Provide guidance on the latest AMD release.
Provide guidance on the latest AMD release.
Motherboard: MSI MAG X870 Tomahawk
CPU: AMD Ryzen™ 9 9950X
RAM: G.Skill DDR5 Trident Z5 RGB 32GB 6000MHz CL36 (2x 16GB)
Power Supply: MSI MAG A1250GL
M.2: 2x Crucial T705 PCIe Gen5 NVMe 4TB SSD
Liquid Cooler: MSI MAG CORELIQUID I360
Case: Hyte Y70 Touch Infinite Dual Chamber ATX Mid Tower
Currently, I own a Gigabyte Aero RTX 4070 TI OC which will be replaced in this setup. This configuration aims to support high-quality gaming at 4K resolution, video production, and photo editing in Photoshop. Although I’m not a content creator, I’m part of a family business.
The MSI Tomahawk is chosen to accommodate two Gen 5 M.2 slots. I plan to disable the rear USB ports to free up two additional lanes for storage. I intend to retain the 16x Gen 5 lane for my graphics card.
This build remains solid for a 15-year-old system, handling most tasks I need. Eventually, it will retire and serve as a media hub connected to my TV for watching movies.
Other components include: Intel I7 Skylake 6700K 4GH, MSI Z170A Gaming M5, G.Skill 16GB DDR4, H100 Cooler Master, Gigabyte Aero RTX 4070 TI OC (with an old RTX 1060 TI), Crucial 1TB M.2, and a Samsung 500GB SSD.
Your feedback and suggestions are welcome!
Your thoughts and tips would be appreciated!! The build as is, is fine. I see room for improvement, provided you have access to said improvements. Brands and parts availability as well as their pricing can and will vary with regards to region. + Users are advised to stylize their threads with info asked of in this thread; *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. to help lend us some context into your predicaments and in turn helps the community chime in with worthwhile suggestions.
Approximate Purchase Date: undecided, Feb/Mar 2026
Budget Range: 5k
System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming, photo and video Editing
Are you purchasing a monitor: No
Parts to Upgrade: I could consider upgrading the GPU to a 50 series, but my current RTX 4070 TI Aero appears to function adequately and I haven’t even attempted overclocking it yet.
Do you need to buy an operating system: No
Preferred Website(s) for Parts: I’ve compared prices at newegg.ca, memory express and Canada Computers; their options are generally more costly than Amazon. To be honest, most of these platforms lack the SSD or RAM components I’m after. In particular, I’m looking for Samsung 9100 OR Crucial T710
Location: Vancouver, BC, CA
Parts Preferences:
Motherboard: MSI MAG X870 Tomahawk
CPU: AMD Ryzen™ 9 9950X
RAM: G.Skill DDR5 Trident Z5 RGB 32GB 6000MHz CL36 (2x 16GB)
PSU: MSI MAG A1250GL
M.2: 2x Crucial T705 PCIe Gen5 NVMe 4TB SSD
Liquid Cooler: MSI MAG CORELIQUID I360
Case: Hyte Y70 Touch Infinite Dual Chamber ATX Mid Tower
Overclocking: Yes
Multiple GPUs: No
Monitor Resolution: Main Monitor
MSI MPG 321 URX QD-OLD
3840 x 2160 Native
Secondary monitor
BENQ GW2265
1920 x 1080
Additional Comments: I play premiere, photoshop, counter strike, Tomb rider and other recent titles. Most importantly, why am I upgrading? Everyone has a dependency on something. Mine is tech and tools, of course!
I’m uncertain about the necessity of a PCIe Gen 4 motherboard when one supports Gen 5. Also, the Samsung 990 offers lower write/read speeds compared to the Crucial T710 or Samsung 9100. I’m targeting a 4TB drive to minimize my SSD and hard drive count.
Currently I have two M.2 drives—two for storage and four for HD.
First M.2 is for Windows, games, and programs.
Second M.2 is dedicated to images and videos for editing.
SSDs are used for company files, while HDDs serve video and image storage.
I plan to reduce the number of drives but will create multiple volumes to organize data. Speed will be affected when transferring or working with files.
Here is your submission rewritten with varied phrasing while keeping the original meaning and structure:
My PC configuration includes the following components:
CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D at 4.3 GHz, featuring 16 cores (price: $950.96 from shopRBC)
Cooler: ARCTIC Liquid Freezer III Pro 110 CFM liquid cooler (price: $164.99 from Memory Express)
Motherboard: MSI MAG B850M MORTAR WIFI Micro ATX AM5 board (price: $299.99 from Newegg Canada)
Memory: G.Skill Trident Z5 Neo RGB, 64 GB (2 x 32 GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 (price: $1429.99 from Newegg Canada)
Storage: Samsung 990 Pro 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME SSD (price: $230.88 from Vuugo)
Second Storage: Samsung 9100 PRO 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 5.0 X4 NVME SSD (price: $422.96 from shopRBC)
Case: NZXT H3 Flow MicroATX mid-tower case (price: $159.98 from Newegg Canada)
Power Supply: Montech TITAN PLA 1000 W, Platinum certified and fully modular (price: $295.98 from Newegg Canada)
Overall cost: $4230.68
All prices encompass shipping, taxes, and applicable discounts.
This list was generated by PCPartPicker on 2026-01-11 at 02:47 EST-0500.
The notes mention optimizing storage usage and considering performance trade-offs when transferring or managing files.
I plan to minimize the number of drives but will set up multiple volumes for different purposes, though speed may be affected during file transfers.
I usually keep a single physical drive as one partition.
When considering a work or business setup, I recommend against water cooling. With the current budget and only 32GB of RAM, this decision becomes even more critical. The choice between PCIe 5 SSDs and NVMe options is often misunderstood in terms of performance versus reality. However, since the price gap has narrowed, one option uses PCIe 5 while the other relies on higher TBW ratings. Certain parts were selected intentionally—such as the case, which might seem excessive but is a personal choice.
PCPartPicker Part List
CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 9900X 4.4 GHz 12-Core Processor
($529.98 @ Amazon Canada)
CPU Cooler: Thermalright Royal Pretor 130 81.88 CFM CPU Cooler
($72.90 @ Amazon Canada)
Motherboard: MSI MAG X870 TOMAHAWK WIFI ATX AM5 Motherboard
($374.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Memory: Kingston FURY Beast RGB 64 GB (2 x 32 GB) DDR5-6400 CL32 Memory
($869.25 @ Amazon Canada)
Storage: Crucial T705 4 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 5.0 X4 NVME SSD
($647.99 @ Amazon Canada)
Storage: Seagate FireCuda 530R w/Heatsink 4 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME SSD
($564.98 @ Newegg Canada)
Case: HYTE Y70 Touch Infinite ATX Mid Tower Case
($439.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Power Supply: Super Flower LEADEX VII Platinum PRO 1000 W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully Modular ATX
($219.99 @ Newegg Sellers)
Total: $3720.07
Prices cover shipping, taxes, and available discounts
Generated by
PCPartPicker
2026-01-11 08:11 EST-0500