Help with PC for gaming and work

Have you purchased from Digital Storm before? I'm only asking because you're showing the "Verified Customer" badge.

Also, before The Smart Guys® can really get into the pieces and parts, what resolution are you going to be using on your monitor? There's a huge difference between 1080p and 4K so they're going to want to make sure you get the best bang for your buck.

They'll be along shortly.   

The type of formulas you are using in Excel is key. Many Excel jobs don't require a lot of cores, and won't use them. What kind of CPU are you using now, and how does it perform? Are you seeing maximum utilization on all cores?

Are you looking for a killer number cruncher you can game on, or a killer gamer that will crunch some numbers?


The best dual-use CPU you can get is the AMD 5950X with 16 cores and 32 threads. This will continue for quite awhile, as the next gen Intel gaming chips are stuck at 8 cores, and can't hope to match AMD in number crunching.

Here's a spec for you maxing your capabilities for both uses at once:

     3898767    $4723.   To see it in the Configurator, go main Forum page upper right > "Load Config". Copy/ paste that # in the window.

As I said, this is max usage for complex Excel formulae. If your work is simpler, save the cash and get a 5900X with 12 cores and 24 threads. gaming performance will not be hurt at all. You might wish to back off to 32 GB of RAM, as well. I'm really not sure just how a lot RAM helps in Excel, but it's not needed for gaming.

The storage is top of the line, fastest going. A compact NVMe SSD for the C drive for Windows, your productivity apps and maintenance software. A full 2 TB of super fast NVMe for everything else.

I will not recommend you pay an EXTRA $1300 for a GPU that should cost around $1600 total. The RTX 3090 ridiculous. The 3080 is over-priced enough, but it will get you very pleasing results on a wide variety of games in 4K. Not max, but more than just adequate. I suggest you look at benchmarks for yourself and decide. To pay that much for a mere 14% improvement over the 3080 is just wasteful, IMHO.

https://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Nvidia-RTX-3090-vs-Nvidia-RTX-3080/4081vs4080



I also never recommend custom loop cooling. It's expensive, high maintenance, and may cause severe problems for very little return in cooling efficiency. In a Lumos with a dual fan all-in-one liquid cooler, you'll be fine.   

Originally posted by Buzoruh Also, it should be work first but i was hoping there is a way to build it that i don’t need to sacrifice either. Seems like they need different pieces though so i don’t have a choice?

I think I just told you the 5900X or the 5950X is perfect for both. One has 12 cores, the other has 16. Is that not a great deal more than you're working with now? Yes, they are overkill for gaming, but you have work to do, so who cares? I don't know if 64 GB of RAM is a big help or not. Don't you?

If you get the 5950X there is no CPU upgrade. RAM is easy, storage is easy. These are state of the art CPUs only 6 months old. Better than anything Intel has.

The speed of EVERY part is magnitudes better than 2016. It'll blow you away.

I think it's very wise to go with the 3080 at this time. I don't think you'll be disappointed.

He should definitely do a little more research and figure out where he plans on going with this new system. For working in Excel, I wouldn't expect him to need anything more than 12-16 cores unless the system is on a large network and handling a bunch of cross-referenced spreadsheet data inputs/outputs from multiple systems.

I'm in a similar boat, but the "workstation" side of things for me is a bit more intense compared to the gaming, so I ended up going with a 24-core Threadripper in my custom build:
*CASE: Lian Li pc-011d-rog, Model 011DXL-X (black)
*CPU: AMD Threadripper 3960X 24-core, no manual overclock.
*MOTHERBOARD: ROG Zenith II Extreme (AMD TRX40)
*RAM: G.Skill Trident Z Royal 128Gb 3200MHz 8 x 16Gb CL14-14-14-34 1.35V
*OS DRIVE: FireCuda 520 SSD 2TB PCIe Gen4 NVMe 1.3 M.2 2280-D2
*STORAGE: WD_Black Performance Desktop Hard Drive 6TB
*PSU: EVGA SuperNOVA 1600T2 H x L x W = 86 x 150 x 220mm
*GPU: Kingpin RTX 3090(acquired), radiator installed on top. No overclock.
RTX A6000(pending depending on availability & current cost under/overrun)
*CPU COOLER: ROG Ryujin 360(should be easier to install & no space issues with RAM due to hose orientation for the CPU side). Radiator installed on internal front side.

CASE/RADIATOR FANS:
Thermaltake Riing Quad 12 RGB Radiator Fan TT Premium x10 120mm total.
Kingpin RTX 3090 x3 120mm Exhaust
ROG Ryujin 360 x3 120mm Intake
Rear: x1 120mm Exhaust
Bottom: x3 120mm Intake

CASE LIGHTING: Full RGB with brightness/color control. Brand/controller pending.

---Software---
Windows 10 Pro
Microsoft Office Home & Student 2019


---Peripherals---
*KEYBOARD: K95 RGB Platinum XT Mechanical Gaming Keyboard w/ Cherry MX Brown switches.
*MOUSE: Harpoon RGB Wireless Gaming Mouse, 10,000dpi sensor
*MONITOR: ASUS PG279Q ROG Swift 27" 2560x1440 165Hz IPS
*SPEAKERS: Klipsch Promedia 2.1 THX Cert. Computer Speaker System(2 satellite + 1 subwoofer)
*PROTECTION: APC /w backup PS enough to power down the system when power goes out.

Complete overkill for gaming, but necessary for the renders & 3d modeling. Hell, I still might not have enough RAM for the RTX A6000's 48GB VRAM if I fully utilize all of it. Hopefully I won't need to in the near future.

Originally posted by hoserator Hi Acetylide, you were able to snatch a Kingpin! That's some big radiator.  Have you seen the card fan turn on at all? (no need to answer) I guess you are not doing the N2 switch. lol Enjoy. To the OP, don't mean to hijack the thread.