Build Advice New PC Build insights ?

ccfonzie

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Jan 21, 2018
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Time is to build a new system. Need some expert advice. I’m an Intel guy, so let me divulge. Want some common logical insight. I’m coming from a i7 7700k (2017). I’m running it over clocked 24/7 at 4.5ghz and is a wonderful but I feel it's a dated system.

Should I go with a i7-14700K? Or go with an i5-14600K? About $80 differential. Or a 3rd option which is really economically cheaper with a i7-12700K bundle. Saving a boat load with a pre package board and ram. https://www.microcenter.com/product...s-v-16gb-ddr4-3200-kit,-computer-build-bundle

I’m on the fence, and want some expert advice and input. Even though Intel’s new processors isn’t much that much a leap from it’s predecessors. Should I consider Adler Lake instead of Raptor Lake? I’m half convinced just to grab the cheap bundle and save 12700k bundle. But I don’t think there’s much for future proofing at this point.

My pc needs are 90% software based, lightroom, photoshop, video processing etc. And minor gamming. I want something snappy and quick to load. Was real happy with the 7700k but it’s time to upgrade. I’ll probably pair it with an rtx 4060 midrange gpu. Any thought sand insight would be appreciated.
 
12700K is great for content creation, probably only caveat with your quoted bundle is the DDR4 RAM. But for media production IMO it's quantity, and not speed, of RAM that matters. Newer DDR5 motherboards are preparing for maximum 256GB DDR5 RAM, so it's something to consider if that's important to you.

Extra P-cores over the 14600K might give it the edge in video work too, depending on software. There is an article somewhere though that showed little benefit above 6 cores for Photoshop... so it's a bit of a wash depending on your priorities.
 
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How soon must you buy?? At the absolute latest.

Microcenter is a good location for bundles and I'd suspect they will offer 13000 or 14000 series processors in a bundle from time to time. I have not been watching closely.

12700k and 13600k should be quite close in performance.

I'd go with 12000 stuff ONLY if forced by budget. Your call on that.
 
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How soon must you buy?? At the absolute latest.

Microcenter is a good location for bundles and I'd suspect they will offer 13000 or 14000 series processors in a bundle from time to time. I have not been watching closely.

12700k and 13600k should be quite close in performance.

I'd go with 12000 stuff ONLY if forced by budget. Your call on that.
This month, just ordered my case and fans cooling etc...I 'm normally a go big, or go home guy. But I'm not impressed with with the next generation chips. That's why I was just saying should I just go with Adler lake at this point?
 
This month, just ordered my case and fans cooling etc...I 'm normally a go big, or go home guy. But I'm not impressed with with the next generation chips. That's why I was just saying go with Adler lake at this point?

I'm in a similar situation as you...I'm on a 6600k and been putting off upgrading for 2 years.

Not sure at what level you would be impressed. Generational improvements on Intel are usually minimal. The 14000 series is maybe lower than average over the 13000 series...3 or 4 percent?

Next gen 15000 series is supposedly out this fall. Lots of rumors that it will be above average improvement. Who knows. Maybe you'd say no to that because of budget?? Don't know if you can wait.

Entirely personal decision regarding how much you are willing to pay. Or who long you are willing to wait.

It appears you are like me.....wait a long time between CPU updates, so I understand "go big or go home". That has pushed me to 13600K as a minimum. Maybe you can get a 12700K setup for significantly less than 13600K and that's enough to attract you.

I am a little wary of an i7 with my cooler. That may not apply to you.

Regardless, anything quite recent will thump your 7700K, so I would not get paralyzed by analysis. Better you spend your time praying for good luck on any new hardware, rather than DOA or customer service/RMA hell.
 
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I'm in a similar situation as you...I'm on a 6600k and been putting off upgrading for 2 years.

Not sure at what level you would be impressed. Generational improvements on Intel are usually minimal. The 14000 series is maybe lower than average over the 13000 series...3 or 4 percent?

Next gen 15000 series is supposedly out this fall. Lots of rumors that it will be above average improvement. Who knows. Maybe you'd say no to that because of budget?? Don't know if you can wait.

Entirely personal decision regarding how much you are willing to pay. Or who long you are willing to wait.

It appears you are like me.....wait a long time between CPU updates, so I understand "go big or go home". That has pushed me to 13600K as a minimum. Maybe you can get a 12700K setup for significantly less than 13600K and that's enough to attract you.

I am a little wary of an i7 with my cooler. That may not apply to you.

Regardless, anything quite recent will thump your 7700K, so I would not get paralyzed by analysis. Better you spend your time praying for good luck on any new hardware, rather than DOA or customer service/RMA hell.
Exactly I totally agree. If I went with a 13600k I'd just get the 14600k for $10 difference. That's why I'm like should I just grab an 12700k Adler Lake bundle and put cash into extra ram and a ti card? And go cheap. That's why I'm asking you guys, your the experts. The market kind of sucks. I would just grab an AMD 4.5ghz and never look back. But load times are notorious. And I sort of don't trust Intel for something coming down the pike in the fall.
 
