Gaming PC build sheet and questions!

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ChrisUlrich

Weaksauce
Joined
Aug 4, 2015
Messages
108
Case: Silverstone FT02
Motherboard: Gigabyte Z490 Aorus Elite AC
Processor: i7 10700K
Heatsink: Noctua NH-D15S
Hard Drive: Samsung 970 EVO M.2
GPU: eVGA RTX 3080
RAM: G.Skill TridentZ Royal 32gb (2x16) DDR4 4266
PSU: Seasonic PRIME TX-850 Titanium
Monitor: Undecided

It's been a long time since I got involved with PC gaming and I am looking to make a return. I am hoping for some advice on what is not cost effective, incompatible, bad idea, etc...

I know these threads are annoying but I could really use the help!
 
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Your build seems basically fine, although maybe a little n00by. =p

Nothing some additional research won't fix, and lucky for you, you've got about two weeks to research until the new RTX 3000 cards come out, or a bit longer if you want to wait for the RTX 3070 or an AMD graphics card.
 
I'd love some input to make it not so "n00by"! I'm not even sure what you mean by that... haha :-/

I did read that the 3000 series cards are coming out. I am going to wait for them to come out.
 
ChrisUlrich said:
I'd love some input to make it not so "n00by"! I'm not even sure what you mean by that... haha :-/

I did read that the 3000 series cards are coming out. I am going to wait for them to come out.
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I would definitely wait for the new video cards to be released. If nothing else, you could pick up a used 2070 for much cheaper.

Also, I'd look at a 10700k instead of the 9700k if you're buying new parts anyway. At least you have some sort of upgrade path going forward with Rocket Lake, and the 10700k seems to be readily available now.

Do you really need 4266 memory? You could probably save a couple bucks and get 3600 and never notice a difference.

I have no idea what power supply that is. I'm guessing you meant the SF750. And is there a reason you're buying a SFX PSU? If you are, you probably have a case in mind also which might have space issues with that NH-D15S. If not, you are just paying extra money for a smaller PSU for no reason.

The 970 Evo is overpriced. Any of the Phison E12 based drives will give you 99% of the performance for 60% of the price.
 
kirbyrj said:
I would definitely wait for the new video cards to be released. If nothing else, you could pick up a used 2070 for much cheaper.

Also, I'd look at a 10700k instead of the 9700k if you're buying new parts anyway. At least you have some sort of upgrade path going forward with Rocket Lake, and the 10700k seems to be readily available now.

Do you really need 4266 memory? You could probably save a couple bucks and get 3600 and never notice a difference. I was looking at the G.Skill TridentZ Royal! 16x2

I have no idea what power supply that is. I'm guessing you meant the SF750. And is there a reason you're buying a SFX PSU? If you are, you probably have a case in mind also which might have space issues with that NH-D15S. If not, you are just paying extra money for a smaller PSU for no reason.

The 970 Evo is overpriced. Any of the Phison E12 based drives will give you 99% of the performance for 60% of the price.
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Wow. Thank you so much for that. I will 100% look into this!

I had no idea that the 3600 is pretty much the same speeds! Thank you!

I had no idea the Corsair was a space saving PSU. So thank you for that. I ended up removing the Corsair from my build sheet and put in a Seasonic PRIME TX-850 Titanium PSU.

I am struggling to find the best cooling/fitment heatsink. I find this problem pretty much every build!

Case is going to be refused. I have the Silverstone FT-02. I've read that people still love this case for its air cooling (which is what the plan is). It will fit the GTX 3080. Just need to find the right heatsink now.

I had to look up what you meant by Phison E12. I didn't really see what you meant by finding much better price/performance. They all seem to be similarly priced.
 
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ChrisUlrich said:
Wow. Thank you so much for that. I will 100% look into this!

I had no idea that the 3600 is pretty much the same speeds! Thank you!

I had no idea the Corsair was a space saving PSU. So thank you for that. I ended up removing the Corsair from my build sheet and put in a Seasonic PRIME TX-850 Titanium PSU.

I am struggling to find the best cooling/fitment heatsink. I find this problem pretty much every build!

Case is going to be refused. I have the Silverstone FT-02. I've read that people still love this case for its air cooling (which is what the plan is). It will fit the GTX 3080. Just need to find the right heatsink now.

I had to look up what you meant by Phison E12. I didn't really see what you meant by finding much better price/performance. They all seem to be similarly priced.
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I didn't mean to offend you when I said "n00by."
Look at the word below your name. =p

It's nothing personal. You're already learning, and now that you've learned a little, you probably realize that you can learn a lot, at least if you want the best gear for your situation.

