Question New PC Build - Need Advice

[SequelDev]

I'm building a new PC and would like some advice.

I'm buying most of the components now, but will buy a graphics card, maybe more RAM, and liquid cooling around Christmas.

The use case of this pc is 75% productivity (video editing, database work, AI), 25% gaming. I have a 1080p monitor, so I'll be doing gaming in 1080p. I'll begin gaming after I buy the graphics card for Christmas.

Currently, I have a 4800U, 32GB RAM, 512GB NVMe. I want something more powerful. I'd like to stay under $700 if possible, but I can do $800 if there's a big performance gain to justify it.

I'm having trouble deciding between last gen and current gen. I'm not opposed to AMD or Intel, I just don't know what hardware will get me the best bang for the buck.

I'll link a build I put together. It's over my budget, but it may give a general idea what I was looking for: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/8KbB34

Please let me know your thoughts and opinions!

 

[Aeacus]

Without knowing which GPU you plan to go for, hard to say what PSU wattage you should be getting.

But only thing i'd change is the PSU. Corsair RMe is mediocre quality PSU. Instead, going with Seasonic Focus GX-750 ATX 3.0 is both 10 bucks cheaper, and PSU itself is good quality, with 10 years of warranty. On top of that, PSU is ATX 3.0 compatible.
Pcpp: https://pcpartpicker.com/product/2g...ly-modular-atx-power-supply-atx3-focus-gx-750

 

[Lafong]

If you go Intel..........I'd certainly go with current gen 14000 series rather than 13000.

Reasons not to do that:

Expense? About 40 dollars I think.

BIOS on your motherboard possibly not compatible?

Otherwise..why not?

There's a few percentage points more performance available for most use cases, so why not take it? Maybe you have an excellent reason.

 

[35below0]

Buy your RAM as a single kit. Don't add more later, buy it all now. Or later but buy it together in one kit.

The GPU is just a placeholder. It's roughly the price you should be aiming at.

Case is up to you. Just look for one that has enough room for GPU, tower cooler and all front panel ports (a lot of them don't have USB-C)

Liquid cooling is your decision, but ultimately unless you spend extreme money on a PC, an air cooler will be more than enough. It will also not need replacing after ~5 years.

Don't go above 13600K in your plans. Unless you want to double your budget. It's just my opinion but something like a 14700K (great CPU) should be paired with a more expensive GPU.
Just as well this motherboard is well equipped to handle a 14700K or even a 14900KS.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i5-12600K 3.7 GHz 10-Core Processor ($178.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: ARCTIC Freezer 36 CPU Cooler ($39.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock Z690 Extreme ATX LGA1700 Motherboard ($129.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3600 CL16 Memory ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: TEAMGROUP MP44L 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive ($64.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Sapphire PULSE Radeon RX 7700 XT 12 GB Video Card ($399.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Montech AIR 903 MAX ATX Mid Tower Case ($69.00 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: SeaSonic FOCUS GX-750 ATX 3.0 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1052.93
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2024-05-16 18:31 EDT-0400

 

[35below0]

If you go Intel..........I'd certainly go with current gen 14000 series rather than 13000.

Depends on the CPU.

13700K is pretty crap. The 14th gen is a great improvement. 13600K vs 14600K? Minor difference. 13900K vs 14900K ditto.

12th gen is farther behind, but much cheaper and frankly still very solid. Esp. on a $1000 budget.

 

[geofelt]

Your proposed list is reasonable.
The 4800U is a 16 thread processor with a passmark rating of 16721.
The single thread rating is 2577.
https://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?id=3721&cpu=AMD+Ryzen+7+4800U
The total rating is when all 16 threads are fully busy. Probably what you want to look at for editing work.
The single thread rating is important for desktop quickness and gaming.

The i7-13700K has 24 threads and a rating of 46542 and a single thread rating of 4365:
https://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Core+i7-13700K&id=5060

A very nice bump in performance.

You will find that the price/performance of similarly priced processors is comparable between Intel and AMD

Do not plan on adding ram later; it may not be compatible.
Ram must be matched for operating at specs.
Ryzen is more sensitive to ram compatibility than Intel.
If you can, buy all your future capacity up front, Or, plan on selling the old and replacing.

Ryzen depends on fast ram for performance. Intel not so much.

Liquid cooling is no panacea. Think of it as a way to get the last 3% of performance out of your processor.

