Need help for Desktop Build - 2019

[Princz]

Hi all,

It has been awhile since I have build a new pc. I hope to get some advice as I have been out of touch for awhile. My current GPU is a Radeon HD 7950 series (it was upgraded from a HD 5900) with a 3rd or 4th Gen i-5.

The desktop will be used for gaming (Total War series, WOW, video editing and the usual office work)

Anyway I am looking at the following build:

CPU+MOBO (i5-9600k)

1. Asus Prime Z390-P
2. Gigabyte Z390 Gaming X
3. Gigabyte Z390 Aorus Elite
4. Asus ROG Strix Z390-F Gaming

Which of the above motherboard is the most reliable? I am building this rig to last 5 years. I selected these two brands because I have used them before and I am familiar.

SSD

I have read some thread about the speeds. I am just not sure whether is there a need to go the NVME route. Will a normal Sata 3 SSD suffice for what i do? I already have a 3.5" 1TB HDD which I will use for storage. I prefer reliability.

I am looking at:

1. Samsung 860 EVO (1T) or
2. Samsung 860 EVO M.2 (1T) or
3. Samsung 970 Pro EVO M.2 NVME (1T) (Is this worth the bang?)

Looking at these to do OS.

GPU (this is where I am not sure what to get)
1. ASUS GTX 1060 Strix DCII or
2. ASUS GTX 1070 Dual or
3. ASUS RTX 2060 Dual or
4. ASUS RTX 2060 ROG Strix Adv

I am looking for reliability and a card that will last me at least 4 to 5 years. I don't play 4k games now but my son may want to play one of those in the future.

CPU Cooler
1. Any recommendation? Too many and all look alien to me.

Power
1. CoolerMaster 750W or
2. Thermaltake Smart RGB 700W (don't really care about the lights) more for power rating.

Which of these are more reliable?

RAM
1. Corsair Veng LPX 3000MHz CL15 16 Gig
2. Kingston Hyper X Fury 2666MHz 16 Gig
3. G.SKill Sniper X 3200Mhz 16 Gig

Which of these rams are reliable and will fit my rig?

Window OS.

I have a Window 7 SP OEM (64 bit). Can i re-use this?

 

[vaiwalker]

if you want a system to last 5 yrs, i suggest going for items in the high price range. new devices come out all the time. concentrate more on the CPU,RAM and GPU. ive been running my system with a i7-4770 with 32gb ram and a maxwell titanX for 4 years and it can still play the latest games at medium to high res at 60 to 100fps with G-sync on.

motherboard wise, get one with what you need. some come with wifi support and bluetooth support which you may never use. avoid them. MBs dont really matter that much but check with the vendor if it will support the GPU and RAM lanes. if you run out of lanes to your CPU, any of your peripherals may not function.

OS wise, you can try to call the microsoft hotline and say your old system died and you changed some parts. they'll give you an activation code.

 

[Koenig168]

CPU+MB - you can consider Ryzen for better price-performance

SSD - NVMe is not necessary. For daily use, there is no difference from using a SATA SSD. Suggest Samsung 860 evo.

GPU - none of the cards will work well for 4K gaming. RTX 2080Ti and to a lesser extent RTX 2080. Suggest you consider RTX 2060 which is at a sweet spot in terms of price-performance for 1080p and 1440p gaming.

CPU cooler - plenty of choices. Cryorig is quite popular here.

PSU - Superflower, makes good PSUs despite the strange sounding name

RAM - whichever is the cheapest, suggest at least DDR4-3000

OS - Win 7 will not work with Z390. Suggest Win 10 Pro

 

[Elysium87]

for your GPU, if you are intending to get 2060 asus rog strix, i would suggest getting 2070 instead. the price of that 2060 can buy entry level of 2070. not worth it.

if u wan 2060, get something cheaper like zotac which has quite good reviews. if you wan more premium a bit, can get gigabyte gaming (has 3 fans like asus rog strix) or msi gaming.

 

[Princz]

Thank you for all the invaluable feedback. I have a rough idea now on which direction to go.

 

[Nelia8686]

GPU - If you want something that can last you 4-5 years get the zotac or palit cards they come with 5 years warranty and will ensure that you will be able to use the same card for at least 5 years. Anything wrong with the card just send for rma within the 5 years.

If you got no budget constraint get the RTX 2080ti since you intend to game at 4k in the future. Don't buy asus cards way overprice unless you like how they look and you like the cooler they use and you are asus fanboy.

If got budget constraint rtx 2060 will do. Or can wait for amd navi cards and see if they are any good.

SSD - If you don't copy and paste lots of files everyday don't need nvme ssd. Normal sata ssd will do. Get samsung ssd or if got budget get those budget ssd also can like those adata, pny, sandisk ssd.

