Finally! My "First" PC Build ever and it feels glorious. Been using an iMac (2009) since it was the first PC I ever owned. Intel Core 2 Duo (2.4 GHz), 4 GB RAM, Nvidia 256 MB. It runs, functions but it was about time to truly upgrade. Only stop gap measurement was a Laptop I used for school with slightly better specs. Did manage to run a mid setting Oblivion on it.

Now I put First in quotes because this is actually Round 2 in the process of building it. It started with a Ryzen 6 2600, RX 570 8 GB, and an MSI B450 Carbon Pro AC. I had all the parts Cases, fans, ram, etc but that motherboard was just bad luck. Couldn't get a video signal during post then DRAM light would stay on. Tried trouble shooting different sticks of RAM ( 3 Types) and nothing. So I sold off the CPU/GPU for a little less of purchase value and RMA the ram sticks and motherboard for refund.

Decided to go with Intel/Nvidia combo to sort of match the upgrade path from my iMac to this.

The Core: Was originally going to go for an i5 8600k but noticed I would pay 10 bucks less for the 9600k so opted for it instead. Gigabyte Z390 wasn't originally going to be my first choice, that would have been the Asus TUF but hated it overall scheme and went with this plus OC capability down the line. RAM was just chosen of QVL list. After the first round just wanted everything to be able to work with no headaches on compatibility. Did contact MSI rep for troubleshoot when that happened and wasn't the best.

Graphics: This was something I kept bouncing between for nearly every week. Do I go with AMD or Nvidia. RX 580 or 590; Which brand is best for 1080p? A million questions, dozens of hours researching, but it was CES around the time of all this and decided since I was going for a 1060 or 1070 but how those prices are almost within range of a 2060. Decided 2060 since it did have the appealing title of Anthem for free. If the Monster Hunter bundle was available for the other cards plus the Fortnite bundle to sell but it went away and only having the Fortnite bundle so passed on it.

Everything Else: Just picked out was appealing and set up according in terms of case. This P400 case does come with a fan setting for up to 3 fans. Have the two 140 being controlled by it. Added the 2 120 it came with for top exhaust with the be quiet! as rear. LG monitor does have freesync which should have been a factor of GPU but I decided to not add it and with recent announcement, but only on display port which this monitor doesn't have. It was cheap during Black Friday along with keyboard and mouse combo from Red Dragon.

And it worked. Lightning fast boot from that M.2, more than enough space for all games downloading and not bad for digital art. Tested Dead Space 1 and was odd that V-Sync was limiting my frame 30 FPS which was horrible even though I picked the 60 Hz setting. Turned it off and it skyrocketed to nearly 700 FPS was quite amusing. Do have After Burner limiting my FPS. Sure feels great though and everything is nicely cooled. RGB case is controlled via the case not on the Motherboard and use RGB fusion for the Aorus which can lead to some great two color RGB. Orange is red in the pictures.