Desktop Computer upgrade advice (sorry)

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afe66

3181 posts

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#317537 24-Oct-2024 12:25

Dear All,

Sorry for another one of those upgrade posts but I'm interesting in the Hive mind thought.

Currently I'm running a rather old bought new back in the day I7-4790K 32Gb asus syrix 980 water cooled (for quiet) SSDs etc W8.1->10 Connected to a couple of 24" dell 1920x1200 monitors. Which such an old system the plan is to keep the full case, the bluray,SSDs

Gaming days are probably passed so would be nice to play MS flight sim at reasonable quality once I upgrade the monitors at a later stage. Moved into 3d printing/home machining. (+kids...)

I want a quieter system. 2k budget. Anything/new I should be thinking about?

Thoughts?

SnoopyDo

18 posts

Geek

#3301048 24-Oct-2024 13:10

I recently put together a new PC with parts ordered from PBTech. I went with case, cooler and power supply from be quite (https://www.pbtech.co.nz/brand/be-quiet), certainly quitter than my previous PC

Qazzy03

478 posts

Ultimate Geek

#3301067 24-Oct-2024 15:24

Question, do you have a preference between diy or prebuilt?

Just so we know if we should recommending parts or a full system.

toejam316

1466 posts

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Trusted

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#3301068 24-Oct-2024 15:26

Just as a heads up, the latest MS Flight Sim is actually one of the most demanding games out there at the moment, so don't be surprised if it brings whatever system you get to its knees. Based on your given use case, you likely don't need much more than an AMD 5700x/5700x3d, appropriate RAM and Motherboard, and whatever you're comfortable spending on a GPU.

With all of that said, you could buy an entirely new all in one system like this Buy the GGPC RTX 4060 Ti Gaming PC Intel Core i7 12700F 12 Cores / 20 Threads ... ( WKSGGPC10429 ) online - PBTech.co.nz

That would leave you with a spare computer, to boot. As for quieter? Drop the gaming features, and you could get a small form factor NUC, or an Apple Mac Mini or something of that ilk.

Anything I say is the ramblings of an ill informed, opinionated so-and-so, and not representative of any of my past, present or future employers, and is also probably best disregarded.

afe66

3181 posts

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Lifetime subscriber

#3301150 24-Oct-2024 16:56

Thanks for thoughts so far,

I'm unsure if Ill pre build myself (- Ive done this in the past) or go to the ppl who bought my machine originally but I am curious to ppls thoughts so I can interpret suggestions if I go to a shop.

The Flight sim comment was slightly tongue in cheek, I used to be in flight sims so there is a chance I go back there again but not really a first person shoot em type..

I'll continue to lerk.

SpartanVXL

1322 posts

Uber Geek

#3301151 24-Oct-2024 17:01

Just heads up, the recent Intel CPU’s are power hogs. If you are looking at any i7/i9’s they can draw over 200W easy, which makes it hard for the cooling solution to be quiet.

AMD’s recent offerings are more modest if you stay near the 8 core cpu range.

Qazzy03

478 posts

Ultimate Geek

#3301171 24-Oct-2024 17:43

If you are okay doing DIY I put together a list staying under $2K

My focus was attempting to get a system to somewhere between recommended and ideal specs for Microsoft Flight Sim 2024, out later this year.
As such I have gone with some interesting choices I wouldn't usually make.
I.e below is 64GB of ram, as MSFS 2024 looks to be a hog!
I chose a Nvida card so you could use its frame generation tech and DLSS and still use AMD FSR technology too.
I went with the Ryzen 5 7600 going for bang for buck and leaving a possible upgrade path open.
Note: I assumed your case will fit an ATX motherboard. I am not the best with motherboards, so you might want more advice, but I went with a good rating and tried to keep costs down.
Noctua for the lower noise profile, you could go cheaper but tried to balance noise.

Left room in the budget if you would like to improve CPU, Motherboard, GPU or just keep ~$400 in the hand.

note: I would recommend getting at least 1 M.2 SSD, they go on the motherboard and are faster than SATA 3.

note: If your case is loud you might want to change that, but didn't include one if have a quiet one.

PCPartPicker Part List: https://nz.pcpartpicker.com/list/tXPFJy

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 7600 3.8 GHz 6-Core Processor ($339.00 @ PB Technologies)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-U12S chromax.black 55 CFM CPU Cooler ($120.15 @ PB Technologies)
Motherboard: MSI B650 GAMING PLUS WIFI ATX AM5 Motherboard ($319.00 @ 1stWave Technologies)
Memory: Kingston FURY Beast 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6000 CL36 Memory ($179.00 @ PB Technologies)
Memory: Kingston FURY Beast 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6000 CL36 Memory ($179.00 @ PB Technologies)
Video Card: GALAX EX (1-Click OC) GeForce RTX 4060 8 GB Video Card ($499.00 @ PB Technologies)
Total: $1635.15

https://nz.pcpartpicker.com/list/tXPFJy

afe66

3181 posts

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Lifetime subscriber

#3301210 24-Oct-2024 20:54

Wow, thanks for feed back.

Quic Broadband

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SpartanVXL

1322 posts

Uber Geek

#3301239 24-Oct-2024 22:38

Would highly recommend getting a x3d variant of AMD’s modern CPU’s, from posts online it seems MSFS takes advantage of the vcache well.

Would also recommend the Peerless Assassin/Phantom Spirit 120 cpu cooler over Noctua, see online comparisons on their performance.

Also wouldn’t recommend the 4060 unless you are absolutely content with its performance or cannot exceed budget. It does not stack well when compared with even last generation parts.

The focus however should definitely be CPU and memory for MSFS, you can always slot in a better GPU down the road.

cddt

1565 posts

Uber Geek

#3301286 25-Oct-2024 08:27

I can't see that it's been recommended yet, so I'll suggest you check www.pyronic.al - it's a NZ based site so prices are in NZD with Intel/AMD build suggestions at different price points, components are based on those commonly available in NZ and typical prices. Makes it a bit easier than wading through US-based recommendations which may have very different price and availability...

My referral links: BigPipe | Mercury

Azzura

603 posts

Ultimate Geek

ID Verified

#3301326 25-Oct-2024 09:33

I recently upgraded—er, well, I ended up building a second system around a 4080. As I am using a Noctua D14 (checked my old emails—wow! I got it back in 2009), it's up to you to choose a cooler. Video card—up to you...

I've never used Teamgroup before - so we will see how they go. The system hasn't caused me any issues while gaming, using Davinci or Topaz Video AI, or benchmarking.

I ended up purchasing all my parts from ComputerLounge.

This is just using PCPartPicker Part List: https://nz.pcpartpicker.com/list/YXvZBL

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D 4.2 GHz 8-Core Processor ($799.00 @ Computer Lounge)
Motherboard: MSI B650 GAMING PLUS WIFI ATX AM5 Motherboard ($319.00 @ 1stWave Technologies)
Memory: TEAMGROUP T-Create Expert 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6000 CL38 Memory ($201.06 @ Paradigm PCs)
Storage: TEAMGROUP MP44L 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive ($105.80 @ 1stWave Technologies)
Storage: TEAMGROUP MP44L 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive ($105.80 @ 1stWave Technologies)
Total: $1530.66
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2024-10-25 09:18 NZDT+1300

caffynz

275 posts

Ultimate Geek

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Subscriber

#3301748 26-Oct-2024 11:55

Earlier this year bought a custom PC from Playtech, and was happy with the price. Would recommend them as an alternative to PBTech, if you're not wanting to build a PC yourself.