Building Another New PC

[Donutwithacape]

Hey guys, you've been so helpful assisting me in figuring out which pieces to put into my first PC build, that I thought you'd be an excellent help in aiding my second build (which will happen basically at the same time as mine), my girlfriend's PC.

My build that you guys helped me create, in case anyone is interested: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/qKsvpb

 

I'll provide the link to her build below, at the bottom of this post.

 

I'll follow the guidelines in the sticky post here as well:

 

1. Budget & Location:

We are located in the US, and her budget is less than $1000, preferably around $800. Considering we won't need to purchase a GPU, that makes it much easier I think.

2. Aim:

The aim of her PC is to be a modern gaming PC that hasn't any issue playing any games at high or even medium setting. Maybe not The Witcher III on highest, but think consistent FPS and fluid gameplay in Overwatch on highest. She also wants to do creative work, including Adobe Photoshop CS6, which her current PC has a hard time running and semi-frequently lags and freezes.

3. Monitors:

She currently has one older monitor, but wants a second one. This is a non-issue however, as I am giving her one of mine once I upgrade my PC (she'll be getting a one-year-old 1920x1080 monitor @60hz as her new primary/gaming monitor). So in conclusion, she will have two monitors total and neither of which should be factored into the budget.

4. Peripherals:

I will be purchasing one copy of Windows 10 64-bit (pro, home, education, whatever)

5. Why am I Upgrading?

Her current PC is a custom-build from 2010 and has the ability to keep up with games at medium to low settings, but not without difficulty. She enjoys creating in Adobe Photoshop CS6, so it's crucial that her PC be a whiz at Photoshop and photo editing, and less important that it be a gaming beast. Less important doesn't mean not important, though.

 

It is worth mentioning that she has semi-recently been gifted the GPU and 120mm fans in the parts list, so those will not be necessary purchases. She needs a new case and her current situation has low ventilation where she'd put it. She has 3 cats and one likes to sit on top of the case every now and again, so preferably, case suggestions with no ventilation on top and IOs in the front will be most considered. I'd like to get her the best airflow case I can with these restrictions and keep it within budget. She definitely wants and SSD for load times in games, the OS, and other miscellaneous programs.

 

I chose a Ryzen processor because I hear they are best for hybrid gaming/creating PCs, but I'm not a Ryzen or Intel fanboy. I will go with whatever you guys think is best BFYB.

 

Her build that I've created is here: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/xYfgkT

I will edit and update it as necessary.

 

Thank you guys so much for your continued help!

[QuantumBit]

Get a 1600 (non x) no extra cpu cooler, and maybe sell the r9 380 and use the extra $40-50 saved from the cooler and get a 1060 6gb.

[DocSwag]

Go for a 1600 non x and use the stock CPU cooler instead. I would also get some cheaper ram but other than that your list looks good.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 1600 3.2GHz 6-Core Processor  ($193.67 @ OutletPC) 
Motherboard: Asus - PRIME B350-PLUS ATX AM4 Motherboard  ($93.88 @ OutletPC) 
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory  ($149.99 @ Newegg) 
Storage: Samsung - 850 EVO-Series 1TB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($298.89 @ OutletPC) 
Video Card: Asus - Radeon R9 380 4GB Video Card  (Purchased For $0.00) 
Power Supply: Corsair - TXM Gold 650W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($79.99 @ Newegg) 
Case Fan: Corsair - Air Series SP120 Quiet Edition (2-Pack) 37.9 CFM  120mm Fans  (Purchased For $0.00) 
Total: $816.42
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-11-06 09:31 EST-0500

 

One thing that is noting is photoshop is actually quite single threaded, so something like an i5 8400 may be a better choice. However, it does cost more and I feel like a 1600 at 3.6/3.7 ghz will be fast enough that going to an 8400 won't make a difference.

 

As for case, I'm not sure if this is exactly the type of thing you're looking for, but maybe a master box lite 5? I'm not sure if the IO is exactly where you want it to be.

7 minutes ago, QuantumBit said:

Get a 1600 (non x) no extra cpu cooler, and maybe sell the r9 380 and use the extra $40-50 saved from the cooler and get a 1060 6gb.

Considering what OP's GF is doing with the pc, I don't think the extra horsepower would be noticed tho

[Avve1000]

What do you guys think of this? https://pcpartpicker.com/list/MLKVM8

[lukart]

2 minutes ago, Avve1000 said:

What do you guys think of this? https://pcpartpicker.com/list/MLKVM8

The board is too weak for such high end CPU.

This one if you can afford.

https://pcpartpicker.com/product/fZKhP6/asrock-x370-taichi-atx-am4-motherboard-x370-taichi

[Avve1000]

1 minute ago, lukart said:

The board is too weak for such high end CPU.

