New build $3000 Us budget

[lostredneck]

I usually build a new machine once every 4 years. I stay at least a little current with the hardware market and I get a new computer out of the deal.

This year my budget is in the neighborhood of $3000  So far my list looks like this 

 

PCPartPicker part list: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/KNn44q
Price breakdown by merchant: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/KNn44q/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel - Core i7-8086K 4GHz 6-Core Processor  ($418.89 @ OutletPC) 
CPU Cooler: Thermaltake - Floe Riing RGB 360 TT Premium Edition 42.3 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler  ($174.79 @ SuperBiiz) 
Motherboard: Asus - ROG MAXIMUS X HERO (WI-FI AC) ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($259.99 @ Amazon) 
Memory: G.Skill - Trident Z RGB 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3200 Memory  ($250.88 @ OutletPC) 
Storage: Samsung - 970 Pro 512GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive  ($229.99 @ Amazon) 
Storage: Western Digital - BLACK SERIES 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($110.90 @ OutletPC) 
Video Card: EVGA - GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 11GB SC2 HYBRID GAMING Video Card  ($809.99 @ Amazon) 
Case: Fractal Design - Define R6 Blackout ATX Mid Tower Case  ($129.01 @ Amazon) 
Power Supply: EVGA - SuperNOVA G3 850W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($79.99 @ B&H) 
Operating System: Microsoft - Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit  ($94.89 @ OutletPC) 
Case Fan: Thermaltake - Riing Plus 14 RGB TT Premium Edition (5 Fan Pack) 63.2 CFM  140mm Fans  ($149.99 @ Amazon) 
Total: $2709.31
 

I feel like my list may be a little odd so I want to give some explanations as to why I have chosen what I have. Still any viable arguments for updates are more than welcome

 

The 8086K is on there just for fun. If I can get my hands on one when I build my machine in a month great, if not I know the 8700k is more than adequate

 

I hae gone back and forth between this motherboard and the Gigabyte Aorus Gaming 7 or Gaming 5. I finally decided on the Asus because I understand the BIOS is easier to navigate than Gigabyte for overclocking.

 

Probably the biggest discrepancy is my choice of 8 RGB fans and RGB RAM in a case with no window. The ran was $5 more for the RGB version so I figured why not. The AIO seems like the best cooler tested by Tweak Town . I like the 5 other fans for a bit of the same reason.  I intend to turn the lights off the majority of the time and use 3 of the fans only if I need to, But I wanted them included in the cost for planning purposes.

 

I only went with a single m.2 drive since I have 2 other drives from my current machine to run in raid 0. I don't think I can run 2 separate raid 0 setups with the onboard raid controller. Still a raid 0 of m.2 drives will be faster that a raid 0 setup of sata drives so Im still on the fence about this. I dont want to waste the drives, but I still want the best performance I can get. 

 

The video card with the AIO on it seems a bit weird, but when I was comparing price, it was cheeper than the ones without the AIO and had a faster chock speed out of the gate. 

 

So tell me what you think

 

 

[Firewrath9]

When your case fans cost more than my case, psu and mobo combined; and i have a mid range setup

[LienusLateTips]

The PSU is shit, and the HDD is overpriced.

 

For more of why that specific PSU is shit read the link in my signature

[Electronics Wizardy]

why 8086k?

 

Id buy a delidded 8700k instead and oc it.

 

Why 970 pro, get a evo, you don't need mlc here, get the 1tb if you want it faster

 

What are you putting on the hdd? If its for games id get a larger 2tb ssd, or get a cache for that hdd

 

 

[Spotty]

Not really worth $110 for a 2TB HDD.
You don't need 850W PSU for a single 1080ti. Also, the EVGA G3 has been reported to have some issues recently (Over power protection) so I would recommend something else.

[lostredneck]

6 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

why 8086k?

 

Id buy a delidded 8700k instead and oc it.

