Building A Gaming PC - Parts Advice Needed

Intel 13 and 14 series chipsets are having a tough time of it, it seems.
It could just be the motherboard manufacturers letting the voltages go nuts.

www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/cpus/nvidia-blames-intel-for-gpu-vram-errors-tells-geforce-gamers-experiencing-13th-or-14th-gen-cpu-instability-to-contact-intel-support

www.theverge.com/2024/4/9/24125036/intel-game-crash-13900k-14900k-fortnite-unreal-engine-investigation

You are so lucky to get that reaction. I just get eye rolls.

I'm currently running 4k 100%, yeah. I'll try it out for a week. If I get eye strain or any other affects I'll bump it up to 125.

Any sites that let you put in recommend specs and then list any gaming laptops that meet said requirements?

That's very much on Intel and AMD, they don't want you to build a server with consumer hardware.

Mobo set to output on integrated graphics?

Otherwise pcie slot broken?

I'm amazed at how expensive B650 mobos still are. DDR5 sticks are getting cheaper, but 32GB still need a lot of money. My old plan of getting a Ryzen 5700X3D as a holdout until the next console gen hits is starting to look somewhat appealing again.

Given that I only have a 6600XT and 60hz monitor, it would barely make a difference, unless I started playing games like Flight Simulator and stuff. The fact that I'm still running 2666mhz RAM is annoying, so I might get less 1% low frametime spikes, but probably nothing too impactful.

Still, assuming I do upgrade my GPU in a couple years to something at least on the level of a 7800XT, it could be mighty useful to have around. There's no guarantee this kind of CPU will still be available next year, for example.

But yes, right now it feels a bit like a waste of money. If I want to spend something, it would be better to get a new smartwatch to replace my aged Gear Sport. But that's another thing that feels more expensive than it needs be. Man... it's not just computer parts, tech in general has got so expensive in the last few years.

Due to me mostly gaming on Xbox and Microsoft seemingly intent on doing their best to ruin the brand, I am still humming and hawing about switching over to PC and the Steam Deck I bought just didn't hit the spot. So I am either thinking ROG Ally X or a proper PC. I fear my budget won't stretch beyond a system with a 4070 Super (and even that is pushing it) from the pre-builds I am looking at (don't judge, I've never built one before and now being in my 40s feel inept at attempting it). Is a 12GB GPU going to be sufficient or would I be better going down the AMD route and getting a card with more VRAM but less Ray Tracing goodness?

AMD have a tiny fraction of the market compared to nVidia, so developers are not targeting higher vram requirements in their games generally. I don't think the higher vram is especially useful for gaming, as it's unlikely to be the limiting factor.

Ray tracing I'm sure is a load of bollocks. I can't tell the difference when the game is running. I feel like I'm taking crazy pills.

Early on this gen nvidia were quite expensive compared to AMD, there's less in it now.

It is certainly not bollocks, but the impact on image quality varies a lot between implementations. Using it just for shadows is the most light weight use for it and is generally the least noticeable. Global illumination on the other hand can produce massive differences with the image and look noticeably better (not always though). Good implementation of reflections can also be a very big improvement to image quality, such as in Control.

You also have the similar but slightly different path tracing, used by Alan Wake 2 and Cyberpunk 2077. Those games look truly next gen when maxed out and it is a night and day difference.

But designers and engine gurus have become experts at faking realistic lighting. A fantastically constructed rasterised scene can look better than a game that just uses RT shadows. Plus, some of the changes are going to be fairly subtle and only noticeable when you look at a screenshot and not when you are running around a game.

It will be the future though. The amount of time that needs to be invested in creating a scene without ray tracing is going to be days of work. With ray tracing, you just flip the switch and place your lights and away you go. This gen of consoles means we aren't going to see rasterised rendering ditched just yet (I believe the PS5 only had ray tracing hardware added a few months before release), but I fully expect the next gen to be built with ray tracing expected and we will see multiplatform games requiring a ray tracing capable card on PC.

Cheers for the tips, I try to keep on top of PC tech but obviously it changes rapidly. So, if I got something that had a CPU like the 7800x3D (not going near Intel after everything I've read lately which is a shame as in the past I have always had Intel CPUs), 32GB DDR5 Ram and a 4070 Super, I'd be fairly safe for the short/medium term?

I built my PC before Christmas to almost same spec - just a vanilla 4070 not a super version. Running it with a 32" Ultrawide OLED at 1440p.
More than happy at the moment. DLSS frame gen also helps.

Main use is MSFS but have dabbled with Cyberpunk, RDR2 etc and it is very nice and quite a step up from my old i5-6600k/1070 combo.

I might look at a new gfx card next year and hand the 4070 down to my lad, but I'm hoping it will last a good while yet if not.