Small PC Recommendations for First Time Builder

defiantrubberduck · November 23, 2024

Budget (including currency): No idea, things are expensive. Maybe $1,000USD?

Country: United States

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Light gaming, more indie titles than AAA games. I have a PS4 and Xbox1 for the graphics heavy games.

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):

I've been thinking of building a PC for a while now, I've currently got an almost 10 year old macbook that's on it's last legs of life, so it's time for an upgrade. I haven't built a PC before, but I'm confident with all the build videos LTT has put out I'll be able to manage.

I don't have a part's list, just some benchmarks. I've been playing with pcpp, but I have no idea what any of the numbers behind the names mean so it's a bit confusing.

I know at minimum I'll need 16gb ram, prefer AMD but intel is cool too, and have been looking at ITX or mATX. It doesn't need to be overly powerful, I know smaller form factor will be limiting.

Any recommendations or advise is much appreciated!

Zenny232323 · November 23, 2024

10 minutes ago, defiantrubberduck said:

Budget (including currency): No idea, things are expensive. Maybe $1,000USD?

Country: United States

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Light gaming, more indie titles than AAA games. I have a PS4 and Xbox1 for the graphics heavy games.

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):

I've been thinking of building a PC for a while now, I've currently got an almost 10 year old macbook that's on it's last legs of life, so it's time for an upgrade. I haven't built a PC before, but I'm confident with all the build videos LTT has put out I'll be able to manage.

I don't have a part's list, just some benchmarks. I've been playing with pcpp, but I have no idea what any of the numbers behind the names mean so it's a bit confusing.

I know at minimum I'll need 16gb ram, prefer AMD but intel is cool too, and have been looking at ITX or mATX. It doesn't need to be overly powerful, I know smaller form factor will be limiting.

Any recommendations or advise is much appreciated!

How GPU intensive are your indie games? You can probably just get an APU, and if you ever want to get into heavier games slot a GPU after.
I'll throw an APU and an GPU build soon.

Zenny232323 · November 23, 2024

Okay, here's a build with a GPU:

PCPartPicker Part List: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/6s7xYd

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 7600 3.8 GHz 6-Core Processor ($178.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE 66.17 CFM CPU Cooler ($34.90 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: MSI PRO B650M-P Micro ATX AM5 Motherboard ($99.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: G.Skill Flare X5 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 Memory ($99.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Acer Predator GM7000 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive ($115.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: XFX Speedster QICK 319 Core Radeon RX 6750 XT 12 GB Video Card ($310.62 @ Amazon)
Case: Lian Li A3-mATX MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($69.98 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Corsair RM750x (2021) 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($79.98 @ Amazon)
Total: $990.44
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2024-11-22 23:46 EST-0500

Overall, a good 1440p gaming rig.
Now if you dont need that much horsepower as you said, ditch the GPU, get a 8600/700G. Going to be $780. Maybe get the samsung 990pro, it's $160 because of black friday, a nice price for a powerful drive. But tbh the gm7000 will also be very good aswell.