[SOLVED] 4k Gaming. first time build

[905doctor]

I probably need alot of advice/help after y'all see my build I've come up with, hence is why I'm here.

First to answer the questions in the sticky:

Approximate Purchase Date: flexible but aiming to purchase everything within 2 weeks and build during Dec 3-9, however if there are major updated parts coming and it's better to wait I don't mind waiting, not in a rush but had that week off.

Budget Range: no real budget at the same time don't want to be ridiculously expensive without having the performance benefit.

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming, movies, browsing and entertainment.

Are you buying a monitor: Yes



Parts to Upgrade: new build, only have a laptop now.

Do you need to buy OS: Yes

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: any

Location: I'm in the dayton, ohio region.

Parts Preferences: wanting the best

Overclocking: Yes

SLI or Crossfire: Maybe, open to it

Your Monitor Resolution: want a 4k monitor

Additional Comments: want a nice looking build with nice colors and led lights and fans that are giving off a hardcore yet sleek gaming appearance.

And Most Importantly, Why Are You Upgrading: I posted on this forum in 2016 and wanted to do a build then, due to moving and new job I never got the chance to do it and its always been on my mind. Finally have the desire to fulfill one of my long term goals/ wishes to build my own hardcore gaming PC with my own hands. I have never built a PC before but have changed parts and stuff so I am excited yet a bit nervous.

Finally lets go to the build I have so far, here it is:

System Builder

pcpartpicker.com

this is my first draft and am hoping for advice to help change/tweak things for the better and if there is anything unnecessary that is wasting money I'm happy to remove/replace it.

Thank you all in advance!

 

[theoneandonlyfoohyking]

Your build is good, but you could spend a little more on NVME SSD's (M2) to speed up your PC

 

[sizzling]

At 4K you could go Ryzen 3700X and save money with no loss in performance. Up to you.

 

[905doctor]

Your build is good, but you could spend a little more on NVME SSD's (M2) to speed up your PC

Any particular one's?

 

[drivinfast247]

For 4k gaming you could do a Ryzen 3600x/3700x with the included cooler and a 16gb kit of 3400mhz RAM for HUNDREDS less than what you have quoted.

 

[TJ Hooker]

$650 on a case, jesus...

As said above 2x8 GB of 3200-3600 MHz RAM is plenty. Assuming you're playing modern AAA games on high settings, you will be largely GPU-limited such that there will be little performance difference between an i9 and a 3700X or 3600.

The FE cards for the RTX 20 series were pretty decent from what I remember, but I think you're probably still better off looking for a good non-reference version.

 

[theoneandonlyfoohyking]

Any particular one's?

The Samsung 970 Evo Plus ones are good choices, they are reliable and pretty fast. I have one in an office server PC I built and the PC boots up in seconds.

If you are willing to spend more, go for the Corsair Force MP600. Those are excellent M.2s for gaming, but are quite pricey

 

[TJ Hooker]

If you are willing to spend more, go for the Corsair Force MP600. Those are excellent M.2s for gaming, but are quite pricey

Not sure how a particular SSD can be especially good for gaming, given that storage speeds have no effect on gaming performance...

You're not going to see any difference in load speeds or general desktop use between one NVMe or another. A lot of the time you won't even see any significant difference between an NVMe and SATA.

 

[905doctor]

The Samsung 970 Evo Plus ones are good choices, they are reliable and pretty fast. I have one in an office server PC I built and the PC boots up in seconds.

If you are willing to spend more, go for the Corsair Force MP600. Those are excellent M.2s for gaming, but are quite pricey

thanks

 

[905doctor]

For 4k gaming you could do a Ryzen 3600x/3700x with the included cooler and a 16gb kit of 3400mhz RAM for HUNDREDS less than what you have quoted.

Thanks for the input, Only reason I went with the i9 is cause I prefer intel and have stuck with them since the 90's

 

[905doctor]

$650 on a case, jesus...

As said above 2x8 GB of 3200-3600 MHz RAM is plenty. Assuming you're playing modern AAA games on high settings, you will be largely GPU-limited such that there will be little performance difference between an i9 and a 3700X or 3600.

The FE cards for the RTX 20 series were pretty decent from what I remember, but I think you're probably still better off looking for a good non-reference version.

any recs on the non-reference versions?

 

[905doctor]

For 4k gaming you could do a Ryzen 3600x/3700x with the included cooler and a 16gb kit of 3400mhz RAM for HUNDREDS less than what you have quoted.

ram is definitely overkill? I was just trying to make the build as future proof as possible.

