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Help me build my father a computer

TheLostSwede

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Because for home users, sequential transfer speeds mean squat, that's why.
But I would try to get something that's not QLC, seeing as QLC isn't significantly cheaper than TLC. Mostly for peace of mind, but TLC comes with slightly better writes, too.

There's not anything the Crucial P1 does better than a Sabrent Rocket though is there?

Crucual PS1 is QLC, but so is Sabrent Rocket Q, and I really haven't seen anything in Sabrent's price range that boasts faster read or write speeds than it.

Though Sabrent Rocket also has a TLC variant.
 
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My $0.02
PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 3950X 3.5 GHz 16-Core Processor ($699.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 4 50.5 CFM CPU Cooler ($89.90 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Asus ROG Crosshair VIII Hero ATX AM4 Motherboard ($359.99 @ Best Buy)
Memory: G.Skill Trident Z Neo 32 GB (4 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 CL14 Memory ($364.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: ADATA XPG SX8200 Pro 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($139.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Crucial BX500 2 TB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($199.99 @ Adorama)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER 8 GB BLACK GAMING Video Card ($723.98 @ Newegg)
Case: be quiet! Silent Base 801 ATX Mid Tower Case ($159.90 @ B&H)
Power Supply: SeaSonic FOCUS 650 W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($169.99 @ Amazon)
Case Fan: be quiet! SilentWings 3 PWM High-Speed 77.57 CFM 140 mm Fan ($26.88 @ B&H)
Case Fan: be quiet! SilentWings 3 PWM High-Speed 77.57 CFM 140 mm Fan ($26.88 @ B&H)
Case Fan: be quiet! SilentWings 3 PWM High-Speed 77.57 CFM 140 mm Fan ($26.88 @ B&H)
Monitor: Samsung LU32J590UQUXEN 32.0" 3840x2160 60 Hz Monitor ($437.00 @ Amazon)
Keyboard: G.Skill RIPJAWS KM780R RGB Wired Gaming Keyboard ($89.99 @ Amazon)
Mouse: Logitech G305 (Black) Wireless Optical Mouse ($49.99 @ Best Buy)
Headphones: Audio-Technica ATH-M50x Headphones ($129.00 @ Adorama)
Total: $3695.34
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-06-09 19:03 EDT-0400
 
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When is the 3800XT scheduled to drop?
I heard mid/end June.

Is VA better than IPS? Ive really only used IPS outside a CRT.
In general no, but in certain areas like contrast, yes. VA will be better for black levels, but you'll get contrast shift to some extent. IPS tends to be faster with uniform color/viewing angles. I'd suggest getting a quality 2k IPS monitor as even at 32 inch older folks will need scaling for 4k.

Going from SNB to something modern will be night/day anyway, but I'd wait given the long upgrade cycle. I'm still on IVB but just bought some used 2700x/x370/16GB 3000 DDR4 combos for the kids & they're light years faster.
 
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When is the 3800XT scheduled to drop?

Is VA better than IPS? Ive really only used IPS outside a CRT.

VA has better contrast ratio but worse colors, response time, and viewing angle. VA panels are typically used for more budget oriented monitors while IPS will typically be more expensive.

For the love of God, why is everybody recommending 20+ threads for a gaming PC? 8c/16t is all you need. And even then, it's overkill in many cases.
And screw the "get the tightest timings possible, Ryzen likes that" way of thinking. Get 32GB RAM instead, that will be way more visible (if your father likes to keep a lot things open at the same time).

His father had the last computer for 10 years. 8c16t is good enough for now. In 10 years? Heck no. People said the same thing about the 7700K and 3 years later it has issues in modern titles keeping a stable framerate because it doesn't have enough cores.

There's not anything the Crucial P1 does better than a Sabrent Rocket though is there?

Crucual PS1 is QLC, but so is Sabrent Rocket Q, and I really haven't seen anything in Sabrent's price range that boasts faster read or write speeds than it.

Though Sabrent Rocket also has a TLC variant.

For gaming your probably not going to see any difference from higher read/write speed drives. Better to look at random read / latency performance. TweakTown does a game load test and the SX8200 is top of the pack.
 
