New Build for High End PC, 2-4K flexible budget

[byss66]

Hi all,

So I'm familiar with what hardware pieces do and how they work together and how to build a PC, but I haven't built a PC in 4 years and haven't kept up with the parts. I'm looking for a PC that can do gaming of all types that can run 95% of games on ultra high settings without issue, as long as that can be done under 4K. I only need the components in the tower (case and all, but no monitors, mice, speakers, keyboard, etc). I'd like it be to pretty future proof, maybe even supporting 4k in case I get a new monitor. I'd need a copy of windows.

I don't need the absolute best PC. If the power-price curve peaks at 3K, i'd probably rather have a 3k machine than pay an extra thousand dollars for minimal improvement.

I also watch streams and do video conferencing a lot, play D&D via roll20 with larger memory usage, do minimal work in photoshop.

 

[Supahos]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 7 2700X 3.7 GHz 8-Core Processor ($308.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Noctua - NH-D15 82.5 CFM CPU Cooler ($89.95 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: NZXT - Kraken X62 Rev 2 98.17 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($138.90 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Asus - Prime X470-Pro ATX AM4 Motherboard ($161.89 @ OutletPC)
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($349.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung - 970 Evo 500 GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($127.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: SanDisk - Ultra 3D 2 TB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($279.99 @ B&H)
Video Card: Gigabyte - GeForce RTX 2080 Ti 11 GB AORUS Video Card ($1347.68 @ Newegg Business)
Case: Phanteks - Enthoo Pro ATX Full Tower Case ($99.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: SeaSonic - FOCUS Plus Gold 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($104.89 @ OutletPC)
Total: $3010.26
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-01-30 20:51 EST-0500


Honestly for 4k there isn't much better setup than this. a 9900k build might win in some cases, but with the upcoming Ryzen 3000 processors I would like to keep my upgrade options more open personally. (Potentially 16core chip faster than a 9900k single core for less money)

 

[byss66]

There's a flagged compatibility issue: "The Noctua - NH-D15 82.5 CFM CPU Cooler may require a separately available mounting adapter to fit the Asus - Prime X470-Pro ATX AM4 Motherboard.". Any idea what that adapter would be?

 

[jfriend00]

I'd suggest you browse around the completed builds here https://pcpartpicker.com/builds/ and start to define a few of the components you want (graphics card, processor, water or air cooled) and then you can narrow the list to things that contain those. These all give you the current price to acquire all the parts so you can see that instantly and where you can buy the parts at what prices.

The games you play and the screen resolution you want to play them at will define what kind of graphics card you need. For Intel processors, you probably then want an i7-9700k or i9-9900k which can both be overclocked to 5.0GHZ on all cores with air cooling.

Storage is entirely up to you. It's popular these days to use an SDD for the boot drive and I know some gamers want to run their games off an SSD to speed up the load time. In both cases, you don't need super fast SSDs (probably don't need NVMe, just a regular SATA SSD). You can look at your current disk consumption to see if something like one 1TB SATA SSD is enough for all your storage or if you want to have a 500GB boot SSD and then a second drive (either SDD or spinning drive) for storing larger things.

For memory, gamers generally don't need more than 16GB and you can generally make 18GB of DRAM (in 2x8GB sticks) go faster than you can 32GB due to complexities of memory timings with more ranks of memory. I'd probably suggest getting something like this G.SKill 2x8GB set that runs at 3600MHz with 15-15-15-35 timings which are good, faster timings and will give you better performance.

If you're going to build a new PC every 4-5 years (that's what I do), then I'd suggest investing a really good case because you can probably keep it for 3 builds. Better cases also come with better airflow and quieter, more durable case fans which are very important for the durability of your build. I have a Fractal Design - Define R6 USB-C Black ATX Mid Tower Case which is really nice, but there are a zillion choices out there.

 

[Supahos]

I can't imagine that there are any dh15s still being shipped that aren't am4 compatible out of the box but I suppose it's possible. The 2700x comes with a decent cooler so on the off chance that you had to get an adapter you could use your computer anyway

 

[King Dranzer]

Here is the list:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i9-9900K 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor ($529.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Corsair - H115i PRO 55.4 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($129.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Asus - ROG MAXIMUS XI HERO (WI-FI) ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($275.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill - Trident Z RGB 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($209.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung - 970 Evo 500 GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($127.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate - Barracuda 2 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($59.89 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Asus - GeForce RTX 2080 Ti 11 GB ROG Strix Gaming Advanced Video Card ($1379.99 @ Newegg Business)
Case: Corsair - Obsidian 500D RGB SE ATX Mid Tower Case ($249.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Corsair - HX Platinum 850 W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($119.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $3083.70
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-01-31 08:45 EST-0500

This is good for 1080p or at max 1440p for over longer period of time. Full on RGB Build with ASUS ROG Combo.

Here is the list:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i9-9900K 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor ($529.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Corsair - H115i PRO 55.4 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($129.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Asus - ROG STRIX Z390-E GAMING ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($235.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Corsair - Vengeance LPX 64 GB (4 x 16 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($419.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung - 970 Evo 500 GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($127.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate - Barracuda 2 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($59.89 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: EVGA - GeForce RTX 2080 Ti 11 GB Black Video Card (2-Way SLI) ($1099.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Video Card: EVGA - GeForce RTX 2080 Ti 11 GB Black Video Card (2-Way SLI) ($1099.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Phanteks - Enthoo Pro ATX Full Tower Case ($99.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Corsair - Professional 1200 W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($149.87 @ OutletPC)
Total: $3953.58
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-01-31 08:55 EST-0500

If you plan on using 4K monitor over time this will be a better choice for you. Very solid build and yes there is considerable performance gain for 4K gaming if you jump from 3K to 4K budget.

 

[SgtScream]

Mount the 360mm radiator on the top:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant
CPU: Intel - Core i9-9900K 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor ($529.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master - MasterLiquid ML360R RGB 66.7 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($159.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte - Z390 AORUS MASTER ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($294.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill - Trident Z RGB 32 GB (4 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 Memory ($444.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung - 860 Evo 2 TB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($347.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Gigabyte - GeForce RTX 2080 Ti 11 GB AORUS XTREME Video Card ($1349.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Cooler Master - MasterCase H500M ATX Mid Tower Case ($189.99 @ B&H)
Power Supply: SeaSonic - FOCUS Plus Gold 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($104.89 @ OutletPC)
Other: MasterAccessory Vertical Display Graphics Card Holder Kit Including ($49.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $3472.70
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-01-31 09:27 EST-0500

Note the vertical graphics card mount to take advantage of the GeForce RTX 2080 Ti 11 GB AORUS XTREME's lighting effects.

 

[byss66]

If I were to choose the "Fractal Design Define S2 White – TG" case, should i get extra fans over just whatever is included and the CPU fan? It says it comes with three but has 9 slots. I've never done liquid cooling, so I'm wondering if that's better than the case fans, or if both together is better, or overkill, etc.

I think I'm leaning towards the Ryzen for the cpu. Trying to research the differences between GPUs and cases at the moment.

Also, @supahos, is there any reason I couldn't use a mid size tower with that mobo & gpu? I was trying to search reviews on newegg and it looks like both of those things ought to fit.