Best PC Builds for Gaming, Streaming and Productivity

[logainofhades]

Thanks for your recommendation, I have $1000 budget, i am looking for the best best PC builds within my budget , and i will save the money for windows 11, as I will buy it from keyingo.com, then i can have more budget for the hardware

You should make a thread using the how to ask for build and upgrade advice, in my sig. Will make suggestions easier.

 

[RichardtST]

Where were the builds for productivity? I only saw gaming builds.

Pretty much the same, just swap out the expensive GPU for something in the $150-$200 range that can handle a couple 2k monitors at 60hz. Maybe add another 32GB ram and some extra disk. Cut down the power supply a little since you're not driving a big graphics cards. That's mostly what I do.

In general, instead of allocating nearly half your build cost to an overpriced GPU, just reallocate to compute, ram, and storage.

 

[RichardtST]

Yes what GPU do I need to power dual 4K monitors not for gaming?

Literally only for office work, browsing, streaming, and music production. No gaming. It is impossible to find advice on this issue. Every single article is shilling Gaming GPU's.

Yes! I would like to know this too. I power 2x2K screens @ 60hz with a 1060 that doesn't even break a sweat. But I have no idea at all what would drive 2x4K @ 60.

Tom's? Could you make us a table of what are reasonable GPUs to drive various office monitors (60hz) at different resolutions and numbers? I buy for my office. This would be nice to know rather than just guessing all the time.

 

[IllegalTendencies]

Didn't see an i7 or better in the whole bunch smh.

 

[Craig234]

Why would I spend $1749 on a GPU when I can get a 6950XT for $600?

 

[mwm2010]

I really lost some respect for TH here. An RTX 4060 for the $800 build when you could have a 6700 XT for the same price? The RTX 4060 Ti for the $1000 build??? Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy???????????? Y'all need to get your act together and start recommending some real builds.

 

[JarredWaltonGPU]

I really lost some respect for TH here. An RTX 4060 for the $800 build when you could have a 6700 XT for the same price? The RTX 4060 Ti for the $1000 build??? Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy???????????? Y'all need to get your act together and start recommending some real builds.

While I'm not the one picking these parts, let's be clear:

4060 is $300, 6700 XT is $330.
4060 Ti is $400 (slightly less on a few cards).
Both the 4060 and 4060 Ti are exceptionally efficient and offer great video encoding / decoding support, plus DLSS / DLSS 3 and superior RT hardware.

If you look at the 15 game geomean of GPUs from our testing, RTX 4060 and RX 6700 XT are tied. That does include RT games but not upscaling. The 6700 XT is ~15% faster in rasterization, 4060 is ~25% faster in RT.

Are those good enough reasons for everyone? No. But certainly you can make a justification for the picks. 6700 XT consumes about 100W more power than a 4060. Power means heat, in addition to the electricity costs.

 

[MilkWave]

Hi, the guide seems to be outdated. I've checked, and it seems that the Intel Core i3-13100F isn't $111 anymore. I don't know if all of the other stuff is outdated, but please update the article so it isn't outdated anymore.

 

[JarredWaltonGPU]

Hi, the guide seems to be outdated. I've checked, and it seems that the Intel Core i3-13100F isn't $111 anymore. I don't know if all of the other stuff is outdated, but please update the article so it isn't outdated anymore.

It’s OOS at B&H but shows $112:

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1735189-REG

Prices do fluctuate, sometimes by as much as 5-10 percent. I’ll flag this for Avram, though. Or update it when I’m back at my PC.

 

[MilkWave]

It’s OOS at B&H but shows $112:

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1735189-REG

Prices do fluctuate, sometimes by as much as 5-10 percent. I’ll flag this for Avram, though. Or update it when I’m back at my PC.

Oh ok, pcpartpicker was showing a bigger price

 

[MilkWave]

I think this article could be improved by adding pcpartpicker links of the pc builds.

 

[JarredWaltonGPU]

I think this article could be improved by adding pcpartpicker links of the pc builds.

