2020 gaming computer build specs

The Game Room
1

Epic/Psyonix recently announced that in March they would no longer be supporting MacOS or Linux for Rocket League. :frowning: This means that in order for me to continue to play, I need to acquire either a console or a PC. I dislike consoles much more than I dislike PCs, so I started researching what I’d need, what I’d want and what I could afford.

This system will do three things: 1) allow me to play Rocket League online, 2) allow me to edit videos and 3) allow me to run Python 3 so I can try and train a bot to play Rocket League.

Here are the system requirements for Rocket League:

Here is what I think I can afford and that I’d be happy with (one factor is I don’t want to be out-dated in mere months):

ASUS ROG Maximus XI Hero (Wi-Fi) with i7 9700 chipset
Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 Ti
16 or 32 GB RAM (I’ll prolly spend the money on 32G; RAM rules)
850w Power Supply
multiple fans
CD/DVD/BR R/W drive
SSD >1 TB
Many USB ports
Audio card (prolly not strictly necessary at this point)

That totals up to about $1800 with a case if I have it built; not sure how much I’d save trying to hook it all up myself vs. how much headache it might be.

How are those specs? I think that should hold me for a couple of years at least, but for the money, I’d prefer it held me for 4 or more years.

I found this $750 build spec that I found online, but I’m not sure about the motherboard or the i5 chipset. I love the price, tho.

I’m thinking about getting a 144mHz monitor too; anyone have any experience with them?

Thanks for your input, folks!

2

I built the machine you are describing about a year ago for about 500 dollars less. I’d never built a computer before but I stumbled across a video on youtube that showed how easy it really is.

If you have a MicroCenter near you, all the better. They have a build it yourself department and everyone I spoke to at the two different MicroCenters I visited was excellent. Having a person to talk to is not essential, but it can really smooth

Here’s the url that got me interested and made me believe I could do it without cursing a blue streak and kicking my cat.

Design before you build!!! 90% of your happiness hinges on your shopping list. Knowing how much power and speed you want and making sure all the parts you are buying will give you that and are compatible is the single most important element in the process. If you get the shopping list right, the build itself is pretty easy.

Good luck. I really enjoyed it.

3

I just built a computer, for general use but also for gaming. I used a Core i7-9700 CPU and kept my GTX-970 graphics card from my previous computer. As long as you leave some power supply room (which you’ll have with that one), you can always upgrade the GPU later, which leads me to the main reason I’m replying…

My last build was in 2009, and it had a Core i7-920, and some relevant graphics card, which I bought another of and connected them in parallel, then bought another one, and then the current one. The CPU was fine all the way through – maybe I couldn’t play with all settings at high, but with medium settings, I was playing pretty current games with zero lag.

I was itching to replace it when the power supply started failing, so I said, OK, I’ll build a new one. But, I probably could have gotten by with the old setup if I had to. The CPU was well below the recommended specs, but that seemed to have very little effect on the game play – I saw the most dramatic improvements when I upgraded the GPU.

My point is, your build will last a long time, and when it starts to show signs of lagging, just upgrade the GPU. I think the i7-9700 is one of those sweet-spot CPUs, just like the i7-920 was back in 2009, and your GPU is better than mine.

One caveat – I only have a couple of 1080P monitors, nothing in 4k. Maybe that would have required a new machine earlier.

As far as build yourself vs. having someone build it – it took me a couple of hours, but I found it fun. Well, except for mounting the fan on the CPU – how much is the right amount of thermal adhesive??? Too much or too little are both bad. Stressful moment there. So, if you like that sort of thing, it’s easily done in an evening. Lots of Youtube help if you need it. My friend mostly built my previous one with me looking on, so I had that as a guide.

Mine came in at under $1,000, but I already had the GPU and the drives from my old machine (SATA 3 SSDs, which are much, much faster with the new build)

One final note – the folks at the Tom’s Hardware forums are very good about offering advice, and even put together a build list for me, which I mostly followed. The SDMB is great, but those guys are specialists.

ETA: Yes, MicroCenter! I wish I had gone there before I tried to spec out my machine. Tracking down all the incompatibilities can be baffling! Or, maybe Fry’s?

4

LittleOtt, the only part of the build that I’m apprehensive about is the BIOS setup and OS installation. It’s just been a long time and I’m not sure I remember all the steps. I can prolly figure it out/find it online; I just have to get over the mental hurdle of “I swore I was done with PCs”, I guess.

Thanks for the video link. You saved me some time looking for one with that content, eh. And I’ll have to check on MicroCenter in Las Vegas.

RitterSport, thanks as well. I’ll check out Tom’s Hardware.

