Workstation/Gaming PC Build

[byalexandr]

Budget (including currency): Under $1000 USD

Country: USA (I have a Micro Center about 20 minutes from me btw)

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Adobe CC (Photoshop, Premiere Pro, Illustrator, InDesign), CAD software (Autodesk Inventor, Fusion 360), some gaming (AAA titles, Minecraft, racing sims)

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): 

 

Before I get into it I'd like to mention that I primarily use my work provided laptop (2021 Dell XPS 15 w/ i7-11800H, 16GB, RTX 3050) for marketing work. I heavily use Adobe CC programs like PS, Illustrator, Premiere Pro, and InDesign, and also do front end web development. However, I also work on a lot of my own projects, be it video editing, Photoshopping stuff, CAD modeling for 3D printing, and every now and then I hop on some games like Minecraft or Battlefield, Forza, etc. I am pretty limited with what I am able to do on my work laptop (being that I have to get approval for installing new apps, which is a no go for games and stuff obviously), so I would like to build a new desktop for my personal projects. The highest priorities for this build are noise, simplicity (air cooling, no care for RGB, small form factor, probably mITX) and reliability with a decent upgrade path for newer hardware. Though I would like to game, having plenty of RAM, processing power and fast memory come first. I do use my XPS with a professional grade 4K monitor, but I have plenty of 24" 1080p displays laying around that I can also use, so gaming at 4K is not a necessity. The budget is for the tower only, as I already have Logitech peripherals that I dearly love.

 

Couple other requirements include Bluetooth, as my Logitech MX Mechanical and MX Master are wireless and I would like to switch between the laptop and desktop as needed. I will probably drive the 4K screen with the desktop, but any gaming will either be scaled down to 1080 or 1440p or just on one of my other monitors. It's been a while since I've built a PC, even though I have a lot of experience, so I'm not really sure what's old and what's new these days and what the value-oriented products are. The last thing I remember was Ryzen demolishing Intel, but I'm not sure if that's still the case. Either way, I am open to either offerings from Intel or AMD, same with the graphics card, whichever is a solid value. Heat and noise is also a concern for me; I do not like the pump noise of AIO units, and it is distracting trying to listen to Premiere Pro sequences and transcribe captions when my laptop fan is running full blast running the sequence preview. For the case, I really like those Dan A4 since they are so small and good looking (I believe they have a Lian Li version of it at my local Micro Center), but I also like the Fractal Torrent Nano. So those two would be my pick for chassis. Other than that I'm not really sure about components, although I would like to have an M.2 drive and cut down on all the cables from the power supply (full modular). WiFi is a nice plus, but I typically use wired connection since I have a network switch wired to my house's patch panel.

 

[PDifolco]

Given your requirements I think you need a 12400 or 5600 with at least a rtx3060, preferably a 3070

Now the $1000 budget is a bit tight for a SFF build, as sff cases and PSU are more expensive....

[brob]

The Lian Li Fan case would be more than 15% of the budget. You would get better value going mATX.

 

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i5-12400F 2.5 GHz 6-Core Processor  ($174.99 @ Newegg) 
CPU Cooler: ID-COOLING SE-224-XT Basic 76.16 CFM CPU Cooler  ($26.99 @ Amazon) 
Motherboard: MSI PRO B660M-A WIFI DDR4 Micro ATX LGA1700 Motherboard  ($139.99 @ Amazon) 
Memory: TEAMGROUP T-Force Vulcan Z 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory  ($86.99 @ Amazon) 
Storage: TEAMGROUP MP34 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive  ($74.79 @ Amazon) 
Video Card: PNY GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB XLR8 Gaming REVEL EPIC-X RGB Video Card  ($369.99 @ GameStop) 
Case: Silverstone PS15 MicroATX Mid Tower Case  ($64.98 @ Amazon) 
Power Supply: Phanteks AMP 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply  ($69.99 @ Newegg) 
Total: $1008.71
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2022-09-11 10:24 EDT-0400

[Somerandomtechyboi]

