Hi! I’m new to this forum, and this is my first PC build.
I’m from Sweden, so I’m using Swedish retailers, but the pricing is roughly the same as on PCPartPicker. My budget is $2000–$2300 (less is, of course, acceptable ). I already have peripherals.
I plan to use the PC for gaming, rendering (3ds Max, Maya, Blender, etc.), and coding/software development. A key requirement is the ability to do iGPU passthrough to a VM on Linux, so I need a Ryzen 7 series or higher, or any Intel processor that supports it, as well as a motherboard with an HDMI port.
Operating system: I will dual-boot Linux and Windows because I need both (one for work and one for personal use, I already have a extra Sata drive that I will use for running Windows bare-metal). We can exclude the Windows license from the price since my employer will cover it.
Here’s the build I’ve put together:
PCPartPicker Part List ends with “/list/nN2YpK” (couldnt paste links)
CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D 4.2 GHz 8-Core Processor ($399.00 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master MasterLiquid 240 Core II 70.7 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($84.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Asus B650E MAX GAMING WIFI ATX AM5 Motherboard
Memory: Corsair Vengeance RGB 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6000 CL36 Memory ($407.99 @ Best Buy)
Storage: Kingston NV3 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive ($243.00 @ Amazon)
Video Card: MSI VENTUS 3X OC BLACK GeForce RTX 5070 Ti 16 GB Video Card ($799.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Phanteks XT PRO ULTRA ATX Mid Tower Case ($79.98 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Corsair RM750e (2025) 750 W Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($114.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $2129.94
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2025-12-30 09:16 EST-0500
I would love some help with the following:
Are there better alternatives for these components within the same price range?
Better motherboard with more m.2 slots, a nice B850 board also makes sense - make sure all m.2 slots got heat sinks, if it has, it’s almost guaranteed to be decent.
9900X is better for productivity workloads, the 7800X3D is better for heavy single threading. Either are decent options but I’d go for the 9900X personally.
AMD is just that much better on Linux. Nivida is not worthless, not by a long shot, but AMD offers the better experience by far.
Everything else is just me chasing deals on parts, basically. Feel free to mix and match to your hearts content.
Definitely agree with wertigon on the AMD experience on Linux. I had zero trouble getting Ubuntu and Bazzite to just work with Radeon GPUs.
I’m not a huge fan of the 9900x for gaming, as the scheduler basically makes it a 6 core CPU, but HUB has proven that 6 cores is solid in most games. I’ve put the 9900x in work computers and they do great for productivity.
I’m still a bit unsure about the CPU. You both made good points, and as I understand it, I should be fine in all games with a 9900X, and even better for work, right?
Also, one reason I didn’t choose a Radeon graphics card is that 7000-series VFIO passthrough doesn’t work, which I need. I’m not sure if this is fixed on the 9000 series, do you know anything about that? Would choosing an MSI GeForce RTX 5070 Ti 16G VENTUS 3X OC be a bad choice? I found a deal at a Swedish retailer (not on PCPartPicker) for about 500 SEK (~$50) more than the 9070. Is it worth it, and will it work well with the rest of the configuration?
No, NVIDIA is actually a far better choice since it sounds like productivity/rendering work is important for you.
Generally speaking, AMD GPUs are not recommended for productivity work; you get worse support, quality, and performance in this area. I don’t have numbers handy for 3ds Max or Maya, but Blender’s benchmark open data provides an illustration (based on Blender 4.5, as numbers for 5.0 are not available yet):
Device Name
OS
Median Score
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti
Linux
7958
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti
Windows
7593
AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT
Linux
3275
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060
Linux
3246
AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT
Windows
3199
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060
Windows
3109
AMD’s offering has equivalent performance to NVIDIA’s low end offering in this use case.
Source: Blender Open Data
On the other hand, gaming on Linux will be better on AMD, especially for DX12 games, because Vulkan doesn’t yet have the required extension to optimize DX12 to Vulkan translation for NVIDIA GPUS - this leads to a performance penalty on NVIDIA vs Windows/AMD for DX12 titles specifically. But this is something actively being worked on by the Vulkan devs so it should be a non-issue in the near future.
Otherwise, the NVIDIA experience on Linux is generally good but not perfect - but it is not perfect on AMD, either, and the differences between the two in this area are in my opinion usually overblown.
I have one final question before placing the order for the components: the Thermaltake Toughpower GT 850 W 80+ Gold Fully Modular. Will this be sufficient? I understand that it’s enough for this build, but how future-proof is it? Is this something I should be concerned about?
My question about the CPU still remains, whether to choose the 9900X or the 7800X3D. You both made good points, and as I understand it, the 9900X should be fine for all games and even better for work, correct?
