Help me build my new gaming PC

CPU: You can wait for i9-14900K which should be out until end of year but it is Raptor Lake Refresh which will only bring slightly higher clocks. Arrow Lake will be released near end of 2024 but I doubt you would wait for it.

RAM: You might go for higher speed memory

GPU: No RTX 5090 until 2025

Disk 1: You can go with PCI-E 4.0 NVMe like Samsung 990 Pro 2TB. PCI-E Gen5 drives are faster but due to high temperatures they are throttling speeds. DirectStorage is only available on NVMe drives in first M.2 slot (directly connected to CPU).

Other disks: Depending on usage, but you mnight go with additional NVMe drives for games and for data WD Black or WD Gold hard drives ( they have 5 years warranty).

Cooling: Go for 360mm AIO

PSU: You should be fine with 1kW ATX 3.0 PSU with Platinum or Titanium rating from Corsair or beQuiet .

Soundcard: Get USB DAC (USB sound card) if you really need one.

Regarding power hungry Intel CPUs, you can limit power consumption and max boost clocks in UEFI settings. Both Intel and AMD top CPUs comes factory overclocked near limits.
You shouldn't worry about PCI-E lanes with Raptor Lake CPUs. RTX 4090 is PCI-E 4.0 card anyway. Raptor Lake Refresh will bring more PCI-E lanes.
As for RTX 4090 pricing, well, you may opt out for cheaper GPU.

Regarding AMD CPUs, you should consider Ryzen 7000 X3D series.

Just a quick question, why do you want your windows drive to be 2TB ?
Rather get a 250GB one and just use that for windows and a few select programs. Then get another NVMe drive for your games and such.

That way your keeping your windows fast, but also safe on it's own drive. As a SSD gets used its life span gets shortened (everytime you write to the SSD, so every update, download, deletion, or moving of files will cut its life down a bit, so if you're storing your games that you download, update, delete, and replace onto the same SSD then you will make it shit itself quite fast). Windows updates will already take quite a bit of the drives health off over time so yeh...

Basically you don't want AMD, but you don't like either Intel or Nvidia and hope that in the future they might be more like AMD.

Hi, let me chip in for a bit and I’ve got just enough time for a small reply right now.
Research parts and builds on pcpartpicker. I used the site a lot and it helps with various things, height warnings of coolers which could collide with RAM height etc. It’s a great help. Also, I just searched for the CPU you think you want to use. First build that came up, is this https://pcpartpicker.com/b/3LHzK8
The case in that build is awesome, and I think that’s a good choice. I have the Meshify C in white and I love it.
Large Main storage is indeed useful. I wouldn’t go lower than 1 TB. In my Pc I only use SSDs but I have an external large Harddrive.
For SSDs I mostly use Samsung or Crucial.
Consider AMD. And lastly one more tip, don’t wait too long for certain parts. And no, you don’t need a bluraydrive. I have an external one and I have barely used it.

For Gaming only currently best CPU is Ryzen 7 7800x3d and AM5 platform will have 1-2 more generations of new CPUs to upgrade in future
This CPU reviews says always Fastest Gaming CPU tested also most efficient Air cooler will be more than enoght.
https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/amd-ryzen-7-7800x3d-cpu-review
https://www.techpowerup.com/review/amd-ryzen-7-7800x3d/29.html
32GB Rams because this take few years before we need more
GPU RTX 4090 currently best
SSD Decent PCIE 4.0 4TB will be enough because games still not benefit much from bandwidth
HDD why ??? gamers no need it due how many different games can you play in one day ?
Power supply Seasonic simply due this brand always keep consistent top quality due they makes PSU in their own factories and not outsource productions.

If you want to buy it next year, then things may change in the next 6 months. Hard to judge into the future.

