Transitioning Back To PC Master Race. First build in 10 years, please critique.

[sirRealist]

Hello all! I'm a former computer engineer who's flying helicopters now, and I haven't built a PC in about 10 years. I'm still an avid gamer, and I want to transition back to PC Master Race (Stellaris, ah how I love thee). I'm no stranger to CPU/GPU/RAM overclocking and plan on doing so with the new build. I've been doing a lot of reading for the past few weeks and I think I have what I'm looking for. My budget was $1500 for the PC, and to reuse my OS license, mouse, kb and 25" monitor. Then I saw my buddy's Acer predator Z35p, and figured a nice monitor would be a worthwhile investment. I started with a ~$500 budget for a 34-35" monitor and had selected the ViewSonic Elite XG350R-C, but after doing more reading/researching I've decided to up my monitor budget to about $1000 and just get something really great. I've gone a little over budget with this build, but I think all the overages are worth it. For the monitor, I'm thinking of the new LG 34GN850-B, but I had to choose the 34GK950F-B in the list b/c the GN850 isn't listed there yet.

What do you all think? I'm missing a few fans and possible heat sink paste, but I think all the rest is here.

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/PqvV8M


I just saw my signature... wow.

 

[bmwbaxter]

I'm no stranger to CPU/GPU/RAM overclocking and plan on doing so with the new build.

What do you all think? I'm missing a few fans and possible heat sink paste, but I think all the rest is here.

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/PqvV8M


I just saw my signature... wow.

Don't expect much overclocking headroom on the CPU. You will get some but not like the good old days where you could get a 30% performance increase

Paste will come pre-applied on the CLC you are buying so don't "need" it unless you want to swap it out for 1-2% better performance.

The case comes with 2 fans so maybe grab one more for rear exhaust.

Overall seems like a decent build. So good luck and welcome back to the fold

 

[sirRealist]

Thanks so much!

When you say "overall seems like a decent build", I sense room for improvement. Any advice on how you'd modify it, and why?

 

[bmwbaxter]

Thanks so much!

When you say "overall seems like a decent build", I sense room for improvement. Any advice on how you'd modify it, and why?

I would downsize the monitor and get a better CPU personally. But that’s more cause I had a 32” in the past and didn’t really like it, but that was a few years ago and it was 1080P. So a 1440p panel might be better suited.
Currently love my 27” 1440p.

 

[bigtallanddopey]

I would downsize the monitor and get a better CPU personally. But that’s more cause I had a 32” in the past and didn’t really like it, but that was a few years ago and it was 1080P. So a 1440p panel might be better suited.
Currently love my 27” 1440p.

I would also downsize the monitor but that is personal preference, 27” is more than enough when you are sat up close to a screen. However as for a better cpu, I wouldn’t say that is needed. The 10600k is probably the best gaming cpu right now. Yes you can spend more and get the 10900k and that is the outright best cpu for gaming, but it’s over double the price for maybe 5% improvement at 1080p gaming. And if you are playing stellaris a lot then that only really uses 1 core (stupid game engine), yes it uses other cores for other things but 90% all goes into one core (one thread actually).

That leads into my other point. What other games are you playing? If it is mainly stellaris and those types of games I wouldn’t get a 2080, it would be a waste of money. A 2060 would be more than great for stellaris and with the new graphics cards coming out at the end of this year which are said to have way more power for the same money (here’s hoping) it may be better to spend less money on something now and then upgrade next year. However if you are playing AAA titles and you want the best frames on high settings then by all means get the 2080.

 

[David]

I have a 32in 4K in the office and a 27in 4K at home - I've not used the 32in for the past two months for obvious reasons, but I don't particularly miss the extra 5 inches very much. To be fair, the desk is the office is reasonably large, but I do have to make sure it sits at the back edge otherwise I'm far too close.

 

[Zerileous]

Keep in mind with that monitor the GPU demand will be somewhere in between 1440p and 4k. I guess it's personal preference. If your buddy's monitor that you used is a wide curved monitor like that, and that is what you like, then go for it. I agree with the philosophy of investing in a decent monitor though, doesn't make sense to spend a lot on a build and then stare at it's output through a crummy panel.