...yeah, it's time. I've finally found games I actually want to play that require a half-decent machine, I make all my money on the computer, and I regularly do video editing as well. I always keep my machines for a long time, so they need to be as future-proof as possible and I can't justify saving up for a PC unless it's going to be good enough for the foreseeable future. So here's where my head is at, I'd be grateful for any advice.
tl;dr https://pcpartpicker.com/list/xjP3yF for the general idea, but I'm open to other ideas. It's going to be a linux machine, and all AMD since I hear the drivers work better/are less fiddly. Aesthetically, I like an all-white motif but looks are secondary to pure power and long life. I would like to be able to emulate PS4, Xbox 360, run S&box so my kid can make games, and render my clip shows at high speed. The budget I'm targeting is about £2k. Will mean saving up for a couple months. Parts I'm considering:
CPU
- Ryzen 9 9950X3D (I'm most excited about having a strong CPU, this one appeals to me even though it's a bit of a splurge)
- Ryzen 9 7950X3D
- Ryzen 9 7900X3D
GPU
Anything AMD, 16gb preferred but at least 12gb. AMD RX 6800XT or higher perhaps. RX 7800 XT or similar would be great.
Memory
16gb preferred, DDR5, not too fussy about brand. Maybe someday another 16gb if it becomes worthwhile.
Storage
1 or 2TB M.2 NVMe SSD, any really who cares. I don't need a lot of storage, most of my games are lightweight indies or backed up on my server.
Power Supply
Anything 850-1000w, preferably modular? I dunno.
Cooling
Possibly an AIO liquid cooler. I'm iffy on that, would be happy with a fan if it's more recommended.
Case
Fractal does a nice white wood effect one (North XL), as does Antec (Flux Pro). Happy with anything that matches, but don't really love showy RGB, prefer understated and clean looks.
Thanks for the nuanced advice! I don't mind fan noise so much, I'm very accustomed to it and I tend to crank the tunes up anyway. I would absolutely be stepping down a tier or two if I was just doing office work, gaming, video editing, or streaming media. But since I'm doing all of those - and want the build costs to amortize comfortably for the next decade or so - I feel okay with reaching for the top shelves. I'm not going for a crazy threadripper workstation or anything, so I pat myself on the back for showing humility and restraint. And then laugh at myself behind my own back.
At this point I've got two parts lists picked out, depending on how long I decide to save up I might either go for a "vaguely reasonable" build based on the 9800, or if I decide to hold off until after the summer when my parents have left and won't be around to annoy me with helpful advice, I might have saved up enough to build something based on the 9950 with all the bells and whistles. If I go that route, the heat sink might end up being a Noctua NH-D15 G2 LBC instead, with six case fans just so none of them have to work as hard as all of them. Is that vaguely sane?
Sounds reasonable