Retiring Old Computer Some help Please on New Build

Fionn

Hello All, Looking to upgrade my old tired Dell XPS 8700 (i7-4770 processor 3.4 GHz) its about 7/8 years old and creaking at the seams!
So i've decided to retire it and invest in a new rendering machine that can handle most 3D rendering demands and edit full 4K at native resolutions. Budget is around €2000 or there abouts.

I havent done anything inside a computer case in a long while so I'd appreciate it if anyone could check out the specs and advise if I'm going wrong!
Thanks
1. What is your budget? 2000

2. What will be the main purpose of the computer? 4K Video editing, 3D Modelling/ Rendering, virtualisation

3. Do you need a copy of Windows? [Maybe] Might load Linux, not sure yet

4. Can you use any parts from an old computer? No [Hard drive/DVD Drive/Case/PSU/etc.] (Probably use some of the HDs for storage but I have a NAS system so it's not an issue really)

5. Do you need a monitor? No

5b. If no, what resolution is your current monitor and do you plan to upgrade in the near future? [3840 x 2160, 2560x1600.] [2 Moitors]

6. Do you need any of these peripherals? [Keyboard/Mouse/Wireless Card/Card Reader/Speakers/etc.] Nope

7. Are you willing to try overclocking? [Probably]

8. How can you pay? [Bank Transfer/Credit Card/Laser]

9. When are you purchasing? [no time limit]

10. If you need help building it, where are you based? [N/A


After initial research I have identified these components;

Case: PHANTEKS Eclipse P400A Midi-Tower, Tempered Glass Amazon UK €71 free shipping

Mainboard: ASUS ROG Strix X570-E Gaming ATX Motherboard, AMD Socket AM4, Ryzen 3000, 16 Power Stages, PCIe 4.0, M.2, DDR4, Wi Fi 6 (802.11 ax), 2.5G LAN, Intel LAN, HDMI, DP, USB 3.2, Amazon UK €320 free shipping

CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 3900X Amazon UK €444 free shipping (looked for the 5000 series but as of now none are available)

CPU Cooler: Cooler Master MasterLiquid ML240R RGB CPU Liquid Cooler Amazon UK €110 free shipping

RAM: G.Skill Ripjaws V 64GB DDR4 K4 64GVKC 3600 (4x16GB) C16 Amazon.de Incl Shipping €345

Storage: Samsung MZ-V7E1T0BW 970 EVO 1 TB NVMe M.2 Internal Amazon.de Incl Shipping €135
or
Sabrent 1TB Rocket NVMe PCIe M.2 2280 Amazon UK free shipping €143

Graphics Card: EVGA GeForce RTX 2060 SC ULTRA GAMING, Amazon free shipping €360
or
ASUS ROG Strix GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER Advanced 8 GB Amazon UK free shipping €529/ €482 from Germany

PSU: Seasonic Focus GX - 750W komplett.ie €120


Cheapest total - €1905

Hyzepher

Baes on your usage I'd make a few recommendations

-Wait for the availability of the Ryzen 5000 CPUs - it will make a big difference and buying a 3000 model will be bad value at this stage.
-There are x570/B550 boards that are just as good as the Asus but are cheaper - especially if you aren't into hardcore o/c - Something like the MSI Tomahawk x570 or even the MSI B550 Gaming Edge Wifi model would be more than enough
-The GPU is going to be tricky. On the one hand you want to get one of the new Nvidia or AMD cards that just launched but availability will be an obstacle. However, investing in a new 2xxx Nvidia card now isn't the best move. If it was me I would go for a Ryzen/60xx combination and look to get their bonus performance unless there are Nvidia specific features you need for your work.

It's a great time to buy new PC tech - especially at your budget, but the world and his wife are all looking to upgrade at the same time and getting your hands on the products you want is going to be the biggest issue.

If you can wait until after Xmas then that might be the best decision you'll make

ED E

Sabrent are grand but I'd go Sammy for your boot drive.

