Let's see your battlestations

[Plassy]

MSI known for being lower end spectrum of computer hardware; surprised you have not come across Ilyama; highly rated in corporate circles for general graphics applications and gaming (sturdy; I have had 5 of these; 2 at home (gaming mainly) and 3 at my last place of work for general computing and spcialised graphics applications. Sorry, but I would never have gone down the MSI route for any of the uses

At the end of the day; all is down to personal preference and finding what is best for you!

[Stealer]

Aye cheers plassy, my dad had an MSI mobo once - had no end of issues with it - hence I only do Asus these days - always reliable and drivers are easy to find
Aye my missus has a black hawk edition one only 75hz but is better than my 144hz!
Good point I agree with you, don't do MSI! I bought a Cyrix 333 pentium equivalent once - biggest waste of money I ever tried to save!!

Aye true, but it's always good to have some reviews from people you know or associate with online - you know they are not a bot

[Grim_Fandango]

After a lengthy debate with myself, I've decided to push the boat out and build a gaming PC.
I already have a gaming laptop but it's only used that for browsing and bog-standard PC tasks.
My current UT machine is an ASUS PN51 in an Akasa silent case (Radeon Vega 6 Graphics).

Most of the components will be here today/tomorrow, but I have to wait until mid-week for the GFX card.
Should be up and running by the weekend

Case:  ASUS TUF Gaming GT502 (white)
MoBo:  ASUS TUF GAMING Z890-PRO WIFI
PSU:  850W FSP Fortron Hydro TI PRO ATX 3.0 80+TITANIUM
CPU:  Intel Core™ Ultra 7 265K 20 cores
RAM:  CORSAIR VENGEANCE DDR5 RAM 64GB (2x32GB) 5200MHz CL40 Intel XMP iCUE Compatible Computer Memory - White
GFX:  ASRock Radeon RX 7800 XT Steel Legend 16GO, 16384 MB GDDR6
Storage:  Samsung 990 PRO NVMe M.2 SSD, 2 TB, PCIe 4.0, 7,450 MB/s read, 6,900 MB/s write, Internal SSD
CPU Fan:  Noctua NH-U12A, Premium CPU Cooler with High-Performance Quiet NF-A12x25
Case Fans:  4 x Noctua NF-A12x25 5V, Premium Quiet Fan

When completed, it should look like this.

[Stealer]

Looks good Grim
Asus is the best for mobos, in my opinion, less faff and never had any problems!
M2 drives are soo much quicker. I've still yet to trasfer windows onto my faster M2 drive, just cba for the past 2 years!
I always go for modular PSUs these days - so I can lose all the cables I don't have plugged in!
Got my missus a 5900x for xmas, twice as many cores as mine - really notice the difference on multi-threaded games! Good choice, even though I'm not an intel fan
Curious to see how much difference the ram makes compared to 16 gig, that I have in mine.

[Grim_Fandango]

Everything should have been here by now, but Amazon sent cables instead of case fans...TWICE!!!
They also sent the PSU with a Euro plug rather than UK, and I've had to buy the CPU from Currys Business as Amazon have let me down with delivery.  I'm not concerned though, as those nice customer service agents at Amazon are doing the needful and have told me not to worry.  Bezos can bite me!

I hated the bad old days of having a vipers nest of cables inside the case.  As well as restricting airflow, the molex and sata cables were an eyesore.  Shouldn't be an issue on this case, as it's dual compartment and the PSU is kept separate from the MoBo, GFX etc.  Only problem with that is that the case is a PSU's depth fatter than a regular case as it mounts on the side rather than at the back.

I used to opt for AMD chips when building a machine, as AMD were traditionally better suited to gaming and Intel fared better at number crunching tasks, but either would be more than enough for my needs.

The GFX card arrived today.  I haven't take it out of it's ESD wrapper yet as I don't want it covered in drool.

If this doesn't up my game, I'm going back to MS Solitaire

[holyspam]

I used to opt for AMD chips when building a machine, as AMD were traditionally better suited to gaming and Intel fared better at number crunching tasks, but either would be more than enough for my needs.

I hate to bring the bad news, but since 13th gen(2022 i think) Intel is good only for heating and electricity generation.

[Piglet]

Yeah. I wouldn't go Intel unless I wanted to use it in place of a boiler to heat my house.

[Grim_Fandango]

It won't be running any warmer than room temp' for a while yet as Amazon have again sent 3 x cables instead of 3 x case fans...f'n nuggets!!!

[Stealer]

Aye, IDE cables were even worse. I only realised the holes in the metal plate where the mobo is mounted are cable runs (in the last decade). I was a bit slow mentally!
Hope you get it sorted soon Grim.

Ordered an air purifier from amazon last year. They accidentally sent two instead of one. In effect it was buy one get one free, in the end. They didn't want the second one back.

