Advice for a First Time PC Build

AetherBreaker · December 28, 2023

Budget (including currency): ~$2000 USD

Country: United States

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Light gaming, software development.

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):

Hello, I'm wanting to build my own PC, but I had a few questions I wanted to ask and this seems like the best place.

Firstly, I'm not looking for a comprehensive build recommendation, as I really want to make this a learning experience for myself and to try and figure out a lot of it on my own, however, there are a couple points in particular that I would appreciate some recommendations on.

For a bit of background on myself and my experience, I'm a junior IT technician for a small local company. I'm primarily a software guy/programmer, so although I've never built a PC myself before, I know my way around windows using obscure builtin windows tools and etc.

Case

Since I don't have experience building PCs, it's really hard to make a good decision on what case will actually be good for building in (and actually look decent when it's done). So I would appreciate some recommendations for cases that are beginner friendly for building in, and look good.

I'm looking to make a standard ATX sized build.
I don't intend to go for a super massive GPU (likely just a 4060), though I'd like to have the room to upgrade, so a case that could fit a 4090 would be preferred.
I plan to use an AIO liquid cooler, probably a 360mm radiator.
Would prefer it to have space for fan filters.

Intel or AMD?

I'd appreciate a breakdown on what differences I can expect in my experience between choosing an Intel CPU or an AMD CPU. So details on common compatibility issues (if any), and any notable quirks of one side or the other. Presently I have no bias towards Intel or AMD, from my own knowledge, I believe AMD CPUs will likely have better performance for a majority of situations (with the exception of single threaded workloads) but Intel will have less compatibility problems? Please correct me on this If I'm wrong.

Motherboard

Lastly, recommendations on a motherboard? It's hard to weigh the value of all the additional bells and whistles of fancier motherboards that are supposed to make building and troubleshooting easier without the experience in PC building, so I'd appreciate some recommendations and advice on what to choose here.

Preferences:

Good upgradability.
Builtin Wi-Fi/Bluetooth.
Support for various RGB peripherals.
Atleast two M.2 NVMe slots.

Slottr · December 28, 2023

15 minutes ago, AetherBreaker said:

So I would appreciate some recommendations for cases that are beginner friendly for building in, and look good.

You can't really go wrong with any of the popular ones. Fractals cases are some of my favorite to build in as they're designed in a very friendly manor

16 minutes ago, AetherBreaker said:

I believe AMD CPUs will likely have better performance for a majority of situations (with the exception of single threaded workloads) but Intel will have less compatibility problems? Please correct me on this If I'm wrong.

Depends on what you're referencing in terms of compatibility. Both architectures have instruction sets that really shouldn't disrupt any form of modern software development.

17 minutes ago, AetherBreaker said:

Lastly, recommendations on a motherboard? It's hard to weigh the value of all the additional bells and whistles of fancier motherboards that are supposed to make building and troubleshooting easier without the experience in PC building, so I'd appreciate some recommendations and advice on what to choose here.

Depends on the platform you want, but don't overspend. In USD, you shouldn't ever have to go over 250$ on a motherboard, and even that is stretching it.

On the AMD side, stick to Gigabyte's Aorus line or AsRock's mid tier boards. MSI and Asus are still have trouble on the AM5 platform, as far as I know.

On Intel, I would just stick to B660/B760 boards as they're cheaper and you won't be losing a lot dropping the overclocking capability of the Z boards.

OddOod · December 28, 2023

Case: I love Phanteks P400digital which usually runs sub 80$. They are easy to build in, have fantastic support (I even converted a p360 to a p400 mesh with their help) and the three free fans are not bad.

AMDvIntel: I still like AMD over intel just for performance per watt. Intel runs hotter. Also, OSs and software are still coming to grips with the P-core/E-core thing. But really both are entirely viable options

Mobo: I love me my MSI boards, but I have very little experience with their AM5 lineup. The one system that I have spec'd that is deployed needed a BIOS update to prevent memory training on *every boot*. I mostly like them because I know them. Most companies are really just fine on mobos. Try not to get any bells or whistles that you don't need.

AetherBreaker · December 28, 2023

15 minutes ago, Slottr said:

You can't really go wrong with any of the popular ones. Fractals cases are some of my favorite to build in as they're designed in a very friendly manor

I'm not familiar with what cases are the most popular. Beyond Fractals, would you mind listing some of the other popular brands/models?

