[Early 2020] Ultimate Gaming Build Around $2000.

[Dotiki]

Hello guys,

 

I have already made an intro about myself in another thread. But one more time, my name is Alexey, and I'm looking for help to build my gaming setup.

As I moved to iMac 6 years ago, I have minimal experience with building a modern PC, and I will have a lot of questions. And I will appreciate it very much if you help me to approve my final list of parts.

 

Here is what I have in mind right now for budget around 2500-2700 with monitor.

 

CPU: Intel Core i7-9700K 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor | $389.99

CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i RGB PLATINUM 75 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler | $139.99

Motherboard: Asus ROG STRIX Z390-E GAMING ATX LGA1151 Motherboard | $244.99

Memory: G.Skill Trident Z RGB 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3600 Memory (Latency 16) | $175.99

Storage: Western Digital Blue 1 TB 2.5" Solid State Drive | $142.31

Storage: Western Digital BLACK SERIES 2 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal HD | $112.99

Video Card: Asus GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER 8 GB STRIX GAMING Advanced | $569.95

Case: Corsair Obsidian 500D RGB SE ATX Mid Tower Case | $238.99

Power Supply: Corsair RM (2019) 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX | $119.99

 

Monitor: BenQ ZOWIE XL2546 24.5 Inch 240Hz Gaming Monitor | | $550
 

Current Average Total: $2700

Thank you very much! Can't wait start building it and hear your opinions. Cheers! 

[To Be Technical]

Most of it looks good to me :) However, I would swap out the 2.5" SSD for an M.2 NVMe one for sure. Also, if it were me building the system, I'd swap out the i7 and the motherboard and go for a Ryzen 7 3700X and the X570 Aorus Elite. I think it even works out a little bit cheaper.

[Bombastinator]

So you say you want 2k but the build is 2700 so $700 needs to be cut, yes?

 

theres close to $500 worth of RGB garbage on there.  Shouldn’t be too hard to do with equivalent performance.

 

Big air cooler instead of RGB AIO- ~$50

non RGB memory ~$80

a 2.5”ssd that still maxes sata6 and is therefore just as fast ~$30

Non high speed storage HD ~$50

more reasonably priced GPU ~$65

Non rgb non glass panel case  ~$150

Semi-modular PSU of more rational size ~$40

 

thats a bit over $500 with no performance change at all.

[Greg6669 UK]

It looks good to me. I'm building 2080 at the moment as well, a lot of people will recommend AMD to you both as CPU and GPU but I still prefer intel even if it's a bit more expensive. However, if you do streaming, or will do that in future, you would benefit from AMD's multithreading - you will drop less FPS than intel, if not, I'd stick to intel.

If you haven't seen it yet, that might help:

https://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Core-i7-9700K-vs-AMD-Ryzen-7-3700X/4030vs4043

 

[Bombastinator]

One thing I Don’t know: the monitor is 24”@ 240hz.  I don’t know what it takes to drive tiny fast monitors or what their pricing should be.  Very possible the GPU is a waste. Might be able to go smaller. I dunno.

[Greg6669 UK]

1 hour ago, To Be Technical said:

I would swap out the 2.5" SSD for an M.2 NVMe one for sure.

Can you explain why please? cause I'm also considering it. I tried to compare speeds and they seemed similar like 560 read and 300 write, or something but I may be wrong. Does it improve gaming? If so, how? Or is it only loading time? We will both benefit from that information.

Edit: Fearless Performance - 970 PRO maximizes the potential of NVMe bandwidth/ 970 PRO offers unparalleled sequential read/write speeds of up to 3, 500/2, 700 MB/s

[trevb0t]

39 minutes ago, Greg6669 UK said:

Can you explain why please? cause I'm also considering it. I tried to compare speeds and they seemed similar like 560 read and 300 write, or something but I may be wrong. Does it improve gaming? If so, how? Or is it only loading time? We will both benefit from that information.

Edit: Fearless Performance - 970 PRO maximizes the potential of NVMe bandwidth/ 970 PRO offers unparalleled sequential read/write speeds of up to 3, 500/2, 700 MB/s

Some NVMe drives are straight junk. In fact some are slower than decent SATA SSDs. 

The difference in gaming performance is 0%. Currently for a decent SATA and a mid range NVMe, you're looking at almost the same pricing, though.

So... Faster boot up. If you record or edit any streaming content, there are obvious advantages.

[Greg6669 UK]

10 minutes ago, trevb0t said:

The difference in gaming performance is 0%. Currently for a decent SATA and a mid range NVMe, you're looking at almost the same pricing, though.

So... Faster boot up. If you record or edit any streaming content, there are obvious advantages.

Thank you, I'll skip this invention for now then as I already have a 1TB SSD which I'm happy with, but Dotiki can still think about NVMe instead of 

1 hour ago, Dotiki said:

Storage: Western Digital Blue 1 TB 2.5" Solid State Drive | $142.31

unless the difference in price is too big. Thanks for that.

[trevb0t]

2 hours ago, Dotiki said:

Hello guys,

 

I have already made an intro about myself in another thread. But one more time, my name is Alexey, and I'm looking for help to build my gaming setup.

As I moved to iMac 6 years ago, I have minimal experience with building a modern PC, and I will have a lot of questions. And I will appreciate it very much if you help me to approve my final list of parts.

 

Here is what I have in mind right now for budget around 2500-2700 with monitor.

 

CPU: Intel Core i7-9700K 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor | $389.99

CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i RGB PLATINUM 75 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler | $139.99

Motherboard: Asus ROG STRIX Z390-E GAMING ATX LGA1151 Motherboard | $244.99

Memory: G.Skill Trident Z RGB 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3600 Memory (Latency 16) | $175.99

Storage: Western Digital Blue 1 TB 2.5" Solid State Drive | $142.31

Storage: Western Digital BLACK SERIES 2 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal HD | $112.99

Video Card: Asus GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER 8 GB STRIX GAMING Advanced | $569.95

Case: Corsair Obsidian 500D RGB SE ATX Mid Tower Case | $238.99

Power Supply: Corsair RM (2019) 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX | $119.99

 

Monitor: BenQ ZOWIE XL2546 24.5 Inch 240Hz Gaming Monitor | | $550
 

Current Average Total: $2700

Thank you very much! Can't wait start building it and hear your opinions. Cheers! 

Are you in the U.S.? This price for performance is WAY off.

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 7 3700X 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor	$324.99 @ Amazon
CPU Cooler	Scythe FUMA 2 51.17 CFM CPU Cooler	$59.99 @ Amazon
Motherboard	MSI B450-A PRO MAX ATX AM4 Motherboard	$99.99 @ Amazon
Memory	G.Skill Ripjaws V 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 Memory	$81.99 @ Newegg
Storage	Sabrent Rocket Q 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive	$109.99 @ Amazon
Storage	Seagate Barracuda Compute 2 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive	$49.99 @ Amazon
Video Card	EVGA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti 11 GB XC ULTRA GAMING Video Card	$1129.99 @ Newegg
Case	Fractal Design Meshify C ATX Mid Tower Case	$98.99 @ Walmart
Power Supply	Corsair RMx (2018) 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply	$99.98 @ Amazon
Case Fan	be quiet! SilentWings 3 PWM High-Speed 77.57 CFM 140 mm Fan	$22.89 @ Amazon
Case Fan	be quiet! SilentWings 3 PWM High-Speed 77.57 CFM 140 mm Fan	$22.89 @ Amazon
Monitor	ViewSonic ELITE XG270QG 27.0" 2560x1440 165 Hz Monitor	$599.99 @ Amazon
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total (before mail-in rebates)	$2751.67
	Mail-in rebates	-$50.00
	Total	$2701.67
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-01-24 20:39 EST-0500

You can still go Intel, but go do some research on Zen 2. It's bar-none the better choice for your money. At least until Intel puts out the next gen. (Even then most fanboys still aren't that hopeful.)

• Better CPU setup for streaming your gameplay. (And just in general.)
• I've fit an RTX 2080Ti with a great EVGA cooler into the build here. Massive gains in performance.
• Sexy all-black and practically silent build here. 
• I'm unsure what you're gaining at 240hz refresh. Pro gamers in interviews basically say that the difference is 0% between 144 and 240 to even them.
  • 27" 1440p Wide IPS 144hz 1ms G-Sync monitor. Enough said.

 

[Greg6669 UK]

22 minutes ago, trevb0t said:

I've fit an RTX 2080Ti with a great EVGA cooler into the build here. Massive gains in performance.

I totally agree, that will bring you much closer to the 'ultimate' you're after. The moniter is better too - you'll benefit much more from 1440p than from 240Hz (especially with RTX 2080TI) and for longer and will look crispier.

[Dotiki]

2 hours ago, To Be Technical said:

Most of it looks good to me  However, I would swap out the 2.5" SSD for an M.2 NVMe one for sure. Also, if it were me building the system, I'd swap out the i7 and the motherboard and go for a Ryzen 7 3700X and the X570 Aorus Elite. I think it even works out a little bit cheaper.

Thank you very much. Yes, I was thinking to go the same way. Wasn't sure about AMD version. I will check it.

 

1 hour ago, Bombastinator said:

So you say you want 2k but the build is 2700 so $700 needs to be cut, yes?

 

theres close to $500 worth of RGB garbage on there.  Shouldn’t be too hard to do with equivalent performance.

 

Big air cooler instead of RGB AIO- ~$50

non RGB memory ~$80

a 2.5”ssd that still maxes sata6 and is therefore just as fast ~$30

Non high speed storage HD ~$50

more reasonably priced GPU ~$65

Non rgb non glass panel case  ~$150

Semi-modular PSU of more rational size ~$40

 

thats a bit over $500 with no performance change at all.

No, sorry. I have around $2500-2700 for whole build with monitor. 

[Dotiki]

1 hour ago, Greg6669 UK said:

It looks good to me. I'm building 2080 at the moment as well, a lot of people will recommend AMD to you both as CPU and GPU but I still prefer intel even if it's a bit more expensive. However, if you do streaming, or will do that in future, you would benefit from AMD's multithreading - you will drop less FPS than intel, if not, I'd stick to intel.

If you haven't seen it yet, that might help:

https://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Core-i7-9700K-vs-AMD-Ryzen-7-3700X/4030vs4043

 

Thanks, I will check this.

1 hour ago, Bombastinator said:

One thing I Don’t know: the monitor is 24”@ 240hz.  I don’t know what it takes to drive tiny fast monitors or what their pricing should be.  Very possible the GPU is a waste. Might be able to go smaller. I dunno.

I will read more about as well. Thanks.

[Dotiki]

28 minutes ago, trevb0t said:

Are you in the U.S.? This price for performance is WAY off.

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 7 3700X 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor	$324.99 @ Amazon
CPU Cooler	Scythe FUMA 2 51.17 CFM CPU Cooler	$59.99 @ Amazon
Motherboard	MSI B450-A PRO MAX ATX AM4 Motherboard	$99.99 @ Amazon
Memory	G.Skill Ripjaws V 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 Memory	$81.99 @ Newegg
Storage	Sabrent Rocket Q 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive	$109.99 @ Amazon
Storage	Seagate Barracuda Compute 2 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive	$49.99 @ Amazon
Video Card	EVGA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti 11 GB XC ULTRA GAMING Video Card	$1129.99 @ Newegg
Case	Fractal Design Meshify C ATX Mid Tower Case	$98.99 @ Walmart
Power Supply	Corsair RMx (2018) 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply	$99.98 @ Amazon
Case Fan	be quiet! SilentWings 3 PWM High-Speed 77.57 CFM 140 mm Fan	$22.89 @ Amazon
Case Fan	be quiet! SilentWings 3 PWM High-Speed 77.57 CFM 140 mm Fan	$22.89 @ Amazon
Monitor	ViewSonic ELITE XG270QG 27.0" 2560x1440 165 Hz Monitor	$599.99 @ Amazon
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total (before mail-in rebates)	$2751.67
	Mail-in rebates	-$50.00
	Total	$2701.67
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-01-24 20:39 EST-0500

