Question New Build Finally!

[In2Photos]

The time has come, I'm finally upgrading! My current system was first built in 2009 as a photo editing PC. A few years ago I started gaming on it so I could play with my kids. It has served me well but I've had some trouble in a few games and I don't meet the minimum requirements of newer games coming out. I've been wanting to build for a couple of years now but put it off for other projects and/or the ridiculous high prices during COVID. So here we go!

Current system
i7-920 OC to 3.6GHz
MSI X58 Pro
24GB GSkill DDR3 RAM
Zotac GTX 1060 6GB
Samsung 500GB SSD
Couple of WD HDD

I'm still debating between a white or black build. And I plan to go AMD with the 7800X3D when it becomes available. The 7700X on the lists is just a placeholder for now.

Black - https://pcpartpicker.com/list/hDQWsL
White - https://pcpartpicker.com/list/g4TkZw

Builds are mostly the same, just the mobo is different. I prefer the specs of the MSI B650 Carbon in the black build, but choices are limited when it comes to white motherboards. The other big choice left is the GPU. My current monitors are 3-24" 1080p 144Hz. I likely will be upgrading to either 3-27" 1440p or 4k at some point or maybe 2 UW monitors. I use the same monitors and peripherals for my personal PC and work laptop via a USB switch and different inputs on the monitors. I should have bought myself a 6800XT at Christmas when I got one for my daughter ($530), but I didn't. So now I'm left trying to decide what to do. I have a 6800 from MSI as a placeholder on the lists as well. I may go that route or I may use my daughter's GTX1660 that she had in her previous build until prices come down or AMD releases more new cards (N32). Another option is to buy a cheaper 6700XT for now and upgrade again in the near future. NVidia will not be getting my money this time unless they drop prices significantly in 4000 series cards which is very unlikely. Plus their limited VRAM concerns me moving forward.

If you have any thoughts to share feel free. I've been putting these lists together since the AM5 release but if I've missed something that might fit the build better let me know. I am starting to acquire some parts if I see a "deal" on them. Just purchased the 3 NVME drives yesterday as it looked like the Samsung 980 Pros were near their lowest price that I've seen. I plan to acquire as much as I can and purchase the CPU when it launches as the last item.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

I'm seeing some good secondary market deals for stellar cards like the 6900XT and 3080 Ti going for as low as 650 but mostly they are around 7-800 range

EDIT: also I just picked up 2 WD SN850X 2TB drives from Micro Center for 169 a piece. Western Digital has them listed for the same price on their website so you can buy them from there too. I would jump on those now:

https://www.westerndigital.com/products/internal-drives/wd-black-sn850x-nvme-ssd#WDS200T2X0E

oops, just seen the availability is 1-2 weeks, but still,,, it's a good deal

EDIT2: UGH, just seen you purchased the SS 980s ...

 

[In2Photos]

I'm seeing some good secondary market deals for stellar cards like the 6900XT and 3080 Ti going for as low as 650 but mostly they are around 7-800 range

EDIT: also I just picked up 2 WD SN850X 2TB drives from Micro Center for 169 a piece. Western Digital has them listed for the same price on their website so you can buy them from there too. I would jump on those now:

https://www.westerndigital.com/products/internal-drives/wd-black-sn850x-nvme-ssd#WDS200T2X0E

oops, just seen the availability is 1-2 weeks, but still,,, it's a good deal

EDIT2: UGH, just seen you purchased them ...

Are the WD 850X drives better than the 980 Pro? I thought there were some issues with them? I can still cancel my order on them. I don't need the drives for a few weeks anyways.

 

[Tech Junky]

Are the WD 850X drives better than the 980 Pro? I thought there were some issues with them? I can still cancel my order on them. I don't need the drives for a few weeks anyways.

SS is over priced imo and the X drives only a have seen a handful of complaints. The 850 non-x is just fine for performance. The 770 is good as well for some uses. It's usually a balance between price and performance.

 

[In2Photos]

SS is over priced imo and the X drives only a have seen a handful of complaints. The 850 non-x is just fine for performance. The 770 is good as well for some uses. It's usually a balance between price and performance.

The 980 Pro 2Tb is $179 right now so only $10 more than the 850X. At $219 like it was a few weeks ago sure, it's not great value compared to $169 850X. I've had both Samsung and WD drives over the years. I've never had a Samsung drive fail, but I have had WD fail. I've owned more WD drives though.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

This is the first I have heard about the 850X having any issues, uht oh! What's the deal with them? I don't think I'll be returning mine but I'm just curious..

I think the 850X competes with the 990 Pro, correct me if I am wrong.

 

[In2Photos]

This is the first I have heard about the 850X having any issues, uht oh! What's the deal with them? I don't think I'll be returning mine but I'm just curious..

I think the 850X competes with the 990 Pro, correct me if I am wrong.

They all look pretty close to me. The 980 seems to have slightly slower write speeds. I don't think anyone could tell the difference during real world usage.

Are you a human?

www.newegg.com

This thread was what I remember seeing about the 850X. Seems more isolated than I remember. https://forums.anandtech.com/threads/warning-about-wd-sn850x-nvme-drives.2607586/

 

[Tech Junky]

The 980 Pro 2Tb is $179 right now so only $10 more than the 850X. At $219 like it was a few weeks ago sure, it's not great value compared to $169 850X. I've had both Samsung and WD drives over the years. I've never had a Samsung drive fail, but I have had WD fail. I've owned more WD drives though.

