It's the season again to craft a fresh design!
It's the season again to craft a fresh design!
It's the perfect time to start anew, something that wasn't originally planned. My PC is running well, but a friend unexpectedly sent me a 5080 Founders without asking. Rather than just swapping my 3080TI, I'm opting for a complete overhaul. I need some guidance on adjusting certain components while I'm undecided about which parts to change.
To clarify a few points:
- Purchase date: ASAP, since the GPU is already sitting unused.
- Location: USA, NYC.
- Budget flexibility: Microcenter cart is $2500, but I want to stay under an extra $3000.
- Monitor: No, the current ones are sufficient for now.
- Parts preference: AMD.
- Operating System: Yes, required.
- Preferred retailers: Primarily Newegg, but considering visiting a local microcenter in NYC for this project.
- Overclocking: Not attempted before; cautious approach.
- Additional notes: Desire for a sleek design with a window, red interior lighting (with option to switch colors), ample cable management, and a spacious layout.
What options have you explored so far?
Help us help you *How to Ask for New Build or Upgrade Advice* How to Ask for New Build or Upgrade Advice First off, respect where respect is due - this is an adaptation of the Animal's *How To Ask For New Build Advice* Sticky. I created this because there's a lot of posts nowadays asking for upgrade advice both on here and on the CPU forums, and I feel... forums.
Welcome to the forums, newcomer!
Given your links to Microcenter in your URLs, you might be interested in bundles, but since you're planning to construct your system from scratch—likely with a comprehensive design from the start—choosing parts yourself could be beneficial.
For a solid motherboard, storage matters: if it's for gaming, consider a small OS drive (around 500GB), followed by a 2TB SSD for your game library, and a larger mechanical drive for productivity tasks.
Feel free to experiment and assist in fine-tuning this setup. I'm open to all ideas!
Updated the main post as well.
Storage remains a constant concern for me, currently active.
Operating System: 500gb
SSD Gaming 250gb
SSD Gaming 500gb
m2 Gaming 1TB
Music 2TB
Storage 8TB
Storage 3TB
Storage 3TB
My latest setup is quite large due to reusing parts from previous builds. I’m combining much of the data with the new build.
I use a lot on my PC and also run regular backups online. My typical activities include gaming, video editing, art creation, music, and about 30 years of family media. I plan to keep only the OS and essential apps on C Drive, moving most files elsewhere. I’ll also be repurposing my old 8TB drive for a total of 24TB of classic storage. Do you have any better ideas for managing this media? I was looking into Ironwolf drives but felt uncertain since I haven’t used them before.
Regarding micro center bundles, it seems they often lack one component. I considered this option
https://www.microcenter.com/product...ie...ild-bundle
For further details.
Please buy the GPU as soon as possible since it’s sitting unused.
Budget is flexible; the microcenter cart is $2500, but I’d like to stay under an extra $3000.
Are you purchasing a monitor?
No – the monitors I have are sufficient for now.
Do you need to buy an OS?
Yes
Preferred Retailers:
Most builds are from Newegg, but I’m thinking of visiting MicroCenter in NYC locally for this project.
The Seasonic PSU referenced is the previous ATX 3.0 model. Seek a 1000W ATX 3.1 power supply to accommodate these RTX 50XX graphics cards. A standard case with front intake fans could also improve cooling performance. There are several options that offer cost savings, featuring an SSD with DRAM cache and an ATX 3.1 PSU.
PCPartPicker provides a list of components:
Storage:
- MSI SPATIUM M480 PRO 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVMe SSD ($119.99 @ MSI)
Power Supply:
- be quiet! Pure Power 13 M 1000 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX PSU ($144.32 @ Amazon)
Total: $264.31 (shipping, taxes, and discounts applied where possible)
*Selected parts based on predefined criteria*
Created by
PCPartPicker
2025-08-31 01:10 EDT-0400
https://www.msi.com/Storage/SPATIUM-M480...0-NVMe-M.2
be quiet! Pure Power 13 M 1000W ATX v3.1 PSU Review - Page 11 of 11 - Hardware Busters
Hardware Busters - be quiet! Pure Power 13 M 1000W ATX v3.1 PSU Review - PSUs
hwbusters.com
Red lighting, sorry. My PCs have always kept a clean, simple appearance. No visible wires are important. Still, I’m trying to make something different this time and pick a theme. Something like dark red lighting that I can adjust based on the mood. Import-wise it’s just at the bottom of the list.
Confident in this choice, I was eager for its release. The main drawback is it doesn't match a full-size case size, just sitting close to one.