 

[cryoburner]

I wouldn't say 32GB of RAM is necessarily overkill, at least not for a multi-thousand dollar system. While current games won't really benefit from having more than 16GB of RAM, if you plan on keeping the system at least a few years, chances are good that some games will eventually. The performance benefits of RAM in the DDR4-4000+ range will be limited though, and will probably not be worth the steep price premium.

Then again, there's a lot of hardware in this build that is probably not worth the price premium. Past a certain point, you see diminishing returns from paying more for computer hardware. As a result, a $5000 gaming system with these specs is likely to perform about the same as a system costing half as much. At 4K resolution, performance in most games will be limited mainly by the graphics hardware more than anything else.

Personally, I would cut the initial cost of the build way down by couple thousand dollars or so, and save that money for future upgrades. There will undoubtedly be a new graphics card next year that outperforms a 2080 Ti, and probably another the year after that, and so on.

 

[Gmoney06ss]

Looks like an awesome build! But an aio in a case like that, seems like a waste of a case like that. That case screams for a nice custom loop!

That monitor is nice, but seems you could get similar performance for less $$$. I've seen some pretty good ones in the $500 range, and some better at $750ish. 144hz is great, but at 4k, seem unnecessary. There are few, very few, games that will run that fast anyways.

This seems more of an ultimate flex build than ultimate gaming setup. Like cryoburner said above, a significantly cheaper build will perform right on par with this build.

 

[Gmoney06ss]

There's a couple things you could swap to save some cash.

From the few reviews I've seen the 9900ks, unless you get a golden sample, isnt worth the premium over the kf. Save the $50ish and grab the kf. You're gonna oc anyways right?

The ram. Like said above 4400 comes with a huge cost hike, and you most likely wouldn't notice the difference between that and a good 32-3600 kit. Save yourself 250 bucks and grab a 3200 kit.

This one may not save any money, but will on wiring. Grab an m.2 ssd for a boot drive and a 2tb for storage. No real point in going with 2 separate 1tb drives. Unless doing g a raid setup, in which case, I have zero experience.

There are a ton of awesome cases in the 100-200 range. Unless for some reason you absolutely need that monster case.

The monitor. I really like asus, but almost 1400 for a monitor seems excessive(to me).
Grab a still awesome 5-750$ monitor. Same performance and more money in your pocket!

This one's personal preference, but I've never been a huge fan of wireless peripherals. I know they've came a long way, but imo a good wired setup will work better and save ya a few bucks.

Now take all that cash saved and think about an awesome custom loop to actually cool that monster!

 

[905doctor]

I wouldn't say 32GB of RAM is necessarily overkill, at least not for a multi-thousand dollar system. While current games won't really benefit from having more than 16GB of RAM, if you plan on keeping the system at least a few years, chances are good that some games will eventually. The performance benefits of RAM in the DDR4-4000+ range will be limited though, and will probably not be worth the steep price premium.

Then again, there's a lot of hardware in this build that is probably not worth the price premium. Past a certain point, you see diminishing returns from paying more for computer hardware. As a result, a $5000 gaming system with these specs is likely to perform about the same as a system costing half as much. At 4K resolution, performance in most games will be limited mainly by the graphics hardware more than anything else.

Personally, I would cut the initial cost of the build way down by couple thousand dollars or so, and save that money for future upgrades. There will undoubtedly be a new graphics card next year that outperforms a 2080 Ti, and probably another the year after that, and so on.

Appreciate your input. Could you please advice as to what part changes I can make to reduce the cost and keep the same performance?

 

[Gmoney06ss]

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/gCgGq3

Here's a few changes. There should be zero performance impact. The case choice on this list is more of a place holder as case choice is very subjective. Just showing you can get a nice case in the 200 range, and unless you have a specific need for a full tower, there's no need to spend that kind of money. They're gigantic and imo, designed more with custom loops in mind. You could also save yourself hundreds more if you didn't need a 144hz monitor. Very few games will actually push that, but cant deny your monitor choice is good. There's an Acer on pcpartpicker that's actually better on paper. Same 144hz but a 1ms response time for 700, but its ugly as sin and has odd panel blocker things on the sides and top.

Also changed to win 10 home, as for gaming, there should be little difference. And its 50 more bucks left in your pocket. There's also other places with keys available for much cheaper.

 

[905doctor]

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/gCgGq3

Here's a few changes. There should be zero performance impact. The case choice on this list is more of a place holder as case choice is very subjective. Just showing you can get a nice case in the 200 range, and unless you have a specific need for a full tower, there's no need to spend that kind of money. They're gigantic and imo, designed more with custom loops in mind. You could also save yourself hundreds more if you didn't need a 144hz monitor. Very few games will actually push that, but cant deny your monitor choice is good. There's an Acer on pcpartpicker that's actually better on paper. Same 144hz but a 1ms response time for 700, but its ugly as sin and has odd panel blocker things on the sides and top.

