Build my new PC

tonyandpals

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Mar 18, 2004
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I need to get the kids a computer. My 12yo son has a dated dell laptop, but it's time to get him something he (and his 8yo twin siblings) can work on with a little more power.

I used to build my own machines on a regular basis (20+ years ago), so I'm comfortable with putting them together. I am just WAY behind on the tech these days. I'm thinking the video card (not using an onboard) and the memory are going to be a major drivers here. My cursory googling has lead me here as I can't process any of it...

Aside from the basics it will primarily will be used for all things art. Drawing, animation, video editing, short movies. It will need to support the Adobe Creative suite. Likely some gaming as well (Minecraft/Fortnite type stuff)

Budget in the sub 1.5k range would great. A little more if splurging on a nice monitor (or possibly duals). Thanks

edit: I should mention SoSH was great in helping me build my last PC (which was a little more basic than this one).
 

bsj

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Dec 6, 2003
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I just this week bought my son a new machine. He is going off to college and we wanted something that would last for at least the 4 years, and would also work for his major which is Sustainable Architecture and Building Design, so wanted to get a 2 in 1.

I did a bunch of research and all in, I was very happy with this machine (we customized a few options), which came out to under $1,100 on a Memorial Day sale. Specs are spoilered for those who dont care

HP ENVY x360 15 Convertible PC
Product number: 464Z2AV
Adobe 1 month trial
15.6" diagonal FHD, IPS, micro-edge WLED-backlit, multitouch-enabled, edge-to-edge glass, 400 nitsB (1920 x 1080)
No DVD or CD Drive
1 TB PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD - Upgraded this from a 512
Full-size island-style backlit keyboard NSV
Security Software Trial
16 GB DDR4-3200 SDRAM (2 x 8 GB) -- This is about the most you can get in this price range
Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX 201 (2x2) and Bluetooth 5 combo (Supporting Gigabit file transfer speeds)
No Additional Office Software - He has access to this software at school
Windows 11 Home 64 Plus
HP Wide Vision HD Camera with camera shutter and integrated dual array digital microphone (Natural Silver)
3-cell,51 WhLi-ionpolymer
Intel Core i7-1195G7 (up to 5.0 GHz, 12 MB L3 cache, 4 cores, 8 threads) + Intel Iris Xe Graphics
HP Rechargeable MPP2.0 Tilt Pen (Natural Silver)
 

DamageTrain

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Sep 29, 2014
666
Vermont
I've built a couple machines in the last couple of years and have really enjoyed the NewEgg custom PC builder

https://www.newegg.com/tools/custom-pc-builder/

This tool ensures everything plays together and enables comparison shopping and reading through reviews.

I think the new cases are amazing in terms of user friendliness, organization, and design compared to the builds I did a decade ago. Building was so easy this time around. The SSD drives are tiny these days -- M.2 form factor is the fastest and smallest. Because of this, I would aim for a mini case in most situations unless building a gaming computer that requires a heavy-duty cooler.

I've been very happy with the muscle of the AMD Ryzen chips and the stock cooler has worked fine for me in both cases. Built this one for my daughter earlier this year:

  • Ryzen 5 5600 X -- $200
  • Gigabyte B550I Aorus pro MB -- $207
  • 32 GB Ram -- $120
  • EVGA GeForce video card $128
  • MetallicGear case, Neo Mini: $60
  • Corsair 450 W power supply $105
  • Kingston 2TB Internal SSD $160
Under $1000 for basic hardware leaving a nice budget for OS, monitor, keyboard, etc.
 
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Max Power

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Time to Mo Vaughn

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I looked into this a few months ago when my 10 year old last from scratch PC build that I did starting having issues. There had been a few upgrades along the way like more RAM and a newer graphics card.

I actually ended up with a Intel NUC 11. The onboard graphic card is far superior to the 6 or 7 year old mid range dedicated graphics card I had been using. No issues running dual 4K monitors. Better handling of transcoding on the fly with the hardware enabled codecs. They also make a model that allows you to put in a full size graphics card.
 

AlNipper49

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It’s basically the same now except you really should put more focus on video cards than you did back then. And probably CPU cooking.

1. The video card not being integrated will future proof it, particularly as they get older and want to play some games

2. Don’t buy the cheapest CPU cooler and PSU. Those make a huge difference and the PSU going and CPU burning itself out are going to be your biggest variables going forward.

