Advice for build with future GPU upgradability in mind

[BendyG]

Having made every mistake possible with my last build (cannot upgrade it at this point), I'm looking for my next PC to have a really strong base. I'm aiming to have my PSU, motherboard, processor and RAM last for many years, as well as have a lot of storage. The key thing is I want to be able to upgrade the GPU further down the line, hypothetically with the RTX5000 series. For now, the 3080 will meet my needs. The processor and RAM go beyond what I need at the moment, but realistically the only thing I'd be capable of upgrading is the GPU. I guess in essence I'm trying to futureproof everything except the GPU itself (though I guess futureproofing is a bit daft to chase, sometimes)

My biggest concern is whether a future graphics card will actually fit in the case, or even exceed the 1000w PSU. I also had to change the processor cooling (not sure if what I've selected is appropriate). Also unsure on the motherboard (whether to select the 'Hero' range). I did want Windows 10, but read that Windows 11 is far better with 12th Gen plus CPUs?

Here's the specs, it's very different to the original specs as I had lots of size/case and compatibility issues:

Case
COOLERMASTER MASTERBOX NR600P MID TOWER CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i9 24-Core Processor i9-13900K (3.0GHz) 36MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® ROG STRIX Z690-F GAMING WIFI (LGA1700, USB 3.2, PCIe 5.0) - ARGB Ready
Memory (RAM)
64GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR5 5200MHz (2 x 32GB)
Graphics Card
10GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3080 - HDMI, DP, LHR
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SAMSUNG 980 PRO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 7000MB/R, 5000MB/W)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
2TB SAMSUNG 980 PRO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 7000MB/R, 5000MB/W)
1st Storage Drive
4TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 5400RPM, 256MB CACHE
Power Supply
CORSAIR 1000W RMx SERIES™ - MODULAR 80 PLUS GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead, 1.0mm Core)
Processor Cooling
PCS FrostFlow 200 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
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 [KUK-00003]

There's a few motherboards out of stock right now, so I'd possibly have to wait. Hopefully the 3080 stays available for long enough. Any advice would be really appreciated. Thanks =)

 

[BendyG]

*just noticed the 3090ti back in stock! Please replace the 3080 with that one! Was gutted when that disappeared, so now I'm excited it's back, but worried it will vanish again.

 

[sck451]

What's the system going to be used for? What monitor do you have? What's the budget?

And can you provide the configuration link?

 

[BendyG]

I've actually gone ahead and ordered, after going through the specs over the phone with support. It ended up exactly the same as stated, but with a 3090ti instead. The 3090 going out of stock messed up all my plans, regretted not getting it, so after double checking with support I haven't delayed, gone ahead and ordered it.

It might sound like overkill for my uses (1080p gaming, single screen, I won't be overclocking), but I'm hoping, so long as I look after it well enough, it will last me a long time, especially now with a 3090ti. For context, I've currently got an i5-9400, GTX1660 with a 450W PSU. I only got it a little over 2 years ago, and yeah, while it was a lot cheaper, it already feels like it will be redundant for gaming by the end of next year.

My budget was ideally £3,000, which I've had to go a little over for the 3090ti, but I didn't want to sacrifice storage. Currently got a 512gb SSD, and 1TB HDD storage, and, it just sucks to be honest.

 

[SpyderTracks]

I've actually gone ahead and ordered, after going through the specs over the phone with support. It ended up exactly the same as stated, but with a 3090ti instead. The 3090 going out of stock messed up all my plans, regretted not getting it, so after double checking with support I haven't delayed, gone ahead and ordered it.

It might sound like overkill for my uses (1080p gaming, single screen, I won't be overclocking), but I'm hoping, so long as I look after it well enough, it will last me a long time, especially now with a 3090ti. For context, I've currently got an i5-9400, GTX1660 with a 450W PSU. I only got it a little over 2 years ago, and yeah, while it was a lot cheaper, it already feels like it will be redundant for gaming by the end of next year.

My budget was ideally £3,000, which I've had to go a little over for the 3090ti, but I didn't want to sacrifice storage. Currently got a 512gb SSD, and 1TB HDD storage, and, it just sucks to be honest.

I don't understand why bother getting an old generation card? They're very expensive for performance far bettered by current gen? 4080 would have outperformed it.

You also never mentioned what monitor it's pairing with, so no way to know if it's a good match or will be bottlenecked.

