[SOLVED] Searching for help to choose the best CPU/GPU combo for my new gaming PC

[alexander.c.singer]

Hey Guys,

my pc stopped working a week ago (motherboard dead). so i am planning on buying a new one, because all the other hardware is also a bit outdated. (only 8gb ram, no ssd, etc). But first some information about my PC usage: It should mainly be a gaming PC; atm only having an old 1080p monitor but buying a new one within the next three months. That means PC should be able to handle upcoming games with best settings in that resolution (1444p). Sometimes i play competetive games like csgo but mainly coop games with friends (Monster Hunter World, Anthem) or singleplayer games (witcher, cyberpunk). Besides Gaming i use the PC for watching movies/shows/videos (netflix, twitch, youtube), working with ms office and learning python. I dont do professional streaming or photo/video editing.

Now a List of parts i have in mind

Case: Corsair Carbide Series SPEC-05
Memory: Ripjaws 16GB DDR4-3200
Storage: Kingston SSD 250GB and 2TB WD HDD
PSU: SeaSonic - EVO 620W 80+ Bronze (should be handle of the possible cpu/gpu combos)
Mainboard + Cooler depends on the CPU choice

Now the part i struggle with, the CPU/GPU combo.

Now the possible CPUs/GPUs with the prices from my country.

GPU: RTX 2070 or 2080 (200-220€ difference). 1080 and 1080 ti are no options due to the price (1080 700€+ and 1080ti 900€+)

CPU: i5 9600k (260€), i7 8700 (360€), i7 9700k (430€) and r5 2600X (210€)

i think i5 8600k (260€) and i7 8700k (460€) should not be recommended due to their prices compared to the alternatives. The 2700X would be at 320€ but i heard that for gaming and small multitasking (eg beeing in discord while gaming), that there is only a small performance difference between 2600x and 2700x because you dont need the extra 2C/4T fir such tasks and the 120€ difference is not worth it.

Now comes the hard part with finding the right combo. Sadly budget is a problem, otherwise i would have taken 2080 with 9700k and be done with it. Here are the Ideas i have atm:

1) rtx 2070 with r5 2600X/i5 9600k (“cheap” and saves money)

2) rtx 2070 with i7 9700k (paying a bit more for better CPU with no worries of upgrading the CPU in the near future)

3) rtx 2080 with r5 2600X (saving money on the cpu to buy a better gpu)

Finally the concerns i have with the combos which leaves me undecided.

1) rtx 2070 vs 2080:

Some of you will probally recommend to save money in general and go with option 1 or to spent more money on the GPU (not CPU) and go with option 3. Maybe i am wrong but i have the impression that the 2080 is more a 4k card (without ray tracing), which would be overkill for my current needs (1444p gaming). In addition GPU upgrades are way easier to do then CPU upgrades. That would mean that 2070 with 9700k would be the easiest option to handle in the future, because i think the 9700k can easiely handle a GPU uprgrade in e.g. two years from now on.

2) CPU in general (mixed feeling about all the above mentioned CPUs)

2600X: the weaker single core performance in general. i know that at higher resolutions where the GPU is limited this one will be on par with the intel ones, but i am not planning of 4K gaming in the near future (only 1080p/1444p, where i have the impression the intel cpus will be better)

9600k: Due to the Trend of Games using more cores i heard that the 9600k has even problems with small multitasking and the fear in general that 6C/6T might be not a good investement even for the near future.

9700k: the price in general and i heard that this chip gets really hot. So i am afraid that i need an expensive water cooler while i have only planned with 50/60€ in my budget for a cooler. Note: not planning to manually overclock to e.g. 5Ghz in the near future. the automatic boost of the CPU should be enough for the moment.

Sorry for the wall of text but i thought the more information you have the easier you can give me a good recomendation. Even lifting some concerns about the CPUs/GPUs would help me a lot.

