2.6K$ Pc List (for streaming, gaming, and editing)

[Jacob Does]

Budget (including currency): 2600$ USD

Country: America

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: General popular games: RDRD2 online, Overwatch, Payday 3, cyberpunk 2077, using it for streaming/editing, digital drawing

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): 

Parts: https://pcpartpicker.com/user/Tepig5431/saved/Bw9mLk (the 4070 i found a 600$ option from best buy)

upgrading from: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/PbPJMv (5 years old now)

gonna be mostly buying from wherever is cheapest or available to me. gonna be playing at 1080p 144hz refresh rate. dual monitor for streaming/talking/guides

only thing i'm kinda iffy on is the 2 3060's, but i was offered 2 of them and figured having 2 wouldn't hurt since my PSU has high enough power

edited: the place its going is on a built in stand on my desk. has good airflow, just limit space. better than on the carpeted floor

[Middcore]

The two 3060's won't help you in games, and a single 3060 is a pretty lackluster card for demanding modern games. 

 

What do you mean you were "offered" two of them? Did ChatGPT suggest that? 

[Jacob Does]

 

1 minute ago, Middcore said:

The two 3060's won't help you in games, and a single 3060 is a pretty lackluster card for demanding modern games. 

 

What do you mean you were "offered" two of them? Did ChatGPT suggest that? 

no. i have someone helping me fund this pc, and they asked if i wanted to get two gpu's. i used chatgpt to kinda aid me in finding some parts, but most of it was done with the help of a couple friends. 

[Middcore]

1 minute ago, Jacob Does said:

 

no. i have someone helping me fund this pc, and they asked if i wanted to get two gpu's. 

You would be much better off to use that $600 to buy a single better card. 

[Jacob Does]

Just now, Middcore said:

You would be much better off to use that $600 to buy a single better card. 

i had looked at a Rx 6800 XT before. switched to the 3060 trying to get some budget back. 

[Shooterdude34]

9 minutes ago, Jacob Does said:

Budget (including currency): 2000$ USD

Country: America

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: General popular games: RDRD2 online, Overwatch, Payday 3, cyberpunk 2077, using it for streaming/editing, digital drawing

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): 

Parts: https://pcpartpicker.com/user/Tepig5431/saved/Bw9mLk

upgrading from: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/PbPJMv (5 years old now)

gonna be mostly buying from wherever is cheapest or available to me. gonna be playing at 1080p 144hz refresh rate. dual monitor for streaming/talking/guides

only thing i'm kinda iffy on is the 2 3060's, but i was offered 2 of them and figured having 2 wouldn't hurt since my PSU has high enough power

i agree with @Middcore, 2 3060s would be pointless. multi gpu perf has been iffy for years but nvidia has ended sli and nvlink, and almost no games or programs work well with multiple gpus. definitely go for a higher end single gpu.

 

otherwise if it were my list, id go for a more mainstream brand for the cpu cooler and ram. 

[Middcore]

Just now, Jacob Does said:

i had looked at a Rx 6800 XT before. switched to the 3060 trying to get some budget back. 

 

The RX 6800 is 65% faster than the 3060, on average.

 

If your budget for a GPU is ~$600 and you want to do editing as well as gaming, then your best bet (assuming you don't want to look at secondhand parts) would be an RTX 4070. 

[Jacob Does]

Just now, Shooterdude34 said:

i agree with @Middcore, 2 3060s would be pointless. multi gpu perf has been iffy for years but nvidia has ended sli and nvlink, and almost no games or programs work well with multiple gpus. definitely go for a higher end single gpu.

 

otherwise if it were my list, id go for a more mainstream brand for the cpu cooler and ram. 

both of those i chose mostly becuase of the cost more than anything. i was trying to stick to as close to 2k as possible, and i was asked about getting 2 3060's. i figured i should ask here about the pc list before commiting to any purchases

[Jacob Does]

1 minute ago, Middcore said:

 

The RX 6800 is 65% faster than the 3060, on average.

 

If your budget for a GPU is ~$600 and you want to do editing as well as gaming, then your best bet (assuming you don't want to look at secondhand parts) would be an RTX 4070. 

alright. i'll look into it and alter my parts list accordingly

[Shooterdude34]

1 minute ago, Jacob Does said:

both of those i chose mostly becuase of the cost more than anything. i was trying to stick to as close to 2k as possible, and i was asked about getting 2 3060's. i figured i should ask here about the pc list before commiting to any purchases

if you need to stick close to budget right now, go with less storage to start. its much easier to just add storage as you need it when you get more money, and you can put more budget into getting much better parts now. just start with the 2 tb nvme and save the budget.

 

also you do not need to buy a windows license, you can get 75% of the functionality without a windows license for now. the things gained by buying a windows license arent too important.

[Middcore]

That NZXT case is not a great buy for the money.

 

The Samsung 2TB PCIe 3.0 NVMe seems like it's neither here nor there when you already have a PCIe 4.0 NVMe plus an 8TB spinning rust drive for mass storage. 

[Shooterdude34]

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/xCwGGP

 

this would probably be my adjustments to your list

[Jacob Does]

1 minute ago, Middcore said:

That NZXT case is not a great buy for the money.

 

The Samsung 2TB PCIe 3.0 NVMe seems like it's neither here nor there when you already have a PCIe 4.0 NVMe plus an 8TB spinning rust drive for mass storage. 

the case i don't have much choice on. i needed to fit specific dimensions, and that was the best case i could find that works for my use. the 2TB is for boot and any software i intend to use, and the 4TB is for game storage. the 8TB is for strict video storage, as the current drives in my PC are getting full, even after cleaning. 