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SX8200 is very good for sure, but when I just checked Tweaktown, even their own charts don't show it as the best. The Intel Optane SSD's are all dominating the chart, and below them is HP EX920, then Plextor M9Pe(Y), and then the SX8200.

That said, they didn't test Sabrent Rocket at all, or at least it isn't on the chart here: https://www.tweaktown.com/articles/8661/best-ssd-gaming-over-120-ssds-tested/index2.html

The Intel optane are insanely expensive and not suitable as a boot drive (they use a PCIe slot) https://www.newegg.com/intel-optane-ssd-900p-series-480gb/p/N82E16820167440

$850 for half of a single TB

The Plextor drive is also a PCIe addin card and again, can't be used as a boot drive. It's also hard to find and expensive if you do.

The HP EX920 uses the same controller as the SX8200. The difference between the two being the SX8200 is more power efficient and much more well rounded. I remember all this because I recently purchased an SX8200 after looking at all the options on the market.
 
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SX8200 is very good for sure, but when I just checked Tweaktown, even their own charts don't show it as the best. The Intel Optane SSD's are all dominating the chart, and below them is HP EX920, then Plextor M9Pe(Y), and then the SX8200.

That said, they didn't test Sabrent Rocket at all, or at least it isn't on the chart here: https://www.tweaktown.com/articles/8661/best-ssd-gaming-over-120-ssds-tested/index2.html

Chart position is something to look at, but what's more important is the meaning of the chart. Disregarding the last few entries the high end is 12 seconds and the low end is about 16 seconds. A 25% improvement sounds great, but when the actual measurement is four seconds the difference is practically irrelevant. Just get the drive with the best $/gig value and be done with it.
 
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ComponentSelectionBasePromoShippingTaxPriceWhere
CPU AMD Ryzen 9 3950X 3.5 GHz 16-Core Processor$699.99
$699.99 Buy
CPU Cooler Noctua NH-D15S 82.52 CFM CPU Cooler$79.90
$79.90 Buy
Motherboard MSI MAG X570 TOMAHAWK WIFI ATX AM4 MotherboardNo PricesAvailableBuy
Memory G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 CL14 Memory$199.99FREE$199.99 Buy
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Storage ADATA XPG SX8200 Pro 2 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive$259.99
$259.99 Buy
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Monitor Asus ROG SWIFT PG349Q 34.0" 3440x1440 120 Hz Monitor$849.00FREE$849.00 Buy
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I'd get the 3900xt at launch & pair it with the x570 tomahawk. An overkill build needs an overkill screen :pimp:
 
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So my dad is still running on an i5 2500K and all that old gen crap. He finally wants me to build him a computer. He doesnt do streaming/content creation or any of that. He will just use it mostly for single player games. I plan on upgrading everything. Down to the keyboard & mouse. He wont be retaining anything in his current setup.

Budget is around $3500-$4000 USD. This includes case, monitor, keyboard, mouse, headphones and system fans.

Should I go AMD or go Intel?
Sounds like you are building according to YOUR dream build, not to what he NEEDS.
Depending on the games he plays he might be totally satisfied with an AMD 3400g and 16GB of ram on an MSI Tomahawk Motherboard.
Or wait for their next gen APUs .
 
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PCPartPicker Part List: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/YqGX7T

