I’d say the Thermalright Peerless Assassin is a solid choice, great value and overall great performer. If you want an AIO i personally would go EK (Arctic’ AIO looks like 90’s toy and not in the good way)
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That’s one I’ve been eyeballing. I like the aesthetic, I’ve heard it’s a great performer.
CPU, I’m thinking R7 7700(x, specific variant dependent on price at the time of purchase.)
RAM I’m looking at 32GB. I’m debating on upgrading my storage, but that’s not critical right now.
Mobo is the tricky one. With the crap that’s come out concerning ASUS and Gigabyte most recently… I want to stay away from their products for the time being.
I’ve been setting aside $100/week for the last three weeks and will continue to do so, and this is definitely a project I’d love to put that money towards, particularly if there’s something good on Prime Day.
Im running a 7700X, works great but im using an EK 360 aio - though with a Peerless Assassin you might need to undervolt it a bit to keep it in check.
As far as MOBO I get Asus, but why Gigabyte? (might have missed something)
To me the backdoor is a none issue - unlike Asus damaging CPUs and actually creating a fire hazard, here is just some idiot forgot to close a backdoor they use for updating the software. As far as the GPU thing i dont know the story so ill have to catch up.
That, combined with their behavior over the last couple years…(exploding power supply anyone?) Topped with they never (to my knowledge) tried to make up for losing their entire backlog of RMAs, basically screwing anyone who was in the process… I’m not likely to give them my money until I see a trend in their behavior that says otherwise. They can make very good products, particularly with the motherboards… But their practices make me question if I want to give them my money. Not that ASRock or MSI haven’t had their own issues (BioStar doesn’t really exist in the US, and EVGA’s offerings are scarce and rather expensive), their behavior as of late hasn’t been setting off red flags.
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Fair enough, i’d say go with MSI but you have to be a bit more selective with their MB they are not all winners but Tomahawk series are fairly solid
https://pcpartpicker.com/list/zMb63y
That’s kinda the direction I’m looking at right now. I know GN looked at the Peerless Assassin (non-SE, though that version isn’t available right now) and it looked like it was chart topping, though that was using 5950X overclocked as the powerhouse to test with.
Just one thing to keep in mind, dont count on upgrading the RAM - running 4 sticks of DDR5 is a problem (stability and speed wise) so if you ever think you need more than 32gb id say go stright for it. I made that mistake initially, had to buy 64gb kit and im stuck with my 32 kit but im an edgecase running multiple graphical programs at the same time with too many tabs 
I’ve run into some of the issues with games throwing a fit if they’re not the only ones running with a 2x8GB kit (though very infrequently, and I can’t remember which game… Might have been God of War). Otherwise, OBS, learning DaVinchi Resolve, learning 3D/2D CAD, self teaching coding languages (continuing to work on Python, HTML5, touching on C and C#)… I’m recognizing 16GB is riding the redline, so I’m fairly certain 32GB should be fine.
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I think this is the non SE model? The SE model performs worst than the non SE model and for some reason on AM5 isn’t as good as on the equivalent intel platforms. I personally run a Peerless Assassin SE in my rig though only an Ryzen 5 5600 overclocked. Room ambient is right now for me is like 83 degrees Fahrenheit and my cpu idles at like 37 degrees Celsius and like 63 under cinebench for an hour. Cooler is pretty quiet too but I am rocking like 5 140mm Artic p14 case fans. Thermalright seriously needs to organize their whole entire line up its absolutely confusing.
If you are going to be doing any sort of CAD work, then you want as much RAM as possible. AutoCAD is one of those programs that absolutely chews RAM up once you really start using it.
the GB BIOS back door hole has been patched, so you just need to check if your mobo’s BIOS is running the latest revision.
the GPU problem is more nuanced…it is and isn’t the fault of GB. it isn’t because the end user should have known to put a GPU brace / bracket due to how heavy the cards are getting. it is as GB, like all the other AiB, know these cards are too heavy to hold up on their own and should have a brace / bracket included in the box, not as an accessory that needs to be purchased separately.
when we build a custom rig with a dGPU, a GPU brace / bracket is mandatory, no exceptions.
The Gigabyte 4080 came with a bracket in the box, it actually connected from the back from the MB side and it was part of the instruction to install it…
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well, it’s good to see a company so forward thinking…but really bad if it’s failing to do it’s job when used. >.<
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There’s just been too much going on with Gigabyte and their responses to issues to make me to looking at their boards. Asus has lost all my confidence and trust to be willing to consider them. Yes, my GPU is an Asus 3070 KO, but it was also bought second hand before the last nail really got put in the coffin.
https://pcpartpicker.com/list/ZNwvzf
That more like it? I’m not going heavy, more screwing around with different free programs to try learning with. If I come up with projects, I have tried using it to figure out if something will fit.
If I go with an AIO, I’ll consider EK, but would probably still look at an Arctic Liquid Freezer II (280 if I put in the top or front, would have to go 240 if put in the side).
64GB should be enough of you aren’t going to be getting too involved with it. Whether you should go with a 4x16 or the 2x32, I couldn’t say. I’ve not been doing my due diligence with DDR5 yet.
From my understanding, DDR5 is having issues with stability and speed in a 4x config. Luckily prices have come WAY down. My targets when using part picker are speeds up to 6000 (limit most AM5 is about to hit by My understanding) and first word latency in accending order. RGB isn’t too much more then non-RGB version.
Then go straight for 64
Talking about timing…
