All round build

[alkakxmmiq]

Budget: Around 25k CZK (location: Czech republic) ~ 1100 USD ~ 965 EUR at the moment.

 

Why upgrade: I currently have only an old Thinkpad notebook with internal graphics and I can do most of the stuff but I can't do some computationaly intensive tasks I would like to be able to do.

 

Time: Not really in a hurry so I would also like some recommendations if I should buy now (perhaps snatch something juicy second hand after Xmas?) or wait for the next year (3rd gen Ryzens? Prices of some components could go down?)

 

Aims: All sorts of stuff.

1) Gaming: Minecraft, Dota 2, CS:GO etc. Don't have time now for the AAA stuff but when I will I would like to be able to play things like Kingdom Come or Dark Souls III.

2) Machine learning: I plan on tinkering with neural networks a bit since it is becoming an essential stuff for modern computing and has lots of crazy cool applications (eg. this is insane https://arxiv.org/pdf/1803.04779.pdf  and a popular article about it https://www.quantamagazine.org/machine-learnings-amazing-ability-to-predict-chaos-20180418/ )

3) Computational fluid dynamics: I have a degree in physics where I've done some fluid dynamics theory but never ventured to the practical side that much and I would also like to do that. For that I need good double precision (fp64) performance.

4) Virtual machines and server stuff: Would like to play with Xen, try running some servers and such.

5) Web browsing: One need lots of RAM for this one nowadays .

 

Monitors:

Now I have just one entry level PLS 1080p 60 Hz monitor (with freesync) and I seem to be fine with that. Maybe in the future another one will join it. I haven't seen 4k monitors IRL so I can't judge the experience but 1080p seems enough for me for now although I would like to have room for improvement in the future.

 

Peripherals and already owned parts:

I have a decent mechanical keyboard (great experience) and a good mouse and decent speakers.

 

I already have a 120 GB and a 500 GB SATA SSDs so I would like to use them (maybe I will move to NVMe at some point but I would have to be convinced it is a really big performance jump over SATA SSDs and I seem to be happy with their performance for now). I also own a 4 TB HDD which I would use for storage so hard drives are already solved.

 

Questions and considerations:

 

Security: Do you think it is worse to have IME or PSP in your system?

Intel vs. AMD choice regarding CPU is less about the models themselves for me (both have really good CPUs) but more about IME vs PSP. If someone knows about that stuff (tried me_cleaner or so) please post your considerations.

 

GPU:

I am currently considering RTX 2070, gtx 1080 ti second hand or Titan Black second hand.

Which one would you recommend? Perhaps a different one?

RTX 2070
pros:

tensor cores for machine learning - how much of a performance boost is it compared to running it on 1080ti or titan black?

16bit number performance - also for machine learning

DLSS and ray tracing cores for gaming

new architecture and interfaces (CUDA 7.5 some slight changes to the shaders)

?better performance/power ratio? (is this true?)

highest effective memory clock

cons:

less fp32 performance than 1080ti (less shaders)

no SLI

less fp64 performance than Titan black (1/32 of its fp32 performance)

 

gtx1080ti

pros:

best fp32 performance

better fp64 performance than 2070

same price for a good card (even hybrid cooling) as for 2070 new entry level card

11GB memory

highest memory bandwidth (has 352bit memory bus)

SLI

cons:

higher TDP than 2070

older architecture

no tensor or RT cores, no DLSS

no 16bit mode for ML

less fp64 performance than Titan black (1/32 of its fp32 performance)

 

Titan black

pros:

super low price - Can buy 3-4 second hand Titan Blacks for the cost of 1 1080ti or 2070

bonkers fp64 performance (has a mode where its fp64 performance is 1/3 of its fp32 performance instead of 1/32; 5.5x better than 1080ti and 8x of 2070)

SLI

cons:

worst performance of the 3 on everything apart from fp64

less memory

worst memory bandwidth

old architecture

higher TDP than 2070

 

Memory:

2x8GB seems to be good. Model depending on the MB

 

MB:

depends on the CPU

 

PSU:

I would like a recomendation on this one.

 

case and looks:

I don't fancy cool looks but rather performance so any case with good thermals will do, no Xmas lighting needed. I would rather invest the few bucks otherwise spent on a nice looking case to other components.

[LukeSavenije]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD - Ryzen 7 1700 3 GHz 8-Core Processor	$195.89 @ OutletPC
Motherboard	ASRock - B450 Pro4 ATX AM4 Motherboard	$93.88 @ OutletPC
Memory	G.Skill - Aegis 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory	$96.99 @ Newegg
Video Card	EVGA - GeForce RTX 2080 8 GB Black Video Card	$698.99 @ SuperBiiz
Case	Fractal Design - Focus G ATX Mid Tower Case	$55.71 @ Amazon
Power Supply	SeaSonic - FOCUS Gold 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply	$52.78 @ Newegg
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total (before mail-in rebates)	$1234.24
	Mail-in rebates	-$40.00
	Total	$1194.24
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-12-23 19:25 EST-0500

just something as a idea... not sure about anything you said above...