CPU cooler - Go for air cooler if you don't want headache like leaking etc. Cryorig h7 quad lumi is good choice. Or the bequiet dark rock cooler.

OS - can reuse win 7 but you want can also free upgrade to windows 10.

 

[Princz]

OS - Win 7 will not work with Z390. Suggest Win 10 Pro

I am trying to see if I can save the $$ and spend it on a good GPU instead.

I am just wondering if I can install Win 7 and then get the free upgrade to Win 10? I remember on my current OS, it had a free upgrade to Win 10.

Would this automatically get the right drivers for Z390?

 

[Princz]

OS - can reuse win 7 but you want can also free upgrade to windows 10.

Thanks for the input. May I further check with you whether do you know if the free upgrade from Win 7 to Win 10 a one-off? Or it will happen everytime when we install Win 7?

I remember for my current setup, I already had the free upgrade from Win 7 to Win 10 when the Win 10 first came out.

If I reinstall the Win 7, I am wondering if I get another free upgrade to Win 10?

Also someone mentioned that Win 7 will not support the Z390 motherboard so if I install Win 7 and then get the free upgrade to Win 10, will it also automatically install the drivers for Z390? I wonder if any experts/sifus here had gone through this process before?

Paiseh for the noob questions, because I hate to do re-installation work and only do once in a blue moon. every time I do, I have bad experiences.

 

[jedi5diah]

from my understanding win 7 - 10 upgrade period is over (you can try). imo if you are spending for z390, what is a win 10 license key?

 

[Elysium87]

If u don't wanna spend 100+ on windows, u can buy those 10+ oem which is a one time use key for 10+

 

[Princz]

from my understanding win 7 - 10 upgrade period is over (you can try). imo if you are spending for z390, what is a win 10 license key?

Well, it is down to weighing the costs vs benefits which can also be affected by personal preferences. Additional money on a Win 10 license will have almost minimal impact on gaming experience vs the same amount of money on a better Z390 mobo or better GPU.

Having said that.. I would seriously consider buying a Win 10 license if it saves me the extra time of troubleshooting if things go wrong. Especially given your input that the free upgrade period is over. Thanks for that input, let me go check it out.

Of course... the most important thing is still the budget needs to be signed off by the Home's Minister for Finance.


Afternote:

Went to this website to see if the free upgrade is still valid. Interesting article.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/heres-how-you-can-still-get-a-free-windows-10-upgrade/

 

[bobozhang137]

from my understanding win 7 - 10 upgrade period is over (you can try). imo if you are spending for z390, what is a win 10 license key?

from what i know. its not technically over. Its not official but from what i experienced in the past few months this is how it works.

windows is tagged to the motherboard. that i know for sure. (unsure of the retail windows) i know this because i help/build/upgrade pc as a hobby)

for eg a person with a windows 7 home acer pc wants to change to ssd and upgrade graphic card. all i have to do is swap the ssd and install windows 10 home. click on i do not have an activation key and when connected to the internet. it will activate itself. it works for windows 7 pro as well. Works for oem motherboards with legit windows 7 purchased and installed.


now for the oem windows 10 keys that i bought for lazada. this is for my own pc. mods please remove this if im not allowed to share. I have been using windows 10 pro oem key purchased for 2 years already. So far i have been experiencing no problems. i even reformatted once after using it for 1 year 6 months due to ugprade of ssd. I just reinstalled windows 10 pro and clicked on no activation key. It activated itself when i connected to internet.

Thus i can confidently say that window 7 or 10 keys are tagged to the motherboard. at least for the 20-30 computers that ive handled over the past year

 

[Princz]

from what i know. its not technically over. Its not official but from what i experienced in the past few months this is how it works.

windows is tagged to the motherboard. that i know for sure. (unsure of the retail windows) i know this because i help/build/upgrade pc as a hobby)

for eg a person with a windows 7 home acer pc wants to change to ssd and upgrade graphic card. all i have to do is swap the ssd and install windows 10 home. click on i do not have an activation key and when connected to the internet. it will activate itself. it works for windows 7 pro as well. Works for oem motherboards with legit windows 7 purchased and installed.


now for the oem windows 10 keys that i bought for lazada. this is for my own pc. mods please remove this if im not allowed to share. I have been using windows 10 pro oem key purchased for 2 years already. So far i have been experiencing no problems. i even reformatted once after using it for 1 year 6 months due to ugprade of ssd. I just reinstalled windows 10 pro and clicked on no activation key. It activated itself when i connected to internet.

Thus i can confidently say that window 7 or 10 keys are tagged to the motherboard. at least for the 20-30 computers that ive handled over the past year

Thanks for sharing. I bought a legit Win 7 for my previous mobo. So when I upgrade and install into this new mobo, will it ask for an activation key? Does this mean that I have to call Microsoft to explain I have upgraded my mobo?

