PC Custom PC

[BioFringe]

Not sure if this should be in General Support instead so please feel free to move it if need be.

Just looking for some advice on some parts for a new custom build that I'll be undertaking next month for my 50th. It's been 10 years since my last custom build (with some upgrades along the way, so I'm a bit rusty on what would be considered solid components. I'll need everything right down to the mouse pad and my total budget is $1500 (I'm actually building one for my other half so that's my budget per rig). I'm an Nvidia and Intel person so I would like to stick with those but other than that I'm open to suggestions. If anyone really likes their current video card and would like to comment I'd love to hear from you. Power Supply wattage is another important one that I'm interest in hearing about. I'm not going water cooled if that matters. I'd also like to stick with 1080p gaming and to get a new 24" monitor as well. I also like to build systems with really strong CPUs so that I only need to worry about upgrading the video card and ram in the future. My current CPU is a First Generation i7 and it's a freaking power house for lasting this long.

Oh, and if you can tell me where I can get another Logitech G510 Keyboard for less than $500 I'm all ears.

 

[fragtzack]

I know you said stick with 1080p, but I recently upgraded to 2K and wow. Might want to upgrade to 2k, your eyes will thank you.

My recommend for good performance in 7D2D and any first person shooter is:

Nvidia RTX2070 Super + 27 inch GSYNC compatible monitor.

 I am running Nvidia RTX2070 Super + a  27" Asus Republic of Gamers Monitor at 2560X1440. Ultra settings, at least 60FPS at all times. 

Don't skimp on video card and if Nvidia aim for Gsync compatible monitor

 

[Jugginator]

A little initial pointer is that currently AMD is outdoing Intel in the CPU wars, you can get much more bang for your buck (and a stock cooler that actually is worth using lol). But I'd still stick with an Nvidia card; the 3000 series is looking pretty nice, and coming at a decent price; it will also likely cause a drop in price in older cards too soon. Water cooling isn't needed so don't worry there.

 

[Fox]

Just so you know, AMD is kicking Intel's a$$ both in performance and in price. I would suggest you going with Ryzen's latest R5 5600 when it comes out in October and Nvidia's RTX 3070 when that comes out this month. It's pretty much what I'm in the process of preparing for right now, though a R7 and RTX 3080 instead since my budget is higher. I just bought a ROG Strix B550 motherboard and 32GB of high end ram in preparations for the next launch. 32GB of ram is probably overkill for most ppl, but I'm just planning for 5+ years from now when I later convert it to a game hosting server.

Logitech makes really good mice, though I'm not going to make suggestions on keyboard and mice since that's a personal preference thing and everyone is different, including monitors. Just avoid TN panel monitors unless you don't care if the image looks like crap. Also, make sure the case you choose has really good airflow and dust filters (which is becoming more and more difficult to find now), otherwise you'll regret it later. Minimum 750 watts PSU 80+ bronze rated or better (EVGA and Seasonic makes the best in my opinion, especially since Seasonic also makes the circuit board for EVGA's PSU, but EVGA is much prettier). Get a good aftermarket air cooler for the CPU unless you don't care about noise (Noctua NH-U12S is a great choice for any high end CPU).

But if you really prefer to go with Intel, then you'll have to find another fanboy to help you out cuz I'm done with Intel until they catch up again which isn't expected to happen within the next 3+ years.

 

[pApA^LeGBa]

Intel artificially capped the ability for higher RAM Speeds on non Z-490 motherboards for their new 10th Gen CPU´s, forcing you to spend way more if you wanna have the advantage of fast RAM. Also if you ever wanna do anything besides gaming, AMD is the way to go, they crush Intel in nearly every application that isn´t gaming.

I would wait for for the release of Zen3 from AMD. Yes, AMD was way behind for long, but Ryzen was the ultimate comeback. I used Intel for a long time but with Ryzen 3000 i switched to AMD.

I would go AMD R7 4700 (assuming they keep the naming they had with the current generation), 32GB of RAM (Ram is supercheap right now, don´t get the GSkill Aegis tough), B550 Motherboard and propably a NV RTX 3070 GPU. SSD is a must these days and at least 1TB of size, M2 sounds nice, but doesn´t give you any advantage in gaming. Normal Sata SSD is good enough for that. PSU is hard to to tell right now, depends on how powerhungry the new GPU´s will actually be. Seems like Nvida is a bit bruteforcing with their new generation. 

I am assuming the 1500$ are without monitor here.

All considering that the new releases keep their promises. Definitly wait until AMD and Nvidia are benchmarked. CPU wise i think AMD will crush Intel, on the GPU side i don´t think they can reach Nvidia. But we will need to wait to be sure.

Definitly don´t buy before all the new things are released and benchmarked. AMD CPU´s will come in October propably there is a keynote at the 8th of October and GPU´s will come in early November i guess, they have a presentation at the 28th of October. The NV RTX 3070 is available at the 17th September. 

