New Gaming PC Build - advice needed

davkav

Hi all,

It's a long long time since I've built a PC. Over 20 years ago I built a PC with an Athlon 2500+XP, and I am now looking to build a new one.

I haven't a clue about all the different specs of motherboards, CPU's etc. but I am slowly getting up to speed with what the go to components are.

I'm on my laptop all day (Dell XPS 13), and I have an Xbox Series X here that I use for gaming. I'd like to replace the two for a new built PC. The PC would have to perform better than the Xbox, otherwise the exercise is pretty pointless.

I'd also like to have enough horsepower for Fusion360 and Bambu Labs slicer to run more efficiently. The laptop does the job, but it can be very slow at times.

Current games of choice are CoD, Cyberpunk, Halo, Forza Motorsport. I'd like to get into Assetto Corsa on the PC also as we have a basic driving sim rig here too. Maybe even connect up the Meta Quest 3 and try some VR driving….

Budget is roughly €1500. I'm not 100% tied to it however, as I'd like to build something that is good value for money, and will be somewhat future proof for the next 5 years or so.

With that in mind, I am also open to building a PC and just using the onboard gfx for the time being, and then upgrade to a dedicated GPU when I can set more money aside for it. I've also read that there are new GPU's being announced soon, so best to wait and see how that affects prices of current models.

This is what I have come up with so far. I wouldn't mind getting a smaller case like an Ncased M2 Grater and mini-itx, but not sure it is worth the extra expense. I'll probably mount the PC on the wall behind my desk, so it doesn't have to look too pretty.

Any thoughts, recommendations are greatly appreciated.

PCPartPicker Part List

Type|Item|Price
:----|:----|:----
CPU | AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D 4.2 GHz 8-Core Processor | €492.82 @ Galaxus
CPU Cooler | Noctua NH-D12L 60.09 CFM CPU Cooler | €99.90 @ Amazon Deutschland
Motherboard | Gigabyte B650 GAMING X AX V2 ATX AM5 Motherboard | €164.00 @ Amazon Deutschland
Memory | Corsair Vengeance 64 GB (2 x 32 GB) DDR5-5200 CL40 Memory | €163.86 @ Amazon Deutschland
Storage | Kingston NV2 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive | €68.59 @ Amazon Deutschland
Case | Corsair 4000D Airflow ATX Mid Tower Case | €84.90 @ Amazon Deutschland
Power Supply | Corsair SF750 (2024) 750 W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully Modular SFX Power Supply | €154.90 @ Amazon Deutschland
Operating System | Microsoft Windows 11 Pro OEM - DVD 64-bit | €159.14 @ Senetic
| Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts |
| Total | €1388.11
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2025-02-11 15:55 CET+0100 |

K.O.Kiki

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058395787/new-gaming-pc-build-advice-needed

PCPartPicker Part List: https://de.pcpartpicker.com/list/kM7qPJ

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D 4.7 GHz 8-Core Processor (€573.87 @ Caseking)
CPU Cooler: Thermalright Royal Knight 120 80.45 CFM CPU Cooler (€40.90 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Motherboard: Gigabyte B650 GAMING X AX V2 ATX AM5 Motherboard (€164.00 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Memory: Patriot Venom 64 GB (2 x 32 GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 Memory (€184.90 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Storage: TEAMGROUP MP33 PRO 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 3.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive (€101.90 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Case: Fractal Design Focus 2 ATX Mid Tower Case (€59.90 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Power Supply: Corsair RM850e (2023) 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply (€137.56 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Total: €1263.03
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2025-02-11 16:18 CET+0100

• CPU Cooler: Noctua is overpriced. Save money with a Thermalright.
• RAM: Get 6000-CL30 for same price.
• Storage: Get 2TB SSD for better performance and price/GB
• Case: Fractal Focus 2 has 2x 140mm PWM fans included. No USB-C though, consider be quiet! Pure Base 501 Airflow.
• Power Supply: Corsair SF750 is for small cases, its cables will be too short. RM850e is a better fit.
• That saves you enough money to get a Ryzen 9800X3D instead of 7800X3D.

Alternately: PCPartPicker Part List: https://de.pcpartpicker.com/list/sQbfnp

CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 7900 3.6 GHz 12-Core Processor (€357.90 @ Caseking)
Motherboard: Gigabyte B650 GAMING X AX V2 ATX AM5 Motherboard (€164.00 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Memory: Patriot Venom 64 GB (2 x 32 GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 Memory (€184.90 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Storage: TEAMGROUP MP33 PRO 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 3.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive (€101.90 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Video Card: Sapphire PULSE Radeon RX 7800 XT 16 GB Video Card (€503.58 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Case: Fractal Design Focus 2 ATX Mid Tower Case (€59.90 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Power Supply: Corsair RM850e (2023) 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply (€137.56 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Total: €1509.74
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2025-02-11 16:27 CET+0100

Drop CPU to Ryzen 9 7900, use its included cooler (Wraith Max).

Enough money for RX 7800 XT.

Windows keys can be bought online for 5-10 eur.

Don't forget that new GPUs are coming this month (Nvidia RTX 5070 / 5070 Ti & AMD RX 9070 / 9070 XT).

davkav

That's excellent feedback, thank you very much!

I'd nearly stretch to the 9800X3D then, and then come back to the gfx card.

On the graphics cards, this is where I struggle the most to find what I should be aiming for. Given my list of games above, what would be the recommended spec? I don't need cutting edge.

davkav

Just to feed back into this, I've ordered the following on Amazon DE:

Component	Model	Price
CPU	9800X3D	€ 556.00
MB	ASUS ROG STRIX B650E-F	€ 225.00
RAM	Gskill Trident Z5	€ 123.00
Storage	WD_BLACK SN850X	€ 152.00
PSU	RM850e	€ 132.00
Case	Corsair 4000D	€ 101.00
CPOU Cooler	Thermalright Frozen Notte	€ 57.00
		€ 1,346.00

My plan is to then buy a Gigabyte Radeon RX 7800 XT Gaming OC 16GB. They are nearly snapped up as soon as they come in to stock on Amazon, so I will keep an eye out.

I've gone a bit over my budget, but I'd rather spend the extra on each component to make it as 'future proof' as possible.

Ozymandius2011

I've just built a PC for the first time, though I already had experience with upgrading Graphics Cards over the past 23 years.

Some things I learned that might be helpful:

Some cases come with RGB fans that light up the fans (mine does). It took me weeks to figure out where they are connected on the motherboard. I would advise looking up a map of whatever motherboard you are using to find where they go. Also, my case (a MAG FORGE 100R) had an RGB controller at the back to control the colours of the light animations. Theres a reset button on the outside case and you need to plug in the cables with "LED" on them into a 9 pin socket on the motherboard (on mine its on the bottom right) for the reset button for the fan lights to work.

Some case fans cables are 3 hole (including mine) while some motherboards have 4 pins for the fans. I found out its ok to plug the 3-hole cables into the 4-pin sockets on the motherboard. However, one of the pins at the end is redundant by design, so you need to make sure you plug it into the correct pins. One of my 4 system fans was not working until I realised I might have plugged into a redundant pin. When I connected it to include an unused pin the fan worked.

If you use 3 hole fan cables in a 4 pin mother board socket, the fans will still run, but they will be powered by Voltage instead of Wattage.

For above, when I say the 3 hole cables, I dont mean the cables with 3 holes that have a space after the second hole. Those are ARGB cables and should be plugged into the cable or the RGB controller that has 3 pins but a bigger space between the second pin and the third one. Ive read that if you plug an ARGB cable into the System fan socket on the motherboard it can damage it.

Regarding RGB Controllers. Some cases have them at the back as a little circuit board. If your case doesnt, you can buy one. Corsair makes them.

K.O.Kiki

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123392826#Comment_123392826

Minor correction:

Case fans go into PWM fan headers.
The 4th pin is not redundant, but actually the "pulse width modulation" which allows the motherboard to directly control fan speed of such fans.

3-pin fans run at a set 12V but some motherboards can try to run them slower by putting less voltage into them, e.g. run at 6V (half-power/speed).

Ozymandius2011

Thanks for clarifying that K.O. Kiki. I have experience with changing graphics cards over the last 20 years. I kept a PC going from 2013-21 by doing that but eventually it was clear my motherboard was the problem so I bought a new PC. But 2025 is my first full PC build. I've learned a lot.