Gaming PC Build for Streaming

[Ninshu]

Budget & Location

Located in Belgium and I would like to end up within the €1900-€1950 range.

Aim

The primary aim would be gaming and streaming said games. Think Cyberpunk 2077, GTA V, Elden Ring and less demanding games. It will also be used for photo- and video editing work (Photoshop, Adobe Premiere,…).

Monitors

I already have 1 monitor (BenQ EX2510S, 165Hz, 1920x1080p) but will probably replace that one with two 1440p ones.). If you have a good recommendation around the €250-€300 category, I’m all ears.

(Monitor price is not included in the budget)

Peripherals

Only thing I would need is Windows. Options?

(Also not included in the budget)

 

Hi all,

 

The last time I built a PC was back when CPUs didn’t have dedicated coolers, so you may consider me a beginner. I’ve done a lot of reading and comparing, but there are definitely some things I don't have figured out completely, so your help and feedback will be much appreciated.

 

PC Part Picker

CPU: Intel Core i7-12700K 3.6 GHz 12-Core Processor  (€399.95 @ Megekko)

CPU Cooler: ARCTIC Liquid Freezer II 360 56.3 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler  (€114.85 @ Megekko)

Motherboard: MSI PRO B760-P WIFI DDR4 ATX LGA1700 Motherboard  (€202.95 @ Megekko)

Memory: Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro SL 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3600 CL18 Memory  (€123.85 @ Megekko)

Storage: Western Digital Black SN850 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive  (€147.80 @ Azerty)

Video Card: Gigabyte EAGLE OC Rev 2.0 GeForce RTX 3070 LHR 8 GB Video Card  (€636.95 @ Azerty)

Case: Corsair 4000D Airflow ATX Mid Tower Case  (€107.85 @ Megekko)

Power Supply: Corsair HX750 Platinum 750 W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply  (€153.85 @ Megekko)

Total: €1888.05

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2023-01-19 20:05 CET+0100

 

Reasoning/questions:

 

CPU: The 12 cores suffice I think.

CPU Cooler: I’d like to use an AIO in this build and wasn’t sure about the Arctic Liquid or the Corsair iCUE H100 RGB PRO XT. Is It better to have a 3 fan AIO for maximum coverage and use of the space in the case or does a 2 fan one not change that much?

Motherboard: I’m open to better recommendations for this one as I’m not convinced I have the best bang-for-buck option as far as connectivity and future-proofing goes.

Memory: Good specs for the price. If there’s a better DDR4/DDR5 option, I’m open to suggestions.

Storage: Debating if I should get a 2TB drive right away or get an additional 1TB one later on.

Video Card: I plan on getting a 3070. I’m aware of the above-msrp pricing that goes along with it, but I’ve made my peace with that. On Tweakers, which has a good pricewatch guide for anyone living in Belgium/The Netherlands, they also show this 3070 at a better price. Yay/nay/thoughts?

Case: I think this one is a decent popular choice.

Power Supply: Covered cables, good rating and good reviews.

Case Fan: With the 4000D there are 2 included 120mm fans; I thought of getting an extra 3pack of 120mm fans to fill out the front grill since I’ll be top-mounting the AIO, clearance allowing.

 

Megekko, Alternate, Azerty are good reputable stores around here so if possible, I would like to purchase from one of them.

 

Thank you all in advance for the feedback, much appreciated!

 

 

 

@Dukesilver27-  *I’ve tagged you because you are a knowledgeable chap and I'd like your 2 cents (but probably more) on this.

 

[Neutraliz]

1 hour ago, Ninshu said:

CPU: The 12 cores suffice I think.

Ya the 12700k is a good CPU, although I would suggest to take a peak at 13th gen to widen your choices and options on value vs. performance vs. use case. Not saying it's necessarly better, but just go see some reviews and stuff to see if it could make sens for you or not.
 

1 hour ago, Ninshu said:

Memory: Good specs for the price. If there’s a better DDR4/DDR5 option, I’m open to suggestions.

I'd stay clear of DDR5 with 12th gen. Their memory controllers wasn't really up to the task consistantly. I saw some issues here and there with it. But I don't really know for a fact, since I don't have it on hands. 
 

