Gaming Build £1000 - £1500

[JackyBoy16]

Hi there

I'm looking for a new build for gaming and also using 3D software like ZBrush (favours powerful single-core CPUs)

I need:

Motherboard
CPU
Memory - 128GB preferably
Storage - 1 x M2 SSD for OS and some software/games.

I have:

Graphics card - NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070
PSU - XFX PRO 650W
Extra Storage - 1TB SSD + 3TB HDD

 

[JackyBoy16]

My thoughts right now are:

AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D Eight Core 5.00GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail £379.99​

Western Digital Black SN850X M.2-2280 2TB - £135.99​

2 x 32 GB PC25600 DDR4 3200MHz 288 Pin Memory - £100​

Does this sound good? Any opinions on this or a motherboard that would be good with these components would be much appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[mickyflinn]

My thoughts right now are:

AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D Eight Core 5.00GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail £379.99​

Western Digital Black SN850X M.2-2280 2TB - £135.99​

2 x 32 GB PC25600 DDR4 3200MHz 288 Pin Memory - £100​

Does this sound good? Any opinions on this or a motherboard that would be good with these components would be much appreciated.

Thanks.

You can't use DDR4 memory with the 7800x3d you need DDR5.

If single core is important then Intel may be a better option for you.

@Tetras assistantance required my brother.

 

[Tetras]

Memory - 128GB preferably

This makes things awkward, I'm not sure what the current status is of AMD and Intel with 128GB of DDR5, since there have been many BIOS updates since videos like this:

Is 128GB of DDR5 IMPOSSIBLE on AM5? Level1 Investigates!

Check out the forum thread here: https://forum.level1techs.com/t/7950x-i-want-4x32gb-unless-it-sucks-does-it-suck/189825**********************************Che...

www.youtube.com

I suspect you'd be better off with an Intel build. Puget have some benchmarks: here and the 13th gen CPUs do very well with single core/thread heavy usage (though AMD 7000 does better than that when the memory is faster than 4800 ).

Intel / DDR5:

Get the MAX version of the motherboard to avoid a BIOS flash for 14th gen.

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x Intel Core i7-14700K (Raptor Lake-S) Socket LGA1700 Processor - Retail (SKU: PRO-INT-00800) = £399.95
• 1 x MSI Pro Z790-A WIFI DDR4 (LGA 1700) DDR4 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MB-371-MS) = £269.99
• 2 x Corsair Vengeance 64GB (2X32GB) DDR5 PC5-41600C40 5200MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black (CMK64GX5M2B5200C40 (SKU: MY-4DC-CS) = £169.99
• 1 x Crucial P5 Plus 2TB M.2 2280 PCI-e 4.0 x4 3D NAND NVMe Solid State Drive (SKU: HD-075-CR) = £114.95
• 1 x Phanteks Eclipse P600S Silent Midi Tower Case - Black (SKU: CA-08V-PT) = £139.99
• 1 x Phanteks Glacier One 360D30 Black RGB All In One CPU Water Cooler - 360mm (SKU: HS-01R-PT) = £154.99

Total: £1,419.85 (includes delivery: £0.00)​

AMD / DDR5:

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x AMD Ryzen 9 7900 Twelve Core 5.40GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail (SKU: CP-3DU-AM) = £399.95
• 1 x Asus TUF Gaming B650-Plus WIFI (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MB-6K0-AS) = £149.99
• 2 x Corsair Vengeance EXPO 64GB (2X32GB) DDR5 PC5-41600C40 5200MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black (CMK64GX5M2B5200Z40) (SKU: MY-4DM-CS) = £169.99
• 1 x Crucial P5 Plus 2TB M.2 2280 PCI-e 4.0 x4 3D NAND NVMe Solid State Drive (SKU: HD-075-CR) = £114.95
• 1 x Lian Li Lancool III Full Tower PC Case - Black (SKU: CA-7AW-LL) = £149.99
• 1 x be quiet! Silent Loop 2 360 High Performance CPU Water Cooler - 360mm (SKU: HS-01Y-BQ) = £149.95

Total: £1,304.81 (includes delivery: £0.00)​

I know you said your work is single core/thread heavy, but 3D software usually likes cores too, so these choices address both.

 

[JackyBoy16]

Hey guys thanks for the responses, really appreciate it.

Both these builds look good Tetras, I'll look into them some more.

Ooh that's interesting about the 128GB of RAM with DDR5. Will do some more research on this.

I think 64GB would probably be fine but I know Photoshop eats up quite a bit of memory.

With regards to speeds on DDR5 would it be worth pushing for 5600mhz over 5200Mhz? Something like this? Or is the benefit quite small.