You can still go Intel, but go do some research on Zen 2. It's bar-none the better choice for your money. At least until Intel puts out the next gen. (Even then most fanboys still aren't that hopeful.)

• Better CPU setup for streaming your gameplay. (And just in general.)
• I've fit an RTX 2080Ti with a great EVGA cooler into the build here. Massive gains in performance.
• Sexy all-black and practically silent build here. 
• I'm unsure what you're gaining at 240hz refresh. Pro gamers in interviews basically say that the difference is 0% between 144 and 240 to even them.
  • 27" 1440p Wide IPS 144hz 1ms G-Sync monitor. Enough said.

 

Got it, very interesting info. I will check all the parts as well in details that you're suggesting.

[Greg6669 UK]

 

1 minute ago, Dotiki said:

1 hour ago, Greg6669 UK said:

It looks good to me. I'm building 2080 at the moment as well, a lot of people will recommend AMD to you both as CPU and GPU but I still prefer intel even if it's a bit more expensive. However, if you do streaming, or will do that in future, you would benefit from AMD's multithreading - you will drop less FPS than intel, if not, I'd stick to intel.

If you haven't seen it yet, that might help:

https://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Core-i7-9700K-vs-AMD-Ryzen-7-3700X/4030vs4043

 

Thanks, I will check this.

Saying that, if you can save money by going with AMD and push for RTX2080TI, it will be much better for gaming overall, even with no streaming and even more with streaming.

[Dotiki]

Just now, Greg6669 UK said:

 

Saying that, if you can save money by going with AMD and push for RTX2080TI, it will be much better for gaming overall, even with no streaming and even more with streaming.

Yes, I think it's the best way indeed. Thank you guys. I will check again and post an updated list according to your suggestions.  

[Greg6669 UK]

10 minutes ago, Dotiki said:

1 hour ago, Bombastinator said:

One thing I Don’t know: the monitor is 24”@ 240hz.  I don’t know what it takes to drive tiny fast monitors or what their pricing should be.  Very possible the GPU is a waste. Might be able to go smaller. I dunno.

I will read more about as well. Thanks.

I agree that on day one an RTX2080TI is a little overkill for 1440p gaming, but if you can use it for 1 - 2 more years without bad FPS, what's wrong with that? That's a win for me.

[Bombastinator]

13 minutes ago, Dotiki said:

Yes, I think it's the best way indeed. Thank you guys. I will check again and post an updated list according to your suggestions.  

It depends a lot on what kind of gaming you want to do.  You did a high end esports build, and the other is a high end aaa rpg build.

 

the rpg build will do esport less poorly than the esport build will do rpg.  It’s still not as good at it though.  The 9700k build is very fast 8/8 with a 240hz monitor.  The 3700x build is fairly fast 8/16 with a bigger 165hz monitor.

[Dotiki]

Just now, Bombastinator said:

It depends a lot on what kind of gaming you want to do.  You did a high end esports build, and the other is a high end aaa rpg build.

 

the rpg build will do esport less poorly than the esport build will do rpg.  It’s still not as good at it though.  The 9700k build is very fast 8/8 with a 240hz monitor.  The 3700x build is fairly fast 8/16 with a bigger 165hz monitor.

