Yet another build

[Bombastinator]

Budget (including currency): as little as possible to do what I want

Country: USA

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: gaming mostly with some browsing and other potato stuff.

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):

 

basically everything but a mouse.  The idea is a lowball 1080p/4k system.  Game at 1080p for games that have fps issues, and 4k for the desktop stuff 1440p would really be fine, but 720p seems a bit small.
I’m especially leery of the monitor and PSU. The PSU seems too cheap, but the thing was listed as tier 2 (this may no longer be true) evga had a couple of seriously bum PSUs and I don’t know if this is one of em or not. I know basically nothing about keyboards.  
I’ve been using cheapo rubber dome stuff for a long time.  It appears aside from being environmentally not that great they’re apparently not even cheap in the long run so they’re pointless.  I don’t know how to 10 key but I’m not against having one on a keyboard.  Space is not especially important.  Mostly I’m looking for low price/high lifespan. It would also be nice if the thing wasn’t terribly loud, but that’s the least important factor.  Lighted keys can be handy.  I’ve got a keyboard light though so if it costs a lot more it’s not worth it.   Rgb generally annoys me.  If I wind up with rgb I’ll turn it solid white. Tactile sensation and thick quality are stuff I don’t care about at all.  I just need the thing to work.

I did a pcpartpicker build with a low end 4k monitor. No idea if it’s awful or not.  I didn’t want to go too big because 1080p starts to not work if the size gets too large.

i picked the case for the front panel I/o and it’s supposed to not be awful.  Half a mind to use no case at all. Might need fans.  I’ve got a few lying about I can throw in.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i7-12700F 2.1 GHz 12-Core Processor  ($307.99 @ Newegg) 
CPU Cooler: Thermalright Assassin King 120 Mini 64.87 CFM CPU Cooler  ($40.09 @ Amazon) 
Motherboard: ASRock B660 Steel Legend ATX LGA1700 Motherboard  ($159.99 @ Newegg) 
Memory: Timetec 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory 
Video Card: MSI Radeon RX 6700 XT 12 GB MECH 2X Video Card  ($499.99 @ Newegg) 
Case: Fractal Design Meshify 2 Compact ATX Mid Tower Case  ($123.99 @ Walmart) 
Power Supply: EVGA GQ 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply  ($69.98 @ Amazon) 
Monitor: Gigabyte ‎M28U 28.0" 3840x2160 144 Hz Monitor  ($579.99 @ Newegg) 
Total: $1782.02
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2022-05-25 23:32 EDT-0400

If there are problems with this there are problems.  I think it will work but I could be wrong.

Edited May 26, 2022 by Bombastinator

[Somerandomtechyboi]

peerless assasin is at the same price

 

Case is just ridicolously expensive, just get some cheapo scrap 3$ office case or run off the mobo box, you can buy usb 3 front i/o cables for ~3$

 

Pro B660-a is 10$ less

 

Find the cheapest 32gb 3200 cl16/3600 cl18 kit you can find

 

If you are fine with going used you can get used 750w and 850w psus, but not worth it unless theyre <50$

[Queen Chrysalis]

If this is already a $1800 PC, another $20 to get the XFX Qik or another $40 to get the MSi Gaming X might be worth consideration.  Could be a difference maker for games that are close at 4k.  That or going down to a 12400f, a cheaper case, and 16GB or RAM for now could get you a 6800xt (some of the open box ones at microcenter are like $650 or less now), and literally everything would be fine at 4k.  

 

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i5-12400F 2.5 GHz 6-Core Processor  ($169.95 @ B&H) 
CPU Cooler: Thermalright Assassin King 120 Plus 66.17 CFM CPU Cooler  ($44.12 @ Amazon) 
Motherboard: ASRock B660M Steel Legend Micro ATX LGA1700 Motherboard  ($129.99 @ Newegg) 
Video Card: XFX Radeon RX 6800 XT 16 GB Speedster MERC 319 CORE Video Card  ($799.99 @ Amazon) 
Case: Corsair 275R Airflow ATX Mid Tower Case  ($73.45 @ Amazon) 
Power Supply: EVGA GQ 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply  ($84.99 @ Best Buy) 
Monitor: Gigabyte ‎M28U 28.0" 3840x2160 144 Hz Monitor  ($579.99 @ Newegg) 
Total: $1882.48
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2022-05-26 02:26 EDT-0400

 

This would do everything fine at 4K, and would be about $150 less if you're near a microcenter.  The open box cards I'm 90% sure are just scalpers returning shit they couldn't scalp, and from what I can tell the 6800xt and 6900xt have way better open box discounts than the 6700xt.

