Help me build my PC: 2024 Catch-All

fangblackbone wrote:

So another hit to GPU prices is imminent, at least for used prices for high end cards.
As I speculated just a few days ago, Nvidia was in holding pattern trying to weather the mining crash or pass the buck for as long as possible. Well their comeuppance is here.

Used FE 3080's are listing for $500
Used 3070's and 3070ti's are competing with each other in the low $400's

The new that Nvidia was trying to cut orders last week is just starting to have an effect at the same time as the mining dump is starting.

So if Nvidia finally relents even $50 drops for new gpus, AMD won't be much more than a week behind. The 6600 probably can't go much below $250 but the 6600 xt is trending towards $300. That is essentially getting 2080 Super performance for $300.

Yep, I'm even considering aiming for the 6650XT now, with some luck and a well-timed flash deal I may go for it.

Sick of the heat coming off your PC heating up your room? Exhaust it. This is a bit extreme but it does demonstrate how cool the LTT lab is these days.

Hi All First time posting in this thread!

I usually upgrade my PCs (i.e - buy a new one) once every 8 years or so, and my current rig, while still serviceable was bought in 2014 and is getting a little long in the tooth.

Due to some changes at work, I have a pot of cash that is considerably more generous than I was expecting and I have a bigger budget to play with than I was expecting - to be honest, I wasn't expecting to have anything to play with at all!

The proviso - which might make this unsuitable for this thread, I don't know - is that I'm not looking to build it myself, but custom spec it and get it built for me. I have neither the time or inclination to do it myself, although I have done so in the past.

As I'm UK based I'm not sure how much the users here will know of this company, but when I done this before I usually these people to do it - PCSpecialist. I've always found them to be a good quality build and they've always been extremely helpful if problems do arise.

Unless someone has another good suggestion then I'll probably use them again.

However, the real question is what to get for my budget. I have about £2000 (roughly $2400, the exchange rate is pants at the moment) to play with (I did say generous). I have Keyboard, monitor(s), mouse etc, all I need is the PC part. I also have a 1TB HDD and a 1TD SSD I use in my current rig that will be migrated across (Mostly my games, photos and videos) so I could potentially skimp a little there, although with Baldurs Gate 3 already coming in at over 100GB, maybe that won't last long!

With that in mind, and because you are all lovely people, what would you be getting with that sort of budget? In my head my hard limits are 32GB RAM and at least a GTX3070. I think my questions are more around what sort of CPU and Motherboard? And are AMD Rzyen really worth considering? It's been a while since I've done this!

All and any help would be much appreciated.

Sorbicol wrote:

Hi All First time posting in this thread!

I usually upgrade my PCs (i.e - buy a new one) once every 8 years or so, and my current rig, while still serviceable was bought in 2014 and is getting a little long in the tooth.

Due to some changes at work, I have a pot of cash that is considerably more generous than I was expecting and I have a bigger budget to play with than I was expecting - to be honest, I wasn't expecting to have anything to play with at all!

The proviso - which might make this unsuitable for this thread, I don't know - is that I'm not looking to build it myself, but custom spec it and get it built for me. I have neither the time or inclination to do it myself, although I have done so in the past.

As I'm UK based I'm not sure how much the users here will know of this company, but when I done this before I usually these people to do it - PCSpecialist. I've always found them to be a good quality build and they've always been extremely helpful if problems do arise.

Unless someone has another good suggestion then I'll probably use them again.

However, the real question is what to get for my budget. I have about £2000 (roughly $2400, the exchange rate is pants at the moment) to play with (I did say generous). I have Keyboard, monitor(s), mouse etc, all I need is the PC part. I also have a 1TB HDD and a 1TD SSD I use in my current rig that will be migrated across (Mostly my games, photos and videos) so I could potentially skimp a little there, although with Baldurs Gate 3 already coming in at over 100GB, maybe that won't last long!

With that in mind, and because you are all lovely people, what would you be getting with that sort of budget? In my head my hard limits are 32GB RAM and at least a GTX3070. I think my questions are more around what sort of CPU and Motherboard? And are AMD Rzyen really worth considering? It's been a while since I've done this!

All and any help would be much appreciated.

Here! Sorbicol's Mouse-Picked List

Some other folks may offer more insight into what you may need, but for your budget I'd say this is a solid base. Not knowing much about what use other than gaming you give your build I suggest future-proofing RAM with 64 gb. If you dabble into creative graphic/video tasks you'll appreciate the extra head room, as well as the 4tb HDD for archiving work files and all unplayed games you intend to play later on but don't want to download again.

I think you can export the list or share it directly with that site you use, or you can make your own list using PCP. Good luck with the build!

Edit: The list is public now, tee-hee!

