Hi, i'm building a PC mainly for gaming, web surfing, light editing/rendering (AE, Premier, 3D apps...) at 1440p 144hz. Ineed help for CPU air cooler, because i've never got an aftermarket cooler before and since i'm not going to overlock CPU i need good budgetish B660 motherboard. I have specific needs for PC components, which i will talk about later,but this is what i have by now:
CPU: I want CPU with integrated graphics and i'm not willing to go higher than 12600k, in that price range Intel beats AMD and also 12600k is future proof (DDR5, PCIE 5.0). Considering i will not buy CPU without IGPU, i could only find Ryzen 7 5700G as a competitor for 12600k (they cost same around 300$). AMD comes with stock cooler and AM4 boards are cheaper than b660 ones, but 12600k outperforms 5700G and , also 5700G isn't future proof like 12600k. Since, 12600k doesn't come with stock cooler i will have to buy an aftermarket one, this is where i need your help.
CPU Cooler: I will not be overclocking CPU, so i'm loocking for a budgetish air cooler for stock 12600k. Cooler should come with everything needed to finish installation like mounting kit and thermal paste(pre applied or for me to apply). First i found popular Cooler master hyper 212 for around 40$-50$, but i read , that they are kinda old by now and overpriced and weak for 12600k, also they don't come with mounting kit for LGA 1700 CPUs. Then i found Noctua air coolers, it seems they are good and come with everything i need, but they cost more. To be frankly i think 70$ is too much for stock 12600k cooling, i want to hear your suggestions about that.
Motherboard: I don't know much about motherboards, other than basic compatability stuff, i want B660 because i'm not going to overclock CPU, only RAM (XMP). I just want my motherboard to function well, as intended and not die soon, i don't care about fancy features, RGB stuff e.t.c I found 2 motherboards for reasonable price compared to z690 boards:
and
They are basically same, cost same, but i've read somewhere MSI has better audio, so i'll probably go with it, what are your suggestions?
RAM: I know 16GB is enough for today , but i want 32GB, so i found cheapest 32GB 3600MHz CL16 sticks with good reviews, there's not much to search here
Storage: Samsung 970 EVO PLUS 2TB easy pick, pricy but good SSD
Power Supply: I think i'll will be OK with good quality 80+Gold 850 watt PSU, there are more popular ones but they cost 30-40$ more like corsair cmx ones, i've heard that
Enermax Revolution D.F. 850 W 80+ Gold is a solid one, if not i'm open to suggestions
Case: i'm not sure if i will buy it locally or online, so i'm not looking for it now, but i'm open to suggestions
GPU: This is the one that hurts the most, considering current prices and everything. From what i have found RX 6700 XT is a good mid range 1440p Gaming GPU, it has similar performance to RTX 3070 (without ray tracing and DLSS) and costs way less around 600$ compared to 700$-800$. I want to go with Nvidia GPU but, they all have 8GB of VRAM except for 3080 and up (which i can't afford) i think 8GB is minimum for todays games and will not be enough for future ones. RX 6700 xt has 12GB VRAM, i know it lascks ray tracing/ or has bad one and also lacks similar feature as DLSS, but without them seems a good choice for less money and with more vram. I could have gone for RX 6800(non XT) for 900$ , but around 300$ bump in price for 4gb more vram and 10-14% performance increase doesn't seem good choice for me. I wish NVIDIA would release new gen GPUs by now, or we would see Intel GPUs, but i have to buy one now and choice is limited
Monitor: I will go with 27 inch or 32 inch 1440p 144hz+ monitor, i don't have one in mind for now, but i will look for one with a good reviews , price and features like freesync and HDR, budget will be around 300-350$
If you have any suggestions on how can i spend less money for same performance components feel free to do so, thanks in advance!
