Planning how to plan

[DeerDK]

Hi peps,

I agreed to help a friend plan his next pc build, but i could use some help to ask him the right questions. 

Case and point: He just asked me if 1440p or 4k was best. My answer was "what do you need it for, and what is your budget?".

 

He need it for gaming and working from home - he works it-security. After some  back and forth he landed on dual screen 1440p.

His budget is a balance between unlimited and not crossing the line of diminishing returns too much.

 

So how do I approach it? I know how to spec out a mid range pc, but IT-security is unchartered territory for me, so i figure to get him to ask his coworkes about what kind of strains their work put on the hardware, and build on it from there.

He plans to wait for RTX 4000.

 

Edit: He doesn't need it for work - they will prove a work pc, so its just the monitors he need there.

 

We live in Denmark.

Sorry for the rambeling. Thanks in advance

 

[Queen Chrysalis]

Probably nothing too intense, most IT guys work computers are consumer hardware.  If his company lets him work from home on his own PC there's no way he needs a xeon.  1440p is better for almost everything, save for watching 4k media before posting it.  The pixel density is good enough to where you can't see pixels, midrange GPUs game at it very well, and monitors are faster.

 

I'd say for $1100 ($1500 with a monitor) you can do a pretty nice computer right now, a 6700xt will play everything well at 1440p.  For $1500 with a monitor you could get this:

 

 

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 5800X 3.8 GHz 8-Core Processor  ($245.99 @ Amazon) 
CPU Cooler: Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE ARGB 66.17 CFM CPU Cooler  ($39.90 @ Amazon) 
Motherboard: Gigabyte B450 AORUS PRO WIFI (rev. 1.0) ATX AM4 Motherboard  ($119.99 @ Amazon) 
Memory: Silicon Power GAMING 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory  ($79.97 @ Amazon) 
Storage: TEAMGROUP MP33 PRO 2 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive  ($147.99 @ Newegg) 
Video Card: XFX Radeon RX 6700 XT 12 GB Speedster SWFT 309 Video Card  ($419.99 @ Newegg) 
Case: MSI MAG FORGE 100M ATX Mid Tower Case  ($46.94 @ Amazon) 
Power Supply: EVGA 210-GQ-0850-V1 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply  ($84.99 @ Amazon) 
Monitor: LG 34WP60C-B 34.0" 3440x1440 160 Hz Curved Monitor  ($399.99 @ Amazon) 
Total: $1585.75
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2022-09-06 02:07 EDT-0400

 

 

8-core CPU that's more than fast enough for any kind of IT/cyber work and an 850w PSU should allow for  GPU upgrade in 4-6 years if desired, but this GPU is BY far the best price/performance right now, as almost every game is gonna get high fps on ultra with it, and anything even marginally faster will cost hundreds more.  I'd say with how cheap zen 3 CPUs are compared to the launch prices for zen 4, it's not worth waiting, especially since zen 3 is already faster than any GPU needs it to be and DDR4 RAM is a lot cheaper than DDR5, while being better for gaming.

 

2TB gen 3 SSD with a DRAM cache should allow for anything to be stored and moved around VERY quickly.

 

32GB of RAM because IDK how much his work stuff needs, but it'll never be a slowdown.  Could go to 64 if he's doing crazy stuff, but it's highly unlikely.  16GB would be fine 32GB is just the safety net because it's only $32 more.

 

Onboard wifi on the mobo incase his home office isn't near a router.

 

Ultrawide monitors are awesome for work because you can split them up a few different ways to have multiple docs on.  If he has a shitload of stuff to look at at once, multiple monitors can be used, but you really only need one good one for gaming, while the rest can just be old $20 dells for looking at documents or lines of code.  The ultrawide is way more immersive, and 3440x1440 160Hz panels have gotten ridiculously cheap now (I paid over $700 for a 3440x1440 75Hz panel in like 2016).

