Looking to get back into building my own pc! And I could use your help

I maintained a desktop of my own from like 2010 to 2017, but I fell off after my motherboard failed, and I knew I’d have to buy a new set of mb, processor, and ram.

For this new build I want to set a good foundation, and spend around 800$ on that main set of parts, without worrying about a graphics card yet. The microcenter near me is selling two types of processor that I want to base the build around.

Intel Core i9-9900K Coffee Lake (250$)

Or

Intel Core i7-9700K Coffee Lake (200$)

With either one (I’m leaning towards the i9), I’ll need a Z390 chipset MB, and I could really use help with that choice. From what I hear the ASUS Z390-A PRIME is actually not too reliable? Even though it’s clearly the most reccommended.

Would the ASUS TUF Z390-Plus Gaming be a good call?

Eventually, when I can invest in a phat dedicated graphics card I’m sure it’d be nice to have my setup already geared towards loading and rendering games.

And then for the ram, I’m truly just completely unknowledgeable. I pick up that the processors are DDR4-2666 MHz ram dependant, but I’m not sure what type or brand to look for. Again, I’m not going to be running anything intense until I have a dedicated gfx card, so I can add more sticks of ram later. For now the focus is on getting a nice processor up and running in its best motherboard habitat.

I’m not sure what type of case to go for either but I’ve always felt cramped so I’d love to spring for a Full Tower. Is that beneficial to airflow? A bunch of open space on the interior?

As for the rest of the parts, I have an EVGA Supernova 650G, which I hope will work for this new build, a few ssds to plug in, and an old GTX 650, the extra small card.

I would be forever thankful for your help! Let me know if I put this post together wrong! But I’m just getting back in to the game.

Either postpone your purchase a little longer as Intel is about to launch their 11th gen CPU’s. Having said that, the performance results have already been leaked and frankly, Intel got their @sses whipped by AMD yet again. Or rather still, as the 5000 series Ryzen CPU’s still beat their Intel 11th gen counterparts. By a margin, in most cases.

Or purchase a placeholder system, based on some on-board CPU m-ITX board, that’ll allow you to do browsing and light gaming until prices for parts have returned to “normal” (whatever that is :stuck_out_tongue: ). Pre-ZEN AMD goes cheap, bought a top-of-the-line FM2+ socket A10 PRO series CPU recently for under 50 USD. Admittedly I already have a suitable mainboard and plenty of DDR3 RAM, but it’s a nice upgrade (when it arrives, eventually :wink: )

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Ha yeah right at the end of the month I guess? I could wait and keep my eyes on some Comet Lake processors then. Looking at them, the i9s are already down in the 300$ range, so Rocket Lake will probably knock em down even more. I’m not too worried about having the absolute cream of the crop, moreso having the most future proofing for the least dough, so waiting for the current gen to turn over sounds perfect.

I’ve considered doing an AMD build a few times though! I just don’t understand it to be honest. Back when I was building my pc a bunch, I guess it was pre-zen architecture? And there was a whole thing about integrated graphics, sometimes not needing a dedicated graphics card at all. Has it become super similar to building an Intel pc? What stuff is specific to each kind of build?

But no I don’t think I wanna build a whole pc in the meantime, I’m down to focus on one main build thats just lacking the gfx beef I intend to add to it

there really aren’t any huge considerations to the overall build process between AMD and Intel. AMD benefits more from higher memory clock speed, is my understanding (someone please correct me if i’m wrong).

beyond that… just making sure you get a board that is compatible with the CPU generation (which is easy) and you should be set. If you’re using a dedicated graphics card, you do not need to worry about the APUs (AMD CPUs with onboard graphics).

you said you want to “set a good foundation” and buying a socket that will not have any new CPUs doesn’t exactly fit that description.

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I was interested

Never mind

I mean, it’s just what I learned 10 years ago, clearly shit has changed a lot but I never heard about the whole AM4 socket being established in the meantime.

Also I just love that look of a big number with a red line through it and then a smaller number underneath it. It’s tantalizing! I’m not inherently an Intel crony, it’s just where my intuition took me. But I came here to ask y’alls advice, why assume I’m hard set on intel?

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Hahah yeah I had just given up and accepted long ago that all processor generations were separated by sockets, and even inside the gen by chipsets. I assume because I was first learning when there were like 3 amd sockets. You’re right though, amd seems way more future proof, at most I’ll have to update the bios someday. But tbh like a ryzen 9 seems like the next down the line processor upgrade and that would work fine on an x570 mb anyways! So I’m gonna go that direction, for sure.

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/bHmKLP

At this point id really just love to know what yall think a good motherboard would be for the ryzen 5 I picked. Is the MSI MPG a good call for a sub 200$ board? I’m not particularly attached to it or the wifi or anything. Just seemed like a good one.

And yeah a bunch of my old parts are weaved in there. That old evga power supply is worth hundreds!

I don’t really, I’ve been disinterested in intel hardware for years, and idk shit about any of the 4 billion chipsets out per generation, I don’t know how the oc shit works, just bleh in general. Now its even more confusing with the 10 and 11 series all being in oc competitions when if feels like the 7980XE was just being roasted a month ago.

I’m not amd bound per se, but I like future tech. A lot of intel stuff is just kinda… Well, ten years ago.

Yeah I was even reading they backed themselves into a corner and removed cores from the 11th gen. From 10 back down to 8. And I mean there’s not really a choice, it’s just the two big companies dominating the market. People can gravitate to one or the other for reasons it’s not like its gotta be an obsession. But yeah, reminds me of the apple or Android thing, where some people are just picking sides so damn hard

Well there’s some reason for that actually. The ten core chips have this fun issue like the older chips, if I remember correctly, where you can only oc a certain amount of cores in the chip, but I could be wrong. I just remember that being like 'wow this is still on issue? ’ with some of the i9’s, idk if they still have tht issue.

For sure they aren’t bad chips, they’ll do the job, but I would say hey, 5900x, pretty cool right?

Cheaper… More cores, faster in a lotta stood. Me gusta amd tech right now. Intel was going good up till the p4 and then just started reprinting pentium 3’s.

Reduction of cores, was the cost of backporting their planned 10nm arch. layout, right on back to good ol’ 14nm [2 fingers down throat]. BOTH 11th Gen i7 and i9 are 8C → i7K, I see basically being a lesser binned i9K… Also them power draws, are putting heat on X299 chips

Main distinction points [for Intel], are gonna boil down to cpu/mainboard availability and how much concern you have for PCIe Gen.4 [11th gen*].
AMD has been straight up kicking it, but availability is extremely poor ATM

Have one local friend built a Core [Gen9] i5K system last year. He’s been generally happy with it [did make noticeable upgrade of an RX590, to a RTX3070, after suffering a fruitless wait line 2x, at near MSRP]

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