Advice before I buy

[natsocky]

Hi guys!

I currently have a gaming PC though for a number of reasons I think it's time I upgrade.
My current PC has significant CPU bottleneck when I play FPS games and it's no fault of my own trying to upgrade when I taught myself with Youtube. I've recently realised that I'd need to upgrade my motherboard to be able to upgrade my CPU, which in turn would likely result in needing to upgrade my RAM to DDR5 too.
A whole conundrum which I am certainly not capable of sorting myself, so starting again seems like the much better option.
Nevertheless, I'll attach my current spec for anyone who is interested.

Things I do on my PC:
- Play games such as Call of Duty & GTA
- Use development software and practicing my coding/development skills
- Work related things which has low-impact (and boring) content such as word documents and research
- Usually always have Chrome open with a movie or something, or at least Spotify
- Discord open and in use religiously

This is the PC I've built and is in my basket.
(I've made the assumption that I will be able to install my current SSD's to this new PC)
I've checked a bottleneck calculator and all seems swell, though asking humans is certainly a much better and more reliable option.
Any suggestions/ideas would be greatly appreciated!

----------------------------------------

Case
CORSAIR 4000D AIRFLOW TEMPERED GLASS GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 9 9900X 12 Core CPU (4.4GHz-5.6GHz/76MB CACHE/AM5)
Motherboard
ASUS® ROG STRIX X870-F GAMING WIFI (AM5, DDR5, M.2 PCIe 5.0, Wi-Fi 7)
Memory (RAM)
64GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR5 4800MHz (4 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
16GB ZOTAC GEFORCE RTX 4070 Ti SUPER TRINITY BLACK EDITION - HDMI, 3 x DP
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB CORSAIR ELITE MP600 NVMe PCIe M.2 SSD (up to 7000 MB/R, 6200 MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 750W RMe SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
CORSAIR H60x RGB ELITE HIGH PERFORMANCE CPU COOLER
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
Extra Case Fans
3 x Corsair RS120 ARGB PWM Fan
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
ONBOARD 2.5Gbe LAN PORT
Wireless Network Card
NONE OR ONBOARD Wi-Fi (MOTHERBOARD DEPENDENT)
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Windows 11 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10/11 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Google Chrome™
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (6 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 5 to 7 working days
Price: £2,340.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am5-pc/2uc7VjFGEC/

 

[Ekans2011]

Hi guys!

I currently have a gaming PC though for a number of reasons I think it's time I upgrade.
My current PC has significant CPU bottleneck when I play FPS games and it's no fault of my own trying to upgrade when I taught myself with Youtube. I've recently realised that I'd need to upgrade my motherboard to be able to upgrade my CPU, which in turn would likely result in needing to upgrade my RAM to DDR5 too.
A whole conundrum which I am certainly not capable of sorting myself, so starting again seems like the much better option.
Nevertheless, I'll attach my current spec for anyone who is interested.

Things I do on my PC:
- Play games such as Call of Duty & GTA
- Use development software and practicing my coding/development skills
- Work related things which has low-impact (and boring) content such as word documents and research
- Usually always have Chrome open with a movie or something, or at least Spotify
- Discord open and in use religiously

This is the PC I've built and is in my basket.
(I've made the assumption that I will be able to install my current SSD's to this new PC)
I've checked a bottleneck calculator and all seems swell, though asking humans is certainly a much better and more reliable option.
Any suggestions/ideas would be greatly appreciated!

----------------------------------------

Case
CORSAIR 4000D AIRFLOW TEMPERED GLASS GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 9 9900X 12 Core CPU (4.4GHz-5.6GHz/76MB CACHE/AM5)
Motherboard
ASUS® ROG STRIX X870-F GAMING WIFI (AM5, DDR5, M.2 PCIe 5.0, Wi-Fi 7)
Memory (RAM)
64GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR5 4800MHz (4 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
16GB ZOTAC GEFORCE RTX 4070 Ti SUPER TRINITY BLACK EDITION - HDMI, 3 x DP
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB CORSAIR ELITE MP600 NVMe PCIe M.2 SSD (up to 7000 MB/R, 6200 MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 750W RMe SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
CORSAIR H60x RGB ELITE HIGH PERFORMANCE CPU COOLER
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
Extra Case Fans
3 x Corsair RS120 ARGB PWM Fan
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
ONBOARD 2.5Gbe LAN PORT
Wireless Network Card
NONE OR ONBOARD Wi-Fi (MOTHERBOARD DEPENDENT)
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Windows 11 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10/11 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Google Chrome™
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (6 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 5 to 7 working days
Price: £2,340.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am5-pc/2uc7VjFGEC/

