[SOLVED] New Build Questions

adir98

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Sep 22, 2018
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Hello, I'm building a new rig for myself.
For the last 4-5 years I've been using the same rig (the longest I got a computer to last).

Currently I have:
Motherboard: Asus H97 Plus
CPU: Core i7 4790
RAM: 4x4GB DDR3 1600Mhz
GPU: Asus ROG 1070

I built this rig for an upgrade:
https://pcpartpicker.com/list/7y9Dq3
**The GPU I already own, transferring from the current rig.
*Not included in link:

CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D15
Memory: HyperX FURY Black 2x8GB DDR4 3466MHz CL16 Kit
Case: Corsair Graphite 780T Full Tower
Power Supply: SeaSonic 650W Gold Series 12cm Fan 80+ Core GX-650

I have a few questions about this rig:
  1. Can the motherboard take 2 M.2 NVMe SSDs?
  2. ‌Is the power supply sufficient?
  3. ‌Is the CPU cooler sufficient?
  4. Would the CPU cooler block some motherboard part like M.2, RAM, or GPU slots?
  5. Would this work well for playing and streaming simultaneously?
Should I change something in this build to make it better?
Thanks a lot!
 
Last edited:
Solution
A few things I would change. The Gigabyte boards have very good VRM and the Aorus Pro is good value and has a 12 phase VRM and will do a good job with the 9900K. I would also save your money and get the Crucial P1 1TB NVMe drive which is only $95.99 and in the real world you will not even notice the difference as it is more than fast enough.

The Seasonic is a great PSU and more than good enough as is the Noctua NH-D15 so no issues there...
Finally the 9900K is about as good as it gets for gaming and will more than handle any streaming duties as well.


PCPartPicker Part List: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/xpGC6R

CPU: Intel Core i9-9900K 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor ($471.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Gigabyte Z390 AORUS PRO WIFI ATX...

adamgrant520

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1.) yes that motherboard can take 2 m.2 ssd's
2.) the PSU is fine for that yes
3.) you have plenty of cooling performance. it is fine
4.) possibly. considering how small the board is and how large the cooler is. it might block ram slots.
5.) yes. streaming is mostly cpu intensive and you certainly have the cpu to match that.

finally, the CPU is seriously overkill for that GPU. the bottleneck would be crazy. I would say IMO change the cpu to a ryzen 5 3600(x), most likely. you won't see any change in the fps between the two as the 1070 will hold the 9900k back too much, and with the 3600 you have all the threads you could ever dream of meaning streaming will be a blast
 

adir98

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Sep 22, 2018
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1.) yes that motherboard can take 2 m.2 ssd's
2.) the PSU is fine for that yes
3.) you have plenty of cooling performance. it is fine
4.) possibly. considering how small the board is and how large the cooler is. it might block ram slots.
5.) yes. streaming is mostly cpu intensive and you certainly have the cpu to match that.

finally, the CPU is seriously overkill for that GPU. the bottleneck would be crazy. I would say IMO change the cpu to a ryzen 5 3600(x), most likely. you won't see any change in the fps between the two as the 1070 will hold the 9900k back too much, and with the 3600 you have all the threads you could ever dream of meaning streaming will be a blast
Hi, thanks for your reply and for the answers.

If I picked a bigger board like the Gigabyte Z390 GAMING X, would that make a difference?
Would all the answers for the questions be the same?

As far as I understood from reading online, GPUs can't really bottleneck CPUs.
I've read somewhere that it's even desirable that the CPU is better than the GPU so the GPU works at 100%.
Anyways, I will be upgrading my GPU sometime eventually, so that doesn't really bother me.
 
A few things I would change. The Gigabyte boards have very good VRM and the Aorus Pro is good value and has a 12 phase VRM and will do a good job with the 9900K. I would also save your money and get the Crucial P1 1TB NVMe drive which is only $95.99 and in the real world you will not even notice the difference as it is more than fast enough.

The Seasonic is a great PSU and more than good enough as is the Noctua NH-D15 so no issues there...
Finally the 9900K is about as good as it gets for gaming and will more than handle any streaming duties as well.