Some considerations:

• new GPUs can be huge. Make sure to check if it will even fit. And you're pretty much certain to have to mount AiO at the top, many cases will not fit top end GPUs, not to mention GPU and AIO. Good start to check compatibility is PCPartPicker like mentioned above
• In general the faster RAM the better, but at some point going higher has diminishing return. There are tips which speed is the sweet spot, based on which CPU you pick
• NVidia is focusing more and more on the AI market, not consumer GPUs. We need to see how much they will push to release new GPUs "soon"
• you know how many games you have installed. Unless you're the type that install everything, as long as there is some space left. Then, if funds allow, go for the biggest option. I would not buy HDDs at this point, as M2 is so much easier to just plug into the MOBO (and have HDD for backup copy 😅). But I also have 1.5 TB storage now, and it's enough for me. Plus each non-M2 disc is an extra set of SATA cable + power cable (depending on the PSU configuration)
• it may be even problem to find a case with space for the disc drive. So it's not something you should worry about. 95% you will have case without spot, and need to buy external drive if you really need it. I thought I need surely buy an external disc drive after I put my PC together in 2020, and did not have a single time I'd even need to use it. Not to mention need to look into having one. But if you have media on DVDs or Blue-Ray then it would be useful. Also, pendrives are so cheap now, that I would be more likely to spend 6 pounds to buy 32GB and give it to someone, when I'd know I will not get it back. Then to buy drive and keep empty DVD-ROM around. Plus, they may not have the drive to read it 😂
• with AiO 360 would be better, just make sure to see clearance between MOBO / GPU and case.
• in general, sound cards on MOBO allow to play sound without squeaks, but they won't obviously be as good as good sound card.
  
• Do you have cable internet, or it would be through WiFi? There are MOBOs with in-built WiFi card now that saves PCI-E slot. That may be even hard to reach depending on MOBO size (like mini-ATX) and huge GPU
• motherboard with error code display would be IMO a should-have if you want to invest so much. Makes troubleshooting of errors way easier than generic "CPU / GPU / RAM" error LED. Unless you'd just go to IT service
• I don't have much confidence in ASUS, but also understand it's hit-and-miss with products. Did not hear so many big "general" issues with other brands though
  Wrong CPU voltage settings on MOBO was supposedly void user warranty and burning CPUs
  Wrongly mounted component was causing MOBO to go on fire

I want the 4090, but I am not willing to support Nvidias price policy. Do you guys have any idea when the 5090 will release? Maybe then the price for the 4090 will drop

Good luck. NVidia knows people will buy their GPUs, no matter the price. They did drop it a bit after 4060Ti turned out to be so big disaster (the same performance as 3060Ti, 2 y/o card. But with frame generation, so you can have some duplicate frames at a expense of more lag. Yay.), and AMD released something in the mid-high end. They are still the best in the top market, so 5090 will only be more expensive (say 10% more pricey for 20% performance uplift, run and buy). And don't think they will make another mistake like with 40 series, when they had tons of unsold post-crypto 30 series lying around, to put some pressure on dropping old gen price before new release.

View attached image.

I would recommmend AMD for the CPU. They hace improved enormously over Intel

"Do you guys have any idea when the 5090 will release?" same thing. Nvidia are good with their GPU, but just too expensive. Maybe pick up a AMD GPU. If you still want it, it's hard to say when. The 3090 was released Sep 24, 2020 and the 4090 Oct 12, 2022. So I assume in 2024.

Blue drive today is basically useless. People are consuming online.

For the drive, I would recommend a big HDD drive, at least 8TB just for storage, and a big SSD drive for the operating system and games.

RAM 32 minimum for a new computer.

About choosing each part, I would recommend pcpartpicker

CPU: wait for new models in 2024? the wait game is endless, unless they announce a release next month dont wait.
Motherboard: Intel Z790, I guess, depends on the CPU, but make sure it got enough slots for the stuff you want
RAM: (64 GiByte DDR5-6000-RAM, 2 Dual-Rank-DIMMs) looks nice, I guess nice
GPU: will there be a 5090 in 2024? nothing announced yet, could be 2025
Disk Drive 1 (Windows): PCIe 5.0 NVMe 1TB (2TB?). Which one? 1TB looks enough as you got loads of storage
Disk Drive 2 (Software): WD Black 1TB not really worth it, ssd is cheap enough these day
Disk Drive 3 (Big Games, maybe Direct Storage): PCIe 5.0 NVMe (4TB? 6TB? Which one? whatever, these are easy to upgrade as they get cheaper
Disk Drive 4 (HDD for all other games): WD Black 6TB (8TB?) so for storage only? you can get 12-16GB nas drives
Disk Drive 5 (Files): WD Black >= 6TB at this point you might want to invest in a NAS
Blu-Ray-Drive: Still need one today? Do we still need a burner today? depends, do you buy disks?
Cooling: But what size? 240mm? 360mm? how cool/quite do you want it? bigger is better but 280 is a sweet spot
PSU: beQuiet ATX 3.0. Already out? Which one? Wattage depends on the PC, with 4090gpu a 850w PSU is good
Case: I have no idea. . where will you place it? how big can it be? NZXT and Lian Li got some of the best
Soundcard: if its PCI it might not fit, and no you dont really need them. unless you are into this stuff

If you aren't a content creator but just a run-of-the-mill gamer PCIe Gen4 M.2 NVME is plenty fast enough and cheaper. Additional boon: they don't get as hot as their PCIe Gen5 brethren.

