First Gaming Rig - Whatcha think?

J

J2TheImmeh

Member
Finally retiring my Aorus X7 Pro for a desktop. What do you think of my order? Would you change anything?

Case
CORSAIR CRYSTAL SERIES 680X RGB GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i9 Eight Core Processor i9-9900K (3.6GHz) 16MB Cache
Motherboard
Gigabyte Z390 AORUS Master: ATX, LG1151, USB 3.1, SATA 6GBs WIFI - RGB Ready
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (4 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
11GB ASUS ROG STRIX GEFORCE RTX 2080 Ti - HDMI, DP
1st Storage Drive
1TB Samsung 860 QVO 2.5" SSD, SATA 6Gb/s (upto 550MB/sR | 520MB/sW)
2nd Storage Drive
6TB SEAGATE IRONWOLF PRO 3.5", 7200 RPM 256MB CACHE
Power Supply
CORSAIR 850W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
Corsair H115i PRO Cooler w/ PCS Ultra Quiet Fans
Thermal Paste
COOLER MASTER MASTERGEL MAKER THERMAL COMPOUND
Fan Controller
NZXT GRID+ V3 Fan Controller with up to 5 Fitted Case Fans
Sound Card
ASUS STRIX Raid DLX 7.1 PCIe sound card
Wireless/Wired Networking
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Genuine Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KUK-00001]
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 365 (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Google Chrome™
Monitor
ASUS PG279Q 27" IPS G-Sync ROG Swift
 
Scott

Scott

Behold The Ford Mondeo
Moderator
Overkill on the motherboard for gaming, unless you are a serious overclocker.
Overkill on the CPU, unless you have any particular need for hyperthreading (encoding, streaming, etc), 9700 would be fine
Overkill on the RAM, 16GB of 3200Mhz is more than enough. If you want to burn a little see if 3600mhz is an option. If you must go with 32GB go with 2x16GB rather than 4x8GB
ROG Strix GPU is hugely overpriced, the stock 2080Ti is a monster and more than adequate
I would always choose a M2 drive over a standard SSD drive. The 970 Evo if you want to burn money, the SX6000 is normally the weapon of choice though. Double the storage for very similar money and it's blazingly fast.
Ironwolf Pro Is overkill also. I would go with the largest 7200rpm standard drive available. 2 if they don't have the capacity you need.
For the cooler, I would hold off for the h115 RGB platinum to come into stock. It's the go-to option. If you are dropping to the 9700k, drop the cooler to the H100 RGB. It's more than enough and would allow you to go with the 470x case to save some money there.
Drop the mastergel regardless of which cooler you go with. The Corsair units come with great paste as standard.
I would drop the fan controller and 5 fans. Massive overkill. Case comes with plenty and your cooler has an additional 2.
PCIE soundcard is a waste if you aren't using it for professional purposes. Even the Aorus Pro motherboard has fantastic sound with DAC processing etc.

HTH
 
Oussebon

Oussebon

Multiverse Poster
Agreed with the above.

If it's for gaming, no video editing, 32gb RAM is a total waste.
Strix GPUs are a waste of money
Sound card's not needed. If you're an audiophile then you probably don't want to just opt for the most expensive random sound card on the list. If you're not an audiophile you won't notice the difference.
Drop the fan controller.
The largest 7200rpm HDD PCS do in the non-Ironwolf section is 3TB, but a 5400rpm drive is fine. It's for mass storage and especially quite large 5400rpm drives are actually pretty fast (based on experience with WD Reds anyway)

Consider a different monitor. That Asus is a bit of an old model, and didn't really have good enough QC to justify a £700 asking price.
 
Oussebon

Oussebon

Multiverse Poster
Even if you kept the i9 and the Master mobo (for the wifi, 3rd M.2 slot, and the USB 3.1 Gen 2 at the front let's say):

Case
CORSAIR CRYSTAL SERIES 680X RGB GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i9 Eight Core Processor i9-9900K (3.6GHz) 16MB Cache
Motherboard
Gigabyte Z390 AORUS Master: ATX, LG1151, USB 3.1, SATA 6GBs WIFI - RGB Ready
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
11GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 2080 Ti - HDMI, 3x DP GeForce - RTX VR Ready!
1st Storage Drive
8TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 5400RPM, 256MB CACHE
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SAMSUNG 970 EVO PLUS M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3500MB/R, 3300MB/W)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
NOT REQUIRED
Power Supply
CORSAIR 850W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
Corsair H115i PRO Cooler w/ PCS Ultra Quiet Fans
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Genuine Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KUK-00001]
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 365 (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
BullGuard™ Internet Security - Free 90 Day License inc. Gamer Mode
Browser
Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
Monitor
ASUS PG279Q 27" IPS G-Sync ROG Swift
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 12 to 14 working days
Price: £3,608.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-z370-pc/PzE00U9n5y/
 
J

J2TheImmeh

Member
Thanks for the insight - Ive made a few amendments - Ive kept the CPU the same as I may dip my toes into the world of streaming again. Ive changed the GPU to the stock 2080ti and the RAM to 16x2 3200mhz. Ive dropped the SSD and gone with a m2 drive (970 Evo). The stuff you elaborated on at the end of your post Ive also dropped.

Are there any monitors that come to mind?
 
Oussebon

Oussebon

Multiverse Poster
Why the 32gb RAM?

For monitors, take your pick.
Gigabyte AORUS AD27QD-E
LG 27GL850-B (which is very new and has had great reviews)

Or maybe one of the 34/35" curved 1440p ultrawide (3440 x 1440) monitors.
 
Scott

Scott

Behold The Ford Mondeo
Moderator
Only your wallet. It gives absolutely zero gain to this system. It's not future proofing either as by the time 32GB is a "thing", we will be onto new boards, DDR5, new GPUs and you'll likely be upgrading to a completely new system.
 
