Looking for gaming build feedback

[draemn]

I haven't built a PC in a long time and I'm really out of the loop, but looking to do a high end build that is also a bit budget conscious. I don't need the best of the best, but here is what I am looking for:

• Air cooled and fairly quiet (low fan noise)
• Overclocking the CPU
• Nice to look at through a big tempered glass panel, those fancy PSU cables & spreader things
• Themed colour, probably all black and white, also wiling to consider black with red or blue accents
• Vertical GPU to "display"
• convert from multi-monitor to ultra wide format, good colour reproduction, finally try > 60hz gaming

Build: https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/list/CrWCPn

Here is a list of what I'm still debating on:

• Haven't check memory to CPU cooler compatibility (clearance)
• Ideally, would like a black with white themed motherboard over black and red. Going to wait for the B550 mobos to look through
• Debating about swapping the case with the fractal define 7 or meshify S2, but as of now the H510i is winning.
• Looks is very important since part of this build is to showcase a vertical GPU. I haven't found anything better than the 2070 Super without losing on the price/performance ratio... might just wait for the next gen and use a "temporary" cheaper GPU in the mean time.
• Monitors are just a starting point for future research... I have kept my head in the sand to protect my wallet up to now.
• Need to figure out what to do about custom sleeving with spreaders for PSU cables, etc.

Parts to reuse from my current build:

• PSU (just bought a new one this year) if possible
• 2x 250GB SSD 2.5"
• PCIe sound card
• Keyboard, mouse, speakers, headphones, and Windows 10
• Monitors? (I have 3x 1920x1080 60hz thin bezel monitors, but would like to upgrade as noted above)
• Case fans?

Budget: Excluding monitor upgrades $1,400 - $1,700.

Timeline: Anytime before October, no rush.

Edits: Made some changes based on feedback. Changed memory, m.2 SDD, CPU.

 

[Sagath]

CPU/Motherboard:
First, if your timeline is October, this may be premature. Zen3 (4xxx) should be on the market, and the B550 chipset will be out which will warrant reconsideration. If you're buying now, I'd almost be tempted to just 'make due' with a 3300x (its literally the best CPU on the market for price/perf), and upgrade to a 4000. Who knows, amazon might have some wicked BF deals again, too.

RAM:
I'd recommend this ram over your selected. Its Micron E-die, and much better than the Hynix AFR chips in the G.Skill you've picked. Comes in Black, Red, or White. Price varies, but at 2x16 Dual rank for a few bucks more, and with better overclocking potential I'd say its a MUCH better buy. Also there is an RGB option for a bit more coin, in the same colours of heatsinks.

Monitor:
Oh man. Rabbit hole. Price drives absolutely everything. Most of us will say the AW3420 is the best (not-insane priced) monitor on the market. I think half the forums run its (almost identical 3418) predecessor now lol. If you're patient, with Rakuten & "10%OFFMONITOR" code you can probably grab one for ~1100. Its worth the extra coin over the ones you have selected. You'll have it for many years over this PC...

Graphics:
GPU is very dependent on what monitor you're running, as 1440p/2160p take a lot more to drive than a 1080.
2070 Super is by far the best bang/buck GPU from nVidia..but thats not really saying much. AMD has some decent offerings, but they run hotter and suck more power. IMO the best GPU sub-brand is the MSI Gaming X Trio. It runs cooler than any nVidia card on the market, looks great, and is generally as cheap if not cheaper than competing cards. Unfortunately, it looks like the Trio doesnt come in the 2070 series...In which case I would lean to the STRIX, but I'm not a gigabyte fan due to bad luck. YMMV of course.

SSD:
If looks matter, well, hey. Give'r. I'd personally get a WD Black, but with SSD's I only stick to the First-Party (Sammy/Intel/WD) manufacturers. I wouldnt touch Adata/Lexar/etc without thoroughly vetting reviews about them. The WD Black 750 series has an option that comes with a cool looking black heatsink for a slight premium if that helps?

 

[JD]

If you are going with those (possible) monitors, you should probably look at the RTX 2080 Super instead, or hold out until late fall for the RTX 3000 series cards.

Memory, definitely go for 3600MHz and I'd stay to 2x16GB instead.

Higher end motherboads will have heatsinks that cover the NVMe drives too, which might help with the look you're going for.

 

[draemn]

So, if I wait a month and get a B550 chipset mobo I'll be able to throw a 3300x in it and just upgrade later? That sounds pretty reasonable if so (I doubt there's any downgrade from a i7-4820k).

The white heatsinks are beautiful on the ballistix! Why 2 memory sticks vs 4?

Can you link some articles or share some knowledge on what makes one set of ram better than the other (aside from frequency and CAS timings)?

Well, I am tempted to wait for the next gen of GPUs before buying... wasn't super impressed with the first gen RTX launch. The biggest issue is my current GPU has been crashing a little more frequently of late, so it is making me a little impatient to be rid of it.

Lots of great feedback, than you for sharing!

 

[clshades]

So, if I wait a month and get a B550 chipset mobo I'll be able to throw a 3300x in it and just upgrade later? That sounds pretty reasonable if so (I doubt there's any downgrade from a i7-4820k).

The white heatsinks are beautiful on the ballistix! Why 2 memory sticks vs 4?

Can you link some articles or share some knowledge on what makes one set of ram better than the other (aside from frequency and CAS timings)?

Well, I am tempted to wait for the next gen of GPUs before buying... wasn't super impressed with the first gen RTX launch. The biggest issue is my current GPU has been crashing a little more frequently of late, so it is making me a little impatient to be rid of it.

Lots of great feedback, than you for sharing!

I read an article a couple months ago stating that 4 sticks of memory will get slightly better gaming performance.

 

[Sagath]

I read an article a couple months ago stating that 4 sticks of memory will get slightly better gaming performance.

Generally speaking, the 'rank' of ram matters more, as the cpu can communicate with more ram on one channel with dual rank (2 chips) vs single rank (1 chip) ram.

If motherboards were quad channel the article you read would be correct, but that's only on HEDT platforms currently.

 

[draemn]

So based on my research, the performance difference between 3200 and 3600 DDR4 is very negligible unless your timings are very different. 2-3% extra performance for a lot of the kits out there, so not worth a significant price difference. I also decided to just go with 2x8 GB for now, leaving myself open to doubling that in the future.

Gaming wise, it looks like the 3300x competes very well with the 3700x, so I'm quite happy to save myself $160.

After some research, I can see how there is quite a difference in performance between the entry level m.2 NVME drives and the higher end ones. Now, will I benefit from that difference? Not very often if at all, but I'll go for the higher quality anyways. It does look like the low end ones hold up very well in gaming load times and the higher end ones mostly excel in sequential data and consistency in benchmarks.

Now to start looking into cable sleeving and drooling over monitor upgrades (sorry wallet).

Monitor:
Oh man. Rabbit hole. Price drives absolutely everything. Most of us will say the AW3420 is the best (not-insane priced) monitor on the market. I think half the forums run its (almost identical 3418) predecessor now lol.

Based on everything I've read, they say you can't get true gaming performance out of an IPS and it's all just fancy marketing to manipulate their testing standards so it looks comparable to TN panel specs. I've also stumbled across "VA" panels, which are supposed to be a balance between IPS and TN. Now, I am not looking for ultra 100% super fast no blur insane response times, but I get very skeptical when I see an IPS advertising 2ms g2g response time.

 

[Sagath]

I see you changed the RAM to the Ballistix I mentioned, but at 3200.

I would say that at $112 for the 3200 vs $130 for the 3600 that an easy 3% for literally no work IS worth it, but thats up to you. If you overclock/tighten the timings on the 3600 that % is going to grow. Also, 2x16 has a performance improvement metric over 4x8 that you'll be leaving off the table (but saving in your pocketbook, again). Just things to consider.

Agree about the SSD, but I (again) would reiterate you could apply that logic to the RAM discussion above, and actually see that benefit in gaming & software application performance...

 

[draemn]

I would say that at $112 for the 3200 vs $130 for the 3600 that an easy 3% for literally no work IS worth it, but thats up to you. If you overclock/tighten the timings on the 3600 that % is going to grow. Also, 2x16 has a performance improvement metric over 4x8 that you'll be leaving off the table (but saving in your pocketbook, again). Just things to consider.

I forgot to set pcpartpicker back to canada.... fml. On the one hand, 16% price preimum for 3% performance doesn't seem necessary, but if I say $18 in a $1800 build it's a much better justification of 1% cost for 3% performance. Didn't really stop and think of it that way. Now, only <=3200mhz is officially supported, but from what I've read, that doesn't seem to matter?

as for the 16GB vs 32GB, I couldn't find any review sites that said there is a reason for gamers to have >16GB.

 

[clshades]

I've always personally doubled my required ram. If they recommend 8 I do 16. If they recommend 16 I go 32. To double it again to 64 just wasn't in the pocket book but from everything I've read about my needs 32 is the sweet spot for now. I was gaming on 16gb 8 years ago and I never had any issues. Personally, I'd never go lower.