[SOLVED] Looking to build a gaming pc

[S75]

Hi, I’m currently gaming on a iMac and I’m looking forward to make the switch to a gaming pc. My budget is around 2500$ and I’m mostly playing minecraft and red dead redemption 2. Thank you!

 

[Hellfire13]

AMD...

PCPartPicker Part List

Type|Item|Price
:----|:----|:----
CPU | AMD Ryzen 9 3900X 3.8 GHz 12-Core Processor | $416.52 @ Amazon
CPU Cooler | be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 4 50.5 CFM CPU Cooler | $89.90 @ Amazon
Motherboard | Gigabyte X570 AORUS PRO WIFI ATX AM4 Motherboard | $269.99 @ Best Buy
Memory | G.Skill Ripjaws V 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3600 CL16 Memory | $149.99 @ Newegg
Storage | HP EX950 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive | $147.97 @ Amazon
Storage | Western Digital WD Blue 2 TB 2.5" Solid State Drive | $227.88 @ Walmart
Video Card | Asus GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER 8 GB DUAL EVO OC Video Card | $729.99 @ B&H
Case | Fractal Design Meshify C ATX Mid Tower Case | $99.98 @ Newegg
Power Supply | Corsair RMx (2018) 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply | $144.99 @ Corsair
| Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts |
| Total | $2277.21
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-06-08 21:55 EDT-0400 |

Intel...

PCPartPicker Part List

Type|Item|Price
:----|:----|:----
CPU | Intel Core i9-10900K 3.7 GHz 10-Core Processor | $529.99 @ Best Buy
CPU Cooler | be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 4 50.5 CFM CPU Cooler | $89.90 @ Amazon
Motherboard | Asus ROG STRIX Z490-E GAMING ATX LGA1200 Motherboard | $299.99 @ Amazon
Memory | G.Skill Ripjaws V 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3600 CL16 Memory | $149.99 @ Newegg
Storage | HP EX950 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive | $147.97 @ Amazon
Storage | Western Digital WD Blue 2 TB 2.5" Solid State Drive | $227.88 @ Walmart
Video Card | Asus GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER 8 GB DUAL EVO OC Video Card | $729.99 @ B&H
Case | Fractal Design Meshify C ATX Mid Tower Case | $99.98 @ Newegg
Power Supply | Corsair RMx (2018) 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply | $144.99 @ Corsair
| Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts |
| Total | $2420.68
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-06-08 21:57 EDT-0400 |

Both of them are pretty powerful and will serve you well for a long long time.

 

[Karadjgne]

Pretty powerful? That's an understatement...

First things first. What resolution? Is that the iMac with the included monitor where you'll need a new monitor for the pc? What are you looking for really? Minecraft is one thing, minecraft with RTX is a whole different beast.

 

[GarrettL]

Don’t blow the whole budget on just the pc components.

Get a nice 1440p IPS monitor and a mid-level cpu and 2070 Super or 5700XT will run it perfectly.

 

[S75]

Pretty powerful? That's an understatement...

First things first. What resolution? Is that the iMac with the included monitor where you'll need a new monitor for the pc? What are you looking for really? Minecraft is one thing, minecraft with RTX is a whole different beast.

Yes I am looking for a decent not too expensive monitor as well (not included in the budget of the pc) and hopefully being able to run minecraft at least at 500 fps if not more

 

[Hellfire13]

Yes I am looking for a decent not too expensive monitor as well (not included in the budget of the pc) and hopefully being able to run minecraft at least at 500 fps if not more

This should be pretty good...

PCPartPicker Part List

Type|Item|Price
:----|:----|:----
Monitor | MSI Optix MAG321CQR 31.5" 2560x1440 144 Hz Monitor | $448.99 @ Best Buy
| Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts |
| Total | $448.99
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-06-08 22:38 EDT-0400 |

Heres another IPS option...

PCPartPicker Part List

Type|Item|Price
:----|:----|:----
Monitor | LG 27GL850-B 27.0" 2560x1440 144 Hz Monitor | $499.99 @ Best Buy
| Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts |
| Total | $499.99
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-06-08 22:40 EDT-0400 |

 

[S75]

This should be pretty good...

PCPartPicker Part List

Type|Item|Price
:----|:----|:----
Monitor | MSI Optix MAG321CQR 31.5" 2560x1440 144 Hz Monitor | $448.99 @ Best Buy
| Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts |
| Total | $448.99
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-06-08 22:38 EDT-0400 |

Heres another IPS option...

PCPartPicker Part List

Type|Item|Price
:----|:----|:----
Monitor | LG 27GL850-B 27.0" 2560x1440 144 Hz Monitor | $499.99 @ Best Buy
| Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts |
| Total | $499.99
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-06-08 22:40 EDT-0400 |

Okay thank you!

 

[Karadjgne]

The fastest monitors out are the Asus true 240Hz.(the rest are really 120Hz using doublers, cheapskates).