 

[Martinr36]

You also never mentioned what monitor it's pairing with, so no way to know if it's a good match or will be bottlenecked

In the OP's latest comment they mention 1080p gaming....so way overkill

 

[SpyderTracks]

In the OP's latest comment they mention 1080p gaming....so way overkill

I just don't understand, such a waste of money I'm afraid.

 

[BendyG]

Thanks for the feedback (even if it has rattled me a bit, I'll be honest...)

Would you all say the mistake is really opting for the 3090ti over the 4080? I looked up some discussions, a lot of people suggesting just going for the 4090 over the 4080 for value, and that would have felt like overkill to me, but not so much the 3090.

Sorry I was unclear in my last comment, I'm currently doing 1080p 75hz due to my current monitor. I've always had low to mid range PCs in the past, I've never been able to explore 1440p or 4k. Since this is my first really powerful PC, I'm hoping this will open up so many things to me.

I overthink things a lot, now I'm dwelling on the thought I've been reckless and made the opposite mistake to last time...

 

[SpyderTracks]

Thanks for the feedback (even if it has rattled me a bit, I'll be honest...)

Would you all say the mistake is really opting for the 3090ti over the 4080? I looked up some discussions, a lot of people suggesting just going for the 4090 over the 4080 for value, and that would have felt like overkill to me, but not so much the 3090.

Sorry I was unclear in my last comment, I'm currently doing 1080p 75hz due to my current monitor. I've always had low to mid range PCs in the past, I've never been able to explore 1440p or 4k. Since this is my first really powerful PC, I'm hoping this will open up so many things to me.

I overthink things a lot, now I'm dwelling on the thought I've been reckless and made the opposite mistake to last time...

There are a lot of things with the build that don't make any sense, and if someone advised you this was sensible at PCS, I'd be very concerned.

64Gb RAM for games? What is this for? There's no game on the planet that requires that much RAM

3090ti, same cost as a 4080, but far worse performance when you factor in DLSS 3 (which isn't available on less than 4000 series)

Why the 13900k? It's not a gaming processor? Zero benefit over the 13700k

Case isn't suitable for the components and will cause high temps and poor performance.

Cooler isn't suitable for the processor and you'll get thermal throttling

You're paying several hundreds of pounds for either old lesser performance, or components that will never be used in a gaming rig, total waste of money. Sorry to be blunt, but sometimes you gotta come down like a tonne of bricks to get a message across.

 

[BendyG]

I went through every detail with someone at PCS, the only thing that was brought up was why not a 4080, I said price, and that was that. Nothing else was brought up.

Forgot to add, I went for 32gb RAM in the end.

The graphics card... I'll be honest and admit I'm very ignorant on a lot of things, I'll get that out of the way. I see the 90ti at the end and the 24gb of VRAM and maybe I just got lured in by the numbers.

I feel quite happy with the processor, but honestly what's worrying me the most is the case and cooler. I was told that the case would be fine (I asked about cooling and ventilation, was told it would be fine). I asked about the processor cooling, and was told it would be okay if I wasn't overclocking. When it's my own poor judgement, like the GPU, that's one thing, but if I've been given bad advice and all the parts will overheat, that's something else, when it's not my fault.

I only ordered this afternoon, now I'm thinking do I cancel or change it, based on what you said about the case and cooler and the fact that an advisor maybe shouldn't have advised it.

 

[BendyG]

(thanks for the advice by the way, I appreciate the honesty)

 

[BendyG]

Just to add, I've looked up the right to cancel, and I'm open to rethinking it...

 

[SpyderTracks]

I feel quite happy with the processor

You understand that you're paying several hundreds of pounds over a 13700k and performance will be exactly the same in almost all titles, plus you'd need £150 cooler to be able to effectively keep it from throttling?

I was told that the case would be fine (I asked about cooling and ventilation, was told it would be fine)

It's not a gaming case, it's designed for workstations, not suitable for the GPU

I asked about the processor cooling, and was told it would be okay if I wasn't overclocking

I'm afraid that's not accurate, even by Intels own recommendations of a 360mm Radiator on that cooler.

I only ordered this afternoon, now I'm thinking do I cancel or change it, based on what you said about the case and cooler and the fact that an advisor maybe shouldn't have advised it.

I'm very concerned that someone at PCS recommended this as a build, it's not at all suitable imho, it's wasting loads of cash and will throttle anyway so will never achieve it's potential.

You don't have cancel, you can make amendments for free without affecting your place in the queue.

 

[SpyderTracks]

Just to add, I've looked up the right to cancel, and I'm open to rethinking it...

