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Given a budget of $1500 +/- $100, what would you build these days for a gamer/coder? (Just CPU, mobo, RAM, SSDs and video card) And, is there anything in the next 3 months that would definitely postpone this build?

3rd generation Ryzen processors will arrive within your time frame. Even if you still select an Intel CPU, the competition should be good for the consumer.

Please tell us more about the existing PC that you're upgrading:

What monitor are you using? This has a significant impact on the GPU requirement. It is a lot more expensive to get good gaming performance at 3840x2160 than it is at 2560x1440.

What size is the case that you want to re-use? How beefy is your power supply?

In many PC build threads, I wrote:

Are you near a Micro Center store?
https://www.microcenter.com/site/brands ... ndles.aspx
https://www.microcenter.com/site/produc ... ndles.aspx

JustAnEngineer wrote:

3rd generation Ryzen processors will arrive within your time frame. Even if you still select an Intel CPU, the competition should be good for the consumer.

Tell us more about the existing PC that you're upgrading...

What monitor are you using? This has a significant impact on the GPU requirement. It is a lot more expensive to get good gaming performance at 3840x2160 than it is at 2560x1440.

What size is the case that you want to re-use? How beefy is your power supply?

In many PC build threads, I wrote:

Are you near a Micro Center store?
https://www.microcenter.com/site/brands ... ndles.aspx
https://www.microcenter.com/site/produc ... ndles.aspx

• That's what I've been seeing. What exactly is the best known timeframe right now?
• My current PC is: i7-2600K, Asus P8P67, 32GB RAM, a Crucial MX500 512GB SSD, a SanDisk 480GB SSD and an XFX R9 200 Series
• I currently have 3 monitors. They're all Dell U2410s, so 1920x1200. I like to splurge on good monitors. Between my daytime coding job, my night-time coding and gaming, I look at a screen way too much. So I'll budget for them generously and separately. But, for the purposes of component selection, I'd like to do one large monitor (say 32") for gaming, and two 24" this time for my 3-monitor setup for coding. I'd like the vertical res to be >= 1200.
• I don't use a case. I currently have a Corsair AX850 PSU.
• I have built many desktops and servers over my adult life, but not any in the last 3 years. So, I am out of date on current hardware.
• Sadly, my city does not have any good walk-in hardware store. I will have to mailorder.

TIA for any advice.

alphadogg wrote:

My current PC is: i7-2600K, Asus P8P67, 32GB RAM, a Crucial MX500 512GB SSD, a SanDisk 480GB SSD and an XFX R9 200 Series

If you're feeling the upgrade itch right now, you could upgrade your GPU and gaming monitor today and still get good enough performance with the rest of that kit for the next six months.

alphadogg wrote:

I currently have 3 monitors. They're all Dell U2410s, so 1920x1200. I'd like to do one large monitor (say 32") for gaming, and two 24" this time for my 3-monitor setup for coding. I'd like the vertical res to be >= 1200.

I have my Dell U2407 running in portrait mode beside my main gaming monitor. You could re-use your existing monitors in a similar fashion. 1200x1920 provides plenty of room for code, web browsing, etc.


For starters, what do you think of these components?
$410 Intel Core i7-9700K (8-core 3.6 GHz (4.9 turbo))
or $510 Intel Core i9-9900K
$31 Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo
or $100 Noctua NH-U12A
$150 Gigabyte Z390 M Gaming (micro-ATX)
or $200 Gigabyte Z390 Aorus Pro WiFi (ATX)
$206 2x16 GiB PC4-25600 Crucial Ballistix Sport LT BLS16G4D32AESB
$500 EVGA GeForce RTX2070 08G-P4-1071-KR
or $730 EVGA GeForce RTX2080 08G-P4-2081-KR
$150 ½ TB Samsung 970 Evo (M.2) - system drive
$250 2 TB Crucial MX500 (SATA) - everything else
=====
$1700

JustAnEngineer wrote:

alphadogg wrote:

My current PC is: i7-2600K, Asus P8P67, 32GB RAM, a Crucial MX500 512GB SSD, a SanDisk 480GB SSD and an XFX R9 200 Series

If you're feeling the upgrade itch right now, you could upgrade your GPU and gaming monitor today and still get good enough performance with the rest of that kit for the next six months.

alphadogg wrote:

I currently have 3 monitors. They're all Dell U2410s, so 1920x1200. I'd like to do one large monitor (say 32") for gaming, and two 24" this time for my 3-monitor setup for coding. I'd like the vertical res to be >= 1200.

