Help me decide.

[B-dubya]

Budget (including currency): unknown usd

Country: us

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: I recently started playing anew World with friends, Diablo, WoW a little, plus first person shooters ( CoD, Overwatch) 

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): it will be a complete new build.

 

 

TLDR: what case? Air cool vs water?  12700k vs 12900k? Founders vs suppliers? Or does it matter as much  if I water cool?

 

I’m looking to build a new PC. (Passing along old PC to sons, as they use it now anyhow) And I can’t make any decisions apparently. Traditionally I’m more conservative in my build, however because of recent life events I want to splurge a little and treat myself… without going too overboard.

 

i plan on either an i7-12700k or an I9-12900k, but I hear they are a monster to keep cool.  And for GPU, I was going to go with a rtx 3060ti but I feel like that isn’t much of an upgrade over my 1080ti. So now I’m leaning towards a rtx 3080.  I’ll be using an ultrawide 3440x1440 monitor. 
 

my main goal is to have it quiet (with lower temps of course!) right now playing new world my CPU/GPU is cranked and loud. 
 

 

I’m not sure  what case to go with, and if air cooling is an option (currently using a360 AIO on CPU) But I have always wanted to do a custom loop. I was thinking two 360s, unless I could get a case to fit a bigger one. I would love to go rigid tube, but I feel flexible would be easier to set up. 
 

Other than EK, and now Corsair. What other solid options are there?

 

 Is going with a founders edition rtx okay, or is it worth spending the extra on like a FTW3 EVGA?

 

 

 

thank you for any advice/input!
 

 

Side notes: I’ll be getting a 1 or 2 TB M.2 with a 2nd larger HDD for storage, 32gb ram, and new keyboard/mouse. Running Windows 10 most likely, but may consider 11 since it can use the new p&e cores more efficiently.

[brob]

Neither cpu is a monster to cool unless one decides to overclock or lift power limits. Certainly large air coolers like the NH-D15 and Dark Rock Pro 4 will do a decent job. Of course a custom loop will do a better and likely quieter job.

 

An RTX 3070 Ti or RTX 3080 would be reasonable. If you are going with a custom loop you might consider one of the models that include a water block.

 

Lighting is a consideration these days. Given that motherboard manufacturers and Corsair offer different synchronization software it is worth considering before settling on a particular build.

 

The more NVMe storage you have the happier you will be . HDD are painful to go back to.

 

[ModernLizard]

The 12700k will be more than enough if you're mostly just gaming. Go with a smaller AIO and it won't be as loud. I agree with your choice of bumping up the 3060ti to a 3080 for 1440p, that's a good call.

The FTW has better cooling than the FE, I can't say if it's worth the price difference or not though.

Have fun with the build!

 

[Jonathan Lee]

6 hours ago, B-dubya said:

what case?

Depends on what aesthetic you like. There are a lot of good cases out there, just make sure you look for one with good airflow

 

6 hours ago, B-dubya said:

Air cool vs water?

The mid-range AIO's are comparable to high end air coolers in terms of performance. Something like a Noctua NH-D15 can cool the 12900K decently, but if you want better temps would definitely look into a 360mm AIO (make sure it can fit in case)

 

6 hours ago, B-dubya said:

12700k vs 12900k

If you're a heavy, heavy multi-tasker (running a bunch of programs with game), 12900K 100%. If you're more of a lighter PC user (two screens, 1 or 2 other programs running while gaming), the 12700K will be plenty.

 

6 hours ago, B-dubya said:

Founders vs suppliers

For lower end GPU's, the founders will be fine. For higher end, I would recommend going with a nice 3rd party cooler

 

6 hours ago, B-dubya said:

 I’ll be using an ultrawide 3440x1440 monitor.

For ultrawides, I would go with the RTX 3090 or 6900XT. Those monitors are actually pretty close to 4K in terms of how much GPU horsepower they need. If you do go with 3080, make sure to go for the 12GB version. The 10GB might be a little thin for ultrawide

 

Example build:

