First new build in a decade, need advice!

[clustr1]

I am currently embroiled in decision paralysis.  i7… R7… i5… 2070… 1070 TI… 2.5”… M.2… AIO… so many decisions!  I haven’t been a close follower of the PC world for around 10 years, but I have now fallen deep into the worm hole.  After a few months of dedicated Linus Tech Tips and Gamers Nexus watching (among others) I feel I have a decent grasp of the current PC landscape.  That being said, I am looking for some advice on the following.  Thanks in advance, this is a great community and I am excited to be a part of it. 

As a background, I am in the USA (New Jersey specifically) and have a budget around $1500 (PC only).  But that is where it gets tricky… I could spend more (up to $2k) but I also enjoy saving money and do not want to spend it needlessly.  On the other side of the coin, I haven’t refreshed my PC in near 10 years, so I am comfortable buying a machine that is beyond my current needs with the idea that it will last ~5 years without requiring significant upgrades.  I plan on playing games as well as some minor photo and video editing.  On the gaming front, I don’t have many specifics to point to but would like to be able to play future AAA titles. 

I’ve got 3 builds going over on PC partpicker, key components summarized here:

1. Intel: i7 8700k, Noctua NH D15s, Samsung 500 GB M.2, EVGA RTX 2070 – Total Cost ~$1,890

2. AMD: Ryzen 7 2700X, Stock Cooler, Samsung 500 GB M.2, EVGA RTX 2070 – Total Cost ~$1,550

3. AMD Modest: Ryzen 7 2700X, Stock Cooler, Samsung 2.5”, MSI GTX 1070 Ti – Total Cost ~$1,300

 

[Bananasplit_00]

dont bother with NVME storage unless you do lots of 4K video work. id probably get the number 3 and then get nice screens. if you do photo and video work im guessing colors are going to be important. if you use a lot of adobe programs i think they perform much better on Intel though because of the IGPU

[TH3R34P3R]

if you plan on gaming? 1. is best. 

 

not only gaming? 2 is best choice. 

[clustr1]

1 minute ago, Bananasplit_00 said:

dont bother with NVME storage unless you do lots of 4K video work. id probably get the number 3 and then get nice screens. if you do photo and video work im guessing colors are going to be important. if you use a lot of adobe programs i think they perform much better on Intel though because of the IGPU

Thanks, so you think the NVME is overkill for general PC use and gaming?

[Bananasplit_00]

14 minutes ago, clustr1 said:

Thanks, so you think the NVME is overkill for general PC use and gaming?

seeing as it barely does anything over a nice SATA drive in boot times, game load times and so on its generally considered a waste of money unless you do something like 4K video work that uses a lot of big files. 

[clustr1]

2 minutes ago, TH3R34P3R said:

if you plan on gaming? 1. is best. 

 

not only gaming? 2 is best choice. 

That is where I am leaning.  The positive buzz around AMD in general and the potential future compatibility of their current chipset (for at least another year or so) also helps.   But I do like the idea of cranking up the i7 and getting some sweet sweet high frequencies.

[clustr1]

2 minutes ago, Bananasplit_00 said:

seeing as it barely does anything over a nice SATA drive in boot times, game load times and so on its generally considered a waste of money unless you do something like 4K video work that uses a lot of big files. 

Good to know, thanks!  I'll stick to the 2.5".

[NunoLava1998]

48 minutes ago, clustr1 said:

That is where I am leaning.  The positive buzz around AMD in general and the potential future compatibility of their current chipset (for at least another year or so) also helps.   But I do like the idea of cranking up the i7 and getting some sweet sweet high frequencies.

The Ryzen is overclockable, although the GHz won't be as high (even though GHz doesn't really matter)

[clustr1]

8 minutes ago, NunoLava1998 said:

The Ryzen is overclockable, although the GHz won't be as high (even though GHz doesn't really matter)

How capable is the stock cooler on the R7?  To me that is one of the benefits, but if overclocking would require a cooler upgrade, it eats into the value proposition. 

[NunoLava1998]

1 minute ago, clustr1 said:

How capable is the stock cooler on the R7?  To me that is one of the benefits, but if overclocking would require a cooler upgrade, it eats into the value proposition. 

It's actually pretty good, unlike the intel stock cooler, and Ryzen runs cool too, so it's easy overclocking.

My Ryzen 1500X at 3.9GHz doesn't go past 55C during any normal loads and doesn't go past 60C during Prime95.

[Nocte]

Why not 2700X + RTX 2080? It's way cheaper than the first build, but better overall (even for gaming, especially if at 1440p or more).

I would still use the motherboard you used in the last build though.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD - Ryzen 7 2700X 3.7 GHz 8-Core Processor	$304.99 @ Amazon
Motherboard	Asus - ROG STRIX B450-F GAMING ATX AM4 Motherboard	$129.00 @ B&H
Memory	G.Skill - Trident Z RGB 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory	$139.99 @ Newegg
Storage	Samsung - 860 Evo 500 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive	$71.00 @ Amazon
Storage	Seagate - Barracuda 2 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive	$59.89 @ OutletPC
Video Card	EVGA - GeForce RTX 2080 8 GB Black Video Card	$698.99 @ SuperBiiz
Case	NZXT - H700 (White) ATX Mid Tower Case	$134.99 @ Newegg
Power Supply	EVGA - SuperNOVA G3 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply	$79.89 @ OutletPC
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total (before mail-in rebates)	$1638.74
	Mail-in rebates	-$20.00
	Total	$1618.74
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-12-21 10:22 EST-0500

 

[clustr1]

1 minute ago, Nocte said:

Why not 2700X + RTX 2080? It's way cheaper than the first build, but better overall (even for gaming, especially if at 1440p or more).

I would still use the motherboard you used in the last build though.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD - Ryzen 7 2700X 3.7 GHz 8-Core Processor	$304.99 @ Amazon
Motherboard	Asus - ROG STRIX B450-F GAMING ATX AM4 Motherboard	$129.00 @ B&H
Memory	G.Skill - Trident Z RGB 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory	$139.99 @ Newegg
Storage	Samsung - 860 Evo 500 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive	$71.00 @ Amazon
Storage	Seagate - Barracuda 2 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive	$59.89 @ OutletPC
Video Card	EVGA - GeForce RTX 2080 8 GB Black Video Card	$698.99 @ SuperBiiz
Case	NZXT - H700 (White) ATX Mid Tower Case	$134.99 @ Newegg
Power Supply	EVGA - SuperNOVA G3 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply	$79.89 @ OutletPC
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total (before mail-in rebates)	$1638.74
	Mail-in rebates	-$20.00
	Total	$1618.74
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-12-21 10:22 EST-0500

 

Whoa, very interesting... had not even considered the 2080 as it just seems so pricey.  But in combination with the 2700x and the 2.5" SSD, doesn't look bad at all.