I simply saw too many small issues in your initial build to feel like it would be enough to just give you data points. I'd rather point to the real issue: Inexperience.

Even if I gave you the perfect set of hardware, what's the point of being an enthusiast if you don't understand why? And that's more than I can put into one post.

What I would truly recommend is to spend a bit more time in the hardware scene, and after Nvidia 3000 or AMD's Zen 3 releases, that's when you should completely redo your build, but with the knowledge of a well-read professional.
 
Aegir said:
I didn't mean to offend you when I said "n00by."
Look at the word below your name. =p

It's nothing personal. You're already learning, and now that you've learned a little, you probably realize that you can learn a lot, at least if you want the best gear for your situation.

I simply saw too many small issues in your initial build to feel like it would be enough to just give you data points. I'd rather point to the real issue: Inexperience.

Even if I gave you the perfect set of hardware, what's the point of being an enthusiast if you don't understand why? And that's more than I can put into one post.

What I would truly recommend is to spend a bit more time in the hardware scene, and after Nvidia 3000 or AMD's Zen 3 releases, that's when you should completely redo your build, but with the knowledge of a well-read professional.
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No offense taken at all! I've been out of this game for like 5 years so i'm really out of touch.

I updated my parts list a bit. Well, most of it actually. hahaha :)

So much to learn. So many different opinions on motherboards! I find one I like, review that... and then find that it's not on someone else's top 5 list. So frustrating!
 
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ChrisUlrich said:
No offense taken at all! I've been out of this game for like 5 years so i'm really out of touch.

I updated my parts list a bit. Well, most of it actually. hahaha :)

So much to learn. So many different opinions on motherboards! I find one I like, review that... and then find that it's not on someone else's top 5 list. So frustrating!
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Yeah, you will find this often. The best way I find is not to find something that's on everyones top 3/5/10 list, but find something that's on nobodies bottom list and maybe in a few top lists. If it's everyones #1 choice, it's normally out of my price range. If it's everyones last choice, you don't want it. I try to find the best parts that fit my needs without serious concerns without going way over budget. It takes some time and you'll change your mind 6 times in the week leading up to purchase ;). Also, don't just look at reviews, although they should be used, also figure out what you want/need. For example, my son has an NZXT H510, which has Usb C, so I wanted to find a MB with usb 3 gen 2 headers. This shortened my list a lot. Then I wanted at least 2.5gbe.. which shortened it up some more. I also didn't want to have to bother putting in a wireless card, so onboard WiFi or extra wifi slot. When I was done, I only had a few MB's to actually look at within my price range. If you don't have specific requirements like that, then it's much more difficult to narrow down, but in general it's hard to make a bad choice if you avoid the dirt cheap options as most middle->upper end MB's are going to work fine. If you're looking for super hardcore overclocking then spending top of the line money might make sense, if you're not, then you're paying for extras for no reason. I'm much more up and up on AMD stuff, so maybe not the most helpful in your particular case, but logic should be similar ;).
 
I honestly would stay away from gigabyte MB. With all the issues people been having with their AMD boards and the fact they won't acknowledge the issue is a big turn off. Even tho i have a x570 master with no issue myself.
 
I would also think about replacing the stock case fans with this 5 pack of Arctic P12s. They are significantly quieter and cheaper than the Noctua 140mm fans I had and they do a great job keeping my case cool. Furthermore, since these are the PST ones, they all plug into each other. Useful when used as intakes. You will need a 6" extension cable or so to plug these into your mobo fan header.

1 Exhaust
1 Cpu Cooler via Push (your Noctua box may come with wire clips to mount it to the heatsink)
3 Intakes

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07HC782D5/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
 
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I've always used ASUS mobos for over 15 years and they've always been solid. It's hard to tell the difference between motherboards from reviews as most will be around 4 stars on newegg, but generally speaking, I've heard better things from Asus
 
I wouldn't be surprised if Asus did an Intel and got lazy.
However, apparently their TUF brand has gotten some notice with the 3080, and if their TUF brand is improving, I can't see any reason that wouldn't reflect on their Strix and higher stuff.
Not a motherboard, but still relevant. A good company will strive for excellence, no matter if they're popular, profitable, or not.
 
ChrisUlrich said:
I had to look up what you meant by Phison E12. I didn't really see what you meant by finding much better price/performance. They all seem to be similarly priced.
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You have to shop around. Depending on the size of the drive, a 1TB 970 Evo is ~$170. I've seen Phison based drives (Sabrent Rocket, Corsair MP510, etc.) go for somewhat cheaper in the $125 range (as low as $99). I haven't looked lately though, so you might be right.
 
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