Build Advice Pete J's massive system overhaul discussion

Well folks...

I took the plunge on the PC components. Some changes that I'll detail another time, including a true Hail Mary at the 11th hour.

Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to spend a sleepless night questioning the very expensive purchases I've just made.

EDIT: Heh, the bank's declined my Amazon purchases. Going to have to sort that out tomorrow.

 

...and the bank's been notified and let the charges go through. Twice, because I "had" to follow up with a second order.

I have spent the last few days getting back up to date with PC components, and after not being able to find a suitable case, decided to look at mATX motherboards to fit in a Lian Li A3-mATX. Thing is, only Intel offer a chipset that supports more than two M.2 drives on the motherboard, and I very nearly ended up going for LGA1851 with a 285K. I was mentally preparing to commit to purchasing, when I decided to do a last ditch attempt to find an ATX case that would fit under my TV. And lo, did I find the:

JONSBO D41 !!!



I watched an extremely in-depth review and this ticks all the boxes - I'm going to remove the feet and put it on its side, essentially turning it into a taller version of the GD09. Unfortunately I couldn't find the version without the tempered glass side window, but its extra height will block the view when it gets put in its hidey-hole. Additionally, I can now fit the utterly ludicrous Noctua NH-D15 G2 (LBC version for AM5) and treated myself to some Noctua NT-H2 thermal paste to go along with it: I contemplated going liquid metal, but couldn't be bothered with the potential for upfeckery and the recommended practice of reapplying after a month to allow for gallium migration.

I've pre-ordered a Ryzen 7 9800X3D from Overclockers: they're expecting stock mid January onwards, but apparently 20 other folk had pre-ordered it on the same day alone, so we'll see. After going over the reviews several times, the 9800X3D is clearly the logical choice for a gaming CPU (everyone here was right!), and will also maximise the system's longevity. The only other true contender is its predecessor, the 7800X3D, since other alternatives tend to run hotter and/or more power hungry. I hope all the scalpers burn in Hell etc.

RAM was a little bit of a struggle too. after doing some more memory research, I found the right combination of performance to cost and NO EFFING RGB SH!TE:

Corsair Vengeance DDR5 2x32GB 6600MHz CL32



Unfortunately for me, several other people have the same idea, so I've managed to get my dirty hands on one set, but have had to pre-order a second set. Annoyingly, the second set triggered a lock down on my card again.

Anyway, I'll be doing a build log. It won't be that exciting as I'm using stock components and won't be faffing around with overclocking. No more are we in the nostalgic days of LGA1366, where overclocking was comparatively easy and actually worth doing. Now I just need Nvidia to stay on course, and hope that I can secure a 5090 (though I imagine my card will bounce again).

 

Oooh exciting!

Yes pre-ordering the 9800X3D through Overclockers should be a safe bet. You'll have to wait a bit, but better than feeding the scalpers.

You should be able to order an nVidia 5090 on launch day, but you'll need to be on Scan / Overclockers at launch (9am? 1pm?) and be prepared to spend £2000+ for an AIB card. There'll be almost no chance of getting a Founders edition (that is if nVidia even decide to do one).

 

Note that in previous years (30x0 launch at least), Scan were Nvidia's sole UK distributor for FE cards, and Paypal was not accepted for payment, only Bitcoin, credit card, or finance.

 

Hmm. Might buy something small on Scan with my credit card so it's "in the system".

I haven't used it for a while, so I imagine it'll bounce immediately!

Or I should just call Scan later...

 

I've just had an email through from nVidia announcing their GeForce event at CES in 4 days time:

GeForce Special Events at CES 2025 | NVIDIA

Tuesday, January 7 | 2:30am GMT

 

Marks January 30th in diary...

 

I've started putting things together - very slowly. I'll share a few piccies at the weekend.

However, one thing to announce:

THE MUTHALOVING 9800X3D HAS SHIPPED!

 

Here's the first few pictures:







Time to install the PSU:



I've orientated the fan towards the front so that it can get that sweet, cool air. On a side note, I recently solved an issue my brother was having with a PC I built for him around 10 years ago - turns out that the PSU intake was completely blocked with dust and God knows what. Thankfully I'd had the sense to install some hefty filters, so a quick hoover, a berated brother, and it was ready to go again. DON'T STARVE YOUR PSU, PEOPLE!

In goes the OS drive:



I was wondering if I was supposed to take any stickers off or not, so did some research. The answer is that you don't have to as the stickers are actually thermally conductive - something I proved to myself by holding my finger on it and noticing that it kept relatively cool. Anyway, a heatsink gets clamped over that.

Next week: CPU installation...

 

And now to plan for 5090 purchasing, as I imagine on the 30th January, I'm going to have to wade through the scum and villainy of scalpers and miners to secure my purchase.

Unfortunately (in my opinion anyway), it looks as though the era of the "leaf blower" cooler is over. All GPU heat is getting vented right back into your case, so your airflow better be on point. It seems as though AIO versions are more prevalent than in the past, but they don't interest me. So, let's look at the options currently expected to be available that interest me (there are way too many with annoying RGB):

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Nvidia RTX 5090 Reference



Looks like a truly impressive bit of engineering, with lots of heat pipes. Additionally, the crazy gits have gone balls to the wall and are using liquid metal TIM, so good stuff.

Gigabyte RTX 5090 Gaming OC 32G



This has one VERY important feature: a sliding bar that turns all the RGB off, meaning I don't have to install some annoying extra programme to do so.

ASUS TUF Gaming GeForce RTX 5090



Uses a phase change TIM. Might have some annoying RGB, but nothing that can't be fixed via a simple "black tape mod".

MSI GeForce RTX 5090 32G SUPRIM SOC



A chonkiboi for sure, but does have additional Afterburner benefits...

PNY GeForce RTX 5090



PNY offer normal and RGB variants. It's good to see a company recognising that it's good to have those options.

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I think the ASUS TUF Gaming piques my interest the most owing to the phase-change TIM. Thanks to the exhaustive research I've been doing over the last couple of weeks or so, I know that this is a material developed by Honeywell to last many times longer in service compared to conventional TIM.

 

Piques.
Ftfy

 

Watching the build log with great envious interest.

 

I'm still suffering from man flu! Corrected.

Yeah, deliberately building the case on its side is abating my fears of these mentally heavy cards. But the airflow is starting to concern me. Come the day, if by some miracle I do spot a leaf blower cooler, I think that'll have to be my number one choice.

On another note, does anyone know at what exact time on Jan 30th the 5090 will start selling? I imagine I'll have to be ready with several sites open to stay ahead of the people who're going to ruin it for everyone else.

 

I've seen posts from Europe saying 1500 CET, so 1400 GMT maybe?
If it's anything like the 30x0 FE launch, you'll have to start on Nvidia's website and get sent from there to a "secret" product page at Scan if you win the F5 lottery.

Don't know if the AIB cards will be the same, but I have a "Notify Me" in place at Overclockers for the card I want (AORUS GeForce RTX™ 5090 MASTER ICE 32G).

 

Nice one Ian, didn't realise the retailers were listing them yet!

I've put a few from Scan and Overclockers on the automatic notification list. Overclockers have several of the ones I've listed, including my first choice, and I know I can order high value things without issue from them since they're who I've got my 9800X3D from.