Hello all,
 
Think of my mind as a sponge ready to absorb all of your knowledge....
 
I am in the process of purchasing my components for my FIRST build. Yes, I'm excited. Today, I took advantage of EVGA's sale and purchased the Z590 motherboard. What Intel CPU do you all recommend and why? I love learning so I am open to all of your thoughts. 
 
I plan on getting the i7 or i9, but I cannot decide between the 10th generation and the 11th. I had a brand new computer that had a i7/11th generation that ran really hot. I read somewhere this is typical. Unfortunately, that computer died before it was even 90-days old. Hence, my attempt at building my own. I love learning knew things and its a good project.  
 
If it helps, I plan on using a Liquid Cooler with additional fans installed. 
 
Thank you in advance for any knowledge you wish to pass along. It is greatly appreciated. 
 
All the best! 

For gaming only: I'd say the i5 11600K around $275, and move the money you saved into an EVGA awesome 3000 series graphics card and a superfast memory kit.
 
11900K i9 (really just a higher binned i7 11700K) overclocked will give you slightly more FPS but it gets really warm, I do believe most users are going with "custom water" loops for the 11900K overclocked, even for the Per Core independent core clock profiles.
 
The 11600K you can 1) OC to 5.1 all core on air or liquid All in One cooler. OR 2) set up an independent (per core) oc profile like below:
 
Core 1 5.3Ghz
Core 2 5.1Ghz
Core 3 5.0Ghz
Core 4 4.9Ghz
Core 5 4.9Ghz
Core 6 4.9Ghz
 
This will give you that single core and two core burst speed responsiveness, while keeping your thermals low to moderate.
 
I don't believe most games take advantage of more than 6cores/12threads, last I heard, but I could be wrong...
 
And with the above Per Core independent clock profile you can still achieve the 5.3Ghz stock clock speed of the I9 11900K
 
A 3rd Option would be: An 11900K and run it on air or AIO "at stock" plug and play 5.3Ghz single core boost - with no overclock.
 
Sorry, I only have personal experience with the i5 11600K. Wish I could help out more. 
 
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If you want to go full tilt maximum and money no object well yea, 11900K and custom water loop with an overclock, but I'd go with an 11600K if you plan on air or AIO cooling and a very responsive ddr4 memory kit 3866Mhz 14CL (for gaming) and money saved into an EVGA graphics card... 
 
my 2cents. lol
 
Also, reason I did not mention any Comet Lake CPUs, is because PCIe 4.0 (only available with Rocket Lake) is really fun. Get an inexpensive NVMe M.2 SSD like the WD_Black SN850, mine is superfast with 7000MB/s Write speeds and was only $119.
 
And good luck with your 1st build. 
 
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On a sidenote: I wish EVGA made Nvidia workstation graphics cards, I just purchased an NVidia RTX A2000 HHHL (half height half length) workstation graphics card with an MSRP of $449. But due to the GPU shortage it came to $695 even with free shipping, ouch. 

Thanks for the great input, WebsterRKL! I appreciate all your advice. 
 
I'm leaning hard toward the i7-11700K. I've always liked plenty of computer power when I need it. It has the Rocket Lake as you mentioned. It's what I had in my last computer. Even though it ran hot, my prebuilt computer literally only had one fan installed in it, an exhaust, amazing, huh? Plus, it was in too small of a case for the system. I'm not surprised it died in less than 90 days. I think with the liquid AIO and the additional SickleFlow fans I plan on installing on my custom build, I should be fine--hopefully! *fingers crossed* 
 
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I will shamefully admit that I still get confused by all the overclocking info. I need my daughter and her significant other to come over and get me up to speed on that aspect. He just got his computer science degree and is now working on completing his engineering degree. At this point, though, I'm afraid I'm going to pester the poor guy with all my questions--eek. In all seriousness, he's been super sweet and so patient helping me through this process. But, I still feel guilty pestering him too much as he has so much on his plate right now. Hence, my journey into the forum. 
 
Last time they were here, we did get into the bios of my other computer and he showed me how to snoop around on it. 
 
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I am in line in the notification system for my graphics card. I'm signed up for the Ultra RTX-3070 and Ultra RTX-3070 Ti. In the meantime, I am actively pursuing BB, the shuffle, etc. 
 
