Hello, fellow TH folks!
I've been preparing for and looking into an upgrade for my aging PC. I'm one of the unfortunate saps that got a brand new PC that was at its limits in terms of upgrading a few years back, as in DDR3 RAM locked, can't really get a better CPU chip installed and that also means the motherboard needs an upgrade. Almost everything I do is showing performance issues most likely CPU bottlenecked as I have 32 GB of RAM, a 500 GB SSD and a 1080 Ti. Especially trying to stream CPU intensive games like Monster Hunter World, Just Cause 3 and AC: Odyssey, games like that.
This pushed me to decide on just getting the whole package (minus the GPU as I feel 1080 Ti is more than adequate for a whiles yet).
A friend of mine helped me picked out a few awesome parts for the build as shown here: https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/list/rmzBRJ
The problem is I don't believe he's being statistically unbiased as he is probably concerned about money cost and expense and not really gripping the fact that if I'm going to upgrade, I want longevity and for it to remain good for a while aka I want to get some pretty high end parts and performance.
That said, my knowledge of CPU lines as of late is very limited and I don't really know how to compare or what sources I can trust to help me decide where the price meets my expectations for what I'm willing to spend and all that good stuff.
I have one friend that recommended the i7 9700k and another friend saying that the i9 9900k is the consumer-level monster right now while others are telling me AMD's announced lineup in July are going to blow all of these intel chips out of the water. This makes it difficult to decide what to go with as it is.
I was in hopes of posting this, that the last line ^ could be clarified by expert opinions with advice and experience regarding just how different these two chips are, or what we can expect from July's lineup or if there are any other current chips I should consider to get the most bang for my buck as a multi-taking heavy gamer.
My knowledge of CPUs in general isn't even that great.. I see specs and I just don't understand them sometimes. Such as this:
Intel - Core i7-8700 3.2 GHz 6-Core Processor - $439.75 (CDN)
Intel - Core i7-9700K 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor - $529.99 (CDN)
Intel - Core i9-9900K 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor - $697.70 (CDN)
$168~ difference between the 9700k and 9900k yet they are both 3.6 GHz and 8 cores... please if anyone wouldn't mind enlightening me of how I can properly research CPU technology to better make decisions for myself in the future, I would greatly appreciate the nudge in the right direction as well as the previously inquired advice.
Thanks for your time!
Edit: Progression of this thread has developed some new questions in post #10, which I'll paste up here so anyone new to the discussion can easily access it and help if they so feel inclined to chime in.
"More than likely landed on the 9900k at this point.. I just hope the Noctua NH-D15 will be capable of keeping it within safe operational temperatures under my normal usage.
That said, I have a few more questions I would love some peace of mind having clarified by you professional PC builders out there:
1) Will either or both of these SSDs be compatible with my motherboard choice 'Asus - ROG STRIX Z390-H GAMING ATX LGA1151 Motherboard' ?
-Western Digital - Black NVMe 1 TB M.2-2280 SSD
-Samsung - 970 Pro 1 TB M.2-2280 SSD
I'm genuinely not sure as I've never heard of M.2 until my friends mentioned it and the board lists '2 x PCIe 3.0 x16 slots (support x16, x8/x8); 1 x PCIe 3.0 x16 slot (max. at x2 mode)' in specifications yet I'm seeing requirements for PCIe 3.0 x4 or something and it's like hieroglyphics to me with all this new technology.
2) Which similar performance-classed SSDs would you recommend for a planned system of this caliber? (can include the above 2 picks I've landed on above)
3) Would I benefit more in game performance by any significant margin by getting memory with >3200Mhz listed clock speed or would 3200Mhz be more than adequate?
4) Is my motherboard choice considered a reliable model? Would there be any suggested alternatives to that or reasons I should avoid the one I have chosen?
---Fantastic, now a friend has brought the existence of the Evo 970 Plus to my attention which boasts to have all superior specifications compared to the 970 Pro except for the lifespan of 1,200 TBW compared to the Plus's 600 TBW (which I haven't even gone through 1/8th of my samsung 840 evo SSD's TBW yet after nearly 5 years). So that's on the table now... how would that size up to those of you with experience? Are the specs actually better?
I appreciate any advice on this matter.. I got about a month to go before I slam $1,500 - $2,000 CDN on this new machine and trying to do a better job researching what's best for my situation and usage this time around."
