Budget 90k+ 1440p/4K Gaming PC

M

mohankarthik

Recruit
Questions

  1. What is your budget?
    • 1L
  2. What is your existing hardware configuration (component name - component brand and model)
    • CPU - Intel i5 6500
    • Motherboard - Gigabyte Z170-D3H-CF
    • GPU - nVidia GeForce GTX 1060 6GB
    • RAM - Corsair 2x8GB DDR4-2400
    • Monitor - Lenova T32p-20 (3840 x 2160) (corp monitor)
    • PSU - Seasonic 550W (I think)
    • SSD1 - Samsung 850 EVO 250GB
    • SSD2 - Crucial MX500 1TB
    • HDD1 - WD 2TB Caviar Green
    • HDD2 - WD 3TB Caviar Green
  3. Which hardware will you be keeping (component name - component brand and model)
    • Monitor - Lenova T32p-20 (3840 x 2160)
    • SSD1 - Samsung 850 EVO 250GB (windows)
    • SSD2 - Crucial MX500 1TB (games)
    • HDD1 - WD 2TB Caviar Green (media)
    • HDD2 - WD 3TB Caviar Green (backup of media & documents)
  4. Which hardware component are you looking to buy (component name). If you have already decided on a configuration then please mention the (component brand and model) as well, this will help us in fine tuning your requirement.
    • CPU - Intel i5 14400f / i5 14600kf
    • Motherboard - ASRock B760M Pro RS/D4 Wifi / Z790 based / open for any other suggestions
    • GPU - nVidia GeForce GTX 4070
    • PSU - Corsair CX750M
  5. Is this going to be your final configuration or you would be adding/upgrading a component in near future. If yes then please mention when and which component
    • None planned. I upgrade once in 7-8 years (as can be seen by my current CPU :))
  6. Where will you buy this hardware? (Online/City/TE Dealer)
    • Bengaluru
    • Open to online purchase - Yes
  7. What is your intended use for this PC/hardware
    • Gaming
    • Photo editing (light room)
    • Video re-rendering (handbrake)
  8. Do you have any brand preference or dislike? Please name them and the reason for your preference/dislike.
    • None, VFM / Reliability / service is all I'm going for, so if there are better suggestions to above, please recommend.
  9. If you will be playing games then which type of games will you be playing?
    • RPG - WoW, Diablo4, Path of Exile (currently struggling badly), DoSII, Witcher, (70% of my gaming)
    • Strategy - Civ6, Cities Skylines, Startcraft II (20%)
    • Racing - F1, Grid
  10. What is your preferred monitor resolution for gaming and normal usage
    1. Gaming - 4k/1440p
    2. Desktop - 4k
  11. Are you looking to overclock?
    • I can if there is scope to improve VFM & not lose reliability. Had done in my previous (not current) build.
  12. Which operating system do you intend to use with this configuration?
    • Windows 11
 

I have added a 7900 GRE instead of a 4070 (faster overall, and cheaper) and a better quality PSU. You haven't mentioned the need for a cabinet.

However, since you will be keeping your PC for a long time, I would suggest upping your budget and getting a DDR5-based AM5 system or waiting for Arrow Lake.
 
You haven't mentioned the need for a cabinet.
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Ah knew, I was missing something in my initial list. I've a deepcool cabinet (about 6 years old), but in good condition. I've been thinking of keeping the same. Please suggest if there would be a need to upgrade.

https://pcpricetracker.in/build
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Link seems to take me to the generic build page. Could you reshare? If not, could you mention the PSU?

I have added a 7900 GRE instead of a 4070 (faster overall, and cheaper)
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Interesting. Thank you! I'll look these up and compare.

However, since you will be keeping your PC for a long time, I would suggest upping your budget and getting a DDR5-based AM5 system or waiting for Arrow Lake.
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Looks like arrow lake will debut end of '24, which means Q1 '25 for India launch? That would be late, since my PC has genuinely started to struggle even for mundane stuff. What AM5 CPU would you recommend? Perhaps 7600 series? And could you recommend a good chipset / motherboard to start my search from?
 
mohankarthik said:
Ah knew, I was missing something in my initial list. I've a deepcool cabinet (about 6 years old), but in good condition. I've been thinking of keeping the same. Please suggest if there would be a need to upgrade.


Link seems to take me to the generic build page. Could you reshare? If not, could you mention the PSU?


Interesting. Thank you! I'll look these up and compare.


Looks like arrow lake will debut end of '24, which means Q1 '25 for India launch? That would be late, since my PC has genuinely started to struggle even for mundane stuff. What AM5 CPU would you recommend? Perhaps 7600 series? And could you recommend a good chipset / motherboard to start my search from?
Click to expand...