3. You can buy a cheaper video card now and upgrade later, just make sure the case can fit the good ones

4. Do you homework on cases. The easier the better. Most are confusing messes these days with some many people wanting the flexibility for LED lighting, etc

5. Oh, get a non-integrated wireless NIC. Drivers on the integrated ones can suck and also usually don’t have an option for an extra antenna. You always want the extra antenna. It’s not like your phone, these big metal cases can block a lot of signal.

Go make one at Pcpartpicker.com and post the link, you’ll get some good feedback
 

tonyandpals

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You guys are awesome. I wasn't aware of pcpartpicker. I'll see if I can make sense of it and go from there.
 

Bigdogx

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Jul 21, 2020
133
I'm actually in the process right now of building a workstation for a coworker who is sick of the normal IT guy ordering crap premade boxes and spending an arm and a leg for what amounts to an already outdated pc made with the cheapest components, so building it yourself is the right choice imo.

The new 12th gen intel chips are back to being on top over AMD but both now offer good solutions, the i7 12700k chip is a good under 400 dollar proc that will give some serious performance.

If this is a gaming pc almost a large chunk of your budget should be consumed by the gpu imo. I would also not go cheap because there really is no such thing today, 10 series GeForce cards that are nearing 8 years old now are still selling new for 2-300 dollars, that will be one of the cheaper options right now.

If it was me this is probably one of the better bang for your buck gpu's on the market right now View: https://www.amazon.com/ASUS-Graphics-DisplayPort-Axial-tech-2-7-Slot/dp/B0985Z47C8/ref=sr_1_2_mod_primary_new?adgrpid=1338106388446135&hvadid=83631853401269&hvbmt=bp&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=102988&hvnetw=o&hvqmt=p&hvtargid=kwd-83632111378131%3Aloc-190&hydadcr=24331_13514981&keywords=asus%2Bstrix%2B3060&qid=1654629920&sbo=RZvfv%2F%2FHxDF%2BO5021pAnSA%3D%3D&sr=8-2&th=1

Yes it sucks but $500 for the gpu is considered a budget card today
 

McDrew

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Apr 11, 2006
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Portland, OR
You guys are awesome. I wasn't aware of pcpartpicker. I'll see if I can make sense of it and go from there.
I've used it to build 3 machines over the last decade. The compatability checker and comparison shopping tools are fantastic and you can also just go look at recent builds to get an idea of what you can realistically budget. The PCPP exporter can let you generate lists for us to review as well if that helps.
 

Scott Cooper's Grand Slam

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Jul 12, 2008
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Aside from the basics it will primarily will be used for all things art. Drawing, animation, video editing, short movies. It will need to support the Adobe Creative suite. Likely some gaming as well (Minecraft/Fortnite type stuff)

Budget in the sub 1.5k range would great. A little more if splurging on a nice monitor (or possibly duals). Thanks
Just throwing this out there: you might want a Mac.

The M1 Mac Mini is $570 today on Amazon. It shows regular price of $669, but a $99 coupon is automatically added in cart. You'd need to buy peripherals (keyboard, trackpad, monitor).
The M1 MacBook Air starts at $999 with 8 GB of RAM and 256 GB. Apple just announced an M2 MacBook Air yesterday. It starts at $1199 and is available next month. That means you could see discounts on the M1.

The M1 MacBook Air is my computer of choice. It does all of the things you listed above without breaking a sweat. It is ridiculously fast and the battery is the best I've ever had in a laptop.
 

tonyandpals

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Okay, I need to get around to building this...
Has anyone seen any components that are must have at the price on prime day? Figured I'd start there since they have 6% cash back and a $200 promotion if I open an Amazon card.
 

Nick Kaufman

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Okay, I need to get around to building this...
Has anyone seen any components that are must have at the price on prime day? Figured I'd start there since they have 6% cash back and a $200 promotion if I open an Amazon card.
You are lucky, over the past couple of years, it's been sucky to build a new pc, but the next few months might be the best in quite a while.

A couple of pointers.

The first is about choosing hardware. In order to determine how good I want the GPU to be, I would start with the resolution of the monitor I want to buy. A 1440p monitor needs more GPU power than a 1080p monitor and a 4k monitor needs more GPU power than a 1440p monitor.

The screen resolution you would want will depend more or less on the size of the screen you want. If you want a 21 inch monitor or less, you should get a 1080p monitor. You can go with 1080p at 24 inches, but you can also upgrade to 1440p. At 27 inches 1080p goes out of the picture and it's either 1440p or 4k. Ar 32 inches and above 4k becomes standard.

For graphics work, you want an IPS panel with good viewing angles and color accuracy. If you are interested in gaming, you want to look at features like the refresh rate of the monitor or whether the monitor has free sync/gsync which prevents screen tearing when playing. This is because in games that require quick reaction time like shooters, it's preferable to have the GPU deliver as many Frames Per Second as possible. However, this also depends on the monitor. If a monitor has a refresh rate of 60 hz, it means it's delivering 60 fps max. 60hz is the standard for productivity monitors. But for gaming you might want to go 144hz or higher. But this is also a question of how much you want to spoil your children IMO. If they play games casually, they can live with 60hz.

For 1080p, I would go with either a 3060 or a 6600 series card. For 1440p, I would go with a 3060TI, a 3070 or a 6700. At 4k, go for a 3080 or better or a 6800 or better.

The second pointer regards timing. This fall, all 3 major companies will announce new CPU and GPU lines. Meanwhile, GPU prices are in the process of dropping like a stone after the fall of crypto prices. I don't think prices have bottomed out, but they are getting there.

So, if you want the latest and greatest, wait until Thanksgiving. Then you will be able to choose from the best there is to offer. However, if you don't, the time frame between now and labor day is ideal to buy current gen stuff that are cleared for the next gen stuff coming this fall. In fact Labor Day might be your best bet to find deals. Although do remember that stuff like cases, cpu coolers, fans very rarely go on sale and if they do, they re pretty small, especially if it's the good stuff like Noctua.

As far as CPUs is concerned, I think you get the best value for money if you look for the midrange stuff like the i5s and R5s. The high end like the i9 and R9s are best if you need the machine for work. The lowest is like the i3s and R3s are best if you want a pc for casual consumption. that might actually be an option in the use case you described. A lot of your choice will depend on the deals you find though.

Last but not least, when you go to partpicker, make a point of looking at each item's pricing history. That way you can determine what's the item's usual price and what are the historical pricing lows that a current price a good deal or not.

Good luck.
 
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tonyandpals

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Anyone care to review this build? Any suggestions on where to save, or where I should spend more. Will be used for video editing, animation, and mostly likely 90% minecraft...

54868
 

santadevil

wears depends
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Aug 1, 2006
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Anyone care to review this build? Any suggestions on where to save, or where I should spend more. Will be used for video editing, animation, and mostly likely 90% minecraft...

View attachment 54868
Looks like a good solid build overall

With the videocard prices coming down lately, I'd be looking at a 3060 or 3060ti, just for a little more punch
Also, for the $25 difference, you may as well just get two 1TB drives, rather than 1.5TB. That's always the place I have issues with first, space on the main computer and I want fast drives for everything on the computer. Slow storage for the bigger stuff is handled through my NAS
 

Red Sox Physicist

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Anyone care to review this build? Any suggestions on where to save, or where I should spend more. Will be used for video editing, animation, and mostly likely 90% minecraft...

View attachment 54868
One thing to note is that AMD just announced the Ryzen 7000 series are launching Sept 27, and Intel's 13th gen Raptor Lake CPUs are expected to be available October 10.
 

cgori

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Oct 2, 2004
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SF, CA
Looks like a good solid build overall

With the videocard prices coming down lately, I'd be looking at a 3060 or 3060ti, just for a little more punch
Also, for the $25 difference, you may as well just get two 1TB drives, rather than 1.5TB. That's always the place I have issues with first, space on the main computer and I want fast drives for everything on the computer. Slow storage for the bigger stuff is handled through my NAS
These were gonna be my two exact comments.

Especially if you go 3440x1440 monitor you might want the 3060.
 

Nick Kaufman

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Don't get the 3050, it's overpriced. Unfortunately, all the low end of the NVDIA product cycle prices still haven't moved as far down as they should. The AMD RX 6600 is going to be $100 cheaper and a faster card. Get that.

Beyond that, if you think you ll be able to keep stuff like the cooler, the PSU and the case over multiple build cycles, then it's worth it to splurge a bit more for some extra quality stuff. I am not familiar with that thermaltake cooler, have you checked that it's quiet enough? The best air coolers are IMO the Noctua and the Be Quiet ones; the best value cooler is supposed to be the Coolermaster Hyper EVO 212.

If you re going to keep the computer on 24/7, then maybe it's worth going with a gold or platinum card. It's going to be more expensive, but you are going to get the money back in lower electricity bills after a few years.

This forum has a nice PSU hierarchy list:

https://linustechtips.com/topic/1116640-psu-tier-list-rev-148/
 

Madmartigan

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May 1, 2012
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Bumping this thread. I’ve built a couple gaming PCs — my last one more than a decade ago — so naturally I was called upon to put together my 12 year old nephew’s new system. Holy shit was it an ordeal. Tons of fans and a liquid cooler, just figuring out the correct fan orientation for each side of the case was a challenge. Lots of issues with the mobo, wouldn’t POST initially because it couldn’t recognize the video card. Luckily stumbled upon a Reddit thread that suggested booting without the GPU and instead plugging directly into HDMI on the mobo, which finally allowed me to get into BIOS. I would have told my sister to pay someone to build it if I had known how long it would take me. It’s working great though and
it’s an absolute beast; my nephew is a lucky kid. Anyone else with interesting adventures in PC building recently?

68904

68905
 

Flunky

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I am building a new machine this fall. I am going with an AMD X670E/AM5 board since there is speculation that Intel is doing away with LGA 1700 and AMD has confirmed Zen5 will use AM5. Will probably splurge on a 7800X3D as I am not buying a new GPU (have a 3070 which I will probably replace when PCIE 5 cards are out and/or a meaningful upgrade).

I have survived 10 years with an X99/Haswell-E system (overclocked). :)
 

santadevil

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Bumping this thread. I’ve built a couple gaming PCs — my last one more than a decade ago — so naturally I was called upon to put together my 12 year old nephew’s new system. Holy shit was it an ordeal. Tons of fans and a liquid cooler, just figuring out the correct fan orientation for each side of the case was a challenge. Lots of issues with the mobo, wouldn’t POST initially because it couldn’t recognize the video card. Luckily stumbled upon a Reddit thread that suggested booting without the GPU and instead plugging directly into HDMI on the mobo, which finally allowed me to get into BIOS. I would have told my sister to pay someone to build it if I had known how long it would take me. It’s working great though and
it’s an absolute beast; my nephew is a lucky kid. Anyone else with interesting adventures in PC building recently?

View attachment 68904

View attachment 68905
That's a clean build, nice work

I actually just put mine together this past week, after not having built my own computer in about 20 years (had been paying the super cheap $40/$50) build fee, which was increased to $150 last year
My last computer was almost 6 years old. I had upgraded the video card on it about 20 months ago with a 3060ti, so I kept that and moved it to the new build

Took me longer than anticipated, but I enjoyed doing the build and my oldest helped a bit, but I sure looked up a lot of things
Working really well so far and it's a lot quieter than my previous one. It's a lot smoother for the gaming I do as well. No hiccups at the start of the round
 

Madmartigan

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That's a clean build, nice work

I actually just put mine together this past week, after not having built my own computer in about 20 years (had been paying the super cheap $40/$50) build fee, which was increased to $150 last year
My last computer was almost 6 years old. I had upgraded the video card on it about 20 months ago with a 3060ti, so I kept that and moved it to the new build

Took me longer than anticipated, but I enjoyed doing the build and my oldest helped a bit, but I sure looked up a lot of things
Working really well so far and it's a lot quieter than my previous one. It's a lot smoother for the gaming I do as well. No hiccups at the start of the round
I had to look up tons of stuff too, and some of the manuals were surprisingly useless. For example, I’d never installed a PCIE SSD before and the manual had just a shitty diagram but really didn’t indicate that (according to youtube) you should slide in the drive at a 30 degree angle.

$150 is still very reasonable for assembly — where can you get it done for that price?
 

santadevil

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I just wanted to save a couple dollars and have a nice little project to do with my oldest. Hopefully he learned a little bit