New Gaming PC - Nvidia RTX 5000 - Spec/Supplier Recommendations?

[flyinghaggis]

I'm planning on buying/building a new gaming PC when the new Nvidia cards release next month. Possibly either a 5070/5070ti paired with a Intel i5/Ryzen5? I'm not quite sure what CPU/Mobo to go for so open to suggestions? Is AMD still the better option at the moment?

 

I'd like to avoid buying from any of the major OEM's as I've found they tend to be full of custom motherboards/cases/connectors/etc so are often a hassle to repair or upgrade in future. Ideally I'd want to buy from a system builder where I know they'll use standard spec/size branded quality parts.

 

My initial thought was to order it from Scan as I noticed they offer a custom PC builder where you can pick the exact components you want. Has anyone on here ever used them before for PC build?

 

https://www.scan.co.uk/3xs/custom/gaming

 

Any other recommendations?

Edited January 21, 2025 by flyinghaggis

[CHiLL]

Scan and PC Specialist are usually the go-tos for system builders if you don't want to do it yourself. Other reputable resellers that also do prebuilt machines are Overclockers, eBuyer, AWD-IT, CCL Online, Chillblast. It also appears that NZXT and Cyberpower also have a UK branch too. I think all of those suppliers will use standard components...it's only really the major system builders that use non-standard componen likes of Dell (including Alienware), HP, Lenovo, etc.

 

For the CPU, AMD have generally been the recommended option in recent years, especially at the high end with the X3D line of processors.

Edited January 22, 2025 by CHiLL

[Rob_D]

Not used them myself, but a couple of people I know have had good experiences with Origin for pre-builds.

 

If you're building yourself, then https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/ is a good place to start and amazon is never a bad place look.

 

Of course if you're trying to get a RTX50-series at/around launch, the answer is always "wherever has stock". Hopefully it won't be as bad as the 30 series launch, but I'm expecting MSRP cards to be like gold dust for at least a couple of months after launch due to scalpers.

[synaesthesia]

With the prospective pricing I've seen for some of the better 5xxx series cards, either wait or don't bother. I've used AWD-IT before (I always self build, but getting a prebuilt like this was the only way I could pick up a 3000 series card at below MSRP during the shortage!) and had a good experience with them. I'd probably suggest spending a little more on a ryzen 7, at least 32GB ram, decent size and spec NVME and finding a 3080/3090 to "tide you over".

[PotNoodleTech]

I would get a Ryzen 7 X3D (whatever the best one is out next month) as you don't want to gimp your brand new 5070ti with a low end CPU.

 

Scan are reasonably good builders I have heared - not used them myself as i've been building my own PCs for the last 25 years or so.

 

Frankly I would build the entire PC myself if I were you you have full control over the components and build quality, and frankly it's pretty easy just slot things into slots and screw a few screws into holes.

[CHiLL]

Without knowing a budget, it's hard to recommend what components to advise. I've just purchased an AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D, MSI AM5 motherboard, 32GB DDR5 RAM and 2TB NVMe storage for about £900. Since I'm reusing my graphics card, case, power supply, cooler, monitor and peripherals.

 

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/ is a good place to start in terms of determining components, compatibility and pricing.

Edited January 22, 2025 by CHiLL

[NegativeKillDeath]

Frankly I would build the entire PC myself if I were you you have full control over the components and build quality, and frankly it's pretty easy just slot things into slots and screw a few screws into holes.

 

I opted to self build my last PC and frankly I don't trust my own build quality. Sure slotting things in is easy enough but I'm not patient enough for the cable management. The reverse side of my mobo is a mess.

[Garacesh]

PC building is my happy place. I could gladly take a job building gaming PCs all day. Bonus points for happy cable management and custom water looks

[MrEprise]

I opted to self build my last PC and frankly I don't trust my own build quality. Sure slotting things in is easy enough but I'm not patient enough for the cable management. The reverse side of my mobo is a mess.

 

If your self-built PC started up okay, everything worked and it hasn't blown up yet then I'd say your build quality is probably fine.

