Looking to Build a Desktop

[Nei]

Congrats! Enjoy! I think the last time I built a computer was about 12... 13 years ago? I have no intention of doing it again

[gamevet]

New computer is built, after some headaches, and I'm doing all the software side as we speak. Posting this from it now! What are the specs?


But I did it, and everything is working, and nothing will ever be the same again. 4K Cyberpunk on my 65in LED TV is on the menu boys!

That's a sweet build. It's funny, because your build is so close to mine (mine's a bit older), both using the iQue H150i, a Corsair Tower and an (mine's the 3090) EVGA XC3 Ultra Gaming GPU.



I love everything about the build, except for those ugly GPU power cords with the connectors hanging out. I have a similar PSU with the Corsair RM850 Gold and I used velcro to tie down the extra heads and plugged the middle group directly into the GPU instead. I eventually just took the single head power cords from me dead AX-860, which look a lot nicer.


Here it is with the AX 860 GPU power cables.





And here was my velcro solution, until I could come up with something to clean it up. You could always get some small black tie wraps from Home Depot.






Enjoy Cyberpunk 2077 in 4K! It's well worth the upgrades to play it.

[Opaque]

I'm debating zip tying them or buying extensions. They are so stupid looking the way they are.

[gamevet]

I recommend getting a couple of these.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/30434555602...Bk9SR4rK0f-bYQ


I was looking through my AX 860 PSU power cables, when I'd noticed this. No wonder why my PC wouldn't boot. I'd be tempted to try this PSU with a new cable, but I'm thinking that maybe I shouldn't. This is the cable that fed CPU power in my 9900K PC build.

[gamevet]

Microcenter has one hell of a deal. You can pick up their last gen 12900K, 12700K and 12600K (all reduced in price) and they'll let you pair it with a motherboard (up to $270) for just $70. I'm almost tempted to replace my 9900K build with this, but it's such a nice looking setup, with a fairly hi-end board.

https://www.microcenter.com/product/...herboard-combo

[gamevet]

Fuck it! Microcenter just dropped their i9-12900K CPU/Z690 combo to $420. It's time to upgrade the main desktop.


They have an i5 12600K bundle for just $300. That's insane! https://www.microcenter.com/product/...herboard-combo

[gamevet]

Well I did it. MicroCenter was dicking around with the i9 12900K price last week, with the bundle hitting as high as $519. I told myself "fine, I'll just look at the 13700K instead." I was planning on picking up an open box Asus Strix Z690-E gaming board for $300 and since the board can have the bios flashed without a CPU, it would work out of the box with that board. MicroCenter must have figured out that people weren't going to spend that much for the 12900K bundle, so they dropped the price back down to $420 for it. They ran out of the DDR5 Tuf boards, so I went ahead an picked up the DDR4 board instead. I can use my recently purchased Corsair DDR4-3600 CL16 RAM for now and if I feel that I need to get a DDR5 board, I might swing for that Asus Strix board to replace it.





I really didn't want to upgrade my PC this soon. The i9-9900K has been beyond reliable up until this last year. Games like Forza Horizon 5, Guardians of the Galaxy (one area, but totally tanked) and Star Wars Squadrons have stutters for no reason at all. Forza Horizon 5 can be running for 15 minutes, without a hitch and then for some strange reason, I'll hit a corner and the frame rate with tank for a millisecond and then be fine. I don't know if my NVME drives iOPs are causing these issues, but other games run just fine. I could have spent time wiping the drives and starting fresh, but if I'm going to do that, I might as well start with better hardware.

I don't know what I'm going to do with that old i9 setup, just yet. I hate to see it go, because it was such a warhorse.

[gamevet]

Well, it's finished. I started working on it at around 3:30 yesterday and finally finished up the download of Forza Horizon 5 at around 12 am. It turns out that FH5 was on my 1TB NVME boot drive. I think that the culprit may has been the iOps of that drive, because all of the other main games were on a Sata or the fast 2 TB NVME drive. I was already invested in the upgrade, since it wasn't that expensive to complete. Having FH5 on that drive, along with now running a 12900K, it's very rare that I see a stutter and those are barely noticeable.


I decided to replace the socket bracket provided by Intel, with a Thermal Grizzly CPU frame. It turns out that the cap design of the chip, along with the points of contact from the bracket, will bend the cap over time, resulting in poorer thermal contact with the CPU cooler.





It actually looks pretty cool, though nobody will ever see it, until the day the PC is taken apart.




The build turned out pretty clean. I'm going to miss the old ASUS ROG Strix Maximus Hero XI (that just rolls off the tongue) board, but I might one day put it in its own case. I don't know if I'll want to sell it.

[Nei]

Looking good! I don't know if I'll ever brave building another desktop. I didn't really use the one I built back in 2011. I much prefer to play on consoles. Enjoy the new rig!