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[Leonidas]

Complete Build Guide for beginners

CPUs
Intel Core i5 13600K
AMD Ryzen 7600X

Intel 13th Gen and Ryzen 7000 offer similar gaming performance in most realistic scenarios, Intel 13th Gen offers notably better productivity performance in the midrange (i5-i7). The battle for the best gaming CPU continues as CPUs get faster every year.

Value:
Intel Core i5 12400F
Ryzen 5 5600

Intel Core i5 12400F is a good value at under $200, though new CPUs in this price range are coming soon.
Ryzen 5 5600 is a good choice if you're on a more limited budget.

GPUS
Ultra High End
RTX 4090
RX 7900 XTX

If you're in the market for an expensive ultra high end GPU, there are great options like the RTX 4090 and RX 7900 XTX. RTX 4090 offers levels of performance not seen last gen in both RT and raster while 7900 XTX has great raster performance, but is lacking in RT. But if you go with the 7900 XTX be aware that there could be an issue with the reference design. These GPUs are designed for 4K high refresh displays.

Midrange
Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti
RX 6700 XT

Last gen offerings still offer good value. Nvidia has a lead in heavy ray tracing applications but AMD is more competitive when it comes to rasterization performance. The 6700 XT usually wins in raster. The RTX 3060 Ti has better RT and beats the current gen consoles in both RT and raster. These cards are well suited for 1440p high refresh displays.

RAM
32 GB DDR4 / 32 GB DDR5
Value: 16 GB DDR4 / 16 GB DDR5

DDR4 3600-3800 is recommended for AM4 because of the FCLK. Raptor Lake seems to be able to overclock in the DDR4 4000-4200 range in Gear 1.
For DDR5 AMD recommends DDR5 6000 because of the FCLK ratio and Raptor Lake supports fast DDR5 up to 7600 (or more).

Faster DDR5 is becoming available often, while DDR4 is on the way out, but still offers great value if you already have a kit and are willing to tune up the settings in the BIOS.

SSDs
PCIe 4.0x4 NVMe SSD
Value: PCIe 3.0x4 NVMe SSD, SATA SSD

It could be years before we see games taking advantage of PCIe 4.0 speeds. If you still have a Gen3 drive there doesn't seem to be a reason to upgrade yet (for gaming). Prices on PCI4 drives are close to PCIe3 now so you might as well get PCIe4 if buying a new drive. Currently zero games use Direct Storage on PC. SATA SSDs are still great for gaming too as virtually no games take advantage of the faster speeds yet.

TechSpot did a nice article where they tested drives in a number of games and found no difference between 3.0 and 4.0 drives at this point.

PSUs
Graphics cards require more power these days than they used to with high end cards now being capable of drawing 500w (overclocked), make sure you have enough PSU power or you could see system instability. There are also PSUs which turn the fan off or even completely fanless PSUs if you really want to get the noise down on your machine.

Cases
Good airflow is a concern with some cases make sure you do your research before buying a case to see if it is easy to build in and has the features you want as they can last you through a number of builds.

Monitors
4K120 (or higher refresh)
Value: 1440p144 (or higher refresh)

Your monitor choice is one of the biggest impacts of your PC Gaming experience given that you will be looking at the screen the entire time that you are gaming. High refresh rates such as 120-360 offers much greater motion clarity compared to 60FPSand much lower latency. The latency at 60 FPS is 16.6ms per frame, that reduces to 8.3ms at 120hz, and 4.1ms at 240. If you are still on a 60hz display I highly recommend upgrading to high refresh. 1440p high refresh displays are very affordable these days. Your choice of display will also have an impact on the GPUs you purchase. If you go for a 4K screen you may be tempted for the top end GPUs, but if you go with a 1440p screen, you don't need more than a mid-range GPU. Variable Refresh technologies like G-Sync, FreeSync and Adaptive Sync are important too, look for monitors with a wide window of adaptive sync for the best gaming experience.

Game Pad

Recommended:
Xbox Series Controller
PS5 Dual Sense Controller

Value:
Xbox One Controller, PS4 Controller

Xbox Series controller is fantastic on PC if you play console style games. The Dual Sense is also a fantastic game pad and Steam has Dual Sense integration. Xbox Series controller is cheaper but Dual Sense can be worth it especially if more games take advantage of it's haptic capabilities on PC. If you already have a PS4 or Xbox One controller, probably no reason to upgrade.