[Queen Chrysalis]

One other thing, tell him if he hasn't done so already to start looking at good chairs.  It's worth it to at least get something decent.  High-end office chairs are crazy expensive, but quality gaming chairs can be had for $300-$500 and have ergonomics on par with $1000+ office chairs, they just don't have the formal aesthetic a lot of businesses want.  But that's not an issue when working from home.  SecretLab has some of their titan EVOs on a small sale right now.

[DeerDK]

23 minutes ago, Queen Chrysalis said:

Probably nothing too intense, most IT guys work computers are consumer hardware.  If his company lets him work from home on his own PC there's no way he needs a xeon.  1440p is better for almost everything, save for watching 4k media before posting it.  The pixel density is good enough to where you can't see pixels, midrange GPUs game at it very well, and monitors are faster.

 

I'd say for $1100 ($1500 with a monitor) you can do a pretty nice computer right now, a 6700xt will play everything well at 1440p.  For $1500 with a monitor you could get this:

 

 

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 5800X 3.8 GHz 8-Core Processor  ($245.99 @ Amazon) 
CPU Cooler: Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE ARGB 66.17 CFM CPU Cooler  ($39.90 @ Amazon) 
Motherboard: Gigabyte B450 AORUS PRO WIFI (rev. 1.0) ATX AM4 Motherboard  ($119.99 @ Amazon) 
Memory: Silicon Power GAMING 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory  ($79.97 @ Amazon) 
Storage: TEAMGROUP MP33 PRO 2 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive  ($147.99 @ Newegg) 
Video Card: XFX Radeon RX 6700 XT 12 GB Speedster SWFT 309 Video Card  ($419.99 @ Newegg) 
Case: MSI MAG FORGE 100M ATX Mid Tower Case  ($46.94 @ Amazon) 
Power Supply: EVGA 210-GQ-0850-V1 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply  ($84.99 @ Amazon) 
Monitor: LG 34WP60C-B 34.0" 3440x1440 160 Hz Curved Monitor  ($399.99 @ Amazon) 
Total: $1585.75
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2022-09-06 02:07 EDT-0400

 

 

8-core CPU that's more than fast enough for any kind of IT/cyber work and an 850w PSU should allow for  GPU upgrade in 4-6 years if desired, but this GPU is BY far the best price/performance right now, as almost every game is gonna get high fps on ultra with it, and anything even marginally faster will cost hundreds more.  I'd say with how cheap zen 3 CPUs are compared to the launch prices for zen 4, it's not worth waiting, especially since zen 3 is already faster than any GPU needs it to be and DDR4 RAM is a lot cheaper than DDR5, while being better for gaming.

 

2TB gen 3 SSD with a DRAM cache should allow for anything to be stored and moved around VERY quickly.

 

32GB of RAM because IDK how much his work stuff needs, but it'll never be a slowdown.  Could go to 64 if he's doing crazy stuff, but it's highly unlikely.  16GB would be fine 32GB is just the safety net because it's only $32 more.

 

Onboard wifi on the mobo incase his home office isn't near a router.

 

Ultrawide monitors are awesome for work because you can split them up a few different ways to have multiple docs on.  If he has a shitload of stuff to look at at once, multiple monitors can be used, but you really only need one good one for gaming, while the rest can just be old $20 dells for looking at documents or lines of code.  The ultrawide is way more immersive, and 3440x1440 160Hz panels have gotten ridiculously cheap now (I paid over $700 for a 3440x1440 75Hz panel in like 2016).

Wow, that was way more elaborate than i dared hope for.

 

He just wrote me and asked me about this prebuildt from a Danish seller/SI.

Its on sale for 14.999 danish kr (from 20.999), and i tried speccing it out as components - i have trouble getting as low as this offer. So it seems solid.

https://www.komplett.dk/product/1205284/gaming/gaming-pc/stationaer-gaming-pc/komplett-i185-epic-gaming-pc#

Components can be exchanged, and i might reccomend him to get some CL16 ram, but on the other hand, its not Ryzen, so its probably not as sensetive to it.

