[SOLVED] Need help with a build for gaming in the $4k ish range.

Neostarwcc

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I need some advice on a build from scratch I'd like to make for gaming. So far I have the following planned out: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/HNhhD2. I have around $4,000-$4.500 to spend and not much more unfortunately. So if you could keep your recomendations in the $4,000-$4,500 range that'd be great! Thanks for your help!
 
Solution
Just because you can spend it doesn't mean you need to. Given your budget, I'd probably make the following changes and pocket the rest or put it towards other entertainments (VR, a nice HDTV, etc...)

Changes I made:

  1. You don't need an I9-9900KF for gaming. 99.999% of the world's gaming population would be extremely content with an I7-9700K.
  2. Do you REALLY need RGB? Really don't see the need for such expensive RAM. Same quantity, similar quality, same speed. Lower Price.
  3. Is there a reason you had two different 500GB M.2 SSDs? I removed the lesser of the two.
  4. As mentioned above, you do not want to go with two cards in SLI. It's a pretty much dead platform. Replaced with a single 2080Ti.
  5. Since you're not going with dual...

Wolfshadw

Titan
Moderator
Just because you can spend it doesn't mean you need to. Given your budget, I'd probably make the following changes and pocket the rest or put it towards other entertainments (VR, a nice HDTV, etc...)

Changes I made:

  1. You don't need an I9-9900KF for gaming. 99.999% of the world's gaming population would be extremely content with an I7-9700K.
  2. Do you REALLY need RGB? Really don't see the need for such expensive RAM. Same quantity, similar quality, same speed. Lower Price.
  3. Is there a reason you had two different 500GB M.2 SSDs? I removed the lesser of the two.
  4. As mentioned above, you do not want to go with two cards in SLI. It's a pretty much dead platform. Replaced with a single 2080Ti.
  5. Since you're not going with dual 2080s, there's no need for a So-So 1200 watt power supply. Replaced with a quality 750 watt unit.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i7-9700K 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor ($359.00 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D15 82.5 CFM CPU Cooler ($89.95 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Asus PRIME Z390-A ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($179.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: G.Skill Sniper X 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($144.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 970 Evo Plus 500 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($109.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Purple 6 TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($169.93 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Asus GeForce RTX 2080 Ti 11 GB Dual OC Video Card ($1099.99 @ Newegg)
Case: RIOTORO CR1280 PRISM RGB ATX Full Tower Case
Power Supply: SeaSonic FOCUS Plus Platinum 750 W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($146.98 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Pro Full 32/64-bit ($189.00 @ B&H)
Monitor: Asus ROG SWIFT PG278QR 27.0" 2560x1440 165 Hz Monitor ($519.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $3009.81
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-09-14 09:37 EDT-0400


Total savings of nearly $1000 and it's nothing you'd miss even three years from now when it's time to start considering an upgrade.

-Wolf sends
 
Solution

Neostarwcc

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Sep 12, 2013
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Just because you can spend it doesn't mean you need to. Given your budget, I'd probably make the following changes and pocket the rest or put it towards other entertainments (VR, a nice HDTV, etc...)

Changes I made:

  1. You don't need an I9-9900KF for gaming. 99.999% of the world's gaming population would be extremely content with an I7-9700K.
  2. Do you REALLY need RGB? Really don't see the need for such expensive RAM. Same quantity, similar quality, same speed. Lower Price.
  3. Is there a reason you had two different 500GB M.2 SSDs? I removed the lesser of the two.
  4. As mentioned above, you do not want to go with two cards in SLI. It's a pretty much dead platform. Replaced with a single 2080Ti.
  5. Since you're not going with dual 2080s, there's no need for a So-So 1200 watt power supply. Replaced with a quality 750 watt unit.
PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i7-9700K 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor ($359.00 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D15 82.5 CFM CPU Cooler ($89.95 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Asus PRIME Z390-A ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($179.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: G.Skill Sniper X 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($144.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 970 Evo Plus 500 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($109.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Purple 6 TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($169.93 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Asus GeForce RTX 2080 Ti 11 GB Dual OC Video Card ($1099.99 @ Newegg)
Case: RIOTORO CR1280 PRISM RGB ATX Full Tower Case
Power Supply: SeaSonic FOCUS Plus Platinum 750 W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($146.98 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Pro Full 32/64-bit ($189.00 @ B&H)
Monitor: Asus ROG SWIFT PG278QR 27.0" 2560x1440 165 Hz Monitor ($519.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $3009.81
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-09-14 09:37 EDT-0400


Total savings of nearly $1000 and it's nothing you'd miss even three years from now when it's time to start considering an upgrade.

