Seeking advice for first $CAD 1500 build :)

[kai10]

Hi everyone! After using laptops forever, I've decided to try my hand at building a desktop PC. I've done some research and tried to make my parts selection as "future-proof" as possible while maintaining a $CAD 1500 budget. However, I'm a novice and would appreciate your advice on the selection, and also if possible answers to my questions

 

Country: Canada

Budget (including currency): Approx. $CAD 1500

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: The system will be used for web developing, and editing in Photoshop and Premiere, and occasionally some light modelling work in Blender. During my spare time it will be used to play a few AAA games such as GTA, Elden Ring, etc.

Other details: I only have one monitor and most likely will not add more in the future. My monitor's resolution is 1920x1080, and its refresh rate is 75 Hz. Already have a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse.

 

Here's my PCPartPicker Part List: https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/list/JXZPJM

CPU: Intel Core i5-12600K 3.7 GHz 10-Core Processor  ($346.50 @ shopRBC)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Black Edition 42 CFM CPU Cooler  ($77.05 @ Vuugo)
Motherboard: MSI MAG B660 TOMAHAWK WIFI DDR4 ATX LGA1700 Motherboard  ($249.99 @ Amazon Canada)
Memory: Silicon Power 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory  ($69.98 @ Amazon Canada)
Storage: Western Digital Blue SN550 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive  ($120.75 @ Vuugo)
Video Card: ASRock Radeon RX 6600 XT 8 GB Challenger D OC Video Card  ($469.00 @ Canada Computers)
Case: Corsair 4000D Airflow ATX Mid Tower Case  ($114.99 @ Memory Express)
Power Supply: Corsair RM (2021) 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply  ($148.93 @ Amazon Canada)

Total: $1597.19. As you can see, it is slightly over budget...

 

My questions

1. CPU Cooler: pcpartpicker gave me a warning that "The Cooler Master Hyper 212 Black Edition 42 CFM CPU Cooler may require a separately available mounting adapter to fit the MSI MAG B660 TOMAHAWK WIFI DDR4 ATX LGA1700 Motherboard". The CM website said that Hyper 212 fan comes with LGA 1700 compatibility though, so is pcpartpicker wrong in this area or have I misunderstood?
2. GPU: I intend to dual boot Windows and Linux on the machine, and I've been told that if I intend to use Linux that I should generally stay away from Nvidia graphics. That leaves me pretty much with AMD's graphics, but I'm facing some confusion over picking the right one. Is the 6600xt an appropriate "bang for your buck" card? Also, is there a difference between who makes the cards; I noticed that Asus' 6600xt was going for almost $150 more than ASRock's 6600xt.
3. Power Supply: pcpartpicker gave an estimate of 414W for the build. Is getting a 850W power supply going overboard when I could buy a 650W or 750W for less?

Any other thoughts on this build or issues I've not mentioned are welcome! Thank you.

 

[Fasauceome]

12 minutes ago, kai10 said:

• CPU Cooler: pcpartpicker gave me a warning that "The Cooler Master Hyper 212 Black Edition 42 CFM CPU Cooler may require a separately available mounting adapter to fit the MSI MAG B660 TOMAHAWK WIFI DDR4 ATX LGA1700 Motherboard". The CM website said that Hyper 212 fan comes with LGA 1700 compatibility though, so is pcpartpicker wrong in this area or have I misunderstood?

yeah, you probably will need to contact cooler master for an adapter bracket. But, for $77 CAD, that's a pretty bad price for such a cooler.

 

12 minutes ago, kai10 said:

GPU: I intend to dual boot Windows and Linux on the machine, and I've been told that if I intend to use Linux that I should generally stay away from Nvidia graphics. That leaves me pretty much with AMD's graphics, but I'm facing some confusion over picking the right one. Is the 6600xt an appropriate "bang for your buck" card? Also, is there a difference between who makes the cards; I noticed that Asus' 6600xt was going for almost $150 more than ASRock's 6600xt.

yeah, the 6600XT is a good performance for the price. As for difference between cards, you'd want to compare specific models. Some Asus models would be cheaper, and some more expensive. They have different product ranges.
 

 

12 minutes ago, kai10 said:

Power Supply: pcpartpicker gave an estimate of 414W for the build. Is getting a 850W power supply going overboard when I could buy a 650W or 750W for less?

A PC like this would operate just fine on a 550 watt power supply. What kind of aspirations for upgrading do you have? If you aren't planning on putting something like a 3080 in this PC, you won't need much more than that.

