Tips for working PC build

[paulllemke]

Budget (including currency): 1000-1500€

Country: Germany

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: The PC will be used for work 90% of the time, running numerical simulations, CFD simulations and occasionally CAD-Programms. The other 10% will be used for the occasional game with friends.

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):

Hello everyone!

 

I have included my parts-list as a picture below. I did it using PC Parts Picker, after watching numerous vids of LTT.

The main focus will clearly be engineering work, as I am finishing my degree soon and need this PC as a work-station at home (hence the expensive CPU, I believe 16GB RAM is mandatory). Also I will need it to be able to use WIFI, which caused the choice for the motherboard. Ideally, I want this build to be the base for every computer to come, only swapping parts at a time. This is why I went for DDR5 as memory. Yes, there will occasionally run a game on it, but 1080p is definetly enough. 

I am at the upper end of my budget. First of all, if there are any incompatibilities that you see immediatly, I would be glad if you tell me! Also I would like to get the cost a bit more towards the lower end of my budget, so if you can give me hints on where to save a buck, I would be glad.

 

Thanks in advance for the help!

 

 

[paulllemke]

Its the first PC I am building myself so please forgive me for rookie mistakes

[Ottoman420]

Looks good, I have 2 suggestions though.

 

1 DDR5 5400 is bottom end DDR5 ram i would try aim for 6000

2 Paying that much for windows 11 Pro when you can buy the keys online for 20ish

 

https://www.cjs-cdkeys.com/products/Windows-11-Professional-CD-Key-(Digital-Download).html

 

I have seen several TechTubers promote these window cd key websites im not sure if they are legit legit but if they work then you can save some there

 

 

[paulllemke]

4 minutes ago, Ottoman420 said:

Looks good, I have 2 suggestions though.

 

1 DDR5 5400 is bottom end DDR5 ram i would try aim for 6000

2 Paying that much for windows 11 Pro when you can buy the keys online for 20ish

 

https://www.cjs-cdkeys.com/products/Windows-11-Professional-CD-Key-(Digital-Download).html

 

I have seen several TechTubers promote these window cd key websites im not sure if they are legit legit but if they work then you can save some there

 

Hey, thanks for the reply! Do you might have on which parts I could save a buck?

[Ottoman420]

6 minutes ago, paulllemke said:

Hey, thanks for the reply! Do you might have on which parts I could save a buck?

You could get 12600k or 12400 instead or with the 12th gen you can pick DDR 4 memory for alot less but some performance penatly ( same as 13th gen i beleive)

The powersupply could be a little cheaper but dont want to sacrifice quality there * i was thinking you might need more than 650w down the line if you ever upgrade your gpu.

and the m.2 drive samsung you can get 1tb m.2 pcie 3.0 for around 70 in my experience but samsung is top dog in flash memory

The noctua cooler isnt cheap either but again alot of these are nice quality parts that should last. nearly same price i paid for a 280mm corsair aio

 

 

 

 

[IkeaGnome]

I’m on mobile so hopefully someone will make a list, or I will when I’m at my computer in a couple hours.

13600k is basically the same price as the 12700k and makes the 12700k look bad. 
Get the DDR4 version of that board. 
There’s a Trident lot of DDR4 4000 that was going for $100 a couple days ago. Even if you only run it at 3200 it’ll out perform that DDR5 kit. 
I understand running Noctua, but you can do much better for $80. Scythe Fuma dual tower, Thermalright Frost Assassin and one of their other double towers is also better than the u12. 
You can also do much better on the power supply. The CV is meh, and for that price it’s also pretty bad. 
At a €1500 budget you’re way under spending on the GPU. With you wanting to do CAD and other projects that Nvidia is flat out better at, you should be aiming for something like a 3070. I think if you went 5600x a 3070ti or 3080 could be squeezed in

Give me a couple hours to be at a computer and I can get a new list made up if someone hasn’t already by then. 

[Somerandomtechyboi]

https://de.pcpartpicker.com/list/m7hGNc

Gpu wise buy used, 3090 float around 800€ on ebay

[IkeaGnome]

21 minutes ago, Somerandomtechyboi said:

https://de.pcpartpicker.com/list/m7hGNc

Gpu wise buy used, 3090 float around 800€ on ebay

Only problem I have with this is that board didn’t have a bios flashback. If @paulllemke has an older AM4 cpu they can use to update bios I’d go with this. If not a board with flashback is worth having just in case it comes with an older bios

[Somerandomtechyboi]

7 minutes ago, IkeaGnome said:

Only problem I have with this is that board didn’t have a bios flashback. If @paulllemke has an older AM4 cpu they can use to update bios I’d go with this. If not a board with flashback is worth having just in case it comes with an older bios

Though there is the b550m ds3h at 20€ more

[paulllemke]

1 hour ago, IkeaGnome said:

I’m on mobile so hopefully someone will make a list, or I will when I’m at my computer in a couple hours.