This one if you can afford.

https://pcpartpicker.com/product/fZKhP6/asrock-x370-taichi-atx-am4-motherboard-x370-taichi

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/zdctPs better? I mean if you dont go like i did (cpu heavy) you could go more balanced if you sell the graphics card and then get a 1600x a cooler and a 1060 6gb  

[Donutwithacape]

13 minutes ago, DocSwag said:

Go for a 1600 non x and use the stock CPU cooler instead. I would also get some cheaper ram but other than that your list looks good.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 1600 3.2GHz 6-Core Processor  ($193.67 @ OutletPC) 
Motherboard: Asus - PRIME B350-PLUS ATX AM4 Motherboard  ($93.88 @ OutletPC) 
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory  ($149.99 @ Newegg) 
Storage: Samsung - 850 EVO-Series 1TB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($298.89 @ OutletPC) 
Video Card: Asus - Radeon R9 380 4GB Video Card  (Purchased For $0.00) 
Power Supply: Corsair - TXM Gold 650W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($79.99 @ Newegg) 
Case Fan: Corsair - Air Series SP120 Quiet Edition (2-Pack) 37.9 CFM  120mm Fans  (Purchased For $0.00) 
Total: $816.42
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-11-06 09:31 EST-0500

 

One thing that is noting is photoshop is actually quite single threaded, so something like an i5 8400 may be a better choice. However, it does cost more and I feel like a 1600 at 3.6/3.7 ghz will be fast enough that going to an 8400 won't make a difference.

 

As for case, I'm not sure if this is exactly the type of thing you're looking for, but maybe a master box lite 5? I'm not sure if the IO is exactly where you want it to be.

Considering what OP's GF is doing with the pc, I don't think the extra horsepower would be noticed tho

Thank you for this. Although I'm looking back that the build I made and I'm reading reviews that the ASUS Prime B350 is only great after having tons of issues with it; I'd gladly spend more to avoid those aggravations.

 

Anyway, about what you were saying, I'll get whichever CPU is the best bang for my buck, and I know nothing of how Photoshop operates. She is definitely a gamer, and I'm sure she wants as good as she can get for the money, but she is also not someone who needs the best. She's more of an "upgrade when it needs to be upgraded" type person, so the r9 380 will be fine for her for, I don't know, 2 years or so? Then she'll consider upgrading. Anything new she gets that is recent within a year and a half or so will be a massive upgrade for her.

7 minutes ago, Avve1000 said:

What do you guys think of this? https://pcpartpicker.com/list/MLKVM8

I quite like that, but why the Ryzen 7 1700 over the Ryzen 5 1600?

4 minutes ago, lukart said:

The board is too weak for such high end CPU.

This one if you can afford.

https://pcpartpicker.com/product/fZKhP6/asrock-x370-taichi-atx-am4-motherboard-x370-taichi

That's a little pricey. I don't know if she'll even need a Ryzen 7 1700.

[DocSwag]

1 hour ago, Donutwithacape said:

Thank you for this. Although I'm looking back that the build I made and I'm reading reviews that the ASUS Prime B350 is only great after having tons of issues with it; I'd gladly spend more to avoid those aggravations.

 

Weird, but if you want something that should be pretty decent there's the B350-F gaming, which costs about $10 more.

1 hour ago, Donutwithacape said:

Anyway, about what you were saying, I'll get whichever CPU is the best bang for my buck, and I know nothing of how Photoshop operates. She is definitely a gamer, and I'm sure she wants as good as she can get for the money, but she is also not someone who needs the best. She's more of an "upgrade when it needs to be upgraded" type person, so the r9 380 will be fine for her for, I don't know, 2 years or so? Then she'll consider upgrading. Anything new she gets that is recent within a year and a half or so will be a massive upgrade for her.

If you're looking purely at photoshop then single threaded performance is what you want, in which case something like an 8350k might actually be better, since you could OC it to pretty high frequencies.

 

https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/Photoshop-CC-2017-1-1-CPU-Performance-Core-i7-8700K-i5-8600K-i3-8350K-1057/

 

However, availability is a huge issue...

[Donutwithacape]

8 minutes ago, DocSwag said:

Weird, but if you want something that should be pretty decent there's the B350-F gaming, which costs about $10 more.

If you're looking purely at photoshop then single threaded performance is what you want, in which case something like an 8350k might actually be better, since you could OC it to pretty high frequencies.

 

https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/Photoshop-CC-2017-1-1-CPU-Performance-Core-i7-8700K-i5-8600K-i3-8350K-1057/

 

However, availability is a huge issue...