You know, I couldn’t even find CD/DVD/BR drives on Newegg.com? Is that still the best place for computer components?

5

Here’s a list of internal blu ray burners at Newegg:

I don’t know if you were looking to burn blu rays or just read them. Look under Computer Components and there’s a whole section of CD/BD, etc., and you can filter it by external and internal.

Two notes:

  1. Make sure your case has a bay for an internal CD-ROM
  2. Do you really need one? I have one but accidentally bought a case without a space for it. I happened to have an external CD burner (not blu ray), and I just use that in the rare cases that I need it.

Having an external player leaves the case emptier which keeps it cooler. Plus, fewer cables snaking around, etc.

OK, back to the build – make sure the power supply is modular – that way, you only use the cables you need.

I didn’t have to do anything to set up the BIOS. For the OS, since I transferred my old drive, that wasn’t an issue for me (I did have to get a new license, though). Should be really easy to install a new OS, though.

6

Note one was already noted but thank you; it’s a good detail to remind people about, IMO.

For note two: with me, there is always the possibility that I will want/need to record a hard copy. And I have a lot of music & film/video that I might use in my own videos that is not available unless I take it directly from one of my CDs or DVDs/BRs (I don’t keep everything in my collection on my hard drives).

I’ll have to look at an external, tho. If I could also use it with my Macbook that would be an acceptable compromise and with the added benefits you mention might actually be my best deal.

And yeah, my power supply will have plenty of outs.

ETA: Cool, there’s at least one external I found at your link to Newegg that will work with Mac and Windows OS… now just have to see if it can be used interchangeably for them or if it has to be one or the other.

7

Yes get an external DVD/CD/whatever. There is no advantage to an internal one, you just have less space and it’ll be constantly drawing power (maybe not much but it’ll be something). Just get an external and plug it in the rare times you need it.

I only ever get modular power supplies. It’s basically like sliced bread, it makes everything so much easier.

Pretty much everything RitterSport said is spot on.

(Disclosure, I have been doing PC support for 20+ years and have built or modified easily over 100 PCs over the years, either at home or professionally. I always prefer to build my own machines from scratch.)

8

One reason I picked the Asus motherboard is that it would indeed allow me to upgrade to an i9 chipset in the future, should the need arise.

9

I just spent the last hour picking thru stuff. I see two different listing for ASUS Maximus Hero XI motherboards and I can’t tell if there are major differences in them despite the very different listings, so I went with the one that was a) cheaper and b) explicitly said it had wifi capability.

Here’s what I’ve got in my cart so far; have I missed anything essential? Is there any reason to go with a different component than any of the ones I’ve picked out?

[ul]
[li]DIYPC DIY-Model C-RGB Black Dual USB3.0 Steel/ Tempered Glass ATX Mid Tower Gaming Computer Case w/ 3xTempered Glass (comes with 3 fans)…[/li][li]Seasonic FOCUS PX-850, 850W 80+ Platinum Full-Modular, Fan Control in Fanless, Silent, and Cooling Mode, 10 Year …[/li][li]CORSAIR Vengeance LPX 64GB (2 x 32GB) 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM DDR4 3200 (PC4 25600) Desktop Memory Model CMK64GX4M2E3200C16[/li][li]ASUS ROG Maximus XI Hero (Wi-Fi) Z390 Gaming Motherboard LGA1151 (Intel 8th and 9th Gen) ATX DDR4 DP HDMI M.2 USB 3.1 …[/li][li]Intel Core i9-9900K Coffee Lake 8-Core, 16-Thread, 3.6 GHz (5.0 GHz Turbo) LGA 1151 (300 Series) 95W BX80684I99900K …[/li][li]ASUS ROG Strix GeForce GTX 1660 Ti ROG-STRIX-GTX1660TI-A6G-GAMING 6GB 192-Bit GDDR6 PCI Express 3.0 HDCP Ready Video …[/li][li]XPG SX8100 2TB PCIe NVMe Gen3x4 M.2 2280 Internal Solid State Drive (ASX8100NP-2TT-C)[/li][li]Microsoft Windows 10 Pro - Full Retail Version (USB Flash Drive)[/li]
[/ul]
Assuming that’s all decent gear, now I have figure out what will actually work with what and what will fit where, I guess.

10

Heh. That’s because I followed a lot of your advice in my previous thread on this subject:

https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=883683

Bo, my older thread is not very long if you want to take a quick read-through. I also have a sample build there – I went with the Noctua CPU cooler – I can’t even tell when my computer is on.

ETA: Just saw your build. You still need a CPU cooler, I think.

ETA 2: Man, that’s a sweet setup.

11

Thanks; I read straight thru that thread.

ETA: I added a NH-D15 to my cart as well.

