PC Build for non techy friend

[adudenamedalex]

My friend was looking into getting a PC for gaming so I offered to spec out a PC for him.

 

Budget: $1500-$2000 usd 

Country: US

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: good mixture of modern single player and multiplayer games, possibly some light streaming/recording.

Other details:

He was looking for a dual monitor decent gaming build and since he's not super techy I want to build him something he'd be happy with for a good while without needing to think about upgrading or tinkering with it at all.

 

First I looked at the best things I could get for close to the $2000 price point and settled on a 7800x3d and 7900xt build but that went a bit over budget: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/9HZ9L9

 

Bringing it back down to a 7700x I'm still over by $50 and we still haven't even considered windows: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/9HZ9L9

 

Managed to bring it down below budget using an intel i5-13600kf: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/Dw9zdH but I'm not quite so happy about using Intel.

 

 

Overall I just wanted some thoughts on what kind of things I should be prioritizing here when it comes to part selection:

• PCIE 5.0 SSDs are pretty expensive now but I'm still leaning towards having a slot available for when they're cheaper in the future
• PCIE 5.0x16 motherboards are all well over $200 is it worth it to invest now to get access to better GPUs in the future?
• Am I prioritizing CPU too much here? How much better would it be to take that money and get a better GPU instead?
• Moreover how is streaming on AMD compared to NVIDIA?

Any advice would help

[Fasauceome]

16 minutes ago, adudenamedalex said:

Moreover how is streaming on AMD compared to NVIDIA?

AMD has been improving their encoders a lot over the last couple generations so their streaming capabilities are pretty good nowadays. 

 

For a friend who is explicitly not techy, the simpler the better so a build that lacks a water cooler and loads of RGB is the way to go in my opinion. 

16 minutes ago, adudenamedalex said:

PCIE 5.0 SSDs are pretty expensive now but I'm still leaning towards having a slot available for when they're cheaper in the future

A PCIe 5.0 SSD is something that will only really be relevant for industry professionals for years to come. But any additional slots would be helpful, since storage is one of the simplest upgrades a person can make 

16 minutes ago, adudenamedalex said:

Am I prioritizing CPU too much here? How much better would it be to take that money and get a better GPU instead?

Not necessarily because  the graphics Card is also an easy drop in upgrade for someone who doesn't know much about tech

[Why_Me]

You want DDR5-6000 CL30.

 

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D 4.2 GHz 8-Core Processor  ($389.99 @ Amazon) 
CPU Cooler: Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE 66.17 CFM CPU Cooler  ($33.90 @ Amazon) 
Motherboard: *MSI PRO B650-S WIFI ATX AM5 Motherboard  ($149.00 @ MSI) 
Memory: *Mushkin Redline ST 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 Memory  ($97.99 @ Newegg) 
Storage: *Acer Predator GM7000 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive  ($129.99 @ Amazon) 
Video Card: *Sapphire PULSE Radeon RX 7900 XT 20 GB Video Card  ($699.99 @ Newegg) 
Case: Fractal Design Pop Air ATX Mid Tower Case  ($79.97 @ Amazon) 
Power Supply: *MSI MAG A850GL PCIE5 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply  ($89.00 @ MSI) 
Monitor: *Gigabyte GS27Q 27.0" 2560 x 1440 170 Hz Monitor  ($169.99 @ Amazon) 
Monitor: KOORUI 24E3 24.0" 1920 x 1080 165 Hz Monitor  ($107.90 @ Amazon) 
Total: $1947.72
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2024-04-09 17:10 EDT-0400

[adudenamedalex]

On 4/9/2024 at 2:11 PM, Why_Me said:

You want DDR5-6000 CL30.

Yeah you're right it costs about the same anyways.

 

On 4/9/2024 at 2:11 PM, Why_Me said:

Motherboard: *MSI PRO B650-S WIFI ATX AM5 Motherboard  ($149.00 @ MSI)

Why am I paying more for this? Wifi is a nice to have but there's already support for a wifi m.2 card. Also I'm losing an m.2 PCIE gen5x4 in exchange for a gen4x4??

What am I missing here cause I can't really find a reason for this board.

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Productcompare?CompareItemList=13-144-642%2C13-162-114&compareall=true

 

On 4/9/2024 at 2:11 PM, Why_Me said:

Monitor: *Gigabyte GS27Q 27.0" 2560 x 1440 170 Hz Monitor  ($169.99 @ Amazon)

Probably the best advice here, I locked in the monitor cost at the beginning and haven't thought about it since. A build like this could definitely push 240fps in most competitive games but I'm not sure whether or not it even matters to my friend. I'll ask him about it and see what he thinks.

 

 

PCPartPicker Part List: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/rNVy28

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D 4.2 GHz 8-Core Processor  ($384.00 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE 66.17 CFM CPU Cooler  ($33.90 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock B650M-HDV/M.2 Micro ATX AM5 Motherboard  ($119.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Silicon Power XPOWER Zenith Gaming 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 Memory  ($97.97 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Black SN850X 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive  ($154.99 @ Walmart)
Video Card: Sapphire PULSE Radeon RX 7900 XT 20 GB Video Card  ($700.00)
Case: Fractal Design Pop Air ATX Mid Tower Case  ($79.97 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: *Cooler Master MWE Gold 850 - V2 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply  ($95.99 @ Amazon)
Monitor: Gigabyte GS27Q 27.0" 2560 x 1440 170 Hz Monitor  ($169.99 @ Amazon)
Monitor: KOORUI 24E3 24.0" 1920 x 1080 165 Hz Monitor  ($107.90 @ Amazon)
Total: $1944.70
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2024-04-10 19:58 EDT-0400

 

 

[brob]

4 minutes ago, adudenamedalex said:

Why am I paying more for this? Wifi is a nice to have but there's already support for a wifi m.2 card. Also I'm losing an m.2 PCIE gen5x4 in exchange for a gen4x4??

What am I missing here cause I can't really find a reason for this board.

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Productcompare?CompareItemList=13-144-642%2C13-162-114&compareall=true

 

Probably because it has much better power distribution. (WiFi is pretty much standard over a certain price point. Equivalent WiFi m.2 cards tend to be pricey.) The MSI is ATX and will look better than the mATX Asrock motherboard in the ATX Pop Air case.

 

I didn't see a PCIe 5.0 NVMe drive in any of the build options so thee really isn't a need for a PCIe 5.0 m.2 slot. When and if more storage is needed, if it's less expensive a PCIe 5.0 NVMe drive will run in a PCIe 4.0 m.2 slot without a noticeable loss of performance.

 

A 7800X3D / 7900 XT around $2K is possible without any significant performance sacrifice.

 

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D 4.2 GHz 8-Core Processor  ($384.00 @ Newegg) 
CPU Cooler: Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE 66.17 CFM CPU Cooler  ($33.90 @ Amazon) 
Motherboard: ASRock B650M-HDV/M.2 Micro ATX AM5 Motherboard  ($119.99 @ Amazon) 
Memory: Silicon Power Value Gaming 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 Memory  ($97.98 @ Amazon) 
Storage: ADATA Legend 800 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive  ($63.99 @ Amazon) 
Video Card: ASRock Phantom Gaming OC Radeon RX 7900 XT 20 GB Video Card  ($699.99 @ Amazon) 
Case: Montech AIR 100 ARGB MicroATX Mid Tower Case  ($64.99 @ Newegg) 
Power Supply: Deepcool PM850D 850 W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply  ($79.99 @ B&H) 
Monitor: MSI G274QPX 27.0" 2560 x 1440 240 Hz Monitor  ($349.00 @ MSI) 
Monitor: KOORUI 24E3 24.0" 1920 x 1080 165 Hz Monitor  ($107.90 @ Amazon) 
Total: $2001.73
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2024-04-10 20:45 EDT-0400