First Build Planning

[Dmarley]

I'm currently a senior at university studying geophysics and oceanography.  I do work in GIS, numerical modelling, satellite data analysis, and rudimentary data science programs (RStudio/MATLAB).  I also would like to be able to set up a DAC for recording/music editing (I already have a DAC w an XLR input) as well as gaming with my friends from back home.  Three of my roommates are big PC enthusiasts who have built multiple PC's before and have agreed to help me w a build and as such I would like to get more into computers while also making one such that I will not need to build/buy another until for a while.

 

Currently I have:

a used Corsair 750D

3-4 140mm fans

Assorted HDD's from older computers

an Optical Drive 5.25'

and a multi-card reader 5.25'

 

I plan on getting:

Motherboard: ASUS Z390-E

CPU: Intel i7 9700k

CPU Fan: Corsair H110i (or comprable)

GPU: No Idea

RAM: 32 GB DDR4 (GIS uses a metric s**tload of RAM)

PSU: 450-650W Unit?

 

1. What GPU should I use? (I can upgrade the GPU later down the road)

2. What is appropriate for PSU wattage?

3. I was curious about running a push-pull setup with the Corsair H110i as a top exhaust.

4. Do I need a sound card for the DAC to run into?

I'm sure I'll have other questions.

 

Best Regards

[Mephi00]

As everyone in this forum I‘m gonna recommend ryzen, mostly because its gaming performance is only outshined by a 9900k but at a very competitive price (even the 12 and 16 core models). With its price you can get a beast for multithreaded workloads. For ryzen I‘d recommend the 3700/3900x if you were already looking at the 9700k. As for a mobo just look into the buyers guide 4.0. 

 

As you‘re buying this year I‘d recommend waiting a bit for nvidia ampere or big navi, so you can either get a good deal for a 2080 or something or a really good new gpu. But it really depends on the resolution and refreshrate you wanna play at.

[lopj245]

Depends on what you use the system for, and how much money you have to blow. AMD is definitely something you should think about as the above poster mentioned. RTX 2070 super? Solid card.

As for the psu any good brand will do, I personally put 750's in all of my builds. I prefer fully modular PSU's as well for a cleaner end result. 

[dizmo]

Is there a particular reason you want to go with an AIO? If you're using it for school work I'd just go with an air cooler. Many less points of failure.

I have no idea what kind of GPU power your programs use, so I can't make any recommendations there. You also didn't mention what games you'd be playing.

A good 550W PSU should do, you can get a 650W if you want a bit of breathing room. Check the LTT PSU tier list, get one of the better ones.

You should probably include the model number of the DAC you have, otherwise we have no idea.

 

Welcome to the forum.

 

24 minutes ago, Mephi00 said:

As everyone in this forum I‘m gonna recommend ryzen, mostly because its gaming performance is only outshined by a 9900k but at a very competitive price (even the 12 and 16 core models). With its price you can get a beast for multithreaded workloads. For ryzen I‘d recommend the 3700/3900x if you were already looking at the 9700k. As for a mobo just look into the buyers guide 4.0. 

 

As you‘re buying this year I‘d recommend waiting a bit for nvidia ampere or big navi, so you can either get a good deal for a 2080 or something or a really good new gpu. But it really depends on the resolution and refreshrate you wanna play at.

Eh, the 9700k beats the 3700x in most games at higher refresh and resolution.

[Dmarley]

31 minutes ago, dizmo said:

Is there a particular reason you want to go with an AIO? If you're using it for school work I'd just go with an air cooler. Many less points of failure.

I have no idea what kind of GPU power your programs use, so I can't make any recommendations there. You also didn't mention what games you'd be playing.

A good 550W PSU should do, you can get a 650W if you want a bit of breathing room. Check the LTT PSU tier list, get one of the better ones.

You should probably include the model number of the DAC you have, otherwise we have no idea.

 

Welcome to the forum.

 

Eh, the 9700k beats the 3700x in most games at higher refresh and resolution.

The DAC is a Focusrite Scarlett, and rn I mainly play Modern Warfare, Siege,  AC Odyssey, and Madden.  I was recommended the AIO because that’s what my roommates and friends from home have generally used.  In all fairness I know nothing about the Ryzen platform so I will have to look into it more, and I’m very open to it if it can save me some money.

[Mephi00]

32 minutes ago, dizmo said:

Eh, the 9700k beats the 3700x in most games at higher refresh and resolution.

The resolution evens out the board because it puts more load on the gpu, which will eventually become the bottleneck. Yea the 9700k might outperform the 3700x in, especially single threaded games but with a very small difference and fps mostly at least 150 vs 160, maybe 100 vs 110 fps

[Mephi00]

2 minutes ago, Dmarley said:

The DAC is a Focusrite Scarlett, and rn I mainly play Modern Warfare, Siege,  AC Odyssey, and Madden.  I was recommended the AIO because that’s what my roommates and friends from home have generally used.  In all fairness I know nothing about the Ryzen platform so I will have to look into it more, and I’m very open to it if it can save me some money.

The only thing we need to know now is the resolution and refreshrate you're gonna be gaming at.

[Dmarley]

1 minute ago, Mephi00 said:

The only thing we need to know now is the resolution and refreshrate you're gonna be gaming at.

1080p Ideally and close to 60fps but I’m not really picky.  I looked into the 2070 Super at the suggestion of lopj245 above and I like the concept, but it seems pretty expensive atm, buying used would be a possibility though.

[Mephi00]

2 minutes ago, Dmarley said:

1080p Ideally and close to 60fps but I’m not really picky.  I looked into the 2070 Super at the suggestion of lopj245 above and I like the concept, but it seems pretty expensive atm, buying used would be a possibility though.

You don't need a really beefy gpu for 1080p, a used 1070 or that cheap evga 2060 ko, for amd a 5600xt, might be what you're looking for

[Dmarley]

Ok, but if I ever decided to go to 1440 would I need something much beefier?  At present I don’t have a monitor goes up to 1440 but I imagine as they become more common on the used market I could snag one for cheap.

[Mephi00]

1 minute ago, Dmarley said:

Ok, but if I ever decided to go to 1440 would I need something much beefier?  At present I don’t have a monitor goes up to 1440 but I imagine as they become more common on the used market I could snag one for cheap.

I'm running 1440p 144Hz with a 1080 and for that I'd recommend at least that 2070 super that @lopj245already mentioned

[dizmo]

14 minutes ago, Mephi00 said:

The resolution evens out the board because it puts more load on the gpu, which will eventually become the bottleneck. Yea the 9700k might outperform the 3700x in, especially single threaded games but with a very small difference and fps mostly at least 150 vs 160, maybe 100 vs 110 fps

Right, but if you're up in the higher end, you're obviously trying to eek out all the performance you can...and Intel chip simply does it better. Sometimes it was a 20fps difference, and that's pretty substantial.

16 minutes ago, Dmarley said:

The DAC is a Focusrite Scarlett, and rn I mainly play Modern Warfare, Siege,  AC Odyssey, and Madden.  I was recommended the AIO because that’s what my roommates and friends from home have generally used.  In all fairness I know nothing about the Ryzen platform so I will have to look into it more, and I’m very open to it if it can save me some money.

For your workload it's probably a smarter choice go to Ryzen, as it's an all around system and you have some heavy lifting to do. If it was just gaming, I'd say Intel, but Ryzen will give you better value over all. I personally wouldn't get an AIO, I'd just get an air cooler. A good air cooler will perform better than the cooler you mentioned.

[Dmarley]

1 minute ago, dizmo said:

Right, but if you're up in the higher end, you're obviously trying to eek out all the performance you can...and Intel chip simply does it better. Sometimes it was a 20fps difference, and that's pretty substantial.

For your workload it's probably a smarter choice go to Ryzen, as it's an all around system and you have some heavy lifting to do. If it was just gaming, I'd say Intel, but Ryzen will give you better value over all. I personally wouldn't get an AIO, I'd just get an air cooler. A good air cooler will perform better than the cooler you mentioned.

Ok, I guess that’s better for me bc it saves me some money in the build.

[Mephi00]

1 minute ago, dizmo said:

If it was just gaming, I'd say Intel, but Ryzen will give you better value over all.

That really depends on the price point, but yes intel still gives you that fps boost from 300 to 330fps in games like csgo , but thats just in esports titles at low res and who the hell buys that 300Hz screen from ASUS and NVIDIA...

[dizmo]

Just now, Mephi00 said:

That really depends on the price point, but yes intel still gives you that fps boost from 300 to 330fps in games like csgo , but thats just in esports titles at low res and who the hell buys that 300Hz screen from ASUS and NVIDIA...

No, it's not. It's also at 1440p, with AAA titles. The 9700k is stronger at top end gaming.