New Gaming PC

[GalateaTen]

Hi all,

Just looking for some advice/guidance on a first Gaming PC. I have pulled together the following spec with a goal to move into 4k. This will be a pure gaming machine running AAA titles like Red Dead, Cyberpunk and Starfield.

I am unsure on whether the motherboard selected will be sufficient, as I do not really understand the impact of vrm, what is the impact of 60A over the 90A? etc. Would it be better to perhaps choose the Asus Rog Strix z790-F gaming with 5600MHz RAM over this Gigabyte Z790 Gaming X AX with 6000MHz RAM?

Any feedback on the rest of the build would be great as well, thankyou!

Case
CORSAIR iCUE 5000X RGB MID TOWER GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i7 16-Core Processor i7-13700KF (Up to 5.4GHz) 30MB Cache
Motherboard
GIGABYTE Z790 GAMING X AX (DDR5, USB 3.2, PCIe 5.0) - ARGB Ready
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE RGB DDR5 6000MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
24GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 4090 - HDMI, DP
Graphics Card Support Bracket
NONE (BRACKET INCLUDED AS STANDARD ON 4070 Ti AND ABOVE)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB SOLIDIGM P44 PRO GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 7000MB/sR, 4700MB/sW)
2nd M.2 SSD Drive
2TB SOLIDIGM P44 PRO GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 7000MB/sR, 6500MB/sW)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 1200W HX SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® PLATINUM, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead, 1.0mm Core)
Processor Cooling
CORSAIR iCUE H150i ELITE CAPELLIX XT RGB High Performance CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
ONBOARD LAN PORT
USB/Thunderbolt Options
2 PORT (2 x TYPE A) USB 3.1 PCI-E CARD + STANDARD USB PORTS
Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
NO RECOVERY MEDIA REQUIRED
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
Norton 360 inc. Game Optimizer - Free 90 Day License
Browser
Microsoft® Edge
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 7 to 10 working days

 

[TonyCarter]

It looks a fairly solid build, but if it's purely for gaming I'd go down the AMD 7800x3D route myself as it's simply the fastest gaming CPU currently available...and uses about 30-50% less power than the 13700KF in most scenarios (even max power usage is something like 160w vs 260w). You could also drop down to the 1000W PSU if you go the AMD route...if you need to reduce the budget a little.

You also don't need the Arctic thermal paste as the Corsair AIO comes with good pre-applied paste.

You should also remove the Norton AV as it's almost malware nowadays, and Windows built in solution is very good (and is less likely to break something).

Also, don't forget that if you configure it without Windows, you MUST do a wipe & clean install before you go any further...as the test build will not be full configured, or even feature complete...and you'll have to install all the Windows updates & drivers from scratch.

 

[SpyderTracks]

I do think with the way Starfield is procedurally generated, it's going to hugely benefit from an X3D chip. I would strongly suggest 7800X3D also. CyberPunk hugely gains from X3D V Cache also. It's not just performance though, but it manages it at insanely low watts, so thermals are an absolute breeze, so you end up having to spend a lot less on the cooling setup.

Normally at 4k, you're GPU bound, so CPU's don't affect performance so much, but there are CPU heavy games, usually RTS type ones, or Starfield (as it's procedurally generated)

AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D Review - The Best Gaming CPU

AMD's Ryzen 7 7800X3D is everything that gamers want: eight fast cores, in a single CCD, with 3D VCache stacked on top at a price point of $450. In our review we can confirm that 7800X3D is indeed the fastest gaming CPU available, beating Intel's 13900K and even the 7950X3D.

www.techpowerup.com