Building out a dual PC setup (gaming rig)

[MatthewSH]

EDIT: Probably worth mentioning, I have a proposed build here:

 

 

Before I get into the details, I do have a system that I use for basically everything. However, some pieces are starting to show their age with some tasks. I use 4 monitors but I find that I have to disable 2 just to get the consistent performance I need out of video games and streaming. There could be other issues, but I've hit a point where I'd rather have a dedicated gaming rig anyway because I find it hard to run all the software development stuff I need without it impacting my gaming too. On top of that, my current setup runs completely fine and I don't feel the need to upgrade it any more right now unless I need too. It works fine for everything except streaming+gaming these days.

 

 

Current Specs

• AMD Ryzen 5 3600
• Gigabyte B550 Gaming X (I believe this is rev 1 actually)
• 32GB G.Skill DDR4 3600 RAM
• MSI 3060 Ti Ventus (8GB VRAM)
• 2TB Samsung 980 Pro
• Corsair RM750 power supply

Past that, your standard fans, Noctua cooler, Fractal case, etc. I know the mobo and CPU will need upgraded at some point, I originally built this system back in 2019/2020 and those are the last things from the original build. However, they work fine for the most part but this is the build I would use for "streaming" probably and I'm willing to make any upgrades needed. Maybe I need to switch to Intel finally for streaming? I don't mind switching. I have no dedication to one or the other.

 

Now for the gaming rig.

Budget (including currency): $1200 USD give or take a few hundred as needed, need to account for the streaming rig upgrades (rig listed above), not counting any peripherals here. Just PC alone.

Country: US

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: For the gaming rig, Overwatch 90% of the time on a 1440p 165 HZ MSI monitor. Streaming rig, I run A LOT on it. So hard to say.

 

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): I don't have a lot of parts laying around these days. I was looking at basic, I don't need flashy. I would rather performance. Was just planning on getting another fractal define case for simplicity and noctua for CPU cooling. Hardware is where I lack, don't know which would be best for this setup, Intel or AMD? I don't know. I'm a software guy, not hardware.

 

[Bob__]

If it was me I would get something like this. Its a bit pricey but futureproof and good proformance 

PCPartPicker Part List: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/D263Ls

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 7600 3.8 GHz 6-Core Processor  ($219.99 @ Amazon) 
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D15S chromax.black 82.51 CFM CPU Cooler  ($109.95 @ Amazon) 
Motherboard: Gigabyte B650M AORUS ELITE AX Micro ATX AM5 Motherboard  ($179.99 @ Amazon) 
Memory: Kingston FURY Beast 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-5200 CL40 Memory  ($125.19 @ MemoryC) 
Storage: TEAMGROUP MP33 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 3.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive  ($44.99 @ Amazon) 
Video Card: PowerColor Red Dragon OC Radeon RX 6800 XT 16 GB Video Card  ($569.99 @ Amazon) 
Case: Phanteks Eclipse G360A ATX Mid Tower Case  ($89.99 @ Newegg) 
Power Supply: Corsair RM750e 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply  ($99.99 @ Amazon) 
Total: $1440.08
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2023-04-16 21:07 EDT-0400

[MatthewSH]

5 minutes ago, Bob__ said:

If it was me I would get something like this. Its a bit pricey but futureproof and good proformance 

PCPartPicker Part List: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/D263Ls

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 7600 3.8 GHz 6-Core Processor  ($219.99 @ Amazon) 
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D15S chromax.black 82.51 CFM CPU Cooler  ($109.95 @ Amazon) 
Motherboard: Gigabyte B650M AORUS ELITE AX Micro ATX AM5 Motherboard  ($179.99 @ Amazon) 
Memory: Kingston FURY Beast 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-5200 CL40 Memory  ($125.19 @ MemoryC) 
Storage: TEAMGROUP MP33 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 3.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive  ($44.99 @ Amazon) 
Video Card: PowerColor Red Dragon OC Radeon RX 6800 XT 16 GB Video Card  ($569.99 @ Amazon) 
Case: Phanteks Eclipse G360A ATX Mid Tower Case  ($89.99 @ Newegg) 
Power Supply: Corsair RM750e 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply  ($99.99 @ Amazon) 
Total: $1440.08
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2023-04-16 21:07 EDT-0400

My only slight issue is that I've had friends who've had a lot of issues in the past with AMD graphics cards...like a lot. I have a dead one in a case by me. I've usually stuck with NVIDIA cards because of that. Would switching to AMD card be worth it for graphics?

[Bob__]

3 minutes ago, MatthewSH said:

My only slight issue is that I've had friends who've had a lot of issues in the past with AMD graphics cards...like a lot. I have a dead one in a case by me. I've usually stuck with NVIDIA cards because of that. Would switching to AMD card be worth it for graphics?

If youve had problems with them before and want to steer clear thats your choice but as an overclocker looking to squeeze all of the performance from anything I would get and AMD card. Plus with new driver updates the problems should be practically gone.

[Somerandomtechyboi]

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/rksRrD

¯\_ (ツ) _/¯

Used 6800xt go for about 500$ on ebay if you wish to get a 6800xt over the 6800 non xt, and the stock cooler is more than enough to cool the cpu, id reckon 5g allcore is acheivable on it since zen4 dont run that hot till you start pushing it and heat transfer gets fucked because of garbage ihs design (but thats 5.4ghz+)

 

For the streaming pc maybe a 5700x or 5900x depending on if you are running out of cores or not

 

Spoiler

Edit : hol up this is my 9696th post

NICE

 

[SorryBella]

44 minutes ago, MatthewSH said:

My only slight issue is that I've had friends who've had a lot of issues in the past with AMD graphics cards...like a lot. I have a dead one in a case by me. I've usually stuck with NVIDIA cards because of that. Would switching to AMD card be worth it for graphics?

