Question Another old rig bites the dust…. sort of….

Blazer7 · Monday at 9:37 AM

*** CPU poll added

I put together the rig in my sig sometime in 2010. It’s not my sole pc and it is still a solid machine but it is time to go.

I do all sorts of things so I don’t see any reason to write down what I will be using my next rig for. Just use your imagination.

What I always try to do is build something that is as close to futureproof as it gets so it will be next to impossible to miss the target. In other words if you have an idea go ahead and shoot… Any opinion/recommendation is valued.

I am located in Euroland and access to most hardware should not be an issue. I will not comment on budget as this is subject to change with almost any decision and I’m not going overkill with this but I won’t go cheap either.

Here are some specs/preferences for my next rig: ASUS full ATX board, Pcie5, min 3 x m.2 with at least 1 Gen5, 2 x 16/32GB low profile Corsair DDR5 sticks, min 16GB non intel graphics card.

I don’t care about color themes, lighting effects, overclocking
I like tweaking, undervolting, air cooling, passively cooled chipsets, no need for a nuclear reactor to power up

The aforementioned do not mean that I will overlook any good idea that differ.

850/900 Watts is my power limit excluding peripherals and including any future upgrades but I am not aiming at that. The lower the better.

I don’t do a lot of gaming and my old pc does BG3 @50 fps but I do own a 32” 1440p 144MHz Freesync 2 monitor that can use something better than my venerable 480. Apart from that I see no limitations and that is part of the problem. Too many choices….

Currently I am reviewing CPUs. So this is the first big decision to be made.

I really like AMD’s Ryzen 7 7700, Ryzen 9 7900 and intel’s i5-14600, i7-14700.

Any suggestions on these or other cpus anyone ?

*** CPU poll added

Tech Junky · Monday at 11:08 AM

Right now AMD is my choice and Intel is just full of hot air considering they're just rebranding old tech with each release for 12/13/14th gen options.

I went with a 7900X since the premium for the 7950X just didn't make sense for minor gains.

When it comes to MOBOs I went with ASRock PG Lightning because it was a budget friendly option and didn't auto split the PCIE slots like others do when you add more cards to the system.

AMD is releasing a new CPU / chipset end of this month and new boards in Sept? The new boards only add USB4 ports as mandatory options and the rest is the same as today. I picked up the ASR though on Amazon for $160 at the time as a returned item and it's been working flawlessly once the UEFI was updated to a working version... took a few trial and error attempts of different versions but, found one that was both stable and could actually reboot from the CLI vs having to hit the physical button.

For storage M2's are fine unless you need capacity and mentioning you want 3 of them probably means you might be interested in the U.x options like I am when I pivoted from rebuilding a raid setup > M2 and then discovering U.3 options for about the same price in terms of capacity vs multiple drives. I went with a Kioxia CD8 15.36TB drive after trying a couple of Micron drives that lost their ability to r/w data in under a week each. The Kioxia runs cool and has been stable since install.

GPU isn't a priority for my setup as it's a headless server acting as multiple functions but, I did add an A380 for $100 to drop the time / load needed for processing video files down to 1/8th the time needed by the CPU only by being able to use QSV.

For cooling I use Arctic PWM PST fans though the case I went with FD Torrent has dual 180mm fans on the front meant not needing as many fans. I did add a couple to the bottom though for intakes and grabbed a cheap PA120 cooler for the CPU w/ dual fans on it. The machine sits idle at ~40C. AMD will run hot compared to Intel but, you get more performance out of the deal when things ramp up under load. Plus, recent news indicates issues with Intel crashing and they're still looking for the cause.

From the ground up this setup ran ~$800 / add the GPU $100 / add the Kioxia ~$1250 and it's a pretty robust solution for a small price compared to the crap that's preassembled. I do the same thing with laptops though as well by ordering them barebones besides the CPU/GPU and then upgrade the screens to 4K and select my own drives / RAM. Laptops this way can save 50% on sticker prices easily.

For the PSU I tend to prefer 850W options as they hit the price/performance/warranty marks for ~$100 and currently use EVGA as a preference. 10yr warranty and tend to just work.

