New Build - €2000-3000

Internet Friend

1. What is your budget? €2000-3000

2. What will be the main purpose of the computer? Gaming (Sniper Elite series, Resident Evil series, Metro series, KSP, Elite Dangerous, etc)

3. Do you need a copy of Windows? No

4. Can you use any parts from an old computer? No, current PC, monitor and peripherals being reused elsewhere.

5. Do you need a monitor? Yes

5a. If yes, what size do you need. 27' or bigger 2560x1440 @ 144Hz, personal preference would be 32', widescreen options also considered

6. Do you need any of these peripherals? No - Will pick these myself.

7. Are you willing to try overclocking? Yes

8. How can you pay? Laser/Revolut

9. When are you purchasing? Can buy at any time.

10. If you need help building it, where are you based? n/a

I'm slightly conflicted at the moment about whether to go for a 3700x or a 9700k. This system will be used 95% for gaming so Intel CPU makes sense in that regard but it's also hard to look past the solid upgrade path AMD offers. Also have my heart set on the Cooler Master MasterCase H500M because of the excellent cooling it offers and I like how it looks.

Planning to use for VR eventually as well.

K.O.Kiki

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 3700X 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor (£299.99 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: Gigabyte X570 AORUS ELITE ATX AM4 Motherboard (£205.03 @ CCL Computers)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3466 Memory (£141.97 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: ADATA XPG SX6000 Pro 1 TB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive (£113.74 @ CCL Computers)
Storage: Toshiba X300 5 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£110.46 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce RTX 2080 8 GB WINDFORCE Video Card (£599.99 @ Amazon UK)
Case: Cooler Master MasterCase H500M ATX Mid Tower Case (£189.68 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: RIOTORO ENIGMA G2 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply (£73.97 @ CCL Computers)
Total: £1734.83
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-07-31 11:07 BST+0100

€1900 PC
Feel free to downgrade SSD/HDD size (picked 1Tb/5Tb as they're cheapest per/Gb)

Inviere

Internet Friend wrote: »

but it's also hard to look past the solid upgrade path AMD offers.

I could well be wrong, but I thought I read that there's no guarantee yet that Zen 3 will be AM4.

K.O.Kiki

Inviere wrote: »

I could well be wrong, but I thought I read that there's no guarantee yet that Zen 3 will be AM4.

DDR5 isn't available in quantity yet, and socket AM4 is guaranteed until 2020 - high chance that the next Zen will still be supported.
That said, I also don't think anything more than 3700X will be needed for a good 3-5 years for gaming.

btkm8unsl0w5r4

K.O.Kiki wrote: »

, I also don't think anything more than 3700X will be needed for a good 3-5 years for gaming.

Agreed, however I would wait for the 3950x at this stage with that sort of a budget, guaranteed to push the pixels of whatever GPU comes along in the next gen and ridiculous productivity chops

BloodBath

I'd up the power supply to the 750w version. It's only £10 more. Already using 400w without any overclocks.

3 grand budget, it doesn't make sense saving a tenner on the psu. Why not add a better cooler as well. Big fat Noctua air is the way to go or an AIO.

Don't think I'd bother with a HDD at all either. I'd add more SSD's or increase the SSD size unless you really need that massive HDD space and want to store hundreds of games locally. 2TB of SSD space should cover you for gaming, OS and background programs.

Choosing a monitor is the hardest part for these builds although G-sync narrows down the options a bit. Good luck with that.

K.O.Kiki

BloodBath wrote: »

I'd up the power supply to the 750w version. It's only £10 more. Already using 400w without any overclocks.

3 grand budget, it doesn't make sense saving a tenner on the psu. Why not add a better cooler as well. Big fat Noctua air is the way to go or an AIO.

Don't think I'd bother with a HDD at all either. I'd add more SSD's or increase the SSD size unless you really need that massive HDD space and want to store hundreds of games locally. 2TB of SSD space should cover you for gaming, OS and background programs.

Choosing a monitor is the hardest part for these builds although G-sync narrows down the options a bit. Good luck with that.

