Opinions on this PC build

[CL30]

I’m working on my next build. I’m going the get some new form of VR, like a Quest 3 that was recommended. Not going to splurge on a 5090 at this point. This build list is by no means set in stone. Likes or dislikes?

Ugh. Let me work on the pic….

Edited June 8 by CL30

[CL30]

@Aapje looking at you man, since you persuaded me to throw an AMD in there, lol.

[BitMaster]

Not sure if the CPU/IMC likes 6400MT/s. You could try and find 6000MT/s with maybe lower Latency. That's what I would do.

The rest looks ok to me

[CL30]

6 minutes ago, BitMaster said:

Not sure if the CPU/IMC likes 6400MT/s. You could try and find 6000MT/s with maybe lower Latency. That's what I would do.

The rest looks ok to me

Ah, didn’t even know that could be a “thing,” but I’ve always been Intel. Thanks, man!

[LucShep]

The way I see it, that system could be a little more optimized for value (some things there are excessive) and should have at least one aspect corrected (DRAM).
Going in parts that I'd likely change:


CPU - - - - - - - - - - - - -

In this case the 9800X3D is a perfect choice.

However, if budget or availability becomes a concern -and only if so- the 7800X3D is still an alternative to it for less money.
(performance difference is there but it's small - for example see 7800X3D vs 9800X3d For VR DCS, FS2024 & CP2077).

 

CPU Cooler - - - - - - - - - - - - -

For the 9800X3D CPU you don't need liquid cooling for it.
I'd go for the Thermalright Phantom Spirit 120 and keep the money difference or spend it elsewhere.

Note that any version of the Phantom Spirit 120 is good, among the very best air coolers out there and it's just $45 (even beats 280 AIOs at over double its price!). 


Motherboard - - - - - - - - - - - - -

X870 motherboards are great, but are a tad expensive (most at well over $300) and you really don't need it for a gaming intended system.
You've chosen the "Eagle" from Gigabyte at far lower price, but then I'm not so sure about the low budget orientation of that board (cheap components)...

A good B850 motherboard (usually around $200, considered "mid-range") is all you'll need then, but you need to be careful when picking one (not all are good).
I'm very partial to the MSI Tomahawk motherboard in this segment (what I'd go for) but any of these will be good:

- Asrock B850 Steel Legend WiFi
- Asrock B850 Pro RS WiFi
- MSI MAG B850 Tomahawk Max WiFi
- MSI PRO B850-P WiFi
- Gigabyte B850 Aorus Elite WIFI
- Gigabyte B850 Gaming X WiFi

Regardless of AMD X870 or B580 that you choose, it'll require the latest BIOS right away (for voltages and performance to be safe and sound) - do not skimp on this!


MEMORY (RAM) - - - - - - - - - - - - -

As mentioned already, avoid DDR5 6400 memory for AMD Ryzen 9000 and 7000 series, unless you're into lengthy/fiddly tuning and adjustments with Memory settings.

You don't need higher speed than 6000MT/s or lower latency than CL30 (30-36-36-96) because the 3D V-cache on the X3D chips makes it redundant.

Go for a DDR5 6000 CL30 AMD EXPO kit of 96GB (2x48GB). Basically "plug&play", just make sure EXPO1 is loaded in the BIOS (it's same as XMP on Intel).

For example, I'd look at one of these kits from GSKILL:

- F5-6000J3036F48GX2-FX5
- F5-6000J3036F48GX2-TZ5NR
- F5-6000J3036F48GX2-RM5NRK

Rest looks OK to me?  Maybe see what next replies indicate.
 

Edited Saturday at 03:27 PM by LucShep
added links

[CL30]

20 minutes ago, LucShep said:

The way I see it, that system could be a little more optimized for value (some things there are excessive) and have one aspect correct (DRAM).
Going in parts that I'd likely change:

*snip*

20 minutes ago, LucShep said:

Rest looks OK to me?  Maybe see what next replies indicate.

Thanks for the reply, LucShep!

I'm not really tied to any one thing, so it’s good to have options. I’ve been trying to get up to speed on new stuff, like Mobos. I saw the 870s are Pcie 5.0 I think? I’m not even that competent to understand it all, but sounded like more options for more SSDs at faster speeds. I threw it in there to be safer for future add ons, but yeah, it’s kinda Greek to me. My last build was a Z390 board, so it’s been a minute, lol. Oh, and I chose Gigabyte because I’m familiar with it, but again, open to anything.