In2Photos · Monday at 11:17 AM

Obviously anything you build today is going to run circles around what you have currently. I did a new build last year (the one in my sig) upgrading from a 2009ish i7-920 and GTX 1060. There really is no comparison.

Intel has issues with 13/14th gen, crashing while playing games. Not sure if the i5 is experiencing the issue, but the i7 does.

For AMD CPUs the 6 and 8 core variants are better for gaming, but obviously the higher core parts are better for other productivity tasks. The 7700 or new 9700 offer good value for both applications.

Go with 2x16GB at least or 2x24GB if you want more future proofing.

The motherboard will determine the number of M.2 drives you can install natively, but you can always add a card that can support additional drives if needed.

For GPU 16GB will be AMD RX6800 (last gen, some deals still available), or RX7800XT(current gen) and up, while on the nVidia side you need a 4070 Ti Super or higher.

Use PCPartPicker.com and play around with a build, then share it here for some feedback.

manly · Monday at 2:51 PM

If you're going 14 years between builds and shooting for "future proofing," you should wait for Ryzen 9000 + the new X870E motherboards in a few months.
As @In2Photos said, the minimum graphics cards should be an RX 7800 XT or closest Nvidia competitor.

Blazer7 · Monday at 3:08 PM

Tech Junky said:
I went with a 7900X since the premium for the 7950X just didn't make sense for minor gains.

Thanks for replying

I was looking at the 7900X but the gains were small compared to the 7900 and the TDP difference is considerable.

Tech Junky said:
When it comes to MOBOs I went with ASRock PG Lightning because it was a budget friendly option and didn't auto split the PCIE slots like others do when you add more cards to the system.

I’ve had extremelly good luck with ASUS boards over the years so ASUS is my first pick, ASROCK is my 2nd and far behind and currently there is no 3rd.

Tech Junky said:
For storage M2's are fine unless you need capacity and mentioning you want 3 of them probably means you might be interested in the U.x options like I am when I pivoted from rebuilding a raid setup > M2 and then discovering U.3 options for about the same price in terms of capacity vs multiple drives. I went with a Kioxia CD8 15.36TB drive after trying a couple of Micron drives that lost their ability to r/w data in under a week each. The Kioxia runs cool and has been stable since install.

Storage wise the only guaranteed component of my current pc to find its way in the new rig is my 2TB 660p. I’ll probably go for a Gen5 500GB/1TB drive just for the OS and programs. If I end up with a 3/3+ m.2 board maybe I’ll use my 500GB 970 EVO Plus or my 1TB VPN110 Viper for added storage but this decision will come after choosing a board.

Tech Junky said:
For cooling I use Arctic PWM PST fans though the case I went with FD Torrent has dual 180mm fans on the front meant not needing as many fans. I did add a couple to the bottom though for intakes and grabbed a cheap PA120 cooler for the CPU w/ dual fans on it. The machine sits idle at ~40C. AMD will run hot compared to Intel but, you get more performance out of the deal when things ramp up under load. Plus, recent news indicates issues with Intel crashing and they're still looking for the cause.

if I opt for 3rd party cpu cooler that will be Noctua’s NH-D15 so cpu temperature won’t be an issue. OTOH the NH-D15 may cause problems with either case, mobo and/or RAM but when that time comes I will deal with it.

Tech Junky said:
For the PSU I tend to prefer 850W options as they hit the price/performance/warranty marks for ~$100 and currently use EVGA as a preference. 10yr warranty and tend to just work.

Case, case cooling, PSU is no concern for the time being but will look at those down the road when I’ve decided what to do with the important stuff. When that time comes I already have some things in mind.

Blazer7 · Monday at 3:13 PM

manly said:
If you're going 14 years between builds and shooting for "future proofing," you should wait for Ryzen 9000 + the new X870E motherboards in a few months.
As @In2Photos said, the minimum graphics cards should be an RX 7800 XT or closest Nvidia competitor.

If I end up the AMD way I'm not sure that waiting will make a big difference. AFAIK the 9000 series is not expected to surpass older gen cpus and If memory serves the X870Es will sport fewer pcie lanes. The USB 4 will be a bonus but that is something to be seen.

