[SOLVED] Building a desktop, 4K or not 4K?

Jan 26, 2021
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Hi all. It's been awhile since I last built a pc. I want to build one now. I want widescreen and 4k. I guess I need a 3070 or above to do 4K but then these ridiculous 3070+ graphic prices very funny to look at!! So if I don't buy one of these, should I just buy all the 4k equipment first and upgrade the graphic later or just build something powerful with the 3060 ti and non 4k monitor? Or should I do 4k?? Thanks for any confusion as I'm .
 
Solution
According to AMD their chip shortages are going to last until the latter part of 2021 per Tom's Hardware. Intel releases Rocket Lake sometime next month or early march. Waiting on sites like this one to get their hands on those chips for reviews. Both Rocket Lake and Comet Lake cpu's work in the new Z590 boards. Like you suggested you could build now and wait for those RTX cards to become available. Bestbuy has been the best bet for those cards per the posters on the EVGA forums. Just make sure to get registered on Bestbuy website so you get an auto notify the next time they sell a batch of those cards ... they go quick. btw the higher the resolution you play the more you're going to pay.

550w + 3060 for 1080P
600w + 3060 Ti for...
According to AMD their chip shortages are going to last until the latter part of 2021 per Tom's Hardware. Intel releases Rocket Lake sometime next month or early march. Waiting on sites like this one to get their hands on those chips for reviews. Both Rocket Lake and Comet Lake cpu's work in the new Z590 boards. Like you suggested you could build now and wait for those RTX cards to become available. Bestbuy has been the best bet for those cards per the posters on the EVGA forums. Just make sure to get registered on Bestbuy website so you get an auto notify the next time they sell a batch of those cards ... they go quick. btw the higher the resolution you play the more you're going to pay.

550w + 3060 for 1080P
600w + 3060 Ti for 1080P
750w + 3070 for 1440
750w + 3080 for 4K
750w + 3090 for 4k
 
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Solution
Thank you. Is building a 1080 gaming system still a good choice or should you go atleast 1440?
It depends on your budget tbh.

https://www.newegg.com/p/pl?N=100007627 601352138 601360965 <--- the new Z590 boards have just started showing up on newegg. Expect cheaper Z590 boards to start showing up on there in the next coming days.

Here's an example.

https://www.newegg.com/black-lian-li-lancool-ii-atx-desktop/p/2AM-000Z-00053
LIAN LI LANCOOL II BLACK Tempered Glass ATX Case -LANCOOL II -X $89.99

https://www.newegg.com/p/N82E16813157975
ASRock Z590 STEEL LEGEND LGA 1200 $194.99

https://www.newegg.com/intel-core-i5-10400f-core-i5-10th-gen/p/N82E16819118132
Intel Core i5-10400F $164.99

https://www.newegg.com/cooler-master-hyper-212-black-edition-rr-212s-20pk-r1/p/N82E16835103278
Cooler Master Hyper 212 Black Edition CPU Air Cooler $39.99

https://www.newegg.com/ballistix-16gb-288-pin-ddr4-sdram/p/N82E16820164176
Crucial Ballistix 3200 MHz DDR4 DRAM Desktop Memory Kit 16GB (8GBx2) CL16 BL2K8G32C16U4B $76.99

https://www.newegg.com/mushkin-enhanced-pilot-e-2tb/p/N82E16820226902
Mushkin Enhanced Pilot-E M.2 2280 2TB PCIe Gen3 x4 NVMe 1.3 3D TLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) MKNSSDPE2TB-D8 Max Sequential Read: Up to 3500 MBps | Max Sequential Write: Up to 3100 MBps $208.99

https://www.amazon.com/Intel-Wi-Fi-Gig-Desktop-AX200-NGWG-NV/dp/B085M7VPDP
Wi-Fi 6 (Gig+) Desktop Kit, AX200, 2230, 2x2 AX+BT, vPro $22.99

Total: $799

1080P


https://www.newegg.com/seasonic-core-series-core-gm-650-650w/p/N82E16817151244
Seasonic CORE GM-650, 650W 80+ Gold, Semi-Modular $89.99

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/nvidia-geforce-rtx-3060-ti-8gb-gddr6-pci-express-4-0-graphics-card-steel-and-black/6439402.p?skuId=6439402
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti 8GB GDDR6 PCI Express 4.0 Graphics Card $399.99

https://www.newegg.com/p/N82E16824012016
GIGABYTE G27F 27" 144Hz 1080P Gaming Monitor, 1920 x 1080P IPS Display, 1ms (MPRT) Response Time, 95% DCI-P3, FreeSync Premium, 1x DisplayPort 1.2, 2x HDMI 1.4, 2x USB 3.0 $219.99

