[1st custom PC] Gaming/Engineering PC constructive criticism

Ormega · April 16, 2018

Looking to get a better PC, my old one is starting to show signs of age (and some hardware components are becoming almost obsolete). I've already revised this design pretty heavily, but I'm consulting you, the readers, to see if you would make any changes to improve the quality of the PC without skyrocketing the price.

The Parts List

Requirements:

Total Budget: $2500 USD hard max, but preferably lower.
The PC will be used for very large engineering projects, some software development, and games (GTA V, Witcher 3, Skyrim, Dark Souls 3)
I plan on running a single monitor at 1440p at at least 60 FPS
I'm planning on using the upcoming AMD Ryzen 2700X and a Gigabyte X470 Aorus Ultra Gaming motherboard.
PC case won't have a window
Both a smaller SSD and a larger HDD (about 250GB and 1 or 2 TB, respectively)
Thorough cooling for the CPU and GPU
Yes, I know 32GB is a lot of RAM, I noticed my current PC using some virtual memory in addition to the 16GB RAM installed while I'm doing larger engineering projects.
I'm partial to the Corsair Carbide 400Q case, as my friends have had good experiences with that case.

Also, a question I don't trust my own judgement on: Is the cooling setup I'm planning on using (3 Noctua NF-F12 iPPC-3000 PWM fans as intakes, and my CPU/GPU radiators as exhaust) going to work?

brob · April 16, 2018

What engineering software is used?

Are you aware that Noctua lists NF-F12 noise as 43.8 dB(A)?

Ormega · April 16, 2018

A lot from the AutoDesk lineup, bud mainly AutoCAD, Maya and Fusion 360.

Yes, but I felt that the noise would be worth the air circulation. Is there a different model of case fan I should use?

brob · April 16, 2018

I see no reason for additional fans. Each of the radiators have fans and the case has two stock fans. This is easily enough to create necessary airflow for cooling.

You might want to wait a week or so for independent benchmarks of the new Ryzen cpu. From the specs it looks like the i7-8700K will still outperform the 2700X except possibly in cpu rendering.

I would suggest a 550W psu. You might consider the new Seasonic Focus Plus God models. They have a 10 year warranty.

VEXICUS · April 16, 2018

2 hours ago, Ormega said:

Looking to get a better PC, my old one is starting to show signs of age (and some hardware components are becoming almost obsolete). I've already revised this design pretty heavily, but I'm consulting you, the readers, to see if you would make any changes to improve the quality of the PC without skyrocketing the price.

The Parts List

Requirements:

Total Budget: $2500 USD hard max, but preferably lower.

The PC will be used for very large engineering projects, some software development, and games (GTA V, Witcher 3, Skyrim, Dark Souls 3)

I plan on running a single monitor at 1440p at at least 60 FPS

I'm planning on using the upcoming AMD Ryzen 2700X and a Gigabyte X470 Aorus Ultra Gaming motherboard.

PC case won't have a window

Both a smaller SSD and a larger HDD (about 250GB and 1 or 2 TB, respectively)

Thorough cooling for the CPU and GPU

Yes, I know 32GB is a lot of RAM, I noticed my current PC using some virtual memory in addition to the 16GB RAM installed while I'm doing larger engineering projects.

I'm partial to the Corsair Carbide 400Q case, as my friends have had good experiences with that case.

Also, a question I don't trust my own judgement on: Is the cooling setup I'm planning on using (3 Noctua NF-F12 iPPC-3000 PWM fans as intakes, and my CPU/GPU radiators as exhaust) going to work?