Desktop Computers

If you're primarily gaming, the X3D chips are hard to beat. 7600X3D is about the best bang for your AM5 buck you can get. Don't run hot either so you can run them on air just fine.

I actually built a new AM4 5700X3D system last month, dead end platform but that chip is so good that I expect it to last me another 4-5 years. For €350 for the cpu, motherboard and memory combined it's impossible to beat for value.

I don't really worry about CPU/RAM in-system upgrades, I'm not going to spend money on 10% upgrades. I've stuck to a cadence of upgrading the video card after 2-3 years and building an entirely new system after 5-6 for the last 20 years and it has worked out just fine.

Staying at 1080 or 1440 helps a lot, 4k is always a challenge at the bleeding edge and I don't want to start having to get into upscaling or fake frames glitchiness.

Based on the advice here and using some of the pre-mades as a starting guide, this is something I came up with for a mid tier but upgradable computer. Definitely open to ideas and revisions if I'm missing the mark on certain pieces (for instance, RAM selection/quality).


CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 9950X - Ryzen 9 9000 Series Granite Ridge (Zen 5) 16-Core 4.3 GHz - Socket AM5 170W - Radeon Graphics Processor - 100-100001277WOF ($539.99)

Motherboard: MSI PRO B850-P WIFI AM5 AMD B850 SATA 6Gb/s 5G Network Wifi 7 DDR5 ATX Motherboard ($219.99)

Memory: G.SKILL Trident Z5 Neo RGB Series AMD EXPO 32GB (2 x 16GB) 288-Pin PC RAM DDR5 6000 (PC5 48000) Desktop Memory Model F5-6000J3038F16GX2-TZ5NR ($114.99)

Graphics Cards: MSI Ventus GeForce RTX 5070 Ti 16GB GDDR7 PCI Express 5.0 Graphics Card RTX 5070 TI 16G VENTUS 3X OC ($899.99)

Case: Fractal Design Pop XL Air RGB Black TG ATX High-Airflow Clear Tempered Glass Window Full Tower Computer Case ($109.99)

Power Supply: MSI - MAG A1250GL PCIE 5, 80 GOLD Fully Modular Gaming PSU, 12V-2×6 Cable, ATX 3.1 & PCIE 5.1 Ready, 1250W Power Supply, 10 Year Warranty ($231.99)

Storage: SAMSUNG 990 PRO 2TB SSD, PCIe Gen4 M.2 2280, Seq. Read Speeds Up-to 7,450MB/s for High End Computing, Gaming, and Heavy Duty Workstations (MZ-V9P2T0B/AM) Non-Heatsink ($169.99)

CPU Cooler: CORSAIR iCUE LINK TITAN 360 RX RGB Liquid CPU Cooler - RX120 RGB Fans - Fits Intel LGA 1851/1700, AMD AM5/AM4 - iCUE LINK System Hub Included ($199.99)

Operating System: Microsoft Windows 11 Home 64-bit, DVD ($119.99)

Total: $2,527.91

Burren said:

Based on the advice here and using some of the pre-mades as a starting guide, this is something I came up with for a mid tier but upgradable computer. Definitely open to ideas and revisions if I'm missing the mark on certain pieces (for instance, RAM selection/quality).


CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 9950X - Ryzen 9 9000 Series Granite Ridge (Zen 5) 16-Core 4.3 GHz - Socket AM5 170W - Radeon Graphics Processor - 100-100001277WOF ($539.99)

Motherboard: MSI PRO B850-P WIFI AM5 AMD B850 SATA 6Gb/s 5G Network Wifi 7 DDR5 ATX Motherboard ($219.99)

Memory: G.SKILL Trident Z5 Neo RGB Series AMD EXPO 32GB (2 x 16GB) 288-Pin PC RAM DDR5 6000 (PC5 48000) Desktop Memory Model F5-6000J3038F16GX2-TZ5NR ($114.99)

Graphics Cards: MSI Ventus GeForce RTX 5070 Ti 16GB GDDR7 PCI Express 5.0 Graphics Card RTX 5070 TI 16G VENTUS 3X OC ($899.99)

Case: Fractal Design Pop XL Air RGB Black TG ATX High-Airflow Clear Tempered Glass Window Full Tower Computer Case ($109.99)

Power Supply: MSI - MAG A1250GL PCIE 5, 80 GOLD Fully Modular Gaming PSU, 12V-2×6 Cable, ATX 3.1 & PCIE 5.1 Ready, 1250W Power Supply, 10 Year Warranty ($231.99)

