this post was submitted on 20 May 2026

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FML it's the worst time to get into a high end PC, but... (feddit.uk)

submitted 22 hours ago by yakko@feddit.uk to c/buildapc@lemmy.world

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...yeah, it's time. I've finally found games I actually want to play that require a half-decent machine, I make all my money on the computer, and I regularly do video editing as well. I always keep my machines for a long time, so they need to be as future-proof as possible and I can't justify saving up for a PC unless it's going to be good enough for the foreseeable future. So here's where my head is at, I'd be grateful for any advice.

tl;dr https://pcpartpicker.com/list/xjP3yF for the general idea, but I'm open to other ideas. It's going to be a linux machine, and all AMD since I hear the drivers work better/are less fiddly. Aesthetically, I like an all-white motif but looks are secondary to pure power and long life. I would like to be able to emulate PS4, Xbox 360, run S&box so my kid can make games, and render my clip shows at high speed. The budget I'm targeting is about £2k. Will mean saving up for a couple months. Parts I'm considering:

CPU

Ryzen 9 9950X3D (I'm most excited about having a strong CPU, this one appeals to me even though it's a bit of a splurge)
Ryzen 9 7950X3D
Ryzen 9 7900X3D

GPU

Anything AMD, 16gb preferred but at least 12gb. AMD RX 6800XT or higher perhaps. RX 7800 XT or similar would be great.

Memory

16gb preferred, DDR5, not too fussy about brand. Maybe someday another 16gb if it becomes worthwhile.

Storage

1 or 2TB M.2 NVMe SSD, any really who cares. I don't need a lot of storage, most of my games are lightweight indies or backed up on my server.

Power Supply

Anything 850-1000w, preferably modular? I dunno.

Cooling

Possibly an AIO liquid cooler. I'm iffy on that, would be happy with a fan if it's more recommended.

Case

Fractal does a nice white wood effect one (North XL), as does Antec (Flux Pro). Happy with anything that matches, but don't really love showy RGB, prefer understated and clean looks.

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[–] SynonymousStoat@lemmy.world 5 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

I built a new PC last year and I decided on the Fractal North XL (mesh) and I absolutely love this case. It looks awesome, the airflow is great, although it did take a little bit of tweaking as my first instinct was to put fans in every place possible, but I realized that some fans were fighting against eachother and the already good temps dropped a bit more after I reworked the fan arrangement.

The other thing that is great about this case is how much space there is inside so it's easy to get your hands in there when hooking everything up or when making changes after the initial install. The cable management system is pretty good too.

They aren't exactly cheap but Noctua 120mm fans are worth it in my opinion, I barely hear the fans in the case and I've never once had my CPU or GPU thermal throttle even when running a continuous benchmark and my PC is purely air cooled.

One potential downside is that with the mesh version of the case you get a side mounted fan mount that you can pick between putting it above the CPU or GPU. I chose to put over my GPU, but there was barely enough clearance above the GPU's power connector. Certain power cables might not fit without putting pressure/stress on the power connector which is generally not a good idea as it could cause issues with the power connector like shorting or melting it if the connection isn't perfectly secure. Not a huge issue for me, but something to be aware of and if anything you can just not put the fan mount above the GPU.

[–] yakko@feddit.uk 2 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

Thanks for the tip about the case, I'm a sucker for the wood effect! I think I'm leaning towards air cooling only too, because the idea of ever having to fiddle with a faulty pump next to prized components is giving me mild anxiety.

I think someone else was also singing the praises of Noctua, I think I'll take that onboard!

The mesh case looks good, but if I do manage to pick all white parts I might go for the clear side panel. We'll see!

[–] Wahots@pawb.social 3 points 10 hours ago* (last edited 10 hours ago) (1 children)

Another great fan are the Phanteks T30s (120mm), if you have room. They are thicker than normal fans, but are about as quiet as Be Quiet fans, while moving tons of air.