You might want to look at the I7-14700 processor. It is a 65w processor that comes with a very nice laminar flow air cooler.
28 threads passmark 47734/4211
https://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Core+i7-14700&id=5852
$399 on amazon.

 

[SequelDev]

This is all really good info, thanks everyone. I like this parts list better than the one I configured. It gives me the a good build, with the ability to upgrade in the future. Thanks for putting this together!

Would it make sense to buy 4 sticks of 16GB DDR4? I plan on doing some database work; the more memory, the better. Or would 2 sticks of 32GB DDR4 make more sense? Thoughts?

Buy your RAM as a single kit. Don't add more later, buy it all now. Or later but buy it together in one kit.

The GPU is just a placeholder. It's roughly the price you should be aiming at.

Case is up to you. Just look for one that has enough room for GPU, tower cooler and all front panel ports (a lot of them don't have USB-C)

Liquid cooling is your decision, but ultimately unless you spend extreme money on a PC, an air cooler will be more than enough. It will also not need replacing after ~5 years.

Don't go above 13600K in your plans. Unless you want to double your budget. It's just my opinion but something like a 14700K (great CPU) should be paired with a more expensive GPU.
Just as well this motherboard is well equipped to handle a 14700K or even a 14900KS.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i5-12600K 3.7 GHz 10-Core Processor ($178.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: ARCTIC Freezer 36 CPU Cooler ($39.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock Z690 Extreme ATX LGA1700 Motherboard ($129.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3600 CL16 Memory ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: TEAMGROUP MP44L 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive ($64.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Sapphire PULSE Radeon RX 7700 XT 12 GB Video Card ($399.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Montech AIR 903 MAX ATX Mid Tower Case ($69.00 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: SeaSonic FOCUS GX-750 ATX 3.0 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1052.93
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2024-05-16 18:31 EDT-0400

 

[Lucky_SLS]

Would suggest something like this:

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i7-14700K 3.4 GHz 20-Core Processor ($381.57 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Thermalright Peerless Assassin 66.17 CFM CPU Cooler ($32.90 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock Z690 Extreme ATX LGA1700 Motherboard ($129.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: TEAMGROUP T-Create Expert 64 GB (2 x 32 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory ($112.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: TEAMGROUP MP44 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive ($123.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Phanteks XT PRO ULTRA ATX Mid Tower Case ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: SeaSonic FOCUS GX-750 ATX 3.0 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($89.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $941.42
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2024-05-17 11:38 EDT-0400

 

[Vic 40]

The use case of this pc is 75% productivity (video editing, database work, AI), 25% gaming. I have a 1080p monitor, so I'll be doing gaming in 1080p. I'll begin gaming after I buy the graphics card for Christmas.

I want something more powerful. I'd like to stay under $700 if possible, but I can $800 if there's a big performance gain to justify it.

If this is your max budget (?) stick to it. As you see people here can get carried away easily.

 

[Roland Of Gilead]

I don't get why some suggestions for the cooler are on the mid end. I'm not talking about the Peerless Assassin, which is prob the best budget air cooler, and best performant air cooler. With that said, both the 13700k and 14700k, get pretty hot. Whilst the Peerless will be okay for those CPU's, it will be running loud under some gaming loads, and any heavy loads specially. e.g rendering. Would you consider AIO?

 

[SequelDev]

If this is your max budget (?) stick to it. As you see people here can get carried away easily.

I would like to stick to this budget:

I'd like to stay under $700 if possible, but I can do $800 if there's a big performance gain to justify it.

I don't get why some suggestions for the cooler are on the mid end. I'm not talking about the Peerless Assassin, which is prob the best budget air cooler, and best performant air cooler. With that said, both the 13700k and 14700k, get pretty hot. Whilst the Peerless will be okay for those CPU's, it will be running loud under some gaming loads, and any heavy loads specially. e.g rendering. Would you consider AIO?

Sure, I'd consider getting an AIO, but that would be for Christmas. I'd want to stick with an air cooler for now, to stay within budget.

 

[Vic 40]

The 12600k build minus gpu would be under that budget and pretty good performance for the money.