Good to know about the cooler. I OC’d my Intel chips, but don’t think I’ll need to going this route. Once I settle on a case I’ll figure out a cooler. My current build is mostly white, with a large glass case. It’s beautiful (to me), so I may do the same again and keep the 360 AIO for aesthetics, but good to know nonetheless.

Thanks again!

 

Edit: wow, yeah, those coolers are definitely less expensive! Thanks for the rec.

 

Edited June 8 by CL30

[LucShep]

On 6/8/2025 at 11:50 PM, CL30 said:

*snip*

Thanks for the reply, LucShep!

I'm not really tied to any one thing, so it’s good to have options. I’ve been trying to get up to speed on new stuff, like Mobos. I saw the 870s are Pcie 5.0 I think? I’m not even that competent to understand it all, but sounded like more options for more SSDs at faster speeds. I threw it in there to be safer for future add ons, but yeah, it’s kinda Greek to me. My last build was a Z390 board, so it’s been a minute, lol. Oh, and I chose Gigabyte because I’m familiar with it, but again, open to anything.

Good to know about the cooler. OC’d my Intel chips, but don’t think I’ll need to going this route. Once I settle on a case I’ll figure out a cooler. My current build is mostly white, with a large glass case. It’s beautiful (to me), so I may do the same again and keep the 360 AIO for aesthetics, but good to know nonetheless.

Thanks again!

 

Note that all those B850 motherboards that I've listed are PCIe 5.0 on both the graphics slot and the main NVMe drive slot.  

I've noticed that you've selected (good) NVMe Gen4 drives, both for primary and secondary - so that makes no difference whatsoever for your components.

Also, those B850 motherboards that I've listed are among the most robust, able to power even a 9950X or 9950X3D "24/7" with no issues whatsoever.
So, in that aspect, there isn't any need for a more expensive X870 motherboard - the power delivery is more than covered for the 9800X3D (with PBO inclusively).
These are not "locked" motherboards like Intel does with "Z" versus "B" boards.

What X870 motherboards (the good ones, at least) notoriously have over the B850 ones is PCIe 5.0 also for the remaining PCIe and NVMe slots, with unshared lanes.
Something that content creators really want (to whom time is money) to be fully loaded with the fastest (and very hot) expensive NVMe Gen5 drives.
That's not meant for gaming - good NVMe Gen4 drives (like the SN850X and 990Pro) vastly surpass any performance needs and also run cooler (and will so for years).
And that's why it's widely considered as wasted features and money even on enthusiast level gaming PCs. 

Some may argue that the good X870 motherboards have even more USB slots on the back, but then it's hard to justify the price difference with that, when a good B850 motherboard already have plenty (and even more so when any decent USB HUB makes that redundant for gaming/simming). 

Regarding the cooler, I think the highest power consumption you'll see from a (stock) 9800X3D is 160W(?), with gaming mostly at 45W~95W, similar also to the 7800X3D.
Even if you go "OC mode" and load it with PBO settings, it won't really turn into a furnace (like Intel 13th/14th gen i9 and i7 do).
A good dual-tower air cooler (like the mentioned PS120) will more than suffice. But some people will prefer a liquid cooler regardless of temps, and that's absolutely fine.
 

Edited June 10 by LucShep

[CL30]

@LucShepgood stuff, man. I am feeling more confident about he build and components thanks to you guys. I miss playing DCS. It will be nice to have a PC out here with me. Gotta bring my Warthog from home out though. 

[Aapje]

21 hours ago, CL30 said:

@Aapje looking at you man, since you persuaded me to throw an AMD in there, lol.

No need, since @LucShep was dishing out good advice as usual.

[CL30]

Mrs. CL30 gave me the green light, so I’ll probably start buying here soon. Might make a 8hr round trip to Microcenter to grab it all in one go.

[Hempstead]

On 6/8/2025 at 2:05 PM, BitMaster said:

Not sure if the CPU/IMC likes 6400MT/s. You could try and find 6000MT/s with maybe lower Latency. That's what I would do.

The rest looks ok to me

Just passed OCCT CPU + RAM stress test for one hour with flying color (and I have been flying DCS and MSFS 2024 with it for about 2 weeks). The CPU Tdie temperature never went over 60ºC, staying at around 58ºC (core temps were at some cool 32ºC). RAM temp was at about 42ºC. That's 32x logical cores going full blast at 100% for an hour.

