First PC build part recommendations

[EvanKrehbiel]

I am looking to build my first PC with relatively high-end hardware. This would replace my current laptop (HP Omen 15 2020 AMD Ryzen 7 4800H, GTX 1660ti, 16 GB RAM) and would be used primarily for gaming and possibly video editing in the future. The main reasons I want to upgrade from my laptop is for better thermal performance, noise levels, and frame rates. I am not the most knowledgeable with picking computer parts so I wanted to know if there where any suggestions regarding improving or changing the parts I picked. I would like to keep the budget under $2500 USD. I'm open to any feedback

 

Parts list (based on current Newegg prices):

• Case: Corsair iCUE 220T RGB Airflow CC-9011174-WW ($114.99)

• Motherboard: MSI MPG B550 Gaming Carbon WIFI ($215.99)

• CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 5800X 8-Core 3.8 GHz ($410.99)

• GPU: GIGABYTE Gaming GeForce RTX 3060ti ($899.99)

• PSU: Seasonic FOCUS GX-750, 750W 80+ Gold ($129.99)

• Memory: TridentZ RGB SeriesDDR4 32GB (2 x 16GB) ($178.99)

• Cooler: Noctua NH-D15S ($99.95)

• Storage: SAMSUNG 870 QVO Series 2.5" 1TB SATA III V-NAND SSD ($104.99)

• Boot drive: Western Digital WD BLACK SN750 NVMe M.2 2280 250GB ($59.99)

Total: $2,215.87

+ $192.46 (protection plans)

Total: $2,408.33

[Delnith]

12 minutes ago, EvanKrehbiel said:

I am looking to build my first PC with relatively high-end hardware. This would replace my current laptop (HP Omen 15 2020 AMD Ryzen 7 4800H, GTX 1660ti, 16 GB RAM) and would be used primarily for gaming and possibly video editing in the future. The main reasons I want to upgrade from my laptop is for better thermal performance, noise levels, and frame rates. I am not the most knowledgeable with picking computer parts so I wanted to know if there where any suggestions regarding improving or changing the parts I picked. I would like to keep the budget under $2500 USD. I'm open to any feedback

 

Parts list (based on current Newegg prices):

• Case: Corsair iCUE 220T RGB Airflow CC-9011174-WW

• Motherboard: MSI MPG B550 Gaming Carbon WIFI

• CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 5800X 8-Core 3.8 GHz

• GPU: GIGABYTE Gaming GeForce RTX 3060ti

• PSU: Seasonic FOCUS GX-750, 750W 80+ Gold

• Memory: TridentZ RGB SeriesDDR4 32GB (2 x 16GB)

• Cooler: Noctua NH-D15S

• Storage: Western Digital WD BLACK SN750 NVMe M.2 2280 1TB

• Boot drive: Western Digital WD BLACK SN750 NVMe M.2 2280 250GB

Could you list the prices alongside the parts so we know where we are in your budget range?

 

Also...and this is primarily personal preference. If you are going to have a "storage" drive I (personally) wouldn't justify an NVMe. If it truly is for storage of secondary media (tv shows, movies, music, etc) there is not any performance to be gained from a drive that fast. In the use case I would just go for a larger HDD. If that storage drive were for games, then perhaps a traditional SSD would suffice, unless there are specific games that have long periods of loading screens. Just my 2 cents.

[EvanKrehbiel]

29 minutes ago, Delnith said:

Could you list the prices alongside the parts so we know where we are in your budget range?

 

Also...and this is primarily personal preference. If you are going to have a "storage" drive I (personally) wouldn't justify an NVMe. If it truly is for storage of secondary media (tv shows, movies, music, etc) there is not any performance to be gained from a drive that fast. In the use case I would just go for a larger HDD. If that storage drive were for games, then perhaps a traditional SSD would suffice, unless there are specific games that have long periods of loading screens. Just my 2 cents.

I updated the post with current prices and swapped the 1TB m.2 drive with a 1TB 2.5" SSD. But this does bring a question to mind. I tend to keep my drives clean, deleting old pictures, files, ext. and my 1TB SSD on my laptop is only about 1/3 full and I've had it for just under a year. Is it worth it to spend a little more to get a 2TB drive now or would it better to add more storage later? 

