Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie
Good news everyone! The Boards.ie Subscription service is live. See here: https://subscriptions.boards.ie/

Gaming/software dev, around €2k

  • 27-05-2025 05:52PM
    #1
    Tar.Aldarion
    Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 60,119 Mod ✭✭✭✭


    Still running a system Inbuilt here 13 years ago with just an upgraded GPU!

    Set the store as Germany as more things are available.

    No real hard budget, but around €2k seems good as I've tried to add what I can see is good bang for buck, with some future proofing, and that's what it came out to. Open to other cases, this one just looks good.

    What do you think?

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

    CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D 4.7 GHz 8-Core Processor (€487.90 @ Amazon Deutschland)
    CPU Cooler: ARCTIC Freezer 36 CPU Cooler (€32.90 @ Alza)
    Motherboard: MSI B650 GAMING PLUS WIFI ATX AM5 Motherboard (€159.00 @ Amazon Deutschland)
    Memory: Patriot Venom 64 GB (2 x 32 GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 Memory (€184.90 @ Amazon Deutschland)
    Storage: Silicon Power UD90 4 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive (€219.99 @ Amazon Deutschland)
    Video Card: Asus PRIME OC Radeon RX 9070 XT 16 GB Video Card (€736.90 @ Alza)
    Case: Fractal Design North XL ATX Full Tower Case (€178.62 @ Amazon Deutschland)
    Power Supply: be quiet! Pure Power 12 M 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply (€134.90 @ Amazon Deutschland)
    Total: €2135.11
    Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
    Generated by PCPartPicker 2025-05-27 18:53 CEST+0200



Comments

  • #2
    Higgo84
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 119 ✭✭Higgo84


    Seems decent. Good CPU and GPU choice that's for sure.

    Only thing that stands out is the cooler but I know nothing about that particular one and it may actually be good it just seems really cheap.



  • #3
    Tar.Aldarion
    Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 60,119 Mod ✭✭✭✭Tar.Aldarion


    Cheers, yeah was choosing between that Frozn A620, Thermalright Phantom Spirit 120 or Thermalright Peerless Assassin as they were all cheap with great reviews, and Arctic have cooled my current cpu for 13 years for €15 haha. May change it if they look better.

    Might make the case cheaper, or choose a different psu/ram not looked too closely.

    Post edited by Tar.Aldarion on


  • #4
    K.O.Kiki
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 18,992 ✭✭✭✭K.O.Kiki


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058411676/gaming-software-dev-around-2k

    You're over-budget by going for the 9800X3D - a purely-gaming CPU. Lower it down to a 12-core Ryzen 9-7900 and you'll still get great performance, as well as an extra 4 cores for rendering.

    The 7900 (non-X) includes a Wraith Prism RGB. Alternatively, I recommend the Endorfy Fortis which is whisper-quiet at full load.

    Also (pet peeve) I do not like the Fractal North XL. It's big & bulky but doesn't have great compatibility, it's more expensive than it needs to be, it has known problems with fan noise that can't be overcome, and IMHO it's kinda ugly. I instead recommend something like the be quiet Pure Base 501, which comes with 2x 140mm silent fans.

    Now that your budget is freed up, get a better SSD. WD SN850x is one of the best, affordable 4TB models around.

    And you can increase PSU to a Platinum-certified model.

    PCPartPicker Part List: https://de.pcpartpicker.com/list/gTx9Qd

    CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 7900 3.6 GHz 12-Core Processor (€289.00 @ Amazon Deutschland)
    CPU Cooler: ENDORFY Fortis 5 CPU Cooler (€41.90 @ Amazon Deutschland)
    Motherboard: MSI B650 GAMING PLUS WIFI ATX AM5 Motherboard (€157.53 @ Amazon Deutschland)
    Memory: Patriot Venom 64 GB (2 x 32 GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 Memory (€184.90 @ Amazon Deutschland)
    Storage: Western Digital WD_Black SN850X 4 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive (€259.89 @ Amazon Deutschland)
    Video Card: Asus PRIME OC Radeon RX 9070 XT 16 GB Video Card (€758.90 @ Amazon Deutschland)
    Case: be quiet! Pure Base 501 Airflow ATX Mid Tower Case (€78.90 @ Amazon Deutschland)
    Power Supply: be quiet! Power Zone 2 850 W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply (€155.89 @ Caseking)
    Total: €1926.91
    Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
    Generated by PCPartPicker 2025-05-28 19:12 CEST+0200



  • #5
    minitrue
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 821 ✭✭✭minitrue


    It all depends quite a lot on just what sort of gaming and software development we are looking at here.

