MS Flight Simulator Build - Budget £3500

redboy73

Member
Hi Guys,

Hoping you might be able to help with speccing out a system based on the budget above. With COVID and the GPU shortage, I've had to hold out on this one for a lot longer than I expected, but now I feel the time is right to pull the trigger :) I've added some more details below.

Monitor - I'm planning on pairing this with a Samsung Odyssey G9 to get the best flight sim experience possible and also to help with multitasking.
Uses - Gaming (e.g. Red Dead Redemption, Forza, COD, MSFS20 (obviously!)), but I'll also be doing some video editing in Premiere Pro as well as running Visual Studio.
Budget - As above. Since I've been waiting on this one for a very long time, I want it to be able to do pretty much everything I want with ease, hence the £3500 budget.

Spec - I've been lurking around on the forums for a while trying to pick up as many tips as possible from you guys, so, as far as a CPU/GPU combination goes, I'm thinking maybe something like a 3080Ti with a 5900x. The 3090 and 5950x sound like overkill from what I've read up until now, but I stand to be corrected!

I'm hoping to order something within the next day or two, so any help or direction you can provide would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance!
 

JUNI0R

VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
Hi Guys,

Hoping you might be able to help with speccing out a system based on the budget above. With COVID and the GPU shortage, I've had to hold out on this one for a lot longer than I expected, but now I feel the time is right to pull the trigger :) I've added some more details below.

Monitor - I'm planning on pairing this with a Samsung Odyssey G9 to get the best flight sim experience possible and also to help with multitasking.
Uses - Gaming (e.g. Red Dead Redemption, Forza, COD, MSFS20 (obviously!)), but I'll also be doing some video editing in Premiere Pro as well as running Visual Studio.
Budget - As above. Since I've been waiting on this one for a very long time, I want it to be able to do pretty much everything I want with ease, hence the £3500 budget.

Spec - I've been lurking around on the forums for a while trying to pick up as many tips as possible from you guys, so, as far as a CPU/GPU combination goes, I'm thinking maybe something like a 3080Ti with a 5900x. The 3090 and 5950x sound like overkill from what I've read up until now, but I stand to be corrected!

I'm hoping to order something within the next day or two, so any help or direction you can provide would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance!
I can't even make a spec that expensive 😂 This is gonna be one incredible system.

If they come back before you go into build, I'd suggest adding a set of the black braided cables. They won't increase performance but will give the system a little visual edge by getting rid of then not particularly attractive standard PSU cables.

Any questions, ask away!

Case
CORSAIR iCUE 5000X RGB MID TOWER GAMING CASE Fantastic top end case
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 9 5900X 12 Core CPU (3.7GHz-4.8GHz/70MB CACHE/AM4) Jack of all trades AMD CPU
Motherboard
ASUS® STRIX B550-F GAMING (DDR4, USB 3.2, 6Gb/s) - ARGB Ready! High quality motherboard that'll handle the 5900X
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE RGB PRO DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 16GB) You'll want 32GB for MSFS and video editing, 3200mhz is the sweetspot from what PCS offers
Graphics Card
12GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3080 Ti - HDMI, DP, LHR Proper top end GPU
1st Storage Drive
2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 256MB CACHE Bulk storage drive for general files
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SAMSUNG 980 PRO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 6900MB/R, 5000MB/W) Super fast Boot SSD for OS and applications
1st M.2 SSD Drive
2TB INTEL® 670p M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 3500MB/sR | 2700MB/sW) Huge games drive
Power Supply
CORSAIR 1000W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS GOLD, ULTRA QUIET Super large PSU to handle the beast
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
Corsair H150i ELITE CAPELLIX RGB Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler Top end watercooler to cool the 5900X, will also look great in the 5000X. Could go for the one with the screen if you wanted
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Extra Case Fans
3x Corsair LL120 RGB LED Fan + Controller Kit Again, not needed but extra cooling and extra pretty
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 Essential if you'll be using WiFi
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] I'd stick to Windows 10 while all the bugs of W11 are sorted
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 Windows Defender is fine
Browser
Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) Well worth the £5
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 13 to 15 working days
Price: £3,037.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/wKgaFZXm0c/
 

SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
Hi Guys,

Hoping you might be able to help with speccing out a system based on the budget above. With COVID and the GPU shortage, I've had to hold out on this one for a lot longer than I expected, but now I feel the time is right to pull the trigger :) I've added some more details below.

