New Gaming Build

nozzferrahhtoo

Hi all,

So my current build is here and it is running off this monitor here.
Except for the Graphics Card the build is from 2011 and has served me very well and still does. No complaints. But I feel the itch to upgrade all the same.

I will donate the current build to my partner and build a new build from scratch. So not keeping any parts. I will fill in the relevant questionnaire after this post.

I would like to start with the new monitor and work backwards from there however as I know some monitors are only compatible with AMD or NVidia and so on.

As I work and game on the same monitor I would like to prioritise making it a bit bigger than the existing monitor and easier on my aging eyes. I have noticed getting tired / sore eyes of late for the first time in my life.

EDIT: I also want to prioritise internal speakers or at most a good quality wireless soundbar (space saving and I game with headphone anyway so need no stand alone speakers all over the place). Energy efficiency would be key too.

Finally space is an issue as my monitor sits under a sloping roof. So probably 27" is the maximum as otherwise I would have to move it closer to my face. I currently sit with eyes level with top 1/3 of the monitor about 65cm from the screen. So curved monintors or monitors where "viewing at an angle" is a thing, are probably not important. This picture shows current placement of the monitor.

Below is the price engine I use to compare my prices of models available here in Germany where I currently live. I threw up a few samples with my current monitor on the left.

https://geizhals.de/?cmp=1471201&cmp=2294124&cmp=2349810&cmp=2375832&cmp=2202082&cmp=2182461&cmp=2112205&active=1

All advice welcome! And I will start doing the build one the monitor is chosen.

nozzferrahhtoo

1. What is your budget?
In theory none. Last build lasted me nearly 10 years under 1000 and would probably go 3 or 4 more. Happy to pay up to 2000 or more however where justified. But I do not like paying 50% more for 5% more performance. So a balance of Budget and performance and longevity.

2. What will be the main purpose of the computer?
Work by day, mostly programming so basically reading and writing text mostly. So eyes and eye strain a thing!

Netflix / video streaming / gaming by weekends.

Current Games: Skyrim and Grand theft Auto V on full settings.
Planned Games: Red Dead 2, Cyberpunk 2077, Star Wars Squadrons, Valhalla
Game Types: Bioware/Witcher/AsCreed type games mostly, FPS almost never.

3. Do you need a copy of Windows? [Yes/No]
4. Can you use any parts from an old computer?

No.

5. Do you need a monitor?

See post above.

6. Do you need any of these peripherals?

Currently I have two keyboards and two mice due to having a work Laptop attached to the same monitor. I would like to buy a new keyboard and mouse, wireless, and have a rig where switching the monitor between PC and Laptop also automatically switches the keyboard and mouse. I assume this is automatic if the USB antenna for the keyboard and mouse is in the monitor USB hub?

7. Are you willing to try overclocking?

Yes but not pushed. I never did get around to overclocking my current build.

Samuel T. Cogley

Idealy wait until late October for the new Zen 3 parts. AMD has taken over from Intel as the CPU of choice. The new Sandy Bridge is the Ryzen 5 3600 IMHO but the 5600 (Incoming late Oct) will be an upgrade on it.

nozzferrahhtoo

I suppose it is only a couple of weeks wait. I specced up a PC here after reading about 1000 reviews of different parts. The full build based around the Ryzen 7 3700X combined with the RTX 2070 SUPER comes to about 2100 euro though

I probably would not go much higher than that though so these new parts might be a bit out of my price range? Or is there much other benefit of waiting?

Aodhan5000

Please post the list you specced because that sounds like WAY too much money for what you'd be getting

nozzferrahhtoo

Yea it's far from tweaked, I just wanted to see what would happen if I threw something together after all the reviews and articles I read. I like to start with a base then tweak it about 1000 times before I go ahead

So it is probably laughably bad at the moment, but I will improve it. I guess after the new hardware releases this month when I see the price points of the new stuff, and how it affects the prices of the older stuff.

