Help with a versatile PC build

Egn96M · 28 Nov 2019 at 20:18

Hello, I was originally going to post a parts list but I’m suffering from information overload as I haven’t built a PC from scratch for a long, long time and my experience is about 10 years out of date.

I was wondering if you could help? I’m looking to build a versatile PC for a number of interests.

My use cases are:

Running virtual machines
Application development (inc within VMs)
Graphics: gaming, video editing etc.
Option for VR in the future (I’m thinking SLI at some point, maybe)
Flexible on the case as long as its not too over the top
Looking for a monitor that allows the full potential of the graphics card

Approx. budget £2,000 - £3,000

Shortlist parts:

11GB EVGA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti or Black edition

(it’s a very short, short list)

I appreciate any and all help, I’m starting to lose it on this one

Danny75 · 28 Nov 2019 at 23:11

There's an argument for a 12 core/24 thread CPU given all the different usage and types of usage (and your considerable budget).

Looks like you might need/would benefit from quite a bit of storage. Those NVME M.2 SSDs are fast and not too far off the price of regular SATA SSDs now.

For motherboard a cheaper one around £200-ish would do but those just have 2 x M.2 slots so specced a good option with 3. Really when it comes to 3 x M.2s and well-built boards it (arguably) now comes down to the MSI X570 Unify or the more expensive Gigabyte X570 Aorus Master, so take your pick, or sacrifice a third M.2 slot for something cheaper like the Gigabyte X570 Aorus Elite.

You may or may not benefit from 64GB RAM. I don't want to overspec there and would suggest starting off with 32GB. It will likely be plenty. If you find scenarios using absolutely all the 32GB then you can add two more sticks in future. That Crucial 2x16GB 3200MHz kit is currently very cheap and it overclocks to 3600MHz very well (Micron E-Die). The red kit is currently the cheapest (there's white and also grey).

I've specced a quality 1000W power supply because you mentioned SLI, however these days SLI (NVLink now) is going out the window in terms of widespread support for it. To quote from a review website (Tweaktown):

Don't expect all games to have great scaling (especially at 1080p)
Don't expect all games to work with multiple graphics cards
Synthetic tests kick ass to show you the CAPABILITIES, but do not translate into real-world gaming
4K in the right game, makes GREAT use of two RTX 2080 SUPER cards

Read more: https://www.tweaktown.com/articles/9070/nvidia-geforce-rtx-2080-super-nvlink-benchmarked/index.html

So you could scale down to a 650W or 750W if you prefer.

The 2080Ti doesn't make much sense for the money. Would suggest capping GPU choice at a 2080 Super. Next year there'll be faster cards than 2080Ti, and the year after that, and so on. It just doesn't offer enough improvement.

No monitor yet, thinking best to focus on discussing the tower with the components first, then we can get to talking about the monitor to cut down on information overload.

Here's a similar spec with all the parts from OcUK, with the Aorus Master motherboard and a 750W PSU instead:

My basket at Overclockers UK:

1 x Corsair Force MP510 series 1920GB NVMe PCIe M.2 Solid State Drive (CSSD-F1920GBMP510)= £239.99
1 x Corsair Force MP510 series 960GB NVMe PCIe M.2 Solid State Drive (CSSD-F960GBMP510)= £109.99
1 x Crucial Ballistix Sport LT White Micron E-Die 32GB Kit (2 x 16GB) DDR4-3200 UDIMM= £139.99
1 x Corsair RMx White Series RMx750 White 750W '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply (CP-9020187-UK)= £79.99
1 x Phanteks Eclipse P600S Glass Silent Midi Tower Case - White= £134.99
1 x be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 4 CPU Cooler= £73.99
1 x Gigabyte X570 AORUS MASTER (AMD AM4) DDR4 X570 Chipset ATX Motherboard= £369.95
1 x MSI GeForce RTX 2080 Super Ventus XS OC 8192MB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card= £619.99
1 x AMD Ryzen 9 3900X Twelve Core 4.6GHz (Socket AM4) Processor - Retail= £518.99

Total: £2,302.57 (includes shipping: £14.70)

orbitalwalsh · 29 Nov 2019 at 09:31

My basket at Overclockers UK:

1 x AMD Ryzen 9 3900X Twelve Core 4.6GHz (Socket AM4) Processor - OEM= £488.99
1 x Crucial Ballistix Sport LT Gray Micron E-Die 32GB Kit (2 x 16GB) DDR4-3200 UDIMM= £139.99
1 x Gigabyte X570 AORUS ULTRA (AMD AM4) DDR4 X570 Chipset ATX Motherboard= £299.99
1 x Gigabyte GeForce RTX 2080 Ti Gaming OC 11264MB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card= £1,049.99
1 x be quiet! Pure Base 500 Midi Tower Case - Black Tempered Glass= £79.99
1 x Corsair RM Series RM750 750W '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply (CP-9020195-UK)= £99.95
1 x Alphacool Eisbaer LT240 CPU AIO Water Cooling Unit - 240mm= £77.99
1 x Corsair Force MP510 series 1920GB NVMe PCIe M.2 Solid State Drive (CSSD-F1920GBMP510)= £239.99
1 x Gigabyte AORUS AD27QD 27" 2560x1440 144Hz IPS FreeSync/G-Sync Tactical Gaming Monitor HDMI DP= £434.95

Total: £2,931.45 (includes shipping: £19.62)

single most powerful card you can afford- then you think about SLi afterwards . glad to see support for **70 series of cards removed but think 80 series needs to be pulled and only for Ti/Titan models.

Gaming OC has 4 yr warranty . Handy on rtx 2070 + were your paying £400+ for a card.

dont need the wifi then drop to the Aorus Pro- UK RMA on gigabyte Boards

few more pennies but 165hz 1440p monitor over the 144hz/1440p version above
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/giga...tible-led-backlit-gaming-monit-mo-004-gi.html

more screen area, again increasing the price, 32" from 27"
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/lg-3...65hz-gaming-widescreen-monitor-mo-14p-lg.html

Egn96M · 29 Nov 2019 at 10:42

Thanks for the replies.

Based on the above I’m leaning away from the TI & SLI and onto a single:

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/msi-...ddr6-pci-express-graphics-card-gx-35z-ms.html

Do you think this makes sense? Or is it worth not skimping?

With that in mind, would you recommend a change in MOBO to a single GPU socket? Based on Danny75’s response it seems like keeping the GPU up to date will make more sense than getting 2x in SLI?

I really appreciate this help & recommendations.

orbitalwalsh · 29 Nov 2019 at 11:17

Egn96M said:
Thanks for the replies.

Based on the above I’m leaning away from the TI & SLI and onto a single:

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/msi-...ddr6-pci-express-graphics-card-gx-35z-ms.html

Do you think this makes sense? Or is it worth not skimping?

With that in mind, would you recommend a change in MOBO to a single GPU socket? Based on Danny75’s response it seems like keeping the GPU up to date will make more sense than getting 2x in SLI?

I really appreciate this help & recommendations.

I have 2080 no super and runs fine with 1440p/144hz gaming . so does RX 5700 XT for £375 quid. Naturally not as powerful as 2080/2080s but £230 cheaper .

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/giga...ddr6-pci-express-graphics-card-gx-1b9-gi.html

that MSI is on a good deal. card would run a little warm and hot as more cores and faster GDDR6 ram but good price.

depends on what your doing. Ti is the best card you can get, but saving with 2080s/2070s/rx5700xt can be put to 16 core ryzen- which might be better for VM ? and how many VMs do you run?
If your pushing the latest VR headsets then extra horse power of the Ti should keep highest frames/hz rate to combat sickness and keep immersion high as possible

mobo is the same above as listed- Pro/Edge

Danny75 · 29 Nov 2019 at 11:26

Nvidia will release new cards first half 2020.

(Arguably) best cheaper non-SLI X570 board (2 x M.2 slots):

My basket at Overclockers UK:

1 x Gigabyte X570 AORUS ELITE (AMD AM4) DDR4 X570 Chipset ATX Motherboard= £209.99

Total: £220.49 (includes shipping: £10.50)

If you get 2 x NVME SSDs you would benefit from a little heatsink for one of them as the board only has a thermal guard on one of the slots.

My basket at Overclockers UK:

1 x EK Water Blocks EK-M.2 NVMe Heatsink - Black= £8.99
1 x EK Water Blocks EK-M.2 NVMe Heatsink - Nickel= £10.39

Total: £28.08 (includes shipping: £8.70)

orbitalwalsh · 29 Nov 2019 at 13:04

@Danny75 heard they are also doing a trade in scheme, kidney for half of the cards payment

seems they have been relentless with product range and clawed back high marketshare . Really hope AMD just drops an Infinity fabric dual 5700xt out of no where if 5900 is taking a while to hit the market

only problem with Ryzen... need a GPU of some forum if waiting for next years GPUs

another thing i wish for, AMD releasing CPUs with basic iGPU on higher end ryzens. even if one CU on it