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i7-12700K 3.6 GHz 12-Core Processor  ($339.99 @ Newegg) 
CPU Cooler: EVGA CLC 360 74.82 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler  ($99.99 @ Amazon) 
Motherboard: MSI PRO Z690-A DDR4 ATX LGA1700 Motherboard  ($199.99 @ Amazon) 
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory  ($118.99 @ Newegg) 
Storage: Crucial P5 2 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive  ($189.99 @ Amazon) 
Storage: Seagate Barracuda Compute 4 TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($67.98 @ Amazon) 
Video Card: XFX Radeon RX 6700 XT 12 GB Speedster QICK 319 BLACK Video Card  ($599.99 @ Amazon) 
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon RX 6900 XT 16 GB NITRO+ SE Video Card  ($1038.99 @ Newegg) 
Case: Corsair 4000D Airflow ATX Mid Tower Case  ($94.99 @ Best Buy) 
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA GT 1000 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply  ($159.99 @ Amazon) 
Total: $2910.89
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2022-04-22 21:23 EDT-0400

[B-dubya]

Thank you for the input thus far!   I would love to go full custom loop. I have never done it before and would probable go soft tubing. I just fear a leak and losing everything.   I played around and put a mock build together on pc part picker (found below). And yes, it is very much overkill for most of what I am goin to do. But I probably wont build myself another pc for a while, so I want it to be overkill for a few years. Plus I'm spoiling myself a little... I'm also lucky to be near a microcenter with some decent prices.

 

Please let me know what you think, or any swap suggestions.( I hope to be getting them in the next few days) I may still go with the i7-12700k as I'd save $200 and only lose four e cores....

 

 

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i7-12700K 3.6 GHz 12-Core Processor  ($339.99 @ Newegg) 
CPU Cooler: ARCTIC Liquid Freezer II 420 72.8 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler  ($125.00 @ Amazon) 
Motherboard: Asus PRIME Z690-P WIFI D4 ATX LGA1700 Motherboard  ($192.00) 
Memory: Team T-Force Delta RGB 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3600 CL18 Memory  ($139.99 @ Newegg) 
Memory: Team T-Force Delta RGB 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3600 CL18 Memory  ($139.99 @ Newegg) 
Storage: Western Digital Black SN850 2 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive  ($262.73 @ Amazon) 
Storage: Seagate IronWolf Pro 4 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($129.99 @ Amazon) 
Video Card: EVGA GeForce RTX 3080 12GB LHR 12 GB FTW3 ULTRA GAMING Video Card  ($999.99 @ GameStop) 
Case: Fractal Design Meshify 2 XL ATX Full Tower Case  ($226.16 @ Amazon) 
Power Supply: EVGA G1+ 1000 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply  ($164.99 @ Amazon) 
Total: $2720.83
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2022-04-22 21:53 EDT-0400

 

 

EDIT: Had a 3080ti by misake

 

[brob]

https://pcpartpicker.com/product/jRvdnQ/corsair-rmx-2021-1000-w-80-gold-certified-fully-modular-atx-power-supply-cp-9020201-na is a better PSU.

 

Did you intend two 2x16GB memory kits? 

 

 

[B-dubya]

24 minutes ago, brob said:

https://pcpartpicker.com/product/jRvdnQ/corsair-rmx-2021-1000-w-80-gold-certified-fully-modular-atx-power-supply-cp-9020201-na is a better PSU.

 

Did you intend two 2x16GB memory kits? 

 

 

Made the adjustment.  I know very little about psu - thank you.

 

And yes, 64 gig was intentional - though not 100% certain I'll do it as 36gb is plenty typically.

[brob]

1 hour ago, B-dubya said:

Made the adjustment.  I know very little about psu - thank you.

 

And yes, 64 gig was intentional - though not 100% certain I'll do it as 36gb is plenty typically.

 

If you do decide on 64GB I'd suggest a 2x32GB kit. If you stick with four sticks, get a 4x16GB matched set that is on the motherboard memory QVL.

[Somerandomtechyboi]

11 hours ago, B-dubya said:

Air cool vs water? Or does it matter as much if I water cool?

Custom water for heavy oc (ghetto loop) or show builds/aesthetics only, otherwise dont bother and get an aircooler/aio

 

If you just want the aesthetics or a decently futureproof loop that you can keep upgrading and changing around go make the loop out of cheap chinese parts off aliexpress since most of the time they deliver similar performance to overpriced big brands like ekwb, you can also use used parts

 

For guidelines on what you should be paying for on each part

<30$ on waterblock, get one with microfins and not a flat one with no microfins

<50$ on a pump+res since there are cheap pump+res combos on aliexpress

<10$ on tubing since you literally just get it from your hardware store or something

Rads are not fixed price but dont start paying 70$ for a pathetic slim 360 rad, i suggest checking out cheap chinese rads since some 360/480 go under 50$

 

If you wanna run mix metal youll need to add abit of antifreeze to your coolant to prevent galvanic corrosion