Compatibility - Build

[CosminB]

Wondering if these components are fully compatible with each other, also what improvements can you bring to this build.
Building it for gaming, not sure if the CPU cooler is the right choice but based on my research might be the best available on pc specialist website.

Gonna use this monitor:
Alienware

Reconfiguration link:
Here

Price: £4,409.00 including VAT and Delivery

Case
CORSAIR OBSIDIAN SERIES™ 500D SE CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 9 5950X 16 Core CPU (3.4GHz-4.9GHz/72MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® CROSSHAIR VIII HERO WIFI (DDR4, PCIe 4.0, CrossFireX/SLI) - RGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE RGB PRO DDR4 3600MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
24GB ASUS ROG STRIX GEFORCE RTX 3090 - HDMI, DP
1st M.2 SSD Drive
2TB SAMSUNG 980 PRO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 7000MB/R, 5000MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 1000W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
Corsair H115i ELITE CAPELLIX RGB Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler
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]
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™
Cable Management
PCS 1.5M Zip Cable Tidy - Professional Cable Management
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 9 to 12 working days

Updated Version:
This is around $1400 cheaper than the previous.
Price: £2,956.00 including VAT and Delivery
Configuration Link

Case
CORSAIR OBSIDIAN SERIES™ 500D SE CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 9 5900X 12 Core CPU (3.7GHz-4.8GHz/70MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® CROSSHAIR VIII HERO WIFI (DDR4, PCIe 4.0, CrossFireX/SLI) - RGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3600MHz (4 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
10GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3080 - HDMI, DP, LHR
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SAMSUNG 980 PRO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 6900MB/R, 5000MB/W)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SAMSUNG 980 PRO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 7000MB/R, 5000MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 1000W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
Corsair H115i ELITE CAPELLIX RGB Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler
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]
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)

 

[Bigfoot]

What’s your budget and what monitor will you be using? Please include the configuration link, so that we can suggest changes to your build.

My first thoughts are that a 5950x and 3090 are better suited to productivity than gaming And the ROG STRIX version is a premium price for little benefit. Most games only need 16GB of RAM, but there are some that need more. I would split storage with a 512GB Gen 4 M.2 SSD for OS and programmes and a separate drive for games. You don’t need the Arctic thermal paste with the Corsair coolers. It might be worth sticking with W10 until all the W11 bugs have been sorted. You can upgrade for free later.

 

[AgentCooper]

Fully agree with the above statement.

It’s a beast. But it’s actually a little overkill in areas. The 5900X actually beats the 5950X for gaming performance and the 3090 isn’t really worth it for the extra three frames per second it’ll get you.

Come back to us with answers to the questions @Bigfoot has posed and we can get it nailed down for you 👍

 

[CosminB]

Edited with the monitor and configuration link I will be using.
The budget is at maximum already gapped at £4.5k.

 

[AgentCooper]

Do you already have the Alienware monitor? Because there’s better options out there for you with what seems like a very healthy budget.

 

[CosminB]

I do not have it yet, I want to buy everything at the same time fully compatible with each other so didn't rush into it.
I choosed the monitor first because of how it looks, totally love it, second for the nvidia g-sync ultimate witch fits perfectly with the GPU and third of course for its specs.

 

[AgentCooper]

I do not have it yet, I want to buy everything at the same time fully comaptible with each other so didn't rush into it.
I choosed the monitor first because of how it looks, totally love it, second for the nvidia g-sync ultimate witch fits perfectly with the GPU and third of course for its specs.

That’s fair enough, but you could be playing at 4K 144Hz or super ultrawide 240Hz with that kind of budget…

Anyway, here’s a tweak on the spec for you:

Case
CORSAIR OBSIDIAN SERIES™ 500D SE CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 9 5900X 12 Core CPU (3.7GHz-4.8GHz/70MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® ROG STRIX X570-F GAMING (USB 3.2 Gen 2, PCIe 4.0) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE RGB PRO DDR4 3600MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
10GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3080 - HDMI, DP, LHR
1st Storage Drive
2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 256MB CACHE
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SEAGATE FIRECUDA 530 GEN 4 PCIe NVMe (up to 7000MB/R, 3000MB/W)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
2TB INTEL® 670p M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 3500MB/sR | 2700MB/sW)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 1000W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
Corsair H115i ELITE CAPELLIX RGB 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
Wireless Network Card
WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6 AX200 2,400Mbps/5GHz, 300Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD + BT 5.0
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 10/11 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
Firefox™
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 - Subject to stock availability on pre-order products
Price: £2,905.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/xgwnJUE99t/

 

[Martinr36]

That’s fair enough, but you could be playing at 4K 144Hz or super ultrawide 240Hz with that kind of budget…

Anyway, here’s a tweak on the spec for you:

