First Time Intel Build (Entry - Mid range)

[Phenz]

Budget (including currency): Not fixed, but definitely under $1500 with peripherals included (obviously the cheaper the better)

Country: US

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Casual gaming (expect to run smoothly (60+ fps) on any popular Steam game with maybe a couple of exceptions on 1080p and hopefully even 1440p), web browsing(with lots of tabs open), programming?, stockfish, possibly emulators in the future

Monitors: one for now, up to three in the future

Peripherals: Everything except maybe a mouse, I believe Windows can be downloaded for free on a USB stick/

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): 

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/vpyX7R

 

Long time Mac user, considering a first PC build.

 

PCPartPicker Part List: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/KB29HG

CPU: Intel Core i7-12700K 3.6 GHz 12-Core Processor  ($214.99 @ Amazon) #Seems like the best value, and more than enough for my current uses and should last for a while
CPU Cooler: Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE WHITE ARGB 66.17 CFM CPU Cooler  ($36.99 @ Amazon) #Was the best low-end one I could find, want to learn how to set up RGB, not sure if I need to replace the base fan with a better one
Thermal Compound: Arctic Silver 5 High-Density Polysynthetic Silver 3.5 g Thermal Paste  ($6.13 @ Amazon) #Not sure if needed
Motherboard: MSI PRO Z690-A WIFI ATX LGA1700 Motherboard  ($149.00 @ MSI) #Wanted to try overclocking, and didn't want to deal with wifi expansion cards, though concerned about the relatively low supported memory speed (6400)
Memory: TEAMGROUP T-Create Expert 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6400 CL32 Memory  ($95.99 @ Amazon) #I like to have a lot of tabs open, and this should be fast enough right?
Storage: Silicon Power UD90 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive  ($119.97 @ Amazon) #How important is Pcie 4.0 over 3.0
Video Card: XFX Speedster SWFT 210 Core Radeon RX 6650 XT 8 GB Video Card  ($219.99 @ Newegg Sellers) #Didn't want to blow many hundreds on a GPU, but this is supposedly better that an the integrated Intel 770 GPU, and should be good enough to run most games for a while right?
Case: Corsair 4000D Airflow ATX Mid Tower Case  ($89.99 @ Amazon) #Best reviews and supposedly has a lot of space, good airflow, and easy to work in(whatever that means)
Power Supply: SeaSonic FOCUS GX-850 ATX 3.0 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply  ($109.99 @ B&H) #For possible future expansions
Case Fan: Noctua P14s redux-1500 PWM 78.69 CFM 140 mm Fan  ($16.95 @ Amazon) 
Case Fan: Noctua P14s redux-1500 PWM 78.69 CFM 140 mm Fan  ($16.95 @ Amazon) 
Case Fan: Noctua P14s redux-1500 PWM 78.69 CFM 140 mm Fan  ($16.95 @ Amazon) 
Case Fan: Noctua P14s redux-1500 PWM 78.69 CFM 140 mm Fan  ($16.95 @ Amazon) 
Case Fan: Noctua S12B redux-1200 PWM 59.1 CFM 120 mm Fan  ($14.95 @ Amazon) #Best fans from what I could tell
Monitor: Gigabyte G27Q 27.0" 2560 x 1440 144 Hz Monitor  ($219.99 @ Newegg) #Not sure if this is the best as it's 4 years old, but has great reviews
Keyboard: HP HyperX Alloy Core RGB Wired Gaming Keyboard  ($39.99 @ Amazon) #Cheap, want it to be comfortable and don't want it to be loud
Speakers: Creative Labs Pebble 2.0 4.4 W Speakers  ($18.99 @ Lenovo) #Cheap, should be better than built-ins
Total: $1404.76
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2024-04-28 03:09 EDT-0400

 

Any advice on improvements, possible incompatibilities, etc. would be much appreciated!

 

 

[podkall]

Would this list convince you to convert to AMD CPU? The Motherboard can support 7800x3D if you'd need an upgrade later:

 

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 7600 3.8 GHz 6-Core Processor  ($193.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Thermalright Phantom Spirit 120 SE 66.17 CFM CPU Cooler  ($35.90 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: MSI PRO B650-S WIFI ATX AM5 Motherboard  ($129.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: *Silicon Power Value Gaming 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 Memory  ($97.97 @ Amazon)
Storage: TEAMGROUP MP44L 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive  ($112.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: *XFX Speedster SWFT 319 Core Radeon RX 6800 16 GB Video Card  ($374.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair 4000D Airflow ATX Mid Tower Case  ($89.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: MSI MAG A750GL PCIE5 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply  ($89.00 @ Amazon)
Case Fan: ARCTIC P12 Slim PWM PST 42.1 CFM 120 mm Fans 3-Pack  ($21.99 @ Amazon)
Custom: Monitor ($220.00)
Custom: Keyboard ($40.00)
Custom: Speakers ($20.00)
Total: $1426.81
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2024-04-28 04:54 EDT-0400

[Why_Me]

The 120mm fan goes inside the back of this case for a exhaust fan.