What i looked at as option was this,

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i5-14500 2.6 GHz 14-Core Processor ($239.98 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Thermalright Assassin Spirit 120 EVO DARK 70.4 CFM CPU Cooler ($20.59 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock Z790 Lightning WiFi ATX LGA1700 Motherboard ($169.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Silicon Power Value Gaming 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 Memory ($94.97 @ Amazon)
Storage: Crucial P3 Plus 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive ($69.98 @ Amazon)
Case: Montech AIR 903 BASE ATX Mid Tower Case ($65.00 @ B&H)
Power Supply: SeaSonic FOCUS GX-750 ATX 3.0 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($89.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $750.50
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2024-05-17 14:18 EDT-0400

Or for AMD,

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 7600X 4.7 GHz 6-Core Processor ($204.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Thermalright Assassin Spirit 120 EVO DARK 70.4 CFM CPU Cooler ($20.59 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: MSI MAG B650 TOMAHAWK WIFI ATX AM5 Motherboard ($199.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Silicon Power Value Gaming 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 Memory ($94.97 @ Amazon)
Storage: Crucial P3 Plus 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive ($69.98 @ Amazon)
Case: Montech AIR 903 BASE ATX Mid Tower Case ($65.00 @ B&H)
Power Supply: SeaSonic FOCUS GX-750 ATX 3.0 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($89.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $745.51
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2024-05-17 14:19 EDT-0400

For more ram,
https://pcpartpicker.com/product/rD...-32-gb-ddr5-6000-cl30-memory-sp064gxlwu60afde
but this would make it get close to $840,- . think with your budget 32gb of ram is what is within it.

A review about most of the cpu's mentioned although the 14500 is not in it the 13500, it's predecessor, is and the 14500 is just a little bit faster,

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ox3FDWwMTvU


gives an idea for you what you can expect and if these options are worth it for you. The AMD is probably the one best upgradable in the future with newer cpu's coming out for it.

And since i'm at it, for the case,
https://www.techpowerup.com/review/montech-air-903-base/10.html
is the last page so start at the beginning if you want to see it all.

 

[35below0]

Would it make sense to buy 4 sticks of 16GB DDR4? I plan on doing some database work; the more memory, the better. Or would 2 sticks of 32GB DDR4 make more sense? Thoughts?

There is a downside to running 64 Gb of RAM. It's not a straightforward doubling of RAM and price.
You are better off running 32Gb, esp. since your budget is tight.

Nothing stops you from selling your 2x16Gb kit and buying a 2x32Gb kit later. They will be cheaper as well.


The reason you want to use 2 sticks has to do with how the memory controller works, or rather how it's stressed. Running 4 sticks will almost always force a lower speed, which negates some of ther benefit of having more RAM.
Whatever total amount of RAM you want, you will always find it's ideal to use a single kit with 2 sticks of RAM.

But there's more. The larger the individual "stick", generally the slower it is. There are some fast, large sticks, but they cost roughly your entire budget. Look at the prices of fast, low latency 2x64Gb kits.

Since gaming is not a primary concern, you can opt for high latency, and low speed RAM. I'm not sure what impact latency has on professional workloads, so maybe someone else can offer advice. I only know gaming likes low latency, and that my exprience with DDR5 CL40 (high latency) RAM can be summed up as "it's very fast".

Here is one option for DDR4 64Gb
https://pcpartpicker.com/product/s2...x-32-gb-ddr4-3200-cl22-memory-cp2k32g4dfra32a
Crucial is reliable but they don't make very fast kits.

I don't get why some suggestions for the cooler are on the mid end. I'm not talking about the Peerless Assassin, which is prob the best budget air cooler, and best performant air cooler. With that said, both the 13700k and 14700k, get pretty hot. Whilst the Peerless will be okay for those CPU's, it will be running loud under some gaming loads, and any heavy loads specially. e.g rendering. Would you consider AIO?

The AIO has it's own problems. A 14700K/13700K doesn't need an AIO in any way except for looks.
The Peerless, Phantom Spirit EVO, Arctic 36, Mugen 6 and Noctua NH-D15 can all cool it very effectively, though Scythe and Noctua are more expensive. Noctua is also more quiet.

If the OP finds their air cooler too noisy ro ineffective they can upgrade to an expensive liquid setup. Only loss is around ~$35.
If they buy an AIO right away, it may not perform a lot better. Top air coolers can outperform all but the most expensive large AIOs.

Being limited to $700-800 without GPU, it's a simple choice. AIO is not justified so it wasn't suggested.

