First time builder looking to replace a dying pc

[oi you]

Budget (including currency): AUD$1500-2000

Country: Australia

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

The main resource consumption might come from either Maplestory (no idea how a 2d scroller takes so much memory) and high requirement games like Cyberpunk which my current pc cannot handle. I also intend to run a virtual machine so might need a decent amount of extra processing power to allocate to it, or at least that was what my friend who uses one told me. Lastly, I want to stream and edit videos on it. It will be sitting on for long hours so cooling might be an issue depending on the parts used I think? I'm new at this. As part of my work, I do need to run 2 monitors.

 

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): 

As of now, my current PC is in the shop and has a seemingly terminal diagnosis (motherboard issue, further diagnosis needed to see if fixable, likely won't last even if fixed). I will be using this as a chance to get an upgrade, so will likely be looking to build one from scratch. This is the first time I'll be doing this, my old PC was given to me pre-built. Ideally the best I can get within my budget so that it can last longer before falling behind the increasing  requirements for new games. As for peripherals, I have my two monitors, keyboard, mouse and speakers+headphones so not looking to upgrade those any time soon yet. 

 

Current Plan (Edited 16/11/2021):

 

Got a little carried away and went over budget, but I can spend some more to finish it properly without skimping on the remaining parts over a longer period of time. Gonna roughly estimate $1000 for the remaining parts.

 

MB:  ROG Strix B550-F Gaming (Wi-Fi) - Bought

 

GPU: MSI GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB VENTUS 2X -  Pre-ordered      

 

Case: Lian Li Lancool II Mesh Performance - Bought  

 

CPU: ??? - What's the Ryzen equivalent for the i7-10700KF?

 

PSU: ???

                               

[MingLee420]

14 minutes ago, oi you said:

Budget (including currency): AUD$1500-2000

Country: Australia

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

The main resource consumption might come from either Maplestory (no idea how a 2d scroller takes so much memory) and high requirement games like Cyberpunk which my current pc cannot handle. I also intend to run a virtual machine so might need a decent amount of extra processing power to allocate to it, or at least that was what my friend who uses one told me. Lastly, I want to stream and edit videos on it. It will be sitting on for long hours so cooling might be an issue depending on the parts used I think? I'm new at this. As part of my work, I do need to run 2 monitors.

 

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): 

As of now, my current PC is in the shop and has a seemingly terminal diagnosis (motherboard issue, further diagnosis needed to see if fixable, likely won't last even if fixed). I will be using this as a chance to get an upgrade, so will likely be looking to build one from scratch. This is the first time I'll be doing this, my old PC was given to me pre-built. Ideally the best I can get within my budget so that it can last longer before falling behind the increasing  requirements for new games. As for peripherals, I have my two monitors, keyboard, mouse and speakers+headphones so not looking to upgrade those any time soon yet. 

https://au.pcpartpicker.com/list/ im not sure what gpu's are even in stock or in budget but hopefully you can find a 2060 or better for 700 aud or less

[slowy]

46 minutes ago, oi you said:

As of now, my current PC is in the shop and has a seemingly terminal diagnosis (motherboard issue, further diagnosis needed to see if fixable, likely won't last even if fixed)

An exact list would be great. CP 2077 is quite demanding... If would could reuse for instance the case, that would be helpful for that budget.

Also, what resolution and refresh rate does your monitor have and are you planning to upgrade in the near future? It's quite the difference between 1080p/60Hz and 1440p/144Hz

What are you using your VMs for, how many in parallel and how do you like to configure them?

[GeorgeMKane]

Hopefully you can salvage some of the hardware (mainly the storage), and re-use for this build. I've linked an i7 build below that should work out pretty great.

 

https://au.pcpartpicker.com/list/njJd3Z

CPU: Intel Core i7-10700F 2.9 GHz 8-Core Processor  ($369.00 @ PC Byte) 
CPU Cooler: be quiet! Pure Rock 2 Black CPU Cooler  ($69.00 @ Mwave Australia) 
Motherboard: MSI MAG B560 TORPEDO ATX LGA1200 Motherboard  ($149.00 @ Amazon Australia) 
Memory: Crucial Ballistix 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory  ($96.20 @ Amazon Australia) 
Storage: Crucial P2 500 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive  ($73.50 @ Amazon Australia) 
Video Card: MSI Radeon RX 6600 XT 8 GB MECH 2X OC Video Card  ($849.00 @ PCCaseGear) 
Case: Corsair 4000D Airflow ATX Mid Tower Case  ($124.77 @ JW Computers) 
Power Supply: Corsair RM (2019) 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply  ($156.00 @ Device Deal) 
Case Fan: Corsair ML140 Pro 97 CFM 140 mm Fan  ($34.91 @ Zotim) 
Case Fan: Corsair ML140 Pro 97 CFM 140 mm Fan  ($34.91 @ Zotim) 
$1956.29

 

The 120mm fan that's pre-installed at the front of the case can be moved to the top of the case, as an exhaust fan. The 140mm fans can then be mounted at the front of the case, as intake fans.

 

[oi you]

1 hour ago, slowy said:

An exact list would be great. CP 2077 is quite demanding... If would could reuse for instance the case, that would be helpful for that budget.

Also, what resolution and refresh rate does your monitor have and are you planning to upgrade in the near future? It's quite the difference between 1080p/60Hz and 1440p/144Hz

What are you using your VMs for, how many in parallel and how do you like to configure them?

I'm not too sure of the specs of the motherboard and processor as I am currently using a borrowed pc from the repairman while he works on my motherboard but he gave back my graphics card which I think is NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950 based on what I'm reading in my settings, which my friend said was due for an upgrade. The other thing I'm assuming I probably should be able to keep is the 16gb of ram which is still attached to my motherboard (and not sure whether it's part of the damage either).

 

I think the PC case is one of the Deepcool Tesseract ones but not sure which one. It does look very like this one: https://www.pccasegear.com/products/33716/deepcool-tesseract-sw-mid-tower-chassis-black-red. I imagine it should still be usable even in the worst case scenario.

 

Using the VM to run a second instance of Maplestory which my friend who uses one said to "allocate 8gb of ram and 2 cores" to it, whatever that means.

 

Monitor's 1080/60, probably old, not planning to upgrade yet unless there are compatibility issues with newer parts. Will likely upgrade as one of the last pieces in the future.

[slowy]

21 hours ago, oi you said:

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950

That sounds quite old, I assume even DDR3, and even if not, the parts would be quite old.

 

21 hours ago, oi you said:

It does look very like this one: https://www.pccasegear.com/products/33716/deepcool-tesseract-sw-mid-tower-chassis-black-red.

It does look old, but it is an ATX case. It does have two fans, I'm not sure if this can keep decent temperatures in 'stralian summer...  According to:

https://www.deepcool.com/product/case/2014-05/9_840.shtml

It has...

Cooling Fans

Rear: 1 X 120mm LED fan;

Front: 1 X 120 mm LED fan;

Optional: Top: 2 X 120mm; Side: 2 X 120mm.

You should be able to have some... weird case fan configuration. You need to measure, so that you can be sure that you can close the case, and that you will be able to put fans on top or on the side panel. And the I/O panel supports one USB 3.0 and one 2.0...

 

 

I used @GeorgeMKane's list as base

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i7-10700F 2.9 GHz 8-Core Processor  ($369.00 @ PC Byte)
CPU Cooler: be quiet! Pure Rock 2 Black CPU Cooler  ($69.00 @ Mwave Australia)
Motherboard: MSI MAG B560 TORPEDO ATX LGA1200 Motherboard  ($149.00 @ Amazon Australia)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory  ($95.50 @ Amazon Australia)
Storage: Crucial P2 500 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive  ($75.45 @ Amazon Australia)
Video Card: MSI Radeon RX 6600 XT 8 GB MECH 2X OC Video Card  ($799.00 @ Austin Computers)
Power Supply: be quiet! Pure Power 11 600 W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply  ($109.00 @ PCCaseGear)
Case Fan: Corsair ML120 75 CFM 120 mm Fans 2-Pack  ($39.00 @ Umart)
Total: $1704.95
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2021-11-16 03:57 AEDT+1100