Part|Description|Price
Monitor|ASUS TUF Gaming VG27AQL1A|550
GPU|Gigabyte GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER Windforce OC|450
CPU|AMD Ryzen 7 3700X|275
MOBO|Gigabyte X570 Gaming X|150
RAM|GSkill Trident Z 32GB (F4-3600C17D-32GTZ)|145
OS SSD|Samsung SSD 980 PRO 250GB|80
Game SSD|Samsung SSD 980 PRO 1TB|210
Case|Fractal Design Define 7|135
PSU|Super Flower Leadex III Gold 650W|100

Hyzepher

That motherboard is one of the worst ever designed. For X570 go for the Tomahawk or Tuf. The SSDs are pricey and nvme are better for that chipset

JoyPad

Hyzepher wrote: »

The SSDs are pricey and nvme are better for that chipset

980 PRO is NVMe PCIe 4.0, the fastest you can get right now (at least on paper).

I would argue here that having one of these as the boot drive is great, but the 1TB one is really a waste, as they don't seem to do a lot for gaming. At least according to some. I'd spend that money on 2TB SATA SSD for the games.

nozzferrahhtoo

Well due to the death of major part of my partners Home Office PC I took my SSD out of my build, put her drives in, and donated my entire build to her. Works fine, and she now has a significantly better PC than she had before to work on.

That leaves me entirely PC-less however. So I will probably start ordering parts for my new build tonight / this week.

I have not looked at any parts / costs / options since the build above so I will probably hit the drawing board from Square 1 again tonight with a 1500-2500 budget. 3000 maximum if justifiable. As before aesthetics not important, but wireless build where possible is priority 1 with Silent build and better power efficiency (or lower draw) close second priority.

Samuel T. Cogley

My advice is buy what you need now and upgrade as you go rather than buying top tier components in the hopes of future proofing. That said silent builds can get expensive.

nozzferrahhtoo

Agreed.... the build I made above came to about 2100 I think. Can't remember. And I felt that some of it might be over kill.

But if I remember right the GPU I picked had a significantly lower sound output, and power draw, than graphics cards better than it, and worse than it, so it was right in the "sweet spot" for me.

So I thought I might just get that one... and like you say just improve it later rather than worry about future proofing it now.

Tempted by ASUS ROG Crosshair VIII Hero MOBO because it should be quite future proofed for any future components I upgrade.

Cant see me playing any new games, other than Cyberpunk, in the next year or so anyway and I think the RTX 2070 SUPER should handle that? I do not game so much these days, and I have 5 older games to start and finish that my current build was able to run on mostly maximum settings. The 1050ti accepted Red Dead 2 on ultra graphics settings with no performance issues for example.

K.O.Kiki

https://de.pcpartpicker.com/list/dXs4sX

€1200 (no SSD/HDD).

Honestly for most consumers, no motherboard beyond the MSI X570 Tomahawk or similar Gigabyte/ASUS (€200) should be considered. They have great VRMs, good features, X570 chipset.

Also loathe as I am to admit it, Intel is an option: https://de.pcpartpicker.com/list/6Fg78J

Regarding GPUs: best would of course be to buy an RTX 3060 Ti/3070 at RRP, but that's not happening anytime soon.
So a good model RX 5700 XT is a good buy at €400. You can see performance here: https://www.techpowerup.com/review/sapphire-radeon-rx-5700-xt-nitro/

The 1050ti accepted Red Dead 2 on ultra graphics settings with no performance issues for example.

LOL
You won't be saying that once you actually experience 60fps+ :pac:

nozzferrahhtoo

Well in a fit of Covid Depression related retail therapy I went ahead and ordered a load of components last night.

I decided to impulse buy most of it and planning be damned. So I am now waiting on my new:

ASUS TUF Gaming Monitor (VG27AQL1A)
Ryzen 5 5600X CPU (already shipped this morning)
MSI RTX 3070 Ventus 3X OC
MSI MAG X570 Tomahawk WIFI (Thanks Kiki)
G.Skill RipJaws V 32GB, CL16 (already shipped this morning)

Wonder when it will all arrive

K.O.Kiki

Where did you even get them?

nozzferrahhtoo

K.O.Kiki wrote: »

Where did you even get them?

