New Desktop Build for 2023 - CPU Choice?

PenPusher said:

As the build price is around an ASUS ROG STRIX Z790-H GAMING WIFI, The AMD 7950... is half as much again in price compared with i13700k.
I don't think he wants to wring every last ounce of performance?.

XMP is selected on the Bios start home page, after that F7 gets you to advanced settings where you can choose XMP 1 or 2.
Anything over DDR5 5600 will be over clocking... so you need weigh up how much over clock to £££
Kingston FURY Beast 64GB (5600) KF556C40BBK2-64 £217.00 looks good at this price point.

I'm trying to get a good 'bang for the buck' to last a good few years whilst not paying silly prices. The AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D is c. £750 and intel Core i9 CPU isn't much faster then the i7 CPU I settled on. The i9 is also much more power hungry.

PenPusher said:

The i9 also needs a bigger cooler to get rid of heat. Also new power supply.
My upgrade last Dec 2021 was around £1000 so compared with pre built systems of similar spec, actually saved money.

I try to buy the best reasonable upgrade I can afford. My graphics card did come from Ebay once the Bitcoin fever had died down.

Steve i'm glad to see you have spec'd a i13700K version (built in graphics), if you ever need to use this as a diagnostic tool.

I had an issue with graphics card not posting therefore the system would not boot to Windows. Turned out the card was corrupt, so EVGA sent me a new one under warranty even though I had bought it from Ebay!
While I waited for the new card... I was gaming at 30fps or less ... but at least I could...

I have an EVGA Platinum 850W PSU so that should be OK. I buy new and select components with a long warranty subject to spec and price. My current Gigabyte board has a 2 digit alphanumeric code which indicates a fault code when there is a boot problem. None of the boards I've looked at has this useful feature. It seems a false economy to drop this on the higher end boards. As indicated before some the Gigabyte boards have daft analogue audio output by placing two jacks on the rear panel and one on the front panel (centre/subwoofer).

PenPusher said:

Asus boards have a series of coloured diagnostic indicator lights... mine kept stopping at the VGA boot... but not always
so plus one for EVGA support.

My desktop PC is now very stick. See CMOS Battery Now Lasting Only 1 Month
The PC failed to start again with the usual error code db only a week after I last replaced the CMOS battery. Replaced the CMOS battery again after only a week which got it working again but the battery removed was a healthy 3,2V being new last week. Something weird is going on when it's powered off. I've now moved my files off to my laptop and will get on ordering stuff to build the new PC!

The Kingston KC3000 seems a good choice for the SSD being on the ASUS QVL and having a good performance for the price. The updated selection is:

CPU - Intel Core i7-13700K -£400.00
Motherboard - ASUS ROG STRIX Z790-H GAMING WIFI - £320.00
RAM - Kingston FURY Beast 64GB - KF556C40BBK2-64 - £217.00
SSD PCIe 4.0 NVME - Kingston KC3000 1TB - SKC3000S/1024G £76.00

That completes the selection provided I can reuse my Noctua NH-D14 cooler.

PenPusher said:

Yes you can reuse the free Noctua conversion kits to LGA1700 NM-i17xx-MP83
NH-D14 & FAQ: 83mm (NM-i17xx-MP83) vs. 78mm (NM-i17xx-MP78) mounting pitch, which kit do I need?

I now have the conversion kit to fit the ASUS ROG STRIX Z790-H GAMING WIFI motherboard.

I'm planning to reuse my Noctua NH-D14 fan but Noctua say the fan is mechanically incompatible in the standard orientation (blowing towards the I/O panel) due to height of the plastic cover over the VRM heatsink. Installation turned by 90° (blowing towards the top of the case) is possible. Is this likely to present cooling issues?

PenPusher said:

I see your case has a top vent.. so turning the cooler by 90° should not present a problem.

The case also has space to fit a fan and I have spare 120mm fan so will fit that too subject to there being space.