New/Used PC for $2000 (hopefully less)

[Tittilicious]

So I'm looking to build a computer for $2000 MAX (Canadian dollars). I can slam my own computer together but I'm no Linus here, timing rams and adjusting all that stuff and even overclocking are not things I've done in the past, don't mind learning though. I just know how to put a computer together (more or less properly IMO ie. thermal pasting, making fans have intakes n exhausts, cable management). I am only looking for hardware for the tower, no need for peripherals or software. I have not kept up with hardware development in the last 3 to 4 years or so, but know enough that I don't HAVE to go Intel and Nvidia in this day n age.

 

I will be using it to game AND stream at the same time. Also to do video editing with Adobe Premiere Pro (I'm no pro, but am starting to dabble in it and will like to continue to create more content). Will be running 144hz  and 1080p is all i really care for. Don't really care for higher resolutions at the moment but options to run above 150 frames at higher resolution might be nice, if I get a nice pay check I might upgrade monitor. All games should run in excess of 150 FPS at MAX settings with little variations or fps drops. 

 

Games I play are CS:GO, Overwatch, LoL, DotA2, PUBG, (I understand if this game can't run in MAX settings 150 FPS above, unless it is possible at this price range), Rainbow 6 Seige, COD MW. There are more titles but those are the main games. I basically love FPS so anything FPS

 

In terms of priority:

1. PERFORMANCE - without a doubt it has to be amazingly fast and smooth - must be able to play AND stream with little to no compromise and edit videos, preview playback without choppiness

2. VALUE - I just wanna get the most bang for my buck, if I can go used for similar performance and save a few hundred bucks, I'm definitely open. Or even buy a 2nd rig as video capture to stream can save me money I'm game.

3. Size - the smaller the better, definitely something with a handle to carry around (I like it to be relatively mobile). 

4. WiFi - I will almost always have ethernet, but its nice to have the option, I have usb wifi but I always forget to bring it with me when I NEED it.

5. RGB -  i feel like at this price point asking for RGB options is reasonable. I'm not CRAZY about lighting tho

 

With my limited knowledge, this is what I've come up with. If I just remove some RBG options I'd be within budget. Also, if I can achieve what I want with a cheaper build I'd like to do that. https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/list/gjQZwh

 

Let me know if I'm expecting too much. Extra thumb up if people can explain why they pick certain parts. I'll give extra brownie points for people that has the spare time to educate me . I'm basically just a gamer that knows a little more than an average person, but not enough to say I'm techy. I look at the barebone basic specs... Like I go to benchmark sites and see overall scores... Look at how fast cores are and that's it. For example,I realize for certain applications you want faster RAM vs more RAM but I don't know why or when.

[Streetguru]

5 minutes ago, Tittilicious said:

 

an ITX system might be a pain in general, the Q300L is pretty small as in, can easily rig your own handles onto it.

PC itself is like ~$1500 added a 4TB NAS hard drive and a CPU cooler, the case is a bit limiting on cooler height, and it's not great for water cooling.

There's also the Q500L, same size, bit more cramped, but that gives you an X570 ATX board for more connectivity, and some of those have wifi onboard, but the majority of non ITX boards won't have wifi. Can just buy a wifi add in card though.

 

Should go with an MSI B450 board with USB bios flashing, otherwise you'd have to find a way to flash the bios with a compatible CPU for some other motherboards. VRM should be fine for stock use.
 

PCPartPicker Part List: https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/list/QxCbK4

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 3700X 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor  ($409.00 @ Canada Computers)
CPU Cooler: ARCTIC Freezer Xtreme Rev.2 Fluid Dynamic Bearing CPU Cooler  ($48.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Motherboard: MSI B450M GAMING PLUS Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard  ($114.99 @ Canada Computers)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 Memory  ($89.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Storage: Intel 660p 512 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive  ($74.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Storage: Seagate IronWolf Pro 4 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($184.59 @ Vuugo)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon RX 5700 XT 8 GB PULSE Video Card  ($529.99 @ Mike's Computer Shop)
Case: Cooler Master MasterBox Q300L MicroATX Mini Tower Case  ($54.99 @ Amazon Canada)
Power Supply: Cooler Master MWE Gold 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply  ($114.60 @ Amazon Canada)
Total: $1622.13

It doesn't have the best airflow, but it is at least unique. my X399 system fits fine in it...with an extended 3d printed side panel for the giant air cooler.
 

 

[flashiling]

just remember 

11 minutes ago, Streetguru said:

MSI B450M GAMING PLUS Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard

it only has two ram slots.

so no upgradeability.

[Streetguru]

Just now, flashiling said:

just remember 

it only has two ram slots.

so no upgradeability.

Harder to run 4 sticks at higher frequencies, can also just buy 16GB sticks, though 3600mhz is likely to get expensive there.

