It’s been a while - need some advice

[Chris Cave]

Budget (including currency): $3000.00 CAD TAX IN

Country: CANADA

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Games, Photoshop, Premiere, Twitch. 

Other details 

 

Hey folks, 

 

It’s been a while since my last build and I’m way out of touch with today’s technology. 
 

My last build featured a X58 chipset, i7920DO, Tri-SLI, Dominator 1600 etc.

 

I found an old benchmark log from that build.. I would ideally like to destroy it as it’s now 10 years old. 
 

“Slight overclock brings some nice scores. currently at 3.35 with a score (P24697) not far away from when i had it at 3.71 (P24735)

3D Mark Vantage 
P24697 (+4332 from stock)
GPU: 21219 (+3832 from stock)
CPU: 42607 (+716 from stock)

Cinebench 11.5 (64bit)
CPU: 5.71 pts (+0.98 from stock)
OpenGL: 44.28 fps (+10.58 from stock)

EVGA OC Benchmark: 1980 points [66 fps] (+330pts from stock)”

 

ANYWAYYYY... 

 

I’d like to build another but I feel lost. I don’t even know where to start. 
 

I hear AMD has taken the lead over Intel, but I’ve never worked with AMD chips before.. ever. 
 

also, SSDs used to use SATA.. now it’s a little chip that seems to clip in.

 

looking for some advice regarding hardware. I have a $3000 budget tax in, Canadian. Need everything from monitor, to keyboard, case, board, cooling etc. The works. 
 

Thanks to everyone for their time. BIG UPS to Linus for making dope content making me want to get back into PCs. 

[Kanna]

What games will you play and at what resolution? When you say twitch I assume you mean streaming, if so what program will you use (personal recommendation is "OBS". AMD chips are pretty good value in this day and age but if you have the money intel would perform better in some cases. Yeah the small chips as SSD is called M.2 SSD and commonly used a protocol called NVME, 2.5 SATA SSDs is till a working option but NVME has faster speeds in benchmark but in some cases you don't feel a difference

[Nobaris]

Similar questions as @Kanna over here.

 

What will you be doing with the system? You really need to be giving WAY more details of what you're looking for other than your budget.

[Chris Cave]

17 hours ago, Nobaris said:

Similar questions as @Kanna over here.

 

What will you be doing with the system? You really need to be giving WAY more details of what you're looking for other than your budget.

 

20 hours ago, Kanna said:

What games will you play and at what resolution? When you say twitch I assume you mean streaming, if so what program will you use (personal recommendation is "OBS". AMD chips are pretty good value in this day and age but if you have the money intel would perform better in some cases. Yeah the small chips as SSD is called M.2 SSD and commonly used a protocol called NVME, 2.5 SATA SSDs is till a working option but NVME has faster speeds in benchmark but in some cases you don't feel a difference

Thank you both for your quick replies. 

 

I mainly will be using the unit to edit 60 second to 10 minute video clips in Adobe premiere or other similar editing apps. I also use Photoshop but nothing super high res. 
 

My monitor output is 1080p but it’s super outdated and my cameras have the ability to record 4K. 
 

Gaming is really a secondary use. I would play warzone, minecraft, and whatever is interesting and on sale on steam. I should still have Crysis, Portal and Farcry on my steam account.. if I can remember my login info from 10 years ago lol.
 

The next GTA would probably be the most demanding game I’d be interested in. 
 

Not aiming to max out the settings but have a smooth high quality experience. 1080p is my current max output but an updated monitor would be nice to have. 

 

I want to dabble into the twitch network, so yah recording game play and streaming. (not sure of what programs yet as I haven’t done any research)
 

I’m basically looking for the best bang for my buck.

 

CPU, GPU, M.2, MOBO are all the items I’d like to jibe well together. With a modular PSU that’s not overkill but powerful enough for my demands. 
 

I can use an old CASE, COOLING, IO and upgrade later if my money is better spend on the items above. 

[Forleb]

1 hour ago, Chris Cave said:

 

Thank you both for your quick replies. 

 

I mainly will be using the unit to edit 60 second to 10 minute video clips in Adobe premiere or other similar editing apps. I also use Photoshop but nothing super high res. 
 

My monitor output is 1080p but it’s super outdated and my cameras have the ability to record 4K. 
 

Gaming is really a secondary use. I would play warzone, minecraft, and whatever is interesting and on sale on steam. I should still have Crysis, Portal and Farcry on my steam account.. if I can remember my login info from 10 years ago lol.
 

The next GTA would probably be the most demanding game I’d be interested in. 
 

Not aiming to max out the settings but have a smooth high quality experience. 1080p is my current max output but an updated monitor would be nice to have. 

 

I want to dabble into the twitch network, so yah recording game play and streaming. (not sure of what programs yet as I haven’t done any research)
 

I’m basically looking for the best bang for my buck.

 

CPU, GPU, M.2, MOBO are all the items I’d like to jibe well together. With a modular PSU that’s not overkill but powerful enough for my demands. 
 

I can use an old CASE, COOLING and IO if my money is better spend on the items above. 

3 Grand should be perfect for setting up a rig that can handle 4K editing like a champ, even with the current GPU chaos. I'll try to provide baselines that give an idea of what you should go for, leaning towards the top of your budget of course. For reference, I'm going to use the following color codes for the core companies: Intel AMD Nvidia. I'll also be listing prices in USD, but I'll keep the conversion to CAD in mind along the way.

 

• Motherboard: B550, X570, Z490, and Z590 are the chipsets you'll want to focus on. All should have support for PCIe Gen 4 when using a Ryzen 5000 or Core 11000 CPU. Power draw in general has ramped up significantly in the last decade, so you'll want to find a board with heat sinks on the VRMs and preferably M.2 slot (some even have chipset fans). A good board of this tier will probably run you about $250.

• CPU: The Ryzen 9 5900X or Core i9-11900K is your best bet right now. You heard correctly that AMD finally took the CPU crown, as even a 5800X is within close proximity to an 11900K across the board. It should be noted that the 5900X is the better value hands down, but if your heart is set on team blue, the 11900K is by no means a bad chip. The 5900X should run you about $550, while the 11900K hovers closer to $850 - I only mention this as an option because your budget technically can allow for it.

• RAM: Boy how times have changed. For a system this beefy, you're going to want 32GB of DDR4 memory; There's a slight advantage to running a 2x16GB kit, but 4x8GB is close enough that you could use such a kit for aesthetic purposes if you want to. Speed, however, is where things get situational between AMD and Intel. Ryzen suffers a great deal more from slower memory than Core does, but once you scale up into the range of 3600MHz and beyond, the respective returns on each architecture become very identical. A 32GB kit of 3600MHz CL16 memory will go for $200-250 depending on if you want RGB or not (yes, that's a thing now).

• Storage: Those little stick-of-gum M.2s are starting to pack some serious horsepower over traditional 2.5" SSDs. SATA III is capping out at roughly 550MB/s these days, while NVMe Gen 3 sits comfortably in the 3000MB/s area; Gen 4 has even pushed into 7000MB/s territory with stuff like the Samsung 980 Pro. 4K Videos are quite massive by nature, so having at least 2TB will ensure that you can hold on to all the videos you make for quite a while before pruning anything. It should be noted that crowding a drive like that can hinder the performance of your OS, so having a separate 250GB or 500GB boot drive will keep everything snappy (and allow you to use up more space obviously). Even up to the Gen 4 level, a 2TB & 500GB combo lands in the ballpark of $500 at the moment.

• Case: Like most other components cases have received a notable amount of attention regarding improvements to modularity and airflow over the years. I would try to list all of them here, but you can probably snoop around Newegg for a bit and discover it all for yourself. Most of the better cases out there right now start at $100, but just make sure you pay attention to the smaller details so you don't end up trying to put square pegs in a round hole.

• PSU: Over time, units have inevitably become better at power draw efficiency and modularity, but for the most part they're still just magic blocks that juice everything up. 750W Should be your base target, with 850W being more optimal for the sake of headroom you can have and not need later. These units can go for about $150.

• GPU: Unfortunately, the last 6 months of new card releases and crypto currency booming have led to a shortage so drastic that silicon in general is in short supply across the globe. This means that new cards are damn near impossible to get your hands on, and they're going to cost a pretty penny if you do. MSRP has kinda become a joke at this point, so you can expect any given GPU to be at least 50% more expensive than that from any given source. If you're near a Micro Center, that would be your best chance of walking in and getting a card for a reasonable price. while Newegg shuffles are the current hotspot for long distance deals that don't take months to come through. I'd recommend nothing lower than an RTX 3060 Ti for this rig, but you should have room for one or even a 3070 if you try out Ryzen (which I HIGHLY recommend) for that great value.

 

Your whole system minus the GPU should end up in the range of $1800, leaving $700ish for a GPU if my currency conversion is right. If you can manage all this, 1080p will be an absolute joke for your system to handle, meaning you can safely hop up to a 4K monitor at any time and have a smooth experience if GTA is your most demanding title. Windows 10 may also be a bit confusing at first, but there are plenty of sources out there to help you build & configure your system as best you can. Best of luck.

