[SOLVED] Build Advice on First PC

Aug 13, 2019
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Hello Everyone,

I'd love to get your opinions on the first draft of my pc parts list. Any feedback would be appreciated. Thanks!

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i7-8700K 3.7 GHz 6-Core Processor ($469.99 @ Newegg Canada)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($34.99 @ Amazon Canada)
Motherboard: MSI B360 GAMING PLUS ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($122.50 @ Vuugo)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($219.00 @ Canada Computers)
Storage: Samsung 970 Evo 250 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($99.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($53.50 @ Vuugo)
Video Card: MSI GeForce RTX 2080 8 GB VENTUS OC Video Card ($979.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Case: NZXT H500 ATX Mid Tower Case ($99.99 @ Memory Express)
Power Supply: Corsair RMx (2018) 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($119.99 @ Amazon Canada)
Total: $2199.94
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-08-13 16:45 EDT-0400
 
Solution
I'm not aware that Solidworks is single threaded, I would be quite surprised if it were.

I'm not sure I can endorse the i5-9600k. It is still a great gaming CPU when overclocked, and it does have fast cores. But for the money pretty much all the AMD CPUs offer a better general purpose CPU than Intel's at the moment.

Unlocked i5, i7, and i9 are really only suitable if gaming at the highest frame rates is the goal. The i5 will be fine as an average user's CPU, but if do anything fancy, only have six cores may become an issue in the future. Also highly likely to be a dead platform as Intel will likely release a new socket and/or head straight to DDR5.

Are you dropping the RTX2080 Super for an RTX2070 Super in favor of a more expensive...

Eximo

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#1 thing is that you have an basic motherboard paired with a high end overclocking CPU. CPU cooler is fine for not overclocking, though not really the best choice on the market. Also a very tall cooler for its weight. If you do want to overclock, look at be quiet! dark rock series or Noctua.

Not sure I would waste money on a 1TB hard drive, you can get an decent 1TB Sata SSD or even another M.2 SSD for not much more. If you have a need for a scratch drive, maybe look at a larger 2TB model with decent cache rather than a budget drive. (Caviar Black as an example)
 
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Aug 13, 2019
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#1 thing is that you have an basic motherboard paired with a high end overclocking CPU. CPU cooler is fine for not overclocking, though not really the best choice on the market. Also a very tall cooler for its weight. If you do want to overclock, look at be quiet! dark rock series or Noctua.

Not sure I would waste money on a 1TB hard drive, you can get an decent 1TB Sata SSD or even another M.2 SSD for not much more. If you have a need for a scratch drive, maybe look at a larger 2TB model with decent cache rather than a budget drive. (Caviar Black as an example)
Thank you for your detailed advice.

What's wrong with using a basic motherboard with a overclocking CPU? I've looked at a couple references online on how to choose a motherboard but it is still kind of confusing. I realize the B360 doesn't allow for overclocking but the K version of the CPU has a higher base clock speed <- I'm not sure if that's good logic.

Good advice regarding the storage. You're right, a 1tb sata ssd isn't that expensive. Thanks!
 
Here is the list:

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 3900X 3.8 GHz 12-Core Processor ($675.50 @ shopRBC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte B450M DS3H Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard ($94.99 @ Amazon Canada)
Memory: G.Skill Trident Z 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($189.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Storage: Intel 660p Series 1.02 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($124.99 @ Canada Computers)
Video Card: Zotac GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER 8 GB GAMING Video Card ($919.99 @ Mike's Computer Shop)
Case: Fractal Design Define C ATX Mid Tower Case ($104.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Power Supply: Corsair RMx (2018) 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($119.99 @ Amazon Canada)
Total: $2230.44
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-08-13 22:51 EDT-0400


This is a better suited build for you. Specially for 3D workload.
 

Eximo

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Not sure you need to go to 12 cores for Solidworks, won't hurt though. Though the R7-3700X wouldn't be a bad alternative to the 8700k and would be a bit cheaper.

As to getting a high end board for a high end processor, it is more than just going after the faster base speeds. You have power delivery and temperatures to worry about. That particular B360 board looks like it at least has some heatsinks on it, but Z390 boards will have more phases and larger heatsinks so that you can keep the CPU at high output for long periods. That isn't necessarily clear with cheaper boards. They don't often get as much review attention.
 
