[SOLVED] In need of some good advice on a new build - PSU - Case - Cooling and Monitor.

[gullidotwog]

Hi All!!
So I could do with some specific advice on certain aspects of my intended build, as well as any other suggestions that people may have.

GPU: Gigabyte GTX 1080ti - Already purchased -

CPU: i9 9900K

RAM: 2 x 16Gb (Probably Corsair Vengeance LPX/RGB or Hyper X, with another 32Gb to be added later)

MoBo: Gigabyte Z390 Aorus Pro

Drives: 1x256Gb SSD for C:/ and 1Tb HDD for files (I already have 2 other 128 SSDs I can use for games until I get another 256 or 512SSD)

So far I think this is all pretty straightforward (unless anyone spots a problem) the next part is where I need some advice

PSU: I currently have an 850W Corsair PSU, which is enough to power the new system BUT it is now six years old now. Is it simply wiser to get a brand new PSU (prolly around the 850W again) rather than running lots of new equipment off of an old PSU?

CASE: I currently own an Antec Nine Hundred (http://store.antec.com/gaming-series/nine-hundred.html). While it would be nice to get a new case I don't want to spend much more than €100. Airflow is important as it gets very hot here in the summer (40 or 105) and if I get a new case it should be at least as good as my Antec for fans/airflow. Looking around there are so many and prices seem to vary wildly, a lot of brands I have never heard of (on the cheaper end) which I am wary of. Any suggestions here? Are there any cases as good as my Antec for this kind of price?

CPU COOLING: The i9 has a reputation for being hot... and whilst I am not going to be doing any crazy overclocking, I still want decent cooling. I was going to get something like the Noctua D15 or C14s... However I already have the U12P SE2 (https://noctua.at/en/nh-u12p-se2) and according to Noctuas site it is still compatible the i9. Although mine is older and discontinued, will a newer model actually give me significantly better cooling at all? Although a little sleeker and nicer designed, I cannot see any reason that the newer models should be significantly more effective. Should I just stick with my U12P for now?

Monitor: I would like to get a new monitor to get the best out of this new PC, however I don't have a huge budget for one, so I am definitely looking for under €500 and preferably under €400. I think gsync is out, so little choice and much more expensive (what happened here, nVidia?!)

The decision is whether to get a QHD 1440x2260 or full UHD 2160x3840. WIth UHD screens coming down in price all the time it is temping to just get a Samsung UHD 60Hz for around €300 but I do have some reservations about this...

My concerns about 2160 x 3840 UHD are this... I have read/heard that on 28" screens the pixel density is such that the difference between 1440p and 2160p really isn't always that noticeable, certainly when gaming at least. And secondly, won't running at 2160p all the time will mean more work on the GPU, lower framerates, higher temps and shorter hardware lifetime?

So is all that extra processing really worth it? Would my user experience and system be better served by getting a 144Hz 1440p QHD than trying to go for a UHD?

Is it possible to have a UHD monitor but to scale down the aspect ratio so the GPU is not always having to output 2160 x 3840 when it isn't really needed? Is that possible/realistic or does it just look awful?

I just haven't had any personal experience using these types of monitor, and without that it is very difficult to really judge. UHD sounds great in theory, I am not sure if in practice however QHD isn't better.

So any monitor recommendations would be really welcome, my last couple have been Samsungs and before that I had an LG (nice looking but badly made) but I often here asus or asrock mentioned.

Sry for very long post, thanks everyone!

 

[vMax]

In terms of the base setup, that is one powerful PC you are building...

The 9900K with a Noctua NH-D15 would be fine provided you are not going to go crazy on overclocking...The Motherboard in the Gigabyte Z390 Aorus Pro is a good choice as it has a great VRM and cooling setup that can handle the 9900K

RAM, SSD etc all good.

