I'm thinking about ordering a new gaming PC. I occasionally use the PC for photo processing, and astrophotography post-processing, which is somewhat CPU intensive.
I'd like to keep this under $3000. I can afford more, but I feel $3000 is probably well over the "decent return on investment" point already.
I'm ordering this from Newegg via their new PC Builder service. This is about the availability of RTX 3080 cards at MSRP more than anything else. I think if you order an out-of-stock part this way, you'll get the PC when it becomes available.
That's how it works if you order from someplace like Cyberpower. You can get RTX 3080 cards in a PC from them with about 4 weeks delay - but the parts selection is more limited, and the price is about $300 higher than this build.
I sometimes play VR games on a Vive Pro 2, so treat that as periodic 4K gaming.
CPU: i9 11900k. Gaming doesn't demand a top-end CPU, but some of my other projects do.
Motherboard: Gigabyte Z590 Aorus Ultra. This is really the part where I'm most at sea, I don't know what to look for in a motherboard really. I do want PCI 4.0 for the M.2 SSD, and 2.5 GB/s LAN. I selected this one based on having a fair number of rear-panel USB 3 ports, which seems like a shallow criterion. I've got 10 USB devices plugged into the back my desktop right now. Most of which would be fine with USB 2 parts, granted.
At least one truly high-speed port seems useful, since I do my backups with an external drive.
Memory: 32 GB (2x 16 GB) "Team T-Force" 3600 RAM. Seems OK, and not pricey.
GPU: GIgabyte RTX 3080 Eagle. One of the two $700 3080 cards Newegg carries.
Case: Thermaltake Suppressor F31 ATX Mid Tower Case. I'm old fashioned enough to still want an optical drive and card reader up front. Even if I can't recall the last time I actually used a DVD.
PSU: Fractal Design Ion+ 860P 80 Plus Platinum. 750W is the recommended minimum for a machine with a 3080 in it, so this is a little bit of headroom, and doesn't seem to be priced at much of a premium.
Primary storage: 2TB WD SN850 NVMe M.2 SSD. This is the fastest PCI 4.0 SSD Newegg lists. I have about 1 TB used on my current SSD.
Secondary Storage: Toshiba X300 4GB HDD. 7200 RPM, 128GB cache. 4 TB isn't expensive - $100 - and I have 1.4 TB used of my current data drive.
CPU Cooler: Fractal Design Celsius S360 360mm water cooler. I've never done water cooling before, but it seems to be de rigeur on the pre-built sites.
Windows 10 Pro.
I'd like to keep this under $3000. I can afford more, but I feel $3000 is probably well over the "decent return on investment" point already.
I'm ordering this from Newegg via their new PC Builder service. This is about the availability of RTX 3080 cards at MSRP more than anything else. I think if you order an out-of-stock part this way, you'll get the PC when it becomes available.
That's how it works if you order from someplace like Cyberpower. You can get RTX 3080 cards in a PC from them with about 4 weeks delay - but the parts selection is more limited, and the price is about $300 higher than this build.
I sometimes play VR games on a Vive Pro 2, so treat that as periodic 4K gaming.
CPU: i9 11900k. Gaming doesn't demand a top-end CPU, but some of my other projects do.
Motherboard: Gigabyte Z590 Aorus Ultra. This is really the part where I'm most at sea, I don't know what to look for in a motherboard really. I do want PCI 4.0 for the M.2 SSD, and 2.5 GB/s LAN. I selected this one based on having a fair number of rear-panel USB 3 ports, which seems like a shallow criterion. I've got 10 USB devices plugged into the back my desktop right now. Most of which would be fine with USB 2 parts, granted.
At least one truly high-speed port seems useful, since I do my backups with an external drive.
Memory: 32 GB (2x 16 GB) "Team T-Force" 3600 RAM. Seems OK, and not pricey.
GPU: GIgabyte RTX 3080 Eagle. One of the two $700 3080 cards Newegg carries.
Case: Thermaltake Suppressor F31 ATX Mid Tower Case. I'm old fashioned enough to still want an optical drive and card reader up front. Even if I can't recall the last time I actually used a DVD.
PSU: Fractal Design Ion+ 860P 80 Plus Platinum. 750W is the recommended minimum for a machine with a 3080 in it, so this is a little bit of headroom, and doesn't seem to be priced at much of a premium.
Primary storage: 2TB WD SN850 NVMe M.2 SSD. This is the fastest PCI 4.0 SSD Newegg lists. I have about 1 TB used on my current SSD.
Secondary Storage: Toshiba X300 4GB HDD. 7200 RPM, 128GB cache. 4 TB isn't expensive - $100 - and I have 1.4 TB used of my current data drive.
CPU Cooler: Fractal Design Celsius S360 360mm water cooler. I've never done water cooling before, but it seems to be de rigeur on the pre-built sites.
Windows 10 Pro.