Total: $1,509 (includes the $799 up above)

1440P

https://www.newegg.com/seasonic-focus-750-gold-ssr-750fm-750w/p/N82E16817151201
Seasonic FOCUS GM-750, 750W 80+ Gold, Semi-Modular $103.99

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/nvidia-geforce-rtx-3070-8gb-gddr6-pci-express-4-0-graphics-card-dark-platinum-and-black/6429442.p?skuId=6429442
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 8GB GDDR6 PCI Express 4.0 Graphics Card $499.99

https://www.newegg.com/p/N82E16824012015
GIGABYTE G27Q 27" 144Hz 1440P Gaming Monitor, 2560 x 1440 IPS Display, 1ms (MPRT) Response Time, 92% DCI-P3, VESA Display HDR400, FreeSync Premium, 1x DisplayPort 1.2, 2x HDMI 2.0, 2x USB 3.0 $376.99

Total: $1,782 (includes the $799 up above)



View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lfxuqjt38dA
 
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Some cost cutters for that build up above including waiting for the cheaper Z590 boards to be released.

https://www.newegg.com/black-corsair-carbide-series-175r-atx-mid-tower/p/N82E16811139141
CORSAIR Carbide Series 175R RGB Tempered Glass Mid-Tower ATX Gaming Case, Black $67.75

https://www.newegg.com/g-skill-16gb-288-pin-ddr4-sdram/p/N82E16820232884
G.SKILL Aegis 16GB (2 x 8GB) 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM DDR4 3200 (PC4 25600) Intel XMP 2.0 Memory Kit Model F4-3200C16D-16GIS $74.99

https://www.newegg.com/mushkin-enhanced-raw-series-1tb/p/N82E16820226908
Mushkin Enhanced RAW Series 2.5" 1TB SATA III 3D TLC Internal SSD MKNSSDRW1TB $81.99

Cheaper version of that 1080P

https://www.newegg.com/seasonic-core-series-core-gm-550-550w/p/N82E16817151243
Seasonic CORE GM-550, 550W 80+ Gold, Semi-Modular, Fan Control in Silent and Cooling Mode $79.99

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 $329.00 (RTX 3060 Coming Late February)

Pixio PX248 Prime 24 inch 144Hz IPS 1ms FHD 1080p FreeSync Gaming Monitor $169.99
 
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Jan 26, 2021
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1
15
Thank you everyone! I appreciate your input. I'm also not a hardcore gamer, just what you should call..fun gamer:) like I would do it sometimes. Is 1080 good enough if I like to do games sometimes and will look very good enough if I do multimedia and productivity???
 
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Instead of worrying about resolution directly (since GPU prices are so high), what size monitor are you looking at getting?
1080p is a perfectly fine resolution if you havent experienced higher, so its a safe bet. However, if you start getting into larger monitor sizes it can get quite irritating to look at.
If you approach the ~27" market, you would really want to move to 1440p.
 
Thank you everyone! I appreciate your input. I'm also not a hardcore gamer, just what you should call..fun gamer:) like I would do it sometimes. Is 1080 good enough if I like to do games sometimes and will look very good enough if I do multimedia and productivity???
This monitor had some solid reviews and sold like hotcakes once it was released.

Pixio PX248 Prime 24 inch 144Hz IPS 1ms FHD 1080p FreeSync Gaming Monitor $169.99
 

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Instead of worrying about resolution directly (since GPU prices are so high), what size monitor are you looking at getting?
1080p is a perfectly fine resolution if you havent experienced higher, so its a safe bet. However, if you start getting into larger monitor sizes it can get quite irritating to look at.
If you approach the ~27" market, you would really want to move to 1440p.

I have a 4K display but I have noticed that it can get very sluggish in high detailed games. Though I am going to start moving to a 1440P ultrawide display with a relatively high refresh rate. I think currently that would be a better investment than going full 4K since there aren't a lot of games that really take advantage of the really high resolutions yet.
 
At higher resolutions, you will want a larger monitor.
Otherwise the text can be tiny. 32-35" I think.

If you are not gaming, Intel HD630 integrated graphics connected via displayport will run the screen at 60hz. lg makes some good wide monitors.
That is sufficient to view hd movies.
Later when you want to play fast action games, you can buy a discrete gaming graphics card.