 

[SylenThunder]

I would wait for for the release of Zen3 from AMD. Yes, AMD was way behind for long, but Ryzen was the ultimate comeback. I used Intel for a long time but with Ryzen 3000 i switched to AMD.

Can confirm. For nearly 20 years straight AMD's CPU's were crap if you wanted to do anything that needed multi-core support. Sure they were great for the apps that only needed a single core, but for anything else they fell flat on their face. Until Gen 3.  Not only is AMD cheaper to build on average, but you will get more performance out of it. Even their entry-level budget chipsets are blowing Intel away.

AMD's GPU's steer clear from though. There's a reason Nvidia owns more than 70% of the market share. If you wait until the 30-series GPU's have been out for a month or so, you can probably find some pretty sweet deals on a 2080 Super.

 

[Jugginator]

Yeah AMD is certainly wiping the CPU market's floor with Intel's face. I was pleasantly shocked when I built a rig with a Ryzen 3 3300G and just mildly set an OC profile to overclock the APU clock on it and keep the cores a little higher; I figured I'd need to get a GPU pretty quick but... it runs 7 Days at full textures and a blend of medium and low settings at 40-45 fps outdoors and upward of 90 fps indoors. Heh, just going to keep it as is and my next full-sized tower will be the one for an Nvidia 3000 series card and grab one of the new Ryzen releases for it. Of course, it's paired with an M.2 SSD and fast ram, but both of those are pretty inexpensive now a days.

 

[canadianbluebeer]

I'd wait on the new AMD cards and benchmarking of both as well. Pricing always gets shuffled about (read: lower) at that point.

min 16gb for gaming these days.  

Always, always get a stronger power supply than what you expect to needs. If you cut it too close, things get .... weird.

I'm looking at the same for next year for my 60th.  (I do tend to go overboard though. Finding a mobo than can take more than 64gb won't be easy..)

 

[TreCircuit]

If you don't know of it, pcpartpicker is an awesome website that lets you configure pc components and shows prices.

Just took a few minutes to come up with this, feel free to change as desired:

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600X 3.8 GHz 6-Core Processor  ($214.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock X570 Phantom Gaming 4S ATX AM4 Motherboard  ($139.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 32 GB (4 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory  ($124.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: ADATA XPG GAMMIX S5 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive  ($109.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 3 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($84.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Asus GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER 8 GB DUAL EVO OC Video Card  ($529.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Thermaltake Versa H21 ATX Mid Tower Case  ($44.94 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: SeaSonic FOCUS 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply  ($119.99 @ Amazon)
Monitor: Acer EB321HQU Cbidpx 31.5" 2560x1440 60 Hz Monitor  ($219.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $1589.86
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-09-10 10:16 EDT-0400

 

[Boidster]

OMG STAAAAAHP TALKING ABOUT THIS! You people are like a pop-up bar opening up outside of an AA meeting. I've been clean for over a year! Last night I was watching baseball (go Giants!) and I looked down in my lap and somehow my iPad was browsing for new gaming laptops. HOW DID THAT EVEN HAPPEN?!?

Well, it's you people with your CPU talk and your GPU clock speeds and DRAMs and SSDs and...hey how did this credit card get into my hand?

I do tend to go overboard though. Finding a mobo than can take more than 64gb won't be easy.

This spring I was thinking, "hmm...might want a WiFi extender in the basement." Ended up wiring the house up with PoE and a Unifi mesh. Server rack in the basment, RPi controller/pi-hole, Blue Iris IP cam system, the works. I literally went from "don't really know much about those products" in February to "crawling through the attic running Cat-6" in March. Overboard, indeed. But de network, she is sweeeeet.

Bummer about my potato-ish PC and very potato laptop. BAD CREDIT CARD! BACK IN THE WALLET!

 

[BioFringe]

Wow. I really didn't expect this many quality responses. I can't possibly respond to everything individually so I hope this satisfies...

1. I have read every word that everyone here wrote at least 2-3 times.

2. I have taken notes and started some very specific research on my end due to what was written here.

3. I have been convinced that AMD is the way to go for CPU...I am not an Intel Fan Boy but I do believe in brand loyalty so this one was difficult for me...in the end you all made a lot of sense.

I probably can't afford some of the top of the line items mentioned here but they give me a great place to start. If I have to cut corners at least I'm starting at a good place. One thing that was sorta mentioned that I have questions about is in regards to Hard Drives...I'm shooting for a 1TB SSD to start but do I also need an SATA as well. How does all that work exactly. I've only ever had SATA so I'm not quite sure how people set this up.

Thanks to everyone for the incredible insight. I hope that my short response doesn't offend anyone but please know that I'm paying attention and really appreciate you all taking the time to respond.

 

[Jugginator]

I probably can't afford some of the top of the line items mentioned here but they give me a great place to start.

