[SOLVED] I need help deciding on picks for a brand new PC, and would like some opinions on parts and choices. Anyone who can help?

[InsomniacKoyomin]

Hello there, wasn't sure if this should be posted as a question or discussion, but ultimately decided the former as that is what I originally wanted this post to be. It might be a slightly lengthy post, because I have a little explanation to do and a lot of pieces to gather opinions about.

To start off with a little explanation, a couple days ago I broke my the CPU socket on my motherboard trying to clean it due partly to laziness and partly to a poorly designed case I've now tossed into the trash. This has led me to owning a CPU, a dying GPU and PSU, an 8GB stick of RAM and my HDD. Sort of thankfully I had been planning almost a complete overhaul of my PC next month, of everything but my motherboard, RAM, hard drive and WiFi card. The fact I now have to replace my motherboard as well is why it's sort of thankful.

I was planning to buy and put all the parts together one by one, but the whole ordeal has sort of tired me out and now I've changed my mind. I found a computer that has a number of the parts I was already planning to buy, but I'd like some opinions on some/all of the parts before I make a final decision so I don't waste any of what is now my emergency PC budget (which is around £1500/$2000/€1600)

This is the PC I'm currently looking at buying: http://www.cyberpowersystem.co.uk/saved/2579359
Hopefully it loads for everyone, but I'll list it's parts in a comment so as to not drag this post out anymore in case it doesn't.

My main questions and issues are as follows:

First, I am unsure what really constitutes as a good case, except for being spacious. I did some looking and the Lian Li Lancool II seems like not only a popular choice, but a solidly designed one too (if a little heavy). Thankfully it was one of the customisable options for this particular computer, but if anyone has any better options feel free to suggest them for consideration.

Second, is the liquid cooling option that I selected any good? I know nothing about liquid cooling so I pretty much need all the help I can get for that. My initial plan was to buy a Noctua NH-U12S 55 CFM CPU Cooler for the i7-9700k I was planning to buy to replace my i3. I'm still tempted to remove the liquid cooler and buy the Noctua seperately to use, but thermal paste is part of what got me into the mess that broke my motherboard in the first place so I'm also not too fond of the idea.

Third, is the MSI motherboard chosen a good fit? I was planning on getting a Gigabyte Z390 as they haven't steered me wrong, but none of their boards are an option, so I picked the top choice of the MSI boards as I really don't know much about those.

Fourth, are there suggestions, additions or replacements that anyone might have towards my builds in an attempt to make it better?

Some after notes: The i7-9700k is the CPU I want, I was already planning on buying it originally so it works perfectly for me. I plan on using it mostly to game, but at 1080p and high settings with 60 frames, mostly with games like Red Dead Redemption 2 as the most intensive game I play, and Risk of Rain 2 as the "least" I suppose (I don't have a 4K moniter nor the eyesight for one so I'm not interested in all that).
I checked the GPU options for the configuration and didn't see the RTX 2060 which is my choice GPU, so I plan to buy it seperately and install it once I have both the PC and the GPU delivered. The 8GB RAM I have chosen is exactly the same model and speed as the 8GB stick I currently have sitting around, and I'm not really looking for more than 16GBs currently.
I already have a 1TB HDD from my old PC and I don't really need more than 3TB totals so I'm not looking for more there. And I have an external WiFi card sitting with the rest of my stuff that I can plug into my new motherboard in the case it doesn't have onboard wireless networking.

Thank you in advance for any and all help, and I'll try my best to reply as quickly as possible, as I don't really want to be without a PC for too long.

 

[InsomniacKoyomin]