PCPartPicker Part List: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/xpGC6R

CPU: Intel Core i9-9900K 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor ($471.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Gigabyte Z390 AORUS PRO WIFI ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($159.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial P1 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($95.99 @ B&H)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($139.19 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 1070 8 GB Video Card ($668.11 @ Amazon)
Total: $1535.27
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-11-30 08:53 EST-0500
 
Last edited:
Solution
Just modified the HD to the Seagate Barracuda 2TB at an absurdly low price of $49.99

PCPartPicker Part List: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/2McpHB

CPU: Intel Core i9-9900K 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor ($471.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Gigabyte Z390 AORUS PRO WIFI ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($159.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial P1 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($95.99 @ B&H)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda Compute 2 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 1070 8 GB Video Card ($668.11 @ Amazon)
Total: $1446.07
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-11-30 08:59 EST-0500

Saving $200...
 

adir98

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Sep 22, 2018
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Just modified the HD to the Seagate Barracuda 2TB at an absurdly low price of $49.99

PCPartPicker Part List: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/2McpHB

CPU: Intel Core i9-9900K 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor ($471.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Gigabyte Z390 AORUS PRO WIFI ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($159.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial P1 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($95.99 @ B&H)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda Compute 2 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 1070 8 GB Video Card ($668.11 @ Amazon)
Total: $1446.07
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-11-30 08:59 EST-0500

Saving $200...

Thank you!

How does the Gigabyte Z390 AORUS PRO compare to the Gigabyte Z390 GAMING X?
 
Thank you!

How does the Gigabyte Z390 AORUS PRO compare to the Gigabyte Z390 GAMING X?

The Aorus Pro is just better and if it was me, I would stretch to the Aorus Pro....The Aorus Pro has a better sound setup with the Realtek 1220 instead of the older Realtek ALC 892 and more USB connectors on the back and an internal USB C connector and of course a 12+1 Phase VRM versus a 10 Phase VRM on the Gaming X...
 

adir98

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Sep 22, 2018
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The Aorus Pro is just better and if it was me, I would stretch to the Aorus Pro....The Aorus Pro has a better sound setup with the Realtek 1220 instead of the older Realtek ALC 892 and more USB connectors on the back and an internal USB C connector and of course a 12+1 Phase VRM versus a 10 Phase VRM on the Gaming X...
Got it. Okay, I replaced the motherboard on the list to Gigabyte's Aorus Pro.
I will also get the Baracuda HDD you suggested.
I do wanna keep the SSD.
Anything else worth changing?
 
To answer your questions:
#1 Yes, you can support two m.2 pcie drives.
But, instead of two 1tb drives, why not buy just one 2tb drive?
Space management is easier with one address space. Ditch the WD blue HDD(or did you mean ssd?)

#2 Seasonic focus 650w is as good as it gets and can run even a RTX2080ti or titan X.

#3 Good question on the cooler. I have seen a test where the 9900K throttled on anything but a 360 aio cooler.
NH-D15 is as good as it gets for air and the equivalent of a good 280 aio.

#4 I would look for the NH-D15s which is a high compatibility version. It is offset to clear graphics card backplates and will clear tall ram modules. The noctua site will have a motherboard compatibility list for the NH-D15 which you can check.

#5. The extra threads of the 9900K are good if you will be heavily multitasking while gaming.
Multiplayer games like many threads. Otherwise, I think a 9700K is a better processor for pure gaming.
9700K would be a massive upgrade. To check how many threads you are now effectively using.

You can experiment with removing one or more cores/threads. You can do this in the windows msconfig boot advanced options option.
You will need to reboot for the change to take effect. Set the number of threads to less than you have.
This will tell you how sensitive your games are to the benefits of many threads.
If you see little difference, your game does not need all the threads you have.

Other thoughts:

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

I have no problem with M-ATX sized motherboards. How many of the 4 expansion slots are you ever going to use?
For most of us, that is exactly one pcie x16 slot for the graphics card.
But, since you have a ATX sized case you could use either.

With a Z390 based motherboard, you will be able to use the intel performance maximizer app to overclock.

https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/intel-cpu-auto-overclock-performance-maximizer,6179.html
 

adir98

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Sep 22, 2018
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To answer your questions:
#1 Yes, you can support two m.2 pcie drives.
But, instead of two 1tb drives, why not buy just one 2tb drive?
Space management is easier with one address space. Ditch the WD blue HDD(or did you mean ssd?)

#2 Seasonic focus 650w is as good as it gets and can run even a RTX2080ti or titan X.

#3 Good question on the cooler. I have seen a test where the 9900K throttled on anything but a 360 aio cooler.
NH-D15 is as good as it gets for air and the equivalent of a good 280 aio.

#4 I would look for the NH-D15s which is a high compatibility version. It is offset to clear graphics card backplates and will clear tall ram modules. The noctua site will have a motherboard compatibility list for the NH-D15 which you can check.