On the case, boy do I remember the Antec Nine Hundred...A great case in it's time...A high airflow case would be good for you especially as you have hot summers, so I would recommend looking at the Fractal Design Meshify C which is a very good airflow case at $99.98...I know it is right at the top of your budget but it would be worthwhile...Or at least another high airflow case like the Meshify C.

https://pcpartpicker.com/product/Y6Crxr/fractal-design-meshify-c-atx-mid-tower-case-fd-ca-mesh-c-bko-tg

As to the PSU, yes I would recommend a decent PSU like a Seasonic Focus Plus Gold 850w which tends to be on sale and is always highly rated or the EVGA SuperNova G3 850w Gold at $99

https://pcpartpicker.com/product/PvDzK8/evga-supernova-g3-850w-80-gold-certified-fully-modular-atx-power-supply-220-g3-0850

As to monitor and resolution, this is a tough choice but I would lean to 144Hz 1440p as the right one for your setup to maximise the experience as the GPU/CPU combination will drive 1440p extreme well...Something like the AOC - AG271QX 27.0" which is 1440p 144Hz at $399 though to be honest I hope others jump in as monitors is not my strong point...

https://pcpartpicker.com/product/mNBrxr/aoc-ag271qx-270-2560x1440-144hz-monitor-ag271qx

Hopefully others will jump in as well...

 

[gullidotwog]

In terms of the base setup, that is one powerful PC you are building...

The 9900K with a Noctua NH-D15 would be fine provided you are not going to go crazy on overclocking...The Motherboard in the Gigabyte Z390 Aorus Pro is a good choice as it has a great VRM and cooling setup that can handle the 9900K

RAM, SSD etc all good.

On the case, boy do I remember the Antec Nine Hundred...A great case in it's time...A high airflow case would be good for you especially as you have hot summers, so I would recommend looking at the Fractal Design Meshify C which is a very good airflow case at $99.98...I know it is right at the top of your budget but it would be worthwhile...Or at least another high airflow case like the Meshify C.

https://pcpartpicker.com/product/Y6Crxr/fractal-design-meshify-c-atx-mid-tower-case-fd-ca-mesh-c-bko-tg

As to the PSU, yes I would recommend a decent PSU like a Seasonic Focus Plus Gold 850w which tends to be on sale and is always highly rated or the EVGA SuperNova G3 850w Gold at $99

https://pcpartpicker.com/product/PvDzK8/evga-supernova-g3-850w-80-gold-certified-fully-modular-atx-power-supply-220-g3-0850

As to monitor and resolution, this is a tough choice but I would lean to 144Hz 1440p as the right one for your setup to maximise the experience as the GPU/CPU combination will drive 1440p extreme well...Something like the AOC - AG271QX 27.0" which is 1440p 144Hz at $399 though to be honest I hope others jump in as monitors is not my strong point...

https://pcpartpicker.com/product/mNBrxr/aoc-ag271qx-270-2560x1440-144hz-monitor-ag271qx

Hopefully others will jump in as well...

Hi Max,

Thanks for all the great info. I will definitely check out the Fractal Case in detail, is one I never heard of. One thing I was a little unclear on, do you think it would be better to replace my Noctua U12P SE2 with the D15? I know mine is discontinued now, but I don't really know how much they have evolved performance-wise. For the rest you confirmed a lot of what I suspected myself. UHD is an attractive idea in theory, but in practice 1440p would probably be a better all-rounder. (and who knows, with UHD getting so cheap now, maybe I could indulge in one in six months or a year and have dual setup)

The last PC I built was in 2012, with an i7 2600K, a gigabyte Z68-UD4-B3 and a GTX580, which at the time was pretty much the best you could buy without going to silly money (like the i9 9980XE) and it has served me pretty well, the 580 only died a few months ago and the rest still works fine, is just getting bit too old for modern games/tech. However for many I think my current PC would still be fine. So I am doing the same thing this time. Adding a second GPU looks unlikely though, unless the 1080ti come down a lot in price over the next year or so... and getting 2 2080ti?! Hmmm unlikely xD

Thanks again for the advice, Max.

 

[vMax]

No problems at all...

On the CPU cooler question, personally I would go the D15 route as the 9900K requires the bests cooling period...and where air coolers are concerned the might NH-D15 is the king!!!

And agree on the UHD point, they are dropping in price but right now the 1440p 144Hz is the sweet spot...

As to your final point, I totally agree and tend to do the same by buying the very best I can afford and then getting max use out of it for as many years as possible and then upgrading in a big bang again...

