Hey!

I'm planning on creating a new gaming PC, and wouldn't mind some input. I would like to make a fairly beastly computer, but not too too crazy. I was thinking of getting something around $3000 (not including monitor), but I'm flexible. Some other "requirements":
- I would like a really good CPU (for gaming), I plan to play some games that are very CPU bound and not super efficient (I also don't think i'll need a crazy amount of cores, but not against it)
- I would like a 2080 Ti
- I do not want to do any overclocking
- I don't really want to deal with liquid cooling
- I don't want a crazy case, I would like something fairly minimalist, but also wire management is pretty important
- I don't really care about crazy RGB, colour matching parts, or having it "look pretty" on the inside (though wire management is important, but I don't necessarily care about the aesthetics)
- I don't need crazy amounts of hard drive space, I think just a 1TB SSD will be fine
- I also don't think I need crazy amounts of RAM, just fast RAM. I think 16GB should be fine
- I live in Canada, so if possible please use ca.pcpartpicker.com

I asked someone I know to make a build, and this is what he came up with: https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/list/Nrxhr6



I also wouldn't mind any input on a good gaming monitor. Some requirements for that would be:
- G-SYNC, min. 144hz, 1ms
- IPS
- I don't think I need a 4k, I would probably be fine with 1080p even if the GPU would be overpowered for that, or something between that
- I'm pretty sure I want it to be 27"
- It would be a bonus if it didn't have built in speakers lol
- VESA, but still has nice built in stand. I would like to wall mount it if possible, but not sure when I will get around to it
I don't really know the monitor market but I would like to keep it $600 or less, but I am also flexible here.


Any input is appreciated, thanks!

Post has been edited 2 time(s), last time on Jan 6 2019, 12:15 am by poiuy_qwert.

Your friend did an awesome job. You could buy his build without reservations. I still made 2 minor adjustments:

https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/list/C3WZCb

- I swapped the RAM with one that is of equal quality and performance, but costs a little less.
- I picked a 1 TB SSD that almost fits your budget with the awesome value it offers. Compared to the 1TB 970 EVO it's only slightly (not noticable, but measurable) slower on most workload, but even faster on others. Quality and endurance is of no concern, as it uses the same technology and ADATA has a long history of producing affordable quality drives. It should also be quite a bit cheaper than listed when it comes back into stock.

Notes on the case: Really good choice for its price point BUT:
- No 5¼" drive bay. So you cannot fit an internal BD/DVD drive should the need arise later. But you can always go with an external drive or stick to thumb drives.
- No USB-C connector (but 2 USB-A 3.1 connectors, so you can use USB-A to USB-C cables).
- No LEDs for power on or hard drive busy
- Not recommended to be put on desk because buttons and connectors are on top. Perfect for putting on the ground, though.
So normally I'd recommend an alternative, but cases are so dependent on personal preference that I'd rather point out what to look for and let you choose one yourself. Also you know better which features are worth a higher price to you.

Upgrade options are: (listing only stuff that isn't necessarily intuitive or common knowledge)
- 1 M.2 drive (for SSDs 2.5")
- 2 SATA drives (for HDDs 3.5")
- 16 or 32GB additional RAM (2x8 or 2x16)
- another graphics card


For monitors you're on your own.

What games, specifically?

Not even AIO (All-In-One)?

Why do you specifically need the RAM to be fast? This somewhat contradicts the "no overclocking" guideline, unless you're excluding factory overclocks (which may still require going into your BIOS to enable).

If the answers to these questions are unimportant, based on your budget and what I understand of your requirements, this is what I came up with:


At this point you'll probably notice there's very little variance between your friend's build, Nude's build, and my build. It's hard to go wrong with any of the suggestions put forth.

If you find yourself under-budget, consider throwing that money toward a high-quality monitor to appreciate that 2080 Ti more. If you want good colors, then in addition to a high refresh rate, you'll want an IPS panel. While spendy, one of the best monitors is the Asus ROG Swift.

