My 5 year old notebook is starting to show it’s age, so I want to finally build a “real” PC. I rarely play games, so this is probably overkill - But I don’t want my PC to be what’s stopping me. I also expect it to last a while.
I chose all AMD because I’m running linux, and AMD seems to still be the best choice for that.
I found a couple similar posts on which I based this list, so most of the parts are probably fine. I’m unsure about the cooler: How much headroom should I leave? This one is rated just 10W higher than the CPU TDP, so it might be cutting it too close.
| Type | Item | Price |
|---|---|---|
| CPU | AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D 4.2 GHz 8-Core Processor | €385.00 |
| CPU Cooler | be quiet! Pure Rock Slim 2 CPU Cooler | €23.94 |
| Motherboard | MSI B650 GAMING PLUS WIFI ATX AM5 Motherboard | €160.24 |
| Memory | G.Skill Flare X5 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 Memory | €99.89 |
| Storage | Crucial P2 500 GB M.2-2280 PCIe 3.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive | Purchased For €0.00 |
| Video Card | ASRock Challenger OC Radeon RX 7600 8 GB Video Card | €255.00 |
| Case | MSI MAG FORGE 110R ATX Mid Tower Case | €54.85 |
| Power Supply | Gigabyte UD750GM 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply | €75.43 |
| Case Fan | be quiet! Pure Wings 3 49.9 CFM 120 mm Fan | €9.32 |
| Case Fan | be quiet! Pure Wings 3 49.9 CFM 120 mm Fan | €9.32 |
| Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts | ||
| Total | €1072.99 | |
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2024-09-04 20:37 CEST+0200 |
Since you’re rarely playing Games, you might want to consider the Ryzen 7700X or 7900 (No X).
The 7700X gives you 10 to 20% higher computing performance with its higher clockspeeds, uses about 10% less power while still offering decent gaming performance comparable to a 5800X3D. All at a proicepoint about €100 lower than the 7800X3D
The 7900 gives you about 40 to 60% higher computing performance due to having higher clockspeeds and four additional cores, is just a touch weaker in games than the 7700X whilst using just about half the Power of a 7800X3D and costing you €50-60 less.
You could either pocket the savings or upgrade one or two of your other parts, a few recommendations being:
Case - Fractal Design Meshify C ~€100
Power supply - be quiet! Pure Power 12 M 850W ATX 3.0 ~€125
Additional Storage - Kingston KC3000 1TB ~€80
Cooler - be quiet! Shadow Rock 3 ~€50
Mainboard - Gigabyte Aorus Elite AX ~€215
Right, I guess I assumed CPU naming makes sense, so surely the lower number CPU must be worse in every way, right?😜
Looks like going with the 7700X is a no-brainer for me then.
As for your upgrade recommendations: Can you explain the benefits of a higher-end mainboard? I would think the mainboard shouldn’t make a huge difference, as long as it’s from a reputable manufacturer and compatible with all the other parts.
Thanks for your help!
Higher end mainboards can (but not necessarily always do) offer you a few things, like better energy management resulting in a more stable and efficient system or the headroom to overclock. In this case you’d also get the next tier of current AMD chipsets, the X670, which offers more PCIe 4.0 lanes, a M2 slot with a PCIe 5.0 x4 connection and double the possible USB-C 10 Gbps and 20 Gbps connectors. Depending on what your priorities are, you might also consider a board with a B650E chipset in the Same price range, which gives you everything the B650 has but additionally has one M2 PCIe 5.0 slot and upgrades your PCIe x16 slot to 5.0 aswell, which the X670 sacrifices for the additional capacity in USB-C
Thanks for breaking it down for me! I think I’ll stick with the B650 motherboard for now.