On the GPU, side, I would have loved a 2080ti and even the 2080 but boy are those prices really hard to take at the moment and we need AMD or even Intel with there new GPU coming out in a few years to give Nvidia some competition as we are getting rolled over by Nvidia...

At least on the CPU front we have competition and good CPU's across all price points..I would buy a 9900K in a heartbeat and might still if I can hide the spend from the wife.....one day maybe!!!

 

[gullidotwog]

No problems at all...

On the CPU cooler question, personally I would go the D15 route as the 9900K requires the bests cooling period...and where air coolers are concerned the might NH-D15 is the king!!!

And agree on the UHD point, they are dropping in price but right now the 1440p 144Hz is the sweet spot...

As to your final point, I totally agree and tend to do the same by buying the very best I can afford and then getting max use out of it for as many years as possible and then upgrading in a big bang again...

On the GPU, side, I would have loved a 2080ti and even the 2080 but boy are those prices really hard to take at the moment and we need AMD or even Intel with there new GPU coming out in a few years to give Nvidia some competition as we are getting rolled over by Nvidia...

At least on the CPU front we have competition and good CPU's across all price points..I would buy a 9900K in a heartbeat and might still if I can hide the spend from the wife.....one day maybe!!!

Okay, and thanks again. If you think replacing the Noctua U12P with the D15 is worth it then I will check it out... the D15 does certainly look a bit sleeker. May have to choose between that and the newer case however

I will research 1440p monitors I think for now, it seems to be the wiser choice I think... maybe if I am unsure which is the best I will make a separate thread in the monitor forum. I came across the AOC somewhere else, but I really don't know what's between the different ones. Will take more googling I guess

All the best Max, thanks!!

 

[vMax]

Happy to help...And agreed on the monitor side as that is not an area I am knowledgeable about enough and there are some great people on Tom's who know there stuff on Monitors..Hopefully they will chime in or start a new thread on the monitor side...

 

[madmatt30]

With a 1080ti definititely 1440p.

For gaming you need a 2080ti to game at 4k on new titles period.

There's an argument for 4k (even at 28 inch monitor size) if one of your primary uses is 4k video and/or photo editing but for gaming we've only just entered the realm where you can reliably game at 4k on a single gpu setup.

1440p on a native 1440p screen will always look better than a downscale image on a 4k screen.

Inarguably if you wanted 4k gaming you should have gone 2080ti & an i5 8400 or ryzen 2600 which would have been doable.

As you already purchased the 1080ti though it's kind of a moot point.

 

[gullidotwog]

With a 1080ti definititely 1440p.

For gaming you need a 2080ti to game at 4k on new titles period.

There's an argument for 4k (even at 28 inch monitor size) if one of your primary uses is 4k video and/or photo editing but for gaming we've only just entered the realm where you can reliably game at 4k on a single gpu setup.

1440p on a native 1440p screen will always look better than a downscale image on a 4k screen.

Inarguably if you wanted 4k gaming you should have gone 2080ti & an i5 8400 or ryzen 2600 which would have been doable.

As you already purchased the 1080ti though it's kind of a moot point.

Thanks Matt... tbh this is kinda what I thought would be the case. I do do a little video editing from time to time, but nothing like enough to justify buying 4K for that. I can imagine the extra pixels would be nice when working in Photoshop or 3dsMax just because of the extra space.

Sadly I was somewhat forced to buy a new GPU a couple of months ago as my old one died and I needed my PC for work. The RTX cards were literally released the same week I got my 1080, but the nVidia made ones were €1400 where I live... I could have got 2x 1080s for that. Was just too expensive.

Also I have to be honest, I have always been really curious to try out a 144Hz screen, and to get THAT with 4K... jesus I imagine you'd need 2 or 3 way sli with 1080 or 2080 titans... where obviously we are talking about crazy money systems.

 

[gullidotwog]

I don't know if it is too late to update this with another question... but after doing more research I am thinking about going for an AiO liquid cooler like the Cooler Master Liquid Pro 280 or the Corsair H100i or x. (Kraken a lil expensive) Would this be a better idea than Noctua air cooling?

Apart for the better all around cooling... the idea appeals simply because the Noctua system is bulky as hell and a real pain to clean. (I live in an old building and PC collects a lot of dust over time) and all round just seems tidier and gives better access to motherboard once installed

Is this a better idea than fan cooling?