1 hour ago, Ninshu said:

CPU Cooler: I’d like to use an AIO in this build and wasn’t sure about the Arctic Liquid or the Corsair iCUE H100 RGB PRO XT. Is It better to have a 3 fan AIO for maximum coverage and use of the space in the case or does a 2 fan one not change that much?

I'd say it doesn't really comes from 3 fans only, it comes from the general design of each product. At a personnal level, I would take the Arctic anyday. Good pump, quiet fans, good performances, amazing value. Just less than ideal look ( and no, I'm not talking about the lake of RGB, which you can get with Arctic, but to me it's really not necessarly something I like about a design's product ). 

[Dukesilver27-]

I'm flattered, but there are a lot more knowledgeable people than me.

 

13600K is faster than 12700K in everything and only about 1-2% slower than 13700K in games, it is cheaper than 12700K too.

Liquid Freezer II 360 is a great choice, a bit overkill for 13600K, but why not.

MSI PRO Z690-A is one of the best value boards with great performance, and it has BIOS flashback, so you could update the BIOS without a 12th gen CPU, plenty of guides on how to do it, easy enough.

DDR5 is still way too expensive, while 13th gen does get more performance with DDR5, it still doesn't justify the price. So 2X16 DDR4 3600 CL16 instead, cheaper and faster than the one picked.

P5 Plus 1TB, better value gen 4 SSD with DRAM cache, real world performance, you won't even know the difference between value SSD and gen 4 SSD, as proved by LTT's video on it,

The PSU is way too expensive for what it is, generally anything lower than 1200W is not worth going with Platinum, so I picked a high quality 850W PSU for cheaper, no sleeved cables tho.

 

https://be.pcpartpicker.com/list/QZCmcb

CPU: Intel Core i5-13600K 3.5 GHz 14-Core Processor  (€362.95 @ Megekko)
CPU Cooler: ARCTIC Liquid Freezer II 360 56.3 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler  (€114.85 @ Megekko)
Motherboard: MSI PRO Z690-A WIFI DDR4 ATX LGA1700 Motherboard  (€213.85 @ Megekko)
Memory: Kingston FURY Renegade 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3600 CL16 Memory  (€103.85 @ Megekko)
Storage: Crucial P5 Plus 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive  (€107.85 @ Megekko)
Video Card: Gigabyte EAGLE OC Rev 2.0 GeForce RTX 3070 LHR 8 GB Video Card  (€636.95 @ Azerty)
Case: Corsair 4000D Airflow ATX Mid Tower Case  (€107.85 @ Megekko)
Power Supply: MSI MPG A850GF 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply  (€132.95 @ Megekko)
Total: €1781.10

[Ninshu]

On 1/19/2023 at 11:43 PM, Neutraliz said:

Quote

Ya the 12700k is a good CPU, although I would suggest to take a peak at 13th gen to widen your choices and options on value vs. performance vs. use case. Not saying it's necessarly better, but just go see some reviews and stuff to see if it could make sens for you or not.

Yes I think I'm going to go that route. Either with an i5 as advised by Dukesilver or with an i7.
 

Quote

I'd stay clear of DDR5 with 12th gen. Their memory controllers wasn't really up to the task consistantly. I saw some issues here and there with it. But I don't really know for a fact, since I don't have it on hands. 

Gotcha, price-quality wise it also seems to not be the preferable option.
 

Quote

I'd say it doesn't really comes from 3 fans only, it comes from the general design of each product. At a personnal level, I would take the Arctic anyday. Good pump, quiet fans, good performances, amazing value. Just less than ideal look ( and no, I'm not talking about the lake of RGB, which you can get with Arctic, but to me it's really not necessarly something I like about a design's product ). 

Ok so that's a keeper  

 

Thanks for the advice!

[Ninshu]

On 1/20/2023 at 1:36 AM, Dukesilver27- said:

I'm flattered, but there are a lot more knowledgeable people than me.

 

13600K is faster than 12700K in everything and only about 1-2% slower than 13700K in games, it is cheaper than 12700K too.

Liquid Freezer II 360 is a great choice, a bit overkill for 13600K, but why not.

MSI PRO Z690-A is one of the best value boards with great performance, and it has BIOS flashback, so you could update the BIOS without a 12th gen CPU, plenty of guides on how to do it, easy enough.