EATA: Thanks! I hope it will all fit in that case (it’s a steal at just $56) and that the RAM is QVL, etc. Gotta research all that now.

12

I got a pretty good build for about $500, including a 2k 27" monitor. I had to accede to some used parts and last gen processor, motherboard, RAM and vid card. It’s an i5 processor, older Asus mobo, Nvidia 1060 GTX 6GB GPU, 16GB DDR3 RAM, 650W power supply, an 1GB SD drive and the case. I have since added a regular 2TB hard drive to store games. I love it, but not as future-proof as what you’re describing. Dude, seriously, if you’re about to plop down almost 2k for a build you can get a KILLER system for that kind of coin.

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Is what I have spec’d in post #9 not a killer system? What would you change and why?

14

Your build in #9 is fine. Strong build. Probably the first thing in it that you’ll upgrade is the GPU just because the rest of it is high end stuff and the GPU is mid-tier (but not bad!) and GPUs get outdated quicker than CPUs. But, aside from the GPU, I don’t know what else you’d ratchet up for a “killer” system and you don’t need twin RTX 2080Ti’s to play Rocket League. The only thing I’d consider adding is a traditional high capacity HDD for storing stuff like pictures, music, etc to save room on the SSD for your games. But that can be added at any time so no need to worry about it now.

Make sure to overclock your CPU since you’re paying for the privilege with that K chip. The BIOS (well, UEFI these days) will make it super easy, just selecting from presets or clicking a performance mode toggle. Gone are the days of tediously adjusting voltages by hand trying to find a stable balance. Likewise, make sure you activate XMP for your memory so it runs as fast as possible.

15

As far as I could tell, Jophiel, yeah, that’s the best card I can get without getting into hardware that is just waaaaaay more than what I need. And I don’t mind spending a couple/few hundred in a couple/few years to upgrade a graphics card; they’re easy enough to just pop in.

Can you elaborate on why I’d need a HDD? I’ll have 2 TB of SSD storage. The only music and video would be Rocket League footage and background music for videos. I won’t be recording and mixing my own music on this machine and it won’t be my day-to-day-browse-the-internet computer. And there won’t be other games, unless they put the kibosh on Rocket League.

Thanks for advice on overclocking and the XMP memory. I have never overclocked a CPU before, so that’ll be interesting. I admit I am not sure what XMP memory is; I’ll have to look that up. ETA: Ah, Extreme Memory Profile. Okay; cool. It’s right in the BIOS too. Excellent! Thanks!

16

I was assuming that you would be using the system for more standard computer stuff and playing other games on it (many modern games eat up drive space in a hurry).

Honestly, if you’re serious about only playing Rocket League, you have twice as much computer (at least) than you need. Rocket League is a fairly “old” game and you could max out your performance with a much lower spec’d system – it’s not as though Rocket League is suddenly going to jump in system requirements.

I’m not going to tell you not to buy this system if you want to buy it but, for a pure “Rocket League performance” (and light game video editing) standpoint, you could probably get the same experience from the “Moderate Build” recommendation on any hardware site.

17

Well, there’s also the video editing and the bot training.

And I’m trying to make sure I have a system that will run for years with no problems.

I’m a Mac guy. This purchase is prompted by the publisher removing support for MacOS and Linux. At the moment, I do everything on Mac, including all my work stuff (Vectorworks, etc.). So right now, the only thing I plan on doing on the PC is playing Rocket League, training my bot and putting together videos for YouTube.

But hey, I’m open to changing things up. I’d love to have the same experience but for less money. I’m not sure how to research and evaluate that gear tho; no one posts articles online about “The best 4 year old technology you can buy today” and such. How do I know what I’m buying isn’t just gonna be garbage in 18 months?

18

I personally would build with AMD 3xxx processors right now, but the intel choice isn’t a bad one or anything.
Power supply is good quality but overkill, even a 600W supply probably has a good amount of excess capacity with your current build listed. The only way you need that much power is if you are going to run more than one video card (and who does that today unless you are bitcoin mining).

Edit: I see in a separate comment that you added a CPU cooler so I removed the recommendation to add one.

19

I added a NH-D15 CPU cooler in post #11.

I can bump the power supply down to a 650w. What are the advantages of having a smaller power supply, besides saving me $40?

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Smaller power supplies are generally cooler, smaller (as in taking up less space in your case), and quieter, but that’s no absolute. (You can buy big power supplies with features to make them quieter, like special bearings on the fans for example.) Personally, I don’t like spending more money than I need, even if it’s only a 5% price drop from the total cost, if I’m not benefiting from the extra money. But that’s just me. It all depends on what your priorities are, everyone has different preferences.