Lookin to start a new build from scratch...

lDreaml

Weaksauce
Joined
Jun 2, 2016
Messages
75
And I need your opinion on what is the best mobo out there for gaming/video encoding purposes. I understand the cpu handles all encoding, but need the proper mobo to support said cpu. I also plan on dabbling into VR quite a bit. This build has been put off for 5 years and I've finally decided to dive right in. I plan on going water cooled unless it's no longer the most popular method for cooling? But yeah. Just looking to go all out on a new build, have it last me 6years to a decade. Looking for optimal speeds in the pcie slots. Plan on going sli in the near future and also toss in a pcie ssd stick. Maybe a sound card too. Any and all opinions welcome. I've been out of the loop for a long time, and I know there is no better source for this information on the web like you guys. Thank you in advance!
 
You really need to pick a CPU first, or at least give an idea of budget. Are we talking cost is no object here?

The 9900K is the current gaming king, but it "only" has 8 cores. This would ideally use a Z390 chipset motherboard. If you're doing a lot of pro-level video editing and encoding work, then it might make sense to go with an X299 board and one of the X series CPUs, which have eight or more cores. The architecture differences between the 7 series and 9 series CPUs aren't really all that big, so it's core count and clock speed that you get as advantages as you move up the price ladder.

You mentioned looking for "optimal speeds in the PCI slots." Why is that? Just for SLI and NVME drives, or do you have some sort of other hardware you're wanting to use, such as a vid-cap card? A good motherboard will have decent onboard sound, so you shouldn't need a sound card, but even so, most don't require a tremendous amount of bandwidth. As long as you have a working slot, you should be covered.

You should note, if PCI-E performance is really important to you, that the mainstream desktop CPUs (including the 9900K) only have 16 PCI-E lanes, with additional lanes passing through a slower bus provided by the chipset. So, if you really do need more than 16 full speed PCI-E lanes (that is, one graphics card's worth), you'll want to go with X299, as those CPUs support 28-44 PCI-E lanes.
 
Can't thank you enough, bud. Much appreciated. I know this is out of place and I apologize ahead of time, but do you have any recommendations in terms of what cpu, ram, powersupply and if I should go watercooled or not? I know, I know, basically asking you to give me a full rig setup, but you seem in the know and I'd be so grateful.
 
Based purely on what you've actually said here:
CPU: Core i9 9820X
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819117332

Motherboard: Asus X299 TUF Mark 2
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813132994

RAM: Corsair Vengeance LPX rated for 2666
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233712

Power supply: Corsair RM1000X. I've owned two of the RM1000i version of this. Theyre efficient and reliable. The X version just doesn't have the fancy monitoring hardware, which is neat, but ultimately a gimmick.
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139140

Regarding water cooling, you don't really have to. There are closed circuit liquid coolers that you can just buy and install that are almost as good as a custom water cooling. I would do that, unless you're just dying to do custom water cooling because you just want to. That said, my own gaming machine has custom water cooling, and it runs pretty cool.
Your graphics cards will come with adequate cooling solutions. I'd get something like this for the CPU:
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835181138
You'll need to take care when picking out the cooler to make sure it will fit in your case. Most cases come with support for radiators these days, but exactly how it's shaped varies, and some radiators have an end tank on one end that makes them longer than just the fans.

A couple of things you should know, since you said you've been out of the game for a while:
1. You mentioned SLI. Not every game supports it, and even fewer games support it particularly well. You would be generally better served with one fast graphics card than two or more lesser ones. You can force it on, I think, and it will then do alternate frame rendering, but results from doing this are generally speaking not very good.
2. You mentioned VR. SLI support for VR is even worse than for monitor games. If cost is no object, you'll see more benefit from getting a Titan RTX than trying to get two 2080Tis to work for VR.
 
You are a godsend, thank you so much! A bit on the pricey side of things so it'll take me a bit to gather the parts, but I'm dedicated.
 
You don't actually have to go that high end. You just didn't mention a budget, and made it sound like cost is no object.

If what you're doing is actually just playing video games, you'd probably be just as well served with a 9900K. This is an 8 core CPU with hyperthreading, which is way more cores than games typically call for.
(https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819117957)

For the 9900K, you need a Z390 board, like this one:
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16813119160

You don't get as many PCI-E lanes that way, but unless you're planning on adding some other hardware you haven't mentioned, you likely wouldn't ever notice the difference with one graphics card, and I wouldn't recommend trying to use two unless you know for sure that the games you want to play will support SLI.
 
Hum there used to be a Sticky at the top of this forum. Was for people to answer Questionnaire when posting on new builds. It seems to be missing.

Well, I guess I will have to ask you a few of them.

1) what are you going to use Computer for- Gaming, video edit, a work station ect.
2) what parts if any will you be using from your old set up ? (monitor , windows, power supply, ect )
3) when do you plan on building computer ?
4) do you have a Microcenter in your area ? (usually have great MOBO/CPU combo deals, ect.)
5) budget ? what do you want to spend....Got to have a Budget even if you list unlimited..
 
RazorWind

I'll take that into serious consideration then. I don't want to say it'll be primarily used for gaming, but I know it will be used A LOT for that purpose. There's going to be a lot of video editting done on the machine and the like.Nothing too crazy, but it deserves a mention. I didn't mention a budget because I don't mind taking time to get this build up and running.

AP514

All of the above.
None
In a few months when I have all the parts needed.
I do not, unfortunately. I currently reside in Canada meaning the price on everything is doubled. That's primarily why this build is a long-term plan sort of thing.
I don't want to put a number down to limit suggestions, but realistically I'm not going to buy a cpu that's thousands of dollars. I just don't see a benefit in doing that. Nothing too crazy, but I'm looking for high end stuff to last me a long time.

I apologize for the late replies. RL has been hectic over here lately.
 
Here is my stab at a build. Canada is expensive.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant
CPU: AMD - Ryzen 7 2700X 3.7 GHz 8-Core Processor ($407.98 @ Amazon Canada)
Motherboard: Asus - ROG STRIX B450-F GAMING ATX AM4 Motherboard ($159.99 @ Mike's Computer Shop)
Memory: G.Skill - Trident Z RGB 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($155.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Storage: Intel - 660p Series 1 TB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($169.99 @ Memory Express)
Video Card: Gigabyte - GeForce RTX 2080 8 GB GAMING OC Video Card ($899.00 @ Canada Computers)
Case: NZXT - H500 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($99.99 @ Canada Computers)
Power Supply: SeaSonic - FOCUS Plus Gold 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($111.99 @ Canada Computers)
Total: $2004.93
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-02-10 19:20 EST-0500
 
If you're really looking at a 6 to 10 year window for this build, I'd suggest waiting for PCIe 4, which I believe is going to be supported in the upcoming X570 chipset / Ryzen 3 CPUs coming later this year (summer?) I don't know if PCIe 4 will matter in the near term, but certainly in 6 to 10 years. (edit: actually, I guess PCIe 5 is the one people are waiting for more than 4)
 
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