You just need to make sure that your case has clearance for them. They are absolutely cracked on thick radiators and exhaust fans. I use them on custom water-cooling builds, and the loudest sound is coil whine, not fans.

https://phanteks.com/product/t30-120/

[–] yakko@feddit.uk 1 points 5 hours ago

I like the look of that, and I am reading that the fans that come with the Fractal North can be a bit loud. Taking Noctua onboard. It's a roomy case, how many fans (in+out) would you use?

[–] PlantJam@lemmy.world 10 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

You might also consider a lower tier machine that could be upgraded sooner. And don't skimp on the power supply, either. Be sure you get something reputable so it doesn't fry the whole system.

[–] yakko@feddit.uk 1 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

Copy that about the PSU. Maybe it's just the kid in me, but I can't get as excited about saving up for a reasonable PC. I make all my money and have more than half of my fun on a computer, I want to treat myself to one I can be proud of. The grownup side of me gets onboard when I think about it staying performant for years longer, if I get the best one I can. When those two are of one mind on something, it's hard to talk them down.

[–] PlantJam@lemmy.world 2 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

That's the fun part of being an adult with adult money. You can save up and spend a little extra because you enjoy it. You're already saving a significant amount compared to buying pre built. You should also make sure you're budgeting for a monitor upgrade to really get the most out of the upgrade.

[–] yakko@feddit.uk 1 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

I think I'm happy enough with 1080p. Anything more than that can be visually overstimulating anyway, like those high res soap operas I sometimes see when I find myself in the company of a television, it's jarring!

[–] SparroHawc@piefed.world 1 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

I agree that more than 1080p isn't really necessary, but something that has blur reduction and can do at least 72Hz is a good investment, IMO. 72Hz is what it takes for me to not see flicker without taxing my GPU too hard, and blur reduction means you can even read text when it's moving across the screen instead of turning into a smear. Got a decent BenQ several years ago, and I haven't regretted it once.

[–] yakko@feddit.uk 1 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

I'll keep it in mind if I notice that with my new-ish 60hz monitors, thanks!

[–] SparroHawc@piefed.world 2 points 16 hours ago

I should mention that without blur reduction, you won't see flicker - but you will see blur!

[–] UntimedDiffusion@piefed.zip 3 points 17 hours ago (2 children)

I think I mostly agree with the things everyone else is saying here. The only thing I'd change from your PCPartPicker list is to bump the CPU down to a 9800x3d and upgrade the GPU to a 9070xt

I see you have some questions about PSU. Here's the PSU tier list. For the level of machine you're aiming for I would only recommend A tier. For wattage, take the expected wattage from PCPartPicker and add a couple hundred. With the changes I suggested that's a minimum of 750w for you, but I think I wouldn't go lower than 850w

[–] Wahots@pawb.social 1 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

I agree on the PSU. Nothing is worse than continually buying PSUs because voltage spikes cause the PC to draw too much power. My 3080ti makes my 1,000w seasonic occasionally turn off, which is incredibly annoying.

[–] SpikesOtherDog@ani.social 1 points 3 hours ago

So, the peak draw of a 3080 should be about 350w. Fudging that up to 500, that should leave you with 500w to play with. What ELSE do you have in there, a bunch of spinning drives?

[–] yakko@feddit.uk 1 points 17 hours ago

That's a great site, been going over it. Finally settled on a Gigabyte AORUS ELITE P850 for my updated parts list, trying to take everyone's advice: https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/Wmyk9K

[–] mierdabird@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

I see your PC part picker has a 9060xt instead of the 6800xt mentioned in your post, I was just gonna suggest that. Raw compute the 6800xt is only like 10% faster but it draws basically double the power. The only real downside is VRAM bandwidth, the 9060xt is around 320GB/s while 6800xt is 512GB/s, but this only matters if you're doing LLM's or something else predicated on memory.
To be honest if you're going that big on the CPU I'd probably pair it with something stronger than the 9060 (like 9070xt) but the GPU is the easiest thing to resell and upgrade later if you prefer.

Only other note I have is check out the PSU tier list, doesn't matter what you get as long as it's a good one: https://psutierlist.org/tiering-criteria

[–] yakko@feddit.uk 2 points 21 hours ago

Thanks, yeah I'm not likely to be running any LLMs honestly, it isn't my thing. Good note on the GPU, thanks!

[–] TragicNotCute@lemmy.world 3 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

I think this about a year and and loved my modular power supply. I’d highly recommend shelling out the extra few dollars for a brand name and modular power supply. Makes cable routing so much easier.

[–] yakko@feddit.uk 1 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

Brand names, you say? leans over with pad of paper

[–] TragicNotCute@lemmy.world 2 points 18 hours ago

Mine is Corsair and I’ve been very pleased with it.

[–] surewhynotlem@lemmy.world 3 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

Looks good! My only advice is that 16G RAM isn't future proof and DDR 5 does weird things when you have too many sticks

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[–] LadyMeow@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 19 hours ago (2 children)

I’m kinda confused, 7950x3d is am4, doesn’t that mean DDR4? But I digress….

I have a similar setup already, 7950x3d, 6900xt, 16gb ddr4, modular power supply, probably an 850w but I forget.

It’s pretty nice! I’m running Linux and unless I’m compiling a ton of stuff, haven’t had issues with 16gb of ram, the CPU is great. I don’t play graphically intensive games much, so it’s everything I need and more at the moment.

Water cooling is neat, I did hard lines and showy for a bit, now I have a rack mount case and soft tubes. The soft is much more pleasant to build with, I suppose. Overall I dunno if I would recommend it. More expensive, for sure, and more fiddly if you want to change modify upgrade whatever.

[–] UntimedDiffusion@piefed.zip 3 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

The 7950x3d is AM5. I would double check all your system specs if I were you

[–] LadyMeow@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 17 hours ago

Maybe I have the 5800x3d, though it’s kinda pointless for me to check, in happy with it, and if I upgrade I would have to move to am5 or whatever is next probably anyway. But you are correct. Maybe I was dreaming of getting the am5 x3ds, idk. 🤷‍♀️

For OP: verify your components all work together, if you come up with a list in sure you can find someone that would review it for you if you aren’t sure.

[–] yakko@feddit.uk 2 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

I'm the one confused probably, I don't know PC parts that well and I've just dumped my random notes on you hoping for clarity. Thanks for the note about DDR4.

I also mostly play indie games that aren't memory hogs, but I've decided I want to get into S&box so my kid and I can create games, and I had to return it due to none of my computers being up to the task. Part of my goal with this build is for that not to happen for another ten years or more, if possible.

I almost want to avoid watercooling because the whole prospect makes me nervous, but I've heard the all-in-one units with bendy tubes are pretty self-contained but... I'm sure there are horror stories. The main thing I crave from any heat sink is to be blissfully unconcerned for the life of the device, ideally. Is there something like that on the market?

[–] LadyMeow@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

Yeah, aio coolers are… pretty easy, but do add a small amount of extra complexity and concern for failure. I haven’t been following PC parts for a while, but there are loads of air coolers that will do plenty for any of those processors. Just make sure what you pick fits the case you want too! Some of them can get quite large. I suppose follow your heart on this, either will be totally fine.

For 10 years plus, maybe going with 32 gb would be better, I’m not sure. I’ve considered more, but then again with the current prices and I’ve been happy with 16 for a long time. Hard to say, maybe you’ll find a great deal and swing the 32? That said, if you are planning windows I would lean for more, the OS eats a decent amount.

[–] yakko@feddit.uk 2 points 18 hours ago

32gb RAM instead of 16 has been the biggest surprise takeaway from this thread, and I appreciate it despite it being a hard pill to swallow at a time like this. The thing I should have considered is that my laptop has 16gb of DDR4 and it frequently pisses me off (while running windows mind you). 32 might be just the thing.