System Spec:

Motherboard: Asus ROG Crosshair X870E Hero

CPU: AMD Ryzen 9950X3D

RAM: 4X Crucial DDR5-6400 DIMMs, 128GB (not on the MB QVL, but Crucial site confirmed the compatibility)

SSD: Crucial T705 4TB

Gfx Card: PNY RTX5080 OC

AIO Cooler: Asus Ryujin III 360

Power Supply: Seasonic Prime PX-1600

All fans are Noctua NF-A14x25 gen 2, the AIO has 3x Noctua NF-A14x25 gen 1 (very quiet)

 

Note that, the T705 SSD is a PCIe gen 5, and so is the gfx card running with PCIe gen 5. The T705 does run hot... 50ºC at idle. I am thinking about adding a fan just for it. But a gaming rig's SSD workload is not very high. It's very bursty but not very much sustained load.

I would agree that the X870E had a very rocky start with PCIe 5, particularly with RTX5000 cards when it just came out. And it also had some trouble with DDR5-6000+ RAM and 4x DIMM at the beginning. When I first got the system up and running, it was very unstable... but as soon as I updated the motherboard with the latest firmware from Asus. It was rock solid, except Win11 and Nvidia driver still has that problem of once the screen blanks it won't come back, including the installer of Nvidia driver Nvidia App itself. I RDP into it, and it won't come out of the blank screen when I logged off RDP. But other that, it's been rock solid.

JayzTwoCents was just testing DDR5-7800 (unstable) and -7600 (stable) for his 9950X3D rig today. -6400? Right... 

Of course, YMMV.

 

And.... BTW... I didn't change a thing in BIOS. Didn't bother tuning anything.... yet. You have to establish a baseline before you push the envelop.

 

 

 

[CL30]

Thanks for the detailed post, @Hempstead. I’ll definitely be updating the BIOS right from the start, and planning 2x48GB 6000 sticks of RAM. I’m actually shopping for those as I post this, so it’ll be the first purchase. 

I don’t think I’ll be going the 870 route now. Doesn’t sound like I’d gain much based on what @LucShepsaid, and will likely throw an 850 in there.

[Aapje]

The issue with PCIe 5 drives is that they didn't have advanced controllers at first, which meant that the controllers were relatively slow and/or power hungry. Only now are we seeing that gradually change.

So if you are going to get a PCIe 5 drive, it's better to get one with a new controller, like the Samsung 9100 PRO or the Lexar NM1090 PRO.

[CL30]

16 minutes ago, Aapje said:

The issue with PCIe 5 drives is that they didn't have advanced controllers at first, which meant that the controllers were relatively slow and/or power hungry. Only now are we seeing that gradually change.

So if you are going to get a PCIe 5 drive, it's better to get one with a new controller, like the Samsung 9100 PRO or the Lexar NM1090 PRO.

I went ahead and ordered a PCIe 4. Got a WD Black SN850X 4TB, and will be grabbing a Samsung 990 Pro 2TB as well. Also ordered 2x48GB DDR5 6000 RAM. 

Edited June 10 by CL30

[Markus77]

vor 8 Stunden schrieb Hempstead:

Just passed OCCT CPU + RAM stress test for one hour with flying color (and I have been flying DCS and MSFS 2024 with it for about 2 weeks). The CPU Tdie temperature never went over 60ºC, staying at around 58ºC (core temps were at some cool 32ºC). RAM temp was at about 42ºC. That's 32x logical cores going full blast at 100% for an hour.

System Spec:

Motherboard: Asus ROG Crosshair X870E Hero

CPU: AMD Ryzen 9950X3D

RAM: 4X Crucial DDR5-6400 DIMMs, 128GB (not on the MB QVL, but Crucial site confirmed the compatibility)

SSD: Crucial T705 4TB

Gfx Card: PNY RTX5080 OC

AIO Cooler: Asus Ryujin III 360

Power Supply: Seasonic Prime PX-1600

All fans are Noctua NF-A14x25 gen 2, the AIO has 3x Noctua NF-A14x25 gen 1 (very quiet)

 

Note that, the T705 SSD is a PCIe gen 5, and so is the gfx card running with PCIe gen 5. The T705 does run hot... 50ºC at idle. I am thinking about adding a fan just for it. But a gaming rig's SSD workload is not very high. It's very bursty but not very much sustained load.

