My flat mate wants a new PC. He often plays MMOs and AAA single player titles, but he usually replaces his entire system instead of upgrading components. Because he is often abroad he wants to be able to take the PC with him. He usually plays at 4K at home, he has a 1080p USB-C travel screen with a hdmi converter.
His current system is a i7 8700K, 32GB DDR4 RAM, 2TB SATA SSD, Radeon RX 6900 XT
The budget is 2000 Euro, I settled for following components - Do you have any suggestion or issues regarding the component selections?
PC case: Fractal Terra
Mainboard + CPU + cooling: MINIS FORUM BD795i SE Mini ITX (AMD Ryzen 9 7945HX, 16 core/32 threads)
RAM: 64GB (2x32GB) Crucial DDR5-5600
PSU: Asus Loki SFX-L 1000W (the 850W is only 20 Euro cheaper)
GPU: Powercolor Reaper 9070XT
Storage: Kingston SNV2S 2TB (pcie 4.0) I have left from a previous project
Fan: I am open to suggestions, maybe a simple 4 pin 120mm fan is enough for this board, or should I look for some half high options?
I decided to go for the minisforum board + CPU combo because of the included cooling and because its a mobile CPU it keeps the heat output in check. The only annoying thing is the lack of USB ports and I have to check the wifi and BT options.
Looks decent, only thing I would say is that an SFX-L PSU is a bit large for a Terra, and 1kw is pretty excessive anyway for that system. I would consider a standard SFX PSU, particularly perhaps one with an available SFF cable kit such as a Corsair unit to prevent having excessive cable to manage.
Iād probably pick up an NF-A12x15 fan for the motherboard, to keep that intake away from the side panel as much as possible (the slots can apparently cause noisy air turbulence if a fan is right up next to them).
Thanks for the suggestions. I have read the Corsair SF 850W is loud and cables to stiff, otherwise this would have been my first pick - but that is just based on one reddit post. Does the SFX-L makes building in the case to unwieldy? Its also a modular PSU.
Edit: Ah you mean that I should go with Corsair and an optional SFF cable kit?
Depends, I had a Silverstone 500W Flex-ATX for another project which was unbearable loud (and according to reviews and user reports it is an issue with just this model) even on low load + idle. The 600W from the same line didnāt exhibit this problem under the same load. There are some lemons out there, depending on the model - I try to avoid that.
SFF is tricky to build in and I donāt want to have to disassemble it on day 1 for returns - if avoidable.
Could you elaborate, what do you mean with āimbalanced 9070 return in combination with EPS boardsā - I couldnāt find any issues while trying my google fu, but I donāt know what you are referring to.
The Kingston drive - good catch Iāll test it otherwise I keep it as spare.
CPU - A 12 core instead of a 16 core, but full Zen 5 cores have more performance than mobile 16 cores. Even at undervolt, which should not really be necessary according to Noctua. Cooler - 77mm in height. This is important since the Terra has a total allowance of CPU Cooler + GPU Width = 120mm, and max 77mm on the Terra maxing out. Memory - 32GB is enough for most gaming today and for the foreseeable future. The board will support up to 128GB of memory however. Ram upgrades are cheap and easy to do, so just wait a few years and do a swap to a Zen 6 and 128 GB of RAM once the system starts struggling. Storage - 2TB is nice, 4TB would be better, but budget will not allow it for now. Renegade disks have DRAM, an SN850X is also a good alternative. GPU - This particular GPU has a 42mm width. Itās very hard to find something that is more slim. Budget - Yes, we are over budget for sure with ā¬110. You could go with a cheaper 9070 card, just remember the 43mm limit.
Thanks, I will keep your list in mind, should there be any problems with the minisforum mainboard (availability, compatibility issues etc.). My friend told me he also added a 2TB nvme not to long ago to his old system, I also found one SSD I assumed lost. Iāll take a look if these are pcie v4 and what type. With the the two nvme slots I now have serveral options I can try before ordering something new.
The board also has a e-key. Any suggestions for a BT/WLAN module. Otherwise Iāll get whatever Intel Wifi6 varity.
PSU: I settled for the Corsair SF850 (I think the reddit user who posted about his bad experience with noise had an older SF-L version - after reading his discription again). The Corsair SF850 also includes the āfire starterā high power PSU cable.
GPU: Yeah it is also the only 9070 XT which is available and will fit. The others available in my region are humongous und usually to long. I ordered the Powercolor variant.
Edit: I am not that strapped for cash. Should the minisforum board not work out Iāll get Desktop AM5 CPU and a cheap board while I return the former.
One alternate case, that could be entertained, is Coolermasters NR200 series
It would be a smidge biggerā¦ In turn can accommodate [slightly] larger components
Main design of airflow movement [bottom ā top]
Has plenty of fan mounting supports [*would recommend slim fans, for floor]
On the one 9070 XT for which measurements are available 10% of the current returns through the GPU cables. As a result it puts as much load on 24-pin ground as a 4090 with 2xEPS. 9070 XTs using 3x8-pin instead of 12+4āll probably be different, as will distributions in ITX boards, but itās hard to tell if that means more or less stress. In general, pulling one EPSāll tilt the current distribution towards 24-pin.
So itās an iffy setup in frontside connector builds, particularly with bottom to top (m)ATX airflow with dGPU passthrough into the 24-pin rather than front to back. From what I understand of the Terra backside connectors end up without airflow up against the dGPU backplate, which seems unlikely to help.
Not a lot of melted 24-pin or EPS reports but it happens.
Yeah, thanks for the extensive explanation. I guess there are limits with traditional PC architecture after pumping that much power into a system. But what else can you do, most ITX boards will have a fixed amount of connectors (even the one threadripper itx board I saw a foto of" :P)
I see if I can do sth about the airflow on the backside.
@GoldenAngel1997@Tanmay
Iāll keep these in mind if the Fractal case doesnāt work out. It has been 10 years I build a proper ITX PC (Gamecube PC mod not counting), and its always good to have options.
So, I finished the build. I have to say, this PC is quiet + beautifull but very toasty. Thanks for being real about this. CPU goes up to 90C during load, but I think this normal for AMD AM5 parts (take as much power and get as hot as they can get away with). I canāt imagine putting something higher powered in it. I dunno how Tech-Youtuber manage to run AM5 X3D and 4080 - 5090 parts for extended period of time in this case without thermal throttling into oblivion. (Most likley they donāt after they are done with their video)
The BD795i SE lacks USB-C header. But I found this little piece which works great:
@ScottishTom - Thanks for suggesting sticking to a SFX PSU. A SFX-L certainly wouldnāt made me happy during the build with that little space for cable management. The Corsair SFX has nicely sleeved cables which are quite bendable
@Tanmay
I most likley consider the Deepcool ch260 or other brands for >100W CPUs. Maybe Iāll take a look how the SUGO line (Silverstonetek) has progressed.
