Uber build for the new house

[Jonnus]

Hi guys,

After umming, arring and waiting for the 3000 series I think, after I move house, I'm in a position to place an order for a once in a lifetime pc. I wanted a cool water cooled uber-gaming machine for about 4k with a screen for about another 1k on top. Screen I can sort. I know this is, well, a little on the extreme side and to be honest I kinda hoped I could get a bit more for my money (the 3090 for example) but I'm happy with what I've got and welcome suggestions.

Please note the 4tb SSD is a quality of life thing for me; I like games and don't want to be constantly moving them between drives. The classic hard drive (spinny spinny) will be for music etc. I do have rather a lot...also less intense games will be stored there.

Another quality of life thing is for it to run quiet - so suggestions on how to do so are appreciated.

Aim is to buy this in November. Thoughts welcome and suggestions too!

Case
THERMALTAKE LEVEL 20 XT TEMPERED GLASS GAMING CASE
Custom Liquid Cooling Kit
Liquid Series RGB High Kit - Corsair Hydro X
Tubing
Clear Hardline Acrylic Tubing (Metallic Fittings)
Graphics Card Cooling
GPU Water Block - For One Graphics Card!
Coolant Colour
EK-CryoFuel Purple
Coolant Colour
NONE
LED Lighting
3x 50cm Blue LED Strip
Overclocked CPU
Overclocked Intel® Core™ i9-10900K 10 Core (3.7GHz @ up to 5.1GHz)
Motherboard
ASUS® ROG MAXIMUS XII HERO Wi-Fi (LGA1200, USB 3.2, CrossFireX/SLI) - ARGB Ready
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE RGB PRO DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
10GB ASUS ROG STRIX GEFORCE RTX 3080 - HDMI, DP
1st Storage Drive
4TB Samsung 870 QVO 2.5" SSD, SATA 6Gb/s (up to 560MB/sR | 530MB/sW)
1st Storage Drive
8TB SEAGATE IRONWOLF PRO 3.5", 7200 RPM 256MB CACHE
Power Supply
CORSAIR 750W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
Extra Case Fans
2x 120mm Liquid Series Ultra Quiet Fans
Sound Card
ASUS STRIX Soar 7.1 PCIe sound card
Wireless/Wired Networking
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KUK-00001]
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
BullGuard™ Internet Security - Free 90 Day License inc. Gamer Mode
Browser
Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
Keyboard & Mouse
Corsair K55 RGB Gaming Keyboard (UK)
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Home Installation
NONE
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Liquid Series® Build - RTX 12 to 14 working days
Price: £4,002.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-z490-liquid/4YXAV7gjHf/

 

[Jonnus]

EDIT: I just read some of the helpful posts on the forums that are saying that I'd probably be better off with AMD. Happy to take AMD based suggestions!

I'll also add the 2 years parts and return

 

[AgentCooper]

If you hang on a week, AMD are announcing a new set of CPUs which are shaping up to be quite special.

 

[Scott]

I would definitely hold off for the new AMD CPUs (November will be perfect) and I would also ditch the idea of an open loop system........ they're just a pain and don't look THAT much better than a well configured RGB AIO setup.

 

[Scott]

Something like this.... with the 3900XT as a placeholder for whatever the next gen chip is. I would also add an ML120 Pro fan to the rear of the case to finish off the RGB Fan look. You could also add a couple of RGB strips but I don't think this would be necessary.

Depending on the timing, if you switch out the H115i Platinum for the H100i Platinum you can swap out the RAM for the RGB Pro stuff. It all depends on timing of course

Case
CORSAIR OBSIDIAN SERIES™ 500D SE CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 9 3900XT 12 Core CPU (4.7GHz/70MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® ROG STRIX X570-F GAMING (USB 3.2 Gen 2, PCIe 4.0) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
10GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3080
1st Storage Drive
8TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 5400RPM, 256MB CACHE
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SAMSUNG 980 PRO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 7000MB/R, 5000MB/W)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
2TB SEAGATE FIRECUDA 520 GEN 4 PCIe NVMe (up to 5000MB/R, 4400MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 850W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
Corsair H115i RGB PLATINUM Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KUK-00001]
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Firefox™
Keyboard & Mouse
Corsair K55 RGB Gaming Keyboard (UK)
Warranty
3 Year Gold Warranty (2 Year Collect & Return, 2 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Home Installation
NONE
Delivery
TIMED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND - MON-FRI (BEFORE 2PM)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 9 to 11 working days
Price: £3,110.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/4rKWfyW4E0/

 

[Gavras]

Personally I would reduce storage for music and look at putting it on to a NAS.

adds more versatility.

Also unless disc based, I would just download from Steam etc as and when required.

I have really cutdown on storage requirements for my PC by using NAS and cloud services.

Also great when travelling etc.

 

[Jonnus]

Thanks guys - I had gone through the build and made a couple of changes and put it to a closed loop system below, managed to squeeze in a 3090 as well for about the same price. Happy to cut down some storage but ideally not less than 3 tb on the SSD as per the great suggestion above. Anyway, if anyone wants to chip in suggestions on the below that'd be great too!

PCS on the phone (I phoned as my gaming laptop had issues after a windows 10 refresh) suggested still going for intel if just gaming - which I basically will do. If that differs from your thoughts then just let me know why.

Case
COOLERMASTER MASTERBOX MB530P RGB GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i9 Ten-Core Processor i9-10900K (3.7GHz) 20MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® ROG STRIX Z490-F GAMING (LGA1200, USB 3.2, CrossFireX/SLI) - ARGB Ready
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
24GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3090
1st Storage Drive
4TB Samsung 870 QVO 2.5" SSD, SATA 6Gb/s (up to 560MB/sR | 530MB/sW)
1st Storage Drive
8TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 5400RPM, 256MB CACHE
Power Supply
CORSAIR 850W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
Corsair H100x Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
LED Lighting
2x 50cm Blue LED Strip
Sound Card
ASUS STRIX Soar 7.1 PCIe sound card
Wireless/Wired Networking
ASUS PCE-AX58BT Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) 2400Mbps/5GHz, 600Mbps/2.4GHz
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KUK-00001]
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
BullGuard™ Internet Security - Free 90 Day License inc. Gamer Mode
Browser
Google Chrome™
Keyboard & Mouse
Corsair K55 RGB Gaming Keyboard (UK)
Warranty
3 Year Platinum Warranty (3 Year Collect & Return, 3 Year Parts, 3 Year labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 9 to 11 working days
Price: £0.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-z490-pc/53MDDxWGHG/

 

[Scott]

Thanks guys - I had gone through the build and made a couple of changes and put it to a closed loop system below, managed to squeeze in a 3090 as well for about the same price. Happy to cut down some storage but ideally not less than 3 tb on the SSD as per the great suggestion above. Anyway, if anyone wants to chip in suggestions on the below that'd be great too!


Case
COOLERMASTER MASTERBOX MB530P RGB GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i9 Ten-Core Processor i9-10900K (3.7GHz) 20MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® ROG STRIX Z490-F GAMING (LGA1200, USB 3.2, CrossFireX/SLI) - ARGB Ready
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
24GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3090
1st Storage Drive
4TB Samsung 870 QVO 2.5" SSD, SATA 6Gb/s (up to 560MB/sR | 530MB/sW)
1st Storage Drive
8TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 5400RPM, 256MB CACHE
Power Supply
CORSAIR 850W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
Corsair H100x Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
LED Lighting
2x 50cm Blue LED Strip
Sound Card
ASUS STRIX Soar 7.1 PCIe sound card
Wireless/Wired Networking
ASUS PCE-AX58BT Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) 2400Mbps/5GHz, 600Mbps/2.4GHz
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KUK-00001]
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
BullGuard™ Internet Security - Free 90 Day License inc. Gamer Mode
Browser
Google Chrome™
Keyboard & Mouse
Corsair K55 RGB Gaming Keyboard (UK)
Warranty
3 Year Platinum Warranty (3 Year Collect & Return, 3 Year Parts, 3 Year labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 9 to 11 working days
Price: £0.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-z490-pc/53MDDxWGHG/

The build I suggested, as the one by @Nursemorph too, is better. Are you set on having an Intel system? What is your reasoning behind the Sound Card and Wifi? It appears like you may be maxing out certain drop downs with no real thought being put in.

Happy to discuss options etc but need some feedback on your reasoning for ignoring the advice already given previously to be able to add anything constructive.

Bullguard would be a no-no for any user and the 3090 isn't a gaming card, it's very similar performance to the 3080 for gaming but aimed at the professional market for development (such as 3D modelling) with the vRAM space. For gaming, it's a massive waste of money (almost double the price for the same-ish performance).

 

[Jonnus]

Hi Scott,

Sorry for appearing to ignore the comments. Please find my thoughts:

1) Soundcard - I do have a lot of high end headphones and enjoy listening to music whilst I game. So I figured a decent sound card would help. If it doesn't; I can scrap.
2) Didn't mean to turn on bullguard; can scrap
3) I assumed (seemingly incorrectly) the 3090 would give a crazy good future proofing for gaming. If not, and won't improve the system by a decent percentage, can scrap for 3080
4) Intel, as I put in my edit (which came after your comments I think), were stated to be the better gaming CPU by PCS; if that's not the case I'm happy to take discussions on it (I'm presuming it's the higher clock speed that means AMD would win this argument?) and await the Nov AMD chips.
5) Agreed on open loop system; changed to closed in my suggestion above
6) I'll swap the wifi cards as suggested

This is solely a run fast and quiet shiny PC set up for gaming. I'd want a good 3/4 years out of it before upgrading further. It'll look a bit garish with all the RGB but I'm quite happy with that! I agree on the closed loop system.

Thanks for your help, and time, and apologies for not seeming to listen.

J

 

[Scott]

Hi Scott,

Sorry for appearing to ignore the comments. Please find my thoughts:

1) Soundcard - I do have a lot of high end headphones and enjoy listening to music whilst I game. So I figured a decent sound card would help. If it doesn't; I can scrap.
2) Didn't mean to turn on bullguard; can scrap
3) I assumed (seemingly incorrectly) the 3090 would give a crazy good future proofing for gaming. If not, and won't improve the system by a decent percentage, can scrap for 3080
4) Intel, as I put in my edit (which came after your comments I think), were stated to be the better gaming CPU by PCS; if that's not the case I'm happy to take discussions on it (I'm presuming it's the higher clock speed that means AMD would win this argument?) and await the Nov AMD chips.
5) Agreed on open loop system; changed to closed in my suggestion above
6) I'll swap the wifi cards as suggested

This is solely a run fast and quiet shiny PC set up for gaming. I'd want a good 3/4 years out of it before upgrading further. It'll look a bit garish with all the RGB but I'm quite happy with that! I agree on the closed loop system.

Thanks for your help, and time, and apologies for not seeming to listen.

J

Soundcard won't make any odds to you. Strix board has fantastic audio and a built in DAC. The only time to consider such a sound card is when you need the channels for surround sound (ie more than 9). For professional use a far higher level DAC would be used.

3090 is only slightly more powerful than the 3080. It'll make no odds. The money saved can be put towards the 3080Ti(s) when it comes out. This card will likely overtake the 3090 for gaming power. The 3090 vRAM is the key for professionals (hence the cost and presumption that it's more powerful).

Regarding Intel. Your initial build was Intel, you then suggested you would be happy to be advised AMD if it was better (11:13 addition by yourself after your first post) and so I advised an AMD build. Your next post disregarded the AMD advice, and u-turned on your 11:13 epiphany, so I presumed you wanted to stick with Intel. As for the reasoning behind AMD being the selection.... Have a read here. The next gen is just around the corner also which just compounds this reasoning.

Also, the case you selected is nowhere near as nice as the 500D SE, it's so purdyyyyyy

 

[SpyderTracks]

Soundcard won't make any odds to you. Strix board has fantastic audio and a built in DAC. The only time to consider such a sound card is when you need the channels for surround sound (ie more than 9). For professional use a far higher level DAC would be used.

3090 is only slightly more powerful than the 3080. It'll make no odds. The money saved can be put towards the 3080Ti(s) when it comes out. This card will likely overtake the 3090 for gaming power. The 3090 vRAM is the key for professionals (hence the cost and presumption that it's more powerful).

Regarding Intel. Your initial build was Intel, you then suggested you would be happy to be advised AMD if it was better (11:13 addition by yourself after your first post) and so I advised an AMD build. Your next post disregarded the AMD advice, and u-turned on your 11:13 epiphany, so I presumed you wanted to stick with Intel. As for the reasoning behind AMD being the selection.... Have a read here. The next gen is just around the corner also which just compounds this reasoning.

Also, the case you selected is nowhere near as nice as the 500D SE,

Just following on from this RE: DAC vs Soundcard.... soundcard is not what you need, the on board sound would be exactly the same as the dedicated soundcard, it's not for the uses you're requiring of it, and wouldn't have enough power to drive decent headphones anyway.

A DAC sould be far better for your uses, either for headphones, or for connecting to an audio setup.

Schiit are an american company who have a european distribution center, they make incredible stuff at very good budgets, and anything from them would absolutely walk all over a gaming soundcard, just an entirely different league.

Their cheapest DAC with headphone out is the Asguard 3:

Schiit Asgard 3

Buy your Schiit Asgard 3 online, directly from Schiit UK, The Authorised EU retailer offering 3 years warranty.

www.schiit.co.uk

But the Jottenheim is worldwide famous for it's performance generally at the pricepoint:

Schiit Jotunheim 2 with Dac

Buy your Schiit Jotunheim 2 online, directly from Schiit UK, The Authorised EU retailer offering 3 years warranty.

www.schiit.co.uk

If you're looking for something a bit more entry level and portable, then the Audioquest Dragonfly's are the ones to go for, they range from an entry level Black to the high end Cobalt, they're all absolutely superb but more for just headphone use:

DragonFly Series

DragonFly Cobalt, Red, and Black. From MP3 to MQA and High-Res: Naturally Beautiful Sound at Your Fingertips, Whenever and Wherever You Want It

www.audioquest.com

These two are just to give you an idea of the price that these units go up to, the ones I've suggested above are all very budget.

Generally considered the best available DAC pricepoint no option is the Chord Dave but that will set you back around £8000 :

Home review

Eight grand is a high price tag for a DAC, but the DAVE more than merits it...

www.whathifi.com

There's also the lower end Chord Qutest which is much more affordable but still stellar at around £1200:

Home review

Chord has done it again - another superb DAC sets the benchmark.

www.whathifi.com