Edit: After spending a bit more time looking at NVMe SSDs, I swapped out the 860 EVO for the Crucial P1.

Post has been edited 5 time(s), last time on Jan 6 2019, 12:14 am by Roy.

I think people have you covered on parts so I'll chime in on the monitor end:
https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/product/scM323/aoc-ag271qg-270-165hz-monitor-ag271qg

Why so much? You get a G-Sync 144hz capable IPS panel with super low latency. Anything you find below 600$ is going to be a TN panel which I would not recommend.

I've been using this monitor for about 8 months and I love it.

Thanks for the replies, I’ll take a more detailed look soon!

It’s not too much more then what I was expecting, and my $600 budget was just a hope with no knowledge of the market, so I’m totally fine going higher. I forgot to include IPS in my requirements, so I updated my post.
Thanks!

Why are you spending so much on a computer?

This video shows that Ultra Settings generally makes little visual difference over Very High, so building a really expensive computer to enable this is probably a waste of time and money.



Post has been edited 1 time(s), last time on Jan 7 2019, 12:14 am by Lanthanide.

You could go something along the lines like this: https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/list/vbvhTB

Post has been edited 1 time(s), last time on Jan 7 2019, 3:36 am by NudeRaider.

Btw. I agree on the sentiment that the graphics card is overpowered, especially for 1080p gaming. Sephtiroth's build shows a good alternative, that would still be good enough to play current games with smooth framerates.
In a few years the 1070 Ti won't do anymore but then you just swap it out for a 3070 or w/e and still have spent less overall.
Unless you're eying for raytracing? Then I'll tell you it's not always a good idea to be one of the first adopters of new technology and that I personally would wait for the next generation. But I wish you luck on that experiment.

And from personal experience 0.5TB of SSD (fast) mass storage is enough when you leave your photos, videos and backups on HDD (cheap) storage.

An i7 could be justified if you do a lot of zip extracting or packing, or similar stuff that can be parallelized, but not offloaded to your GPU. Or if you look far into the future (maybe 5+ years), it would be reasonable to expect games to use more than 6 cores.

EDIT:
A note to Roy's version: For the SSD you get what you pay for. It's again a good chunk cheaper than the one I picked, but it's also not on par performance wise anymore. Especially when it's getting full the performance drops noticeably.
Compare The Crucial vs. the ADATA
BUT as always with SSDs, it's important to have one and you'll basically never feel real world performance differences between drives. Transfer times between SATA vs. NVMe being the exception to this rule.

Post has been edited 2 time(s), last time on Jan 7 2019, 7:37 am by NudeRaider.

Actually, get the RTX 2060. Awesome bang for the buck. Even ever so slightly beats the 1070Ti while being a good chunk cheaper.

Thanks for all the input guys! I ended up just pulling the trigger with the changes Nude mentioned, but with an EVGA 2080Ti because of availability: https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/list/28RVP3

As for the monitor, I have not purchased it yet but I'm leaning towards this one: https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B017EVR2VM/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A3DWYIK6Y9EEQB&psc=1

Honestly, if the price wasn't so competitive with SATA, I was just gonna suggest an 860; the price premium for performance you're not gonna notice isn't gonna be a good use of money. It just so happens that for almost the same price, Crucial has an NVMe drive that does better than the 860.

Not a bad build and not a bad pick for the monitor if you're not able to find the AOC at a good price.

Let me know how you like the 2080Ti.

I've been using a corsair liquid cooler for my CPU, the H80 if I remember correctly, and it literally requires no maintenance or anything more complex than screwing it to your motherboard. Allows for some entry-level overclocking without any headache.

Just a heads up if you want to spend an extra 50 bucks on simple cooling.

I'd get Seasonic Focus Gold over that EVGA PSU any day

Any (review backed) reason to get one over the other? Afaik both are rock-solid. But when we recommended the EVGA it was at like 90 CAD, which is a steal.

https://linustechtips.com/main/topic/986897-psu-tier-list-30/

evga g3 is in Tier B
seasonic focus gold is in Tier A