Waiting for GPU stocks build: Opinions?

[adcrda]

Budget (including currency): under 1800 USD

Country: USA

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: 70% gaming: Stellaris, CK3, Satisfactory, some AAA games (cyberpunk, horizon zero dawn, etc...) and 30% AI/ML toy projects.

Other details: I have two 1440p monitors at 75Hz and will use those. I am "upgrading" from an old laptop with a 1060 that will be converted into a server to offload computations/act as a database. I have all the peripherals I need and will buy a new Windows licence.

 

I did a little bit of playing around and came up with this list: 

 

PCPartPicker Part List: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/V4pRXb

CPU: Intel Core i7-10700K 3.8 GHz 8-Core Processor  ($309.99 @ Newegg) 
CPU Cooler: NZXT Kraken X63 98.17 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler  ($149.99 @ Amazon) 
Motherboard: Asus ROG STRIX Z490-E GAMING ATX LGA1200 Motherboard  ($433.81 @ Amazon) 
Memory: Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory  ($107.99 @ Amazon) 
Storage: Samsung 970 Evo Plus 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive  ($169.90 @ Amazon) 
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce RTX 3070 8 GB Vision OC Video Card 
Case: Corsair iCUE 4000X RGB ATX Mid Tower Case  ($134.99 @ Amazon) 
Power Supply: Corsair RMx 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply  ($204.99 @ Amazon) 
Case Fan: Noctua A12x25 PWM 60.1 CFM 120 mm Fan  ($32.90 @ Amazon) 
Case Fan: Noctua A12x25 PWM 60.1 CFM 120 mm Fan  ($32.90 @ Amazon) 
Case Fan: Noctua A12x25 PWM 60.1 CFM 120 mm Fan  ($32.90 @ Amazon) 
Case Fan: Noctua A12x25 PWM 60.1 CFM 120 mm Fan  ($32.90 @ Amazon) 
Total: $1643.26
 

Obviously GPU supply is not on my side right now so my goal is to build without a GPU and hope for the best. I don't know if it's reasonable but I'm trying to have a build with a possible upgradability path for the future.

 

Thank you so much!

[Pikatchu]

4 minutes ago, adcrda said:

Budget (including currency): under 1800 USD

Country: USA

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: 70% gaming: Stellaris, CK3, Satisfactory, some AAA games (cyberpunk, horizon zero dawn, etc...) and 30% AI/ML toy projects.

Other details: I have two 1440p monitors at 75Hz and will use those. I am "upgrading" from an old laptop with a 1060 that will be converted into a server to offload computations/act as a database. I have all the peripherals I need and will buy a new Windows licence.

 

I did a little bit of playing around and came up with this list: 

 

PCPartPicker Part List: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/V4pRXb

CPU: Intel Core i7-10700K 3.8 GHz 8-Core Processor  ($309.99 @ Newegg) 
CPU Cooler: NZXT Kraken X63 98.17 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler  ($149.99 @ Amazon) 
Motherboard: Asus ROG STRIX Z490-E GAMING ATX LGA1200 Motherboard  ($433.81 @ Amazon) 
Memory: Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory  ($107.99 @ Amazon) 
Storage: Samsung 970 Evo Plus 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive  ($169.90 @ Amazon) 
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce RTX 3070 8 GB Vision OC Video Card 
Case: Corsair iCUE 4000X RGB ATX Mid Tower Case  ($134.99 @ Amazon) 
Power Supply: Corsair RMx 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply  ($204.99 @ Amazon) 
Case Fan: Noctua A12x25 PWM 60.1 CFM 120 mm Fan  ($32.90 @ Amazon) 
Case Fan: Noctua A12x25 PWM 60.1 CFM 120 mm Fan  ($32.90 @ Amazon) 
Case Fan: Noctua A12x25 PWM 60.1 CFM 120 mm Fan  ($32.90 @ Amazon) 
Case Fan: Noctua A12x25 PWM 60.1 CFM 120 mm Fan  ($32.90 @ Amazon) 
Total: $1643.26
 

Obviously GPU supply is not on my side right now so my goal is to build without a GPU and hope for the best. I don't know if it's reasonable but I'm trying to have a build with a possible upgradability path for the future.

 

Thank you so much!

Motherboard should not cost more than your CPU, unless you are running top of the line i9/Ryzen 9s and trying to break records.

[Dedayog]

That motherboard, those fans... quite unbalanced and messy.

 

Why not save money on the motherboard and get more CPU?  Less $33 fans (WTF?!?!) and more performance?

 

16GB RAM... I'd go 32.  More SSD storage too.

[Downkey]

This should perform alot better... 