Would suggest something like this:

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i7-14700K 3.4 GHz 20-Core Processor ($381.57 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Thermalright Peerless Assassin 66.17 CFM CPU Cooler ($32.90 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock Z690 Extreme ATX LGA1700 Motherboard ($129.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: TEAMGROUP T-Create Expert 64 GB (2 x 32 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory ($112.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: TEAMGROUP MP44 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive ($123.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Phanteks XT PRO ULTRA ATX Mid Tower Case ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: SeaSonic FOCUS GX-750 ATX 3.0 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($89.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $941.42
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2024-05-17 11:38 EDT-0400

Nothing against the build, but the z690 Extreme will need to be flashed before it can be used with a 14th gen CPU.
The 12600K is not as strong as the 14700K but works out of the box, and is not a weak CPU. For the budget i'd say it's ideal.

I second @geofelt's suggestion to either start with or upgrade to a 14700 non-K. Runs stable, runs fast, also comes with a decent cooler.
I think it's smarter to upgrade to a 14700 or 14700K later, because they are expensive now but the prices will come down around Christmas.

 

[Lucky_SLS]

^ The Z690 extreme has USB bios flashback. 14700k cuz of the extra E cores.

 

[SequelDev]

But there's more. The larger the individual "stick", generally the slower it is. There are some fast, large sticks, but they cost roughly your entire budget. Look at the prices of fast, low latency 2x64Gb kits.

Since gaming is not a primary concern, you can opt for high latency, and low speed RAM. I'm not sure what impact latency has on professional workloads, so maybe someone else can offer advice. I only know gaming likes low latency, and that my exprience with DDR5 CL40 (high latency) RAM can be summed up as "it's very fast".

Here is one option for DDR4 64Gb
https://pcpartpicker.com/product/s2...x-32-gb-ddr4-3200-cl22-memory-cp2k32g4dfra32a
Crucial is reliable but they don't make very fast kits.

Thanks for the info, that's helpful information.

Being limited to $700-800 without GPU, it's a simple choice. AIO is not justified so it wasn't suggested.

This was my thought as well.

Nothing against the build, but the z690 Extreme will need to be flashed before it can be used with a 14th gen CPU.
The 12600K is not as strong as the 14700K but works out of the box, and is not a weak CPU. For the budget i'd say it's ideal.

I second @geofelt's suggestion to either start with or upgrade to a 14700 non-K. Runs stable, runs fast, also comes with a decent cooler.
I think it's smarter to upgrade to a 14700 or 14700K later, because they are expensive now but the prices will come down around Christmas.

That sounds like a good option.

The 12600k build minus gpu would be under that budget and pretty good performance for the money.

What i looked at as option was this,

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i5-14500 2.6 GHz 14-Core Processor ($239.98 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Thermalright Assassin Spirit 120 EVO DARK 70.4 CFM CPU Cooler ($20.59 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock Z790 Lightning WiFi ATX LGA1700 Motherboard ($169.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Silicon Power Value Gaming 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 Memory ($94.97 @ Amazon)
Storage: Crucial P3 Plus 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive ($69.98 @ Amazon)
Case: Montech AIR 903 BASE ATX Mid Tower Case ($65.00 @ B&H)
Power Supply: SeaSonic FOCUS GX-750 ATX 3.0 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($89.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $750.50
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2024-05-17 14:18 EDT-0400

Or for AMD,

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 7600X 4.7 GHz 6-Core Processor ($204.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Thermalright Assassin Spirit 120 EVO DARK 70.4 CFM CPU Cooler ($20.59 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: MSI MAG B650 TOMAHAWK WIFI ATX AM5 Motherboard ($199.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Silicon Power Value Gaming 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 Memory ($94.97 @ Amazon)
Storage: Crucial P3 Plus 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive ($69.98 @ Amazon)
Case: Montech AIR 903 BASE ATX Mid Tower Case ($65.00 @ B&H)
Power Supply: SeaSonic FOCUS GX-750 ATX 3.0 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($89.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $745.51
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2024-05-17 14:19 EDT-0400

For more ram,
https://pcpartpicker.com/product/rD...-32-gb-ddr5-6000-cl30-memory-sp064gxlwu60afde
but this would make it get close to $840,- . think with your budget 32gb of ram is what is within it.

A review about most of the cpu's mentioned although the 14500 is not in it the 13500, it's predecessor, is and the 14500 is just a little bit faster,

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ox3FDWwMTvU


gives an idea for you what you can expect and if these options are worth it for you. The AMD is probably the one best upgradable in the future with newer cpu's coming out for it.

And since i'm at it, for the case,
https://www.techpowerup.com/review/montech-air-903-base/10.html
is the last page so start at the beginning if you want to see it all.

