Next computer. A present for my Bachelors degree.

jamer508 · January 20, 2021

Budget (including currency): technically 1500 to 2500 usd

Country: USA ( yeah that place)

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: I'd like to achieved 90 fps or better in games like Cyerpunk 2077, No Mans Sky, Star Citizen and the lot. I'm a huge fan of exploration with high fidelity. And VR is a must. RTX and dlss is a must.

I also am an art teacher and like to develop new ways to teach students through VR and digital formats. If you need clarification just ask.

Other details (existing parts lists, whether any peripherals are needed, what you're upgrading from, when you're going to buy, what resolution and refresh rate you want to play at, etc):

I own a women 144hz gaming monitor that supports gsync. Razer's Naga zero profile keyboard. I forgot what brand of mouse but it works. The saitek Rhino x55 pro flight. Oculus rift v1. Ferrari xbox wheel with pedals. And astro headphones.

I have owned an ASUS "ROG gr8 II" for nearly 6 years. It has a gtx1060 that I've been overclocking by 150 on the GPU and 50 on memory for about 2 years. I run a valid copy of windows 10 on the machine and will be using windows 10 and potentially linux on the next build.

I have built computers in the past but it's been nearly a decade.

It uses to be that the CPU was always the most expensive part but now it's obviously the GPU.

Anyway: here is my first draft of my parts list. https://pcpartpicker.com/user/Jamer508/saved/#view=tfsXkL

If you guys could help a new teacher out with his workhorse for RR and inventing new learning, I'd love you for it.

Thank you!

SignatureSigner · January 20, 2021

I would not buy anything right now with product shortages and inflated prices. I would wait 3-9 months then look again, as with this budget under normal circumstances you could do this but with some scalper on eBay wanting your entire budget for a 3080 or 3090 I would just wait and get a better deal in the future. Just some recommendations as everything these days is out of stock.

cm992 · January 20, 2021

16 minutes ago, jamer508 said:

I own a women 144hz

Damn where do I get myself a 144hz woman!

If you want to go with Intel and aren't going to build until March I'd recommend getting Intel 11th gen on a Z590 board.
Not sure why you chose a 500gb m.2 and a 250gb sata, just get a 1tb m.2, the WD black is usually fairly priced
I heard Noctua is coming out with black coolers soon so maybe keep an eye out for that
You don't need to buy windows again if you already have a valid license, just sync it with a microsoft account and sign in on the new PC, also write down the key, and never pay $109 for windows
Graphics cards are really tough right now due to super high demand and low supply, maybe stick it out and grab an rtx 3060 (12gb) around march
I see you've gone with a mini itx case and mini itx motherboard and mini rtx2070 okay just double check the dimensions of the GPU and CPU cooler that you settle on to make sure they fit the case

Mateyyy · January 20, 2021

~$2400 should get you a lot more than a 9600K and 2070 Super -- both of those being last-gen products that really don't make much sense to buy today.

I'd be looking at something along these lines:

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 5 5600X 3.7 GHz 6-Core Processor	$300.00
CPU Cooler	Noctua NH-U9S chromax.black 46.4 CFM CPU Cooler	$65.90 @ Amazon
Motherboard	MSI MPG B550I GAMING EDGE WIFI Mini ITX AM4 Motherboard	$199.99 @ Amazon
Memory	Crucial Ballistix 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3600 CL16 Memory	$173.99 @ B&H
Storage	ADATA XPG GAMMIX S11 Pro 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive	$104.99 @ Best Buy
Video Card	EVGA GeForce RTX 3080 10 GB XC3 BLACK GAMING Video Card	$779.99 @ Adorama
Case	Cooler Master MasterBox NR200 Mini ITX Desktop Case	$86.98 @ Newegg
Power Supply	Corsair SF 600 W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully Modular SFX Power Supply	$147.50 @ Amazon
Case Fan	Noctua A12x15 PWM chromax.black.swap 55.44 CFM 120 mm Fan	$25.00
Case Fan	Noctua A12x15 PWM chromax.black.swap 55.44 CFM 120 mm Fan	$25.00
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	$1909.34
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2021-01-20 11:55 EST-0500

I've made several changes compared to your list, but kept the NR200 since it's such a good ITX case, especially for the money.

Stock on current-gen parts is still rather poor, so if you can't get your hands on a 5600X and you don't want to wait for it to get restocked, you'd be looking at a 10600K and something like a Z490I Unify, instead of the 5600X and B550I Gaming Edge I put in there -- unless you instead go for a 5800X/5900X that is, though the 5800X isn't too great of a deal at $450, and whether the 5900X would be worth it depends on whether you can actually take advantage of all those cores with your workloads.

If you do go with Intel instead, I'd also look at an SF750 instead of the SF600 I put in the list above, since the 10600K does draw quite a bit more power than the 5600X. Not to say that the 10600K is a power hog necessarily, but more that the 5600X really pulls an impressively low amount of power, especially once you factor in its performance.