I have an ancient PC... time for a serious upgrade!

[Akeruz]

Hello there!

So I have a PC from 2015 and it is finally time for an upgrade!! 😅 I currently have a decent GPU so I haven't included one in my possible order, and am probably going to wait for the 40 series to be released. Currently have a 2070 Super for reference. I'm basically looking for...I hate to use this word but the "fastest" hardware I can buy really. I am so tired of having these killer loading times in games, being bottlenecked by my ancient CPU etc. Fans and cooling are a top priority also for me. I have had some issues in the past with high temps so I want to keep them as low as possible without going crazy and getting serious liquid cooling. I am also not really a huge fan of RGB but it seems that most of the better or higher end hardware comes with it so... I can make exceptions

So if there are any recommendations for a better case... fans... cooling... SSD... basically anything with cooling and fast launching / loading speeds in mind, please let me know

I nearly forgot my budget is £2500 - £3000.

Here is what I am currently looking at...

Case
CORSAIR 5000D AIRFLOW TEMPERED GLASS GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i9 16-Core Processor i9-12900K (3.2GHz) 30MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® ROG MAXIMUS Z690 HERO WIFI (LGA1700, USB 3.2, PCIe 5.0) - ARGB Ready
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair DOMINATOR PLATINUM RGB DDR5 5600MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
NONE, I ALREADY HAVE A GRAPHICS CARD
1st Storage Drive
1TB Samsung 870 QVO 2.5" SSD, SATA 6Gb/s (up to 560MB/sR | 530MB/sW)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SAMSUNG 980 PRO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 7000MB/R, 5000MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 1000W RMx 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 H150i ELITE LCD Display RGB CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
Extra Case Fans
2 x 120mm Thermaltake TOUGHFAN 12 Case Fans
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
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Google Chrome™
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 4 to 6 working days
Price: £2,374.00 including VAT and Delivery

Thanks for having a read! any advice appreciated!

 

[Martinr36]

Hold off for a couple of weeks, a new generation of hardware goes on pre order on the 15th, with release on 27th, that will give way better bang for the buck

 

[Akeruz]

Oh! Well I definitely will then, thanks for the info! Which hardware?

 

[Martinr36]

CPU's, motherboards, ssd's, a complete new generation, the new entry tier of cpu, will be equivalent to the top tier of existing cpu's

 

[Akeruz]

Hey guys,

So Im pretty happy with this build but I wasn't sure if I should wait for the 4080 releases or not... but GPU aside, what are opinions on the build? Im not very clued up on processor cooling or extra fans etc so any advice on that end would be appreciated or any changes or recommendations in general are appreciated!

Cheers!

Case
CORSAIR iCUE 5000T RGB MID TOWER GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i9 24-Core Processor i9-13900K (3.0GHz) 36MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® ROG MAXIMUS Z690 HERO WIFI (LGA1700, USB 3.2, PCIe 5.0) - ARGB Ready
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair DOMINATOR PLATINUM RGB DDR5 5600MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
24GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3090 Ti - HDMI, DP
1st M.2 SSD Drive
2TB SAMSUNG 980 PRO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 7000MB/R, 5000MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 1200W HX SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® PLATINUM, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead, 1.0mm Core)
Processor Cooling
Corsair iCUE H115i ELITE CAPELLIX RGB Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
Extra Case Fans
3x Corsair LL120 RGB LED Fan + Controller Kit
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
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Google Chrome™
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
SUNDAY DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (BEFORE 2PM)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 7 to 9 working days
Price: £3,696.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-z790-ddr5-pc/ZCYhfBd0BE/

 

[steaky360]

Is your budget still ~£3K?

What did the above come too and could you include the configurable link (its at the bottom of the page you copied the spec from).

 

[Martinr36]

I wasn't sure if I should wait for the 4080 releases or not

What Monitor are you going to be using, in the original post you said you had a 2070 Super, and in this spec you're talking 3090Ti and possibly waiting for 4080, this also begs the question of what is this going to be used for, as the 3090Ti is a production card, rather than a gaming card

 

[Akeruz]

Is your budget still ~£3K?

What did the above come too and could you include the configurable link (its at the bottom of the page you copied the spec from).