[M0rph1n3]

It's about time I posted here, this is the setup I built about 2 years ago (couldn't post the pics (as a nab))...

https://imgur.com/pReLeWZ
https://imgur.com/hKHQGIj
https://imgur.com/EUJkkt3

CoolerMaster HAF 700 EVO E-ATX Case
Corsair AX-1600i Titanium PSU
ASUS ROG Maximus Z790 Hero MBD
Intel Core i9 14900K CPU (6.2GHz OC)
ASUS ROG Ryujin II 360 AIO Cooler
64GB Kingston Fury Beast DDR5 6000 MT/s RAM
1x2TB Sabrent Rocket 5 PCIe5 NVME SSD (OS)
2x2TB Sabrent Rocket 5 PCIe5 NVME SSD (Raid 0) (Games)
3x2TB Kingston Fury Renegade PCIe4 NVME SSD (Internal Storage)
ASUS ROG Strix GeForce RTX 4090 OC
Microsoft Windows 11 Pro (meh it's been a nightmare on and off)

Samsung Odyssey Neo G8 32" Curved 4K 240Hz Monitor
Razer Huntsman v2 Optical Keyboard
Razer Viper v3 Pro Mouse
Razer Atlas Glass Mouse Mat
Sony HT-A7000 7.1.2ch Dolby Atmos/DTS:X Soundbar
SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Wireless Headset
ASUS ROG Rapture GT-AXE 11000 Wi-Fi 6E Router
Secret Lab Magnus Pro XL Desk

I thought I should show it as it is before I change/upgrade again.  The photos don't do the PC justice as it's all gold lit (camera colours are off) with gold trim on black.  Sometimes I turn off the LEDs as I can take it or leave it   Oh, and I play UT2004 in 4K Ultra settings to make it worth my while having the PC in the first place heh.

[Grim_Fandango]

Fixed it for you:

[Grim_Fandango]

Oooh a lefty!

That's a sleek looking setup you have there.
I'm also liking the monitor and desk.  I've a new monitor on its way, I could be swayed into buying a new desk though
I'll be mounting the GFX vertically, just waiting on the cable getting here.

It's great playing with all settings cranked up to 11.  Harobed really needs someone to trim the grass at the base.

What are you looking to upgrade to?

[M0rph1n3]

Yes, I'm a lefty Grim and have to grin and bear the higher iq over righties

Thanks for the helpful edit

Next up it's a new monitor, a 49" or 55" (Odyssey G9 or Odyssey Ark).  I couldn't go back to a non curved screen after my current one.  I'll do a lot of research though before taking the plunge and committing.

Then, it's an RTX 5090 once they're available and prices go down a bit.  My mouth's watering at the ROG Astral Dhahab because it's gold but I dunno will I ever be able to source it (or how much it will cost).

https://rog.asus.com/me-en/graphics-cards/graphics-cards/rog-astral/rog-astral-rtx5090-o32g-dhahab-edition/

If I cant get it I'll go for nVidia's Founders Edition as it'll take up a lot less space.

Lastly, a switch to AMD's 9950X3D and a motherboard to go with it but I'm not too pushed about this particular upgrade for now.

I have to check the forums to see if there's a thread to donate old hardware as I tend to have a lot of bits and pieces gathering dust (even Noctua fans I no longer need) 

[Grim_Fandango]

Apart from additional RAM, and possibly another SSD or two, I reckon this is my final upgrade, although I may tinker with the aRGB side of things later on.

Case:         ASUS TUF Gaming GT502
MoBo:        ASUS TUF GAMING Z890-PRO WIFI
PSU:          850W FSP Fortron Hydro TI PRO ATX 3.0 80+TITANIUM
CPU:          Intel Core™ Ultra 7 265K 20 cores
RAM:         CORSAIR VENGEANCE DDR5 RAM 64GB (2x32GB) 5200MHz
GFX:          ASRock Radeon RX 7800 XT Steel Legend 16GO, 16384 MB GDDR6
Storage:    Samsung 990 PRO NVMe M.2 SSD, 2 TB, PCIe 4.0, 7,450 MB/s read, 6,900 MB/s write, Internal SSD
CPU Fan:    Noctua NH-U12A, Premium CPU Cooler with High-Performance Quiet NF-A12x25
Case Fans:  4 x Noctua NF-A12x25 5V, Premium Quiet Fan
Coolermaster PCIe Riser cable
-
Monitor:     Gigabyte M32UC 4K Ultra 31.5" OC'd to 160Hz
Keyboard:   Razer Hunstman V2 Optical switch - 8000Hz polling rate
Mouse:       Razer Basilisk V3 - 1000Hz polling rate
Speakers:   Creative Pebble V2
-
Switch:       8-Port TP-Link TL-SG108 Gigabit
Dock:         Lenovo ThinkPad Hybrid USB-C with USB-A
--
Euler's Disk:   Pointless, but mesmerizing
Jumborest Ergonomic Desk Armrest:  Takes pressure off your wrist and arm, and has helped cure a trapped ulnar nerve issue I used to have a couple of years ago.
ASUS PN51 in an Akasa Turing A50 MKII case:  Until last week, my main machine.
CO2 Monitor
Quinetic light switch

[M0rph1n3]

I'm liking the colour scheme you have going on there, Grim and the whiteness of everything (damn you're tidy hehe).  For my build I really wanted a white pc with beige noctua fans, but I found it too difficult to source white parts at the time.  Any particular reason you went with the Intel cpu this time? (just curiosity) and from my experience, you really can't go wrong with asus mobos - They've lasted me years over the years   A job well done by the looks of it, enjoy!