# Which of this 2 PC builds do you recommend?



## Leandro Marcos (Mar 11, 2020)

I am debating myself with one of the following two options for PC build (both are small form factor -SFF- using a Mini ITX motherboard. Because I know you love polls as much as I do, go ahead and please submit your vote on which one you think I should go for (comments are more than welcome as well!). Thank you guys!



*OPTION 1*: MoBo: Asrock Z390 Phantom Gaming ITXac / CPU: i9 9900K / RAM: 64GB / 2x 2TB NVMe (1 for OS + Cubase and the other for the samples) / Cooler: Noctua NH-L9i



Estimated Price: GBP 1,700



Pros:



- Fastest base clock processor for the benefit of real time performance

- CPU TDP is only 95W

- 1 Thunderbolt 3 port (at 20gbps, not 40)



Cons:



- Only 2 M.E. slots (although it seems it would be possible to use a 3rd one by using an adapter in the PCIe slot; but don't know how that would work)

- Only 64GB (not saying it's low, but it's half the amount of Option 2)



*OPTION 2*: MoBo: Asrock X299e ITX/ac / CPU: 10900X / RAM: 128GB / 3x 2TB NVMe (1 for OS + Cubase and the other 2 for the samples) / Cooler: Noctua NH-L12S



Estimated Price: GBP 2,650



Pros: 



- 10 cores, compared to 8 from Option 1

- 128GB RAM (only mITX MoBo that allows 128GB)

- 3 M.E. slots



Cons:



- Price 

- CPU TDP is 165W which is quite high for a SFF PC (according to Noctua's website the NH-L12S would work as long as it is a case with good ventilation).

- CPU base clock and Turbo Boos are high but not as high as the i9 9900K 

- Would need a graphics card (which can lead to latency issues), given neither the CPU nor the MoBo have integrated graphics


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## Pictus (Mar 13, 2020)

This would give an idea of performance





Test Labs | Scan Pro Audio







www.scanproaudio.info





You need to use better coolers like the Dark Rock Pro 4 or the
CORSAIR Hydro Series H115i PRO, the ones you selected are not up to the task.
The Dark Rock Pro 4 fits with the ASRock Z390 Phantom Gaming-ITX/ac
but not with the ASRock X299e ITX/ac.
Look https://pcpartpicker.com/b/tXQZxr

I would build a standard ATX PC with AMD Ryzen 3950x.
But for Intel ITX something +- like this





System Builder







uk.pcpartpicker.com









- A bigger "mini-ITX" case with enough space for better cooling/etc



- A decent CPU cooler, Dark Rock Pro 4

- Fast 64GB 3600Mhz RAM 2x32, for compatibility may need motherboard BIOS update

- One M.2 NVMe 1TB SSD for boot/progs + one M.2 NVMe 4TB SSD for DATA/LIBS





Sabrent Rocket NVMe 4TB PCIe Gen3.0 x4 M.2 SSD Review


Sabrent's Rocket NVMe drive provides 4TB of TLC goodness on a single M.2x2280 PCB! Here's our full review.




www.tweaktown.com






- Semi-passive PSU, up to +-250W the fan is off and up to +- 600W the RPM/Noise is very low
https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/corsair-rm850x-v2-psu,5568-5.html





- A small Keyboard



A mouse with *extra* horizontal scroll wheel



BTW, to avoid latency problems in Windows 10 and/or GPUs, check here.


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## Technostica (Mar 13, 2020)

Leandro Marcos said:


> Pros:
> 
> - Fastest base clock processor for the benefit of real time performance
> - CPU TDP is only 95W


Base clock is not that important for desktop chips as the real issue is what the sustained boost clock is at sane wattage levels.
TDP is rated for the base clock so it tells you nothing about how much power is consumed at boost clocks.
Current Intel chips are much less efficient than AMD chips at sustained stock boost speeds and even more so if over-clocked.
This typically requires higher grade cooling which will be noisier.

Base clocks and TDPs are more important when looking at laptops where cooling is more restricted, but even then they only tell part of the picture.


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