Question Why £1000 for a motherboard and 128GB of RAM ?

[Hasselblad]

My son is finally going to, consider, thinking about (that's Autism for you) getting a new computer built.

He has had the one he uses for 8 years now, that is how top spec it was back then at £6000

All he does is game, with others, doesn't smoke, drink, or go out, and he has saved all his money for the past years.

He is NOT new to PC building, and knows them and the components inside out.

This is more of a question for me:

Why do you gamers need a £1000 motherboard, 128GB of RAM, and a £1000 graphic card ?

He says the build will cost about £8000, running 3 monitors etc.

 

[CyberFlash]

Holy moly! 128gb ram is seriously overkill. Am a proper gamer myself and 32gb ddr5 ram is sufficient for my requirements. £1k motherboard seems overkill too. £1k GPU makes perfect sense considering that he wants it to last for a long time.

 

[SkyNetRising]

This is more of a question for me.
Why do you gamers need a £1000 motherboard, 128GB of RAM, and a £1000 graphic card ?
He says the build will cost about £8000, running 3 monitors etc.

No regular gamer needs 128GB ram. 32GB is more than enough.
£1000 motherboard? Is there even such a thing? €200 - €300 motherboard is plenty. No need to pay more.
Graphics cards are expensive though. Top high end RTX 5090 is ~€2500.

I don't know the specs of this proposed £8000 build.
But I'd suspect, your son is being scammed out of his money.
(unless this price also includes 3x OLED monitors, but even then this is too much to ask)

 

[bill001g]

For gaming all that really matters is the GPU. The top gpu like 5090 still cost $3000. It really depends on the game, cyberpunk can use more GPU power than even a 5090 can provide. Most other games run fine on less. The vast majority of people do not have even $3000 for the whole machine.

You do not need some huge cpu. Seem the best "gaming" cpu are the x3d models from AMD. Even the older versions of these are more than good enough when paired with a powerful GPU.

Memory and memory speed are far down the list for improving gaming performance. Most people use 32GB just because that is good price performance break point.

Part of the confusion comes from idiots who only care about raw frame rates. They run with video settings on low. They feel 600 frames per second of poor quality video is more important than 120 frames of very detailed and high resolution video. When you do silly stuff like this you are no longer really using the GPU and the CPU becomes more important.

If you are going to run at 4k or run multiple monitors at 4k the key component in the machine is the video card and spending more money helps.

Those $1000 motherboards are mostly for people who feel it is important to get their name on some overclocking list on the internet. They are not really "gaming" motherboards. They have silly options that let you change the power setting for when you are using your liquid nitrogen to cool the cpu. Nobody is going to try to cool their cpu with liquid nitrogen when they are playing games. You would never be able to afford it.

 

[Hasselblad]

4K+ Gaming Monster Builds (Intel vs AMD)​

🧠 1. Intel Build (~£7500–£8000)​

Component	Model	Notes
CPU	Intel Core i9-14900K	Top gaming CPU, blazing fast, but runs hot (needs serious cooling)
GPU	NVIDIA RTX 4090	The king of 4K gaming. Expensive, but unmatched for now
Motherboard	ASUS ROG Maximus Z790 Hero (~£700-1000)	Excellent, but overkill unless specific features are needed
RAM	128GB DDR5-6000 (e.g. Corsair Dominator or G.Skill Trident Z)	Only needed if running huge workloads, not just gaming
Cooler	Corsair iCUE H170i Elite (420mm AIO)	Needed to keep the 14900K in check
Storage	2TB NVMe Gen 4 + 4TB Gen 3 (Samsung 990 Pro + WD SN770)	Fast boot and gaming drive + big storage
Case	Lian Li O11D XL or Fractal Torrent	Great airflow and space for big GPUs/coolers
PSU	1000–1200W Platinum (Seasonic, Corsair, ASUS)	RTX 4090 needs this
Monitors	3x 4K 144Hz IPS (e.g. LG UltraGear, ASUS ROG Swift)	Easily £1200–£2000 of the budget here
Total	~£7800 (depending on brand choices)	Can go down if the motherboard and RAM are scaled back

 

[Hasselblad]

No regular gamer needs 128GB ram. 32GB is more than enough.
£1000 motherboard? Is there even such a thing? €200 - €300 motherboard is plenty. No need to pay more.
Graphics cards are expensive though. Top high end RTX 5090 is ~€2500.

