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I have been using a computer that I built in 2014 or possibly 2013. This PC was still running Windows 7 that Microsoft ended support for on January 14, 2020. This computer had 16GB of RAM which at that time was not bad, however for the last few years the memory was being maxed out, often by many web browser tabs. This computer also never had a graphics card which at the time was no issue for me, but in the last few years I have been editing my HD/4K drone videos and started doing some gaming.
My needs for a new PC were to be able to do software development using the latest technologies without any slow responding applications. I also wanted to be able to run various operating systems in virtual machines with none of the OS’s lagging, including my host OS. I also now wanted to be able to edit my 4K drone videos and play some of the new games that I have missed out on like DOOM (2016) and DOOM Eternal.
Case
For a case I knew I wanted a larger tower than I have used for my previous computer builds. I wanted to have plenty of space for multiple storage hard drives and still have space to install additional drives when needed for possible data recovery scenarios. While optical drives are rarely used now, I still wanted the option to install a DVD/CD burner. I have never used liquid cooling for a CPU so I wanted to have plenty of space to not make if more difficult.
For the computer case I chose: Corsair Graphite 760T Full-Tower Case
I love this case. The Corsair Graphite 760T is convenient to work on and looks great.
It has swing-out side panels on each side that can easily be removed if needed. The main side comes with six 3.5″ drive bays. These drive bays can be removed for more space. This side also has the option for three optical drives.
The secondary side panel has four 2.5″ drive bays for solid state drives. This was a pleasant surprise because I could use this for my solid state drives and remove one of the modular bays for the 3.5″ drive bays on the main side to have more space.
This case makes it easy to hide wires. It also has a great appearance with a black color, red fans, and clear side panels.
Processor
In all of my previous computer builds I have used Intel processors. For this build I wanted to be different by using an AMD processor.
I briefly considered the AMD Threadripper, but decided against it because of the price and fear of running into compatibility issues.
For the processor I chose: AMD Ryzen 9 5950X
This processor has 16 cores and 32 threads.
System Board
Because I had already selected the AMD Ryszen 9 5950x processor, I needed a system board with an AM4 socket. I wanted a system board with enough memory sockets to maximize the memory. I also wanted to have plenty USB ports.
For the system board I chose: ASUS ROG Crosshair VIII Dark Hero
This system board has 4 memory slots and support 128GB of memory.
It has two M.2 Sockets. Currently, I am only using one of these sockets for the system drive, but the extra socket could be useful in the future.
The ASUS ROG Crosshair VIII Dark Hero has two LAN network adapters and a wireless network adapter. I only needed one network adapter. However, I might use the second network adapter to connect to another computer with a cross over cable to transfer data. I did not think that I needed the wireless network adapter, but I did use it when I needed to move the computer to a different room for a few days when I was changing furniture in my office.
The back panel is loaded with the following USB ports:
7 x USB 3.2 (Gen 2 Type-A)
4 x USB 3.2 (Gen 1 Type-A)
1 x USB 3.2 (Gen 2 Type-C)
Liquid Cooler
Liquid cooling is recomended for the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X processor. In the past I have always built PC’s that used air cooling. Liquid cooling was my biggest fear about building a new PC. I was afraid of building an expensive PC and the liquid cooling system would leak and damage the components. After doing research I found that AIO (all in one) liquid coolers did not require maintenance and this eased my worries.
For the processor liquid cooler I chose: NZXT Kraken Z73
This radiator has three 120mm radiator fans.
It has an LCD that shows the temperature of the processor or can be updated to show the temperature of other hardware components.
Graphics Card
For the graphics card I needed to be able to edit 4K drone videos and wanted to be able to play some newer computer games. Because I only do a little computer gaming I did not need to have on of the most expensive graphics cards. I also wanted to be able to connect the multiple monitors I have that have a variety of HDMI or display port connectors.
For the graphics card I chose: ASUS ROG Strix NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti OC Edition
The ASUS ROG Strix NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti OC Edition has 2 HDMI ports and 3 DisplayPort ports to use the various monitors I have around.
This GPU has 8 GB of video memory with the video memory being type GDDR6X. The memory bus is 256-bit.
Memory
I wanted a large amount of memory to multitask by running many applications at the same time. I usually have many web browser tabs open with many of them being Youtube videos and other video tutorial sites. These web browser tabs quickly use up the available amount of memory.
For the memory I chose: TEAMGROUP T-Force Vulcan Z DDR4 64GB Kit (2x32GB) 3200MHz (PC4-25600)
I started with the 64GB kit that was two 32GB sticks. After a few months of the system running successfully with this memory I moved forward with buying this memory kit again to have 4 32GB sticks of memory to use all of the system boards memory slots with 128GB of memory.
Hard Drives
System Drive
For my system drive I wanted a drive with quick read and write speeds and enough storage that I can install applications for multiple years and still have plenty of free space. NVME storage drives are currently the drives with the quickest read and write speeds. NVME drives were another hardware component that I had no experience with.
For the system drive I chose: NVME: INLAND Performance Plus 2TB PS5 SSD PCIe Gen 4 NVMe 4.0 x4 M.2
Drive For Virtual Machines
I wanted to have a hard drive just for virtual machines. I wanted this drive to have fast read/write speeds so the VM operating systems would not lag. The system board that I chose does have two sockets for NVME drives, however I was not sure if I wanted to spend the money on another NVME drive and I have read that there could be issues using both the NVME connectors. So I knew that I wanted a solid state drive instead of a slower SATA drive.
For the solid state drive for virtual machines I chose: SanDisk SSD PLUS 2TB Internal SSD
Data Storage Drive
For storage of my data I use a Seagate BarraCuda Internal Hard Drive 8TB SATA drive from my previous computer. I may purchase a similar or larger drive later to use for backups that be quickly restored.
Power Supply
For the power supply I needed to have plenty of wattage for all of the hardware components and any future components.
For the power supply I chose: Dark Power 12 1000W
This power supply is 80 PLUS Titanium certified. It is a modular power supply so you can connect the number of cables that you need to the power supply and then connect to the component. This helps with cable management and aesthetics by not having unused cables hanging in the system. The power supply comes with many high quality cables.