Img.png
 
https://pcpricetracker.in/b/s/31090313-0b92-4f37-88d9-564439548844 - If you can push your budget by 30k, should be a good price to performance build for next 5+ years (dead platform though, but can opt for R7 7700 + B650, but will increase cost a bit).

Visit Ankit Infotech (PCStudio online store name) & Super Computer at SP Road & see what they offer.

4070 vs 4070 Super vs 7900GRE - Take your call based on reviews by Hardware Unboxed & Gamers Nexus

Also, check motherboard VRM test by Hardware Unboxed to know why not to cheap out on mobo. India is a hot country as well.
 
1) 4070 - probably not best choice for 4k as its constraint by bandwidth ( and vram ). It gets slower than 3080 at 4k while being competitive at lower resolution because 3080 has more bandwidth. Still, should be fine for slightly older games / lower settings.
2) DLSS is much better than FSR and that matters at 4k too. From a very limited sample, DLSS at performance at 4k works well enough, but with FSR image starts becoming soft at balanced, only quality looked ok to me. Havent tested, but latest XESS might be better as per reports for AMD cards.
 
Tracer_Bullet said:
1) 4070 - probably not best choice for 4k as its constraint by bandwidth ( and vram ). It gets slower than 3080 at 4k while being competitive at lower resolution because 3080 has more bandwidth. Still, should be fine for slightly older games / lower settings.
2) DLSS is much better than FSR and that matters at 4k too. From a very limited sample, DLSS at performance at 4k works well enough, but with FSR image starts becoming soft at balanced, only quality looked ok to me. Havent tested, but latest XESS might be better as per reports for AMD cards.
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4070 is roughly 6-7% slower than a 3080 at 1440p and around 9-10% slower than a 7900 GRE.

Img.png
 
PunkX 75 said:
4070 is roughly 6-7% slower than a 3080 at 1440p and around 9-10% slower than a 7900 GRE.

View attachment 195669
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yes so this might depend on games, but anyway from what i remember, at 4k gap increases because of lower bandwidth in 4070. Meaning perhaps not the best option to buy now for 4k specifically.

yes GRE seems nice, it has relatively better RT performance vs 7800xt. AMD getting better, but FSR is not good enough. I can play DLSS performance at 4k but likely only FSR quality. Xess havent tried which might be good option for AMD users.
And 16gb vram is nice - much better for 4k vs 12gb, can use better textures/mods etc. And for older games without upscaling/RT etc, AMD will be better.

 
later this year NVIDIA would launch 5000 series aka Blackwell and should be a good time to buy the 4000 series in aftermarket.
Better to grab a 3080 today at ~30k or 3080ti at 35k today instead of 4070 series which is bottled by memory bandwidth.
 
Thank you all for the comments so far. This is what I've got.

CPU
The simpler one first, My options are
  1. i5 14500 + B760M ~ 39k => 32800 (cpumark) => 0.84 (value)
  2. Ryzen 7700x + B650M ~50k => 36000 (cpumark) => 0.72 (value)
I get better upgradability with the AM5 platform and I'm paying a premium for it. Thinking through, I'm probably going to stay with the same build for at least 5+ years, and at that point, do I really care about keeping the Motherboard and just upgrading my CPU? I'll probably just upgrade both and be done with it.

Decision: Go with I5 14500 + B760M
Thanks to @OMEGA44-XT, I'll look at Hardware Unboxed and will probably go with the MSI PRO B760M-A.

GPU
The tougher one. My options are 4070 vs 7900 GRE vs 4070 Super. Went through a lot of material here (thank you all). Gist (glossing over a lot of details) seems to be that the
  1. 7900 GRE ~ 55k
    1. Better at 4K native
    2. Has the larger VRAM
  2. The 4070 Super ~ 60k
    1. Takes the lead clearly in upscaling (this looks interesting to me)
    2. as well as Ray Tracing (may not be relevant for the games I play)
Then dived into gaming benchmarks in techspot, primarily looking at the kind of games I tend to like: BG3, F1 23, Star Wars Jedi, Hogwarts Legacy
  1. 1440 native: 7900 GRE wins all
  2. 4K native: 7900 GRE wins all (and the benchmarks even at ultra look very good)
  3. 4k upscaled: Tie
References
  1. https://www.techspot.com/review/2826-geforce-rtx-4070-super-vs-radeon-7900-gre/
  2. https://www.techspot.com/article/2665-dlss-vs-native-rendering
Decision: I'm leaning towards the 7900 GRE (since it seems to outperform in the kinda games I'm interested in) with the only caveat being, how bad could FSR be in a new game that doesn't do native 4K, so it stumps me compared to DLSS. Is 4070 with better upscaling the more future proofed decision?

