My very first build.

[ESB77]

In theory my dream PC would have used an i9 9900K and a 2080Ti, but looking at how overpriced they are I decided maybe I should dream of a PC that wouldn't make me feel like I had been ripped off.

 

Performance goal was to drive a 3440 x 1440 monitor at 75 Hz or faster.

 

Alienware AW3418DW  100-120Hz IPS 3440x1440 monitor

AMD Ryzen 3700x

Gigabyte x570 Aorus Elite Wifi

32 GB GSkill Ripjaws V 3200 RAM

Corsair RM750 80+ gold

Gigabyte Windforce OC 3  RTX 2070Super

Samsung 970 pro 512 GB NVME m.2 boot drive

2x Samsung 860 Evo 1 TB SATA storage SSDs

iKBC 108BT w/ cherry red silent and native   COLEMAK  and DVORAK modes.

Noctua u12a CPU cooler

Noctua iPPC pmw 3000

3x Noctua AF-14 pmw 140mm fans 

Noctua 4 pin fan controller

Noctua 4 pin y splitter cables (I didn't realize the AF-14s came with splitters)

 

OSes:

Dual boot on NVME drive

Window 10 Home

SUSE Linux 15.1 LEAP

 

Noob mistakes:

Buying splitter cables and a fan controller I didn't actually need.

Drilling countersinks in one of my AF-14 fans before I realized that the mounting screws are long enough if you push REALLY HARD when getting them started (the Noctua Fans were about 1mm thicker than the Silverstones).

Not realizing that 8 pin CPU power cables and 6 + 2 PCIe power cables are wired differently and that the 8 pin is a bad choice for trying to power the GPU even if it's the right length to make for prettier cable management.

 

Cooling nonsense:

Don't the PM-01 and 3700x come with fans/cooler?  Yes they do.

However, 4 pin can idle quietly, Noctua's "if it doesn't contribute to function it's a waste," is the sort of aesthetic that appeals to me (even if it's brown), and being half Swiss I have genetic issues resisting over-engineered perfectionist overkill and the U12A was more than I could resist when it came to CPU cooling.

Isn't the PM-10 a bit old as a case?  Yes, but I watch too much tech Jesus and pause to read the charts.  The PM-01's "Mesh + Leafblower = Thermal Winner" design appealed to me.

 

Why so much RAM?

Theoretically Blender and scientific computing can use gobs of RAM, but mostly it's because I don't feel like putting in more 4 years from now and RAM is cheap at the moment.

 

Planned workloads:

 

Gaming, Blender, general use, occasional dabbles in coding and scientific computing.

My CPU choice was mostly driven by Blender and by i9 CPUs being overpriced in my opinion.  If I had found a 9900k for $400 or less I probably would have gone for that, but it didn't seem worth a $100 + premium just for single core clock boost speeds.

 

What it's replacing:

Dell 17 in i7 3630QM 2.4 Ghz 4 core 8 thread, 8Gb RAM, inspiron laptop from 2012 with HD bearings that occasionally make crunchy noises.

 

Used build guides from LTT (Anthony's vid from this summer), and Noctua (fan and cooler installation).

 

Pictures:

[dizmo]

The 9900k and 2080Ti aren't overpriced....they're priced according to what they are; flagship, top tier, have-to-have-the-best cards.

Nice build! I love Noctua coolers but I don't think I could ever go with the brown fans again.

Interesting choice of storage.