One more question... have you experienced installing a Win 7 on a Z390 Mobo? Any technical isue to expect as Win 7 is upgraded to Win 10?

 

[bobozhang137]

Thanks for sharing. I bought a legit Win 7 for my previous mobo. So when I upgrade and install into this new mobo, will it ask for an activation key? Does this mean that I have to call Microsoft to explain I have upgraded my mobo?

One more question... have you experienced installing a Win 7 on a Z390 Mobo? Any technical isue to expect as Win 7 is upgraded to Win 10?

you can try calling microsoft but i honestly do not think they can help you with transferring of windows key especially when you are upgrading a new system. cause by right windows keys are meant for one pc. they might make an exception if your motherboard spoils and you are changing a new one. But you can try your luck.

regarding installing windows 7 on a z390. I have not tried it but i will not recommend it. As of now windows 7 is already obsolete. I do not think there will be any updates from now onwards. If you really do not want to spend money on windows. You can install windows 10 without activating it. There is no difference between non activated windows 10 and activated ones except for customization and personalization and i think the unactivated windows will only install critical updates.

just in case you are worried where to find a windows 10 cd without buying one. You can create a windows 10 usb. Just go to the official website and you can download a windows 10 download tool. You will need a thumbdrive of at least 4gb. Formatted.

 

[Koenig168]

Thanks for sharing. I bought a legit Win 7 for my previous mobo. So when I upgrade and install into this new mobo, will it ask for an activation key? Does this mean that I have to call Microsoft to explain I have upgraded my mobo?

One more question... have you experienced installing a Win 7 on a Z390 Mobo? Any technical isue to expect as Win 7 is upgraded to Win 10?

You can't install Win 7 on a Z390 mobo in the first place, so there is no question of an upgrade. There is a workaround on the internet, which is a bit technical and not certain to work (google if interested).

Buying a copy of Win 10 is the most straight-forward solution.

 

[Princz]

@bobozhang137 and Koenig168, thank you again for the inputs. Much appreciated.

 

[Nelia8686]

No need to install win 7 then upgrade to win 10. From what others says since z390 cannot support win 7. Just install windows 10 directly. Download the iso use rufus software and create a bootable usb thumbdrive with the win10 iso. Then boot up your new pc with the z390 motherboard with the thumbdrive install windows 10 straight away.

For the cdkey issue. You can just use windows 10 without activating it. You will only get the watermark on the bottom right corner. Do a search online there is a trick and settings you can set to remove the watermark. If you don't want to do all this just buy the win 10 cdkey for $10-$15.

But since you have the original win7 cdkey should be able to use that cdkey to activate windows 10. I have tried using my windows 8 original cdkey and it works with my windows 10 activation.

An extra tips. As for changing motherboards. You can tied your windows 10 original cdkey to your microsoft account. Then whenever you change to a new motherboard or upgrade to a new motherboard you can just sign in to the microsoft account that you have tied your win 10 cdkey with and your copy of win10 will be activated.

Hope this helps.

 

[Princz]

No need to install win 7 then upgrade to win 10. From what others says since z390 cannot support win 7. Just install windows 10 directly. Download the iso use rufus software and create a bootable usb thumbdrive with the win10 iso. Then boot up your new pc with the z390 motherboard with the thumbdrive install windows 10 straight away.

For the cdkey issue. You can just use windows 10 without activating it. You will only get the watermark on the bottom right corner. Do a search online there is a trick and settings you can set to remove the watermark. If you don't want to do all this just buy the win 10 cdkey for $10-$15.

But since you have the original win7 cdkey should be able to use that cdkey to activate windows 10. I have tried using my windows 8 original cdkey and it works with my windows 10 activation.

An extra tips. As for changing motherboards. You can tied your windows 10 original cdkey to your microsoft account. Then whenever you change to a new motherboard or upgrade to a new motherboard you can just sign in to the microsoft account that you have tied your win 10 cdkey with and your copy of win10 will be activated.

Hope this helps.

Thanks! I will try that this weekend. I already downloaded the windows 10 into a thumbdrive via the microsoft website.

 

[Princz]

Thanks! I will try that this weekend. I already downloaded the windows 10 into a thumbdrive via the microsoft website.

Hello all,

Just wanted to update that I have gotten my new rig from SLS today. I have also successfully installed Win 10 Pro into the rig using my original Window 7 Ultimate Key. A big thank you to Nelia8686 and others for your suggestion.

I confirmed this when checked under system and it said that the Windows was activated.

Saved me $140 which I used to buy a new case and a Corsair H100i pro cooler which was not in my original budget.

The only annoying thing I cannot figure out was this 'lack of USB resources' issue when I put my Bose, keyboard and mouse in the same row of USB slots. I resolved this when I moved the Bose to another usb slot.