R11 vs R12 - If I don't have either, which one should I get?

Depends on your gaming resolution. At 1440 P or higher the bottleneck will be the video card in both solutions.

Since you are also interested in photo editing, more cores would be better than fast single core performance.

I would go by what is the cheapest option, but ENSURE to pick the liquid cooling option. Liquid cooling is the most important option to pick.

There's various reviews from reputable sources like Linus Tech etc... on Youtube that show that the new generation is not that great, and consumes a lot of power. Like, a lot.

Unless you absolutely want Intel for some reason, I would also look at AMD systems.

Thanks, my intention is to play games at 4K or 2160p...I have read about the bottlenecking, but most show an insignificant percentage...but I will admit I am inclined to believe the i9 11900KF would have less of an issue...although the i7 10700KF seems to run the 3080 fine.

I completely agree on water cooling, both would have the Lunar Light chassis with High-Performance CPU Liquid Cooling and 1000W Power Supply.

Great point on AMD...I have been doing my share of research on those as well. Linus Tech is excellent, as well as many others...I guess my head is so full opinions, I am locked up and not sure what to do. LOL!

Thanks Vanadiel.

"If you are doubt, you could buy one of each."

You should work for Dell sales! 

If you are doubt, you could buy one of each.  This way you know you made the best choice, no matter what.

One should never underestimate the power of a good Alienware gaming monitor. With dual inputs you will be gaming gloriously on both machines, for optimal performance comparison.

Might I suggest a matching gaming keyboard and amazing mouse, currently on sale for 10% off retail price?

The 10700KF is ample enough for an RTX3080, it is equivalent par on the i9 9900K. My i9 is not the bottleneck.

I would choose a K processor instead of a KF. I feel safer having a backup GPU 

I would buy Max CPU for the chipset. Can you not choose an i9 10900K or KF ?

Markburv,

Unfortunately it is near impossible to find the i9 10900...Dell no longer offers it and I don’t want a pre-owned machine.  I agree that the 10900 would be the way to go however.

Not sure I can get the “K” only chips, but I will keep an eye out.

Thanks, 

"I feel safer having a backup GPU"

The R11/12 don't have an onboard graphics port on the motherboard so it wouldn't really make a difference unless you plan on potentially using the cpu in a different pc.   

Very interesting @r72019, I didn't know that 

I would get the Cpu that uses the lowest total wattage, because once you go above 100watts even with the 120mm liquid cooler the sound levels are way to high. That is why you see so many people putting in aftermarket fans.

So if those were the only 2 options I would choose the 10700k. I would do some research on the 11900k Its power draw is 164-250 watts stock. So i hope your not running any avx-512.

If you could use a 360mm radiator I would chose the 11900k, but since you cannt you need to be very selective what cpu you choose to buy.

True statement. It's why I got a 3700X, low TDP of 65 Watts and still plenty enough to keep that 3080 fed at 1440P.

If this bios would support proper overclocking features I could creep it up, in a way finetuning the performance to the cooling solution.

However, I don't even have a PBO option in the bios, and while Ryzen master works I hate having to manually load it up each time windows starts.

Nice spec! 

r72019,

I just realized that the RAM I ordered is the Dell HyperX Fury DDR4 XMP, but it states 2933Mhz, not 3200Mhz. Not sure if Dell is listing it without the XMP running and getting the faster speeds.

If I decide to upgrade the RAM, do I need to use Dell's OEM RAM or will aftermarket Kingston HyperX DDR4 with 3200Mhz or another faster RAM work?  Not sure on the compatibility of this stuff and have read some horror stories.  

Thanks,

Thanks r72019!!