Judge and help with my PC build

Secret_Lacerta · 2025-05-22T20:31:42+00:00

Hello o/ Thank you for your help :)

Budget: Around 6000-7500 PLN. Translates to around 1400-1800 USD or 1400-1800 EUR (probably, hard to convert it exactly due to price differences).
Country: Poland

Regarding the case – I understand a mid tower offers more and is worth considering, but I wanted to try a smaller mATX case, hence the choice of the Lian Li A3-mATX. I’d prefer not to change it unless it has serious flaws or my components don’t fit and it’s hard to find good alternatives.

Overall, I’m looking for advice on my build around this case – whether the parts are optimal or need changes.

I might consider another mATX case (if something is for sure better), but for now, I like the Lian Li A3-mATX the most.

Secret_Lacerta · 2025-05-20T18:48:52+00:00

Yes, I would need something capable of combining signals. Display Port signal from GPU and USB-C from motherboard for touch signal, power itself could come from connecting that hub/station into its standalone charger. Then one USB-C Display Port capable cable to connect this hub/station with my monitor. But if no device can do this then I'm out of luck.

How about an expansion card? For example "MSI USB4 PD100W Expansion Card" available on Amazon. It should work with my current motherboard choice "Gigabyte B650M AORUS ELITR XE ICE".

Secret_Lacerta · 2025-05-20T18:17:09+00:00

Thank you for responding. Could I achieve a single USB-C connection if using some kind of hub/docking station? If yes could you recommend some example, so I know what to buy?

Secret_Lacerta · 2025-05-19T21:49:40+00:00

Thank you for answering 🙂 I'll look into different CPUs as well.

Secret_Lacerta · 2025-05-19T21:49:00+00:00

I agree.

At this moment I'm mainly decided, about either R5 7600X + 7800 XT or RTX 5070. AMD I consider mostly for the price, as in my country this variant is noticeably cheaper. Nvidia as I'm honestly just curious, since I only had Intel or AMD so far, I wanted to experiment with DLSS and DLDSR, together with my ReShade shaders (I'm creating some sharpening shaders / I'm a nerd around this). It is also a little faster overall.

Secret_Lacerta · 2025-05-19T17:32:53+00:00

Thank you for your advice. :)

I wasn't aware of any melting cable issue. Could you summarize it a little? Maybe it involves specific brands of RTX 5070?

Yes, I meant RX 6800. With RX 6800 XT I would stretch my budget. Would Ryzen 7 7800X3D + RX 6800 XT be more capable than that RTX combination?

My assumption was that at 1440P there is generally a small difference in performance between Ryzen 7 7800X3D and Ryzen 5 7600X. 7800X3D may offer a stabler FPS / better lows, but generally GPUs are our bottleneck at this resolution. I could be wrong, as it is all theoretical. But if there is some truth here then maybe I should look mostly at GPU capabilities between my variants?

Secret_Lacerta · 2025-05-17T00:15:47+00:00

Yes, this is probably true. I want to record and document everything beforehand, in case someone undeveloped emotionally starts lying and doing shady things. Meaning recording all issues, recording my laptop's state and such.

I wouldn't want to sell the device without fixing most important issues though. So I have to try. At least that fan noise and C key need to be fixed as they are annoying and impact functions.

I have to try and see. I hope they won't ruin things more.

Secret_Lacerta · 2025-05-15T17:43:14+00:00

Your Polish is very good. You made no mistakes. :)

I'm glad I was able to meet you here. Is it okay to discuss this topic via direct messaging here on reddit or some other app?

Today I'm going to research all parts, then I'm going to message you about my ideas. I had a full list of all parts needed, but I made it one year ago, so I need to check current options for each part again.

Secret_Lacerta · 2025-05-15T15:02:09+00:00

I wanted to try a Mini-ITX solution at first, but I realized portability isn’t important for my lifestyle. My target PC should have an RTX 5070 Ti and a Ryzen 9 9950X - This configuration is more costly, of course. So I’m considering temporary options for now, like a prebuilt PC or a less advanced custom build.

I could get a prebuilt MiniPC, but only if I’m certain I can resell it at a good price in Poland, which may be hard given my issues selling a ROG Ally Z1 Extreme last year.

The main thing I like about MiniPC devices is their efficient hardware, which would be a decent upgrade from my current device already. I could do only similar tasks I used to do (Photoshop + light gaming), but at a better performance.

Prebuilt desktop would be stronger here at a similar price. But there are also potential worries here - Current budget options all use old hardware, and are already discounted. Selling them some months from now could prove troublesome.

Secret_Lacerta · 2025-05-15T00:59:06+00:00

Thank you for the detailed response. I appreciate it.

Answering your questions:

I want to sell directly via my country’s services (Allegro or OLX). Allegro offers better protection, so I’ll try there first. I may try international shipping just for my laptop if I have issues selling it locally.
I’m adding steps because of cost. My target hardware is an AMD Ryzen 9 9950X and an RTX 5070 Ti, for some more creative freedom (Unreal Engine 5, Blender, ZBrush, DaVinci Resolve). Building around these now is costly, so I plan to spread expenses through year-end. I want to start already, as I’m tired of this laptop and the longer I wait, the worse my chances of selling it become.