I have my Dell U2410 running in portrait mode beside my main gaming monitor. You could re-use your existing monitors in a similar fashion. 1200x1920 provides plenty of room for code, web browsing, etc.


For starters, what do you think of these components?
$410 Intel Core i7-9700K (8-core 3.6 GHz (4.9 turbo))
or $510 Intel Core i9-9900K
$31 Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo
or $100 Noctua NH-U12A
$150 Gigabyte Z390 M Gaming (micro-ATX)
or $200 Gigabyte Z390 Aorus Pro WiFi (ATX)
$206 2x16 GiB PC4-25600 Crucial Ballistix Sport LT BLS16G4D32AESB
$500 EVGA GeForce RTX2070 08G-P4-1071-KR
or $730 EVGA GeForce RTX2080 08G-P4-2081-KR
$150 ½ TB Samsung 970 Evo (M.2) - system drive
$250 2 TB Crucial MX500 (SATA) - everything else
=====
$1700

You can cut the CPU and motherboard costs down by going with a Ryzen 2700X and an Asus Prime X370 (Which has a very nice intel NIC)
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819113499&ignorebbr=1 2700x for $294.99
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813132964&ignorebbr=1 Asus Prime X370 for $150.52

alphadogg wrote:

My current PC is: i7-2600K, Asus P8P67, 32GB RAM, a Crucial MX500 512GB SSD, a SanDisk 480GB SSD and an XFX R9 200 Series

-my guess is you should be looking at the new Ryzen 7 3700X when it becomes available + new chipset m-board, and at least 64 gb of system memory w/ 4 *16* GB sticks (..3000 and up on whatever sale makes sense: getting as close to the $300 dollar mark as possible). A good value NVME M.2 SSD to accompany it ..maybe the XPG SX8200 Pro 1 TB.

Video Card: really depends on the monitor (resolution and refresh rate) vs. the games you play (and are likely to play in the future).

I like the suggestion of keeping two of my Dell 2410s. They've served me well so far. I'm a bit worried they are getting old and the new monitor might reveal that! They are heavy and power-hungry.

So, it seems like GPU/monitor-now-Ryzen3000-later is a good path. Or, a Ryzen 2700X-full-system upgrade. I don't think I do enough to justify a top-end Intel CPU-based system.

Decisions, decisions...

Also, depending on how critical your coding is, I think the AMD cpu may support ECC ram, if that's a concern.

alphadogg wrote:

I like the suggestion of keeping two of my Dell 2410s. They've served me well so far. I'm a bit worried they are getting old and the new monitor might reveal that! They are heavy and power-hungry.

I'd look for a primary/gaming monitor that had a physical height of around 25-26"s - about the width of your Dells. Then put your Dell in "portrait" mode beside the primary/gaming monitor for the added works-space (using your old graphics card to "power" it). Keep the others as back-up. Turn on and off as required for power-savings.

alphadogg wrote:

I like the suggestion of keeping two of my Dell 2410s. They've served me well so far. I'm a bit worried they are getting old and the new monitor might reveal that! They are heavy and power-hungry.

Personally, I'd stick with the U2410s unless you're willing to spend a *lot* of money on a 30" Dell or NEC or roll the dice with one of those off brand Korean boy wonders. There aren't many 16:10 options out there, and most of it is of the same vintage as the U2410.

For gaming, 2560x1440 is still the sweet spot.

There are plenty of attractively-priced monitors available at this resolution with IPS or VA panels, 100+ Hz refresh and FreeSync variable refresh rate (which NVidia has finally started supporting via DisplayPort). Example: $330 PIxio PX329. You'll want a monitor with the lower end of the FreeSync range less than half of the maximum refresh rate so that you get LFC frame doubling when the game performance drops below the lower end of the FreeSync range. Any monitor with FreeSync2 branding is guaranteed to support both LFC and HDR. You can get good gaming performance at 2560x1440 with a Radeon RX Vega56 ($300) or slightly less performance with a GeForce RTX2060 ($350).

