Build Advice Time for a new build, in need of guidance.

[SCP2000]

I recently had a Z370 platform die on me, and I've been out of touch with everything tech-related for the past few years. I rarely read the tech news after I've assembled my PC, so I've come here for advice. I'm hoping that people here can be a little more objective than on Reddit and point me in the direction of a system that I'll be using for at least 4-5 years. Having said that, I'd rather continue with Intel because it's what I know. On the GPU front, I honestly don't care. All that matters to me is getting the best performance per dollar. I would prefer not having RGB-puke plastered everywhere if possible.

Priority is as follows.

Use case: Blender > photoshop > lightroom > gaming > plex.
Budget: $6000 small Canadian pesos or about 4Kish USD.
Form factor: Mid-tower preferred.


Point me in the correct direction, dudes.



Kind regards,
SCP

 

[turtletarget111]

Right out of the gate, I would like to try and sway you from Intel. Not because they make bad products, but their latest processors have two different sets of cores - half performance cores and half efficiency cores. As such, you will get more performance out of an AMD chip, especially with CPU heavy applications like Blender. AMD has always had a leg over intel for multicore applications. If you're firm on Intel I completely understand. So with all that said, I'll break down the parts list here.


You have a rather large budget, meaning your list is fairly straightforward. You can pretty much buy everything top of the line. As such, there's no reason to go with anything less than the i9 14900K.

For the cooler, the Nouctua NH-D15 is pretty much as good as it gets for CPU cooling. This cooler is performant, quiet, and much more reliable than an AIO water cooler. If you would prefer a water cooler we can make changes to the list.

The MSI MAG Z790 Tomahawk WiFi is just a great board for the price. It's got the latest features 14th Gen Intel offers, lots of IO, and plenty of room for expandability.

For your memory, I went with a fast kit of G.SKILL Z5 RGB with equally low latency for the best performance. It's also a 2x32 kit, meaning if you wanted to max out your memory at 128 gigabytes down the line you can easily do that without having to replace every stick in your system.

Again, because of your budget, there's no reason to get anything less than the Samsung 990 Pro 1TB SSD for your OS drive, with a secondary 4TB SSD for storing games or other media.

Your budget has room for the most powerful GPU available right now, which led me to pick a RTX 4090. I went with the Asus TUF model as it's less expensive compared to other 4090's on the market. You can always swap it out for something that fits your taste better.

Case selection is completely subjective, but the Corsair 4000D Airflow has plenty of room for managing cables, good IO, and lots of mesh for maximum airflow.

I chose the Corsair HX 1000i. It's 1000 watts, leaving plenty of headroom for power spikes and any expansion you add later, plus high efficiency.

If you have any further questions or different choices you'd like to make, please feel free to reach out. Hope this helped, take care.

 

[SCP2000]

I wasn't anticipating such a concise and thorough response, let alone one that came so swiftly! I did notice a few users having issues with their RTX 4090s, and honestly, the whole melted sockets issue has turned me off NVIDIA until they get their act together. It's safe to assume that won't be until their successor releases. Sigh...

Thanks man

 

[turtletarget111]

You would be just fine going with an AMD card or perhaps a lower tier NVIDIA card. If you don't care about NVIDIA's proprietary features like DLSS, external software, or more developed Ray Tracing, then AMD has cards at a much better value. With your budget you could grab the RX 7900 XTX and save a boat load of money. Hope this helped, take care.

 

[King Dranzer]

I recently had a Z370 platform die on me, and I've been out of touch with everything tech-related for the past few years. I rarely read the tech news after I've assembled my PC, so I've come here for advice. I'm hoping that people here can be a little more objective than on Reddit and point me in the direction of a system that I'll be using for at least 4-5 years. Having said that, I'd rather continue with Intel because it's what I know. On the GPU front, I honestly don't care. All that matters to me is getting the best performance per dollar. I would prefer not having RGB-puke plastered everywhere if possible.

Priority is as follows.

Use case: Blender > photoshop > lightroom > gaming > plex.
Budget: $6000 small Canadian pesos or about 4Kish USD.
Form factor: Mid-tower preferred.


Point me in the correct direction, dudes.



Kind regards,
SCP

Unless you are in absolute hurry to get it. I say hold on for a bit longer. Unless you are fine with spending C$500 over for RTX4090. Which would still get you the PC within your budget. But kinda be overspending on the GPU.

It is up to you.

 

[King Dranzer]

Here is the list:

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i9-14900K 3.2 GHz 24-Core Processor ($799.00 @ Newegg Canada)
CPU Cooler: Corsair iCUE H150i RGB ELITE 65.57 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($239.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Motherboard: Gigabyte Z790 AORUS ELITE AX ATX LGA1700 Motherboard ($319.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws S5 64 GB (2 x 32 GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 Memory ($264.97 @ Newegg Canada)
Storage: Western Digital Black SN850X 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive ($179.97 @ Newegg Canada)
Video Card: Gigabyte GAMING OC GeForce RTX 4090 24 GB Video Card ($2733.04 @ Newegg Canada)
Case: Phanteks Enthoo Pro 2 ATX Full Tower Case ($199.98 @ Newegg Canada)
Power Supply: Corsair HX1000i (2023) 1000 W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($304.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Total: $5041.93
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2023-12-09 03:34 EST-0500

All high quality components. And a silent build.

But as I said it is bit over priced due to GPU. By around C$500.

If you are fine with it being bit overpriced. Go for it. Or wait for the price to come down.

 

[geofelt]

At any price point the performance differences between intel and AMD are minimal.
I recommend sticking with the more familiar environment.

That applies to the nvidia/radeon question also.

What are your current parts?
Would you want to reuse some of it if possible?

 

[SCP2000]

At any price point the performance differences between intel and AMD are minimal.
I recommend sticking with the more familiar environment.

That applies to the nvidia/radeon question also.

What are your current parts?
Would you want to reuse some of it if possible?

I wasn't using any NVME. The only component worth keeping from my previous build might be the Supernova 1000W P2? Maybe the cooler master haf x? The rest is antiquated garbage tbf. At this stage, and not knowing how future GPUs will fair pertaining to power requirements and such - I would have greater peace of mind buying something modern that's at minimum 1200W for more futureproofing headroom.


I have considered every piece of advice offered here. I'm currently waiting for parts to arrive at my local brick and mortar shop, as it appears the vast majority of components, mainly the 4090s, tomahawk z790, and the 990 pro ssds of all sizes, are currently out of stock. Memory express does have a special order available on the matrix 4090 smdh. They explicitly stated that the other AIBs will not be available for the foreseeable future.

Thanks for all the help.

 

[King Dranzer]

At any price point the performance differences between intel and AMD are minimal.
I recommend sticking with the more familiar environment.

That applies to the nvidia/radeon question also.

What are your current parts?
Would you want to reuse some of it if possible?

RTX4090 absolutely stands out man. That GPU is on a absolute next level to anything else out there. The only worthy GPU from this generation if you ask me.

And specifically for productive work I would highly recommend NVIDIA over AMD. See even though AMD GPUs are much better value for money. But it got its drawbacks. The instability of drivers. Seriously a bit surprised with that considering how stable their CPUs have become. And also Ray-tracing and AI performance. Which NVIDIA still has clear edge over AMD.

 

[SCP2000]

RTX4090 absolutely stands out man. That GPU is on a absolute next level to anything else out there. The only worthy GPU from this generation if you ask me.

And specifically for productive work I would highly recommend NVIDIA over AMD. See even though AMD GPUs are much better value for money. But it got its drawbacks. The instability of drivers. Seriously a bit surprised with that considering how stable their CPUs have become. And also Ray-tracing and AI performance. Which NVIDIA still has clear edge over AMD.

It's quite astonishing that, even to this day, NVIDIA is leaps and bounds ahead of AMD on the enthusiast end. At first glance, I assumed AMD would have made significant advances in bridging the gap in the past several years. It's true what they say: ignorance is bliss!


My only option is finding a 4090 and hoping it doesn't explode, or a used 3090Ti - then seeing what NVIDIA announces for CES. Decisions, decisions.........

 

[SCP2000]

I cannot mark this thread as solved for whatever reason? The final build is as follows: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/WhJhFs

The AIO has grown in popularity and aesthetically I always preferred AIOs over air.