Rich (BB code):
PCPartPicker Part List
CPU: Intel Core i5-12600K 3.7 GHz 10-Core Processor ($278.99 @ Adorama)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-U12S 55 CFM CPU Cooler ($69.94 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: MSI MAG B660M MORTAR WIFI DDR4 Micro ATX LGA1700 Motherboard ($179.95 @ Amazon)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3600 CL16 Memory ($163.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 970 EVO Plus 2 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($199.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: XFX Radeon RX 6700 XT 12 GB Speedster QICK 319 BLACK Video Card ($629.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Enermax Revolution D.F. 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1612.84
CPU: I want CPU with integrated graphics and i'm not willing to go higher than 12600k, in that price range Intel beats AMD and also 12600k is future proof (DDR5, PCIE 5.0). Considering i will not buy CPU without IGPU, i could only find Ryzen 7 5700G as a competitor for 12600k (they cost same around 300$). AMD comes with stock cooler and AM4 boards are cheaper than b660 ones, but 12600k outperforms 5700G and , also 5700G isn't future proof like 12600k. Since, 12600k doesn't come with stock cooler i will have to buy an aftermarket one, this is where i need your help.
CPU Cooler: I will not be overclocking CPU, so i'm loocking for a budgetish air cooler for stock 12600k. Cooler should come with everything needed to finish installation like mounting kit and thermal paste(pre applied or for me to apply). First i found popular Cooler master hyper 212 for around 40$-50$, but i read , that they are kinda old by now and overpriced and weak for 12600k, also they don't come with mounting kit for LGA 1700 CPUs. Then i found Noctua air coolers, it seems they are good and come with everything i need, but they cost more. To be frankly i think 70$ is too much for stock 12600k cooling, i want to hear your suggestions about that.
Motherboard: I don't know much about motherboards, other than basic compatability stuff, i want B660 because i'm not going to overclock CPU, only RAM (XMP). I just want my motherboard to function well, as intended and not die soon, i don't care about fancy features, RGB stuff e.t.c I found 2 motherboards for reasonable price compared to z690 boards:
and
They are basically same, cost same, but i've read somewhere MSI has better audio, so i'll probably go with it, what are your suggestions?
RAM: I know 16GB is enough for today , but i want 32GB, so i found cheapest 32GB 3600MHz CL16 sticks with good reviews, there's not much to search here
Storage: Samsung 970 EVO PLUS 2TB easy pick, pricy but good SSD
Power Supply: I think i'll will be OK with good quality 80+Gold 850 watt PSU, there are more popular ones but they cost 30-40$ more like corsair cmx ones, i've heard that
Enermax Revolution D.F. 850 W 80+ Gold is a solid one, if not i'm open to suggestions
Case: i'm not sure if i will buy it locally or online, so i'm not looking for it now, but i'm open to suggestions
GPU: This is the one that hurts the most, considering current prices and everything. From what i have found RX 6700 XT is a good mid range 1440p Gaming GPU, it has similar performance to RTX 3070 (without ray tracing and DLSS) and costs way less around 600$ compared to 700$-800$. I want to go with Nvidia GPU but, they all have 8GB of VRAM except for 3080 and up (which i can't afford) i think 8GB is minimum for todays games and will not be enough for future ones. RX 6700 xt has 12GB VRAM, i know it lascks ray tracing/ or has bad one and also lacks similar feature as DLSS, but without them seems a good choice for less money and with more vram. I could have gone for RX 6800(non XT) for 900$ , but around 300$ bump in price for 4gb more vram and 10-14% performance increase doesn't seem good choice for me. I wish NVIDIA would release new gen GPUs by now, or we would see Intel GPUs, but i have to buy one now and choice is limited
Monitor: I will go with 27 inch or 32 inch 1440p 144hz+ monitor, i don't have one in mind for now, but i will look for one with a good reviews , price and features like freesync and HDR, budget will be around 300-350$
If you have any suggestions on how can i spend less money for same performance components feel free to do so, thanks in advance!
Last edited: