Workstation/gaming PC (1080p)

[AMN3ZIA]

Budget (including currency): €1200

Country: The Netherlands

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: 

I am aiming more towards a workstation that can lay some games, not heavy ones, although I would like to be able to play something like GTA V & Civilization 6.

I've never had a PC capable of playing any games so I will probably be playing some older games. RDR2 is something I would like to play but only if it's possible within the current budget.

 

The more important things are:

- Development/coding

- Being able to run Virtual Machines/Windows Subsystem Linux

- 3d software like Blender

- Programs like Photoshop/Lightroom/Illustrator/Premiere/Unity

- Multi-tasking is a must (watch Youtube/movies/series while working)

- Having a lot of things open at the same time

 

Other details: 

I have a two 500GB Kingston SSD's, I do need a screen but I'm not going to count that into this budget.

My current laptop is a Lenovo Flex 2-15D (i7,GeForce 840M) I know it's horrible it's from 2014 so any upgrade will be mind-blowing probably.

The resolution I'll be playing/using it at will be 1080p hopefully 120hz.

 

I think the important thing is upgradability, I want to be able to upgrade when I have more funds available to a better GPU and peripherals (1440p).

 

I am planning on buying it around black Friday/cyber Monday, I could also buy the parts in sections if that makes a difference.

I would like to have the PC at max in January.

[Coolmaster]

Here's a build I made.

 

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 5800X 3.8 GHz 8-Core Processor  (€450.00) 
CPU Cooler: be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 4 50.5 CFM CPU Cooler  (€79.95 @ CD-ROM-LAND) 
Motherboard: MSI MAG B550 TOMAHAWK ATX AM4 Motherboard  (€168.95 @ Megekko) 
Memory: G.Skill Aegis 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory  (€63.85 @ Azerty) 
Storage: Crucial P2 250 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive  (€51.90 @ Megekko) 
Storage: Seagate BarraCuda 1 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  (€39.99 @ Paradigit) 
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER 6 GB VENTUS XS OC Video Card  (€244.95 @ Megekko) 
Case: Phanteks Eclipse P300A Mesh ATX Mid Tower Case  (€62.90 @ Megekko) 
Power Supply: Cooler Master MWE Bronze V2 550 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  (€59.95 @ CD-ROM-LAND) 
Total: €1222.44
 

It's slightly over budget, and finding a 5800X in stock will probably be tough but if you can wait a little it should come back in stock. If you have extra money you could get a 2TB hard drive, or if you need more than 16GB of ram it will be pretty easy to upgrade to 32GB. If you can't wait you can get a 3700X now, it will be cheaper but slower in gaming and single threaded performance.

[AMN3ZIA]

5 minutes ago, Coolmaster said:

Here's a build I made.

 

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 5800X 3.8 GHz 8-Core Processor  (€450.00) 
CPU Cooler: be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 4 50.5 CFM CPU Cooler  (€79.95 @ CD-ROM-LAND) 
Motherboard: MSI MAG B550 TOMAHAWK ATX AM4 Motherboard  (€168.95 @ Megekko) 
Memory: G.Skill Aegis 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory  (€63.85 @ Azerty) 
Storage: Crucial P2 250 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive  (€51.90 @ Megekko) 
Storage: Seagate BarraCuda 1 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  (€39.99 @ Paradigit) 
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER 6 GB VENTUS XS OC Video Card  (€244.95 @ Megekko) 
Case: Phanteks Eclipse P300A Mesh ATX Mid Tower Case  (€62.90 @ Megekko) 
Power Supply: Cooler Master MWE Bronze V2 550 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  (€59.95 @ CD-ROM-LAND) 
Total: €1222.44
 

It's slightly over budget, and finding a 5800X in stock will probably be tough but if you can wait a little it should come back in stock. If you have extra money you could get a 2TB hard drive, or if you need more than 16GB of ram it will be pretty easy to upgrade to 32GB. If you can't wait you can get a 3700X now, it will be cheaper but slower in gaming and single threaded performance.

Do you think a M.2 will be a substantial enough upgrade to consider as I have some normal SSD's I could use? Maybe swap it for more RAM or would that be overkill? I'm not sure what impact more than 16GB RAM will have

[Coolmaster]

Just now, AMN3ZIA said:

Do you think a M.2 will be a substantial enough upgrade to consider as I have some normal SSD's I could use?

You don't have to throw away your old SSDs, you can still use them. I didn't know what if any of the parts you have so I went with this budget option. Depending on what your old SSD is you might not see any performance difference day to day.

[AMN3ZIA]

7 minutes ago, Coolmaster said:

You don't have to throw away your old SSDs, you can still use them. I didn't know what if any of the parts you have so I went with this budget option. Depending on what your old SSD is you might not see any performance difference day to day.

I edited the original post, I accidentally posted it by pressing ctrl + enter when writing it 

[Energycore]

I'm going to give you a bit of a controversial parts list with an Intel CPU. The objective better performer in workstation tasks is going to be an AMD Ryzen CPU (either the 5800X or 5900X, though I'd take the latter if possible).

 

However, Setting up virtualization in Intel CPUs as of the current date is MUCH easier than doing it in AMD's platform. @Den-Fi I believe can talk about this from a first hand experience. If virtualization matters a lot for you, then the Intel platform should give you less problems.

 

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	Intel Core i9-10900KF 3.7 GHz 10-Core Processor	€503.95 @ Alternate
CPU Cooler	ARCTIC Freezer 34 eSports CPU Cooler	€37.17 @ Azerty
Motherboard	ASRock Z490 Phantom Gaming 4 ATX LGA1200 Motherboard	€129.00 @ CD-ROM-LAND
Memory	G.Skill Aegis 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory	€63.85 @ Azerty
Storage	Crucial P2 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive	€109.99 @ Azerty
Video Card	Palit GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER 6 GB GamingPro OC Video Card	€234.85 @ Alternate
Case	Fractal Design Focus G ATX Mid Tower Case	€49.94 @ Alternate
Power Supply	Corsair TXM Gold 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply	€74.85 @ CD-ROM-LAND
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	€1203.60
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-11-09 01:25 CET+0100

If virtualization is more of a side thing and not your main gig, then switch the 10900KF for a 5900X (80EUR more), the motherboard for a Gigabite B550M-DS3H (30 EUR cheaper) and if you need to absolutely stay below 1200, switch the Crucial P2 to a 500GB.

 

Speaking of the Crucial P2, I added it here because the fast storage is going to increase the snappiness and/or performance of your heavy workloads like Blender. With that said, 32GB RAM might be a better upgrade for you since you already have the other SSDs, depending on your workload.

 

You're welcome to switch the RAM kit for a 32GB (2x16 or 4x8) DDR4-3200 CL16 and eschew the SSD.

 

[Guest]

4 minutes ago, Energycore said:

However, Setting up virtualization in Intel CPUs as of the current date is MUCH easier than doing it in AMD's platform. @Den-Fi I believe can talk about this from a first hand experience. If virtualization matters a lot for you, then the Intel platform should give you less problems.

 

VMs are fine. It's more passthrough and IOMMU stuff that's a case by case thing via motherboard. In general the mobo will be more of a issue in some cases than which CPU.

I'd look up any mobo (or at least ask about it on Level1) no matter then platform if I was worried about passing through things.

[Energycore]

1 minute ago, Den-Fi said:

VMs are fine. It's more passthrough and IOMMU stuff that's a case by case thing via motherboard. In general the mobo will be more of a issue in some cases than which CPU.

I'd look up any mobo (or at least ask about it on Level1) no matter then platform if I was worried about passing through things.

Ok, thanks for the feedback!

 

In that case AMD makes tons more sense. I'll be errataing the build.

[Energycore]

@AMN3ZIA after revising the build, this is what you can get for 1200 EUR. You can keep your SSDs and 32GB of RAM, or do 16 and buy the Crucial P2 as I mentioned above.

 

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 9 5900X 3.7 GHz 12-Core Processor	€580.00
CPU Cooler	ARCTIC Freezer 34 eSports CPU Cooler	€37.17 @ Azerty
Motherboard	Gigabyte B550M DS3H Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard	€91.85 @ Azerty
Memory	G.Skill Aegis 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3000 CL16 Memory	€109.00 @ Azerty
Video Card	Palit GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER 6 GB GamingPro OC Video Card	€234.85 @ Alternate
Case	Fractal Design Focus G ATX Mid Tower Case	€49.94 @ Alternate
Power Supply	Corsair TXM Gold 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply	€74.85 @ CD-ROM-LAND
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	€1177.66
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-11-09 01:43 CET+0100

 

[AMN3ZIA]

1 minute ago, Energycore said:

@AMN3ZIA after revising the build, this is what you can get for 1200 EUR. You can keep your SSDs and 32GB of RAM, or do 16 and buy the Crucial P2 as I mentioned above.

 

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 9 5900X 3.7 GHz 12-Core Processor	€580.00
CPU Cooler	ARCTIC Freezer 34 eSports CPU Cooler	€37.17 @ Azerty
Motherboard	Gigabyte B550M DS3H Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard	€91.85 @ Azerty
Memory	G.Skill Aegis 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3000 CL16 Memory	€109.00 @ Azerty
Video Card	Palit GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER 6 GB GamingPro OC Video Card	€234.85 @ Alternate
Case	Fractal Design Focus G ATX Mid Tower Case	€49.94 @ Alternate
Power Supply	Corsair TXM Gold 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply	€74.85 @ CD-ROM-LAND
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	€1177.66
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-11-09 01:43 CET+0100

 

Thanks this seems like a very good build to spend my money on.

 

Would it be smart to pre-order the 5900X as it is out of stock over here and it will only be available in 2021 or do you think the price will stay about the same?

[Energycore]

1 minute ago, AMN3ZIA said:

Thanks this seems like a very good build to spend my money on.

 

Would it be smart to pre-order the 5900X as it is out of stock over here and it will only be available in 2021 or do you think the price will stay about the same?

MSRP for the 5900X is €549 so it is very likely to not go lower than that. I wouldn't preorder it for much more than 580 tops

[AMN3ZIA]

Just now, Energycore said:

MSRP for the 5900X is €549 so it is very likely to not go lower than that. I wouldn't preorder it for much more than 580 tops

Yeah the pre-order price is €579 so that seems good, then I will do that!

 

Thank you all so much for helping me with this and so fast, I would have probably ended up with an overpriced or under specced system otherwise

[AMN3ZIA]

A little quick update/question, is it a valid option to get a second hand 1080 ti founders edition for 300 euro instead of the1660 super?

It does add about 50/60 euros but I should be able to wiggle that in my budget.