So, considering that photoshop is a big deal, I should opt for Intel over Ryzen? I understand Ryzen is better for multitasking, but I don't forsee her streaming or whatever. Should I opt for a Kaby Lake or even a Skylake versus a Ryzen when gaming and Photoshopping are the top 2 things to aim for in this PC? I don't want to get a PC that will sacrifice performance in Photoshop and the like for better performance in games.

 

I hope I'm making what I'm asking at least somewhat clear 

[DocSwag]

1 hour ago, Donutwithacape said:

So, considering that photoshop is a big deal, I should opt for Intel over Ryzen? I understand Ryzen is better for multitasking, but I don't forsee her streaming or whatever. Should I opt for a Kaby Lake or even a Skylake versus a Ryzen when gaming and Photoshopping are the top 2 things to aim for in this PC? I don't want to get a PC that will sacrifice performance in Photoshop and the like for better performance in games.

 

I hope I'm making what I'm asking at least somewhat clear 

I would say yes.

 

Photoshop really only cares about single threaded performance so theoretically you would want max single threaded performance, which would be achieved by an overclocked 8350k.

 

However, considering the difficulty you're gonna have finding an unlocked coffee lake cpu, I would probably say go for an 8400. If you look here, even with a stock 1400 the heavy photoshop workload is taking under 2 seconds so it's not worth the trouble to go looking for an 8350k or something instead of an 8400, which can boost to 4 ghz on a single thread anyways.

 

[Donutwithacape]

8 minutes ago, DocSwag said:

I would say yes.

 

Photoshop really only cares about single threaded performance so theoretically you would want max single threaded performance, which would be achieved by an overclocked 8350k.

 

However, considering the difficulty you're gonna have finding an unlocked coffee lake cpu, I would probably say go for an 8400. If you look here, even with a stock 1400 the heavy photoshop workload is taking under 2 seconds so it's not worth the trouble to go looking for an 8350k or something instead of an 8400, which can boost to 4 ghz on a single thread anyways.

 

Thank you for this. I suppose I should stop considering Ryzen altogether then. The dilemma I have now is; should I get her the i5-8400 or go back a generation and get her the i7-7700 for a bit more money but with higher core clocks, boost speeds, and hyper threading?

[DocSwag]

52 minutes ago, Donutwithacape said:

Thank you for this. I suppose I should stop considering Ryzen altogether then. The dilemma I have now is; should I get her the i5-8400 or go back a generation and get her the i7-7700 for a bit more money but with higher core clocks, boost speeds, and hyper threading?

I would still say 8400. It does have more cores and while 7700 has higher clocks it's not a huge difference and I would say the future support z370 will get is more worth it.

[Donutwithacape]

1 minute ago, DocSwag said:

I would still say 8400. It does have more cores and while 7700 has higher clocks it's not a huge difference and I would say the future support z370 will get is more worth it.

Thank you very much. I will do just this. Now to come to a conclusion on the two PC's cases and all will be right with the world.

[Avve1000]

5 hours ago, Donutwithacape said:

I quite like that, but why the Ryzen 7 1700 over the Ryzen 5 1600?

More performance and more cores for photoshop and more heavy programes. But ofc more expensive  

[DocSwag]

2 hours ago, Donutwithacape said:

Thank you very much. I will do just this. Now to come to a conclusion on the two PC's cases and all will be right with the world.

For the pc case, is your main concern the IO? I'd imagine the top exhaust shouldn't be too big of an issue, since there are other exhaust locations

29 minutes ago, Avve1000 said:

More performance and more cores for photoshop and more heavy programes. But ofc more expensive  

Photoshop, contrary to popular belief, is actually quite single threaded.

[Avve1000]

58 minutes ago, DocSwag said:

Photoshop, contrary to popular belief, is actually quite single threaded.

Yeah well it was just a random example. You are probably right

[Avve1000]

7 hours ago, Donutwithacape said:

I quite like that

Btw get windows 10 from kinguin its waaay cheaper than normal one. The only difference is the OEM thing, otherwise its the exact same thing. 

[Donutwithacape]

18 hours ago, DocSwag said:

For the pc case, is your main concern the IO? I'd imagine the top exhaust shouldn't be too big of an issue, since there are other exhaust locations

Well, yes. She is concerned that her cat will hit the top power button and turn the PC off while sitting on top of the case. I also don't want his fur and such dropping into her case from a top exhaust port, causing any preventable damage or clogging of the internals.

 

Same with my PC, honestly. The case I chose for mine has a top IO and top exhaust (albeit with a rather dense-looking magnetic dust cover), and is the Phanteks Enthoo Pro M. Her case, I have yet to decide on, but was thinking about the Silverstone SST-PS14.