First Gaming and Streaming PC Build

Cyberion_ · February 3

Budget (including currency): $2,000 USD (give or take $200-300)

Country: US

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Streaming, video editing, and gaming (of all genres)

Other details I am aiming for a solid PC build for gaming and streaming. I am mainly unsure about whether I have a good balance with my parts and some things I should keep in mind when building and setting up my PC. I am trying to stick to a build with a white theme and rgb where it makes sense.

Also, is it worth investing in cables from a place like Cable Mod? I’m not exactly sure if all the cables I need will come with my parts and if they would be good enough.

For peripherals, I will probably have a pretty basic wired keyboard, mouse, and headset. I will get a decent mic and webcam as well, but I am not completely decided yet. Speakers aren’t a big priority for me, but if I can get decent ones for a good price I may get it earlier.

I have a monitor now that I will use as my secondary monitor, but I haven’t decided on a new one yet. I will probably get one in the $200 range or so.

PCPartPicker List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 5900X 3.7 GHz 12-Core Processor

CPU Cooler: Corsair iCUE H150i ELITE CAPELLIX 75 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler

Motherboard: Asus PRIME X570-PRO ATX AM4 Motherboard

RAM: Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro SL 64 GB (4 x 16 GB) DDR4-3600 CL18 Memory

SSD: Sabrent Rocket Q4 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive

Graphics Card: Zotac GAMING AMP GeForce RTX 3060 12GB 12 GB Video Card

Case: Fractal Design Meshify 2 ATX Mid Tower Case

PSU: SeaSonic FOCUS GX 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply

OS: Microsoft Windows 11 Pro OEM 64-Bit

Case Fans: Corsair iCUE SP RGB ELITE 47.73 CFM 120 mm Fans x4

For future upgrades, I will probably get another of the same SSD and at least another monitor whenever I am able to. I am also trying to find a good capture card to start for $100 or so if I can, with a preference to internal ones if I can.

For the SSD I am getting now there is an option for a custom heatsink or not. I saw that my motherboard has an included SSD heatsink, so I am not sure if I should use that one or get the one with the custom heatsink. I am only getting 1 SSD to start, so it also depends on which of the 2 M.2 slots I use for it.

Queen Chrysalis · February 3

This is way too much for a 3060 parts list.

You can get a 4070ti with this budget easily that will crush a 3060 in gaming, streaming, and editing.
Go with 13th gen intel for streaming, the p-cores will run your game and the e-cores will run your stream and everything else. Don;t worry about the base clock, it doesn't mean anything. The chip will still boost to 4.5 GHz, which is very fast on that architecture.
the 5900x is slower and you really don't need quite all those cores. The 13400f is still a 10-core, with 6 of those cores being hyperthreaded. The stream really doesn't need a lot of assets, 1 or 2 of the e-cores is plenty. For editing, having 16 threads available will be plenty. If you want a few mroe threads, the 13500f has an additional 4 e-cores (6c12t+8c8t)) but really the 13400f with (6c12t+4c4t) should be more than enough assets.
That's also way too much RAM, 16GB is enough for gaming, and streaming only uses a little bit more. The video editing aprt is still probably only gonna be able to use about 20-24GB for most stuff. You can get RGB ram a lot cheaper than that and it'll perform the same.
No point in getting all that RGB stuff if you want a case with a solid side panel. The one with a window is cheaper.
Also, if your just gonna replace the fans with RGB fans, just get the one that has RGB fans. The fractal fans are good, and the iCUE control software is cool and all, but it's luster fades quickly. You can control the lighting on your fans, the GPU, the motherboard, and the CPU cooler from the gigabyte lighting app, it can do all the colors and effects, too, and iCUE doesn't even need to be running. It's really not worth it. This stuff will look just as cool to a viewer of your stream.
A big air cooler would be mor than enough for any CPU you'd wanna use, and this one has RGB fans that you can control the effects on from the gigabyte RGB app.

All in all, this system will game more than twice as fast, and have plenty of assets to spare for streaming and editing. If you really thing the RAM isn;t enough, you could just add another 32GB kit later, but I don't think it'll be an issue.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i5-13400F 2.5 GHz 10-Core Processor ($209.96 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE WHITE ARGB 66.17 CFM CPU Cooler ($40.90 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Gigabyte B760 GAMING X AX DDR4 ATX LGA1700 Motherboard ($171.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Silicon Power XPOWER Zenith RGB Gaming 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory ($68.97 @ Amazon)
Storage: Crucial P5 Plus 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive ($179.99 @ Adorama)
Video Card: Gigabyte AERO OC GeForce RTX 4070 Ti 12 GB Video Card ($899.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Fractal Design Meshify 2 Compact RGB ATX Mid Tower Case ($154.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair RM850 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($139.95 @ B&H)
Total: $1866.72
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2023-02-02 20:18 EST-0500

Getting White RGB is gonna cost a lot more for something that really just blends in to the motherboard anyway. with a White GPU and a White CPU cooler, the motherboard will just kind blend into the back of the case, which already has a lot black and grey on it anyway. This build would still have a very white aesthetic to it for about $200 less with a better PSU and a monumentally better GPU, making everything you do go a lot faster.