My tentative buying list looks as follows (~1.1L)
1714405523974.png


Let me know if any of my thought processes about don't make sense or are wrong.
 
www.vedantcomputers.com

Gigabyte Radeon RX 7900 GRE Gaming OC 16GB GDDR6

Radeon RX 7900 GRE GAMING OC 16G GV-R79GREGAMING-OC-16GD KEY FEATURE Powered by Radeon™ RX 7900 GRE Integrated with 16GB GDDR6 256-bit memory interface WINDFORCE Cooling System RGB Fusion Dual BIOS Protection metal back plate CORE CLOCK Boost Clock* : up to 2391 M
www.vedantcomputers.com www.vedantcomputers.com
Grab this 7900GRE if you have finalised it, over AsRock. Later look into UV + OC, raster performance gets even better. Again, check Hardware Unboxed videos, they ran tests with Sapphire card.
 
mohankarthik said:
GPU
The tougher one. My options are 4070 vs 7900 GRE vs 4070 Super. Went through a lot of material here (thank you all). Gist (glossing over a lot of details) seems to be that the
  1. 7900 GRE ~ 55k
    1. Better at 4K native
    2. Has the larger VRAM
  2. The 4070 Super ~ 60k
    1. Takes the lead clearly in upscaling (this looks interesting to me)
    2. as well as Ray Tracing (may not be relevant for the games I play)
Then dived into gaming benchmarks in techspot, primarily looking at the kind of games I tend to like: BG3, F1 23, Star Wars Jedi, Hogwarts Legacy
  1. 1440 native: 7900 GRE wins all
  2. 4K native: 7900 GRE wins all (and the benchmarks even at ultra look very good)
  3. 4k upscaled: Tie
Click to expand...
1) If focus is on native + no/light raytracing + 4k then GRE is obvious choice i think. And it looks to be competent in RT too.
12 gb vram is going to be tight, just makes no sense to go with a compromised gpu.

2) upscaling - along with performance we also need to look at image quality. This might vary game to game, but so far in limited testing FSR can have a low res look when in motion. DLSS does not.
So i can play at DLSS performance in 4k and it looks fine, and to me it seems even better than FSR quality - in motion - in 1 game. In another game with only FSR, 4k quality was fine but 4k balanced was blurry.
So i might only play FSR quality while i can play DLSS performance at 4k. So then we cant really compare FSR vs DLSS performance at same setting.

mohankarthik said:
Decision: I'm leaning towards the 7900 GRE (since it seems to outperform in the kinda games I'm interested in) with the only caveat being, how bad could FSR be in a new game that doesn't do native 4K, so it stumps me compared to DLSS. Is 4070 with better upscaling the more future proofed decision?
Click to expand...
Tough choice, but the stingy VRAM in 4070(s) is really not good for future proofing either. Might be ok today, but its gonna become a problem soon enough.
FSR will also have a DLAA kind of setting, so it should be fine.
FSR quality at 4k in Far cry 6 demo looked fine to me, so its not a complete deal breaker. FSR frame gen works very well + CAS sharpening is superb.
Add to that Xess latest version is reported to be better than FSR - even for amd cards. So you have another option. DLSS is best though.

Two times i have made the mistake of picking gpu with just enough vram. Wont make this mistake again. Textures make games look nice too.
Lastly, if you can wait - then next round of gpus might come at the end of the year. AI demand means that this is not likely, but we have been getting good gpu perf jumps every other gen.
Last one was terrible, so who knows next could be good.

So if you have to buy today, maybe best option is either GRE, or a used cheap gpu ( 3080 goes for less than 30k sometimes, if you can get in warranty then good enough for today - but with 10gb vram). Or used 6800xt ? And later sell it and upgrade when needed. For hassle free, probably get the GRE and call it a day.
 
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Tough choice, but the stingy VRAM in 4070(s) is really not good for future proofing either. Might be ok today, but its gonna become a problem soon enough.
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This is the perfect counter argument. Thank you.

Two times i have made the mistake of picking gpu with just enough vram. Wont make this mistake again. Textures make games look nice too.
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This is very true as well!

So if you have to buy today, maybe best option is either GRE, or a used cheap gpu ( 3080 goes for less than 30k sometimes, if you can get in warranty then good enough for today - but with 10gb vram). Or used 6800xt ? And later sell it and upgrade when needed. For hassle free, probably get the GRE and call it a day.
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Hassle free is what I generally like. I wont have the patience to get a used GPU and then work on exchanging it later. Too lazy. I'll just go with a GRE.

Grab this 7900GRE if you have finalised it, over AsRock. Later look into UV + OC, raster performance gets even better. Again, check Hardware Unboxed videos, they ran tests with Sapphire card.
Click to expand...
Perfect! Thank you. I'll look this up and finalize it if possible.
 
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