I don't know the specs of this proposed £8000 build.
But I'd suspect, your son is being scammed out of his money.
(unless this price also includes 3x OLED monitors, but even then this is too much to ask)

See above

YES that includes the monitors, the list above is what I have looked at over three days his will be different he is waiting on new releases.

 

[Hasselblad]

Holy moly! 128gb ram is seriously overkill. Am a proper gamer myself and 32gb ddr5 ram is sufficient for my requirements. £1k motherboard seems overkill too. £1k GPU makes perfect sense considering that he wants it to last for a long time.

I have said this from what I have read here over the months

 

[USAFRet]

Why do you gamers need a £1000 motherboard, 128GB of RAM, and a £1000 graphic card ?

Motherboard - No.
RAM - No.
GPU - Maybe.

 

[bill001g]

4K+ Gaming Monster Builds (Intel vs AMD)​

🧠 1. Intel Build (~£7500–£8000)​

Component	Model	Notes
CPU	Intel Core i9-14900K	Top gaming CPU, blazing fast, but runs hot (needs serious cooling)
GPU	NVIDIA RTX 4090	The king of 4K gaming. Expensive, but unmatched for now
Motherboard	ASUS ROG Maximus Z790 Hero (~£700-1000)	Excellent, but overkill unless specific features are needed
RAM	128GB DDR5-6000 (e.g. Corsair Dominator or G.Skill Trident Z)	Only needed if running huge workloads, not just gaming
Cooler	Corsair iCUE H170i Elite (420mm AIO)	Needed to keep the 14900K in check
Storage	2TB NVMe Gen 4 + 4TB Gen 3 (Samsung 990 Pro + WD SN770)	Fast boot and gaming drive + big storage
Case	Lian Li O11D XL or Fractal Torrent	Great airflow and space for big GPUs/coolers
PSU	1000–1200W Platinum (Seasonic, Corsair, ASUS)	RTX 4090 needs this
Monitors	3x 4K 144Hz IPS (e.g. LG UltraGear, ASUS ROG Swift)	Easily £1200–£2000 of the budget here
Total	~£7800 (depending on brand choices)	Can go down if the motherboard and RAM are scaled back

I am unsure where this information came from. It seems intel bias and it out of date. Both the 14900k and a 4090 are no longer the latest tech. Did this come from a company trying to sell computers or is this some AI generated delusions.

The top gaming CPU if you look at almost every review are AMD x3d cpu.

A 14900k does run extremely hot if you overclocking it and running all core loads. Gaming does not run all core loads. They tend to run 1 or 2 cores very intensively and run little on the rest. After they had all the chip failures intel no longer recommends running the cpu with no power limits. If you run the cpu on the new intel recommended limits you no longer need big AIO coolers.

Again just buy a AMD cpu for gaming or if you really want you can go intel it will not be that different. Do not buy water cooling unless you just "want" water cooling. The modern air coolers can keep machines well under temperature. This is even more true for gaming which does not stress the cpu to begin with.

 

[LordVile]

My son is finally going to, consider, thinking about (that's Autism for you) getting a new computer built.

He has had the one he uses for 8 years now, that is how top spec it was back then at £6000

All he does is game, with others, doesn't smoke, drink, or go out, and he has saved all his money for the past years.

He is NOT new to PC building, and knows them and the components inside out.

This is more of a question for me.

Why do you gamers need 128GB of ram, a £1000 motherboard, a £1000 graphic card.

He says the build will cost about £8000, running 3 monitors etc.