Blazer7 · Monday at 3:25 PM

In2Photos said:
Obviously anything you build today is going to run circles around what you have currently. I did a new build last year (the one in my sig) upgrading from a 2009ish i7-920 and GTX 1060. There really is no comparison.

Damn right, circles AND some. Glad to hear that your build is rockin’.

In2Photos said:
Intel has issues with 13/14th gen, crashing while playing games. Not sure if the i5 is experiencing the issue, but the i7 does.

I’ve taken note of intel’s woes but AFAIK it does not affect the 14600/14700 non K/S/F variants.

In2Photos said:
For AMD CPUs the 6 and 8 core variants are better for gaming, but obviously the higher core parts are better for other productivity tasks. The 7700 or new 9700 offer good value for both applications.

Most of the time I do other stuff. Gaming is just a side-effect.

In2Photos said:
Go with 2x16GB at least or 2x24GB if you want more future proofing.

I don’t know if 2x16 will be enough as there are times that I run multiple VMs and I am a little hesitant when it comes to the 24GB sticks. I may bite the bullet on this one but still this is a decision after cpu, board & cpu cooling.

In2Photos said:
The motherboard will determine the number of M.2 drives you can install natively, but you can always add a card that can support additional drives if needed.

I do have 2 cards, both are x16 so yes there are many options for storage. Still I’d prefer on board m.2s. That way I’ll have empty pcie slots for whatever future has to throw on me.

In2Photos said:
For GPU 16GB will be AMD RX6800 (last gen, some deals still available), or RX7800XT(current gen) and up, while on the nVidia side you need a 4070 Ti Super or higher.

I’m far from choosing a card right now but I would like to avoid older cards. Especially from AMD. Recently they dropped support for older cards like the Vegas & Polaris. I know older nVidia cards that still get updates.

In2Photos said:
Use PCPartPicker.com and play around with a build, then share it here for some feedback.

Will check it out. Thanks!

manly · Monday at 3:43 PM

Blazer7 said:
If I end up the AMD way I'm not sure that waiting will make a big difference. AFAIK the 9000 series is not expected to surpass older gen cpus and If memory serves the X870Es will sport fewer pcie lanes. The USB 4 will be a bonus but that is something to be seen.

Not a big difference, but might as well take the low teens % IPC bump while you're at it. If X870E isn't compelling, then you don't even have to wait several months and can still pair Ryzen 9000 with X670E. 7700X/9700X and their big brothers are all nice CPUs.

Blazer7 · Monday at 3:53 PM

manly said:
Not a big difference, but might as well take the low teens % IPC bump while you're at it. If X870E isn't compelling, then you don't even have to wait several months and can still pair Ryzen 9000 with X670E. 7700X/9700X and their big brothers are all nice CPUs.

Waiting a bit may be beneficial cost wise.

So far the only thing that strikes me is that nobody talks intel. Like they don't exist !?!

manly · Monday at 4:11 PM

Blazer7 said:
Waiting a bit may be beneficial cost wise.

So far the only thing that strikes me is that nobody talks intel. Like they don't exist !?!

Intel is still playing catch-up and it's unclear if CEO Pat Gelsinger can return them to their past dominance. I like him and wish them the best but they're facing intense competition on many fronts.

They were able to temporarily "catch" AMD Ryzen with 12th gen Intel Core. If your workloads can use a lot of E cores, then Intel is doing well in heavily multithreaded workloads (often called "productivity" in benchmarks). 13th and 14th gen did not move the needle much, and now there's a stability issue that may not yet be resolved. Meanwhile, AMD is much better in efficiency; the electricity rates here in California are quite high so it's an easy choice for me.

Tech Junky · Monday at 5:02 PM

I look at Intel right now as...

12th - 8P + 8E
13th - 8P + 16E
14th - 8P + 32E *shrug*

Anyway... you can see the P cores aren't changing or boosting the system abilities and the E cores may never even be used depending on the app / OS

They're all 10NM while everyone else is 4/6NM at this point and AMD is switching to a P/E core with 9000 series as well with 5/5c configurations depending on the sku.

Intel's lagging and has been for years at 10nm dies because they can't figure out how to get smaller and are fielding out 15th+ options to TSMC while they try to get their fabs under control and downsize them.

I think there's a rumor that the 5c cores will make things a bit more efficient and allow them to drop the TDP a bit more w/o losing as much productivity as seen with Intel. But, you also have Qualcomm jumping into the game with ARM chips that are competing with current Intel/AMD options pretty well. The only issue they're still working on is app compatibility using Prism as most SW is written for x86/64. There will be some of them being modified though to work natively in the coming months. Now, if they would also do that for Linux there would be a ton more people jumping ship from Windows.

Chipset	CPU PCIe Lanes*	Chipset PCIe Lanes*	5 Gbps USB	10 Gbps USB	20 Gbps USB	SATA Ports	USB 4.0
X870E	16x 5.0 (GPU) 4x 5.0 (M.2) 4x 5.0	20x 4.0	2	12	2	8	Standard
X870	16x 5.0 (GPU) 4x 5.0 (M.2) 4x 5.0	12x 4.0	1	6	1	4	Standard
X670E	16x 5.0 (GPU) 4x 5.0 (M.2) 4x 5.0	20x 4.0	2	12	2	8	Optional
X670	16x 4.0 (GPU) 4x 5.0 (M.2) 4x 5.0	20x 4.0	2	12	2	8	Optional
B650E	16x 5.0 (GPU) 4x 5.0 (M.2) 4x 5.0	12x 4.0	1	6	1	4	Optional
B650	16x 4.0 (GPU) 4x 4.0 (M.2) 4x 4.0	12x 4.0	1	6	1	4	Optional
A620	16x 4.0 (GPU) 4x 4.0 (M.2)	12x 4.0	2	2	–	4	Optional

Specifications	AMD Ryzen 9 9950X	AMD Ryzen 9 7950X
Architecture	Zen 5	Zen 4
Core count	16	16
Thread count	32	32
Base clock	4.3 GHz	4.5 GHz
Boost clock	5.7 GHz	5.7 GHz
L2 + L3 cache	80 MB	80 MB
PCIe generation support	PCIe Gen 5	PCIe Gen 5
Thermal design power (TDP)	170W	170W
Socket	AM5	AM5

The biggest reason to wait for 9000 series would be the iGPU upgrade you'll see if you happen to use it to save on electricity. The newer GPU will be a bit more beefy in terms of performance compared to Zen4.

Blazer7 · Tuesday at 7:12 AM

I occasionally do photo editing so having a discreet card is a must and there is always that BG3 gaming side-effect that I mentioned earlier. The iGPU may come in handy early on if I put the rig together before getting a discreet card or in the case that the graphics card fails. Other than that I do not expect to use it.

It’s also good to see that the X870E does not fall short on pcie lanes but I do not know how long it will take to get X870E motherboards out there and I have no clue as to whether those will have active or passive cooling. As I mentioned in my opening post I like passively cooled chipsets.

*** CPU poll added

Tech Junky · Tuesday at 7:31 AM

Blazer7 said:
will have active or passive cooling

Passive. I don't recall seeing any active cooling options for the controllers though it wouldn't be a bad idea. Since the E options have 2 controllers on the board in different locations it would be hard to actively cool them directly. One usually sits off to the side bottom right and the other tends to end up near the CPU and M2-1. This one get some air from the fans around it like from the CPU cooler / GPU blower. The other gets some air from the front fans.

iGPU's are always a handy thing to have and making progress upwards helps. For most stuff the system will use it to keep the energy draw in check compared to the discrete card being used for dumb stuff it's not really needed for. Before Intel's XE rolled around the UHD series sucked for normal dumb stuff. Now the XE works better and keeps the heat down.

With AMD pushing their iGPU to perform closer to a RTX2000 series it's a big leap beyond just being able to handle day to day items.

