Question New 1500 bucks gaming rig

[true_messiyah]

Hi guys,

My old system, an 8yo gaming rig, broke down, well, it was about time to upgrade anyway. I won't reuse anything as I'll try to fix it as a secondary computer later:

What I need it for:
- Gaming
- 4k video editing

Games I (want to) play:
- RPGs like Bethesda stuff, Witcher, Cyberpunk (no raytracing needed, happy with 1440p and ultra settings)
- Strategy and simulations like Civ, City Skylines, Planet Coaster (which is extremely single-thread performance hungry, still a challenge for modern CPUs)

I have pretty much decided that the graphics card will be either RX 7800 XT or RX 7900 GRE. That will more than suffice for my current needs plus a couple of years into the future.

What I can't decide about (just too much data to acquire and compute) is the heart of the system, CPU, cooler, board, RAM (gen and speed). The board should accommodate two SSDs (thinking about 1TB for system and applications, 4 TB for games and editing workspace, advice with regard to the bus generation welcome). No special requirements apart from that. No more than two HDDs might be added later to dump data. How big a power supply does this add up to? The case preferably roomy, boring and SILENT. I'm used to not hearing anything from underneath the desk most of the time, and I like that more than fancy lights behind a window. Not the overclocking, water cooling type of guy.

I don't have a fixed budget, it should just make sense in terms of value towards the requirements. Roughly 500 bucks for the graphics board, not more than 1000 for the rest, I would say. No screens needed. I'd prefer to buy soon but I could wait if you're telling me that Ryzen 9000 (or whatever) will change the game for me.

I'd be grateful for suggestions, especially with some hints why it seems appropriate for my use case.

 

[Lutfij]

Welcome to the forums, newcomer!

You're advised to stylize your post with info asked of in this thread;

*How to Ask for New Build or Upgrade Advice*

How to Ask for New Build or Upgrade Advice First off, respect where respect is due - this is an adaptation of the Animal's *How To Ask For New Build Advice* Sticky. I created this because there's a lot of posts nowadays asking for upgrade advice both on here and on the CPU forums, and I feel...

forums.tomshardware.com

Please include your location, your absolute budget and your preferred site for purchase to help us narrow down what to get for your build.

Off the top of my head, look for a B650 chipset motherboard, a dual channel DDR5-6000MHz ram kit that has AMD E.X.P.O on it, a 750W~850W reliably built PSU. The case and cooler can be shrunk to an matx build, if you want something that's compact.

 

[jeremyj_83]

Here is an idea. I would recommend waiting to see what the Ryzen 9000 looks.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 7700X 4.5 GHz 8-Core Processor ($244.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-U14S 82.52 CFM CPU Cooler ($79.95 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Gigabyte B650E AORUS ELITE X AX ICE ATX AM5 Motherboard ($229.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: TEAMGROUP T-Create Expert 64 GB (2 x 32 GB) DDR5-6000 CL34 Memory ($159.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: SK Hynix Platinum P41 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive ($104.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Samsung 990 Pro 4 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive ($299.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Sapphire PULSE Radeon RX 7900 GRE 16 GB Video Card ($549.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Fractal Design Define 7 ATX Mid Tower Case ($157.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: SeaSonic FOCUS GX-850 ATX 3.0 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($109.99 @ Amazon)
Case Fan: Fractal Design Dynamic X2 GP-14 68.4 CFM 140 mm Fan ($25.64 @ Amazon)
Total: $1963.51
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2024-07-14 16:32 EDT-0400

 

[artk2219]

Hi guys,

My old system, an 8yo gaming rig, broke down, well, it was about time to upgrade anyway. I won't reuse anything as I'll try to fix it as a secondary computer later:

What I need it for:
- Gaming
- 4k video editing

Games I (want to) play:
- RPGs like Bethesda stuff, Witcher, Cyberpunk (no raytracing needed, happy with 1440p and ultra settings)
- Strategy and simulations like Civ, City Skylines, Planet Coaster (which is extremely single-thread performance hungry, still a challenge for modern CPUs)

I have pretty much decided that the graphics card will be either RX 7800 XT or RX 7900 GRE. That will more than suffice for my current needs plus a couple of years into the future.

What I can't decide about (just too much data to acquire and compute) is the heart of the system, CPU, cooler, board, RAM (gen and speed). The board should accommodate two SSDs (thinking about 1TB for system and applications, 4 TB for games and editing workspace, advice with regard to the bus generation welcome). No special requirements apart from that. No more than two HDDs might be added later to dump data. How big a power supply does this add up to? The case preferably roomy, boring and SILENT. I'm used to not hearing anything from underneath the desk most of the time, and I like that more than fancy lights behind a window. Not the overclocking, water cooling type of guy.