[flashiling]

1 minute ago, Streetguru said:

Harder to run 4 sticks at higher frequencies, can also just buy 16GB sticks, though 3600mhz is likely to get expensive there.

True.

[Tittilicious]

3 minutes ago, Streetguru said:

Harder to run 4 sticks at higher frequencies, can also just buy 16GB sticks, though 3600mhz is likely to get expensive there.

these are the kinda things I dun understand. I was thinking originally getting 16 GB (2x8). then upgrading later. But for my purposes. do i even need 32 gb ram, ever?

[Caennanu]

13 minutes ago, flashiling said:

just remember 

it only has two ram slots.

so no upgradeability.

not only that, you will want the MAX version for increase bios size.

[Streetguru]

10 minutes ago, Tittilicious said:

these are the kinda things I dun understand. I was thinking originally getting 16 GB (2x8). then upgrading later. But for my purposes. do i even need 32 gb ram, ever?

For just gaming and like 1080p streaming 16Gbs is fine. You could always just start with a 32GB 3600mhz CL16 kit anyways, there's room in that budget.

 

or just get the ATX X570 board and have 4 slots, it's not like it's impossible to run it at higher speeds.

 

 

1 minute ago, Caennanu said:

not only that, you will want the MAX version for increase bios size.

Only matters if you need to swap between 1000 series and 3000 series regularly.

[flashiling]

10 minutes ago, Tittilicious said:

these are the kinda things I dun understand. I was thinking originally getting 16 GB (2x8). then upgrading later. But for my purposes. do i even need 32 gb ram, ever?

for gaming you probably don't need 32Gb but as mentioned if you do want to upgrade at some point then you have 2 ram sticks you can't use (unless you also upgrade your motherboard but running different sizes of ram is not reccomended)

[Meganter]

46 minutes ago, Tittilicious said:

In terms of priority:

1. PERFORMANCE - without a doubt it has to be amazingly fast and smooth - must be able to play AND stream with little to no compromise and edit videos, preview playback without choppiness

2. VALUE - I just wanna get the most bang for my buck, if I can go used for similar performance and save a few hundred bucks, I'm definitely open. Or even buy a 2nd rig as video capture to stream can save me money I'm game.

3. Size - the smaller the better, definitely something with a handle to carry around (I like it to be relatively mobile). 

4. WiFi - I will almost always have ethernet, but its nice to have the option, I have usb wifi but I always forget to bring it with me when I NEED it.

5. RGB -  i feel like at this price point asking for RGB options is reasonable. I'm not CRAZY about lighting tho

Hello,

 

Maybe a little too late :

 

 

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 7 3700X 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor	$409.00 @ Canada Computers
Motherboard	Gigabyte X570 I AORUS PRO WIFI Mini ITX AM4 Motherboard	$279.99 @ Amazon Canada
Memory	G.Skill Ripjaws V 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3600 Memory	$164.99 @ Newegg Canada
Storage	HP EX920 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive	$144.35 @ Newegg Canada Marketplace
Video Card	Sapphire Radeon RX 5700 XT 8 GB PULSE Video Card	$529.99 @ Mike's Computer Shop
Case	Thermaltake Core V1 Mini ITX Desktop Case	$79.98 @ Amazon Canada
Power Supply	Corsair TXM Gold 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply	$104.50 @ Vuugo
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	$1712.80
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-11-26 06:25 EST-0500

 

1. Good performance for 1440p.

2. Kinda nice value especially for mITX.

3. It is small.

4. It has Wi-Fi.

5. Nope  

[Tittilicious]

Seems like everyone is suggesting to go for Radeon AMD builds. they're that much better performance/value now?

[Caennanu]

10 minutes ago, Tittilicious said:

Seems like everyone is suggesting to go for Radeon AMD builds. they're that much better performance/value now?

yes, better ipc at same clock speeds. longer and more sustained boost speeds. at a lower price point

[Meganter]

5 minutes ago, Tittilicious said:

Seems like everyone is suggesting to go for Radeon AMD builds. they're that much better performance/value now?

Intel/Nvidia build :

 

 

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	Intel Core i7-9700K 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor	$454.99 @ Newegg Canada
CPU Cooler	Corsair H60 (2018) 57.2 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler	$84.99 @ Amazon Canada
Motherboard	Gigabyte Z390 I AORUS PRO WIFI Mini ITX LGA1151 Motherboard	$219.99 @ Newegg Canada
Memory	G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory	$156.99 @ Newegg Canada
Storage	HP EX920 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive	$144.35 @ Newegg Canada Marketplace
Video Card	EVGA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER 8 GB BLACK GAMING Video Card	$669.99 @ Newegg Canada
Case	Thermaltake Core V1 Mini ITX Desktop Case	$79.98 @ Amazon Canada
Power Supply	Corsair TXM Gold 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply	$104.50 @ Vuugo
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	$1915.78
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-11-26 06:39 EST-0500

 

[Caennanu]

24 minutes ago, Streetguru said:

Only matters if you need to swap between 1000 series and 3000 series regularly.

not just that. They are supporting 3000 series out of the box (with a few exceptions).

