Building a new system - by hand - for the first time in decades...

[AlexanderESmith]

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Budget (including currency): $2k - $6k USD (the lower the better, but not ignoring $6k+ if reasoning is compelling)

Country: USA

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Blender (3D rendering), mostly single-player gaming on Linux (but I like fancy graphics). Many hundreds of browser tabs (I know I have a problem). VMs/containers for local testing.

Other details (see following)

 

Existing parts list: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/9V3hPJ (not married to this necessarily, was just a first-crack at it)

 

Any needed peripherals: Already have mouse/keyboard/screens/networking/UPS. Wouldn't mind hearing thoughts on a decent sound system though. Right now I'm using the speakers from my laptop (see below).

 

Upgrading from: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B098XWXRZ9 . To save you a click;

• Clevo laptop rebrand, model x170-KMG
• 11th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i9-11900K @ 3.50GHz
• NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Laptop GPU (12gb GPU RAM)
• 64GB system RAM

 

When I'm planning to buy: ASAP. Today. My bet is that prices are about to go through the fucking roof, attempting to build a system that will get me through the next 4 years, at least.

 

Gaming resoution/hz: My main... "monitor" is a 65" 4k TV. At some point I might want 144/300/etc hz refresh, but I'm probably targeting 1080/1440 for that (and buying a dedicated gaming display, since this TV is dumb-as-rocks and slow). Preference at this moment is looking good at 4k with steady 60FPS. Not afraid to step down to a lower res to save $2000 though, heh.

 

General thoughts / preferences

• GPU
  • Needs the best Nvidia card(s?) available today(for cuda/DLSS/etc), but not the tippity-topest card(s) if it's only 5% better than one that's half the cost.
  • I'm told multi-GPU builds aren't really a thing anymore. Not closed to the idea if reasoning is compelling.
  • GPU RAM highest possible (I have 12gb in my current laptop, beating that would be nice).
  • Heavy-load gaming, heavier 3D rendering (Blender).
  • I have no specific plans on messing with clock speeds, but open to suggestions. Don't want to burn the card out.
• CPU
  • Same as above; "best" without being needlessly expensive. I used to lean Intel, but they seem to be fucking up more and more recently. Recommend AMD if compelling. Wouldn't mind having the GPU from a good AMD chip as a backup.
  • As with the GPU; I have no specific plans on overclocking, but still open to suggestions.
  • My current list has a 7950X on it, but I've also been pointed at the 7950X3D for "a lot of gaming benefits". Not sure what the difference is (I don't know how much the extra cache will affect things, other than more = better), but I'm keen to drop another $100 if it's worth it.
• RAM
  • /Stupid/ amounts of system RAM. Like 64gb minimum (which my laptop currently has). 128 wouldn't be scoffed at. Higher than that probably wouldn't be scoffed at. I run a lot of VMs, and at least 4-6 chrome tabs  (kidding aside, I've looked up and noticed 800+ tabs open at once, and most of them legitimately in-progress research. Woo ADHD!)
  • My parts list has an AM5 motherboard on it, and I'm told that it has issues with 4 DIMMS (hence also only listing 2 DIMMS at 96GB RAM). Open to alternatives.
• Power supply
  • Plenty of headroom (don't want to use more than 80% at peak load, but I don't know if even that's too high). The one on my list was suggested to me. I had someone else suggest getting a Platinum rated power supply. I had no idea that existed. Open to suggestions.
• Motherboard
  • No strong preferences here, just no bottlenecks.
  • Obviously need sound and networking, but I'm also assuming those and motherboard built-ins at this point. Not ignoring dedicated sound/networking card recommendations, though.
  • Some amount of future-proofing/upgradability would be nice, but not mandatory.
  • Match CPU/GPU/RAM, obviously. I remember that used to be a huge problem, not sure these days.
  • Something that supports at least one solid state drive (two would be better) and plenty of slower storage drives (5-10 tb total, more than that can go in cold/NAS storage).
  • (also related to case, but would need motherboard ports): I wouldn't be mad if there were some kind of drive array bay, and if so, hot swappable would be nice. Not super high priority though, I should be building a NAS instead.
• Case
  • Cheapest shit case that will fit the components. Great cooling. Preferably black, but I have spray paint.
  • I assumed I'd just use fans, but if there's a liquid-cooling setup that isn't a pain to setup and upkeep, I'm keen.
• OS
  • I'll be running Linux on it, so I don't need a Windows key or etc. I usually only have to worry about that with laptops, but it's worth mentioning just in case.
  • I'm a Linux admin for a living, and it's been my main OS for many years now, so I'm aware of my limitations for gaming (which is less and less every day, really). Plus, my main gaming "rig" right now is a Steam Deck running it's stock OS, so it's not like I'm used to gaming in Windows anyway
• RGB
  • I'm not a flashy person. I don't care if/what lights come with any of these pieces. It's likely that I'll disconnect them.

[SpookyCitrus]

Pretty solid list already. Personally I'd wait at least another month or two for the new Nvidia GPUs to come out(AFAIK there is nothing happening right now that should cause PC part pricing to increase within the next few months). But if you really can't wait this is what I'd do based on your supplied list. If you want a good recommend for an AMD GPU, the 7900XTX 24GB is where it's at, pretty much the same price as that PNY 4080 Super(though the AMD cards have significantly less performance than RTX cards in Ray Tracing and don't support DLSS). Ram with current Ryzen has minimal gains past 6000MT/s, the sweet spot currently is 6000MT/s CL30, this kit should be just fine and is $30 cheaper than that TeamGroup kit. The cooler you picked is super solid as well, though a 360mm AIO liquid cooler would be better and the AIO units are super easy to install. As for the case, it doesn't have included 140mm front fans but is much higher quality than the Montech one you have selected. The additional fans are optional and only needed if you want to top mount the 360mm AIO, it can be front mounted as well and you wouldn't need to purchase the additional fans.

 

Was a little confused with the part list you provided as you claim to want to just go all out on this system yet, your part list is much more price to performance oriented. If you really want just a baller build recommend I can do it. Especially with your budget, but this system should be more than capable.

 

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 7950X 4.5 GHz 16-Core Processor  ($486.99 @ Amazon) 
CPU Cooler: Thermalright Frozen Prism 70.4 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler  ($55.09 @ Amazon) 
Motherboard: ASRock X870 Pro RS WiFi ATX AM5 Motherboard  ($209.99 @ Amazon) 
Memory: Kingston FURY Renegade 96 GB (2 x 48 GB) DDR5-6000 CL32 Memory  ($289.99 @ Newegg) 
Storage: MSI SPATIUM M482 Eco-Pack 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive  ($99.99 @ MSI) 
Video Card: PNY VERTO OC GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER 16 GB Video Card  ($989.99 @ Amazon) 
Case: Phanteks XT PRO ATX Mid Tower Case  ($55.98 @ Newegg) 
Power Supply: be quiet! Pure Power 12 M 1000 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply  ($139.90 @ Amazon) 
Case Fan: ARCTIC P14 PST 72.8 CFM 140 mm Fan  ($12.99 @ Amazon) 
Case Fan: ARCTIC P14 PST 72.8 CFM 140 mm Fan  ($12.99 @ Amazon) 
Case Fan: ARCTIC P14 PST 72.8 CFM 140 mm Fan  ($12.99 @ Amazon) 
Total: $2366.89
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2024-11-12 16:04 EST-0500

[AlexanderESmith]

25 minutes ago, SpookyCitrus said:

Pretty solid list already. Personally I'd wait at least another month or two for the new Nvidia GPUs to come out(AFAIK there is nothing happening right now that should cause PC part pricing to increase within the next few months). But if you really can't wait this is what I'd do based on your supplied list. If you want a good recommend for an AMD GPU, the 7900XTX 24GB is where it's at, pretty much the same price as that PNY 4080 Super(though the AMD cards have significantly less performance than RTX cards in Ray Tracing and don't support DLSS). Ram with current Ryzen has minimal gains past 6000MT/s, the sweet spot currently is 6000MT/s CL30, this kit should be just fine and is $30 cheaper than that TeamGroup kit. The cooler you picked is super solid as well, though a 360mm AIO liquid cooler would be better and the AIO units are super easy to install. As for the case, it doesn't have included 140mm front fans but is much higher quality than the Montech one you have selected. The additional fans are optional and only needed if you want to top mount the 360mm AIO, it can be front mounted as well and you wouldn't need to purchase the additional fans.

