First desktop, first time building

[LoFiFozzy]

Budget (including currency): 

700-900 USD

Country: 

Midwest US

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: 

Various levels of gaming - KSP, Forza Horizon 5, From the Depths, heavily modded Minecraft, Cities Skylines, War Thunder... really all over the place, but for the most part not a ton of shooters nor massive titles with the exception of FH5. I do plan on probably at least trying out more larger games once I have a PC more able to run them. Not that other games are particularly light on a system looking at you, FtD, with your lying required specs.

Other uses will be basic web browsing/video playback and (hopefully) a fair amount of writing. I don't own a TV, so my PC is my main source of digital entertainment. I would prefer to be able to have Discord and possibly a couple of browser tabs open at the same time as whatever game I'm playing.

 

Other details 

I'm upgrading from a 2017 Dell Inspiron 5577 Gaming laptop with an i7-7700HQ, GeForce GTX 1050, 8GB of memory, a 128GB SSD, and a 1TB HDD for main storage. It's served me very well, but it's six years old now and really starting to hit some limits. Both drives are getting pretty full, and the SSD has been a constant battle to not cap out for several years now. Many games will make the laptop run pretty hot, and the power supply is either in the process of going or has gone bad. I plan on keeping my laptop for basic computer use both at home and for portable stuff, but it would be great to offload much of the gaming to a better-suited dedicated system.

 

As for peripherals, I have very basic stuff that I'm willing to use for a bit until I save up to buy something better. I've been using a second monitor with my laptop for a while and it's great to have two screens. Nothing fancy, a ViewSonic VS15451 I bought secondhand along with the HDMI adapter. I'd like to have two screens again but I'm not sure yet whether I want save up a bit for something nicer to use as a primary or buy another cheap/secondhand one. I've got a bluetooth keyboard that I can use until I get to purchasing a nicer one. Sound is either bluetooth earbuds or a Corsair headset, no need for speakers. As much as I love the headset, running iCue is a challenge on my laptop when also doing intensive tasks like, y'know, running games. It's another reason for wanting to upgrade. My mouse I'll keep, no issues there. Finally, I will need wireless internet as my apartment is fairly old and the access point is unreachable with a physical connection.

 

If it isn't clear already, I'm very much new to working on any PC by myself and am not super knowledgeable in hardware nor software outside what I've got personal experience with. So far I've been using the build guides on PCPartPicker, namely the "Great Intel Gaming Build." Unfortunately I'm nowhere near informed enough to know how well that suits me, or what (or if) I'd need to change to make it so. I'd love to be able to upgrade with a little ease in the future, namely adding more memory than 16GB if I find that to be of interest. I have the money available to spend now, so I don't need to wait to save up but of course am looking to do my research before going and dropping several hundred dollars on something I don't know everything about.

 

Overall not looking for the best thing since sliced bread, but rather a PC that will allow me to play games comfortably, and that will be a better experience than running Forza on super-low with stutter and painful HDD load times. Wish I could speak to refresh rate or resolution or anything more of help, but I simply don't know what I don't know. It'd be nice not to pay the full $900 budget and get it closer to $800, but I am comfortable going that high if need be.

 

Thank you for reading my half-understanding ramble, and for any advice you may have. Any questions I will be more than happy to answer

 

 

[filpo]

6 minutes ago, LoFiFozzy said:

Budget (including currency): 

700-900 USD

Country: 

Midwest US

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: 

Various levels of gaming - KSP, Forza Horizon 5, From the Depths, heavily modded Minecraft, Cities Skylines, War Thunder... really all over the place, but for the most part not a ton of shooters nor massive titles with the exception of FH5. I do plan on probably at least trying out more larger games once I have a PC more able to run them. Not that other games are particularly light on a system looking at you, FtD, with your lying required specs.

Other uses will be basic web browsing/video playback and (hopefully) a fair amount of writing. I don't own a TV, so my PC is my main source of digital entertainment. I would prefer to be able to have Discord and possibly a couple of browser tabs open at the same time as whatever game I'm playing.

 

Other details 

I'm upgrading from a 2017 Dell Inspiron 5577 Gaming laptop with an i7-7700HQ, GeForce GTX 1050, 8GB of memory, a 128GB SSD, and a 1TB HDD for main storage. It's served me very well, but it's six years old now and really starting to hit some limits. Both drives are getting pretty full, and the SSD has been a constant battle to not cap out for several years now. Many games will make the laptop run pretty hot, and the power supply is either in the process of going or has gone bad. I plan on keeping my laptop for basic computer use both at home and for portable stuff, but it would be great to offload much of the gaming to a better-suited dedicated system.

 

As for peripherals, I have very basic stuff that I'm willing to use for a bit until I save up to buy something better. I've been using a second monitor with my laptop for a while and it's great to have two screens. Nothing fancy, a ViewSonic VS15451 I bought secondhand along with the HDMI adapter. I'd like to have two screens again but I'm not sure yet whether I want save up a bit for something nicer to use as a primary or buy another cheap/secondhand one. I've got a bluetooth keyboard that I can use until I get to purchasing a nicer one. Sound is either bluetooth earbuds or a Corsair headset, no need for speakers. As much as I love the headset, running iCue is a challenge on my laptop when also doing intensive tasks like, y'know, running games. It's another reason for wanting to upgrade. My mouse I'll keep, no issues there. Finally, I will need wireless internet as my apartment is fairly old and the access point is unreachable with a physical connection.