 

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: *AMD Ryzen 5 7600 3.8 GHz 6-Core Processor  ($193.99 @ Newegg) 
CPU Cooler: Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE WHITE ARGB 66.17 CFM CPU Cooler  ($36.99 @ Amazon) 
Motherboard: *MSI PRO B650-S WIFI ATX AM5 Motherboard  ($129.99 @ Newegg) 
Memory: *Silicon Power Value Gaming 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 Memory  ($97.97 @ Amazon) 
Storage: *ADATA Legend 800 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive  ($108.99 @ Amazon) 
Video Card: *PowerColor Hellhound OC Radeon RX 7800 XT 16 GB Video Card  ($479.99 @ Newegg) 
Case: *Fractal Design Focus 2 RGB ATX Mid Tower Case  ($79.99 @ B&H) 
Power Supply: *SeaSonic FOCUS GX-750 ATX 3.0 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply  ($89.99 @ B&H) 
Case Fan: *ARCTIC P12 56.3 CFM 120 mm Fan  ($8.99 @ Amazon) 
Monitor: *Gigabyte GS27Q 27.0" 2560 x 1440 170 Hz Monitor  ($179.99 @ Newegg) 
Keyboard: HP HyperX Alloy Core RGB Wired Gaming Keyboard  ($39.99 @ Amazon) 
Speakers: Creative Labs Pebble 2.0 4.4 W Speakers  ($18.99 @ Lenovo) 
Total: $1465.86
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2024-04-28 05:01 EDT-0400

 

A better look at that monitor and case.

 

https://www.gigabyte.com/Monitor/GS27Q#kf  

 

https://www.arctic.de/en/P12-PWM-PST/ACFAN00120A  

 

https://www.fractal-design.com/products/cases/focus/focus-2/rgb-white-tg-clear-tint/  

 

 

[mariushm]

AMD builds will probably give you more performance in the same money.

 

The video card won't be fast enough for that monitor's resolution and framerate.

 

Drop 2-3 fans and put the money on the video card budget, you can always buy fans later and you don't need that many in the first place. The case should already come with a couple fans.

The Pebble speakers are ok, but wouldn't pay $18 for them to play games with them. Better save money and get some decent $50-80 headphones.

 

You could do a bit better on the SSD, pci-e 4.0 is not important, just get something with TLC flash and well reviewed.

 

I'd say WD SN580 is quite good : https://pcpartpicker.com/product/266NnQ/western-digital-blue-sn580-2-tb-m2-2280-pcie-40-x4-nvme-solid-state-drive-wds200t3b0e

4.1 GB/s read and write, 900 TB endurance, review here : https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/wd-blue-sn580-ssd

 

 

 

I'd say forget about overclocking, the 5-10% extra you may achieve you'd only notice in games, where you'd actually get more performance with a better video card.  But that motherboard is reasonably priced, and don't see any decent B760 boards worth buying and cheap enough to recommend over this board.

 

If you don't mind losing wireless and switching to DDR4, you have Asrock Z690 Extreme : https://pcpartpicker.com/product/FNWzK8/asrock-z690-extreme-atx-lga1700-motherboard-z690-extreme

Has a m.2 wifi slot, so you could spend later 5-10$ on a m.2 wifi card and antennas.

 

You can get some corsair 3600/CL18 for 82$ https://pcpartpicker.com/product/Yg3mP6/corsair-vengeance-lpx-32-gb-2-x-16-gb-ddr4-3600-memory-cmk32gx4m2d3600c18

 or some G.Skill Trident Z RGB 32 GB CL16 or CL18 for 85-90$ : https://pcpartpicker.com/product/w3FKHx/gskill-trident-z-neo-32-gb-2-x-16-gb-ddr4-3600-cl16-memory-f4-3600c16d-32gtznc

 

You could go up to around 4000 mhz but if you look in the videos below, 3600 cl 16 is good enough for 12gen processors

 

DDR5 gives you around 2-3% extra performance in some games, but 50$ extra on video card would give you more than 2-3% improvement on games. DDR5 gives SOME applications a performance boost, like 7-zip for example, but most regular applications like web browsers for example won't care.