 

Was a little confused with the part list you provided as you claim to want to just go all out on this system yet, your part list is much more price to performance oriented. If you really want just a baller build recommend I can do it. Especially with your budget, but this system should be more than capable.

 

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 7950X 4.5 GHz 16-Core Processor  ($486.99 @ Amazon) 
CPU Cooler: Thermalright Frozen Prism 70.4 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler  ($55.09 @ Amazon) 
Motherboard: ASRock X870 Pro RS WiFi ATX AM5 Motherboard  ($209.99 @ Amazon) 
Memory: Kingston FURY Renegade 96 GB (2 x 48 GB) DDR5-6000 CL32 Memory  ($289.99 @ Newegg) 
Storage: MSI SPATIUM M482 Eco-Pack 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive  ($99.99 @ MSI) 
Video Card: PNY VERTO OC GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER 16 GB Video Card  ($989.99 @ Amazon) 
Case: Phanteks XT PRO ATX Mid Tower Case  ($55.98 @ Newegg) 
Power Supply: be quiet! Pure Power 12 M 1000 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply  ($139.90 @ Amazon) 
Case Fan: ARCTIC P14 PST 72.8 CFM 140 mm Fan  ($12.99 @ Amazon) 
Case Fan: ARCTIC P14 PST 72.8 CFM 140 mm Fan  ($12.99 @ Amazon) 
Case Fan: ARCTIC P14 PST 72.8 CFM 140 mm Fan  ($12.99 @ Amazon) 
Total: $2366.89
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2024-11-12 16:04 EST-0500

> If you really want just a baller build recommend I can do it.

I'm keen. I mostly just didn't want to spend $8000 when $3000 was only 10% less powerful. The parts list I provided initially was mostly recommended from various discord conversations.

I do lean strongly in the direction of nVidia GPUs, since they fit my requirements better (gaming is important, but Blender is even more important).

[jaslion]

1 hour ago, AlexanderESmith said:

> If you really want just a baller build recommend I can do it.

I'm keen. I mostly just didn't want to spend $8000 when $3000 was only 10% less powerful. The parts list I provided initially was mostly recommended from various discord conversations.

I do lean strongly in the direction of nVidia GPUs, since they fit my requirements better (gaming is important, but Blender is even more important).

Thing with amd is that their blender acceleration for 3d rendering is just ass and barely works. Same with many other 3d applications and they've only been working on improving it for real for about a year or so. So don't expect much from that. Since blender is important get a nvidia card.

 

Either way if you can wait a bit more do so worst case old gen nvidia gets cheaper.

[AlexanderESmith]

@jaslion Indeed, that's why I mentioned it in my original post, and follow-up reply.

 

I'm keen for @SpookyCitrus to show me what a baller build looks like , was just clarifying that I'm fine paying more for nVidia since it suits my use-case better.

[thebman]

The only difference from spooky's build I would add would be a 9950x instead of a 7950x. Little better, but probably worth it for you.

[SpookyCitrus]

2 hours ago, AlexanderESmith said:

I'm keen for @SpookyCitrus to show me what a baller build looks like , was just clarifying that I'm fine paying more for nVidia since it suits my use-case better.

This is pretty baller, it's what I'd do if I didn't already have pretty much the same thing but Intel and I was in the market for an AMD build and didn't care for price to performance. I mean you're going baller, price cutting isn't an option so only the nice name brand stuff. If you really wanted to ball out even more go for custom loop liquid cooling, even though you really don't at all have too and wait for the RTX 5090 or whatever they call the new top dog when it comes out. Also for those reading and about to comment, why I would recommend this, I'm not, this is all a hypothetical if he wanted the baller option over his reasonable price to performance system. 

