215 Mid-Tower aRGB Tempered Glass Black[/SIZE]
[*] [SIZE="1"]Processor: 1 x AMD Ryzen 5 7600X Six Core 4.50GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Tray[/SIZE]
[*] [SIZE="1"]CPU Cooler: 1 x Lian-Li GALAHAD AIO 240mm High Performance RGB CPU Water Cooler - Black[/SIZE]
[*] [SIZE="1"]Memory: 1 x Corsair Vengeance EXPO 32GB (2X16GB) DDR5 PC5-44800C36 5600MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black (CMK32GX5M2B5600Z36)[/SIZE]
[*] [SIZE="1"]Primary Solid State Drive: 1 x WD Black SN770 2TB SSD M.2 2280 NVME PCI-E Gen4 Solid State Drive (WDS200T3X0E)[/SIZE]
[*] [SIZE="1"]Primary 2.5" Solid State Drive: 1 x WD Blue SA510 1TB SSD 2.5" SATA Solid State Drive (WDS100T3B0A)[/SIZE]
[*] [SIZE="1"]Operating System: 1 x Microsoft Windows 11 Home Advanced - Systems[/SIZE]
[/LIST]
[/LIST]

[INDENT] Total: £2,269.98 (includes delivery: £7.99)[/INDENT]

[INDENT]

[/INDENT]

[scjgreen]

Just upgraded my machine from a Gigabyte 3080 Vision OC to a 4080 Founders Edition.

Rest of the Specs are

MSI X570 Gaming Edge
AMD Ryzen 9 5900X
32GB (4x8) Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro 3600Mhz
1TB Gen4 NVME
500GB Gen3 NVME
Couple of SATA3 SSD's
NZXT X63 AIO
Corsiar 750W 80 Plus Gold with Corsair 16 Pin GPU Power.

Only problem is now I am CPU Bottlenecked with the 4080 so there might be a 7900X incoming

[MissChief]

scjgreen said:

Just upgraded my machine from a Gigabyte 3080 Vision OC to a 4080 Founders Edition.

Rest of the Specs are

MSI X570 Gaming Edge
AMD Ryzen 9 5900X
32GB (4x8) Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro 3600Mhz
1TB Gen4 NVME
500GB Gen3 NVME
Couple of SATA3 SSD's
NZXT X63 AIO
Corsiar 750W 80 Plus Gold with Corsair 16 Pin GPU Power.

Only problem is now I am CPU Bottlenecked with the 4080 so there might be a 7900X incoming

Nice system but I’d be surprised if the bottleneck is a big one tbh. From what I’ve read and seen the 7000 series are good, but not a huge step over 5000 series.

[scjgreen]

Thanks

The difference between 5900x and 7900x is around 3000 Points on 3DMark.

Seeing 100% CPU Usage and only around 80% GPU Usage in some titles

[HM-2]

scjgreen said:

Thanks

The difference between 5900x and 7900x is around 3000 Points on 3DMark.

Seeing 100% CPU Usage and only around 80% GPU Usage in some titles

Presumably titles where you're core limited? You'll probably see gains from a 7000 series because of the higher IPC and clock speeds, but with the cost of AM5 + DDR5 I personally doubt it would be worth it.

[u6dw4]

which is what i;'m trying to decide (see above). Buying new though, not upgrading.

[HM-2]

u6dw4 said:

which is what i;'m trying to decide (see above). Buying new though, not upgrading.

Is ~15-20fps extra in high frame rate titles, and maybe 5 in lower frame rate ones, worth £700+ to you? If yes, then upgrade. If not, they don't.

[130R]

scjgreen said:

Thanks

The difference between 5900x and 7900x is around 3000 Points on 3DMark.

Seeing 100% CPU Usage and only around 80% GPU Usage in some titles

The 5800X 3D is basically on par with 7000 series for gaming. You will lose 4 cores though if you currently use all the ones in your 5900X for anything

[130R]

u6dw4 said:

which is what i;'m trying to decide (see above). Buying new though, not upgrading.

Buying new I would definitely go with AMD 7000 series. That gives you an upgrade path whereas anything else doesn't.