I don't have a fixed budget, it should just make sense in terms of value towards the requirements. Roughly 500 bucks for the graphics board, not more than 1000 for the rest, I would say. No screens needed. I'd prefer to buy soon but I could wait if you're telling me that Ryzen 9000 (or whatever) will change the game for me.

I'd be grateful for suggestions, especially with some hints why it seems appropriate for my use case.

Something similar to this would work. I went with AM5 since it gives you an upgrade path in a few years time. I picked a 7900X3D as the pricing has come down on those, and it gets you 12 cores and 3d vcache. The extra cores would help with video editing, and the vcache would help with gaming. I went with 64gb of ram because of the video editing, and you should get the 7900 GRE over the 7800 XT. The 7900 GRE has the potential be overclocked so it would perform around 7900 XT levels. Keep in mind that not every card can oc to those levels, but it still gets you more performance than the 7800 XT for not much more. I went with a 2tb SSD to split the difference since it was hard to get both a decent 1tb and 4tb SSD for your budget. I picked a montech air 1000 premium because it's a decent case for a really reasonable price, same with the power supply. You can still wait on the new 9000 series parts to see how they perform before you make a CPU purchase. You can use the bios flashback feature on the board to update the bios without a cpu. The rest will be just fine to get before then. Also, sorry, I went a little over budget, you could drop down to a 1tb SSD to make up most of that difference.

[PCPartPicker Part List]
Https://pcpartpicker.com/list/FrNPZJ

Type|Item|Price :----|:----|:---- **CPU** | [AMD Ryzen 9 7900X3D 4.4 GHz 12-Core Processor](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/XccgXL/amd-ryzen-9-7900x3d-44-ghz-12-core-processor-100-100000909wof) | $379.99 @ Newegg **CPU Cooler** | [Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE 66.17 CFM CPU Cooler](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/hYxRsY/thermalright-peerless-assassin-120-se-6617-cfm-cpu-cooler-pa120-se-d3) | $33.90 @ Amazon **Motherboard** | [ASRock B650E PG RIPTIDE WIFI ATX AM5 Motherboard](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/Tz2WGX/asrock-b650e-pg-riptide-wifi-atx-am5-motherboard-b650e-pg-riptide-wifi) | $174.99 @ Newegg **Memory** | [Corsair Vengeance 64 GB (2 x 32 GB) DDR5-6000 CL40 Memory](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/LWVmP6/corsair-vengeance-64-gb-2-x-32-gb-ddr5-6000-cl40-memory-cmk64gx5m2b6000z40) | $194.99 @ Amazon **Storage** | [Crucial P3 Plus 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/yGZ9TW/crucial-p3-plus-2-tb-m2-2280-nvme-solid-state-drive-ct2000p3pssd8) | $124.99 @ Amazon **Video Card** | [ASRock Challenger OC Radeon RX 7900 GRE 16 GB Video Card](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/Ln4Zxr/asrock-challenger-oc-radeon-rx-7900-gre-16-gb-video-card-rx7900gre-cl-16go) | $524.99 @ Newegg **Case** | [Montech AIR 1000 PREMIUM ATX Mid Tower Case](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/sRRYcf/montech-air-1000-premium-atx-mid-tower-case-air-1000-premium-black) | $59.99 @ Amazon **Power Supply** | [Cooler Master MWE Gold 850 - V2 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/tWMTwP/cooler-master-mwe-gold-850-v2-850-w-80-gold-certified-fully-modular-atx-power-supply-mpe-8501-afaag-us) | $94.99 @ Amazon | *Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts* | | **Total** | **$1588.83** | Generated by [PCPartPicker](https://pcpartpicker.com) 2024-07-14 16:52 EDT-0400 |

https://www.techpowerup.com/review/asus-radeon-rx-7900-gre-tuf/41.html

https://www.amd.com/en/products/processors/chipsets/am5.html

 

[35below0]

If you want 64Gb of RAM and ~5Tb of SSD space, it will add up to more than a grand.

Here is my suggestion. It ticks all the boxes comfortably but you may decide to make some cuts:
- Note on silence: The case is quiet except when the GPU fires up, OR a noisy HDD is active.
I have this case and it is dead silent except the faint noises made by the WD Blue 4Tb 5400 rpm HDD. The HDD is located to the front of the case so it's more visible and audible. Buy a quiet HDD for this case.
The GPU fans also make noise but that's unavoidable and depends on the game being played. Some games don't stress the GPU enough to require active cooling.

"Copy/Pase from another post"
The Steel Legend is a z690 motherboard and was released with 12th gen Intel CPUs. It supports 13th and 14th generation but it's BIOS may be out of date.

