PC, Build Or Buy?

ancient_mariner said:
That's normal. I 'recycled' an office license (genuinely) that was previously used, and had to ring microsoft. No trouble getting an activation code.
Click to expand...
Thankfully I did not have to phone MS ~ phew!
 
Re: the failed backup I mentioned, here is what 'it' reported.

Windows Backup Failed to get exclusive lock on the EFI System Partition (ESP)
This may happen if another application is using files on ESP
Please Retry
Detail: Access Denied

Error Code 0x8078011E

A quick Google suggests that anti virus may be locking out the backup and disable anti virus and see if that helps.

:thinking: IIRC in my Eset Anti virus there is setting to exclude (some) processes.....will have to investigate further! NB on the old build PC it was not EFI system and backups went fine :thinking:
 
Hmmm!

I installed the Gigabyte Control Center and it by an undercover default installed unbidden Norton Internet Security...................not happy.................I have had history with NIS and its tentacles.

I uninstalled NIS.....hopefully it is cleaner and better behaved than of old :thinking:

I then proceeded to uninstall all of the elements of the Gigabyte Control Center!!!!

Oh, and out of the blue MS Edge now works. I have not knowingly done anything that could have recovered it. I know many dislike it but I was content to use it so pleased it is working again.
 
Re: MS Edge
It seems I spoke too soon....................it has 'taken a powder' again and giving the blank white pages :(
 
If not using already I can highly recommend Argus Monitor, it's great for monitoring temps and you can sticky ones you want in your taskbar for easy viewing. The red is my GPU and the Orange is my CPU. I think you can add more but these are the two I'm most interested in.


1680437264009.png
 
gman said:
If not using already I can highly recommend Argus Monitor, it's great for monitoring temps and you can sticky ones you want in your taskbar for easy viewing. The red is my GPU and the Orange is my CPU. I think you can add more but these are the two I'm most interested in.


View attachment 385425
Click to expand...
Thanks for the recommendation, much appreciated.

Though as mentioned above I will be using HWiNFO 64 for now and that also has the facility to add key readouts to the taskbar. Though I have to 'start' manually as I have yet to find/determine what I surmise is command line instruction to start it at Windows start. It is a program that requires Admin permission (my daily usage is to use a UAC without admin permission (always my understanding of though not a shared PC it aids overall security ;)
 
FWIW

It now boots to the Login page in a shade under 24 seconds :D
 
Box Brownie said:
Thanks for the recommendation, much appreciated.

Though as mentioned above I will be using HWiNFO 64 for now and that also has the facility to add key readouts to the taskbar. Though I have to 'start' manually as I have yet to find/determine what I surmise is command line instruction to start it at Windows start. It is a program that requires Admin permission (my daily usage is to use a UAC without admin permission (always my understanding of though not a shared PC it aids overall security ;)
Click to expand...

Aye I've got HWiNFO64 running as well. I forgot that I don't think Argus Monitor is free and has a very small one time payment, which I don't mind because it has lots of fan control that I was after.

If HWiNFO64 can do similar readings on the taskbar then makes sense to stick with that as the main features of Argus Monitor will probably be no good to you if you are using that fan hub.

Sounds like it's all going well.
 
gman said:
Aye I've got HWiNFO64 running as well. I forgot that I don't think Argus Monitor is free and has a very small one time payment, which I don't mind because it has lots of fan control that I was after.

If HWiNFO64 can do similar readings on the taskbar then makes sense to stick with that as the main features of Argus Monitor will probably be no good to you if you are using that fan hub.

Sounds like it's all going well.
Click to expand...
Yes, AM has a 1 or 3 year cost but IIRC this is based on paying for updates once your current license expires......but the paid for version still works!

So far so good on the way it works and my test processing in DxO PhotoLab has seen a marked increase in processing speeds:)

As it stands I still to resolve the Windows Backup failing. If, as inferred by my searching, it is potentially my Eset Internet Security causing the issue.....I have sent a support request to them for their insight & hopefully an answer!
 
Well, talk about a reversal of fortune.........

I open a thread and link it here......suffice to say for a currently unfathomable reason it has gone t*ts up :(

Edit here is the thread I have started....

www.talkphotography.co.uk

New build has a significant issue.,...BSOD and beyond!