What's your max budget and what monitor will you pair with it?

In my opinion, there are several adjustments that should be done in that build, however we cannot suggest anything without knowing the above details.

 

[TonyCarter]

The fastest CPU that could fit in your old platform is the 5800X3D, which would see a nice boost in MSFS, but is not in production anymore and difficult/expensive to get hold of. There is the 5700X3D, which is faster than the 5800X in gaming, but loses out in non-gaming workloads.

With high-FPS games, the bottleneck does tend to be the CPU, and that's where the X3D CPUs come in. So go for a 9800X3D if that's your priority...and if you need to save cash somewhere to afford that, then use your current GPU in this new build, and buy one of the newer, more powerful (at hopefully the same price) GPUs that come out next year (or later if you find your new PC with the 3080Ti performing well), as your 3080Ti is only sightly behind a 4070Ti that you were going to put in your new build.

There are more X3D CPUs coming out that will balance the gaming & productivity better (9900X3D, 9950X3D), but they're not here yet.

Your Samsung SSDs can be moved over, but I'm not sure if they're SATA or NVMe m.2 drives. If the former, then they'll only be useful for games storage, as they're 10-20x slower than current drives (500MB/s vs 5000-10000MB/s) we recommend for the OS, apps & games launchers.

But as Ekans2011 said above, there's lots in there that need to be changed to balance the components (RAM, case, PSU, cooler, etc.) and get you something that's suitable for upgrades for the next 5-10 years.

 

[Ekans2011]

Your Samsung SSDs can be moved over, but I'm not sure if they're SATA or NVMe m.2 drives.

Samsung 870 Evo are SATA SSDs.

Samsung 870 EVO SATA SSD | Samsung Semiconductor USA

Samsung 870 EVO achieves the maximum speed of SATA interface. Intelligent TurboWrite maintains long-term high performance. Available from 250GB to 4TB.

semiconductor.samsung.com

 

[natsocky]

What's your max budget and what monitor will you pair with it?

In my opinion, there are several adjustments that should be done in that build, however we cannot suggest anything without knowing the above details.

Sorry mate, I knew there was something I was forgetting!

I currently have 2 x MSI Optix G27C4
Don't really want to go over £2,500 if possible but there is leeway if it's worth it and it's not too much!

 

[natsocky]

The fastest CPU that could fit in your old platform is the 5800X3D, which would see a nice boost in MSFS, but is not in production anymore and difficult/expensive to get hold of. There is the 5700X3D, which is faster than the 5800X in gaming, but loses out in non-gaming workloads.

With high-FPS games, the bottleneck does tend to be the CPU, and that's where the X3D CPUs come in. So go for a 9800X3D if that's your priority...and if you need to save cash somewhere to afford that, then use your current GPU in this new build, and buy one of the newer, more powerful (at hopefully the same price) GPUs that come out next year (or later if you find your new PC with the 3080Ti performing well), as your 3080Ti is only sightly behind a 4070Ti that you were going to put in your new build.

There are more X3D CPUs coming out that will balance the gaming & productivity better (9900X3D, 9950X3D), but they're not here yet.

Your Samsung SSDs can be moved over, but I'm not sure if they're SATA or NVMe m.2 drives. If the former, then they'll only be useful for games storage, as they're 10-20x slower than current drives (500MB/s vs 5000-10000MB/s) we recommend for the OS, apps & games launchers.

But as Ekans2011 said above, there's lots in there that need to be changed to balance the components (RAM, case, PSU, cooler, etc.) and get you something that's suitable for upgrades for the next 5-10 years.

