Question New PC centered around RTX4080. Thoughts and Questions

[BarkingGhostar]

Evening All,

It has been 10 years and 4 months since I last built a PC and the world has changed. I spent some time on micro Center's website and began a list of items, which of course starts with an RTX 4080. I had intended to post a document in *.odt, *.docx, and *.pdf format, but those were not allowed. Seriously? So, I will copy and paste the relevant line items. Regardless of what is already on the list, I still need feedback for processor cooling as the AMD product lacks it naively. Also, I need suggestions for sizing a power supply. I do not intend to OC this new PC. And here we go ...

1 x Gigabyte SKU: 520452 Mfr Part#: GVN4080AEROOC16 Gigabyte NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 AERO Overclocked Triple Fan 16GB GDDR6X PCIe 4.0 Graphics Card $1260
1 x ASRock SKU: 438689 Mfr Part#: MBX670ECARRARA ASRock X670E Taichi Carrara AMD AM5 eATX Motherboard $530
1 x AMD SKU: 436535 Mfr Part#: 100-100000589WO AMD Ryzen 9 7900X Raphael AM5 4.7GHz 12-Core Boxed Processor - Heatsink Not Included $410
1 x Samsung SKU: 516120 Mfr Part#: MZ-V9P2T0B/AM Samsung 990 PRO 2TB Samsung V NAND 3-bit MLC PCIe Gen 4 x4 NVMe M.2 Internal SSD $170
3 x Samsung SKU: 229948 Mfr Part#: MZ-V8P2T0B/AM Samsung 980 Pro SSD 2TB M.2 NVMe Interface PCIe Gen 4x4 Internal SSDrive with V-NAND 3 bit MLC Technology (MZ-V8P2T0B/AM) $300
2 x G.Skill SKU: 423848 Mfr Part#: 6000J3032X2Z5RK G.Skill Trident Z5 RGB Series 64GB (2 x 32GB) DDR5-6000 PC5-48000 CL30 Dual Channel Desktop Memory Kit F5-6000J3040G32GX2-TZ5RK $460
1 x Lian Li SKU: 360057 Mfr Part#: G99.O11DEW.00 Lian Li O11 Dynamic EVO Tempered Glass ATX Mid-Tower Computer Case – White $170
2 x Lian Li SKU: 394189 Mfr Part#: G99.12SLIN3W.00 Lian Li UNI Fan SL Infinity Fluid Dynamic Bearing 120mm Case Fan - 3 Pack White $220
1 x CPU Cooling Solution
1 x PSU

I hope I do not offend anyone for posting this here. I do know that there is a specific chatroom for PC building, but I chose the graphics card chatroom because everything is centered on that priority. I hope to be able to perform some moderate 4K/120Hz gaming. I'll be using my LG 77" OLED which features Gsync, ALLM and VRR.

 

[Tech Junky]

MC is good for prices sometimes but, I tend to use PCPartPicker.com for scoping a new build. When you throw all of the parts into it you get a link to the build that's easy to share and review. Also, you get price comparisons.

One thing that stands out is the fans. I use arctic fans and you can get 5 packs for $40. I use the P series with pwm/pst because they're easy to work with and cable management is easy when you chain them together to single headers.

For drives there's no need to pay SS prices though. I use the WD sn850/770 drives. The 850 was my choice before the 770 came out and the 770 uses the system ram instead of dram and performs just as well or better depending on the load.

 

[BarkingGhostar]

By the way, I should have also said that nothing but the GPU is cast in stone.

 

[Tup3x]

Personally Gigabyte would be the last options. Those tend to be louder that other cars and quality has always been a bit meh. For fans I'd go with Silent Wing 4. I have 140mm versions and they are fantastic. I tested Arctic P14 briefly but its motor made unbearable noises at certain RPM ranges. Sure they are cheap but if they drive me nuts... not worth it.

 

[BarkingGhostar]

I was shooting for a white GPU and the Asus was 25% more. There is the MSI but ...

Of course all this is within the limits of my browsing Microcenter.

 

[Mopetar]

I guess my question would be the primary purpose of the PC. I'm assuming gaming based on the 4080 and your post, but it would be useful to know if there are other things it'll be used for extensively.

With something as powerful as a 4080 I'd suggest going with a 7800X3D over a 7900. Unless you really need more than 8 cores, the v-cache will make a bigger difference for gaming and there are several titles where it's a massive difference. Titles such as Microsoft Flight Simulator and Factorio are just a few examples where you'd get a massive uplift.

You'll probably want a 700W PSU. That should be able to comfortably cover a 4080 and Zen 4 CPU.

 

[aigomorla]

Yeah i would second think the gigabyte card.
Asus Strix is really a nice card even tho you are paying more then a Gigabyte Aero.
I am assuming the ASUS card is a STRIX.
The ASUS Strix is probably the only card that would make me think twice over a EVGA FTW3 when they were available.

I would go with a 1kw PSU also or at the very least a 850W.
eVGA Supernova or RM850 from corsair if you want to keep the white theme.

 

[BarkingGhostar]

The new PC will be multi-purpose, but inclusive of PC gaming. Its been a long time since I've gamed on a PC but I am going to return to it for things like FPS and strategy gaming at up to 4K. The CPU is the 7900X, not the 7900. I've watched many videos made available just this year on 4K gaming comparison between the 7800X3D and the 7900X and they are a dead-heat tie. So, I'll take the more cores. I also plan on doing photography and video editing and everything else that a PC can encompass.

Right now my 10 year old rig has been multi-SSD boot. I have one Win 10 Pro boot for just finances, one clone of this, and one for the Linux environment. I also keep an SSD for the wife-specific use and a clone of that as well. The motherboard consideration was to run the first m.2 slot for the gaming NVMe, the 3rd and 4th m.2 slot for Windows (his and hers, haha), and the 2nd for Linux, which is allowed to be completely volatile. I'm considering using the ICY Dock removable 2 x NVMe for Windows cloning as needed.

I've held off on the 4K gaming for the past couple of years but figured I mine as well jump into it. I do not wish to go smaller than the displays I already have. This consists of Acer 43" 4K mopnitor and an LG OLED (77" featuring Gsync, ALLM and VRR).

 

[BarkingGhostar]

Need CPU cooling ideas

 

[BarkingGhostar]

Amazon Prime Day kept me a little busy. Started buy some of the minor things like the NVMe drives (1x990 Pro, 2x980 Pro, 2xWD BLack), the Ryzen 9 9700X, RMx1000 PSU, Deepcool LT520, thermal paste. Most of this was in multiple orders to a point Amex mobile app intruded into the Amazon mobile app to verify stuff to make sure I wasn't a thief. LOL.

 

[SteveGrabowski]

The new PC will be multi-purpose, but inclusive of PC gaming. Its been a long time since I've gamed on a PC but I am going to return to it for things like FPS and strategy gaming at up to 4K. The CPU is the 7900X, not the 7900. I've watched many videos made available just this year on 4K gaming comparison between the 7800X3D and the 7900X and they are a dead-heat tie. So, I'll take the more cores. I also plan on doing photography and video editing and everything else that a PC can encompass.

Right now my 10 year old rig has been multi-SSD boot. I have one Win 10 Pro boot for just finances, one clone of this, and one for the Linux environment. I also keep an SSD for the wife-specific use and a clone of that as well. The motherboard consideration was to run the first m.2 slot for the gaming NVMe, the 3rd and 4th m.2 slot for Windows (his and hers, haha), and the 2nd for Linux, which is allowed to be completely volatile. I'm considering using the ICY Dock removable 2 x NVMe for Windows cloning as needed.

I've held off on the 4K gaming for the past couple of years but figured I mine as well jump into it. I do not wish to go smaller than the displays I already have. This consists of Acer 43" 4K mopnitor and an LG OLED (77" featuring Gsync, ALLM and VRR).

If you're going that high end for 4k gaming don't see why you don't just go with an RTX 4090 instead of the 4080. $400 isn't much to get 25% more gaming performance at 4k plus 50% more VRAM when you're spending $530 on a board and $220 on fans of all things.

Also I wouldn't touch a Gigabyte 4000 series card with a ten foot pole after seeing all the problems with them cracking near the PCIE connector.

 

[aigomorla]

Need CPU cooling ideas

To keep with your white theme.

Amazon.com

I dont advise AIO's unless you absolutely want them.

I also recommend a GPU bracket.

https://www.amazon.com/Aivalas-Support-Graphics-Adjustable-Universal/dp/B0C3R585Q4/ref=sr_1_4?keywords=gpu%2Bsupport%2Bbracket&qid=1689183527&sprefix=gpu%2Bsuppo%2Caps%2C139&sr=8-4&th=1/URL]

Unless your going to mount it in a horizontal position or a top hanging position like some special cases offer.
The picture scale size is completely wrong... its a tiny bar which u adjust that sits in the rear of the GPU, to help with GPU sag, and also helps support your PCI-E PCB from cracking from GPU Sag.

 

[Mopetar]

If you're going that high end for 4k gaming don't see why you don't just go with an RTX 4090 instead of the 4080.

If he's going to stick with 1440p there's little point in a 4090. If he were considering 4K then there's a lot of merit to upgrading, but otherwise the $400 can probably be better spent on other components.

Based on TPU's numbers the 4090 is only 11% better at 1440p, so it's a bit harder to justify $400 just for that. Going from a 7900X to a 7950X3D is going to be a similar uplift at less than half the cost of moving up to a 4090. The other $200 could be spent on better RAM or something else.

 

[SteveGrabowski]

If he's going to stick with 1440p there's little point in a 4090. If he were considering 4K then there's a lot of merit to upgrading, but otherwise the $400 can probably be better spent on other components.

Based on TPU's numbers the 4090 is only 11% better at 1440p, so it's a bit harder to justify $400 just for that. Going from a 7900X to a 7950X3D is going to be a similar uplift at less than half the cost of moving up to a 4090. The other $200 could be spent on better RAM or something else.

Meh those 1440p tests are effectively cpu benchmarks in a lot of games, especially since TPU's testsuite is a lot of older games that don't push the 4090 hard unless you're at 4k. The 4090 will age way better being 25% faster when gpu bound. And op said he was aiming for 4k/120 anyways.

 

[gdansk]

A $530 motherboard? Is that because of the color or some specific requirements?

 

[BarkingGhostar]

A $530 motherboard? Is that because of the color or some specific requirements?

The four m.2, the USB4, the Type-C, etc.

All, I am thinking of going with a black/white theme. This means I could entertain the Taichi non-Carrara. I went ahead and ordered to try Deepcoole LT520, but there is nothing to say I might not going with a more traditional fan implementation.

Mopester, you know you are 100% right. I am giddy and getting a chill up my spine and may as well go for the 4090. BTW, wasn't really entertaining 1440P or less.

 

[Tech Junky]

four m.2

Since you're going AMD don't over pay for M2 sockets since you can bifurcate the lanes with an AIC for $100 for 4 drives

USB4

While nice to have on board you can get cards for $60 with two ports that are ⚡ 4. The benefit of the card is being able to add a SATA power cable for 100w of power per port.

 

[aigomorla]

Since you're going AMD don't over pay for M2 sockets since you can bifurcate the lanes with an AIC for $100 for 4 drives

not without going EYPC or Threadripper.
The second PCI-E Slot is not 16x physical.
For 4 drives you need a Physical 16x slot.

4 x nVME drives on a non HEDT will force his GPU down to 8x.
16x + 4 x 4x + 4x required by board = 36 PCI-E lanes, which only HEDT will give you.