 

 

Dropped the case and fans, added two 120mm fans instead, found a way cheaper less powerful Tier B PSU.... So that's 300 to spare. I think the next better GPU isn't worth it, because I assume the CPU will be the bottleneck. Either a new case?, or instead... maybe the 11700KF for better base and turbo clock + mainboard + cooler maybe + probably more wattage, more SSD storage, faster memory sticks, or more memory for your VM...

[oi you]

3 hours ago, slowy said:

That sounds quite old, I assume even DDR3, and even if not, the parts would be quite old.

 

It does look old, but it is an ATX case. It does have two fans, I'm not sure if this can keep decent temperatures in 'stralian summer...  According to:

https://www.deepcool.com/product/case/2014-05/9_840.shtml

It has...

Cooling Fans

Rear: 1 X 120mm LED fan;

Front: 1 X 120 mm LED fan;

Optional: Top: 2 X 120mm; Side: 2 X 120mm.

You should be able to have some... weird case fan configuration. You need to measure, so that you can be sure that you can close the case, and that you will be able to put fans on top or on the side panel. And the I/O panel supports one USB 3.0 and one 2.0...

 

 

I used @GeorgeMKane's list as base

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i7-10700F 2.9 GHz 8-Core Processor  ($369.00 @ PC Byte)
CPU Cooler: be quiet! Pure Rock 2 Black CPU Cooler  ($69.00 @ Mwave Australia)
Motherboard: MSI MAG B560 TORPEDO ATX LGA1200 Motherboard  ($149.00 @ Amazon Australia)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory  ($95.50 @ Amazon Australia)
Storage: Crucial P2 500 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive  ($75.45 @ Amazon Australia)
Video Card: MSI Radeon RX 6600 XT 8 GB MECH 2X OC Video Card  ($799.00 @ Austin Computers)
Power Supply: be quiet! Pure Power 11 600 W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply  ($109.00 @ PCCaseGear)
Case Fan: Corsair ML120 75 CFM 120 mm Fans 2-Pack  ($39.00 @ Umart)
Total: $1704.95
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2021-11-16 03:57 AEDT+1100

 

 

Dropped the case and fans, added two 120mm fans instead, found a way cheaper less powerful Tier B PSU.... So that's 300 to spare. I think the next better GPU isn't worth it, because I assume the CPU will be the bottleneck. Either a new case?, or instead... maybe the 11700KF for better base and turbo clock + mainboard + cooler maybe + probably more wattage, more SSD storage, faster memory sticks, or more memory for your VM...

So the 10700F isn't powerful enough for this GPU? So would you recommend the 11700kf instead? I could look for a new case, it just never really crossed my mind as that important as I thought it was just a box for the components. Guess I was mistaken, this is becoming quite educational for me.

[slowy]

21 minutes ago, oi you said:

So the 10700F isn't powerful enough for this GPU? So would you recommend the 11700kf instead?

Ah I wrote it wrong, I meant the 10700KF.

I think the 10700F will bottleneck a bit with the 6600XT. That's why I meant using the remaining 300$ for a better GPU doesn't make sense.

 

But it's hard to tell,... with your VM, it's probably worth it. But with the K-Variant, you also "want" a board with an Z590 chipset so you can overclock a bit. And it needs more power, so you need a slightly better cooler.