[Bombastinator]

6 hours ago, Somerandomtechyboi said:

peerless assasin is at the same price

 

Case is just ridicolously expensive, just get some cheapo scrap 3$ office case or run off the mobo box, you can buy usb 3 front i/o cables for ~3$

 

Pro B660-a is 10$ less

 

Find the cheapest 32gb 3200 cl16/3600 cl18 kit you can find

 

If you are fine with going used you can get used 750w and 850w psus, but not worth it unless theyre <50$

The point about the cooler is a good point.  I looked for the cheapest 5 pipe cooler I could find that looked like it would have decent pipes. A good 4 pipe would probably do fine but I was thinking about a bit of overkill.  It just looked like a pretty standard 120mm 5 pipe tower cooler.  If it’s 92mm it may not have enough gumption though.  
I don’t disagree about the case.  I wanted 3.1 USBC (which is called 3.2 gen 2 now.  You don’t make the old new again by renaming it.  All you do is BS people for a bit). It wasn’t the very cheapest case that had that but it was pretty close.  I’ve half a mind to simply do a DIY  front panel but I don’t know it will be much cheaper.

 

UPDATE: looked at the pcpartpicker list I had and a lot of the numbers are different than I remember.  The PSU is listed as ~$70 not $87.  There is weirdness here.  I do live near (or near enough to) a microcenter.  Perhaps just walking in and trying to build something off the shelf is the way to go.  They never seem to have the cooler I want though.  Argh.

Edited May 26, 2022 by Bombastinator

[Bombastinator]

5 hours ago, Queen Chrysalis said:

If this is already a $1800 PC, another $20 to get the XFX Qik or another $40 to get the MSi Gaming X might be worth consideration.  Could be a difference maker for games that are close at 4k.  That or going down to a 12400f, a cheaper case, and 16GB or RAM for now could get you a 6800xt (some of the open box ones at microcenter are like $650 or less now), and literally everything would be fine at 4k.  

 

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i5-12400F 2.5 GHz 6-Core Processor  ($169.95 @ B&H) 
CPU Cooler: Thermalright Assassin King 120 Plus 66.17 CFM CPU Cooler  ($44.12 @ Amazon) 
Motherboard: ASRock B660M Steel Legend Micro ATX LGA1700 Motherboard  ($129.99 @ Newegg) 
Video Card: XFX Radeon RX 6800 XT 16 GB Speedster MERC 319 CORE Video Card  ($799.99 @ Amazon) 
Case: Corsair 275R Airflow ATX Mid Tower Case  ($73.45 @ Amazon) 
Power Supply: EVGA GQ 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply  ($84.99 @ Best Buy) 
Monitor: Gigabyte ‎M28U 28.0" 3840x2160 144 Hz Monitor  ($579.99 @ Newegg) 
Total: $1882.48
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2022-05-26 02:26 EDT-0400

 

This would do everything fine at 4K, and would be about $150 less if you're near a microcenter.  The open box cards I'm 90% sure are just scalpers returning shit they couldn't scalp, and from what I can tell the 6800xt and 6900xt have way better open box discounts than the 6700xt.

I’d prefer a 6800 to a 6700xt, but the 6700xt is the only one with a price I’d even consider.  
The 6700xt is around msrp whereas the others aren’t. 

Looking at the posted pricing I’m a bit shocked.    Those are not the prices I saw when I made the list.  I copy pasted BB which more or less precludes looking at it.  The thing was nearer $500 before I added the video card.  I thought I was building a $1600 machine not an $1800 machine.  The cooler was sub $30 and the GPU was in the $500 range not the $800 range.  Something wacky happened there.  I think I’m gonna have to check everything again.

Edited May 26, 2022 by Bombastinator

[Bombastinator]

Trying it again.  The most expensive thing is the monitor by near $100.  For some reason the Corsair 400d airflow popped up this time whereas before it didn’t. Very strange.

 

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i7-12700F 2.1 GHz 12-Core Processor  ($307.99 @ Newegg) 
CPU Cooler: Thermalright Assassin King 120 66.17 CFM CPU Cooler  ($28.96 @ Amazon) 
Motherboard: ASRock B660M-ITX/ac Mini ITX LGA1700 Motherboard  ($119.99 @ Newegg) 
Memory: Timetec 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory 
Storage: Team MS30 512 GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive  ($41.99 @ Amazon) 
Video Card: MSI Radeon RX 6700 XT 12 GB MECH 2X Video Card  ($499.99 @ Newegg) 
Case: Corsair 4000D Airflow ATX Mid Tower Case  ($94.99 @ Amazon) 
Power Supply: EVGA GQ 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply  ($69.98 @ Amazon) 
Monitor: Gigabyte ‎M28U 28.0" 3840x2160 144 Hz Monitor  ($579.99 @ Newegg) 
Total: $1743.88
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2022-05-26 08:13 EDT-0400

 

some oddities are I wanted ram with no heat spreaders as I’m not trusting heat spreaders atm.   I want to be able to see the chips.  There was some stuff called “dragon ram” that was even cheaper while also being theoretically faster, but it struck me as so weird that it could be unlikely.  PC numbers aren’t getting posted so there’s a pig-in-a-poke aspect to this.

