Yeah, the thing about 4k is that even a 1080TI is only pushing 80ish frames on something like DOOM ultra settings. 4k 144 or 160hz monitors aren't really giving what they are rated for any they cost upwards of $1200 a pop. Yikes! Plus Windows disables HDR in many circumstances, especially games, which typically don't use the right color gamut to support it, and without proper software support leaving it on would be like staring into the sun.
I build my PCs with the aim of keeping them relevant for as long as possible, because mein gott the $$. My old desktop finally bit it (RIP Desky, Summer 2009-Summer 2017
) That was a 1st gen i7 4 core / 8 thread 2.67ghz base with 6gb ddr3 and an Nvidia 260GTX, running an early release of Windows 7. The cream of the wheat in 2009.
So now I built a new desky. Pics when I get the chance! The collapsed sections are my thoughts on the different components after having spend dozens of hours researching this garbage and boring all of my friends senseless. They are sweary, because tech manufacturers are mostly being dicks.
Intel i7 7820-X. Newegg, $600 plus $28 for rush shipping after my first 7820x order got refunded . I should've known $582 was too good to be true
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8 Cores, 16 threads, 3.7ghz base, 4.5 single, 4.3 quad, 4.0 all. At
$600 US, not cheap, but good guy Newegg actually selling it at retail, vs Amazon who had it marked up to $720 including tax for months!.
Tbh I wish I could have waited for the AMD Threadripper 1900x, with similar core/thread performance but 128gb RAM supported vs 64gb, 64 PCI-E lanes vs an artificially handicapped 28 PCI-E lanes (fuck you Intel) for GPU/nVME SSDs (only SOME of the M.2 "gumstick" SSD's are nVME, others are still SATA3 which limits throughput to 6GB/s vs a PCI-E nVME connection which can hit 32 GB/s),
but the AMD still $549 and probably has slightly worse single threading for games. Plus, Intel is charging an unlocking fee for nVME SSD raid. Eat Shit, Intel. (The
ACLU brief for John Oliver makes me think this is legally OK to say)
nVidia 1050 Ti, $100, scavenged from my old PC, bought 1 year ago for $150. Considering I only push to a
1080p 24" 60hz AOC (amazing Christmas 2015 gift from grandparents, price unknown), this is a fine compromise for now. I'll adopt 4k when it's cheaper.
AsRock Taichi X299 Mobo, Newegg, $290, came with a
2.5" 128GB HP SSD, which is not the boot drive but provides decent mid-speed storage
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3 M.2 x 32GB/s slots, 4 GPU slots, all PWM fan connectors, built in high quality (not quite bleeding edge but close) AC dual band wifi. $289, came with a free $128GB HP SSD that I'm using for extra moderate-speed storage. What more do you want for $289! Even with 28 PCI-E lanes on the CPU potentially reducing lanes for nVME raid SSD, as long as I stay with 1 GPU I should be able to raid 1, 0, or even 5 or 10 on nVME SSD's without cutting down on that sweet 32GB/s M.2 Ultra connection speed. Except I have to pay Intel an unknown amount sometime in the future for that privilege being unlocked. Eat shit, Intel.
2x16GB 2666 mHz Mushkin Redline, Newegg, $234. RAM prices are out of control!!
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My friends who had built a PC in the past few years paid under $150 for 32 GB. The reason is a 3d vNAND shortage from Samsung and Micron, i.e Sun-Micron, (which is apparently still a thing! I thought they Blockbuster'd); the shortage
supposedly resulted from both companies new 18 and 17 nm manufacturing processes having poor yeilds and the increased demand for smartphones, which now have 6 and 8gb of DDR4 based on the same chips. Except those two same companies + Sky-Hyinx (this would be #2 of the big 3 vNAND producers) have been taken to court multiple times for collusion, and were actually convicted of creating an artifical shortage following a fire in 2009 and a flood in 2011. Multiple large South Korean companies including Samsung were implicated in the corruption scandals of
impeached South Korean president Park Geun-hye, who is now in jail for influence peddling, bribery, corruption, etc., and I suspect Sky-Hyinx is not above this shite as well. More importantly, these companies are posting record profits as RAM prices are soaring, which means that extra cost is just extra profit. So Intel doesn't get to eat all the shit, Samsung and Micron can eat some too.
Phanteks Enthoo Pro Series, Titanium Green, Newegg $70. Came with a
Phanteks 200mm & 140mm fan in front and rear. I am utterly thrilled with this case.
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Rubber grommeted openings on the Mobo plate and velcro straps behind the motherboard plate for perfect cable management, out of sight. Mmmmmm. And that's just the start. Air filters all across the front, top, and rear. Given that I live with 5 people and 5 pets, this is a must! Included fans are decent, PSU cover looks nice and manages heat, has 4 out-of-the-way 2.5" SSD mounting spots plus 6 completely removable 3.5 bays. 7-fan PWM fan control hub hides fan cables, compensates for short fan cables, and provides better RPM modulation for 3-pin non-PWM fans. Comes with 50+ extra screws in a neat plastic organizer, which I LOVE. Green is almost black except in the direct sun, which is sweet. MID-tower description seems ridiculous, this thing feels huge
Noctua NH-D15 Dual Fan CPU cooler, Newegg, $90, plus
4x Noctua 140mm 2000 RPM industrial fans, Newegg $110 for all 4 Silicon slowly degrades in heat, better cooling means longer life. And Noctua is the ugly, ugly best. CPU 30-46C depending on room temp and load, system 23-35C. Plus the high static pressure helps pull air through the filters. Will be playing with speed settings to balance noise and temp.
EVGA supernova G3, 850 Watt, $120 on Jet 850W is overkill and I could've scavenged my old 750W Corsair non-modular, but for $20 over the 750W the difference is minimal. And, what was I thinking in 2009, saving $10 going with non-modular?? 8 year regret, FIXED.
Boot drive, scavenged
128 Toshiba m.2 nVME SSD, which a friend replaced in their laptop. Seems fine until something like a Samsung 960 EVO 1 TB doesn't cost $450.
Overall system cost: ~$1614 plus $28 rush shipping, boo Express PCs trying to sell things that aren't in stock Maybe closer to $2000 if we include the value of the monitor, speakers, mech keyboard, mouse, webcam, etc, but those were all transfers from old Desky.
Infinitely curious what a streamer/video producer heavily involved in the tech side, possibly Graham and definitely Paul, think of the new Threadripper 1950x CPU at $1000, and computers built around it. It crushes Intel's $1700 i9 1950x in any multi-load, comes in a MUCH cheaper overall package across mobo+processor+4k monitor, can simultaneously stream, play and render 4k (with enough GPUs) according to what I've seen. Seems like a slam dunk to reduce cost on a single system, reduce the number of systems saving space and money, and also reduce cabling & networking.