Thanks in advance for your feedback

 

[DSzymborski]

What's the actual budget for the CPU/Motherboard/GPU? While I appreciate the time you took to do the research and think about various combos yourself, most of the experienced builders here are quite familiar with all these components; the one thing you didn't provide was that bottom-line budget, which might be the most useful bit of information!

 

[geofelt]

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

Last time I looked, few games could make effective use of more than 4 threads.
Yes, many threads are active on games, but what does this tell you?
Is that activity simply windows spreading the activity of a few main threads around the available threads?
In other words, how many threads can EFFECTIVELY be used?

Many games depend on the performance of the single master thread.

For that reason, I think a 9th gen 9600K, 9700K or 9900k is the best option.
They all can oc around 5.0 compared to ryzen topping out around 4.3.

If you play fast action games or are looking more to a higher resolution monitor, favor a stronger graphics card.

If your budget permits, I think the 9600K and a RTX2080 would be a very good option.
Nothing wrong with 9700K if you want; I would not worry about heat.

On your proposed list of parts:

1. Carbide spec-05 is a nice looking case with good intake airflow.
To me it is flawed allowing only a 150mm tall air cooler.
In a case with 160mm available, you can use a noctua NH-D15s which will cool as well as the best of aio coolers.
It will be cheaper, quieter, more reliable, and will not leak.
A case with at least two front 120/140mm intakes will provide sufficient airflow for both a hot cpu and a hot graphics card.
As a plus, if the only intake is filtered, your parts will stay cleaner.

2. Seasonic 620w is a good psu, but a bit old. I would look for a Seasonic focus 650w unit which is often on sale.

3. On drives, a 240gb ssd is ok. I like Samsung EVO better. With lower ssd prices, I would suggest a 500gb m.2 device and defer on the HDD until you actually need the space. If you have a reusable HDD from your old build, consider spending some $40 for a intel optane m.2 pcie device which will act as a cache for a HDD.

4. a 2 x 8gb kit of ddr4 and 3200 speed is fine for an intel build.

 

[alexander.c.singer]

First of all thanks for the detailed answer. Another thanks that you not only provided help for the CPU/GPU but also about the others parts like using a more up to date PSU. While it is hard not to take an AMD CPU atm due to their Value/Price they offer, i thought that an intel built would better suit my needs. Even if i play high fps games like csgo, fortnite and co from time to time they are not my main focus. I mean i dont want to be stuck in the 30 fps region while playing e.g. witcher but i dont need 150 fps (if thats possible) either. So i decided to go for an intel/RTX built.

As a final question would you then go with a 2080/9600k or 2070/9700k combo? both should be the same price considering the prices i mentioned in my initial post. Or even go only with the 2070/9600k combo and save about 200 Euros because it is more then enough?
thanks again in advance

@DSZymborski

As Budget goes i planned 150-200€ for the mainboard and around 1000€ for CPU+GPU which should result in a 1500€ (max 1600€ built). While 1500-1600€ is the maximum i planned with at least 1200€.

So 2070/9700k and 2080/9600k would be both around 1000€ and 2070/9600k around 850€

 

[Karadjgne]

At 1440p@144Hz I'd go for the i7-9700k/2070 combo. Fps limits are set by the cpu, not gpu. While the 9600k and 9700k are intrinsically the same cpu, the extra 2 cores can make a good sized dent in playability with cpu intensive games like Witcher 3.

It's better to have the option to lower detail settings to allow a gpu to maximize its fps and live upto cpu set limits than be stuck for a lower limit that detail settings won't change.

 

[DSzymborski]

What country are you in? It can make a pretty large difference; you'll get better bang for the buck, for example, in Germany than you will in Spain.

 

[alexander.c.singer]

I am from Germany. The CPU prices should be accurate (+/- 10 Euros). RTX 2070 is between 500-620€ custom model range and rtx 2080 between 720-850€. As an additional Note CPU/GPU/Mainboard/RAM should be paid with a 0% rate over 12 months. That means used products or importing them from others countries to safe a couple of euros is not an option