Cheap build with plans to rebuild in 2~ years.

[Xuse]

CPU: Intel Core i5-11400F 2.6 GHz 6-Core Processor
£150.
Cheap and should be more than enough for what I need.

Cooler: Noctua NH-D15S chromax.black 82.51 CFM CPU Cooler
£80
No doubt overkill, but the idea is to be able to reuse it in future builds.

Motherboard: Gigabyte B560M AORUS PRO
£124
Lowest VRM thermals, but lacks one of the features I want namely optical/spdif. Alternative options being Asus TUF GAMING H570-PRO WIFI (£117) and Asus TUF GAMING B560M-PLUS £124. Not really sure it's worth the higher thermals for optical, although I would like it to avoid using analog.

Ram: Crucial Ballistix 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory
£72
Cheapest I could find.

PSU: Corsair RMx (2018) 850 W
£110 (Already Purchased)
Long guarantee and I can use it in future builds. Should hopefully be enough in the future.

GPU: 3070 FE
£480 (Already Purchased)
Only GPU I could find. (I wanted a 3060ti)

Case:Lian Li LANCOOL II MESH Performance
£95 (Purchased)
Looked good quality and had good airflow.

All SSD and HDDs will be reused.
Been agonizing over this for weeks now. (utterly ridiculous) But I think it's mostly where I want it now other than the mobo.

Any potential issues or suggestions would be welcome.

[wazzickle]

Someone else can clarify this but my understanding was that as long as you have decent airflow & cooling in general, motherboard VRMs running hot isn't too big a deal unless you're OCing. With the CPU you've chosen I'd have thought it will be fine to have higher thermals in return for the features you need.

All else looks fine. Amazing you got your FE that cheap, I paid £800 for my 3070.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

The two Asus motherboards look to use similar VRMs,so I suspect should perform quiet closely.



With that large air cooler and decent airflow in that case,temperatures will be lower,especially using a Core i5 11400F. It seems the Asus motherboards run the CPUs unlocked out of the box?

Apart from that the rest of the parts look fine AFAIK.

[Xuse]

Someone else can clarify this but my understanding was that as long as you have decent airflow & cooling in general, motherboard VRMs running hot isn't too big a deal unless you're OCing. With the CPU you've chosen I'd have thought it will be fine to have higher thermals in return for the features you need.

All else looks fine. Amazing you got your FE that cheap, I paid £800 for my 3070.

I joined the FE part alert telegram group and it was a pretty painless process to get one honestly. I don't know if I just got lucky or what. If that's the case I'll just get the asus

The two Asus motherboards look to use similar VRMs,so I suspect should perform quiet closely.


With that large air cooler and decent airflow in that case,temperatures will be lower,especially using a Core i5 11400F. It seems the Asus motherboards run the CPUs unlocked out of the box?

Apart from that the rest of the parts look fine AFAIK.

Yeah, I believe so. There's a few models that do, Gigabyte Aorus Pro, MSI Tomahawk and Asus TUF Gaming Plus WiFi. Speaking of which, would the non WiFi model be the same? I already have an intel wireless card and would rather reuse that than a realtek one. (https://www.gigabyte.com/uk/Motherbo...3D-I-rev-10#ov) I suppose the H570 board is an option too for some more pcie slots, but I don't think I'll need them.

Just read my cooler might not be compatible with the new Alder Lake boards. I could reuse my Hyper 212, I guess?

Alder Lake-S will also leverage a new LGA 1700 socket. According to those same unnamed sources, the shift to a rectangular shape will render today's CPU coolers physically incompatible with Alder Lake-S. That's another reason not to build a PC right now, if you can manage to wait—any cooler you buy today might not work with tomorrow's platforms.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I joined the FE part alert telegram group and it was a pretty painless process to get one honestly. I don't know if I just got lucky or what. If that's the case I'll just get the asus



Yeah, I believe so. There's a few models that do, Gigabyte Aorus Pro, MSI Tomahawk and Asus TUF Gaming Plus WiFi. Speaking of which, would the non WiFi model be the same? I already have an intel wireless card and would rather reuse that than a realtek one. (https://www.gigabyte.com/uk/Motherbo...3D-I-rev-10#ov) I suppose the H570 board is an option too for some more pcie slots, but I don't think I'll need them.

Just read my cooler might not be compatible with the new Alder Lake boards. I could reuse my Hyper 212, I guess?

The H570 does have more USB ports and chipset PCI-E lanes AFAIK:
https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us...=196645,196613

However,as you intend to upgrade relatively soon,I wouldn't go OTT on the motherboard,so if a decent B560 motherboard is cheaper I would get that. WRT to the CPU cooler,I would give the Hyper 212 a go,and see how it performs(check whether the brackets will fit).