#5. The extra threads of the 9900K are good if you will be heavily multitasking while gaming.
Multiplayer games like many threads. Otherwise, I think a 9700K is a better processor for pure gaming.
9700K would be a massive upgrade. To check how many threads you are now effectively using.

You can experiment with removing one or more cores/threads. You can do this in the windows msconfig boot advanced options option.
You will need to reboot for the change to take effect. Set the number of threads to less than you have.
This will tell you how sensitive your games are to the benefits of many threads.
If you see little difference, your game does not need all the threads you have.

Other thoughts:

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

I have no problem with M-ATX sized motherboards. How many of the 4 expansion slots are you ever going to use?
For most of us, that is exactly one pcie x16 slot for the graphics card.
But, since you have a ATX sized case you could use either.

With a Z390 based motherboard, you will be able to use the intel performance maximizer app to overclock.

https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/intel-cpu-auto-overclock-performance-maximizer,6179.html

1. One of the drives is SSD and the other is HDD.
The HDD one I'm transferring from the older machine.

3. So do I need to change the CPU cooler to something else since it's equivalent to a 280 and the CPU throttles on anything but a 360?

4. I replaced the Asus Z390M Pro Gaming motherboard with the Gigabyte Z390 Aorus Pro so it's bigger to have more space on it.

Do you think the Asus ROG Strix 1070 will bottleneck the i9 9900K? as adamgrant520 said?
 
Do you have EXTERNAL backup for whatever you value?
The HDD is an excellent choice for that.
For performance, nothing beats a ssd.
I would use a single 2tb ssd. The samsung 970 evo plus is the best, but if budget is a big concern, the intel 660P 2tb would still be ok.

On cooling, even with a 9900K I would be ok with a NH-D15s.
See how you do.
Your case is an excellent air cooling case.
If you need added cooling, replace the two included 140mm intakes with stronger noctua 3000 rpm intakes.
You need not run them at 3000 rpm, but you can slow down 3000 rpm fans to limit noise,
but you can not speed up 2000 rpm fans.

I have no preference on any Z390 based motherboard.
Some will have better oc capabilities if you are trying for maximum overclocks.
I doubt that any such enthusiast boards are worth it.

There is no such thing as "bottlenecking"
If, by that, you mean that upgrading a cpu or graphics card can
somehow lower your performance or FPS.
A better term might be limiting factor.
That is where adding more cpu or gpu becomes increasingly
less effective.
A game will always be limited by either cpu power or graphics power.
On occasion, the number of threads are important to multiplayer games.

Games such as sims, strategy and mmo are usually limited by cpu.
Fast action shooters are limited by graphics.
 

adir98

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Sep 22, 2018
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Do you have EXTERNAL backup for whatever you value?
The HDD is an excellent choice for that.
For performance, nothing beats a ssd.
I would use a single 2tb ssd. The samsung 970 evo plus is the best, but if budget is a big concern, the intel 660P 2tb would still be ok.

On cooling, even with a 9900K I would be ok with a NH-D15s.
See how you do.
Your case is an excellent air cooling case.
If you need added cooling, replace the two included 140mm intakes with stronger noctua 3000 rpm intakes.
You need not run them at 3000 rpm, but you can slow down 3000 rpm fans to limit noise,
but you can not speed up 2000 rpm fans.

I have no preference on any Z390 based motherboard.
Some will have better oc capabilities if you are trying for maximum overclocks.
I doubt that any such enthusiast boards are worth it.

There is no such thing as "bottlenecking"
If, by that, you mean that upgrading a cpu or graphics card can
somehow lower your performance or FPS.
A better term might be limiting factor.
That is where adding more cpu or gpu becomes increasingly
less effective.
A game will always be limited by either cpu power or graphics power.
On occasion, the number of threads are important to multiplayer games.

Games such as sims, strategy and mmo are usually limited by cpu.
Fast action shooters are limited by graphics.
I am going to need a big extra storage for non performance stuff. I edit videos, write software, for non high performance games, etc. The current machine I use I'll use as a server for files backup after I upgrade. On the newer machine, I'd rather have more performance intense stuff on the SSD. Like more demanding games and rendering software. (If that makes a difference).

I'll get the Noctua NH-D15 and see how it manages.

I don't think I'll be over clocking the CPU any time soon. On the longer term I think it would be fine. I'll go with the Aorus Pro.

I see about the limiting factor. I'll upgrade the 1070 too eventually later down the line. So it's not much an issue for me right now.