AI Upscaling


Ultra High Refresh


Frame Generation

Overclocking is a way to get even more performance out of your components but it does require a bit of tuning to get things right as things can become unstable if you are not careful. It can take quite some time to get things well tuned. For Intel 13600K offers good overclocking headroom, though most CPUs these days are pushed close to their limits. You can see some nice increases in DDR4 RAM overclocking on certain kits, but it is time consuming...

CPU-Z: Information on your CPU, motherboard and memory
GPU-Z: Information on your GPU and VRAM such as clocks, bandwidth, and power consumption
MSI Afterburner: overclocking utility for GPUs, works on any modern GPU from any vendor, can also be used for under-volting
HWiNFO64: detailed system information, check voltages CPU speeds, RAM speed, HDD usage, etc.


CPU & RAM Benchmarks
CinebenchR23 benchmarking tool
Y-Cruncher stress test and benchmarking tool


GPU Benchmarks
Unigine Heaven benchmarking tool
MSI Kombustor stress test and benchmarking tool



Pricing & Compatibility
PCPartPicker: Good way to see if all your components are compatible and compare prices between components aggregated from various websites.

Youtube
Gamers Nexus
Digital Foundry

Websites
Anandtech
Techpowerup
Tom's Hardware

 

[DGrayson]

Reserved

 

[DGrayson]

Reserved

 

[DGrayson]

Reserved

 

[DGrayson]

Reserved

 

[DGrayson]

Reserved

 

[SlimySnake]

Upgraded my PC to a 3080 last year and finished a total of one game lol.

This year is going to be great. Harry Potter, RE4, Suicide Squad, Star Wars Jedi Survivor, Diablo 6 all in the first month.

Then starfield to finish off the year.

 

[V1LÆM]

ah hello everyone! i am currently refreshing my PC at the arse end of 2022 i wasn't going to upgrade again but decided fuck it.

bought an RTX 4080 and a new 1000W psu a couple weeks ago. the PSU is probably overkill but whatever. my old one was nearly 8 years old and i didn't want to use Nvidia's crappy adapter.

today i ordered a new CPU, MOTHERBOARD, RAM, and SSD but it's not due to be delivered until the 4th january.

once it's all set up then my final specs will be:

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7700X*
COOLER: BeQuiet Dark Rock Pro 4
MOBO: Gigabyte B650E Aorus Master
RAM: Corsair 32GB 6000CL36 DDR5
GPU: RTX 4080 (Founder's Edition)
SSD: WD SN850X 2TB PCIE 4.0 (7.6GBs read/6.6GBs write)
PSU: 1000W fully modular PCIE5/ATX 3.0
CASE: FRACTAL DESIGN DEFINE S

my current (+old gpu/psu) PC is/was:

CPU: Intel i9-9900K
COOLER: BeQuiet Dark Rock Pro 4
MOBO: Gigabyte Z390 Aorus Master
RAM: Corsair 32GB 3200 DDR4 (not sure latency)
GPU: RTX 2080 (Founder's Edition)
SSD: WD 2TB PCIE 3.0 (not sure speeds...maybe ~3.4GB/s read?)
PSU: 750W fully modular
CASE: FRACTAL DESIGN DEFINE S

*the Ryzen 7700X is temporary until the new 3D cpus come out. if we get a 7700X3D or a 7800X3D i'll get that and sell the 7700X.

 

[//DEVIL//]

ah hello everyone! i am currently refreshing my PC at the arse end of 2022 i wasn't going to upgrade again but decided fuck it.

bought an RTX 4080 and a new 1000W psu (i think it's overkill) a couple weeks ago. today i ordered a new CPU, MOTHERBOARD, RAM, and SSD but it's not due to be delivered until the 4th january.

once it's all set up then my final specs will be:

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7700X
COOLER: BeQuiet Dark Rock Pro 4
MOBO: Gigabyte B650E Aorus Master
RAM: Corsair 32GB 6000CL36 DDR5
GPU: RTX 4080 (Founder's Edition)
SSD: WD SN850X 2TB PCIE 4.0 (7.6GBs read/6.6GBs write)
PSU: 1000W fully modular PCIE5/ATX 3.0
CASE: FRACTAL DESIGN DEFINE S

my current (+old gpu/psu) PC is/was:

CPU: Intel i9-9900K
COOLER: BeQuiet Dark Rock Pro 4
MOBO: Gigabyte Z390 Aorus Master
RAM: Corsair 32GB 3200 DDR4 (not sure latency)
GPU: RTX 2080 (Founder's Edition)
SSD: WD 2TB PCIE 3.0 (not sure speeds...maybe ~3.4GB/s read?)
PSU: 750W fully modular
CASE: FRACTAL DESIGN DEFINE S

You really didn’t need to change anything but video card.. the cpu won’t do much if you are playing at 4K. Not to the point it’s worth the upgrade cost. It’s not like you have stuff from the ice age :/

 

[V1LÆM]

You really didn’t need to change anything but video card.. the cpu won’t do much if you are playing at 4K. Not to the point it’s worth the upgrade cost. It’s not like you have stuff from the ice age :/

i know but i wanted to

i get it's not the best value and i'm wasting my money but hey it's my money i wanted to refresh my PC so that's what i done.

i'm playing at 1440p 144hz. i have a 4K 120Hz tv so i could hook it up to that sometimes but mostly i'll be on my 1440p monitor. i might even push it up to 165hz now.

 

[HeisenbergFX4]

 

[V1LÆM]

Upgraded my PC to a 3080 last year and finished a total of one game lol.

This year is going to be great. Harry Potter, RE4, Suicide Squad, Star Wars Jedi Survivor, Diablo 6 all in the first month.

Then starfield to finish off the year.

i'm excited about the upcoming games too! that's part of the reason i upgraded my PC. i want to play HP, Diablo, Starfield, and Forza at the best settings possible.

my 4080 has already significantly improved the games i play. i can now play Cyberpunk maxed out at ~50-60fps (no dlss). i mean truly maxed out. everything is up as high as it can go including Psycho RTX. i'm looking forward to the expansion next year.

fortnite i can also run maxed out on UE5.1 while getting 60-80fps. all the UE5.1 settings are on full and RTX is up max (no dlss). people might laugh but since the chapter 4 update this game hits hard.

flight simulator i had previously locked to 30fps and now i can play it in 60fps (most of the time). i can actually get higher fps but i've locked it to 60.

 

[Topher]

I feel like I'm pretty good for a while once my RTX 4080 arrives.

Specs:

Ryzen 5 5600X 6-core
RTX 4080
32 GB 3600 Mhz DDR4
Gigabyte B550 Elite AX V2 motherboard
Corsair 750 Watt PSU
1 TB Samsung 980 Pro PCIE 4.0
1 TB Samsung 980 PCIE 3.0
1 TB Samsung 870 SATA

Playing mostly at 4k these days so don't think that CPU will bottleneck me for a bit, but it probably next in line for upgrade (along with MB and RAM)

i'm excited about the upcoming games too! that's part of the reason i upgraded my PC. i want to play HP, Diablo, Starfield, and Forza at the best settings possible.

my 4080 has already significantly improved the games i play. i can now play Cyberpunk maxed out at ~50-60fps (no dlss). i mean truly maxed out. everything is up as high as it can go including Psycho RTX. i'm looking forward to the expansion next year.

fortnite i can also run maxed out on UE5.1 while getting 60-80fps. all the UE5.1 settings are on full and RTX is up max (no dlss). people might laugh but since the chapter 4 update this game hits hard.

flight simulator i had previously locked to 30fps and now i can play it in 60fps (most of the time). i can actually get higher fps but i've locked it to 60.

I'm pretty stoked for the games coming up as well. The next year I'm planning on letting the consoles dust up a bit especially considering folks are predicting more 30fps limitations. Not having that. I want to see Starfield in all its glory.

 

[V1LÆM]

I feel like I'm pretty good for a while once my RTX 4080 arrives.

Specs:

Ryzen 5 5600X 6-core
RTX 4080
32 GB 3600 Mhz DDR4
Gigabyte B550 Elite AX V2 motherboard
Corsair 750 Watt PSU
1 TB Samsung 980 Pro PCIE 4.0
1 TB Samsung 980 PCIE 3.0
1 TB Samsung 870 SATA

Playing mostly at 4k these days so don't think that CPU will bottleneck me for a bit, but it probably next in line for upgrade (along with MB and RAM)

whats your current GPU?

at 4K you will be fine. you can keep your system for a while yet. the main thing is you have a good CPU and 32GB which is now being required more.

fortnite uses 19GB. flight sim can use up to 24GB. and games like Returnal are saying you should have 32GB. 16GB is fine for now but 32GB is now definitely required if you're building a high end system.