From what i can tell, the OP doesn't have a ryzen cpu available so could pose a problem if he chose a non MAX version and has to update.

[Streetguru]

11 minutes ago, Caennanu said:

not just that. They are supporting 3000 series out of the box (with a few exceptions).

From what i can tell, the OP doesn't have a ryzen cpu available so could pose a problem if he chose a non MAX version and has to update.

The other one has USB bios flashing anyways, so the bios can be updated without a CPU installed.

[Streetguru]

13 minutes ago, Plouffe said:

 

The 3700X is going to be a lot better for streaming with the extra threads.

 

RX 5700 XT is really hard to beat on value.

[boggy77]

51 minutes ago, Tittilicious said:

these are the kinda things I dun understand. I was thinking originally getting 16 GB (2x8). then upgrading later. But for my purposes. do i even need 32 gb ram, ever?

Could go for b450 tomahawk max. It has 4 ram slots and it's viewed as one of the best b450 boards

[Tittilicious]

4 minutes ago, Streetguru said:

The 3700X is going to be a lot better for streaming with the extra threads.

 

RX 5700 XT is really hard to beat on value.

RX 5700 XT vs 2060 Super. Isn't it basically same price n performance? Again. benchmark numbers only. I don't even know what benchmark numbers mean other than overall score, higher better.

[boggy77]

23 minutes ago, Tittilicious said:

RX 5700 XT vs 2060 Super. Isn't it basically same price n performance? Again. benchmark numbers only. I don't even know what benchmark numbers mean other than overall score, higher better.

The 1440p results paint much the same picture, in fact we'd argue the 5700 XT looks better here despite the average dropping by a percent. The 2060 Super was now at best just 3% faster, with insignificant wins in two titles and matching performance in 3 more titles.

For the rest of the pack, the RTX 2060 Super was slower by a 10% or greater margin in 17 of the 41 games tested.

https://www.techspot.com/review/1931-radeon-5700-xt-vs-geforce-2060-super/

[Tittilicious]

2 hours ago, boggy77 said:

The 1440p results paint much the same picture, in fact we'd argue the 5700 XT looks better here despite the average dropping by a percent. The 2060 Super was now at best just 3% faster, with insignificant wins in two titles and matching performance in 3 more titles.

For the rest of the pack, the RTX 2060 Super was slower by a 10% or greater margin in 17 of the 41 games tested.

https://www.techspot.com/review/1931-radeon-5700-xt-vs-geforce-2060-super/

sweet. my current monitor has freesync too. ive never tried it. so that'll b nice

[boggy77]

1 hour ago, Tittilicious said:

sweet. my current monitor has freesync too. ive never tried it. so that'll b nice

Nvidia 10+ also works with freesync monitors since a few months ago. 

[trevb0t]

6 hours ago, Streetguru said:

The 3700X is going to be a lot better for streaming with the extra threads.

 

RX 5700 XT is really hard to beat on value.

He knows. He posted a 3700X 5700XT build just above that. He posted that so OP could see price comparison, since he asked. 

6 hours ago, Tittilicious said:

RX 5700 XT vs 2060 Super. Isn't it basically same price n performance? Again. benchmark numbers only. I don't even know what benchmark numbers mean other than overall score, higher better.

The XT is usually a bit better. Closer to the 2070S in many titles, though the 2060S will beat it in others. That's just GPUs. 

 

nVidia tends to win in Ubisoft titles like Assassins Creed, Farcry, etc. It wins a little in Hitman. AMD wins in Battlefield and often Tomb Raider, with huge victories in Forza. 

 

Either way you're getting a fine GPU. Your particular use case with mostly eSports titles wont max either GPU. And if you're going with a 3700X CPU, there is no need for the nVidia streaming codec. Most eSports at 1080p can hit 144fps on an RX 580 or 1660/Ti. 

[Streetguru]

7 hours ago, Tittilicious said:

RX 5700 XT vs 2060 Super. Isn't it basically same price n performance? Again. benchmark numbers only. I don't even know what benchmark numbers mean other than overall score, higher better.

It's 5-10% behind the 2070 super, but it's also a good amount cheaper naturally.

[Tittilicious]

Thanks so much for all the advice. I was kinda hyped on the Ryzen 9. But with a 5700 XT graphic card, I'll just needlessly have a bottleneck is that correct?

[Meganter]

5 hours ago, Tittilicious said:

Thanks so much for all the advice. I was kinda hyped on the Ryzen 9. But with a 5700 XT graphic card, I'll just needlessly have a bottleneck is that correct?

I don't think you'll have a very big bottleneck if not at all