See videos below if you don't believe me

 

So basically instead of 150$ + $96 , you'd be at 130$ + 82$ ... you're looking at around $30-35 saved, and with the money saved by not buying fans you're getting close to $100 available for a better video card

 

 

 

[Why_Me]

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: *AMD Ryzen 5 7600 3.8 GHz 6-Core Processor  ($193.99 @ Newegg) 
CPU Cooler: Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE WHITE ARGB 66.17 CFM CPU Cooler  ($36.99 @ Amazon) 
Motherboard: *MSI PRO B650-S WIFI ATX AM5 Motherboard  ($129.99 @ Newegg) 
Memory: *Silicon Power Value Gaming 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 Memory  ($97.97 @ Amazon) 
Storage: *ADATA Legend 800 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive  ($108.99 @ Amazon) 
Video Card: *PowerColor Hellhound OC Radeon RX 7800 XT 16 GB Video Card  ($479.99 @ Newegg) 
Case: *Fractal Design Focus 2 RGB ATX Mid Tower Case  ($79.99 @ B&H) 
Power Supply: *SeaSonic FOCUS GX-750 ATX 3.0 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply  ($89.99 @ B&H) 
Case Fan: *ARCTIC P12 56.3 CFM 120 mm Fan  ($8.99 @ Amazon) 
Monitor: *MSI G255PF E2 24.5" 1920 x 1080 180 Hz Monitor  ($124.00 @ MSI) 
Keyboard: HP HyperX Alloy Core RGB Wired Gaming Keyboard  ($39.99 @ Amazon) 
Speakers: Creative Labs Pebble 2.0 4.4 W Speakers  ($18.99 @ Lenovo) 
Total: $1409.87
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2024-04-28 06:13 EDT-0400

[Somerandomtechyboi]

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/WtKqfy

7700x + 6800 + 32gb 6000c32

 

microcenter 7700x bundle covers the cpu mobo and rams

 

now on am5 so no need to board or ram swap if you wanna upgrade cpu, also the 7700x will outperform the 12700k in singlecore and you can also get a 7800x3d bundle incase you play stuff like factorio or some other games that benifit a ton from the extra cache

 

upgraded cooler which is abit better than the peerless assassin

 

upgraded ssd to a cheaper and faster dram gen 4, no gen 4 doesnt matter but if you find a cheap dram gen4 that isnt much more than a dram gen 3 like the mushkin tempest you might aswell go gen4 just because its better value

 

upgraded gpu to a 6800, pricing is somewhat competitive to used gpus so its a pretty decent option, speaking of which you may be able to find a used 6800xt around the 350-400$ mark which will perform abit better but optional

 

case is personal preference but since you seem to like rgb went for a case that includes 4 rgb fans, also a very spacious case afaik

 

psu has been upgraded to a 1000w which still retains a 10 year warranty

 

dont have any reccomendations for peripherals so ill let the others reccomend peripherals

 

 

dont need thermal paste as theres paste included with your cooler and as5 is not only outdated overpriced trash its also conductive so accidentally spill that on your board and you might short something, though if you do need any thermal paste in the future my reccomendation would be gd007/gd-2 or arctic mx4/6, former is cheaper and should perform similarly to mx4

 

noctua fans are pricey and arctic has already demolished em with the p12 max, you really wanna avoid buying fans if possible since theyre pretty pricey and you can get a bunch of included fans with your case, though if you go for a case with no included fans or only 1 fan then theres some cheap thermalright 3 pack rgb fans for around 12$ and should get the job done for airflow

[filpo]

9 hours ago, Phenz said:

Budget (including currency): Not fixed, but definitely under $1500 with peripherals included (obviously the cheaper the better)

Country: US

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Casual gaming (expect to run smoothly (60+ fps) on any popular Steam game with maybe a couple of exceptions on 1080p and hopefully even 1440p), web browsing(with lots of tabs open), programming?, stockfish, possibly emulators in the future

Monitors: one for now, up to three in the future

Peripherals: Everything except maybe a mouse, I believe Windows can be downloaded for free on a USB stick/

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): 

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/vpyX7R

 

Long time Mac user, considering a first PC build.

 

PCPartPicker Part List: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/KB29HG

CPU: Intel Core i7-12700K 3.6 GHz 12-Core Processor  ($214.99 @ Amazon) #Seems like the best value, and more than enough for my current uses and should last for a while
CPU Cooler: Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE WHITE ARGB 66.17 CFM CPU Cooler  ($36.99 @ Amazon) #Was the best low-end one I could find, want to learn how to set up RGB, not sure if I need to replace the base fan with a better one
Thermal Compound: Arctic Silver 5 High-Density Polysynthetic Silver 3.5 g Thermal Paste  ($6.13 @ Amazon) #Not sure if needed
Motherboard: MSI PRO Z690-A WIFI ATX LGA1700 Motherboard  ($149.00 @ MSI) #Wanted to try overclocking, and didn't want to deal with wifi expansion cards, though concerned about the relatively low supported memory speed (6400)
Memory: TEAMGROUP T-Create Expert 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6400 CL32 Memory  ($95.99 @ Amazon) #I like to have a lot of tabs open, and this should be fast enough right?
Storage: Silicon Power UD90 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive  ($119.97 @ Amazon) #How important is Pcie 4.0 over 3.0
Video Card: XFX Speedster SWFT 210 Core Radeon RX 6650 XT 8 GB Video Card  ($219.99 @ Newegg Sellers) #Didn't want to blow many hundreds on a GPU, but this is supposedly better that an the integrated Intel 770 GPU, and should be good enough to run most games for a while right?
Case: Corsair 4000D Airflow ATX Mid Tower Case  ($89.99 @ Amazon) #Best reviews and supposedly has a lot of space, good airflow, and easy to work in(whatever that means)
Power Supply: SeaSonic FOCUS GX-850 ATX 3.0 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply  ($109.99 @ B&H) #For possible future expansions
Case Fan: Noctua P14s redux-1500 PWM 78.69 CFM 140 mm Fan  ($16.95 @ Amazon) 
Case Fan: Noctua P14s redux-1500 PWM 78.69 CFM 140 mm Fan  ($16.95 @ Amazon) 
Case Fan: Noctua P14s redux-1500 PWM 78.69 CFM 140 mm Fan  ($16.95 @ Amazon) 
Case Fan: Noctua P14s redux-1500 PWM 78.69 CFM 140 mm Fan  ($16.95 @ Amazon) 
Case Fan: Noctua S12B redux-1200 PWM 59.1 CFM 120 mm Fan  ($14.95 @ Amazon) #Best fans from what I could tell
Monitor: Gigabyte G27Q 27.0" 2560 x 1440 144 Hz Monitor  ($219.99 @ Newegg) #Not sure if this is the best as it's 4 years old, but has great reviews
Keyboard: HP HyperX Alloy Core RGB Wired Gaming Keyboard  ($39.99 @ Amazon) #Cheap, want it to be comfortable and don't want it to be loud
Speakers: Creative Labs Pebble 2.0 4.4 W Speakers  ($18.99 @ Lenovo) #Cheap, should be better than built-ins
Total: $1404.76
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2024-04-28 03:09 EDT-0400

 

Any advice on improvements, possible incompatibilities, etc. would be much appreciated!

 

 

you need a mouse 

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU Cooler: Thermalright Phantom Spirit 120 SE ARGB 66.17 CFM CPU Cooler  ($35.90 @ Amazon) 
Motherboard: MSI B650 GAMING PLUS WIFI ATX AM5 Motherboard  ($169.00 @ MSI) 
Memory: *Silicon Power Value Gaming 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 Memory  ($97.97 @ Amazon) 
Storage: Leven JPS800 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive  ($104.99 @ Amazon) 
Video Card: *PowerColor Hellhound OC Radeon RX 7800 XT 16 GB Video Card  ($479.99 @ Newegg) 
Case: Phanteks XT PRO ULTRA ATX Mid Tower Case  ($69.99 @ Newegg) 
Power Supply: Cooler Master MWE Gold 850 - V2 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply  ($95.99 @ Amazon) 
Monitor: MSI G272QPF 27.0" 2560 x 1440 170 Hz Monitor  ($219.99 @ Amazon) 
Keyboard: Cooler Master CK721 RGB Wireless/Wired Gaming Keyboard  ($58.19 @ Amazon) 
Mouse: Logitech G305 LIGHTSPEED Wireless/Wired Optical Mouse  ($39.99 @ Amazon) 
Speakers: Creative Labs Pebble 2.0 4.4 W Speakers  ($18.99 @ Lenovo) 
Custom: 7500F ($130.00)
Total: $1520.99
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2024-04-28 13:14 EDT-0400

[Phenz]

Why do people prefer amd over intel. The 7600 seems pretty much the same as the 12700k from the benchmarks I saw, but I thought Intel was more reliable because it's more popular. I do like that am5 came a year earlier than lga1700 making it potentially more future proof. But I'm concerned that I heard that amd has more ram incompatibility, at more amounts and speeds, and just not being as mature in general, is this true? Also is the 7600x worth it in terms of cost to performance over the 7600?

 

Also how big of a difference is 140hz and 170hz refresh rate?

[Phenz]

22 hours ago, mariushm said:

 

 

You could do a bit better on the SSD, pci-e 4.0 is not important, just get something with TLC flash and well reviewed.

 

I'd say WD SN580 is quite good : https://pcpartpicker.com/product/266NnQ/western-digital-blue-sn580-2-tb-m2-2280-pcie-40-x4-nvme-solid-state-drive-wds200t3b0e

4.1 GB/s read and write, 900 TB endurance, review here : https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/wd-blue-sn580-ssd

 

 

What are the benefits of TLC flash ssd over the regular, and what about this ssd: https://pcpartpicker.com/product/2VJgXL/teamgroup-mp44l-2-tb-m2-2280-pcie-40-x4-nvme-solid-state-drive-tm8fpk002t0c101

 

TEAMGROUP MP44L 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4

 

And is western digital blue reliable?

[Phenz]

20 hours ago, Somerandomtechyboi said:

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/WtKqfy

7700x + 6800 + 32gb 6000c32

 

microcenter 7700x bundle covers the cpu mobo and rams

 

now on am5 so no need to board or ram swap if you wanna upgrade cpu, also the 7700x will outperform the 12700k in singlecore and you can also get a 7800x3d bundle incase you play stuff like factorio or some other games that benifit a ton from the extra cache

 

upgraded cooler which is abit better than the peerless assassin

 

upgraded ssd to a cheaper and faster dram gen 4, no gen 4 doesnt matter but if you find a cheap dram gen4 that isnt much more than a dram gen 3 like the mushkin tempest you might aswell go gen4 just because its better value

 

upgraded gpu to a 6800, pricing is somewhat competitive to used gpus so its a pretty decent option, speaking of which you may be able to find a used 6800xt around the 350-400$ mark which will perform abit better but optional

 

case is personal preference but since you seem to like rgb went for a case that includes 4 rgb fans, also a very spacious case afaik

 

psu has been upgraded to a 1000w which still retains a 10 year warranty

 

dont have any reccomendations for peripherals so ill let the others reccomend peripherals

 

 

dont need thermal paste as theres paste included with your cooler and as5 is not only outdated overpriced trash its also conductive so accidentally spill that on your board and you might short something, though if you do need any thermal paste in the future my reccomendation would be gd007/gd-2 or arctic mx4/6, former is cheaper and should perform similarly to mx4

 

noctua fans are pricey and arctic has already demolished em with the p12 max, you really wanna avoid buying fans if possible since theyre pretty pricey and you can get a bunch of included fans with your case, though if you go for a case with no included fans or only 1 fan then theres some cheap thermalright 3 pack rgb fans for around 12$ and should get the job done for airflow

From what I read online isn't gigabyte considered a bad psu brand because of some blowing up debacle?

[Phenz]

14 hours ago, filpo said:

you need a mouse 

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU Cooler: Thermalright Phantom Spirit 120 SE ARGB 66.17 CFM CPU Cooler  ($35.90 @ Amazon) 
Motherboard: MSI B650 GAMING PLUS WIFI ATX AM5 Motherboard  ($169.00 @ MSI) 
Memory: *Silicon Power Value Gaming 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 Memory  ($97.97 @ Amazon) 
Storage: Leven JPS800 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive  ($104.99 @ Amazon) 
Video Card: *PowerColor Hellhound OC Radeon RX 7800 XT 16 GB Video Card  ($479.99 @ Newegg) 
Case: Phanteks XT PRO ULTRA ATX Mid Tower Case  ($69.99 @ Newegg) 
Power Supply: Cooler Master MWE Gold 850 - V2 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply  ($95.99 @ Amazon) 
Monitor: MSI G272QPF 27.0" 2560 x 1440 170 Hz Monitor  ($219.99 @ Amazon) 
Keyboard: Cooler Master CK721 RGB Wireless/Wired Gaming Keyboard  ($58.19 @ Amazon) 
Mouse: Logitech G305 LIGHTSPEED Wireless/Wired Optical Mouse  ($39.99 @ Amazon) 
Speakers: Creative Labs Pebble 2.0 4.4 W Speakers  ($18.99 @ Lenovo) 
Custom: 7500F ($130.00)
Total: $1520.99
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2024-04-28 13:14 EDT-0400

What about the

Logitech G502 Hero?

