Looking to build the best $6k PC money can buy

[Kagaratsch]

Budget (including currency): $6000

Country: US

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: yes - as in, latest games, data science work (python, big data, machine learning)

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 owned only laptops for the last 15 years and finally decided to build a decent tower once the RTX 5090 graphic card is released. I know it's still a few months from now, but seeing as I have no knowledge of the ins and out of the different parts it takes to build one, I figured now is a good time to start learning. Just clicking around on pcpartpicker and selecting parts that looked decent to me, I got this partial set together (RTX 4090 as a placeholder for now):

 

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/4Gw834

 

The rest of the components that are missing I don't really know how to compare or evaluate. Any suggestions on which parts to complete the build with, or maybe some parts to replace for some reason? Thanks for any suggestion!

 

My optimization logic is simple:

- Absolutely no RGB.

- If it ain't adding performance / operation critical quality, don't splurge on it.

[8tg]

1 minute ago, Kagaratsch said:

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: yes

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): 

You know these two things are actually important.

Because right now you’re spending $1100 on ram and a massive ssd.

What are your actual use cases? Because do you really need 192gb of ram and a 4tb top end nvme ssd?

Just because there’s a $6000 budget in play does not mean the sky is the limit.

 

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/xgbfgB

Anticipate spending a decent bit of money on fans, you’ll want to go push/pull on the 420mm aio with a 14900KS, so you’ll need 8 decent static pressure fans and a good fan hub. That can be $200 all together just for the aio, keep in mind the costs of things like cables, other chassis fans, a retail windows key being $120-150 or an oem key being $20-30, etc

[brob]

8 minutes ago, Kagaratsch said:

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: yes

 

Lacks sufficient definition. 

[Kagaratsch]

32 minutes ago, 8tg said:

You know these two things are actually important.

Because right now you’re spending $1100 on ram and a massive ssd.

What are your actual use cases? Because do you really need 192gb of ram and a 4tb top end nvme ssd?

Just because there’s a $6000 budget in play does not mean the sky is the limit.

 

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/xgbfgB

Anticipate spending a decent bit of money on fans, you’ll want to go push/pull on the 420mm aio with a 14900KS, so you’ll need 8 decent static pressure fans and a good fan hub. That can be $200 all together just for the aio, keep in mind the costs of things like cables, other chassis fans, a retail windows key being $120-150 or an oem key being $20-30, etc

Added more details to use cases (gaming and data science), which the huge ram and storage is for.

Thank you for the completed list! Very interesting about the fans.

May I ask how you decided on which motherboard to use?

Is there an easy way to estimate which and how many extra cables will be required?

[Kagaratsch]

29 minutes ago, brob said:

 

Lacks sufficient definition. 

Added more details to use cases (gaming and data science).

[TylerD321]

It is not the best idea to give advice on a build you aren't planning on purchasing within the next two given how much prices and deals can fluctuate so quickly. The 14900ks has integrated graphics, are you going to try to build this PC entirely minus the graphics card until 5090 comes out? There is no way to predict exactly when this GPU will launch or how much stock nvidia decides to carry.

[GuiltySpark_]

58 minutes ago, Kagaratsch said:

build a decent tower once the RTX 5090 graphic card is released

When that card comes out there will be all different CPU's to choose from. 14900k/ks will not be top dog (arguably it isn't right now).

 

59 minutes ago, Kagaratsch said:

If it ain't adding performance / operation critical quality, don't splurge on it.

But you selected the 14900ks model?

[Kagaratsch]

1 minute ago, GuiltySpark_ said:

But you selected the 14900ks model?

It gives a tiny speed boost for a small price boost, I was on the fence to be honest. Guess the fact that you're pointing this out means I should not bother with the ks model and just go with k.

[brob]

1 hour ago, Kagaratsch said:

finally decided to build a decent tower once the RTX 5090 graphic card is released

 

Both AMD and Intel are expected to release new CPU generations around the same time RTX 5000 GPU make an appearance. 

 

Intel Arrow Lake is expected to use a new 2nm process. A shrink of that magnitude suggests significant changes in features, power and cooling requirements. Certainly it is expected to use a new socket which means all new motherboards.

 

AMD Zen 5 is also expected by year-end. Rumor is there will be new chipsets as well. So even looking at current motherboards is not that productive.

 

[Why_Me]

500GB SSD for your o/s, 4TB SSD for storage. The 14900KS is a heat producing power hog that requires a 420 AIO and a board with a 18+ power phase design. That Frankenstein cpu should have never been released.

 

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/236781/intel-core-i7-processor-14700-33m-cache-up-to-5-40-ghz/specifications.html 

 

https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/PRO-Z790-A-MAX-WIFI

 

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: *Intel Core i7-14700 2.1 GHz 20-Core Processor  ($399.99 @ Amazon) 
CPU Cooler: *ARCTIC Liquid Freezer III 56.3 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler  ($90.08 @ Amazon) 
Motherboard: *MSI PRO Z790-A MAX WIFI ATX LGA1700 Motherboard  ($239.00 @ MSI) 
Memory: *Corsair Vengeance 96 GB (2 x 48 GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 Memory  ($342.99 @ Amazon) 
Storage: *Samsung 970 Evo Plus 500 GB M.2-2280 PCIe 3.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive  ($69.90 @ Amazon) 
Storage: *Samsung 990 Pro 4 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive  ($318.98 @ Amazon) 
Video Card: *Asus TUF GAMING OC GeForce RTX 4090 24 GB Video Card  ($1799.99 @ Newegg) 
Case: *Lian Li LANCOOL 216 ATX Mid Tower Case  ($94.99 @ Newegg Sellers) 
Power Supply: *be quiet! Pure Power 12 M 1200 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply  ($149.90 @ Amazon) 
Monitor: Gigabyte ‎M28U 28.0" 3840 x 2160 144 Hz Monitor  ($399.99 @ Amazon) 
Total: $3905.81
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2024-04-11 06:21 EDT-0400

[Kagaratsch]

8 hours ago, brob said:

 

Both AMD and Intel are expected to release new CPU generations around the same time RTX 5000 GPU make an appearance. 

 

Intel Arrow Lake is expected to use a new 2nm process. A shrink of that magnitude suggests significant changes in features, power and cooling requirements. Certainly it is expected to use a new socket which means all new motherboards.

 

AMD Zen 5 is also expected by year-end. Rumor is there will be new chipsets as well. So even looking at current motherboards is not that productive.

 

That is great to know! I can plan for that, thank you.

 

@Why_Me Thank you for your list suggestion, I'll take a closer look!

[igormp]

15 hours ago, Kagaratsch said:

data science work (python, big data, machine learning)

How relevant/intensive is it for you? Because at that price point you could go for a 7950x (non-X3D model) instead for AVX-512 (which is going to outpace intel in most data stuff), go for the x3D model if you want a meh balance between games and productivity, or just go for the intel model if games is the top priority.

 

You could also easily go with two GPUs with that budget.

[Kagaratsch]

1 hour ago, igormp said:

How relevant/intensive is it for you? Because at that price point you could go for a 7950x (non-X3D model) instead for AVX-512 (which is going to outpace intel in most data stuff), go for the x3D model if you want a meh balance between games and productivity, or just go for the intel model if games is the top priority.

 

You could also easily go with two GPUs with that budget.

Have one laptop running AMD stuff and my impression is, it's a bit half baked and finnicky on Windows (drivers getting overwritten randomly etc). Have to have stable support out of the box.

 

NVIDIA removed linking of several GPUs from consumer level cards a few iterations back, which makes having two in one machine a bit less useful.

[igormp]

41 minutes ago, Kagaratsch said:

Have one laptop running AMD stuff and my impression is, it's a bit half baked and finnicky on Windows (drivers getting overwritten randomly etc). Have to have stable support out of the box.

Wait, are you planning on doing your ML stuff on windows? Weird but ok. Nonetheless, CPUs don't really require drivers nor they have anything to do with the GPU.

 

41 minutes ago, Kagaratsch said:

NVIDIA removed linking of several GPUs from consumer level cards a few iterations back, which makes having two in one machine a bit less useful.

That's irrelevant, you can still do data parallel or model parallel training through PCIe without issues. That's how I use my 2x3090s without NVLink.

Double the vram or double the compute depending on how you make use of those.

[Why_Me]

7 hours ago, Kagaratsch said:

That is great to know! I can plan for that, thank you.

 

@Why_Me Thank you for your list suggestion, I'll take a closer look!

If you're set on a 14 gen i9 for those extra E-cores then this set up with a locked i9, 420 AIO and a board that can handle that cpu without a hitch.

 

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: *Intel Core i9-14900 2 GHz 24-Core Processor  ($568.00 @ Amazon) 
CPU Cooler: *ARCTIC Liquid Freezer III 72.8 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler  ($98.55 @ Amazon) 
Motherboard: *MSI MPG Z790 CARBON WIFI II ATX LGA1700 Motherboard  ($399.00 @ MSI) 
Memory: *Corsair Vengeance 96 GB (2 x 48 GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 Memory  ($342.99 @ Amazon) 
Storage: *Samsung 970 Evo Plus 500 GB M.2-2280 PCIe 3.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive  ($68.80 @ Amazon) 
Storage: *Samsung 990 Pro 4 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive  ($318.98 @ Amazon) 
Video Card: *Asus TUF GAMING OC GeForce RTX 4090 24 GB Video Card  ($1799.99 @ Newegg) 
Case: *Lian Li LANCOOL III ATX Mid Tower Case  ($170.09 @ Amazon) 
Power Supply: *be quiet! Pure Power 12 M 1200 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply  ($149.90 @ Amazon) 
Monitor: Gigabyte ‎M28U 28.0" 3840 x 2160 144 Hz Monitor  ($399.99 @ Amazon) 
Total: $4316.29
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2024-04-11 15:46 EDT-0400

[Kagaratsch]

1 hour ago, igormp said:

Wait, are you planning on doing your ML stuff on windows? Weird but ok. Nonetheless, CPUs don't really require drivers nor they have anything to do with the GPU.

 

That's irrelevant, you can still do data parallel or model parallel training through PCIe without issues. That's how I use my 2x3090s without NVLink.

Double the vram or double the compute depending on how you make use of those.

The 3090 being the last iteration supporting NVLink, surprised you're not using that link. Anyway, I'll have to think on whether I really want 2 GPUs. ^^

 

@Why_Me Wow, thanks again!

[igormp]

1 hour ago, Why_Me said:

Memory: *Corsair Vengeance 96 GB (2 x 48 GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 Memory  ($342.99 @ Amazon) 

It's better to go with 5200~5600MHz sticks in case OP ever wants to upgrade with another couple sticks, getting 4 high-density DIMMs to run at 6000MHz is really hard.

7 minutes ago, Kagaratsch said:

The 3090 being the last iteration supporting NVLink, surprised you're not using that link. Anyway, I'll have to think on whether I really want 2 GPUs. ^^

 

Not really much benefit for most of what I do.

I did want to get a nvlink for some large LLM fine-tuning (which would require me to do model-parallel, hence making the data transfer the bottleneck), but the 3-slot ones are really expensive and not worth the cost for my case.

 

Anyhow, if it's a possibility, it's better to think about it now because mobo selection is really hard. If you go for a non-compatible mobo and try to get a 2nd GPU later, you'll likely need to swap mobos.

 

In case you mind that, here's a build with 192GB that should work out of the box, AVX-512 and that allows for a 2nd GPU later on:

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D 4.2 GHz 16-Core Processor  ($617.00 @ B&H) 
CPU Cooler: ARCTIC Liquid Freezer III 56.3 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler  ($90.08 @ Amazon) 
Motherboard: Asus ProArt X670E-CREATOR WIFI ATX AM5 Motherboard  ($439.99 @ Amazon) 
Memory: G.Skill Flare X5 96 GB (2 x 48 GB) DDR5-5600 CL40 Memory  ($284.99 @ Amazon) 
Memory: G.Skill Flare X5 96 GB (2 x 48 GB) DDR5-5600 CL40 Memory  ($284.99 @ Amazon) 
Storage: Western Digital Black SN850X 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive  ($84.99 @ Amazon) 
Storage: Crucial T700 W/Heatsink 4 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 5.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive  ($446.99 @ B&H) 
Video Card: Gigabyte WINDFORCE V2 GeForce RTX 4090 24 GB Video Card  ($2049.98 @ Amazon) 
Case: Fractal Design North XL ATX Full Tower Case  ($179.99 @ B&H) 
Power Supply: ADATA XPG Core Reactor II 1000 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply  ($129.99 @ Amazon) 
Total: $4608.99
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2024-04-11 17:25 EDT-0400

[Kagaratsch]

1 hour ago, igormp said:

It's better to go with 5200~5600MHz sticks in case OP ever wants to upgrade with another couple sticks, getting 4 high-density DIMMs to run at 6000MHz is really hard.

Not really much benefit for most of what I do.

I did want to get a nvlink for some large LLM fine-tuning (which would require me to do model-parallel, hence making the data transfer the bottleneck), but the 3-slot ones are really expensive and not worth the cost for my case.

 

Anyhow, if it's a possibility, it's better to think about it now because mobo selection is really hard. If you go for a non-compatible mobo and try to get a 2nd GPU later, you'll likely need to swap mobos.

 

In case you mind that, here's a build with 192GB that should work out of the box, AVX-512 and that allows for a 2nd GPU later on:

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D 4.2 GHz 16-Core Processor  ($617.00 @ B&H) 
CPU Cooler: ARCTIC Liquid Freezer III 56.3 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler  ($90.08 @ Amazon) 
Motherboard: Asus ProArt X670E-CREATOR WIFI ATX AM5 Motherboard  ($439.99 @ Amazon) 
Memory: G.Skill Flare X5 96 GB (2 x 48 GB) DDR5-5600 CL40 Memory  ($284.99 @ Amazon) 
Memory: G.Skill Flare X5 96 GB (2 x 48 GB) DDR5-5600 CL40 Memory  ($284.99 @ Amazon) 
Storage: Western Digital Black SN850X 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive  ($84.99 @ Amazon) 
Storage: Crucial T700 W/Heatsink 4 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 5.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive  ($446.99 @ B&H) 
Video Card: Gigabyte WINDFORCE V2 GeForce RTX 4090 24 GB Video Card  ($2049.98 @ Amazon) 
Case: Fractal Design North XL ATX Full Tower Case  ($179.99 @ B&H) 
Power Supply: ADATA XPG Core Reactor II 1000 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply  ($129.99 @ Amazon) 
Total: $4608.99
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2024-04-11 17:25 EDT-0400

pcpartpicker seems to complain that the CPU only supports up to 128GB of ram

[igormp]

3 hours ago, Kagaratsch said:

pcpartpicker seems to complain that the CPU only supports up to 128GB of ram

Nah, just update the bios and 192gb should be good to go. PPP is just outdated.

[brob]

39 minutes ago, igormp said:

Nah, just update the bios and 192gb should be good to go. PPP is just outdated.

 

Pcpartpicker uses manufacturer specs. AMD still lists the CPU with max memory of 128GB.