13600k is basically the same price as the 12700k and makes the 12700k look bad. 
Get the DDR4 version of that board. 
There’s a Trident lot of DDR4 4000 that was going for $100 a couple days ago. Even if you only run it at 3200 it’ll out perform that DDR5 kit. 
I understand running Noctua, but you can do much better for $80. Scythe Fuma dual tower, Thermalright Frost Assassin and one of their other double towers is also better than the u12. 
You can also do much better on the power supply. The CV is meh, and for that price it’s also pretty bad. 
At a €1500 budget you’re way under spending on the GPU. With you wanting to do CAD and other projects that Nvidia is flat out better at, you should be aiming for something like a 3070. I think if you went 5600x a 3070ti or 3080 could be squeezed in

Give me a couple hours to be at a computer and I can get a new list made up if someone hasn’t already by then. 

Hey, thanks for the reply! I would like to ask some questions about it.

 

"Get the DDR4 version of that board.": I went for DDR5 for the sake of future proofing. My line of thought was that maybe I want to swap to another chip down the line, which will likely not support DDR4 anymore (if AMD does it, Intel might does it later on).

"You can also do much better on the power supply": Do you have a reccomendation?

"At a €1500 budget you’re way under spending on the GPU": Graphics heavy tasks will be rare, I will mostly have a lot of multi-tasking and solving a big systems of equations. Thats why the emphasis is on the CPU. I will need the GPU just for the occasional game and (very, very few times) for small constructions in CAD, which is why I selected one that can handle a game at 1080p 60FPS. But as I am the newbie I would be happy to get advice on this line of thought!

 

[brob]

34 minutes ago, paulllemke said:

I went for DDR5 for the sake of future proofing. My line of thought was that maybe I want to swap to another chip down the line

 

If "down the line" is more than a year or two, you will almost certainly need a new motherboard. Do not try to predict the future, it's an expensive way to build a system that as often as not is discarded when it's time to upgrade.

 

Some suggestions follow. The motherboard does not have USB BIOS Flashback so the BIOS version will have to be verified before purchase. 13th gen CPU support was released mid August, so any stock manufactured after then should have a BIOS that supports the i5-13600KF.

 

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i5-13600KF 3.5 GHz 14-Core Processor  (€359.99 @ ARLT) 
CPU Cooler: Deepcool AK620 68.99 CFM CPU Cooler  (€64.90 @ Alza) 
Motherboard: Asus PRIME Z690-P ATX LGA1700 Motherboard  (€195.90 @ Alza) 
Memory: Patriot Viper Black 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR5-5200 CL36 Memory  (€111.89 @ Alternate) 
Storage: Kingston NV2 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive  (€76.90 @ Amazon Deutschland) 
Video Card: Asus DUAL Radeon RX 6600 8 GB Video Card  (€264.89 @ Amazon Deutschland) 
Case: Corsair 4000D Airflow ATX Mid Tower Case  (€109.90 @ Amazon Deutschland) 
Power Supply: Corsair RM650x (2021) 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply  (€87.89 @ Caseking) 
Total: €1272.26
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2022-10-28 17:19 CEST+0200

 

 

[IkeaGnome]

2 hours ago, paulllemke said:

running numerical simulations

Which program(s) do you use for this? 

 

45 minutes ago, paulllemke said:

"At a €1500 budget you’re way under spending on the GPU": Graphics heavy tasks will be rare, I will mostly have a lot of multi-tasking and solving a big systems of equations. Thats why the emphasis is on the CPU. I will need the GPU just for the occasional game and (very, very few times) for small constructions in CAD, which is why I selected one that can handle a game at 1080p 60FPS. But as I am the newbie I would be happy to get advice on this line of thought!

Same with this. Fluid simulations tend to prefer GPU over CPU. If you're using programs that prefer the CPU then it would make sense to spend more on the CPU than the GPU.

[paulllemke]

32 minutes ago, brob said:

 

If "down the line" is more than a year or two, you will almost certainly need a new motherboard. Do not try to predict the future, it's an expensive way to build a system that as often as not is discarded when it's time to upgrade.

