(H) means I have it
(?) means I’m undecided
(*) means I’m pretty sure that’s what I want
(H) Define R6
() ASUS Crosshair Hero VII Wi/Fi
() Ryzen 7 2700X
(?) M.2 NVMe- Samsung 970 Pro (500gb) Boot
(?) M.2 NVMe - 500gb Boot Backup (yes I’m that paranoid - I’ve had a 2 drive failure on RAID 5)
(H) 1TB Crucial M500 - Game Drive
(H) 1TB Crucial M500 - Game Backup
() 6TB WD Red 3.5" Media drive (music /games/ photo’s / videos (probably not DVDs)
() 6TB WD Red 3.5" Media drive backup
(H) EVGA GTX 1080 FTW
(?) possibly a 2nd 1080 FTW) - gaming at 1440p and well, honestly - it looks cool
Undecided:
(?) Memory - 16GB is likely plenty - I’m tempted to get 4 sticks but given current prices… (yeah I know I just said I was thinking about a 2nd 1080 because - COOL - so shoot me)
(?) PSU - Seasonic - but how big?
(*) Water cooled - ekwb waterblocks for GPU
(?) Monoblock for CPU/VRM - Or should I just get a CPU block?
(?) 360 front - 240 top
The real world performance improvements from a SATA SSD to NVME isn’t worth the added expense. IMO, at its current price, it’s only really useful for high-resolution video editing (scratch and storage disks and such)
If you put two NVME drives and two GPUs into the system, one SSD will be going through the chipset regardless, but with all of that the GPUs would be cut to PCI-E x4. In which case it would make more sense to move to TR4 or even x99 if you can find a good deal for the increase PCI-E lanes.
In regards to memory (especially on Ryzen) it will always be easier to get 2 sticks running at XMP than to get 4 running at the same speed.
In regards to EK, I’m cautious because I know many people who had terrible experiences with their products.
As an American, I avoid ASUS products because their US customer service is abhorrent. But if you’re in a country with proper consumer protection laws requiring the retailer to replace it, do your thing.
But for your main question, you could over-provision and go for a 1000W PSU. There’s also power calculators available online such as Coolermaster’s. But I use it as a guideline and still go over the “recommended” power because I’m like that.
On an OS drive I would agree it hardly ever stressed.
Dont mirror your OS drive because that will for sure throttle it. OS dirvies can be replaced easy. Keep all your data / games on other drives so re-paving the system is easy.
Otherwise the system looks great. Having that 2nd 500g NVMe or Sata SSD will be good to store / stream games on. You could even use the main OS drive considering its direct to the CPU bandwidth. Copy to other storage after live streaming.
NVMe, just get 1… use typical SSD or HDD as a backup…
GPU, just upgrade to vega64 or 1080ti - if possible watercooled one. Few, and fewer games support SLi/CF
Memory, get 2 sticks 8gb or 16gb each samsung b-dies.
PSU - Seasonic/Enermax Platinum 700W-1kW
Single block for CPU… terrible compatibility for monoblocks… get fans or something for vrm if you need to do some crazy oc.
pump out air at the top of your case. Hot air is lighter. Thus you’ll be pumping out more hot air from your system. Suck in cold air from bottom of your case.
RE: NVMe thanks - I didn’t think about the PCIe lanes. I sort of wondered about the performance. If I switch to an SSD I’ll have to move the Game Backup SSD to an external case - which is fine, it’s what I do now. It’s mostly full of mods for F03, FO-New Vegas, FO4, Oblivion, Skyrim, Skyrim SE, and likely soon FO76. So, I only back it up when I change a mod configuration.
I could go with a single m.2 970 EVO 250gb for boot, and just keep an external image drive. I’ll have to think about that for a bit.
Neither the Boot or the Game drive change all that often, so plugging in an external for backup is doable.
RE: ASUS - I’m also in the US. I’ve had good and bad experience with most tech companies. If I based my decision on support - I wouldn’t buy from any of them. As it stands now - it’s either the Taichi Ultimate or the Crosshair, and I prefer the feature set on the ASUS.
Removed from all bias, I’d still go with the Taichi Ultimate. Especially since you mentioned video editing and external storage (I’m assuming NAS). In which case the Taichi comes with the 10Gbit NIC and you’re halfway to 10Gbit between your NAS and rig.
I would’ve gone with the Ultimate myself over the base Taichi but I have no need for 10Gbit at the moment