You'll need to prep a USB stick and copy the latest BIOS onto it, then plug the USB stick into the correct port and press the Flashback button on the I/O panel.
You should check the manual to see which USB port is the correct one. (It's usually marked, with a rectangle for example)
The computer should NOT be powered on! Plug it in and switch the PSU on. That's is all the motherboard needs for flashing.
Here is the support doc for Flashback: https://www.asrock.com/support/QA/FlashbackSOP.pdf

Otherwise it's nearly identical in features to z790 chipset motherboards but without the higher price.
It doesn't have WiFi though, so if that's important, it may be better to choose a different motherboard than a WiFi dongle. But it's up to you.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i5-13600K 3.5 GHz 14-Core Processor ($247.68 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Scythe Fuma 3 67.62 CFM CPU Cooler ($49.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock Z690 STEEL LEGEND/D5 ATX LGA1700 Motherboard ($149.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws S5 64 GB (2 x 32 GB) DDR5-5600 CL28 Memory ($189.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 990 Pro 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive ($109.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: TEAMGROUP MP44 4 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive ($228.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Toshiba P300 6 TB 3.5" 5400 RPM Internal Hard Drive ($154.14 @ MemoryC)
Video Card: ASRock Steel Legend OC Radeon RX 7900 GRE 16 GB Video Card ($549.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Fractal Design North ATX Mid Tower Case ($109.99 @ B&H)
Power Supply: SeaSonic FOCUS GX-850 ATX 3.0 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($109.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $1900.74
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2024-07-14 17:09 EDT-0400

The Toshiba P300 is just a suggestion. It's not likely to be part of your build.

Cheaper build. Down to 32Gb of RAM and a cheaper 1Tb main/OS drive and a 2Tb scratchdisk/game drive.
This one is within budget.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i5-13600K 3.5 GHz 14-Core Processor ($247.68 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Scythe Fuma 3 67.62 CFM CPU Cooler ($49.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock Z690 STEEL LEGEND/D5 ATX LGA1700 Motherboard ($149.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws S5 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 Memory ($104.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: TEAMGROUP MP44L 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive ($59.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: TEAMGROUP MP44L 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive ($102.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: ASRock Steel Legend OC Radeon RX 7900 GRE 16 GB Video Card ($549.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Fractal Design North ATX Mid Tower Case ($109.99 @ B&H)
Power Supply: SeaSonic FOCUS GX-850 ATX 3.0 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($109.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $1485.60
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2024-07-14 17:10 EDT-0400

The GPU is $550 is enither case, but if you can swing a 7900GRE you should be very happy. It's the king and queen of 1440p gaming.

Hope it helps.

 

[true_messiyah]

Something similar to this would work. I went with AM5 since it gives you an upgrade path in a few years time. I picked a 7900X3D as the pricing has come down on those, and it gets you 12 cores and 3d vcache. The extra cores would help with video editing, and the vcache would help with gaming. I went with 64gb of ram because of the video editing, and you should get the 7900 GRE over the 7800 XT. The 7900 GRE has the potential be overclocked so it would perform around 7900 XT levels. Keep in mind that not every card can oc to those levels, but it still gets you more performance than the 7800 XT for not much more. I went with a 2tb SSD to split the difference since it was hard to get both a decent 1tb and 4tb SSD for your budget. I picked a montech air 1000 premium because it's a decent case for a really reasonable price, same with the power supply. You can still wait on the new 9000 series parts to see how they perform before you make a CPU purchase. You can use the bios flashback feature on the board to update the bios without a cpu. The rest will be just fine to get before then. Also, sorry, I went a little over budget, you could drop down to a 1tb SSD to make up most of that difference.

AMD Ryzen 9 7900X3D 4.4 GHz 12-Core Processor
385,84

Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE 66.17 CFM CPU Cooler
34,99

ASRock B650E PG RIPTIDE WIFI ATX AM5 Motherboard
213,86

Corsair Vengeance 64 GB (2 x 32 GB) DDR5-6000 CL40 Memory
(235,21)
alt: 32GB Patriot VIPER VENOM DDR5-6200 DIMM CL40 Dual Kit
89,00 * 2 = 178,00

1TB Lexar NM790 M.2 2280 PCIe 4.0 x4 3D-NAND TLC (LNM790X001T-RNNNG)
68,00

2TB Kingston NV2 NVMe M.2 2280 PCIe 4.0 x4 3D NAND (SNV2S/2000G)
99,00

16GB PowerColor Radeon RX 7900 GRE Fighter OC Aktiv PCIe 4.0 x16 (Retail)
559,00

(Don't trust your case to be dampened at all.)
be quiet! Silent Base 601 Midi Tower
119,89

850 Watt Xilence Gaming Gold XP850R12 80+ Gold
77,91

1,736.49€
Just fine in terms of budget, 1500 was a ballpark figure.