 

[Topher]

whats your current GPU?

at 4K you will be fine. you can keep your system for a while yet. the main thing is you have a good CPU and 32GB which is now being required more.

fortnite uses 19GB. flight sim can use up to 24GB. and games like Returnal are saying you should have 32GB. 16GB is fine for now but 32GB is now definitely required if you're building a high end system.

Currently it is a 3070ti (soon to be for sale if anyone is interested). I probably could have gotten by with that for a while, but I'm starting to get that ray tracing itch after seeing some of the games out there looking so good. I'm looking forward to maxing out Cyberpunk 2077 for starts....

 

[V1LÆM]

I feel like I'm pretty good for a while once my RTX 4080 arrives.

Specs:

Ryzen 5 5600X 6-core
RTX 4080
32 GB 3600 Mhz DDR4
Gigabyte B550 Elite AX V2 motherboard
Corsair 750 Watt PSU
1 TB Samsung 980 Pro PCIE 4.0
1 TB Samsung 980 PCIE 3.0
1 TB Samsung 870 SATA

Playing mostly at 4k these days so don't think that CPU will bottleneck me for a bit, but it probably next in line for upgrade (along with MB and RAM)



I'm pretty stoked for the games coming up as well. The next year I'm planning on letting the consoles dust up a bit especially considering folks are predicting more 30fps limitations. Not having that. I want to see Starfield in all its glory.

my plan was to use my PC another year or so in hopes of PS5/Series X slim models coming out but yeah with hints of future games being locked down to 30fps or upscaling to 4K i thought fuck it i'm upgrading my PC instead. while my main display is 1440p i do have a 4K tv. if i'm not going to get native 4K games on console then i'll play games at 4K through my PC

Currently it is a 3070ti (soon to be for sale if anyone is interested). I probably could have gotten by with that for a while, but I'm starting to get that ray tracing itch after seeing some of the games out there looking so good. I'm looking forward to maxing out Cyberpunk 2077 for starts....

definitely still a great card but yeah if you want the best RTX (and DLSS 3.0) then the 4080 is a good choice.

i don't know about 4K but the 4080 at 1440p can do cyberpunk fully maxed out with Psycho RTX with average 55fps (in the benchmark). if you enable DLSS you should be able to do about 60fps i think. hopefully they patch in DLSS 3.0 soon for even higher frames!!

 

[Topher]

my plan was to use my PC another year or so in hopes of PS5/Series X slim models coming out but yeah with hints of future games being locked down to 30fps or upscaling to 4K i thought fuck it i'm upgrading my PC instead. while my main display is 1440p i do have a 4K tv. if i'm not going to get native 4K games on console then i'll play games at 4K through my PC

definitely still a great card but yeah if you want the best RTX (and DLSS 3.0) then the 4080 is a good choice.

i don't know about 4K but the 4080 at 1440p can do cyberpunk fully maxed out with Psycho RTX with average 55fps (in the benchmark). if you enable DLSS you should be able to do about 60fps i think. hopefully they patch in DLSS 3.0 soon for even higher frames!!

If a game has DLSS then I'm enabling it in the vast majority of cases. If it doesn't then yeah, I'm scaling down a bit. Rarely do I see the difference in quality like I see the difference in frame rate. I just try to find the best balance for every game. Part of the joy of PC gaming.

 

[Kenpachii]

Well done leonidas.

 

[cormack12]

Great OP, op.

Now do you have a PC around 300?

 

[LiquidMetal14]

Great these to remind everyone I have a 4090 and only a 5900x peasant PC.

 

[diffusionx]

When I first built my PC, way back in 2017 I think, I had a Ryzen 1600 and a 1080TI, with a mITX case and motherboard. That PC actually held up decently over the years, even though I wanted to upgrade the GPU I just couldn't get a hold of a card. But this year I put in a 3080 and a 5800X3D (by the way AMD gets a lot of props for keeping AM4 that long), yet while they did fit and run, the machine got very hot, throttled, made a ton of noise because the fans were at full blast. This form factor was just not designed for the levels of power these new parts consume and the heat they put out. So last week I decided to just get a bigger case and an ATX motherboard to fit it all in. It seems to run much better now. I really don't want to spend any more money on PC stuff, but then there is that new Alienware UW monitor...