I'll admit I haven't looked at prices recently but, when I was the SS was at least $30 more for a similar WD option. I have quite a few drives from over the years and more recently m2's from different brands. They both hold their own though. I have one SS older SATA SSD that has some errors popping up on it after 10+ years but in general SSDs just tend to work or not.

It's nice to see the 2tb options coming down in price. Prices seem to be coming down though with supplies gaining traction finally. It's all about timing when it comes to this stuff.

 

[BoomerD]

I won't comment on your component choices...I'm sure they're fine for your needs, but as someone who went from an i5-760 to an i7-9700k to an i5-13600k, (still have the i5-760 rig) be prepared to be amazed at the improvements. Yes, the CPU and GPU will be much faster, but the biggest "WOW!" factor, at least for me, was the NVMe drive's speed Over a spinner drive or even an SSD.

 

[In2Photos]

It's nice to see the 2tb options coming down in price. Prices seem to be coming down though with supplies gaining traction finally. It's all about timing when it comes to this stuff.

Yeah I think RAM and storage are coming down, just wish GPUs were too. I can't seem to get the timing right on that one!

 

[igor_kavinski]

If money is no object and you would benefit from Optane's enhanced endurance and superbly consistent performance: https://www.newegg.com/intel-optane-ssd-905p-series-960gb/p/N82E16820167463

Intel Optane SSD 905P 960GB AIC NVMe PCIe SSD Review

Intel's enthusiast Optane SSD 9 series get's a performance boost and an LED makeover.

www.tweaktown.com

Note that filling up an Optane drive has almost no effect on its performance. You always get the performance you saw on day one.

 

[In2Photos]

I won't comment on your component choices...I'm sure they're fine for your needs, but as someone who went from an i5-760 to an i7-9700k to an i5-13600k, (still have the i5-760 rig) be prepared to be amazed at the improvements. Yes, the CPU and GPU will be much faster, but the biggest "WOW!" factor, at least for me, was the NVMe drive's speed Over a spinner drive or even an SSD.

Even though my personal PC is quite old I've seen the speed difference in drives over the years. I've updated a handful of laptops with SSDs from a 5400 RPM drive and was amazed at how much faster it was. My work laptop has an NVME drive and while it's noticeably faster than other computers I've used with SATA SSDs it didn't come close to seeing my kid's new PCs with Gen 4 drives. They load games in like 10 seconds. It takes me minutes for the same game, lol.

 

[In2Photos]

If money is no object and you would benefit from Optane's enhanced endurance and superbly consistent performance: https://www.newegg.com/intel-optane-ssd-905p-series-960gb/p/N82E16820167463

Intel Optane SSD 905P 960GB AIC NVMe PCIe SSD Review

Intel's enthusiast Optane SSD 9 series get's a performance boost and an LED makeover.

www.tweaktown.com

Note that filling up an Optane drive has almost no effect on its performance. You always get the performance you saw on day one.

Money is certainly an object! Optane is overkill for my needs for sure.

 

[igor_kavinski]

Money is certainly an object! Optane is overkill for my needs for sure.

Well, my thought was, you are spending $2700. What's $400 more?

 

[In2Photos]

Well, my thought was, you are spending $2700. What's $400 more?

If I spend $400 more it will be on a GPU.

 

[igor_kavinski]

If I spend $400 more it will be on a GPU.

Acer ARC A770 says Hi

 

[In2Photos]

Acer ARC A770 says Hi

This thing? https://www.newegg.com/acer-predator-bifrost-intel-arc-a770-oc/p/N82E16814553001

Hell no!

 

[BoomerD]

This thing? https://www.newegg.com/acer-predator-bifrost-intel-arc-a770-oc/p/N82E16814553001

Hell no!

But ..but ..but it's got cool colored lights!

 

[In2Photos]

Found an MSI 6950XT for $760. Not really the deal I was looking for. I think the 6800 for $510 is still the better value.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

6950 all day long

 

[In2Photos]

Just found an MSI 6800XT for $570.

 

[In2Photos]

OK, so I decided on the white build and have procured some more parts. I was able to get the MSI Gaming Z Trio 6800XT for $570. I think the lowest that card has been was $540 so not too bad. I also ordered the mobo, RAM, AIO, fans, and Strimer cables. All of those items I got at the lowest price I have seen for them.

So all I have left is the CPU when it releases, the case and PSU. I doubt they'll go on sale anytime soon, but they are readily available so I'll keep checking.

 

[Ajay]

OK, so I decided on the white build and have procured some more parts. I was able to get the MSI Gaming Z Trio 6800XT for $570. I think the lowest that card has been was $540 so not too bad. I also ordered the mobo, RAM, AIO, fans, and Strimer cables. All of those items I got at the lowest price I have seen for them.

So all I have left is the CPU when it releases, the case and PSU. I doubt they'll go on sale anytime soon, but they are readily available so I'll keep checking.

You probably know this, but you can set up alerts in pcpartpicker. That makes finding price drops easier.

 

[In2Photos]

You probably know this, but you can set up alerts in pcpartpicker. That makes finding price drops easier.

Yes, I know you can do this for individual parts so this should work for items like the case. I'm not aware though if you can set one for a category though, like say 6800 XT. I got lucky yesterday searching for several different GPUs and just happened to see the price drop on the 1 MSI card.

 

[In2Photos]

All of my parts except the GPU will be here tomorrow. And I ended up buying a 7700 non-x to use until the 7800X3D is released. Going to be modding a few parts so I may start building it tomorrow.