CPU: Intel Core i9-10900K 3.7 GHz 10-Core Processor ($529.99 @ Best Buy)
CPU Cooler: be quiet! Dark Rock 4 CPU Cooler ($74.90 @ Amazon)
Thermal Compound: Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut 5.5 g Thermal Paste ($26.88 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Gigabyte Z490 AORUS ELITE AC ATX LGA1200 Motherboard ($216.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 CL19 Memory ($66.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial P1 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($128.99 @ Dell)
Storage: Crucial P1 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($128.99 @ Dell)
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER 8 GB Video Card ($699.99 @ Best Buy)
Case: Fractal Design Meshify C ATX Mid Tower Case ($99.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair RMx (2018) 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($125.00 @ Amazon)
Sound Card: Creative Labs Sound Blaster AE-9 32-bit 384 kHz Sound Card ($332.49 @ B&H)
Case Fan: Noctua NF-F12 industrialPPC-2000 PWM 71.69 CFM 120 mm Fan ($25.35 @ Amazon)
Case Fan: Noctua NF-F12 industrialPPC-2000 PWM 71.69 CFM 120 mm Fan ($25.35 @ Amazon)
Case Fan: Noctua NF-F12 industrialPPC-2000 PWM 71.69 CFM 120 mm Fan ($25.35 @ Amazon)
Monitor: Dell S3220DGF 31.5" 2560x1440 165 Hz Monitor ($449.99 @ Best Buy)
Keyboard: Das Keyboard Prime 13 Wired Standard Keyboard ($129.00 @ Amazon)
Mouse: Logitech G Pro Wireless Wireless Optical Mouse ($149.99 @ B&H)
Headphones: Sennheiser HD 650 Headphones ($487.99 @ Amazon)
Speakers: KRK VXT 6 180 W 2.0 Channel Speakers ($265.00 @ Amazon)
Total: $3989.21
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-06-09 15:55 EDT-0400
>$4K USD and not even a 2080 Ti
>$75 on fans
>650W PSU with a 10900K and 2080S
>$450 for a 1440P 165Hz
>$1030 on audio gear
>Air cooler for a 10900K
 
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>$4K USD and not even a 2080 Ti
>$75 on fans
>650W PSU with a 10900K and 2080S
>$450 for a 1440P 165Hz
>$1030 on audio gear
>Air cooler for a 10900K
>Plays single player video games at 2560x1440.
> Thought of giving the man a great experience.
>2080Ti is way more expensive.
>You like to pick faults but not find a solution.
>650w is plenty for that setup.

Sounds like you are building according to YOUR dream build, not to what he NEEDS.
Depending on the games he plays he might be totally satisfied with an AMD 3400g and 16GB of ram on an MSI Tomahawk Motherboard.
Or wait for their next gen APUs .
But it is his father, not yours. Projecting is an issue with folks right now, must be the times.
 
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Video Card(s) Asus ROG Strix 3080 (2100Mhz/18Ghz)|Radeon Pro 560 (1150Mhz/1655Mhz)|
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>Plays single player video games at 2560x1440.
> Thought of giving the man a great experience.
>2080Ti is way more expensive.
>You like to pick faults but not find a solution.
>650w is plenty for that setup.
Ok, but my point was you're overspending where you don't need to, if you're going to spend $4K it better come with a 2080 Ti, if not just chop off the unnecessary stuff. You don't need to waste a quarter of the mans budget on useless audio gear, you didn't even address my other points
 
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Ok, but my point was you're overspending where you don't need to, if you're going to spend $4K it better come with a 2080 Ti, if not just chop off the unnecessary stuff. You don't need to waste a quarter of the mans budget on useless audio gear, you didn't even address my other points
Useless audio gear? that is your opinion, guess what? form your own opinion and create a separate build, stop trying to attack others opinions.
 
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First of all, WAIT!
Zen3, Ampere, RDNA2, and COVID supply problems mean now is probably the worst time to build a PC in a decade. It makes even the crypto-mining rush GPU shortages look mild.

Secondly, How good is his eyesight?

One thing that I've found helps older folk is an aggressively curved screen in the 90 pixels-per inch range (so 32" 1440p, and 24" 1080p - 27" 1440p is too squinty to use without DPI scaling for most folk and 27" 1080p is probably too low to look good unless his eyesight is bad)

It's not something that people under the age of 50 are likely to care about, but changing your focal distance gets significantly harder for old people. Not only do they struggle to change focal distance rapidly, but the lenses in their eye are simply less flexible, meaning that it will tire their eye muscles much faster too.

This ridiculous example is an exaggeration where the curvature of the screen matches the sitting distance exactly, but you can see that the focal distance does not change at all no matter where on the screen you look. Meanwhile, the flat screen has a huge difference in focal distance between edges and center.

