First New Build in 7 years

[MrK6]

Hello all,

I finally have the time to do a new build and WOOOO it's been awhile so I'm a bit out of touch on some things and was looking for some folks to review my design and maybe offer some insight. I'm rapidly perusing reviews/forums/etc. to catch up but I still have some questions. That said, here's the basic info:

1. Use - Gaming will be the biggest performance, I do some light video and photo editing as well as a lot of desktop work, but gaming is what drives the performance
2. Budget - doesn't matter, but I'm not going to spend $5K just because I can. I still enjoy value and buy what I need and not to excess.
3. USA
The rest - not reusing anything (look for my for sale thread in the future!), will overclock the snot out of it, currently at 2560x1600 but looking to upgrade to 4K with this.

Plan:
CPU - i5-9600K seems to be where it's at unless someone can sell me on an AMD alternative for gaming - $250
Cooler - be Quiet Dark Pro 3 (or 4? Seems worse in reviews) - I have done extensive water cooling in the past and don't have time for it. I don't even want an AIO cooler (they have a higher fail rate than a hunk of metal). -$80
Mobo - Gigabyte Z390 Aorus Master - I've always used Gigabyte boards because they've been rock solid for me. I'm currently typing this on a Sandy Bridge 2500K that's been at 4.5GHz (5.0GHz on water) for 7 years. Some reviews have pointed out they still have solid designs but that that their software sucks and is dated, which isn't new to me. That said, can someone sell me on an alternative? The one thing I'm hoping for is for some decent fan control software so I don't have to run SpeedFan anymore (great program, but a lot of multiplayer games have anti-cheat services that don't like it). -$250
RAM - 32GB (16x2) - there's some nice G.Skill deals right now for $220-230 which I was going to go in on. Some resources say 4x8GB is faster but it doesn't leave an upgrade path (again, unless someone wants to change my mind). -$230
Graphics card - Gigabyte RTX 2080 (already have it) - $650
Storage - 500GB 970 Evo M2 for OS and programs, 1TB 860 Evo for games, 2x4TB WD Reds in RAID 1 for storage and backup (Already have them all) - $450
PSU - Something Platinum, modular, and quiet? Currently reading through JonnyGuru to see what's good right now.
Case - Honestly this is where I've seen the most improvement over 5+ years. I have a Fractal Design R5 hanging around, but I think I might go for a Meshify C and some aftermarket fans. My PC sits in my desk in a bay on the bottom that has an open front and back but is surrounded on the sides. The Meshify looks like it will create a nice wind tunnel to pull air in the front and push it out the back while maintaining some decent sound levels. Again, sell me on anything else.
Monitor - Currently using a Dell 3007WFP-HC from 2008 cause honestly I haven't seen much better come on the market. I was thinking of upgrading to a 4K G-sync monitor to really make a difference, but most of them don't seem to be reviewed that well (particularly worrisome was how many customers are having problems with the Asus Predators). Again, sell me on something.

Thanks all for your time and any advice/suggestions/remarks, it's much appreciated.

-K6

 

[whm1974]

Off hand how does the Ryzen 7-2700X CPU and X470 motherboard sound to you? TBH 2TB SATA SSDs have gotten cheap enough to use in high end rigs. For example the Micron 1100 2TB.

 

[MrK6]

Off hand how does the Ryzen 7-2700X CPU and X470 motherboard sound to you? TBH 2TB SATA SSDs have gotten cheap enough to use in high end rigs. For example the Micron 1100 2TB.

When I looked through reviews in respect to gaming, it doesn't appear like the extra cores/virtual cores add anything to most games and the performace suffers from the lack of clock speed. Also the extra power/heat wouldn't help if I'm on air. Did I miss something? Are they monsters when overclocked?

I couldn't justify 2TB SSD's because I simply wouldn't use the space. As it is I'm not even close to maxing out my current rig (256+512, just doubled both in the new rig for some future proofing.

Thanks for the suggestions!

 

[whm1974]

When I looked through reviews in respect to gaming, it doesn't appear like the extra cores/virtual cores add anything to most games and the performace suffers from the lack of clock speed. Also the extra power/heat wouldn't help if I'm on air. Did I miss something? Are they monsters when overclocked?

I couldn't justify 2TB SSD's because I simply wouldn't use the space. As it is I'm not even close to maxing out my current rig (256+512, just doubled both in the new rig for some future proofing.