[–] brickfrog@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 21 hours ago* (last edited 21 hours ago) (1 children)

That sounds okay for what you're aiming for, maybe a bit overpowered on the CPU front but it does sound like you want this build to last a while. If you need to save some money on the build you could maybe step down on the CPU side of things but I totally get it if you want to stick to something higher end.. in 5+ years you'll probably be happy you went with the better CPU, IMO.

DDR5 RAM is going to be the pain point in terms of cost right now but 16 GB is okay starting out.

If the system case you get can handle an AIO liquid cooler then I'd go with that for sure. CPU fans are okay but they tend to be a tad bit noisier than a liquid cooler in my own experience.

Not sure if you care about fan noise but I've been using the quieter Noctua fans for my own builds, they're great and well worth it if you're doing a build and care about that sort of thing.

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[–] Addv4@lemmy.world 3 points 22 hours ago (3 children)

Ok, so unconventional and not recommended unless you know a lot about PCs, but have you tried looking on your local Craigslist/marketplace equivalent? I'm still seeing a decent amount of options for used PCs (US, so your experience might vary given the economic uncertainty of your local {it ain't great in the US right now}), so it might be worth it give a look around, and see if you can save on a basic pc and upgrade the GPU or the like.

Another option is to look at amd minisforum boards that have a laptop CPU soldered on, they take laptop ram and I've been quite pleased with mine (was ~$300 for the board and CPU for my desktop about a years ago).

Also, AMD is pretty smooth with linux, generally would recommend if using Linux, though Nvidia isn't the absolute worst so long as you aren't trying to run on mobile (like a laptop, done that, never again).

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[–] fuckwit_mcbumcrumble@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

Why are you looking at a >8 core CPU but only 16 gigs of ram? Unless you're doing heavy productivity work get the 9800x3d/9850x3d over any of those CPUs. The experience is better on single CCD CPUs. Use the money saved to get 32 gigs of dual channel ram and you'll see significantly better performance.

Unless you're doing serious productivity work with at minimum 64 gigs of ram any of those CPUs would be at best a waste of performance, or at worst worse performance than a "normal" CPU.

[–] yakko@feddit.uk 2 points 21 hours ago (2 children)

This is the thing I'm struggling with most, because I'm drawn to a strong CPU as the foundation of a long-term build but I'm learning that things might not be so simple. Does rendering a 3 hour clip show every week count as heavy productivity? I've been doing that for a couple years. And what's this about single CCD experience? You mean with gaming I assume?

I thought I might start at 16gb RAM due to the shit show we're in right now hoping it's good enough... You think a 9850X3D would be a good ten year CPU?

[–] vikingtons@lemmy.world 3 points 19 hours ago* (last edited 19 hours ago) (5 children)

I don't think it's always easy to add DIMMs down the line even if they have the same model number; sub timings are likely to be different kit-to-kit and can cause some complexity / issues.

I think I would aim for 2*16 GiB DDR5, but I can totally understand the apprehension in today's market. An 8 core granite ridge CPU can still get plenty of good work done.

Here's my system. If you have any workloads you'd like perf tested (like video rendering using the cpu), let me know. I typically use fedora workstation but have windows 10 and 11 disks attached for work / sw testing.

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[–] fuckwit_mcbumcrumble@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

Unless you're using the CPU for work that you're getting paid for it (or you have fuck you money) don't get a dual CCD CPU. Games can't effectively talk across the link between the two and you'll run into stuttering issues because of it. Especially since only half the CPU has the bigger vcache and the other half doesn't. Linux handles this a bit better than windows, but for gaming both limit you to one CCD. The only upside is background tasks could run on the non vcache CCD and leave the cached one for purely gaming. I don't think games will ever fully take advantage of dual CCDs effectively. It's a waste of money with no gains for gaming.

