Genuinely Need Your Opinion - Gaming PC (Budget $4k)

burningrage on 20/05/2021 - 09:44
Last edited 25/05/2021 - 11:53 by 1 other user

Hi all,

I don't normally ask too many help from OzBargain but I am genuinely in need of your gaming PC expert opinion. It is no secret I have been looking for a new Gaming PC to replace my 11 year 1st Gen i7 which has served me very well to this date.

Normally I take my time getting a new PC however, with the LHR coming real soon, I have today (yes, only today) to decide on a new gaming PC that will avoid getting my GFX crimped because of LHR.

I have an opportunity for this Gaming PC at this spec.

11th Gen Intel® Core™ i9 11900F (8-Core, 16MB Cache, 2.5GHz to 5.2GHz w/Thermal Velocity Boost)
NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 3080 10GB GDDR6X This won't be LHR-ed.
16GB Dual Channel DDR4 XMP at 3200MHz (expandable)
500GB M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD (Boot) + 1TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s
High-Performance CPU Liquid Cooling and 1000W Power Supply. The case is bespoke so not Lian Li kind of case.
Motherboard is a Z490 motherboard.

I can get this for $4k. This sounds very reasonable because I have looked around for similar specs.

I looked around Scorptec, BPC, Mwave, Centre.Com, etc and for this spec, they are all above $4k (some of them $7k for this spec) but I am confident if I put it out here, you may have a different opinion.

I am humbly asking the PC Gaming gurus here, please advise whether or not I should get this at $4k or not. Apologies for sounding a bit imposing.

Thank you in advance.

Regards

Zz

UPDATE: So in the end, I ordered this beast over the chat and they gave me ETA before 5 July (Expedited Delivery) but obviously I am missing out on my Cashrewards/Shopback cashback. $3,994. Thank you for the poll and yes, calling bikies are still the most favourite answer of all questions in the universe (not 42).

FINAL UPDATE: I cancelled my order and reordered today for $500 less and extra 16gb memory at $3.44k. See below for the longer version of event. Looks like Click Frenzy may not be the best time to buy PC.

Poll Options expired

  • 4
    Yes, go for it!
  • 2
    No, better wait for cheaper price. Who cares about LHR?
  • 15
    Bikies
Computing Computer Desktop Computer

Comments

  • FireRunner on 20/05/2021 - 09:49
    +1

    The hash rate limiter has no effect on gaming afaik.
    Unless you're planning on doing some mining, LHR versions of the GPU isn't a problem

    • burningrage on 20/05/2021 - 09:54

      There is a debate of resaleability of a system that would soon become rare. A non-LHR'ed GFX might attract better premium.

      But on a surface, I agree it should not affect gaming but even if the GFX is LHR'ed, do you think this sort of setup worth $4k?

      I checked around even for the LHR'ed Gigabytes and Galax, this 3080 system is still above $4k. Point of reference? Recent TechFast deals.

      • FireRunner on 20/05/2021 - 10:11
        +1

        A non-LHR'd card might be more valueable if there's still a market when you wish to resell.
        I guess it's ok in the current climate. I recently jumped on this Alienware Aurora R12 bundle which seems like great value. It's probably going to have the LHR RTX 3080 based on ETA (early July) and it has the downside of proprietary parts, etc.

        • burningrage on 20/05/2021 - 10:15

          This is the reason why I am also looking at current pre-built gaming PCs. Suffice to say they are all above this price point.

          You would think this would get LHR'ed? Because the website doesn't say that and I read it for legal reason, they must state it otherwise goods not as described argument can arise.

          • FireRunner on 20/05/2021 - 10:21

            @burningrage: I thought it was requirement to have LHR cards after a certain date. I guess they might have some leftover stock.
            Maybe Dell chat support will be able to tell you

            • burningrage on 20/05/2021 - 10:23

              @FireRunner: This is why I gotta act today.

              They say they are using existing stocks.

              Furthermore, LHR announcement was practically made yesterday and got the label Late May as the introduction period.

              https://www.anandtech.com/show/16690/nvidia-to-extend-ethere…

            • burningrage on 20/05/2021 - 15:13

              @FireRunner: Confirmed at 3.12pm from 3 separate Dell consultants (2 chats and 1 phone) that they will not be using LHR Cards. Took the screenshot.

              Chatman:
              We are not using the Low Hash rates NVIDIA cards.

              It would go with normal Nvidia cards.

        • burningrage on 20/05/2021 - 10:30

          You see. You got a much better deal with that bundle even though it's i7 (I am happy with i7 but I thought 3080 is better with i9 on DP1.4+DSC).

          This makes me feel $4k is rather tad high.

          • FireRunner on 20/05/2021 - 10:38
            +3

            @burningrage: The fact that you've kept the same graphics card from your build 11 years ago makes me wonder why you're so concerned about potential resale value. It sounds like you don't upgrade parts regularly so you don't need worry about resale price?

            • jace88 on 20/05/2021 - 10:56

              @FireRunner: Thought the same as you. If you kept your PC this long, chances are it isn't going to be an issue.

              Only thing which might work against you is the lack of epic cooling on the PC so you may need to do a bit of cleaning once in a while, but with the Dell warranty/etc, I think you'll be fine for genuine gaming and not caring for LHR/etc.

              • burningrage on 20/05/2021 - 12:58

                @jace88: Here is the plan.

                Because I am working from home anyway, during the day when I am working, I don't really need max GFX grunt then maybe, just maybe, I could then run Crypto mining in the background while I am working and when I wanna play, then I can switch it off. I think of Nicehash.

                I admit I am newbie when it comes to crypto but yeah….

                You're not the only one mentioning about cooling. Hmmm….

            • burningrage on 20/05/2021 - 12:55

              @FireRunner: That is true.

              But I am also quite intrigued with this crypto thingy. I was thinking if it doesn't work out, I could just sell it as an antique and get something else in the future at cheaper price (presumably if future cards are priced down significantly).

              I normally upgrade my memory, HDD, but never on GFX but we're living in different world now vs 11 years ago when Crypto wasn't even there.

  • cille745 on 20/05/2021 - 10:09
    +2

    This is obviously one of the Alienware builds, really depends on what you're goals are. Are you aiming to get the absolute best paper specs for the money? Then this is probably the best deal at the moment, although it likely will go cheaper.

    Keep in mind that with this you'll get not so great thermals as the case has next to no airflow and the pc will be relatively loud. Also check to make sure the ram isn't a single stick either, as it has been on some of their builds. It also depends whether you want upgrade ability as well, as it's often harder to upgrade GPU's etc further down the line as a lot of the parts are proprietary.

    If you're aim is to sell it without doing a GPU upgrade then given the above, it's probably not a bad choice, just depends on what you're looking for

    • burningrage on 20/05/2021 - 10:19

      I haven't taken into account loudness although thermals, I would have thought reputable company like Dell (especially on Alienware branding) would have thought about that.

      I won't upgrade my GFX (my current PC has the same GFX as it was 11 years ago and still can run Battlefield 3 and Battletech well).

      I think the RAM is ok.

      Memory slots
      Four UDIMM

      Memory type
      DDR4

      Memory speed
      3200 MHz up to 3400 MHz (XMP memory)

      Maximum memory configuration
      128 GB

      Minimum memory configuration
      8 GB

      Memory size per slot
      8 GB, 16 GB, and 32 GB

      Memory configurations supported
      8 GB, 1 x 8 GB, DDR4, 3200 MHz
      16 GB, 1 x 16 GB, DDR4, 3200 MHz
      16 GB, 2 x 8 GB, DDR4, 3200 MHz
      32 GB, 2 x 16 GB, DDR4, 3200 MHz
      64 GB, 2 x 32 GB, DDR4, 3200 MHz
      64 GB, 4 x 16 GB, DDR4, 3200 MHz
      128 GB, 4 x 32 GB, DDR4, 3200 MHz
      16 GB, 1 x 16 GB, DDR4, 3400 MHz
      32 GB, 2 x 16 GB, DDR4, 3400 MHz
      64 GB, 4 x 16 GB, DDR4, 3400 MHz
      64 GB, 2 x 32 GB, DDR4, 3400 MHz
      128 GB, 4 x 32 GB, DDR4, 3400 MHz

      • FireRunner on 20/05/2021 - 10:27

        Just make sure the RAM is "Dual Channel" and not "Single Channel" when you buy it as having only a single DIMM slot is huge bottleneck.

  • PensionerXXL on 20/05/2021 - 10:13

    some z490's have issues regarding pcie-4.0 so you may have to run the gpu @ 3.0 to get around it
    i know gigabyte have had some issues with F20 bios i believe so be careful (especially if the ssd is a 4.0)

    however running @ 3.0 isnt much of a 'loss' in performance. i only noticed a few frames going from 3 to 4

    looks good though man, if your not into tuning and messing about in the bios looks like a snappy system to plug & play with
    if you are good with the bios those F cpus are not bad, i think you can run the BCLK higher to juice the performance a bit
    but you'd have to reduce the ram speed and cache for stability in that setting

    • burningrage on 20/05/2021 - 10:23
      +1

      Yes. I am not really into aggressive tuning as such but would do some "optimal" adjustments which I am comfortable to do.

      At this stage, my biggest consideration is current pricing vs post-LHR pricing. That is, if we say post-LHR, GFX drops say 50% in pricing (ie: 3080 from $2,500 to $1,250. We assume scarcity is the cause of the premium) then yeah I'll wait for Black Friday but if the trend keeps moving up despite LHR, then I'd rather jump in now.

    • cille745 on 20/05/2021 - 11:49

      Problem is when you go to upgrade your GPU in 2-3 years time PCIE 3.0 might not have enough bandwidth (assuming there's good gains in the next couple of generations) and you'll have a decent hit to performance

  • [Deactivated] on 20/05/2021 - 10:38
    +3

    I wouldn't buy this even if LHR is an issue for you. Dell is currently out of stock of 11900kf so I would just get the 11700kf and you'll get a better speed even with a mild overclock.

    • [Deactivated] on 20/05/2021 - 10:54

      NVM 11900kf is 30-50 days away from being able to be ordered.

  • Pelicannn on 20/05/2021 - 12:30
    +2

    Wait out for a better deal.

    Alienware had this almost identical RTX 3080 build with a free monitor and accessories for under $3200 after Cashrewards. Well the monitor for $400 easily (or keep, whatever) and you’re worlds ahead. Firstly I’d take an 11700KF over an 11900F and this one also had a 2TB HDD (if you care about additional slower storage)

    https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/621849

    • burningrage on 20/05/2021 - 12:59

      Now this is an idea!

      • Pelicannn on 20/05/2021 - 13:39

        Yep. Definitely a shame you missed this.

        I even posted a RTX3090 deal for not much more than $4,000 after cash back and selling the monitor a month ago.

        • burningrage on 20/05/2021 - 13:49

          I know. I feel like I missed the boat but convincing a wife to part $3k (let alone $4k) was a big ask and it's only because of LHR thingy I really pushed it in the last 2 days and got over myself the line but at the same time, I would feel dirty if I spend $4k and all the Ozbs PC Gamers start popping deals that are much better than this.

  • zigzagoonmemes on 20/05/2021 - 13:18
    +2

    I understand this is prebuilt, but liquid cooling isn't worth it IMO - Look at getting a Noctura D12 or D14 instead: Similar performance to watercooling, without any of the (profanity) around with liquid.

    • [Deactivated] on 20/05/2021 - 13:20
      +1

      These are AIO liquid coolers, there is no hassle as its prebuilt and you never have to refill as its closed loop.

      • cille745 on 20/05/2021 - 13:39

        Yeah but it's a crap single fan one in a case with no airflow, but either air or water it isn't going to be good regardless

    • Pelicannn on 20/05/2021 - 13:38
      +1

      I understand people have issues with water in PC, I used AIO for years with no issues, and I finally but the bullet and went custom loop with acrylic tube on my current build. Never done it before, had somewhat of an idea of what I was doing, but built a dual loop from pump to two radiators, CPU and GPU, included up to 90 degree bends using a heat pipe and haven’t had an issue in 15 months since the build. It was challenging, but also fun.

      I’ve never heard of any of my mates having an issue with AIO so I certainly wouldn’t worry. If it failed that would certainly be a cause for Dell to warranty the whole system.

      That being said, I will agree with you 100% that Noctua are definitely better than liquid cooling in terms of price vs performance, infact the Noctua would be better than a poorly built loop. For people who bought the XPS desktops with the K chips, they will definitely be better off with a new CPU cooler for better performance.

  • burningrage on 20/05/2021 - 15:50
    +1

    IT IS DONE!

    Now I don't have to think about PC again for the next 10 years lol.

    To reiterate, I got a screenshot confirming no LHR cards will be used.

  • brokenglish on 20/05/2021 - 18:01

    $4k but RAM only 16GB?!

    • burningrage on 20/05/2021 - 18:45
      +1

      I know rite? Will see if that holds or bottlenecks, if necessary I will chip in to 32gb.

    • Pelicannn on 20/05/2021 - 19:37
      +1

      It's kinda a method of how Dell makes some decent money for pennies on the dollar. To upgrade the RAM to 32GB usually costs an exhorbant amount. Deal I linked a month or so back had an upgrade to 64GB from 16GB for $1200…. Some unsuspecting people who think they are getting a bargain on the rest of the system and use that saving to offset the cost of a RAM upgrade probably end up paying for it.

      The RAM in the system is usually Kingston Hyper X. Easier to a) sell the stick and replace with 32GB of another brand or whatever you want for $200 or try find another 16GB set for the Hyper X just have to make sure the timing and frequency is the same etc.

      Either way its a $100 - $200 upgrade for 32GB vs Dell's crazy offering.

  • Pelicannn on 21/05/2021 - 07:18
    +2

    Hey mate, not as good as previous. Better than you posted but.

    https://www.dell.com/en-au/shop/dell-desktop-computers/new-a…

    32GB RAM and i9 version here but it’s not a K chip

    https://www.dell.com/en-au/shop/dell-desktop-computers/new-a…

    Don’t think LOVEKEANU will work and cash back has dropped from the usual 6% to 1.4% on CR. Unsure on SB as I don’t use both.

    • burningrage on 21/05/2021 - 07:52

      Thank you!

      I remember some Ozbs are saying there is a price match or cancel and reorder even on finance?. Can you do that with this? It's funny its cheaper with more memory

      https://www.dell.com/en-au/shop/dell-desktop-computers/new-a… 32G

      • Pelicannn on 21/05/2021 - 09:03

        They won’t price match previous sales.

        They aren’t quite the same, one is a 11900F, one is an 11700KF. personally I’d take the KF but it’s apples and apples for gaming purposes anyway.

        • burningrage on 21/05/2021 - 09:31

          Yeah. My inclination is to go with KF but it's i7. Strangely though, benchmarking still saying i7 11700KF is better than i9 11900F so I am not sure what to believe but either way, your deal gives 32gb memory whereas the i7 11700KF only gives out 16gb.

          Also, I thought they have a 30 day price guarantee but either way, I still think cancelling is the best way to go.
          https://www.dell.com/en-au/work/shop/price-match-guarantee-a…

    • burningrage on 21/05/2021 - 09:29
      +1

      Attempting to cancel. Let's see what happens next. Will keep you guys updated.

      • Pelicannn on 21/05/2021 - 09:44
        +2

        The 11900F is just a better binned 10700F.

        11700KF with a small OC will be better for gaming.

        You should be able to cancel and reorder and yeah look, don’t stress about 16GB vs 32GB RAM. I had 32GB (4x8GB) in my rig with a 9900K and 2080Ti, one stick died, so I returned half and now just have 2x8GB sticks. Has not made any difference in the games I play (PUBG, LOL, Witcher 3, ROR2 etc)

  • burningrage on 25/05/2021 - 11:51

    So… thanks to @toshjammi, I cancelled my order the next day after Click Frenzy ended.

    Turned out the price went down to as @toshjammi said, $3.7k. Upon cancellation, it took a few days until I got my refund before re-ordering however, I now got this spec

    Alienware Aurora R12
    11th Gen Intel Core i9 11900F (8-Core, 16MB Cache, 2.5GHz to 5.2GHz w/Thermal Velocity Boost)
    Lunar Light chassis with High-Performance CPU Liquid Cooling and 1000W Power Supply
    32GB Dual Channel DDR4 XMP at 3200MHz; up to 128GB (additional memory sold separately)
    512GB M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD (Boot) + 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s (Storage)
    NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 10GB GDDR6X
    Killer(TM) Wi-Fi 6 AX1650 (2x2) 802.11ax Wireless and Bluetooth
    Wired Optical Mouse
    Wired Multimedia Keyboard (English)
    Windows 10 Home

    At $3.44k. Needless to say, I reordered this today. The improvement is obviously $$$ ($500+ savings and extra 16gb memory).

    For the benefit of this community, I also got a quote for i7 11700KF for about $200 less so at $3.24k for the same spec other than the chipset.

    Delivery is now mid July to end of July. Still no LHR cards.

    Thank you for your inputs guys, especially @toshjammi.

    Cheers

    Zz

  • l0nglive on 28/05/2021 - 11:47

    Dell Alienware often has good 30% off deal.

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