[spacein_vader]

Noctua are brilliant at after sales. If I recall correctly they've already confirmed that they will offer mounting adaptors to existing customers for the new sockets.

[DanceswithUnix]

I have to wonder what you think you will be doing in two years that a modern 6 core CPU won't be up to the task for

The Noctua is certainly overkill, for an extra £20 if you stuck with the box cooler you could use a Ryzen 5600X in there and a similar price motherboard and not have to worry about VRM thermals as it just won't pull those sort of power levels:

£245 5600X https://www.amazon.co.uk/AMD-Ryzen-5...dp/B08166SLDF/
£129 mobo with optical out: https://www.amazon.co.uk/ASUS-TUF-B5...dp/B089HDJS79/

That's what my wife is running, and I'll be annoyed if she only gets 2 years out of it

I see the 5600X is Amazon's top seller atm, followed by the 3700X which still seems like a decent choice if you want heavily threaded productivity rather than gaming: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/bestsell...ers/430515031/ , not that any of that matters just I saw the top seller link on the page and found the list interesting reading

[Xuse]

The H570 does have more USB ports and chipset PCI-E lanes AFAIK:
https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us...=196645,196613

However,as you intend to upgrade relatively soon,I wouldn't go OTT on the motherboard,so if a decent B560 motherboard is cheaper I would get that. WRT to the CPU cooler,I would give the Hyper 212 a go,and see how it performs(check whether the brackets will fit).

The H570 mobo is actually cheaper. https://www.amazon.co.uk/GAMING-H570.../dp/B08WHTPNB7

I guess I was under the wrong assumption that B560 was better or something. As for the brackets, every one I've spoken to says yes, but I have my doubts. I watched a video of someone installing the black version and the bolts that go on the motherboards were a quarter of the size. I can't find any information that says it doesn't, though.

Noctua are brilliant at after sales. If I recall correctly they've already confirmed that they will offer mounting adaptors to existing customers for the new sockets.

Yeah, but a EDIT: rectangle shape might change things significantly enough that no adapter would work.

I have to wonder what you think you will be doing in two years that a modern 6 core CPU won't be up to the task for

The Noctua is certainly overkill, for an extra £20 if you stuck with the box cooler you could use a Ryzen 5600X in there and a similar price motherboard and not have to worry about VRM thermals as it just won't pull those sort of power levels:

£245 5600X https://www.amazon.co.uk/AMD-Ryzen-5...dp/B08166SLDF/
£129 mobo with optical out: https://www.amazon.co.uk/ASUS-TUF-B5...dp/B089HDJS79/

That's what my wife is running, and I'll be annoyed if she only gets 2 years out of it

It's more that I want to pay less right now and do a much bigger upgrade in a couple of years with DDR5 and the new chips etc. The parts won't be going to waste either way. I'll use it for a HTPC or something, there will be a use for the machine.

I've thought about the 5600X often, but I do think it's a bit overpriced compared to the 11400f while offering 5% more performance on average? But you're right the boards are cheap, well reviewed and no shortage of options with optical out.

[Xuse]

Good thing I bought that mobo last night it's now £30 more expensive.

[cptwhite_uk]

Noctua are brilliant at after sales. If I recall correctly they've already confirmed that they will offer mounting adaptors to existing customers for the new sockets.

Noctua have absolutely amazing customer support, both in technical detailing and compatibility and offering free adaptors. Not to mention the best overall performance. They're not cheap, but I think they're worth it.

[Xuse]

Noctua have absolutely amazing customer support, both in technical detailing and compatibility and offering free adaptors. Not to mention the best overall performance. They're not cheap, but I think they're worth it.

You think they'll manage to make an adaptor for these new intel processors?

https://videocardz.com/newz/details-...ve-been-leaked

[Xuse]

Finally done ordering everything. Got some good deals on some components ended up getting the FUMA 2 cooler instead. Total cost to £1080 seems decent to me, at least. Still more than I wanted to spend right now (the original plan was just to get GPU + PSU) but I think I did alright? Anything missing is being reused (like drives)

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i5-11400F 2.6 GHz 6-Core Processor (£150.00)
CPU Cooler: Scythe FUMA 2 51.17 CFM CPU Cooler (£54.17)
Motherboard: Asus TUF GAMING H570-PRO WIFI ATX LGA1200 Motherboard (£117.84)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory (£69.98 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 8 GB Founders Edition Video Card (£480.00)
Case: Lian Li Lancool II Mesh ATX Mid Tower Case (£98.00)
Power Supply: Corsair RMx (2018) 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply (£110.00)
Total: £1079.99
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2021-07-24 10:58 BST+0100

[Xuse]

So, I gave up waiting on the pre-order for the 11400F. (yeah i've been waiting all this time) Picked up the 11700k for £280. Oh dear. More than I wanted to spend, but that's it for sure this time. I can build in 2 days when it comes.