The Overkill Build

The Overkill Build

We're approaching our end-game, here. First, however, a stop off for what will be the highest end single GPU gaming rig that money can buy. Expect much of what you saw in the previous page, but more of it. At this point, I can only recommend Intel CPUs to handle the GPU that will be going in this PC, and I don't think anybody would begrudge me that. In terms of GPU... well, I am sure you can guess.

All in all, the CPU and GPU alone will command around 2/3 of the budget for this PC, with the rest going on the best money can buy. Shall we get on with it?

CPU - Intel Core i9 9900k

...was there any doubt? This CPU was, perhaps, the worst kept secret of the Coffee Lake-S launch. It's Intel's first 8 core/16 thread consumer grade chip, and it's a monster. Sure, it may run power hungry and hot, but it cannot be beaten in terms of performance, blowing AMD's much lower clocked 2700X out of the water (albeit for just under double the price). This CPU needs some serious cooling, but is the only choice for such a high-end PC. Yes, you probably could get away with a lower end chip like the 9700k, because doubtless you'll be playing at 1440p ultra or even 4k, but do you really want a 9700k at this end of the price scale? We reviewed the 9900k just after launch (well, Hilbert did), and you can find our review of it here. It was pretty much exactly what we were expecting. An ultra-high performance 8 core part that ran hot, consumed a fair bit of power, but had no trouble eliminating all competition from a purely horsepower based perspective.

This CPU does take quite some management, it must be said, which leads us onto our next part of choice.

Motherboard - Gigabyte Z390 Aorus Master

Gigabyte really knocked it out of the park with this one. Yes, it's very expensive (commanding the same sorts of lofty price tags that we are used to seeing from high-end Asus ROG boards). However, we feel like it's genuinely worth it. Our review of it can be found here. I feel like I'm repeating myself, here, but it really does tick all the right boxes, even coming to the part with integrated Wi-Fi... though for close to $300 I should bloody well hope so.

We really had no reservations about this board, except maybe the slightly slower wifi performance (ironically). However, I really don't see this as a major issue, as the 'overkill' nature of this gaming rig essentially guarantees it'll be plugged into the wall and never thought about again (in terms of internet connectivity). It's also vital to have a well designed VRM for the 9900k, and the Aorus Master certainly has that in spades, featuring a 12 phase digital power delivery, with IR components making up the MOSFETS, controller, and individual stages. It's a true 12 phase as well, with no doubling anywhere.

CPU Cooler... um, really big?

Forgive the slightly facetious suggestion, but for a chip like the 9900k, there is only one option. Well, one option that you can buy off the shelf. If you want to custom loop this bit of silicon, go for it. However, in terms of off the shelf parts, we have to go for a 360mm AIO. There are many to choose from, and I will list some of my favourites below.

• Fractal Design Celsius S36 - Excellent product, but more designed for silence. Use if you want a 9900k, but aren't interested in much of an overclock.
• Corsair H150i Pro - Review here. 3x ML series fans, RGB, and a gen 6 pump.
• NZXT Kraken X72 - Review here. We liked this one. Much the same as the H150i, but featuring that glorious Infinity Mirror on the pump head.

The cooler choice, really, is a case of personal preference with looks. The H150i and X72 perform within a degree of each other, when looking at our testing with a 4790k @ 1.3v. There is also the option of running the 9900k at stock (where it is already very, very quick) with a lower tier AIO or even a big air cooler. If you do want to overclock it, though, use a 360mm AIO, and prepare to get inventive.

RAM

To be quite honest, get what you want. With the 2080Ti, 9900k, and reasonable choices in cases/storage and power, 16GB of flashy RGB memory @ 3200Mhz was doable for $3,000. More, however, pushed the cost for the tower alone to over that 3k mark. This might not be a problem for you, however, but I was at least trying to work with some sort of figure in USD. I would recommend at least 3200Mhz, however, and preferably some kit that is confirmed to be Samsung B-Die equipped. Whilst not a hard and fast rule, an easy-ish way to tell is to look at XMP CAS latency. If it's 14, it's definitely Samsung.

I will admit, of all the things to spend your money on, RAM is perhaps the 'main component' least likely to affect your gaming performance. It will only do so if you don't have enough, or intentionally gimp it by running 2133Mhz or underclocking it further... and quite why or how you'd do that, I have no idea. Anyway. If you don't want to pay the extra for Samsung equipped memory kits, then just go ahead and get 16-32GB of 'whatever' says 3200Mhz (or more) on the box, and looks half decent. It'll work, trust me.

Storage

I don't really have anything to add, here. More of what you saw in the high-end build, and that's pretty much this bit covered. The option to go purely NVMe is certainly there, or one large NVMe and one larger SSD? At this price point, I would argue only the best in terms of performance will do, so drives like Samsung's 970 Evo/Pro, Corsair's MP510, Adata's XPG 8200, and Western Digital's 'Black' M.2 NVMe drive will be your go to's. Crucial also recently joined the NVMe party with their new P1 series of drives.

Personally, I feel like 'more' storage is usually better than limited amounts of very fast storage, and loading games off high-end 2.5'' drives like the 860 Evo from Samsung is still going to be pretty damned rapid. Then again, when you're spending $3000... what's another 100?

Power Supply

At this rate I'll start to sound like a broken record. I really don't think there is a need to shell out for 80+ Titanium rated units, unless your PC will be on 24/7 and you live in a country where electricity is costly. If so, it might be worth you looking at Titanium rated versions of the now many times aforementioned PSUs? If, however, you don't especially care, then the still bulletproof reliability of any previously mentioned unit in the 'high-end' build at 80+ Gold or higher will be A-Ok for this PC.

Some might wonder if it's worth going for overkill capacity as well? I mean, you could, for sure. If you intended on adding another GPU down the line (the only other addition to a PC that could necessitate an 'over-buy' in power department), then please go ahead and spend the extra on a 1000W unit. Yes, SLI modern day GPU's and a 9900k could probably run just fine on 850W or so, with some headroom to spare... but I'd just go for broke and go all out.

Graphics Card

Let me take a moment to rub my hands together... ok, done. I will get the immediately obvious out of the way now. RTX 2080Ti. Done.

I don't think I need to explain further? It's an insanely expensive and fast GPU that is, perhaps, the only option for 4K gaming in excess of 60 frames per second. The 1080Ti was able to partially hold that crown just after release, but games soon began to demand more GPU horsepower for 4k 60hz @ ultra, and - let's face it - if you're playing at 4k, you probably want ultra settings? I would always advocate higher frame rates at a resolution like 1440p, or even 3440 x 1440 (aka. ultrawide), but that is a choice to be made by you.

The GPU will set you back about $1200, at the very least. I would go for an aftermarket version, unless your intention is to take off the cooler and slap a water block on the card. If that is the case, then go ahead and get the cheapest blower style/reference edition you can.

I am really not sure there is any other option? Sure, you could SLI 2080's together for about $200 extra, but that does mean dealing with SLI, extra power, extra heat, and extra cost. I have been led to believe that SLI/NV-Link is in a pretty good state in 2018/19, so if you want to down the dual-GPU route, please do your own investigation. You could, of course, also slap 2x 2080Ti's in the same system? At that point, this is a $5,000 PC build, once you have factored in the rest of the parts, as well as monitor. 2x 2080Ti's pretty much necessitates 4k gaming, or ultrawide 1440p, and you'll want the best monitor in that category that your money can buy.

I guess I should also mention why I haven't made any reference to Nvidia's RTX Titan? Well, if I am being blunt, it's an utterly pointless product for 99.9% of gamers, unless you are that 0.1% and are absolutely willing to shell out double the money asked for a 2080Ti for what is a very small performance gain? Make no mistake, the Titan will get a reference in the next segment of this article, but not here. This is a gaming machine, and the 2080Ti is the best overall choice for a 'gamers' GPU, despite the new Titan sporting the 'RTX' moniker, officially designating it as a consumer GPU... for $2400.

I will take a final moment, perhaps, to caution those who have a spare $3,000 (and beyond) rattling around in their pocket. The price vs. performance ratio of high-end parts can drop off very, very rapidly. Furthermore, with RTX and Turing, you are paying both an 'early adopter' tax, as well as a 'no competition from AMD' tax. Nvidia know it, hence they can charge these prices. Just know that shelling out this amount of money for such a high-end build will seem like a true adventure at first, but the reality of PC components is that 'something' is always around the corner, ready to take the crown and resale value from your new $3k build.

Conclusion

With that, we come to the end of the main sections of this article, having covered all price points from the entry-level, right the way to the old equivalent of our 'end-all' PC. There is, however, one more entry, where I will discuss the HEDT platforms from both AMD and Intel, and what kind of PC one can build around them. This is where we will deviate, realistically, from the norm of this guide being meant for gamers.