For video and coding, 3840x2160 resolution makes sense, but there aren't as many options for high-refresh IPS or VA gaming monitors with FreeSync, and the ones that do check all of the boxes are rather expensive. Plus, you'll need a GeForce GTX1080Ti or RTX2080 ($730) or better graphics card to get great gaming performance at that resolution in most modern games.
Having said all of that, keep an eye out for the Asus XG438Q.

CScottG wrote:

alphadogg wrote:

I like the suggestion of keeping two of my Dell 2410s. They've served me well so far. I'm a bit worried they are getting old and the new monitor might reveal that! They are heavy and power-hungry.

I'd look for a primary/gaming monitor that had a physical height of around 25-26"s - about the width of your Dells. Then put your Dell in "portrait" mode beside the primary/gaming monitor for the added works-space (using your old graphics card to "power" it). Keep the others as back-up. Turn on and off as required for power-savings.

um, yeah.. maybe this one:

https://www.engadget.com/2019/04/11/ace ... tive-sync/

CScottG wrote:

alphadogg wrote:

I like the suggestion of keeping two of my Dell 2410s. They've served me well so far. I'm a bit worried they are getting old and the new monitor might reveal that! They are heavy and power-hungry.

I'd look for a primary/gaming monitor that had a physical height of around 25-26"s - about the width of your Dells. Then put your Dell in "portrait" mode beside the primary/gaming monitor for the added works-space (using your old graphics card to "power" it). Keep the others as back-up. Turn on and off as required for power-savings.

That's a fantastic idea.

NovusBogus wrote:

Personally, I'd stick with the U2410s unless you're willing to spend a *lot* of money on a 30" Dell or NEC or roll the dice with one of those off brand Korean boy wonders. There aren't many 16:10 options out there, and most of it is of the same vintage as the U2410.

I kinda am willing. I really stare at these monitors way too much, for work, so you want to use good tools.

In truth, I've almost always spent a LOT on monitors as well. Started with a Frog Design NEC (CRT) monitor in the mid '90's.. progressed from there to an SGI 1600SW, and then onto a 42" LCD (1080P) monitor around 2005-6, and still use it today! (..so even though the 42" was only 2/3rds the price of the SGI - it's lasted 3 times as long! )

-sort of a "buy and hold" strategy for monitors. I treat all my peripherals like this.


..of course the other problem with a monitor like that is getting a good frame-rate with a newer game: again, more money (a LOT more) for your video card. Mo Money, mo problems.

I offered the $630 combination of Radeon RX Vega56 and Pixio PX329 at 2560x1440 (48-144 Hz FreeSync supports LFC). You'll spend three to five times as much to get similar gaming performance and image quality at 3840x2160.

CScottG wrote:

, and then onto a 42" LCD (1080P) monitor around 2005-6, and still use it today!

Are you still using the Westy that many of us bought at the time? Ours is the living room TV.

anotherengineer wrote:

Also, depending on how critical your coding is, I think the AMD cpu may support ECC ram, if that's a concern.

Careful what that does to your RAM cost though. Unbuffered ECC has been selling at a ridiculous price premium lately, and depending on how much RAM you plan to install that could break your budget.

A

JustAnEngineer wrote:

alphadogg wrote:

My current PC is: i7-2600K, Asus P8P67, 32GB RAM, a Crucial MX500 512GB SSD, a SanDisk 480GB SSD and an XFX R9 200 Series

If you're feeling the upgrade itch right now, you could upgrade your GPU and gaming monitor today and still get good enough performance with the rest of that kit for the next six months.

alphadogg wrote:

I currently have 3 monitors. They're all Dell U2410s, so 1920x1200. I'd like to do one large monitor (say 32") for gaming, and two 24" this time for my 3-monitor setup for coding. I'd like the vertical res to be >= 1200.

I have my Dell U2410 running in portrait mode beside my main gaming monitor. You could re-use your existing monitors in a similar fashion. 1200x1920 provides plenty of room for code, web browsing, etc.


