New PC build - direction needed !!

karltimber

HI,

have built a few pc's over the years and my unit at the minute is not upto the job. Bits have been updated over the years.

I mainly edit 4k gopro/drone videos but want to get back to gaming too.

Current pc has an old i7 870 (10+ years old), GeForce GTX1660ti, 650w ps.

SSD's can be re-used, but thats it.

so what would ye recommend - could possibly re-use the large case so it's mainly what cpu, mb & memory ?

And based on that would the 650w still be usable ? and the GC ?

Have about €1K to spend.

thanks

celtic_oz

you can sometimes pick up good value on UK ebay , good filters along the left

Coyler

Forget about the PSU, it's 10 years old and probably will need adapters to work with most current equipment. The case is not worth it unless you are completely strapped. Case designs are improved massively in the last 10 years. You'd be amazed how much easier they are to work with now. And just nicer looking. That one I'm including is very much the cheapest I'd go but if prepared spring for a nicer one at €70 from Phanteks or Fractal Design or Corsair.

Just reuse the storage and pick up a NVMe when one of those dies.

Honestly, sell the 1660ti for around €80-100 and donate the rest to Camera or the Rehabgroup when you have your new system up and running.

PCPartPicker Part List

Type|Item|Price
:----|:----|:----
CPU | AMD Ryzen 5 7600 3.8 GHz 6-Core Processor | €206.17 @ Amazon Deutschland
Motherboard | ASRock B650M-HDV/M.2 Micro ATX AM5 Motherboard | €120.02 @ Amazon Deutschland
Memory | Corsair Vengeance 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6400 CL36 Memory | €102.90 @ Amazon Deutschland
Video Card | Gigabyte GAMING OC Radeon RX 7800 XT 16 GB Video Card | €517.98 @ Mindfactory
Case | KOLINK Citadel MicroATX Mini Tower Case | €49.90 @ Amazon Deutschland
Power Supply | Corsair RM650 (2023) 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply | €84.60 @ Amazon Deutschland
| Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts |
| Total | €1081.57
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2024-09-22 22:50 CEST+0200 |

karltimber

Thanks Coyler.

Any particular reason you decided on an AMD for 4k editing. Was thinking of an i7 14700 - which I can get cheaply. Ex-employee

Forgot to mention the ps was updated so may work, but will check it out.

minitrue

Quicksync is a good reason to go with Intel for video editing but Intel's current (but soon not to be) desktop cpus have had serious problems with destroying themselves in a way that makes them crashy which means I don't think you will find anyone recommending a 13xxx/14xxx (same chip) for anything. Their handling of the whole issue has been less than ideal and nobody really knows if they have actually fixed all the problems with the recent microcode update.

I'm personally pondering if I should just bite the bullet on a machine that would be video editing along with another related task and the only Intel cpus I'm considering are the 12th gen (12700K or even 12900KS). I'm only even considering them because the machine could end up in a strange role where quicksync is vital. At this point I'm personally waiting for the next generation of Intel chips and AMD motherboards to land though before I decide what my wallet might allow.

Ignoring the Intel issues though, the 14700 is on LGA1700 and the next Intel chips due soon (likely in the next month or so) are both a complete change in approach/redesign but also on a new platform so LGA1700 is a dead end. AMD on the other hand have promised to stick with AM5 until 2027 or beyond. Intel's cpus also burn power in a way the AMD cpus don't.

What I will say about Coyler's suggestion is I think it is extremely gaming focused and cpu light/graphics card heavy. I'd also suggest you investigate carefully just what graphics cards your video editing software likes and how much significance the card will have on the editing you do. For gaming I think AMD gpus offer raw performance/€ and cheaper ram but nvidia remains the safe choice really for everything gpu heavy that isn't gaming, like some video editing. Of course the ideal nvidia cards for video editors are the 4070ti and up for the dual encoders but even the cheap 4070ti I spotted the other day was over €700 by the time it gets here so your budget wouldn't like that at all!

So here's a wildly different idea, based on the Intel suggestion, Coyler's little stretch of the budget, extremely cpu video editing focused and taking into account you are still on an i7 870 15 years after it launched so may not be prone to platform upgrades while a gpu swap is obviously not an issue to you!