[Jonathan Lee]

2 hours ago, EvanKrehbiel said:

I updated the post with current prices and swapped the 1TB m.2 drive with a 1TB 2.5" SSD. But this does bring a question to mind. I tend to keep my drives clean, deleting old pictures, files, ext. and my 1TB SSD on my laptop is only about 1/3 full and I've had it for just under a year. Is it worth it to spend a little more to get a 2TB drive now or would it better to add more storage later? 

hmm that's a bit tough if you're really good at clearing old files, you could just get a 1TB NVME drive and be done with it. I personally think getting 2TB if you can afford it is worth it to just not care, but that's my two cents. Plus, games have been getting pretty big lately. Btw, I think 1TB SN750 is cheaper than a 250GB SN750 + 1TB Samsung 870. Might be better to go with the 1TB SN750, will be easier for file management 

 

In terms of your system, I think it looks good. I normally would suggest a higher end GPU for a Ryzen 7 5800X, but prices are crazy so it's hard to fine a good value GPU

[EvanKrehbiel]

10 hours ago, Jonathan Lee said:

hmm that's a bit tough if you're really good at clearing old files, you could just get a 1TB NVME drive and be done with it. I personally think getting 2TB if you can afford it is worth it to just not care, but that's my two cents. Plus, games have been getting pretty big lately. Btw, I think 1TB SN750 is cheaper than a 250GB SN750 + 1TB Samsung 870. Might be better to go with the 1TB SN750, will be easier for file management 

 

In terms of your system, I think it looks good. I normally would suggest a higher end GPU for a Ryzen 7 5800X, but prices are crazy so it's hard to fine a good value GPU

Higher end being the 3070, 3080, and 3090? I looked but as you said I was not able find a good deal from a seller I trust. Although i did see that there are 2070s, 2080s, and 2080 supers for around the same amount if not slightly more. From my understanding the 3000 series is better than the 2000 series being more modern but I'm not sure if a 2080 super for example would be better than a 3060ti. 60 being the low end of the high end if my understanding is correct.

The primary reason for a high end CPU is that I've never run into problems with my GPU but my CPU consistently reaches 100% utilization with relatively high temperatures (95C) while I've never seen my GPU go above 70% utilization with very acceptable thermal performance (I've never seen it go above 65C) when playing demanding games like Apex Legends. Another question is would getter a better GPU or CPU help with frame rates in these situations?

[Jonathan Lee]

12 minutes ago, EvanKrehbiel said:

Higher end being the 3070, 3080, and 3090? I looked but as you said I was not able find a good deal from a seller I trust. Although i did see that there are 2070s, 2080s, and 2080 supers for around the same amount if not slightly more. From my understanding the 3000 series is better than the 2000 series being more modern but I'm not sure if a 2080 super for example would be better than a 3060ti. 60 being the low end of the high end if my understanding is correct.

Yea, I mean 3070, 3080 or 3090 (although 3090 is probably way too much for most people). Yes you're correct that 3060TI would be low of the high end. Definitely stick with the 3060TI over the the last gen cards. I believe the 3060TI preforms similar to 2080 super so I don't think it would be worth getting for around the same price. Plus, 30 series has better ray-tracing and DLSS. If 3070/3080 is way more than the 3060TI ($300+), I think it would be better to stick with the 3060TI

 

I forgot to ask, what monitor are you using? If 1080p, 3060TI will work well. At 1440p, I'm not too sure. Although this really depends on game selection at the end of the day

[EvanKrehbiel]

1 minute ago, Jonathan Lee said:

Yea, I mean 3070, 3080 or 3090 (although 3090 is probably way too much for most people). Yes you're correct that 3060TI would be low of the high end. Definitely stick with the 3060TI over the the last gen cards. I believe the 3060TI preforms similar to 2080 super so I don't think it would be worth getting for around the same price. Plus, 30 series has better ray-tracing and DLSS.

 

I forgot to ask, what monitor are you using? If 1080p, 3060TI will work well. At 1440p, I'm not too sure. Although this really depends on game selection at the end of the day

At first I am thinking of having a single Acer Nitro Gaming Series VG220Q 22" Full HD 1920 x 1080 monitor but i want to add a second in the future. 

[Jonathan Lee]

18 minutes ago, EvanKrehbiel said:

The primary reason for a high end CPU is that I've never run into problems with my GPU but my CPU consistently reaches 100% utilization with relatively high temperatures (95C) while I've never seen my GPU go above 70% utilization with very acceptable thermal performance (I've never seen it go above 65C) when playing demanding games like Apex Legends. Another question is would getter a better GPU or CPU help with frame rates in these situations?

