I don't really know. I was following the pyronic list. 

Suggest you look at the specs, you could probably drop down to the lower tier motherboard if you're not looking to max out NVMe and PCIe lanes/slots.
Assume you'll be running ethernet not wifi as well (don't game on wifi), so better looking for a cheaper board without the wifi7, and using 2.5Gbit or 10Gbit ethernet instead.

So just a couple of questions. First it looks like this ram would be better? G.Skill Trident Z5 Neo RGB DDR5-6000

I am unsure about the case. I think it's fine but don't really have any idea. I think the mid tower will suit best as it's not excessively large or small like the full or mini cases. Other than that I'm really shopping blind. 

Regarding the motherboard, yes currently there is a lan cable running to the existing computer but if it needs to be moved that might not always be the case. There may be a time when it can't be connected via lan (hopefully only for a short time) so would like to keep that option open. Additionally we'd like this build to last as long as the other, 5 years now, so would rather do what we can now to ensure that, with in reason.

Thank you again 

• Drop the motherboard down to something in the $300-400 range.
• For an X3D CPU the AIO cooler is excessive, a decent air cooler (peerless assassin etc) in the ~$100 range would be fine.
• Switch the RAM to DDR5 6000 CL30, I'd suggest going for 64GB but 32GB is okay.
• You could drop down to a 850W PSU, 1000W is significant overspec
• Put the savings from the above into a better monitor or more RAM.

If you want 5 years, they 100% bump RAM to 64GB.

Agree on dropping the AIO to something air based (you dont want to worry about the cooler working not leaking etc over the 5 years.

Id stick with the higher PSU personally, I've found 850w limiting on high end builds (i had crashing issues with a RTX3080ti) that went away when bumping up PSU.

I'd swap out the cooler for a Thermalright Phantom Spirit 120, liquid cooling can run into issues that you don't get with fan-based cooling, change the motherboard to a B850 board, as the X870 is probably overkill and you can save a couple of hundred there, make sure the RAM kit you choose is DDR5 6000 CL30, and I second bumping up to 64GB of RAM. Maybe consider dropping the PSU from a Platinum to Gold to save a little bit more, too. I also strongly recommend avoiding Gigabyte as a vendor, as they've got a history of releasing the initial run of a product and giving that to reviewers, then subsequently doing a quiet revision to make a cheaper product which all runs after the first run will be.

I'd also suggest if you can flex the budget, pushing for a 5070 Ti is going to be a pretty big jump. If not, the 9070 XT doesn't really have any competition.

toejam316:

 

I'd also suggest if you can flex the budget, pushing for a 5070 Ti is going to be a pretty big jump. If not, the 9070 XT doesn't really have any competition.

 

Note the budget was under $4k and the linked build list is sitting at $5k...

Yes I had hoped to keep it under 4k but looking at longevity and the difference in performance it's gone up slightly.

I was wondering about the liquid cooler as we've only used air cooling. I do think the 64gb of ram is going to be the right call. I haven't looked into the rest at this stage. 

I did note it, as well as some potential cost savings that could allow for that bump. about $400 to claw back from the cooler, motherboard and PSU by my estimates. That could push them into the 5070 Ti range.

For strictly gaming I could comfortably see $500-800 worth of stuff there not required and providing little to no benefit. However, if you have money to burn, it's certainly a beast of a machine. 

Twalknz72:

 

Yes I had hoped to keep it under 4k but looking at longevity and the difference in performance it's gone up slightly.

 

The real world difference in performance at 1440p between the list I suggested and the $5K part picker list would be 0 because the GPU is the limiting factor.

If you swapped the OLED for the Alienware and add a windows licence, that works out to $4K.

64GB of memory is absolutely not necessary for gaming. Can some examples please be given of common games using more than 32GB of memory?

Current consoles only have 16GB, majority of cases 24or 32GB is recommended just so there is extra for use of discord and other tasks. Bonus points if you use linux as it requires far less memory than windows.

You can also get away with a 650W quality PSU like the corsair rm650x. The 9800x3d cpu is 120W TDP and a 5070ti is 300W, well within range. To the person who had a 3080ti you likely had transient spikes which were a problem with that gen gpu and ocp on PSU’s tripping.

An AIO cooler isn’t necessary as the thermalright CPU coolers are very good, but are nice as the 9800x3d does need a decent cooler and contact as the package temperature gets quite hot on full load unless you undervolt (which you should do regardless).

B850 motherboards can still have pcie5 nvme m2 slot, if you want future compatibility get a decent primary nvme to use with newer games that may utilise directstorage.

As others have said any savings should go towards a better GPU, the 9800x3d is already the best gaming CPU out now.

Can you download the windows 11 iso and then just buy a license online saving several hundred $

Many games with Mods can quickly consume more than 32GB, Cities skylines, Flight Sim etc, add in a second or third user concurrently logged in and you can quickly use the RAM up. While I wait for some RAM to be RMA, I'm down to 32GB again and running at 24/32GB used (75%) right now...

Also "9800x3d cpu is 120W TDP" doesn't meant it maxes out 120W... refer here: https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/cpus/amd-ryzen-7-9800x3d-review-devastating-gaming-performance/4 

My point still stands, you need mods or play uncommon games to reach anywhere near 32GB. I’m taking a guess but OP’s son is unlikely to have multiple users logged in at once. Windows also likes to reserve available memory, which is a good thing, but doesn’t mean you need that amount off the bat especially if there is a pcie5 nvme in the mix. Easy option is to get a four slot motherboard and get an identical spec kit later when ddr5 goes cheaper like ddr4 did.

The PSU comment is still within range if you take into account PBO draw and extra for GPU, 1000W even a 850W is a lot for this type of build. Nvidias site recommends 700W for a 5070ti system. I know what TDP is and it’s meant to be a consideration for cooling, even the thermalrights will struggle with 100% load if the cpu is not power constrained. But thats ok, this build is for gaming not for processing.