View: https://youtu.be/_UrEGcMh498?t=830


The cherry on top? They have an all black version! Finding an 8000 kit that doesn't include RGB proved to be an impossible feat; unfortunately, however, I feel this build gives me everything I need without compromising anything. Moreover, with my wife's approval for my next project (mora 420), it makes sense to look for components that fit the bill.

Thanks all!

SCP

 

[ohio_buckeye]

As far as the 4090, very fast cards but you definitely need the pocketbook for it. Interestingly I’d heard this and found an article where one of amds guys said he thought it was possible to develop a card that could compete with a 4090 but supposedly that it would have increased power consumption and cost and that wasn’t what they were going for.

AMD Says It Is Possible To Develop An NVIDIA RTX 4090 Competitor With RDNA 3 GPUs But They Decided Not To Due To Increased Cost & Power

AMD said that they can develop a RDNA 3 "Radeon RX 7000" GPU that competes with the NVIDIA RTX 4090 but won't due to increase power & cost.

wccftech.com

You be the judge as I guess it could be taken as they could have developed it or that they weren’t sure it would be quiet as fast. Or that they wanted to to target the mainstream and not spend resources at the highest end. Interesting that they seem to think it was doable though.

 

[SCP2000]

As far as the 4090, very fast cards but you definitely need the pocketbook for it. Interestingly I’d heard this and found an article where one of amds guys said he thought it was possible to develop a card that could compete with a 4090 but supposedly that it would have increased power consumption and cost and that wasn’t what they were going for.

AMD Says It Is Possible To Develop An NVIDIA RTX 4090 Competitor With RDNA 3 GPUs But They Decided Not To Due To Increased Cost & Power

AMD said that they can develop a RDNA 3 "Radeon RX 7000" GPU that competes with the NVIDIA RTX 4090 but won't due to increase power & cost.

wccftech.com

You be the judge as I guess it could be taken as they could have developed it or that they weren’t sure it would be quiet as fast. Or that they wanted to to target the mainstream and not spend resources at the highest end. Interesting that they seem to think it was doable though.

This is like your average-looking friend deluding himself into believing that he's capable of dating 10/10s lol. If AMD was capable, they wouldn't be talking about it. It's a disingenuous PR tactic.

 

[DSzymborski]

RGB shouldn't be a concern in choosing parts because with the exception of some dirt cheap knockoffs, you can simply turn it off.

 

[ohio_buckeye]

This is like your average-looking friend deluding himself into believing that he's capable of dating 10/10s lol. If AMD was capable, they wouldn't be talking about it. It's a disingenuous PR tactic.

As I said take it how you like. It does seem if they could have competed they would have. Unless the card was going to need 700 watts or something with lots of heat. What wild is that in 5 years 4090 level performance may be affordable. Kind of like when the 1080ti came out that was cutting edge. Now a card for 250-300 can basically get to that level (6700xt)

 

[SCP2000]

RGB shouldn't be a concern in choosing parts because with the exception of some dirt cheap knockoffs, you can simply turn it off.

Not without being forced to install proprietary bloatware first. It's not something I'm particularly fond of doing.

 

[King Dranzer]

Not without being forced to install proprietary bloatware first. It's not something I'm particularly fond of doing.

That is crazy expenditure. But I think you can do a bit better with the looks though. Those components in your list are mismatch and if you are going for aesthetics do it all the way and properly. Not saying that you shouldn't. But most definitely do it a bit better and pick up uniform components. Like Motherboard and GPU from same Brand and Lineup etc. Those are what you be looking at if you care for aesthetics.

 

[SCP2000]

That is crazy expenditure. But I think you can do a bit better with the looks though. Those components in your list are mismatch and if you are going for aesthetics do it all the way and properly. Not saying that you shouldn't. But most definitely do it a bit better and pick up uniform components. Like Motherboard and GPU from same Brand and Lineup etc. Those are what you be looking at if you care for aesthetics.

I understand. My choosing MSI has more to do with having an RMA center within reasonable driving distance. The reality is, I'll take whatever I can get my hands on at the moment. My plan is to have a monochrome silver/black build on a custom loop once the next generation of GPUs comes out.

 

[King Dranzer]

I understand. My choosing MSI has more to do with having an RMA center within reasonable driving distance. The reality is, I'll take whatever I can get my hands on at the moment. My plan is to have a monochrome silver/black build on a custom loop once the next generation of GPUs comes out.

