So It's been 6 years since I last upgraded my PC (FWIW -> i7-4790K / 32Gb / GTX980 / Asus Sabertooth Z87).
My main use is hobbiest FPGA code development for retro emulation, using free toolsets (don't really allow use of multi core, that's a $$$ option), so fast CPU and disk are important. I also do a little gaming over my 3 monitors. My current setup is perfectly OK, but would be nice to move to 4k monitors in the near future.
It's time to upgrade again. So as soon as I started looking I was shocked at the lack of availability of high end GPUs. So it appears that the only way to get a GPU is to order a custom built PC, otherwise it could be a long wait. I have always built my own PCs to spec and have had fun choosing parts. After 6 years everything has changed and I have to learn about PCs all over again
.
There is lots of choice, but I have decided to go back to AMD (I last used their CPUs in the 90's). A Threadripper is probably over the top, so a Ryzen 9 seems a good choice. One thing I am now baffled about is what memory speed DDR4 do I need? As far as I can tell the Ryzen 7 and 9 need 3200MHz. The question is, is there any benefit to getting 3600MHz. Can the memory interface be overclocked (a little) using faster memory to get a few percent boost? Would the 3600 more likely to work than 3200? I would appreciate any clarity. I've searched YouTube for videos, but surprisingly I haven't found a clear explaination.
The next headache of choice is motherboard. I normally play with overclocking when I first get a system (for fun), then set it back to 100% stock when I start using it normally. There is also the issue of chipsets. As far as I can tell X570 is the latest and I simply assumed this was therefore the best choice. There seems to be a limited choice of motherboards, but I've often used Asus in the past, hence my choice. I have chosen a fast PCIe4 M2 for fast disk I/O. So together with a GTX3080 do the number of PCIe4 lanes match up?
The next issue is choice of case. Again I have watched YouTube videos, but the unusual form factor of the CORSAIR CRYSTAL SERIES 680X RGB GAMING CASE (cut and pasted hence the caps!) works well for where the PC will be situated. My current case is a Phanteks and my CPU and GPU are water cooled (pump and reservoir). At a later date I will want to water cool the CPU and GPU (once the warrently has expired!) and it does appear that this case has enough space for a radiator or two! I did really want the Phanteks Enthoo 917, but I can re-visit this in a year or so.
Any advice or comments (any type ) would be appreciated.
NOTE: I've never bought from PCSpecialist, but 1) their web interface makes choosing pretty easy 2) they seem to have a good selection of high end parts.
NOTE: I am aware that my choice of CPU and GPU will delay delivery by an unknown length of time .
Case
CORSAIR CRYSTAL SERIES 680X RGB GAMING CASE
Overclocked CPU
Overclocked AMD Ryzen 9 5900X 12 Core (3.7GHz @ up to 4.7GHz)
Motherboard
ASUS® ROG STRIX X570-F GAMING (USB 3.2 Gen 2, PCIe 4.0) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
64GB Corsair VENGEANCE RGB PRO DDR4 3200MHz (4 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
10GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3080 - HDMI, DP
1st Storage Drive
2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 256MB CACHE
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SAMSUNG 980 PRO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 6900MB/R, 5000MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 850W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Braided Power Supply Cables
CORSAIR Premium Individually Sleeved PSU Cable Kit Pro - Red
Processor Cooling
Corsair H60 2018 Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)
Wireless Network Card
WIRELESS 802.11N 300Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KUK-00001]
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Supplied on USB Drive
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 10 to 12 working days
Welcome Book
PCSpecialist Welcome Book - United Kingdom & Republic of Ireland
Price: £2,957.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-overclocked/vQnhcAUQcz/
My main use is hobbiest FPGA code development for retro emulation, using free toolsets (don't really allow use of multi core, that's a $$$ option), so fast CPU and disk are important. I also do a little gaming over my 3 monitors. My current setup is perfectly OK, but would be nice to move to 4k monitors in the near future.
It's time to upgrade again. So as soon as I started looking I was shocked at the lack of availability of high end GPUs. So it appears that the only way to get a GPU is to order a custom built PC, otherwise it could be a long wait. I have always built my own PCs to spec and have had fun choosing parts. After 6 years everything has changed and I have to learn about PCs all over again
.There is lots of choice, but I have decided to go back to AMD (I last used their CPUs in the 90's). A Threadripper is probably over the top, so a Ryzen 9 seems a good choice. One thing I am now baffled about is what memory speed DDR4 do I need? As far as I can tell the Ryzen 7 and 9 need 3200MHz. The question is, is there any benefit to getting 3600MHz. Can the memory interface be overclocked (a little) using faster memory to get a few percent boost? Would the 3600 more likely to work than 3200? I would appreciate any clarity. I've searched YouTube for videos, but surprisingly I haven't found a clear explaination.
The next headache of choice is motherboard. I normally play with overclocking when I first get a system (for fun), then set it back to 100% stock when I start using it normally. There is also the issue of chipsets. As far as I can tell X570 is the latest and I simply assumed this was therefore the best choice. There seems to be a limited choice of motherboards, but I've often used Asus in the past, hence my choice. I have chosen a fast PCIe4 M2 for fast disk I/O. So together with a GTX3080 do the number of PCIe4 lanes match up?
The next issue is choice of case. Again I have watched YouTube videos, but the unusual form factor of the CORSAIR CRYSTAL SERIES 680X RGB GAMING CASE (cut and pasted hence the caps!) works well for where the PC will be situated. My current case is a Phanteks and my CPU and GPU are water cooled (pump and reservoir). At a later date I will want to water cool the CPU and GPU (once the warrently has expired!) and it does appear that this case has enough space for a radiator or two! I did really want the Phanteks Enthoo 917, but I can re-visit this in a year or so.
Any advice or comments (any type
) would be appreciated.NOTE: I've never bought from PCSpecialist, but 1) their web interface makes choosing pretty easy 2) they seem to have a good selection of high end parts.
NOTE: I am aware that my choice of CPU and GPU will delay delivery by an unknown length of time
.Case
CORSAIR CRYSTAL SERIES 680X RGB GAMING CASE
Overclocked CPU
Overclocked AMD Ryzen 9 5900X 12 Core (3.7GHz @ up to 4.7GHz)
Motherboard
ASUS® ROG STRIX X570-F GAMING (USB 3.2 Gen 2, PCIe 4.0) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
64GB Corsair VENGEANCE RGB PRO DDR4 3200MHz (4 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
10GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3080 - HDMI, DP
1st Storage Drive
2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 256MB CACHE
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SAMSUNG 980 PRO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 6900MB/R, 5000MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 850W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Braided Power Supply Cables
CORSAIR Premium Individually Sleeved PSU Cable Kit Pro - Red
Processor Cooling
Corsair H60 2018 Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)
Wireless Network Card
WIRELESS 802.11N 300Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KUK-00001]
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Supplied on USB Drive
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 10 to 12 working days
Welcome Book
PCSpecialist Welcome Book - United Kingdom & Republic of Ireland
Price: £2,957.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-overclocked/vQnhcAUQcz/
