"Ultimate" Computer Build for a Friend ($6500 Budget)

Ltusker on 29/07/2020 - 10:15
Last edited 29/07/2020 - 16:52

Hi guys,

A friend of mine is looking for me to build a PC for him, and he hasn't had an upgrade for years, so trying to get the best possible machine for his budget.

What I have put together so far is as follows from PCPartsPicker, but would like to know what to change to get the best performing box, and any changes to reduce cost so he can spend on software etc.

What are your thoughts ? What should be changed ? Are there any single stores that would price match this so I don't have to order from 10 stores etc ?

General requirements: 6 x multi monitor, multi purpose machine, gaming + research (machine learning, virtual machines, crypto etc) + large format web browsing, large hoarding capacity (RAID1 or other for redundancy), $6500 budget, dual DVD writer (yes, I know it's odd, but he specifically asked for it), and as quiet as possible.

Cheers,

Damien

V1 - PCPartPicker Part List

V2
PCPartPicker Part List

Type Item Price
CPU AMD Ryzen 9 3900X 3.8 GHz 12-Core Processor $670.42 @ Amazon Australia
CPU Cooler be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 4 50.5 CFM CPU Cooler $139.00 @ PCCaseGear
Motherboard MSI MAG B550 TOMAHAWK ATX AM4 Motherboard $293.70 @ Newegg Australia
Memory G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 64 GB (4 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory $359.70 @ Newegg Australia
Storage Samsung 860 Evo 2 TB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive $435.00 @ Centre Com
Storage Seagate EXOS Enterprise 16 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive $608.30 @ Newegg Australia
Storage Seagate EXOS Enterprise 16 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive $608.30 @ Newegg Australia
Video Card MSI GeForce RTX 2080 Ti 11 GB VENTUS GP Video Card $1644.70 @ Device Deal
Case be quiet! Dark Base Pro 900 Rev. 2 ATX Full Tower Case $369.00 @ Umart
Power Supply Corsair HX Platinum 1200 W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply $381.00 @ Skycomp Technology
Optical Drive Pioneer BDR-209DBK Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer $85.00 @ PC Byte
Optical Drive Pioneer BDR-209DBK Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer $85.00 @ PC Byte
Monitor LG 27GL850-B 27.0" 2560x1440 144 Hz Monitor $799.00 @ PC Byte
Keyboard Corsair K70 RGB MK.2 Wired Standard Keyboard $218.25 @ Amazon Australia
Mouse Logitech G604 LIGHTSPEED Wireless Optical Mouse $165.00 @ Newegg Australia
Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
Total $6861.37
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-07-29 16:01 AEST+1000
Computing

Comments

        • Nilfunds on 29/07/2020 - 17:39
          +1

          the m.2 drive, shouldnt you get NVME?

        • jerjergege on 31/07/2020 - 11:27

          If he doesn't lke membrane keyboards, then he woud have bought or made a mechanical keyboard already, so why buy another one?

          They last more than a lifetime.

          • tusker on 31/07/2020 - 14:54

            @jerjergege: It's a complicated story, involving other family members, but the original computer (sans monitors) is no longer with us.

      • DingoBilly on 30/07/2020 - 08:39

        Eh, I have 18TB worth of data without any backup at the moment.. on this build I'd need to up the storage as what is suggested isn't enough for RAID1.

        If you're a collector of high quality video then it eats up data quickly.

    • [Deactivated] on 31/07/2020 - 16:31

      I would have suggested two systems and allow some upgrade path such memory/storage and wouldn't even require that amount of money.

  • Naigrabzo on 29/07/2020 - 12:58
    +14

    build $3500 now and another in 3 years. No matter what it will be dated in 3 years.

  • QuickdraW on 29/07/2020 - 13:36
    +2

    64gb ram is overkill for gaming, money would be better used for a high spec 32gb kit and more ssd space.

    • tusker on 29/07/2020 - 14:17

      This guy has a wide variety of requirements, wants to run virtual machines for research, etc etc. Maybe can start with 2 x 16GB kit to start with, and upgrade later if he finds out he needs it. What would you suggest for the 32gb kit ?

      • [Deactivated] on 29/07/2020 - 14:52
        +3

        So your mate wants to run virtual machines for 'research', which implies he is pretty computer savvy, but then asks you, who thinks that SLI is still a thing, for advice on how to build it? Something smells pretty fishy here.

        • tusker on 29/07/2020 - 15:02
          +3

          I am a software engineer, with varied computer experience over 30 years, and obviously have not kept up with whether nvlink is not a thing even though manufacturers are still pushing out nvlink compatible cards, and Nvidia themselves are pushing NVLink 3.0 as recently announced in May 2020.

          If the guy who will own the machine play games, but also doing research, such as machine learning, crypto, or similar, would NVLink on the RTX 2070 Super be comparable to a single RTX 2080 Ti ?

          Yes "SLI" may not be a thing for games anymore, but is it really something that should be discarded ?

          • [Deactivated] on 29/07/2020 - 15:14
            -5

            @tusker: Yes, it's not supported anymore. The minute you said 'research' and 'crypto' in the same sentence, the bullshit meter went off the scale.

      • QuickdraW on 29/07/2020 - 15:20

        either high bandwidth or low latency depending on preference. Brand/style/rgb is personal choice.

      • ilovepizza on 29/07/2020 - 17:41
        +1

        i use virtual machines and emulators and gaming, i went with 32gb and i wish i went with 64gb

      • mahdoo on 31/07/2020 - 12:25

        Ask him more details on why he's going to be running VMs. If he wants to turn this into a homelab/homeserver type of machine - he'll greatly benefit from 64GB (Or more)

        If he wants to run the odd VM, and then shut the VM down when not in use, 32GB would be a good starting point. Definitely go with 16GB sticks though.

  • this is us on 29/07/2020 - 13:47
    +1

    I think your friend should visit Ozbargain… He'd be surprised by the possibility of building a high end gaming computer with about 50% of this budget.

    And, yes, I also think that's a troll.

    • tusker on 29/07/2020 - 14:14
      +1

      My friend has offloaded his requirements to me to put together the build. He isn't looking for the cheapest build, and I have no problem if he scours ozbargain.

      He has conflicting requirements, and isn't just looking for a gaming PC (as per other comments), such as specific requirements around multi monitor support, large amount of storage, etc etc. I am not making any money from this, just doing it as a favour for him.

      Obviously I have a lot to learn about putting together the build and have made some bad decisions, but appreciate the feedback.

  • Ryanek on 29/07/2020 - 13:55
    +3

    RTX 2070 SLI? Umm yeah mate, I think you need to do wayyyy more research.

    • tusker on 29/07/2020 - 14:01

      v2 build is looking like a single RTX 2080 SUPER, with a cheaper video card (not sure which one yet) for the multi monitor support.

      The idea behind SLI wasn't really for top line raw performance, but the fact that each card supported 3 x HDMI outputs, so possibility for a total of 6 x HDMI supported by a decent video card, so better performance over all monitors, rather than best performance on one monitor. I should have made the request for multi-monitor support up front it seems…

      • [Deactivated] on 29/07/2020 - 14:07

        I should have made the request for multi-monitor support up front it seems…

        too late. You should just get 2080ti or TITAN RTX

  • QuickdraW on 29/07/2020 - 14:28
    +1

    Another point is amd and nvidia have new top end gear arriving shortly, would get better performance for similar money once they come to market.

  • whiteflame on 29/07/2020 - 15:57

    @tasker have you had enough time to submit a new build so the forum can critique on?

    • tusker on 29/07/2020 - 16:08
      +1

      Updated as requested, awaiting flames :)

  • Jaded on 29/07/2020 - 16:09
    +3

    Ok my notes, from an 'ultimate' gaming POV:

    Splurge on a 2080ti GPU (or wait until new series releases..)
    Personally I'd put more money into a CPU like the Ryzen 9 3950x
    That's an expensive motherboard… Can easily go cheaper
    Memory - do you need 64gb? 32gb should be enough for pretty much all games at the moment
    Monitor - Splurge a bit more here for a higher hz monitor. If gaming, at least a 100, preferably 144hz.
    I'd exchange one of the Hard drives for another SSD - Especially if having a fair few larger games installed. An SSD makes a huge difference in loading times in a lot of games.

    Edit: I see you have changed some stuff around haha - looks better!

    • Wallyt99 on 31/07/2020 - 12:55

      I'd also swap a hdd for another SSD. A computer this good should have most / all programs installed on SSD

  • ItsMeAgro on 29/07/2020 - 16:33
    +3

    I'm a Ryzen fan, my main PC has one, but for gaming, that Ryzen 3900X is definitely a slight downgrade compared to the i7-10700k:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d--Szv_Z6HA

    Be careful of over-enthusiasm about Ryzens online, many PC builders don't even look at intel this gen, and don't realise they ARE faster for gaming in a few market segments (like this one).

    You get 12 cores instead of 10, so you may want to look at non-gaming performance, where in rare case, the more cores the better.

    But I tend to think most people will NOT notice or care about the 5% slower time for an occasional big 5-second photoshop operation to complete, or whatever, but WILL notice in 2025 that the hottest new game is only getting 130hz at 4k instead of a solid 144hz, or whatever.

    • cheesecactus on 29/07/2020 - 17:51
      +1

      You mean fps not hz

      • ItsMeAgro on 29/07/2020 - 18:08
        +1

        Sorry, yeah FPS.

    • [Deactivated] on 29/07/2020 - 18:13

      machine learning and other applications may benefit from cores.

      Haha i think we're at the pointy end of specs where unless you have a specific use in mind it ain't going to make a difference.

      I'm not a gamer so I'm not sure if you are being sarcastic about being able to notice a difference between 130 /140 FPS.

    • wackedupwacko on 30/07/2020 - 00:12

      The issue with this assumption is that game developers don't take advantage of multi threading or cores in the future.

      If it flips and we have heavy multi threading in future games then suddenly the ryzens now will be outperforming. We basically don't know what will happen now that AMD is competitive and have the better overall tech.

      The other thing is price performance. Whilst it is a big budget OP did mention price performance and ryzen is definitely better price performance with both CPU and Mobo.

      The other thing is if OPs friend is utilising VMs then suddenly the extra cores and threads can be quite big.

  • Caped Baldy on 29/07/2020 - 16:41
    +2

    Get a G9 Odyssey!

    Are two ODDs needed? Could get a smaller case if you go with one or USB.

    Since you've gone to one GPU, you could downspec the PSU. Unless you're desperate for a quiet build.

    Is noise important for your friend?

    Edit: btw daisy chaining monitors is a thing if your friend must have six monitors.

    • tusker on 29/07/2020 - 16:44

      Yeah, noise is a big deal for him, should have put that in the list of requirements. One USB ODD is a good idea, thanks.

      • Caped Baldy on 29/07/2020 - 16:48
        +1

        beQuiet cases are meant to be good for noise, but have to be careful with airflow. Noctua fans are very good for airflow and low noise.

        GamersNexus on youtube are good for case reviews.

        • Nilfunds on 29/07/2020 - 17:43
          +1

          +1 Noctua.

          have to admit never used beQuite but have been using noctua for years now.
          whisper quite fans, everything backed by 6 year warranty - made in Austria.

          wasn't going to say anything, did a quick google of the cooler OP wrote vs noctua and briefly people saying the Rock is less noise.

          • ATangk on 29/07/2020 - 18:01

            @Nilfunds: At some point, and this build is way past it, the other elements will produce more noise than the sound difference of noctua vs dark rock. Noctua needs the low noise adapters to be ultraquiet, but having 2 optical drives, 2 hard drives and that much power would not make for a silent system anyways.

            • Nilfunds on 29/07/2020 - 19:12
              +1

              @ATangk: yea.. unless you're ripping movies, why the opticals?
              the spinny things are just an annoyance these days.

              no need for low noise adapters. i only use those with cheap motherboards that dont have proper fan control. you will not need them. specially on CPU.
              Noctua is just top notch stuff

              • ATangk on 29/07/2020 - 20:28

                @Nilfunds: I was thinking of the LNA because I wanted to build a silent system. RM750X, NH-D14 in a Fractal Design Nano S. Would just be the GPU making much noise, otherwise it would sit under 20dB.

                • Nilfunds on 29/07/2020 - 20:49

                  @ATangk: i agree with slience. can't stand fan noise.
                  Noctua is one of those brands that i would buy without hesitation.
                  low noise adapters i think are more for case fans, not for cpu fans - ive never put one on CPU fan.

                  im probably a fanboy by now, have a few noctua case fans, they're always whisper quite and probably most expensive - but for the price you get years of use.

                  RMx is a great choice, also whisper quite, ive got a RMx 750 and RMx 550 in HTPC, several years old now but you never hear anything from them.

                  GPU - 3 fan is less noise than 1 fan blower type, but blower type blows hot air out the back, so for small builds its a must.
                  you can use MSI afterburner to fine tune your fan curve for GPU

  • [Deactivated] on 29/07/2020 - 18:05

    How can someone willing to drop 7k on a pc not know about pcs?

    • [Deactivated] on 29/07/2020 - 18:14

      its 6500budget.

    • tusker on 29/07/2020 - 18:45
      +1

      He knows about PCs, but at the moment is not able to access the internet where he is now, and therefore is unable to do the necessary research to get it across the line.

      He will have internet access in a few months time, at which time he wants to have the build completed, hence reaching out to me (via landline phone) to get it done.

      • Specialist Diaz on 29/07/2020 - 19:11
        +3

        o.O … is he in prison?

      • [Deactivated] on 29/07/2020 - 20:54

        2k gets you a high end PC, this feels like a yt video

        • johnno07 on 29/07/2020 - 23:54
          +1

          $2,000 does not get you a high end PC these days unfortunately!

        • wackedupwacko on 30/07/2020 - 00:14

          Literally just finished a "mid tier build" price came to about 2.2k and I was on ozb getting deals. Planning for upgrade on gpu in a year or so so reality would be 2.5-2.8k for higher mid tier

          • [Deactivated] on 30/07/2020 - 13:25

            @wackedupwacko: If you spend $7k on a car, do you need to know the precise dynamics of how an ICE works to deliver you the most power for your money?

            Jeez the amount of stuck up know it all's on here is astounding.

  • conza on 29/07/2020 - 19:03
    +3

    Please. Please wait for new PC parts to come out

    For GPUs, RTX 3000, September. RDNA 2, October/November.

    CPUs, Intel has released this year, but AMD's Zen3, which may actually outperform Intel or be even closer in single threaded performance is coming in the next 4-5 months as well.

    Also the 6 monitor request, with ultra-wide monitors now, I think this could be cut down to 3, but specifically what does he need the real estate for?

    Anyway, here's something, I think a better understanding of the exact requirements is required. Which games? What sort of virtualisation, programs for machine learning, type of crypto, might help because then researching which cards are better for those programs and also which CPUs would help I think.

    https://au.pcpartpicker.com/list/jqddZf

    In 2 months, this $2k card will be worth $1k, CPU will possibly go down a little bit, but newer CPUs (from AMD) will most likely have a fair performance jump, at least in single threaded performance

    • tusker on 29/07/2020 - 19:24
      +2

      Thanks for the advice about waiting. In terms of the 6 monitors, he already has 5 75hz 24" already, so the 6th one is the one in this build.

      I think the guy likes the idea of screen real estate more than actually having real use cases for it, ala swordfish control centre idea.

      Let me find out whether I can get some specifics around applications, games and virtualization stacks that he is intending to use, and will encourage him to wait until September for the RTX 3000 release.

      • conza on 29/07/2020 - 19:37
        +1

        Cool yeah, if there are programs that favour Intel for example, then a 10700K (or 10900K depending on just how multi-threaded the programs are) might make sense… I'd still want to wait for AMD's next CPUs just in case, and also it might be for naught waiting beyond the RTX 3000 launch, RDNA 2 (AMDs next GPU series), may not have the top end performance, but it might have better value.

        Also I added 4x4TB drives instead of a 16TB drive, if using RAID 5 then that gives redundancy of 1 drive to rebuild the RAID array and 12TB of usable space.

        • tusker on 29/07/2020 - 20:13

          Good call on RAID5 vs RAID1, getting a replacement hot spare 4TB drive in case one fails is probably better than risking all your data while waiting for the RMA on the 16TB drive to come back.

          I'd still probably want to get 7200rpm drives though, based on my own personal experience for drive speeds.

          • jedimaster on 29/07/2020 - 22:04

            @tusker: i also have a budget of 5k AUD for my gaming pc and also waiting for the next gen of GPUs and Ryzen 4000 series CPUs coming around Q4. I advise wait around till then. I am good with PC hardware and it was my bread and butter for a number of years. Selling, Upgrading, Assembling, fixing PCs and laptops. Now I work in IT full time. Can reach out to me when you are ready and can compile you a list on partspicker

  • AgentXKnight on 29/07/2020 - 20:56
    +1

    OP if you want a GPU to support 6 monitors you cannot use a single Nvidia RTX 2080ti because it only supports a max of 4 monitors regardless of how many ports it has because there is a hardware/possibly software limit on Nvidia consumer GPUs preventing more than 4 display outputs.

    So if you want more than 4 monitors you need to go with either 2 separate GPUs or SLI but cannot remember right now how many monitors SLI adds might just be 1 more or if you are going to use 1 GPU there are I believe certain AMD GPUs that are not limited to 4 display such as the AMD RX 5700XT and depending on ports on the GPU or by using daisy chain Displayport cables you can get 6 monitors on a single GPU (Note a 4 Displayport and 2HDMI version I found that supports 6 monitors is the ASRock RX 5700 XT Taichi).

  • AgentXKnight on 29/07/2020 - 22:04
    +1

    Looking a bit more at your post and the requirements of your friend it can be a bit unrealistic to have high end computer designed for both professional use and gaming use because depending on your priorities you have such as gaming and work it may mean you have to make some sacrifices where you either choose to go more gaming or work focused for your computer.

    An example I can give you about why you may need to make choices is your RAM choice ie 64GB from 4x 16GB is generally not going to be considered ideal for gaming use as you generally do not need much RAM and because this CPU only supports dual channel RAM so sometimes depending on motherboard or your CPU the RAM might run slower than higher quality 2x 8GB set. Also another important factor is if your friend works on mission critical data such as machine learning and if it is essential to have absolute data integrity (no errors occurring) then the RAM you have chosen is not good enough as you will generally need ECC RAM. Though if work is not serious you can get away on consumer PC ram it will just have risk of error occurring due to the RAM also you may need to not overclock you RAM to improve reliability which may impact gaming.

    So depending on your friend requirements it may be better to spend you money either on two PC one for gaming and the other for work purposes because there are reasons why you want to choose parts that are dedicate for certain tasks ie getting professional grade parts because they have better support for certain tasks and are more reliable where using consumer parts can present issues due to overclocking (reducing reliability), energy efficiency or sometimes manufacturers prevent certain consumer level parts from utilising certain professional software or applications.

    • xsacha on 31/07/2020 - 16:26

      This. Exactly.
      I have a deep learning rig at work with 4 x 2080ti and a threadripper, which cost almost $10k at the start of the year. This will not be used for anything else. Once it is doing its thing, it is unusable for any other task.
      If he actually intends to use it for something like that, he'd want multiple machines. It may even end up costing the same, but performing much much better.

  • michaelTito on 29/07/2020 - 22:15

    Just don't buy from mwave unless you wanna wait a very long time for your components to arrive.

    I ordered a some components and watercooling parts from them about 10 days ago and there's still no update on when I can pick them up yet.

    Apparently they are wayy behind on their online orders.

  • cdaddy on 29/07/2020 - 22:16

    Wouldn’t a smaller drive (500GB) boot faster than a 2TB one?

    • ItsMeAgro on 30/07/2020 - 13:05

      Nah the bigger SSDs are actually faster.

      Personally I like to keep my boot drive SSD small so I can do a whole-disk image backup easily, but most people will be best served by a fast price-sweet-spot-sized SSD (I think that's 1TB these days?) and a second cheapo SSD or HDD(s) if they need more space.

  • Captain Snooze on 29/07/2020 - 23:33

    spending at least $6000 on a PC and having a 3900x instead of the 3950x seems negligent to me. Also I'd definitely say wait to see what the new Nvidias and AMD GPU's look like first before buying a 2080ti. Is there any possibility your mate already has some hard drives you can use to cut cost on the dual 16TB's? Just seems a little excessive.

  • dny on 29/07/2020 - 23:51
    +2

    If you want as quiet as possible ditch the hard drives and offload the storage to a NAS and go full solid state on the PC

    Maybe even consider moving the ODD's to a micro server along with the HDD's

  • Blizzard57 on 30/07/2020 - 05:00

    Dunno if this is mentioned yet, but that G.Skills Ripjaws ram is 42mm clearance and the dark rock pro is 40mm clearance where the RAM goes, so unless you move the fan up a little it won't clear. Maybe consider different ram if you want a more flush finish. I made the mistake with that ram and D15 cooler. You can also run it with 1 fan, but you might as well get a different fan at that point

    • Snave on 30/07/2020 - 09:47

      This is the reason I went with a Cryorig H7 Plus, it is offset so there is no conflict with ram. It benchmarks are close the to the Dark Rock Pro 4 and Noctua's. I did have to lift the back fan slightly to clear the VRM Heatsink

  • kaleidoscope on 30/07/2020 - 07:06
    +2

    Seems like a troll post, but if it isn’t and looking at the requirements;

    No one’s going to game on all 6 monitors at the same time, instead consider one or two good monitors for gaming and the rest for productivity focussed monitors with 60Hz

    If he’s a hoarder i’d recommend looking into a nas with decently sized hdds. NAS with 6x 4TB would do more justice than 2x 16TB on raid 1. Also it will consume less power and it’s own independent unit which is now accessible everywhere on local network + no noise on main rig.

    To last longer; i’d either pay good price for pci4 ssd now or get moderately priced pci3 and upgrade later. Recommend a 1Tb fast m.2 drive with ssd sata around 2tb.

    Haven’t seen sli setups lately, it won’t do much good for performance for the cost and instead look into gpu with 3dp and 1 hdmi. Some might have usb-c interface too and monitors with dp support daisy chain to another one. So have a single dp run into gaming monitor and others perhaps have daisy chain with rest of the ports. a watercooled 2080ti would be sufficient. (2070 on a $6500 budget pc is bit funny)

    With a separate nas unit and single gpu you can go easy on the psu as well and perhaps dial it down to 750w? (just do a calculation and find out the requirements)

    Good luck.

    • kaleidoscope on 30/07/2020 - 07:21
      +1

      Another idea is a dual pc setup. Your friend’s productivity setup can run on the small system where gaming will be on primary system. They’re both powered by single psu.

      So it’s single psu
      single case
      cpu, gpu, board, memory for gaming system
      cpu with onboard graphics, board, memory for productivity system
      m.2 ssd for main system + ssd sata for storage
      ssd and magnetic drives for second system
      1-2 gaming monitors for gaming rig
      4 productivity monitors run by small system

      You will save alot spent on the dual gpu or need for 2080ti range to power 6x monitors.
      for small system look for a motherboard with more display outs such as gigabyte.

      Anyway; this is just an idea. If i were you i’d carefully consider my exact requirements and use cases and go with a dual system + nas.

      here is example of dual pc: https://youtu.be/u2fXMYWW2rU

      • AgentXKnight on 30/07/2020 - 12:52

        +1 for your example of dual PC and the use of Phanteks dual PSU where this setup might be better for OP' friend for having both gaming and productivity setup if there is only need increasing monitor real estate through having 6 monitors.

        There is also I believe software that allows one computer's keyboard and mouse to control another computer's monitors at same time so could set it up with the main computer using the second computer as slave to get additional monitors without reducing the performance of the main computer. It also have added advantage of second computing being used as a NAS which I believe cheaper to build a NAS yourself because NAS enclosures such as Synology are overpriced outdated hardware or slow hardware and the only reason you buy them is because you are not tech savvy to setup a NAS or because you want to overspend for the software these companies make or if you getting cheap 2 bay NAS otherwise if you know what you are doing you can easily build a NAS on new or second hardware cheaper with higher performance.

        Please note Nvidia GPU such as RTX 2080ti as I mentioned before can only support a max of 4 monitors, daisy chaining or additional display outs does not add any additional monitor support is still limited to 4 monitors only AMD consumer GPUs and certain Nvidia Quadros support more than 4 monitors off single GPU.

  • frostman on 30/07/2020 - 08:35

    This guy clearly wants a crypto mining PC

  • Zarlia on 30/07/2020 - 09:52
    +1

    I made a build that I think makes a bit more sense, PCIE Gen 4 SSD, 3950x, X570 Motherboard. I personally think that a NAS would work a lot better than internal storage but I used the same you put in for this build to make it easier to compare. You may also want a 2080ti it just depends if you will need it because the super is a lot better value. Other things I would consider changing is upgrading to a 2TB SSD which would be another $300 for a PCIE Gen 4 drive.

    https://au.pcpartpicker.com/list/CGHJcq

    • tusker on 30/07/2020 - 15:46

      Thanks for this, much appreciated!

  • T1OOO on 30/07/2020 - 11:29
    +1

    You need a better ssd. 970 pro or the other one.

    For faster u need the 570 mother board that’s x4 also get a mb with 2 or more m2 slots.
    Get a 4k monitor or 5k. The msi prestige is good.

  • AustriaBargain on 30/07/2020 - 11:52

    My ultimate PC would use both those M.2 slots for storage. Some apps are very scratch disc hungry and you don't want that on your C drive. Well it's fine on your c drive, but then you don't want your project files on the c drive too, you might want them on a second speedy SSD. And you can put your downloads folder on the second speedy drive, there's lots you can do. Don't make your friend use a mechanical drive for his downloads folder or desktop folder etc. Or it'll have to load, and he'll hear it load, and he'll feel like a fool compared to SSD only systems. Any ultrabook with an SSD will appear to be faster than his big PC trying to load a file off a mechanical hard drive. If he runs photoshop or anything he'll want some good few hundred GB free for scratch disc. And for this much money his desktop should be on an SSD too, and you know people put 100s of GB of random stuff on their desktop.

  • sarahlump on 30/07/2020 - 13:36

    Have you considered visiting linus tech tips?
    Also if friend wants quiet, just tell friend to put computer in another room and run the cables through to the monitor/ io

  • zrmx on 30/07/2020 - 14:13

    If your friend's usage can actually be very data IO heavy, and considering the amount of money spent ($6.5k still boggles my mind) to not upgrade for at least another couple of years, it is probably a good idea to go X570 to take advantage of the PCIe 4.0 slots.

    Go with NVMe SSD as main drive or scratch drive as mentioned above, and then HDD as storage. Probably optimise as one 2TB NVMe drive, one HDD as transitional storage (optional depending on budget), and then a NAS as the vault.

    Good choice of CPU for now (3900X), as it's likely adequate (unless if you know he'll need more than 24 threads), and hang on until Zen 3 CPU comes out (end of this year) if he needs upgrade for more performance or more threads in the next few years.

    If his gaming needs doesn't really require 4K high refresh (and all the monitors are 75Hz), I'd probably save some money by going with RTX 2080 Super instead of 2080Ti. As many have mentioned, RTX 3000 series from NVIDIA is coming later this year, and so are RDNA2 from AMD. They are both likely to be better performing, and at the tippy top end of the performance segment, value drops fast once it's dethroned by something new. Basically when the new cards come later this year, 2080Ti will almost immediately drop $250-$500 in value.

  • concatenate on 30/07/2020 - 14:30
    +1

    Try https://www.logicalincrements.com/ - helps you pair different components up based on "quality" of build.

  • pnt on 30/07/2020 - 15:26
    +1

    Sometimes I check out these enthusiast pages, I only ever look at the budget configs in the past they've seemed reasonably designed. Maybe these gaming configs are good too.

    https://whirlpool.net.au/wiki/rmp_sg_whirlpoolpcs_gaming_con…

    e.g. $6,400 including peripherals:

    $4,000 ($6,400) Gaming Config Intel Ultimate Overclocker
    (Eight cores / Sixteen threads)

    CPU: Intel Core i5 10700K $749
    CPU HSF: be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 4 $139
    Mobo: Asus ROG Strix Z490-I Gaming $559
    RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws V Series 32GB (2 x 16GB) F4-3200C14D-32GVR $365 Newegg (OC to 4000+ or F4-4000C19D-32GTZ $500 for set XMP and forget)
    SSD: ADATA XPG 1TB SX8200 M.2 NVMe $309
    HDD: (Optional)
    GPU: Gigabyte RTX 2080 SUPER GAMING OC $1371 (It's 50mm thick, wider models may not fit with bottom fans)
    Case: Lian Li PC-TU150 Mini ITX $185
    Fans: Noctua NF-A12x15 x2 $78 (Case bottom Intake)
    Filter: DEMCiflex Double 120mm Magnetic Fan Filter $22
    PSU: Corsair SF600 SFX Platinum $249 (7y warranty)
    Peripherals: [ 34" LG 34GK950F 48-144Hz 3440x1440 IPS / Gigabyte Force K81 / Logitech G903 / Audioengine A2+ ] ($2342)

    Total: $4,026 ($6,368)

    • Baa on 30/07/2020 - 19:45

      This is my problem, people always ask these questions when they have not done any 'real' research.

      The Whirlpool recommended builds is great as a guide, along with the 2million posts to 'rate my build' on there.

  • jaylee88 on 30/07/2020 - 16:42

    you can get better mainboard (any top range b550 board only cost a bit more), ram (3600mhz or 4000mhz) and a pci4 m2 ssd

  • capslock janitor on 30/07/2020 - 17:56

    goodluck…putting together this beast …

  • This Guy on 30/07/2020 - 20:27

    General requirements: 6 x multi monitor

    Where are the other 5 monitors? At $800 each you are spending $4800 on monitors. Plus monitor stands. Plus break out display cables as that GPU only has four outputs.

    A 49" Samsung G9 will be ~$2800. It is basically two 27" displays without a centre bezel and support for 240Hz. As someone who has run 3 27" screens before and now runs a single 34" 3440*1440, a single monitor is a far better experience. The only times I have seen 6 monitors provide a better experience was when a ton of information needs to be displayed, like at a tab or a control centre (power, transport, you name it). But if it is being used for business, it should not be used for gaming.

    General requirements: crypto

    Which crypto? You would want an FPGA or a dedicated card that can complete the required computation more power efficiently as most crypto costs more to generate on GPCPU's like AMD, Intel, Nvidia and ARM then they are worth.

    If your friend is really into machine learning then they might want something like an Nvidia Jenson or Quadro card depending on what they want to do.

    But if all your friend want's to do is play around with these technologies, than a basic 20 series card would be fine.

    tl;dr; confirm what your friend actually wants and what they are doing on it. Use a lower tier CPU and GPU. Budget for the other five monitors and hardware and find a way to reduce cost there.

    • tusker on 30/07/2020 - 20:37

      He already has 5 monitors that he would like to reuse, plus one nice new one. It is being used as a general purpose computer, as well as for gaming. Maybe he won't be using all monitors as effectively as someone in a real control centre, but he wants it, and likes the idea of a swordfish style setup.

      You have hit it on the head, in that he wants to play with the technologies, not doing any of them in earnest. Maybe one day he will attempt to decrypt some encrypted over the air signal, maybe he will use pattern matching to do some visual computing, maybe one day he will play with augmented reality, and then spend some time in GTA 6…

      He is a tinkerer that likes gaming, so maybe an odd set of requirements that might not make sense immediately.

      • This Guy on 31/07/2020 - 07:19

        This PC is spec'ed wrong then.

        If VR is a requirement go i5/i7 intel and an 2080 Ti. Play with the HDD set up to lower cost. Use their current monitors.

        Spend the other 2.5 grand on gadgets to improve VR, an FPGA add in card, stuff like that, that will provide more utility.

        • tusker on 31/07/2020 - 08:00
          +1

          OK, thanks, will propose him a few options with that in mind.

  • waletmoro on 30/07/2020 - 20:34

    Wow it's really good for watching youtube.

  • IamEzza on 30/07/2020 - 21:25
    +1

    I didn't see if anyone else has mentioned this yet, but you should definitely not use 7200rpm enterprise drives in a desktop if you want a quiet PC!
    These drives are designed to be used in servers and are very loud and annoying if you use them in a desktop.

    If local storage is an absolute must then get the largest 5400rpm CMR drive you can get, like this: https://www.ple.com.au/Products/636329/WD-Red-WD120EFAX-35-1…

    You could then use a cheaper external drive as a backup drive.

    Or you could just go the NAS route and have it located further away.

    It's not a good idea to over invest in mechanical hard drives at this point because SSD storage is advancing at a rapid pace. Samsung just released their new 870 QVO 8TB ssd. It's only a matter of time before mechanical drives are dead for local storage.

  • PhatChedda on 30/07/2020 - 21:33

    This is where I got help building my latest PC. I recommend everyone to watch this

  • dfg555 on 31/07/2020 - 03:25
    +1

    OP is clearly a troll. Any decent PC Builder would know straight away these parts are not optimal for the price and target use case.

    I mean c'mon, the single 2080 Ti for a 6 monitor setup is a dead giveaway.

    • tusker on 31/07/2020 - 08:01

      Read my comments then. You are obviously trolling with no basis.

  • pandawelch on 31/07/2020 - 08:44

    Go to JB HI FI and you can see the 60hz, 144Hz and maybe 200Hz monitors to compare. Just because square car wheels have been 'fine so far' doesn't mean there aren't better options.

  • adante on 31/07/2020 - 11:28

    Vaguely curious your mate is clued on enough to get into research involving machine learning / virtual machines (and I guess crypto…) but wants you to build a swordfish style machine for him

    • bigbadboogieman on 31/07/2020 - 19:39

      Yeah the requirements are quite conflicting. I think there is something fishy. Multiple DVD Burners when people are trying to move on even from 4K…

  • mahdoo on 31/07/2020 - 12:21

    A true ozbargainer would order over time, from multiple stores as sales come up.

    • bigbadboogieman on 31/07/2020 - 19:37

      Yeah and by they get all the parts for the build the buddy would likely be looking for another build with higher specs…

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