After nearly a decade of unbelievable service, and with price increases likely on the horizon, it’s finally come time to retire my old desktop.
After some analysis, here’s what I’ve settled on:
| Type | Item | Price |
|---|---|---|
| CPU | AMD Ryzen 7 7700X 4.5 GHz 8-Core Processor | $250.00 |
| CPU Cooler | Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE 66.17 CFM CPU Cooler | $39.90 @ Amazon |
| Motherboard | Gigabyte B650 GAMING X AX V2 ATX AM5 Motherboard | $179.99 @ Amazon |
| Memory | G.Skill Ripjaws S5 64 GB (2 x 32 GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 Memory | $189.99 @ Newegg |
| Storage | Samsung 980 Pro 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive | $0.00 |
| Storage | Western Digital Red Pro 2 TB 3.5" 7200 RPM Internal Hard Drive | $0.00 |
| Video Card | Gigabyte WINDFORCE OC GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER 16 GB Video Card | $799.99 @ Amazon |
| Case | Lian Li LANCOOL 216 ATX Mid Tower Case | $94.00 @ Newegg Sellers |
| Power Supply | EVGA SuperNOVA 850 GT 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply | $109.99 @ Amazon |
| Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts | ||
| Total | $1663.86 | |
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2024-11-13 19:11 EST-0500 |
Some quick explanations on decision making:
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Primary usage is a mix of gaming and CAD / 3D modeling / rendering.
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After Intel shit the bed one too many times, I’m definitely taking an AMD CPU. I could be convinced to go to the 7600X3D, but there seems to be a noticeable dropoff on non-gaming tasks, such as 3D modeling, and some debate about the viability of a 6-core CPU going forward.
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The two hard drives are listed as $0 because I already own them, and will be transferring them into this unit.
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850W power supply should give me ample room for overclocking, adding future components, while still staying under that 80% load limit.
Open questions / things I’m uncertain on:
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CPU Cooler: I’ve heard that Ryzens can run hot, but I’m unsure if I need such a beefy one. For a 7700X, is it too much?
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RAM: Is 64GB a lot? Yes. RAM shortages plagued me until I brought my current machine up to 48GB. I thought 64 would carry me forward with room to spare. Is this silly?
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Went with a 4070 Ti Super for the 16GB RAM. Is it too much GPU for the rest of this rig?
Now, here’s my big question: Micro Center nearby me is running combo deals for a 7700X or 7600X3D, Gigabyte or Asus motherboard, and 32GB RAM. Looking at what I’m trying to build, does that make sense? Would upgrading to 64GB with 4 sticks later be a problem?
Personally I’d suggest considering a 9700x instead of the 7700x. Zen5 is way more power efficient than Zen4.
The 9700x is slightly more expensive ($50-70), but the stock TDP is 65W. I have a 7600x with a Noctua air cooler, and to keep it from throttling, I usually run it in Eco mode (i.e. dropping it to 65W TDP). Though Zen4 performance in this mode is still quite good, it isn’t nearly as good as Zen5 at the same TDP.
The 9700x seems to have gotten a bad rap for being a somewhat boring release, but on paper it’s worth it for air cooled setups, and tbh boring != bad.
Hmm, thanks for the thoughts!
I was watching the 9700X for deals over the weekend. Unfortunately deals were kind of mediocre, and with costs ballooning I’m if anything more likely to downgrade the GPU than upgrade the CPU to make a better pairing.
Definitely appreciate the info, thought. What air cooler are you running, out of curiosity?
My 7600x is under a Noctua NH-U9S. And temps are very good in eco mode, despite it being one of their lowest performing coolers that fit AM5 (I think).
At the full 105 watts, I could hit 95° C a bit too much for my liking. My understanding is that Ryzen is kind of designed to do this anyway, but I’m old school and prefer some headroom under the max temp.
Regarding the 4070, the 7900xt is currently cheaper, at least where I live, and generally better, except for machine learning (no cuda) and maybe raytracing. It has even more vram at 20gb despite the lower cost, which makes it more future proof imo.
Here’s a comparison: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=eM-z5LvQ4yo