Start over

What's your max budget?

What monitor are you pairing it with, what make and model? If you're looking to upgrade this, then what's your budget for the monitor?

What games are you mainly playing?

 

[BendyG]

Yeah, starting over is the best bet, now that I'm reassured I won't lose money if I make amendments or cancel.

Max budget is/was £3,000, but obviously if below that meets my needs, that's fine.

My monitor is an acer KA272 75hz monitor, 1080p. If I upgrade, I'll stick to 1080p, but go to 144hz. (talking about upgrading to higher resolutions earlier was me just coping with bad choices, I'll be honest).

I do like playing graphically demanding games. Current games I can handle, I play Sekiro, Elden Ring, similar indie games. Looking ahead to next year and beyond, looking at Silent Hill 2 remake, Dead Space, The Lords of the Fallen etc. People are saying Unreal Engine 5 games will be very demanding, so I'm trying to keep that in mind.

I use rpcs3, the ps3 emulator, quite a bit, which people say is quite CPU heavy, but I guess an i7 is still okay. My current build doesn't handle it so well.

My biggest worry is it becoming redundant in less than 3 years, like what happened with my current build. I don't meet the minimum requirements for many games coming next year, just don't want that to happen again. I'd love to not worry about minimum specs being released, and being able to up graphical settings without compromising performance.

Thanks again! And apologies for the ignorance.

Edit: can't find an option to amend my current order, perhaps because it's so new. Considering sending a cancellation request, just to nullify any chance of not being reimbursed. I know there's a 14 day right to cancel, but I worry too much.

 

[SpyderTracks]

My biggest worry is it becoming redundant in less than 3 years, like what happened with my current build. I don't meet the minimum requirements for many games coming next year, just don't want that to happen again.

Any system we design will be good for 7 - 10 years with the occasional GPU upgrade which needs to be done no matter what GPU you put in. This is why it's pointless overspeccing the GPU as it offers no real benefit. At best you get long lifespan of poor graphics quality, at worst you pay an absolute fortune just to swap it out before that power is utilised anyway.

You always pair the build to your current monitor requirements.

Anything over a 3060ti is going to be utterly pointless for your requirements, literally will have no improvement whatsoever.

There's no need for the budget you have available if you really are going to settle for 1080p 144Hz. I have to be honest, that's a sacrifice I would never deem acceptable, 1080p is incredibly poor by todays standards, especially when you have a decent budget available. People have no idea what they're missing out on until they see it for themselves, but the swap from 1080p 75Hz to 1440p 144Hz with HDR 10000 would absolutely leave you breathless on the floor at the beauty, and you have plenty of budget available for a PC and top grade 1440p monitor or ultrawide to pair it with.

I'll say it again, 1080p is only suitable anymore for extreme budget systems for those with sub £1k who just have to settle for what they can get, or competitive gamers playing at serious high refresh.

 

[SpyderTracks]

Edit: can't find an option to amend my current order, perhaps because it's so new. Considering sending a cancellation request, just to nullify any chance of not being reimbursed. I know there's a 14 day right to cancel, but I worry too much.

Relax, you're no different to the thousands of people a week who successfully change components, PCS are a very legitimate company, they're not going to screw you over, you're under no obligation to buy until you've had the system for 14 days, as with any purchase.

 

[BendyG]

Ah, I think I've been too stubborn in my '4K TVs are daft, can't tell the difference mentality'. I'll be honest, I've never seen an actual 1440p monitor in action. I've always just seen my 1080p display and thought, 'how can it get better'? You've raised my interest on upgrading my monitor. I'd have to do research before I commited to a specific monitor (I actually had to look up what HDR 10000 was...), but I do want to centre this build around 1440p, 144hz now, I'm very curious how much better it is.

If I went down the 1440p, 144hz path, would I need a better graphics card than a 3060ti? I really don't know, but I guess my build raised eyebrows because of the 1080p thing.

 

[SpyderTracks]

If I went down the 1440p, 144hz path, would I need a better graphics card than a 3060ti? I really don't know, but I guess my build raised eyebrows because of the 1080p thing.

Yes, you'd go with 3070 / 3070ti at this point until they release the 4070 next year which will be the incoming 1440p card.

 

[BendyG]

I see, so I'm guessing that the xx80 models are mostly suited for 4K.
With that in mind I think I'd rather hang on until the 4070 releases, in which case I'll probably cancel the order, sit tight until it's released, then start from scratch. Will be sure to get thorough input from here first though.

Thanks again for all your help!