Hey guys, been a long time! Looking to build another desktop....

[shawnoen]

Hey guys,

Haven't been back here in a bit, glad the forum is still around!

The last PC I build was in 2009. EVGA x58 Classified, I7 980, 12GB Corsair Dominator GT, 2x GTX 570s, AX1200 PSU, Asus, Xonar, etc...all in a MASSIVE Lian LI X900 case with 5x 120mm fans.

One of my cards started acting up about a year and I had to pull it. Now the ethernet ports on the motherboard have been acting odd and I been getting random blue screens about once a month.

Anyways, I've been wanting to shrink my system anyways and thought a micro ATX system would be nice. Was watching ebay for a long time for a certain Lian Li case (V600F) and finally found one!

Was planning to find an old EVGA X58 micro MB, but now I have the bug to build fresh. What would you guys do as far as a build goes which would be similiar to my old set up but newer?

Last time I looked the X99 was king, now it looks like X299 or Z370?


I don't do alot of gaming anymore, but will still build a system as such (just in case). Plus I want this system to last as long as my current system has.

Thanks!!!!

 

[Neapolitan6th]

If I was going micro ATX here would be my AMD and Intel options with long legs:

AMD: (thanks to a soon to be released motherboard!)

CPU: 1950x 16 cores, 32 threads
Motherboard: Asrock X399M Taichi

DDR4 Memory: G Skill Frare X 32GB 4x16gb kit (4 dimms for quad channel)
OR
G Skill Ripjaws 4 3200mhz 16gb kit 4gbx4gb
PSU: reuse that AX1200!
Boot Drive: 500gb Samsung 960evo NVME SSD (if you are crazy buy 3 and put them in raid 0)
GPU: 1080ti (get a 1060 or 1050ti if gaming doesn't matter..also gpu prices are inflated right now)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-U12S TR4 (the best air cooler for the 1950x.. will overclock well)

Pros:
-16 cores, 32 threads
-can overclock up to 3.9ghz-4.2ghz
-Motherboard has an insane features:
--3 NVME m.2 SSD slots (pcie 3.0x4)
--8 sata 3 slots
--quad channel DDR4 3200mhz (speed is important for AMD)
--all 3 PCIE 3.0 slots are x16 bandwidth
--(no shared bandwidth on the slots or m.2)
--Dual gigabit ethernet
--USB 3.1 gen 2 (type C support)
-Cpu cooler is 2nd only to an enermax liquid cooler which might not aupport your case
-SLI/Crossfire Support

Cons:
-Ram prices are insane at the moment, you could find a cheaper kit, but I feel 3200mhz speed is important to make the most of this cpu (4 sticks for quad channel as well)
-GPU prices are inflated and overpriced. You would be better either getting a cheaper 1050ti or 1060 for now.
-SSD prices are high. I felt important to add an M.2 drive to take advantage of what this board offers
-AMD single threaded performance is better than your i7-980, but it isn't quite as high as current gen intel CPUs
-$$$

Note: ram choosen reflects what is supported (qvl list) on Asrock's other X399 ATX motherboards. One would think these would be conpatible for this yet to be released motherboard.

----

Intel:

CPU: 8700k 6 core 12 thread
Motherboard: Asus Strix Z370-G
DDR4 Memory: G Skill 4000mhz
PSU: keep the AX1200i!
OS Boot Drive: Samsung 960 evo NVME M.2 drive
GPU: non-overpriced 1080ti
OR a 1050ti 4gb or 1060 since you don't game much
CPU Cooler: your choice... I would pick the heftiest one that fits your case. Intel CPUs don't cool well this generation as the ihs is not soldered to the cpu die. (Thermal compund instead of solder)

Pros:
-unbeatable day to day single threaded performance
-insanely fast ram to keep up with a highly clocked CPU (3000mhz and above is great, 4000mhz is a luxury)
-enough motherboard I/O


Cons:
-less I/O options
-potentially limiting PCIE bandwidth
-No SLI (wouldn't reccomend it these days)
-No USB type C

Notes: You could choose X299 as well, but just note Intel's strength right now is single threaded performance. I chose Z370 as it has better single threades perdormance than X299. I choose AMD's X399 platform as multithreaded advantage for the $$$ is AMD's most compelling advantage at the moment.