Queen Chrysalis · February 3

44 minutes ago, Cyberion_ said:

Also, is it worth investing in cables from a place like Cable Mod? I’m not exactly sure if all the cables I need will come with my parts and if they would be good enough.

No. the PSU will come with all the cables you need and some. A white PSU like the one I put in that parts list will come with white cables so you're good. I would never call cablemod cables an investment, more of a luxury tax.

44 minutes ago, Cyberion_ said:

I am aiming for a solid PC build for gaming and streaming. I am mainly unsure about whether I have a good balance with my parts and some things I should keep in mind when building and setting up my PC. I am trying to stick to a build with a white theme and rgb where it makes sense.

To answer this question, not really. $2000 for a system that boils down to a 3060 and a ryzen 5000 is not good value at all. You can do a parts list like the one I posted above that maintain almost all of the aesthetic you wanted while delivering leaps and bounds better performance. The GPU is incredibly important for all the things you mentioned. My post above explains this in better detail.

44 minutes ago, Cyberion_ said:

I have a monitor now that I will use as my secondary monitor, but I haven’t decided on a new one yet. I will probably get one in the $200 range or so.

For streaming you'll want a 16:9 monitor. For a system like this I'd definitely go 1440p. TThesea re good deals depending on what you want:

AOC AG323QCX2 31.5" 2560 x 1440 144 Hz Curved Monitor (AG323QCX2) - PCPartPicker (Curved 32 inch, 144Hz, $200)

HP X27q 27.0" 2560 x 1440 165 Hz Monitor (2V7U5AA#ABU) - PCPartPicker (Flat 27 inch, 165Hz, $210)

Acer ED270U Pbmiipx 27.0" 2560 x 1440 165 Hz Curved Monitor (UM.HE0AA.P04) - PCPartPicker (Curved 27 inch, 165Hz, $190)

44 minutes ago, Cyberion_ said:

For the SSD I am getting now there is an option for a custom heatsink or not. I saw that my motherboard has an included SSD heatsink, so I am not sure if I should use that one or get the one with the custom heatsink. I am only getting 1 SSD to start, so it also depends on which of the 2 M.2 slots I use for it.

Complete memery. You don't need an SSD heatsink, but most motherboards come with one fitted for the board if you wanna use it. Make sure to remove the blue film on the thermal pad attached to it. But really it won't make any difference. The sticker on the SSD does more than enough to radiate the little heat coming from it. SSD heatsinks are mostly just marketing.

Queen Chrysalis · February 3

Also, if you went with a silver/chrome/black/charcoal aesthetic instead of white, you could save a few hundred dollars and get a GPU with some RGB on it.

It would also be easier to make it look good with your monitor, peripherals, desk, and furniture. White is kinda off-putting and white components cost more. Different shades of white also tend to look wrong together, whereas silvers, chromes and blacks blend well do to our expectations of reflections from them. Those subtle little reflections and glints also look really cool when you have some RGB going.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i5-13400F 2.5 GHz 10-Core Processor ($209.96 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE ARGB 66.17 CFM CPU Cooler ($39.90 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Gigabyte B760M GAMING X AX DDR4 Micro ATX LGA1700 Motherboard ($160.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Silicon Power XPOWER Zenith RGB Gaming 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory ($69.97 @ Amazon)
Storage: Crucial P5 Plus 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive ($179.99 @ Adorama)
Video Card: Gigabyte GAMING OC GeForce RTX 4070 Ti 12 GB Video Card ($819.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Thermaltake V150 Tempered Glass ARGB Breeze MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($64.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Enermax Revolution D.F. 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($114.99 @ Walmart)
Total: $1660.77
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2023-02-02 20:52 EST-0500

The backplate on that GPU is silver and chrome, and it has RGB lights on the bottom.

With this monitor, it'd be a pretty sweet dark chrome setup that would be infinitely easier to make look good with your desk, peripherals, and everything else in you gaming lair:

AOC AG323QCX2 31.5" 2560 x 1440 144 Hz Curved Monitor (AG323QCX2) - PCPartPicker