[flyinghaggis]

Thanks for the replies and thoughts everyone.

 

I've been on the Scan website and put together the following build to get an idea of what I'm after. I've substituted a RTX 4070 for now as the pricing should be similar (~£500) :-

 

https://www.scan.co.uk/3xs/shared/0b77736b-bb67-4120-8c49-f592db540692?utm_source=3xsconfigshare&utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=copypaste

 

Looking at PC Part Picker it seems to be about ~£200 cheaper to build it myself. Budgetwise I'm looking at around £1500 but could bump that up slightly if needed.

 

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/user/HungryHungryHaggis/saved/#view=jc88jX

 

Rough-ish first draft spec plans are :-

 

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 9600X

Coooler: Noctua or Bequiet DarkRock (Air Cooler)

VIdeo Card: Geforce RTX 5070 / 5070Ti (when available)

Motherboard: Asus TUF GAMING B650-PLUS WIFI ATX AM5

RAM: 32GB DDR5 (2x16GB) Corsair Vengeance RGB 5600MHz

Storage: Samsung 990 Pro 2 TB M.2-2280

Case: Fractal Pop Air (Windowed)

Power Supply: Corsair RM850x (850 watt Modular)

Budget - ~£1500

 

I would get a Ryzen 7 X3D (whatever the best one is out next month) as you don't want to gimp your brand new 5070ti with a low end CPU.

 

Regarding my reasoning for the CPU choice I normally just go for a mid-range i5 level chip as you tend to find price/performance returns tail off pretty quickly once you pass that point. I noticed a couple of folk suggested going for an X3D chip for gaming but they're all £400-500 CPUs. Looking at some benchmarks it doesn't really look like there's much of a perfomance jump from a 9600X to a 9800X3D despite it costing twice as much. Is it worth considering a better CPU?

 

My current monitor is a 34" ultrawide (3440x1440 60Hz) though I'll likely upgrade to a 27-32" 120Hz+ 4K panel in future. At that resolution it doesn't look like the slightly faster CPU makes much difference to frame rates? Is that a reasonable assumption?

 

A B650 motherboard seemed like a reasonable bet. I don't think there are any specific features I need other than integrated WiFi? Is it worth considering any other motherboard models?

 

I liked the Fractal Pop Air Case as I want to stick with an air cooled CPU/etc. I had an AIO water cooler in a previous build and found the pump noise quite annoying though perhaps it was just that model/brand? I also like the Pop Air as it has an couple of hidden 5.25" drive bays so I can easily add a blu-ray drive and my current 8Tb 3.5" HDD for storage.

 

Any thoughts on the above spec? Go easy on me as I haven't build a new PC in nearly 10 years...... !

Edited January 22, 2025 by flyinghaggis

[PotNoodleTech]

Spec looks good to be honest. I am expecting the 50 series to be more expensive than the 40 series. I guess £600 range for 5070/ti. I am thinking of getting one myself I'll see prices first £600 is too steep.

 

CPU wise the X3D models are usually 10-20% faster in a lot of games so probably worth having if you are planning to keep the PC for 5 years. What resolution you playing in? 1080p is going to mostly be CPU limited, 4k is going to be mostly GPU limited.

[flyinghaggis]

Spec looks good to be honest. I am expecting the 50 series to be more expensive than the 40 series. I guess £600 range for 5070/ti. I am thinking of getting one myself I'll see prices first £600 is too steep.

 

CPU wise the X3D models are usually 10-20% faster in a lot of games so probably worth having if you are planning to keep the PC for 5 years. What resolution you playing in? 1080p is going to mostly be CPU limited, 4k is going to be mostly GPU limited.

 

Yeah, I'll be playing at, or near, 4K which is why I'm thinking that the CPU is less important at that resolution. I can always upgrade it down the line with the £200 I'm saving now if I need to.

 

The list prices don't look 'too bad' (compared to the RTX 4000 series at least). I guess the question is whether they'll be readily available at the prices over the launch window though?

