Question Advice on new quiet/silent PC - budget around £2,500

Vegeta

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I've asked elsewhere about what resolution I should run a new PC at and was advised 1440p would be best, so that will be what I'll be going for (unless there's a reason not to).

Approximate Purchase Date: As soon as parts are in stock

Budget Range: £2,000-£2,500

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Work (mainly could have 100+ tabs open on firefox where quite a few could be playing Twitch/YouTube streams at once), Gaming (older games as well as newer ones like cyberpunk etc)

Are you buying a monitor: Yes but that would be a separate budget

Parts to Upgrade: All, but do not need mouse, keyboard, headset

Do you need to buy OS: No
Please note that if you're using an OEM license of Windows, you will need a new one when buying a new motherboard.

Preferred Website(s) for Parts:
business.amazon.co.uk and business.currys.co.uk

Location: London UK

Parts Preferences:
CPU - AMD currently considering 5800x (have they fixed the heat issues on it?), open to suggestions
CPU cooler - Unsure, but looking at Noctua NH14s and BeQuiet Dark Rock 4. Open to suggestions
Thermal Paste - I think I used Arctic Silver or Thermal Grizzly before. Are they still good or is there something better?
RAM - 32GB 3600MHz. Unsure of which brand or configuration to go for
Mobo - No idea, maybe x570? concerned about the fan and coil whine
GPU - Currently considering 3080, open to suggestions
PSU - No idea, my current PC has an EVGA as that was supposed to be one of the best at the time (8 years ago). Not sure what is good bang for buck these days
Case - No idea. Current case looks like a Fractal Design R5. I need at least 4 front USB ports on top of the case.
SSD - Currently considering 2tb Samsung 970 evo plus. Open to suggestions
Might need an internal DVD drive.


Overclocking: Maybe light overclocking in the future

SLI or Crossfire: No

Your Monitor Resolution: Looking to get 1440p monitors

Additional Comments: I would really like a silent or very quiet PC that will have good thermals. I play a lot of different kinds of games, from online fps, strategy games etc. I'm looking for good value for money but also some future proofing.

Why Are You Upgrading: I've had my current PC for about 8-9 years and only upgraded graphics card and hard drive in that time. Current specs are 3570k, gtx 970 and samsung sata ssd. It's really showing it's age as some tasks like having many tabs open can really lag the PC and I get lag in quite a few games (including path of exile, world war Z that I've played recently).

Please let me know of your suggestions and amendments that would best fit the requirements. Thanks in advance!
 
CPU - if its for work as well might be worth looking at a 5900x
CPU cooler - personal preference, I would go AIO, something like Arctic Freezer II 360 get good reviews
PSU - prob a 750w corsair / named brand would prob be fine
SSD - I would look at 2, smaller 256gb for OS and a larger one for games/apps etc. Samsung 970 EVO are popular
 
Something like this
PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 5900X 3.7 GHz 12-Core Processor (£611.51 @ Overclockers.co.uk)
CPU Cooler: Corsair iCUE H150i ELITE CAPELLIX 75 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler (£188.57 @ Novatech)
Motherboard: MSI MAG X570 TOMAHAWK WIFI ATX AM4 Motherboard (£199.97 @ Scan.co.uk)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3600 CL18 Memory (£152.49 @ Ebuyer)
Storage: Samsung 970 Evo 500 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive (£80.96 @ Scan.co.uk)
Storage: Samsung 970 Evo 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive (£150.72 @ Newegg UK)
Video Card: Asus GeForce RTX 3080 10 GB TUF GAMING Video Card (£843.67 @ Overclockers.co.uk)
Case: Lian Li PC-O11 Dynamic ATX Full Tower Case (£132.99 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: Corsair RM (2019) 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply (£97.99 @ Corsair UK)
Total: £2458.87
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2021-02-02 08:09 GMT+0000
 
If you can get a 3080 FE that will save you £200 so upgrade to 64GB RAM
 
I would look at getting 64Gb ram or above , if you wanting 100+ taps open at once ..
 
I would look at getting 64Gb ram or above , if you wanting 100+ taps open at once ..
If using chrome he'll need 256GB🤣
 
Thanks for the suggestions!
Would the 5900x be a bit overkill for what I'm looking for? I'm not doing any production tasks and I'm not a streamer myself.
Same question about the RAM going to 64gb! I use firefox as my browser.
I was a bit concerned about leakage and also noise of an AIO vs an air cooler. Any thoughts on that?
Regarding the ssd, is there a practical reason for getting 2 smaller drives as opposed to a larger drive like the 2tb Samsung evo plus?
 
Cant say for sure , but chrome or firefox will result in the same way i'm guessing
if your going to have 100+ tabs open it will eat and destroy your Ram,



more then merrier i'd say lol


As for the SSD , it's not the "rule of thumb" but a lot of folks use one driver for their OS ( W10) then 1,2 or 3 other drives for their games, media and other bit's and bobs
keeping the OS drive clean and not full of games and media will keep it snappier..
but like i say it's down to what ever you fancy.
 