CPU: Intel Core i9-12900KS 3.4 GHz 16-Core Processor (€300.99 @ Computeruniverse)
CPU Cooler: ARCTIC Liquid Freezer III 360 56.3 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler (€76.98 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Motherboard: ASRock Z690 Taichi ATX LGA1700 Motherboard (€191.89 @ Computeruniverse)
Memory: Kingston FURY Renegade 96 GB (2 x 48 GB) DDR5-6000 CL32 Memory (€304.00 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Storage: Kingston Fury Renegade 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive (€126.90 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Case: Fractal Design Focus 2 ATX Mid Tower Case (€65.90 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Total: €1066.66

Your 650W is about at it's limits with the 1660ti added to that but assuming it's a solid PSU it should be fine until you bite the bullet on a gpu upgrade. The board is a premium z690 that was still €400ish at the start of the year, even with the shipping pain (lessened by the 12900KS from the same place) it's a steal but quite possibly overkill as things like 8x8x pci-e support and thunderbolt may never be of any interest to you!

With gaming in mind (or if your video editor and editing style takes advantage of the gpu) and given you have slogged away with the 870 until now though you can of course cut back on pretty much everything to get a gpu in there instead

CPU: Intel Core i7-12700K 3.6 GHz 12-Core Processor (€224.99 @ Amazon Deutschland)
CPU Cooler: Thermalright Phantom Spirit 120 SE 66.17 CFM CPU Cooler (€39.90 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Motherboard: MSI PRO Z790-S WIFI ATX LGA1700 Motherboard (€163.99 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance RGB 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6400 CL32 Memory (€101.90 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Case: Fractal Design Focus 2 ATX Mid Tower Case (€65.90 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Total: €596.68

On top of that if you want to land "close" to the €1000 then:

Video Card: Zotac GAMING Twin Edge GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 16 GB Video Card (€435.10 @ Amazon Deutschland)

And if you feel like stretching:

Video Card: Palit GameRock GeForce RTX 4070 Ti 12 GB Video Card (€673.99 @ Computeruniverse)

Though the shipping there will add more pain and the 650W power supply would really be at or even just beyond it's limits if your editing (rendering really presumably) pushes everything to the max! TBH I only really mention it for completeness though perhaps the value in keeping your old PC intact (at least apart from most of your ssds) might be worth it to you and you feel like pushing the boat out.

For gaming without ray-tracing the 7800XT Coyler mentioned is between 30% (1080p) and 50% (4k) faster than the 4060ti and 10% to maybe 16% behind the 4070ti (though the 7800xt has a more future proof 16GB of vram).

And before I forget, just how many sata ssds do you plan to put in there, if it's more than 4 you might need to pick your motherboard more carefully.

If you went the AMD route I'd suggest considering the 7900 or 7900X 12 core parts, for gamers they aren't so interesting but with video editing in mind they are probably the best value. Of course putting one of those in throws the budget out of whack so you would be more in the 4060ti gpu league than the 7800xt, unless you go with no gpu for now in which case it's just about how much ram and ssd you get ;)

I've typed too much as usual but hopefully some useful food for thought to help you towards the right answer for you.

Coyler

You are not wrong @minitrue. I did focus more on gaming :) My logic was purely that the video editing would not be that taxing to any half decent machine and that unless your day is taken up with video editing, going beyond a 6/12 or 8/16 core/thread CPU is going to get you very limited returns.

If I was to argue for an Nvidia card, and there is good reason to especially for video editing, I'd go for the 4070 Super. But that is entirely up to your budget. And if you pick the GPU for the video editing a 6/12 CPU will be just fine.

https://www.techspot.com/bestof/gpu-24-25/

K.O.Kiki

Alternate AMD Ryzen build:

PCPartPicker Part List:

https://de.pcpartpicker.com/list/CWk7cH

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 5700X3D 3 GHz 8-Core Processor (€211.00) (Amazon UK)
CPU Cooler: Thermalright SI-100 72.37 CFM CPU Cooler (€26.00) (Amazon UK)
Motherboard: Gigabyte B550M AORUS ELITE Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard (€89.30 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3600 CL18 Memory (€52.90 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Video Card: Inno3D TWIN X2 OC WHITE GeForce RTX 4070 12 GB Video Card (€574.89 @ Caseking)
Power Supply: Fractal Design Ion Gold 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply (€101.68 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Total: €1055.77
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2024-09-27 12:16 CEST+0200

karltimber

Thank you folks and especially @minitrue , what a great reply. Some more details - the i7 has been great over the years with upgrades in ram, ssd's, gpu etc. But just struggles now with hobby 4k (gopro/drone) footage. Based on the above and not rushing into anything, I will wait til the Arrow-lake arrives, increase my spend and get a pc that will last, and do the jobs I want.

I will wait til the dust settles and see reviews etc, and either go Amd, Arrow or a 12th gen i7.

I am ex-intel, so will get a discount, which might help with the build cost :)

Thanks again folks, and will update when buying the gear.