1591782632927.png


In a more realistic example, an 1800R 32" curved screen vs a flat screen at a distance of about 32" is going to halve the amount of focal distance shifting between the edges and the center. My advice would be to get the largest screen with the tightest radius he is comfortable using.
 

TheLostSwede

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Useless audio gear? that is your opinion, guess what? form your own opinion and create a separate build, stop trying to attack others opinions.
Maybe read the OP's requests. He said onboard audio is good enough, so this is simply your opinion and you're the one that should take your opinions elsewhere in this case, I'm sorry to say.
 
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Sounds like you are building according to YOUR dream build, not to what he NEEDS. Depending on the games he plays he might be totally satisfied with an AMD 3400g and 16GB of ram on an MSI Tomahawk Motherboard. Or wait for their next gen APUs .

But it is his father, not yours. Projecting is an issue with folks right now, must be the times.

Useless audio gear? that is your opinion, guess what? form your own opinion and create a separate build, stop trying to attack others opinions.
Sorry but I agree with those like Caring1 who are saying that the abnormally high budget has just resulted in people projecting their own dream builds onto him. Eg, the OP said his Dad "needed new headphones" not that he required $1,000 worth of audiophile equipment. As someone who has owned over 30 pairs of headphones (including expensive Sennheisers), I can tell you that audiophile headphones & speakers are very definitely something that's best purchased personally for oneself after testing them as the sound you may find "perfect" he may well find that signature "darker" Sennheiser sound unpleasant, or maybe the speakers you've chosen fit the room size / shape (of which none of us know anything about) less well than another, or maybe a decent ALC 1220 audio chip is actually good enough for his Dad who could be in his 60's and experiencing mild Presbycusis (without even being aware of it) at which point recommending a $400 192khz sound card for someone who can't hear above typical age related 14-16khz cutoff looks absurd, or maybe for his eyesight a 1440p is better than a 4K, or has trouble with curved displays, or has trouble with overly large displays (prefers a 27" vs a 32") etc, at which point you have indeed just wasted $1000 of someone else's money on stuff that's almost always more suitable when bought personally. And whether headphones or monitors "feel right" is very definitely relative to the person just as much as their tech specs.

The best thing the OP can do is clarify exactly what games his dad plays (Stardew Valley and Age of Empires 2 are just as much "single player games" as Cyberpunk 2077 or Crysis 4), then work out a decent build around that. Then with the +$2,000-$3,000 saved, take his Dad out shopping for a day for stuff like a nice pair of headphones that he actually wants and can test in person afterwards. Or simply save it for his next upgrade in 5 years (trying to build for 10 years in advance is pointless. Even if you get the performance right, you'll lack a ton of features (USB4, Wi-Fi 6-7 / Bluetooth 6, etc) and will still be feature obsolete in as little as 3-5 years for most of the second half of the lifespan.
 

TheLostSwede

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SX8200 is very good for sure, but when I just checked Tweaktown, even their own charts don't show it as the best. The Intel Optane SSD's are all dominating the chart, and below them is HP EX920, then Plextor M9Pe(Y), and then the SX8200.

That said, they didn't test Sabrent Rocket at all, or at least it isn't on the chart here: https://www.tweaktown.com/articles/8661/best-ssd-gaming-over-120-ssds-tested/index2.html
Dominating the charts isn't the same as a very good SSD for the money. Also, the SX8200 is not the same as the SX8200 Pro, just FYI.
Intel Optane is not really a sensible option, considering the cost and the fairly small size drives.
 
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Maybe read the OP's requests. He said onboard audio is good enough, so this is simply your opinion and you're the one that should take your opinions elsewhere in this case, I'm sorry to say.
Yes after i posted the build...