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/DRp33y

Reference build

 

Youll wanna get alot of it used because used just gives the best bang for buck, though youll prob wanna go new on parts where cost cutting wont yeild much (cooler) or have limited lifetime (ssd)

 

look around for decent used b450/x470 which should be <60$

 

Ill just hide this wall of text under a spoiler

Spoiler

Fast rams are oc only, dont bother if you dont have the will and go insane real quick, though if you happen to get a 4 dimm mobo you should look for used 8gb crucial/micron 2666 with rev e c9bjz for a 4x8 config, dual rank is already a 20% bandwidth increase over single rank clock for clock and youll also be saving money cause these bare pcbs go real cheap now (indo theyre like 17$ per 8gb 2666 stick so developed countries should expect better deals) run 1:1 with infinity fabric cause you wont be getting much over 4000 to make desync worth it which also means itll be a lot less painful since the biggest pain in ram oc comes in the form of high freq oc, likely all you have to do is just steal someones ballistix profile off the internet and plug and play or at worst abit of tuning maybe volts or timings, do not run excessive volt for the sake of cl its not worth it, run it at a sweetspot before it needs exponential volt to lower, trfc and sr dr dd timings are far more important, set trefi 65536 for best performance. If you get a 2dimm board then you can buy used 2x16 kits, focus on the dual sided ones so youll get benifits of dual rank, 16gb bare pcb are quite abit more pricey than 8gb sticks so they may or may not be worth it (16gbit micron rev b is among the best ic for 16gbit density, d9wfr 2666c19 bin and d9xpf 3200c22 bin)

 

Main thing to get used is gpus cause prices have fallen off a cliff, youll get the biggest discounts on higher end stuff or the amd gpus since those dont have lhr nonsense

 

Another thing to get used is case since those only serve the purpose of housing and protecting the components, if you cant find a decent airflow one just buy the cjeapest one available and diy a mesh sidepanel on it like what i did (mosquito mesh + cheap neodymium magnets)

 

You may also find a decent deal on a used 5600x or 5600g but the cost savings are likely minor at best

[byalexandr]

I might have a GTX 1070 a friend of mine has. That would eliminate GPU from the budget, though I'm not sure how relevant that card still is. mATX is definitely cheaper, but saving on desk space is definitely a priority for me here as I will have two machines going and multiple monitors, even though my desk is very large.

 

Another question I had is would it be worth going to DDR5, and what platforms actually use DDR5. I see things have recently been going that direction but if DDR4 is still fine, would it be worth the extra cost of new memory.

[byalexandr]

Browsing stock at my local Micro Center, I was able to put these core components together for $780:

 

Ryzen 5 5600

ASUS B550-I ROG Strix mITX

Corsair Vengeance 32GB DRR4-3200 (2x16GB)

Inland 1TB NVMe M.2 SSD

ASUS RTX 2060 6GB (Open box for $195)

 

All that would be left is the cooler (although I can probably use the included Wraith cooler? My other choice would be a Noctua NH-D15), power supply and case. I'm not sure I would really need an RTX 3070 for my purposes so I would prefer to have better components in other areas.

[iwannasleep]

2060 is totally fine, actually from what I've observed many workstations use the 2060. 3060 is preferred due to it being both faster and having more VRAM.

 

 

 

[byalexandr]

Now the only question I still have is, AMD or Intel for the processor? DDR4 memory seems much cheaper than I remember, but I assume that is because it's on its way out to be replaced by DDR5. I remember Ryzen being pretty thermally efficient, and I see the 5600 has a pretty low TDP, but I'm wondering if there is something from Intel that would be better suited for the demands I will be putting the PC through. Though the B550 motherboard is discounted through Micro Center (when I buy the 5600 with it), it's still a pretty expensive board (and yes I know it's because it's mini ITX but still).

[iwannasleep]

i5-12400 is faster, i5-12500 has a better integrated graphics that should help with video editing, they are also low on the power consumption side. 5600 is fine as well, although it lacks integrated graphics. The choice is yours.