Question Help with $1,500-$2,000 budget gaming/maya/UE5 capable PC

[Ajaness]

Approximate Purchase Date: This week - this month preferably

Budget Range: $1500-$2,000 Budget

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming is the primary focus, Handling workloads in Unreal Engine 5, Maya, Blender well would be nice.

Are you buying a monitor: Could use a main monitor upgrade but low priority.



Parts to Upgrade: Full build from scratch

Do you need to buy OS: Yes

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Comfortable with Newegg, Amazon

Parts Preferences: Air Cooling, otherwise none

Overclocking: Probably not

SLI or Crossfire: No

Your Monitor Resolution: 1920x1080

Additional Comments: Doesn't need to be fancy with LED's just functional. Would enjoy running Marvel Rivals, ARK Survival Ascended, Helldivers 2 without issue and being capable of handling Unreal Engine 5/Maya/Blender workloads when needed.

And Most Importantly, Why Are You Upgrading: Current build struggles to work in UE5, Would like to run games smoother/on better settings.

 

[Why_Me]

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: *Intel Core i7-13700F 2.1 GHz 16-Core Processor ($299.99 @ B&H)
CPU Cooler: *ID-COOLING FROZN A620 PRO SE 58 CFM CPU Cooler ($29.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: *MSI B760 GAMING PLUS WIFI ATX LGA1700 Motherboard ($149.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: *TEAMGROUP T-Create Expert 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 Memory ($86.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: *Silicon Power UD90 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive ($89.97 @ B&H)
Video Card: *Asus DUAL EVO OC GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER 12 GB Video Card ($609.99 @ Amazon)
Case: *Montech AIR 903 BASE ATX Mid Tower Case ($65.00 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: *ADATA XPG Core Reactor II 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($89.99 @ Amazon)
Operating System: *Microsoft Windows 11 Home OEM - DVD 64-bit ($119.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $1541.90
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2025-01-02 06:00 EST-0500

 

[ohio_buckeye]

Op, one question to ask, do you happen to be near a Microcenter? If so they’ve got great bundle deals. Like I recently got a ryzen 5 7600x3d cpu, board and 32gb ddr5 for $460. Could have saved 10 bucks but I opted for the rgb ram kit. But they also have the ryzen 7 7700x in a bundle like that for $400.

Also the one near me has a 7900gre card for $549. You can get an idea, if just gaming without as much ray tracing the 7900 gre looks like a faster card. However you may prefer the nvidia card of your doing productivity work etc with it

https://www.techradar.com/computing/gpu/rx-7900-gre-vs-rtx-4070-super

But I’d definitely suggest giving the AMD ryzen lineup a look. LGA 1700 is effectively a dead end socket. AMDs socket am5 should be supported through 2027 according to AMD. So later you should be able to drop in a newer cpu and be set a few more years without needing to buy a new pc.

 

[Ajaness]

Unfortunately no Microcenter as an option, is an interesting point about the mobo though. Ideally the build would last long enough that it shouldn't matter by the time it'd be that outdated, on top of new releases lowering the price of more top end LGA1700 cpu's if it ends up mattering sooner than expected(i assume thats how the market for cpu's work). Would be interested in seeing an amd5 or newer intel chipset build if it was similar price/performance to what Why_Me suggested. Prices seem to be much higher based off trying to research into them myself which might not be worth it. Am a little worried the i7-13700f's clock speed showing as 2.1GHz as that seems low, not experienced overclocking or using a 'boost' speed and not sure how user friendly that would be to get the 5.2GHz speed or if that was something it's alright to just sustain on a regular basis. Otherwise going to get some second opinions on Why_Me's build from some friends if anyone has input in the meantime about the cpu clock or a more up to date mobo chipset. Thanks a ton!

 

[ohio_buckeye]

One caution on Intel I would say is that the 13th And 14th generation CPUs reportedly had issues. Intel has released fixes in the form of microcode/bios updates. However ask yourself if you trust their word. Not that the Intel system won’t work but it’s a possibility.

As far as low clock speed, a lot of CPUs will have a base clock speed they run at then will turn up the speed until it gets to it’s turbo speed if cooling allows. But it lets the cpu kind of rest in between.

As for AMD I’m using a b650 board with a ryzen 5 7600x3d. Similar to the 7800x3d but more of a Microcenter exclusive. I live by one so I’m fortunate to get deals. For example you can typically get a b650 board, ryzen 7 9700x and 32gb ddr5 for $430.

So I would consider looking at b650 boards and a 7700x or 9700x. If purely gaming then the 9800x3d is good but you will pay more for it.


https://www.newegg.com/amd-ryzen-7-...cessor/p/N82E16819113843?item=N82E16819113843


https://www.newegg.com/gigabyte-b65...50-am5/p/N82E16813145491?item=N82E16813145491

https://www.newegg.com/g-skill-32gb-ddr5-6000/p/N82E16820374419?item=N82E16820374419

These are for example, I haven’t used those particular parts.

 

[logainofhades]

You have the budget, I would go with AM5, and give yourself an upgrade path. Wish the 9800x3d supply would improve, to bring prices back down to at least MSRP. It's actually fairly decent at non gaming tasks too. If you can score one, for MSRP, I would switch to it, over a 7800x3d. I went 64gb ram, to give you more memory for those non gaming workloads. GPU is a bit overkill for 1080p, but should hold up for quite awhile.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D 4.2 GHz 8-Core Processor ($475.94 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE 66.17 CFM CPU Cooler ($34.90 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Gigabyte B650 GAMING X AX ATX AM5 Motherboard ($179.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: G.Skill Flare X5 64 GB (2 x 32 GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 Memory ($192.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Inland Performance Plus 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive ($129.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: XFX Speedster MERC 310 Radeon RX 7900 XT 20 GB Video Card ($699.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Montech AIR 903 MAX ATX Mid Tower Case ($74.98 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Thermaltake Toughpower GF3 TT Premium 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($89.99 @ Amazon)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 11 Home OEM - DVD 64-bit ($119.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $1998.76
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2025-01-03 09:23 EST-0500

 

[ohio_buckeye]

On the graphics card listed, if you want to spend a little extra you could pop for the 7900xtx

https://www.newegg.com/asrock-phant...-gddr6/p/N82E16814930081?item=N82E16814930081

It would be massive overkill for 1080p. I’m on a 1440p screen and it’s really overkill for that but man it’s nice to crank everything to max settings at 1440p and be pulling over 100fps even in the new Indiana Jones game. With no fsr etc either.