Unless you need (not want) 64 gigs of ram you don't need a dual CCD CPU. If you're doing fine with your current setup rendering the video then the 9800 will do well too. If it's even a question you don't want it.

[–] yakko@feddit.uk 2 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

I'm reading that driver updates might have effectively solved the stuttering issues, you think it's still something to contend with? I do a lot of video rendering and stuff like that, so it's not purely about gaming. I also think it would be nice to be able to stream while gaming, even though it's not something I do at the moment.

Also, I do plan to use this machine as my daily driver for at least the next decade, and I want to be able to add more RAM later and keep running whatever terribly un-optimized software gets written in the 2030s. It's a question of whether the 9800 will be a "do everything" CPU for the next decade or not, what do you reckon?

[–] fuckwit_mcbumcrumble@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

Windows' fix is to entirely shut off the second CCD when gaming. So you will never see a performance gain from the dual CCD chips as long as it does that. Linux largely does the same thing, but I don't think they turn it entirely off. And those dual CCD CPUs need so much memory bandwith that even dual channel DDR5 chokes them out, it's almost offensive to the CPU to do that to it. And with that low end of a GPU I doubt a 9800 would be slowing you down. I have a 4090 and my 9800x3d almost never goes above 50% utilization. Streaming has a minimal impact on the CPU thanks to the GPU en/decoders. And if you use GPU encoding when rendering video then the CPU isn't that busy.

If you're gonna upgrade parts in the future why not get the MUCH better performance now of a 9800 with dual channel, then in the future upgrade the CPU? I doubt next gen will be a new CPU socket, and AMD has been great with that compatibility. Plus the rumors are next gen AMD CPUs will have 12 cores per CCD so you get the best of both worlds. Buying a 9950x3d and then pairing it with an RX 9060 is like buying a ferrari, and putting donuts on all 4 wheels. Yes hypothetically in 10 years of driving 1000 hp might come in handy. But 9.999 of those 10 years you're missing out on so much. If the 9800 can't run the game in 10 years then the 9950 won't either.

[–] yakko@feddit.uk 2 points 17 hours ago (2 children)

Okay, fair enough. Thanks for being patient, this is a lot to take in. I'm trying to incorporate everyone's advice and rework my parts list, what do you think about this one (https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/Wmyk9K )? Is the 9800 going to be happy with a 9070 XT, or am I barking up the wrong tree there?

[–] Mistic@lemmy.world 2 points 14 hours ago* (last edited 14 hours ago) (1 children)

Looks balanced to me.

You might be unhappy with the noise and temps with that cooler, though. I used to run one like that on a 105 TDP processor (your pick is 120 TDP), and it would get toasty in some games. Loud as well.

Consider getting a 360mm AIO from the same manufacturer. They last about 5 years, so you'll probably have to replace it later on, but it'll be much, much quieter and will let you not throttle under extensive heavy load. They cost about the same. Just make sure to never tighten the screws (if it holds on, it's good enough), as well as ONLY ever screw them in through the fans. The metal used in AIOs is very very soft. Also, make sure the AIO actually fits in the case.

Another thing I know people do for rendering is getting 1 fast SSD, 1 regular SSD, and 1 HDD.

Fast SSD is for what you're working with, it should be kept fairly empty. Regular is for your apps, OS, and other work, that is not currently needed. HDD is for cold storage.

Currently, you only have a very fast SSD chosen. Maybe even excessively fast, but you of all people might actually appreciate the speeds.

I am a little concerned about the CPU because you may want more than 8 cores. I want you to go look at the benchmarks for apps you use professionally and see what kind of performance can be expected with what CPU or GPU. Only then pick one you'll be happy with.

I also noticed you mentioned using a 1080p monitor. 9070xt is 100% a 1440p GPU. You won't be able to squeeze all of its juices on a 1080p for a long while, which isn't good.

