Ive had my 6800xt since March 2021 and its under water. Been an amazing card, even if its a Dell OEM one.
We agree on the GPU. We only slightly disagree on the CPU.... There's nothing wrong with buying any currently available CPU, barring everything below the R5 5600.....cuz they're not worth the cost. The i5 12400 and 12600 are actually good options, even with new CPU's coming in the next few months, unless you're the type to upgrade every release cycle. I definitely would not be looking at an i9 12900K though..... That would be a case where waiting would be a good idea.
I'd do the 980 Pro as the OS drive, and SN570 1TB as a storage drive....or even the new Crucial P3 1TB if you can get your hands on one.
Ordered the rest of the kit too. Settled on the MSI Pro Z690-A with 32gb of 3600mhz ram, 12600K. Couple extra goodies like a Coolermaster masterliquid 240, 500gb m.2 and Seasonic 850w PSU
just what I've been recommending that's an excellent board, 4x nvme (incl. three at pcie4x4) with those awesome m.2 clips, 14 phase digital vrm, pcie 5.0 , ddr4 support, 8x usb ports on the back including usb-c, 8x 4-pin pwm fans connectors, bios flash from the button on the back. all at 170usd. just incredible value.
that masterliquid has no lga1700 bracket included, you know that ? https://www.coolermaster.com/catalog/coolers/cpu-liquid-coolers/masterliquid-240/#specifications and it's not going to be cheap either. it will likely cause problems with lga1700 too due to uneven pressure. 240mm aios are worse than high end air, really. you need 360 to feel the difference.
imo change that ml240 to liquid freezer argb not only is the cooler itself better, but they're providing a proper lga1700 full, thick metal backplate, so you'll avoid the socket bending/cooler pressure troubles. Spoiler
https://www.coolermaster.com/catalog/coolers/cpu-liquid-coolers/masterliquid-ml240l-v2-rgb/ I went for this one. Updated pump and lga1700 backplate. Reviews were good EDIT - ended up swapping out for an Asus Rog Strix LC II 240 anyway
