Old System Built Nov-2012 - Time for new System

Socrates470BC

Socrates470BC

Socrates470BC

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Joined
22 May 2011
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399
Location
Perthshire, Scotland
This is what I am thinking:

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £3,063.18 (includes shipping: £15.30)


I am not looking to shave the budget, it is more important to have a great system with the best components. I do have some additional hard disks and an SSD which I will add myself.

I appreciate any comments or advice which I may receive.​
 
That's a pretty serious looking basket.

Couple of elements look a little overkill to me:
  • Would personally opt for the smaller Dark Base 700 unless you need the extra space.
  • Not convinced by the motherboard, Gigabyte Aorus Master would be my choice.
  • I'd consider going for 32GB of slower memory, maybe more beneficial in the long run.
  • 1000W power is overkill unless looking to go to SLI in the future, could get a higher spec'd 850W for same money. Guess the above spec would only have peak draw of 500W and much less when idle.
 
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Made a few changes :)

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £2,984.14 (includes shipping: £15.30)
​

Saved a bit here and there on stuff that won't make a lot of difference to fit a 2080ti into the budget, which will make a big difference :)

@orbitalwalsh will be all over that budget in a bit as I'm positive there's more improvements that could be made
 
Socrates470BC said:
This is what I am thinking:

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £3,063.18 (includes shipping: £15.30)


I am not looking to shave the budget, it is more important to have a great system with the best components. I do have some additional hard disks and an SSD which I will add myself.

I appreciate any comments or advice which I may receive.​
Click to expand...

What is the system going to be used for ? Just gaming ?

Also what monitor do you intend using/buying ?
 
The board is a bit OTT so you could easily drop down to the Master/Ultra and save a couple of hundred quid.



My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £3,035.22 (includes shipping: £15.30)
​
 
Socrates470BC said:
I am not looking to shave the budget, it is more important to have a great system with the best components.
Click to expand...
Well, one thing is sure:
That arm and both legs priced (3 year old architecture) Intel isn't going to keep its value/performance even third of the time your current bought for lot less CPU.

While Intel has now advantage, that's mostly because of AMD having been stuck on second rate GlobalFoundry's mediocre manufacturing tech...
Originally developed by Samsung literally for phone CPUs!

That advantage is going to end before summer and that Intel will likely drop to basic level.
In CES AMD demoed Zen2 engineering sample matching 9900K's processing power at lot lower power consumption.
(thanks to TSMC's superior 7nm node being lot ahead of Intel)
Also chiplet design for desktop was confirmed.
Meaning 8c/16t is likely standard level, with 12c/24t becoming enthusiast level and possibly 16c/32t as super high end.

And unless finalizing of DDR5 (late since 2016) pick ups speed fast, also next year's AMD releases likely fit into current motherboards after BIOS update.
Chiplet design would even allow AMD to easily release improved CPU die in AM4 CPU parallel to DDR5 socket CPUs...

Next-gen consoles are also likely to use 8c/16t Zen2.
Lack of bloatware overhead of Windows PC and programming for fixed hardware is going to mean those games have more processing power available for them than some clocks speeds would imply.
And with very reasonable power consumption of 9900K matching CES demo Zen2, clocks could be quite high.
So in two years heavy multiplatter games are likely to hammer PC CPUs seriously, unless they have clearly more available processing power to handle all background bloatware and other overhead.


So do you want what's fastest for this winter?
Or future proof platform for many years with simple update of CPU?
Intel won't give latter and utilization of higher number of cores is the only path for major improvements in games.


Anyway for single graphics card PC there's no sense in over 750/850W PSU, unless you're into overclocking CPU using really exotic cooling.
It will only make desktop/idle consumption efficiency suck, especially when you're aiming for now standard level efficiency rating.
For that pricy PC would anyway see 80+ Platinum PSU more fitting.
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/seas...-platinum-modular-power-supply-ca-05v-ss.html
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/seas...-platinum-modular-power-supply-ca-05w-ss.html

Also there's little sense in paying that much for super luxury SSD.
Advertised fully snake oil synthetic benchmarket numbers don't even give much real use benefit in for example gaming:
https://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Samsung/970_Pro_SSD_512_GB/13.html
More reasonably per GB priced NVMe drive for OS and some programs with lot cheaper per GB SATA-drive for games would make more sense.


Unless you already have there proper surround sound home theater setup, you should be looking at other half of gaming immersion: Sound.
In case of headphones you wouldn't even need to pay much any compared to those other parts to get to very high level.
 
WOW, some very interesting replies, and lots of food for thought.

What is the system to be used for (should have told you this first).

I am a software developer, so system supports Microsoft development stack, multiple instances, multiple databases, reports, VM's, Photoshop, Video, 3 x 1440 screens, etc. Want to load tools fast, fast compilation of large systems.

Usual gaming requirements, plus VR.

When I purchased my last system (6 years ago), seasonic based PSU's were considered top. My understanding today is that Superflower and EVGA are now the leading brands (please correct me if this is not the case). The reason for overkill in power is that when running at less than 50% the fans do not run and system is much quieter.

I do tend to prefer Asus over Gigabyte and Intel over AMD (previously had problems with their AMD GPU drivers).

I did look at a number of cases, Corsair Obsidian 500D, Phanteks Primo, and Meshify. Usually use an air cooler, but going to use an AIO this time. I am still open minded about the case.

I did fancy the ROG strix 2080 TI but out of stock atm.

Waiting for new tech to arrive is not an option, current system has several issues (Power, MB and Memory and running out of storage). Was hoping to wait for Intel's 10nm (now 7nm apparently). AMD's future offerings sound appealing, but they have failed to deliver so often in the past I would not want to be an early adopter.

Some items were compromised due to lack of availability, but purchase will need to proceed soon.

Thanks so much for the feedback, and I will consider each suggestion with an open mind and see where it leads.
 
If I was buying now i'd be getting the 9900k, already got a system spec'd out :rolleyes: Was tempted by the 2700x, it's great value but single core performance just isn't that much of an upgrade from my 3770k @ 4.5GHz.

Somewhat put off by Intel's price hikes combined with spectre and meltdown so going to wait it out for the 3700x. Could be waiting 5+ months so hope it can live up to the hype. The promise of 12 cores at 5GHz with PCIe 4 for £400 is just too tempting, but I know there is always the risk it will disappoint.

Not read up on power supplies too much but worth remembering most of the time your system will running well under peak power draw. Most PSU's are pretty quiet these days compared to GPU and other system fans. From the reviews I've read the Gigabyte Z390's seem to be favored over Asus for their VRM design.
 
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