Danny75 · 29 Nov 2019 at 13:32

orbitalwalsh said:
@Danny75 heard they are also doing a trade in scheme, kidney for half of the cards payment

seems they have been relentless with product range

lol they have indeed.

orbitalwalsh said:
only problem with Ryzen... need a GPU of some forum if waiting for next years GPUs

Yes, and I think he will game rightaway but the VR is for the future so it's an option to not overspend on GPU just now (+£400 for maybe 15% increase after a bit of undervolting and/or overclocking). In fact, an RX 5700 XT or 2070 Super could be an option as well, enough to drive 1440p 144Hz at close to high settings, mostly, and then splash on a newer card when he goes all out on VR. Normally the cheaper the card, the less resell value it loses. Could come out to paying £100-150 or thereabouts for using it over 6 months, for example.

orbitalwalsh · 29 Nov 2019 at 13:47

@Danny75 seeing them hover at £340-75 range is great (5700xt) . hopefully now figures have come up AMD will re-position the pricing .

Valve has played a smart game

Egn96M · 29 Nov 2019 at 15:58

orbitalwalsh · 29 Nov 2019 at 16:00

2080ti if you want the best gaming performance with 144/164hz 1440p monitor or ray tracing at 1440p .
2080 super for great gameplay and saving cash

Danny75 · 29 Nov 2019 at 16:32

If only getting a single NVME drive, dump the heatsink (mobo has one) and get an extra 140mm fan for that case. You can move the rear fan to the front so you have two which are the same there and the new third to the rear.

Sticking with BeQuiet and same max RPM as the two stock case fans:

My basket at Overclockers UK:

1 x be quiet! Silent Wings 3 140mm Fan= £20.99

Total: £29.69 (includes shipping: £8.70)

There are cheaper ones though.

If you need Wifi the Asus TUF is also a good board:

My basket at Overclockers UK:

1 x Asus TUF Gaming X570-Plus WiFi (AMD AM4) DDR4 X570 Chipset ATX Motherboard= £184.99

Total: £195.49 (includes shipping: £10.50)

Will have a look at monitors. Some of the superwide 3440x1440 monitors can look more classy and be more useful for productivity. Are you settled on 2560x1440?

Danny75 · 29 Nov 2019 at 17:07

Hmm they're all pretty flashy in some way. This is the one I had in mind when speccing the £2,170 build because you can land it for £850 to max out the 3K budget:

Dell Alienware AW3418Dw

Danny75 · 30 Nov 2019 at 08:07

Came across this one this morning and am now considering it for myself. It's being raved about, however none of the monitor reviewers I'm familiar with or respect have touched it yet:

My basket at Overclockers UK:

1 x BenQ EX2780Q 27" 2560x1440 IPS 144Hz FreeSync Widescreen LED Gaming Monitor= £449.99

Total: £461.09 (includes shipping: £11.10)

Quite fancy trying their simulated HDRi feature for watching movies. Real HDR seems to require way too much brightness for my eyes. For editing, which I rarely do, it's got a surprisingly good 95% DCI-P3 colour gamut for a gaming monitor, so it seems quite versatile. Says 10-bit but often they are 8-bit + dithering so will see if anyone who knows their monitor stuff can confirm. Doesn't look flashy either, possibly a diamond in the rough, this one.

orbitalwalsh · 30 Nov 2019 at 15:04

@Danny75

Cheaper . Gigabyte support and is G-Sync . Not sure if one above is

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/giga...actical-gaming-monitor-hdmi-dp-mo-000-gi.html

Danny75 · 30 Nov 2019 at 21:34

@orbitalwalsh

orbitalwalsh said:
@Danny75

Cheaper . Gigabyte support and is G-Sync . Not sure if one above is

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/giga...actical-gaming-monitor-hdmi-dp-mo-000-gi.html

@ 7:25 onwards, confirmed (he's using a GTX 1080Ti)

Got to add a Display Port cable though. It doesn't bring one and Freesync only works through Display Port with Nvidia.

Decided to take the plunge on the BenQ. Hope it lives up to expectations.

Egn96M · 2 Dec 2019 at 11:55

Danny75 · 2 Dec 2019 at 12:08

Nice. The paste the BeQuiet cooler comes with may or may not be better than that Akasa paste FWIW. I would just use the BeQuiet (I think it's one application in quantity) and keep the Akasa for a rainy day.

Egn96M · 2 Dec 2019 at 12:10

Cheers for that. I was wondering if it was included but didn’t see it in the description.

I'm looking forward to this build!