Purchasing Advice for a PC Noob on His First Build

[SunChief]

Hi all! I'm fairly new to the PC scene with little experience when it comes to choosing reliable components that work well together. Could I please get some feedback/advice from more experienced builders on the components I have slapped together and the questions I have below? I may be overthinking some things.

Before I start - My budget doesn't allow for much wiggle room, so I've tried my best to choose components that fit within the total of R43.5k. As such, I know some of the parts aren't the best, but they should be good enough considering. Also, I've been going through Wootware as I require the accompanying paperwork.

The parts I've chosen thus far:

Component​	Product​	Price​
Case​	Montech AIR 903 Base	R 999,00
Mobo​	ASUS ROG Strix B760-A GAMING WIFI DDR5	R 4,599
CPU​	Intel BX8071514900KF Core i9-14900KF	R 12,799
AIO​	ID-Cooling ZoomFlow 360 XT 360mm	R 1,449
RAM​	G.Skill F5-6000J3238F16GX2-FX5 Flare X5 32GB (2x16GB) DDR5-6000MHz CL32 1.35V	R 2,499
GPU​	XFX Radeon RX 7900 XT	R 16,499
PSU​	Super Flower SF-1000F14MP Leadex SE Platinum	R 2,899
Storage​	Pending	-
	Total​	R 41,743

Question 1: Regarding optimal airflow and case pressure
The Montech AIR 903 comes with three 140mm fans (two front intakes and one rear exhaust). I intend to set up the AIO as a top exhaust. Will the stock fan setup be enough to allow for adequate airflow and a neutral/slightly positive case pressure or would it be recommended to rather move the rear fan to the front of the case to function as a 3rd intake and buy another case fan to replace the rear exhaust? I know it's difficult to accurately determine this without physically testing it - Just looking for opinions.


Question 2: Regarding storage
I initially intended to buy two 512gb m.2 SSDs (one for the OS and the other for apps and games) to start, but the options available within my budget include brands such as ADATA, which seems less reliable in the long term. For clarity, I was looking at two of the ADATA AS40G-512GT-C XPG at R868 each. For the same total price I could get a single 1TB Samsung 970 EVO Plus to run everything off of. While it wouldn't be as ideal as having two drives, I'm reluctant to trust ADATA with my OS. Would running off the one Samsung drive and buying another later for expansion yield about the same performance or should I just go with the two ADATAs? PS - I know these drives are PCIe 3.0 and PCIe 4.0 would be marginally better, but it doesn't fit within my budget to go that route. Also, I don't intend to store a bunch of media and files on the PC.


Question 3: Regarding performance
Do we see any possible bottlenecking potential with the specific parts I have chosen or does everything look to be in order? From what I've seen online, I can't find any glaring issues? The PC is to be used for gaming and light office work.


Thanks to anyone who reads and replies to this. I really appreciate the advice!

 

[Switch]

Don't bother with using 500gb for games, given the increasing install sizes you're going to end up needing a new drive fairly soon as the install size breaks the 500gb limit if you want to keep a few games installed. Since you have about R1.7k left over, you can pick up this kingston on woot within that budget,

Kingston SKC3000S/1024G KC3000 1TB PCIe 4.0 x4 NVMe M.2 2280 Solid State Drive - Wootware

Buy Kingston SKC3000S/1024G KC3000 1TB PCIe 4.0 x4 NVMe M.2 2280 Solid State Drive at Wootware with fast shipping & superb service.

www.wootware.co.za

and then buy another drive when you have enough funds. You can also consider downgrading the i9 for an i7 and then use the additional funds for the m2 drives.

Ideally most typical users would use a 500gb drive for their OS, and then a 1tb or 2tb (or 4tb) for games. So once you have a 1tb, you can look at either getting a 500gb for your future os drive, or a 2tb as the future game drive.

 

[Badsector]

There is very little performance difference between a 13th and 14th gen intel processor. Also, I would go for an i7 with 8 cores.

Rather go for larger m.2 drives, games is these-days very large! Wootware has a number of 1tb m.2 that are reasonably priced. For my games drive, I would go for a 2tb.

 

[jlags]

You really don't need to spend 40k+ to get a good gaming PC

 

[Nyt Ryda]

Ditch the i9 14900KF for the i7 14700KF. 4 E-cores are NOT worth R3600.

And get a 1Tb NVME like the Kingston KC3000 instead. Games are getting too big for 500Gb.

 

[Neo_Geo]

Had a whole Essay ready for you but I would say this. Try AMD as there support for platforms is longer than Intel so in say 3~4 Years you could just swap out the CPU for a better one without having to replace the board or anything else. Pretty good. Also AMD with AMD apparently runs better but this I cannot confirm. Some special sauce but you would need to look into that.

Oh and storage I do recommend 1TB+ cuz COD be taking up so much space another few games and its full.

 

[Badsector]

I bought 7 years ago an am4 system, and a few days ago they released new CPUs for the platform! I hope am5 will be the same.

 

[Pandav]

you need to first ask yourself what you will be using this computer for.

if you are going to be only gaming then I would not recommend going for a 14900k, a 14700k will do just fine and save you some money for other components.

for storage I would recommend that you get at least 1 TB, 2 TB if you can.

If you are open to AMD systems then you should seriously consider an AMD CPU, at the moment the 7800X3D is the best CPU for gaming and is much cheaper than a 14900k. Not to mention that AMD typically stays on the same socket for a few generations, switching to AMD means that you might futureproof your motherboard for longer if you upgrade CPUs in the future.

just as a side note, the AMD CPUs are also significantly more efficient when it comes to power usage, and thus run cooler and are easier to keep cool.

 

[Pandav]

If you go with AMD I see that Wootware is currently having a special with their 7800x3D

 

[Areola Grande]

You should be looking at a 7800X3D build. I'll put one together for you.

 

[Areola Grande]

PC Builder - Wootware

Use the PC Builder to build your new epic computer for gaming, office, or personal use. Easily choose components for each hardware category and assist with compatibility. Woot up your life using the Wootware PC Builder today.

builder.wootware.co.za

Faster in gaming, cheaper on the wallet with 3TB of nVME storage and lower latency memory.

However, I would also recommend speaking to @Oj0 from Progenix for a quote. Best service in SA and great pricing. And he's on the forum so you can maybe organize a reacharound.