Aug 13, 2019
6
0
10
Here is the list:

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 3900X 3.8 GHz 12-Core Processor ($675.50 @ shopRBC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte B450M DS3H Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard ($94.99 @ Amazon Canada)
Memory: G.Skill Trident Z 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($189.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Storage: Intel 660p Series 1.02 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($124.99 @ Canada Computers)
Video Card: Zotac GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER 8 GB GAMING Video Card ($919.99 @ Mike's Computer Shop)
Case: Fractal Design Define C ATX Mid Tower Case ($104.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Power Supply: Corsair RMx (2018) 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($119.99 @ Amazon Canada)
Total: $2230.44
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-08-13 22:51 EDT-0400


This is a better suited build for you. Specially for 3D workload.

Would 12 cores be required for Solidworks? Isn't solidworks a single threaded application unless you are rendering images which I wouldn't be. Any reason to go with the zotac card?
 
Aug 13, 2019
6
0
10
Not sure you need to go to 12 cores for Solidworks, won't hurt though. Though the R7-3700X wouldn't be a bad alternative to the 8700k and would be a bit cheaper.

As to getting a high end board for a high end processor, it is more than just going after the faster base speeds. You have power delivery and temperatures to worry about. That particular B360 board looks like it at least has some heatsinks on it, but Z390 boards will have more phases and larger heatsinks so that you can keep the CPU at high output for long periods. That isn't necessarily clear with cheaper boards. They don't often get as much review attention.

Do you think this would be better? Primarily for gaming, 3D CAD sometimes.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i5-9600K 3.7 GHz 6-Core Processor ($316.75 @ Vuugo)
CPU Cooler: be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 4 50.5 CFM CPU Cooler
Motherboard: Gigabyte Z390 M GAMING Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($177.99 @ Vuugo)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($219.00 @ Amazon Canada)
Storage: Samsung 970 Evo Plus 250 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($100.50 @ shopRBC)
Storage: SanDisk SSD PLUS 1 TB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($163.79 @ Amazon Canada)
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER 8 GB Video Card ($1063.40 @ Amazon Canada)
Case: NZXT H500 ATX Mid Tower Case ($109.50 @ Vuugo)
Power Supply: Corsair RMx (2018) 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($119.99 @ Amazon Canada)
Total: $2270.92
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-08-14 22:59 EDT-0400
 

Eximo

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I'm not aware that Solidworks is single threaded, I would be quite surprised if it were.

I'm not sure I can endorse the i5-9600k. It is still a great gaming CPU when overclocked, and it does have fast cores. But for the money pretty much all the AMD CPUs offer a better general purpose CPU than Intel's at the moment.

Unlocked i5, i7, and i9 are really only suitable if gaming at the highest frame rates is the goal. The i5 will be fine as an average user's CPU, but if do anything fancy, only have six cores may become an issue in the future. Also highly likely to be a dead platform as Intel will likely release a new socket and/or head straight to DDR5.

Are you dropping the RTX2080 Super for an RTX2070 Super in favor of a more expensive board and CPU cooler? That will have a negative impact on gaming for sure. However, it really does depend on your target resolution. 2560x1440@60hz is well within the capabilities of an RTX2070 Super.

If you are only running 1920x1080 then the GPU is a little overkill.
 
Solution
Aug 13, 2019
6
0
10
Yeah solidworks pretty much runs on a single core for general modeling. Rendering and simulation benefit from multiple cores.

That's a good point about the i5 chip. AMD also seems to be sticking with the same socket until atleast 2020.

Yeah, i'll be using a 1080p monitor. Which gpu would you recommend for that resolution that also has ray tracing?

Also, when picking a RAM speed, is there any benefit to matching the speed on the CPU to the RAM speed. For example if the CPU is running at 3.8 GHz, do I need 3800MHz RAM to optimize performance? Or is default speed for DDR4 fine?

Thanks for your all help so far! :)
 

Eximo

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You could drop down to the RTX2060 Super, but the RTX2070 Super will have more longevity. Ray Tracing is also a pretty big impact on FPS. So if you plan to use that feature, going for the larger card makes sense as well.

Default DDR4 is 2133, which is quite slow by today's standards. So certainly not recommended, especially for Ryzen. Low latency fast speed is key to getting the most out of the CPU. It matters less with Intel, but there is no reason to cripple the memory system when XMP memory is a click away from being set.

100Mhz BCLK x CPU ratio multiplier = CPU Core frequency
Cpu Ring bus or Uncore has its own multiplier, this is the speed of the onboard cache (The fastest memory in any system)

System memory has it's own multiplier, for DDR4 3600 that would be 18 for 1800Mhz. (Double Data Rate, communication occurs on the leading and falling edge of the pulse, so the effective speed is doubled)

I have seen some stability advantages in getting the cache and memory to some ratio of like 3:1 but it isn't always practical.