I've been trying to put together a decent gaming desktop for a while now. Nvidia and motherboard manufacturers have a special place in hell from me this last year (ok, well much longer than that for Nvidia!). I'd love some opinions on CPU/GPU combos to help me decide. My natural historical pull has always been Intel/Nvida, but I'm really not convinced right now.
I buy a new machine up to about £3k every 10 years give or take. My basic spec driving needs this time around - 4k gaming (monitor is "short-arsed 4k" @ 3840x1600 and 144Hz), audio via 5.1 analogue surround setup (previously always with a soundcard, but going to trust premium RealTek 1220/4080 chipsets this time). I like it to be cool and quiet under load and quite like well implemented RGB bling (within reason). Productivity isn't particularly high load, so I doubt drives any requirement really above the gaming one. Will equip with 32GB DDR5 6000 and just a 1TB fast system drive (app/game storage separately funded).
What has killed me in recent months is dithering over:
1) CPU - AMD 7800X3D or Intel 14700KF
2) GPU - AMD 7900XTX or wait to see if Nvida 4080 Super picks up the 4080 at high end
Basically, I can spec both CPUs with a 7900XTX for close to £2600 with a nice mix of components (maybe £300 less for default spec downgrading everything else but CPU/GPU). RTX 4080 is (still) stupid money now the 7900XTX has dropped a bit, but a Super at the same or lower price that beats that could be interesting. I did originally want an RTX 4090, but the China thing pushed the prices back up and really just made me think (more) unprintable thoughts about Nvidia greed/lack of customer base loyalty in the face of AI profits. Perhaps I'll put an RTX 50x0/60x0 in in the next couple of years instead .. £1k extra now for the 4090 is just too much.
CPU wise, it feels a little weird going for the slightly older 7800X3D, though I understand it still rules for rasterised performance (for all the relevance it may have at 4k). Intel feels more natural, but is usually about £30-50 more expensive (or equal for 13th gen) in as close as like-for-like comes with differing MBs. I do hear some complaints over AMD stability though, particularly with higher speed DDR5. Heart and brain in conflict.
MBs I'll come back to - it's so hard to get a decent amount of features for normal money now. I really need the audio chipset and would like it to look nice plus have enough connectivity .. what used to be a small ask. Probably easier to ask for an opinion once I finally agree on CPU.
P.S. happy to provide sample configs I've got for each option .. just thought it would crowd the post a bit.
I buy a new machine up to about £3k every 10 years give or take. My basic spec driving needs this time around - 4k gaming (monitor is "short-arsed 4k" @ 3840x1600 and 144Hz), audio via 5.1 analogue surround setup (previously always with a soundcard, but going to trust premium RealTek 1220/4080 chipsets this time). I like it to be cool and quiet under load and quite like well implemented RGB bling (within reason). Productivity isn't particularly high load, so I doubt drives any requirement really above the gaming one. Will equip with 32GB DDR5 6000 and just a 1TB fast system drive (app/game storage separately funded).
What has killed me in recent months is dithering over:
1) CPU - AMD 7800X3D or Intel 14700KF
2) GPU - AMD 7900XTX or wait to see if Nvida 4080 Super picks up the 4080 at high end
Basically, I can spec both CPUs with a 7900XTX for close to £2600 with a nice mix of components (maybe £300 less for default spec downgrading everything else but CPU/GPU). RTX 4080 is (still) stupid money now the 7900XTX has dropped a bit, but a Super at the same or lower price that beats that could be interesting. I did originally want an RTX 4090, but the China thing pushed the prices back up and really just made me think (more) unprintable thoughts about Nvidia greed/lack of customer base loyalty in the face of AI profits. Perhaps I'll put an RTX 50x0/60x0 in in the next couple of years instead .. £1k extra now for the 4090 is just too much.
CPU wise, it feels a little weird going for the slightly older 7800X3D, though I understand it still rules for rasterised performance (for all the relevance it may have at 4k). Intel feels more natural, but is usually about £30-50 more expensive (or equal for 13th gen) in as close as like-for-like comes with differing MBs. I do hear some complaints over AMD stability though, particularly with higher speed DDR5. Heart and brain in conflict.
MBs I'll come back to - it's so hard to get a decent amount of features for normal money now. I really need the audio chipset and would like it to look nice plus have enough connectivity .. what used to be a small ask. Probably easier to ask for an opinion once I finally agree on CPU.
P.S. happy to provide sample configs I've got for each option .. just thought it would crowd the post a bit.
Will probably go with a 2TB NVMe for games and try to be more strict with what I install/un-install. Possibly a 4TB mechanical for data and less AAA games.