[Chris Cave]

1 hour ago, Forleb said:

3 Grand should be perfect for setting up a rig that can handle 4K editing like a champ, even with the current GPU chaos. I'll try to provide baselines that give an idea of what you should go for, leaning towards the top of your budget of course. For reference, I'm going to use the following color codes for the core companies: Intel AMD Nvidia. I'll also be listing prices in USD, but I'll keep the conversion to CAD in mind along the way.

 

• Motherboard: B550, X570, Z490, and Z590 are the chipsets you'll want to focus on. All should have support for PCIe Gen 4 when using a Ryzen 5000 or Core 11000 CPU. Power draw in general has ramped up significantly in the last decade, so you'll want to find a board with heat sinks on the VRMs and preferably M.2 slot (some even have chipset fans). A good board of this tier will probably run you about $250.

• CPU: The Ryzen 9 5900X or Core i9-11900K is your best bet right now. You heard correctly that AMD finally took the CPU crown, as even a 5800X is within close proximity to an 11900K across the board. It should be noted that the 5900X is the better value hands down, but if your heart is set on team blue, the 11900K is by no means a bad chip. The 5900X should run you about $550, while the 11900K hovers closer to $850 - I only mention this as an option because your budget technically can allow for it.

• RAM: Boy how times have changed. For a system this beefy, you're going to want 32GB of DDR4 memory; There's a slight advantage to running a 2x16GB kit, but 4x8GB is close enough that you could use such a kit for aesthetic purposes if you want to. Speed, however, is where things get situational between AMD and Intel. Ryzen suffers a great deal more from slower memory than Core does, but once you scale up into the range of 3600MHz and beyond, the respective returns on each architecture become very identical. A 32GB kit of 3600MHz CL16 memory will go for $200-250 depending on if you want RGB or not (yes, that's a thing now).

• Storage: Those little stick-of-gum M.2s are starting to pack some serious horsepower over traditional 2.5" SSDs. SATA III is capping out at roughly 550MB/s these days, while NVMe Gen 3 sits comfortably in the 3000MB/s area; Gen 4 has even pushed into 7000MB/s territory with stuff like the Samsung 980 Pro. 4K Videos are quite massive by nature, so having at least 2TB will ensure that you can hold on to all the videos you make for quite a while before pruning anything. It should be noted that crowding a drive like that can hinder the performance of your OS, so having a separate 250GB or 500GB boot drive will keep everything snappy (and allow you to use up more space obviously). Even up to the Gen 4 level, a 2TB & 500GB combo lands in the ballpark of $500 at the moment.

• Case: Like most other components cases have received a notable amount of attention regarding improvements to modularity and airflow over the years. I would try to list all of them here, but you can probably snoop around Newegg for a bit and discover it all for yourself. Most of the better cases out there right now start at $100, but just make sure you pay attention to the smaller details so you don't end up trying to put square pegs in a round hole.

• PSU: Over time, units have inevitably become better at power draw efficiency and modularity, but for the most part they're still just magic blocks that juice everything up. 750W Should be your base target, with 850W being more optimal for the sake of headroom you can have and not need later. These units can go for about $150.

• GPU: Unfortunately, the last 6 months of new card releases and crypto currency booming have led to a shortage so drastic that silicon in general is in short supply across the globe. This means that new cards are damn near impossible to get your hands on, and they're going to cost a pretty penny if you do. MSRP has kinda become a joke at this point, so you can expect any given GPU to be at least 50% more expensive than that from any given source. If you're near a Micro Center, that would be your best chance of walking in and getting a card for a reasonable price. while Newegg shuffles are the current hotspot for long distance deals that don't take months to come through. I'd recommend nothing lower than an RTX 3060 Ti for this rig, but you should have room for one or even a 3070 if you try out Ryzen (which I HIGHLY recommend) for that great value.

 

Your whole system minus the GPU should end up in the range of $1800, leaving $700ish for a GPU if my currency conversion is right. If you can manage all this, 1080p will be an absolute joke for your system to handle, meaning you can safely hop up to a 4K monitor at any time and have a smooth experience if GTA is your most demanding title. Windows 10 may also be a bit confusing at first, but there are plenty of sources out there to help you build & configure your system as best you can. Best of luck.

LEGEND! Thank you very much for such an informative response. MUCH appreciated!!

 

Great place for me to start, I shall do some homework with your suggestions in mind. 

[Chris Cave]

UPDATE: We're up and running. Thanks again.