Ryzen or Intel? Config advise

Welcome to the forum blackcatfoe!

You have come to the right builder.    I have purchased 4 DS rigs since 2011 and they all still impress.    Me...I have a long history of rigs using overclocked Intel processors so I trust Intel CPU’s will serve you well and last a long time.    Intel K & X class processors are designed by Intel to be Overclocked to higher frequencies and driven hard for both strong gaming and professional use.

Here’s a suggested rig that tics all the boxes, will far exceed the gaming & pro photo work needs of you and your Mrs nicely...and comes in under budget.

My most recent 2019 DS build is a Lumos my son games with and it’s excellent and quite a work of tech art as well that you will want to show off on a desktop.   You would download the Corsair iCue software to control all Corsair RGB components lights for endless possible color combinations and changes to the aesthetics.

Lumos build 1......Config # 2525577. ($3,056). ..SALE (-$300 off = $2756 total)
Strong build for both gaming at 4K and for you wife’s pro photo work with plenty of RAM , fast M.2 NVME primary and secondary SSD drives, and a strong 8-core 16 virtual thread CPU.

Excellent Corsair Crystal Series 570X tempered glass ATX case
Top Intel I9-9900K 8-core/16-thread CPU w/ free Stage 1 Overclock
Solid Corsair H115i 280mm CPU cooler- sealed/ no maintenance
Solid ASUS ROG Z390-H Strix ATX motherboard has back I/o USB 3.1 ports
32 GB Corsair Vengeance Pro DDR4 3000 Hz RGB RAM
Drive1 - Samsung 970 Evo Pro 500 GB M.2 NVME SSD
Drive2 - Samsung 970 Evo    2 TB M.2 NVME SSD
Excellent Corsair HX850i Gold level efficiency PSU - plenty for your RTX 2080 Ti
Excellent Corsair Crystal Series LL fan upgrade - RGB


See what you think...This very strong rig would last a very long time and you wouldn’t need to worry about upgrading anything for many years.   


Edited by HockeyBuck - 12 Aug 2019 at 2:03pm

You are right!   I stand corrected on the Asus Strix Z390-H not having USB C.   We can use the MSI Z390 Gaming Pro Carbon ATX motherboard or the Asus Z390 ROG XI Maximus Hero to get 3x USB 3.1 type A and 1x USB C port.   The MSI Pro Carbon is a little less expensive so I'll use that in the build... The Asus Maximus is a top end strength board and includes a Q-Code LCD for reading mobo problem codes....does come in very handy but the MSI mobo would suffice. Both also add WIFI on board.

Dropping the 2nd m.2 drive saves you quite a bit. Confirm you are aware of the 2 different types of M.2 SSD... There are SATA III M.2 SSD and NVME M.2 SSD... Using a SATA M.2 drive in M.2 Slot 2 will simply borrow/use up one of your available SATA III ports on the mobo.   So one less available SATA port for hard drives if your M.2 drive is SATA III type.   NVME M.2 SSD use the video PCIE bus to perform at speeds 5x faster than SATA III.

Here's the adjusted Intel I9-9900K build.
*The I9-9900X can also be Overclocked to Stage 2 (+$99) for even higher frequency (up to 5.1 hz) and stronger performance.   

Lumos Build 2 Config # 2525906 ($2,527) (Sale-$200=$2,327)

MSI Z390 Gaming Pro Carbon mobo (3x USB 3.1A/1x USB C)
No Drive 2 selected


Sounds like you are more interested in the latest Ryzen 9 3900X 12-core processor.   

For gaming my advice is the Intel I9-9900K CPU.   It's single core performance meets or very slightly exceeds the new Ryzen 9 in tests that I have seen.   In real world gaming use I seriously doubt a difference would be detected by most users of either fast multi-cored processor.   You will have to decide for yourself which CPU you like.

For the graphic artist in the house, the Ryzen 9 has 4 more cores and 8 more virtual threads...probably both CPU's are still core overkill for the uses stated... but nothing wrong with that here.   

One thing I consider in my own PC decisions... Despite all the hype...Ryzen 9 3900X is just coming out, DS won't Overclock Ryzen... and this latest greatest AMD CPU is still unproven as yet in the wild...while the Intel CPU is the top consumer gaming CPU designed to be Overclocked to higher frequencies/performance and has been vetted in the wild and by DS themselves to be very dependable gear for a year now.    

Your 4K gaming, streaming and multi screen use is a more GPU dependent activity and your still top of the line RTX 2080 Ti and its 11 GB VRAM on board should be up to that task...while your wife's graphics and photo work is more about RAM quantity, ample fast storage, and CPU multi core activity...Those extra cores and threads won't have much impact for your gaming.   

Here's a Ryzen 9 build I prepared for you. There could be a wait for the processor as DS promises end of Aug availability, so orders could be a bit backed up waiting for those.


Lumos Build 3 Config # 2525935 ($2,349) (Sale -$200 = $2,149)

No Drive2 selected
MSI MPG X570 Gaming Pro Carbon Mobo (1x USB C /3x USB 3.1A)
Ryzen 9 3900X 12 core/24-thread CPU (no Overclocking)
Stock Ryzen Air cooler - No Liquid CPU cooler necessary


We longtime DS customers on the forum are here to offer our experience & advice... These are all merely suggested builds to help you decide...you can always tinker with the configurations and come up with your own component selections.