How would you do then for this budget, please?

[Greg6669 UK]

You need to answer his question first to find out:

5 minutes ago, Dotiki said:

It depends a lot on what kind of gaming you want to do.

 

[Dotiki]

I would never pick between two.  I don't know how to answer.

[Dotiki]

I like shooter like Battlefield and Call of Duty, I like WOW and DOTA2, LOL, but I'd love to see new solo games as well. I never played anything new apart from PS4 games. So I'd love to see them also and level of new graphics on a good machine.

[Bombastinator]

2 minutes ago, Dotiki said:

How would you do then for this budget, please?

I’m a rpg player so I kinda like the AMD build better.  It’s for what I play though.

 

There’s a couple issues that need to be looked at: how many cores will a given game use, and what single core is needed to do it. The intel has fewer threads but better single core.  It will produce higher base fps until it runs out of threads at which point it will get slower fast.  So less potential longevity but greater fps now.  Absolutely top end even.  Next year? Maybe not so much.  It’s unknown. Also unknown (at least to me) is how much GPU it takes to drive a 240hz monitor.  They’re aren’t any that aren’t 24” 1080p, so big monitor is out.  240hz is strictly a pro level esports thing. Anything after about 90hz imho is only about esports.

 

That machine had pro level esports all over it.  If that is what one is interested in it has it points.  The second build is much more balanced.  It will run esports at 165p but do other things too and it has a potentially longer life.

[Dotiki]

1 minute ago, Bombastinator said:

I’m a rpg player so I kinda like the AMD build better.  It’s for what I play though.

 

There’s a couple issues that need to be looked at: how many cores will a given game use, and what single core is needed to do it. The intel has fewer threads but better single core.  It will produce higher base fps until it runs out of threads at which point it will get slower fast.  So less potential longevity but greater fps now.  Absolutely top end even.  Next year? Maybe not so much.  It’s unknown. Also unknown (at least to me) is how much GPU it takes to drive a 240hz monitor.  They’re aren’t any that aren’t 24” 1080p, so big monitor is out.  240hz is strictly a pro level esports thing. Anything after about 90hz imho is only about esports.

 

That machine had pro level esports all over it.  If that is what one is interested in it has it points.  The second build is much more balanced.  It will run esports at 165p but do other things too and it has a potentially longer life.

Thank you.

When you say second build, you mean the one posted by @trevb0t ?

[Bombastinator]

7 minutes ago, Dotiki said:

Thank you.

When you say second build, you mean the one posted by @trevb0t ?

Yes.

[Bombastinator]

10 minutes ago, Dotiki said:

Thank you.

When you say second build, you mean the one posted by @trevb0t ?

There is a thing or two that might be cut on that build. Or changed.  The Cooler May be overkill, the 3700x doesn’t overclock for beans so an overclocking cooler is kinda wasted.  Also the rocket on a b450 motherboard is more than the motherboard can properly handle.  It’s limited to Pcie 3. Fast fast storage may become a thing in a year though.  If it does the rocket is as fast as a pcie3 motherboard can get.

A possible thing do if that happened would be to get a different motherboard that did pcie4. The rocket would still work then and be a little faster. If swapping the motherboard is doable, One could ditch the rocket AND. the HD and get a 2tb 2.5” ssd.  Then if fast fast drives needed to happen a motherboard swap and a fast m.2 might be needed.   The lowball would be a small 2.5” ssd  and keep the HD.  Use the SSD for just the OS and one or two games you are playing. This makes basically the same speed as the rocket/hd for less money but if fast drives become a thing a swap will be needed even more badly.

quibbles:

 The case fans don’t need to be $22/per if they’re on the front. A sleeve bearing fan isn’t quite as long lasting as a modified rifle but when they’re vertical they’re surprisingly close.  For more like $6/per.  If they’re on the Top they do though. They might be RGB as well.  I don’t know much about RGB or monitors.