DDR5 is still way too expensive, while 13th gen does get more performance with DDR5, it still doesn't justify the price. So 2X16 DDR4 3600 CL16 instead, cheaper and faster than the one picked.

P5 Plus 1TB, better value gen 4 SSD with DRAM cache, real world performance, you won't even know the difference between value SSD and gen 4 SSD, as proved by LTT's video on it,

The PSU is way too expensive for what it is, generally anything lower than 1200W is not worth going with Platinum, so I picked a high quality 850W PSU for cheaper, no sleeved cables tho.

Awesome, love the selection you made. Really helpful!

If I would want to upgrade anything, would it be worth it to go for an i7 and spend the extra €100? And if I do, the update will still be required?
Gotcha on the DD4R. I think the gains are probably not worth it when it comes to price-quality.
Any recommendations on getting a Windows version? Most people recommend against paying retail, so what would be a good place to get a key?

[Dukesilver27-]

48 minutes ago, Ninshu said:

Awesome, love the selection you made. Really helpful!

If I would want to upgrade anything, would it be worth it to go for an i7 and spend the extra €100? And if I do, the update will still be required?
Gotcha on the DD4R. I think the gains are probably not worth it when it comes to price-quality.
Any recommendations on getting a Windows version? Most people recommend against paying retail, so what would be a good place to get a key?

Do you mean i7-12700K? Or 13700K? If 12700K then it is not worth it, if 13700K , I see no point to get it, at all. 

13600K should be fine with even RTX 4080, but 4090 is a different breed, 13900K is needed to max it out in 1080p. 

DDR5 is only good for getting higher 1%, so if you play competitive fps games, DDR5 is worth it. 

As for windows, yes do not pay $100 for windows license, kinguin is pretty well known, around $30. 

[Ninshu]

2 hours ago, Dukesilver27- said:

Do you mean i7-12700K? Or 13700K? If 12700K then it is not worth it, if 13700K , I see no point to get it, at all. 

13600K should be fine with even RTX 4080, but 4090 is a different breed, 13900K is needed to max it out in 1080p. 

Yes I was considering the i7-13700K, but if you think the i5-13600K will suffice for the gaming, streaming and (light) photo- and video-editing work, then I don't need to spend the extra $ on that.

 

Quote

 

As for windows, yes do not pay $100 for windows license, kinguin is pretty well known, around $30.

 

Awesome!


Lastly, (and then I'll leave you alone I swear) do you have any recommendations on monitors? VA or IPS? And if possible, considering my GPU, probably with G-sync right?

[Dukesilver27-]

9 hours ago, Ninshu said:

Yes I was considering the i7-13700K, but if you think the i5-13600K will suffice for the gaming, streaming and (light) photo- and video-editing work, then I don't need to spend the extra $ on that.

 

Awesome!


Lastly, (and then I'll leave you alone I swear) do you have any recommendations on monitors? VA or IPS? And if possible, considering my GPU, probably with G-sync right?

Hold up, I didn't read that you also do video editing, since you do, 13700K could be worth it, extra cores are better for productivity. 

Since you do video/photo editing, IPS is better, wider and better accuracy color reproduction, but if you do dark scenes, VA would be better. Generally content creators going for IPS or OLED due to color performance and high peak brightness. 

Any monitor with G-Sync compatibility is fine, so it is not limited to just G-Sync certified monitors. 

[Ninshu]

On 1/22/2023 at 1:45 AM, Dukesilver27- said:

Hold up, I didn't read that you also do video editing, since you do, 13700K could be worth it, extra cores are better for productivity. 

Since you do video/photo editing, IPS is better, wider and better accuracy color reproduction, but if you do dark scenes, VA would be better. Generally content creators going for IPS or OLED due to color performance and high peak brightness. 

Any monitor with G-Sync compatibility is fine, so it is not limited to just G-Sync certified monitors. 

I see. I've been looking at reviews and descriptions a lot and I think I may go for the i7-13700K. I'm about to purchase everything I need and that's the last decision I'll have to make. 

Thanks a bunch for the information and help you've provided, good sir. You've made me see things a bit clearer and made it easier to know what I should be looking out for. I'm glad I tagged you