Help me with a "maxed-out... within reason" build

[884248]

Budget (including currency): $5k USD

Country: USA

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: I want to be able to play any recent AAA game at high quality, also will use for editing photos, maybe the occasional AI workload

 

I'm buying my first ever PC and need some opinions. The goal is to get a "maxed-out within reason" build. I don't want to mess with overclocking or custom cooler loops, I just want it to work for gaming and photo editing... but be near top of the line as far as performance goes. I also don't care about RGB or making things look good at all.

 

I've settled on the 4090 and i9-14900k, but other than that I'm completely open to parts. I've also never done this before so I don't know about other stuff I should buy like extra fans or thermal compound or adapters or anything.

 

Here's my current parts list. I'd be interested in cheaper alternatives for memory or motherboard that don't sacrifice too much performance. Again, the goal is maxed-out within reason.

 

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/Ps2mvj 

 

 

[Why_Me]

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: *Intel Core i7-14700 2.1 GHz 20-Core Processor  ($399.99 @ Amazon) 
CPU Cooler: *ARCTIC Liquid Freezer III 72.8 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler  ($98.55 @ Amazon) 
Motherboard: *MSI MAG Z790 TOMAHAWK MAX WIFI ATX LGA1700 Motherboard  ($259.99 @ Amazon) 
Memory: *G.Skill Ripjaws S5 64 GB (2 x 32 GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 Memory  ($199.99 @ Newegg) 
Storage: *Samsung 970 Evo Plus 500 GB M.2-2280 PCIe 3.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive  ($38.38 @ GameStop) 
Storage: *Samsung 980 Pro 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive  ($169.99 @ Adorama) 
Video Card: *Asus TUF GAMING OC GeForce RTX 4090 24 GB Video Card  ($1819.99 @ ASUS) 
Case: *Lian Li LANCOOL III ATX Mid Tower Case  ($144.99 @ Newegg Sellers) 
Power Supply: *SeaSonic VERTEX GX-1200 1200 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply  ($223.72 @ Amazon) 
Operating System: *Microsoft Windows 11 Home OEM - DVD 64-bit  ($124.99 @ Amazon) 
Total: $3480.58
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2024-02-29 21:20 EST-0500

[thrasher_565]

top line gpu and cpu have vary inflated price meaning dropping a tier down can save a huge amount of moeny witch can be use to upgrade it down the road. what the best options is i dont no.

 

 

 

Edited March 1 by thrasher_565

[Fankywanky]

If you don’t want to mess with over clocking you should get a cpu with a higher base ghz.

[brob]

1 hour ago, 884248 said:

Here's my current parts list. I'd be interested in cheaper alternatives for memory or motherboard that don't sacrifice too much performance. Again, the goal is maxed-out within reason.

 

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/Ps2mvj 

 

Slightly better performance with a bit of savings.

 

PCPartPicker Part List

 

CPU: Intel Core i9-14900K 3.2 GHz 24-Core Processor ($544.99 @ Amazon) 

CPU Cooler: ARCTIC Liquid Freezer III 56.3 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($90.08 @ Amazon) 

Motherboard: MSI MPG Z790 CARBON WIFI II ATX LGA1700 Motherboard ($479.99 @ Amazon) 

Memory: Mushkin Redline ST 64 GB (2 x 32 GB) DDR5-6400 CL30 Memory ($189.99 @ Newegg) 

Storage: Samsung 990 Pro 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive ($179.99 @ Amazon) 

Video Card: Asus TUF GAMING OC GeForce RTX 4090 24 GB Video Card ($1819.99 @ ASUS) 

Case: Lian Li LANCOOL 216 ATX Mid Tower Case ($94.99 @ Newegg Sellers) 

Power Supply: ADATA XPG Core Reactor II 1000 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($134.99 @ Amazon) 

Operating System: Microsoft Windows 11 Pro OEM - DVD 64-bit ($148.99 @ Newegg) 

Total: $3684.00

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2024-02-29 22:47 EST-0500

 

[Queen Chrysalis]

47 minutes ago, Fankywanky said:

If you don’t want to mess with over clocking you should get a cpu with a higher base ghz.

That's not correct.  The base clock is almost completely irrelevant to desktop CPUs.  the boost clock is something that the CPU's firmware will automatically push for when the workload and temperatures are appropriate.

[Fankywanky]

My mistake.

[884248]

Thanks for the feedback and ideas everyone!

@thrasher_565 what would a tier down be? i7-14700k and 4080? What if I did i7-14700k and 4090? I would like to play CPU-intensive games like BG3 and Factorio as well as edit photos, but if the difference between the i7 and i9 is not that much then I could save 150$. I could also maybe switch from the AIO to an air cooler and save another 30$. Here's a list with the i7 that is ~3k:

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/fkJksh

 

Also: What is the deal with the founders edition GPUs vs the other vendor versions? Why is one more expensive? Are the founders edition ones actually better?

 

Similarly: What is the deal with memory speed? If I don't want to mess with overclocking there is no real reason to go faster than 6400, is that correct?

[brob]

11 minutes ago, 884248 said:

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/fkJksh

 

 

The PSU is expensive and is not ATX 3.0 compliant.

[884248]

Gotcha, what about this?

Corsair RM1000x (2021) 1000 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply

 

Still expensive...

[thrasher_565]

53 minutes ago, 884248 said:

Thanks for the feedback and ideas everyone!

@thrasher_565 what would a tier down be? i7-14700k and 4080? What if I did i7-14700k and 4090? I would like to play CPU-intensive games like BG3 and Factorio as well as edit photos, but if the difference between the i7 and i9 is not that much then I could save 150$. I could also maybe switch from the AIO to an air cooler and save another 30$. Here's a list with the i7 that is ~3k:

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/fkJksh

 

Also: What is the deal with the founders edition GPUs vs the other vendor versions? Why is one more expensive? Are the founders edition ones actually better?

 

Similarly: What is the deal with memory speed? If I don't want to mess with overclocking there is no real reason to go faster than 6400, is that correct?

there are many people on here that fallow and build list of parts for the best deal so they would no whats the best as i dont follow parts all the time. i just no the jump from 4080ti to a 4090ti in cost is not woth the small amount of proformace. as to what that is dont no.

 

so if you have a application the will benefit from the hier ram speed then ya it might be worth it but like the 4080 vs 4090 there a added cost for little proformace. j2cents just did a video on ram.

 

even if you buy the fastest gpu and cpu one will still bottle neck the other meaning there lost proformace witch means you have to upgrade anyway. some people argue that spending more on a cpu is better because it last longer and you can go thow more gpu upgrades with it. but i dont no.

 

then there people that will build it and not upgrade it at all for 5 to 8ish years but most will upgrade the cpu and gpu a few times with in that time. imo upgrading it take little time but to each there own.

 

 

then there people that will pare a cpu that that dose not bottle neck the gpu but in that case you most likey upgrade the cpu and gpu in about 3ish years but i guess just depnds on what games you play and what can and cant you do with it. some people dont want to turn things off/down. they want 4k all thew time with rt and 250+ fps all the time...

 

oh as for founders vs other cards when it first came out the founders was cheaper but then they keept making it better and better to be able to charge more moeny. in some case there proforamce is vary good for the price.

 

the difference from each gpu is mostly the looks and cooling with some slight proforamce. but ocing is kinda pointless its not worth it imo. for ocing cpu it largely based on the motherboard and what it can do. normally you turn on one setting and that get you like 90% of the proforamce vs manually ocing. in some case 3% improvements to maybe 10% if lucky but  at a cost of like 20c more temps...witch then need better cooling parts and well the proframce per cost gos way up...

 

amd stuff will self ocing based on how cool it is witch i guess is a good thing i sapos but i dont no...