 

https://pcpartpicker.com/product/7RbwrH/logitech-g502-hero-wired-optical-mouse-910-005469

[filpo]

56 minutes ago, Phenz said:

What about the

Logitech G502 Hero?

 

https://pcpartpicker.com/product/7RbwrH/logitech-g502-hero-wired-optical-mouse-910-005469

if you like it then sure, get it

[Somerandomtechyboi]

5 hours ago, Phenz said:

From what I read online isn't gigabyte considered a bad psu brand because of some blowing up debacle?

only for the p-gm

their ud-gm is completely fine afaik

 

5 hours ago, Phenz said:

Why do people prefer amd over intel. The 7600 seems pretty much the same as the 12700k from the benchmarks I saw, but I thought Intel was more reliable because it's more popular. I do like that am5 came a year earlier than lga1700 making it potentially more future proof. But I'm concerned that I heard that amd has more ram incompatibility, at more amounts and speeds, and just not being as mature in general, is this true? Also is the 7600x worth it in terms of cost to performance over the 7600?

 

Also how big of a difference is 140hz and 170hz refresh rate?

7600 and 7700 are pretty similar for gaming performance just the 7600 has 2 less cores

 

amd is preffered due to being able to drop in a new cpu without having to do a mobo and ram swap ontop of that theres also better efficiency so lower power bills and less cooling required

 

referesh rate is something youll have to see for yourself, 60 -> 90 or 120 is a massive diff but above that depends on the person

 

also those statements are outdated and only true for a few months after am5 release and now theyve ironed out a decent chunk of the issues

 

On 4/28/2024 at 6:23 PM, Somerandomtechyboi said:

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/WtKqfy

7700x + 6800 + 32gb 6000c32

 

microcenter 7700x bundle covers the cpu mobo and rams

 

now on am5 so no need to board or ram swap if you wanna upgrade cpu, also the 7700x will outperform the 12700k in singlecore and you can also get a 7800x3d bundle incase you play stuff like factorio or some other games that benifit a ton from the extra cache

 

upgraded cooler which is abit better than the peerless assassin

 

upgraded ssd to a cheaper and faster dram gen 4, no gen 4 doesnt matter but if you find a cheap dram gen4 that isnt much more than a dram gen 3 like the mushkin tempest you might aswell go gen4 just because its better value

 

upgraded gpu to a 6800, pricing is somewhat competitive to used gpus so its a pretty decent option, speaking of which you may be able to find a used 6800xt around the 350-400$ mark which will perform abit better but optional

 

case is personal preference but since you seem to like rgb went for a case that includes 4 rgb fans, also a very spacious case afaik

 

psu has been upgraded to a 1000w which still retains a 10 year warranty

 

dont have any reccomendations for peripherals so ill let the others reccomend peripherals

 

 

dont need thermal paste as theres paste included with your cooler and as5 is not only outdated overpriced trash its also conductive so accidentally spill that on your board and you might short something, though if you do need any thermal paste in the future my reccomendation would be gd007/gd-2 or arctic mx4/6, former is cheaper and should perform similarly to mx4

 

noctua fans are pricey and arctic has already demolished em with the p12 max, you really wanna avoid buying fans if possible since theyre pretty pricey and you can get a bunch of included fans with your case, though if you go for a case with no included fans or only 1 fan then theres some cheap thermalright 3 pack rgb fans for around 12$ and should get the job done for airflow

btw theres also a 7800x3d bundle for 500$ and that will compete against and sometimes beat a 14900k in gaming at a fraction of the power draw, youll see the biggest diffs in games like factorio but alot of other games also benifit from the extra cache

 

it does cut the peripherals from 400$ to 300$ but im sure you can still find decent monitors 200$ and below

 

5 hours ago, Phenz said:

What are the benefits of TLC flash ssd over the regular, and what about this ssd: https://pcpartpicker.com/product/2VJgXL/teamgroup-mp44l-2-tb-m2-2280-pcie-40-x4-nvme-solid-state-drive-tm8fpk002t0c101

 

TEAMGROUP MP44L 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4

 

And is western digital blue reliable?

and theres no reason to even bother with this as the m482 in my list is a hell of alot faster with a dram cache and tlc whilst being straight up cheaper, theres no reason to pay more for an inferior product

[mariushm]

8 hours ago, Phenz said:

What are the benefits of TLC flash ssd over the regular, and what about this ssd: https://pcpartpicker.com/product/2VJgXL/teamgroup-mp44l-2-tb-m2-2280-pcie-40-x4-nvme-solid-state-drive-tm8fpk002t0c101

 

TEAMGROUP MP44L 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4

 

And is western digital blue reliable?

