Upgrade Time

[Wrathbone]

I went for the Gigabyte Gaming X AX (DDR5), which is pretty similar to the Aorus and a little bit cheaper.

[Sly Boots]

I think you can pick up a 3060Ti for around £320 these days which isn't too bad, I've been very happy with mine.

Although some of the 40 series cards have been coming down in price due to poor sales, so for a little more than that you might get something a little more cutting edge.

[Raid]

It's worth being careful with the 40-series though. I've seen a number of headlines that suggest you're better off with a 3060TI than a 4060TI, and not just on a price level.

[Sly Boots]

It's worth being careful with the 40-series though. I've seen a number of headlines that suggest you're better off with a 3060TI than a 4060TI, and not just on a price level.

From what I've read the concerns are that the upgrade from 30 series to 40 is so marginal for the price you'd be mad for doing it, but I think if you're coming from a 10 series the step up would be considerable enough to at least think about it.

[Raid]

It was more than that; there were reports at launch of the 4060 exhibiting lower performance than the card it replaced. It's possibly been fixed since then, and I never looked beyond Youtube showing me a bunch of tech channel headlines.

[Sly Boots]

Lol I did less than that, just reading some PC Gamer articles. Worth investigating though for sure.

[eny]

All great info so far, very helpful indeed. I am going to focus around a 12bg GFX and hardware good enough to not bottleneck it. That seems best for future 'proofing' and leaving scale to upgrade later, so will go for the 12700.

I have a couple of questions:

Is i5 and i7 a big enough jump for cost?
Do I need KF over K as I do not really bother OCing?
Would I be better going 690 rather than 790...doesn't seem to be much difference for price.
Should I hold off until 14th-gen releases this autumn, will I see a significant lowering in 12th-gen to warrant it?

New list based on your advice, I've dropped the drive for now as I have enough space as it is:

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/user/aeny/s ... iew=6Wz3RB

[Raid]

KF still allows overclocking; the F signifies that it doesn't have the on-board graphics chip. I've got a KF myself, but part of me thinks the £10 saving wasn't worth it on the off chance my GPU ever dies.

[eny]

Ah yeah, I got middled up with locked and onboard, have gone with it for the small increment in cost.

I've pressed the switch and ordered, as the GFX was last in stock apparently. I went with the Aorus board in the end, as it has 7.1 sound and a few more ports. All for under the grand allotted, so happy, as that works out at way less than a tenner a month since my last rebuild.

Chip arrives Friday, so hopefully a next weekend build. Only thing I'm aware I've omitted is arctic paste, should I buy it or will the cooler come with some?

Also, never underestimate the 'upgrade' a vacuum and can of air can bring! I have de-aracnodustified my box this morning and it has brought a definite fluidity to Div 2...

[Wrathbone]

Only thing I'm aware I've omitted is arctic paste, should I buy it or will the cooler come with some?

Thermal paste is one of those things where you can ask ten people and get ten different answers on which is best to use and how best to apply it. The CPU may come with some, but personally for the sake of about £10 I'd get some quality paste.

[Raid]

The CPU won't come with any thermal paste as there's no cooler included with most Intel chips. A quick Google suggests the Peerless Assassin 120 SE does come with a syringe of paste though.

[DjchunKfunK]

In terms of performance for the 4060ti and the 3060 ti, the 4060ti beats out the 3060ti but it's not a huge jump. You are basically paying for DLSS3.5 support with a 40 series card and much better power usage. The issue is the 4060ti is limited in terms of memory as it's only 8GB which is going to become an issue in the future. In terms of bang for buck at around this price range, if you want to stick with Nvidia, the 4070 is your best bet but they cost around £500 so it's a fair whack of money. Which says a lot about where the market for Nvidia cards is right now.

[eny]

The CPU won't come with any thermal paste as there's no cooler included with most Intel chips. A quick Google suggests the Peerless Assassin 120 SE does come with a syringe of paste though.

I've ordered some Arctic Silver MX-6, small price to pay for peace of mind. Also, I was mistaken as to what chip I ordered and have the 12700F on its way, but am happy to stick with it, it will be more than enough for my needs.

[eny]

Right, prepare yourself...I've rebuilt my comp, but foolishly thought I'd be able to boot up with just the nvme, my old windows SSD and the other SSD for now to get windows up and running. However, the bios recognises them as installed, but "no boot device found" showing in the boot sequence...any advice? Have I made a fuckup?

[Mantis]

Is it trying to boot from the nvme instead of your Windows SSD? You have to configure the boot order so that it runs off the drive with Windows on with the others acting as slaves to it. Should be in the boot settings of your BIOs and fairly self explanatory once you're looking at it.