I exchanged a few parts due to special offers I found. Do they make sense? Might watch out for graphics board discounts as well.
Do you think the CPU will help me with the games I play? It's not particularly strong in single-thread, is it? I know it's state of the art for gaming but for what kind of games?

 

[jeremyj_83]

AMD Ryzen 9 7900X3D 4.4 GHz 12-Core Processor
385,84

Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE 66.17 CFM CPU Cooler
34,99

ASRock B650E PG RIPTIDE WIFI ATX AM5 Motherboard
213,86

Corsair Vengeance 64 GB (2 x 32 GB) DDR5-6000 CL40 Memory
(235,21)
alt: 32GB Patriot VIPER VENOM DDR5-6200 DIMM CL40 Dual Kit
89,00 * 2 = 178,00

1TB Lexar NM790 M.2 2280 PCIe 4.0 x4 3D-NAND TLC (LNM790X001T-RNNNG)
68,00

2TB Kingston NV2 NVMe M.2 2280 PCIe 4.0 x4 3D NAND (SNV2S/2000G)
99,00

16GB PowerColor Radeon RX 7900 GRE Fighter OC Aktiv PCIe 4.0 x16 (Retail)
559,00

(Don't trust your case to be dampened at all.)
be quiet! Silent Base 601 Midi Tower
119,89

850 Watt Xilence Gaming Gold XP850R12 80+ Gold
77,91

1,736.49€
Just fine in terms of budget, 1500 was a ballpark figure.

I exchanged a few parts due to special offers I found. Do they make sense? Might watch out for graphics board discounts as well.
Do you think the CPU will help me with the games I play? It's not particularly strong in single-thread, is it? I know it's state of the art for gaming but for what kind of games?

The 7900X3D is one of the top gaming CPUs available regardless of the game.

I'm not a fan of the PSU you choose. I'd don't know much about the case either.
PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 7900X3D 4.4 GHz 12-Core Processor (€388.86 @ Galaxus)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-U14S 82.52 CFM CPU Cooler (€89.90 @ Alza)
Motherboard: ASRock B650E PG RIPTIDE WIFI ATX AM5 Motherboard (€174.63 @ Computersalg)
Memory: Patriot Venom 64 GB (2 x 32 GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 Memory (€197.90 @ Alza)
Storage: Western Digital Black SN770 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive (€67.98 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Storage: Western Digital Black SN770 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive (€120.99 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Video Card: Sapphire PULSE Radeon RX 7900 GRE 16 GB Video Card (€559.04 @ notebooksbilliger.de)
Case: Fractal Design Define 7 ATX Mid Tower Case (€159.90 @ Galaxus)
Power Supply: SeaSonic FOCUS GX-850 ATX 3.0 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply (€134.60 @ Galaxus)
Case Fan: Fractal Design Dynamic X2 GP-14 68.4 CFM 140 mm Fan (€15.73 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Total: €1909.53
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2024-07-15 02:43 CEST+0200

In this build the SSDs are very good price/performance. The PSU is very high quality and the case has reviews of being very quiet.

 

[35below0]

CL40 RAM is going to suffer in gaming. Gaming is better with lower latency RAM.

Here is the revised build for DE prices:

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i5-13600K 3.5 GHz 14-Core Processor (€256.07 @ Amazon Deutschland)
CPU Cooler: Scythe Fuma 3 67.62 CFM CPU Cooler (€54.51 @ Galaxus)
Motherboard: ASRock Z790 PG LIGHTNING ATX LGA1700 Motherboard (€176.99 @ Galaxus)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws S5 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 Memory (€109.93 @ Galaxus)
Storage: TEAMGROUP MP44L 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive (€70.30 @ Galaxus)
Storage: TEAMGROUP MP44L 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive (€121.53 @ Galaxus)
Video Card: ASRock Steel Legend OC Radeon RX 7900 GRE 16 GB Video Card (€567.10 @ notebooksbilliger.de)
Case: Fractal Design North ATX Mid Tower Case (€138.90 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Power Supply: SeaSonic FOCUS GX-850 ATX 3.0 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply (€134.60 @ Galaxus)
Total: €1629.93
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2024-07-15 11:47 CEST+0200

Don't buy a cheap PSU. You wouldn't buy a cheap anything else, why risk a bad PSU?
PSUs are hella expenisve in Europe. Accept it and buy a reliable one.

 

[Lucky_SLS]

Intel Quick Sync is the better option compared to Ryzen for Adobe programs and Davinci resolve. The performance gap is about 30% in Adobe and 15% in Davinci resolve.