Case: Lian Li Lancool II Mesh Black Mid-Tower Gaming Chassis
Case Upgrades (Fans and Lighting): 3x 120mm Cyberpower Black PWM High Performance Cooling Fan
Cyberpower Noise Reduction Technology: None Selected
CPU (Processor): Intel® Core™ i7-9700K - 8-Core 3.60GHz, 4.90GHz Turbo - 12MB Cache + UHD Graphics, Ultimate OC Compatible
CPU Freebies: None Selected
CPU Overclocking: No Overclocking
CPU Cooling: Cooler Master Masterliquid Lite 120 Liquid Cooling System w/ 120mm Radiator, Extreme OC Compatible (Cooler Master CPU Water Cooling, Extreme OC Compatible)
Coolant for Cyberpower Hyper Liquid II Cooling Kit: None Selected
Second Coolant for Cyberpower Hyper Liquid II Cooling Kit (Dual Loop Only): None Selected
Motherboard: MSI MPG Z390 Gaming Plus: ATX w/ RGB, USB 3.1, SATA3, 2x M.2
Memory (RAM): 8GB (1x8GB) DDR4/3000mhz Dual Channel Memory (Corsair Vengeance LPX w/Heat Spreader)
Graphics Card (GPU): None Selected / I Have my own
Graphics Card Freebies: None Selected
Video Capture: None Selected
PSU (Power Supply): Corsair RM850x 850W 80+ Gold Modular Gaming Power Supply
PSU Braided Cable: None Selected
Solid State Drive (SSD): None Selected
M.2 SSD Drive: 250GB (1x250GB) Seagate Barracuda 510 M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD - 3100MB/s Read & 1200MB/s Write (Single Drive)
2nd M.2 SSD Drive: None Selected
Hard Drive (HDD & SSHD): 2TB Seagate BarraCuda SATA-III 6.0Gb/s 7200RPM Hard Drive (1 Drive)
RAID (Stripe or Mirror): None Selected
Optical Drive (BLU-Ray / DVD / DVD-RW): None Selected
External And Portable Storage (USB / HDD / SSD): None Selected
External Optical Drive: None Selected
Memory Card Reader: None Selected
Internal USB Hub: Built-in USB Ports
Wireless Networking: None Selected
Wireless USB Adaptor: None Selected
Wired Networking: ONBOARD 10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT -- As standard on all PCs
Sound Cards: HIGH DEFINITION ON-BOARD AUDIO

 

[DSzymborski]

A 120mm AIO is insufficient for this CPU. The motherboard choice is fine.

Keep in mind that while the RAM will probably work, it's not guaranteed. Only RAM packaged together is guaranteed to work.

 

[InsomniacKoyomin]

A 120mm AIO is insufficient for this CPU. The motherboard choice is fine.

Keep in mind that while the RAM will probably work, it's not guaranteed. Only RAM packaged together is guaranteed to work.

Would this be a better cooler, or would I be better off just getting the Noctua?

Part Specification

Custom built systems including Desktop Gaming PCs, Gaming Notebooks, and Workstations. Award winning gaming desktop and laptop with legendary performance.

www.cyberpowersystem.co.uk

And really? I didn't know that, even if they were at the same speeds and in the proper channels?

 

[DSzymborski]

Would this be a better cooler, or would I be better off just getting the Noctua?

Part Specification

Custom built systems including Desktop Gaming PCs, Gaming Notebooks, and Workstations. Award winning gaming desktop and laptop with legendary performance.

www.cyberpowersystem.co.uk

And really? I didn't know that, even if they were at the same speeds and in the proper channels?

The cooler's OK, but a rather middling-at-best one. I'd choose the Noctua air cooler over an entry-level 240mm on the 9700K.

As for the RAM, really. It'll probably work, but you need to be prepared for the possibility that it doesn't. The thing about semiconductor fabrication is that nothing is truly identical. A 9700K is not actually perfectly identical to any other 9700K. Most CPUs that aren't the highest in a series are just CPUs that didn't perform well enough to get the "higher" name.

RAM that is packaged together has been tested as working together. Now, "identical" sticks of RAM will be nearly identical, but again, it's not a guarantee that they'll be a close enough match. Just a "probably."

 

[InsomniacKoyomin]

The cooler's OK, but a rather middling-at-best one. I'd choose the Noctua air cooler over an entry-level 240mm on the 9700K.

As for the RAM, really. It'll probably work, but you need to be prepared for the possibility that it doesn't. The thing about semiconductor fabrication is that nothing is truly identical. A 9700K is not actually perfectly identical to any other 9700K. Most CPUs that aren't the highest in a series are just CPUs that didn't perform well enough to get the "higher" name.

RAM that is packaged together has been tested as working together. Now, "identical" sticks of RAM will be nearly identical, but again, it's not a guarantee that they'll be a close enough match. Just a "probably."