Storage: SAMSUNG 990 PRO 2TB SSD, PCIe Gen4 M.2 2280, Seq. Read Speeds Up-to 7,450MB/s for High End Computing, Gaming, and Heavy Duty Workstations (MZ-V9P2T0B/AM) Non-Heatsink ($169.99)

CPU Cooler: CORSAIR iCUE LINK TITAN 360 RX RGB Liquid CPU Cooler - RX120 RGB Fans - Fits Intel LGA 1851/1700, AMD AM5/AM4 - iCUE LINK System Hub Included ($199.99)

Operating System: Microsoft Windows 11 Home 64-bit, DVD ($119.99)

Total: $2,527.91

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Curious on cpu choice - tho depends on if for mainly gaming or not
Would choose a tomahawk over the pro

everything else is more or less subjective, tho id pick an artic freezer over the corsair - then again i hate everything corsair on a fundamental level. It doesnt cool better than any of the freezers and it cost more - corsair tax on none of their products transitions to ease of use or performance.

Burren said:

Based on the advice here and using some of the pre-mades as a starting guide, this is something I came up with for a mid tier but upgradable computer. Definitely open to ideas and revisions if I'm missing the mark on certain pieces (for instance, RAM selection/quality).


CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 9950X - Ryzen 9 9000 Series Granite Ridge (Zen 5) 16-Core 4.3 GHz - Socket AM5 170W - Radeon Graphics Processor - 100-100001277WOF ($539.99)

Motherboard: MSI PRO B850-P WIFI AM5 AMD B850 SATA 6Gb/s 5G Network Wifi 7 DDR5 ATX Motherboard ($219.99)

Memory: G.SKILL Trident Z5 Neo RGB Series AMD EXPO 32GB (2 x 16GB) 288-Pin PC RAM DDR5 6000 (PC5 48000) Desktop Memory Model F5-6000J3038F16GX2-TZ5NR ($114.99)

Graphics Cards: MSI Ventus GeForce RTX 5070 Ti 16GB GDDR7 PCI Express 5.0 Graphics Card RTX 5070 TI 16G VENTUS 3X OC ($899.99)

Case: Fractal Design Pop XL Air RGB Black TG ATX High-Airflow Clear Tempered Glass Window Full Tower Computer Case ($109.99)

Power Supply: MSI - MAG A1250GL PCIE 5, 80 GOLD Fully Modular Gaming PSU, 12V-2×6 Cable, ATX 3.1 & PCIE 5.1 Ready, 1250W Power Supply, 10 Year Warranty ($231.99)

Storage: SAMSUNG 990 PRO 2TB SSD, PCIe Gen4 M.2 2280, Seq. Read Speeds Up-to 7,450MB/s for High End Computing, Gaming, and Heavy Duty Workstations (MZ-V9P2T0B/AM) Non-Heatsink ($169.99)

CPU Cooler: CORSAIR iCUE LINK TITAN 360 RX RGB Liquid CPU Cooler - RX120 RGB Fans - Fits Intel LGA 1851/1700, AMD AM5/AM4 - iCUE LINK System Hub Included ($199.99)

Operating System: Microsoft Windows 11 Home 64-bit, DVD ($119.99)

Total: $2,527.91

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If you are not running heavy productivity tasks like compilers or livestreaming at 4k, go for an X3D chip as they are far better than the 9950X in games (see benches below)

7600X3D or 7800X3D would be my #1 choice in AM5 for games. 9800X3D is probably pushing it with that GPU.

Won't really need a water cooler for cpu then either, they run pretty cool and the gpu will likely be making most of the noise. $50 tower style cooler is sufficient. You can do water for cpu if you really want to, personally I like the simplicity of air.

PSU is way overkill, 750W will more than suffice. Bigger isn't necessarily better, it'll actually have worse power efficiency. Just make sure it's ATX 3.1 compliant.

All good suggestions, thanks guys.

X3D CPUs are the best for gaming. The 8 core 7800X3D and 9800X3D have no scheduling/core parking issues because they are single CCDs (CCD = 8 core chiplet). The 7950X3D and 9950X3D have two CCDs, one of which is "X3D" which the extra L3 cache and the other which does not. When the 7950X3D launched, there were issues where Windows would try to run the game on the non-X3D chiplet, which resulted in lower performance than if the game was run on the X3D chiplet. The situation has gotten a lot better between Windows updates and AMD chipset drivers and this doesn't happen nearly as much, but for simplicity and peak gaming performance many of use choose the 8 core versions. IOW, the 7950X3D and 9950X3D are virtually on par with their 8 core counterparts, maybe 1-3% behind across a wide selection of games.