No it won’t. A £200-250 motherboard is more than enough, 32GB of RAM is fine and even the top spec GPU is 2K. I don’t know how you’re getting 8,000 for a new tower and monitors.

 

[LordVile]

I am unsure where this information came from. It seems intel bias and it out of date. Both the 14900k and a 4090 are no longer the latest tech. Did this come from a company trying to sell computers or is this some AI generated delusions.

The top gaming CPU if you look at almost every review are AMD x3d cpu.

A 14900k does run extremely hot if you overclocking it and running all core loads. Gaming does not run all core loads. They tend to run 1 or 2 cores very intensively and run little on the rest. After they had all the chip failures intel no longer recommends running the cpu with no power limits. If you run the cpu on the new intel recommended limits you no longer need big AIO coolers.

Again just buy a AMD cpu for gaming or if you really want you can go intel it will not be that different. Do not buy water cooling unless you just "want" water cooling. The modern air coolers can keep machines well under temperature. This is even more true for gaming which does not stress the cpu to begin with.

The 14900K also kills itself overtime and there is no fix

 

[Flayed]

You can build a very nice gaming PC for 2.5k sans monitor

 

[USAFRet]

Why do you gamers need a £1000 motherboard, 128GB of RAM, and a £1000 graphic card ?

They don't.

But people have all sorts of misconceptions.

3x NVMe in RAID 0 gives you better FPS
Playing your mp3 music files from an SSD sounds better than from an HDD
More fans is automatically better

Stuff like that.

 

[Hasselblad]

RAM - No.
Motherboard - No.
GPU - Maybe.

Sorry "no" answers are not answers, I could say no to anyone here's choice of car, camera phone, but give a reason for it

 

[Hasselblad]

The 14900K also kills itself overtime and there is no fix

How and why ?

So the one I have i7-14700K

 

[USAFRet]

Sorry "no" answers are not answers, I could say no to anyone here's choice of car, camera phone, but give a reason for it

128GB RAM is way over the top for a pure game system.
32GB, maybe 64 in a stretch
My system (still in boxes) has 96GB, strictly due to large CAD models that were choking at 64GB

$1000 motherboard?
Does nothing that a $200 motherboard can't do. Except give you bragging rights among your clueless friends



If someone were saying they need that level parts for their game system, I'd ask to see some reasoning why.
Documentation that 128GB gives better game performance. Or the $1000 motherboard does something magical.

 

[LordVile]

How and why ?

So the one I have i7-14700K

All 13th and 14th gen CPUs have a hardware defect causing instability that intel cannot fix. It’s mitigated to an extent by microcode updates and BIOS updates but it cannot be fixed.

Get a more reasonable system and say no. £8000 is easily 4x what’s required for a very good system. You could get top of the line system and a very good monitor for half of 8000

 

[Hasselblad]

Thanks all, appreciated

 

[Misgar]

I don't know the specs of this proposed £8000 build.

Perhaps he's chosen a fancy illuminated case with a custom water loop? Most of my systems have solid metal side panels and the only LEDs are on 10Gb NICs and SAS cards.
https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https://preview.redd.it/2nd-try-custom-loop-with-rtx-4090-v0-cg6pf6ucmffa1.jpg?width=4000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9cd7843f86febb75d7d97ac8b65f33b6f3f0261c

I'm not into gaming, but as other people have mentioned, I'd probably buy the latest NVidia RTX 5090 GPU, which range from very expensive to ludicrous prices. A quick look on Amazon.co.uk shows the cheapest is a very "reasonable" £2,199.98:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/MSI-GeForce-RTX-5090-32G/dp/B0DYK4FGLH/ref=sr_1_2

Mid range RTX 5090 cards cost £2,500 to £3,000.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/GeForce-Graphics-Radiator-Chain-Connectable-Magnetic/dp/B0DTV54ZNH

Or you could customise your PC in white with this card for £5,777.20:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/ZOTAC-GAMING-GeForce-Graphics-ZT-B50900Q-10P/dp/B0F3NH96ZM/ref=sr_1_17
I've no idea why it's more expensive than a professional A6000 GPU. Perhaps they don't have any in stock and it's a "placeholder" price.