-Wolf sends

Maybe. What differences are there between the 9900KF and the i7 9700k? Is this website accurate? https://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Core-i9-9900KF-vs-Intel-Core-i7-9700K/m764533vs4030. If it is there is virtually 0 difference between the two processors, you're right and it saves me $81.



I was going to buy two SSDs because one can be for my OS and the other for sticking games onto to boot and run them faster, yes? I think people do that nowadays but apparently not if people are confused about why I did that. Anyway, that's why I had two SSD's on there. Although to save myself money I could go with a Intel 760p 256gb for the OS booting SSD. There's apparently hardly any difference between the two drives. That'd save me almost $50 as well that I can maybe stick towards a second monitor or towards something else.


What about the differences in ram? Will I notice much difference if I overclock the G.skill ram over the Corsair ram? I just heard that RGB ram was so much better and that the Corsair ram was a good choice. But, idk much about new computer parts these days.

What about if I go with Alexoiou's suggestion and go with a better motherboard for overclocking like the Maximus XI hero? Or would that just be a waste of $150?
 

Wolfshadw

Titan
Moderator
While there is a difference in performance, I don't consider the 1% (for non-server benchmarks) worth the extra cost.
While the OS and Games would boot faster if it were all on SSDs, I don't see a reason for two of them. If you want to put games as well as your OS on SSDs, just get a larger, single SSD. Once you have that set up, create an image of your SSD and store it on your HDD for emergencies.
You shouldn't notice any difference in RAM other than it doesn't light up. (RGB - Red/Blue/Green)
I'm not an over-clocker so I won't speak to that, but given your already high-end processor, you shouldn't need to consider OCing until you're just about ready to upgrade. If you're not pushing your processor to 100% (and I find that unlikely with a 9700K), what is the point of pushing it to 110%?

-Wolf sends
 

Neostarwcc

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So maybe a 1TB 970 EVO Plus? It's about $20 more than buying two SSDs ($219.95) but there is a difference between the 970 EVO plus 500gb and the 970 EVO plus 1TB according to userbenchmark (About a 12% difference and it'd probably load faster than if I got two separate SSD's anyway considering I don't fill the drive up too much)

Question though, W10 is about 50 GBs with all of it's updates and stuff and one of the games that my wife and I play is a little over 100 gbs (World of Warcraft if you're curious) that's 150 GBS taken of the 1TB drive with just two things. How much of the drive can I fill up with games before I lose a lot of the SSD's performance? I can easy see filling at least 750 GBs of the drive with games and my OS. Honestly 1TB of space just isn't a lot these days. I'd almost want to invest the extra money on a 2TB. But that'd be an almost $500 bill so.. dunno if I wanna pay quite that much. Plus, there's virtually no difference between the 2TB and the 1TB so it's not really worth the money.

But, then again maybe I could just drag the games that I do play off of my 6TB HDD onto there and back and forth. But, that'd kinda be a pain in the ass. But then again, I'd have to do that anyway if I got two 500gb SSDs anyway. So yeah that's an idea.

You do have a point. You might as well not tax the processor when it already has great performance. So I might not have to overclock the computer anyway... but... epeen! :D

I kid lol. You have a lot of great points and have saved me a lot of money ty.
 

Wolfshadw

Titan
Moderator
So maybe a 1TB 970 EVO Plus? It's about $20 more than buying two SSDs ($219.95) but there is a difference between the 970 EVO plus 500gb and the 970 EVO plus 1TB according to userbenchmark (About a 12% difference and it'd probably load faster than if I got two separate SSD's anyway considering I don't fill the drive up too much)

Are you really going to notice a 12% faster load time from something that loads in just a couple of seconds?

Only you can say how much you need to install onto your SSD. I have Windows, Productivity Apps, the Steam and UbiSoft Apps (apps on C: games on D:) and one other game on my SSD. My 500GB SSD is only 1/4 full. I'm not a huge game player, but I don't notice any issues with having my Steam games stored on my HDD.