This is really helpful, thank you!
That's a good idea with transferring my GPU over - definitely something I would consider!
With Ekans confirming they are SATA SSDs, does this mean they would be okay?

 

[TonyCarter]

This is really helpful, thank you!
That's a good idea with transferring my GPU over - definitely something I would consider!
With Ekans confirming they are SATA SSDs, does this mean they would be okay?

Maybe as games storage/install drives as it will depend on the specific game as to whether they'd see any big advantage in start-up or asset loading. They will rarely offer more FPS, but may offer smoother FPS if the game has to delay loading textures/assets...and there are some newer games using something called 'Direct Storage' to grab the game data direct from the SSD instead of passing it through RAM.

What is Microsoft DirectStorage and how does it improve PC gaming? - Kingston Technology

Microsoft DirectStorage is touted to enhance PC gaming performance, but how? What does it do?

www.kingston.com

I've never done back-to-back tests between SATA SSDs and m.2 NVMe SSDs - so can't give you any examples...and even if I did, you may not consider 10 seconds extra in loading screens, or 10% longer start-up an issue

It's really the OS drive I'd more concerned about, as that's in use all the time, and having the games on a separate drive (SSD at a min, but m.2 version obviously better) keeps the primary drive from having to split it's bandwidth between the system and gaming access requests (especially as the system is always doing stuff in the background).

Couldn't find anything recent, but here's a comparison between HDD (150MB/s), SATA 6G SSD (500MB/s), gen3/PCIe3 NVMe m.2 SSD (3000MB/s) - and you've already seen the largest benefit of moving to SATA SSD from HDD...but we're on gen4/gen5 SSDs now (up to 14,000MB/s), however the benefits for loading are decreasing and there's next to no benefit in FPS/smoothness once you get to PCIe3 speeds.

 

[Ekans2011]

Sorry mate, I knew there was something I was forgetting!

I currently have 2 x MSI Optix G27C4
Don't really want to go over £2,500 if possible but there is leeway if it's worth it and it's not too much!

Here's what I'd recommend if you're transferring your current GPU, SSDs (for storage only), and OS license.

Case
CORSAIR iCUE 5000X RGB MID TOWER GAMING CASE - Larger case, fitted with three 120mm fans on the front
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D Eight Core CPU (Up to 5.2GHz/104MB w/3D V-CACHE/AM5) - New King of the hill for gaming
Motherboard
ASUS® ROG STRIX X870-F GAMING WIFI (AM5, DDR5, M.2 PCIe 5.0, Wi-Fi 7)
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR5 6000MHz (2 x 16GB) - I don't see the need for more, but if you think so pick the 2x32GB kit
Graphics Card
NONE, I ALREADY HAVE A GRAPHICS CARD - Add your 3080ti
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB SOLIDIGM P44 PRO GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 7000MB/sR, 4700MB/sW) - OS Drive
1st M.2 SSD Drive
4TB CORSAIR CORE XT MP600 NVMe PCIe M.2 SSD (up to 5000 MB/R, 4400 MB/W) - (Huge) Main drive
Power Supply
CORSAIR 1200W RMx SHIFT SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS GOLD, ULTRA QUIET - ATX 3.1, better efficiency at low loads, transient spikes protection and virtually unlimited room for future upgrades
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead, 1.0mm Core)
Processor Cooling
CORSAIR ICUE LINK H150i RGB HIGH PERFORMANCE CPU COOLER - Top 360mm AIO (better aesthetic than the 280mm)
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Extra Case Fans
3 x Corsair ICUE LINK RX120 RGB PWM Fan + Controller Kit - LINK-compatible fans (You'll need to correctly set up, else you'll actually reduce the airflow.)
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
ONBOARD 2.5Gbe LAN PORT
Wireless Network Card
NONE OR ONBOARD Wi-Fi (MOTHERBOARD DEPENDENT)
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
NO RECOVERY MEDIA REQUIRED
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Firefox™
Warranty
3 Year Gold Warranty (2 Year Collect & Return, 2 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 5 to 7 working days
Price: £1,992.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am5-pc/0P4E76dG8w/

 

[natsocky]

Maybe as games storage/install drives as it will depend on the specific game as to whether they'd see any big advantage in start-up or asset loading. They will rarely offer more FPS, but may offer smoother FPS if the game has to delay loading textures/assets...and there are some newer games using something called 'Direct Storage' to grab the game data direct from the SSD instead of passing it through RAM.

