First build in an age - expertise appreciated

[Plib]

First time building a desktop in over a decade, so well out of the loop on components except in the most general term. Looking to build a rig for max graphics gaming and daily use, high end enough to last me a good long while before needing upgrades. My hardware knowledge is passible at best so would love some opinions or a green light if this build covers me.

Few questions I have:

• Is the processer good enough?
• First time using water cooling, is this sufficient?
• Is the onboard audio enough or should I get a sound card? Not a major audiophile and I don't think I've bothered with this in the past but curious if the difference is significant. Mostly use a headset.
• Power supply enough?
• Worth upping the warranty? In my experience if there isn't a clear problem in the first year it's unlikely to pop up later.

Case
CORSAIR iCUE 5000X RGB MID TOWER GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i7 16-Core Processor i7-13700KF (3.4GHz) 30MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING Z790-PLUS WIFI (DDR5, LGA1700, USB 3.2, PCIe 5.0) - ARGB Ready
Memory (RAM)
64GB Corsair VENGEANCE RGB DDR5 5600MHz (4 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
24GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 4090 - HDMI, DP
1st M.2 SSD Drive
2TB SAMSUNG 990 PRO M.2, PCIe 4.0 NVMe (up to 7450MB/R, 6900MB/W)
1st Storage Drive
4TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 5400RPM, 256MB CACHE
Power Supply
CORSAIR 1000W RMe SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead, 1.0mm Core)
Processor Cooling
CORSAIR iCUE H100i ELITE RGB High Performance CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Windows 11 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KUK-00003]
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10/11 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
Norton 360 inc. Game Optimizer - Free 90 Day License
Browser
Google Chrome™
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
2 - 3 DAY DELIVERY TO REPUBLIC OF IRELAND
Build Time
FAST TRACK 5 WORKING DAY DISPATCH

 

[sck451]

Hi Plib!

First time building a desktop in over a decade, so well out of the loop on components except in the most general term. Looking to build a rig for max graphics gaming and daily use, high end enough to last me a good long while before needing upgrades. My hardware knowledge is passible at best so would love some opinions or a green light if this build covers me.

Few questions I have:

• Is the processer good enough?

Yes, probably. But you can also do better. Tomorrow the 7800X3D launches and it seems to be the best CPU ever made. It is also a more forward-looking option than the 13700KF, as that will never be able to be upgraded without a motherboard replacement (i.e. a full system rebuild), whereas AMD's 7000 series is the beginning of a cycle and so there will be upgrades available for a long time. It's also cooler (i.e. less power draw) and faster; just altogether a great product. Unless you are doing heavy multicore stuff (e.g. video editing), AMD has you covered all the way.

• First time using water cooling, is this sufficient?

The H100i is a good cooler. I'd prefer the H115i or the H150i as they offer significantly more cooling for not much more money, especially for the Intel chip. All three would be fine for the AMD option.

• Is the onboard audio enough or should I get a sound card? Not a major audiophile and I don't think I've bothered with this in the past but curious if the difference is significant. Mostly use a headset.

Onboard sound is very good these days. If it's not good enough, get an external USB DAC, not an internal sound card. If your headset is USB, by the way, you don't use the onboard sound anyway.

• Power supply enough?

Yes, probably, but if you go with the 4090 there's at least a case for a 1200W one. 1000W is enough, but power ratings are only going in one direction and if you buy top-end hardware in, say, four years time, 1000W might not be enough.

• Worth upping the warranty? In my experience if there isn't a clear problem in the first year it's unlikely to pop up later

I agree with that. And you may be covered by manufacturers' warranties after that time anyway.

A couple of questions for you.

• What display will you be using?
• What is your budget?

If you're able to provide the green config link at the bottom of the summary, that would also be really helpful.

 

[Plib]

Thanks so much for the feedback! The 7800X3D seems like a great call, likely means I need to wait a few weeks longer than I intended for the build but c'est la vie! I've rejigged a few things.

• Changed to an AMD setup for the 7800X3D so changed motherboard.
• Upped the cooling to the H150i.
• Dropped ram to 32gb, will likely buy the extra 32 separately at a later date.
• Upped the SSD and dropped the HDD.

Primary display will be a 27'' 4k UHD monitor, with 1-2 side monitors (older monitors I already have, 1080p but not the main display for games or media).
Budget is flexible but I don't want to go too far north of where I'm at now.

Here is the config link: https://www.pcspecialist.ie/saved-configurations/amd-icue/4Y7yzh7FEW/

 

[Elhan]

I actually have a question if you don't mind - the 990 isn't an SSD I see come up much - is it because the smallest size offered is 1TB as opposed to 500GB? I saw some complaints about reliability issues but the same came up for the 980 (from what I read, firmware updates were released to address the issues) and I'm guessing this comes down to a few bad eggs, so just wondering if it's more to do with the value add/use case.