I’ve been searching high and low for a GPU that would trigger me to start my first high-end PC build. I plan to use this PC for:
- Gaming
- Dual-boot / Multi-boot: Windows and Linux
- Virtual Machines
- Containers (Docker)
- Some light video editing
- Scripting / Coding
- Desktop Use
Kicking off the main component Selection
The GPU I managed to catch in stock at evga.com was the 3080 Ti. Though it was a little higher end model than I needed, catching a high performing card at MSRP was a feat I felt I needed to take advantage of, and high resale values helped provide me with the confidence of a safety net in case I decided to sell the card.
After reading about the launch and initial impressions of the Intel Alder Lake (12th gen) family, I knew this is where I wanted to start.
I selected the Intel i7-12700K after learning about its impressive performance that is in the ballpark of the i9-12900K’s, but for significantly less cost.
Components
| Quantity | Component | Make/Model |
| 1 | CPU | Intel i7-12700K |
| 1 | CPU Cooler | Noctua NH-D15 |
| 1 | Motherboard | MSI MAG Z690 Tomahawk WiFi DDR4 ATX |
| 1 | RAM | G.Skill Ripjaws V 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR4-3600 CL16 Memory |
| 2 | SSD | Samsung 980 Pro 2TB M.2-2280 NVMe Solid State Drive |
| 1 | GPU | EVGA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti 12GB FTW3 Ultra Gaming Video Card |
| 1 | Case | Fractal Design Meshify 2 ATX Mid Tower Case |
| 1 | PSU | Seasonic PRIME TX 1000W 80+ Titanium Fully Modular ATX Power Supply |
| 2 | Fans | Noctua A14 PWM 82.5 CFM 140mm Fan |
| 3 | Fans | Noctua A12x25 PWM 60.1 CFM 120mm Fan |
Motherboard
Anecdotally, I read that the MSI Z690 motherboards offered good features for the money, were pretty stable, and this particular one offered some of the things I was looking for:
- High M.2 slot count (4)
- Built in WiFi 6 / Bluetooth
- Feature-rich BIOS
- Multi-Gig LAN NIC (2.5Gbps)
- DDR4 Memory (DDR5 is still nearly impossible to find, very expensive, and for my uses: it didn’t seem worth it, yet)
RAM
I chose the G.Skill Ripjaws V memory because it met these things I was looking for:
- 2 x 16GB DIMMs allows me to expand to 64GB total RAM with just two more 16GB DIMMs (4 slots on the Motherboard)
- G.Skill has worked well for me in the past, I trust the brand
- Operates at DDR4-3600 with an XMP profile enabled on the Motherboard
- CL16 latency
SSDs
With four M.2 slots on the Motherboard, I definitely wanted two high capacity drives to start with: one for Windows and one for various Linux distros. This would allow me to freely partition, format, and play around with one drive in the future while the other ran an OS I could use with no interruption.
I chose the Samsung 980 Pro drives because of their incredible speed, my luck with Samsung SSD’s in the past, and they run some of the better SSD controllers.
I initially wanted one 1TB and one 2TB drive, but the 2TB drives went on sale so I got two of those instead.
Case
Gamers Nexus’ review of the Fractal Meshify 2 is what led me to start strongly consider that case. It seemed like a good mix of modularity, space, airflow, and build quality.
PSU
I calculated my current draw and I estimated around ~750W to run the power hungry GPU and other components. I wanted some headroom and the ability to overclock the GPU down the road, so I decided to jump to 1000W and future proof.
Seasonic has a great reputation for quality PSUs and they offer a TWELVE year warranty on their Prime line, so I looked there first. 80+ Gold or better efficiency and full modularity were important factors for me. One thing that scared me off initially were all of the reports of older Seasonic PSUs not being able to accommodate the transient power spikes of the high-end nVidia 30-series cards. The more I read the more I seemed comfortable with trying the latest Prime TX 1000W, because from what I could tell it seemed like the issues were mitigated or not common on that particular PSU.
Cooling
I’ve always wanted to invest in Noctua fans: I’ve always admired their balance of performance and noise. So for this build, I went all Noctua: the CPU cooler and case fans. I ruled out water cooling because my research suggested to me that high-end air cooling would meet my needs with much less risk (especially for a water cooling newbie).
I did find many reports of the Fractal cases with 120mm/140mm intake fan mounting positions exhibiting turbulence/noise with 140mm Noctua fans, so I ordered both the NF-A14 and NF-A12x25 fans to try both out and return the ones that didn’t work out well.
What’s Next?
The build is next! Stay tuned.