 

Why 970 pro, get a evo, you don't need mlc here, get the 1tb if you want it faster

 

What are you putting on the hdd? If its for games id get a larger 2tb ssd, or get a cache for that hdd

 

 

The 8086k is just for shits and giggles, the 8700k is just fine as I said in my explanations below my parts list

the 970 pro is $30 more than the evo, for that price difference I may as well go with the better of the 2. 

The HDD is just storage for random stuff. I have a pair of 860 evo's im running in Raid 0 from my current machine for games. although I may go with a pair of the 970 evo's in Raid 0 instead. 

[Daniel Z.]

Here.

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i7-8700K 3.7GHz 6-Core Processor  ($347.89 @ Amazon) 
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master - MasterLiquid ML240L RGB 66.7 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler  ($59.99 @ Amazon) 
Motherboard: Asus - TUF Z370 Pro Gaming ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($143.49 @ SuperBiiz) 
Memory: G.Skill - Trident Z RGB 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory  ($170.98 @ Newegg) 
Storage: Crucial - MX500 500GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive  ($92.99 @ Amazon) 
Storage: Seagate - Barracuda 3TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($82.89 @ OutletPC) 
Video Card: Asus - GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 11GB STRIX GAMING OC Video Card (2-Way SLI)  ($829.99 @ Amazon) 
Video Card: Asus - GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 11GB STRIX GAMING OC Video Card (2-Way SLI)  ($829.99 @ Amazon) 
Case: NZXT - H500 (White) ATX Mid Tower Case  ($69.99 @ Newegg) 
Power Supply: SeaSonic - FOCUS Plus Gold 1000W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($147.48 @ Newegg) 
Operating System: Microsoft - Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit  ($99.99 @ Adorama) 
Total: $2875.67
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-07-23 02:15 EDT-0400

[lostredneck]

4 minutes ago, Spotty said:

Not really worth $110 for a 2TB HDD.
You don't need 850W PSU for a single 1080ti. Also, the EVGA G3 has been reported to have some issues recently (Over power protection) so I would recommend something else.

I've heard that a few times about the EVGA g3's The Seasonic FOCUS seems to get good reviews Ill have to look at it

 

[lostredneck]

5 minutes ago, Daniel Z. said:

Here.

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i7-8700K 3.7GHz 6-Core Processor  ($347.89 @ Amazon) 
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master - MasterLiquid ML240L RGB 66.7 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler  ($59.99 @ Amazon) 
Motherboard: Asus - TUF Z370 Pro Gaming ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($143.49 @ SuperBiiz) 
Memory: G.Skill - Trident Z RGB 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory  ($170.98 @ Newegg) 
Storage: Crucial - MX500 500GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive  ($92.99 @ Amazon) 
Storage: Seagate - Barracuda 3TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($82.89 @ OutletPC) 
Video Card: Asus - GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 11GB STRIX GAMING OC Video Card (2-Way SLI)  ($829.99 @ Amazon) 
Video Card: Asus - GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 11GB STRIX GAMING OC Video Card (2-Way SLI)  ($829.99 @ Amazon) 
Case: NZXT - H500 (White) ATX Mid Tower Case  ($69.99 @ Newegg) 
Power Supply: SeaSonic - FOCUS Plus Gold 1000W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($147.48 @ Newegg) 
Operating System: Microsoft - Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit  ($99.99 @ Adorama) 
Total: $2875.67
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-07-23 02:15 EDT-0400

Getting a pair of 1080TI's in SLI is a strong argument, but why would I not go with the liquid cooled EVGA cards in my current build instead?

[Herman Mcpootis]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i7-8700K 3.7GHz 6-Core Processor  ($347.89 @ Amazon) 
CPU Cooler: Thermaltake - Water 3.0 Riing RGB 360 40.6 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler  ($125.30 @ Amazon) 
Motherboard: Gigabyte - Z370 AORUS Gaming 7 (rev. 1.0) ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($209.99 @ Newegg) 
Memory: G.Skill - Trident Z RGB 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory  ($170.98 @ Newegg) 
Storage: Crucial - MX500 500GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive  ($92.99 @ Amazon) 
Storage: Seagate - Barracuda 3TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($66.09 @ Newegg Marketplace) 
Video Card: Gigabyte - GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 11GB AORUS Video Card (2-Way SLI)  ($719.99 @ Newegg) 
Video Card: Gigabyte - GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 11GB AORUS Video Card (2-Way SLI)  ($719.99 @ Newegg) 
Case: Fractal Design - Define R6 Black TG ATX Mid Tower Case  ($109.99 @ Newegg) 
Power Supply: Corsair - TXM Gold 750W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($69.99 @ Amazon) 
Operating System: Microsoft - Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit  ($94.89 @ OutletPC) 
Case Fan: Thermaltake - Riing 14 RGB 3-Pack 51.1 CFM  140mm Fans  ($53.49 @ SuperBiiz) 
Total: $2781.58
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-07-23 02:29 EDT-0400

[Sfekke]

1 hour ago, lostredneck said:

BLACK SERIES 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM

Well .. why not go with a 4TB WD Green?

Those are still nearly as quick and provide double the storage.

You are using an SSD to boot from anyhow so a small decrease in speed won't even be noticeable.

[Spotty]

2 hours ago, Daniel Z. said:

Video Card: Asus - GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 11GB STRIX GAMING OC Video Card (2-Way SLI)  ($829.99 @ Amazon) 
Video Card: Asus - GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 11GB STRIX GAMING OC Video Card (2-Way SLI)  ($829.99 @ Amazon) 

I wouldn't spend $1600+ on 1080tis in SLI, especially not when the 11xx series cards are so close.
Drop the 2nd 1080ti and the system comes down to ~$2k. Just because you have $3,000 to spend doesn't mean you need to spend it all.

[Queen Chrysalis]

20 minutes ago, Spotty said:

I wouldn't spend $1600+ on 1080tis in SLI, especially not when the 11xx series cards are so close.
Drop the 2nd 1080ti and the system comes down to ~$2k. Just because you have $3,000 to spend doesn't mean you need to spend it all.

There are a few ways to make this doable:

 

The OP would probably want to hear:

https://pcpartpicker.com/user/spitty84/saved/#view=3hqkdC

 

My way:

https://pcpartpicker.com/user/spitty84/saved/#view=hCyfHx

 

Somewhere in the middle:

https://pcpartpicker.com/user/spitty84/saved/#view=VM8KBm

 

Note:  These blower style GPUs are ideal for SLI builds.

Note: Each of these builds include a $400 monitor that will make it worth going this hard on budget.  Also, that case is pretty expensive, but if its what OP wants, its what OP wants.

 

[Electronics Wizardy]

8 hours ago, lostredneck said:

The 8086k is just for shits and giggles, the 8700k is just fine as I said in my explanations below my parts list

the 970 pro is $30 more than the evo, for that price difference I may as well go with the better of the 2. 

The HDD is just storage for random stuff. I have a pair of 860 evo's im running in Raid 0 from my current machine for games. although I may go with a pair of the 970 evo's in Raid 0 instead. 

Might aswell get a 4tb hdd or a wd gold, the black makes no sense here at that rice.

 

The 970 pro isn't getting you anything though, its mlc and you don't need the endurance or better sustained writes. Might as well save the money.

[Daniel Z.]

20 hours ago, Spotty said:

I wouldn't spend $1600+ on 1080tis in SLI, especially not when the 11xx series cards are so close.
Drop the 2nd 1080ti and the system comes down to ~$2k. Just because you have $3,000 to spend doesn't mean you need to spend it all.

nVidia said the 11 series is pretty far away. I agree with the rest.

[Spotty]

2 minutes ago, Daniel Z. said:

nVidia said the 11 series is pretty far away. I agree with the rest.

Current rumours and speculation are predicting a late August 2018 release (4-5 weeks), so they may not be that far off.

https://www.techradar.com/au/news/nvidia-geforce-gtx-1180-rumored-again-to-release-in-august
https://www.tomshardware.com/news/geforce-11-series-release-date,37498.html
https://www.kitguru.net/components/graphic-cards/matthew-wilson/new-august-launch-rumours-for-gtx-1180-surface/

 

Of course this is just rumours and speculations, so take it with a grain of salt, but at the moment it's the most recent news we have regarding the 11xx series.
If you're dropping $3k on a computer, chances are you want it to be the latest and greatest, so if newer and better parts are potentially only a few weeks away, then it makes sense to wait and see what happens.

[Daniel Z.]

1 minute ago, Spotty said:

Current rumours and speculation are predicting a late August 2018 release (4-5 weeks), so they may not be that far off.

https://www.techradar.com/au/news/nvidia-geforce-gtx-1180-rumored-again-to-release-in-august
https://www.tomshardware.com/news/geforce-11-series-release-date,37498.html
https://www.kitguru.net/components/graphic-cards/matthew-wilson/new-august-launch-rumours-for-gtx-1180-surface/

 

Of course this is just rumours and speculations, so take it with a grain of salt, but at the moment it's the most recent news we have regarding the 11xx series.
If you're dropping $3k on a computer, chances are you want it to be the latest and greatest, so if newer and better parts are potentially only a few weeks away, then it makes sense to wait and see what happens.

A while back nVidia themselves said it won't come for a "long time"

[Spotty]

Just now, Daniel Z. said:

A while back nVidia themselves said it won't come for a "long time"

Well if a long time has passed since they said "it won't be out for a long time", then that means it's due for release

Even dating back a few months a lot of the rumours was that it would be a Q3/Autumn 2018 launch. Honestly though, neither of us knows for sure. It might release next month, it might release in 3 months. Who knows. Barring any delays I would be seriously surprised if the 11xx series is not released by the end of this year. When you're talking about spending USD $1600 on getting the 'latest and greatest' that will likely be replaced within 4 months, it's not really worth it. Better off waiting and seeing what the new generation brings.

That said, I don't even think OP needs the 2x1080tis at all. I still think they should just go with one card and pocket the savings. Going 1x1080ti now and maybe upgrading to an 1180 (if the performance boost is worth it), and then selling the 1080ti used to make back some cash might be the better way to go.

[Quadriplegic]

1 hour ago, Daniel Z. said:

A while back nVidia themselves said it won't come for a "long time"

More than anything it was done in order to shut down the press with questions about next gen consumer cards.

Sure, they are not coming today or tomorrow, but OP doesn't seem to be in rush to build a system either.

[Guest]

On 7/23/2018 at 7:16 AM, Daniel Z. said:

Here.

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i7-8700K 3.7GHz 6-Core Processor  ($347.89 @ Amazon) 
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master - MasterLiquid ML240L RGB 66.7 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler  ($59.99 @ Amazon) 
Motherboard: Asus - TUF Z370 Pro Gaming ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($143.49 @ SuperBiiz) 
Memory: G.Skill - Trident Z RGB 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory  ($170.98 @ Newegg) 
Storage: Crucial - MX500 500GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive  ($92.99 @ Amazon) 
Storage: Seagate - Barracuda 3TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($82.89 @ OutletPC) 
Video Card: Asus - GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 11GB STRIX GAMING OC Video Card (2-Way SLI)  ($829.99 @ Amazon) 
Video Card: Asus - GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 11GB STRIX GAMING OC Video Card (2-Way SLI)  ($829.99 @ Amazon) 
Case: NZXT - H500 (White) ATX Mid Tower Case  ($69.99 @ Newegg) 
Power Supply: SeaSonic - FOCUS Plus Gold 1000W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($147.48 @ Newegg) 
Operating System: Microsoft - Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit  ($99.99 @ Adorama) 
Total: $2875.67
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-07-23 02:15 EDT-0400

That board is awful.

 

Also SLI makes zero sense as a lot of games don't support it.

