After prevaricating for more than 2 years now, I finally ordered the parts for my new computer.
They might arrive by the end of this week, but more likely the start of next.
Construction time again!
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What specs? For gaming, I assume?
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Motherboard - Asus ROG Z590 A
Processor - i9 11900 k
Memory - 32 Gb DDR4
Graphics - Asus RTX 3080 10 Gb
Primary SSD - 4 Tb M2 Corsair MP 400
Secondary HDDs - 2 x Seagate Barracuda ST 6000DM003 6Tb
DVD - 2 x Asus DRW-24DMT DVD rewriter with M-DISC support
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Well, at least the parts did not prevaricate your search… 
and your were able to find what you need. Ok so I likely butchered the use of the word but I couldn’t resist.
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I had some investments that matured a couple of years ago, leaving me with some spare cash. I intended to do the build then, but a combination of parts availability and health problems prevented it. The money has been sitting in my bank ever since, and I have been watching the availability of RTX cards.
A couple of days ago, I decided to stop waiting. I probably paid a lot more than I should - but I could wait forever, otherwise.
The decision is made. The parts are ordered.
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If you need any help I have some experience. I’ve built several custom watercooled PCs over the years.
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Thank you for the offer.
There is something I’ve never done before, and could use some guidance with. The new machine will have a 4 Tb M2 SSD as its main C: drive. It will be running Windows 11 Pro 64 bit.
I will need to enable the UEFI BIOS, initialise the SSD, install Windows 11 Pro, and then install all necessary system drivers. I’ve never done this before on a Windows 11 system. All the guidance I’ve seen so far is for upgrading an existing system to Win 11. Even Microsoft don’t seem to have instructions for a new build.
Any information would be helpful.
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Wouldn’t you look for the manufacturer for that? Don’t the exact steps vary per maker?
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Yes, they do. But Win 11 imposes additional security measures on the BIOS. It’s also not possible to use MBR on a drive greater than 2 Tb.
Win 11 requires the use of a secure boot system. I’ve never set one of these up - with Win 10 it was optional - but Win 11 won’t run without it.
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Oh. An afterthought. If you’re thinking of directing me to a helpful website - I don’t open anything that tries to drop cookies on me. I actively block them.
Paranoid, but true.
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Ah sorry you’ve got me there. The latest I’ve ever installed is Windows 10 - I’m reluctant to install Windows 11 because of the controversy about how Microsoft will handle selling your data. All I am aware of is that you can (with compatible hardware) enable TPM mode in your UEFI and get the free upgrade if you so desire.
I’m also wondering what performance improvements people will get with non-Alder Lake cpu’s that don’t have the increased number of pins, e-cores and p-cores that will be supported by Windows 11.
I recently upgraded to the following…
Motherboard - Asus Rampage VI Extreme Encore
CPU - i9-10980XE
Memory - 64Gb Corsair DDR4
GPU - Gigabyte RTX 3080 Ti Aorus Master 12Gb
Primary SSD - 2Tb nvme FireCuda
Case - CoolerMaster Cosmos II
I also treated myself to a Samsung G9 Neo (5120x1440) monitor which I am absolutely chuffed to bits with. I custom watercooled the whole rig with hardline tubing (twice) as I changed the GPU and the original tubing wouldn’t fit. I had to cut the case with an angle grinder to get the GPU to fit 
You’re right - with todays market you either have to wait until prices come down or fork out an arm and a leg. The total cost of my build was £6k with no recompense from my old system as I gave it away. Ouch.
Sorry I can’t be more help - if I’d known I’d have installed Windows 11
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Ditto with cookies - I detest them.
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That’s one monster setup you have there. I suspect your graphics card cost more than my entire rig.
I have avoided liquid cooling for this build. It was a deliberate choice -I have basic engineering objections to any electronics that require it - it’s bad design, and it offends my sense of what’s right. I’m also very wary of a system that could leak water into my sensitive and expensive circuitry. I’ll put up with the performance hit, and err on the side of reliability.
To be honest, I didn’t expect that you would have experience of a Win 11 build. It’s all very new. But you never know - there must be some people out there who’ve done it.
Thanks for the offer, anyway. I’ll update as the build progresses (still waiting for parts).
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The GPU was £1553 and the monitor £1875. I cried.
The sad thing is that I also installed the DDR4 but I haven’t enabled the XMP profile because (I didn’t know this when I bought it) the CPU was throttled and won’t accept the 3200MHz. I have no idea what to do I’m not a professional overclocker.
I did have a leak once. The fill port snapped and destroyed a GTX 770 at the time. I’ve now installed safeguards to make sure that never happens again. It’s untidy but I’m not risking thousands of pounds worth of equipment. Are you just using a standard cooler or an AIO?
I am curious - I would love to see how it all works out for you.
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I honestly don’t know which one is coming. I have a dealer I’ve used for 30 years, and I asked him for his recommendation. I know it cost £75, and it’s a fan, heat pipe and radiator setup. I trust the guy. I’ll let you know when it arrives.
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Nope. No helpful websites here. 
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An AIO is simply an all-in-one watercooling solution that is pre-built for you. You simply plug it on top of the CPU like a cooler but you don’t have to worry about bending and fitting the tubes. That’s a nerve-wracking experience. I’ve watercooled about six PCs tho so I’m reasonably confident it’s safe (knowing what I now know about flimsy fill ports).
If you think we’re all nuts for spending fortunes on the latest PCs, have a thought for what was in the news today…
The world record purchase for a game was 1.5 million USD. I thought I was crazy.
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I bought 3200MHz RAM when I built my Ryzen-5 2600 PC. Although my BIOS accepted the 3200 XMP profile, my system was unstable. While the ram was listed as compatible, it turns out it was only rated @ 3000MHz for the specific CPU/MoBo combo. Fortunately I was able to start with the XMP profile, but then manually drop the frequency from 3200 to 3000, which stabilized everything. Maybe there’s a similar setting in your BIOS to do the same? (looks like the i9-10980XE supports 2933MHz)
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There isn’t a standard setting as far as I know for the 2933MHz. I keep promising myself I’ll get around to it but never have the courage to start playing with voltages - I’m a coward.
I think it’s pretty disgusting though that CPU manufacturers are throttling CPUs when the technology exists. It’s a sellers market atm and they can spread the performance improvements as much as they want, all in the name of profit.
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I have this thing about cooling. It’s a bugbear of mine.
The early Pentiums came with a little aluminium passive heat sink you glued on top of the chip. After about 18 months, the glue would give up the ghost, and the heat sink would fall off. Neither the processor nor the owner would ever notice. The processor would chug along quite happily with no cooling at all.
As dies became smaller, and transistor counts increased, the power consumption (and therefore the heat) of processors multiplied, and some sort of cooling really did become necessary. This was offset to some degree by gradual reductions in chip operating voltage, but nevertheless, serious cooling was required.
The thing is, the problem is not so much the heat produced by the chip. The problem is all that heat concentrated in such a small space. If the chip was bigger, the heat wouldn’t be such a problem. If the chip was much bigger, it wouldn’t need cooling at all.
But we have to make the chips smaller - otherwise they take up too much space. So we make the chips tiny, and then they get too hot, and then they need a water cooling system the size of a shoe box. When all we had to do was make the chips a bit bigger.
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