 

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 9950X 4.3 GHz 16-Core Processor  ($719.00 @ Amazon) 
CPU Cooler: ARCTIC Liquid Freezer III 420 72.8 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler  ($98.55 @ Amazon) 
Motherboard: Gigabyte X870E AORUS ELITE WIFI7 ATX AM5 Motherboard  ($319.99 @ Amazon) 
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 96 GB (2 x 48 GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 Memory  ($329.99 @ Amazon) 
Storage: Crucial T700 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 5.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive  ($209.99 @ Amazon) 
Storage: Crucial T700 4 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 5.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive  ($399.99 @ Best Buy) 
Video Card: Asus ROG STRIX GAMING OC GeForce RTX 4090 24 GB Video Card  ($2179.99 @ Newegg) 
Case: Fractal Design North XL ATX Full Tower Case  ($179.99 @ Amazon) 
Power Supply: be quiet! Straight Power 12 1200 W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply  ($179.90 @ Amazon) 
Case Fan: Noctua F12 PWM chromax.black.swap 54.97 CFM 120 mm Fan  ($24.75 @ Amazon) 
Case Fan: Noctua F12 PWM chromax.black.swap 54.97 CFM 120 mm Fan  ($24.75 @ Amazon) 
Case Fan: Noctua F12 PWM chromax.black.swap 54.97 CFM 120 mm Fan  ($24.75 @ Amazon) 
Case Fan: Noctua F12 PWM chromax.black.swap 54.97 CFM 120 mm Fan  ($24.75 @ Amazon) 
Case Fan: Noctua NF-A12x25 PWM chromax.black.swap 60.09 CFM 120 mm Fan  ($34.95 @ Amazon) 
Case Fan: Noctua NF-A12x25 PWM chromax.black.swap 60.09 CFM 120 mm Fan  ($34.95 @ Amazon) 
Case Fan: Noctua NF-A12x25 PWM chromax.black.swap 60.09 CFM 120 mm Fan  ($34.95 @ Amazon) 
Case Fan: Noctua NF-A12x25 PWM chromax.black.swap 60.09 CFM 120 mm Fan  ($34.95 @ Amazon) 
Total: $4856.19
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2024-11-13 17:50 EST-0500

[AlexanderESmith]

20 minutes ago, SpookyCitrus said:

This is pretty baller, it's what I'd do if I didn't already have pretty much the same thing but Intel and I was in the market for an AMD build and didn't care for price to performance. I mean you're going baller, price cutting isn't an option so only the nice name brand stuff. If you really wanted to ball out even more go for custom loop liquid cooling, even though you really don't at all have too and wait for the RTX 5090 or whatever they call the new top dog when it comes out. Also for those reading and about to comment, why I would recommend this, I'm not, this is all a hypothetical if he wanted the baller option over his reasonable price to performance system. 

 