    I wouldn't argue against the 9800X3D for someone who stuck with their last system for 13 years with just a gpu upgrade. For some development work the X3D cache is actually useful, for others the extra cores of a 7900 are far more useful and for some the difference between either and even a 7600 (or worse) would be trivial. Only the OP likely knows what their workload might like and how much it's worth caring about. For gaming it depends on the types of games and the monitor if there's any arguments to be made about the cpu, if the budget is there the 9800X3D (hell if the budget is there a 9950X3D) is ok with a view to 10 years without a cpu upgrade ;)

    Similarly 64GB of ram is either a requirement for their dev work or overkill, dropping to 32GB could be sensible and then swapping it for 64GB (or 96GB or even 128GB) of DDR5-8000 down the road if it becomes needed could be "cheap".

    On the ram, if the OP is happy to tinker with it the 6400CL32 Patriot Venom ram can be about the same price and their cpu might run it at full speed in 1:1 mode. If they don't want to risk having to tinker with ram timings not to leave performance behind just sticking with 6000CL32 makes sense (unless they can confirm the 6400CL32 has a 6000CL30 expo/xmp profile which I'll admit I'm too lazy to look into).

    100% agreement with KOKiki on the ssd, the prior choice was cheap and massively underperforming compared to the likes of the SN850X, you can compare them on pcpartpicker to see . If 2TB works for now it could be a sensible way to save money with a view to adding a 4TB pci-e 5.0 ssd in a year or three by which time it's price premium will likely be minimal compared to now.

    My biggest query though here is the choice of motherboard. With a history of a 13 year old system with just a gpu upgrade I don't think getting a board limited to pci-e 4.0 is a great choice when there are boards, like the Gigabyte B850 Gaming Wifi6, for essentially the same price with a pci-e 5.0 16x primary slot. By the time OP decides to upgrade the gpu it could be a pci-e 6.0 card that wouldn't do so well in pci-e 4.0 slot.

    If the looks of the North XL have just won the OP's heart so much they don't care about anything else then just scaling down to the non-XL saves a decent chunk of money and space.

    Going the other way on the PSU a Corsair RM850e is another easy saving on offer from the Pure Power 12M.



  • #6
    Tar.Aldarion
    Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 60,119 Mod ✭✭✭✭Tar.Aldarion


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123494287#Comment_123494287

    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123494506#Comment_123494506

    Thanks guys for the detailed replies!! Really appreciate it. I've gone for the 9800x3d as yes I'll be slow to upgrade indeed, so think that is the one for me. I've also gotten remote resources to build my software now so I can use this just for gaming mostly.

    I'm pretty open on a lot of the parts. The Endorfy Fortis is interesting in that the fan turns off which is cool. I chose the arctic 36 as noise thermal normalised it is even quieter, apart from when that is off of course, and it is so cheap, but happy to go with Endorfy or something like the peerless assassin/phantom spirit A620/A720 as they all seem great and seem a breeze for this chip. The original choice was just the cheapest. I suppose if I want to OC it, that may change my choice too, that would lend towards the bigger towers.

    With the Fractal North XL, while I like the look, I do think it is too expensive for what it is, and the loudness problem looks annoying thanks. The Be Quiet! case looks like a nice basic good case that would get the job done. I also like the look of the newly released Lancool 217, which is a similar kind of vibe as the Fractal but cheaper and better, and the predecessors have the best thermals around.

    I originally chose the UD90 based on it being well reviewed, cheap and not really needing DRAM, but point taken, the speeds are drastically different for not much more, SN850X looks great. I am not sure if I'll get 2TB and wait or 4TB.

    Regarding the PSU, I was going for the cheapest 850w A/A+ rated PSU from the best made list I could find, which is more comprehensive that a simple rating like gold: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1akCHL7Vhzk_EhrpIGkz8zTEvYfLDcaSpZRB6Xt6JWkc/edit?gid=28105162#gid=28105162


    My choice is A rated, I could spend €2 more for a Montech that is A+ but it's out of stock, I'll revisit when buying. The ones you guys linked are B+ which I imagine is practically as good in reality so are probably good to go too and may be worth the respective initial savings/efficiency.

    64gb ram might be overkill right now, probably just plays into my laziness of not thinking about my pc once I put it together, but may be worth dropping to 32gb just to save some money and upgrade in future. The timings seem too insubstantial for my lazy ass to mess with. :) I too was told my current 8GB was overkill at the time but here we are in 2025 now being recommends 32gb for new builds.

    The motherboard, my thinking was I get a 2.5gb eth port vs 1gb but I think you are right and I'll get the Gigabyte B850, which will also save me flashing the bios to see the 9800x3d.



  • Advertisement
Advertisement