Ahhh, I see where you're coming from. A lot of times with laptops do end up thermal throttling, essentially CPU will down clock to prevent it self from over heating. On top of that laptop CPU's have a lower TDP, so they draw less power, to prevent overheating at the cost of performance. Desktop CPU's don't have this limitation dude them having a big heat sink or AIO. For reference, I actually have a 5800X and the utilization of it doesn't hit above 30% utilization in Monster hunter world, while my GPU (5600XT) is at 100% utilization and I get 100+ FPS high-ultra settings. All temps are around 75-80C. I don't play a lot of multiplayer games asides from FF14, which is not graphically intensive, so I wouldn't be too familiar with performance at that point. I do recommend sticking with a 5800X if you play Apex legends cause large multiplayer games tend to use a lot CPU power. At 1080p, I actually don't think you would get much benefit from going higher end right now, but it would defer having to upgrade your GPU in the future.

 

13 minutes ago, EvanKrehbiel said:

At first I am thinking of having a single Acer Nitro Gaming Series VG220Q 22" Full HD 1920 x 1080 monitor but i want to add a second in the future. 

With the current monitor you're planning to get, a 3060TI will drive it just fine. I would recommend getting a higher refresh rate monitor cause I hear it helps when playing FPS games. Look for a 1080p, IPS panel, 144Hz refresh rate, with a low response time would allow you to see the performance of the hardware. Something like a Acer VG240Y Pbiip or MSI Optix G241 would be a good choice. The monitor you referenced is only a 75Hz so at max you would only see 75 FPS. 

 

In general though, what you're planning to get right now will be a significant upgrade to the laptop. I think you will be fairly satisfied

 

[EvanKrehbiel]

15 minutes ago, Jonathan Lee said:

Ahhh, I see where you're coming from. A lot of times with laptops do end up thermal throttling, essentially CPU will down clock to prevent it self from over heating. On top of that laptop CPU's have a lower TDP, so they draw less power, to prevent overheating at the cost of performance. Desktop CPU's don't have this limitation dude them having a big heat sink or AIO. For reference, I actually have a 5800X and the utilization of it doesn't hit above 30% utilization in Monster hunter world, while my GPU (5600XT) is at 100% utilization and I get 100+ FPS high-ultra settings. All temps are around 75-80C. I don't play a lot of multiplayer games asides from FF14, which is not graphically intensive, so I wouldn't be too familiar with performance at that point. I do recommend sticking with a 5800X if you play Apex legends cause large multiplayer games tend to use a lot CPU power. At 1080p, I actually don't think you would get much benefit from going higher end right now, but it would defer having to upgrade your GPU in the future.

 

With the current monitor you're planning to get, a 3060TI will drive it just fine. I would recommend getting a higher refresh rate monitor cause I hear it helps when playing FPS games. Look for a 1080p, IPS panel, 144Hz refresh rate, with a low response time would allow you to see the performance of the hardware. Something like a Acer VG240Y Pbiip or MSI Optix G241 would be a good choice. The monitor you referenced is only a 75Hz so at max you would only see 75 FPS. 

 

In general though, what you're planning to get right now will be a significant upgrade to the laptop. I think you will be fairly satisfied

 

I didn't notice that the monitor i looked at was only 75Hz I would much rather get a 144Hz display since that is what my laptop has. I like the MSI one you recommended. Originally I was looking at the MSI Optix MAG27CQ 27" 2560 x 1440 but I thought this might be overkill for a first monitor and maybe one i would upgrade to this down the line. would the specs I have listed pare well though?

[Jonathan Lee]

32 minutes ago, EvanKrehbiel said:

I didn't notice that the monitor i looked at was only 75Hz I would much rather get a 144Hz display since that is what my laptop has. I like the MSI one you recommended. Originally I was looking at the MSI Optix MAG27CQ 27" 2560 x 1440 but I thought this might be overkill for a first monitor and maybe one i would upgrade to this down the line. would the specs I have listed pare well though?

I think for Apex Legends it would work well or any other FPS games. More graphic intensive games like Red Dead Redemption or Cyberpunk might struggle a bit. Although you can always lower the resolution of the monitor or use DLSS to try to get better frame rates. For newer upcoming games, I would lean towards it struggling, but I don't have a crystal ball XD. Personally, this is a little more out of my knowledge based and I hear mix options on whether a 3060TI is "good" for 1440p.

[EvanKrehbiel]

good to know