Unless gaming is your main focus, get the 9900x for better productivity numbers.
For your PSU question, more power is always better for future proofing. You have plenty of headroom for this build but a 600w GPU down the road would be scary.
I’ll go with the 9900X. I’m guessing I can still run most of the games I play either way. As you mentioned, the CPU is mostly for productivity in my case.
Now, if I’m dropping $2,500 on a PC, I might as well get a 1,000-watt power supply for $60 more. Which 1,000-watt power supply would you recommend for this build that isn’t ridiculously more expensive? (Swedish PCPartPicker)
Really any major brand is fine. Since you’re going Nvidia, make sure you have a 2x6 power connector included. Seasonic, Corsair, MSI, etc are all fine.
Awesome! The best deal I found on a 1000W PSU is the MSI MAG A1000GL PCIe5 80 PLUS Gold, which is only $60 more than the 850W option.
Thanks everyone for the help! I’ll go ahead and order all the parts as soon as I get home
I’m sure I’ll be back with more questions, but for now I just want to thank you all for the support and wish you a happy new year !
So I must have gotten a bit carried away… I was probably a little drunk on New Year’s Eve, because I basically said “fuck it” and went with a Ryzen 9 9950X3D, doubling my CPU budget.
The deal I had found on the case also expired at midnight on New Year’s Eve, so I ended up spending a bit more there as well.
In the end, I blew past my original 25,000 kr budget and landed closer to 30,000 kr (~$3,000). Oh well, looks like I’ll be running some absolutely crazy VM setups with this build . I’ll just tell myself it’s even more future-proof now and call it a day.
On another note, if I have questions when actually building the PC, should I start a new thread or ask in this one?
Eh, a similar thing happened to me - I was at the store nov 2024 picking up RAM, wanted 32, the sticks were out of stock, went with 64 because fuck it everyone deserve something nice once in a while.
As long as you are happy with the build, that is all that matters. You better send pics of the final result thou!
Absolutely! I’ll send pics as soon as I get it working
Perfect! Thank you
I could be misunderstanding, but the MSI MAG A1000GL PCIe 5 PSU includes a native 12V-2×6 cable and connector, so isn’t that connector actually ideal for the 5070 Ti? Or am I missing something?
Hi again! I just realized that I forgot to buy fans for the case, since they aren’t included. The Phanteks NV5 supports up to eight 120 mm fans: three for the AIO, plus five additional fans that I still need to purchase.
So I have two questions. First, does it matter which fans I buy? Would something like the Corsair RS120 ARGB (and RS120 Reverse ARGB) be a good choice without dragging down the overall build quality?
Second, how should the fan setup be arranged? How many reverse vs. regular fans should I use, and where should they be installed? I’ve tried Googling this, but I’m having trouble understanding how the setup works when using an AIO as well. I might just be a bit dumb
The TL;DR version of the exhaustively documented issues with 12-pin power since 2022 is it’s realistically rated for 200-250 W, not 600. So a 5070 non-Ti is actually arguably kinda pushing it.
If Nvidia somehow offers enough to be worth the high prices, black screens, driver bugs, PCIe flakiness, 100+ °C PCBs, costed out current limiting, and whatnot then the least bad option’s to run the crappy power connector only at the GPU end where Nvidia forces it. On the PSU end the cable can be 2x8 or 2x9-pin and thus a legit 600 W. But that only composes with PSUs that aren’t relying on a PSU side 12V-2x6 to make the connector counts and have 12-pin → 2x8|9 cables available.
It’s not obviously titled but there’s was a thread covering this and your other fan questions a couple weeks ago.
The case doesn’t support 140 mm fans, though. Should I still be considering them anyway, and if so, why?
Thanks! I read through that thread, but it was focused on a different case (Thermaltake W200 vs. my Phanteks NV5 MKII) and a different type of build. I did pick up some useful general information from it, though.
That said, my main questions are still unanswered, specifically how to arrange fans when using an AIO, and where to use reverse vs. regular fans. The main takeaway from that thread that seems applicable to my build is that three front intakes plus one rear exhaust is often optimal, and that top and bottom fans can sometimes conflict with airflow.
I’m also still wondering whether Corsair RS120 ARGB (and RS120 Reverse ARGB) fans would be a solid choice without dragging down the overall build quality.
Any fan is pretty much fine; what may differ is the quality in noise and look and feel. Some fans also have smart Daisy chaining solutions and better cable management (see Lian Li Unifans, for instance).
). I already have peripherals.
!
. I’ll just tell myself it’s even more future-proof now and call it a day.