Blazer7 · Wednesday at 10:25 AM

I’ve been checking PCPartPicker. A first impression is that I’m looking at a price tag around 2-2.3k with most setups for combinations of i5/i7+Z790, Ryzen 7700/7900+X670E, Noctua NH-D15, Corsair 64GB RAM @6400, Crucial 1TB pcie5 m.2, 7800XT, Fractal Design midi tower, Silverstone Platinum 1200W, +2 Noctua 120mm Fans. Worst consumption i7@~670W.

This can go up depending on decisions down the road (cooling, graphics, etc). With a 4070 Ti SUPER, Corsair AIO, and a few tweaks the price goes at ~2.8k.

Tech Junky · Wednesday at 10:59 AM

PCP prices are just an idea. Also, you can drill into the wattage and get a breakdown by component to see where the hogs are.

As for pricing I found returns on Amazon a good way to chop it down. The mobo I picked up for $160 when new was closer to $300. RAM varies by the day as well but, 32GB should be about $75.

The PA120 cooler is only $35 and works even with the higher CPU tier just as good as the $100 cooler. The Arctic PWM PST fans come in 5-packs for $40.

Only running dual GPUs would mean needing a 1200w PSU though and gold is sufficient vs paying up for a higher rating.

You're probably still going to be around $2K but, every little discount helps.

Blazer7 · Wednesday at 11:51 AM

There are certain things I can do like getting a boxed 7900 with wraith cooler, use my existing cooler (with a new mounting kit) or use some of my existing m.2s and replace or add more later, etc. There are options to reduce the initial cost if I have to.

The PSU however is another thing. I am not planning on running dual gpus right now but in the long term I cannot disregard such a possibility. A CPU upgrade is also possible. What is certain is that the 1200 watts will be reduced over time due to wear and I want a PSU that can meet my criteria of 850/900 watts output and not come to its limit.

An i7/Z790 + dual 4070 Ti SUPER goes beyond 900W. A more power hungry combination of CPU/single VGA card +PSU wear can go easily beyond that.

In2Photos · Wednesday at 12:00 PM

Blazer7 said:
I’ve been checking PCPartPicker. A first impression is that I’m looking at a price tag around 2-2.3k with most setups for combinations of i5/i7+Z790, Ryzen 7700/7900+X670E, Noctua NH-D15, Corsair 64GB RAM @6400, Crucial 1TB pcie5 m.2, 7800XT, Fractal Design midi tower, Silverstone Platinum 1200W, +2 Noctua 120mm Fans. Worst consumption i7@~670W.

This can go up depending on decisions down the road (cooling, graphics, etc). With a 4070 Ti SUPER, Corsair AIO, and a few tweaks the price goes at ~2.8k.

Well you have some expensive items on there that you don't need IMO. The build in my signature was about $2300 for all new parts and that included an AIO, 9 extra Lian Li fans, and a vertical mount GPU bracket.

Corsair RAM is overpriced. You should be able to find other kits for far less money. Also you may not be able to achieve 6400 with Ryzen, the sweet spot is 6000.

I don't see any reason for a 1200W PSU. That is 14900K with a 4090 territory. The rig in my signature pulls about 500W when benchmarking (gaming sees far les than that), and that's with 9 fans and a bunch of LED lighting. An 850W PSU should be sufficient for your build.

Noctua is great but pricey. There are coolers and fans that offer far more value with similar performance. Checkout the Thermalright Peerless Assassin cooler for $40. Add some Artic fans for the case.

Don't overlook B650 motherboards if you go Ryzen. They offer many of the same things as the X670 boards for less. Is there some feature of X670E you need specifically?

Blazer7 · Wednesday at 1:18 PM

In2Photos said:
Well you have some expensive items on there that you don't need IMO. The build in my signature was about $2300 for all new parts and that included an AIO, 9 extra Lian Li fans, and a vertical mount GPU bracket.

All that I list cost around 2-2.3k which is somewhat more expensive than what you spent but not that much really.

In2Photos said:
Corsair RAM is overpriced. You should be able to find other kits for far less money. Also you may not be able to achieve 6400 with Ryzen, the sweet spot is 6000.

Corsair is a bit expensive but I've been using their RAM for many years now in both laptops and dekstops with good results. I’ve run into trouble with a Corsair pair only once and It had to do with timings. I started a thread in their forums and I can say that their support was excellent.

