On to the next

[Ryknow]

So with the help of several people, videos, and people on here I have completed my first PC build. But now I’ve got the build bug, I want to do it again. I’ve been a diesel technician for 15 years, tearing things down and or putting things together is very enjoyable for me.

 

I will eventually build a pc for both my kids and one for my wife, but I’ve caught the eye of a few people with my personal build that have shown interest in me building them a computer. Only “downside” is these computers aren’t for gaming so I’m torn. Do I oblige and put something together for them or would it be in their best interest in just buying another laptop?

 

So the two potential builds are for:

 

1. My mom who was blow away by how much faster my desktop is to her laptop. Her laptop I think is 7-ish years old, WiFi drops out of it whenever it feels like it. Tried to fix it, but turns out it could be a hard part problem. Anyhow, she is anticipating starting her own Etsy shop. She is super crafty, always has been. Her laptop now is just enough to run one of her programs she uses now, but the storage space gets low fast with some of the file sizes. I know adding an external hard drive could help solve that, the only thing is, God knows what other crafts she will get into and what programs she will be using in the future. Everything I’ve read is a 50/50 split, some say just buy a prebuilt, others still suggest picking your parts is the way to go, thoughts?

 

2.  My wife’s sister is a photographer and uses some version of a MacBook. Her storage is constantly low and already using external storage drives to keep up. I know she uses a lot of photoshop, not sure what other programs she uses. She’s also dabbled in wedding video on top of photography. The idea here is for continued use of laptop when on site for sessions, but then to come home to a workstation for the heavy lifting. Same question here, thoughts on prebuilt v building one?

 

Thank you in advance for the time reading and any responses.

[Jurrunio]

3 minutes ago, Ryknow said:

some say just buy a prebuilt, others still suggest picking your parts is the way to go, thoughts?

If you can maintain it for her (every once in a while, custom systems arent so delicate that they need daily maintenance), custom built always suit users better. Also you can make sure you dont cut corners you dont agree with, e.g. prebuilts often use loud coolers and boards with "unnecessary" features cut away because they want to make it cheaper, but one day you may find out say the board has a removed fan header (contact pads still there, but the header is not) that you want to use because OEM deleted it.

 

6 minutes ago, Ryknow said:

2.  My wife’s sister is a photographer and uses some version of a MacBook. Her storage is constantly low and already using external storage drives to keep up. I know she uses a lot of photoshop, not sure what other programs she uses. She’s also dabbled in wedding video on top of photography. The idea here is for continued use of laptop when on site for sessions, but then to come home to a workstation for the heavy lifting. Same question here, thoughts on prebuilt v building one?

Macs use different software from the start, so better ask if she's ok with switching to Windows or even Linux based software first. If she has to use Mac OS for the important bits, then it's down to buying another Mac...

[Ryknow]

@Jurrunio

wifes sister isn’t against changing operating systems. The MacBook was a gift and her significant other is one of those that is of the mind that nothing is better than Mac because.....shiny

 

as far as my moms build, I’ve looked into some of the local places that have prebuilt systems and from them I can see where corners weren’t cut, but severed. I’m sure there are more reputable prebuilt companies that do a better job though too. Selfishly I’d love to build them both, I just don’t want to sell them a ketchup flavored popsicle they don’t need...if that even made sense?  I’ll post what I’ve come up with for my mom so far.

[Ryknow]

Moms build be come up with so far:

 

(keep in mind, she’s now requested rgb so she can have pink and or purple lights in the case, so I had to hear some of the parts around that, which initially was going non rgb)

 

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 5 3400G 3.7 GHz Quad-Core Processor	$149.99 @ Best Buy
Motherboard	ASRock B450M/AC Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard	$84.99 @ Amazon
Memory	G.Skill Trident Z RGB 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory	$98.99 @ Newegg
Storage	HP EX920 256 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive	$49.99 @ Newegg
Storage	Seagate Barracuda Compute 2 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive	$55.99 @ Walmart
Case	Fractal Design Meshify C Mini MicroATX Mini Tower Case	$97.98 @ Newegg
Power Supply	EVGA BR 500 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply	$44.99 @ Walmart
Case Fan	Deepcool RF120M(5 in 1) 56.5 CFM 120 mm Fans	$53.99 @ Amazon
Custom	Windows 10 OEM Key	$30.00
Custom	Deepcool RF120 single fan	$19.99
Custom	Airgoo RGB LED strip kit	$17.99
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	$704.89
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-03-01 22:22 EST-0500

 

[ShinRamen]

I pretty much agree with what @Jurrunio said.

 

You'll always get the system that you really need without having to deal with compromises or freatures you don't need but you have to pay for when you built a PC yourself. As long as someone is there to maintain the PC every once in a while (basically just if something goes wrong, crucial driver updates etc.) I think it'd be a great idea to built a PC for your mother. I personally don't like laptops (exception: MacBooks, I'll talk about that in a sec) as something usually tends to fail after ~ 2 years in my experience. Doesn't have to be that way for you, maybe it's just me. Depending on what programs she uses and what crafts she is into, she might even benefit from the real estate a bigger screen provides.

Now for the second scenario: it really depends on your sister-in-law's work. I do have my gaming PC and I'm glad I have it. I enjoy tinkering with it, upgrading it and maintaining it - the regular tech savvy LTT user basically. I get the performance I want and can upgrade what I want whenever I want. HOWEVER, for work related things and my productivity tasks I still own a MacBook Pro 16" - nothings beats MacOS for me and the workflow is just so much better for what I do with my MacBook. Some people actually benefit from a Mac.

