Question Building for a friend

[vanpopm12]

Hey all,

Long time no post! I do really like this site, its forums and community though. Looking at some thoughts on a build I am putting together for my buddy just wanting to update an old build that has a GTX960 in it.

He just basically wants awesome gaming at 1080p without showing off anything in a bare bones great performing gaming PC. He gave me a budget at $1500 and already has peripherals.

Currently I was going for:
-Good future proof MOBA, PSU and RAM.
-Money save on a great GPU one generation down and easy 60FPS for 1080p.
-Some storage upgrade (the "purchased" SSD and HDD in build he already has, but are replaceable/usable).
-Basic cooling upgrade from the "in box" CPU cooler.
-And great lasting CPU with some newer tech for easy 1080p gaming.

Maybe I can crunch some and get a bit more bang for the buck in some areas, all inquiries welcome! I am a hobbyist, so all of my knowledge is basically up to date though I would not make it my day job hah I feel confident enough to help friends with builds and upgrades!

PC Part Picker Link:

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/yWTmVw

 

[Eximo]

I would make some changes:

Motherboard choice was quite expensive for no reason I could determine.

Larger/cheaper CPU cooler. Nothing wrong with Noctua, but the small ones aren't that amazing. You can always swap the fans out for Noctua later on if you want.

I kept the CPU choice, though for not much more you could get the 13600KF.

Swapped out the PSU for a more future proof one with the 16-pin PCIe 5.0 connector, though not needed for the selected GPU.

GPU is a much better performing card for the money.

I would also highly suggest a 2TB system drive rather than 1TB.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i5-13500 2.5 GHz 14-Core Processor ($240.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE 66.17 CFM CPU Cooler ($34.90 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Gigabyte Z790 UD AC ATX LGA1700 Motherboard ($194.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: G.Skill Trident Z5 RGB 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6000 CL36 Memory ($104.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 850 Evo 250 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (Purchased For $0.00)
Storage: Samsung 980 Pro 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive ($59.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate BarraCuda 1 TB 3.5" 7200 RPM Internal Hard Drive (Purchased For $0.00)
Video Card: XFX Speedster MERC 319 CORE Radeon RX 6800 XT 16 GB Video Card ($499.99 @ Newegg)
Case: NZXT H5 Flow ATX Mid Tower Case ($94.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Corsair RM850e (2023) 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($129.99 @ Amazon)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 11 Home OEM - DVD 64-bit ($119.43 @ Amazon)
Total: $1480.26
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2023-06-30 11:39 EDT-0400

 

[vanpopm12]

I would make some changes:

Motherboard choice was quite expensive for no reason I could determine.

Larger/cheaper CPU cooler. Nothing wrong with Noctua, but the small ones aren't that amazing. You can always swap the fans out for Noctua later on if you want.

I kept the CPU choice, though for not much more you could get the 13600KF.

Swapped out the PSU for a more future proof one with the 16-pin PCIe 5.0 connector, though not needed for the selected GPU.

GPU is a much better performing card for the money.

I would also highly suggest a 2TB system drive rather than 1TB.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i5-13500 2.5 GHz 14-Core Processor ($240.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE 66.17 CFM CPU Cooler ($34.90 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Gigabyte Z790 UD AC ATX LGA1700 Motherboard ($194.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: G.Skill Trident Z5 RGB 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6000 CL36 Memory ($104.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 850 Evo 250 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (Purchased For $0.00)
Storage: Samsung 980 Pro 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive ($59.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate BarraCuda 1 TB 3.5" 7200 RPM Internal Hard Drive (Purchased For $0.00)
Video Card: XFX Speedster MERC 319 CORE Radeon RX 6800 XT 16 GB Video Card ($499.99 @ Newegg)
Case: NZXT H5 Flow ATX Mid Tower Case ($94.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Corsair RM850e (2023) 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($129.99 @ Amazon)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 11 Home OEM - DVD 64-bit ($119.43 @ Amazon)
Total: $1480.26
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2023-06-30 11:39 EDT-0400

Awesome insights! I really appreciate it.

Unfortunately my knowledge is more limited to the Nvidia GPUs (as what I have always bought, so it is nice to see that you suggested that RX card. I need to further my knowledge in that space a bit more i'd say!

Definitely will see if he is willing to go a little more for that CPU, but I was considering it originally if not for the budget with my initial build configuration.