I've been preparing for and looking into an upgrade for my aging PC. I'm one of the unfortunate saps that got a brand new PC that was at its limits in terms of upgrading a few years back, as in DDR3 RAM locked, can't really get a better CPU chip installed and that also means the motherboard needs an upgrade. Almost everything I do is showing performance issues most likely CPU bottlenecked as I have 32 GB of RAM, a 500 GB SSD and a 1080 Ti. Especially trying to stream CPU intensive games like Monster Hunter World, Just Cause 3 and AC: Odyssey, games like that.
This pushed me to decide on just getting the whole package (minus the GPU as I feel 1080 Ti is more than adequate for a whiles yet).
A friend of mine helped me picked out a few awesome parts for the build as shown here: https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/list/rmzBRJ
The problem is I don't believe he's being statistically unbiased as he is probably concerned about money cost and expense and not really gripping the fact that if I'm going to upgrade, I want longevity and for it to remain good for a while aka I want to get some pretty high end parts and performance.
That said, my knowledge of CPU lines as of late is very limited and I don't really know how to compare or what sources I can trust to help me decide where the price meets my expectations for what I'm willing to spend and all that good stuff.
I have one friend that recommended the i7 9700k and another friend saying that the i9 9900k is the consumer-level monster right now while others are telling me AMD's announced lineup in July are going to blow all of these intel chips out of the water. This makes it difficult to decide what to go with as it is.
I was in hopes of posting this, that the last line ^ could be clarified by expert opinions with advice and experience regarding just how different these two chips are, or what we can expect from July's lineup or if there are any other current chips I should consider to get the most bang for my buck as a multi-taking heavy gamer.
My knowledge of CPUs in general isn't even that great.. I see specs and I just don't understand them sometimes. Such as this:
Intel - Core i7-8700 3.2 GHz 6-Core Processor - $439.75 (CDN)
Intel - Core i7-9700K 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor - $529.99 (CDN)
Intel - Core i9-9900K 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor - $697.70 (CDN)
$168~ difference between the 9700k and 9900k yet they are both 3.6 GHz and 8 cores... please if anyone wouldn't mind enlightening me of how I can properly research CPU technology to better make decisions for myself in the future, I would greatly appreciate the nudge in the right direction as well as the previously inquired advice.
Thanks for your time!
Edit: Progression of this thread has developed some new questions in post #10, which I'll paste up here so anyone new to the discussion can easily access it and help if they so feel inclined to chime in.
"More than likely landed on the 9900k at this point.. I just hope the Noctua NH-D15 will be capable of keeping it within safe operational temperatures under my normal usage.
That said, I have a few more questions I would love some peace of mind having clarified by you professional PC builders out there:
1) Will either or both of these SSDs be compatible with my motherboard choice 'Asus - ROG STRIX Z390-H GAMING ATX LGA1151 Motherboard' ?
-Western Digital - Black NVMe 1 TB M.2-2280 SSD
-Samsung - 970 Pro 1 TB M.2-2280 SSD
I'm genuinely not sure as I've never heard of M.2 until my friends mentioned it and the board lists '2 x PCIe 3.0 x16 slots (support x16, x8/x8); 1 x PCIe 3.0 x16 slot (max. at x2 mode)' in specifications yet I'm seeing requirements for PCIe 3.0 x4 or something and it's like hieroglyphics to me with all this new technology.
2) Which similar performance-classed SSDs would you recommend for a planned system of this caliber? (can include the above 2 picks I've landed on above)
3) Would I benefit more in game performance by any significant margin by getting memory with >3200Mhz listed clock speed or would 3200Mhz be more than adequate?
4) Is my motherboard choice considered a reliable model? Would there be any suggested alternatives to that or reasons I should avoid the one I have chosen?
---Fantastic, now a friend has brought the existence of the Evo 970 Plus to my attention which boasts to have all superior specifications compared to the 970 Pro except for the lifespan of 1,200 TBW compared to the Plus's 600 TBW (which I haven't even gone through 1/8th of my samsung 840 evo SSD's TBW yet after nearly 5 years). So that's on the table now... how would that size up to those of you with experience? Are the specs actually better?
I appreciate any advice on this matter.. I got about a month to go before I slam $1,500 - $2,000 CDN on this new machine and trying to do a better job researching what's best for my situation and usage this time around."
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