 

[jshackles]

I upgraded my PC last year and got one with a Ryzen 5 5600G and an RTX 3060. So far, I haven't found too many games that won't run at 60fps, even at 3440x1440 (still rocking my ultrawide monitor from 2017). But I also play a lot of indie stuff and retro games, AA titles, and stuff that doesn't push the envelope too much. I'll probably wait until 2024 or later to upgrade, unless some sort of killer deal comes along or I win the lottery.

Excellent OP though!

 

[64bitmodels]

All I need for my setup is a monitor, desk and chair
I'm playing on the floor in front of a TV
Once I get that though, i'll be golden. Don't have much about my PC I'd want to change besides the motherboard

 

[Insane Metal]

Thanks for the thread man, really helpful.

 

[64bitmodels]

is 6 cores enough for the 2020s going forward? it's not that much more than 4 cores which is considered obsolete for midrange

 

[Celcius]

is 6 cores enough for the 2020s going forward? it's not that much more than 4 cores which is considered obsolete for midrange

If you already have the 6 core processor then I would try overclocking and seeing how it fares in your favorite games and at your preferred resolution. If you're starting fresh and building a PC then I personally would recommend 8 cores for a gaming PC.

 

[GymWolf]

So the first page is where we show our digital penis uh?

Rtx 4080 (palit gamerock or msi gaming x trio)
Ram ddr5 32gb 5600-6000 CL36
Psu corsair RM850X plus gold
Case fractal design Torrent w\glass panel
Ssd Wd black SN850X 1TB
Cpu intel I5 13600K
Cpu cooler DeepCool AK620
Motherboard msi PRO Z690-A

 

[GymWolf]

If you already have the 6 core processor then I would try overclocking and seeing how it fares in your favorite games and at your preferred resolution. If you're starting fresh and building a PC then I personally would recommend 8 cores for a gaming PC.

Is that important even for 4k gaming?

In your opinion a 13700k is worth 150 euros over a 13600k just for 4k60 gaming?

 

[MikeM]

I feel like I'm pretty good for a while once my RTX 4080 arrives.

Specs:

Ryzen 5 5600X 6-core
RTX 4080
32 GB 3600 Mhz DDR4
Gigabyte B550 Elite AX V2 motherboard
Corsair 750 Watt PSU
1 TB Samsung 980 Pro PCIE 4.0
1 TB Samsung 980 PCIE 3.0
1 TB Samsung 870 SATA

Playing mostly at 4k these days so don't think that CPU will bottleneck me for a bit, but it probably next in line for upgrade (along with MB and RAM)



I'm pretty stoked for the games coming up as well. The next year I'm planning on letting the consoles dust up a bit especially considering folks are predicting more 30fps limitations. Not having that. I want to see Starfield in all its glory.

You should be fine. I’m running identical build to yours with a 7900xt instead. COD MW2 benchmark says 5600 is no bottleneck to my 7900xt at 4k (ultra FSR engaged).

 

[M1987]

If you already have the 6 core processor then I would try overclocking and seeing how it fares in your favorite games and at your preferred resolution. If you're starting fresh and building a PC then I personally would recommend 8 cores for a gaming PC.

Can you overclock a 5600G? I only got my first gaming pc last week,so I know nothing about this stuff, and have a 3070 with it

 

[Topher]

So the first page is where we show our digital penis uh?

pfffft.....what's the point when we have guys like HeisenbergFX4 strutting around with their 4090s.

 

[Hoddi]

Is that important even for 4k gaming?

In your opinion a 13700k is worth 150 euros over a 13600k just for 4k60 gaming?

I'd say no. I'm still on a 9900k + 2080Ti system and I've yet to see a game fully use all 8 cores even at low resolutions like 720p. The 13600k also has those efficiency cores to help with background tasks.

Memory bandwidth also matters here. Those games that scale to 6+ cores tend to be very bandwidth intensive where my DDR4-3200 ends up being the bottleneck. But this is usually at well above 60fps.

Edit:

My personal upgrade path for the next year is technically a downgrade to one of those 1440p240 OLED monitors that are coming out. My GPU is getting a bit long in the tooth at 4k but it's still perfectly fine on my older 1440p monitor.

 

[twilo99]

5800x3d and a 7900xtx are my targets in order to keep my AM4 going for another year or two.


My recommendation to all my fellow PC gamers...

GamePass.

 

[Crayon]

I upgrade when my friends are literally laughing at my computer. That's the sweet spot.