[–] yakko@feddit.uk 1 points 4 hours ago

This build is already about £500 more than I had planned to spend! Now they're saying buy monitors? Aaiiieee, my wallet. Maybe down the road if I deserve a treat I'll spring for a higher refresh 1440p monitor. It's likely enough, I am kinda spoiled.

The motivation for picking one small NVME SSD is that after the upgrade I'll have two >10Tb file servers on my network, one for serving media to the projector and one for backups. I would feel just silly buying more storage at that point... At least for now.

I'm seriously considering the Thermalright Royal Pretor 130 or a Peerless Assassin 120; both are highly reputed, I've seen them used on this CPU with good results in completed builds on pcpartpicker, and the case I'm going with can fit a heatsink 185mm tall so either will fit, incredibly enough. Also, most of my favourite games are indies so I don't plan on overclocking or anything crazy.

I've just been talked down from getting the 9950X3D for the 9800X3D instead. Benchmarks all said both will be roughly an order of magnitude as much computing power as I'm used to, and the higher wattage and heat of the 9950 would probably push me into genuinely needing a watercooler. I'm hoping I can get away with a fan cooled CPU under the hood and not have to worry about AIOs dying every 5 years. Is that reasonable?

[–] fuckwit_mcbumcrumble@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

A much more sane setup. You'll still be very GPU bottlenecked, but much closer in terms of pairing. I prefer a CPU over a GPU bottleneck anyways since multi tasking will bring that down. But I doubt you'll ever see much of a CPU bottleneck with the 9070. And since you have 32 gigs of ram you're not going to be horribly RAM starved. Full fat linux distros aint the light thing they once were. Catchy OS on startup uses like 3.5 gigs of ram, and running FH6 I was using just under 16 gigs of ram not including what the iGPU was reserving. And that was on my old laptop. Nowhere near as powerful as that.

You could save a few bucks by getting a pcie gen 4 SSD, and maybe spring for a lower end 2TB drive with the money saved. The speed difference isn't that insane like sata to NVMe, or even gen 3 to 4. But that's personal preference, and x870 has plenty of spare PCIe lanes for getting a second drive later on.

Also since your case has a PSU dungeon you don't need to pay the white tax for a white PSU. With a modular PSU you can replace the cables with custom aftermarket ones, but you might be paying more than the white PSU for those. I'm not fully up to stuff on PSU quality tiers, but as long as that's a highly rated one 850 watts should be plenty. That one seems OK, but gigabyte has had really bad responses to exploding PSUs so I'd maybe stay away. If you go by this list then shoot for B tier at minimum. A good white PSU will cost money, but you do have the dungeon.

[–] yakko@feddit.uk 1 points 7 hours ago

That's a really key point about the PSU dungeon, I keep forgetting about practicalities like that! Good to know about Gigabyte being shady, I thought I'd heard that name somewhere before.

One thing I forgot to mention is that my storage needs on my daily driver PC are very minimal, because I have a 6-bay media server in the house. On top of that, one of my old PCs will become an additional server with my 14tb external HDD attached, so I'm really not sweating storage too much. If it gets cramped I'll drop an SSD into it down the road?

[–] artyom@piefed.social 1 points 18 hours ago* (last edited 18 hours ago) (1 children)

What does your current machine look like? Can you just reuse some of the components, and maybe upgrade them later?

[–] yakko@feddit.uk 1 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

Rocking a 2015 iMac and a Surface Book 3. Not happy with either situation, when I'm finally doing Outlook and OneDrive from inside Linux (for work), I'll probably convert the laptop to Linux finally as well and be rid of Windows once and for all. I've been meaning to get rid of all my closed OS systems for years, but mistakes kept happening.

[–] artyom@piefed.social 1 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

Oh, and you're playing games on these machines?

[–] yakko@feddit.uk 1 points 17 hours ago

Not like.... not happily. But yeah. I beat BG3 a few times on the SB3, using absolute dogshit-potato settings. Would be fun to see what the game actually looks like, one of these days.

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