Also changed to win 10 home, as for gaming, there should be little difference. And its 50 more bucks left in your pocket. There's also other places with keys available for much cheaper.

Thank you so much for this! When would one want to do a custom loop? and also overclocking? Are they difficult to do? I agree, I actually saw that monitor and thought it was good for the price but couldn't swallow the way it looked.

 

[905doctor]

Also I do want to add some aesthetics to this build such as fancy matching lighting/fans, any tips on that?

 

[Gmoney06ss]

One would want custom water cooling when they choose the two hottest components possible. The 9900k and the 2080ti!! There is an excellent guide on here for both overclocking as well as the water cooling. If interested read through them, and do a TON of research.

As far as the aesthetics like fans and rgb, just take a look at some builds around to get an idea. Then go from there.

 

[905doctor]

One would want custom water cooling when they choose the two hottest components possible. The 9900k and the 2080ti!! There is an excellent guide on here for both overclocking as well as the water cooling. If interested read through them, and do a TON of research.

As far as the aesthetics like fans and rgb, just take a look at some builds around to get an idea. Then go from there.

Thanks for the help!

 

[King Dranzer]

Here is the list:

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 3950X 3.5 GHz 16-Core Processor ($749.00 @ Best Buy)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H115i PRO 55.4 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($121.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Asus ROG Crosshair VIII Hero (WI-FI) ATX AM4 Motherboard ($379.99 @ B&H)
Memory: G.Skill Trident Z RGB 32 GB (4 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($174.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Corsair MP600 Force Series Gen4 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($179.99 @ Best Buy)
Video Card: Asus GeForce RTX 2080 Ti 11 GB ROG Strix Gaming Video Card ($1109.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair Obsidian 500D RGB SE ATX Mid Tower Case ($219.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Corsair RMx 1000 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($169.99 @ Newegg)
Keyboard: Logitech G915 Lightspeed Wireless Gaming Keyboard ($234.99 @ Amazon)
Mouse: Logitech G903 HERO Wireless Optical Mouse ($129.99 @ Amazon)
Custom: LG OLED55C9PUA C9 Series 55" 4K Ultra HD Smart OLED TV (2019) ($1496.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $4967.90
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-11-29 13:09 EST-0500

If space is not an issue I would recommend this setup for that budget. There is no other gaming monitor that could be better than this LG C9 OLED TV specially after the release of G-Sync support. Great to watch movies and equally good for gaming. Let it be 4K or 1440p no matter what resolution you will be gaming on the output will be sharper than any monitor you can possibly buy in the market.
I know I have read the above conversation of how you wanna stick with Intel for CPU. But as being practical I highly recommend going with Ryzen R9 3950X as it comes with double the core count which can really come in handy for any king of workload if you ever plan to use or try out new stuff. Second for gaming specially at 1440p and 4K It really doesn't matter as it is more GPU bound and even at 1080p 3950X is holding up to i9-9900K with marginal difference depending on games. I know you wanna stick with Intel out of love for the brand. But to be more practical and give you better support for long run I recommend AMD. If you still wanna stick with Intel simply swap CPU with i9-9900K and Motherboard with ASUS ROG MAXIMUS XI CODE and also swap Storage to SAMSUNG 970 EVO Plus 1TB.

This is the best budget can get you.

Most Important: Get the extended warranty for that LG C9 OLED TV for additional 3Yrs costing around $200 which is still in your budget range, getting it covered for 4Yrs in total. If there is Burn-in in that period of time LG will replace the TV no problem. If there is no Burn-in in 4Yrs then I don't think there will be any for another 1-2Yrs by the time you will be swapping it anyways.
https://lg.yourserviceplan.com/presentationlayer/home.aspx

 

[905doctor]

Here is the list:

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 3950X 3.5 GHz 16-Core Processor ($749.00 @ Best Buy)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H115i PRO 55.4 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($121.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Asus ROG Crosshair VIII Hero (WI-FI) ATX AM4 Motherboard ($379.99 @ B&H)
Memory: G.Skill Trident Z RGB 32 GB (4 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($174.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Corsair MP600 Force Series Gen4 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($179.99 @ Best Buy)
Video Card: Asus GeForce RTX 2080 Ti 11 GB ROG Strix Gaming Video Card ($1109.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair Obsidian 500D RGB SE ATX Mid Tower Case ($219.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Corsair RMx 1000 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($169.99 @ Newegg)
Keyboard: Logitech G915 Lightspeed Wireless Gaming Keyboard ($234.99 @ Amazon)
Mouse: Logitech G903 HERO Wireless Optical Mouse ($129.99 @ Amazon)
Custom: LG OLED55C9PUA C9 Series 55" 4K Ultra HD Smart OLED TV (2019) ($1496.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $4967.90
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-11-29 13:09 EST-0500