Sorry but I agree with those like Caring1 who are saying that the abnormally high budget has just resulted in people projecting their own dream builds onto him. Eg, the OP said his Dad "needed new headphones" not that he required $1,000 worth of audiophile equipment. As someone who has owned over 30 pairs of headphones (including expensive Sennheisers), I can tell you that audiophile headphones & speakers are very definitely something that's best purchased personally for oneself after testing them as the sound you may find "perfect" he may well find that signature "darker" Sennheiser sound unpleasant, or maybe the speakers you've chosen fit the room size / shape (of which none of us know anything about) less well than another, or maybe a decent ALC 1220 audio chip is actually good enough for his Dad who could be in his 60's and experiencing mild Presbycusis (without even being aware of it) at which point recommending a $400 192khz sound card for someone who can't hear above typical age related 14-16khz cutoff looks absurd, or maybe for his eyesight a 1440p is better than a 4K, or has trouble with curved displays, or has trouble with overly large displays (prefers a 27" vs a 32") etc, at which point you have indeed just wasted $1000 of someone else's money on stuff that's almost always more suitable when bought personally. And whether headphones or monitors "feel right" is very definitely relative to the person just as much as their tech specs.

The best thing the OP can do is clarify exactly what games his dad plays (Stardew Valley and Age of Empires 2 are just as much "single player games" as Cyberpunk 2077 or Crysis 4), then work out a decent build around that. Then with the +$2,000-$3,000 saved, take his Dad out shopping for a day for stuff like a nice pair of headphones that he actually wants afterwards. Or simply save it for his next upgrade in 5 years (trying to build for 10 years in advance is pointless. Even if you get the performance right, you'll lack a ton of features (USB4, Wi-Fi 6-7 / Bluetooth 6, etc) and will still be feature obsolete in as little as 3-5 years for most of the second half of the lifespan.
So the best bet it to just not give any help at all, just lead him in some direction instead?

The rest of your post is reasonable and i like it, thank you.

I projected that a man of his age would possibly like comfort and to experience his system, not just use it if that makes sense?

Especially from his son, makes it a bit more special, however tackling that issue with the reasonably mentioned ways in your second paragraph, i really like. :toast:
 
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So the best bet it to just not give any help at all, just lead him in some direction instead?
The best thing is to get more information. Eg, my own Dad needed a computer for "playing single player games" last year too. When asked what games it turned out to be mostly replaying the best of the past 30 years of classics he grew up with (from DOS / ScummVM games through to 90's Thief, Age of Empires, Baldur's Gate, Diablo, through to late 2000's Bioshocks and a few modern Indie's). Literally a $100 3200G APU does that for 60Hz, with dropping in a $200 GPU like 1650S being all that's needed for 75-144Hz monitors. But it's amazing no-one has actually asked the OP to give examples of what his Dad's "single player games" actually are. No MP = he's clearly not competitive, and as you get older you often lose interest even in fast paced SP shooters purely due to lack of reflexes so recommending 240Hz monitors is pointless, many older 90's games UI's don't scale well with HiDpi monitors so recommending 4k monitors is equally pointless. Many older people looking for a 27" size monitor actually prefer 1080p to 1440p because the increased text / UI element size matters more than sharpness to how overall readability is perceived with less than perfect eyesight. "He doesnt do streaming/content creation or any of that" = clearly everything hinges on game choice.

I don't think anyone with a straight face can honestly start recommending 10 core CPU's and 2080Ti's to a complete stranger's potentially elderly father without even stopping to ask exactly what kind of games he will playing. "What do you plan on using it for exactly" is literally the first thing I ask when someone in their 50s, 60s, asks for advice on a new computer simply to not rip them (or relatives buying for them) off.
 
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The best thing is to get more information. Eg, my own Dad needed a computer for "playing single player games" last year too. When asked what games it turned out to be mostly replaying the best of the past 30 years of classics he grew up with (from DOS / ScummVM games through to 90's Thief, Age of Empires, Baldur's Gate, Diablo, through to late 2000's Bioshocks and a few modern Indie's). Literally a $100 3200G APU does that for 60Hz, with dropping in a $200 GPU like 1650S being all that's needed for 75-144Hz monitors. But it's amazing no-one has actually asked the OP to give examples of what his Dad's "single player games" actually are. No MP = he's clearly not competitive, and as you get older you often lose interest even in fast paced SP shooters purely due to lack of reflexes so recommending 240Hz monitors is pointless, many older 90's games UI's don't scale well with HiDpi monitors so recommending 4k monitors is equally pointless. Many older people looking for a 27" size monitor actually prefer 1080p to 1440p because the increased text / UI element size matters more than sharpness to how overall readability is perceived with less than perfect eyesight.

