New Build Review & Advice Gratefully Received

[ir_cow]

The WH16NS40 is a 16x drive (vs 14x for the other) and is more reliable when it comes to multi-layer Blu-rays (hence UHD support after some hackery).

16x is good for a theoretical read/write speed of 72MB/s versus 63MB/s for 14x.

For real world speeds, I recall seeing mid 20s to low 30s when backing up a normal Blu-ray movie in MakeMKV.

Highest I've seen is 7x on a brand new untouched disc. The 14x vs 16x doesn't matter here. Just if the firmware allows for UHD and avoid lockouts.

 

[Sunny and 75]

I could save money on the CPU by going for a 5600

You're gonna be gaming at 4K so AM4 will do just fine as well. And DDR4 memory is much cheaper than DDR5.

By going AM4 route (or LGA1700 DDR4), you can even get a more powerful graphics card which serves you better at 4K resolution.

 

[Bobaganoosh]

Looks like most people hit all the points I was going to hit, so I'll try and be brief. It's a good start, but I would just make some tweaks on SSD, memory, and power supply. It doesn't save a lot, but the quality improvements are there (starting with your list):

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 7600X 4.7 GHz 6-Core Processor (£190.54 @ Amazon UK)
CPU Cooler: Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE 66.17 CFM CPU Cooler (£35.00 @ Computer Orbit)
Motherboard: ASRock B650M Pro RS WiFi Micro ATX AM5 Motherboard (£142.03 @ NeoComputers)
Memory: TEAMGROUP T-Create Expert 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 Memory (£97.79 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Western Digital Black SN770 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive (£62.99 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: Asus DUAL EVO OC GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER 12 GB Video Card (£559.99 @ CCL Computers)
Power Supply: SeaSonic FOCUS GX-750 ATX 3.0 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply (£95.27 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £1183.61
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2024-07-11 20:03 BST+0100

It's missing the optical drive. I haven't looked at those in years, so you can probably stick with what you have or check out ebay/local listings to see if someone has one they're not using anymore for a few bucks.

As others also suggested, I went with CL30 memory. It's cheaper than what you had, but it sacrifices RGB for speed. The SSD reviews really well and is cheaper. The power supply is a newer model that is ATX 3.0 compliant and has good reviews. Going with cheaper motherboards will come with sacrifices (fewer PCIe slots, less robust heat-sinks on the VRM, less m.2 slots, no wi-fi, etc.). If you're willing to go without wi-fi, you could save a little going with the non-wifi model (~129 vs ~142)...up to you if that's needed. Basically, everywhere else you try to trim, you're giving up noticeable performance or quality of life features.

 

[Fuzzi0n]

Personally I would go AM5 over AM4 just because it's a newer platform with a lot more options in the future.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 7600 3.8 GHz 6-Core Processor (£172.99 @ Overclockers.co.uk)
CPU Cooler: Thermalright Phantom Spirit 120 SE 66.17 CFM CPU Cooler (£30.00)
Motherboard: ASRock B650M-HDV/M.2 Micro ATX AM5 Motherboard (£121.49 @ Scan.co.uk)
Memory: Patriot Viper Venom 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6000 CL36 Memory (£93.99 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: PNY XLR8 CS3040 w/Heatsink 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive (£63.44 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: Zotac Twin Edge GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER 12 GB Video Card (£548.99 @ Amazon UK)
Case: Montech AIR 903 MAX ATX Mid Tower Case (£59.99 @ Scan.co.uk)
Power Supply: Cooler Master V750 Gold i 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply (£85.47 @ Scan.co.uk)
Total: £1176.36
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2024-07-11 20:12 BST+0100

Ended up a bit over budget once you add in whatever Blu-ray drive but still not bad. Cooler is set at £30 because that's the cheapest I can find on Amazon, other option would be the new ID-COOLING A620. Wasn't sure if you needed a case but you can't really beat the Montech 903 for value.

There's some stuff you can swap around, switching to this motherboard (if it's around £150) would be good if you need more storage and USB, GPU wise there's options like a 4070, 7900 GRE or you can go through eBay or take a chance with a used one from CeX. Huge potential savings but I had a bad experience with having to return multiple cards to them, their warranty/return policy is very good if you buy online though.

 

[Sunny and 75]

4070 Ti Super build:

MB: Gigabyte B760M GAMING DDR4
CPU: Intel Core i5-12400F
Memory: TEAMGROUP T-Force Vulcan Z 32 GB
Storage: Patriot Viper VP4300 Lite 1 TB
GPU: Asus DUAL OC GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER 16 GB
PSU: SeaSonic FOCUS GX-750 ATX 3.0

TCO: £1189

If you don't care about ray tracing, then I can only recommend 7900 XT 20 GB and that brings TCO down to £1104.

