I’m going to throw this out right up front ~ 2021 is an absolute shit time to be trying to build a PC.

I might add some additional, less chaotic, photos to this later on (once I finally select some sleeved cables and get them squared away)

Originally, I budgeted about $3k for this build, and rapidly saw that components are well above a number of my estimates. Add in a bit of a financial windfall, I upped my budget to $5k plus cost of peripherals (which were actually a significant cost for me, as I’ve been using laptops since 2002 and didn’t have any of these).

So, with that all said, let’s walk through where I am and some of my rationale.

Intent: This is pretty multifaceted for me, but here’s some of my major considerations for this build.

• Multifunction device
  • Gaming
  • Streaming
  • VO recording
  • Productivity
• Longevity
  • Expected lifespan / 7-10yrs
• Enthusiast Build
  • “Because I can / because it’s cool”

Explanations:

First up, I expect a single device to be able to perform a number of tasks, given the cost of a decent build. That said, I’m looking to AMD’s Ryzen 9 series 5950x as the brains of the build. The 5950x’s 16 core / 32 thread capabilities are more attractive than Intel’s i9 10900k as it provides better workstation capabilities for content creation and multiple apps running simultaneously. Plus, the low TDP and range for overclocking appealed to me. However, with how hard the 5950x has been to get, I went with a 3900x (lightly OC’d to 4.2gHz) and plan to upgrade in late 2022 to mid 2023

Since this is primarily going to be a gaming / streaming setup, a high-end graphics card is a must. NVIDEA won out over AMD on this one. As far as vendors go, EVGA won out over the rest, largely on the cost difference, but also on recommendation of friends that are loyal to EVGA. The EVGA RTX 3090 FTW3 Ultra Gaming (24G-P5-3987-KR) ended up as my card of choice. All that said, with how impossible GPUs are to get, as an EVGA Elite Member, I put myself on the list for the 3080Ti (FTW3 Hybrid) the day it dropped. I planned to settle for the 3080Ti until the 40 or 50 series came out, but through some serendipity, I managed to snag the original card I wanted, though in a bundle with a bunch of stuff I don’t need and will be trying to sell.

I’m very firm on my philosophy of go big in 2021 and I won’t need to go anywhere before 2028 or later. The last PC I spec’d (didn’t build though) lasted well over 7yrs, and that was with tech changing far more rapidly back then.

PremiumBuilds.com became one of my go-to sites while working on this build. While PCMR provided some insight as well, RobeyTech had some solid video guides / reviews, PCGaming, and Consumer Reports filled in some review gaps. The rest was just stat comparison and trying to estimate what my capability needs are going to be.

PC:

• CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 3900x
• GPU: EVGA RTX 3090 FTW3 Ultra Gaming
• Motherboard: ASUS ROG Crosshair VIII Dark Hero
• Memory: G.SKILL Trident Z Neo 64gb (4*16gb DDR4 3600 18-22-22-42)
• SSD1 (OS): Samsung 970 EVO NVME M.2 (2tb)
• SSD2 (Bulk): Samsung 870 EVO 2.5 SATA (2tb)
• Cooler (CPU): Corsair iCue H115i Elite Cappelix AIO
• PSU: Corsair RM1000x
• Case: Corsair Crystal 680x RGB ATX
  • The case came w/ 4x 120mm fans (3x LL120 RGB and 1x ML120 PWM exhaust fan)
  • I added 3x 140mm fans (2x LL140 RGB on the floor of the case as intake fans, and replaced the stock rear exhaust fan w/ 1x LL140 RGB)

Peripherals:

• Primary Monitor: ViewSonic Elite XG270QG (G-Sync)
  • There’s a strong probability that I’m going to get a second of these and the ViewSonic LCD-DMA-002 spring-loaded dual monitor arm)
• Secondary Monitor: ViewSonic VG2253
• Keyboard: Corsair K70 RGB Mk.2 Cherry (Red)
• Mouse: Corsair Ironclaw RGB Wireless
• Mousepad: Corsair MM800 RGB Polaris Mouse Mat
• Headset: Corsair HS60 Pro Surround
• Headset Stand: Corsair ST100 RGB 7.1
• Speakers: Logitec Z407 2.1
• Capture Card: EVGA XR1
• Pre-amp: FocusRite Scarlett 2i2
• Condenser Mic: Rode NT1 (with Rode SM6 Shock Mount and Pop Filter)
• Desk-mount Boom Arm (Rode PSA-1)
• Webcam: Razer Kiyo
• UPS: CyberPower PFC Sinewave 1500VA CP1500PFCLCD