A Console Gamers PC

[The Cow]

Hi,

 

Long time listener, first time caller.

 

tl;dr

Need new computer now, console gaming mainly but am sick of laptops. Money is an object but I am flexible, read numbered list below. I would like 6 years of solid use while keeping GPU upgrades in mind.

 

I need a new computer and I am not going the laptop route again. Two days ago, my Dell laptop's motherboard decided to short to ground 1 year and 20 days after purchase and in that time it was sent out for various problems 4 times. I bought a laptop thinking I would play games when I travel for work but to be honest, I never had time when traveling so I ended up just setting it on a desk and being underwhelmed by its performance for $1400. I am a console gamer by nature but was really digging 60+ fps at medium setting on a 1060. I am targeting a RTX 2060 but am going to wait until the 1660 arrives as I do not need to game right now and may go 2070 if the full price of the computer is spread out over two purchases. Budget is flexible but I am not looking to go crazy. Any help or thoughts would be greatly appreciated, I am looking to order in the next few days as I need a home computer and my wife's mac is always in use by her.

 

Looking at micro atx and 2060 for the small form factor and PC gaming is second to console for me. I will not be overclocking, not my thing for personal use. RGB means nothing to me.

 

1. Corsair crystal 280X: Black, simple, smallish, looks good, appears to function well.
2. Ram: probably go 3000 but will only be getting 2X8 for now
3. I7 8700: Do not want to over clock so K is not required. My be able to convince my wife to stray from mac with this thing but more looking for overhead when compared to the 8600K. May go 2060, may go 2070, the next generation of xx60 would almost certainly be upgraded too.
4. Cooler Master ML240L: I want quiet and piece of mind.
5. Asus TUF Z390M: This will undoubtably be overkill but... I want M.2 on the board, 2 PCIE slots, type C on the rear IO, WiFi (doing drops in a house you rent is hard enough, not doing one for my desk) and what I tell myself is headroom but will obviously be under utilized because I live excess.
6. Corsair RMx 2018 650w 80+ gold: Modular, overhead, not that expensive when compared, efficient.
7. Drives: I already own and plan to use a 500gb 960 evo NVMe and a 1tb 860 evo SSD. May pick up a couple tb HDD to store my entire steam library.
8. Cables will be sourced, I have monitor, mouse and keyboard. 1080p 144hz now but may purchase a 1440p later on as I just bought a Samsung 8000 55 inch 4k for the living room.

 

Blow holes in this, send helpful comments... I am stubborn

 

Thank you in advance.

 

[Alex Atkin UK]

Nothing really wrong with what you have chosen, other than if you want to save some money going Ryzen.

[samcool55]

Just a little note, you don't need a motherboard with wi-fi, you can easily get a pci-e wi-fi card that are like solid AF, but then again it's up to you to decide what you want, but just know it's an option.

[The Cow]

22 minutes ago, Alex Atkin UK said:

Nothing really wrong with what you have chosen, other than if you want to save some money going Ryzen.

Thanks but going AMD is a little out of my comfort zone, I know its a stupid excuse.

 

I'm torn between the i5-8600K and i7-8700. From what I have read, the i7 is more for me as I won't overclock the i5 for performance now and the i7 seems to be a better choice for 2070. It's only a $20 difference but more making sure the i7 is the right choice.

 

24 minutes ago, samcool55 said:

Just a little note, you don't need a motherboard with wi-fi, you can easily get a pci-e wi-fi card that are like solid AF, but then again it's up to you to decide what you want, but just know it's an option.

Was hoping to leave it open for an audio card for HT options and a cleaner look but appreciate it regardless.

[Alex Atkin UK]

I was kinda the same having not had AMD since the old Athlon/Durons.  I went with a 8600k but regretting it a little now as the the greater number of cores on Ryzen would have come in handy sometimes.

I got a Ryzen 5 laptop recently which is half the price of an Intel of the same performance (and a better GPU to boot).

 

Between those choices, I'd definitely go for the i7 as games will only get more multi-threaded over time.  Like you said, if you never overclock there is zero benefit to the K CPU and tons to gain from the measley $20 extra.