Custom PC Build

@Thorinak .

Its kinda hard to suggest anything at the moment . AMD v intel performance is at best minor differences . Especially at 1080p when you go to the higher end your GPU becomes the bottleneck . i am looking forward to AMDs 7000 series X3D parts . When it comes to gaming its highly probable we will have a new gaming CPU king . I would say wait for benchmarks and see .

Not been a fanboy here . Intels K series CPUs performance is looking strong currently . My only grip is the non K varients are locked down . On AMDs side i like where things are going but there seems to be little inovation . I hope they dont fall into the old trap and stagnate again . Competition is currently making things interesting .

Now as for your build you can pretty much go high end on both platforms with a high end GPU and till come under budget .IF you are going to build i would suggest first deciding what GPU you want . Then build around that since its going to be the most expensive single part of the build .

As for what K.O kiki put up i can deny that it is still one of the most viable builds out there for gaming . That said there is no upgrade path and the intel system will leave you in the same boat . So i would do a little more research and see is it viable to build now or wait and see .

Ok, a few things here.

You don't say why your not a "fan" of AMD. I've always used Intel (going back to the 90's), but I had to switch to AMD in my recent build a month ago. Put simply, the Z790 is a terrible platform compared to X670E in terms of future-proofing. The fact is that the intel marketing is a lie. You will always see Z790 motherboards described as "having PCIe Gen 5 GPU slot AND PCIe Gen5 NVMe slots". This is not accurate. The reality is that it is PCIe Gen5 GPU OR PCIe Gen 5 NVMe from the CPU. This is all down to the simple fact that there are only 16 PCIe lanes from the CPU. If you put an SSD in that NVMe slot, then your GPU is limited to just 8 lanes. Yes, they have NVMEs connected to the chipset, but they are not as good and intended for secondary storage. Add to that the fact that Alder Lake is at end-of-life, so you won't be able to upgrade your CPU (you never really can with Intel as they only support a patform for 2 years).

With the X670e from AMD, you have 20 lanes from the CPU, guaranteeing that you can have both a PCIe Gen 5 GPU AND SSD. This may not seem like a big thing, but with DirectStorage being hailed as the next big thing in gaming, it seems like a terrible thing to do to build an expensive, high-end PC that is already bottle-necked in this regard. While it is difficult at this stage to predict how much of any impact the SSD speed will have on overall performace (or even how much of an impact DirectStorage will have), it is clear that it will have at least some impact, so why take the chance?

While there is no guarantee as to how long AMD will support AM5, it is likely to be in the 4-6 year range, so you can also easily upgrade the CPU in a few years without having to start from scratch. Thus, with the AM5, you are in a good position to assume that you can support the latest state-of-the-art tech for at least the next few years (and high-end for another few years after). And the fact that it is cheaper is a nice bonus!

If you are serious about not considering AMD, then I would suggest that you wait (if possible) until the next generation of Intel motherboards/CPUs, which should be launced in about 9-10 months as they are expected to be increasing the number of PCIe lanes from the CPU. For me, I had been waiting to do a build, but when I saw the Z790 specs, it was clear it needed to be avoided.

The other thing to call out is a 4080 with a 1080p monitor? The 4080 is for 4K gaming. If you are only on 1080p, a GPU a fraction of that price will be plenty (a 3070 or a 6800 would be more than enough). But it also seems like a massive waste to be spending 3 grand (ex VAT) on a build and only using a 1080p monitor. It would be akin to getting a UHD Bluray player, building up an expensive UHD Bluray library, and then watching them on a B&W 14" CRT. Really, you should be going for a decent 4K monitor (or, at the very least, a $hit-hot QHD).

To be fair he is using a 280hz monitor.

While I would argue anything past 144hz and you'd want to be an absolute world-class pro gamer to really get anything out of it, driving maximum frames would require a seriously high-end CPU and GPU.

Personally I think 1440P 165hz is the sweet spot.

AMD CPU's were utterly horrible for gaming for a long time, but since Ryzen came out they turned it around, particularly with the 3rd gen, now with 5th and 6th gen they're basically on-par or better than Intel depending on the metrics used.

I wouldn't have touched AMD either before Ryzen, I stopped buying Intel with Ryzen 3rd gen.

For 3k without VAT or monitor I'd go with a 4090. The extra grunt over a 4080 will be more than you'll get from spending the money on better CPU, motherboard, RAM or SSD.

It's a beast.

Source? Below suggests 30% more FPS at 4k. Source.

My 4090 FE was €1830. The 4080 is around €1330. So 38% more money for 30% more performance.

But since the objective here is to max out performance for a 3k budget (excl. VAT), I don't see the point in settling for the 4080 unless it proves impossible to source a 4090 or there's some other aspect of the build which is severely compromised.

Loads here in the low 1900s incl VAT. What am I missing? Do you mean from a supplier in Ireland?

But I did miss the bit about 1080p and for that even a 4080 is fairly pointless, in fact spending 3k+VAT on a 1080p gaming machine seems nuts.

From what I've seen of CPU benchmarks the difference between mid and high end current gen CPUs is only like 200FPS vs 220FPS average, i.e. 10%.

@Lumen No not just ireland . i wouldnt price anything here in this country as most places here charge way over the odds for PC parts . Maybe i am missing a few sites that you have access too but in general any site i checked out the GPU seem to have gone up in price . ALso thanks for the link to that site . I am going to book mark it and keep and eye on pricing with them aswell .

AT 1080P the 4090 is bottlenecked no matter what high end CPU is used . i think counterstrike is 600-605 fps maybe higher . AT that stage the fps difference is within margin of error . That suggests a CPU bottleneck . A 4080 will at least show some variatin depending on the CPU that is outside the margin of error between runs . Not to mention a 4080 is no slouch either when it comes to 4k gaming . Thorinak has the option to go 4k down the road .

FOrtnite is cartoony to intice kids to play . The more catoony the look the better . With parents these days using consoles and PC to baby sit the kids , its a cash cow for its developers . SO upgrading to the UE5 engine was no brainer . I look at it and see a 4k rainbow puke generic shooter . Kids see it and its a shiney new thing they want . I wouldnt ecpect much out of it as a benchmark for the Unreal 5 engine . the witcher 4 , a new tombraider and many more games sue to launch soon using the UE5 engine . We will see then .

Unfortunately we are at a stage of GPu limbo . Something a kin to crysis levels of performance when it comes to GPUs . WHat i mean by that is the latest and greatest is only available to those who will part with thousands just for a GPU to play at 4k and not worry about FPS with everything enabled . So until we get a more budget GPU cables of what a 3080 can do i think we are out of luck as to what developers will code for . Unless the mainstream user can use every option without major performance hits . Maybe the next 4060 if decently priced could see 4k becoming the norm .

@dotsman

There is more to that arguement than GPU pricing . However lets not talk about it in this thread . IF you want to start a new thread about GPUs and pricing v 4k i will gladly comment there . Unfortunately we are starting to derail this thread and THorinak wants advice on a build . Not us arguing about screen resolution and GPU costs .

@Thorinak 

AMD ryzen r9 system i listed above works out cheaper than intel with the 19 13900k . Just going by pricing off PC parts picker there is about 200-300 euro b4 tax difference . Again you can price it out yourself using PC parts picker as a guidline but its always better to shop around . Although it may not seem it at the moment we are still in the midst of an electronics shortage . So prices are still inflated so look for random sales or even budled hardware .

Different types of monitors. I'd personally go for the LG of those 2 though (larger size & resolution over 1080p 360 Hz).