Gamingpc.ca - pre built customizations advice

[Urotsukidoji]

Sorry if this is in the wrong forum / tab, been years since I posted, but the advice here has always been the best. My current PC is old, super old, I'm taking vista old. Still runs fantastic, prob due to advise I got here way back. If it was not for the age, and out dated OS, I would not be here now. But, I want to run newer games, been putting this off for a long time. I've been out of the loop, so piecing part by part is out of my scope of knowledge. I was considering buying the "Destroyer" from gamingpc.ca

Destroyer Watercooled AMD 5900x 12 CORE - GamingPC Canada

• Processor: Intel i7 9700K 8 Core overclocked to 5.0 GHz
• Motherboard: ASUS ROG Maximus XI Hero (WI-FI)
• Memory: G.SKILL Ripjaws V F4 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4 - 3000 MHz
• Primary Hard Drive: Samsung 970 Evo Plus M.2 - 500GB NVMe PCI-Express 3.0 x4 SSD Drive
• Secondary Hard Drive: Western Digital Hard Drive 2 TB Black
• Video Card: Nvidia RTX 2080 SUPER 8GB
• Audio Card: ROG SupremeFX 8-Channel (On Board)
• Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA 1000 80 Plus Gold 1000W
• Case: Lian-Li O11 Dynamic XL ROG certificated Black
• Cooling: Professional water-cooling 16mm PETG hardline with RGB LED tube
• Operating System: Windows 10 Pro 64 Bits English
• Overclock: Overclocked Speed 5.0 GHz
• Warranty: 5-year Labor, 3-year Parts Warranty + Lifetime free phone support

So first question, anyone have an opinion of these guys? Second, you can customize the machine, what options would you consider worth the extra $?
Faster Processor? More RAM? Different video card?

Or would you know a better place to buy a pre-built or custom built rig these days?

Thanks in advance for any opinions / recomendations.

 

[Sagath]

$4200? that's a lot of cash. I get that if you're dead set on a custom built water cooled PC it's gonna be pricy. But I think you can get a lot better bang/buck than that. What exactly are you going to use this for?

AMD Ryzen 3000 chips are the top dog right now. I wouldn't touch intel chips.

check out Memory Express and their custom built PCs. Try to get some similar builds to get an idea of the cost (and markup) these companies are charging.

you can also use https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/list/
And built it up yourself to see what the actual base cost is.

 

[Guest]

Yeah I agree with Sagath, no point in going intel. Ryzen 3000 and a nice x570 with the savings go for a 32 gb kit or 2x 16gb kits of ram, and grab a gen 4 NVMe 1-2 tb drive. you will be far happier with the performance.

 

[Bond007]

Unless you have $ burning a hole in your pocket that you don’t want anymore, then I would go with the advise above. Let us know what you want to spend and your idea/preferences/uses, and we can help you get something pieced together for substantially less.

 

[Izerous]

PETG is also a PITA when it comes to system maintenance and future changes. Since your looking at a pre-built your not likely to make drastic changes but with AMD's history of socket compatbility even swapping out to a 4XXX series when they come out would require you to drain and dismantle part of the loop. With soft tubing usually you can fudge it enough to move the water block without draining for example.

And you should change your fluid on a semi-regular basis.

 

[JD]

I think the big chunk of the price is in the "hard line watercooling" setup. You'd be better off building this yourself as you'll have an understanding of how it all works in the end. You'll need to drain the fluid and clean it probably once a year ideally.

If you're still in the GTA, then Canada Computers is probably the go-to if you want a store that'll build for you. I don't think they'll do fancy watercooling like this though.

Even just looking at Alienware as an example: https://www.dell.com/en-ca/shop/gam...p/spd/alienware-aurora-r10-desktop/daar10_h4e, this is roughly 80% performance of the one you've linked, while nearly half the price. You could upgrade that to the 2080 SUPER and be at $2750 and then be as the same performance as the Intel build you linked.

 

[Urotsukidoji]

Hey guys, thanks for the quick notes.
This machine would primarily be for gaming (performance wise) but would also serve for my normal day to day needs (music & photo storage, surfing, etc). Work is on a sep laptop.
Water cooling is not a required item, just came with that top option.
$ is not really burning a hole in my pocket. Usually when I buy a rig, no matter what year it is, it comes to $3K + to get something good..... basically, I want a machine that will last. I don't have the desire to build/buy/upgrade every year. If I have to come to $4K-ish to do so, then I will, $3K would be better, but I doubt that will happen. When I bought my current set up it was almost top of the line for it's time, which is why, aside from outdated OS etc, still runs great.
Basically, I want to be able to run Doom Eternal etc. with all the bells and whistles, at ridiculous frame rates, as well as the next game down the line.
... and yes, still in GTA

 

[FreeKnight]

One thing to consider too is what monitor are you using.

If you're running on a 1080p monitor that's 60hz still, you're basically wasting money at that point since a 2070 should probably be more than enough. If you don't have a 1440p, ultrawide or 4K monitor, I'd cut some of the exorbitant cost from this and upgrade the monitor.

I'd recommend going with a Ryzen 3000 like others, more than 16gb of ram (I'd buy at least 24gb if I was building a new rig), a good air cooler and a smaller case. The lianli XL is massive. Gorgeous, but massive and a waste of space if you're not liquid cooling it.

You shouldn't go liquid unless you're willing to build yourself or ready to take the system apart every year or two potentially when there's build up in a block, you get a leak, a pump dies or just need to change coolant. Air is much lower maintenance and less prone to problems. With the money you save you could easily upgrade the GPU which is your biggest concern for gaming performance.

A quick check on PC part picker shows you could build a much better system for like $2800 that's got more ram, a better CPU, more SSD storage, and a less overkill PSU (1000w is too much for a single gpu system)

 

[Lysrin]

You shouldn't go liquid unless you're willing to build yourself or ready to take the system apart every year or two potentially when there's build up in a block, you get a leak, a pump dies or just need to change coolant. Air is much lower maintenance and less prone to problems. With the money you save you could easily upgrade the GPU which is your biggest concern for gaming performance.

Absolutely agree with this. You need to be comfortable with what is in the PC. Don't want to have to run back to someone else who built it if something happens. That would be slow and likely pricey. I'd go air too if I wasn't interested in building the loop myself.

 

[sswilson]

In fairness to the OP....

The great majority of folks here are hardware savvy and for the most part enjoy building PCs.... OTOH, there is a market out there for boutique built PCs. Some folks want the look but don't have the patience (or inclination) to build their own.

I'm sure the hardware for a custom hard tube loop runs $300 - $400 so it's certainly not outside the realm of possibility that a retail price (including labour) would be bumping up against the $1K range just for the custom WC option.

Back in "the day" I used to rail against the prices being charged for boutique builds, but then got a glimpse at what murdermods was offering (starting at around $4K) and came around to seeing how they could look like good value when done right.

I haven't had a look at the original link to see the quality of their work, but don't think we should blindly reject the idea if the OP wants to go that route.