[Jurrunio]

15 minutes ago, Ryknow said:

I’m sure there are more reputable prebuilt companies that do a better job though too.

I can always find something to mock about lol, even the high end cuz those cost over 20% more than if I built myself (so profit margin for the OEM is even larger)

 

12 minutes ago, Ryknow said:

Moms build be come up with so far:

 

(keep in mind, she’s now requested rgb so she can have pink and or purple lights in the case, so I had to hear some of the parts around that, which initially was going non rgb)

 

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 5 3400G 3.7 GHz Quad-Core Processor	$149.99 @ Best Buy
Motherboard	ASRock B450M/AC Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard	$84.99 @ Amazon
Memory	G.Skill Trident Z RGB 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory	$98.99 @ Newegg
Storage	HP EX920 256 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive	$49.99 @ Newegg
Storage	Seagate Barracuda Compute 2 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive	$55.99 @ Walmart
Case	Fractal Design Meshify C Mini MicroATX Mini Tower Case	$97.98 @ Newegg
Power Supply	EVGA BR 500 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply	$44.99 @ Walmart
Case Fan	Deepcool RF120M(5 in 1) 56.5 CFM 120 mm Fans	$53.99 @ Amazon
Custom	Windows 10 OEM Key	$30.00
Custom	Deepcool RF120 single fan	$19.99
Custom	Airgoo RGB LED strip kit	$17.99
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	$704.89
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-03-01 22:22 EST-0500

 

Is wireless connection needed? Cuz that can go to get more budget out.

SSDs are bad value for capacity below 500GB and are best at 1 and 2TB. NVMe doesnt make big differences though so if money is tight, I'd save money there. E.g. the Seagate Barracuda 120 1TB SSD costs $110.

SMR HDD like that are bound to be slow even by HDD standards for writes, so be prepared that it's only good as a warehouse holding rarely used data or as backup.

You can definitely spend less on an mATX case with transparent side panel, e.g. the Fractal Focus G mini, Cooler Master NR400, Corsair 280X.

PSU is exactly why I dont trust prebuilts

You can spend less on memory if you look over the brand name, like Teamgroup or Crucial.

[Ryknow]

@Jurrunio

went with g.skill ram because of the other rgb components using Aura for control, was trying to keep things all together with one controller to

keep it simple. I haven’t looked into what team group or crucial uses for rgb comtrol.

 

the NVMe was for the operating system fast load times. I toyed back and forth with going for just a SSD for the operating system, but in my search the cost difference between the SSD and NVMe for the read/write speeds lost was not that far off from each other unless Im overlooking something.

 

The WiFi is a must for now, gives her the ability to setup where she wants....long story but not always in range of an Ethernet cable/doesn’t want to run cable across the floor to her work station in the middle of the room.  Personally I’m a hard wire fanboi. I can’t stand relying on WiFi or Bluetooth no matter how good it is.

 

@ShinRamen

 

understood, it’s a preference thing. But being that her significant other is a Mac elitist (if that’s the right terminology), he’d have them spend a dollar to buy something worth a penny. He’s already got it in his head about essentially spending $5,000 or more on something I could

put together for less (desktop wise). 
 

She also has other photographers working with her and losing/missing external drives has already been a problem, as well as had a couple take a complete dump.

[ShinRamen]

6 minutes ago, Ryknow said:

@Jurrunio

went with g.skill ram because of the other rgb components using Aura for control, was trying to keep things all together with one controller to

keep it simple. I haven’t looked into what team group or crucial uses for rgb comtrol.

 

the NVMe was for the operating system fast load times. I toyed back and forth with going for just a SSD for the operating system, but in my search the cost difference between the SSD and NVMe for the read/write speeds lost was not that far off from each other unless Im overlooking something.

 

The WiFi is a must for now, gives her the ability to setup where she wants....long story but not always in range of an Ethernet cable/doesn’t want to run cable across the floor to her work station in the middle of the room.  Personally I’m a hard wire fanboi. I can’t stand relying on WiFi or Bluetooth no matter how good it is.

 

@ShinRamen

 

understood, it’s a preference thing. But being that her significant other is a Mac elitist (if that’s the right terminology), he’d have them spend a dollar to buy something worth a penny. He’s already got it in his head about essentially spending $5,000 or more on something I could

put together for less (desktop wise). 
 

She also has other photographers working with her and losing/missing external drives has already been a problem, as well as had a couple take a complete dump.

 

From my personal experience: if someone is not really dependent on (or 'adamant about') using MacOS, you can put together a similarly or even better performing machine for much cheaper. 

[Jurrunio]

10 minutes ago, Ryknow said:

went with g.skill ram because of the other rgb components using Aura for control, was trying to keep things all together with one controller to

keep it simple. I haven’t looked into what team group or crucial uses for rgb comtrol.

in that case not even certain that Aura works on non Asus boards

 

10 minutes ago, Ryknow said:

the NVMe was for the operating system fast load times. I toyed back and forth with going for just a SSD for the operating system, but in my search the cost difference between the SSD and NVMe for the read/write speeds lost was not that far off from each other unless Im overlooking something.

Because the extra speed on NVMe just isnt used. I play games, and they dont even top 300MB/s transfer speed on my NVMe SSD that can do 10x that. Running an online store is definitely not going to need extra speed.

 

12 minutes ago, Ryknow said:

 

The WiFi is a must for now, gives her the ability to setup where she wants....long story but not always in range of an Ethernet cable/doesn’t want to run cable across the floor to her work station in the middle of the room.  Personally I’m a hard wire fanboi. I can’t stand relying on WiFi or Bluetooth no matter how good it is.

Then this board can stay