Hi all My newly completed build was seemingly working well. It had been on most of yesterday but I went back to it to find a BSOD with., Stop code: WHEA_UNCORRRCTABLE_ERROR rebooted OK and ran SFC /scannow with no errors or integrity issues :) I rebooted to access the BIOS to disable the...
www.talkphotography.co.uk www.talkphotography.co.uk
 
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Latest purchase, to be tested later.

Phone pic. ;)

IMG_1495[1] tp.jpg
 
Today, the PC got a 'spring' clean. The dust was begining to show, so I put the air duster to work. It seems to have done the job.

Whilst I was in there, I fitted a b/new, piggy back HDD. The bay was there with the cradle, just begging for it, so I did. It's 4TB, the same as my NAS drives. I wasn't comfortable with everything since 2014, plus my images since I've built the new PC all on the NAS.

So now, it's all backed up again, as well as everything from 2014 upto the new PC build on 3 other drives , the old PC and my back up drives there.

It was bugging me but now, I will sleep better tonight, knowing everything from 2014 to January this year is backed up 5 times now. Everything from January to date is backed up 3 times, over 2 drives on the NAS and one dedicated, 4TB, back up drive in the tower now.
 
I'm a dyed-in-the-wool Mac user, Apple Fanboi etc, have enjoyed using Macs for over 30 years now. But back in the early 2000s I got into building PCs for the lols, mainly. A friend gave me an old tower enclosure, and I sourced cheap and cheerful bits and made basic machines, then flogged them/gave them away. As long as I kept things simply, things would work ok. I even managed to build some that could play games on (you just couldn't get games for MAcs n those days, much worse than now). But then I decided to build a 'Home Theatre PC' or HTPC. I wanted a 'media centre' which could connect to a larger screen and have all my films, music, games etc on one machine. I had a MacPro for work, so didn't want to be using that, plus it was in a different room anyway. I built up a nice looking HTPC using I think a Thermaltake case, which looked like a piece of hi-fi equipment rather than a computer. How wonderful!

Except...

I could never get the xxxxxxx thing to ever work properly. The first issue was trying to get the display unit (which fit into an optical drive slot) to work; this required special softwares oh but it didn't work properly with that motherboard. Gave up on that. Then I had RAM which just wouldn't work, which had to be returned and I had to find some that did. A TV tuner card proved very flaky; would wander off signal randomly despite being 'digital'. That required extra softwares to programme in stations and content guides. Then I had to change the graphics card for something different because certain games wouldn't run on it (despite it having more than ample power). I then had to upgrade the power supply to something ridiculous because the original was inadequate. Every day there was something else, another problem that required either time, money or quite often both, to fix. And that was before the myriad other software issues; Windows. Xxxxx x xxxxxx. XP at first, that wasn't brilliant, but then; Vista. :eek: Ended up back on XP but then some things wouldn't work because they required a newer OS.:headbang:

I think I spent more time trying to fix that bloody thing than I did actually using it. I gave up and bought a USB TV Tuner for the Mac and gave the HTPC away. And vowed never again, to be so stupid. Why put myself through so much pain, when Apple made what I actually needed? And it all Just Worked™.

Well, I suppose one good thing that came out of it, is that I suffered so that others don't have to. Innapropriate comment removed.

Mod Edit: - all very interesting but I've fixed your use of profanities for you. Probably not the wisest thing making such comments in any thread, let alone that of a Staff member.

Have a point on me. (y)
 
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Arguing with staff gets you a holiday
Abdichoudxyz said:
Innapropriate comment removed.

Mod Edit: - all very interesting but I've fixed your use of profanities for you. Probably not the wisest thing making such comments in any thread, let alone that of a Staff member.

Have a point on me. (y)
Click to expand...
Hmm. So borderline sexually explicit images are allowed on here, but not rude words? Ok.
 
Abdichoudxyz said:
Hmm. So borderline sexually explicit images are allowed on here, but not rude words? Ok.
Click to expand...
Its called the Nudes & Glamour section.
From the rules section, which you may like to read when you get back from your short holiday (y)

  • Don't swear. Don't be offensive. Be polite. Don't bore everyone with drivel. Don't moan about moderation.
 