Monitor - I'm planning on pairing this with a Samsung Odyssey G9 to get the best flight sim experience possible and also to help with multitasking.
Uses - Gaming (e.g. Red Dead Redemption, Forza, COD, MSFS20 (obviously!)), but I'll also be doing some video editing in Premiere Pro as well as running Visual Studio.
Budget - As above. Since I've been waiting on this one for a very long time, I want it to be able to do pretty much everything I want with ease, hence the £3500 budget.

Spec - I've been lurking around on the forums for a while trying to pick up as many tips as possible from you guys, so, as far as a CPU/GPU combination goes, I'm thinking maybe something like a 3080Ti with a 5900x. The 3090 and 5950x sound like overkill from what I've read up until now, but I stand to be corrected!

I'm hoping to order something within the next day or two, so any help or direction you can provide would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance!
Firstly, hat's off, sounds like you've done some very good research and you're spot on with everything IMHO.

Secondly, I know this is the eternal scenario, but can you hold off on a system until January?

AMD are set to be releasing their 5000 series "Refresh" which are essentially the same 5000 CPU's, but overclocked and with a new 3D V-Cache which is supposed to give quite a performance bump. They're stating 15% on average but up to 25% in some scenarios.



There are some potential drawbacks:

Due to the sheer amount of V-Cache on these chips (192Mb on the 6900x vs the 64Mb on the current 5900x), these CPU's are going to be quite beneficial for miners of certain crypto like Etherium which is stepping away from GPU mining to CPU. As such, IF they are heavily adopted by the mining community, it's likely it will drive up prices and lower availability. It's all unknowns at the moment, but worth mentioning.

But even if the prices on these ramp up, the new release will definitely bring down the cost of the current 5000 series.

Either way, I would suggest if you can hold on for a couple of months, it may be well worthwhile for the long term life of the system.
 

Martinr36

MOST VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
I can't even make a spec that expensive 😂 This is gonna be one incredible system.

If they come back before you go into build, I'd suggest adding a set of the black braided cables. They won't increase performance but will give the system a little visual edge by getting rid of then not particularly attractive standard PSU cables.

Any questions, ask away!

Case
CORSAIR iCUE 5000X RGB MID TOWER GAMING CASE Fantastic top end case
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 9 5900X 12 Core CPU (3.7GHz-4.8GHz/70MB CACHE/AM4) Jack of all trades AMD CPU
Motherboard
ASUS® STRIX B550-F GAMING (DDR4, USB 3.2, 6Gb/s) - ARGB Ready! High quality motherboard that'll handle the 5900X
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE RGB PRO DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 16GB) You'll want 32GB for MSFS and video editing, 3200mhz is the sweetspot from what PCS offers
Graphics Card
12GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3080 Ti - HDMI, DP, LHR Proper top end GPU
1st Storage Drive
2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 256MB CACHE Bulk storage drive for general files
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SAMSUNG 980 PRO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 6900MB/R, 5000MB/W) Super fast Boot SSD for OS and applications
1st M.2 SSD Drive
2TB INTEL® 670p M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 3500MB/sR | 2700MB/sW) Huge games drive
Power Supply
CORSAIR 1000W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS GOLD, ULTRA QUIET Super large PSU to handle the beast
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
Corsair H150i ELITE CAPELLIX RGB Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler Top end watercooler to cool the 5900X, will also look great in the 5000X. Could go for the one with the screen if you wanted
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Extra Case Fans
3x Corsair LL120 RGB LED Fan + Controller Kit Again, not needed but extra cooling and extra pretty
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 Essential if you'll be using WiFi
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] I'd stick to Windows 10 while all the bugs of W11 are sorted
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 Windows Defender is fine
Browser
Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) Well worth the £5
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 13 to 15 working days
Price: £3,037.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/wKgaFZXm0c/
Nice build, with a build of this value i think if budget allowed I'd bump warranty up to platinum
 

Scott

Behold The Ford Mondeo
Moderator
Changed it up a little bit to what I would prefer. £3500 is overkill though, even for me. The only spend I would possibly consider would be the Hero motherboard. It's not in any way necessary, but with the Strix out of the picture I would probably consider it with the budget in mind. I wouldn't personally pay the expense though, but I don't have £3.5k to spend on a PC haha.