For the CPU I'd use an AMD Ryzen 9950X3D at £612.42:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/AMD-Processor-3D-V-CacheTM-Technology/dp/B0DVZSG8D5/ref=sr_1_2
It's probably overkill for gaming but good for apps that need more cores.

I've no idea about AM5 motherboards, but I'd allocate £400 to £600, if money is no object.

You can fit large numbers of M.2 NVMe SSDs if you have a mind to. Games can occupy hundreds of GB and fast 8TB M.2 drives aren't cheap. Here's a WD Black SN-850X for £521.40:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/WD_BLACK-SN850X-Expansion-Performance-Internal/dp/B0D9WT512W/ref=sr_1_4
Fit two, three or four 8TB drives and you've used up a small fortune. Most gamers might manage with only 8TB, but of course 32TB is "better".

A 1200W Corsair Shift PSU would be £244.51. I'm sure there are £300 digital PSUs.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Corsair-RM1200x-Shift-Modular-Supply/dp/B0BPSYHY41/ref=sr_1_15

I haven't got around to the monitors, but it's easy to spend large sums of money on many things. £8,000 is cheap compared to a super car.

Don't worry about the cost. He's not gambling it away playing on-line poker. Now that would be a waste if he didn't win.

You could spend £7,369 on an X2D 100C (body only):
https://www.parkcameras.com/shop/hasselblad-x2d-100c-medium-format-camera_h015759x

 

[Roland Of Gilead]

I am unsure where this information came from. It seems intel bias and it out of date. Both the 14900k and a 4090 are no longer the latest tech. Did this come from a company trying to sell computers or is this some AI generated delusions.

The top gaming CPU if you look at almost every review are AMD x3d cpu.

A 14900k does run extremely hot if you overclocking it and running all core loads. Gaming does not run all core loads. They tend to run 1 or 2 cores very intensively and run little on the rest. After they had all the chip failures intel no longer recommends running the cpu with no power limits. If you run the cpu on the new intel recommended limits you no longer need big AIO coolers.

Again just buy a AMD cpu for gaming or if you really want you can go intel it will not be that different. Do not buy water cooling unless you just "want" water cooling. The modern air coolers can keep machines well under temperature. This is even more true for gaming which does not stress the cpu to begin with.

Yes!^ Not sure what the other poster was doing there.

 

[Roland Of Gilead]

Why do you gamers need a £1000 motherboard, 128GB of RAM, and a £1000 graphic card ?

The answer is they don't! Anyone suggesting otherwise is talking out of their proverbial hat!

For all the reasons above, that the other posters have suggested. I can't add any more to that. However, you should take full notice of what they are telling you.

@Why_Me might be able to chime in here with a build. They are very good at that.

 

[Roland Of Gilead]

A 14900k does run extremely hot if you overclocking it and running all core loads.

It runs hot regardless 😉

 

[geofelt]

In my opinion, i9-14900K is fine.
Intel discovered issues two years ago with 13/14 gen processors and motherboards.
The underlying cause has been identified and fixed.
In part, motherboard makers overclocked the processors by default to make their products faster. Then, the processors had difficulty with the elevated voltages required.
Root cause was found 9/24:
https://community.intel.com/t5/Mobi...en-Desktop-Instability-Root-Cause/m-p/1633442
Current status:
https://community.intel.com/t5/Mobi...-Vmin-Shift-Instabilty-Update-New/m-p/1686948
The net of this is that if you update the bios to currency and if you use the Intel defaults, you are ok.
And... the warranty has been extended.
Look carefully at the posting dates of critical posts. They may well be from the earliest stages of the issue.

The AMD fanboys jumped on this with glee.