TLC memory stores 3 bits in every memory cell , QLC memory stores 4 bits in each memory cell but it takes more time to actually write those bits in the memory cell so if the write cache is full, you get much slower write speeds to the drive. 

 

Because there's 4 bits packed in every cell, QLC has much lower endurance, the flash wears out faster.

 

The Teamgroup drive you link to also uses TLC and looking at specs, it looks pretty ok.  Probably has smaller write cache (the 1 TB version seems to be limited to maximum 69 GB of write cache, so the 2 TB would be double that) but usually you wouldn't  write tens of gigabytes daily to the drive.

 

I can't say anything about that MSI Spatium M482 other than the price is misleading, it's only $109 if you buy it directly from MSI website, it's $125 on amazon... wouldn't trust a company store to process order fast, ship it well to me, not have package lost and be unable to do anything about it, at least Amazon I've used before.  The Spatium 480 according to specs is fine, so if 482 is just a refined 480 it would be fine.

 

 

 

 

[Phenz]

8 hours ago, Somerandomtechyboi said:

 

 

7600 and 7700 are pretty similar for gaming performance just the 7600 has 2 less cores

 

 

Did you mean 7600x?

8 hours ago, Somerandomtechyboi said:

 

amd is preffered due to being able to drop in a new cpu without having to do a mobo and ram swap ontop of that theres also better efficiency so lower power bills and less cooling required

 

 

Wdym? Don't all the 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, and 14th gen intel chips all use the lga1700 socket? And why would you need to switch ram for a new CPU, other that from moving between ddr versions (ddr 4 to ddr 5)?

 

8 hours ago, Somerandomtechyboi said:

 

 

referesh rate is something youll have to see for yourself, 60 -> 90 or 120 is a massive diff but above that depends on the person

 

High refresh rate (say 240hz) only matters if you can hit the same fps or higher right (240 fps)?

 

8 hours ago, Somerandomtechyboi said:

also those statements are outdated and only true for a few months after am5 release and now theyve ironed out a decent chunk of the issues

How can they do that after the chip is already released? Through a bios / uefi update?

 

8 hours ago, Somerandomtechyboi said:

 

btw theres also a 7800x3d bundle for 500$ and that will compete against and sometimes beat a 14900k in gaming at a fraction of the power draw, youll see the biggest diffs in games like factorio but alot of other games also benifit from the extra cache

 

it does cut the peripherals from 400$ to 300$ but im sure you can still find decent monitors 200$ and below

unfortunately, my closest micro store is 6 hours away :(, and the 7800x3d is sold out even there.

8 hours ago, Somerandomtechyboi said:

and theres no reason to even bother with this as the m482 in my list is a hell of alot faster with a dram cache and tlc whilst being straight up cheaper, theres no reason to pay more for an inferior product

How did you find out the m482 is faster? From the manufacturer's specs or online benchmarks?

[Phenz]

6 hours ago, mariushm said:

TLC memory stores 3 bits in every memory cell , QLC memory stores 4 bits in each memory cell but it takes more time to actually write those bits in the memory cell so if the write cache is full, you get much slower write speeds to the drive. 

 

Because there's 4 bits packed in every cell, QLC has much lower endurance, the flash wears out faster.

 

The Teamgroup drive you link to also uses TLC and looking at specs, it looks pretty ok.  Probably has smaller write cache (the 1 TB version seems to be limited to maximum 69 GB of write cache, so the 2 TB would be double that) but usually you wouldn't  write tens of gigabytes daily to the drive.

 

I can't say anything about that MSI Spatium M482 other than the price is misleading, it's only $109 if you buy it directly from MSI website, it's $125 on amazon... wouldn't trust a company store to process order fast, ship it well to me, not have package lost and be unable to do anything about it, at least Amazon I've used before.  The Spatium 480 according to specs is fine, so if 482 is just a refined 480 it would be fine.

 

 

 

 

Ty for the info, it seems like all the newer ssds all use tlc right?

 

And what is write cache(does it have something to do with the sequential write and read specs about ssds?)? And where can I look it up for a specific SSD, I couldn't find it on the manufacturer's website or other websites.

[mariushm]

Pretty much all SSDs these days use TLC or QLC memory.  QLC is supposed to be cheaper and will be found in more budget drives.

Because it's more complicated to store 4 bits in a memory cell, QLC is slower to write data into, compared to TLC. Some QLC chips are as slow as 60-100 MB/s when writing to a flash memory chip, compared to over 300-500 MB/s for TLC memory. Reading is usually faster for both types.