For starters, what do you think of these components?
$410 Intel Core i7-9700K (8-core 3.6 GHz (4.9 turbo))
or $510 Intel Core i9-9900K
$31 Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo
or $100 Noctua NH-U12A
$150 Gigabyte Z390 M Gaming (micro-ATX)
or $200 Gigabyte Z390 Aorus Pro WiFi (ATX)
$206 2x16 GiB PC4-25600 Crucial Ballistix Sport LT BLS16G4D32AESB
$500 EVGA GeForce RTX2070 08G-P4-1071-KR
or $730 EVGA GeForce RTX2080 08G-P4-2081-KR
$150 ½ TB Samsung 970 Evo (M.2) - system drive
$250 2 TB Crucial MX500 (SATA) - everything else
=====
$1700

Hyper 212 isn't adequate if you intend on using an 8-Core Coffee Lake R chip if your workload goes beyond four cores unless you are willing to scale back the clockspeed down to saner levels. FYI, my Noctua NH-U9S barely keeps my 9700K tame at maximum load.

The GPU market is in a very bad spot for value. The price/performance ratio is terrible if you go beyond 2060/RX 580 until you land onto 2080Ti. The Radeon VII/2080 stand out as egregious examples.

I'd be hesitant to reuse the old PSU. A lot of people on these forums have weird, mysterious problems that often get traced back to an old PSU they reused.

A dying PSU might appear to be working, but if its power delivery is beginning to fail, it can cause random, mysterious system crashes. Moreover, it will be very difficult to diagnose, and it can cause permanent damage to the rest of the system. I don't think it's worth it to put $1500 at risk just to save $200. Buy yourself a new PSU.

[H]ardOCP has tested a few PSUs after 10 years of use (see (1), (2), and (3)), and in 2 out of 3 cases, they found the PSU could no longer pass their tests. Now, if you have an old system that is still working fine, then sure, keep using its PSU - in the same system. But when you're building a new system, there are already many uncertainties. Every component is new, and you don't know for sure what works and what doesn't. I'd say just get a new PSU and don't risk your $1500 of new parts with potentially dirty power.

alphadogg wrote:

Given a budget of $1500 +/- $100, what would you build these days for a gamer/coder? (Just CPU, mobo, RAM, SSDs and video card) And, is there anything in the next 3 months that would definitely postpone this build?

Late to the party, but I have some thoughts:

1. Wait for Ryzen 3000 CPUs.

2. Ultrawide monitor.
Massdrop has a 35" 3440x1440 100 Hz w/Freesync VA that tends to go for around $500

3. For GPU, Radeon VII or 2080, but may stretch your budget.

Just to play devil's advocate on the "wait for Ryzen 3000" refrain, there are some really good deals on Ryzen+ these days. For example, look at today's Deals post.

https://techreport.com/news/34560/barga ... -much-more

Usacomp2k3 wrote:

CScottG wrote:

, and then onto a 42" LCD (1080P) monitor around 2005-6, and still use it today!

Are you still using the Westy that many of us bought at the time? Ours is the living room TV.

-yup.

Dual-use for me (TV + Computer).

I don't sit real close to it like some did though, it puts-out a LOT of UV - not-quite tanning-bed levels (but still bad). (..the whole "pixel-size" thing though never really bothered me - being "raised" on CRT.)

Its black-levels have only gotten worse with time, but it's overall still quite enjoyable to use (..heavily forested scenes in shows still look walk-in amazing). Hope yours is as well!

alphadogg wrote:

NovusBogus wrote:

Personally, I'd stick with the U2410s unless you're willing to spend a *lot* of money on a 30" Dell or NEC or roll the dice with one of those off brand Korean boy wonders. There aren't many 16:10 options out there, and most of it is of the same vintage as the U2410.

I kinda am willing. I really stare at these monitors way too much, for work, so you want to use good tools.

There is also this one:

https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ph ... ,5921.html

-refresh rate isn't great (60 Hz), BUT the Freesync range is quite good and it's a 4k monitor. Where you would need the 2080ti and then some to get the most out of the Acer on tough game-titles working it above 60 Hz, the 2080 might suffice for the Phillips at those lower frame-rates. It would limit you though over time as newer video cards get faster (which might be able to better "feed" the higher refresh rate), but it could save you quite a bit in that interim with the Phillips along with the 2080.