AetherBreaker · December 28, 2023

2 minutes ago, OddOod said:

Mobo: I love me my MSI boards, but I have very little experience with their AM5 lineup. The one system that I have spec'd that is deployed needed a BIOS update to prevent memory training on *every boot*. I mostly like them because I know them. Most companies are really just fine on mobos. Try not to get any bells or whistles that you don't need.

What kinds of bells and whistles should I avoid specifically?

Should I avoid specific lines of motherboards?

OddOod · December 28, 2023

7 minutes ago, AetherBreaker said:

I'm not familiar with what cases are the most popular. Beyond Fractals, would you mind listing some of the other popular brands/models?

Corsair 4000 air and LianLi O11's are very popular

4 minutes ago, AetherBreaker said:

What kinds of bells and whistles should I avoid specifically?

Honestly none jump to front of mind. I think wifi and multigig ethernet are nice-to-haves, but not remotely required. Some boards boast about the integrated sound card which are deeply mediocre (grab a USB DAC if you're that into audio). I like integrated IO shields but defo not necessary. Oversized VRM cooling is 1000% just wasted aluminum. Tons of m.s slots are similarly silly as you really only should need 2. I kinda like a reinforced PCIe slot but also very okay to skip if you aren't getting a 4090 beast.
Oh, and RGB is wild. So much RGB. Which isn't as irksome as it used to be now we have OpenRGB

Slottr · December 28, 2023

20 minutes ago, AetherBreaker said:

I'm not familiar with what cases are the most popular. Beyond Fractals, would you mind listing some of the other popular brands/models?

As @OddOod mentioned, the 4000D cases from Corsair and LianLi's are very popular. I'd also throw in the Fractal Pop Air, Phanteks G300A/G400A, NZXT Flow cases

Why_Me · December 28, 2023

1 hour ago, AetherBreaker said:

Budget (including currency): ~$2000 USD

Country: United States

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Light gaming, software development.

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):

Hello, I'm wanting to build my own PC, but I had a few questions I wanted to ask and this seems like the best place.

Firstly, I'm not looking for a comprehensive build recommendation, as I really want to make this a learning experience for myself and to try and figure out a lot of it on my own, however, there are a couple points in particular that I would appreciate some recommendations on.

For a bit of background on myself and my experience, I'm a junior IT technician for a small local company. I'm primarily a software guy/programmer, so although I've never built a PC myself before, I know my way around windows using obscure builtin windows tools and etc.

Case

Since I don't have experience building PCs, it's really hard to make a good decision on what case will actually be good for building in (and actually look decent when it's done). So I would appreciate some recommendations for cases that are beginner friendly for building in, and look good.

I'm looking to make a standard ATX sized build.

I don't intend to go for a super massive GPU (likely just a 4060), though I'd like to have the room to upgrade, so a case that could fit a 4090 would be preferred.

I plan to use an AIO liquid cooler, probably a 360mm radiator.

Would prefer it to have space for fan filters.

Intel or AMD?

I'd appreciate a breakdown on what differences I can expect in my experience between choosing an Intel CPU or an AMD CPU. So details on common compatibility issues (if any), and any notable quirks of one side or the other. Presently I have no bias towards Intel or AMD, from my own knowledge, I believe AMD CPUs will likely have better performance for a majority of situations (with the exception of single threaded workloads) but Intel will have less compatibility problems? Please correct me on this If I'm wrong.

Motherboard

Lastly, recommendations on a motherboard? It's hard to weigh the value of all the additional bells and whistles of fancier motherboards that are supposed to make building and troubleshooting easier without the experience in PC building, so I'd appreciate some recommendations and advice on what to choose here.

Preferences:

Good upgradability.

Builtin Wi-Fi/Bluetooth.

Support for various RGB peripherals.

Atleast two M.2 NVMe slots.

Best case for the money hands down. This case was named 'case of the year' by multiple tech sites. There's two adjustments for this case ... you can raise the motherboard for air cooling or lower it for a top mounted AIO. The cost of this build can be reduced by going with non RGB components. Add storage.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: *Intel Core i7-13700KF 3.4 GHz 16-Core Processor ($319.99 @ Best Buy)
CPU Cooler: *Deepcool LS720 SE 85.85 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($101.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: *MSI PRO Z790-A WIFI ATX LGA1700 Motherboard ($209.99 @ B&H)
Memory: *G.Skill Trident Z5 RGB 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 Memory ($116.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: *Gigabyte WINDFORCE OC GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 16 GB Video Card ($434.99 @ Newegg)
Case: *Lian Li LANCOOL 216 ATX Mid Tower Case ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: *MSI MAG A750GL PCIE5 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1363.93
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2023-12-28 11:53 EST-0500