 

Edited March 1 by thrasher_565

[brob]

26 minutes ago, 884248 said:

Gotcha, what about this?

Corsair RM1000x (2021) 1000 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply

 

Still expensive...

 

An excellent PSU, but not ATX 3.0 compliant. Some options, in no particular order:

 

https://pcpartpicker.com/product/TnCZxr/adata-xpg-core-reactor-ii-1000-w-80-gold-certified-fully-modular-atx-power-supply-corereactorii1000g-bkcus

 

https://pcpartpicker.com/product/fxGhP6/corsair-rm1000e-2023-1000-w-80-gold-certified-fully-modular-atx-power-supply-cp-9020264-na

 

https://pcpartpicker.com/product/NyxxFT/be-quiet-straight-power-12-1000-w-80-platinum-certified-fully-modular-atx-power-supply-bn338

 

 

[884248]

OK @thrasher_565 I looked into some benchmarks and its seems like the 4080 super would be totally reasonable for me. So I cooked up a build trying to use everyone's advice here that is "one step down" from what I proposed before. It's ~$1k cheaper but the performance shouldn't be too much worse, I think? It's based around the i7-14700k and the 4080 super. What does everyone think?

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/yYtWCd

[thrasher_565]

18 minutes ago, 884248 said:

OK @thrasher_565 I looked into some benchmarks and its seems like the 4080 super would be totally reasonable for me. So I cooked up a build trying to use everyone's advice here that is "one step down" from what I proposed before. It's ~$1k cheaper but the performance shouldn't be too much worse, I think? It's based around the i7-14700k and the 4080 super. What does everyone think?

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/yYtWCd

i dont no about the rest of the parts if there good or not but i would spend more on the case imo

also dont no if you need 64gb of ram...

Edited March 1 by thrasher_565

[brob]

10 minutes ago, 884248 said:

OK @thrasher_565 I looked into some benchmarks and its seems like the 4080 super would be totally reasonable for me. So I cooked up a build trying to use everyone's advice here that is "one step down" from what I proposed before. It's ~$1k cheaper but the performance shouldn't be too much worse, I think? It's based around the i7-14700k and the 4080 super. What does everyone think?

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/yYtWCd

 

A motherboard with integrated rear back plate simplifies installation and is worth the added cost.

 

The case has an acrylic side panel that can be easily scratched.

 

Neither the motherboard nor case support a front facing USB-C port.

 

PCPartPicker Part List

 

CPU: Intel Core i7-14700K 3.4 GHz 20-Core Processor ($389.99 @ Newegg) 

CPU Cooler: Deepcool AK620 ZERO DARK 68.99 CFM CPU Cooler ($59.99 @ Newegg) 

Motherboard: MSI MAG Z790 TOMAHAWK WIFI ATX LGA1700 Motherboard ($229.99 @ Best Buy) 

Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws S5 64 GB (2 x 32 GB) DDR5-5600 CL28 Memory ($189.99 @ Amazon) 

Storage: Samsung 980 Pro 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive ($169.99 @ Adorama) 

Video Card: MSI VENTUS 3X OC GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER 16 GB Video Card ($1029.99 @ B&H) 

Case: Montech AIR 903 BASE ATX Mid Tower Case ($65.00 @ B&H) 

Power Supply: Corsair RM850e (2023) 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($119.99 @ Newegg) 

Operating System: Microsoft Windows 11 Pro OEM - DVD 64-bit ($149.99 @ Adorama) 

Total: $2404.92

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2024-03-01 14:55 EST-0500

 

[Milesqqw2]

I would say that just because the next gen intel cpu will be on a new socket that it would be worth it to get a ryzen 7 7900x just because amd will release more cpus on am5 then intel will on lga1700. I also think that you should use a good air cooler rather than an aio because there is not really a performance difference between a good air cooler and an aio, and 30 dollars could bump you up to a better mobo or something similar.