I would agree that the X870E had a very rocky start with PCIe 5, particularly with RTX5000 cards when it just came out. And it also had some trouble with DDR5-6000+ RAM and 4x DIMM at the beginning. When I first got the system up and running, it was very unstable... but as soon as I updated the motherboard with the latest firmware from Asus. It was rock solid, except Win11 and Nvidia driver still has that problem of once the screen blanks it won't come back, including the installer of Nvidia driver Nvidia App itself. I RDP into it, and it won't come out of the blank screen when I logged off RDP. But other that, it's been rock solid.

JayzTwoCents was just testing DDR5-7800 (unstable) and -7600 (stable) for his 9950X3D rig today. -6400? Right... 

Of course, YMMV.

 

And.... BTW... I didn't change a thing in BIOS. Didn't bother tuning anything.... yet. You have to establish a baseline before you push the envelop.

 

 

 

Hi,

MSI expresses itself a little more precisely than ASUS, here in the case of a MAG X870 TOMAHAWK WIFI:
....
4x DDR5 UDIMM, maximum memory capacity 256GB
Memory support DDR5 8400 - 5600 (OC) MT/s / 5600 - 4800 (JEDEC) MT/s
Ryzen™ 9000 series processors max. overclocking frequency:
- 1DPC 1R Maximum speed up to 8400+ MT/s
- 1DPC 2R Maximum speed up to 6400+ MT/s
- 2DPC 1R Maximum speed up to 6400+ MT/s
- 2DPC 2R Maximum speed up to 4800+ MT/s
...
This means that with 2 DIMMS per channel (2DPC), which corresponds to four modules, the maximum speed drops significantly (4800MT/s instead of 6400 MT/s). Put simply, this means that you lose approx. 25% memory-speed.

Greetings

Edited June 11 by Markus77

[Hempstead]

Watch this.

 

[BitMaster]

Good video, but to be fair and true...all that info is on AMD's website for each of their CPU's. You just have to look for it an UNDERSTAND what all that means, as Joe Doe you are lost.

[BitMaster]

Am 11.6.2025 um 03:26 schrieb Markus77:

Hi,

MSI expresses itself a little more precisely than ASUS, here in the case of a MAG X870 TOMAHAWK WIFI:
....
4x DDR5 UDIMM, maximum memory capacity 256GB
Memory support DDR5 8400 - 5600 (OC) MT/s / 5600 - 4800 (JEDEC) MT/s
Ryzen™ 9000 series processors max. overclocking frequency:
- 1DPC 1R Maximum speed up to 8400+ MT/s
- 1DPC 2R Maximum speed up to 6400+ MT/s
- 2DPC 1R Maximum speed up to 6400+ MT/s
- 2DPC 2R Maximum speed up to 4800+ MT/s
...
This means that with 2 DIMMS per channel (2DPC), which corresponds to four modules, the maximum speed drops significantly (4800MT/s instead of 6400 MT/s). Put simply, this means that you lose approx. 25% memory-speed.

Greetings

Heck, there you go. 

Now combine all above info into 1 decision, risc the gamble, yes or no ? That's the baseline I guess.

When you can risc your work... risc it if you love tinkering and usually don't give up, love watching Bios passing by..or Not, and love the one beep that solves it all. 

When you need your work... don't even think about straying aside, no Support will then be willing to help you usually, BSOD's come and go as they like, Data corruption etc...

Dialing in your RAM is always a gamble and even 2 identical boards with same RAM kits might behave different, with the same or different CPU, the variables are many.

 

I run 2DPC 2R way above specs, at insane Volts...for years..rocksolid VMware 99% RAM full tilt for hours, no BSOD's....but if it wouldn't, there is nobody to blame but myself.

[Aapje]

Keep in mind that the X3D-processors are not that sensitive to RAM speeds, so buying extra-expensive memory and/or running things at the edge of what is possible, with the resulting tuning/stability difficulties is generally a waste of money and time.

[Hempstead]

Note that I was fully prepared for multi-week tuning sessions, but all I did was updating the firmware to the latest, and changing the Memory Bus Speed from Auto to 3,200MHz, as Auto resulted in 1,600MHz, so I forced it. Of course, after Win11 Pro installation, update to the latest drivers from Asus Driver Hub (to be turned off, as there is an RCE reported, and supposedly fixed), Windows Update to the latest, and Nvidia App/driver to the latest as well, the usual. That is Joe-Six-Pack achievable.

