Hello there! Been quite some time since I've been active on here, boy has a lot changed!
 
I've been super busy traveling for work and use a MSI GS75 Stealth 9SF gaming laptop while I'm on the road, plus the new Steam Deck.
 
At home I'm still running my 11 year old rig:
 
WHITE WIDOW
EVGA Z68 FTW
Intel i7-2700K @3.5 Ghz
3x GTX 480's in SLI
EVGA GTX 2070 Super
16 Gb Corsair Dominator GT
Corsair AX1200
 
I'm taking some certification courses with the goal of getting a new job at the beginning of next year, hopefully something fully remote, or at least partly so. With that in mind, I'm itching to build a new PC! I've honestly been living under a rock as far as components go the last couple years. I used to keep up with all the latest and greatest that was coming out. A quick search and holy cow!! There's SO many new CPU's, GPU's, boards, etc... where do i even start!? Guess i need to start reading up on the latest and greatest out today. Anyway, i felt like saying hello since ive been away for a few years and see what everyone else is building these days.
 
What platform do you recommend? This will be a work AND gaming build. 
 
Travel: 
 
Home: 

XrayMan
 
Moved to Hardware.

Oops, sorry about that! Glad to see you're still here! 

You seem to be due for an upgrade. 

My last comp was a 3770k with dual 780sc's..  Lasted me 10 years and can still play all modern games no problem.  I like the idea of a 10 year cycle on builds and I think you are at a good time to start building/planning. 
 
Some Cliff notes:

• Now through Fall/Winter will be a good time to start getting parts.  A lot of hardware is on discount due to overstock + inflation means people aren't spending money on computer parts.  TBD on how long all of this will last.
• PCI-e 5.0 motherboards may give you a good starting place for picking a mobo.  Utilization of 5.0 is very minimal at this point, but will give you plenty of forward compatibility/future proofing ahead
  • Intel - z690 out last fall
  • AMD x670 should be dropping this Fall.
• DDR5 memory - DDR5 has greatly dropped in price and DDR4 is pretty much in the rearview mirror at this point.  I would 100% shoot for a ddr5 mobo.
• GPUs - Both Nvidia and AMD are both rumored to be dropping new GPUs this fall.  Probably be beneficial to wait till these drop and we get to see the reviews.  AMD is right on Nvidia's heals with performance and is really the $ value, although Nvidia still has a slight performance edge.
  • That said, there are some amazing deals on current gen NVidia and AMD cards.

Have fun, nothing better than planning a build when you are ready to do so.
 

Wait for Zen 4 and start a new build. The new Zen 4 CPUs should be available in September (about September 15th)

yaymz
My last comp was a 3770k with dual 780sc's..  Lasted me 10 years and can still play all modern games no problem.  I like the idea of a 10 year cycle on builds and I think you are at a good time to start building/planning. 
 
Have fun, nothing better than planning a build when you are ready to do so.
 

yaymz
 
Yeah, 10 years seems to have worked out really well. Honestly i don't have to upgrade. Every new game I've installed it's played without problem, even if it wasn't at absolute max settings and crazy FPS. Either way, i'd rather spent a big chunk of cash for an ALL out, everything i want build once every 10 years than try to piece things together over a few years. Only upgrade i did on my current set up was swap the 3x 480's for a single 2070 because i got a crazy good deal on one.
 
Also, planning out a build is a TON of fun! I've never done a fully watercooled set up and I'm debating going that route, just because I've always wanted to. Either way, i got nothing but time to research and plan out the perfect build for me!

Epsolike
Welcome back Phoenixx45,
Like rjhonson11 mentioned Zen 4 AMD CPUs (Raphael) are coming out next month, the release date is now pushed to the 27th of September however (same day Intel will be announcing 13th gen Raptor Lake).
Unsure if the X670E/X670 motherboards and DDR5 RAM optimized for Zen 4 are similarly pushed back or still coming on the 15th, but will see if we get any news.
If anything wait a bit and see which CPU from the two manufacturers will be more for productivity (as i understood you will be using it for multiple types of workloads).
 
As for graphics cards 40 series is still supposed to arrive before end of year (the current approximation is november, we will see as more info or something completely official finally arrives) sometime after the new gen of CPUs.
AMD graphics cards i haven't really paid attention to, but they are also supposed to be coming sometime around the NVIDIA ones will, perhaps someone more up to date on that can chip in.
Good luck, have fun and welcome back again!

On August 29th I expect AMD will announce the actual date of availability. If the release is pushed to 27 September that is fine as that should also allow more stock into the distribution channels. 

yep sli pretty much extinct these days shame to i enjoyed multiple gpus especially water cooling them 

First thing to consider if the budget and if you want Intel or AMD for the CPU. For GPU I think everyone would agree you still want NVIDIA . The good thing is the brands you knew that made the good products are still making good products in general.

rjohnson11

Epsolike
Welcome back Phoenixx45,
Like rjhonson11 mentioned Zen 4 AMD CPUs (Raphael) are coming out next month, the release date is now pushed to the 27th of September however (same day Intel will be announcing 13th gen Raptor Lake).
Unsure if the X670E/X670 motherboards and DDR5 RAM optimized for Zen 4 are similarly pushed back or still coming on the 15th, but will see if we get any news.
If anything wait a bit and see which CPU from the two manufacturers will be more for productivity (as i understood you will be using it for multiple types of workloads).
 
As for graphics cards 40 series is still supposed to arrive before end of year (the current approximation is november, we will see as more info or something completely official finally arrives) sometime after the new gen of CPUs.
AMD graphics cards i haven't really paid attention to, but they are also supposed to be coming sometime around the NVIDIA ones will, perhaps someone more up to date on that can chip in.
Good luck, have fun and welcome back again!

On August 29th I expect AMD will announce the actual date of availability. If the release is pushed to 27 September that is fine as that should also allow more stock into the distribution channels. 

This is correct, they will tell you the same thing on the 29th. The two week pushback at this point however is almost a solid fact, there seems to be an issue with the BIOS (more precisely the microcode) so funnily enough they pushed it to the day/week of the supposed Intel announcement