Oh cool then it is fine.

 

[King Dranzer]

I understand. My choosing MSI has more to do with having an RMA center within reasonable driving distance. The reality is, I'll take whatever I can get my hands on at the moment. My plan is to have a monochrome silver/black build on a custom loop once the next generation of GPUs comes out.

MSI GPUs unlike its motherboards are decent.

Cut down on that Motherboard. Get the ROG STRIX-E board unless you have a specific feature you looking for on that MAXIMUS APEX ENCORE board.

And spend that money towards getting Synology 2-bay external enclosure and 2 x WD Gold 8TB HDDs to run them in RAID 1. That will ensure your data won't be lost ever.

You can run the Two HDDs internally as well and mirror them to be RAID 1 if you don't want to spend on External enclosure. But I usually for external storage as it can easily be carried to different places and it can be stored completely off the Net as Offline storage(which is what I recommend). Yes in that case backup needs to be done manually from time to time. But is kinda more secure.

 

[ohio_buckeye]

Unless they get ransomware.

 

[King Dranzer]

Unless they get ransomware.

Even then the files on PC be effected and not the files on the External storage. I mean unless one doesn't notice till he backs up the data onto the external storage. I mean yeah in that case the files may get corrupted but seriously I doubt that person working daily will not notice it sooner than later.

 

[helper800]

Not without being forced to install proprietary bloatware first. It's not something I'm particularly fond of doing.

You can turn off all the lighting in the BIOS for the RAM, fans, and motherboard itself. A graphics card and anything else that has RGB that is not controlled by the motherboard can be turned off in software once and then uninstalled for almost everything.

 

[SCP2000]

MSI GPUs unlike its motherboards are decent.

Cut down on that Motherboard. Get the ROG STRIX-E board unless you have a specific feature you looking for on that MAXIMUS APEX ENCORE board.

And spend that money towards getting Synology 2-bay external enclosure and 2 x WD Gold 8TB HDDs to run them in RAID 1. That will ensure your data won't be lost ever.

You can run the Two HDDs internally as well and mirror them to be RAID 1 if you don't want to spend on External enclosure. But I usually for external storage as it can easily be carried to different places and it can be stored completely off the Net as Offline storage(which is what I recommend). Yes in that case backup needs to be done manually from time to time. But is kinda more secure.

Well, 4dimm boards are notoriously bad for achieving anything over 7200mts. I have since scrapped the SATA SSD for a NAS solution, seeing as it's something I probably should have done a long time ago but never actually got around to it.

All the parts have been placed on order.

Thank you all!

 

[Why_Me]

You can turn off the LED's on that gpu. Add storage as needed.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: *Intel Core i7-14700K 3.4 GHz 20-Core Processor ($571.50 @ shopRBC)
CPU Cooler: *ARCTIC Liquid Freezer II 420 72.8 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($184.99 @ Memory Express)
Motherboard: *MSI PRO Z790-A MAX WIFI ATX LGA1700 Motherboard ($366.30 @ Vuugo)
Memory: *G.Skill Ripjaws S5 64 GB (2 x 32 GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 Memory ($279.97 @ Newegg Canada)
Video Card: *Gigabyte GAMING OC GeForce RTX 4090 24 GB Video Card ($2749.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Case: *Lian Li LANCOOL III ATX Mid Tower Case ($165.88 @ Vuugo)
Power Supply: *SeaSonic VERTEX GX-1200 1200 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($389.99 @ Memory Express)
Total: $4708.62
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2023-12-12 16:03 EST-0500

A better look at those components.

https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/PRO-Z790-A-MAX-WIFI

https://www.intel.com/content/www/u...-33m-cache-up-to-5-60-ghz/specifications.html

https://www.arctic.de/us/Liquid-Freezer-II-420/ACFRE00092A

https://www.gskill.com/product/165/377/1649234605/F5-6000J3040G32GX2-RS5K-F5-6000J3040G32GA2-RS5K

https://www.gigabyte.com/Graphics-Card/GV-N4090GAMING-OC-24GD-rev-10-11#kf

https://seasonic.com/vertex-gx

https://lian-li.com/product/lancool-iii/

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zE9Rg6wGvA