 

If it isn't clear already, I'm very much new to working on any PC by myself and am not super knowledgeable in hardware nor software outside what I've got personal experience with. So far I've been using the build guides on PCPartPicker, namely the "Great Intel Gaming Build." Unfortunately I'm nowhere near informed enough to know how well that suits me, or what (or if) I'd need to change to make it so. I'd love to be able to upgrade with a little ease in the future, namely adding more memory than 16GB if I find that to be of interest. I have the money available to spend now, so I don't need to wait to save up but of course am looking to do my research before going and dropping several hundred dollars on something I don't know everything about.

 

Overall not looking for the best thing since sliced bread, but rather a PC that will allow me to play games comfortably, and that will be a better experience than running Forza on super-low with stutter and painful HDD load times. Wish I could speak to refresh rate or resolution or anything more of help, but I simply don't know what I don't know. It'd be nice not to pay the full $900 budget and get it closer to $800, but I am comfortable going that high if need be.

 

Thank you for reading my half-understanding ramble, and for any advice you may have. Any questions I will be more than happy to answer

 

 

this mobo will allow for much more power hungry cpus and overclocking

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

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5600 3.5 GHz 6-Core Processor  ($132.69 @ Amazon) 
CPU Cooler: Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE WHITE ARGB 66.17 CFM CPU Cooler  ($47.90 @ Amazon) 
Motherboard: MSI MAG B550 TOMAHAWK ATX AM4 Motherboard  ($169.99 @ Amazon) 
Memory: Silicon Power GAMING 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory  ($29.97 @ Amazon) 
Storage: Kingston NV2 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive  ($42.89 @ Amazon) 
Video Card: ASRock Challenger D OC Radeon RX 6700 XT 12 GB Video Card  ($339.99 @ Newegg) 
Case: Phanteks Eclipse G300A (1 Fan) ATX Mid Tower Case  ($69.98 @ Amazon) 
Power Supply: Thermaltake Toughpower GX2 600 W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply  ($66.98 @ Amazon) 
Total: $900.39
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2023-05-19 03:06 EDT-0400

[SorryBella]

Going 1K even would net us better PSU, CPU, more RAM, and a better airflow case with the RGB vomit to boot.

 

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i5-12600KF 3.7 GHz 10-Core Processor  ($218.99 @ Amazon) 
CPU Cooler: Thermalright Assassin X Refined SE ARGB 66.17 CFM CPU Cooler  ($19.89 @ Amazon) 
Motherboard: ASRock B660 Pro RS ATX LGA1700 Motherboard  ($123.02 @ Amazon) 
Memory: TEAMGROUP T-Create Expert 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory  ($54.99 @ Amazon) 
Storage: TEAMGROUP MP33 PRO 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 3.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive  ($79.98 @ Amazon) 
Video Card: MSI MECH 2X OC Radeon RX 6700 XT 12 GB Video Card  ($319.99 @ Newegg) 
Case: Fractal Design Focus 2 RGB ATX Mid Tower Case  ($69.98 @ Newegg) 
Power Supply: Deepcool PM750D 750 W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply  ($85.51 @ Amazon) 
Case Fan: Fractal Design Aspect 12 RGB PWM 56 CFM 120 mm Fan  ($24.99 @ Newegg) 
Total: $997.34
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2023-05-19 03:51 EDT-0400

 

You can compress a bit by swapping the exhaust from the identical Fractal Design Aspect 12 to Arctic P12.

[Bismut]

4 minutes ago, SorryClaire said:

You can compress a bit by swapping the exhaust from the identical Fractal Design Aspect 12 to Arctic P12.

I can personally vouch for both Arctic P12s and F12s, either are really good.

 

I would consider going AMD if you plan on keeping the PC for a while and have to think about power consumption though.

[Why_Me]

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: *Intel Core i5-12400F 2.5 GHz 6-Core Processor  ($160.85 @ B&H) 
CPU Cooler: *Deepcool AG400 75.89 CFM CPU Cooler  ($24.99 @ Amazon) 
Motherboard: *Gigabyte B660M AORUS ELITE AX DDR4 Micro ATX LGA1700 Motherboard  ($129.99 @ Newegg) 
Memory: *TEAMGROUP T-Force Vulcan Z 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory  ($62.99 @ Amazon) 
Storage: *PNY CS2140 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive  ($49.99 @ Amazon) 
Video Card: *MSI MECH 2X OC Radeon RX 6700 XT 12 GB Video Card  ($319.99 @ Newegg) 
Case: *Cougar MX330-G Air ATX Mid Tower Case  ($59.99 @ B&H) 
Power Supply: *Corsair RM750e (2023) 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply  ($99.99 @ Best Buy) 
Total: $908.78
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2023-05-19 04:20 EDT-0400

[Somerandomtechyboi]

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/JT2GKp

12600k + 6800 + 32gb 3600c18

 

20$ overbudget but pretty much the best you can get at around 900$

 

For optimizations on price/performance if you are not interested in overclocking the rams to ~4200 gear 1 then you can instead buy a cheap 50$ silicon power 32gb kit, the msi z690-p is 12$ cheaper than the steel legend (though it is abit worse of a board), psu is decent for the price but at 50$ you should easily be able to find some used 700-850w gold units on classifieds sites like gumtree, fb maretplace, etc. Cause ebay has no psu deals

 

As far as tuning is concerned

Cpu wise set vcore to 1.35v with medium or no llc and see how far you can clock the p and e cores (should be around 5.2-5.3 ish allcore and 4-4.2 ecore)

Ram wise if you stick with the neo forza you can try a lazy 4000-4200 19-22-22-22-45 1.4-1.45v oc (everything else auto set by mobo)