At the moment 2TB size is the sweet spot price wise although the Crucial P3 Plus 4TB M.2 PCIe Gen4 NVMe is available for 170 Euro at Amazon and a steal considering the drive cost around 500 Euro a year ago.

I wouldn't buy HDDs any longer in 2023 if you're planning to use them for anything except as a data vault.

Concerning CPU and GPU I'm platform agnostic although I think something like the AMD Ryzen 7800X3D would be the ideal CPU for 4K gaming.

If you want the best of the best in GPUs there's no other choice but a RTX 4090. I'd consider an air cooled GPU because the water cooled ones are way overpriced on top of the already outrageous price of a 4090 (Asus announced recently a 3,100 USD MSRP water cooled 4090 but even the more "budget friendly" models are around 2k EUR/USD).

the last pcs i build were almost amd only ... the only outlier was the 4000€ pc.

also what is your budget and where are you from ... prices are very different at other parts from the world.

also your best bet might be the fractal pop xl if you need a cage for the blu ray drive but beware, it is on the bottom so maybe consider putting it on the table.

I see you already got a bunch of good replies, so the only things I can say is that you got a great build set up there and I'm jelly of the 4090.

As of having issues with amd nowadays, not as many but there are a few difficulties I've had that I could've avoided on a nvidia gpu. I also build a rig for my vr area and I used amd, it's working fine in terms of performance, but there have been compatibility issues. Like google earth in vr for whatever reason is making one eye go crazy on the index. I'm told to use a super old driver, but I'd rather use current drivers. Also, in the realms of ai generated images or videos, it's basically exclusive to nvidia. There are some options on amd, like running in into a cloud(basically running on nvidia), or converting all the files. which I did, but the performance was abysmal, even compared to like 4 generation older nvidias. There was no proper ui, modding, etc. at least last year. I gave up on that idea. So yes, expect some compatibility issues with amd vs nvidia.

Cpu wise, they're probably going to outdo intel soon as intels cpu structure has pretty much reached it's limits while amd has just unlocked theirs, but the one you picked wins so far :)

For a case I got the Fractal Design Torrent E-ATX(I didn't go for the led version as I didn't care, but it has one even in the standard version). Massive case, but it was the best ranking at the time for airflow since I'm doing air cooling. As for optical media, you can probably get an external usb one pretty cheap. It wont be fast, but a really good one that writes is like $200 I think.

Last thing, you said it's probably your last pc ever, why is that? If it is the last pc, maybe go with the upgraded options for storage for the nvme as chances are in a few years they'll already upgrade and start phasing out hardrives even more.

Others have already said it, but i would like to remark that an internal HDD is a mistake. I had a couple reused from my last computer for almost a year, and they were a pain in the ass. Every time i entered on the explorer files there was a few seconds of delay because those disks were restarting.
If you need huge storage for other things than games and those things aren't used everyday, buy an external HDD with 8-16 TB.
If it's for gaming and older and smaller games, A couple of good ones of 2 TB, 1 for Windows and another for your most used games, and one or two not top notch like the Crucial P5 SSDs 4 TB for the rest of the games.
And the disk reader.. I don't have a disk reader since 2013. If you don't buy blurays or don't have them, it's unnecesary.

Reconsider Ryzen 9 7950X3D can be cooled even by air cooler like Noctua D15
https://www.techpowerup.com/review/intel-core-i9-14900k/20.html
And here power usage vs 14900k in some extreme cases intel draw 200W more than counterpart.
https://www.techpowerup.com/review/intel-core-i9-14900k/23.html
If your AC in home can cope with additional heat output intel is still a option.

I was asked to post an Update.
Well, I have decided to wait until the RTX 5090 releases and build a PC around this card. So maybe end of 2024.