I don't think anyone with a straight face can honestly start recommending 10 core CPU's and 2080Ti's to a complete stranger's potentially elderly father without even stopping to ask exactly what kind of games he will playing. "What do you plan on using it for exactly" is literally the first thing I ask when someone in their 50s, 60s, asks for advice on a new computer simply to not rip them (or relatives buying for them) off.
All valid points, a very good argument and i hope the OP can provide details.
 
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Ok, but my point was you're overspending where you don't need to, if you're going to spend $4K it better come with a 2080 Ti, if not just chop off the unnecessary stuff. You don't need to waste a quarter of the mans budget on useless audio gear, you didn't even address my other points
But youre forgetting, the $4K budget has to include a new monitor, keyboard, mouse, case, cpu, motherboard, ram, videocard, cpu cooler, storage, power supply, and fans. That adds up quick and $1300 for a 2080TI just doesnt fit.

The best thing is to get more information. Eg, my own Dad needed a computer for "playing single player games" last year too. When asked what games it turned out to be mostly replaying the best of the past 30 years of classics he grew up with (from DOS / ScummVM games through to 90's Thief, Age of Empires, Baldur's Gate, Diablo, through to late 2000's Bioshocks and a few modern Indie's). Literally a $100 3200G APU does that for 60Hz, with dropping in a $200 GPU like 1650S being all that's needed for 75-144Hz monitors. But it's amazing no-one has actually asked the OP to give examples of what his Dad's "single player games" actually are. No MP = he's clearly not competitive, and as you get older you often lose interest even in fast paced SP shooters purely due to lack of reflexes so recommending 240Hz monitors is pointless, many older 90's games UI's don't scale well with HiDpi monitors so recommending 4k monitors is equally pointless. Many older people looking for a 27" size monitor actually prefer 1080p to 1440p because the increased text / UI element size matters more than sharpness to how overall readability is perceived with less than perfect eyesight. "He doesnt do streaming/content creation or any of that" = clearly everything hinges on game choice.

I don't think anyone with a straight face can honestly start recommending 10 core CPU's and 2080Ti's to a complete stranger's potentially elderly father without even stopping to ask exactly what kind of games he will playing. "What do you plan on using it for exactly" is literally the first thing I ask when someone in their 50s, 60s, asks for advice on a new computer simply to not rip them (or relatives buying for them) off.
All valid points, a very good argument and i hope the OP can provide details.
My father is in his 60's. He plays games like L4D, Doom, Wolfenstein and im going to try and get him into Halo. So games of that nature.
 
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Personally I would hold out for a 3800XT , perfectly adequate or the 3900XT the overkill option.
Pair it with a b550 or x570.

I'd go lower on the CPU and spend the savings on 2-4Tb of nvme storage.

He won't need more than 8/16 cores in the next 7 years and plenty of fast storage has a higher impact on daily use cases then an extra four cores.

I can get my 3800X to 4.45 all core boost in games and it's very good ,makes me think the 3800XT will be amazeballs, for the money.

I'm currently running three nvme in raid 0 with some of the 32GB ram used as a cache.

Makes for responsiveness that's hard to knock.
 
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we need more information on dad, is he good at fixing problems/issue with pc?
if i was op i would steer clear of amd platform for him.
Don't get me wrong amd is good choice for gaming too but it has its own set of problem when building a new pc around it.

Just from the amount of people posting for solution just here in tpu for amd cpu issues is quite high already.
I'd be mad spending around almost 4k on a pc that requires tons of tinkering to get it stable and whats not.
I'd recommend going intel just my 2cents.
 

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For the love of God, why is everybody recommending 20+ threads for a gaming PC? 8c/16t is all you need. And even then, it's overkill in many cases.
And screw the "get the tightest timings possible, Ryzen likes that" way of thinking. Get 32GB RAM instead, that will be way more visible (if your father likes to keep a lot things open at the same time).

Because someone set their budget for $4000
 
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