New monster PC for FlightSim

[Medtner]

Thanks all for the excellent feedback so far! I’ll make the correction CAPflyer suggests in reducing RAM to 32GB, and instead make sure to get faster RAM. I’ll also make sure to check out AMD CPU as well. I don’t know their numbers and names, so does anyone know of an equivalent AMD to i9 9900K?

As for power supply, I thought it would be wise to go for a 1000w unit to be safe. Maybe overkill?

[BrettT]

Some other tips that you may find useful

1) Pay attention to the latency. Not all "fast" rams are created equal. Some "fast" rams actually end up being slow in the practical sense because they have slow latency. There is a formula to derive the true latency based on the rate and the latency.

2) Pay attention to the size of the power supply and case and make sure everything will fit. If you have the room go for a slightly bigger case

3) Don't be shy about air cooling. The high end Noctua coolers are pretty much just as good as most AIO water coolers and a heck of a lot simpler. I have one on a 9900K OC at 5GHz and it sits in the middle 60's under full load

4) Don't skimp on your MB. If you are going to OC a better board is likely to have better tools and electronics to accomplish this. I have used Asus in the past and have been happy with them. I am using an EVGA Z390 Dark and am absolutely thrilled with it.

5) Find the sweet spot on your 2080Ti. A lot of the SSC Kingpin etc are a lot a cash for a mild improvement. My baseline model is able to run its boost clock at the same rated speeds as the upper end cards and still have good temperatures.

Below are the details on the 9900K build I made last year


Intel Core i9-9900K Coffee Lake 8-Core, 16-Thread, 3.6 GHz (5.0 GHz Turbo) LGA 1151 (300 Series) 95W BX80684I99900K

EVGA Z390 Dark

EVGA 2080ti 11G-P4-2281-KR

EVGA SuperNOVA 850 G2 220-G2-0850-XR 80+ GOLD 850W Fully Modular EVGA ECO Mode Includes FREE Power On Self Tester Power

Noctua NH-D15S 140mm SSO2 D-Type Premium CPU Cooler, NF-A15 PWM Fans

G.SKILL Ripjaws V Series 32GB (2 x 16GB) 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM DDR4 3200 (PC4 25600) Desktop Memory Model F4-3200C14D-32GVK

WD Blue 3D NAND 2TB Internal SSD - SATA III 6Gb/s 2.5"/7mm Solid State Drive - WDS200T2B0A

Fractal Design Meshify S2 Black ATX Modular High-Airflow Dark Tint Tempered Glass Window Mid Tower Computer Case

[bullfox]

Thats all good advice from brett T. I am building an AMD system because my previous system was AMD and that's what I have experience with. However, the reason I am building a new system, rather than going with Jetline is that my son has a degree in computer science and said he wanted to build a new system for me so I said we should build it together. If this virus thing lets up enough by July 4th we will get together and build it then. The timing is actually working out pretty good since by then the bugs should be worked out of P5D by then and the $1200.00 stimulus payment will pay for the rest of the components.

[Potuslancer]

The red team (AMD)currently is blowing the blue team(Nvidia) out of the water right now as far as processors are concerned. Check out the benchmarks. You get a much bigger bang for your buck right now going with AMD. Hasn’t always been that way for sure. No contest at all. As far as a pre-built machine goes, save yourself a BUNCH of money and build it yourself. It is NOT difficult at all. So many helpful videos on YT. Price out all the parts in a pre-built rig that suits your needs at pcpartpicker.com and you’ll see what I mean. BIG price difference. Put that money you’ll be paying someone else to build it for you into better components. Also, someone mentioned the benefits of an air cooler vs an aio liquid cpu cooler and I wholeheartedly agree. I’ve been running a Noctua cooler in my rig for a few years and having nothing but great things to say about it. Just make sure it will fit in your case because they tend to be a bit large.

Good luck.

[Medtner]

The red team (AMD)currently is blowing the blue team(Nvidia) out of the water right now as far as processors are concerned. Check out the benchmarks. You get a much bigger bang for your buck right now going with AMD. Hasn’t always been that way for sure. No contest at all. As far as a pre-built machine goes, save yourself a BUNCH of money and build it yourself. It is NOT difficult at all. So many helpful videos on YT. Price out all the parts in a pre-built rig that suits your needs at pcpartpicker.com and you’ll see what I mean. BIG price difference. Put that money you’ll be paying someone else to build it for you into better components. Also, someone mentioned the benefits of an air cooler vs an aio liquid cpu cooler and I wholeheartedly agree. I’ve been running a Noctua cooler in my rig for a few years and having nothing but great things to say about it. Just make sure it will fit in your case because they tend to be a bit large.

Good luck.

On the advice of the many clever people here I have done quite a bit of research on AMD CPUs. While they seem to be better in lots of ways (and way cheaper), the Intel seems to be better in gaming - especially single-thread which we seem to be limited, which is what we in many ways need. So after almost deciding on a Ryzen 3900, I fumbled myself back to the i9-9900K.

After watching Linus Tech Tips testing water cooling, I discovered, indeed, the Noctua cooler. I had taken for granted that water cooling was the way to go. So I have changed to that.

My current build hypothesis is as follows:

- Asus ROG Strix Z390-F MoBo
- i9-9900K
- Noctua NH-D15 CPU cooler
- Asus RTX2080 ti
- G.Skill Trident Z RGB 32 GB -3600. Or perhaps double...
- Samsung 970 NVME 500GB and 1000GB
- Corsair RMx1000W PSU


The only thing I'm relatively uncertain about now is the MoBo and the case.

[Potuslancer]

The red team (AMD)currently is blowing the blue team(Nvidia) out of the water right now as far as processors are concerned. Check out the benchmarks. You get a much bigger bang for your buck right now going with AMD. Hasn’t always been that way for sure. No contest at all. As far as a pre-built machine goes, save yourself a BUNCH of money and build it yourself. It is NOT difficult at all. So many helpful videos on YT. Price out all the parts in a pre-built rig that suits your needs at pcpartpicker.com and you’ll see what I mean. BIG price difference. Put that money you’ll be paying someone else to build it for you into better components. Also, someone mentioned the benefits of an air cooler vs an aio liquid cpu cooler and I wholeheartedly agree. I’ve been running a Noctua cooler in my rig for a few years and having nothing but great things to say about it. Just make sure it will fit in your case because they tend to be a bit large.

Good luck.

On the advice of the many clever people here I have done quite a bit of research on AMD CPUs. While they seem to be better in lots of ways (and way cheaper), the Intel seems to be better in gaming - especially single-thread which we seem to be limited, which is what we in many ways need. So after almost deciding on a Ryzen 3900, I fumbled myself back to the i9-9900K.

After watching Linus Tech Tips testing water cooling, I discovered, indeed, the Noctua cooler. I had taken for granted that water cooling was the way to go. So I have changed to that.

My current build hypothesis is as follows:

- Asus ROG Strix Z390-F MoBo
- i9-9900K
- Noctua NH-D15 CPU cooler
- Asus RTX2080 ti
- G.Skill Trident Z RGB 32 GB -3600. Or perhaps double...
- Samsung 970 NVME 500GB and 1000GB
- Corsair RMx1000W PSU


The only thing I'm relatively uncertain about now is the MoBo and the case.

Your System looks great and I respect your decision to go with Nvidia. It’s a tough decision I agree. I’m also running a Noctua D-15. Are you planning on overclocking with your unlocked “k” processor because if you’re not, don’t waste your money. Your power supply is huge. Are you planning on running dual GPU’s? That’s way overkill if not I would say. Do you play any games that utilize ray tracing? The RTX 2080ti won’t be utilized to its fullest extent otherwise. They are way overpriced at the moment too. Have you chosen a case yet? Additional case fans? A monitor? Lots to think about. Take your time for sure.

[Medtner]

The red team (AMD)currently is blowing the blue team(Nvidia) out of the water right now as far as processors are concerned. Check out the benchmarks. You get a much bigger bang for your buck right now going with AMD. Hasn’t always been that way for sure. No contest at all. As far as a pre-built machine goes, save yourself a BUNCH of money and build it yourself. It is NOT difficult at all. So many helpful videos on YT. Price out all the parts in a pre-built rig that suits your needs at pcpartpicker.com and you’ll see what I mean. BIG price difference. Put that money you’ll be paying someone else to build it for you into better components. Also, someone mentioned the benefits of an air cooler vs an aio liquid cpu cooler and I wholeheartedly agree. I’ve been running a Noctua cooler in my rig for a few years and having nothing but great things to say about it. Just make sure it will fit in your case because they tend to be a bit large.

Good luck.

On the advice of the many clever people here I have done quite a bit of research on AMD CPUs. While they seem to be better in lots of ways (and way cheaper), the Intel seems to be better in gaming - especially single-thread which we seem to be limited, which is what we in many ways need. So after almost deciding on a Ryzen 3900, I fumbled myself back to the i9-9900K.

After watching Linus Tech Tips testing water cooling, I discovered, indeed, the Noctua cooler. I had taken for granted that water cooling was the way to go. So I have changed to that.

My current build hypothesis is as follows:

- Asus ROG Strix Z390-F MoBo
- i9-9900K
- Noctua NH-D15 CPU cooler
- Asus RTX2080 ti
- G.Skill Trident Z RGB 32 GB -3600. Or perhaps double...
- Samsung 970 NVME 500GB and 1000GB
- Corsair RMx1000W PSU


The only thing I'm relatively uncertain about now is the MoBo and the case.

Your System looks great and I respect your decision to go with Nvidia. It’s a tough decision I agree. Are you planning on overclocking with your unlocked “k” processor because if you’re not, don’t waste your money. Your power supply is huge. Are you planning on running dual GPU’s? That’s way overkill if not I would say. Do you play any games that utilize ray tracing? The RTX 2080ti won’t be utilized to its fullest extent otherwise. They are way overpriced at the moment too. Have you chosen a case yet? Additional case fans? A monitor? Lots to think about. Take your time for sure.

I'm thinking I'd like to push the CPU towards the 5 ghz mark, so, yes. Power supply is only large because I've thought it would be useful, but 850 might be sufficient? I play a few other games, and expect to be using RTX, yes. Overkill is part of the fun. I like my placebo served as a pigs portion for me to wallow in.

I'm right now watching thorough and geeky reviews on cases on the Gamers Nexus channel. Excellent reviews. I don't want to take too much time either. Time spent building (I've decided to do it myself) and time spent flying sooner is my hope.

I have a 35 inch UWS Acer Predator monitor. I'll keep it for now.

[Potuslancer]

On the advice of the many clever people here I have done quite a bit of research on AMD CPUs. While they seem to be better in lots of ways (and way cheaper), the Intel seems to be better in gaming - especially single-thread which we seem to be limited, which is what we in many ways need. So after almost deciding on a Ryzen 3900, I fumbled myself back to the i9-9900K.

After watching Linus Tech Tips testing water cooling, I discovered, indeed, the Noctua cooler. I had taken for granted that water cooling was the way to go. So I have changed to that.

My current build hypothesis is as follows:

- Asus ROG Strix Z390-F MoBo
- i9-9900K
- Noctua NH-D15 CPU cooler
- Asus RTX2080 ti
- G.Skill Trident Z RGB 32 GB -3600. Or perhaps double...
- Samsung 970 NVME 500GB and 1000GB
- Corsair RMx1000W PSU


The only thing I'm relatively uncertain about now is the MoBo and the case.

Your System looks great and I respect your decision to go with Nvidia. It’s a tough decision I agree. Are you planning on overclocking with your unlocked “k” processor because if you’re not, don’t waste your money. Your power supply is huge. Are you planning on running dual GPU’s? That’s way overkill if not I would say. Do you play any games that utilize ray tracing? The RTX 2080ti won’t be utilized to its fullest extent otherwise. They are way overpriced at the moment too. Have you chosen a case yet? Additional case fans? A monitor? Lots to think about. Take your time for sure.

I'm thinking I'd like to push the CPU towards the 5 ghz mark, so, yes. Power supply is only large because I've thought it would be useful, but 850 might be sufficient? I play a few other games, and expect to be using RTX, yes. Overkill is part of the fun. I like my placebo served as a pigs portion for me to wallow in.

I'm right now watching thorough and geeky reviews on cases on the Gamers Nexus channel. Excellent reviews. I don't want to take too much time either. Time spent building (I've decided to do it myself) and time spent flying sooner is my hope.

I have a 35 inch UWS Acer Predator monitor. I'll keep it for now.

Building it yourself will give you a lot of satisfaction for sure and you will thoroughly enjoy it. Not to mention spending half the amount you would by buying a prebuilt system. Trust me on that. Linus Tech Tips was one of my go to channels on YT while researching my components and for building tips for sure. Your monitor is awesome and with g-synch will pair well with your GPU. A far as OC’ing your CPU to 5 ghz, achieving that should not be a problem. Just be aware of your temperature and you’ll be fine. You’ll hear the big Noctua fan spin up when you do though. That is one of the side affects of having an air cooler.

I will stress though to take your time. I can relate to how you feel about being anxious to get all the components and get it built and start flying but enjoy the process and don’t rush it. It’s also a good idea to connect everything to your MOBO and make sure it POST’s before you take the time to install it in your case and make it all neat and pretty. It’s not uncommon for some components to be DOA. (Also, don’t spend extra money on all the RGB lighting bling if you’re putting it under a desk and never gonna see it unless you’re Into that kinda thing.)

I wish you good luck and if you run into problems there’s plenty of help to be found in forums around the inter webs.

[Medtner]

Your System looks great and I respect your decision to go with Nvidia. It’s a tough decision I agree. Are you planning on overclocking with your unlocked “k” processor because if you’re not, don’t waste your money. Your power supply is huge. Are you planning on running dual GPU’s? That’s way overkill if not I would say. Do you play any games that utilize ray tracing? The RTX 2080ti won’t be utilized to its fullest extent otherwise. They are way overpriced at the moment too. Have you chosen a case yet? Additional case fans? A monitor? Lots to think about. Take your time for sure.

I'm thinking I'd like to push the CPU towards the 5 ghz mark, so, yes. Power supply is only large because I've thought it would be useful, but 850 might be sufficient? I play a few other games, and expect to be using RTX, yes. Overkill is part of the fun. I like my placebo served as a pigs portion for me to wallow in.

I'm right now watching thorough and geeky reviews on cases on the Gamers Nexus channel. Excellent reviews. I don't want to take too much time either. Time spent building (I've decided to do it myself) and time spent flying sooner is my hope.

I have a 35 inch UWS Acer Predator monitor. I'll keep it for now.

Building it yourself will give you a lot of satisfaction for sure and you will thoroughly enjoy it. Not to mention spending half the amount you would by buying a prebuilt system. Trust me on that. Linus Tech Tips was one of my go to channels on YT while researching my components and for building tips for sure. Your monitor is awesome and with g-synch will pair well with your GPU. A far as OC’ing your CPU to 5 ghz, achieving that should not be a problem. Just be aware of your temperature and you’ll be fine. You’ll hear the big Noctua fan spin up when you do though. That is one of the side affects of having an air cooler.