Case
CORSAIR OBSIDIAN SERIES™ 500D SE CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 9 5900X 12 Core CPU (3.7GHz-4.8GHz/70MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® ROG STRIX X570-F GAMING (USB 3.2 Gen 2, PCIe 4.0) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE RGB PRO DDR4 3600MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
10GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3080 - HDMI, DP, LHR
1st Storage Drive
2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 256MB CACHE
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SEAGATE FIRECUDA 530 GEN 4 PCIe NVMe (up to 7000MB/R, 3000MB/W)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
2TB INTEL® 670p M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 3500MB/sR | 2700MB/sW)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 1000W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
Corsair H115i ELITE CAPELLIX RGB 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
Wireless Network Card
WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6 AX200 2,400Mbps/5GHz, 300Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD + BT 5.0
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 10/11 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
Firefox™
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 - Subject to stock availability on pre-order products
Price: £2,905.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/xgwnJUE99t/

Why not 4*8 on the RAM @AgentCooper , missing out on that RGB......

 

[CosminB]

I'm curious about this change
ASUS® CROSSHAIR VIII HERO WIFI (DDR4, PCIe 4.0, CrossFireX/SLI) - RGB Ready!
with
ASUS® ROG STRIX X570-F GAMING (USB 3.2 Gen 2, PCIe 4.0) - ARGB Ready!

I think theres a £100 difference, and if you add the wi fi adapter might be around £75.
Based on what I could find the crosshair version is better.


I understand the changes on CPU, GPU as they are close to each other in gaming performace and mine were a lot more pricer.
Even though I still prefer the ones I choose just because I don't want to change this PC in the next couple of years, so might spend a bit more now for whats the best available.

 

[CosminB]

Why not 4*8 on the RAM @AgentCooper , missing out on that RGB......

This might be another thing I cannot decide, better to have 2x16 or 4x8?

 

[SpyderTracks]

I'm curious about this change
ASUS® CROSSHAIR VIII HERO WIFI (DDR4, PCIe 4.0, CrossFireX/SLI) - RGB Ready!
with
ASUS® ROG STRIX X570-F GAMING (USB 3.2 Gen 2, PCIe 4.0) - ARGB Ready!

I think theres a £100 difference, and if you add the wi fi adapter might be around £75.
Based on what I could find the crosshair version is better.


I understand the changes on CPU, GPU as they are close to each other in gaming performace and mine were a lot more pricer.
Even though I still prefer the ones I choose just because I don't want to change this PC in the next couple of years, so might spend a bit more now for whats the best available.

Motherboards fit processor levels, the 5900x doesn't require the Crosshair, there's no benefit aside from the VRM's for the 5950x and extreme overclocking under nitrogen etc.

For your uses, it's just wasted money, wouldn't offer any benefit.

This might be another thing I cannot decide, better to have 2x16 or 4x8?

I would go 4 x 8 personally, especially if it's RGB RAM

 

[AgentCooper]

I don't want to change this PC in the next couple of years, so might spend a bit more now for whats the best available.

You’d save £1500 by buying the system I suggested which would perform pretty much the same as yours, give or take a few frames. That money could be banked and used to fund the next couple of generations of graphics cards, meaning your system could last between 7-10 years.

You’ll spend a lot more now and be worse off in the long run if you proceed with your current school of thought. It’s your money but to be frank, you won’t be spending it wisely.

 

[CosminB]

Updated it a bit after some more research and you right it is not worth that much money for around 10 fps more in some games from the 3090 FE GPU and probably a few more from the asus rog trix 3090.

I kept my motherboard as I like this one more and its not that pricy compared to the x570-f.
Also I'm using win 11 for a few months now and its no problem while gaming and to show a bit of gratitude to Microsoft as I've been using windows since I was 7 years old so I am fine to test and report a few bugs.

This is around $1400 cheaper than the previous.
Price: £2,956.00 including VAT and Delivery

Case
CORSAIR OBSIDIAN SERIES™ 500D SE CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 9 5900X 12 Core CPU (3.7GHz-4.8GHz/70MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® CROSSHAIR VIII HERO WIFI (DDR4, PCIe 4.0, CrossFireX/SLI) - RGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3600MHz (4 x 8GB)
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
1TB SAMSUNG 980 PRO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 7000MB/R, 5000MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 1000W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
Corsair H115i ELITE CAPELLIX RGB Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler
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]
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)

 

[Scott]

Looks good. I would drop the 1st M2 to 500gb purely to keep you having good habits with your storage. If you need to wipe the system at any point it's better to wipe ITRO 250gb than it is 500gb (you always want to run your primary at around 50% capacity to retain its speed). Being wise with your primary storage pays dividends over the years.

Other than that the only other thing I would strongly recommend would be the silver warranty. It's only £5 and if there are any issues with your order you won't need to pay return postage costs.

Win 11 has no benefit at all, only drawbacks... but it's your choice. Win 11 is coming, but the time is not now I'm afraid, not for high end gaming.