 

SSD Controllers get faster read and write speeds by reading and writing from multiple flash chips in parallel. A more budget controller may have only 4 channels so it can read and write in 4 chips at the same time, a more high end / enterprise controller will have 8 channels... but just because it has so many doesn't mean all will be used.

 

For example a cheap no-name budget 256 GB SSD may use a 512 GB flash memory chip that was tested in factory and found to have faults in a half of the chip area, so the factory deactivated that faulty half and now the chip has only 2 channels, so that SSD will have lower performance.

 

So anyway, by writing in parallel to multiple chips, a TLC drive can get up to 1.5 to 3 GB/s , while a QLC drive may get up to 300-500 MB/s.

 

In order to get even faster write speeds, a SSD controller can take a portion or nearly ALL of the unused flash memory and switch it to SLC mode, where instead of writing 3 bits in each cell in the case of TLC, or 4 bits in the case of QLC, they store only 1 bit in each cell .... and by storing only 1 bit in each cell, they can get faster speeds ... like in the 4-7 GB/s for pci-e 4.0 drives. 

 

After the writing is finished (if this area isn't full), the SSD controller will slowly take portions of this data, and write it again in areas of the flash memory that are still in TLC or QLC mode, freeing the SLC mode memory to accept writes again.

 

If this area becomes full and you still have stuff to write, the write speed of the drive will drop down ... for example a TLC drive may drop from 4 GB/s to around 600 MB/s to 1000 MB/s while a QLC drive may drop to 100-250 MB/s

 

You won't notice these things if you have a lot of free space on the SSD, but you'll notice the more you fill up the drive.

 

For example, let's say you have two SSDs with 100 GB of free space, one TLC and one QLC and you want to install a 50 GB game.  The TLC drive will transparently convert that 100 GB of free space into around 32 GB of SLC write cache, while the QLC drive will only get around 24 GB.  

Both drives will install the game at 3-4 GB/s (if your download speed or read speeds are high enough) for as long as the write cache has room, afterwards it will slow down. 

 

So with TLC, you'd install 32 GB out of 50 GB in let's say 10s at 3 GB/s then you'd install the remaining 20 GB in 20-40 seconds at 500MB/s - 1 GB/s .. so 30-50 seconds in total. 

 

With QLC, you'll install 24 GB in 8 seconds, the the rest of 36 GB will install at 200 MB/s , taking 36 x 5 = 180 seconds so in total around 190 seconds.

 

It slows down in both cases because when the SLC is full, it has to take one block of SLC and convert it back into blocks of TLC or QLC memory and write the data in the TLC or QLC mode, while still accepting incoming data.

 

 

DRAM on SSDs won't help with this, because DRAM is rarely used to cache writes to a SSD. DRAM if present is used mostly to keep track of where data is stored in flash memory chips (as in chunk 100 of file xyz is stored in flash memory chip 2, block 100, page 10) .... SSDs don't store data like classic hard drives in continuous tracks on platters, they spread the data across memory chips and channels to increase flash memory chips life and to get higher speeds, so the drives need a lookup table to figure out where some data in stored in the memory chips.

 

If the controller doesn't have DRAM, it will "burrow" a portion of RAM from the computer (usually up to 64MB) and store portions of that lookup file in that ram (it's called HMB or HBM, too lazy to look it up, host buffer memory) and it works almost as fast as having DRAM, and if the SSD can not borrow memory (for example in case of plain old SATA SSDs) it will have to read this table from a hidden portion of flash memory on the drive. 

 

So a drive with DRAM will be better at reading lots of small files at the same time, will be better at lots of parallel read operations, because it takes a bit less time to find the stuff in the memory chips ... but you don't do this often when it's just a SSD that has your Windows or it, or when you launch a game from the SSD.

 

Think of it like the difference between 5400 rpm drives and 7200 rpm drives, 7200 rpm drives can be a bit faster when reading lots of small files because of access times (it takes less time for the platters to spin a complete rotation to get the data under the read/write heads) but it's not a perfect analogy.... a 5400 rpm drive can be faster than a 7200 rpm drive at continuous transfers, it depends on how many bits can be packed on platters, how much data can go under the read/write head in one rotation. A modern 5400 rpm drive with 2 TB per platter will transfer more in one spin compared to a 7200 rpm drive with 1 TB per platter.

 

But as I said, for most home users just using the drive for an operating system or for running games on the SSD,  it's not needed, for pci-e drives that HMB  / HBM makes up for it.