 

Case: Phanteks Eclipse P400A RGB (sort)

 

GPU: PNY GeForce RTX 3080 Uprising LHR

 

CPU: Intel Core i7-12700F CPU Tray

 

CPU cooler: CM ML240L V2 ARGB Komplett Edition

240mm Radiator, LGA1700/1200/115X/AM4, ARGB Fans 650-2000 RPM, ARGB pump

 

RAM: Kingston FURY Beast RGB DDR4 3200MHz 16GB CL18, 288-pin, DIMM (2x8GB)

 

Storage: Kingston NV1 M.2 NVMe SSD 2TB

 

M.2 2280, PCIe 3.0 x4, NVMe, Up to 2,100MB/s Read, 1,700MB/s Write

 

Mobo: ASUS TUF GAMING B660-PLUS WIFI D4 Bundkort

LGA 1700, ATX, DDR4, PCIe 5.0/4.0/3.0, 3x M.2

 

PSU: Corsair TX750M, 750W PSU

ATX 12V v2-4, 80 PLUS Gold, Semi Modular, 6+2-pin PCIe

 100+ stk. på lager (leveringstid 2-3 arbejdsdage)

 

+ win11 and perifials

Edited September 6, 2022 by DeerDK
Forgot link

[DeerDK]

4 minutes ago, Queen Chrysalis said:

One other thing, tell him if he hasn't done so already to start looking at good chairs.  It's worth it to at least get something decent.  High-end office chairs are crazy expensive, but quality gaming chairs can be had for $300-$500 and have ergonomics on par with $1000+ office chairs, they just don't have the formal aesthetic a lot of businesses want.  But that's not an issue when working from home.  SecretLab has some of their titan EVOs on a small sale right now.

Definetly. I personally swear to the HÅG brand of office chairs. Im not worried in that area though. He tends to know his quality furniture.

[Somerandomtechyboi]

https://de.pcpartpicker.com/list/kGhWKp

¯\_ (ツ) _/¯ 

[Queen Chrysalis]

22 minutes ago, DeerDK said:

Wow, that was way more elaborate than i dared hope for.

 

He just wrote me and asked me about this prebuildt from a Danish seller/SI.

Its on sale for 14.999 danish kr (from 20.999), and i tried speccing it out as components - i have trouble getting as low as this offer. So it seems solid.

https://www.komplett.dk/product/1205284/gaming/gaming-pc/stationaer-gaming-pc/komplett-i185-epic-gaming-pc#

Components can be exchanged, and i might reccomend him to get some CL16 ram, but on the other hand, its not Ryzen, so its probably not as sensetive to it.

 

Case: Phanteks Eclipse P400A RGB (sort)

 

GPU: PNY GeForce RTX 3080 Uprising LHR

 

CPU: Intel Core i7-12700F CPU Tray

 

CPU cooler: CM ML240L V2 ARGB Komplett Edition

240mm Radiator, LGA1700/1200/115X/AM4, ARGB Fans 650-2000 RPM, ARGB pump

 

RAM: Kingston FURY Beast RGB DDR4 3200MHz 16GB CL18, 288-pin, DIMM (2x8GB)

 

Storage: Kingston NV1 M.2 NVMe SSD 2TB

 

M.2 2280, PCIe 3.0 x4, NVMe, Up to 2,100MB/s Read, 1,700MB/s Write

 

Mobo: ASUS TUF GAMING B660-PLUS WIFI D4 Bundkort

LGA 1700, ATX, DDR4, PCIe 5.0/4.0/3.0, 3x M.2

 

PSU: Corsair TX750M, 750W PSU

ATX 12V v2-4, 80 PLUS Gold, Semi Modular, 6+2-pin PCIe

 100+ stk. på lager (leveringstid 2-3 arbejdsdage)

 

+ win11 and perifials

That's an pretty good deal, but a lot of that price is the 3080, which is a very fast GPU but it comes at a huge premium over the 3060ti, which should still play everything at ultra.  16GB or RAM might be an issue for work but everything else is great, though the SSD is DRAMless whereas you could get one with a DRAM cache.  However, that's 15,000 kroner for just the tower, where you could do a very fast IT / cyber / gaming PC with a monitor for that if you build it yourself.  

 

The 12600kf and 12700k should be the same in game, and both have plenty of assets for multitasking (10 cores 16 threads on the 12600kf, 12 cores 20 threads on the 12700k), more than anything any IT guy would have had just a year ago.

 

I also realized that the part's list I suggested was for the US market,  If the prebuilt you posted falls through, this would be a better value on the danish market for components that would perform the same: (12600kf instead of 5800x, 3060ti instead of 6700xt):

 

With a 3060ti and monitor:

 

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i5-12600KF 3.7 GHz 10-Core Processor  (2099.00kr @ Dustin Home) 
CPU Cooler: CRYORIG H5 Ultimate 76 CFM CPU Cooler  (403.00kr @ Proshop) 
Motherboard: MSI PRO B660M-A WIFI DDR4 Micro ATX LGA1700 Motherboard  (1292.00kr @ Proshop) 
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory  (918.00kr @ Proshop) 
Storage: TEAMGROUP MP33 PRO 2 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive  (1501.00kr @ Proshop) 
Video Card: Asus GeForce RTX 3060 Ti LHR 8 GB DUAL MINI V2 Video Card  (3999.00kr @ Proshop) 
Case: KOLINK Citadel Mesh MicroATX Mini Tower Case  (512.00kr @ Proshop) 
Power Supply: Corsair RM750 (2019) 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply  (729.00kr @ Proshop) 
Monitor: AOC CU34G3S/BK 34.0" 3440x1440 165 Hz Curved Monitor  (3657.00kr @ Proshop) 
Total: 15110.00kr
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2022-09-06 08:35 CEST+0200

 

 

Same parts list with a 3080:

 

 

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i5-12600KF 3.7 GHz 10-Core Processor  (2099.00kr @ Dustin Home) 
CPU Cooler: CRYORIG H5 Ultimate 76 CFM CPU Cooler  (403.00kr @ Proshop) 
Motherboard: MSI PRO B660M-A WIFI DDR4 Micro ATX LGA1700 Motherboard  (1292.00kr @ Proshop) 
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory  (918.00kr @ Proshop) 
Storage: TEAMGROUP MP33 PRO 2 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive  (1501.00kr @ Proshop) 
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce RTX 3080 10GB LHR 10 GB GAMING OC Rev 2.0 Video Card  (6690.00kr @ Proshop) 
Case: KOLINK Citadel Mesh MicroATX Mini Tower Case  (512.00kr @ Proshop) 
Power Supply: Corsair RM750 (2019) 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply  (729.00kr @ Proshop) 
Monitor: AOC CU34G3S/BK 34.0" 3440x1440 165 Hz Curved Monitor  (3657.00kr @ Proshop) 
Total: 17801.00kr
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2022-09-06 08:37 CEST+0200

 

Disregard the first parts list I posted earlier in this thread, I'm American so I tend to assume everyone in the world is also American.  Sorry.

[DeerDK]

10 minutes ago, Somerandomtechyboi said:

https://de.pcpartpicker.com/list/kGhWKp

¯\_ (ツ) _/¯ 

No bad. Not bad at all. I will keep it in mind. As i said, its my friend building, im only consulting, and I think he may prefer at prebuilt if the price is comparable.

[DeerDK]

10 minutes ago, Queen Chrysalis said:

That's an pretty good deal, but a lot of that price is the 3080, which is a very fast GPU but it comes at a huge premium over the 3060ti, which should still play everything at ultra.  16GB or RAM might be an issue for work but everything else is great.  However, that's 15,000 kroner for just the tower, where you could do a very fast gaming PC with a monitor for that if you build it yourself.  

 

The 12600kf and 12700k should be the same in game, and both have plenty of assets for multitasking, more than anything any IT guy would have had just a year ago.

 

I also realized that the part's list I suggested was for the US market,  If the prebuilt you posted falls through, this would be a better value on the danish market for components that would perform the same: (12600kf instead of 5800x, 3060ti instead of 6700xt):

 

With a 3060ti and monitor:

 

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i5-12600KF 3.7 GHz 10-Core Processor  (2099.00kr @ Dustin Home) 
CPU Cooler: CRYORIG H5 Ultimate 76 CFM CPU Cooler  (403.00kr @ Proshop) 
Motherboard: MSI PRO B660M-A WIFI DDR4 Micro ATX LGA1700 Motherboard  (1292.00kr @ Proshop) 
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory  (918.00kr @ Proshop) 
Storage: TEAMGROUP MP33 PRO 2 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive  (1501.00kr @ Proshop) 
Video Card: Asus GeForce RTX 3060 Ti LHR 8 GB DUAL MINI V2 Video Card  (3999.00kr @ Proshop) 
Case: KOLINK Citadel Mesh MicroATX Mini Tower Case  (512.00kr @ Proshop) 
Power Supply: Corsair RM750 (2019) 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply  (729.00kr @ Proshop) 
Monitor: AOC CU34G3S/BK 34.0" 3440x1440 165 Hz Curved Monitor  (3657.00kr @ Proshop) 
Total: 15110.00kr
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2022-09-06 08:35 CEST+0200

 

 

Same parts list with a 3080:

 

 

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i5-12600KF 3.7 GHz 10-Core Processor  (2099.00kr @ Dustin Home) 
CPU Cooler: CRYORIG H5 Ultimate 76 CFM CPU Cooler  (403.00kr @ Proshop) 
Motherboard: MSI PRO B660M-A WIFI DDR4 Micro ATX LGA1700 Motherboard  (1292.00kr @ Proshop) 
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory  (918.00kr @ Proshop) 
Storage: TEAMGROUP MP33 PRO 2 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive  (1501.00kr @ Proshop) 
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce RTX 3080 10GB LHR 10 GB GAMING OC Rev 2.0 Video Card  (6690.00kr @ Proshop) 
Case: KOLINK Citadel Mesh MicroATX Mini Tower Case  (512.00kr @ Proshop) 
Power Supply: Corsair RM750 (2019) 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply  (729.00kr @ Proshop) 
Monitor: AOC CU34G3S/BK 34.0" 3440x1440 165 Hz Curved Monitor  (3657.00kr @ Proshop) 
Total: 17801.00kr
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2022-09-06 08:37 CEST+0200

 

 

Perhaps the 3080 is overkill for a 1440p build, but on the other hand, then it may last him a bit longer. In the specific offer, going from a 3080 to a 3060ti only slashes 1600 dkk, which to me seems like a poor deal - although id personally trust an ASUS or MSI over a brand I have no experience with. I cant recall the exact fps/price ratio, but the current prices for a 3060ti aren't that great in Denmark. But its hard to read after 2 years of crazy prices.

[Queen Chrysalis]

2 minutes ago, DeerDK said:

Perhaps the 3080 is overkill for a 1440p build, but on the other hand, then it may last him a bit longer. In the specific offer, going from a 3080 to a 3060ti only slashes 1600 dkk, which to me seems like a poor deal - although id personally trust an ASUS or MSI over a brand I have no experience with. I cant recall the exact fps/price ratio, but the current prices for a 3060ti aren't that great in Denmark. But its hard to read after 2 years of crazy prices.

In that case, if he prefers the prebuilt go with the 3080.  That's not too much more.  16GB of RAM may be OK, but be sure the motherboard has 2 open DIMM slots incase he needs to get more RAM (which is usually cheaper to buy on your own and put it in yourself).

[DeerDK]

 

44 minutes ago, Somerandomtechyboi said:

https://de.pcpartpicker.com/list/kGhWKp

¯\_ (ツ) _/¯ 

22 minutes ago, Queen Chrysalis said:

In that case, if he prefers the prebuilt go with the 3080.  That's not too much more.  16GB of RAM may be OK, but be sure the motherboard has 2 open DIMM slots incase he needs to get more RAM (which is usually cheaper to buy on your own and put it in yourself).

I talked with him and showed him this thread. For now i think he might just go with the prebuildt. If his fiancé agrees xD

 

Thanks so much for the help and feedback, both of you.