Building a new PC for a friend

[Nighthawk31]

Budget (including currency): $1,650 USD

Country: United States

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: A bunch of varying types of games ranging from Elden Ring, Hell Let Loose. To games like Due Process and other indie games. other workloads include music processing software, mixing and other mundane tasks.

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): 

Helping a friend upgrade from an Alienware Aurora Prebuilt to this computer. Only thing being transferred is the Graphics Card (2060 Super) with intention to upgrade it later on. Going to be buying part this week. Main monitor is a 34" ultrawide at 1440p with a second 24"? (Not Exactly sure on size) at 1080p. 

 

Here is the general mockup of parts that I have created. Mainly looking to find alternative parts that will do the same job but maybe a little cheaper, ie the storage, cooler, motherboard, ram, power supply.

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/NNYq74

 

Thank you for assistance and will answer any needed questions.

[Nighthawk31]

Oh forgot to add this, generally trying to do as little RGB as possible but if needed is fine, also if the RGB can be disabled easily it a plus. Also forgot to add 2 games, Minecraft with higher render distance and mods as well as a game called vintage story with the same goals.

[Millios]

Chopped off about 140$ (can do more if you ask for more saving) and overall upgraded the storage with better SSDs and doubled the RAM to 64gb

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/RhTq74

[Why_Me]

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D 4.7 GHz 8-Core Processor  ($479.00 @ Amazon) 
CPU Cooler: *ID-COOLING FROZN A620 PRO SE 58 CFM CPU Cooler  ($29.99 @ Amazon) 
Motherboard: *MSI PRO B850-P WIFI ATX AM5 Motherboard  ($159.99 @ Newegg) 
Memory: *Patriot Venom 64 GB (2 x 32 GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 Memory  ($144.99 @ Newegg) 
Storage: *Acer Predator GM7000 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive  ($112.99 @ Amazon) 
Storage: *TEAMGROUP QX 4 TB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($189.99 @ Amazon) 
Case: *Lian Li LANCOOL 216 ATX Mid Tower Case  ($122.87 @ Amazon) 
Power Supply: MSI MAG A850GL PCIE5 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply  ($110.99 @ Amazon) 
Total: $1350.81
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2025-03-27 14:06 EDT-0400 

 

https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/PRO-B850-P-WIFI 

 

https://www.idcooling.com/product/detail?id=496&name=FROZN A620 PRO SE 

 

https://www.predatorstorage.com/products/pcie-m-2-ssd/predator-gm7000-pcie-4-ssd/  

 

https://lian-li.com/product/lancool-216/ 

 

 

[Nighthawk31]

Will definitely use the storage and ram thank you. For the case fans, I am not very well versed when it comes to fans and the noise difference between brands as well as which fans are able to have their speed adjusted. Looking to be able to almost turn the case fans off (just very low speed when idle) to help with noise and trying to keep the sound down overall as well. Planning to do the 3 120mm fans in the front, the 2 cooler tower fans, as well as 1 or 2 exhaust fans on the top and back.

[Why_Me]

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D 4.7 GHz 8-Core Processor  ($479.00 @ Amazon) 
CPU Cooler: *ID-COOLING FROZN A620 PRO SE 58 CFM CPU Cooler  ($29.99 @ Amazon) 
Motherboard: *MSI X670E GAMING PLUS WIFI ATX AM5 Motherboard  ($208.99 @ Amazon) 
Memory: *Patriot Venom 64 GB (2 x 32 GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 Memory  ($144.99 @ Newegg) 
Storage: *Acer Predator GM7000 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive  ($112.99 @ Amazon) 
Storage: *Crucial P3 Plus 4 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive  ($219.95 @ Amazon) 
Case: *Lian Li LANCOOL 216 ATX Mid Tower Case  ($122.87 @ Amazon) 
Power Supply: MSI MAG A850GL PCIE5 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply  ($110.99 @ Amazon) 
Total: $1429.77
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2025-03-27 14:10 EDT-0400

 

https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/X670E-GAMING-PLUS-WIFI

 

[CatTNT]

If he only occasionally does productivity programs, then the above build by Millios is already almost perfect. If he does more productivity, then you could swap the CPU to a 9900X, 9900X3D, or 9950X., No matter what, I would also swap the cooler to a Thermalright Phantom Spirit 120SE or similar, since it costs 1/4 of a Noctua D15 for the same/better performance. Use that saved money for a CPU upgrade (if needed) or save it, or use it for 64GB of ram. 

I built a system for my brother 2 months ago with a 9950X and Phantom Spirit 120SE, $35 cooler. Performs above stock with a 43K-44K Cinebench R23 multicore score. Hits 85C at 250-260W peak load, using PBO profile "Set Thermal Point 85". No other overclocking or modifications other than that. 



https://www.techpowerup.com/review/thermalright-phantom-spirit-120-evo-argb-cpu-air-cooler/6.html

[KidKid]

29 minutes ago, Nighthawk31 said:

Budget (including currency): $1,650 USD

Country: United States

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: A bunch of varying types of games ranging from Elden Ring, Hell Let Loose. To games like Due Process and other indie games. other workloads include music processing software, mixing and other mundane tasks.

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): 

Helping a friend upgrade from an Alienware Aurora Prebuilt to this computer. Only thing being transferred is the Graphics Card (2060 Super) with intention to upgrade it later on. Going to be buying part this week. Main monitor is a 34" ultrawide at 1440p with a second 24"? (Not Exactly sure on size) at 1080p. 

 

Here is the general mockup of parts that I have created. Mainly looking to find alternative parts that will do the same job but maybe a little cheaper, ie the storage, cooler, motherboard, ram, power supply.

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/NNYq74

 

Thank you for assistance and will answer any needed questions.

Seems good, but you could save money on motherboard (really doesn't affect performance that much, unless you need a lot of PCIE devices), and the rest seems pretty good.

[Millios]

1 minute ago, Nighthawk31 said:

 I am not very well versed when it comes to fans and the noise difference between brands as well as which fans are able to have their speed adjusted. Looking to be able to almost turn the case fans off (just very low speed when idle) to help with noise and trying to keep the sound down overall as well. Planning to do the 3 120mm fans in the front, the 2 cooler tower fans, as well as 1 or 2 exhaust fans on the top and back.

Noctua has the most silent ones but those will drive up the cost

Arctic has the best value fans as they are dirt cheap and pretty silent, especially the f12 ones

Lian Li has the most aesthetic fans but they are quite pricey as well so I'd advise against those

For speed control you want PWM 4pin fans (PCPP tells you if they are PWM and 4pin)

 

The tower coolers have 2 fans (usually) included and just do 3 intake infront and 1 exhaust in the back to keep it effective but simple

[Nighthawk31]

Thank yall very much, will save on the cooler and mobo for sure as well as the changes to the Ram and Storage. I will definitely have to do a bit more research into the specific fans to get

[Millios]

3 minutes ago, Nighthawk31 said:

Thank yall very much, will save on the cooler and mobo for sure as well as the changes to the Ram and Storage. I will definitely have to do a bit more research into the specific fans to get

I'll reccomend you look at ppl like matt lee, hardware canuks and cybernetics who have a strong name in the space and do comprehensive reviews on specific models and brands