Also as this is a workstation ASUS have a nice WS board. You lose the 2.5G unfortunately but nobody uses 2.5G and 10G will be affordable very soon.

LineConsole

Agree with the above about opting for a Zen 3 AMD CPU, the improvements in single core speed and latency over the previous Ryzens will be more than worth it. I’d suggest the 5800x if you want to use the PC as a workstation due to the higher number of cores/threads.

Unless things will have changed with AMD’s upcoming GPU launch, according to what I’ve read NVidia is still far and away the better option for video editing.

AMD Radeon is aimed at gamers, NVidia is aimed at both gamers and video professionals.

Fionn

Thanks for the replies
I've checked on stock availability of any variety of Ryzen 5000x CPUs and it's looking bleak, I see some people are trading these on ebay like the stock market looking for outrageous amounts for them, the cheapest I've seen is in the UK, for pre-order but with Brexit looming I'm a bit wary of ordering from there if there's any sort of lead in time. the price differential from the 3900x there is pretty small tho (€200)

So i've looked at some other motherboard options and to be honest at this stage me head is melted with all the different features and what not, i'm going to take the advice and look at some of the cheaper models probably around the €165 mark.

The only other change I was considering was the CPU Cooler swapping out the MasterLiquid ML240R RGB for Cooler Master Hyper 212 Black Edition 42 CFM CPU Cooler. I dont need any lights in the box.

I haven't compared all the prices yet and haven't ruled out considering other AMD series but yes the 5000x would be good but if they're unobtainable it's not the end of the world, I can order a 3000x and have it by the weekend, i'm not in a mad rush but the only problem I see for waiting might be the supply and demand situation may drive prices up, so maybe I should order from UK and hope the supply time isnt too long!

anyway thanks for your comments, very helpful

Hyzepher

Apparently stock of the 5000 series is going to pick up in the next week or so - i'd hold out

Fionn

I'm not going to get anything until around the 27 anyway, so we'll see.
I did read an interesting article yesterday that had this;
'As of now, Scan UK has 2,698 customer pre-orders for Ryzen 5000 CPUs. That includes 280 orders for the Ryzen 5 5600X, 329 orders for the Ryzen 7 5800X, a whopping 1,538 orders for the Ryzen 9 5900X and 551 orders for the Ryzen 9 5950X. All of these orders are still waiting to be confirmed.'

This is what my preferred build will be, dependent of course on the CPU being available, if not I'll go with a 3000 series instead. Still approx near my budget.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 5900X 3.7 GHz 12-Core Processor (£571.51 @ Overclockers.co.uk)
CPU Cooler: be quiet! Pure Rock 2 Black CPU Cooler (£39.60 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: MSI MEG X570 UNIFY ATX AM4 Motherboard (£264.79 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: G.Skill Trident Z RGB 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3600 CL17 Memory (£170.20 @ More Computers)
Storage: Samsung 860 Evo 1 TB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive (£129.97 @ Laptops Direct)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER 8 GB XC GAMING Video Card (£678.00 @ Amazon UK)
Case: Phanteks Eclipse P400A ATX Mid Tower Case (£57.42 @ CCL Computers)
Power Supply: SeaSonic FOCUS 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply (£103.60 @ SmartTeck.co.uk)
Total: £2015.09
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-11-10 13:37 GMT+0000

cromelex

Would you not buy a Sabrent PCIE-4 Nvme SSD ? Currently around that price for the 1Tb on on Amazon deals, and it's supposedly as fast as you can get on a X570 board.

ForestFire

Good few m.2 ssd on offer today at amazon, including sabrent gen4 spec 1TB which I have picked up early

minitrue

I think that Pure Rock 2 is better than the Hyper 212 you mentioned but for anything like a 5900X or above I'd spend a bit more on for example a Dark Rock 4 (Pro) or Noctua DH-14(15) or artic liquid freezer 2. You would have to change case for the biggest coolers but I've just left that and the psu alone below.

What features are you looking for from a motherboard? That's a pricey choice Vs say a MPG X570 Gaming Plus?