1TB upgrade was working well with his budget and assuming he doesn't need much more if reusing those older drives for additional storage (since he has only been using that much for this long as is haha).

 

[Eximo]

Well, the only other in-budget Nvidia option would be the new 4060Ti, but it has flaws. Particularly being only an 8GB card. Same would be true of the 3070 or 3070Ti, and the 4060Ti is more or less an exact match for the 3060Ti in rasterization.

With AMD you are looking at the 6700XT or 6750XT with 12GB of VRAM, but more powerful than the 3060 GPU, or the 6800XT I've picked out with 16GB of memory and an even more powerful GPU. Pretty close to the 4070 in rasterization with the 4070 (12GB) sitting at $600 vs the $500 (16GB) card.

That said, if the goal is only 1080p, most of these are overkill and the 4060Ti makes some sense, though not until the price drops. For 1080p you could drop down to the 6700XT and pick up the larger drive.

 

[Why_Me]

That 120mm Arctic fan goes inside the back of that case for a rear exhaust fan.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: *Intel Core i5-13600KF 3.5 GHz 14-Core Processor ($288.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: *Deepcool AG620 67.88 CFM CPU Cooler ($49.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: *MSI B760 GAMING PLUS WIFI ATX LGA1700 Motherboard ($164.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: *G.Skill Ripjaws S5 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6400 CL32 Memory ($109.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: *Samsung 970 Evo Plus 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 3.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive ($99.99 @ Adorama)
Video Card: *MSI VENTUS 3X OC GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 8 GB Video Card ($399.99 @ B&H)
Case: *Fractal Design Focus 2 ATX Mid Tower Case ($79.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: *Corsair RM750e (2023) 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($99.99 @ Best Buy)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 11 Home OEM - DVD 64-bit ($117.98 @ Other World Computing)
Case Fan: *ARCTIC P12 56.3 CFM 120 mm Fan ($9.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $1421.88
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2023-06-30 20:15 EDT-0400

A better look at those components.

https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/B760-GAMING-PLUS-WIFI

https://www.intel.com/content/www/u...-24m-cache-up-to-5-10-ghz/specifications.html

https://www.deepcool.com/products/C...al-Tower-CPU-Cooler-1700-AM5/2022/15900.shtml

https://www.fractal-design.com/products/cases/focus/focus-2/black-tg-clear-tint/

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIG4vFQbDn4

 

[vanpopm12]

That 120mm Arctic fan goes inside the back of that case for a rear exhaust fan.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: *Intel Core i5-13600KF 3.5 GHz 14-Core Processor ($288.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: *Deepcool AG620 67.88 CFM CPU Cooler ($49.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: *MSI B760 GAMING PLUS WIFI ATX LGA1700 Motherboard ($164.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: *G.Skill Ripjaws S5 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6400 CL32 Memory ($109.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: *Samsung 970 Evo Plus 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 3.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive ($99.99 @ Adorama)
Video Card: *MSI VENTUS 3X OC GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 8 GB Video Card ($399.99 @ B&H)
Case: *Fractal Design Focus 2 ATX Mid Tower Case ($79.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: *Corsair RM750e (2023) 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($99.99 @ Best Buy)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 11 Home OEM - DVD 64-bit ($117.98 @ Other World Computing)
Case Fan: *ARCTIC P12 56.3 CFM 120 mm Fan ($9.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $1421.88
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2023-06-30 20:15 EDT-0400

A better look at those components.

https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/B760-GAMING-PLUS-WIFI

https://www.intel.com/content/www/u...-24m-cache-up-to-5-10-ghz/specifications.html

https://www.deepcool.com/products/C...al-Tower-CPU-Cooler-1700-AM5/2022/15900.shtml

https://www.fractal-design.com/products/cases/focus/focus-2/black-tg-clear-tint/

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIG4vFQbDn4

Thanks for the build variation!

 

[I_Got_Crabs]

You are probably aware of older SSDs having performed excessive read/writes that greatly reduce speed. Switching to NVME would be a good choice for the OS and retain the older storage as backup.

 

[vanpopm12]

You are probably aware of older SSDs having performed excessive read/writes that greatly reduce speed. Switching to NVME would be a good choice for the OS and retain the older storage as backup.

Yes, exactly what I was going to have him do!