As @SpyderTracks says, we have a refresh due at the turn of the year. If you can wait it might be worthwhile. I would struggle in your shoes though as everything else is aligning with the GPU availability. It should hopefully be easy to drop in the chip though, should an upgrade be fancied down the line.

Case
CORSAIR iCUE 5000X RGB MID TOWER GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 9 5900X 12 Core CPU (3.7GHz-4.8GHz/70MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF X570-PLUS GAMING (USB 3.2 Gen 2, PCIe 4.0, CrossFireX) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE RGB PRO DDR4 3600MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
12GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3080 Ti - 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 SAMSUNG 980 PRO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 6900MB/R, 5000MB/W)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
2TB CORSAIR MP400 NVMe PCIe M.2 SSD (up to 3480 MB/R, 3000 MB/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 iCUE H150i ELITE LCD Display RGB 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 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
Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
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 - Approximately 13 to 15 working days
Price: £3,055.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/CM5k9nSarH/
 

redboy73

Member
Thanks @Scott and @JUNI0R, both of those builds look fantastic :) Yeah, I know what you mean about the budget. I had originally planned to buy this at the end of last year, but with the GPU shortages and the like, I just continued to put a little extra aside for it every month while waiting for demand to normalise, which it didn't, and I ended up a bigger budget than originally planned. Not that I'm complaining or anything!

I had seen the Strix motherboard mentioned quite a lot with the 5900x in other builds that were specced, so I wasn't aware it was currently unavailable. As you say, the Hero would be a luxury, but then it would probably fit in with the rest of the build pretty well!

In terms of the 2nd SSD drives you both mentioned, is there much difference in performance between the Intel 670p and the Corsair MP400 or are they more or less on a par with each other?

Also, @Martinr36 makes a good point about the warranty. Platinum would probably be a good shout, given the overall outlay.
 

redboy73

Member
Firstly, hat's off, sounds like you've done some very good research and you're spot on with everything IMHO.

Secondly, I know this is the eternal scenario, but can you hold off on a system until January?

AMD are set to be releasing their 5000 series "Refresh" which are essentially the same 5000 CPU's, but overclocked and with a new 3D V-Cache which is supposed to give quite a performance bump. They're stating 15% on average but up to 25% in some scenarios.



There are some potential drawbacks:

Due to the sheer amount of V-Cache on these chips (192Mb on the 6900x vs the 64Mb on the current 5900x), these CPU's are going to be quite beneficial for miners of certain crypto like Etherium which is stepping away from GPU mining to CPU. As such, IF they are heavily adopted by the mining community, it's likely it will drive up prices and lower availability. It's all unknowns at the moment, but worth mentioning.

But even if the prices on these ramp up, the new release will definitely bring down the cost of the current 5000 series.

Either way, I would suggest if you can hold on for a couple of months, it may be well worthwhile for the long term life of the system.
Thanks @SpyderTracks. I was really hoping nobody was going to mention about the AMD CPU refresh! I had seen that as well recently and I initially convinced myself to hold off until the beginning of next year, before I changed my mind. Now you have me questioning myself again :)

To be honest, I was in a similar situation this time last year when I heard rumours that the 3080Ti was going to be released in January, so I held off at that point. Then it got delayed, then delayed again, and again. I think it was June before it eventually arrived and then there was no real stock anyway!

It sounds like this AMD release is pretty much nailed on for the end of January, but I guess until they officially announce it, then you can never be sure :) And as far as technology goes, if you're always holding off for the next new thing to be released, you'll forever be chasing that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow!

However, having said all of that, given the potential performance bump you mentioned or the chance to save some money on the 5900x, it does makes sense to hold out that little longer, unless someone wants to convince me otherwise ;-)
 

Martinr36

MOST VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
In terms of the 2nd SSD drives you both mentioned, is there much difference in performance between the Intel 670p and the Corsair MP400 or are they more or less on a par with each other?
The Intel has a better life expectancy on the total number of writes than the corsair
 

Scott

Behold The Ford Mondeo
Moderator
Corsair is faster than the Intel, and a decent chunk cheaper. TBW of the 670p is higher, but it's exceptionally high compared to the market standard (after their abysmal offering with the 660p). I don't think the TBW between the MP400 and 670p is anything to worry about for a game drive.
 

redboy73

Member
So, I had a bit of a think about this over the last day or two and I'm going to hold off on my order until the 5000 series refresh comes out at the beginning of next year. Worst case scenario, if there is still no news on this release in a month or so, I can always still go ahead and order something then anyway. And, at that point, hopefully the Strix motherboard (and even the black braided cables :) ) might be back in stock too!