 

and.. there’s no price on the memory again. I don’t know what is going on here.

Edited May 26, 2022 by Bombastinator

[Queen Chrysalis]

4 hours ago, Bombastinator said:

I’d prefer a 6800 to a 6700xt, but the 6700xt is the only one with a price I’d even consider.  
The 6700xt is around msrp whereas the others aren’t. 

Looking at the posted pricing I’m a bit shocked.    Those are not the prices I saw when I made the list.  I copy pasted BB which more or less precludes looking at it.  The thing was nearer $500 before I added the video card.  I thought I was building a $1600 machine not an $1800 machine.  The cooler was sub $30 and the GPU was in the $500 range not the $800 range.  Something wacky happened there.  I think I’m gonna have to check everything again.

Right, right.  What i was getting at was that if you check microcenter’s website, you could find a good deal on an open box 6800/xt (like $630 range, filter results by your store at the top, then ‘open box’ on the left) and that doing the 12400f instead of the 12700f would allow you to get that.

[Bombastinator]

4 hours ago, Queen Chrysalis said:

Right, right.  What i was getting at was that if you check microcenter’s website, you could find a good deal on an open box 6800/xt (like $630 range, filter results by your store at the top, then ‘open box’ on the left) and that doing the 12400f instead of the 12700f would allow you to get that.

It’s across town.  Perhaps the best move is get back on their gpu list if they’re still doing it.  The problem with open box is it doesn’t always have the same warranty, and the chances of it being a bum card go way up. I’ll need to look into that. It’s a very good point though.

[Queen Chrysalis]

20 minutes ago, Bombastinator said:

It’s across town.  Perhaps the best move is get back on their gpu list if they’re still doing it.  The problem with open box is it doesn’t always have the same warranty, and the chances of it being a bum card go way up. I’ll need to look into that. It’s a very good point though.

I'm very confident that with these 6xxx high end cards it's just scalpers returning them.  You still get a receipt and if it doesn't work you get your money back.  You could ask about warranty but since warranty is through the AiB it should still be valid.  If it works when you plug it in the first time it's good, there really isn't anything that degrades over time like a car.

[Bombastinator]

Just now, Queen Chrysalis said:

I'm very confident that with these 6xxx high end cards it's just scalpers returning them.  You still get a receipt and if it doesn't work you get your money back.  You could ask about warranty but since warranty is through the AiB it should still be valid.  If it works when you plug it in the first time it's good, there really isn't anything that degrades over time like a car.

Well there’s PSUs but I understand much like cars they’re getting better.  Here’s a question: is pc4-28800 worth what seems like about 55 bucks over pc4-25600?

[Queen Chrysalis]

3 minutes ago, Bombastinator said:

Well there’s PSUs but I understand much like cars they’re getting better.  Here’s a question: is pc4-28800 worth what seems like about 55 bucks over pc4-25600?

No, the 25600 is more than fast enough for gaming, faster stuff is just for nerds who want pretty numbers on a benchmark. 

 

Also, I would buy a decent amount of this stuff online, but one other thing, microcenter also sell CPUs about $20-$50 cheaper than online but in-store only, and they give you a $20 discount on a motherboard when purchased with a compatible CPU, so there's that, too.  For people who have access to one, the ideal move is to buy CPU, MoBo, and GPU at microcenter, and the rest online unless they see a better deal there or want in-store exchangeability for everything.  Their stuff is not on pcpartpicker, but you may want to compare options on their site before just walking in.

[Bombastinator]

1 hour ago, Queen Chrysalis said:

No, the 25600 is more than fast enough for gaming, faster stuff is just for nerds who want pretty numbers on a benchmark. 

 

Also, I would buy a decent amount of this stuff online, but one other thing, microcenter also sell CPUs about $20-$50 cheaper than online but in-store only, and they give you a $20 discount on a motherboard when purchased with a compatible CPU, so there's that, too.  For people who have access to one, the ideal move is to buy CPU, MoBo, and GPU at microcenter, and the rest online unless they see a better deal there or want in-store exchangeability for everything.  Their stuff is not on pcpartpicker, but you may want to compare options on their site before just walking in.

So I will do then.  Thanks