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Dale. said:
Today, the PC got a 'spring' clean. The dust was begining to show, so I put the air duster to work. It seems to have done the job.

Whilst I was in there, I fitted a b/new, piggy back HDD. The bay was there with the cradle, just begging for it, so I did. It's 4TB, the same as my NAS drives. I wasn't comfortable with everything since 2014, plus my images since I've built the new PC all on the NAS.

So now, it's all backed up again, as well as everything from 2014 upto the new PC build on 3 other drives , the old PC and my back up drives there.

It was bugging me but now, I will sleep better tonight, knowing everything from 2014 to January this year is backed up 5 times now. Everything from January to date is backed up 3 times, over 2 drives on the NAS and one dedicated, 4TB, back up drive in the tower now.
Click to expand...

It's been a good number of months now since the build, how are finding the new rig compared to the old one?
 
Dale. said:
There is no comparison, the new PC is an utter joy to use, my workflow times have been smashed, it's also enjoyable again....... and I've stopped shouting profanities at it.

Best £2k I've ever spent computer wise.
Click to expand...

Nice one, sounds like you picked the right spec. I love a new build!
 
Dale. said:
There is no comparison, the new PC is an utter joy to use, my workflow times have been smashed, it's also enjoyable again....... and I've stopped shouting profanities at it.

Best £2k I've ever spent computer wise.
Click to expand...
Good to hear all the work paid off. Thankfully I had no actual issues building my current PC but it did cause me a considerable amount of hassle and stress organising all the parts to buy for it but it was absolutely worth it. The PC is exactly the one I wanted as it's very functional and flexible, great performance, it's an understated design with almost no RGB, has an optical drive, it's quiet and a number of the parts (the case, cooler, PSU) should last through many upgrades. I can't believe it's three and a half years old already as it seems like a few months ago I was building it.
 
JohnMcL7 said:
it did cause me a considerable amount of hassle and stress organising all the parts to buy for it but it was absolutely worth it.
Click to expand...


Yup, I was there too but as you say, well worth it. The stress of hunting and gathering is long forgotten here. (y)
 
Not meaning to hijack, but it seems my pc needs replacing as larger file sizes and the system requirements of the latest noise reduction software are resulting in very long processing times.

I have always used pcs and quite fancy building my own although I am not convinced it is any cheaper than buying a ready made machine.

Apart from the specs quoted on the Adobe website, is there a recommended spec for the current versions of Lightroom and Photoshop?

The other option is to move to Mac but this would mean some learning and I don’t like the fact that you cannot self upgrade most/some Macs and all my software is for Windows.

Cost is another option, it seems £1k is not enough but £2k should be fine?
 
Brentor said:
Not meaning to hijack, but it seems my pc needs replacing as larger file sizes and the system requirements of the latest noise reduction software are resulting in very long processing times.

I have always used pcs and quite fancy building my own although I am not convinced it is any cheaper than buying a ready made machine.

Apart from the specs quoted on the Adobe website, is there a recommended spec for the current versions of Lightroom and Photoshop?

The other option is to move to Mac but this would mean some learning and I don’t like the fact that you cannot self upgrade most/some Macs and all my software is for Windows.

Cost is another option, it seems £1k is not enough but £2k should be fine?
Click to expand...


No worries jumping in, all good.

I had set myself a budget of £600. I'm not big into PCs, for me, they are a tool.

I looked at pre builds, from HP, Dell etc and even pre built gaming machines but there was always a caveat with pre builds. I took tons of advice from different people, all of whom were very helpful. Ths cost did start to runaway a little bit, from my initial £600 but I hunted and gathered and it all came together, just under £2k but that's everything, including a WD Nas.

It was money well spent, this PC has yet to break a sweat with anything I've thrown at it.

Basic spec is this.................

750watt, hybrid modular PSU,
32GB, DDR4 Vengeance RGB Pro RAM,
AMD Ryzen 5 5600 AM4, 6 core, 12 thread 65w CPU,
Antec A400i RGB CPU cooler,
1TB Crucial SSD , just running things, no storage,
Nvidia 3060 GeForce OC 12GB, ray tracing GPU,
ASUS Tuf B550 motherboard,
Antec NX410 ARGB case.

I also bought a WD Nas, 2 drives, 4TB each and that is back up on another 4TB drive that lives in the PC case, just for files.

If you do your research and get your bits over time, the cost doesn't really come in to it. It does, but you know what I mean, you don't notice it that way.

My biggest tip would be to take your time and get it right, ask people for advice. When it's up and running, you'll know where all that effort went. (y)
 
You should be able tpo do the basic build like Dale has suggested for about a grand. That's what I built a couple of years ago (wow) for about £1000.
 
Brentor said:
....

I have always used pcs and quite fancy building my own although I am not convinced it is any cheaper than buying a ready made machine.

....
Click to expand...
It all depends - IF you can find a pre built machine that fits exactly what you want, then it might end up a similar price to buying the components and assembling yourself - but often you find that no-one makes the machine you want, and the option is to either compromise on some parts, or be forced to include something overspecced fro your needs as part of the bundle.
 
I repicked roughly the same components as my current system and it comes to £1,300 but you can add an easy £100+ for CPU heatsink and case fans if you want the extra cooling but if not gaming then a decent case should come with preinstalled fans. Presumably you have hard drives you can migrate across and use as storage, if not add another £100 or so.

The case below is different from mine and I think the M.2 SSD isn't quite the same model, but that's a personal choice anyway. I run throw everything at this build including gaming and VR, so it's a decent enough guide to use.

You could probably tweak a few things to save money, for example instead of an x570 motherboard you could go for a less expensive B550. The main difference is the x570 has PCIe Gen 4 lanes from the CPU to chipset (as opposed to Gen 3 with the B550) and also an additional PCIe 4.0 lane for supporting two M.2 NVMe SSDs. But this is kind of extreme stuff and perhaps unnecessary, so there could be around £100 of savings to be made here.

The best piece of advice I could give is that the motherboard and PSU quality is top priority. Everything connects through the motherboard and the PSU powers everything so you want stable voltage and good quality components in both the PSU and MB, and in particular the VRM on the MB. Also, look for future proofing, so expansion slots, RAM capacity, USB ports and connections, hard drive support etc are all important as well. Research both motherboards and PSUs to death!

You could get a less expensive graphics card as well such as the Gigabyte RTX 3060 at £269 and unless gaming (and even then) the difference will be barely noticeable. So that's about £200 of total savings that could be made straight away just from the MB and graphics card.

Good luck if you decide to build, there's a great feeling of achievement once it's all done and you start using it.



1 X MSI MAG X570S Tomahawk MAX WiFi (AMD AM4) DDR4 X570S ATX Motherboard - £239.99
SKU: MB-362-MS
1 X AMD Ryzen 5 5600X Six Core 4.6GHz (Socket AM4) Processor - Retail - £179.99
SKU: CP-3CC-AM
1 X Asus GeForce RTX 3060Ti Dual OC 8GB GDDR6X PCI-Express Graphics Card - £338.98
SKU: GX-491-AS
1 X Kingston Fury Renegade 32GB (2x16GB) DDR4 PC4-28800C17 3600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KF436C16RB1K2/32) - £140.00
SKU: MY-291-KS
1 X Corsair RMx Series RM750x 80 PLUS Gold Fully Modular ATX Power Supply (CP-9020199-UK) - £134.98
SKU: CA-266-CS
1 X Corsair Force MP600 PRO XT 1TB NVMe PCIe 4.0 M.2 Solid State Drive with Heatsink (CSSD-F1000GBMP600PXT) - £95.00
SKU: HD-06G-CS
1 X Phanteks Enthoo Pro 2 Full Tower Case Tempered Glass Window DRGB Satin Black - £149.98
SKU: CA-0A8-PT
 
gman said:
I repicked roughly the same components as my current system and it comes to £1,300 but you can add an easy £100+ for CPU heatsink and case fans if you want the extra cooling but if not gaming then a decent case should come with preinstalled fans. Presumably you have hard drives you can migrate across and use as storage, if not add another £100 or so.

The case below is different from mine and I think the M.2 SSD isn't quite the same model, but that's a personal choice anyway. I run throw everything at this build including gaming and VR, so it's a decent enough guide to use.

You could probably tweak a few things to save money, for example instead of an x570 motherboard you could go for a less expensive B550. The main difference is the x570 has PCIe Gen 4 lanes from the CPU to chipset (as opposed to Gen 3 with the B550) and also an additional PCIe 4.0 lane for supporting two M.2 NVMe SSDs. But this is kind of extreme stuff and perhaps unnecessary, so there could be around £100 of savings to be made here.

The best piece of advice I could give is that the motherboard and PSU quality is top priority. Everything connects through the motherboard and the PSU powers everything so you want stable voltage and good quality components in both the PSU and MB, and in particular the VRM on the MB. Also, look for future proofing, so expansion slots, RAM capacity, USB ports and connections, hard drive support etc are all important as well. Research both motherboards and PSUs to death!

You could get a less expensive graphics card as well such as the Gigabyte RTX 3060 at £269 and unless gaming (and even then) the difference will be barely noticeable. So that's about £200 of total savings that could be made straight away just from the MB and graphics card.

Good luck if you decide to build, there's a great feeling of achievement once it's all done and you start using it.



1 X MSI MAG X570S Tomahawk MAX WiFi (AMD AM4) DDR4 X570S ATX Motherboard - £239.99
SKU: MB-362-MS
1 X AMD Ryzen 5 5600X Six Core 4.6GHz (Socket AM4) Processor - Retail - £179.99
SKU: CP-3CC-AM
1 X Asus GeForce RTX 3060Ti Dual OC 8GB GDDR6X PCI-Express Graphics Card - £338.98
SKU: GX-491-AS
1 X Kingston Fury Renegade 32GB (2x16GB) DDR4 PC4-28800C17 3600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KF436C16RB1K2/32) - £140.00
SKU: MY-291-KS
1 X Corsair RMx Series RM750x 80 PLUS Gold Fully Modular ATX Power Supply (CP-9020199-UK) - £134.98
SKU: CA-266-CS
1 X Corsair Force MP600 PRO XT 1TB NVMe PCIe 4.0 M.2 Solid State Drive with Heatsink (CSSD-F1000GBMP600PXT) - £95.00
SKU: HD-06G-CS
1 X Phanteks Enthoo Pro 2 Full Tower Case Tempered Glass Window DRGB Satin Black - £149.98
SKU: CA-0A8-PT
Click to expand...

I would agree with most of your selection, except I'd try to get a 3060 graphics card with a full 12GB as I understand the 8GB units can be generally slower, and I'd also save £100 and buy a cheaper case.

This is the case I bought:

I also fitted a card reader in the top drive bay with extra UBS connections.[/URL]
 
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gman said:
I repicked roughly the same components as my current system and it comes to £1,300 but you can add an easy £100+ for CPU heatsink and case fans if you want the extra cooling but if not gaming then a decent case should come with preinstalled fans. Presumably you have hard drives you can migrate across and use as storage, if not add another £100 or so.

The case below is different from mine and I think the M.2 SSD isn't quite the same model, but that's a personal choice anyway. I run throw everything at this build including gaming and VR, so it's a decent enough guide to use.

You could probably tweak a few things to save money, for example instead of an x570 motherboard you could go for a less expensive B550. The main difference is the x570 has PCIe Gen 4 lanes from the CPU to chipset (as opposed to Gen 3 with the B550) and also an additional PCIe 4.0 lane for supporting two M.2 NVMe SSDs. But this is kind of extreme stuff and perhaps unnecessary, so there could be around £100 of savings to be made here.

The best piece of advice I could give is that the motherboard and PSU quality is top priority. Everything connects through the motherboard and the PSU powers everything so you want stable voltage and good quality components in both the PSU and MB, and in particular the VRM on the MB. Also, look for future proofing, so expansion slots, RAM capacity, USB ports and connections, hard drive support etc are all important as well. Research both motherboards and PSUs to death!

You could get a less expensive graphics card as well such as the Gigabyte RTX 3060 at £269 and unless gaming (and even then) the difference will be barely noticeable. So that's about £200 of total savings that could be made straight away just from the MB and graphics card.

Good luck if you decide to build, there's a great feeling of achievement once it's all done and you start using it.



