1200$ build for a friend

[DreamCat04]

Budget (including currency): 1200$

Country: Switzerland 

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: light gaming, recording, Star Wars the Old Republic, Minecraft 

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): Existing parts list on Pcpartpicker :https://de.pcpartpicker.com/list/NL4Gt8. He's going to play on a 75hz 1080p screen. His price budget/Limit is around 1200$. Is this one good? Or should something be changed? 

 

[OddOod]

Given the upgrade path I'd probably recommend going for AMD, but at these levels intel is finally price competitive with AMD so if the anticipation is no upgrade, intel is perfect. 

It looks like you're trying to optimize for noise, if so, you should probably go for a direct fan based gpu rather than a blower card. I'd also recommend getting a stupid big noctua cooler for the cpu because for most non-gaming work loads it wouldn't even need to spin up the fan
I would recommend getting something bigger than a 22in screen. I prefer 27s, but even a 24 is a significant improvement. 

[WintorialsLift]

For the most part it's actually not bad, just that unless you truly need 32GB of RAM (i.e. multitasking with apps related to RAM and it's outside of the workloads you mentioned), 16GB should be fine really (2x8).

Good luck!

[RONOTHAN##]

Most of what I'd do for this system is just reduce some of the unnecessary parts. You don't need a platinum-rated PSU, just get a Corsair RM650X and save some money. Get a SN550 SSD instead of the 970 Evo and save a $20. You don't need that beefy of a cooler for an i5 10400F, just get a Hyper 212 and save $20. You can either pocket that money for games, or upgrade the CPU to a 10700F (You'll still spend about $50 more, but it's a big improvement in both single and multithreaded workloads). 

 

https://de.pcpartpicker.com/list/hKkqt8
 

[Podrake]

Hi, just made a AMD equivalent with a Ryzen 5 3600, changed the ram to 16gb, changed ssd to MX500 1TB and kept 970evo, you don't need a platinum 80+ psu, I replaced it with a corsair RM 650W gold, I changed the case to a Corsair ICUE 4000x ( I would recommend taking 1 of the front fans off and put it on the back)

https://de.pcpartpicker.com/list/K8XMsX

 

You could also change the motherboard to an asrock b450M if you want to save 40 euros, but you may need a bios update for that

[DreamCat04]

23 minutes ago, RONOTHAN## said:

You don't need that beefy of a cooler for an i5 10400F, just get a Hyper 212 and save $20.

I wanted it to be silent so like that the fan wouldn't have to wramp up high

[Downkey]

1 hour ago, RONOTHAN## said:

Most of what I'd do for this system is just reduce some of the unnecessary parts. You don't need a platinum-rated PSU, just get a Corsair RM650X and save some money. Get a SN550 SSD instead of the 970 Evo and save a $20. You don't need that beefy of a cooler for an i5 10400F, just get a Hyper 212 and save $20. You can either pocket that money for games, or upgrade the CPU to a 10700F (You'll still spend about $50 more, but it's a big improvement in both single and multithreaded workloads). 

 

https://de.pcpartpicker.com/list/hKkqt8
 

Swap it out for a B560 board so you can get unlocked RAM speeds.

 

1 hour ago, Podrake said:

Hi, just made a AMD equivalent with a Ryzen 5 3600, changed the ram to 16gb, changed ssd to MX500 1TB and kept 970evo, you don't need a platinum 80+ psu, I replaced it with a corsair RM 650W gold, I changed the case to a Corsair ICUE 4000x ( I would recommend taking 1 of the front fans off and put it on the back)

https://de.pcpartpicker.com/list/K8XMsX

 

You could also change the motherboard to an asrock b450M if you want to save 40 euros, but you may need a bios update for that

R5 3600 is pretty mediocre value now a days. Also you don't need an 970 for 85, and that case has mediocre airflow.

[Somerandomtechyboi]

https://de.pcpartpicker.com/list/2gMX8J

Maybe something like this?

 

Gpu is up to you

 

I suggest locking max turbo multi (48) to all cores in the bios, and optionally raise bclk to 103 for ~4.94ghz