Thanks for the suggestions!

OK 2600X then... Having an extra amount of storage never hurt anyone....

 

[SMOGZINN]

RAM - 32GB (16x2) - there's some nice G.Skill deals right now for $220-230 which I was going to go in on. Some resources say 4x8GB is faster but it doesn't leave an upgrade path (again, unless someone wants to change my mind). -$230

If you want that much ram then get the 4x8. There is basically no need for an upgrade path from 32gb. Unless you are doing some heavy video editing or something really RAM intensive I doubt you will even max out the 32gb in the lifespan of this computer. Thing to remember is that the majority of all systems out there only have like 8gb of RAM or less (58% in the Steam survey), so that is what game developers shoot for, while only 3% of system had more than 16gb. Some might use that extra RAM if it is there, but all games will run find on somewhere between 8 and 16, and that is going to be true for at least the next 5 years.

Personally, I think you would be better off going with a 2x8gb bundle and upgrading something else with the extra money, I would recommend going to the i7-9700K as you are much more likely to get more use out of more cores, slight bump in clock rate, and hyperthreading than the extra RAM. Then you can always add more ram later if you feel the need.

 

[whm1974]

If you want that much ram then get the 4x8. There is basically no need for an upgrade path from 32gb. Unless you are doing some heavy video editing or something really RAM intensive I doubt you will even max out the 32gb in the lifespan of this computer. Thing to remember is that the majority of all systems out there only have like 8gb of RAM or less (58% in the Steam survey), so that is what game developers shoot for, while only 3% of system had more than 16gb. Some might use that extra RAM if it is there, but all games will run find on somewhere between 8 and 16, and that is going to be true for at least the next 5 years.

Personally, I think you would be better off going with a 2x8gb bundle and upgrading something else with the extra money, I would recommend going to the i7-9700K as you are much more likely to get more use out of more cores, slight bump in clock rate, and hyperthreading than the extra RAM. Then you can always add more ram later if you feel the need.

He will also get more benefit from a larger SSD then 32GB of memory as well.

 

[MrK6]

If you want that much ram then get the 4x8. There is basically no need for an upgrade path from 32gb. Unless you are doing some heavy video editing or something really RAM intensive I doubt you will even max out the 32gb in the lifespan of this computer. Thing to remember is that the majority of all systems out there only have like 8gb of RAM or less (58% in the Steam survey), so that is what game developers shoot for, while only 3% of system had more than 16gb. Some might use that extra RAM if it is there, but all games will run find on somewhere between 8 and 16, and that is going to be true for at least the next 5 years.

Personally, I think you would be better off going with a 2x8gb bundle and upgrading something else with the extra money, I would recommend going to the i7-9700K as you are much more likely to get more use out of more cores, slight bump in clock rate, and hyperthreading than the extra RAM. Then you can always add more ram later if you feel the need.

He will also get more benefit from a larger SSD then 32GB of memory as well.

Good points, I'll grab a 16GB kit then. I don't think the i7-9700K has hyperthreading so it's the two extra cores. Most of the gaming benchmarks I've seen put the 9700K a few frames/% ahead of the 9600K, even when overclocked, so I don't think it's worth the ~60% higher price tag ($250 vs. $400).

I did end up getting a 1TB 970 Evo for my gaming/fast drive since I ended up liking the M2 NvME format (no cables, less clutter). Also again, 2TB seemed like a waste, especially for $550. I also picked up a new G-sync monitor (LG 32GK850G) to play around with given the age of my Dell.

Thanks for the suggestions.

 

[whm1974]

Good points, I'll grab a 16GB kit then. I don't think the i7-9700K has hyperthreading so it's the two extra cores. Most of the gaming benchmarks I've seen put the 9700K a few frames/% ahead of the 9600K, even when overclocked, so I don't think it's worth the ~60% higher price tag ($250 vs. $400).

I did end up getting a 1TB 970 Evo for my gaming/fast drive since I ended up liking the M2 NvME format (no cables, less clutter). Also again, 2TB seemed like a waste, especially for $550. I also picked up a new G-sync monitor (LG 32GK850G) to play around with given the age of my Dell.

Thanks for the suggestions.

Glad I could help. Your system should meet all of your needs for a long time to come.

 

[VirtualLarry]

If you want that much ram then get the 4x8.

AM4 boards have slower RAM clocks when you fill all 4 slots, I wouldn't recommend that.