First Build

FoxPendragon · June 30, 2022

Budget (including currency): Aiming for about $800 USD, tiny bit of wiggle room

Country: USA, specifically NorCal

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Shooting for 1080p gaming, streaming, music production and MAYBE light CAD work

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 have a macbook from 2015 that works great as a daily driver, but I want something I can game on. With the GPU market coming back down (it is, right?) I thought that now might finally be a good time to jump in.

Though I mainly plan to game on this PC, I also really want to try streaming or some light content creation. I also want to learn 3d modeling so I can 3d print props for cosplay. As for the music production part, I really like using my mac for that but it's old and might die at some point so it's more like a "just in case".

I'm really open to using used parts. I specified that I live in NorCal because I was wondering if there's a good local used market here.

Some extra challenges I have are that I'm a college student that has to travel across the country for school, so a big machine isn't ideal if I want to bring to and from school. However small form factor builds are more expensive, lack expandability (no extra PCI slot of an internal capture card), and are not beginner friendly. If I'm already content with my current laptop and a Nintendo Switch for gaming, is it really worth it to build a computer I might not have access to for part of the year?

My current plan for the CPU and GPU are a Ryzen 5 3600x with a B550 mobo and an RTX 2060 Super. I'm choosing the 3600x because it seems like a good value for performance while being relatively cheap on ebay (seeing them for about $100 with the cooler) and JayzTwoCents covered an interview that may have teased continued support for the AM4 socket even after next gen Ryzen comes out. As for the 2060 Super, it was towards the top of a price to performance chart a friend sent me while still being powerful. I'm finding them on ebay for about $250. Would these parts be good for streaming? Is the GPU overkill?

So yeah that's me. If I did build a computer with a focus on streaming games, how would you recommend I go about it?

goatedpenguin · June 30, 2022

2 minutes ago, FoxPendragon said:

Budget (including currency): Aiming for about $800 USD, tiny bit of wiggle room

Country: USA, specifically NorCal

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Shooting for 1080p gaming, streaming, music production and MAYBE light CAD work

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 have a macbook from 2015 that works great as a daily driver, but I want something I can game on. With the GPU market coming back down (it is, right?) I thought that now might finally be a good time to jump in.

Though I mainly plan to game on this PC, I also really want to try streaming or some light content creation. I also want to learn 3d modeling so I can 3d print props for cosplay. As for the music production part, I really like using my mac for that but it's old and might die at some point so it's more like a "just in case".

I'm really open to using used parts. I specified that I live in NorCal because I was wondering if there's a good local used market here.

Some extra challenges I have are that I'm a college student that has to travel across the country for school, so a big machine isn't ideal if I want to bring to and from school. However small form factor builds are more expensive, lack expandability (no extra PCI slot of an internal capture card), and are not beginner friendly. If I'm already content with my current laptop and a Nintendo Switch for gaming, is it really worth it to build a computer I might not have access to for part of the year?

My current plan for the CPU and GPU are a Ryzen 5 3600x with a B550 mobo and an RTX 2060 Super. I'm choosing the 3600x because it seems like a good value for performance while being relatively cheap on ebay (seeing them for about $100 with the cooler) and JayzTwoCents covered an interview that may have teased continued support for the AM4 socket even after next gen Ryzen comes out. As for the 2060 Super, it was towards the top of a price to performance chart a friend sent me while still being powerful. I'm finding them on ebay for about $250. Would these parts be good for streaming? Is the GPU overkill?

So yeah that's me. If I did build a computer with a focus on streaming games, how would you recommend I go about it?

this is a good build from pcpartpicker but will cost about an extra 100 dollars https://pcpartpicker.com/guide/Whwrxr/great-intel-gaming-build

Ryuikko · June 30, 2022

About what id recommend.

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/vhpNv3

I'd definitely get a 12400f + b660 combo over a 3600x + b550.

I didn't add a cpu cooler but if you can wiggle +50 then you can get a cheapo to minimize noise.

Cheapest kit of 16gigs

A 2060 super wouldn't be a bad pickup, especially if streaming would be a priority so you could use the nvenc encoder.

Omar.B · June 30, 2022

1 hour ago, Ryuikko said:

About what id recommend.

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/vhpNv3

I'd definitely get a 12400f + b660 combo over a 3600x + b550.

I didn't add a cpu cooler but if you can wiggle +50 then you can get a cheapo to minimize noise.

Cheapest kit of 16gigs

A 2060 super wouldn't be a bad pickup, especially if streaming would be a priority so you could use the nvenc encoder.

PCPartPicker Part List: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/XxZrmr

just same motherboard but cheaper you have a solid build