Note there are two models of this monitor, one has 2 HDMI-2's + 1 Display Port, and the other has 1 HDMI and 2 Display Port connections, that seems to be the only difference (I'm thinking the difference is probably regional, where the 2 Display Ports is "International" and is substantively lower in price (..enough to give at least a little "pause" to think about it)):

https://www.grooves-inc.com/philips-phi ... gL3hPD_BwE

-of course getting a warranty out of this could be an exercise in futility (..caveat emptor).

2080ti are about $1100 and up, where the 2080 can be found as low as $659 (limited current special):

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/ ... 0_amp.html

JustAnEngineer wrote:

For gaming, 2560x1440 is still the sweet spot.
For video and coding, 3840x2160 resolution makes sense, but there aren't as many options for high-refresh IPS or VA gaming monitors with FreeSync, and the ones that do check all of the boxes are rather expensive. Plus, you'll need a GeForce GTX1080Ti or RTX2080 ($730) or better graphics card to get great gaming performance at that resolution in most modern games.
Having said all of that, keep an eye out for the Asus XG438Q.

https://www.guru3d.com/news-story/asus- ... sc%29.html
Display Stream Compression technology: a cool way to get 144 Hz at 3840x2160 resolution without losing color space.

I've spent way too much time pondering the best CPU, mobo, RAM, and SSD combination. My original plan was an overkill Threadripper box. But I've researched the implications too much and a lot of the old ways of doing things aren't desirable anymore.

The AMD Ryzen 7 3700X will be the best all round solution. Eight cores, sixteen threads, 3.6 GHz base clock, 4.4 GHz boost clock, 24 PCIe 4.0 lanes, 65 Watts TDP, $329.00 USD MSRP, released for sale 7/7/2019.

The motherboard area is very arguable at the moment. The new X570 boards release the same day as the processors and they are the only PCIe 4.0 support solution. Which is the big argument point after cost and power draw. Power draw; AMD designed the X570 chipset themselves.

Their PCIe 4.0 bridge runs hot, Most X570 motherboards will be equipped with X570 chipset cooling fans. Cost; amortizing AMD's development costs and paying for the first PCIe 4.0 solution will cost about $40 USD a board more than the equivalent X470 motherboard.

Will PCIe 4.0 make it worthwhile? Graphic interface, not yet. Storage interface, if 3,500 MB/s (on PCIe 3.0) is too slow for you then maybe the upgrade to about 5,000 MB/s will ease your pain. The Corsair MP600 comes fitted with a very effective looking heatsink and it can read up to 4,950 MB/s. My point being that there aren't many PCIe 4.0 peripherals available at the moment.

Future graphics? No chatter, but we still have six months left in this year. Which brings up rumors of an X590 (AM4?) chipset coming. Just a few footnotes in recent BIOS releases so far.

AND, ASMEDIA, supplier of AMD's X370 and X470 chipsets, seems to be holding back until some sort of non-compete clause expires according to some chatter.

So, in my opinion, buy PCIe 4.0 if it can pay you back this hardware cycle. But ...

There is a good argument for buying an X470 motherboard and riding the best "old" technology until the new stuff makes your system feel like Windows 95SE era hardware.

Same total number of PCIe 3.0 lanes. Same arrangement; 16 for a great video card at x16 or two great cards at x8, one NVME drive at x4 and 4 lanes to the chipset for SATA, LAN/WiFi and everything else.

The only way to escape the 24 lane limit is to upgrade to Threadripper.

My proposed very nice system might be:

AMD Ryzen 7 3700X; or, wait for September
AMD Ryzen 9 3950X: sixteen cores, thirty two threads, 3.5 GHz base clock, 4.7 GHz boost clock, 24 PCIe 4.0 lanes, 105 Watts TDP, $749.00 USD MSRP (I think I would choose Threadripper over this beast but maybe it actually needs PCIe 4.0)(16 cores!?)

ASROCK X470 Taichi with four DDR4 DIMMs totalling your desired amount of system memory. Memory should not be purchased until limits of the 3700X are defined. The Taichi claims it can overclock compatible memory to DDR4 3466.

1TB HP EX920 NVME drive 3,200 MB/s read, 1,800 write but too cheap to ignore; or, SAMSUNG 970 PRO NVME drive, up to 3,500 MB/s read and up to 2,700 MB/s write and you are definitely paying for it up front compared to the HP drive.