Just gave it a bit more thought, and I think that the RAM in the bundle takes away some of its value. I suspect you'll need more than 16GB, so you're going to buy additional modules anyway.

I probably reference this benchmark a bit too much, but it's only showing 11% uplift from 12th gen to 13th gen for Adobe. So yeah it's hard to make a convincing argument either/or regarding CPU for your stated uses. Agree with the other comment, I'd consider other factors besides raw performance.
 
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Just gave it a bit more thought, and I think that the RAM in the bundle takes away some of its value. I suspect you'll need more than 16GB, so you're going to buy additional modules anyway.

I probably reference this benchmark a bit too much, but it's only showing 11% uplift from 12th gen to 13th gen for Adobe. So yeah it's hard to make a convincing argument either/or regarding CPU for your stated uses. Agree with the other comment, I'd consider other factors besides raw performance.
I'm goin minimum 32gig to 64 gig max. But DDR 4 regardless of the cpu.
 
I'm goin minimum 32gig to 64 gig max. But DDR 4 regardless of the cpu.

What's your strongest reason for DDR 4?

Because it's part of a specific bundle you have your eyes on?

Or?

Expense?

Suppose you buy parts package A.

What would cause you to regret it, assuming no DOA and reasonable life expectancy on those parts?

How do you experience buyer's remorse AFTER a purchase?

"I'm a fool, I paid too much. I coulda got nearly the same performance for a lot less money. I'm a spendthrift"

or

"I'm a fool, I coulda got more performance for only a few more bucks!! Once again, I'm penny wise and pound foolish."

I'd expect that 5 years from today, it won't much matter in your memory whether you paid X or X plus 100 (go big or go home).

But if you are an over-analyzer like me, you'll probably continue to second-guess yourself.
 
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What's your strongest reason for DDR 4?

Because it's part of a specific bundle you have your eyes on?

Or?

Expense?
No none of the 1700 socket boards support ddr5 that I'm looking at. Even the pro gamming boards, it's all DDR 4. If I was going with AMD 9? There all DDR 5
 
If you're looking at such low cost boards that you can't get DDR5 then don't get any CPU with a stock TDP over 200W. The vast majority of LGA 1700 boards use DDR5 and the current crop of DDR4 boards aren't very good (including the one in that bundle).

If you're looking to get similar lifetime out of a new system as your existing 12700K or 13600K/14600K should do the trick. On the AMD side of things anything 7700(X) or higher should be a good choice and there's future upgrade possibilities.
 
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Here is my suggested build ($1675):

DDR5 except in some gaming circumstances is superior to DDR4. This kit is 64Gb, and it's not meant for gaming. It will do, but lower latency and higher frequency would be needed for heavy duty gaming.

The motherboard is not cheap, but that's not a bad thing. If there is something it lacks or if it's overkill, let me know please.

For storage i chose a 1Tb OS drive and a 4Tb secondary NVMe. Not sure if this is ideal or not, but let's roll with it for now.
I suggest installing the OS drive into the 4.0 CPU slot (to keep the PCIe 16x slot free; it drops to 8x if an NVMe is installed in the 5.0 CPU slot). Very little to gain running a NVMe in a 5.0 slot anyway. Some would say nothing at all. The Samsung 980 Pro is a 4.0 drive anyway.

Power supply is far more than the system needs, but as it's a long term build and it may accomodate more than a puny GPU in it someday, and it's reliable, and it's efficient... It's worth the money, but it is more than is needed.

GPU is just expensive and decent enough to not be a nuisance or gutless. It will not do well with demanding games but it's capable for a sub $300 GPU.
If it proves to be too weak, or once it is outdated there will be better GPUs to upgrade to.

The case is just a case. Nothing notable except it's pretty decent for the low price.
If aesthetics are a concern, it would be better if you chose the case yourself. Just check the fine print to see if there is enough space to fit everything. Plus you can always ask here for advice.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i5-13600K 3.5 GHz 14-Core Processor ($272.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Scythe Fuma 3 67.62 CFM CPU Cooler ($49.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Gigabyte Z790 AERO G ATX LGA1700 Motherboard ($269.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Crucial CT2K32G48C40U5 64 GB (2 x 32 GB) DDR5-4800 CL40 Memory ($170.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 980 Pro 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive ($98.31 @ Amazon)
Storage: Crucial P3 Plus 4 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive ($237.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Zotac GAMING Twin Edge OC GeForce RTX 4060 8 GB Video Card ($289.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Phanteks XT PRO ATX Mid Tower Case ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Silverstone HELA 850R 850 W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($224.20 @ Amazon)
Total: $1664.44
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2024-04-08 03:39 EDT-0400
 
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Here is my suggested build ($1675):

DDR5 except in some gaming circumstances is superior to DDR4. This kit is 64Gb, and it's not meant for gaming. It will do, but lower latency and higher frequency would be needed for heavy duty gaming.

The motherboard is not cheap, but that's not a bad thing. If there is something it lacks or if it's overkill, let me know please.