 

https://au.pcpartpicker.com/list/mmvJsX

Added the 10700KF

Better cooler (37.5mm clearance, can't find memory height -.-)

Z590 mainboard

Also found cheaper case fans that should be sufficient imho

And I just saw that the GPU is sold out - I just added one that is in stock somewhere (if you can't actually buy a GPU for a price, the price doesn't matter)

-> 1866$

But then again, without a new case

 

Also found some gameplay of CP2077 with an 10700K, RX 6600XT (no idea which one, though):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-jFZwCRTF4

But that's maximum settings, which is imho stupid, because you often get like 20%-30% fps more with settings which have virtually no impact to the visuals, you basically only see the difference when you compare it side by side.

[oi you]

5 minutes ago, slowy said:

Ah I wrote it wrong, I meant the 10700KF.

I think the 10700F will bottleneck a bit with the 6600XT. That's why I meant using the remaining 300$ for a better GPU doesn't make sense.

 

But it's hard to tell,... with your VM, it's probably worth it. But with the K-Variant, you also "want" a board with an Z590 chipset so you can overclock a bit. And it needs more power, so you need a slightly better cooler.

 

https://au.pcpartpicker.com/list/mmvJsX

Added the 10700KF

Better cooler (37.5mm clearance, can't find memory height -.-)

Z590 mainboard

Also found cheaper case fans that should be sufficient imho

And I just saw that the GPU is sold out - I just added one that is in stock somewhere (if you can't actually buy a GPU for a price, the price doesn't matter)

-> 1866$

But then again, without a new case

 

Also found some gameplay of CP2077 with an 10700K, RX 6600XT (no idea which one, though):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-jFZwCRTF4

But that's maximum settings, which is imho stupid, because you often get like 20%-30% fps more with settings which have virtually no impact to the visuals, you basically only see the difference when you compare it side by side.

Well, I have a pre-emptively pre-ordered RTX 3060 Ventus 2X 12G OC due to the anticipated long wait time, wonder if I should cancel it for the 6600 XT? If not, how well would it fit into this build?

[slowy]

3 minutes ago, oi you said:

Well, I have a pre-emptively pre-ordered RTX 3060 Ventus 2X 12G OC due to the anticipated long wait time, wonder if I should cancel it for the 6600 XT? If not, how well would it fit into this build?

Hahaha xD

 

How much did you pay?

 

Length of the 3060 is 235mm, case should have 310mm length support.

[Herman Mcpootis]

12 minutes ago, oi you said:

Well, I have a pre-emptively pre-ordered RTX 3060 Ventus 2X 12G OC due to the anticipated long wait time, wonder if I should cancel it for the 6600 XT? If not, how well would it fit into this build?

You can stick to it unless it costs a lot more, nvenc on nvidia cards will come in handy for streaming.

[oi you]

9 minutes ago, slowy said:

Hahaha xD

 

How much did you pay?

 

Length of the 3060 is 235mm, case should have 310mm length support.

900, a bit more than I was hoping but my anticipated expenditure for a GPU was 700-1000 anyway. Just a maybe a tinge of regret that I could've got a 6600 XT which from the sound of it is of similar standard for over $100 less

 

Will be shopping around for a case, my Lian Li using friend recommended me the lancool II mesh performance from this brand and I also have my eyes on the cooler master h500.

[slowy]

1 minute ago, oi you said:

900, a bit more than I was hoping but my anticipated expenditure for a GPU was 700-1000 anyway. Just a maybe a tinge of regret that I could've got a 6600 XT which from the sound of it is of similar standard for over $100 less

... but your card has better ray tracing performance! (sorry ^^)

 

I wouldn't worry too much, there's plenty of reasons, besides marketing, why people prefer Nvidia. I had an AMD GPU once, but never again. It's been so long that it shouldn't matter anymore, but being resentful can be a reason, too, right? xD

[oi you]

Current plan updated after a shopping trip today. I'm ashamed to not know that Intel processors were incompatible with AMD motherboards, and since I already bought the B550 on the advice of the store owner (he did ask what processor I had in mind, but I said none so...), I guess I have to scrap my original plan for the i7-10700KF.

 

Any suggestions for a suitable AMD processor and how's my build looking so far?

 

Edit: Looking at a Ryzen 7 5800X, is that overkill?