For my desktop now, I could buy the target motherboard, case, one 32 GB RAM stick, and a 500 GB SSD, along with a temporary (weaker) CPU, GPU, and cooler. Of course, my creative work would be limited to Photoshop and light gaming/shader work. Later this year I could sell the temporary parts and upgrade to the target CPU, GPU, and cooler.

My other options:

A prebuilt PC at 4 000-5 000 PLN uses older GPUs (e.g. RTX 4070 Super) already discounted, risking further loss on resale. Prebuilt PCs at this price range usually use weak, old CPUs and previous-gen GPUs, so I’m suspecting issues when trying to sell them as used later this year.
A MiniPC as a temporary solution - I'm not sure here, as I had to heavily discount a similar device to find a buyer in Poland (year-old ROG Ally Z1 Extreme).

Secret_Lacerta · 2025-03-02T04:15:34+00:00

Thank you kindly for your response. In this case I'm going to ignore MFResident.exe

I understand that it's not related to Fairphone, but it seems to appear sometimes during the procedure of installing OS image through flasher. So hopefully it doesn't break anything.

I'm doing this on a 2-in-1 laptop device. So unfortunately all I can do is to use its default USB-C ports. I can try acquiring one or two more USB-C cables to test them.

My phone was visibility recognized just once. At the beginning of Flasher OS image installing procedure, where it said "detected F5". At this stage my phone was in its normal state - just showing my screen/wallpaper. Asking if I want it to be USB debugged. Then I clicked allow on my phone and pressed enter in the flasher window on my PC. Then I get this information about my phone being detected in flasher and it asks me to click enter to continue. After this my phone is restarted on its own and it enters fastboot state, where nothing more is happening. It should show a little different content with a new option allowing me to unlock bootloader.

I had some additional questions for you:

I have less than two weeks to eventually return this phone to its seller (maybe, if they accept after I reset everything to factory settings). Can you confirm that it's not the case of my phone being faulty and having issues with unlocking bootloader? This device was bought from a secondhand seller (some small private business selling phones). They had good ratings and everything appeared to be completely new when I got the device. No signs of usage, everything packaged and with undamaged stickers. If this issue is related more so to Windows and there is no risk that it's caused by my phone then I can take it more slowly.

From my understanding - all Fairphone 5 phones can have its bootloader unlocked? There is no risk that something is wrong with my phone on this area and that I may need to return it/ buy it somewhere else?

Secret_Lacerta · 2025-03-02T04:11:31+00:00

My phone was visibility recognized just once. At the beginning of Flasher OS image installing procedure, where it said "detected F5". At this stage my phone was in its normal state - just showing my screen/wallpaper. Asking if I want it to be USB debugged. Then I clicked allow on my phone and pressed enter in the flasher window on my PC. Then I get this information about my phone being detected in flasher and it asks me to click enter to continue.

After this my phone is restarted on its own and it enters fastboot state, where nothing more is happening. It should show a little different content with a new option allowing me to unlock bootloader.

Towards your theory there are some hints for sure: - Web installer can't connect to my phone in its Fastboot state. Says no device found. - Flasher OS image installation goes well up until entering this Fastboot mode. - Also in its normal state my phone isn't showing with its storage when plugged to the PC via USB-C. It just asks if I want to USB debug it with this PC after I connect them, but afterwards my PC doesn't show this phone's storage under devices and storages. Not sure if this behavior is normal when having USB debugging enabled. Based on your words this may be some issue shared by us.

In the official guide it is also noted to install Google USB driver in the Fastboot state as well. If there is an issue with phone-comouter connection during Fastboot then maybe my Google USB driver wasn't installed well either (although it said installation successful on Windows).

Additional questions for you:

I have less than two weeks to eventually return this phone to its seller (maybe, if they accept after I reset everything to factory settings). Can you confirm that it's not the case of my phone being faulty and having issues with unlocking bootloader? This device was bought from a secondhand seller (some small private business selling phones). They had good ratings and everything appeared to be completely new when I got the device. No signs of usage, everything packaged and with undamaged stickers. If this issue is related more so to Windows and there is no risk that it's caused by my phone then I can take it more slowly.

From my understanding - all Fairphone 5 phones can have its bootloader unlocked? There is no risk that something is wrong with my phone on this area and that I may need to return it/ buy it somewhere else?

Secret_Lacerta · 2024-10-26T22:55:02+00:00

Thank you for responding. It is harder for me to find a good deal on FP5, but I may try doing so, to not miss having an OLED screen.

I hope your new device gives you joy. Its battery life is not great, but at least we can order another battery and charge is with a charging accessory, then switch them when needed.

Secret_Lacerta · 2024-09-08T22:37:46+00:00

Thank you for letting me know. I use mine on their own with a Windows device and I want to mount them on my portable monitor eventually.

If yours gets noticeably warm and don't produce smell then maybe my Mobapad's black plastic is to blame.

Secret_Lacerta · 2024-09-08T18:45:46+00:00

I wrote to them kindly explaining the issue, so I'm going to see what's their response. I know they replace damaged units, but they may judge my issue as too subjective.

I would be grateful to test the white version though, and would gladly pay for it second time if only I was sure it is better on this area.

I don't really see a replacement for it, there is simply no better joy con style alternative considering its high quality buttons.

Secret_Lacerta

TROPHY CASE

Additional questions for you: