Building out a desktop computer 2019 edition
August 19, 2019 2:02 PM Subscribe
I'm finally looking to upgrade my system after 5 years with no major modification. I haven't kept up with hardware tech so am looking for component advice on a new CPU, GPU, and RAM.
I use the machine for both gaming and general computing at home. Generally I'm ok with it not being able to run the latest FPS maxed out, but am interested in getting close! Budget wise I'd say probably a grand for all three.
Right now I'm looking at the Intel Core i7-9700k 3.6 GHz for the CPU, the Radeon RX 5700 for the GPU (not sure which manufacturer to go for), and I'm not certain on the RAM yet.
Any advice would be super appreciated!
I use the machine for both gaming and general computing at home. Generally I'm ok with it not being able to run the latest FPS maxed out, but am interested in getting close! Budget wise I'd say probably a grand for all three.
Right now I'm looking at the Intel Core i7-9700k 3.6 GHz for the CPU, the Radeon RX 5700 for the GPU (not sure which manufacturer to go for), and I'm not certain on the RAM yet.
Any advice would be super appreciated!
Response by poster: I'm looking to upgrade myself, I have a case, a motherboard, etc that I'm happy with. As for VR capable, I hadn't really thought about it not running VR currently. I guess I'd say no?
posted by Carillon at 2:14 PM on August 19, 2019
posted by Carillon at 2:14 PM on August 19, 2019
Best answer: All the momentum this summer has been towards AMD's new Ryzen 3000 CPU series. They've been out for about 6 weeks and they're extremely popular for being generally equal or more performant than Intel CPUs for less money. They also come with a decent cooler included where Intel K CPUs do not come with a cooler at all. If you want your build to be part of the zeitgeist, give AMD's Ryzen 3000 series a look. PCWorld's tl;dr review of the 12 core, 24 thread 3900X is: Damn, this CPU is fast.
Cherrypicking against your listed i7-9700K, the Ryzen 3700X is about $50 cheaper, comes with a cooler for additional savings, uses 35 watts less at full load, and is +/- 5% of the same FPS in games (Source: AnandTech).
If you like Intel, by all means go with Intel, but right now AMD CPUs are enjoying a resurgence we haven't seen in 15 years or more so they're definitely worth consideration.
posted by glonous keming at 2:49 PM on August 19, 2019 [2 favorites]
Cherrypicking against your listed i7-9700K, the Ryzen 3700X is about $50 cheaper, comes with a cooler for additional savings, uses 35 watts less at full load, and is +/- 5% of the same FPS in games (Source: AnandTech).
If you like Intel, by all means go with Intel, but right now AMD CPUs are enjoying a resurgence we haven't seen in 15 years or more so they're definitely worth consideration.
posted by glonous keming at 2:49 PM on August 19, 2019 [2 favorites]
I now see your comment that you already have a motherboard. Just to be clear: that's a new motherboard, right? Because there's no way a 5 year old Intel motherboard can accept a 9th gen CPU. If you do already have a new Intel mobo, please disregard my comment above about the AMD Ryzen 3000s since you've already decided on a CPU brand.
posted by glonous keming at 3:11 PM on August 19, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by glonous keming at 3:11 PM on August 19, 2019 [1 favorite]
Best answer: On preview - echoing glonous keming...
I think you'll need to upgrade your motherboard as well - a 5 year old socket isn't likely to have any particularly cost effective upgrade paths available.
As an example, the i7-9700k you mention runs on the LGA 1151 2nd gen socket, which is only compatible with Coffee Lake gen processors released 2017 onward.
I too would recommend looking at the new Ryzen 2 processors ahead of Intel right now.
I've just built a new PC to replace an 8 year old i7-950 rig; after a lot of research I switched to AMD and am super happy with the price / payoff result. Details of my build and advice based on some of the decisions / details that emerged in my research follow:
I went for the Ryzen 3700x, which is the direct competitor to the i7-9700k; almost identical performance, but a chunk cheaper and comes with a very decent cpu fan included.
Depending on what resolution / refresh rate monitor you're looking to run, what games you want to max out (I'm using a 3440 x 1440 ultrawide and wanted to hit near max in things like Prey, Witcher 3, the latest Asscreed), and how much you value extra cores / threads for desktop work, you could save another chunk with the Ryzen 3600 and put that money towards the mobo / gpu / ram.
If you do go down the Ryzen route, it's worth noting that you don't need to buy the newest X570 chipset mobos; in fact their main new feature, PCIE4, isn't yet near to being relevant and just adds cost, heat and extra fans to those boards.
Last-gen X470 and B450 mobos will work with the new Ryzen CPUs, though if you buy one soon it'll have been manufactured before they were released so you'll have to update its BIOS. Best to look for a board with usb BIOS flashback for this, or buy from a specialist retailer who can update the board for you.
Final nice thing about Ryzen 2 CPUs, it seems that AMD have tweaked them to run very close to their max performance straight out the box. Bad news for overclocking enthusiasts, but personally I've found that very liberating; this time round I've been able to build with a stock cooler and not spend loads of time fiddling in BIOS trying to get a stable OC, and I don't feel like I'm losing out on speed I could be hitting.
RAM wise 16gb should do fine unless you need to run very heavy desktop tasks. G-Skill Trident Z came out ahead in the research I did; if you go for Ryzen 2 the "sweet spot" for price / performance is DDR4 3200 - DDR4 3600. I went for 3200 CL14, so lower clock but tighter timings, however this was solely due to availability / price. The difference between CL14 and CL16 at these speeds is negligible in real usage. It's not worth paying out for faster RAM than this due to arcane stuff I didn't bother to try to understand related to speed scaling and details of the architecture.
Finally, the RX5700 should do you fine for 1080p 60hz, if you're looking to run higher resolutions / refresh rate, you might want to think about saving on the mobo and processor to upgrade the GPU. I didn't change GPU on this build, but from general reading it seems that the 5700 / 5700xt are much better value than equivalent performing NVidia cards; to get much more significant speed at higher resolutions you'd probably need to look at the new 2070 super, or better, which would bump costs up significantly.
posted by protorp at 3:21 PM on August 19, 2019 [1 favorite]
I think you'll need to upgrade your motherboard as well - a 5 year old socket isn't likely to have any particularly cost effective upgrade paths available.
As an example, the i7-9700k you mention runs on the LGA 1151 2nd gen socket, which is only compatible with Coffee Lake gen processors released 2017 onward.
I too would recommend looking at the new Ryzen 2 processors ahead of Intel right now.
I've just built a new PC to replace an 8 year old i7-950 rig; after a lot of research I switched to AMD and am super happy with the price / payoff result. Details of my build and advice based on some of the decisions / details that emerged in my research follow:
I went for the Ryzen 3700x, which is the direct competitor to the i7-9700k; almost identical performance, but a chunk cheaper and comes with a very decent cpu fan included.
Depending on what resolution / refresh rate monitor you're looking to run, what games you want to max out (I'm using a 3440 x 1440 ultrawide and wanted to hit near max in things like Prey, Witcher 3, the latest Asscreed), and how much you value extra cores / threads for desktop work, you could save another chunk with the Ryzen 3600 and put that money towards the mobo / gpu / ram.
If you do go down the Ryzen route, it's worth noting that you don't need to buy the newest X570 chipset mobos; in fact their main new feature, PCIE4, isn't yet near to being relevant and just adds cost, heat and extra fans to those boards.
Last-gen X470 and B450 mobos will work with the new Ryzen CPUs, though if you buy one soon it'll have been manufactured before they were released so you'll have to update its BIOS. Best to look for a board with usb BIOS flashback for this, or buy from a specialist retailer who can update the board for you.
Final nice thing about Ryzen 2 CPUs, it seems that AMD have tweaked them to run very close to their max performance straight out the box. Bad news for overclocking enthusiasts, but personally I've found that very liberating; this time round I've been able to build with a stock cooler and not spend loads of time fiddling in BIOS trying to get a stable OC, and I don't feel like I'm losing out on speed I could be hitting.
RAM wise 16gb should do fine unless you need to run very heavy desktop tasks. G-Skill Trident Z came out ahead in the research I did; if you go for Ryzen 2 the "sweet spot" for price / performance is DDR4 3200 - DDR4 3600. I went for 3200 CL14, so lower clock but tighter timings, however this was solely due to availability / price. The difference between CL14 and CL16 at these speeds is negligible in real usage. It's not worth paying out for faster RAM than this due to arcane stuff I didn't bother to try to understand related to speed scaling and details of the architecture.