Since you brought of memory, I already purchased 32GB of Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro. For my solid state, I bought the MSI Spatium M.2 - 2 TB. That should give me plenty of room. My PSU is the EVGA SuperNOVA 850 G6, so I think I will be fine on power. Just for fun, I bought the Lian Li Strimer Plus. To house this little powerhouse, I picked up the Razer Tomahawk ATX. I'll admit-- I'm a Razer girl right down to her Kitty Kraken headset. LOL
 
As far as my build goes, I won't say money isn't an object... but... as my honey likes to remind me, a happy wife is a happy life. When I expressed my concerns about the money I've dropped lately he reminded me we haven't taken a vacation in 2 years because of the pandemic and to splurge and not worry about it. So, I'm not going to worry about it! 
 
Again, thanks for your help. If you have any further suggestions, please do not hesitate to let me know. I'm eager to learn as I make my way through this new process! 
 
All the best! 

There's always 3 or 4 really great options with any hardware component and everyone gets to choose the bestest one they feel most comfortable with from past experience, where they are now, their current budget, and that future point they want in front of them. That's the beauty of making it your own. 

11700K will work out beautifully for your first gaming build.

Wishing you peace and love. 

WebsterRKL
There's always 3 or 4 really great options with any hardware component and everyone gets to choose the bestest one they feel most comfortable with from past experience, where they are now, their current budget, and that future point they want in front of them. That's the beauty of making it your own. 

11700K will work out beautifully for your first gaming build.

Wishing you peace and love. 

Thanks so much! I appreciate your kindness.

May I ask, what makes the Rocket Lake so fun? I meant to ask that earlier. I just got excited sharing my build components that I have purchased that I forgot to ask.

Oh, and for my parts, I’ve been using PCPartPicker to make sure everything is compatible.

FWIW, my daughter’s boyfriend recommended the i5 as well. I guess it’s just a matter of having a hard time breaking old habits. For work, I’ve always purchased the newest CPUs for productivity. In my mind, the i7 is a compromise between the i5 and i9. Lol. Maybe it doesn’t work that way in the gaming world, though. Idk. I’m trying my best to read and absorb. There is SO much for me to learn. There is a big difference between trying to build one yourself and picking a computer off the shelf. But, I must admit, I’m really excited about the prospect of building my own.

Again, I appreciate all of your kind advice and your time.

Have an amazing weekend.

What makes Rocket Lake so much fun?
 
Rocket Lake 11600K 11700K 11900K processors add:

1) Improved single thread performance over Comet Lake, great for gaming.
2) Improved IMC's - memory controllers capable of 3866Mhz CL14 amazing low latency for gaming or 5600Mhz CL20 or 5866Mhz CL21 for brilliant work applications and overall system responsiveness.
3) Improved PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 SSD speeds at 7000MB/s write and your Corsair I believe is at 7200MB/s. Wow!

If you install a Coffee Lake 10600K or 10700K or 10900K processor - you will not achieve the much faster PCI 4.0 capable SSD NVMe read write and copy speeds. 

WebsterRKL
What make Rocket Lake so much fun?
 
Rocket Lake 11600K 11700K 11900K processors add:

1) Improved single thread performance over Comet Lake, great for gaming.
2) Improved IMC's - memory controllers capable of 3866Mhz CL14 amazing low latency for gaming or 5600Mhz CL20 or 5866Mhz CL21 for brilliant work applications and overall system responsiveness.
3) Improved PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 SSD speeds at 7000MB/s write and your Corsair I believe is at 7200MB/s. Wow!

If you install a Coffee Lake 10600K or 10700K or 10900K processor - you will not achieve the much faster PCI 4.0 capable SSD NVMe speeds. 

Well, I most definitely need to make sure I get the Rocket Lake! 😉

Thanks for the informative lesson!

https://i.imgur.com/Z8gj1S1.gifv
 

I get that people want the PCIE 4.0 lanes but they don't actually mean that much on the grand scale of raw gaming performance. The 11900K lost to the 10900K in just about every game/benchmark there is. Unless direct storage actually turns out to be good (which pcie 3.0 will still be plenty fast) I agree with gamers nexus that the 11th gen intel was a waste of sand. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxiuvQPL_qs
 
The new intel platform actually looks exciting with the big/little core. I can't wait to see what it brings to the table.

GloR1ouS_
I get that people want the PCIE 4.0 lanes but they don't actually mean that much on the grand scale of raw gaming performance. The 11900K lost to the 10900K in just about every game/benchmark there is. Unless direct storage actually turns out to be good (which pcie 3.0 will still be plenty fast) I agree with gamers nexus that the 11th gen intel was a waste of sand. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxiuvQPL_qs
 
The new intel platform actually looks exciting with the big/little core. I can't wait to see what it brings to the table.

Interesting YouTube video. Thanks for sharing. I appreciate the input. :)