[CarbonDPG]

Hello G2G Fellows!

I'm very sorry for the incoming wall of text. I understand the reluctance to read such a wall of text .

I'm looking at building a new rig as my current one is getting dated rapidly, and is starting to experience some signs of failure. (Though, I haven't been bothered enough to determine what is failing at the moment. It'll be a multi-function machine, primarily serving as a gaming machine. Heavy secondary function in running multiple VM's at once. I'll lay those specs out in a minute. I'm primarily looking more for confirmation that my plan here is sound more then anything. In other words, I'm making sure I haven't missed any glaring mistakes. This project is a couple months away, but I'm planning it out now. (I'm quite close to paying my final debts off, and given the not very urgent need, it can wait.)

I'll bring over most my storage from my current rig. Storage includes a 512GB + 256GB SSD (SATA), and archival storage (2TB @ 7200RPM). The remaining storage (128GB SSD + 32GB SSD) will be redeployed with the remaining parts (i7 3770 + GTX 760 + 16GB DDR3 @ 1600MHz). That system will be run as a dual-boot, bare metal system. KALI system for cracking purposes (I "compete" on HTB, as well as working in the Info. Sec. sector as an Security Analyst. Currently working through Digital Forensics and Pentesting, though it isn't apart of my job.). Dual-boot is install of Windows server 2019 as an AD/DNS (Licensing is provided by Academia). AD isn't usually online, so this isn't much of a concern. KALI will be primarily run at all times, accessible through SSH. I have two (yes... two) replacement GPU's should that one decide to bit the dust; An RX550 and an R9 270X.

PCPartpicker. (Storage being brought over not included, the additional 1TB SSD is being purchased.)

New Rig:

Host System will be Windows 10, primary focus being gaming. The goal is to hit 1080p @ 105Hz, with a secondary monitor running 1080p@60Hz, and a third running 1600x1200@60Hz. Games will be a wide variety. Everything from World of Tanks/Warships,CSGO, ARK, Arma 3 (heavily modded) and GTA V. Hoping to run VR at *some point* (Beat Sabre). Also hoping to achieve the ability to record or stream (OBS) with reasonable settings. Likely won't record VR though.  The host machine will get the 1TB SSD and the 2TB storage drive.

Secondary purpose of the machine is to provide a personal testing environment for malicious files/emails/websites etc. This will be done virtually, of course. Also in the scope is a KALI VM for HTB purposes. That KALI rig will SSH into the other one should I need something cracked.

VM 1:
OS >> Windows 10
CPU >> 2 Threads
RAM >> 4GB
Storage >> 256GB SSD (SSD)
GPU >> Default

VM 2:

OS >> KALI Linux
CPU >> 2/4 Threads
RAM >> 4/8GB
Storage >> 256 GB (SSD)
GPU >> Default

VM 3:

OS >> CentOS 7 (or Ubuntu)
CPU >> 2 Threads
RAM >> 4GB
Storage >> 128GB (Mechanical)

 

I looked up the board's manual (Link). It supports SVM natively, which is excellent for Virtualization technology on AMD's side. There shouldn't be an issues with the CPU either. Provided I'm running all three VM's at once, I'll be left (at worse) with 4c/8t, and 16GB of RAM. This should be sufficient to run most games, and potentially record as well. (I hope at least).

Spec Choices (I'm wide open to suggestions here).

CPU >> AMD Ryzen R7 3700X. Comes in at a not-to-bad price compared to Intel counterparts. Runs 8c/16t for plenty of horsepower. I debated the 3800X, but decided the additional headroom for frequency changes simply wasn't worth the extra. Doubles up on L2 and L3 cache compared to it's closest competitor the i9-9900K(F). 

CPU Cooler >> Cooler Master ML240L. This will keep temperatures down... hopefully. I do plan on OC'ing the chip, but nothing extensive is planned. Power limits would need to be bumped up.

RAM >> G.Skill Ripjaws V Series, 2x16GB DDR3 @ 3200MHz. CAS: 16. 3200MHz has consistently shown to be a sweet spot for Ryzen Gaming. I should be able to tighten the timings a little in OC Settings for further improved performance. 2 DIMMs, that way in the future should I need additional RAM, I have the ability to just grab an identical kit.

Board >> ASRock X570 Phantom Gaming 4 ATX AM4 Motherboard. Modern chipset for the CPU. Updated feature sets including PCIe 4.0. Admittedly, I don't know much about boards. It seemed like a good fit though. (Not sure about brand reliability for boards, suggestions?)

GPU >> MSI RTX2060 SUPER. Latest version of Turing GPUs from NVIDIA. 8GB of VRAM will be more then enough for current game loads. This will also provide excellent support for VR in the future if I decide to go down that route.

Storage >> 1TB + 512GB + 256GB SSD storage. 2TB Mechanical drive.

PSU >> Cooler Master MWE 750W 80+ Gold. Reasonable efficiency rating on the PSU. 750 Watts should be more then enough to run the hardware, and provide some headroom for overclocking. If I'm not mistaken, Cooler Master is a good brand name for PSU's.



That's the jist, thoughts? Suggestions? Questions??? I'm in Canada, by the way, if that's at all helpful. I appreciate any responses (critiques, suggestions etc)

Cheers,
Michael/CarbonDPG