New Build

You have some money going in the wrong direction in your build. Some parts are less than optimal for your budget. I recommend these changes:

https://www.digitalstorm.com/configurator.asp?id=4790041

For a gaming machine, you want the latest CPU without going overboard for what you can use. The i5-14600KF is your processor. Same motherboard and RAM. The 1000W PSU is overpowered. I've selected the Corsair 850W PSU for the extended factory warranty that comes with the brand name.

Your primary drive selection is just wrong. You need your primary to be as fast as you can get for everything you do from your OS.That's the Samsung 990 PRO. It's more than 3 times faster than your selection. The 2TB 970 EVO is a fine choice for your secondary storage.

I'm leaving you with your 4070 Ti GPU, but I think you would be very satisfied with the 4070 and save $302. Everyone wants to go overboard with GPU these days, but the 4070's DLSS moderates the 4070 Ti's advantage, and makes it the better buy. There is some difference, sure, but not $300 worth.

Far and away, the Noctua NH-D15 is a better choice to cool your CPU. It does at least as good a job, and avoids any need to replace a whole liquid cooling apparatus when it ultimately fails. If the Noctua breaks down, you replace a fan and continue on.

I gave you the free upgrade to the 4 year warranty. I never know if they give it to you if you don't select it.

It's the right CPU, the right PSU, the right storage, and the right cooler. Up to you what the right GPU is. Look into it. $300 is a lot to pay for difference you wouldn't know was there, IMHO.

Originally posted by Clay I've never understood or understand what is a good number for FPS.. is it anything over 60 or anything just above your monitor refresh rate? I see and hear so many opinions on youtube and reedit. Any thoughts on this? Thanks for the insight!

It's subjective, including the placebo affect. If I were to toss out a number, it would be 60+ is fine. Nonetheless, one aspect not debatable: frame time/rate consistency. In other words, the wider the FPS range, the worse experience you'll have.

The following has some fair suggestions:

What is the best way of getting a consistent frame time? | Reddit

Basically, monitor the FPS while playing the game as usual, then cap the FPS. I recommend setting the limit near the 1% or 0.1% lows.

Originally posted by Clay I've never understood or understand what is a good number for FPS.. is it anything over 60 or anything just above your monitor refresh rate? I see and hear so many opinions on youtube and reedit. Any thoughts on this? Thanks for the insight!

60 FPS is a good target to shoot for. However, many people prefer higher frame rates. I can easily feel a difference when I go from 60 to 100 FPS. Above that's it's really hard to perceive any difference. Some competitive gamers prefer 144 FPS, but I can't tell much difference between 100 and 144. (Obviously this is really only helpful if your monitor supports these speeds.)

Another thing to consider is getting a monitor that supports G-Sync or FreeSync. Those technologies will prevent screen tearing if used properly. When I have G-Sync enabled it's hard to notice a low frame rate, even when it drops below 60. It's just smooth all the time.

Edited by JamesAstro - 06 Nov 2023 at 2:21pm

That has always been my opinion: that the pursuit of a few extra framerates is illusory and just causes you to blow your budget. I've been at 60 fps for over a decade with no ill effects, lol.It was actually JamesAstro, a pretty strong gamer/power user that convinced me anything over 110 was silly to pay for. The simplest fact is 60 is enough, and anything over is a nice-to have, but not essential to a great experience. Most games are intense enough you are not just watching!

Simple fact #2 is that you will never miss what you never had. The middle rank of GPUs now are so darn fast and glorious, we would be saps to keep chasing more out to, and beyond the borders of perception.

Wanna know what's cool? I bought my first gaming computer with selectable parts in 1992 for $2300. My second, third, and fourth cost me about the same. I could still today get a hella rig right here for right around $2300!! I love that!   

Originally posted by Cretae That has always been my opinion: that the pursuit of a few extra framerates is illusory and just causes you to blow your budget. I've been at 60 fps for over a decade with no ill effects, lol.It was actually JamesAstro, a pretty strong gamer/power user that convinced me anything over 110 was silly to pay for. The simplest fact is 60 is enough, and anything over is a nice-to have, but not essential to a great experience. Most games are intense enough you are not just watching! Simple fact #2 is that you will never miss what you never had. The middle rank of GPUs now are so darn fast and glorious, we would be saps to keep chasing more out to, and beyond the borders of perception. Wanna know what's cool? I bought my first gaming computer with selectable parts in 1992 for $2300. My second, third, and fourth cost me about the same. I could still today get a hella rig right here for right around $2300!! I love that!

The only reason why I am looking at a new system is because my current setup I have I was forced to get it from Best Buy (long story) For some reason it sounds like a helicopter if I put the custom frame anything over 90fps. 2070 Super can still play at 1440p with DLSS at about 120 frames and 1080p at about 160 and temp on the card gets to around 80c. I have to turn it down to a custom framerate of 60, play at competitive settings (low) just to keep it quiet and the temp around 58c. Its so quiet now. I really hate doing this. The system is only 3yrs old. If I knew what was causing it to sound like an airplane on high settings, I would fix it.

One more thought regarding frame rate:

One of the biggest discoveries that I made a few years ago is that in-game VSync can really make a game feel slow. For example, while playing Tomb Raider at 60 FPS with VSync on and off, I can IMMEDIATELY feel the difference. There are a lot of games where VSync introduces some significant input lag, and the game just feels slow even though it's running at 60 FPS.

The best way to combat that is to get a GSync or FreeSync monitor, set it up correctly, and then disable any in-game settings for VSync.