New PC Build

gms2257

Hi. I had an earlier post, but I’ve completely changed my build since I found out one of the programs I use every day doesn’t work well with AMD and I decided to go with 6 Asus VN279QL 27 inch monitors vs the 2 monitors I have. I figured it was easier to start a new post so it wasn’t confusing.

Here’s the build. I’m hoping to have it built tonight or tomorrow or microcenter.

https://www.microcenter.com/site/content/custom-pc-builder.aspx?load=5c7657b7-ce39-4925-99ba-6fd8fcdaffe7

 Here's some background on what I will be using the machine for.

I'm a full-time day trader and I put very heavy loads on my machine with multiple trading platforms, running other multiple programs, and a screen capture recording my screens during market hours. I’m a very heavy multitasker and put heavy loads on my machine. I will NOT be using this PC for any gaming. It’s strictly a work PC for heavy multitasking and day trading. The trading programs I use are Think or Swim, Scanz, Stocks To Trade, and Etrade Pro. 

These are some specific things I’m unsure of:

 CPU Cooling: I chose the Corsair iCUE H11 5i RGB from high recommendations but not sure if this is the best choice in a water cooler, and I’m not sure if water cooling is better for the i9-1000K vs air cooling.

Quick Update: My friend just told me has a brand new Corsair iCUE H115i RGB Pro XT, 280mm Radiator, Dual 140mm PWM Fans, Software Control, Liquid CPU Cooler that he said he can give me and it's event better than the one I chose. 

I also have access from this same friend to the Noctua NH-U12S, Noctua NH-U12DX i4, and the Noctua NH-U14S which he recommends. I’m also open to a different water cooler if that’s recommended if I can purchase it at microcenter this weekend. Any thoughts on liquid vs air? Is liquid safe from leaking etc? I’ve heard it’s more efficient but not sure if there is risk destroying my machine from a water leak.

 Memory: I have 2 choices for RAM I can use. DDR4-2666 CL16 Memory or DDR4-3200 CL16. I don’t know which is the better choice for the Intel Core i9-10900K 3.7 GHz. Someone sent me this link https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/products/199332/intel-core-i9-10900k-processor-20m-cache-up-to-5-30-ghz.html and said don’t use higher than 2933 speed since that’s the speed that Intel guarantees the CPU/RAM will be stable at. Is that correct?

 Memory 2: Another question I have is about enabling Intel XMP to make RAM run at it’s advertised speed. https://www.howtogeek.com/257766/how-to-enable-intel-xmp-to-make-your-ram-run-at-its-advertised-speeds/. Is this something that microcenter can do during the build and should I have it done?

 Secondary Storage: I chose the Samsung 870 QVO 4 TB 2.5" Solid State Drive over an HDD because I have about 3TB of files, and even thought I don’t access them everyday, sometimes I need to search for something and it takes so long on the HDD externals I have. Will the SSD help me with quicker searches, opening files quicker, and updating things in the files?

 Video Card: I chose the Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1650 4 GB WINDFORCE OC Video Card but I also was considering the ASUS GeForce GTX 1650 Dual Overclocked Dual-Fan 4GB GDDR5 PCIe 3.0 Graphics Card. It seemed to me the Gigabytes was a better choice but not sure.

 Case: I chose the Fractal Design Meshify C ATX Mid Tower Case because a few friends have them and love them. I’m hoping this is a good choice.

Thank you for any input on my questions and anything else you might add. Please feel free to ask me any questions.

gms2257

Quick Update: My friend just told me has a brand new Corsair iCUE H115i RGB Pro XT, 280mm Radiator, Dual 140mm PWM Fans, Software Control, Liquid CPU Cooler that he said he can give me and it's event better than the one I chose. 

TSTonyV

Liquid cooling is, technically speaking, more risky than air cooling, but in reality the rate of failures of liquid coolers are still extremely small, and leaks are one of the least common problems. You're much more likely to have the pump go bad than for the cooler to start leaking. As long as you're running the cooler within specifications and install it properly, you should be fine. That said, high-end air coolers can compete very well with AIO liquid coolers. Of those Noctua coolers you listed I would recommend the NH-U14S as the best of the bunch. I'll also mention the Noctua NH-D15 which is going to be extremely similar performance as a 240mm AIO liquid cooler. The NH-U14S isn't too far behind it but strictly speaking the NH-D15 or a 240mm AIO are better. 

Go with the 3200 speed memory for your RAM of those two choices, and yes, you should absolutely be running XMP. 

SSDs will generally just make everything faster on your PC. Transferring files, booting Windows, loading programs, searching for things. It's one of the best investments you can make into the performance of your system.

For your video card, since you're not actually doing anything graphically intensive I would just choose the cheapest option that will let you support the number of monitors you need at their resolution. 