I live in Germany and there are a few good "price engine" websites here that compile all the price and inventory data of any number of webshops. So I just typed in the part I want, and worked out who had it and at what price.

The parts were all easy to get and seem well supplied. With the exception of the 5600x CPU which only one retailer seemed to have 5 units of. This was a site called neon24.de and they seem to still have some left.

This morning ProGamingShop EU on Amazon.de seem to have some too. They did not last night. But they are charging 30 more for it than I paid on neon.

Annoyingly the case I ordered was marked as available and in stock but now isn't. So I might have to cancel that and order elsewhere. I was not wedded to my choice of case though so just waiting for them to write back and tell me if they can ship or cancel.

bubbagumss

here's one

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=EqUpD1aWRvE

LineConsole

nozzferrahhtoo wrote: »

I suppose it is only a couple of weeks wait. I specced up a PC here after reading about 1000 reviews of different parts. The full build based around the Ryzen 7 3700X combined with the RTX 2070 SUPER comes to about 2100 euro though

I probably would not go much higher than that though so these new parts might be a bit out of my price range? Or is there much other benefit of waiting?

In the UK I can spec up a PC with the 5800x, 32 GB of RAM and a 3070 for less than that. I’d encourage you to shop around as those prices seem excessive. Lots of UK shops will deliver to Ireland.

nozzferrahhtoo

K.O.Kiki wrote: »

Where did you even get them?

Monitor, GPU, CPU, RAM, Case and PSU have arrived now.

Monitor and MoBo not yet. I ordered both of these off "computer universe". Both items showed, and still showing in the webshop as "In stock, ready for immediate shipping".

In my order however the Monitor is showing as "waiting to ship" because the motherboard is out of stock and on order from the Vendor with delivery due 15.11.2020.

So it seems all lies and/or incompetence from that webshop. Won't be using them again.

Samuel T. Cogley

Computer Universe always makes me think of this advert. Used to work for the shower of bas...

nozzferrahhtoo

I made some money as a 16 year old fixing Time Computers for local old people Time and Gateway usually. Dell PCs not so much for some reason.

Well computer all arrived, built it, and it worked first time. Which shocked me. Loving the Fractal Design 7 case too. Great air flow too. I actually got seriously cold sitting beside it while testing it

Unfortunately my bios only recognises my RAM as 2133mhz. So I switched this to 3600mhz profile in the bios. And then the computer would not boot any more. So I went to bed.

So I will flash the CMOS tonight and try again after work. Will set the values manually rather than use the suggested profile in my BIOS this time. I think the profile only changed the memory clock speed, but not the voltage. So I am guessing that is the issue.

A quick google shows there is a few Reddit threads mentioning my exact MOBO-RAM combination. So I think when I have time to read them, I will get more info there!

MSI MAG X570 Tomahawk WIFI with AMD Ryzen 5 5600X
G.Skill RipJaws V 32GB, CL16-19-19-39 (F4-3600C16D-32GVKC)

nozzferrahhtoo

So updated the Bios. That worked mostly fine except the latest version has new defaults including disabling of legacy book, and using UEFI only boot. Which left me confused for a little while as the computer would only boot into the BIOS, and if I exited BIOS it owuld only go straight back into bios.

Anyway got it working.

Now in Windows Task Manager and CPU-Z tab "memory" my RAM is showing up as 3600mhz with the correct 16-19-19-39 clocking.

Strangely however in the CPU-Z tab called "SPD" the memory still shows up as "DDR4-2132 1066MHZ".

Should I be concerned or is this normal?