 

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 7 5800X 3.8 GHz 8-Core Processor	$449.00 @ Amazon
CPU Cooler	ARCTIC Liquid Freezer II 360 56.3 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler	$134.99 @ Amazon
Motherboard	MSI MAG B550 TOMAHAWK ATX AM4 Motherboard	$159.00 @ Amazon
Memory	OLOy 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory	$139.99 @ Newegg
Storage	Kingston A2000 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive	$108.49 @ Amazon
Video Card	NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 8 GB Founders Edition Video Card	$500.00
Case	Phanteks Eclipse P400A Digital ATX Mid Tower Case	$89.99 @ Amazon
Power Supply	Enermax Revolution D.F. 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply	$111.98 @ Newegg
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	$1693.44
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2021-04-07 13:01 EDT-0400

 

[curiousmind34]

1 minute ago, Dedayog said:

That motherboard, those fans... quite unbalanced and messy.

 

Why not save money on the motherboard and get more CPU?  Less $33 fans (WTF?!?!) and more performance?

 

16GB RAM... I'd go 32.  More SSD storage too.

surely those fans come in some sort of pack and they would be cheaper per dollar right?
Even then, they would still be expensive

[curiousmind34]

2 minutes ago, Downkey said:

This should perform alot better... 

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 9 5900X 3.7 GHz 12-Core Processor	$550.00
CPU Cooler	ARCTIC Liquid Freezer II 360 56.3 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler	$134.99 @ Amazon
Motherboard	MSI MAG B550 TOMAHAWK ATX AM4 Motherboard	$159.00 @ Amazon
Memory	OLOy 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory	$139.99 @ Newegg
Storage	Kingston A2000 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive	$108.49 @ Amazon
Storage	Seagate Barracuda Compute 2 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive	$52.99 @ Adorama
Video Card	NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 10 GB Founders Edition Video Card	$700.00
Case	Phanteks Eclipse P400A Digital ATX Mid Tower Case	$89.99 @ Amazon
Power Supply	Enermax Revolution D.F. 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply	$129.50 @ Amazon
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	$2064.95
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2021-04-07 12:59 EDT-0400

 

This syste does not have integrated graphics, so make sure to get a cheap/used gpu you can use for the next few months

[adcrda]

8 minutes ago, Pikatchu said:

Motherboard should not cost more than your CPU, unless you are running top of the line i9/Ryzen 9s and trying to break records.

Thanks for the recommendation. Do you think it's better to upgrade to an i9 then since I still have some leeway in my budget?

[Chris Pratt]

Your build is fine. You can do some light gaming on the Intel integrated graphics, but it's obviously not going to be great. Once you can get your hands on a 3070, though, you'll have a very respectable machine.

 

Upgradeability is pretty much out the window for any PC you're building right now. The only thing "better" you could pop in that board is an 11th gen, and that's arguably not even an upgrade. 12th gen would require a new board. The AM4 socket is at the end of its life as well, so the situation is not any better on the AMD side.

 

The one negative is that you won't have PCI 4.0, so no super fast storage. However, it will be a while before that's actually truly worthwhile. Likewise, there may come a point where it's more important for graphics cards, but 30-series runs just fine on PCIe 3.0 and even the next generation or two of GPUs probably won't *really* need PCIe 4.0.

 

Long and short, the best hedge for your bets would be getting an 11th Intel (and a Z590 board) or a Ryzen (Zen 2 or 3) and a B550 or X570 board. However, by the time you truly need that, it might make more sense to just go ahead and upgrade your mobo and CPU, anyways.

 

[curiousmind34]

4 minutes ago, adcrda said:

Thanks for the recommendation. Do you think it's better to upgrade to an i9 then since I still have some leeway in my budget?

Depends on your workload, the 10850k is better for multitasking and productivity, but since you are mainly gaming, a 5800x should be the best you can afford.

[Chris Pratt]

1 minute ago, curiousmind34 said:

Depends on your workload, the 10850k is better for multitasking and productivity, but since you are mainly gaming, a 5800x should be the best you can afford.

Bear in mind, though, that while the 5800X is probably the better buy, it has no integrated graphics. Therefore, at least for the moment, you would need to supplement it with some cheap graphics card that can at least give you display out.

[adcrda]

6 minutes ago, Chris Pratt said:

Your build is fine. You can do some light gaming on the Intel integrated graphics, but it's obviously not going to be great. Once you can get your hands on a 3070, though, you'll have a very respectable machine.

 

Upgradeability is pretty much out the window for any PC you're building right now. The only thing "better" you could pop in that board is an 11th gen, and that's arguably not even an upgrade. 12th gen would require a new board. The AM4 socket is at the end of its life as well, so the situation is not any better on the AMD side.

 

The one negative is that you won't have PCI 4.0, so no super fast storage. However, it will be a while before that's actually truly worthwhile. Likewise, there may come a point where it's more important for graphics cards, but 30-series runs just fine on PCIe 3.0 and even the next generation or two of GPUs probably won't *really* need PCIe 4.0.