Since you'll be gaming at 4K, you should invest in getting the most powerful GPU you can get your hands on.

 

[Frick]

Agreed on getting the fastest GPU you can and holding back on CPU/mobo/RAM. My Ryzen 5600 is not the thing holding back performance in games.

 

[Bobaganoosh]

4070 Ti Super build:

MB: Gigabyte B760M GAMING DDR4
CPU: Intel Core i5-12400F
Memory: TEAMGROUP T-Force Vulcan Z 32 GB
Storage: Patriot Viper VP4300 Lite 1 TB
GPU: Asus DUAL OC GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER 16 GB
PSU: SeaSonic FOCUS GX-750 ATX 3.0

TCO: £1189

If you don't care about ray tracing, then I can only recommend 7900 XT 20 GB and that brings TCO down to £1104.

Since you'll be gaming at 4K, you should invest in getting the most powerful GPU you can get your hands on.

This is a great point. I missed the 4K part of the post. I had looked at LGA1700 vs 7600X and I couldn't justify it with the pricing, but I was starting with a 14400 or 14500 as they're noticeably faster in normal use than a 12400 and I'd prefer to have the iGPU as backup. Also, it just feels wrong at this point to recommend DDR4 for a new build.

I tend to be in the camp of "if you can wait and save up a little more to buy parts with more longevity, do that...if not, skimp where you have to so you can get by until it's upgrade time".

So part two of that would look more like:
PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i5-12400 2.5 GHz 6-Core Processor (£137.49 @ Ebuyer)
Motherboard: ASRock B760M Steel Legend WiFi Micro ATX LGA1700 Motherboard (£145.00 @ Computer Orbit)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws S5 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-5600 CL28 Memory (£95.76 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Western Digital Black SN770 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive (£62.99 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: Zotac GAMING AMP Extreme AIRO GeForce RTX 4070 Ti 12 GB Video Card (£719.99 @ Scan.co.uk)
Power Supply: SeaSonic FOCUS GX-750 ATX 3.0 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply (£95.18 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £1256.41
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2024-07-12 14:13 BST+0100
And like Sunny and 75 said, if you go with a 7900XT, that price drops around £50. You'd want to read reviews on 4070ti vs 7900XT and look at the types of games you play to see which way you'd want to go there. The 12400 comes with a CPU cooler that works well enough for most usage (it's not like you'd be OC-ing it). I'd want to upgrade that someday, so if you wait a year or two, you should be able to drop in a 14600k/14700k with a cooler for pretty cheap.

 

[GerKNG]

a ryzen 5 7500F if you don't need an IGP and i'd spend the 10 bucks for a 990 Pro instead (it's a significantly better drive for almost the same price)
and maybe look for CL30 RAM. it's another 5% performance gain for often the same price.

 

[Frick]

a ryzen 5 7500F if you don't need an IGP and i'd spend the 10 bucks for a 990 Pro instead (it's a significantly better drive for almost the same price)
and maybe look for CL30 RAM. it's another 5% performance gain for often the same price.

In games at 4K?

 

[Sunny and 75]

Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws S5 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-5600 CL28 Memory (£95.76 @ Amazon UK)

There is no noticeable difference in performance at 4K. Also MBs that support DDR5 and DDR5 modules both are more expensive than a DDR4 MB and DDR4 modules.

feels wrong at this point to recommend DDR4

Not necessarily.

The OP will not notice any difference at 4K.

I tend to be in the camp of "if you can wait and save up a little more to buy parts with more longevity, do that...if not, skimp where you have to so you can get by until it's upgrade time".

The same.

Video Card: Zotac GAMING AMP Extreme AIRO GeForce RTX 4070 Ti 12 GB Video Card (£719.99 @ Scan.co.uk)

Not worth it at that price especially when we've got PNY VERTO OC GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER 16 GB readily available at £734.99 (at the time of writing, that is).

There's also Asus DUAL OC GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER 16 GB available at £752.99 (at the time of writing, that is).

So a price update for the 4070 Ti Super build:

MB: Gigabyte B760M GAMING DDR4
CPU: Intel Core i5-12400F
Memory: TEAMGROUP T-Force Vulcan Z 32 GB
Storage: Patriot Viper VP4300 Lite 1 TB
GPU: PNY VERTO OC GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER 16 GB
PSU: SeaSonic FOCUS GX-750 ATX 3.0

TCO: £1171 (£1189)

 

[Bobaganoosh]

Thanks, Sunny, I made a mistake there on the 12GB non-super card. My bad

 

[Sunny and 75]

Thanks, Sunny, I made a mistake there on the 12GB non-super card. My bad

It's alright, Boba, thumbs up.