M

Miasto

Member
A few years ago, I thought that 8GB RAM was enough but today, it's like nothing and you can fill up those 8GB in no time.

All the apps are taking more and more RAMs and I can imagine how it looks like in the future.

Not sure why the taboo of buying extra RAM when the technology is going forward. It's funny because back in the days, people though that 500MB hard drive was like WOW. Look at what we stand right now.

And remember that if you wanna upgrade RAM, you SHOULD get them in pairs, preferable same brand, same models, etc otherwise you risk getting blue screens (not happening to everyone but can happen, small changes can cause problems).

Now, luckily PC-specialist are using wellknown RAM-brands and models so maybe perhaps OP will have easier chance to find something like that in the future. Would be even worse if PC-specialist are using unknown brands, then I would have maxed out on RAM immediately so I dont have to have problems to find identical brands and models, hz , etc in the future.
 
Scott

Scott

Behold The Ford Mondeo
Moderator
Miasto said:
A few years ago, I thought that 8GB RAM was enough but today, it's like nothing and you can fill up those 8GB in no time.

All the apps are taking more and more RAMs and I can imagine how it looks like in the future.

Not sure why the taboo of buying extra RAM when the technology is going forward. It's funny because back in the days, people though that 500MB hard drive was like WOW. Look at what we stand right now.

And remember that if you wanna upgrade RAM, you SHOULD get them in pairs, preferable same brand, same models, etc otherwise you risk getting blue screens (not happening to everyone but can happen, small changes can cause problems).

Now, luckily PC-specialist are using wellknown RAM-brands and models so maybe perhaps OP will have easier chance to find something like that in the future. Would be even worse if PC-specialist are using unknown brands, then I would have maxed out on RAM immediately so I dont have to have problems to find identical brands and models, hz , etc in the future.
Click to expand...

When 8GB of RAM was the go-to choice, it was DDR3. Ever since DDR4 has been an option on here I have recommended 16GB, even when others were still recommending 8GB. Believe me, if I thought for a second that 32GB would be of any use, I would recommend it. I have no problem spending other peoples cash ;)

Of course, this is considering gaming. If you are a high end Photoshop user or you enjoy editing high MBR video with effects etc, then I would definitely advocate 32GB...... I've even recommended 64GB in the past. It's all down to what the system is being used for.

It's easy to just dump £££s into a system blindly thinking that you are doing the right thing but you need to compare apples with apples when considering the different needs of different users.

Just to add.... my 2016 laptop has 16GB of RAM. My 2019 desktop has 16GB of RAM. I'm a heavy techie, I play with LOADS of different apps, games, servers, etc, etc, etc. I've never once been short on RAM in anything I've done. From editing 4k video on premiere pro to editing RAW photos in Photoshop.

You need to be utilising software at the very high end in order to make use of 32GB of RAM. 99% of people, in my opinion, buy it "just in case" without ever really requiring it. VM is probably the one exception I can think of.
 
Oussebon

Oussebon

Multiverse Poster
The reason buying 32gb RAM is a mistake is because by the times games could, in principle, benefit from more than 16gb RAM, it won't matter if you have 16gb or 32gb. Because everything else will be the bottleneck instead of the RAM quantity. Moreover, newer platforms will exist by then with even faster DDR5 RAM.

So you're spending extra cash on something that will never yield any benefit.

Spend the money on anything else. PC related or otherwise. You couldn't find anything more useless by sticking a pin in a catalogue and buying whatever it landed on :)

I do remember @ubuysa doing a post a while back explaining how more RAM could/ would fractionally slow a system down but can't find it.
 
ubuysa

ubuysa

The BSOD Doctor
J2TheImmeh said:
Out of interest and lets be honest, total ignorance - Would 32GB of RAM be of a detriment to the rig?
Click to expand...
If you're after max performance then yes. Windows (or any OS) has to manage that memory and the more you have the more time Windows spends managing it. We're only talking microseconds of course but over speccing RAM does have a small performance cost - and a big monetary cost.

Sent using Tapatalk
 
M

Miasto

Member
Does this mother board even support DDR5?

He will have to change the whole entire mother board just in order to upgrade to DDR5 RAM lol...


Not sure if those DDR5 vs DDR4 will give THAT many fps to be honest. I didn't even notice the difference between DDR4 and DDR3 more than "bench mark" which is btw not even a good IRL indicator rather than internet-p flex for people who want to show off how many points they got on something which is not even noticeable in game.
 
SpyderTracks

SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
Miasto said:
Does this mother board even support DDR5?

He will have to change the whole entire mother board just in order to upgrade to DDR5 RAM lol...


Not sure if those DDR5 vs DDR4 will give THAT many fps to be honest. I didn't even notice the difference between DDR4 and DDR3 more than "bench mark" which is btw not even a good IRL indicator rather than internet-p flex for people who want to show off how many points they got on something which is not even noticeable in game.
Click to expand...
DDR5 doesn’t exist, the point is, there’s no point in the extra RAM as it won’t be used in the lifetime of the machine.

And going from top tier ddr3 2400 to medium tier ddr4 3200 does make a huge improvement especially with AMD
 
Oussebon

Oussebon

Multiverse Poster
You've completely missed the point.

The point isn't that he should save money so he can buy DDR5 RAM that his mobo doesn't even support.

The point is that by the time there is any purpose to 32gb RAM for gaming, the rest of the system will be so obsolete that he will have to replace the CPU, the mobo, the GPU, and the RAM anyway.

The RAM because we'll be on DDR5. And his new mobo for his new CPU won't support the DDR4...
 
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