Building for a student friend

[alistairmowbray]

Budget (including currency): 1000

Country: USA

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: student in grad school, maybe for light gaming, 

Other details (existing parts lists, whether any peripherals are needed, what you're upgrading from, when you're going to buy, what resolution and refresh rate you want to play at, etc): 

 

Hello

 

I am building a computer for a friend of mine. 

He plans to use it for the next 5, 6 years for general pc use and school work. Maybe some media consuming, some light gaming, but we aren't going for a media processor or a gaming pc here.

I, myself, would know which parts I would buy to build my computer, basically bang for the buck, budget motherboard, amd, cheap case etc.. 

but i don't know what parts would be best for my friend's computer usage. It doesn't have to be a performance machine but for it to stay reliable, stable and generally good to use everyday for the next 5, 6 years so it should have decent specs. 

There is a 1000 budget so it doesn't have to be budget parts. My friend is definitely on the artsy side so a compact aesthetic case that doesn't break the bank would be nice. 

Monitor is included in the budget but i found decent 27 ips panels between 100 and 200 so the budget for the desktop would be around 850~1000, excluding windows, keyboard, mouse, speakers.

my estimate is 

case 60~120

motherboard  150~300

cpu 200~300

ram 16~32gb

storage 512gb ssd and 2tb hard drive or 1 or 2 tb ssd (may upgrade later)

gpu no idea. I would go for the most performance i can get for the money i can afford for my own build.

  but my friend doesn't plan on gaming on it. but just for future proof media consumption and also for a possibility of a project that might require some graphic horsepower. a decent gpu is still needed right?

 

any suggestions would be welcome here. 

thank you. 

 

also, i would take used or refurbished for some categories where a wear and tear is not an issue. 

[AndrewZScorpion]

1060 is an estimate for used prices.

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor	$209.99 @ Newegg
Motherboard	Asus TUF B450M-PLUS GAMING Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard	$89.99 @ B&H
Memory	G.Skill Aegis 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 CL16 Memory	$49.99 @ Newegg
Storage	Crucial P2 500 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive	$59.95 @ Amazon
Storage	Seagate Barracuda Compute 2 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive	$54.99 @ Newegg
Video Card	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB 6 GB Founders Edition Video Card	$150.00
Case	Cooler Master MasterBox NR400 (w/ODD) MicroATX Mid Tower Case	$64.98 @ Amazon
Power Supply	EVGA BQ 500 W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply	$63.98 @ Newegg
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	$743.87
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-09-08 21:45 EDT-0400

 

[IAmAFrenchFry]

[PCPartPicker Part List](https://pcpartpicker.com/list/LQCRL2)

Type|Item|Price
:----|:----|:----
**CPU** | [AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/9nm323/amd-ryzen-5-3600-36-thz-6-core-processor-100-100000031box) | $209.99 @ Newegg 
**Motherboard** | [MSI B550M PRO-VDH WIFI Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/PDsnTW/msi-b550m-pro-vdh-wifi-micro-atx-am4-motherboard-b550m-pro-vdh-wifi) | $109.99 @ Amazon 
**Memory** | [G.Skill Ripjaws V 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 CL16 Memory](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/jBZzK8/gskill-ripjaws-v-16-gb-2-x-8-gb-ddr4-3600-memory-f4-3600c16d-16gvkc) | $74.99 @ Newegg 
**Storage** | [ADATA XPG SX8200 Pro 512 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/kVzkcf/adata-xpg-sx8200-pro-512-gb-m2-2280-solid-state-drive-asx8200pnp-512gt-c) | $64.98 @ Amazon 
**Storage** | [Seagate Barracuda Compute 2 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/mwrYcf/seagate-barracuda-computer-2-tb-35-7200rpm-internal-hard-drive-st2000dm008) | $54.99 @ Newegg 
**Video Card** | [Asus GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER 6 GB TUF GAMING OC Video Card](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/CH4BD3/asus-geforce-gtx-1660-super-6-gb-tuf-gaming-oc-video-card-tuf-gtx1660s-o6g-gaming) | $229.99 @ Newegg 
**Case** | [Phanteks Eclipse P300A Mesh ATX Mid Tower Case](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/crqBD3/phanteks-eclipse-p300a-mesh-atx-mid-tower-case-ph-ec300atg_bk01) | $59.99 @ Amazon 
**Power Supply** | [EVGA BQ 500 W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/8P7CmG/evga-bq-500w-80-bronze-certified-semi-modular-atx-power-supply-110-bq-0500-k1) | $63.98 @ Newegg 
 | *Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts* |
 | **Total** | **$868.90**
 | Generated by [PCPartPicker](https://pcpartpicker.com) 2020-09-08 22:07 EDT-0400 |

 

All new, but you can change that to get it under. I think I did well but take mine with a grain of salt. Great cpu, well reviewed board (with wifi as a plus) and case, fast memory, 2.5GB storage, GPU good enough for 1080p 144hz (which are the monitor specs for this i recommend; 24 inches because 1080p).