I will stress though to take your time. I can relate to how you feel about being anxious to get all the components and get it built and start flying but enjoy the process and don’t rush it. It’s also a good idea to connect everything to your MOBO and make sure it POST’s before you take the time to install it in your case and make it all neat and pretty. It’s not uncommon for some components to be DOA. (Also, don’t spend extra money on all the RGB lighting bling if you’re putting it under a desk and never gonna see it unless you’re Into that kinda thing.)

I wish you good luck and if you run into problems there’s plenty of help to be found in forums around the inter webs.

Yeah, after watching a few videos on builds, I realize I should just do it myself. I'll be more familiar with my computer, and also have the mental muscle to do deeper changes to it whenever I need to upgrade. I'm so used to my computer being noisy (and I always have quite a bit of sound on when flying, so I'll survive that.

Taking time to enjoy the process is something I agree with, so I'll be mindful to not stress too much. RGB is of no interest to me. I'll take it if it comes with the case, but I'll not spend energy hunting for the fanciest stuff.

[Medtner]

Finally, after a weekend of research, I have landed on a good system.
https://pcpartpicker.com/user/Medtner/saved/jNy3ZL

TL:DR:

- Gigabyte Z390 Aorus Master MoBo
- i9 9900K
- Noctua NH-D15 CPU Cooler
- MSI RTX 2080 Ti Gaming X Trio
- G.Skill Trident Z 4x16 DDR4-3600
- Samsung 970 Evo Plus 500GB + 500GB + 1TB (yes, three)
- Corsair RMx 1000W PSU
- Phanteks P600S Case
- Noctua NF-A14 140mm fans x3 (+ the 3 included fans in the case)

Good lord. This should be an upgrade from my old stuff.

Now for the ancle-grabbing, the long wait for parts to arrive, the building (I'm doing it myself), and the installing/tweaking.
Then I'm going flying, and I'll never be seen again...

[CAPFlyer]

Looks like a solid choice.

Also, you mentioned single-thread versus multi-thread. In general, we need to remember when building a new computer, to look 3-5 years down the road, not today. The only gaming that is really still single-thread is FlightSim, and only because most of the sims have a lot of legacy baggage. FS2020 by all counts takes advantage of multi-core, as will P3D v5 at some point as they continue to roll out their new "engine". XPlane already does. But in the larger gaming space, most games, especially ones that have console versions, are already taking pretty good advantage of multi-core capabilities. This doesn't discount the performance of Intel vs. AMD in certain areas, just making sure you're aware of the wider picture.

Also, just FYI, we're probably going to see a socket change on the Intel chips next generation, so anyone running an Intel Mobo will only see 1 generation from it. AMD will probably stay with the AM4 socket for another generation, so you have a chance at getting a little more leg out of it.

[Medtner]

Looks like a solid choice.

Also, you mentioned single-thread versus multi-thread. In general, we need to remember when building a new computer, to look 3-5 years down the road, not today. The only gaming that is really still single-thread is FlightSim, and only because most of the sims have a lot of legacy baggage. FS2020 by all counts takes advantage of multi-core, as will P3D v5 at some point as they continue to roll out their new "engine". XPlane already does. But in the larger gaming space, most games, especially ones that have console versions, are already taking pretty good advantage of multi-core capabilities. This doesn't discount the performance of Intel vs. AMD in certain areas, just making sure you're aware of the wider picture.

Also, just FYI, we're probably going to see a socket change on the Intel chips next generation, so anyone running an Intel Mobo will only see 1 generation from it. AMD will probably stay with the AM4 socket for another generation, so you have a chance at getting a little more leg out of it.

Yeah, the thought that I might have to change MoBo and CPU down the line has crossed my mind. This makes me actually more determined to build the whole thing myself. When the time comes I'll be more able to do the switch.
I really was on the verge of going the AMD-route, but marginally came back to Intel. I'll keep the awareness up for potential future swap.
I've been living with an i7-4790 for many years now, slow RAM, though with a decent GTX1080 GPU. I'm sure I can live with the new rig for a couple of years before feeling the need to change things around.