 

UK MSRPs of Nvidia’s newest GeForce RTX GPUs:

RTX 5080 16GB – £979

RTX 5070 Ti 16GB – £729

RTX 5070 12GB – £539

 

I'm prehaps being a bit pre-emptive judging what kind of 'value' it offers as we haven't seen any benchmarks yet to compare the cards to the last generation.

Edited January 23, 2025 by flyinghaggis

[PotNoodleTech]

Yeah, I'll be playing at, or near, 4K which is why I'm thinking that the CPU is less important at that resolution. I can always upgrade it down the line with the £200 I'm saving now if I need to.

 

The list prices don't look 'too bad' (compared to the RTX 4000 series at least). I guess the question is whether they'll be readily available at the prices over the launch window though?

 

UK MSRPs of Nvidia’s newest GeForce RTX GPUs:

RTX 5080 16GB – £979

RTX 5070 Ti 16GB – £729

RTX 5070 12GB – £539

 

I'm prehaps being a bit pre-emptive judging what kind of 'value' it offers as we haven't seen any benchmarks yet to compare the cards to the last generation.

 

Yeh problem is if you want to get a 5070 founders like I do you gotta pull the trigger on day one if you spend hours/days watching youtube videos it'll be all out of stock and you'll back on amazon be looking at 4060TIs again :S

[synaesthesia]

I stand by my comment about picking up a high end 3xxx series or maybe even a 4xxx series, for the sake of cost/price benefits!

[flyinghaggis]

Yeh problem is if you want to get a 5070 founders like I do you gotta pull the trigger on day one if you spend hours/days watching youtube videos it'll be all out of stock and you'll back on amazon be looking at 4060TIs again :S

 

Yeah, I can imagine stock being quite limited at launch and for several months after launch! I expect you'll need to find out what time sales go live and keep refreshing the browser if you want any chance of getting one!

 

I stand by my comment about picking up a high end 3xxx series or maybe even a 4xxx series, for the sake of cost/price benefits!

 

It's definitely worth considering as it doesn't look like the new 5000 series will actually be much quicker that the previous generation anyway. The problem I've found is that second hand prices of RTX 4000/3000 cards over the past year have been so close to new RRP that it hasn't felt worth going for the used option. Maybe prices will drop to a more appealing level once the 5000 cards launch and existing owners start upgrading in number.

 

 

Reviews of the RTX 5090 came out today and they seem somewhat disappointing unfortunately. It's around 30% faster than the previous 4090 however it costs more than that card did and has higher power requirements. So whilst faster it's debabable how much of an improvement it is. Worse still it looks like the gains down the product range xx70, xx80 will be even lower (~20%) as they're less of a jump in spec than the 5090.

Edited January 23, 2025 by flyinghaggis

[PotNoodleTech]

The 5090 reviews have been really worrying nearly doube the power consumption for somthing disapointing like 20% more speed. That is not what I was after and they've raised the price by a large chunk too!

 

I hope the 5070 is more frugal and better priced but if not then screw it I'll stay with my 30xx cards for another year (got a rig with a 3090 founders and a rig with a 3070 founders, I love me founders's)

[CHiLL]

The performance increase is more in line with a Ti upgrade than a generational upgrade. While they are 30% faster, they are using the same process node as the 40xx series but with bigger dies and more cores, as well as being 20% more expensive and therefore the cost per frame is about the same as the last generation. Hardware Unboxed video made some jokes about it during their review and they are also very much separating DLSS and frame generation from their overall review. They are viewing DLSS and frame generation as motion smoothing technologies rather than actual performance gains.

 

I have a 3080 at the moment and have just upgraded my other components from an Intel 9700K / 16GB DDR4 to AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D / 32GB DDR5. The upgrade was spurred from being CPU limited in modern games, even at 1440p. Horizon Forbidden West was using 85-100% CPU and Dragon Age: The Veilguard was pinned at 100%, limiting the game so hard that I could only manage 1440p medium settings with DLSS set to performance and capping the FPS at 30 (this is mainly due to a poorly optimised game). With the 9800X3D installed, I had everything set to Ultra (including ray tracing) at 1440p and I was setting 90-120FPS in DA:TV. Since I'm only playing at 1440p at the moment, I think I will hold off getting a 50-series, especially since I've just spent the best part of £1000 on a new core system. Maybe I'll wait until later in the year or for next year's 50-series refresh and get a 4K OLED monitor too.