But things might change with Ryzen 9000 series. Both 7000 and 9000 series comes with iGPU and AMD/editing softwares may optimise the performance to compete with Quick Sync.

The advantage of going with AMD is the long term CPU support - upto 2027 CPU model lineup. the X870 mobo brings in USB 4.0 support - if you are interested.

This is out of your budget but includes everything that you requested.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i7-14700K 3.4 GHz 20-Core Processor (€394.73 @ Amazon Deutschland)
CPU Cooler: ARCTIC Liquid Freezer III 56.3 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler (€80.20 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Motherboard: Gigabyte Z790 AORUS ELITE AX ATX LGA1700 Motherboard (€221.19 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Memory: Kingston FURY Beast 64 GB (2 x 32 GB) DDR5-5600 CL36 Memory (€183.65 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Storage: Western Digital Black SN850X 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive (€154.99 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Storage: Lexar NM790 4 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive (€264.89 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Video Card: XFX RX-79GMERCB9 Radeon RX 7900 GRE 16 GB Video Card (€589.00 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Case: Cooler Master MasterBox 520 Mesh ATX Mid Tower Case (€83.37 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Power Supply: Asus Prime AP-850G 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply (€100.23 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Total: €2072.25
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2024-07-15 11:48 CEST+0200

Tried to reduce the cost with 2tb drives, DDR4 and i5:

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i5-13600K 3.5 GHz 14-Core Processor (€256.07 @ Amazon Deutschland)
CPU Cooler: ARCTIC Liquid Freezer III 56.3 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler (€80.20 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Motherboard: Gigabyte Z790 AORUS ELITE DDR4 ATX LGA1700 Motherboard (€178.73 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Memory: Kingston FURY Beast 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory (€63.74 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Storage: Western Digital Black SN850X 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive (€154.99 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Storage: Lexar NM790 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive (€132.90 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Video Card: XFX RX-79GMERCB9 Radeon RX 7900 GRE 16 GB Video Card (€589.00 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Case: Cooler Master MasterBox 520 Mesh ATX Mid Tower Case (€83.37 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Power Supply: Asus Prime AP-850G 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply (€100.23 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Total: €1639.23
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2024-07-15 11:50 CEST+0200

Ryzen based system, I would suggest having a look at the 9700X when it launches:

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 7700X 4.5 GHz 8-Core Processor (€279.32 @ Amazon Deutschland)
CPU Cooler: Thermalright Phantom Spirit 120 SE 66.17 CFM CPU Cooler (€39.90 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Motherboard: MSI MAG B650 TOMAHAWK WIFI ATX AM5 Motherboard (€189.00 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Memory: G.Skill Flare X5 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6000 CL32 Memory (€116.17 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Storage: Western Digital Black SN850X 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive (€154.99 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Storage: Lexar NM790 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive (€132.90 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Video Card: XFX RX-79GMERCB9 Radeon RX 7900 GRE 16 GB Video Card (€589.00 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Case: Cooler Master MasterBox 520 Mesh ATX Mid Tower Case (€83.37 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Power Supply: Asus Prime AP-850G 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply (€100.23 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Total: €1684.88
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2024-07-15 11:53 CEST+0200

DDR5 vs DDR4: Is It Time To Upgrade Your RAM?

Welcome to the new era of DDR5 RAM

www.tomshardware.com

 

[artk2219]

AMD Ryzen 9 7900X3D 4.4 GHz 12-Core Processor
385,84

Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE 66.17 CFM CPU Cooler
34,99

ASRock B650E PG RIPTIDE WIFI ATX AM5 Motherboard
213,86

Corsair Vengeance 64 GB (2 x 32 GB) DDR5-6000 CL40 Memory
(235,21)
alt: 32GB Patriot VIPER VENOM DDR5-6200 DIMM CL40 Dual Kit
89,00 * 2 = 178,00

1TB Lexar NM790 M.2 2280 PCIe 4.0 x4 3D-NAND TLC (LNM790X001T-RNNNG)
68,00

2TB Kingston NV2 NVMe M.2 2280 PCIe 4.0 x4 3D NAND (SNV2S/2000G)
99,00

16GB PowerColor Radeon RX 7900 GRE Fighter OC Aktiv PCIe 4.0 x16 (Retail)
559,00

(Don't trust your case to be dampened at all.)
be quiet! Silent Base 601 Midi Tower
119,89

850 Watt Xilence Gaming Gold XP850R12 80+ Gold
77,91

1,736.49€
Just fine in terms of budget, 1500 was a ballpark figure.

I exchanged a few parts due to special offers I found. Do they make sense? Might watch out for graphics board discounts as well.
Do you think the CPU will help me with the games I play? It's not particularly strong in single-thread, is it? I know it's state of the art for gaming but for what kind of games?

