PC upgrade after nearly 10 years

[LoneButcher]

Budget (including currency): around 1000-1200€

Country: Germany

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Gaming, Photoshop, maybe some programming in the future

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):

Here's the parts list I came up with: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/tXB9C6

The cpu and gpu choices are the best offers I could find (and available) for me and then I added the rest around that. The Crucial MX500 is only listed for future storage expansion, the 1TB WD Black will suffice to begin with. For the rest I went with reliability and quiet in mind, hence the massively overspeced power supply and nocturna cooler. The choice I'm least sure about is the RAM and for power supply I just went with the cheapest Seasonic which fulfilled my needs. And the case is just the cheapest "neutral" case that fits everything.

As for how I use my pc, I tend to have a lot of things running at once and have tons of browser tabs open (hence the 32GB of RAM with room for more), my main day to day usage will be some office applications, browsing and Photoshop and I want to get into PC gaming again and I plan to learn to program (I'll probably start with python and see where that leads me). For peripherals I'll keep using what I have, I only plan to get some new monitor(s) once I have the budget in the future. Oh and my reason for upgrading is that my current pc is an iMac from 2013, so it just doesn't perform anymore.

 

[PDifolco]

GPU is at scalped price

PSU wasn't very powerful

Put a better board

Nicer case as well :

 

 

PCPartPicker Part List: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/6r8mC6

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5600 3.5 GHz 6-Core Processor  ($184.00 @ Newegg) 
CPU Cooler: ARCTIC Freezer 34 eSports CPU Cooler  ($39.99 @ Amazon) 
Motherboard: Gigabyte B550 AORUS ELITE AX V2 ATX AM4 Motherboard  ($169.99 @ B&H) 
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3600 CL18 Memory  ($124.99 @ Newegg) 
Storage: Crucial MX500 1 TB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($89.99 @ Amazon) 
Storage: Western Digital Black SN750 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive  ($109.99 @ Western Digital) 
Video Card: ASRock Radeon RX 6600 XT 8 GB Challenger D OC Video Card  ($398.98 @ Newegg) 
Case: Corsair 4000D Airflow ATX Mid Tower Case  ($94.99 @ Amazon) 
Power Supply: Corsair RMx (2018) 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply  ($109.99 @ Amazon) 
Total: $1322.91
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2022-05-20 09:31 EDT-0400

[Pixelfie]

This is slightly over budget but would be a great system for you. If you want to save a bit you could get a cheaper SSD. If you can spend a bit more (about 50) I recommend getting a 12600.

 

• I chose the 12400 over the 12400F and 5600. It performs similar to the others but has an iGPU and supports quicksync which can help. 
• I chose the Freezer 34 Duo because it's a great cooler, especially for this low price.
• This Gigabyte board is a great board and isn't too expensive
• The memory would be just as fast. 3200mhz CL16 performs the same as 3600mhz CL18 and Intel doesn't benefit much from higher speeds anyway.
• This SSD is pretty good. It does cost a bit more, so if you want to save money you should get something else, the difference won't be that big but I think you could use a faster SSD.
• This 3060 is much cheaper and has a much better cooler than the one you linked.
• The case you linked doesn't have great airflow. This one is pretty decent.
• That PSU is far from great. This is one of the best available.

 

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i5-12400 2.5 GHz 6-Core Processor  (€196.89 @ Alternate) 
CPU Cooler: ARCTIC Freezer 34 eSports DUO CPU Cooler  (€42.69 @ Aquatuning) 
Motherboard: Gigabyte B660M GAMING X DDR4 Micro ATX LGA1700 Motherboard  (€141.89 @ Alternate) 
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory  (€116.89 @ Alternate) 
Storage: Samsung 980 Pro 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive  (€129.98 @ ARLT) 
Video Card: MSI GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB VENTUS 2X Video Card  (€432.99 @ Mindfactory) 
Case: MSI MAG FORGE 100R ATX Mid Tower Case  (€69.00 @ Amazon Deutschland) 
Power Supply: Enermax Revolution D.F. 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply  (€93.63 @ Amazon Deutschland) 
Total: €1223.96
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2022-05-20 15:45 CEST+0200

[LoneButcher]

Thank you for your feedback PDifolco, maybe I should have made that clear, the prices on pcpartpicker have nothing to do with what I'm paying I just used it to ensure compatibility.

As for the psu I choose that provides 200 watts more than my system needs? And I'm a bit hesitant about using a Corsair power supply after the recent debacle, I went with Seasonic because of their reliability.

Why the different cooler? Isn't Noctua one of the most reliable and quiet cooler manufacturers?

And what's the advantage of the case? Just to clarify I don't care about having a clear side panel and I actively dislike rgb.

