Attempting to built my first PC, looking for some advice on possible changes.

[under_cut]

Budget (including currency): about $1200 USD

Country:  United States

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for:  Mostly for gaming. I'm pretty new to the realm of PC gaming, so I'm not locked in on a certain genre, but I want to get into some FPS's and RPG's, with maybe some emulation thrown in there.

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): I'm coming from an old MacBook so most anything would be an upgrade, and I'm trying to build soon. The hope is 1440p at 60 fps. I'm still looking at peripherals too (Monitor included), so if you swear by any, i would greatly appreciate the info.

 

The plan as of now - https://pcpartpicker.com/user/under_cut/saved/QjWyWZ

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

[BiotechBen]

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/tf6QRv

Lightly modified.

[Ryuikko]

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/hdNzZwthis Is what i would make.

The difference between a 12500/ 12600 isn't that big so going cheaper is fine 

12400s don't run that hot so most aftermarket coolers will be fine

You can get a 1tb nvme drive for the price of the Samsung.

Upgraded graphics card 

A better looking case in my opinion but you can switch it back to your old case if you want 

 

[PotatoeSmasher8]

Not very good at this stuff, but I would say go cheaper on CPU fan. And since you're just really getting into it, you could buy a used 980.

[Middcore]

2 hours ago, under_cut said:

Budget (including currency): about $1200 USD

Country:  United States

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for:  Mostly for gaming. I'm pretty new to the realm of PC gaming, so I'm not locked in on a certain genre, but I want to get into some FPS's and RPG's, with maybe some emulation thrown in there.

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): I'm coming from an old MacBook so most anything would be an upgrade, and I'm trying to build soon. The hope is 1440p at 60 fps. I'm still looking at peripherals too (Monitor included), so if you swear by any, i would greatly appreciate the info.

 

The plan as of now - https://pcpartpicker.com/user/under_cut/saved/QjWyWZ

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

 

The Z690 board is an odd choice considering your can't overclock the CPU you chose. The one in your list is not terribly priced, but that (and the fact Gigabyte usually seems to use the "UD" branding on its bottom-of-range products) would make me suspicious it could actually overclock a high-end chip well. We can save a bit of money by using a solid B660 board and not lose any performance with the 12500. 

 

NZXT should not be rewarded for putting in the least effort possible to elevate the H510's ventilation from "horrendous hotbox" to "merely mediocre" by copying what private sellers on Etsy were offering as mods, so let's get a better case at about the same price.

 

By sacrificing 100W of power you don't need, we can get a PSU that is a tier higher on the tier list and also has fully modular cables instead of only semi modular. (And also has RGB, not that we'll be able to really see it.) 

 

Samsung makes nice SSD's but they tend to be a bit overpriced. You could probably get a perfectly adequate 1TB model from another brand for only a bit more if you looked. I've left the Samsung drive for now because I don't have time to search for something else and there is something to be said for Samsung's reliability but be aware you could potentially get more for your money there. 500GB fills up quick with modern games.

 

So that gives us this: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/xbCwqm Slightly under the budget instead of slightly above, with better airflow and PSU and no performance loss. If you wanted to cut cost a little further, you could get by with the 12500's stock cooler and drop the Hyper 212. There are also other 120mm single tower coolers that perform pretty comparably to the 212 for less money. 

 

 

 

 

[trevb0t]

2 hours ago, under_cut said:

Budget (including currency): about $1200 USD

Country:  United States

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for:  Mostly for gaming. I'm pretty new to the realm of PC gaming, so I'm not locked in on a certain genre, but I want to get into some FPS's and RPG's, with maybe some emulation thrown in there.

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): I'm coming from an old MacBook so most anything would be an upgrade, and I'm trying to build soon. The hope is 1440p at 60 fps. I'm still looking at peripherals too (Monitor included), so if you swear by any, i would greatly appreciate the info.

 

The plan as of now - https://pcpartpicker.com/user/under_cut/saved/QjWyWZ

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

• The 12500 is not overclockable. It is also barely a notable performance difference than the 12400F (Theoretical 2-3% difference in game.)
  • The only Intel chips that are are the K, KS, or X series chips.
  • Z series motherboard (and the UD is a lower/middling unit as is) is an overspend for no real benefit if the CPU is not overclockable.
• The GQ 750W PSU is a fairly low tier unit. (You can refer to our very handy PSU Tier List) You may consider swapping with a better quality unit like the EVGA G1+ for just a few extra bucks.
• The 500GB 970 EVO Plus is an overspend. This is storage primarily for those who need high transfer speeds for content creation. I would look at the 1TB Teamgroup MP4 NVME and double your storage for only $5 more.
• Case choice is a preference thing, but the NZXT series are notoriously bad for cooling. I've spent some time with my hands in the MSI MPG Gungnir 110R for a few builds, and was really impressed with what it includes at the price. There are lots of solid choices out there! But I do understand really liking the look of the NZXT units.

 

 

[under_cut]

Thanks a lot for all the advice! Obviously I'm inexperienced so the recommendations are a big help. These forums are a godsend for first-timers.

 

Does the Gungir come with the 4 fans shown? Are there any other cases with great airflow or great value?

 

Really appreciate all the help.

[Ryuikko]

55 minutes ago, under_cut said:

Does the Gungir come with the 4 fans shown?

Yes the case would come with the 4 fans. In terms of airflow/price I always recommend the 4000d airflow since it's really easy to work in and has good airflow

 

[Somerandomtechyboi]

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/vHF4Nc

120$ underbudget

 

Case choice in pcpp is meh so i suggest finding a case with perforated/mesh front for less than 40$

 

You can also get a 3070(ti) with the leftover budget if you want

[trevb0t]

On 6/15/2022 at 10:05 AM, under_cut said:

Does the Gungir come with the 4 fans shown? Are there any other cases with great airflow or great value?

It does! It has great cable management cover panels, too. That and the decent quality RGB controller were what impressed me most. The front is meshed with a stylish half cover.

On 6/15/2022 at 10:05 AM, under_cut said:

Are there any other cases with great airflow or great value?

In terms of value, the Cougar MX-330G (ATX) or the Cooler Master Q300L (mATX) often drop down to ~$45 on sales. They both have open mesh designs, and decent cable management.