What is Microsoft DirectStorage and how does it improve PC gaming? - Kingston Technology

Microsoft DirectStorage is touted to enhance PC gaming performance, but how? What does it do?

www.kingston.com

I've never done back-to-back tests between SATA SSDs and m.2 NVMe SSDs - so can't give you any examples...and even if I did, you may not consider 10 seconds extra in loading screens, or 10% longer start-up an issue

It's really the OS drive I'd more concerned about, as that's in use all the time, and having the games on a separate drive (SSD at a min, but m.2 version obviously better) keeps the primary drive from having to split it's bandwidth between the system and gaming access requests (especially as the system is always doing stuff in the background).

Couldn't find anything recent, but here's a comparison between HDD (150MB/s), SATA 6G SSD (500MB/s), gen3/PCIe3 NVMe m.2 SSD (3000MB/s) - and you've already seen the largest benefit of moving to SATA SSD from HDD...but we're on gen4/gen5 SSDs now (up to 14,000MB/s), however the benefits for loading are decreasing and there's next to no benefit in FPS/smoothness once you get to PCIe3 speeds.

This has been really helpful - by the sound of it a full transfer to m.2 NVMe SSDs is the wiser decision!
I'd rather spend a bit more money and be happy with the rig, so thank you!

 

[natsocky]

This looks great, thank you so much!

Here's what I'd recommend if you're transferring your current GPU, SSDs (for storage only), and OS license.

In regard to the above where you said SSDs (for storage only), what else would they be used for?
Do you mean in regard to files instead of applications and games?
And then the 4TB m.2 to be used for applications and games?

Extra Case Fans
3 x Corsair ICUE LINK RX120 RGB PWM Fan + Controller Kit - LINK-compatible fans (You'll need to correctly set up, else you'll actually reduce the airflow.)

Correctly set up as in on ICUE?



Just to triple check - is all of the above compatible with my GPU? I've tried to confirm on the web but I'm getting conflicting answers.

 

[TonyCarter]

This has been really helpful - by the sound of it a full transfer to m.2 NVMe SSDs is the wiser decision!
I'd rather spend a bit more money and be happy with the rig, so thank you!

Well, that's more or less what Ekans2011 has configured, so yes.

No problem with using the SATA SSDs for other storage though - but be aware that SSDs (SATA or NVMe can fail without warning, so a good backup strategy is even more important).

The GPU is a simple plug & play with the rest of the components, the only difference would be if you have a 12VHPWR cable for the GPU as then you can reduce the amount of cables used (as each PCIe rail and cable can carry more power now). But to avoid mixing & matching cable types, ensure that you use the spare Type 5 Corsair cables that will come in your PCS Welcome Box (we don't know your old PSU, but if it's an ATX2.4 Corsair model it would be using Type 4, and if it's a different make then I've no idea).

 

[Ekans2011]

In regard to the above where you said SSDs (for storage only), what else would they be used for?
Do you mean in regard to files instead of applications and games?
And then the 4TB m.2 to be used for applications and games?

The 4TB Corsair will serve as your primary drive (games, programs, etc.), while the little P44 PRO will serve as your OS/App/Game launcher drive. I would do it this way, but that's just my opinion. You can use SATA for gaming as well if you don't mind a slower loading time or screen, but I personally wouldn't use them for that.

Correctly set up as in on ICUE?

I mean that you would need to adjust the speed of your intake and exhaust fans in order to achieve a slightly positive pressure airflow, which is, in my opinion, the ideal approach to keep your case always filled with cool, fresh air while also reducing the quantity of dust that enters.

Yes, you can use iCUE to control your case fans, AIO, and additional fans.