The 7900X3D is still a very good single thread performer. Since you're right on the eve of the Ryzen 9000 launch though, you could wait until the release at the end of the month to make your decision. Or get something with a 30day return window, and swap it out if you decide to switch CPUs before the close of the return period.

https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-com...oint-cpu-rdna-35-gpu-and-xdna-2-architectures

 

[true_messiyah]

Thanks for all your suggestions!
Although the range of CPUs suggested was very confusing it still helped me to dive into the topic with a bit of direction.
Here's my current state of mind.

The 7900X3D does not convince me. Its mediocre single-thread performance does not justify the price for my special requirements with single-thread bottlenecks in complex simulation games.
I do like many things about AMD though so I am tempted to buy a decent, future-proof, B650 mainboard, able to support Ryzen 9000, be it 9800X or an X3D variant, and equip it with a temporary solution. Ryzen 5 7500F seems the obvious choice here as it's very affordable while absolutely usable (single-thread just 10% below 7900X3D if I can trust benchmarks). Coming from a 4-core unit I will happily accept concessions in multi-thread performance until I invest into the real thing.
In the meantime I will choose all other components as if the final CPU was already there.

Does this make any sense?

 

[jeremyj_83]

Thanks for all your suggestions!
Although the range of CPUs suggested was very confusing it still helped me to dive into the topic with a bit of direction.
Here's my current state of mind.

The 7900X3D does not convince me. Its mediocre single-thread performance does not justify the price for my special requirements with single-thread bottlenecks in complex simulation games.
I do like many things about AMD though so I am tempted to buy a decent, future-proof, B650 mainboard, able to support Ryzen 9000, be it 9800X or an X3D variant, and equip it with a temporary solution. Ryzen 5 7500F seems the obvious choice here as it's very affordable while absolutely usable (single-thread just 10% below 7900X3D if I can trust benchmarks). Coming from a 4-core unit I will happily accept concessions in multi-thread performance until I invest into the real thing.
In the meantime I will choose all other components as if the final CPU was already there.

Does this make any sense?

The 9000 series will be released at the end of the month so if you can wait 2 weeks you might not need the temp CPU. The 7900X3D is very good in simulation games. The fastest CPUs in MS Flight Simulator are all X3D CPUs. The extra cache makes them VERY fast in simulation games.

 

[logainofhades]

The 7900x3d and 7950x3d are inferior to 7800x3d, with regards to consistent gaming performance.

 

[true_messiyah]

The 9000 series will be released at the end of the month so if you can wait 2 weeks you might not need the temp CPU. The 7900X3D is very good in simulation games. The fastest CPUs in MS Flight Simulator are all X3D CPUs. The extra cache makes them VERY fast in simulation games.

As I said my upgrade considerations include both 9000 serious with its greatly enhanced single-thread performance and the X3D variants which I don't expect before October (maybe even later for some models). Too long time without a PC.
I would most likely upgrade to a 9x00X3D at some point next year when prices have stabilized.

 

[Lucky_SLS]

The 7900x3d and 7950x3d are inferior to 7800x3d, with regards to consistent gaming performance.

I think the latest AMD thread scheduler fixed that in Windows 10 and 11. It was a problem at launch, but they ironed it out.

 

[true_messiyah]

I'm reaching the end.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 7600 3.8 GHz 6-Core Processor (€178.91 @ Caseking)
Motherboard: ASRock B650 Steel Legend WiFi ATX AM5 Motherboard (€193.89 @ Alternate)
Memory: Patriot Viper Venom 64 GB (2 x 32 GB) DDR5-6400 CL32 Memory (€228.90 @ Alza)
Storage: Samsung 980 Pro 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive (€166.90 @ Galaxus)
Case: be quiet! Silent Base 802 ATX Mid Tower Case (€127.99 @ Mindfactory)
Power Supply: Corsair RM850x (2021) 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply (€114.90 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Total: €1011.49
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2024-07-17 14:56 CEST+0200

 

[jeremyj_83]

I'm reaching the end.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 7600 3.8 GHz 6-Core Processor (€178.91 @ Caseking)
Motherboard: ASRock B650 Steel Legend WiFi ATX AM5 Motherboard (€193.89 @ Alternate)
Memory: Patriot Viper Venom 64 GB (2 x 32 GB) DDR5-6400 CL32 Memory (€228.90 @ Alza)
Storage: Samsung 980 Pro 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive (€166.90 @ Galaxus)
Case: be quiet! Silent Base 802 ATX Mid Tower Case (€127.99 @ Mindfactory)
Power Supply: Corsair RM850x (2021) 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply (€114.90 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Total: €1011.49
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2024-07-17 14:56 CEST+0200

You can go with the RMx Shift and get the newest version of that PSU for about the same money.