I was looking over these two builds more carefully.

The 12600K has a cpu benchmark score of 27,741, single threaded benchmark of 3,953. ($175 on Amazon)
The 7600X has a cpu benchmark score of 28,557, single threaded benchmark of 4,154. ($205 on Amazon)
The 14500 has a cpu benchmark score of 32,711, single threaded benchmark of 4,001. ($240 on Amazon)

It appears the 12600K and the 7600X are less than 1,000 points of each other, while the 14500 is several thousand points above both the 12600K and the 7600X. Value for money, I believe the 12600K wins.

I really appreciate the build suggestions and ideas. I have a few clarifying questions:
1. Would Intel be the better choice for streaming and video encoding (Quick Sync)?
2. Is there a huge difference in DDR4 and DDR5 for productivity workloads?
3. Is there a huge difference in DDR4 and DDR5 for gaming workloads?
4. Which platform (LGA 1700 or AM5) has a "better" upgrade path?
5. Would the 7700 XT 12GB work nicely for 1080p and AI workloads?
6. Would the 7700 XT be bottlenecked by any of the three GPU's listed above?

Thanks again for all your help!

 

[Lucky_SLS]

Let me link this here for you:

Hardware Recommendations

Our workstations for Adobe Premiere Pro are tested and optimized to give you the best performance and reliability. View our hardware recommendations.

www.pugetsystems.com

1. Yes, it would be if you are tight on budget and have a less powerful GPU.
2. No, have a look at this: https://www.tomshardware.com/features/ddr5-vs-ddr4-is-it-time-to-upgrade-your-ram
3. No, See above link.
4. AM5. LGA 1700 is a dead platorm now with no upgrade path.
5. You can compare the benchmarks scores for premier pro here: https://benchmarks.pugetsystems.com...ark=&application=&specs=4060+Ti#results-table
6. For gaming? the 7700 XT is absolutely fine. the 12600K is again a decent gaming CPU. not top of the line, but not a slouch either.

 

[35below0]

Value for money, I believe the 12600K wins.

In most tests in the video, the 12600K is behind the 13500. It's cheaper of course, though without a cooler you have to add some ~$35-40 to the price of any K Intel.

The reason i would start with the 12600K is not performance, but cost and the fact that you don't need to flash the motherboard before you install the CPU. It's just less of a hassle.
The specs of the AsRock Extreme are really good for the money and i'm comforted knowing it's VRM can deliver even for much much more powerful CPUs, including the top of the range i9 14900K.
Good upgrade options down the line, but in the beginning the 12600K will be a little bit slower than a 13500 would be.

If you're not bothered about formatting a USB stick for the BIOS flash and hooking up the motherboard to a PSU before completing your build, you can start with the 14500. The difference in price is $20, compared to a 12600K + Arctic Freezer 36.

1. Would Intel be the better choice for streaming and video encoding (Quick Sync)?
2. Is there a huge difference in DDR4 and DDR5 for productivity workloads?
3. Is there a huge difference in DDR4 and DDR5 for gaming workloads?
4. Which platform (LGA 1700 or AM5) has a "better" upgrade path?
5. Would the 7700 XT 12GB work nicely for 1080p and AI workloads?
6. Would the 7700 XT be bottlenecked by any of the three GPU's listed above?

1. Yes, but look at an Intel GPU for max performance, like the Sparkle Titan: https://www.sparkle.com.tw/en/products/view/6A1A31428cBE
2. No. DDR4 offers more choice (more kit configurations). DDR5 will evolve though. If you expect to buy a brand new machine in 5-6 years, you could go with a DDR4 motherboard.
3. Same. DDR4 has lower latency so it's slightly superior at the same price. But DDR5 will evolve.
4. AM5 because there will be new CPUs coming out for it. All the LGA 1700 toys have been released by now. However, you can still coast with a LGA 1700 for a decade before it becomes obsolete.
There's still some 2nd and 3rd gen Intel systems going. Getting slow, but going.
5 & 6 Wait until Christmas. You will have a much better idea about what to buy. New Intel and Nvidias will be coming out by then, so it's pointless to make plans now.
As for the 7700XT, i think the 7800XT or 7900GRE are the ones to look out for, unless you want to take advantage of Intel Arc or Intel Battlemage (when it comes out) special abilities.
Intels are a little bit weaker in gaming, but not so bad. The productivity advantages are pretty compelling.