For storage i chose a 1Tb OS drive and a 4Tb secondary NVMe. Not sure if this is ideal or not, but let's roll with it for now.
I suggest installing the OS drive into the 4.0 CPU slot (to keep the PCIe 16x slot free; it drops to 8x if an NVMe is installed in the 5.0 CPU slot). Very little to gain running a NVMe in a 5.0 slot anyway. Some would say nothing at all. The Samsung 980 Pro is a 4.0 drive anyway.

Power supply is far more than the system needs, but as it's a long term build and it may accomodate more than a puny GPU in it someday, and it's reliable, and it's efficient... It's worth the money, but it is more than is needed.

GPU is just expensive and decent enough to not be a nuisance or gutless. It will not do well with demanding games but it's capable for a sub $300 GPU.
If it proves to be too weak, or once it is outdated there will be better GPUs to upgrade to.

The case is just a case. Nothing notable except it's pretty decent for the low price.
If aesthetics are a concern, it would be better if you chose the case yourself. Just check the fine print to see if there is enough space to fit everything. Plus you can always ask here for advice.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i5-13600K 3.5 GHz 14-Core Processor ($272.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Scythe Fuma 3 67.62 CFM CPU Cooler ($49.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Gigabyte Z790 AERO G ATX LGA1700 Motherboard ($269.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Crucial CT2K32G48C40U5 64 GB (2 x 32 GB) DDR5-4800 CL40 Memory ($170.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 980 Pro 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive ($98.31 @ Amazon)
Storage: Crucial P3 Plus 4 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive ($237.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Zotac GAMING Twin Edge OC GeForce RTX 4060 8 GB Video Card ($289.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Phanteks XT PRO ATX Mid Tower Case ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Silverstone HELA 850R 850 W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($224.20 @ Amazon)
Total: $1664.44
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2024-04-08 03:39 EDT-0400
Your saying if I use the M.2 - 5.0 slot for storage it degrades the 16x pci express slot? I was planning on just using a 2tb drive. Am I missing something? I was gonna just keep everything on 1 drive. Thanks for the help, I appreciate it.
 
I can say that I grabbed a $200 12700kf when it was available at Black Friday. I also stuck with DDR4 knowing that I can re-use this entire CPU/Motherboard/RAM later on.

If you plan to keep it a while, makes little sense to not get DDR5.

Yes, most Z790 boards are configured with a PCIe 5.0 M.2 slot that shares bandwidth with the main x16 slot for graphics. More expensive boards have a BIOS setting that will let you run that first M.2 slot at PCIe 4.0 through the chipset and keep all 16x lanes to the GPU.

Just have to pay attention when selecting a board.
 
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Your saying if I use the M.2 - 5.0 slot for storage it degrades the 16x pci express slot? I was planning on just using a 2tb drive. Am I missing something? I was gonna just keep everything on 1 drive. Thanks for the help, I appreciate it.
Except the very tippy toppy most expensive motherboards, the M.2 slot and the PCIe 16x slot share lanes to the CPU. If the M.2 slot is used, the PCIe gets downgraded to 8x. This is not as big of a deal as it may seem, esp. since gaming isn't a major concern for you. But it's something you should be aware of.

The Aero G motherboard doesn't sidestep the "shared CPU lanes" issue, but it does add a secondary M.2 slot on the CPU side. Most motherboards only have 1 M.2 linked to the CPU, with the others "on the chipset side".
That secondary M.2 slot on the Aero G can be used without degrading the PCIe x16 slot to x8.

If all of this is too complicated, just flat out ignore it and stick drives wherever you want because you will neither notice the difference in read/write speed, nor gaming performance.
I was offering a more detailed explanation of how the NVMe slots work on most motherboards today (one fast slot that shares lanes with the GPU slot + other, slower slots).

Too add to this, there are very few 5.0 drives and none of them are so much better to justify their price. You could go with a 3.0 drive and not notice the difference. They are all so fast, the differences are miniscule.
 
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So Just use any of the 4 (4.0) other M.2 slots than? I had asked this question previously. Whats the pros and cons to keeping JUST the OS on a smaller 512GB nmve and a 2nd one 1 or 2tb for storage. So having 2. I was under the impression it's not all that beneficial.
 
Aside from having separate drives, not much benefit. With a limited number of M.2 slots putting in a small drive means you would have to displace it later on.

A lot of people still do it. Makes backup of the secondary drive a little easier since it is just bulk file storage and nothing to do with the OS.
 
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Aside from having separate drives, not much benefit. With a limited number of M.2 slots putting in a small drive means you would have to displace it later on.

A lot of people still do it. Makes backup of the secondary drive a little easier since it is just bulk file storage and nothing to do with the OS.
Yeah that's what I was under the impression of.

I think you "all you guys" talked me into a ddr5 board. 😀 Looks like I probably will go big at this point with a 14700k chip.
.
 
Regardless, anything quite recent will thump your 7700K, so I would not get paralyzed by analysis. Better you spend your time praying for good luck on any new hardware, rather than DOA or customer service/RMA hell.
Exactly! My last build ordered from Newegg. Board DOA, made me RMA back to the manufacture. I'll never buy a board or cpu from Newegg again. Seen all these horrible RMA issues on youtube. I thought I was the only one. I'll buy the board and cpu from microcenter so I can swap it out same day if that issue arises again.