So 500fps is a useless figure unless benchmarks are important. Anything above @ 200fps all looks the same to the human eye.

But it's a start.
PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i5-10600K 4.1 GHz 6-Core Processor ($299.99)
CPU Cooler: Fractal Design Celsius S36 Blackout 87.6 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($140.46 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Asus TUF GAMING Z490-PLUS ATX LGA1200 Motherboard ($179.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: G.Skill Trident Z Neo 32 GB (4 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 CL16 Memory ($229.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 970 Evo Plus 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($199.99 @ Adorama)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER 8 GB XC GAMING Video Card ($546.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Fractal Design Meshify C ATX Mid Tower Case ($106.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair RM (2019) 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($119.97 @ Newegg)
Monitor: Acer XB271HU bmiprz 27.0" 2560x1440 165 Hz Monitor ($449.99 @ B&H)
Total: $2274.34
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-06-08 23:45 EDT-0400

This is @ 10-15% slower than the best. But if you want the best, it's going to cost @ $1600 more. Just a 2080ti is $1400+ atm. The i9-10700k/10900k are beasts, but don't get fps all that much higher for the heat, power usage, cost. Not really worth the expenditure unless you plan on going all out.

Fps is still Intels in gaming for the most part, the 10600k stock boosts tie or exceed the Ryzen 3700x, sometimes by a decent margin, takes a 3950x to be somewhat equitable. Content creation is a different story, the 3950x destroys most Intel. And costs a lot more.

The 2080 super is a step up, just not nearly enough for the price, many games its only a few fps ahead, mostly @ 10 or less. Above the 2070 Super the only thing left is the 2080ti. And that's not worth the extra $900

 

[Hellfire13]

The 10900k or the 2080 Super might not look significantly better for now but it will still give you better performance and in the long run it will last you more years thus giving more longevity to the build for a few more $$$. It is specially viable since the budget is pretty flexible.
It would be more optimal to run dual channel RAM on a dual channel platform thus also having the option to add more RAM if required in the future.
Also, the 970 Evo is pretty dated and over priced by now with a host of faster and better options out there in the market...
https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/hp-ex950-nvme-ssd-2tb,5306-2.html

 

[Karadjgne]

12 threads on a cpu is going to last a good long time. Figure at least as long as a 4/8 quad has been viable. Game devs won't change requirements too fast or they cut out too much of a competitive market.

By the time the 10600k becomes thread obsolete we'll be on 13th/14th gen cpus and DDR 5, so Op would be looking at a platform upgrade anyways.

Mixing ram is never a good idea, and 32Gb is more than sufficient for anything except multiple virtual machines, semi-prossional rendering and content creation etc.

You really don't want to run the 10700k+ on a more budget board if there's plans to move up. Should bite the bullet and get a good board from the start.

The 10600k gets almost identical fps at boost speeds as the 10700k and 10900k at the same speeds because games aren't using more than 6-12 threads and the threads aren't saturating the bandwidth of a single core + HT. So the extra cores aren't much of a benefit over the HT.

It's a lot of money for very little (if any) gains as you are more likely to be gpu bound than cpu bound. Once you get beyond monitor refresh its all a moot point anyways.

If you are after benchmarks and just want the bragging rights of saying 'hey, I've got money to waste, so now I own the fastest cpu and the baddest gpu on the planet', then by all means go for it, but that last 10% almost doubles the price of the pc and at the power you are dealing with shows very little actual value, especially gaming on anything less than 4k/5k.

Id prefer to add a second monitor, or even a third, but 2 is generally optimal for most uses. Or as an expensive option, go for something like a Super ultra wide, it's 2x 27" monitors in one chassis that can be windowed as you please.

 

[puppyboynate]

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 3700X 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor ($274.49 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 4 50.5 CFM CPU Cooler ($89.90 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Gigabyte X570 AORUS PRO WIFI ATX AM4 Motherboard ($269.99 @ Best Buy)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3600 CL16 Memory ($149.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: HP EX950 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($147.97 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital WD Blue 2 TB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($227.88 @ Walmart)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda Compute 2 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($54.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Zotac GeForce RTX 2080 Ti 11 GB AMP MAXX Video Card ($1149.99 @ B&H)
Case: Fractal Design Meshify C ATX Mid Tower Case ($99.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Thermaltake Toughpower Grand RGB 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($129.99 @ Best Buy)
Monitor: Acer KG271U Abmiipx 27.0" 2560x1440 144 Hz Monitor ($279.99 @ Walmart)
Total: $2875.16
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-06-09 12:25 EDT-0400

 

[Hellfire13]

I get your point, but you will still see quite a few machines still running those 2nd and 3rd gen. 8 threaded i7s which are still no slouch in gaming and have lasted an entire generation of DDR and might straightaway upgrade to DDR5 from DDR3. Back in the day, they were considered to be too much juice and unnecessary. Interesting fact actually if you come to think about it.