The monitor scenario has been covered. You're not purchasing a good monitor spec wise, there are far better options for such a beast of a system, regardless of how wkd it looks.

 

[CosminB]

Looks good. I would drop the 1st M2 to 500gb purely to keep you having good habits with your storage. If you need to wipe the system at any point it's better to wipe ITRO 250gb than it is 500gb (you always want to run your primary at around 50% capacity to retain its speed). Being wise with your primary storage pays dividends over the years.

Other than that the only other thing I would strongly recommend would be the silver warranty. It's only £5 and if there are any issues with your order you won't need to pay return postage costs.

Win 11 has no benefit at all, only drawbacks... but it's your choice. Win 11 is coming, but the time is not now I'm afraid, not for high end gaming.

The monitor scenario has been covered. You're not purchasing a good monitor spec wise, there are far better options for such a beast of a system, regardless of how wkd it looks.

Dropped the first ssd
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SAMSUNG 980 PRO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 7000MB/R, 5000MB/W)
to
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SAMSUNG 980 PRO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 6900MB/R, 5000MB/W)


What monitors are you suggesting?
I'm more interested in 1080, 1440 and V-sync compatibility with the GPU.

 

[MrWilson]

Dropped the first ssd
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SAMSUNG 980 PRO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 7000MB/R, 5000MB/W)
to
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SAMSUNG 980 PRO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 6900MB/R, 5000MB/W)

I would swap the 1TB Samsung drive to a 2TB Intel drive. Similar price for double the storage, and you’ll have next to no difference of load times for your games between the two.

What monitors are you suggesting?
I'm more interested in 1080, 1440 and V-sync compatibility with the GPU.

With a 3080 we’re looking at either a 4K 144hz display or a 1440p Superwide.
Going for a 240hz is somewhat of a marketing gimmick, most humans can’t distinguish above 120hz anyway, the very small minority that can are the ones playing in professional tournaments. You may notice your mouse cursor being more responsive on your Home Screen, but as soon as you log into your game you will not be able to perceive the difference.

Depending on what games you play I would recommend one of the following:

Gigabyte M32U / M28U
Great value 4K 144hz monitor available in 32 or 28 inch sizes. Would recommend for FPS and other fast paced titles.

Samsung Odyssey G9
Effectively 2 1440p monitors side by side, this is fantastic for sims and open word games.

 

[Ash]

I wouldn't say Windows 11 has no benefits over Windows 10. For me Windows 10 was hideous, the design of everything from the Start Menu to the System Settings made my eyes bleed. I use Windows 11 simply because it looks gorgeous compared to Windows 10. If that's something you care about (I know not everyone does) then you should consider Windows 11. I've been running it for a couple months now and I've no issues in games.

 

[Scott]

I wouldn't say Windows 11 has no benefits over Windows 10. For me Windows 10 was hideous, the design of everything from the Start Menu to the System Settings made my eyes bleed. I use Windows 11 simply because it looks gorgeous compared to Windows 10. If that's something you care about (I know not everyone does) then you should consider Windows 11. I've been running it for a couple months now and I've no issues in games.

I hear what you're saying but that's anecdotal. I too am running Windows 11 across 2 of my systems, no issues and I quite like the layout (similar to yourself). However, the issues are well documented in a number of outlets. If you are lucky to have no problems with your system & game choice then it's possibly luck of the draw with the game selection.

I simply wouldn't recommend Win11 right now as there are too many variables in having a guaranteed functional system. Omitting a known problematic OS is a no brainer when it comes to recommendations..... whether the OP follows that advice or not is down to personal preference but I would always do the homework with the known compatibility issues in an attempt to avoid them.

 

[Scott]

Dropped the first ssd
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SAMSUNG 980 PRO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 7000MB/R, 5000MB/W)
to
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SAMSUNG 980 PRO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 6900MB/R, 5000MB/W)


What monitors are you suggesting?
I'm more interested in 1080, 1440 and V-sync compatibility with the GPU.

With 1080p you should aim for the 3060Ti. If 1440p then the 3070Ti. Both cards are over-powered for both scenarios but will give you the high end experience for a long time to come. The 3080 is a waste of cash at this level.

 

[CosminB]

I only want a single 27 monitor and the 3080 should handle pretty well 1440 and 1080 even if its made more for 4k which I'm not interested in at the moment but still want a powerfull GPU and I'm not downgrading any other component. Even if the pc will be mainly for gaming I will still use it for programming and compilers on certain events, also to run some bots for some games when I'm not using it.

I don't want to look for certain parts every time something new is out for a few years to come, I want to build a strong PC which will allow me to play every game out now and some future releases.

If I will become interested in 4k in the next year I want to just switch the damn monitor and be able to play 4k, not to buy any other pc parts.
But for now I want a very good monitor just for 1080 and 1440, even though the GPU was made for 4k.

This is a lazy option and I'm just fine to pay £3k for it even if I'm not using its true potential.