 

[GreatnessRD]

Leonidas You should change/add the GPU out in the good section to a 6600. It's infinitely better than a 3050 and cost the same or less.

 

[HeisenbergFX4]

pfffft.....what's the point when we have guys like HeisenbergFX4 strutting around with their 4090s.

I have been slacking and haven't grabbed a 4090 just yet, stuck with a 3090 yet

 

[V1LÆM]

If a game has DLSS then I'm enabling it in the vast majority of cases. If it doesn't then yeah, I'm scaling down a bit. Rarely do I see the difference in quality like I see the difference in frame rate. I just try to find the best balance for every game. Part of the joy of PC gaming.

of course. i enable dlss if it's there. it's basically free performance. only if you go down to performance or lower then you can start to see it but it's still not bad. i set it to balanced in cyberpunk and flight sim. looks great!

 

[GreatnessRD]

5800x3d and a 7900xtx are my targets in order to keep my AM4 going for another year or two.


My recommendation to all my fellow PC gamers...

GamePass.

A 5800X3D and 7900 XTX will only last you another year or two? Insane! lol

I'd love to get Gamepass, but Microsoft won't do what needs to be done so I can play MLB: The Show on PC.

 

[Pasta la Vista]

Gonna have to finally get a new motherboard, cpu and ram this year. I've been on 16gigs of DDR3 for way too long now. My 2080 is sufficient for basically everything still and I play on a 1440p monitor.

 

[twilo99]

A 5800X3D and 7900 XTX will only last you another year or two? Insane! lol

I'd love to get Gamepass, but Microsoft won't do what needs to be done so I can play MLB: The Show on PC.

Well no.. that's just before I get an itch again is what I mean. Technically my 5600x and 6800xt can play everything perfectly fine, especially with VRR.

 

[twilo99]

Gonna have to finally get a new motherboard, cpu and ram this year. I've been on 16gigs of DDR3 for way too long now. My 2080 is sufficient for basically everything still and I play on a 1440p monitor.

Intel or AMD?

 

[MacReady13]

Decided I’m going to keep my ps5 and sell my 2 series x consoles. REALLY want to build a gaming pc and want it with a 4080. Any ideas for what case would be best suited for around the $200 Aussie mark? Something suitable for plenty of cooling but nothing too flash. So long as the case has plenty of room for the gpu.

 

[Silver Wattle]

What are we expecting for this year concerning PC hardware? Zen 4D, mid/low range GPU's? Anything from Intel?

 

[GymWolf]

I have one question, what should i use to keep the gpu in place given the high weight? the support in the fractal design case or the one that comes with the gpu? or both?

I don't really want for my gpu to sag like old tits.

Here you can see the one in the case

 

[Pasta la Vista]

Intel or AMD?

I'll likely go with intel. But that could change. I'm not in a huge rush.

 

[V1LÆM]

aw man. my new motherboard (gigabyte b650e master) just came and im worrying my cooler (be quiet dark rock pro 4) might not fit.

the top m2 slot has this huge heatsink. i didn't realise how tall it is. this image shows how big it is! it's almost the same size as the IO shroud:

looking at the cooler on my current board (gigabyte z390 master) i don't see how there is enough room for a heatsink that big! i mean there is a big of space but i dont know.

checking on the bequiet site this motherboard doesn't even come up in the compatibility list.

i need to wait until the rest of the parts (cpu/ram/ssd) come tomorrow to start building. if the cooler doesn't fit i'll need to buy a new cooler i was thinking about replacing the bequiet with a Noctua NH-D15 which seems to be compatible with this board but i was hoping to keep the bequiet

i really bought i checked this before buying! hopefully the Bequiet fits. if i need to get the Noctua it's not the end of the world but it's another £110 i hoped not to spend. oh well. it's either that or return the motherboard, cpu, ram, ssd. i spent £2.5K so far upgrading the PC so really what's another £110?