 

Long and short, the best hedge for your bets would be getting an 11th Intel (and a Z590 board) or a Ryzen (Zen 2 or 3) and a B550 or X570 board. However, by the time you truly need that, it might make more sense to just go ahead and upgrade your mobo and CPU, anyways.

 

Thanks for this detailed response.

 

If I understand correctly, my best bet right now would be to get a cheaper motherboard and just stock up on memory and storage. Ideally I would upgrade when the next cycle starts by buying a better motherboard and CPU?

 

Thanks again!

[Chris Pratt]

17 minutes ago, adcrda said:

Thanks for this detailed response.

 

If I understand correctly, my best bet right now would be to get a cheaper motherboard and just stock up on memory and storage. Ideally I would upgrade when the next cycle starts by buying a better motherboard and CPU?

 

Thanks again!

Not necessarily. A 10th gen CPU will last you a while. Even when there's a 12th or 13th gen, it may not make sense to upgrade. The point was that at this point in the lifecycle of the motherboards/sockets the "upgrade" will be virtually buying a new computer, whenever that happens, be it next year or 10 years from now.

 

The one thing that slightly changes that is PCIe 4.0. It's a bit like reading a crystal ball because it's all just theory at this point. However, with the introduction of the next gen consoles that truly make use of super fast NVMe storage, it's likely that game developers will begin bringing this over to the PC, by optimizing their games in such a way that fast storage really makes a significant difference. Right now in games, there's a noticeable difference between HDD and even a SATA SSD, but NVMe doesn't offer any real benefit over SATA, and super fast PCIe 4.0 NVMe storage that much less. As that dynamic starts to change, you might start to feel not having the option of dropping in a PCIe 4.0 drive.

 

Graphics cards are in a similar situation. This is the first generation of Nvidia cards that even supports PCIe 4.0, and even the 3090 doesn't truly utilized it. However, as GPUs continue to get more and more powerful, game assets get larger and larger, 4K adoption increases, etc., cards may actually start saturating PCIe 4.0, such that you're actually leaving significant performance on the table by not having it. As I said though, we're likely at least a few years from that being a real issue.

 

In short, having PCIe 4.0 support potentially buys you some extra time before you actually *need* to upgrade your CPU and mobo, but given all the unknowns, it just as well may not. By the time games are using super fast storage on the PC and using graphics cards that can oversaturate PCIe 3.0, you may need a CPU upgrade to get the performance you need, as well. It's just an awkward time for a lot of these things, so it's hard to make a good decision you won't end up regretting later. There's just probably a lower chance of regret with PCIe 4.0 support than without.

[Pandora1]

1 hour ago, adcrda said:

Budget (including currency): under 1800 USD

Country: USA

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: 70% gaming: Stellaris, CK3, Satisfactory, some AAA games (cyberpunk, horizon zero dawn, etc...) and 30% AI/ML toy projects.

Other details: I have two 1440p monitors at 75Hz and will use those. I am "upgrading" from an old laptop with a 1060 that will be converted into a server to offload computations/act as a database. I have all the peripherals I need and will buy a new Windows licence.

 

I did a little bit of playing around and came up with this list: 

 

PCPartPicker Part List: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/V4pRXb

CPU: Intel Core i7-10700K 3.8 GHz 8-Core Processor  ($309.99 @ Newegg) 
CPU Cooler: NZXT Kraken X63 98.17 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler  ($149.99 @ Amazon) 
Motherboard: Asus ROG STRIX Z490-E GAMING ATX LGA1200 Motherboard  ($433.81 @ Amazon) 
Memory: Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory  ($107.99 @ Amazon) 
Storage: Samsung 970 Evo Plus 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive  ($169.90 @ Amazon) 
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce RTX 3070 8 GB Vision OC Video Card 
Case: Corsair iCUE 4000X RGB ATX Mid Tower Case  ($134.99 @ Amazon) 
Power Supply: Corsair RMx 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply  ($204.99 @ Amazon) 
Case Fan: Noctua A12x25 PWM 60.1 CFM 120 mm Fan  ($32.90 @ Amazon) 
Case Fan: Noctua A12x25 PWM 60.1 CFM 120 mm Fan  ($32.90 @ Amazon) 
Case Fan: Noctua A12x25 PWM 60.1 CFM 120 mm Fan  ($32.90 @ Amazon) 
Case Fan: Noctua A12x25 PWM 60.1 CFM 120 mm Fan  ($32.90 @ Amazon) 
Total: $1643.26
 

Obviously GPU supply is not on my side right now so my goal is to build without a GPU and hope for the best. I don't know if it's reasonable but I'm trying to have a build with a possible upgradability path for the future.

 

Thank you so much!

If your looking for a white gpu then go with the Asus rog strix 3070 white oc edition