I'll resurrect this thread then and come back to you guys for some advice as soon as I'm ready to order again.

Thanks @JUNI0R, @SpyderTracks, @Scott & @Martinr36 for all of your help so far!
 

Martinr36

MOST VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
This also gives you the chance to save some more pennies, it's like i'm toying with the idea of getting a 3070Ti to replace my 2070 Super with, but may well hold out to till the 4000 series cards come out and pick up a bargain (hopefully) on a 3070Ti then
 

SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
So, I had a bit of a think about this over the last day or two and I'm going to hold off on my order until the 5000 series refresh comes out at the beginning of next year. Worst case scenario, if there is still no news on this release in a month or so, I can always still go ahead and order something then anyway. And, at that point, hopefully the Strix motherboard (and even the black braided cables :) ) might be back in stock too!

I'll resurrect this thread then and come back to you guys for some advice as soon as I'm ready to order again.

Thanks @JUNI0R, @SpyderTracks, @Scott & @Martinr36 for all of your help so far!
I think it's a good move personally, I think they're going to be a surprising release.

They have a lot to do to put Intel back in their box, and I think this 3D V-Cache is going to be something quite special, GamersNexus did a video recently showing that with current tech, it was V-Cache that made more difference over more cores for a lot of uses (leaving out heavy multithreading) but when you're factoring a beefy multi core processor with the addition of the V-Cache, it's going to be blistering performance on single core and multi core.
 

redboy73

Member
Hi Everyone,

Just bringing this thread back to life from December - at the time, after some advice, I held off on ordering since the AMD 5000 series refresh was just around the corner and I wanted to see what it would bring. Now, with the news that it's currently only the 5800 being 'upgraded' with the new 3D V-Cache, I've decided to take the plunge once again.

Back in December, both @JUNI0R and @Scott supplied me with two really good builds for consideration, so I've combined the best of those and also made three significant changes, i.e. a new motherboard, new RAM and a new CPU, all as a result of moving to Intel and DDR5.

However, I wanted to get your thoughts on the changes first, before I go ahead with this. From reading the forums recently, there seems to be a move towards recommending the new 12th Gen Intel chips over AMD, especially for the higher end builds, but I realise that the general consensus both here and just about everywhere else is that DDR5 is simply not worth it, since you are paying a premium for little or no performance gain.

I've also done up a DDR4 version of the build below and it works out at £230 cheaper. Given that I'm spending almost £4k on the overall build, I'm more than comfortable with paying the extra for DDR5, but I also don't want to be throwing the money away either, just for the sake of it!

My logic (and likely to be flawed logic at that!) was that by going with DDR5 now, I wouldn't at least have to switch out the motherboard when the better DDR5 RAM became available further down the line. However, is this false economy, and would I likely be replacing the current DDR5 board with another one at that stage anyway to get the most out of any new and improved DDR5 RAM going forward?

Other than that, can you let me know if there is anything else in this build that you'd change at this point? I realise there are a lot of premium or luxury elements in here, but I've been holding back the money for this for nearly two years, so I'm aiming to get absolutely the best experience possible for the budget that I have. Thanks in advance for your help!

Case
CORSAIR iCUE 5000X RGB MID TOWER GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i9 16-Core Processor i9-12900K (3.2GHz) 30MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® ROG STRIX Z690-F GAMING WIFI (LGA1700, USB 3.2, PCIe 5.0) - ARGB Ready
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair DOMINATOR PLATINUM DDR5 5600MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
12GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3080 Ti - 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
2TB INTEL® 670p M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 3500MB/sR | 2700MB/sW)
1st Storage Drive
2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 256MB CACHE
Power Supply
CORSAIR 1200W HX SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® PLATINUM, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Braided Power Supply Cables
CORSAIR Premium Individually Sleeved PSU Cable Kit Pro - Black
Processor Cooling
CORSAIR iCUE H150i ELITE LCD Display RGB 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
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 Platinum Warranty (3 Year Collect & Return, 3 Year Parts, 3 Year labour)
Delivery
SCOTTISH HIGHLANDS & UK OFFSHORE ISLANDS / N IRELAND
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 9 to 12 working days
Price: £3,853.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-z690-ddr5-pc/uA00FsurNr/
 

SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
Hi Everyone,

Just bringing this thread back to life from December - at the time, after some advice, I held off on ordering since the AMD 5000 series refresh was just around the corner and I wanted to see what it would bring. Now, with the news that it's currently only the 5800 being 'upgraded' with the new 3D V-Cache, I've decided to take the plunge once again.