Regarding coolers, Arctic Liquid Freezer 3s are the best performance/value, though maybe not the best in looks (I've got a LF3 420 sitting under my desk I grabbed for $99). Any decent $50 air cooler or 240/280+ AIO will cool a 78/9800X3D (stock) just fine for gaming. For a CPU like the 9800X3D which can be overclocked, or a 7950X/9950X/9950X3D with their base 175W TDP, one probably wants a top tier air cooler or AIO. Most of them today will use AMD/Ryzen offset mounting (you want this) for better performance. Clock boost behavior is tied to temperature, so a better cooler will allow the CPU to reach higher clock speeds. Again, it won't matter for gaming loads any decent cooler should allow an AMD CPU to hit max single core clocks,, but rather full core loads (which again, may not matter - if your video encode takes 28 minutes instead of 30 minutes does it really matter?). Another aspect is noise - bigger coolers will generally allow fans to run at lower speeds for less noise.

Power supply sizing is a question. More important is power supply quality, which we can mainly judge by company history and reputation. While there are many decent brands, I still use Seasonic. Regarding size, the old addage was that power supplys are most efficient at 50% utilization - if your system pulled 300w under load, you wanted a 600w PS. This is no longer the case. Efficiency across the utilization curve is vastly improved so their is very little waste (inefficiency) if your PS is 900w for the the 300w load. I wouldn't want to run my PS at 90%+ load 24/7, but I'd be okay with 75-80%. Just size it according to "worst case." 125w for 78/98X3d, 175w for 9950/X3D, 330w for 9700XT, +100w for mobo and a reasonable number of drives, fans, and RGB, +50w for an unreasonable amount, and another +50w for USB C PD from the mobo (if supported and used). Sum that up and add 15% for safety. If you want to OC, add 30%. Keep in mind that it is rare to 100% load both your CPU and GPU outside of synthetics (i.e. benchmarking). I personally over-spec beyond this because the incremental cost going from 650w/750w to 900/1000+ usually isn't too much, but I understand I don't need it for real-world usage.

Modern CPUs and GPUs are already shipped past their efficiency peak and are designed to boost (OC) on their own. Some of us like to chase every last % of performance but that can be a time and money sink. Better thermal paste might net you -1C. Better RAM timings might net you +2% FPS. Setting a -20/30 Curve Optimizer in the BIOS might net +100MHz CPU clock. Swapping case and AIO fans might lower noise or if really lucky, drop temps by 1-2C. Push/pulling my 360 AIO netted only a 1C drop. With my 9070XT, undervolting and OC'ing the memory and power limit only got me an average of +6% extra performance. PBO on 7000/9000 series is just wasting power for at best a 1% gain. A 990 Pro might patch Windows slighty faster, but it won't help much when just loading game levels. Taken together all these little things might add up to +10% performance, but it's hardly needed. The biggest gains are still netted from stepping up to the next CPU/GPU tier.

Don't know if NewEgg is shitting the bed or if my build is now fucked, but I changed several things around (as seen below) but whenever I try to re-look at MOBOs, I get an error saying there aren't any that match my selections, despite everything being the same brand (except the cooling system). Maybe its because I dropped from a Ryzen 9 to a 7?

This version comes in about $130 cheaper than before with the advice from this weekend (X3D chip, smaller power supply, ARCTIC cooling system).



CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D - Ryzen 7 9000 Series Zen 5 8-Core 5.2 GHz - Socket AM5 120W - AMD Radeon Graphics Desktop Processor - 100-100001084WOF ($519.00)

Motherboard: MSI PRO B850-P WIFI AM5 AMD B850 SATA 6Gb/s 5G Network Wifi 7 DDR5 ATX Motherboard ($219.99)

Memory: G.SKILL Trident Z5 Neo RGB Series AMD EXPO 32GB (2 x 16GB) 288-Pin PC RAM DDR5 6000 (PC5 48000) Desktop Memory Model F5-6000J3038F16GX2-TZ5NR ($114.99)

Graphics Cards: MSI Ventus GeForce RTX 5070 Ti 16GB GDDR7 PCI Express 5.0 Graphics Card RTX 5070 TI 16G VENTUS 3X OC ($899.99)

Case: Fractal Design Pop XL Air RGB Black TG ATX High-Airflow Clear Tempered Glass Window Full Tower Computer Case ($109.99)

Power Supply: Super Flower Leadex III ATX 3.1 1000W, Cybenetics Platinum, 80+ Gold, 10 Years Warranty, ECO Semi-Fanless Mode, FDB Fan With Copper Shaft, Full Modular Power Supply,
SF-1000F14GE, Black ($169.99)

