[SOLVED] New build, out of practice, would love some advice

[Tenken668]

Hey everyone, i'm in the market to build a new gaming pc. My current desktop is roughly circa 2012 and finally went out of date.

I have a budget of 3k or less, and am looking to build something that can run most anything without lag, though i typically use it for MMORPGs and FPS type games. I've searched online for a few hours and i'm having trouble differentiating between real advice on some sites and advertisement-based advice.

I've built several, so installation shouldn't be a problem, i just wanted to gather some thoughts and make sure the parts were compatible. Thank you in advance everyone!

 

[GarrettL]

What resolution is your monitor?

 

[Tenken668]

What resolution is your monitor?

That's a good question. Appears old also, 1920x1080, 24" Asus 248VE

 

[geofelt]

What does your $3k budget need to include?
What do you have now?
Do you plan to reuse any parts?

In general:
FPS type games depend most on a fast graphics card.
MMO, sims, and strategy games are more cpu limited, primarily by single thread performance.
Multiplayer games with many participants do better with many processing threads.

A rule of thumb for a balanced gamer is to budget 2x the cost of the processor for the graphics card.

Today, a GTX2080ti is the strongest reasonable graphics card around selling for perhaps $1100.
By the 2:1 metric, that would justify a $550 processor.
Today, the best gaming processor is the i9-9900K . a $550 processor with 16 threads.
There is a KS version which is a binned version that sells for more. Much more.
There is also a KF version without integrated graphics.
The 9th gen K suffix processors will generally run near 5.0 on all cores.
Ryzen is attractive for multiplayer, offering many cheap threads but the clocks max out around 4.3
Many on this forum are high on ryzen. Me, not so much.

One other thing, intel is supposed to announce 10th gen desktops this month.
I have no doubt that they will be attractively priced to compete with ryzen.
I might wait a bit to see what is offered.


You will want a Z390 based motherboard and probably a 2 x 8gb DDR4 ram kit of perhaps 3600 speed.

I think you would want a larger, higher resolution monitor for more immersive gaming.
If you have room on your desk, keep the old monitor as a side monitor for static things such as monitors or email. Great for browsing also.
You could shop for such now.

 

[Tenken668]

Thanks for the detailed response! I typically prefer a second in line graphics card to maximize bang for my buck; if the newest is 1000, but the next strongest is 600 and has 95% of the power, it seems silly for me to go higher. No one to show off to, just me and utility purposes.

I agree on a monitor. I’m a bit older than some, so bigger monitor - 24” plus, will be easier to see.

my use tends to be heavier towards mmorpg, so processor should probably be under the same guideline as my logic for the graphics card above.

As far as old parts, given the age and the lack of upkeep in the last few years, I’ll likely only be keeping my mouse, keyboard, modem, and router.

thanks again for helping me work through this!

 

[geofelt]

If you are in doubt about which graphics card to buy, buy a EVGA card.
They have a 90 day free upgrade trade in option if you decide you need a stronger card.
Read the fine print on their web site.

On monitors, I have been using a philips 40" 4k monitor.
The max rate is 60hz which my GTX1080ti seems to drive well.
If I were to buy again, I would get the newer version with a slight curve to make the edges more visible.
https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/philips-bdm4065uc-40-inch-ultra-hd-monitor,4302.html

 

[alceryes]

If you definitely want to spend 3k you can build a spectacular rig.

As @geofelt says, z390 board, i9-9900k CPU, GeForce RTX 2080Ti GPU, Samsung 970 Evo (or Evo Plus) 1TB NVMe SSD, maybe a 2+ TB SATA SSD storage drive (if needed), Corsair RMX series 850W+ PSU (or better), etc.

If you want to go a little cheaper on the GPU, look at the other cards in the RTX 2080 line (2080 Super, or just 2080).

Since you've got 3k, definitely go up to a 1440p or 2160p monitor. Just note that the higher the resolution you go, the more GPU power you'll need to get the same FPS that you get on smaller resolution screens. Get yourself a good gaming keyboard and mouse while you're at it.