Back in December, both @JUNI0R and @Scott supplied me with two really good builds for consideration, so I've combined the best of those and also made three significant changes, i.e. a new motherboard, new RAM and a new CPU, all as a result of moving to Intel and DDR5.

However, I wanted to get your thoughts on the changes first, before I go ahead with this. From reading the forums recently, there seems to be a move towards recommending the new 12th Gen Intel chips over AMD, especially for the higher end builds, but I realise that the general consensus both here and just about everywhere else is that DDR5 is simply not worth it, since you are paying a premium for little or no performance gain.

I've also done up a DDR4 version of the build below and it works out at £230 cheaper. Given that I'm spending almost £4k on the overall build, I'm more than comfortable with paying the extra for DDR5, but I also don't want to be throwing the money away either, just for the sake of it!

My logic (and likely to be flawed logic at that!) was that by going with DDR5 now, I wouldn't at least have to switch out the motherboard when the better DDR5 RAM became available further down the line. However, is this false economy, and would I likely be replacing the current DDR5 board with another one at that stage anyway to get the most out of any new and improved DDR5 RAM going forward?

Other than that, can you let me know if there is anything else in this build that you'd change at this point? I realise there are a lot of premium or luxury elements in here, but I've been holding back the money for this for nearly two years, so I'm aiming to get absolutely the best experience possible for the budget that I have. Thanks in advance for your help!

Case
CORSAIR iCUE 5000X RGB MID TOWER GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i9 16-Core Processor i9-12900K (3.2GHz) 30MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® ROG STRIX Z690-F GAMING WIFI (LGA1700, USB 3.2, PCIe 5.0) - ARGB Ready
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair DOMINATOR PLATINUM DDR5 5600MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
12GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3080 Ti - 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
2TB INTEL® 670p M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 3500MB/sR | 2700MB/sW)
1st Storage Drive
2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 256MB CACHE
Power Supply
CORSAIR 1200W HX SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® PLATINUM, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Braided Power Supply Cables
CORSAIR Premium Individually Sleeved PSU Cable Kit Pro - Black
Processor Cooling
CORSAIR iCUE H150i ELITE LCD Display RGB 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
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 Platinum Warranty (3 Year Collect & Return, 3 Year Parts, 3 Year labour)
Delivery
SCOTTISH HIGHLANDS & UK OFFSHORE ISLANDS / N IRELAND
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 9 to 12 working days
Price: £3,853.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-z690-ddr5-pc/uA00FsurNr/
Yeah, it's a huge shame about the AMD 5000x 3D chips, think they would have been good if things had been different.

The above looks spot on, I personally wouldn't change a thing. The only thing that leaps out is if it's worth upping the second M2 to a Gen 4 SSD like the 980 to get the most out of DirectStorage, but that's a pure luxury thing and simply a personal preference. DirectStorage is coming to windows 11 firstly, but then also being rolled out eventually to windows 10.

 

Scott

Behold The Ford Mondeo
Moderator
I'm not sure I would go with DDR5 or the 12900k, but I get your reasoning for going with both. You're not losing anything with either choice, just cash, but you're not gaining anything right now either.

I would probably opt for the 12700K overall though, it's toasty enough as it is :D
 

redboy73

Member
Yeah, it's a huge shame about the AMD 5000x 3D chips, think they would have been good if things had been different.

The above looks spot on, I personally wouldn't change a thing. The only thing that leaps out is if it's worth upping the second M2 to a Gen 4 SSD like the 980 to get the most out of DirectStorage, but that's a pure luxury thing and simply a personal preference. DirectStorage is coming to windows 11 firstly, but then also being rolled out eventually to windows 10.

Thanks! Now that you're putting ideas in my head and since I still have the budget for it, I might just upgrade that second M2 to the Firecuda 530 instead :)

I wasn't aware that DirectStorage was coming to PC. Thanks for the info! What's your thoughts about Windows 11, by the way? I configured Windows 10 as I read that Windows 11 had plenty of bugs to be ironed out. Is that still the case and would you advise staying on Windows 10 for now?