I think you could get by with putting your most popular games on a 1TB SSD and your less frequently played games onto your HDD.

Not sure if it would help, but I'd also consider just making a logical drive/partition on your large HDD just for your games. Maybe a 1.5TB D: drive for your games, I would think that would limit the amount of hard drive space your system needs to read when attempting to access your game files; searching a 1.5TB partition as opposed to a full 6TB drive. Again, not sure if it would actually help,

-Wolf sends
 

Neostarwcc

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Are you really going to notice a 12% faster load time from something that loads in just a couple of seconds?

Only you can say how much you need to install onto your SSD. I have Windows, Productivity Apps, the Steam and UbiSoft Apps (apps on C: games on D:) and one other game on my SSD. My 500GB SSD is only 1/4 full. I'm not a huge game player, but I don't notice any issues with having my Steam games stored on my HDD.

I think you could get by with putting your most popular games on a 1TB SSD and your less frequently played games onto your HDD.

Not sure if it would help, but I'd also consider just making a logical drive/partition on your large HDD just for your games. Maybe a 1.5TB D: drive for your games, I would think that would limit the amount of hard drive space your system needs to read when attempting to access your game files; searching a 1.5TB partition as opposed to a full 6TB drive. Again, not sure if it would actually help,

-Wolf sends

Maybe not. SSD's are so fast these days that it doesn't really matter how fast they load you're right. I am pretty content with how fast w10 loads on a samsung 850 evo 250gb although the 970 evo plus is leaps and bounds better. So maybe I can go with a cheaper 2tb SSD? Like I said, I honestly don't know what parts are good these days so could you maybe recommend a 2TB SSD that I'd notice little difference to than the 970 EVO? There's a few in that price range that I see on PC part picker. Is the Intel 660P 2TB any good? Userbenchmark says there's a 31% difference between the two drives and a 140% difference between my old SSD and that one. Would I notice a 31% speed difference? When the SSD is $30 cheaper than the 1TB evo plus and I get double the storage capacity to store my games on? Hmm... it's worth considering.

Well I have over 50 games on steam that i've bought over the years (Although most of them I have to admit, I don't play very much.) there are only really 7 or 8 games that I frequently play everyday but I like playing WoW with my wife so that'd stay on the drive permanently because we play it literally everyday for several hours a day. I'd maybe stick morrowind/oblivion on there since I love playing those games and they really don't require much of a PC to run these days considering they both came out over 10 years ago and they're both like 5gbs max.

Perhaps I could shorten the drive so that it has to load from less. 1.5 tbs of games would last me quite a while I think even though most games are quite large these days. Or like I said, I could just move games between drives. I honestly don't know how fast SSD's run these days but the 850 evo moved my games pretty well/fast so It'd only be a minor inconvienence.

Idk maybe I'll go with the 970 evo plus 1TB. It's something I'm going to have to discuss with my wife anyway.
 

Wolfshadw

Titan
Moderator
Again, it's up to you. Are you going to notice a 31% speed increase if the load times are already under 2 seconds? By the time you finished asking the question, it's over. I'd say stick with the 1TB SSD and the 6TB HDD, but if you want to consider the Intel 660P, I don't have any issues with that model.

-Wolf sends
 

Neostarwcc

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Okay one more question before I talk this over with my wife and purchase. Would the ram and the CPU cooler be compatible with each other and fit? I'm asking the question because PC part picker says as a compatibility note:
  • Note:Some physical dimension restrictions cannot (yet) be automatically checked, such as cpu cooler / RAM clearance with modules using tall heat spreaders.

So I'd want to make double sure that this would fit with the motherboard I'm getting or if I'd have to get a better motherboard and spend the extra money.
 

Wolfshadw

Titan
Moderator
Noctua NH-D15 Specs
RIOTORO CR1280 Specs

According to the cooler specs, there is a fan configuration which allows for a raised front fan, allowing for more RAM clearance. This increases the height of the cooler from 165mm. According to the case specs, the max CPU Cooler height is 180mm, so you only have an extra 15mm of space to play with. Unfortunately, G.Skill doesn't provide the dimensions of it's RAM kit. If you need more than the extra 15mm, you either need to go with a single fan configuration or different RAM (under 47mm in height).

-Wolf sends