I don't think the OP realized building PC's one needs to count pci-e lanes.

Gpu will probably run at 8x, which i am sort of erring about, as i think its simply silly to buy a 1600 dollar gpu to run at 8x, although i know a lot of people will go "oh its only a few %" but again its 1600 dollar GPU.

And he will also probably lose half his SATA ports at it too.

I would rather recommend the OP run 2 x nVME's but at a larger capacity, instead of 4 of them or I would rather recommend the OP wait for Threadripper, or SPR, so he can get a full 64-128 PCI-E lanes, but that is just me.

 

[Tech Junky]

@aigomorla

Aren't most GPUs physically 16 but electrically 8? Would make sense since if you went dual GPU on the past they split to 8/8 anyway.

Lanes might be an issue but, Intel preallocates 16 for the tol slot to the CPU regardless of what you pout into the slot. The potential issue might be not running the GPU off the CPU lanes if it's on the next slot.

4x nvme though is overkill unless you really need the speed. I'd do a primary for os and split it into two partitions 1 small for the os and then the rest for storage. Then debate how much space is really needed on the second one for games or large files. Get a spinner for bulk storage and move things around as needed.

I'm just weighing the spend on the board vs other options that still get to the same result. $530 is a bit more than what's possible with some hacks to get the same result and save some cash.

 

[aigomorla]

Aren't most GPUs physically 16 but electrically 8?

Do you know how badly people would pull out pitchforks and set nvidia to fire if they did this?
They are most definitely physical 16x.
And the RTX 4000 series are all 16x, even down to the 4060.

 

[MrTeal]

not without going EYPC or Threadripper.
The second PCI-E Slot is not 16x physical.
For 4 drives you need a Physical 16x slot.

4 x nVME drives on a non HEDT will force his GPU down to 8x.
16x + 4 x 4x + 4x required by board = 36 PCI-E lanes, which only HEDT will give you.

I don't think the OP realized building PC's one needs to count pci-e lanes.

Gpu will probably run at 8x, which i am sort of erring about, as i think its simply silly to buy a 1600 dollar gpu to run at 8x, although i know a lot of people will go "oh its only a few %" but again its 1600 dollar GPU.

And he will also probably lose half his SATA ports at it too.

I would rather recommend the OP run 2 x nVME's but at a larger capacity, instead of 4 of them or I would rather recommend the OP wait for Threadripper, or SPR, so he can get a full 64-128 PCI-E lanes, but that is just me.

He should be fine. The one Gen5 x4 is off the CPU, then the M2_2 slot is off the first chipset and M2_3 and M2_4 are off the second. They all share the same x4 chipset link, but given how he plans to use them that's not the end of the world.

I definitely agree on consolidating though. You can do multi-boot without having to have separate drives for each OS, and it gives you a lot more flexibility sizing them. Plus you don't have to completely replace a drive if you want more capacity in the future.

 

[gdansk]

And the RTX 4000 series are all 16x, even down to the 4060.

Minor correction 4060 Ti is x8 too:

https://tpucdn.com/gpu-specs/images/c/3890-front.jpg

 

[aigomorla]

Minor correction 4060 Ti is x8 too:

https://tpucdn.com/gpu-specs/images/c/3890-front.jpg

i stand corrected.... i did not know this.
Is it only the 4060ti? Im looking at a 3060Ti and its 16x.

It makes absolutely no sense for the Ti to be 8x and the non Ti to be 16x.

 

[Tech Junky]

It makes absolutely no sense

Who said they use logic? I suspect more than just the ti uses electrical x8 but physical x16.

 

[aigomorla]

Who said they use logic? I suspect more than just the ti uses electrical x8 but physical x16.

Im wondering how they are not under fire from this....
Are people just casually accepting it?

Back to helping the OP, i still think he should consolidate the nVME drives.
Or if he really wants to use a Bifur card, then he should go up HEDT.