[flyinghaggis]

Aye, the founders edition is definitely the way to go as it tends to be cheaper than the 3rd party cards.

 

I don't think you're missing much by sticking with what you have. The only real advantage of the RTX 5000 series seems to be the Multi-Frame generation tech and the improved DLSS support. Feels like they're triying to sell the cards on the basis of features rather than raw performance updates.

 

https://www.nvidia.com/en-gb/geforce/news/dlss4-multi-frame-generation-ai-innovations/

 

 

My main reason for wanting to buy an RTX 5000 is that my current GPU is a Geforce 980 which I bought at launch! Most of the parts in my PC are from 2014, when I last built a complete new PC, so I think I'm due an upgrade

Edited January 24, 2025 by flyinghaggis

[Garacesh]

To be honest, I built a new PC just after Christmas, and if I wasn't recycling my old parts for a living room PC, I'd have just carried over the 3070Ti to the new build. It's still going strong.

Thankfully prices have come down and I paid almost half for the 4070SUPER as I did for the 3070Ti (which I paid £950 at the height of the GPU shortage like a mug, and that was definitely a 'good deal' compared to everywhere else at the time!)

[Rob_D]

The performance increase is more in line with a Ti upgrade than a generational upgrade. While they are 30% faster, they are using the same process node as the 40xx series but with bigger dies and more cores, as well as being 20% more expensive and therefore the cost per frame is about the same as the last generation. Hardware Unboxed video made some jokes about it during their review and they are also very much separating DLSS and frame generation from their overall review. They are viewing DLSS and frame generation as motion smoothing technologies rather than actual performance gains.

I wonder if this is going to lead to a bit of a disconnect and potential animosity between reviewers and manufacturers, as manufacturers push more and more into DLSS and framegen type solutions to increase "performance" just to have people discount it and say there's not much "real" performance increase.

 

Either way, I can see a lot of discission going forward around how to deal with "fake frames" in reviews. Do you lead with the raw performance (without DLSS/framegen) or DLSS/framegen performance? Which is farer when comparing cards with different feature sets? Which do the kind of people who watch tech reviews really want to see?

[CHiLL]

I wonder if this is going to lead to a bit of a disconnect and potential animosity between reviewers and manufacturers, as manufacturers push more and more into DLSS and framegen type solutions to increase "performance" just to have people discount it and say there's not much "real" performance increase.

 

Either way, I can see a lot of discission going forward around how to deal with "fake frames" in reviews. Do you lead with the raw performance (without DLSS/framegen) or DLSS/framegen performance? Which is farer when comparing cards with different feature sets? Which do the kind of people who watch tech reviews really want to see?

I can't remember if it was Hardware Unboxed, Linus Tech Tips or Gamers Nexus, but I remember one of the saying that this isn't the first time this sort of shift has occurred and even the current rendering techniques, some were seen as cheating (I can't remember how they phrased it in the video).

 

I already use DLSS in supported games on my 3080 and will probably continue to use the technology. I generally don't see much difference in the end product between DLSS and non-DLSS settings, aside from the odd artifact, shimmering, blurring - but it's never really enough to be a jarring experience that would pull me out of a game.

[Davit2005]

On 22/01/2025 at 15:02, NegativeKillDeath said:

 

I opted to self build my last PC and frankly I don't trust my own build quality. Sure slotting things in is easy enough but I'm not patient enough for the cable management. The reverse side of my mobo is a mess.

Modern cases can help, specifically where there is space behind the mobo and ample cable routes from the PSU. I've not built many TBH but agree with many that most of the main mfrs Dell, HP and Lenovo desktops use propriety connections for PSU which is a PITA so if you are thinking of getting one bear in mind you may need to source a adapter to convert a standard ATX PSU to fit the board, certainly if you are upgrading the GPU with anything decent.