If space is not an issue I would recommend this setup for that budget. There is no other gaming monitor that could be better than this LG C9 OLED TV specially after the release of G-Sync support. Great to watch movies and equally good for gaming. Let it be 4K or 1440p no matter what resolution you will be gaming on the output will be sharper than any monitor you can possibly buy in the market.
I know I have read the above conversation of how you wanna stick with Intel for CPU. But as being practical I highly recommend going with Ryzen R9 3950X as it comes with double the core count which can really come in handy for any king of workload if you ever plan to use or try out new stuff. Second for gaming specially at 1440p and 4K It really doesn't matter as it is more GPU bound and even at 1080p 3950X is holding up to i9-9900K with marginal difference depending on games. I know you wanna stick with Intel out of love for the brand. But to be more practical and give you better support for long run I recommend AMD. If you still wanna stick with Intel simply swap CPU with i9-9900K and Motherboard with ASUS ROG MAXIMUS XI CODE and also swap Storage to SAMSUNG 970 EVO Plus 1TB.

This is the best budget can get you.

Most Important: Get the extended warranty for that LG C9 OLED TV for additional 3Yrs costing around $200 which is still in your budget range, getting it covered for 4Yrs in total. If there is Burn-in in that period of time LG will replace the TV no problem. If there is no Burn-in in 4Yrs then I don't think there will be any for another 1-2Yrs by the time you will be swapping it anyways.
https://lg.yourserviceplan.com/presentationlayer/home.aspx

thanks for the info! My one thing is that I want the screen to me more of computer and in my office. What you have recommended is that I basically but a TV in that environment and not sure that is feasible with the space I have in a office only room. I've been out of the loop with computer parts for about 3-4 years now. So is amd ryzen the new big thing?

 

[King Dranzer]

thanks for the info! My one thing is that I want the screen to me more of computer and in my office. What you have recommended is that I basically but a TV in that environment and not sure that is feasible with the space I have in a office only room. I've been out of the loop with computer parts for about 3-4 years now. So is amd ryzen the new big thing?

Yeah I dint know the space you had for the setup. So yes stick to that monitor as that costs the same.
AMD Ryzen is indeed a big deal specially this being their Third-gen lineup. Specially this CPU Ryzen 9-3950X comes with 16C/32T which is double of what Intel is offering in mainstream which takes its multi-core performance to a completely different level which Intel cannot even come near to. In single core performance where Intel was ahead by a decent margin till previous gen. With this new lineup of AMD CPUs the gap is reduced and 3950X is almost on par with i9-9900K in single thread workload. So if we have to consider overall performance then 3950X is far ahead of i9-9900K. For gaming even-though single core performance is crucial, at higher resolutions like 1440p or even higher 4K the CPU plays less role as GPU is stressed to render that dense scenes. So it makes more sense to get CPU(AMD Ryzen 9 3950X) that has way better overall performance than to get CPU(Intel i9-9900K) which pulls ahead in games at 1080p which you won't be playing at.

 

[905doctor]

Yeah I dint know the space you had for the setup. So yes stick to that monitor as that costs the same.
AMD Ryzen is indeed a big deal specially this being their Third-gen lineup. Specially this CPU Ryzen 9-3950X comes with 16C/32T which is double of what Intel is offering in mainstream which takes its multi-core performance to a completely different level which Intel cannot even come near to. In single core performance where Intel was ahead by a decent margin till previous gen. With this new lineup of AMD CPUs the gap is reduced and 3950X is almost on par with i9-9900K in single thread workload. So if we have to consider overall performance then 3950X is far ahead of i9-9900K. For gaming even-though single core performance is crucial, at higher resolutions like 1440p or even higher 4K the CPU plays less role as GPU is stressed to render that dense scenes. So it makes more sense to get CPU(AMD Ryzen 9 3950X) that has way better overall performance than to get CPU(Intel i9-9900K) which pulls ahead in games at 1080p which you won't be playing at.

Thanks for there reply! Is there any thread to guide me on how to go about building my PC? I've never actually built one from scratch but have some general knowledge in changing and upgrading parts over the years.