Storage: SAMSUNG 990 PRO 2TB SSD, PCIe Gen4 M.2 2280, Seq. Read Speeds Up-to 7,450MB/s for High End Computing, Gaming, and Heavy Duty Workstations (MZ-V9P2T0B/AM) Non-Heatsink ($169.99)

CPU Cooler: ARCTIC COOLING Liquid Freezer III - 360 A-RGB (Black): All-in-One CPU Water Cooler with 360mm radiator and 3x P12 PWM PST A-RGB fan, compatible Intel LGA1700, 1851 and AMD AM4, AM5 - Black color ($144.99)

Operating System: Microsoft Windows 11 Home 64-bit, DVD ($119.99)

Total: $2,404.92

Burren said:

Don't know if NewEgg is shitting the bed or if my build is now fucked, but I changed several things around (as seen below) but whenever I try to re-look at MOBOs, I get an error saying there aren't any that match my selections, despite everything being the same brand (except the cooling system). Maybe its because I dropped from a Ryzen 9 to a 7?

This version comes in about $130 cheaper than before with the advice from this weekend (X3D chip, smaller power supply, ARCTIC cooling system).



CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D - Ryzen 7 9000 Series Zen 5 8-Core 5.2 GHz - Socket AM5 120W - AMD Radeon Graphics Desktop Processor - 100-100001084WOF ($519.00)

Motherboard: MSI PRO B850-P WIFI AM5 AMD B850 SATA 6Gb/s 5G Network Wifi 7 DDR5 ATX Motherboard ($219.99)

Memory: G.SKILL Trident Z5 Neo RGB Series AMD EXPO 32GB (2 x 16GB) 288-Pin PC RAM DDR5 6000 (PC5 48000) Desktop Memory Model F5-6000J3038F16GX2-TZ5NR ($114.99)

Graphics Cards: MSI Ventus GeForce RTX 5070 Ti 16GB GDDR7 PCI Express 5.0 Graphics Card RTX 5070 TI 16G VENTUS 3X OC ($899.99)

Case: Fractal Design Pop XL Air RGB Black TG ATX High-Airflow Clear Tempered Glass Window Full Tower Computer Case ($109.99)

Power Supply: Super Flower Leadex III ATX 3.1 1000W, Cybenetics Platinum, 80+ Gold, 10 Years Warranty, ECO Semi-Fanless Mode, FDB Fan With Copper Shaft, Full Modular Power Supply,
SF-1000F14GE, Black ($169.99)

Storage: SAMSUNG 990 PRO 2TB SSD, PCIe Gen4 M.2 2280, Seq. Read Speeds Up-to 7,450MB/s for High End Computing, Gaming, and Heavy Duty Workstations (MZ-V9P2T0B/AM) Non-Heatsink ($169.99)

CPU Cooler: ARCTIC COOLING Liquid Freezer III - 360 A-RGB (Black): All-in-One CPU Water Cooler with 360mm radiator and 3x P12 PWM PST A-RGB fan, compatible Intel LGA1700, 1851 and AMD AM4, AM5 - Black color ($144.99)

Operating System: Microsoft Windows 11 Home 64-bit, DVD ($119.99)

Total: $2,404.92

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If I am not mistaken, that case does not support a 360 AIO. Up to a 280mm as front, and 240mm on top. Either of those sizes should work fine with the 9800X3D though.

Jovec said:

If I am not mistaken, that case does not support a 360 AIO. Up to a 280mm as front, and 240 on top. Either of those sizes should work fine with the 9800X3D though.

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I think you're right. I cleared a few categories and had to reset.

Burren said:

I think you're right. I cleared a few categories and had to reset.

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You also linked the DVD version of Win11, but presumably you just need a key. Do you even need one anymore? Can you not just use the Media Creation tool to create a bootable USB drive and then get basic online activation for free?

Case does not have front panel USB Type C if that matters. Otherwise looks good.

Jovec said:

You also linked the DVD version of Win11, but presumably you just need a key. Do you even need one anymore? Can you not just use the Media Creation tool to create a bootable USB drive and then get basic online activation for free?

Case does not have front panel USB Type C if that matters. Otherwise looks good.

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It says DVD but its digital download also. I haven't had an optic drive in a decade.

Kajiimagi said:

You building yourself now? I thought you were doing a prebuilt? If you are DIY, there are places to get a legit license for Win 11 Pro much much cheaper. MSG me if you need a link.

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I’m toying with the idea of a build now after this whole discussion and the advice given. I end up with better hardware and a 30% cost savings. Hard to ignore that.