After nearly a decade of unbelievable service, and with price increases likely on the horizon, it’s finally come time to retire my old desktop.
After some analysis, here’s what I’ve settled on:
| Type | Item | Price |
|---|---|---|
| CPU | AMD Ryzen 7 7700X 4.5 GHz 8-Core Processor | $250.00 |
| CPU Cooler | Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE 66.17 CFM CPU Cooler | $39.90 @ Amazon |
| Motherboard | Gigabyte B650 GAMING X AX V2 ATX AM5 Motherboard | $179.99 @ Amazon |
| Memory | G.Skill Ripjaws S5 64 GB (2 x 32 GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 Memory | $189.99 @ Newegg |
| Storage | Samsung 980 Pro 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive | $0.00 |
| Storage | Western Digital Red Pro 2 TB 3.5" 7200 RPM Internal Hard Drive | $0.00 |
| Video Card | Gigabyte WINDFORCE OC GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER 16 GB Video Card | $799.99 @ Amazon |
| Case | Lian Li LANCOOL 216 ATX Mid Tower Case | $94.00 @ Newegg Sellers |
| Power Supply | EVGA SuperNOVA 850 GT 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply | $109.99 @ Amazon |
| Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts | ||
| Total | $1663.86 | |
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2024-11-13 19:11 EST-0500 |
Some quick explanations on decision making:
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Primary usage is a mix of gaming and CAD / 3D modeling / rendering.
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After Intel shit the bed one too many times, I’m definitely taking an AMD CPU. I could be convinced to go to the 7600X3D, but there seems to be a noticeable dropoff on non-gaming tasks, such as 3D modeling, and some debate about the viability of a 6-core CPU going forward.
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The two hard drives are listed as $0 because I already own them, and will be transferring them into this unit.
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850W power supply should give me ample room for overclocking, adding future components, while still staying under that 80% load limit.
Open questions / things I’m uncertain on:
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CPU Cooler: I’ve heard that Ryzens can run hot, but I’m unsure if I need such a beefy one. For a 7700X, is it too much?
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RAM: Is 64GB a lot? Yes. RAM shortages plagued me until I brought my current machine up to 48GB. I thought 64 would carry me forward with room to spare. Is this silly?
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Went with a 4070 Ti Super for the 16GB RAM. Is it too much GPU for the rest of this rig?
Now, here’s my big question: Micro Center nearby me is running combo deals for a 7700X or 7600X3D, Gigabyte or Asus motherboard, and 32GB RAM. Looking at what I’m trying to build, does that make sense? Would upgrading to 64GB with 4 sticks later be a problem?
It does have a lot of things going for it, yeah. Unfortunately, the CAD program I use is designed primarily to use the Nvidia and CUDA architecture, and so AMD cards show issues. Not just lower performance, but consistent reports of crashes and bugged results.