The Meshify C is a great case, just keep in mind that it only comes with two fans. If you go with that Corsair AIO liquid cooler you can mount that in the front and then have on exhaust fan on the top and the back which would be a good setup. 

gms2257

Thanks. Interesting about the Noctua NH-D15. I was considering that until I was told it bend the motherboard because of the weight. I’m thinking maybe that wasn’t good info. Would you go with the 240mm AIO liquid cooler or the NH-U14S? I don’t mind if something goes wrong with the AIO to gain a more efficient system. I was just concerned with it leaking and frying the system.

Wow I really wanted to go with the 3200 speed and started to question it mainly because of being told things like this that I pulled off a website that builds machines for trading so I started to get nervous about system stability. What do you think?

“If you’re planning on building your own PC, be sure to cross reference the memory chips model and version number with the motherboard’s BIOS version and the motherboard vendors Qualified Vendor List for memory they tested to help improve stability/compatibility.”

 “Intel rates their CPUs at a given memory frequency, which is the speed that Intel guarantees the CPU/RAM will be stable at. For the 10th gen processors, that’s around 2933 MHz. There are RAM chips available at 3600 MHz or even much higher currently. There’s almost no extra performance to be gained by running the RAM at extremely high frequencies and it comes with the risk of decreased stability. If customers want max RAM frequency, we are happy to build out the system with higher speed RAM, usually at no extra cost, but it comes with a heads up from the start that those speeds aren’t officially certified and it may not be the best idea.”

https://www.crucial.com/memory/ddr4/bl2k32g32c16u4b

 https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/products/199332/intel-core-i9-10900k-processor-20m-cache-up-to-5-30-ghz.html

 https://www.asus.com/us/Motherboards/PRIME-Z490-A/

 I’m glad you said yes about the XMP. Can the techs at microcenter that will build this do that?

 I should have clarified the SSD would be for extra storage. For the main drive I’m going to use the M.2 Samsung 970 Evo+. Will I still benefit with the files on the secondary SSD for opening, writing, searching etc?

TSTonyV

Are you planning on doing a lot of overclocking? If so then I'd go with the 240mm AIO, if not the NH-U14S should be plenty good. 

So the thing about RAM speed and stability ratings is that technically speaking, once you operate out of manufacturer spec you're "overclocking" and there's potential for instability. All Intel is saying is that your processor is guaranteed to operate with 2933 MHz memory. Past that, "you're on your own," so to speak. In reality it's not a problem. The advertised memory speeds you see on RAM is the XMP profile the manufacturer has tested and assigned for those modules. The RAM manufacturer basically saying "we know your memory can run at this speed reliably on a wide variety of systems." You shouldn't have any problems and there are tangible benefits for running faster memory. There is a point of diminishing returns but 3200 is pretty much the general standard these days. 

XMP is just a quick BIOS setting, I don't think we should have any problems doing that at service. I think we do it normally. 

Yes, if you're planning on doing a lot transferring files to and from storage, searching for them, etc... then an SSD would benefit you. The question is really how much. Are you going to be doing a lot of large data transfer, and is it time sensitive? Or is it just for backup, and popping things open once in a while? Are the files large or small? 

If you're mostly transferring smaller files in small increments, then it probably won't make that much of a difference besides search times. Opening small files (e.g. word documents) on an SSD or HDD isn't THAT different. But if you have very large files that you will be moving back and forth frequently, it's a different story. 

gms2257

I don't plan on overclocking. Just the memory thing that we're talking about but I don't know if that's considered over clocking.
Thanks for clearing that up on the memory. It sounds like the way to go is with the 3200 and have the XMP in done in the BIOS.
I won't be transferring any files. It would just be for opening word and excel files like you said. Also I will at times search for a particular file or category in file explorer which can take time in 4TB so I don't know if that would be faster with an SSD for storage. 

TSTonyV

gms2257 said:

I don't plan on overclocking. Just the memory thing that we're talking about but I don't know if that's considered over clocking.
Thanks for clearing that up on the memory. It sounds like the way to go is with the 3200 and have the XMP in done in the BIOS.
I won't be transferring any files. It would just be for opening word and excel files like you said. Also I will at times search for a particular file or category in file explorer which can take time in 4TB so I don't know if that would be faster with an SSD for storage. 

Technically speaking enabling XMP is overclocking, but it's nothing to worry about. Worst that happens is if for some reason XMP makes things unstable you turn it off or tweak it a bit so it's stable. 

I'm not 100% sure if just searching for files is faster or not, I think it'll probably be pretty quick with a system like you're building regardless. 

gms2257

Thank you so much for all your help. I was in the store tonight and Kevin helped me finish the build. He was great and explained everything just like you did. It will be ready in 3-5 days. I'm counting the days!