Agree with everyone that the 860 Evo is a weird choice, either splash out on say a 970 Evo plus if you are wedded to Samsung but better yet just grab one of the pci-e 4.0 Rockets today.

A 2080 Super for £678 would kill me! Even getting ripped off to pay the same sort of money for a 3070 would be much better but you can probably get one for a bunch less or maybe even catch a 3080 for that money or close enough.

There's also the CL17 ram when you could get CL16 for the same money.

So something like the following is a hair cheaper (with the cpu a bad pre-order price but gpu "ok") and blows your build away (unless you have motherboard requirement?):
CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 5950X 3.4 GHz 16-Core Processor (£811.51 @ Overclockers.co.uk)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D14 64.95 CFM CPU Cooler (£66.23 @ CCL Computers)
Motherboard: MSI MPG X570 GAMING PLUS ATX AM4 Motherboard (£154.99 @ CCL Computers)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix RGB 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3600 CL16 Memory (£166.79 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Sabrent Rocket 4.0 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive (£127.42 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: Asus GeForce RTX 3070 8 GB DUAL OC Video Card (£511.48 @ More Computers)
Case: Phanteks Eclipse P400A ATX Mid Tower Case (£57.42 @ CCL Computers)
Power Supply: SeaSonic FOCUS 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply (£103.46 @ SmartTeck.co.uk)
Total: £1999.30

Bang for buck the 5900X beats the 5950X but given the amount you are spending, use-case and expectation this is the last generation of cpus on these boards I'd just get the 5950X and be done with it. If you can get the 5950X at a better price and have a little more room in the budget and can find one a 3080 would be nice.

If you really can't wait and don't want to hunt for the 5950X and 3070/3080 then just getting a 3900 and EVGA 2060 KO (has advantages over regular 2060 for some productivity stuff) would knock it down to about £1350, saving you enough over the above to just buy a 5950X or 3080 whenever they are readily available at something like MSRP ... and that's before you sell the 3900 or 2060 you free up. If you go that route maybe even just go for 2*32GB of ram now so something like:

CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 3900X 3.8 GHz 12-Core OEM/Tray Processor (£388.99 @ Scan.co.uk)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D14 64.95 CFM CPU Cooler (£66.23 @ CCL Computers)
Motherboard: MSI MPG X570 GAMING PLUS ATX AM4 Motherboard (£154.99 @ CCL Computers)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix 64 GB (2 x 32 GB) DDR4-3600 CL16 Memory (£278.39 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Sabrent Rocket 4.0 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive (£127.42 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce RTX 2060 6 GB KO GAMING Video Card (£285.39 @ Amazon UK)
Case: Phanteks Eclipse P400A ATX Mid Tower Case (£57.42 @ CCL Computers)
Power Supply: SeaSonic FOCUS 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply (£103.46 @ SmartTeck.co.uk)
Total: £1462.29

Fionn

Hi
yeah the Sabrent looks to be a better deal ok, have it in the cart.
I'll have to look at the other specs later on this evening. and nothing is in stone yet, still ceesawing between 3000x & 5000x and a good few other pieces too.



Thanks for the headsup.

Fionn

So after looking at the build and watching some reviews and taking what I've seen into account, I'm going broadly what minitrue has posted the only change is;
Motherboard: MSI MAG X570 TOMAHAWK WIFI ATX AM4 Motherboard (£203.99 @ CCL Computers)


thanks for the pointers.

Fionn

What would be a good buy among this lot?

Taken from a German site so shipping would have to be added.

Palit GeForce RTX 3070 Gaming PRO 8.0 GB €687

Inno3D GeForce RTX 3070 iCHILL X4 8.0 GB OC €607

GIGABYTE GeForce RTX 3070 Gaming OC 8.0 GB OC €708

ZOTAC GAMING GeForce RTX 3070 Twin Edge OC 8.0 GB OC €656

GIGABYTE GeForce RTX 2080 WINDFORCE 8.0 GB €577

GIGABYTE GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER GAMING OC White 8.0 GB OC €765

EVGA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER FTW3 Ultra 8.0 GB €823
EVGA GeForce RTX 3080 XC3 10 GB €864 Not Available

K.O.Kiki

A 3070 when available; it's heaps faster than a 2080 Super.