1 X MSI MAG X570S Tomahawk MAX WiFi (AMD AM4) DDR4 X570S ATX Motherboard - £239.99
SKU: MB-362-MS
1 X AMD Ryzen 5 5600X Six Core 4.6GHz (Socket AM4) Processor - Retail - £179.99
SKU: CP-3CC-AM
1 X Asus GeForce RTX 3060Ti Dual OC 8GB GDDR6X PCI-Express Graphics Card - £338.98
SKU: GX-491-AS
1 X Kingston Fury Renegade 32GB (2x16GB) DDR4 PC4-28800C17 3600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KF436C16RB1K2/32) - £140.00
SKU: MY-291-KS
1 X Corsair RMx Series RM750x 80 PLUS Gold Fully Modular ATX Power Supply (CP-9020199-UK) - £134.98
SKU: CA-266-CS
1 X Corsair Force MP600 PRO XT 1TB NVMe PCIe 4.0 M.2 Solid State Drive with Heatsink (CSSD-F1000GBMP600PXT) - £95.00
SKU: HD-06G-CS
1 X Phanteks Enthoo Pro 2 Full Tower Case Tempered Glass Window DRGB Satin Black - £149.98
SKU: CA-0A8-PT
Click to expand...
I built my new PC the other day with similar spec to the above, though I went with a Radeon RX 6700 XT 12 GB, and a cheaper B550 motherboard. I went a bit OTT with a CPU cooler, though quietness was a priority for me, most would probably be OK with the cooler that comes with the Ryzen 5 5600X. The Solidigm P44 Pro 1TB NVME is getting good reviews, and is cheaper than the Corsair MP600 Pro NH 1TB at about £70. Around £1k got me all that I wanted.

Slowly installing all the progs that were in the old PC, so far so good. :)
 
ancient_mariner said:
I would agree with most of your selection, except I'd try to get a 3060 graphics card with a full 12GB as I understand the 8GB units can be generally slower, and I'd also save £100 and buy a cheaper case.

This is the case I bought:

I also fitted a card reader in the top drive bay with extra UBS connections.[/URL]
Click to expand...

The Ti is faster despite the smaller capacity memory because the memory bus is 256 bit compared to 192 bit of the non Ti and the memory bandwidth is 88GB/s faster. This among many GPU processor related advantages gives the Ti more performance, roughly 30% more but I believe this is heavily related to gaming.

It's possible that the non Ti might not even be able to make full use of the 12GB due to the bandwidth limitations, but again this is probably more in relation to gaming.
 
Seems like a lot of peeps forget about Novatech... I got a nice deal on a strix b550 f gaming WiFi ii, and Ryzen 7 5700x. A lot cheaper than anywhere else at the time, a few weeks back.

Then moved the old mb and chip into the build for Mrs PW... All I had to buy was a case, and some ram :)
 
Paulie-W said:
Seems like a lot of peeps forget about Novatech... I got a nice deal on a strix b550 f gaming WiFi ii, and Ryzen 7 5700x. A lot cheaper than anywhere else at the time, a few weeks back.

Then moved the old mb and chip into the build for Mrs PW... All I had to buy was a case, and some ram :)
Click to expand...
FWIW
I bought the key parts from Novatech and they were good and prompt resolving the BSOD issue I encountered.

I had used them a few times over the years:)
 
My current basket is

AMD Ryzen 7 7700 8 Core AM5 CPU/Processor, 65W £309.98

MSI AMD B650M MORTAR WIFI microATX Motherboard £179.99

Corsair Vengeance 32GB 5600MHz AMD EXPO DDR5 Memory Kit £92.18

be quiet Shadow Rock 3 Silent Intel/AMD CPU Air Cooler £50.99

Seasonic Focus GX 650 650W Full Modular 80+ Gold PSU/Power Supply £119.99

MSI NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti 8GB VENTUS 3X 8GD6X OC Ampere Graphics Card £329.99

Fractal Design Focus G Mini Black Window case £50.99

Total of ~£1134

All from Scan apart from the case.
I decided to go for 7000 series as AM4 is now dead but AM5 should have at least one more CPU iteration before it's replaced. . The difference between 7700 and 7700X isn't worth the extra IMO but I am considering the £75 extra for a 7900 as that's a big jump in performance.
The cooler may appear hugely OTT for a 65W CPU but I intend to run it fanless so it's a good choice as it steps back towards the exhaust fan.
Note that there's no storage as I have an SN750 that will do as a boot drive and the two data SSDs will come across from my current PC.