First, you should easily be able to get a 5800X3D + a 3070 system for $2000. Fast SSDs last time I checked were $100 per TB maybe $120 per TB.

Right now a 6700 xt is slightly worse that a 3070 but goes for $450 new. That is $100+ lower than 3070's currently which could easily net you $$$ to spend on a larger SSD. The reason I mention it is that card could hold you over easily for the next year to see how things shake out with next gen graphics.

To give everyone an example of the bind Nvidia is in:
Their current gen is all still $75-100 over MSRP. Everyone speculates that they will want to further inflate prices for next gen but:
3090ti are listing for $1500-1600 new and $900 used
3090 are $1200-1300 and $850
3080ti are $950 and $750-800
3080 are $800 and $550-600
3070 are $580 and $450
3060ti are $500 and $375

If 4090's come in at worst case scenario $2000 that would push 4080 to $1500-1600 which would push the 3090ti down even more because the 4080 should be ~35% faster. But we can bump each card down a tier:
3090 are less than $1000
3080 are $600
3070 are $500 (current MSRP)
3060ti are $400 (current MSRP)

The problem then becomes used GPUs. Why would someone buy a new 3070 when they used 3080 for not much more? Again, this is consumer's worst case scenario of Nvidia bumping next gen MSRPs combined with the used market as it stands today. If Nvidia still very much price gouges a 4090 at $1600, things get way more muddied and the pricing trickle down becomes more of an avalanche.

But there is more because this doesn't take into account AMD. It also has next gen pricing to consider, its current gen is all below MSRP new, and it also has a used market. And as we get further into next year, the 4070 and 4060 will come into play. Now is not the time to be jaded and give in to current gouging.

With vidcard prices finally coming back to normal, its Just about time for my upgrade...

What is everyone's thoughts on the below.

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/Rxfwqm

My min spec is an Nvidia 3080, 32GB RAM, and an intel CPU. Cooling and a case (which I don't even have) is something I still knno little about. Noise > maximizing cooling, so AIO liquid preferred. I don't plan on OC'ing, so any reommendations there would be welcome.

Primary purpose is games, but the game I need to optimize for are flight sims which are CPU/RAM intensive.

Budget is flexible, but good value is important. If there's a way to save $100 bucks to get a 0%-5% improvement somewhere I'll take it.. similarly if there's a way to spend $100-$200 more to get 10%+ improvement I'll certainly consider it.

I would say pull the trigger on everything except for the 3080.
If you can hold off a month, the Nvidia gpus have a lot of room to fall.

fangblackbone wrote:

If 4090's come in at worst case scenario $2000 that would push 4080 to $1500-1600 which would push the 3090ti down even more because the 4080 should be ~35% faster. But we can bump each card down a tier:
3090 are less than $1000
3080 are $600
3070 are $500 (current MSRP)
3060ti are $400 (current MSRP)

The rumor is the 4090 will MSRP at around $3000 and NVidia is stopping production of the 30xx series cards (3080 12GB is already out of production) to try to keep the prices up. The only chance that doesn't happen is if we get good competition.

If Nvidia tries that, RDNA3 and the used market will annihilate them.
Sure, they will sell to the professionals that use cuda cores and gpu rendering but that market isn't that big.
Also, you will be able to buy 2 3090's for $1000 or less by that point and pocket the $1000 difference. And that is even if they stop producing rtx 3000's. (there are still rumored to be warehouses of ampere stock)
Also, just because Nvidia may be stopping production on rtx 3000, it doesn't mean AMD will also follow suit.

They might be more successful pricing the eventual 4090ti at that price...

Don't worry, Intel Arc is coming to save us allhahahahahah

Its such a shame because it could have been a nice mid to low range product.
Now it is like, it exists and could ship but may not because its been rendered insignificant.
A $400 3070 competitor means nothing if that price point is flooded with new and used products from AMD and Nvidia.

For gaming, Intel 12700k is recommended now over Ryzen 5800X3D?

I need a mini ITX build for my desk with my 3080Ti

No. It depends on what you've got and what your budget is.

If you already have older gen or weaker AM4, then getting ryzen 5000 is an easy upgrade.

If you can hold on, next gen is around the corner. So if you really want that 12700k, it will be cheaper or you might be able to get a 12900k for similar price.

Also, the 12700k is strong in its class, but AMD responded with a whole slew of ryzen 5000 chips to fill gaps in their line up.

I found this hardware unboxed video touting the 12700 over the 5800x at launch.
But since then the price of the 5800x is significantly less: $300 vs $380
Also the 5900x is only $10 more than the 12700k at $390

fangblackbone wrote:

I found this hardware unboxed video touting the 12700 over the 5800x at launch.
But since then the price of the 5800x is significantly less: $300 vs $380
Also the 5900x is only $10 more than the 12700k at $390

Thanks Fang.