Have a look at this:

PCPartPicker Part List: https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/list/VmKVFg

CPU: Intel Core i5-12400F 2.5 GHz 6-Core Processor  ($219.50 @ Vuugo) 
Motherboard: ASRock B660 Pro RS ATX LGA1700 Motherboard  ($189.99 @ Newegg Canada) 
Memory: Patriot Viper 4 Blackout 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory  ($74.98 @ Amazon Canada) 
Storage: Kingston NV1 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive  ($99.99 @ Canada Computers) 
Video Card: Asus Radeon RX 6700 XT 12 GB DUAL Video Card  ($693.57 @ Vuugo) 
Case: Corsair 4000D Airflow ATX Mid Tower Case  ($114.99 @ Memory Express) 
Power Supply: Corsair RMx (2021) 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply  ($99.99 @ Amazon Canada) 
Total: $1493.01
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2022-05-22 14:55 EDT-0400

 

With a B660 motherboard, there's no reason to get a K-SKU processor. You can step down to the 12400F and use the money saved on other parts of the build. I went with a less expensive SSD and a lower power PSU, as well as a less expensive motherboard, and put the money into an upgraded graphics card. I added some different ram cause it looks cooler, but that's not a necessity of course. I left the case selection because I believe that's actually a fairly low price for a 4000D, a decent case to be sure.

 

also, not sure why pcpartpicker shows compatibility warnings for a lot of B660 motherboards and intel 12th gen CPUs. All B660 and 12th gen CPUs were released at the same time, or at least some motherboards were released after the fact. So, every LGA 1700 motherboard should be fully compatible with any 12th gen CPU.

Edited May 22, 2022 by Fasauceome

[dizmo]

Mmm not terrible but some things I've noticed:

• Don't even think about paying that much for a Hyper 212. That's insane. You can get a D15 for not much more.
• I'd probably aim for a Z series motherboard.
• The 6600XT is an OK video card, but I'd really see if you can find an RX6700XT or RX6800.

Welcome to the forum.

[Kedohawyr]

5 minutes ago, kai10 said:

The CM website said that Hyper 212 fan comes with LGA 1700 compatibility though, so is pcpartpicker wrong in this area or have I misunderstood?

Depends on if it's new stock or old stock. However at that price you can find a better cooler.

 

8 minutes ago, kai10 said:

I've been told that if I intend to use Linux that I should generally stay away from Nvidia graphics

This is down to FOSS ideals rather than technical issues. NVidia's first party Linux driver is a binary blob (closed source)

 

13 minutes ago, kai10 said:

Is getting a 850W power supply going overboard

Yes. I'd be thinking of a 650W PSU and using the money elseswhere.

 

I strongly agree with the 12600K (or KF if you're ok with no iGPU backup), it was the first thing that came to mind reading your description. I would consider how much you intend to use Blender and Premiere. If you're not using them often or for anything important you could save some money with a 12400F but otherwise the 12600K is a great "productivity on the cheap" chip.

 

I also agree on B660 over Z690 for this CPU and use case (if you really need more performance you'll get more from a 12700F than buying a Z690 and the cooling needed to barely overclock a 12600K). I would still be cautious about spending that much for B660. Are there any features that you wouldn't find on the cheaper Mortar or Pro model?

 

If you can save some money on the PSU and motherboard I'd probably put it into 32GB of RAM for your productivity apps.

[Jeppes]

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i5-12600K 3.7 GHz 10-Core Processor  ($346.50 @ shopRBC)
CPU Cooler: Deepcool GAMMAXX 400S 50.8 CFM CPU Cooler  ($29.99 @ Amazon Canada)
Motherboard: ASRock B660 Pro RS ATX LGA1700 Motherboard  ($139.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Memory: Silicon Power XPOWER Gaming 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory  ($76.98 @ Amazon Canada)
Storage: Western Digital Black SN750 SE 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive  ($119.99 @ Western Digital)
Video Card: MSI GeForce RTX 3060 Ti LHR 8 GB VENTUS 2X OCV1 Video Card  ($669.50 @ Vuugo)
Case: Cooler Master MasterBox NR600 (w/o ODD) ATX Mid Tower Case  ($89.99 @ Amazon Canada)
Power Supply: MSI MPG A-GF 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply  ($105.00 @ Amazon Canada)
Total: $1577.94
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2022-05-22 15:24 EDT-0400

 

[4PcBuilder]

Your sacrificing a lot in gpu performance for cpu and your psu is overkill I would recommend this:https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/user/Pcbuild12123/saved/#view=MmYRVn by making it a 12400f and a 750w psu you can add a 3070 ti