Yeah, that's not going to happen. The whole point of price lists — via PCPartPicker or elsewhere — is to satisfy the ecomm gods. Linking to a place that doesn't give any affiliate traffic means no income. (And I know people have suggested, internally, that Future should just buy PCPP, but either they're not selling or the powers that be don't think it's necessary.) 🤷‍♂️

 

[MilkWave]

Yeah, that's not going to happen. The whole point of price lists — via PCPartPicker or elsewhere — is to satisfy the ecomm gods. Linking to a place that doesn't give any affiliate traffic means no income. (And I know people have suggested, internally, that Future should just buy PCPP, but either they're not selling or the powers that be don't think it's necessary.) 🤷‍♂️

Makes sense

 

[mwm2010]

While I'm not the one picking these parts, let's be clear:

4060 is $300, 6700 XT is $330.
4060 Ti is $400 (slightly less on a few cards).
Both the 4060 and 4060 Ti are exceptionally efficient and offer great video encoding / decoding support, plus DLSS / DLSS 3 and superior RT hardware.

If you look at the 15 game geomean of GPUs from our testing, RTX 4060 and RX 6700 XT are tied. That does include RT games but not upscaling. The 6700 XT is ~15% faster in rasterization, 4060 is ~25% faster in RT.

Are those good enough reasons for everyone? No. But certainly you can make a justification for the picks. 6700 XT consumes about 100W more power than a 4060. Power means heat, in addition to the electricity costs.

You are right. The 4060 and its Ti counterpart do have better ray tracing, they have DLSS, AND they consume less power. I do also realize that the 6700 XT does get wayyyy hotter(I speak from experience!) and that some people can't have that. However, i still think you should feature an AMD card in a mainstream build, at least as an alternative, like you do with your CPU lists.

 

[MilkWave]

Pretty sure prices changed now, when is the article gonna be updated?

 

[MilkWave]

I think it would be nice if there was an article for the best gaming pc setups. Basically this article but the gaming pc builds include also all of the pheripherals and monitors.

 

[MilkWave]

When is this article gonna be updated, sure it's not that outdated but it's been a month and a few days since this article was updated so i think some stuff might just be outdated.

 

[MilkWave]

HELL YEAH THE ARTICLE FINALLY GOT UPDATED

 

[ThomasKinsley]

While the Radeon RX 6750 XT, which has 12GB of VRAM to the 4060 Ti's 8GB, is in the same price range, Nvidia's GPU is much better for ray tracing...At this price point, don't expect to do much ray tracing, however. The card managed a very-playable 52.8 fps at 1080p and a usable 33.5 fps at 1440p.

Why do this to people?

 

[strobolt]

Why do this to people?

What do you mean?

 

[ThomasKinsley]

What do you mean?

Promote a mid-tier card specifically for raytracing when it struggles to do raytracing. It will be obsolete in 2-3 years at those framerates, and by some people's standards, the framerate is already too low. $1000 can be spent better.

 

[bit_user]

Gosh, those power supplies are looking awfully cheap. Skimping on the PSU is asking for trouble.

 

[thestryker]

Gonna have to second questioning the usage of the Thermaltake Smart line for anything. The Corsair CX is probably okay through the $1000 build, but the $1500 build really shouldn't have it (and the text indicates a different PSU so maybe chart is wrong). I haven't seen any reviews on the 2023 version of the Corsair CX, but I'd imagine they're a much better choice than the TT Smart for the lower two builds.

 

[helper800]

For 1500, IMO something like this would be more appropriate:

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i5-12600KF 3.7 GHz 10-Core Processor ($184.00 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Thermalright Phantom Spirit 120 SE 66.17 CFM CPU Cooler ($35.90 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: MSI PRO Z790-S WIFI ATX LGA1700 Motherboard ($169.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Patriot Viper Venom 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6400 CL32 Memory ($97.99 @ B&H)
Storage: Solidigm P41 Plus 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive ($105.49 @ Newegg)
Video Card: MSI VENTUS 2X OC GeForce RTX 4070 Ti 12 GB Video Card ($734.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Phanteks Eclipse G300A (1 Fan) ATX Mid Tower Case ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair RM750e (2023) 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Case Fan: ARCTIC P12 PST CO 56.3 CFM 120 mm Fan ($8.49 @ Amazon)
Case Fan: ARCTIC P12 PST CO 56.3 CFM 120 mm Fan ($8.49 @ Amazon)
Total: $1495.32
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2024-01-08 13:46 EST-0500

 

[Winterson]

Ignored is the support for the drivers for the graphics cards and the support for the computer overall by the manufacturer. One can expect ongoing support only from the computers sold by HP, Lenovo, and Apple in the USA. Easy to check customers' reviews that mention problems with failing or failed computers and the complete lack of support by the seller.

Also ignored is that with the Lenovo Legion there is one 16-lane PCIe slot and one 4-lane PCIe slot available for the buyer to use. With the HP Omen 45L there is not a single slot available to add cards.