Itll be a better price to performance, the issue with nvidia right now is the fact that its insanely overpriced for an insignificant increase in performance. Early dead cards still happens on both side but the 7000 series AMD teething issue is pretty much addressed already. 

 

Honestly though, dual PC isnt needed unless you really do think that hardware encoders (The RME on 7000 series is a higher improvement against the older siblings but are still inferior to NVENC in quality, but AV1 support for Twitch is honestly inevitable to me) is far inferior to x264. But you do have the spare parts. I dont know what Fractal Design case you have nor your Noctua cooler so id assume NH-D15 and Meshify 2 to simplify things, but do be noted that NH-U12S would be pretty much barely enough to keep 5800X3D at peak boost.

 

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D 3.4 GHz 8-Core Processor  ($301.00 @ Amazon) 
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D15 chromax.black 82.52 CFM CPU Cooler  (Purchased For $0.00) 
Motherboard: Gigabyte B550 GAMING X V2 ATX AM4 Motherboard  (Purchased For $0.00) 
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3600 CL18 Memory  (Purchased For $0.00) 
Storage: Samsung 980 Pro 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive  (Purchased For $0.00) 
Video Card: ASRock Phantom Gaming OC Radeon RX 7900 XT 20 GB Video Card  ($779.99 @ Newegg) 
Case: Fractal Design Meshify 2 Compact RGB ATX Mid Tower Case  (Purchased For $0.00) 
Power Supply: Corsair RM750x (2021) 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply  (Purchased For $0.00) 
Total: $1080.99
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2023-04-16 22:10 EDT-0400

 

This would be the upgrade package, just a 5800X3D and a 7900XT, or 4070Ti if you are in need of NVENC. If you want you can go bump up to 850W and go for 7900XTX which would be at your budget but youll see very mild CPU bottleneck at very CPU bounded titles like Cities and Anno. 

[MatthewSH]

7 hours ago, Bob__ said:

If youve had problems with them before and want to steer clear thats your choice but as an overclocker looking to squeeze all of the performance from anything I would get and AMD card. Plus with new driver updates the problems should be practically gone.

I'm not planning to overclock anything, never have. It's not my realm of things to do. I usually just stick with defaults and XMP, pretty much my limit. I'm fine with switching and giving AMD a shot.

 

6 hours ago, Somerandomtechyboi said:

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/rksRrD

¯\_ (ツ) _/¯

Used 6800xt go for about 500$ on ebay if you wish to get a 6800xt over the 6800 non xt, and the stock cooler is more than enough to cool the cpu, id reckon 5g allcore is acheivable on it since zen4 dont run that hot till you start pushing it and heat transfer gets fucked because of garbage ihs design (but thats 5.4ghz+)

 

For the streaming pc maybe a 5700x or 5900x depending on if you are running out of cores or not

 

  Reveal hidden contents

Edit : hol up this is my 9696th post

NICE

 

What's the difference with the non-xt and the xt? How would it change if I got one or the other?

 

I've been thinking about upgrading the CPU and mobo, but honestly if it's fine for what I need it then I don't want to change it until I absolutely have to. Is it really worth changing out the combo now or better spending the money towards the gaming system?

 

6 hours ago, SorryClaire said:

Itll be a better price to performance, the issue with nvidia right now is the fact that its insanely overpriced for an insignificant increase in performance. Early dead cards still happens on both side but the 7000 series AMD teething issue is pretty much addressed already. 

Yeah, I just know I had a few friends get screwed over with AMD graphics and it's never sat right with me. I never keep up with current hardware so I usually just stick to experiences. If all is well in the AMD pool I wouldn't mind dipping the toes in a bit.

 

6 hours ago, SorryClaire said:

Honestly though, dual PC isnt needed unless you really do think that hardware encoders (The RME on 7000 series is a higher improvement against the older siblings but are still inferior to NVENC in quality, but AV1 support for Twitch is honestly inevitable to me) is far inferior to x264. But you do have the spare parts. I dont know what Fractal Design case you have nor your Noctua cooler so id assume NH-D15 and Meshify 2 to simplify things, but do be noted that NH-U12S would be pretty much barely enough to keep 5800X3D at peak boost.

For me it's not about encoders, etc. It's more about just my setup and the tools I have. I've had issues with my development tools conflicting with things before, BSODs because I tinker with just a lot of software stuff, a lot of VMs running at all times, etc. It just tanks my gaming performance to the point where yearly I reset my system from scratch just to maintain it. Plus, since I make money from Twitch it's easier for taxes when I can dump money into one rig and clearly separate all the expenses there instead of writing off percentages. Also because I have visual elements running on multiple monitors sometimes bigger events like raids can tank performance (by about 5-10%) and lag just because of how many things happen on stream. That and processing the camlink and multiple webcams (cat cam, etc). All these video streams just can tank my in game FPS. So separating the jobs of gaming vs streaming is something I've been wanting to do for years. I just don't know a lot about what's good in hardware these days.

[MatthewSH]

So I was kind of messing around, if I were to move to the AM5 platform instead of staying on AM4 (since 5800X3D is the last one AMD is making for it from what I recall), what do you all think about this build? Obviously it's about $300 over my max, but if I'm making no adjustments to my current system I'm willing to drop an extra couple hundred for future proofing the system with AM5. Selecting parts based off some basic researching. I was looking at Ryzen 7 7800X3D or the Ryzen 5 7600X. I don't know if it's worth the double price for what I need.

https://pcpartpicker.com/user/matthewsh/saved/RBGn23

 

EDIT: ooo, happened to be looking through the links. I could take a bit off with a bundle of the exact mobo and CPU: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BV3DZZ6K
About $50 of savings, but hey. $50 is still $50.