Edited

My budget is flexible, I don't want to pay over 4k. The new edited spec is at the very high end of what im willing to pay to be honest 😂

 

[Akeruz]

What Monitor are you going to be using, in the original post you said you had a 2070 Super, and in this spec you're talking 3090Ti and possibly waiting for 4080, this also begs the question of what is this going to be used for, as the 3090Ti is a production card, rather than a gaming card

I was actually looking at a 3080 because im honestly happy with 1440p gaming. But the price difference on the prebuilt was a few hundred so... i thought I might as well go with a 3090ti

my current monitor is an Asus ROG Swift PG278Q - Don't have plans to upgrade to a 4k monitor any time soon but who knows

 

[Martinr36]

I was actually looking at a 3080 because im honestly happy with 1440p gaming. But the price difference on the prebuilt was a few hundred so... i thought I might as well go with a 3090ti

The most you would need for 1440 gaming really would be a 3070Ti, maybe a 3080 at pinch if you went 1440 ultra wide, as the 1440 monitors can't output what the higher end cards can output, so you'd be wasting money, it would be like putting a Ferrari engine in a fiat 500

 

[Akeruz]

The most you would need for 1440 gaming really would be a 3070Ti, maybe a 3080 at pinch if you went 1440 ultra wide, as the 1440 monitors can't output what the higher end cards can output, so you'd be wasting money, it would be like putting a Ferrari engine in a fiat 500

Indeed, which is why I said I was looking at the 3080's. But again the price difference was hardly anything so if i were to get a 4k monitor, it future proofs it. But I wasn't really looking for advice on the GPU, mainly everything else, as I said in my post.

...that also wasn't meant to come across as passive aggressive as it sounded when I read it back 😂

 

[Scott]

Tweaks below based on what I would recommend. That's not to say I would recommend this build, I don't think it's particularly good value for money (DDR4 would make more sense at the moment) but it's certainly about the peak performance that you'll get for gaming, no expense spared.

Case
CORSAIR iCUE 5000T RGB MID TOWER GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i9 24-Core Processor i9-13900K (3.0GHz) 36MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® ROG MAXIMUS Z690 HERO WIFI (LGA1700, USB 3.2, PCIe 5.0) - ARGB Ready
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair DOMINATOR PLATINUM RGB DDR5 5600MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
10GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3080 - HDMI, DP, LHR
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SAMSUNG 980 PRO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 6900MB/R, 5000MB/W)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
2TB SEAGATE FIRECUDA 530 GEN 4 PCIe NVMe (up to 7300MB/R, 6900MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 1200W HX SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® PLATINUM, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead, 1.0mm Core)
Processor Cooling
Corsair iCUE H150i ELITE RGB High Performance CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Extra Case Fans
3x Corsair LL120 RGB LED Fan + Controller Kit
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
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Google Chrome™
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
SUNDAY DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (BEFORE 2PM)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 7 to 9 working days
Price: £3,433.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-z790-ddr5-pc/fvSs9WQE3U/

 

[Martinr36]

even with a 4k monitor a 3090Ti is a waste for gaming, you can't future proof GPU's, it's the first thing that gets upgraded during the life of a PC, during a gaming pc's life the GPU is likely to get upgraded several times.

But I wasn't really looking for advice on the GPU, mainly everything else, as I said in my post.

Know what GPU is going to be in the build and the builds use is crucial to getting a balanced build and the best bang for the buck

 

[Scott]

This is where I would actually land. Just look at the price difference:

Case
CORSAIR iCUE 5000T RGB MID TOWER GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D Eight Core CPU (3.4GHz-4.5GHz/100MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF X570-PLUS GAMING WIFI (USB 3.2 Gen 2, PCIe 4.0, CrossFireX) - RGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3600MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
10GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3080 - HDMI, DP, LHR
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SAMSUNG 980 PRO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 6900MB/R, 5000MB/W)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
2TB SEAGATE FIRECUDA 530 GEN 4 PCIe NVMe (up to 7300MB/R, 6900MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 1200W HX SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® PLATINUM, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead, 1.0mm Core)
Processor Cooling
Corsair iCUE H115i RGB PRO XT Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Extra Case Fans
3x Corsair LL120 RGB LED Fan + Controller Kit
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
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Microsoft® Edge
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 7 to 9 working days
Price: £2,888.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/gRWtRunpU6/

 

[Akeruz]

Tweaks below based on what I would recommend. That's not to say I would recommend this build, I don't think it's particularly good value for money (DDR4 would make more sense at the moment) but it's certainly about the peak performance that you'll get for gaming, no expense spared.

Case
CORSAIR iCUE 5000T RGB MID TOWER GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i9 24-Core Processor i9-13900K (3.0GHz) 36MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® ROG MAXIMUS Z690 HERO WIFI (LGA1700, USB 3.2, PCIe 5.0) - ARGB Ready
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair DOMINATOR PLATINUM RGB DDR5 5600MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
10GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3080 - HDMI, DP, LHR
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SAMSUNG 980 PRO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 6900MB/R, 5000MB/W)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
2TB SEAGATE FIRECUDA 530 GEN 4 PCIe NVMe (up to 7300MB/R, 6900MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 1200W HX SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® PLATINUM, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead, 1.0mm Core)
Processor Cooling
Corsair iCUE H150i ELITE RGB High Performance CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Extra Case Fans
3x Corsair LL120 RGB LED Fan + Controller Kit
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
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Google Chrome™
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
SUNDAY DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (BEFORE 2PM)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 7 to 9 working days
Price: £3,433.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-z790-ddr5-pc/fvSs9WQE3U/

Much appreciated I will take this into consideration

 

[Akeruz]

This is where I would actually land. Just look at the price difference:

Case
CORSAIR iCUE 5000T RGB MID TOWER GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D Eight Core CPU (3.4GHz-4.5GHz/100MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF X570-PLUS GAMING WIFI (USB 3.2 Gen 2, PCIe 4.0, CrossFireX) - RGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3600MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
10GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3080 - HDMI, DP, LHR
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SAMSUNG 980 PRO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 6900MB/R, 5000MB/W)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
2TB SEAGATE FIRECUDA 530 GEN 4 PCIe NVMe (up to 7300MB/R, 6900MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 1200W HX SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® PLATINUM, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead, 1.0mm Core)
Processor Cooling
Corsair iCUE H115i RGB PRO XT Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Extra Case Fans
3x Corsair LL120 RGB LED Fan + Controller Kit
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
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Microsoft® Edge
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 7 to 9 working days
Price: £2,888.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/gRWtRunpU6/

That is a serious amount of money less!

I would be curious to see how the performance and benchmarks differ. What were the reasons you went with this new recommendation? besides the obvious "its cheaper"

 

[Scott]

That is a serious amount of money less!

I would be curious to see how the performance and benchmarks differ. What were the reasons you went with this new recommendation? besides the obvious "its cheaper"

For gaming the 5800X3D trades blows with the 13900K. In certain titles it wipes the floor with all the Intel offerings (FS2020 is a good example). When it comes to playing at 1440p / 4k the returns diminish even more so there's really no benefit to opting for the 13900k at the price it is. It's a great chip and will handle fantastic workloads, but for gaming it's pointless.

The next big saving is the DDR4 RAM. The 5800X3D only comes with the DDR4 option yet still trades blows as above. DDR4 vs DDR5 right now, there's marginal gains and they aren't seen in gaming at all in this example. In the future this may change but it's a long way away and I wouldn't get caught up in it as you would need to buy new RAM to see them.

The AMD option is a far cheaper platform with no downside that you would ever see with your eyes. I've selected the fastest drives I can for the OS & Games so the load times will be on-par.

In this use case it doesn't make sense to spend the extra cash. You're getting nothing tangible for it.

 

[sck451]

Honestly, I'd be inclined to save more by dropping the case to the 5000X and losing the extra fans. That's £150 saved probably for no discernible effect on temperatures. Unless of course you like the bright flashing lights and don't mind spending the extra on them.

 

[Scott]

Honestly, I'd be inclined to save more by dropping the case to the 5000X and losing the extra fans. That's £150 saved probably for no discernible effect on temperatures. Unless of course you like the bright flashing lights and don't mind spending the extra on them.

I was going to suggest that too but the 5000X seems out of stock, so it would be a bit of hassle doing the send in your own option. The 5000T is a fantastic case but I think it's over-priced. It is a great bit of kit though. I think the fans are £60 which will balance out the lighting a little if it's a showpiece.

 

[Akeruz]

Thanks for the help everyone! I will take all advice and recommendations into consideration before I buy anything