How long until the new ones come out? I can probably wait. Just saw the Ryzen 5800X3D and looks cool.

The 5800X3D is awesome. However, the world knows it so it is hard to find in stock and has a premium $$$ associated. ($440)

Next gen intel has been delayed I believe until December or next year. It was supposed to come out this fall.
Next gen ryzen is still on track for this fall. Next gen ryzen is supposed to be nuts with increases in core counts across the lineup. Also clocks up to 5.5 ghz

You think I should wait for the next gen Ryzen or get the 5800x3D?

My pc is really only used for gaming.

Between the poor power efficiency and especially the drama around the poor mounting pressure due to Intel cheaping out and re-using the same ILM from past CPUs, I'm not touching 12th gen Intel with a ten foot pole in any of my builds. Maybe in a lower-end build where there's enough headroom to eat these shortcomings.

Hopefully Raptor Lake gets an ILM actually made for the needs of the CPU architecture, and the supposed power efficiency improvements materialize.

No pricing for ARC yet except for the A380 for $129.
But Linus said that they are pricing based on their poorest performance tier. ARC hopes to fix poor performance in older titles but is pricing according to that performance rather than their cherry picked high performing games.
If they price the A770 at $300 for a 3060ti competitor with sh*t performance in older games that they may or may not fix for a while, it sorta sounds appealing? MSRP of a 3060ti is $400, it currently goes for $520 and its competitor the 6700xt is $460 right now

The idea of the card being priced competitively around its baseline DX11 and below performance, while having performance bonuses on top in DX12/Vulkan games that add to the value proposition... it's certainly appealing, but I have to see it in practice.

As someone currently rebuilding their home server, though, the bit that jumped out to me the most is how good the media encoder supposedly is. Hardware AV1 encoding might be a compelling enough feature for me to throw a cheap 3-series card into that server.

Yeah. There is a lot of buzz about the ARC encoder.

Another thought is my god, if they are lying about the baseline dx9 or dx11 performance, how much lower can you get than ~half?
Also, they list 16gb and 8gb versions of the A770...

fangblackbone wrote:

Another thought is my god, if they are lying about the baseline dx9 or dx11 performance, how much lower can you get than ~half?

Really drives home how much of the heavy lifting was being done on the driver side with those legacy APIs, doesn't it? Man, do I not miss the pre-Vulkan world. Delivering the platform agnostic 3D API glory that OpenGL never could.

Standards are good I guess? ;P

*Legion* wrote:

Between the poor power efficiency and especially the drama around the poor mounting pressure due to Intel cheaping out and re-using the same ILM from past CPUs, I'm not touching 12th gen Intel with a ten foot pole in any of my builds. Maybe in a lower-end build where there's enough headroom to eat these shortcomings.

This is where I'm at too. The performance is pretty great initially but the fact that they start physically warping and causing contact problems is just so far beyond acceptable I don't understand how people are justifying buying the stupid things.

I'm counting my blessings that I didn't wait till this year to buy a new system, and so I have an 11th gen. I think my son's system has a 12th but it's not heavily used (not on all day).

I was unaware of the warping issues with the 12th gen Intel CPUs, so I think I will either stick with AMD for a new build or wait until Intel qc addresses the issue sufficiently.

Yay. I was finally able to get a new EVGA RTX 3080 FTW plain and simple for not a ridiculous price straight from EVGA through Amazon. Feels a little silly since they've been around for years, but I'm upgrading from a 1080. I have a 40 something inch fancy LG OLED monitor that I can finally take advantage of with HDR, 4K 120Hz, and Variable Refresh Rate. I know I'm going to hurt a bit at 4K with the 3080 in many games and will have to make compromises. I'm excited to finally try out DLSS to see if that goes for a happy medium.

It didn't make any sense to me to get the 12 GB 3080, 3080 TI, or any of the 3090s given how much the price goes up and the fact that there will probably be a 4080 card coming out sometime soon. I don't get to play games too much, so I really just wanted to get a nice baseline finally. I should have tried a little harder to get a 3080 right when they came out...

I was considering upgrading my ageing Plex server (i3-4010 NUC) with a new i3 but now I’m not so sure after all this negative press around the 12th gen. I’d like it to last a few years, have low idle power consumption, and run cool and quiet. Maybe 11th gen i3? I think I can still source some of those.

Again, AMD recently released some budget ryzen 5000 cpus. (apus too)
https://www.pcgamer.com/amd-finally-...

Well, checked out some Cyberpunk with the new 3080. DLSS is a pretty amazing way to comprise resolution vs all the pretty things.