GHOST MGG

I am presuming you are using 2x16gb sticks.
DDR4-2132 1066MHZ is the maximum bandwitdth of your ram before you apply a DOCP profile
if you look at the timings table within that SPD tab you should see 3 numbered jedec tables and one docp table the docp/xmp table will show you what 1 stick of ram is running at,it should be 1800mhz+ you multiply that by 2 as you have 2 sticks and that tells you that your ram is running at 2x1800mhz which = 3600mhz
so you have nothing to worry about

K.O.Kiki

nozzferrahhtoo wrote: »

So updated the Bios. That worked mostly fine except the latest version has new defaults including disabling of legacy book, and using UEFI only boot. Which left me confused for a little while as the computer would only boot into the BIOS, and if I exited BIOS it owuld only go straight back into bios.

Anyway got it working.

Now in Windows Task Manager and CPU-Z tab "memory" my RAM is showing up as 3600mhz with the correct 16-19-19-39 clocking.

Strangely however in the CPU-Z tab called "SPD" the memory still shows up as "DDR4-2132 1066MHZ".

Should I be concerned or is this normal?

Press the "Validate" button in CPU-Z and link the URL they send you to.

LineConsole

You have to enable XMP 2 in the BIOS. It may be called A-XMP in MSI.

nozzferrahhtoo

Still pretty much using the build above as my gaming PC. Most recent games I or people in my house played, on highest or near highest settings, were Horizon Zero Dawn, Cyberpunk, Elden Ring and Red Dead 2. Tiny bit of stutter on HZDawn which went away when I reduced one setting... think it was a shadow or water setting.

Next game is most likely going to be Cyberpunk again when the final patches and DLC are released, and Hogwarts. Other than this, no real games on my plan list. Might be tempted by Starfield when it comes out.

Current build did them all nicely. Though my apartments daily Electricity Usage went up by a noticable and significant % while playing Elden Ring and it literally heated up my little home office. Was the hottest room in the house while playing that game :) But the build still stayed nicely silent.

Monitor - ASUS TUF Gaming VG27AQL1A

GPU - MSI GeForce RTX 3070 Ventus 3X OC

CPU - AMD Ryzen 5 5600X

MOBO - MSI MAG X570 Tomahawk WIFI

RAM - G.Skill RipJaws V 32GB, CL16-19-19-39 (F4-3600C16D-32GVKC)

SSD - Samsung SSD 970 EVO Plus 1TB

Case - Fractal Design Define 7

PSU - Super Flower Leadex III Gold 850W

Mouse - Logitech MX Mouse

Keyboard - Logitech MX Master keys

I got paid my annual bonus and although not much reason to upgrade the PC I was tempted to play around with it all the same.

Most GPU above mine on the benchmark list (https://www.videocardbenchmark.net/high_end_gpus.html) seem to be 850euro or up to 1500 euro over here in Germany. But I notice the GIGABYTE GeForce RTX 4070 Gaming OC 12G, 12GB coming in at 650 euro and uses 200W power compared to the 220W my current GPU uses. Would it be a decent buy? Any resale value on the 3070 these days? I see mine is listed at 1500 new over here!

Could get 2 more of the same RAM for 95 euro meaning I would have 64GB instead of 32GB. Pointless, or?

Other than that doesn't feel like much I could do to the Build that would be noticeable for my kind of usage. Motherboard worth dicking with? Anything that would have stronger wifi signal, bluetooth signal, or usage of my other hardware would be interesting though not with a significant power draw increase.

K.O.Kiki

FYI but the TechPowerUp Database is a much better indicator of GPU performance, since they test it in games.

https://www.techpowerup.com/gpu-specs/geforce-rtx-3070.c3674

AMD RX 7900 XT (850-ish) would be a generational improvement (+67%), RX 6950 XT (~679) wouldn't be bad either (+47%).

Or sticking with Nvidia, RTX 4070 / 4070 Ti isn't a bad jump, but ideally you should go up 1 tier.

As for resale value of your RTX 3070, CEX sells them for between 450-550 (with 2 years warranty) with trade-in values of 306-374, so use that as your guide.

64 Gb is pointless for gaming.