400W is still only 61% of a 650W's output, and neither part is highly overclockable - even OC'd I wouldn't expect total power draw to hit 500W (76%). Bigger PSU not needed.

https://static.techspot.com/articles-info/1869/bench/Temps.png
Wraith Prism is fine IMHO - go for more exotic cooling if you want. But the Wraith has RGB out-the-box :pac:

Why go 2Tb SSD when you can avail of something like StoreMI? On AM4 it's a waste IMHO

Shlippery

K.O.Kiki wrote: »

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 3700X 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor (£299.99 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: Gigabyte X570 AORUS ELITE ATX AM4 Motherboard (£205.03 @ CCL Computers)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3466 Memory (£141.97 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: ADATA XPG SX6000 Pro 1 TB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive (£113.74 @ CCL Computers)
Storage: Toshiba X300 5 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£110.46 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce RTX 2080 8 GB WINDFORCE Video Card (£599.99 @ Amazon UK)
Case: Cooler Master MasterCase H500M ATX Mid Tower Case (£189.68 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: RIOTORO ENIGMA G2 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply (£73.97 @ CCL Computers)
Total: £1734.83
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-07-31 11:07 BST+0100

€1900 PC
Feel free to downgrade SSD/HDD size (picked 1Tb/5Tb as they're cheapest per/Gb)

On GPU, I'd probably recommend a different variant of 2080! I've that exact card and it does this really annoying mini-rev thing with the fans every so often, seems like a problem with Gigabyte cards in general. Seen it reported elsewhere so it's not just me, and no real fix.

Card is still fantastic, but if I could turn back the clock, I'd probably have gone with a different brand/model!

K.O.Kiki

Shlippery wrote: »

On GPU, I'd probably recommend a different variant of 2080! I've that exact card and it does this really annoying mini-rev thing with the fans every so often, seems like a problem with Gigabyte cards in general. Seen it reported elsewhere so it's not just me, and no real fix.

Card is still fantastic, but if I could turn back the clock, I'd probably have gone with a different brand/model!

Good to know.
I just chose that model as it was showing up for same price as the (mildly inferior) 2070 Super.

TerrorFirmer

Windforce is an absolutely ****e cooler in many cases. You'd think as a 3rd party option that looks reasonbly good it would perform as same, but it's just horrible. I think it works fine on some cards and horribly on others, like they just plonk generic designs onto PCB's without actually tailoring them to the new model.

Internet Friend

Thanks for the feedback (especially on the Windforce).

I presume you're intending on using StoreMI to manage what goes on the SSD?

Made a few tweaks, got rid of the Windforce and replaced with an MSI 2080 Duke, swapped the PSU to a SeaSonic, stuck a Be Quiet! Dark Rock Pro 4 in and swapped the ADATA for a WD Blue 1Tb. Only concern I have is the RAM clearance on the cooler, may consider an AOI.

As for the monitor, I can totally see how that could be tricky, but I'm leaning towards the lg 32gk850f-b as it's G Sync compatible and has good reviews.

Part list here ~€2600 (sorry, no idea how to do the fancy parts list :rolleyes:)

K.O.Kiki

Dark Rock Pro 4: overkill :pac:
A regular Dark Rock 4, Noctua NH-U12S/NH-U14S or Scythe Mugen 5/PCGH edition will cool a 3700X adequately & quietly.

The WD Blue is SATA interface; although "fast enough" it's a no-brainer going with NVMe since they're similar/same price.

The Riotoro PSU is actually the exact same as the Seasonic apart from the box: same spec, performance, warranty. Why pay more?

£750 is a silly price to pay for an RTX 2080. Instead, drop down to an RTX 2070 Super (same performance for £500-580) and overclock - or order a 2080 Super (better card for £720).

Internet Friend

Noted, have reverted back most of the changes and stuck a Scythe Mugen 5/PCGH on, will have a think about the graphics card, lot of options around the same price point.

Thanks for the feedback K.O. learnt a few things I wasn't aware of.

BloodBath

K.O.Kiki wrote: »

400W is still only 61% of a 650W's output, and neither part is highly overclockable - even OC'd I wouldn't expect total power draw to hit 500W (76%). Bigger PSU not needed.

https://static.techspot.com/articles-info/1869/bench/Temps.png
Wraith Prism is fine IMHO - go for more exotic cooling if you want. But the Wraith has RGB out-the-box :pac:

Why go 2Tb SSD when you can avail of something like StoreMI? On AM4 it's a waste IMHO

You are right but it's nice to have a bit of overhead for potentially more power hungry upgrades down the line while keeping usage closer to 50%. For the sake of a tenner on a big budget build.

I haven't used storeMI yet but you're probably right there. Can get the best of both worlds then. It just sucks when those drives fail. I've had 4 HDD's fail so far, 0 SSD failures. Granted they do degrade but outright failures are rare. There's also the noise factor. If you make the PC quiet enough elsewhere then you will hear the HDD.