[Pixelfie]

3 minutes ago, LoneButcher said:

Thank you for your feedback, maybe I should have made that clear, the prices on pcpartpicker have nothing to do with what I'm paying I just used it to ensure compatibility.

As for the psu I choose that provides 200 watts more than my system needs? And I'm a bit hesitant about using a Corsair power supply after the recent debacle, I went with Seasonic because of their reliability.

Why the different cooler? Isn't Noctua one of the most reliable and quiet cooler manufacturers?

And what's the advantage of the case? Just to clarify I don't care about having a clear side panel and I actively dislike rgb.

You can set PCPP to Germany, that will show German prices.

 

Seasonic makes good PSU's, but this isn't one of them.

 

That cooler doesn't really seem that good to me. There are many other brands that make great coolers too and for Ryzen 5 or i5 you wouldn't need anything to crazy, even the stock cooler would get the job done.

 

What about this case? Or this one? The case you chose doesn't have much airflow, so your temps will be much higher with more noise no matter how many fans you're using.

[LoneButcher]

6 minutes ago, Pixelfie said:

You can set PCPP to Germany, that will show German prices.

 

Seasonic makes good PSU's, but this isn't one of them.

 

That cooler doesn't really seem that good to me. There are many other brands that make great coolers too and for Ryzen 5 or i5 you wouldn't need anything to crazy, even the stock cooler would get the job done.

 

What about this case? Or this one? The case you chose doesn't have much airflow, so your temps will be much higher with more noise no matter how many fans you're using.

Thank you for your feedback, I was still making my way through your list. I'm trying to understand every choice I make and be aware of any compromise I might make and why.

I never even considered using pcpartpicker for the prices I did my own research so the ASUS Phoenix GeForce RTX 3060 for example it doesn't find, but I can get from amazon for 419,99€.

 

Thank you for the case recommendation, I switched to the SG1 you listed since I prefer the black aesthetic.

I switched over to your CPU recommendations, because I only switched to the Ryzen 5 5600G because I found a really good offer for it yesterday, but that isn't available anymore so the core i5-12400 is the better choice. But I'm honestly still biased towards getting a beefy Noctua cooler over keeping the stock cooler even it would work. I thinking the NH-U9S right now since it's only a little more expensive than your recommendation.

I'm not familiar with Enermax, but I'll switch to it since I only went with the Seasonic because of brand recognition.

[LoneButcher]

After some more research I found a similarly priced modular PSU from Seasonic, the Focus GX-750. What do you think about it?

 

Here's the revised part list (once again the price listed there are not relevant): https://de.pcpartpicker.com/list/YBXZcb

 

edit: I saw that you also recommended different memory and changed it after some further research, updated the list.

Edited May 20, 2022 by LoneButcher
overlooked something in a previous post and added the reply.

[Pixelfie]

16 minutes ago, LoneButcher said:

After some more research I found a similarly priced modular PSU from Seasonic, the Focus GX-750. What do you think about it?

 

Here's the revised part list (once again the price listed there are not relevant): https://de.pcpartpicker.com/list/9CTDjZ

That one isn't bad either, but I still recommend the Enermax one as it's better. This should help with buying PSU's.

 

New list is better than the first, but once again the RAM thing. 3600mhz CL18 is exactly the same speed as 3200mhz CL16 but costs more. Noctua makes pretty good coolers, but I don't recommend this one. The fan will get noisy because it's only 92mm. The cooler I linked should be better and cheaper. The GPU might be 12 cheaper, but the cooler is garbage and it will be loud and hot. Getting the dual fan model I linked will be MUCH better.

[LoneButcher]

23 minutes ago, Pixelfie said:

That one isn't bad either, but I still recommend the Enermax one as it's better. This should help with buying PSU's.

 

New list is better than the first, but once again the RAM thing. 3600mhz CL18 is exactly the same speed as 3200mhz CL16 but costs more. Noctua makes pretty good coolers, but I don't recommend this one. The fan will get noisy because it's only 92mm. The cooler I linked should be better and cheaper. The GPU might be 12 cheaper, but the cooler is garbage and it will be loud and hot. Getting the dual fan model I linked will be MUCH better.

You must have replied before I edited the post, I already changed the RAM. And I also switched the GPU to dual fan model. Thank you for all your help and patience! I ended up a bit over my intended budget but I'll have a good system at the end of it.

[Pixelfie]

34 minutes ago, LoneButcher said:

You must have replied before I edited the post, I already changed the RAM. And I also switched the GPU to dual fan model. Thank you for all your help and patience! I ended up a bit over my intended budget but I'll have a good system at the end of it.

Oh no don't get that ram. It's single channel. You need 2x16 or 4x8