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 9950X 4.3 GHz 16-Core Processor  ($719.00 @ Amazon) 
CPU Cooler: ARCTIC Liquid Freezer III 420 72.8 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler  ($98.55 @ Amazon) 
Motherboard: Gigabyte X870E AORUS ELITE WIFI7 ATX AM5 Motherboard  ($319.99 @ Amazon) 
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 96 GB (2 x 48 GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 Memory  ($329.99 @ Amazon) 
Storage: Crucial T700 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 5.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive  ($209.99 @ Amazon) 
Storage: Crucial T700 4 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 5.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive  ($399.99 @ Best Buy) 
Video Card: Asus ROG STRIX GAMING OC GeForce RTX 4090 24 GB Video Card  ($2179.99 @ Newegg) 
Case: Fractal Design North XL ATX Full Tower Case  ($179.99 @ Amazon) 
Power Supply: be quiet! Straight Power 12 1200 W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply  ($179.90 @ Amazon) 
Case Fan: Noctua F12 PWM chromax.black.swap 54.97 CFM 120 mm Fan  ($24.75 @ Amazon) 
Case Fan: Noctua F12 PWM chromax.black.swap 54.97 CFM 120 mm Fan  ($24.75 @ Amazon) 
Case Fan: Noctua F12 PWM chromax.black.swap 54.97 CFM 120 mm Fan  ($24.75 @ Amazon) 
Case Fan: Noctua F12 PWM chromax.black.swap 54.97 CFM 120 mm Fan  ($24.75 @ Amazon) 
Case Fan: Noctua NF-A12x25 PWM chromax.black.swap 60.09 CFM 120 mm Fan  ($34.95 @ Amazon) 
Case Fan: Noctua NF-A12x25 PWM chromax.black.swap 60.09 CFM 120 mm Fan  ($34.95 @ Amazon) 
Case Fan: Noctua NF-A12x25 PWM chromax.black.swap 60.09 CFM 120 mm Fan  ($34.95 @ Amazon) 
Case Fan: Noctua NF-A12x25 PWM chromax.black.swap 60.09 CFM 120 mm Fan  ($34.95 @ Amazon) 
Total: $4856.19
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2024-11-13 17:50 EST-0500

@SpookyCitrus looks like a very nice system indeed.

I'm curious about your experience with the intel chip in your rig. Like I said before, I normally lean that way, but I've been afraid of getting a dud. What are your thoughts? Also, how different would this build be if we swapped out the CPU for intel?

On another note; other than flash, were there specific specs that lead you to that specific 4090? I know that technically the range for "really good cards" goes from like $500 to $6000, but I really don't know how much of that is "better on paper".

 

Also, related to the GPU; Are liquid-cooling setups always limited to CPU? I assumed the GPU would be hooked up to it too, but I guess that doesn't make a *ton* of sense, given all the fans on GPUs these days...

[SpookyCitrus]

35 minutes ago, AlexanderESmith said:

@SpookyCitrus looks like a very nice system indeed.

I'm curious about your experience with the intel chip in your rig. Like I said before, I normally lean that way, but I've been afraid of getting a dud. What are your thoughts? Also, how different would this build be if we swapped out the CPU for intel?

On another note; other than flash, were there specific specs that lead you to that specific 4090? I know that technically the range for "really good cards" goes from like $500 to $6000, but I really don't know how much of that is "better on paper".

 

Also, related to the GPU; Are liquid-cooling setups always limited to CPU? I assumed the GPU would be hooked up to it too, but I guess that doesn't make a *ton* of sense, given all the fans on GPUs these days...

I've enjoyed this CPU, for certain workloads Intel is better than AMD. I doubt you'd get a dud, the Microcode issue has been fixed. Only the systems assembled and used prior to the fixes had stability issues and the chance to become permanently damaged. I had stability issues with mine that were fixed by manual underclocking until the microcode updates were released and since doing those it has had zero problems. The Intel CPUs do run quite a bit hotter than the AMDs as well.

 

I only chose that 4090 for the baller list as it's considered "the best" mainly for the cooling/aesthetics. As far as cooler, aesthetics, and factory OC you're not going to see much difference between the models. The ROG Matrix variant is I believe the same card just with an AIO liquid cooler built into it and slightly higher OC. You could get a less expensive OC variant 4090 over the Strix and still see similar if not the same performance as this one. It was mainly just the one I picked for the baller build as it's considered one of the baller 4090s.

 

As for liquid cooling the GPU, typically most 3 fan quality air cooled GPUs are going to be perfectly fine. Most people when doing custom liquid cooling have both the CPU and GPU in the loop because they're already spending the money on it and it does help with temps. I wouldn't put one of the AIO GPU liquid coolers on one or pay more for one with one. I'd only liquid cool it if I was doing a custom loop for the CPU, I don't do custom liquid cooling in my personal builds as they're a lot of maintenance and IMO not worth it outside of aesthetics. As far as AIO liquid coolers go, they're typically only made for CPUs, there are a couple options for GPUs, but I wouldn't use one over just getting a card that has a decent air cooler built in.