One final question - From a Flight Sim perspective, I'm looking to pair this with the Samsung G9 for the best experience. I notice you have it listed in your signature. I had seen differing views on it. Would you recommend it and how is from a productivity perspective? I know it had issues initially, but it sounds like the majority of those were resolved with firmware updates?

Apologies for all the questions!
 

redboy73

Member
I'm not sure I would go with DDR5 or the 12900k, but I get your reasoning for going with both. You're not losing anything with either choice, just cash, but you're not gaining anything right now either.

I would probably opt for the 12700K overall though, it's toasty enough as it is :D
Thanks @Scott. Yeah, I totally take your point about DDR5 and the 12900K, which is why I asked the question. I guess if I was going to go DDR4, then I'd probably go 12700K as well.

I know the 12900K runs very hot, but I'm guessing the H150i will be able to handle it ok with the iCUE 5000X?
 
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SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
What's your thoughts about Windows 11, by the way? I configured Windows 10 as I read that Windows 11 had plenty of bugs to be ironed out. Is that still the case and would you advise staying on Windows 10 for now?
Personally I'd agree with what you read. Windows 11 is definitely going to be great, it's not a dud, that's already realised, but as you say, there are still some bugs ongoing and new ones found daily. Personally I'd stick with Windows 10 for a little bit longer.

Saying that they're releasing the first major version upgrade for 11 in around July which may well be what we've been waiting for to really get it roadworthy. But the upgrade is free and very easy to do when you're ready (if microsoft don't force it beforehand).

One final question - From a Flight Sim perspective, I'm looking to pair this with the Samsung G9 for the best experience. I notice you have it listed in your signature. I had seen differing views on it. Would you recommend it and how is from a productivity perspective? I know it had issues initially, but it sounds like the majority of those were resolved with firmware updates?
Mine is a latest model which is LC49G95TSSRXXU. I bought mine direct from Amazon (not through a reseller).

First thing I did was update it to the latest firmware of 1013.0. The update wouldn't accept a generic usb key, happened to have a high end samsung one which worked instantly.

Downfalls:

1/. Takes a bit of setup, you need both latest firmware and a driver in windows which isn't made abundantly clear. Then after this, I found colours in windows itself were a bit washed out and dull even with windows "HDR" mode enabled (basically don't use it, it's inferior to without it on). Games will automatically run in HDR as the nvidia / AMD driver dictates that. So I applied a verified colour profile from HERE which really improved things in windows.

2/. In normal sleep mode, it will wake up fine by moving the mouse as normal. After an extended sleep though, you may find it fails to wake. This is a bug in the sleep firmware, and you need to soft off with the nipple controller, and then power back on. Annoying but no deal breaker. Mine hasn't had any issues starting up properly on boot.

3/. There is a very slight pop / crack sound which could be the chassis heating up, could be arching but I very much doubt it. I've noticed it a couple of times but only when no sound is playing. Normally I don't hear it and I have it on while I sleep. But Samsung do consider this an RMA reason, and so do good resellers, so you can return it if it did bother you and get a replacement. I would recommend buying off Amazon, Overclockers, somewhere established with good returns policy.

Upsides:

1/. HDR 1000. Not sure if you've experienced HDR, I hadn't before this monitor and OMG, it really is rather wonderful. Just jawdroppingly vibrant colours and brightness, really sucks you in.

2/. Immersion. I really don't know how to describe this. It's so enveloping and the aspect ratio is so perfect for the natural view curvature that you really literally feel like you're inside the screen. I know that sounds over the top, but it's an incredible experience.

3/. Productivity. Amazing. If you're used to 4k, it is a step down in the fact that you can have 4 1080p windows snapped to each corner on 4k. This will take 3 windows quite happily. But it also has picture in picture if you had a second source that you wanted playing say from a tablet or phone which is cool.

For me, the benefits far far far outweigh the downsides, and a few of the complexities I had were due to older graphics card so wouldn't apply to you anyway. I literally laughed out loud for days when I first got it due to how insanely awesome it was using it. Gaming is just an absolute joy.

If you want a better view, I did a thread on it: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/forums/threads/samsung-g9-on-order-finally.86746/
 

redboy73

Member
Thanks @SpyderTracks . I'll definitely stick with Windows 11 for now then.

That's fantastic info on the G9 and it helps to allay any concerns that I had. Unfortuantely, the deals on it at the minute don't seem to be what they were back in December. So much for the good old days of the January sales!
 
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