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Hi guys,

So, I have a lot of research left to do before buying, but I'm somewhat pressed for time and I'm hoping that some of you may help me finalize my decision. I'm definitely "rebuilding" my PC. I hope to use my current PC case, SSD, and GPU. But, I need a new CPU, Mobo, RAM, PSU, Cooling System. Below is a series of general questions, and I'm hoping you guys might have some answer. I greatly appreciate any insights you might offer.

1. The A.I. bubble has ruined the market for PC users. As we don't know when the bubble is going to burst, that it could get worse before it gets better, should I buy now or wait? I'm thinking I should buy now before it gets worse. My current PC will be serviceable only until next October.

2. Ryzen or Intel? It seems like the gaming community prefers Ryzen, but I'm not sure why. I haven't had great experiences with AMD in the pass and so I'm wary of building an AMD machine. I've used Intel CPU's for the past ten years and have been happy. Is there a compelling reason I should look at Ryzen? If so, what CPU generation should I look at? Ryzen 7 or higher?

3. Assuming I'm building an Intel machine, I'm leaning towards an Asus Motherboard, but honestly, I have no reason why other than instinct and name brand recognition. So, I was comparing these motherboards this morning:

1. ASUS Z790-Plus TUF Gaming WiFi D5 Intel LGA 1700 ATX Motherboard
2. ASUS Z790 MAX GAMING WIFI7 Intel LGA 1700 ATX Motherboard

The TUF board comes with an audio chipset and an Intel 2.5Gb Ethernet with Ethernet speeds of 10/100/1000/2500Mbps, BUT for RAM it can only support Max Memory 128GB.

The Max Gaming board doesn't have an audio chipset, only an Realtek 1Gb Ethernet with Ethernet speeds of 10/100/1000Mbps, BUT for RAM it CAN support Max Memory 192GB. Motherboard related questions:

1.I run my PC on Ethernet cable and so I'm not sure if I should privilege ethernet speed over the RAM's max memory. What makes more sense? Also, what do I do if the motherboard I choose doesn't come with an audio chipset?

2. Given that neither these boards has everything, is there another option in the ASUS product line that I ought to be looking at? Should I be looking at MSI? Are they well-respected?

Thanks, I'm thinking of starting this build this winter, but may wait until summer. Microcenter is up the road in Boston. I could build it in front of them or have them build it for me. Speaking of which, has anyone paid to build a PC with Microcenter techs guiding you through the process? It costs about the same as having them build it, but I might learn something and feel more comfortable building my PC's on my own in the future. So, it sounds appealing, but I don't know. Might be better to have them just build it for me. Thanks.

Grifter

My 2 cents:

Intel vs AMD doesnt matter. Get the most CPU for your buck you can. Used to be AMD's needed higher power supply due to higher wattage but I think its opposite now. I've always been an intel gamer for last 40 yrs. Good reference for CPUs:

https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/cp ... ,4312.html

ASUS TUF Gaming Z790 mobo is what I used to have and it worked just fine. Its micro ATX so I dont need a huge case. I have an ethernet USB port I got off amazon for all the usb connections I have (USB 3.0 PCI-e Expansion Card 7Port, RIITOP PCI-e x1 to USB 3.0 HUB Adapter 5Gbps). USB direct to the mobo is better I believe than if you daisy chain hubs.

I use on-board audio so I'd think thats important. As far as RAM you probably wont need more than 64GB for the rest of your life. I do recommend 64GB for the hog that DCS is.

I use the ethernet on my board and its just fine.

Micro-center can recommend PSU. Bring your video card with you and all your stuff. You might want better case for better cooling so keep that extra $100 in mind. Get extended warranty on PSU as they can be hit or miss. They will also recommend a CPU fan and I have $16 coolermaster and its fine. I would not recommend liquid cooling but some like it. My son had it and it was problematic and didnt do a good job. He ended up having to eventually get new cpu and mobo.

If you can build it yourself you'll definitely learn something. Or, if you watch them build it you'll learn something too but its up to them if it gets messed up, not you.

Opinions will likely differ so just my opinion. Many here are much more tech savvy than i am. I have only ever built my own pc's.

My specs:

Hi Grif,

I built my PC in 2023. I made it out of a PC that I had built in 2014, maybe earlier. In that new build, I replaced the CPU, GPU, MoBo, RAM, CPU fan, OS and added hard drives. Everything else I left the same, fans and PSU included, and even still have my two DVD-ROM drives. I built it with some assistance from my friend who was an IT guy, but we did it ourselves.

So that is my backstory.

To answer your questions:

1. What is this AI bubble you are talking about in terms of buying a new PC?

2. I've always gone with Intel. To me, AMD and others were always "Intel Light." Y'know, same as an Intel chip but less calories. I also was hearing all the issues with AMD ships, not just in their operation, but also sourcing the materials to make then were making them unnecessarily expensive or hard to deliver. So I've just been sticking with Intel. I went with the higher end i7 because I heard i9s were overbuilt for gaming. Why spend extra if I don't need to?

3. I have the 1st ASUS MoBo you listed, the ASUS Z790-Plus TUF Gaming WiFi D5 Intel LGA 1700 ATX Motherboard. Its a great MoBo, small enough to fit in my ATX mid tower, it is nicely laid out and well detailed what things are and what should go there. I got the version with WiFi as an option, knowing I wouldn't really need it except for a backup because I was going to run it via Ethernet, which IMHO is the best way. I just feel like it's more direct and doesn't suffer from signal issues like blockages, deadzones, etc. I also heard to avoid RealTek Ethernet if possible. I had running DCS in mind and I wanted the most direct unimpeded way for data to get to and from the computer. I can support 128 GB of RAM, but to be honest, I only have 32 GB. Some say you need 64 GB to run DCS, but for me, I notice no slowdowns or choppiness with 32GB. When I do it MP or even when I host MP, no one really complains about the experience being choppy or anything. Now most of this may be due to having DDR5 RAM. I chose this MoBo because it supports DDR5, and I decided RAM was everything to me for DCS so I went with DDR5 RAM and this board since it can support it. I didn't want to get a DDR4 board then find I was better off with DDR5 and now have to change the MoBo again. So to me, it's great that you can get MoBos that support 128 GB or more---but do you really need all that? That's extra cost. I wouldn't be able to tell the difference between my 32 GB of RAM and 128 GB of RAM except for maybe loading/starting up--but that's not even that long for me. Now in comparison to the less amounts of RAM I had before, I definitely noticed the speedup. But really, how much more RAM can you spend on and add before you notice that you can't tell the difference anyway? That's wasted $ to me.

Now for the audio chip--well, that wasn't a high requirement on my list, but it was very convenient, so why not? And you know with my stream DJing it is important and I haven't had any audio issues. I don't know what you would do without an audio chip--do they still sell sound cards? But then you are using up a PCI slot and let me tell you, with the size of these GPUs you are probably going to end up wasting a slot as it is, can you afford to waste another?

I got a 750W modular power supply that is gold certified back in 2014. With my last build, I am still using it and knock on wood, it has worked just fine. So if you have a similar PSU, you can just stick with that.

My old build had 5 fans built in, with space for 10, so I just kept that case and fans. One of them finally died, but even with that fan gone, I still have no cooling issues. So again, you might not need water cooling or a ton of fans. The only new fan I bought was for the new CPU, a CoolerMaster.

As for the CPU: you don't need a higher priced one, at least at the time I bought mine. A mid range or even a faster lower range one will do. At the time, I felt the best option was the higher end i7, I had heard that the i9s were overbuilt for gamin, so why pay extra? I got the Intel Core i7 13700K 13th Gen Raptor Lake 16-core 3.4 Ghz

Also you have to consider your hard drives. Of course make them SSDs if you can, but I would highly recommend an NVMe one. The ASUS MoBo has a spot dedicated for it so you don't have to worry about taking up SATA space or a slot. They are flat slivers basically, so they don't take up space at all, and they are fast. On my rig since DCS is so huge, I only have the OS and DCS on the NVMe SSD if I can help it. That way DCS can run faster and be on the dedicated and fastest SSD I have. All my other games are on the smaller TB SSD or TB HDD. The 100 GB SSD plugs into an external SATA port so I use that for storing DCS missions, save files, etc--misc stuff. The 2 TB external SSD plugs in via USB 3.0 and that is where I store all my music and videos.

So overall, I think you should look into re-using some of your stuff, you'd be surprised what you can still use and save money that way. When buying new stuff, keep in mind you don't ahve to buy something super fast or super capable. If it works at a lesser tier, save the money and go for it.

My specs below:

Operating system: Microsoft Windows 11 Home, Version 10.0.26200
DirectX runtime version: DirectX 12
MoBo: ASUS Z790-Plus TUF Gaming WiFi D5 Intel LGA 1700 ATX Motherboard
CPU: Intel Core i7-13700K - Core i7 13th Gen Raptor Lake 16-Core (8P+8E) P-core Base Frequency: 3.4 GHz E-core Base
RAM: Corsair Vengeance 2x16 GB DDR5 6000 (PC5 48000)
Storage: SAMSUNG 980 PRO SSD 2TB, PCIe 4.0 M.2 2280 NVMe, plus (1) SATA SSD 1TB, 1 TB HDD, 1 100 GB SATA SSD, 2 TB External SSD

Graphics card
GPU: ASUS GeForce RTX4070 OC Edition 12 GB GDDR6X GPU
Bus: PCI Express x16 Gen4

Display (1): DELL SE2417HG
Resolution: 1080p, 1920 x 1080 (native)
Refresh rate: 60 Hz
Desktop color depth: Highest (32-bit)
HDCP: Supported

Display (2): DELL SE2417HG
Resolution: 1080p, 1920 x 1080 (native)
Refresh rate: 60 Hz
Desktop color depth: Highest (32-bit)
HDCP: Supported

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