 

[vMax]

I don't know if it is too late to update this with another question... but after doing more research I am thinking about going for an AiO liquid cooler like the Cooler Master Liquid Pro 280 or the Corsair H100i or x. (Kraken a lil expensive) Would this be a better idea than Noctua air cooling?

Apart for the better all around cooling... the idea appeals simply because the Noctua system is bulky as hell and a real pain to clean. (I live in an old building and PC collects a lot of dust over time) and all round just seems tidier and gives better access to motherboard once installed

Is this a better idea than fan cooling?

Personally, I think that is a better idea and the reason I moved to AIO's...simply becouse I did not want the weight and bulk of a heavy air cooler... I have been running AIO's for to many years to remember and they will do more than a good job on cooling but go for a 280mm AIO if you can as the 9900K is a beast....

 

[gullidotwog]

I don't know if it is too late to update this with another question... but after doing more research I am thinking about going for an AiO liquid cooler like the Cooler Master Liquid Pro 280 or the Corsair H100i or x. (Kraken a lil expensive) Would this be a better idea than Noctua air cooling?

Apart for the better all around cooling... the idea appeals simply because the Noctua system is bulky as hell and a real pain to clean. (I live in an old building and PC collects a lot of dust over time) and all round just seems tidier and gives better access to motherboard once installed

Is this a better idea than fan cooling?

Personally, I think that is a better idea and the reason I moved to AIO's...simply becouse I did not want the weight and bulk of a heavy air cooler... I have been running AIO's for to many years to remember and they will do more than a good job on cooling but go for a 280mm AIO if you can as the 9900K is a beast....

Hey Max! Yeah I have been looking into this more and more the last 24 hours and I am pretty much sold on the idea now. Someone made a comment in another thread about having used same fan systems in past that I was looking at, but had moved on to liquid cooling, just as you said, and it does make a lot of sense.

I will definitely go for a 2 fan 280mm cooler as you suggested and probably between the two models I mentioned in the last post, Cooler Master and Corsair. I will try to research the two more (someone left a negative comment about Corsair coolers in a thread I found but it was just one person)

I am still looking into it but I think maybe I found a good case pretty cheap, Thermaltake Versa J25, which if as good as it seems will free up a little cash for the cooler, and it has space for liquid cooler rack at the top (as well as 4 case fans)

https://www.alternate.co.uk/Thermaltake/Versa-J25-TG-RGB-computer-case-Midi-Tower-Black-Tower-casing/html/product/1474829

Thanks max!

 

[vMax]

No problems at all....I have used Corsair AIO's predominantly and currently use the H150i Pro which is the 360mm but can attest to how good the Corsair AIO's are but equally, I am sure the Cooler Master ones will be good as well.

As to the case, yes the the Thermaltake Versa does look the part...The Versa J24 has more of an Airflow design with a mesh front panel so a bit more cooling power but does not look as good...but gives you a choice as I am sure they are roughly the same price...

https://www.thermaltake.com/Chassis/Mid_Tower_/Vcoolerersa/C_00003355/Versa_J24_Tempered_Glass_ARGB_Edition/design.htm

 

[gullidotwog]

No problems at all....I have used Corsair AIO's predominantly and currently use the H150i Pro which is the 360mm but can attest to how good the Corsair AIO's are but equally, I am sure the Cooler Master ones will be good as well.

As to the case, yes the the Thermaltake Versa does look the part...The Versa J24 has more of an Airflow design with a mesh front panel so a bit more cooling power but does not look as good...but gives you a choice as I am sure they are roughly the same price...

https://www.thermaltake.com/Chassis/Mid_Tower_/Vcoolerersa/C_00003355/Versa_J24_Tempered_Glass_ARGB_Edition/design.htm

Hahaha I found the J24 about an hour after posting that, and yes, at almost exactly the same price. You must be clairvoyant! xD

Good to know the Corsair ones are okay, there is the 100x which is very cheap, but also very basic... I think going for the 100i or the Cooler Master would be better. They are both very similar in price (and quality I would imagine) so I am not sure which one, maybe just let aesthetic decide!

Take care. and thanks again

 

[vMax]

No problems at all and have a great build..