It should be a good step up from my current i7-9700F and GTX 1660 Ti. :D
 
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Snapsh0t said:
My current basket is

AMD Ryzen 7 7700 8 Core AM5 CPU/Processor, 65W £309.98

MSI AMD B650M MORTAR WIFI microATX Motherboard £179.99

Corsair Vengeance 32GB 5600MHz AMD EXPO DDR5 Memory Kit £92.18

be quiet Shadow Rock 3 Silent Intel/AMD CPU Air Cooler £50.99

Seasonic Focus GX 650 650W Full Modular 80+ Gold PSU/Power Supply £119.99

MSI NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti 8GB VENTUS 3X 8GD6X OC Ampere Graphics Card £329.99

Fractal Design Focus G Mini Black Window case £50.99

Total of ~£1134

All from Scan apart from the case.
I decided to go for 7000 series as AM4 is now dead but AM5 should have at least one more CPU iteration before it's replaced. . The difference between 7700 and 7700X isn't worth the extra IMO but I am considering the £75 extra for a 7900 as that's a big jump in performance.
The cooler may appear hugely OTT for a 65W CPU but I intend to run it fanless so it's a good choice as it steps back towards the exhaust fan.
Note that there's no storage as I have an SN750 that will do as a boot drive and the two data SSDs will come across from my current PC.

It should be a good step up from my current i7-9700F and GTX 1660 Ti. :D
Click to expand...
Nice (y)

With my limited budget, I couldn`t warrant AM5, so stuck with AM4. I`m sure it`ll last me a few years ;)
 
Paulie-W said:
Nice (y)

With my limited budget, I couldn`t warrant AM5, so stuck with AM4. I`m sure it`ll last me a few years ;)
Click to expand...

My i3770k lasted me over 10 years and for the last two years it's been in my son's room as a gaming rig still going strong. AM4 will last a long time.
 
gman said:
My i3770k lasted me over 10 years and for the last two years it's been in my son's room as a gaming rig still going strong. AM4 will last a long time.
Click to expand...
Similarly I had an i7 3930k from launch which I finally replaced in 2019 however it's still going fine with my brother now, I replaced it with an AM4 3900x which is still managing 1440p at 120fps and there's a bit of headroom to upgrade to a 5000 series CPU. I can understand buying AM5 in a new system for futureproofing but I think an AM4 still offers plenty of performance potential.
 
gman said:
My i3770k lasted me over 10 years and for the last two years it's been in my son's room as a gaming rig still going strong. AM4 will last a long time.
Click to expand...

JohnMcL7 said:
Similarly I had an i7 3930k from launch which I finally replaced in 2019 however it's still going fine with my brother now, I replaced it with an AM4 3900x which is still managing 1440p at 120fps and there's a bit of headroom to upgrade to a 5000 series CPU. I can understand buying AM5 in a new system for futureproofing but I think an AM4 still offers plenty of performance potential.
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My i7-3770 lasted me until I got the 9700F so six or seven years and I'm sure it's still going somewhere. If I'm honest, the current rig will last a good bit longer but I feel like building something. It's either that or buy a new TV which would be a much cheaper option but doesn't have the same building satisfaction. I was considering an AM4-based system earlier this year but feel it's now too late as the parts I wanted then are no longer available.
 
Perhaps I am loosing it, but I thought there was a recent detailed post which seems to have been deleted?
 
Lots of good advice and as I am retIring soon I should have the time for a self build, if not the funds.

Is it easy to check the compatibility of the components?

Nobody seems to be pushing Macs.
 
I usually start with the case, focussing on the design for cooling/airflow, cable management, front connections etc.

Then what processor I want. The socket type of this will then dictate the motherboard selection from which the tech specs of a motherboard can be checked on the manufacturers site to see what is supported by it (i.e. RAM type, speed, capacity, storage etc).

Then the graphics card can be decided upon and this will usually have the strong influence on what PSU is required.

Sometimes you can get definitive lists of what processors and components are supported by a motherboard by going to the manufacturers website. For example: LINK
 
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