That's the beauty of it all (and not to just fluff AMD but it's true, AMD is rather scaleable for the future): get a mobo that you can upgrade parts on later and start at a budget you can do. My AMD rig was only 400-ish after shipping and taxes on the parts and performs well; I can upgrade it into a powerhouse later if I wish.

 

[pApA^LeGBa]

Sata is the connection type. SSD´s can be Sata also. If you can get a M2 for the same price as a Sata, then go for it. Otherwise i would save some bucks and go with a Sata SSD.

 

[Jugginator]

I missed that rushing. Here's some basic information https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/glossary-m2-definition,5887.html#:~:text=2 slots.,more bandwidth than SATA%2C M.  It goes over 3 types

M.2 (and NVME, kinda like a turbo-M.2) are insanely fast, you can get them at a decent price (30-60$ or more) but you sacrifice storage unless ya pay more, same as sata SSDs but just a hair more expensive. They do share the PCIE data lanes/sata ports (depending on mobo and which m.2 you get), so look it up for the motherboard you choose.

 

[BFT2020]

I probably can't afford some of the top of the line items mentioned here but they give me a great place to start. If I have to cut corners at least I'm starting at a good place.

Be smart about what you purchase and it can go for a long time.  I spent about $1500 10 years ago on my desktop and now upgrading it (Wife, 2 kids, house, I can't update as often as I could in the past).  It definitely needs replacing (originally I thought about just updating my video card but my MB was so old it didn't support the cards I was looking at) as I had to downgrade my graphics and performance options just to play some more recent games.  You can build a great rig for not a lot of cash and have it last a long time for you.....though now I said this part out loud, my next rig is going to burn out on me in a couple of years    

 

[Fox]

M.2 NVME SSD is kind of pointless for gaming as there's not usually much difference in performance. So unless you plan to do a lot more than just gaming and need as much storage performance as possible, just go with a 2.5" Sata SSD or a comparable M.2 performing SSD at similar price. You also don't have to have multiple drives in a computer. If you have a 1TB SSD and feel like that's all the storage you need right now, then why waste money on anything else? Besides, it's not like you can't buy additional storage later.

Something I forgot to ask was what currency was your budget for, as every country has different currency values? If American, I'm sure you could squeeze in an RTX 3060 or 3070 and Ryzen 5 4600 in a computer without issue and still afford all the other stuff. If not, then the GTX 1660 and Ryzen 3600x is still a really good computer and can run 7d2d on high settings.

 

[canadianbluebeer]

Whatever you DO decide to get,  try to keep future upgrades in mind as the wallet permits.

Skimping on RAM? ok, but can you upgrade to more later?

SSD? HD?   How *many* drives can you physically add?

m.2? nvme?  even if you don't get that type of drive now, CAN you add one later?

Video cards are the ones you can most easily swap out for better later on.

Upgrading the CPU is more of a why bother. (besides, the way they keep changing the blasted sockets, not much point)

keyboard/mouse? heh. those you will end up replacing over the years. (left mouse button tends to break for gamers... hrmmm. wonder why?) 

 

[Fox]

keyboard/mouse? heh. those you will end up replacing over the years. (left mouse button tends to break for gamers... hrmmm. wonder why?) 

I only somewhat recently replaced my ancient Logitech G5 mouse from 2007 and yellow-ish Compac keyboard from like the 90s or something because the keyboard was an eye sore and the mouse, well, ppl were making fun of me for it. Otherwise, they're still in perfect working condition and I kept the G5 mouse cuz apparently they sell for over $300 online, apparently there's still a demand for them, and I can see why... it's still an awesome mouse.

Only the cheap mice and keyboards and Razor / Microsoft products break often, good products don't.

 

[Vampirenostra]

Do not buy GPU right now! Wait for Nvidia 3000x series to appear and get one of those! Ryzen is a way to go today for sure as everybody already mentioned. SATA for primary storage? Why?  PCI-E can be quite faster. Samsung 970 EVO would be a good choice. Remember that Sams manufactures their own chips same as IBM, Toshiba, Hynix and Powerchips. These guys know what they do when they weld them onto a plate. For monitor I strongly suggest to keep your eye on the best possible as it will last you more than anything else, just pick the best suiting for you in range from 27 to 34 inch with refresh rate of 75 and up Hz. For input there is a really wide variety of quality items on the market you should definitely go to a store and try them out, do not pick something by recommendation as we all are different and have our own standards for input. Me, for example , preferring a cheap A4Tech X-750BF over lots of others much more expensive mices and a mechanical keyboard where as there are lots of people hating it for noice and long push travel, but sorry, my hands are quite big and I need bigger travel distance to feel comfortable and get rid of fake input.

 

[Teacyn]

Not sure if anyone here mentioned it, but you should wait  for AMD to full-reveal their new cards. Chances are the 3000 series will be your best bet if you can afford it (the 3070 is astonishing for the price), but I'm curious what AMD's lineup will be.