The 6400 speed is kind of "future proof" if I ever upgrade the CPU which I'll probably do. Besides I'm not set on whether I'll go with AMD or intel yet.

In2Photos said:
I don't see any reason for a 1200W PSU. That is 14900K with a 4090 territory. The rig in my signature pulls about 500W when benchmarking (gaming sees far les than that), and that's with 9 fans and a bunch of LED lighting. An 850W PSU should be sufficient for your build.

The i7/i9+4090 is not my target for now. As I mentioned, I am currently looking at setups of 690 watts max. However a system upgrade +PSU wear can get me beyond 850 and if it comes to that I don’t want to have my PSU running on the edge, not with a 2k+ spent on the system.

In2Photos said:
Noctua is great but pricey. There are coolers and fans that offer far more value with similar performance. Checkout the Thermalright Peerless Assassin cooler for $40. Add some Artic fans for the case.

Noctua IS pricey but I don’t have Lian Li for cheap either. Bottom line, I’ve never seen a dead Noctua fan, ever, and I’ve been building and dealing with pcs for many years. God knows how many dead fans I’ve seen.

In2Photos said:
Don't overlook B650 motherboards if you go Ryzen. They offer many of the same things as the X670 boards for less. Is there some feature of X670E you need specifically?

As far as the 650s, it is not that I do not like them. It’s just that the board is the one thing you can not upgrade. Unless it breaks down you are not changing it. If you do it’s another system altogether, not an upgrade. And there is one thing I value in the most expensive/high-end chipsets and that is pcie lanes. As I’ve already mentioned I’m looking at at least 3 m.2 slots and as many empty pcie slots I can get. This strategy is why I’ve kept my current rig for so long.

In2Photos · Wednesday at 2:11 PM

Blazer7 said:
All that I list cost around 2-2.3k which is somewhat more expensive than what you spent but not that much really.

Corsair is a bit expensive but I've been using their RAM for many years now in both laptops and dekstops with good results. I’ve run into trouble with a Corsair pair only once and It had to do with timings. I started a thread in their forums and I can say that their support was excellent.

The 6400 speed is kind of "future proof" if I ever upgrade the CPU which I'll probably do. Besides I'm not set on whether I'll go with AMD or intel yet.

The i7/i9+4090 is not my target for now. As I mentioned, I am currently looking at setups of 690 watts max. However a system upgrade +PSU wear can get me beyond 850 and if it comes to that I don’t want to have my PSU running on the edge, not with a 2k+ spent on the system.

Noctua IS pricey but I don’t have Lian Li for cheap either. Bottom line, I’ve never seen a dead Noctua fan, ever, and I’ve been building and dealing with pcs for many years. God knows how many dead fans I’ve seen.

As far as the 650s, it is not that I do not like them. It’s just that the board is the one thing you can not upgrade. Unless it breaks down you are not changing it. If you do it’s another system altogether, not an upgrade. And there is one thing I value in the most expensive/high-end chipsets and that is pcie lanes. As I’ve already mentioned I’m looking at at least 3 m.2 slots and as many empty pcie slots I can get. This strategy is why I’ve kept my current rig for so long.

My point about the cost was that you are paying more than I did for mine (which includes the "white PC tax" and extras like 9 Lian Li fans and LED lighting) but not getting any more performance really. As someone that spent extra money to get a certain look I'll certainly not dissuade anyone from how they want to spend their money. I just don't think some of the choices make this as "future proof" as you may be thinking. To some extent there is no such thing as future proofing. As you mentioned the one item that is the least likely to get upgraded is probably the one item that is the least future proof. After all if something new comes out it is likely to be part of the motherboard more than the CPU/RAM/GPU/SSD, etc, right? But motherboard chipsets are not evolving that fast. USB4 and additional PCIe5 are the only changes to X870 over X670. But there are no devices that use them yet. Also, the chipset specs are only the minimum required. It is up to the board manufacturers to determine if they want to provide more than the minimum. The board I am using for instance, is a B650 board that offers a PCIe Gen5 NVME slot. While X670 guarantees there to be 1 Gen5 slot, B650 may have them as well. And I have 3 NVME drives installed + 1 GPU. All the other PCIe slots are available and at their rated speeds, only my vertical mount blocks them. My B650 board also has the 2.5GbE that X670 does. No loss of any PCIe lanes.