As to specifics of the build:
I agree that 128gb ram is overkill.

32gb should be fine, and a 2 x 24gb kit would be ok too.

Gaming at 4k resolution shifts the performance limiter from the CPU to the graphics card.
Buy the best one you can afford.

Good pick on the PSU. Quality counts and a stronger psu than needed will let the psu run quieter and loaf.
It will only use the power demanded of it.

Love the lian li quality, but the specs do not support a 420 sized aio cooler. The fractal does.
I am not a fan of aio coolers unless it is necessary because of limited space or a desire to overclock and run multithreaded batch apps.
For gaming, only a handful of processing threads will be effectively used, and that does not generate heat.
Then, aio coolers do not last forever. In time the mechanical pump fails or gets clogged, or air intrudes into the flexible tubes and the unit must be replaced.
Think of one as a 5 year rental.
FWIW, I use a i9-14900K and a noctua NH-D15s air cooler with no issues. And, it is inaudible.

 

[Roland Of Gilead]

Something like this is as fast anything really:

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D 4.7 GHz 8-Core Processor (£404.32 @ Amazon UK)
CPU Cooler: ARCTIC Liquid Freezer III Pro 360 77 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler (£71.98 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: MSI MAG X870 TOMAHAWK WIFI ATX AM5 Motherboard (£249.98 @ Box Limited)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance RGB 64 GB (2 x 32 GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 Memory (£225.38 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Samsung 990 Pro 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive (£144.00 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Samsung 990 Pro 4 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive (£259.23 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: Zotac GAMING SOLID GeForce RTX 5090 32 GB Video Card (£1928.99 @ Overclockers.co.uk)
Case: Lian Li O11D EVO RGB ATX Mid Tower Case (£139.00 @ Computer Orbit)
Power Supply: be quiet! Straight Power 12 1200 W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply (£196.53 @ NeoComputers)
Total: £3619.41
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2025-07-26 15:34 BST+0100

You can add/change anything you like- more ram, more storage, but a base system like this, is pretty much the fastest out there.

 

[LordVile]

In my opinion, i9-14900K is fine.
Intel discovered issues two years ago with 13/14 gen processors and motherboards.
The underlying cause has been identified and fixed.
In part, motherboard makers overclocked the processors by default to make their products faster. Then, the processors had difficulty with the elevated voltages required.
Root cause was found 9/24:
https://community.intel.com/t5/Mobi...en-Desktop-Instability-Root-Cause/m-p/1633442
Current status:
https://community.intel.com/t5/Mobi...-Vmin-Shift-Instabilty-Update-New/m-p/1686948
The net of this is that if you update the bios to currency and if you use the Intel defaults, you are ok.
And... the warranty has been extended.
Look carefully at the posting dates of critical posts. They may well be from the earliest stages of the issue.

The AMD fanboys jumped on this with glee.

As to specifics of the build:
I agree that 128gb ram is overkill.

32gb should be fine, and a 2 x 24gb kit would be ok too.

Gaming at 4k resolution shifts the performance limiter from the CPU to the graphics card.
Buy the best one you can afford.

Good pick on the PSU. Quality counts and a stronger psu than needed will let the psu run quieter and loaf.
It will only use the power demanded of it.

Love the lian li quality, but the specs do not support a 420 sized aio cooler. The fractal does.
I am not a fan of aio coolers unless it is necessary because of limited space or a desire to overclock and run multithreaded batch apps.
For gaming, only a handful of processing threads will be effectively used, and that does not generate heat.
Then, aio coolers do not last forever. In time the mechanical pump fails or gets clogged, or air intrudes into the flexible tubes and the unit must be replaced.
Think of one as a 5 year rental.
FWIW, I use a i9-14900K and a noctua NH-D15s air cooler with no issues. And, it is inaudible.

The cause hasn’t been fixed, it’s a hardware level defect it cannot be fixed by software. It’s been mitigated so it doesn’t happens as quick or as often but it still happens.