With both the 5900x and the 3080 in high demand, perhaps a prebuilt would be the best option?

5900x System
 
Would the 5900x be a bit overkill for what I'm looking for?
Maybe but it is in budget
I was a bit concerned about leakage and also noise of an AIO vs an air cooler. Any thoughts on that?
My AIO is quiet. The fans rarely kick in unless doing CPU intensive tasks (photo editing or video editing)

Regarding the ssd, is there a practical reason for getting 2 smaller drives as opposed to a larger drive like the 2tb Samsung evo plus?

As for the SSD , it's not the "rule of thumb" but a lot of folks use one driver for their OS ( W10) then 1,2 or 3 other drives for their games, media and other bit's and bobs
keeping the OS drive clean and not full of games and media will keep it snappier..
As above. If you want to reinstall windows, it is easier to use the same drive. Yes you can partition. But what if the drive fails?
That's why having 2 drives (or in my case 4) is beneficial. If your main drive fails (unlikely with SSDs but can still happen) then do you really want to be downloading 1.5 TB worth of games?
I would also get an additional hard drive for media.
I personally have a 2TB hard drive for games I'm not playing. This includes photos etc. The photos are then backed up onto 2 additional hard drives once a month.
 
For the RAM, Linus had 6,000 tabs opened, I would have maybe just over 100 or less! I think the best thing would be to go for 32gb in a 16x2 configuration and then upgrade later if needed.
Honestly I wasn't even considering the 5900x until now, it's quite a bit more for I don't think a huge amount of gain outside of production uses I think? I was thinking that there might be some suggestions to go with the 5600x instead, but it looks like 5800x or 5900x is most recommended. Have they solved the heat issues with the 5800x?
Regarding the hard drives is it worthwhile splitting the capacities even if getting a 2tb nvme drive is cheaper than getting two 1tb drives?
 
Honestly I wasn't even considering the 5900x until now, it's quite a bit more for I don't think a huge amount of gain outside of production uses I think?
You gave a budget and people have priced for the that budget. You could downgrade to a5600x and get a 3090 either.
Have they solved the heat issues with the 5800x?
@CARLOS has a 5800x with an AIO so will likely be able to tell you if he has any issues
 
You gave a budget and people have priced for the that budget. You could downgrade to a5600x and get a 3090 either.

@CARLOS has a 5800x with an AIO so will likely be able to tell you if he has any issues

I use a Arctic Liquid ii 360 on my 5800X and idle it sits at 28-30 degrees and under full load hits 65-68 degrees, gaming it normally sits at 40-50 degrees

Highly recommend the Arctic AIO as it keeps things cool and is extremely quiet, the Arctic P120 fans are brilliant also it only has one connection on the whole thing which goes to the CPU header on the motherboard.
 
Have you considered full watercooling?
Too much faff and much more money. Looks great and constantly debate it myself. (Have a full rig sat in my loft)
 
I use a Arctic Liquid ii 360 on my 5800X and idle it sits at 28-30 degrees and under full load hits 65-68 degrees, gaming it normally sits at 40-50 degrees

Highly recommend the Arctic AIO as it keeps things cool and is extremely quiet, the Arctic P120 fans are brilliant also it only has one connection on the whole thing which goes to the CPU header on the motherboard.
Thought so. Also no CPU over heats, you just have inadequate cooling😂
 
Thanks for all the help everyone! I'm going to research a few of the suggestions here and then pray that I can get some of these parts. I'm scared of liquid cooling in case it leaks everywhere!

How do you guys get 3080's? I'm in a stock notification discord server and whenever it pings that stock is available and I go to buy it's out of stock instantly.
 
Don’t want to hijack the thread but do you need a new windows licencse for a new build motherboard Or can you use your old one?
 
Don’t want to hijack the thread but do you need a new windows licencse for a new build motherboard Or can you use your old one?
Depends on licence type. In theory OEM will not activate but sometimes does. You can pick windows 10 keys up for less than £10
How do you guys get 3080's? I'm in a stock notification discord server and whenever it pings that stock is available and I go to buy it's out of stock instantly.
Telegram. Make sure you are logged into your amazon account at all times and have buy it now setup.
 
It’s not that much more money and if I can do it, anyone can! :laugh:
If you can show me a decent watercooling kit for the same price as an AIO be my guest.
I know EK do kits but they are £200 plus.
 
If you can show me a decent watercooling kit for the same price as an AIO be my guest.
I know EK do kits but they are £200 plus.

i didn’t say they were the same price. In a £2500 PC is not that much more.
 
i didn’t say they were the same price. In a £2500 PC is not that much more.
I've put this together and it is £250. This excludes tubing and a coolant (probably an extra £20) and fans (let's say £30 for those) so £300 all in. You can pick up a decent AIO for £100.
Yes, when spending £2500 watercooling could be an option, but it can easily eat into your budget. Ideally you would want a larger reservoir/pump combo and a drain port as well.
It is more faff as well, having to pressure test the system prior to use.
Screenshot_20210203-074952_Chrome.jpg
 
The OP is worried about a AIO leaking so they are hardly likely to be doing a full water cooled system.
 

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