 

Some suggestions follow. The motherboard does not have USB BIOS Flashback so the BIOS version will have to be verified before purchase. 13th gen CPU support was released mid August, so any stock manufactured after then should have a BIOS that supports the i5-13600KF.

 

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i5-13600KF 3.5 GHz 14-Core Processor  (€359.99 @ ARLT) 
CPU Cooler: Deepcool AK620 68.99 CFM CPU Cooler  (€64.90 @ Alza) 
Motherboard: Asus PRIME Z690-P ATX LGA1700 Motherboard  (€195.90 @ Alza) 
Memory: Patriot Viper Black 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR5-5200 CL36 Memory  (€111.89 @ Alternate) 
Storage: Kingston NV2 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive  (€76.90 @ Amazon Deutschland) 
Video Card: Asus DUAL Radeon RX 6600 8 GB Video Card  (€264.89 @ Amazon Deutschland) 
Case: Corsair 4000D Airflow ATX Mid Tower Case  (€109.90 @ Amazon Deutschland) 
Power Supply: Corsair RM650x (2021) 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply  (€87.89 @ Caseking) 
Total: €1272.26
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2022-10-28 17:19 CEST+0200

 

 

Hey, thanks for your suggestions! 

 

How do I check the manufacturing date or the BIOS version? Is that information I will find when buying the motherboard? And which version of the BIOS do I need?

[paulllemke]

21 minutes ago, IkeaGnome said:

Which program(s) do you use for this? 

 

Same with this. Fluid simulations tend to prefer GPU over CPU. If you're using programs that prefer the CPU then it would make sense to spend more on the CPU than the GPU.

Manly Dymola (which is not graphics intensive at all), but occasionally with Ansys. I think the main thing is that I really need to be stable when multi-tasking.

[brob]

17 minutes ago, paulllemke said:

Hey, thanks for your suggestions! 

 

How do I check the manufacturing date or the BIOS version? Is that information I will find when buying the motherboard? And which version of the BIOS do I need?

 

Asus typically includes the BIOS version on the product information label, a sticker affixed to the retail box. If memory serves, the date of manufacture is often also included on the sticker.

 

According to the support page for the motherboard, v1620 introduced support for Raptor Lake CPU.

[paulllemke]

6 hours ago, brob said:

 

If "down the line" is more than a year or two, you will almost certainly need a new motherboard. Do not try to predict the future, it's an expensive way to build a system that as often as not is discarded when it's time to upgrade.

 

Some suggestions follow. The motherboard does not have USB BIOS Flashback so the BIOS version will have to be verified before purchase. 13th gen CPU support was released mid August, so any stock manufactured after then should have a BIOS that supports the i5-13600KF.

 

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i5-13600KF 3.5 GHz 14-Core Processor  (€359.99 @ ARLT) 
CPU Cooler: Deepcool AK620 68.99 CFM CPU Cooler  (€64.90 @ Alza) 
Motherboard: Asus PRIME Z690-P ATX LGA1700 Motherboard  (€195.90 @ Alza) 
Memory: Patriot Viper Black 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR5-5200 CL36 Memory  (€111.89 @ Alternate) 
Storage: Kingston NV2 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive  (€76.90 @ Amazon Deutschland) 
Video Card: Asus DUAL Radeon RX 6600 8 GB Video Card  (€264.89 @ Amazon Deutschland) 
Case: Corsair 4000D Airflow ATX Mid Tower Case  (€109.90 @ Amazon Deutschland) 
Power Supply: Corsair RM650x (2021) 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply  (€87.89 @ Caseking) 
Total: €1272.26
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2022-10-28 17:19 CEST+0200

 

 

Hey brob,

 

thanks for the great build suggestion. While I will most likely go with your recommendations, I have one question. I believe the Asus Motherboard yoiu selected is not capable of a WIFI connection. This is (unfortunatly) a must have for me... Or am I wrong about the WIFI capability of the board?

[brob]

5 minutes ago, paulllemke said:

Hey brob,

 

thanks for the great build suggestion. While I will most likely go with your recommendations, I have one question. I believe the Asus Motherboard yoiu selected is not capable of a WIFI connection. This is (unfortunatly) a must have for me... Or am I wrong about the WIFI capability of the board?

 

Correct, the version I suggested does not have WiFi. There is a slightly more expensive WiFi version, https://de.pcpartpicker.com/product/Pq7G3C/asus-prime-z690-p-wifi-atx-lga1700-motherboard-prime-z690-p-wifi