As for the PSU. You built the last rig in 2010 with a 1000W PSU? For an X5670 and RX480? No where near 1000W 14 years later. Why would this system be different?

Again, just trying to be helpful. Heck the money you save on a few of these items could pay for the CPU upgrade in 2-3 years.

Blazer7 · Wednesday at 2:29 PM

I understand but actually my system has changed a lot over the years. One positive was going for an unsupported cpu as it saved some watts. The same goes for the RX480, I had an HD5870 before that which needed more power. At some point the only available slot was one of the pcis which means I had none. Besides what is listed in my sig I have other devices pluged in and the PSU I have is an upgrade over an Enermax 750W.

As I wrote in my opening post, I’m not going overkill with this build but I won’t go cheap either. No matter what, in the end you get what you pay for. I choose quality because it lasts. Sometimes expensive is cheaper.

manly · Wednesday at 2:59 PM

In2Photos said:
As for the PSU. You built the last rig in 2010 with a 1000W PSU? For an X5670 and RX480? No where near 1000W 14 years later. Why would this system be different?

Again, just trying to be helpful. Heck the money you save on a few of these items could pay for the CPU upgrade in 2-3 years.

I'm no electrician, but he seems to believe a PSU loses 20% of its capability over time.

I happily built with B650 in November (Micro Center bundle); but for a $2k build today, I think I would go for X670E or even the new chipset once it arrives (price depending).

Blazer7 · Wednesday at 3:16 PM

I am not sure how much a PSU wears off over time but my current power draw is way less than when I had my 750W. That is because of all the changes I did over the years. Back then there were times that my 750 was getting rather warm for my liking.

I expect my future rig to surpass my current power draw. I also expect that it lasts a good many year with at least one major upgrade (cpu/graphics) as is the case with my current old rig.

Blazer7 · Wednesday at 3:19 PM

Anyways, my main problem remains and that is too many choices. When I started this thread I was very close to choosing intel. Now I am not that sure and that's because of you guys.

Since I do lots of different things and I plan on keeping my next rig for as long as possible it is not easy to get started as I must factor too many things. Once started everything else will start falling in place. The tough choices are CPU and motherboard as they pretty much define everything.

By habbit I get info from many sources but everyone seems to measure things their way so I came to the most trusted source I know, these forums.

I know that I may sound strongheaded sometimes but this is not by disrespect but because I'm not clueless of where I want to end up with my next build. I know that quality will cost me and constrains are there and not all may agree with me or share my reasoning.

In the end as I wrote in the opening post Any opinion/recommendation is valued. So just shoot.

I have already decided not to wait for next gen cpus/chipsets/motherboards etc and this is the reason that the cpu poll expires in a few days. If the poll is decisive and/or depending on the community's feedback I plan on ordering the cpu next week with motherboard to follow within a tenday at the most.

manly · Wednesday at 3:42 PM

One final note. It's the end of the line for Intel's LGA 1700 socket. You won't have a drop-in CPU upgrade path.

With AMD's AM5 socket, it's not quite guaranteed but chances are pretty good that when Zen 6 launches in 2026, it'll be on the same socket. So you should have an opportunity for an easy CPU upgrade in a few years, while preserving your existing platform investment.

I think many of us here like some PSU headroom. We just believe you don't have to overdo it, esp. because PSUs have gotten somewhat pricey post-Covid.

Tech Junky · Wednesday at 4:07 PM

manly said:
PSUs have gotten somewhat pricey post-Covid.

Not to mention some of the gimmicks like PCIE 5 PSUs. Really?
.
The other push has been the 12VHPWR Connector for GPUs.

If you get a decent 850 it's more than sufficient and should be around $100. Full modular with a 10yr warranty.

A base x670e without chasing deals should be about $1K excluding the GPU. Something that will run an os and apps once assembled.

Question Another old rig bites the dust…. sort of….

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