 

[GHG]

aw man. my new motherboard (gigabyte b650e master) just came and im worrying my cooler (be quiet dark rock pro 4) might not fit.

the top m2 slot has this huge heatsink. i didn't realise how tall it is. this image shows how big it is! it's almost the same size as the IO shroud:

looking at the cooler on my current board (gigabyte z390 master) i don't see how there is enough room for a heatsink that big! i mean there is a big of space but i dont know.

checking on the bequiet site this motherboard doesn't even come up in the compatibility list.

i need to wait until the rest of the parts (cpu/ram/ssd) come tomorrow to start building. if the cooler doesn't fit i'll need to buy a new cooler i was thinking about replacing the bequiet with a Noctua NH-D15 which seems to be compatible with this board but i was hoping to keep the bequiet

i really bought i checked this before buying! hopefully the Bequiet fits. if i need to get the Noctua it's not the end of the world but it's another £110 i hoped not to spend. oh well. it's either that or return the motherboard, cpu, ram, ssd. i spent £2.5K so far upgrading the PC so really what's another £110?

If it's just the m2 heatsink that will cause an issue then you can remove it and use a generic m2 heatsink (most good nvmes can be purchased with a heatsink pre-installed).

 

[V1LÆM]

If it's just the m2 heatsink that will cause an issue then you can remove it and use a generic m2 heatsink (most good nvmes can be purchased with a heatsink pre-installed).

the ssd i bought doesn't come with a heatsink. i thought i could use the one on the motherboard because that's what i'm doing now with both my current nvmes.

anyway, overlaying both motherboards it seems the b650e nvme slot is lower than on my z390 so it miight be fine?

between my GPU and cooler there is a gap of maybe about an inch and i know there is some space under the cpu cooler so it could be OK. need to wait and see what happens when i trying installing it all

blue is the location of the m.2 on my 390 and red is the location of the b650e m.2

 

[raduque]

This year, I'll just be upgrading to 32gb DDR4-3200. Maybe a 5700X if I can find a good deal, they're at ~$200 right now, but I'm waiting for my bonus from work.

Current specs:

• AMD Ryzen 5 3600 (120mm Thermaltake AIO)
• MSI B350M Bazooka (Needs bios update to supports Ryzen 5000)
• 16gb DDR4-3000
• MSI Seahawk RTX 2080
• 1tb Silicon Power NVME + 1tb PNY SSD + 2tb Hitachi 7300rpm
• EVGA Supernova 750w G+
• Phanteks P400A with all the RGB fixin's (light stripts, fans)

I still game at 1080p because I have two LG 32" 1080p 75hz Freesync monitors that are perfect in every way except resolution.

 

[GreatnessRD]

aw man. my new motherboard (gigabyte b650e master) just came and im worrying my cooler (be quiet dark rock pro 4) might not fit.

the top m2 slot has this huge heatsink. i didn't realise how tall it is. this image shows how big it is! it's almost the same size as the IO shroud:

looking at the cooler on my current board (gigabyte z390 master) i don't see how there is enough room for a heatsink that big! i mean there is a big of space but i dont know.

checking on the bequiet site this motherboard doesn't even come up in the compatibility list.

i need to wait until the rest of the parts (cpu/ram/ssd) come tomorrow to start building. if the cooler doesn't fit i'll need to buy a new cooler i was thinking about replacing the bequiet with a Noctua NH-D15 which seems to be compatible with this board but i was hoping to keep the bequiet

i really bought i checked this before buying! hopefully the Bequiet fits. if i need to get the Noctua it's not the end of the world but it's another £110 i hoped not to spend. oh well. it's either that or return the motherboard, cpu, ram, ssd. i spent £2.5K so far upgrading the PC so really what's another £110?

The height from the Dark Rock should still clear that heatsink. At worst, like GHG stated, you can just remove the Gigabyte heatsink cover and purchase a generic one off Amazon. I bought one two years ago for like $8 and its served me well and keeps my SSD cool.

This year, I'll just be upgrading to 32gb DDR4-3200. Maybe a 5700X if I can find a good deal, they're at ~$200 right now, but I'm waiting for my bonus from work.

Current specs:

• AMD Ryzen 5 3600 (120mm Thermaltake AIO)
• MSI B350M Bazooka (Needs bios update to supports Ryzen 5000)
• 16gb DDR4-3000
• MSI Seahawk RTX 2080
• 1tb Silicon Power NVME + 1tb PNY SSD + 2tb Hitachi 7300rpm
• EVGA Supernova 750w G+
• Phanteks P400A with all the RGB fixin's (light stripts, fans)

I still game at 1080p because I have two LG 32" 1080p 75hz Freesync monitors that are perfect in every way except resolution.

DDR4 is super cheap, so it'll be ready for you when you upgrade. That 5700x will be a great choice and a fun time for you, too. I'm currently running Corsair Dominator Ram 4x8 at 3200MHz.