[Opiumicide]

I'd certainly switch out the WD Black for a Blue or higher storage Barracuda (because I pinch my pennies) and the 8086K for and 8700K.

 

Also I wouldn't go for a hybrid 1080 Ti. If you wanna AIO a 1080 Ti. I'd suggest buying a very cheap one, and adding a decent AIO on it yourself. That or check out that new Waterforce card.

 

Everything else looks solid to me.

 

 

Edit: Added Barracuda

[SolarNova]

@lostredneck

With a $3000 budget you have a few options.

 

Single GPU + Custom water loop + premium parts and RGB gawdyness

Dual GPU + Custom loop with more senseble parts. (below is an example) might be a bit tight on the budget.

Dual GPU + Air cooled. Future custom loop upgrade.

 

 

DONT get a AIO, they really are not worth it unless ur going for a small form factor build.

Ether go air cooled or a full custom loop.

 

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i7-8086K 4GHz 6-Core Processor  ($417.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: MSI - Z370 KRAIT GAMING ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($129.99 @ B&H)
Memory: G.Skill - Trident Z 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3200 Memory  ($167.98 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial - MX500 1TB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive  ($179.87 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Zotac - GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 11GB AMP Edition Video Card (2-Way SLI)  ($724.98 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Zotac - GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 11GB AMP Edition Video Card (2-Way SLI)  ($724.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Thermaltake -  View 71 TG ATX Full Tower Case  ($143.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: EVGA - SuperNOVA G1+ 1000W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($109.89 @ OutletPC)
Total: $2599.57
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-07-24 08:28 EDT-0400

 

Add your choice of custom loop parts.

 

Personaly i would go with a Dual GPU and air cooled (NH-D15) system for around $2700. Save up some more then convert over to a custom loop.

[Daniel Z.]

4 hours ago, lee32uk said:

That board is awful.

 

Also SLI makes zero sense as a lot of games don't support it.

The boards good enough. And I simply put a good build for 3k

 

[Guest]

6 hours ago, Daniel Z. said:

The boards good enough. And I simply put a good build for 3k

 

Not for a $3K budget it isn't. Something like the ROG Maximus X Hero as the op had in his spec would be better if going with Asus.

 

Also the op didn't even mention what monitor he has so why suggest 2 x 1080 ti's ? Not really a great time to be buying high end gpu's let alone 2. 

[lostredneck]

14 hours ago, SolarNova said:

@lostredneck

With a $3000 budget you have a few options.

 

Single GPU + Custom water loop + premium parts and RGB gawdyness

Dual GPU + Custom loop with more senseble parts. (below is an example) might be a bit tight on the budget.

Dual GPU + Air cooled. Future custom loop upgrade.

 

 

DONT get a AIO, they really are not worth it unless ur going for a small form factor build.

Ether go air cooled or a full custom loop.

 

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i7-8086K 4GHz 6-Core Processor  ($417.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: MSI - Z370 KRAIT GAMING ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($129.99 @ B&H)
Memory: G.Skill - Trident Z 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3200 Memory  ($167.98 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial - MX500 1TB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive  ($179.87 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Zotac - GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 11GB AMP Edition Video Card (2-Way SLI)  ($724.98 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Zotac - GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 11GB AMP Edition Video Card (2-Way SLI)  ($724.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Thermaltake -  View 71 TG ATX Full Tower Case  ($143.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: EVGA - SuperNOVA G1+ 1000W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($109.89 @ OutletPC)
Total: $2599.57
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-07-24 08:28 EDT-0400

 

Add your choice of custom loop parts.

 

Personaly i would go with a Dual GPU and air cooled (NH-D15) system for around $2700. Save up some more then convert over to a custom loop.

I would prefer the single GPU an custom loop with high quality parts throughout the system.  I know if I go that route I want to run hard lines but doing that work myself is just beyond me.  I could probably figure out soft lines myself but I would prefer to test that theory out on my current machine once I buy a new one before I try on the new system.