I can spare the money to buy the dual sticks honestly, could I then use my spare 8GB in a 3rd slot? I'm a little intimidated by liquid cooling so I'll probably pick the Noctua and just pray I don't <Mod Edit> up pasting again.

Which i7-9700 would be best? Or is it that I would be better off buying that seperately from somewhere else and installing it myself?

 

[DSzymborski]

I can spare the money to buy the dual sticks honestly, could I then use my spare 8GB in a 3rd slot? I'm a little intimidated by liquid cooling so I'll probably pick the Noctua and just pray I don't <Mod Edit> up pasting again.

Which i7-9700 would be best? Or is it that I would be better off buying that seperately from somewhere else and installing it myself?

All the 9700Ks have to follow the same basic parameters to be called a 9700K. If they didn't, they'd be sold as a different, lower SKU.

You can certainly try the AIO cooler. It's not an open loop or anything and is self-contained, so there's nothing to be intimidated by.

 

[InsomniacKoyomin]

All the 9700Ks have to follow the same basic parameters to be called a 9700K. If they didn't, they'd be sold as a different, lower SKU.

You can certainly try the AIO cooler. It's not an open loop or anything and is self-contained, so there's nothing to be intimidated by.

Do you have a liquid cooler that you'd recommend?

And it would make much of a difference which 9700 I got, the F, the K or the KF?

 

[DSzymborski]

Do you have a liquid cooler that you'd recommend?

And it would make much of a difference which 9700 I got, the F, the K or the KF?

The K is an overclocked one with integrated graphics. The KF is overclocked without integrated graphics. The F is locked without integrated graphics.

The best choice is what works for you. Considering Intel doesn't really give you savings in return for not having the integrated GPU in most cases, if given the choice, I'd go for the K.

240mm cooler depends on what they offer. H100i, Cooler Master MasterLiquid without the "Lite", EK 240mm, Arctic Liquid Freezer II 240, Lian Li Galahad, or Deepcool Captain would all be on my shopping list.

 

[InsomniacKoyomin]

The K is an overclocked one with integrated graphics. The KF is overclocked without integrated graphics. The F is locked without integrated graphics.

The best choice is what works for you. Considering Intel doesn't really give you savings in return for not having the integrated GPU in most cases, if given the choice, I'd go for the K.

240mm cooler depends on what they offer. H100i, Cooler Master MasterLiquid without the "Lite", EK 240mm, Arctic Liquid Freezer II 240, Lian Li Galahad, or Deepcool Captain would all be on my shopping list.

K it is.

They have a 360mm MasterLiquid but it is a Lite. None of the tohers are options. How difficult are liquid coolers to install?

 

[DSzymborski]

K it is.

They have a 360mm MasterLiquid but it is a Lite. None of the tohers are options. How difficult are liquid coolers to install?

Not really. In fact, they're typically easier than air cooler to install.

There's nothing wrong with going with the one offered and changing it up later if it doesn't meet your needs. I'm just giving you notes of caution, not insisting that you absolutely have to go out and start replacing things immediately!

 

[InsomniacKoyomin]

Haha, I'm really just looking to not spend money on something I'll want to or might have to replace soon-ish after. I'll probably give it a short think but buying a better one seperately to install isn't out of the picture.

Do you have any thoughts on the case choice? It's honestly probably my biggest worry cause I have no clue how to tell a good case apart from a "bad" case (not that there even is necessarily such a thing)

 

[DSzymborski]

Haha, I'm really just looking to not spend money on something I'll want to or might have to replace soon-ish after. I'll probably give it a short think but buying a better one seperately to install isn't out of the picture.

Do you have any thoughts on the case choice? It's honestly probably my biggest worry cause I have no clue how to tell a good case apart from a "bad" case (not that there even is necessarily such a thing)

It's a decent sub-$100 case. It's not the best thermal performer in this segment, but it's adequate. It's a fairly easy case to work with and looks good (though the latter is a very personal evaluation).

 

[InsomniacKoyomin]

Easy to work with is good enough for me. I can always upgrade to a bigger and better case later, I just flat out refuse to go back to using my old one.

Thanks so much for all your help