Fionn

Apologies for dragging up my old post but I wanted to say thanks for the advice and I got it all put together and am using it right now!
Didn't get everything I wanted, but hey thats life. I'm a pensioner so I cant afford to wait for stuff too long... :rolleyes:

It's running grand from what I can see in the bios etc, I don't actually own any games, so what is the go to program for testing purposes?

Thanks

JoyPad

Fionn wrote: »

It's running grand from what I can see in the bios etc, I don't actually own any games, so what is the go to program for testing purposes?

If you install Steam, find and install the demo version of 3D Mark. This will allow you to run the TimeSpy test, and check your score against other people.

For Ray Tracing, install this benchmark. Also free.

Other tests you could run are Heaven, Valley and Superposition. These are slightly older benchmarks, also free.

All of these are short tests that put your PC through its paces. If you get a valid score, then everything is fine. If any of them crashes, you might have trouble.

Last but not least, there are some CPU benchmarks you can download and execute, if you want to make sure the CPU is working properly. Cinebench R20 is free, and AIDA64 has a trial version.

When I built a PC in 2017, games kept stuttering badly. Using AIDA64, I was able to diagnose the problem: CPU was overheating and throttling. Turned out to be a pretty poor overclock applied by the people where I bought the CPU+motherboard+RAM+cooler (bundle).

K.O.Kiki

Fionn wrote: »

Apologies for dragging up my old post but I wanted to say thanks for the advice and I got it all put together and am using it right now!
Didn't get everything I wanted, but hey thats life. I'm a pensioner so I cant afford to wait for stuff too long... :rolleyes:

It's running grand from what I can see in the bios etc, I don't actually own any games, so what is the go to program for testing purposes?

Thanks

Sign up for an account on Epic Games Store.
They give away a new game every week, and right now they're giving away 1 game/day - all you need to do is sign in and "buy" the free game to add it to your account permanently.

Altreab2

Fionn wrote: »

What would be a good buy among this lot?

Taken from a German site so shipping would have to be added.

Palit GeForce RTX 3070 Gaming PRO 8.0 GB €687

Inno3D GeForce RTX 3070 iCHILL X4 8.0 GB OC €607

GIGABYTE GeForce RTX 3070 Gaming OC 8.0 GB OC €708

ZOTAC GAMING GeForce RTX 3070 Twin Edge OC 8.0 GB OC €656

GIGABYTE GeForce RTX 2080 WINDFORCE 8.0 GB €577

GIGABYTE GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER GAMING OC White 8.0 GB OC €765

EVGA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER FTW3 Ultra 8.0 GB €823
EVGA GeForce RTX 3080 XC3 10 GB €864 Not Available

Which german site did you get those quotes from? My own system keeled over just before christmas not sure yet if it is just power supply unit or not yet Its been a while since i built it ...2014 so it has paid its dues

Fionn

Hi,
I got most of those from www.computeruniverse and maybe a few from www.caseking.de
That was about 6 weeks ago, even then the prices looked spendy, I eventually settled on a GIGABYTE 3060 Ti OC 8GB from computeruniverse.

One thing to note is make sure you have Ireland selected from the top of the browser, that way it gives you the proper VAT and not the much cheaper German VAT.

Altreab2

Fionn wrote: »

Hi,
I got most of those from www.computeruniverse and maybe a few from www.caseking.de
That was about 6 weeks ago, even then the prices looked spendy, I eventually settled on a GIGABYTE 3060 Ti OC 8GB from computeruniverse.

One thing to note is make sure you have Ireland selected from the top of the browser, that way it gives you the proper VAT and not the much cheaper German VAT.

Thanks Fionn will look into those now. Prices do seem high at the moment.