If you act now you can get the 2TB SK Hynix P41 Platinum from Amazon on their Prime Day Deal for 30 Euros less than the 980 Pro. That SSD offers performance close to the 990 Pro. I personally bought that SSD yesterday for my new system.

 

[true_messiyah]

I'm reaching the end.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 7600 3.8 GHz 6-Core Processor (€178.91 @ Caseking)
(€169.00 @ Mindfactory, Box)
Will be upgraded to 9xx0X(3D) next year.
Cooler yet to be decided. Suggestions?

Motherboard: ASRock B650 Steel Legend WiFi ATX AM5 Motherboard (€193.89 @ Alternate)
(€186.89 @ Mindfactory)

Memory: Patriot Viper Venom 64 GB (2 x 32 GB) DDR5-6400 CL32 Memory (€228.90 @ Alza)
(€199.00 @ Mindfactory)

Storage: Samsung 980 Pro 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive (€166.90 @ Galaxus)
(€124.35 @ Amazon)

Case: be quiet! Silent Base 802 ATX Mid Tower Case (€127.99 @ Mindfactory)
(€119.00 @ Mindfactory)
Didn't like any of the suggestions except for the Fractal that costs 50 bucks more. Don't think I need it.

Power Supply: Corsair RM850x (2021) 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply (€114.90 @ Amazon Deutschland)

Total: €1011.49
My Total: €913.14
PCPartPicker seems to have a hard time finding special offers, and prices are not updated too often. For Germany at least.

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2024-07-17 14:56 CEST+0200

What's missing is the GPU. Just looking for a good deal to save another couple of bucks.
Will most likely be 7900 GRE or 7800X.

Extra storage will come as required. For some odd reason my non-E board is said to support PCI-5 which would broadens the options.

 

[true_messiyah]

You can go with the RMx Shift and get the newest version of that PSU for about the same money.

If you act now you can get the 2TB SK Hynix P41 Platinum from Amazon on their Prime Day Deal for 30 Euros less than the 980 Pro. That SSD offers performance close to the 990 Pro. I personally bought that SSD yesterday for my new system.

The Hynix is actually 13€ above the 980 Pro here. 😉

 

[true_messiyah]

You can go with the RMx Shift and get the newest version of that PSU for about the same money.

Costs 12 bucks more. I thought I was on the safe side with tom's recommendation.

 

[jeremyj_83]

I'm reaching the end.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 7600 3.8 GHz 6-Core Processor (€178.91 @ Caseking)
(€169.00 @ Mindfactory, Box)
Will be upgraded to 9xx0X(3D) next year.
Cooler yet to be decided. Suggestions?

The link says it is the boxed CPU so it will come with a CPU cooler good enough for its use right now. When you get the new CPU, that is when I would look at getting a new cooler. However, if you want to get it right away this is one of the best coolers you can get right now.

The Hynix is actually 13€ above the 980 Pro here. 😉

That's a shame. On pcpartpicker it has shown the cost to be 138 Euros when I looked. However, that can change at any time so save the money and use the 980 Pro.

Costs 12 bucks more. I thought I was on the safe side with tom's recommendation.

The RMx is an excellent PSU. The RMx Shift is the 2023 version that is ATX 3.0 compliant. This article goes over in less technical details the changes for ATX 3.0. In my opinion I don't see the reason to buy a non ATX 3.0 PSU in 2024 (assuming it fits in your budget or case).

What's missing is the GPU. Just looking for a good deal to save another couple of bucks.
Will most likely be 7900 GRE or 7800X.

The 7900GRE is about 10% faster than the 7800XT. The 7800XT starts around 500 Euros so the 7900GRE is the same in terms of price/performance. Here are two options. I have an ASRock Challenger OC 6700XT and even running at 100% it is quiet.

PCPartPicker Part List

Video Card: ASRock Challenger OC Radeon RX 7800 XT 16 GB Video Card (€526.30 @ notebooksbilliger.de)
Video Card: Sapphire PULSE Radeon RX 7900 GRE 16 GB Video Card (€557.88 @ notebooksbilliger.de)
Total: €1084.18
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2024-07-17 16:19 CEST+0200

 

[Lucky_SLS]

I see that you want a white themed build:

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 7600 3.8 GHz 6-Core Processor (€182.51 @ notebooksbilliger.de)
CPU Cooler: Deepcool AK620 DIGITAL WH 68.99 CFM CPU Cooler (€79.90 @ Alza)
Motherboard: Gigabyte B650 AORUS ELITE AX ICE ATX AM5 Motherboard (€206.98 @ notebooksbilliger.de)
Memory: Kingston FURY Beast 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 Memory (€112.90 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Storage: SK Hynix Platinum P41 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive (€137.99 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Video Card: ASRock Steel Legend OC Radeon RX 7900 GRE 16 GB Video Card (€567.03 @ Galaxus)
Case: Corsair 4000D Airflow ATX Mid Tower Case (€74.90 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Power Supply: Thermaltake Toughpower GF A3 Snow 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply (€121.89 @ Alternate)
Total: €1484.10
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2024-07-17 16:26 CEST+0200

 

[true_messiyah]

I see that you want a white themed build:

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 7600 3.8 GHz 6-Core Processor (€182.51 @ notebooksbilliger.de)
CPU Cooler: Deepcool AK620 DIGITAL WH 68.99 CFM CPU Cooler (€79.90 @ Alza)
Motherboard: Gigabyte B650 AORUS ELITE AX ICE ATX AM5 Motherboard (€206.98 @ notebooksbilliger.de)
Memory: Kingston FURY Beast 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 Memory (€112.90 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Storage: SK Hynix Platinum P41 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive (€137.99 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Video Card: ASRock Steel Legend OC Radeon RX 7900 GRE 16 GB Video Card (€567.03 @ Galaxus)
Case: Corsair 4000D Airflow ATX Mid Tower Case (€74.90 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Power Supply: Thermaltake Toughpower GF A3 Snow 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply (€121.89 @ Alternate)
Total: €1484.10
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2024-07-17 16:26 CEST+0200

You see more than I know.
The case I picked is complete with all the large, high-quality fans I need and dampened, thus silent. Black was 40 bucks more, and I couldn't care less about aesthetics. Therefore, glass no, dampening foam, oh yes. Same with the board, it has all the features I need, even PCI-5, which your, more expensive, suggestions doesn't.

If you took a look at the prices I found you would probably agree that most of your other suggestions are higher price for no benefit.

 

[true_messiyah]

The link says it is the boxed CPU so it will come with a CPU cooler good enough for its use right now.

That was the idea with getting 7600 instead of 7500F for only 13€ more. Plus it's always nice to have onboard gfx as a fallback.

When you get the new CPU, that is when I would look at getting a new cooler. However, if you want to get it right away this is one of the best coolers you can get right now.

Do I really need a cooler this fancy? Let's wait for thorough info about thermal loads of next-gen CPUs...

That's a shame. On pcpartpicker it has shown the cost to be 138 Euros when I looked. However, that can change at any time so save the money and use the 980 Pro.

Yeah, 138 for your one, 124 for 980 Pro.
The only part I already bought btw.

The RMx is an excellent PSU. The RMx Shift is the 2023 version that is ATX 3.0 compliant. This article goes over in less technical details the changes for ATX 3.0. In my opinion I don't see the reason to buy a non ATX 3.0 PSU in 2024 (assuming it fits in your budget or case).

Ok, thanks for the insight! One more topic I need to dive into before before midnight. 😄

The 7900GRE is about 10% faster than the 7800XT. The 7800XT starts around 500 Euros so the 7900GRE is the same in terms of price/performance. Here are two options. I have an ASRock Challenger OC 6700XT and even running at 100% it is quiet.

According to the benchmarks I've seen it's more around 7% performance difference.
The reason why I'm not buying now is that I've seen better deals before. 490 for a 7800XT and 524 for an ASrock 7900GRE. I don't think I'll have to wait too long for something similar. Special offers come up every few days.

PCPartPicker Part List

Video Card: ASRock Challenger OC Radeon RX 7800 XT 16 GB Video Card (€526.30 @ notebooksbilliger.de)
Video Card: Sapphire PULSE Radeon RX 7900 GRE 16 GB Video Card (€557.88 @ notebooksbilliger.de)
Total: €1084.18
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2024-07-17 16:19 CEST+0200

Yep, any of these minus 30€, and I'm in. 🙂

Thanks for all your effort, Jeremy! Helped me a lot.

 

[logainofhades]

Do you really need 64gb ram? 6 core CPU, in 2024, just seems wrong as games are becoming more CPU heavy.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 7700X 4.5 GHz 8-Core Processor (€279.52 @ Amazon Deutschland)
CPU Cooler: Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE ARGB 66.17 CFM CPU Cooler (€36.49 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Motherboard: ASRock B650 Steel Legend WiFi ATX AM5 Motherboard (€224.16 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Memory: Kingston FURY Beast 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 Memory (€112.90 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Storage: SK Hynix Platinum P41 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive (€137.99 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Case: Fractal Design Pop Air ATX Mid Tower Case (€69.90 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Power Supply: Thermaltake Toughpower GF3 TT Premium 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply (€109.90 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Total: €970.86
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2024-07-17 18:43 CEST+0200