Finally, the RX5700 should do you fine for 1080p 60hz, if you're looking to run higher resolutions / refresh rate, you might want to think about saving on the mobo and processor to upgrade the GPU. I didn't change GPU on this build, but from general reading it seems that the 5700 / 5700xt are much better value than equivalent performing NVidia cards; to get much more significant speed at higher resolutions you'd probably need to look at the new 2070 super, or better, which would bump costs up significantly.
posted by protorp at 3:21 PM on August 19, 2019 [1 favorite]
Best answer: Cherrypicking against your listed i7-9700K, the Ryzen 3700X is about $50 cheaper, comes with a cooler for additional savings, uses 35 watts less at full load, and is +/- 5% of the same FPS in games (Source: AnandTech).
...and curb-stomps the 9700k in most things that aren't gaming.
In the ~1K range with gaming as a primary focus, most of the lists/recommendations I've seen would say either to get:
3600 not-x, b450 or x470 motherboard w/ updated bios, 16gb 3200-3600 ram depending on current sales, 5700. 3600x is a smidge faster for another $50, which you could throw at 5700xt or bigger m2 drive. Or, if you want it quiet, at a fuck-you big air cooler.
--OR--
2600x from the last generation for like $150 and dump more money into the video card, and maybe swap in a 3x00 when the 4x00's come out (presumably) next year.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 7:11 PM on August 19, 2019
...and curb-stomps the 9700k in most things that aren't gaming.
In the ~1K range with gaming as a primary focus, most of the lists/recommendations I've seen would say either to get:
3600 not-x, b450 or x470 motherboard w/ updated bios, 16gb 3200-3600 ram depending on current sales, 5700. 3600x is a smidge faster for another $50, which you could throw at 5700xt or bigger m2 drive. Or, if you want it quiet, at a fuck-you big air cooler.
--OR--
2600x from the last generation for like $150 and dump more money into the video card, and maybe swap in a 3x00 when the 4x00's come out (presumably) next year.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 7:11 PM on August 19, 2019
Best answer: I just upgraded a ~5 year old system too! After looking hard at the new Ryzen processors, I went with the i7-9700k for a few reasons: (1) motherboard availability (the only itx mobos for ryzen were overpriced or not out yet) (2) intel possibly less finicky with ram speeds/timings (3) my Microcenter had the 9700k and the 3700x for the same price (4) and I already had a radiator from the old build.
Paired them with a Nvidia 2070 Super. I'm happy with the build, things are pretty and fast.
You don't mention your monitor or other accessories. I ended up wanting to upgrade to push my VR headset and 1440p/144hz monitor. If you're not doing VR or running at 1920x1080, you could get away with less power most likely.
posted by Wulfhere at 8:57 PM on August 19, 2019
Paired them with a Nvidia 2070 Super. I'm happy with the build, things are pretty and fast.
You don't mention your monitor or other accessories. I ended up wanting to upgrade to push my VR headset and 1440p/144hz monitor. If you're not doing VR or running at 1920x1080, you could get away with less power most likely.
posted by Wulfhere at 8:57 PM on August 19, 2019
Best answer: Here are some recent suggested builds:
https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-pc-builds,4390.html
posted by sebastienbailard at 9:32 PM on August 19, 2019
https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-pc-builds,4390.html
posted by sebastienbailard at 9:32 PM on August 19, 2019
Can you be more specific about the parts you have now? Like, manufacturer, model number, chipset, etc? Especially knowing what kind of motherboard you currently have will swing the conversation pretty wildly.
Nthing that a 5 year old motherboard will not accept a current-gen Intel processor though.
posted by Aleyn at 2:07 PM on August 20, 2019 [1 favorite]
Nthing that a 5 year old motherboard will not accept a current-gen Intel processor though.
posted by Aleyn at 2:07 PM on August 20, 2019 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Thanks everyone who answered the question. Went with a Ryzen 7 3700X, Radeon RX 5700, and Corsair Vengeance RGB pro 2x8. The CPU cooler and Ram being super colorful is a lot of fun :).
posted by Carillon at 2:40 PM on August 27, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by Carillon at 2:40 PM on August 27, 2019 [1 favorite]
^ I was determinedly in the RGB's a gimmick camp up to this build, but like you the Ryzen CPU cooler and RGB RAM has converted me. Hope you enjoy your build!
posted by protorp at 6:24 AM on August 31, 2019
posted by protorp at 6:24 AM on August 31, 2019
This thread is closed to new comments.
So... second question... would you be wanting a VR capable computer or not?
posted by OnTheLastCastle at 2:05 PM on August 19, 2019