It passed an one hour CPU + RAM stress test... There is not much point in running a 48-hr burn test I used to do on gaming rigs. They are not file servers. And I have had it up for about two+ weeks with multiple DCS/MSFS 2024 sessions, without a problem.  I don't turn off my machines. It hasn't crashed once since. 

Also, before updating the firmware to the latest, it was very unstable. So, that tells you that the firmware improved quite a bit during the several months Asus made the board, and it being shipped to my hands. The "problem" at least seems fixable with firmware updates (plus the DIMMs improved; there is a good reason why I paid premium for Crucial/Micron DIMMs; they are more conservative and rigorous in what they claim, unlike some Asian startups.). So, whatever you "heard" on the Internet about 4x DIMMs being unstable is probably outdated, at least for this particular motherboard.  And since this firmware is an AMI... I am speculating that all the AMI firmware equipped motherboards would be fine. Just speculating.... unconfirmed.

The salient point I am telling you is that there are reports that 4x DDR5-6400 DIMMs are workable now, and I have replicated the result, easy. So, now you get an expanded baseline with 4x DDR5-6400 DIMMs.

There is, of course, always some risks involved building your own PC, and be the manufacturer of your own PC. What's the failure state of taking a well known good baseline list, change one thing and one thing only, the 4x DDR5-6400 DIMMs in this case, and push? The worst case scenario is that the 4x DIMMs are unstable, no matter what frequency I set it to, and it corrupts my SSD. All I have to do is taking out 2x DIMMs, and perhaps tuning down the memory speed. All I lose is a bunch of time, and perhaps $200 worth of RAM, which I could either resell and recover some money, or use them in another computer. Risk, sure, not that much, really. All good clean fun, anyway. 

If you are building your own PC, and you don't have 40 years of PC building experience under your belt, then take a confirmed well known good list... and build just that. If you are more adventurous, take a baseline list, change one thing and one thing only and push. Nobody says you can only push once. You are welcome to push n times. I'd like to know your n-pushes and results though. Me? I am here for the games... I pushed one time... and I won... I wanna play some more games.

 

 

 

[Qcumber]

Is 6400 really a significant boost in performance over 6000? 

[LucShep]

Noone recommends DDR5 6400 memory for AM5 CPUs, like the 9800X3D, mostly because the performance difference is insignificant (to the point of "absolute zero perceived gains") at a cost of instability, higher SOC voltage, and higher acquisition cost.

Not all AM5 CPUs will be able to do 6400 (3200 UCLK), especially dual-rank configuration. Some can but it is never guaranteed, it's a complete lottery.
Even if it does work, it'll almost surely require 1.3v(+) on the SOC to avoid crashes... which then risks the CPU mid/long term reliability.

That's why DDR5 6000 CL30 AMD EXPO kits (with two sticks, like 2x32 for 64GB, and 2x48 for 96GB) are still the most recommend for AM5 CPUs, including the 9800X3D.
These mem kits are AM5 "Plug & Play", no fuss or issues - all you need is to load EXPO1 on the bios (just like you do XMP for Intel CPUs) and that's it.

And if you really want that, it's very possible that a DDR5 6000 CL30 kit will do 6200 with little effort (SOC at 1.2v~1.25v). But that, again, may require some tuning.
 

Edited Sunday at 03:15 AM by LucShep

[Hempstead]

23 hours ago, Qcumber said:

Is 6400 really a significant boost in performance over 6000? 

Not that much... but because it's there, and it can be done. That's how progress is made. One small step forward at a time. It used to be 4x DDR5-6000 was dicey too.

Now.... if it can be easily done, and the price difference is insignificant... why not?

Edited Sunday at 05:53 PM by Hempstead

[Qcumber]

22 minutes ago, Hempstead said:

Not that much... but because it's there, and it can be done. That's how progress is made. One small step forward at a time. It used to be 4x DDR5-6000 was dicey too.

Now.... if it can be easily done, and the price difference is insignificant... why not?

I had issues initially getting 6000 stable even though motherboard and RAM were compatible etc.

I appreciate the sentiment as do like tinkering and overclocking but I think I will leave my RAM settings as they are for now. 

 

[CL30]

So, would dropping PCIEx16 down to x8 speed for the GPU be that big of a deal? I’m leaning towards three m.2 nVME drives.
 

M2A and M2D won’t take away from the GPU, but populating M2B or M2C will drop the speed, according to the manual.
 

I’d like to have a 2TB for OS, etc., a 4TB for DCS, and then some other one for other games, pics, etc. However, I could just do two 4TB drives I suppose.