Kingston FURY Beast RGB 64GB (2x32GB) DDR5 PC5-44800C40 5600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KF556C40BBAK2-64) = £229.99​

be quiet! Silent Loop 2 360 High Performance CPU Water Cooler - 360mm (SKU: HS-01Y-BQ) = £149.95

This looks pretty massive, not sure if it would fit in my case. Would you recommend this over a smaller one? I'm not looking to overclock this build.

Thanks

 

[Tetras]

With regards to speeds on DDR5 would it be worth pushing for 5600mhz over 5200Mhz? Something like this? Or is the benefit quite small.

With all the BIOS updates it's hard for me to suggest what to buy, because previously with 128GB it was pretty much pointless buying fast memory (because it wouldn't run that fast anyway).

You can buy 48GB sticks and MSI at least managed to boot 192GB @ 5200 with their 13900K, here.

I think there are a few on this forum that are running 128GB DDR5, so maybe they will chip in.

The speed benefit, I'd have a look @ this article at Puget:

Impact of DDR5 Speed on Content Creation Performance (2023 update)

DDR5 memory has kits rated for up to 8400 Mbps, while desktop CPUs only officially support up to 5600 Mbps. How much does running at official specifications actually impact performance in common content creation applications?

www.pugetsystems.com

This looks pretty massive, not sure if it would fit in my case. Would you recommend this over a smaller one? I'm not looking to overclock this build.

It was for the case in my spec. You can air cool a 7900, so I'm pretty sure a smaller size would be fine.

 

[JackyBoy16]

I think I'm drawn most to an AM5 build, and after some CPU research it looks like the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X would be best for the kind of software I use.
I'm gonna pair this with G.Skill Trident Z5 RGB (2x32GB) 6000MTs F5-6000J3238G32GX2-TZ5RK - Black (this gives me the option to upgrade to 128gb if needed)

• 1 x Asus TUF Gaming B650-Plus WIFI (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MB-6K0-AS) = £149.99

In regards to the motherboard you mentioned above. Is this adequate for this CPU/RAM combo? Also do you know if it has heatsinks for the NVMe SSDs? I'm gonna get two of these

WD_BLACK SN850X 2TBM.2 2280 Game Drive PCIe Gen4 NVMe up to 7300 MB/s

Also any recommendations on a PSU to go with this build?

Thanks
​

 

[Tetras]

and after some CPU research it looks like the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X would be best for the kind of software I use.

FYI: the 7900X doesn't come with a cooler, so even though you are water cooling, the spare the 7900 would give you might be worthwhile.

I'm gonna pair this with G.Skill Trident Z5 RGB (2x32GB) 6000MTs F5-6000J3238G32GX2-TZ5RK - Black (this gives me the option to upgrade to 128gb if needed)

If I google the model number it appears to be an Intel XMP kit? Is it on the QVL for the motherboard?

In regards to the motherboard you mentioned above. Is this adequate for this CPU/RAM combo? Also do you know if it has heatsinks for the NVMe SSDs? I'm gonna get two of these

WD_BLACK SN850X 2TBM.2 2280 Game Drive PCIe Gen4 NVMe up to 7300 MB/s​

It is fine, similar to the P5 Plus in my spec.

The board is so dark (black metal on black PCB) it is hard to tell, but it looks like every M.2 slot is heatsinked.

Also any recommendations on a PSU to go with this build?

What are you thinking about for upgrading the GPU in the future? The same kind of card, or higher-end?

 

[JackyBoy16]

Thanks for the reply Tetras, super helpful. I had no idea about the QVL. I just checked it out and you're correct the ones I need to get for this board are

F5-6000J3238G32GX2-TZ5N

I won't be upgrading my GPU for quite a while I think and my next one will probably be in the £500 area.
Tempted to keep my XFX PRO 650W if it'll be good enough.

 

[Tetras]

the ones I need to get for this board are

F5-6000J3238G32GX2-TZ5N

Yeah, that's the expo kit.

I won't be upgrading my GPU for quite a while I think and my next one will probably be in the £500 area.
Tempted to keep my XFX PRO 650W if it'll be good enough.

Sure, it is worth a try with the XFX.

If you're looking around £500, then 750 or 850 should be fine, maybe something like this:

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x Seasonic Focus GX-750 ATX3.0 750W 80 Gold Modular Power Supply (SKU: CA-08N-SS) = £119.99
• 1 x MSI MPG A850GF UK PSU 850W, 80 Plus Gold certified, Fully Modular (SKU: CA-00J-MS) = £109.99

Total: £229.98 (includes delivery: £0.00)​