[Jacob Does]

3 minutes ago, Shooterdude34 said:

if you need to stick close to budget right now, go with less storage to start. its much easier to just add storage as you need it when you get more money, and you can put more budget into getting much better parts now. just start with the 2 tb nvme and save the budget.

 

also you do not need to buy a windows license, you can get 75% of the functionality without a windows license for now. the things gained by buying a windows license arent too important.

i chose the storage based on my current use and on how much storage i needed in my current pc. 

the windows license is more luxary than anything else, since once i build this new pc i'm gonna be giving my old one to a friend. my current pc has windows 11 already on it, and i was very confused on trying to figure out how to transfer it to a new boot drive

[Middcore]

6 minutes ago, Jacob Does said:

the case i don't have much choice on. i needed to fit specific dimensions, and that was the best case i could find that works for my use.

There's nothing special about that case in terms of size or internal dimensions.

 

6 minutes ago, Jacob Does said:

the 2TB is for boot and any software i intend to use, and the 4TB is for game storage. 

 

This doesn't make much sense. You would generally always want the OS to be on the fastest drive. 

[Shooterdude34]

3 minutes ago, Jacob Does said:

i chose the storage based on my current use and on how much storage i needed in my current pc. 

the windows license is more luxary than anything else, since once i build this new pc i'm gonna be giving my old one to a friend. my current pc has windows 11 already on it, and i was very confused on trying to figure out how to transfer it to a new boot drive

thats understandable, and i can see where youre coming from. however im not sure why youre trying to move your windows install, you dont have to.

 

just save all of your locally saved important files to some external drive, and install a new windows on your new boot drive.

 

now obviously there is going to have to be trade offs with a strict budget like always. personally i wouldnt exchange lower end parts for more storage at the start, especially since youre only using 2.5 tb of storage max rn. if you need it, wait in the 4tb nvme for later and just keep the 2tb nvme for boot and 8tb to transfer the "whole contents" of your old pc. 

 

[Jacob Does]

Just now, Middcore said:

There's nothing special about that case in terms of size or internal dimensions.

 

 

This doesn't make much sense. You would generally always want the OS to be on the fastest drive. 

the case external dimensions fit the space i'm going to have the pc in. 

as for the boot drive, i chose just those two m.2 drives more on storage space than speed, so i am willing to change my storage drives to fit better

[Middcore]

Just now, Jacob Does said:

the case external dimensions fit the space i'm going to have the pc in. 

So will the dimensions of dozens and dozens of cases which are better.

 

 

[Jacob Does]

Just now, Shooterdude34 said:

thats understandable, and i can see where youre coming from. however im not sure why youre trying to move your windows install, you dont have to.

 

just save all of your locally saved important files to some external drive, and install a new windows on your new boot drive.

 

now obviously there is going to have to be trade offs with a strict budget like always. personally i wouldnt exchange lower end parts for more storage at the start, especially since youre only using 2.5 tb of storage max rn. if you need it, wait in the 4tb nvme for later and just keep the 2tb nvme for boot and 8tb to transfer the "whole contents" of your old pc. 

 

ah. i forgot to add the 6TB drive to my current list. i do have more storage than whats listed, but that drive is almost full as well

[Jacob Does]

Just now, Middcore said:

So will the dimensions of dozens and dozens of cases which are better.

 

 

do you have a case you could reccomend? i searched for awhile trying to find something that i liked and worked for me

[Middcore]

Just now, Jacob Does said:

do you have a case you could reccomend? i searched for awhile trying to find something that i liked and worked for me

 

What are the actual space constraints you're operating under? In mm/inches?

[Jacob Does]

1 minute ago, Middcore said:

 

What are the actual space constraints you're operating under? In mm/inches?

these are the exterior dimensions in Millimeters

height: 470
Depth: 427
Width: 200
 

[Shooterdude34]

5 minutes ago, Jacob Does said:

ah. i forgot to add the 6TB drive to my current list. i do have more storage than whats listed, but that drive is almost full as well

thats still less than 10tb of storage. even if you were 100% max on storage, youd still have some extra storage to tide you over till you get more drives later. at the end of it though, its your money and choice. i havent heard much if ID cooling or silicon power stuff, but of what i have heard they arent the best. going with more reputable brands have less of a chance to leave you in trouble. especially the ram since its pretty easy to corrupt data and your windows install if the ram fails

[Jacob Does]

Just now, Shooterdude34 said:

thats still less than 10tb of storage. even if you were 100% max on storage, youd still have some extra storage to tide you over till you get more drives later. at the end of it though, its your money and choice. i havent heard much if ID cooling or silicon power stuff, but of what i have heard they arent the best. going with more reputable brands have less of a chance to leave you in trouble. especially the ram since its very easy to corrupt data and your windows install

i look at some more trusted brands then. i may be able to salvage my 6TB from my current pc to tide me off, just i'll reformat it once i build my new rig

[Middcore]

Just now, Jacob Does said:

these are the exterior dimensions in Millimeters

height: 470
Depth: 427
Width: 200
 

 

is this going inside a cubby in a desk or something? Those are really bad for airflow. I would just set the PC on the floor under the desk before I put it in a hotbox like that. 

 

Wait a minute, the NZXT H510 Elite doesn't even fit this. It's 210mm wide (and also 428mm deep).