Question Friend Asking me to Create Parts List for Him

[Noobgamer37]

I have a friend who is looking to spend $2000-2500 for a gaming PC. I haven't been paying much attention to PC parts recently so I don't really know what the best parts are right now. Can anyone recommend a good build in that price range? Any help would be greatly appreciated thanks.

 

[KananX]

For most of these, I do believe the extra cost is justified. The cooler is +$50 over the air coolers I was looking at and I'm partial to liquid. The second SSD however I do agree it's a little overkill however I do know he wants a lot of storage space so I could probably change that out for a cheaper alternative.
As far as the case goes I'm a big fan of that case for appearance and airflow. I do plan to tell him if he can find one he likes that's cheaper then he should definitely go with the alternative.

With that being said I will also give him this information so he can decide for himself since he may not care about liquid like I do. I'll also send most of the lists on this thread not just the ones I created

Don’t forget that a huge case is also hard to move around. It is better to buy a medium tower, not a huge case, unless the space is really needed. All good cases have good airflow, this isn’t 2010 anymore. Quality is key with a build that costs up to 2500$.

 

[Why_Me]

For most of these, I do believe the extra cost is justified. The cooler is +$50 over the air coolers I was looking at and I'm partial to liquid. The second SSD however I do agree it's a little overkill however I do know he wants a lot of storage space so I could probably change that out for a cheaper alternative.
As far as the case goes I'm a big fan of that case for appearance and airflow. I do plan to tell him if he can find one he likes that's cheaper then he should definitely go with the alternative.

With that being said I will also give him this information so he can decide for himself since he may not care about liquid like I do.

A couple of things starting with the case. That case has a single 120mm fan up front which sucks. Secondly the 12700K gets a whopping one more frame per second than the much cheaper 12700F yet it not only cost more but it uses more power and creates more heat not to mention overclocking anymore is a hobbyist thing seeing how the gains from it with these 12 gen cpu's are minimal not to mention the extra cost. Third if you're going to run dual M.2 drives then get a board with dual M.2 heatsinks. Fourth spending $400 on RAM is insane imo.

If you're hell bent on an RGB AIO then this one is solid yet it cost less.

https://www.amazon.com/ARCTIC-Liquid-Freezer-RGB-Multi-Compatible/dp/B08WRJ5MQW/
ARCTIC Liquid Freezer II 240 A-RGB $111.99

These PNY SSD's come with a five year warranty and have DRAM cache.

O/S SSD

https://www.amazon.com/PNY-CS2130-500GB-Internal-Solid/dp/B0869BW8MH/
PNY CS2130 500GB M.2 PCIe NVMe Gen3 x4 Internal SSD $57.99

Storage SSD

https://www.amazon.com/PNY-CS2130-Internal-Solid-State/dp/B0869C35V2
PNY CS2130 2TB M.2 PCIe NVMe Gen3 x4 Internal SSD $176.00

Size up on your psu to an 850w and look for a case that doesn't need a crap load of extra fans added to it.

 

[KananX]

This case comes with 3 fans included:
https://www.corsair.com/ww/en/Categories/Products/Cases/570x-rgb-config/p/CC-9011110-WW#tab-overview

Have a look here:
https://www.corsair.com/ww/en/Categ...=(caseFormFactor_en_string:MID*)#rotatingText

Take one which has included fans.

 

[Why_Me]

No extra fans required.

https://www.newegg.com/black-lian-li-lancool-ii-performance-atx-mid-tower/p/2AM-000Z-00086
LIAN LI LANCOOL II MESH C PERFORMANCE $122.31

https://lian-li.com/product/lancool-ii-mesh/

or ...

https://www.newegg.com/black-lian-li-lancool-ii-rgb-mesh-atx-mid-tower/p/2AM-000Z-00088
LIAN LI LANCOOL II MESH C RGB $126.99

LANCOOL II Mesh RGB - Ultimate Airflow Chassis

With the mesh front, LANCOOL II MESH making great airflow in the chasis, Packing three ARGB PWM 120mm fans effectively cooling the component in user's PC build and able to control by the botton on the I/O port. 9 drive mounting space and supports 384mm maximum GPU length and 176mm maximum hight...

lian-li.com

Exhaust fan for that case.

https://www.amazon.com/ARCTIC-F12-PWM-PST-Technology/dp/B08WH3XV6G/
ARCTIC F12 PWM 120mm 4-Pin Case Fan $9.99

 

[tennis2]

All good cases have good airflow, this isn’t 2010 anymore.

Well......
We do have a bad rash of case manufacturers failing to realize that front intake fans actually need [sufficient/any] open space to pull air through the front panel though.
The front panel doesn't have to be all mesh or open grilling to satisfy this requirement. But if it isn't, you need to give that open area in properly sized side/top/bottom vents in the front panel, and to keep in mind if those side vents are grilled/meshed the actual opening area is what needs to be calculated.

 

[tennis2]

O/S SSD
https://www.amazon.com/PNY-CS2130-500GB-Internal-Solid/dp/B0869BW8MH/
PNY CS2130 500GB M.2 PCIe NVMe Gen3 x4 Internal SSD $57.99

500GB OS drive is getting small these days with games taking up 100GB or more. Sure, you can re-route your steam directory to any drive you want, but I'd recommend at least 1TB for the OS/boot, and for a build of this budget, probably 2TB.
I still like having my documents/photos/videos on a second drive in case an OS wipe is needed, but YMMV.

Not to discuss price/performance of the aforementioned PNY SSD I'm not familiar with.

 

[Noobgamer37]

500GB OS drive is getting small these days with games taking up 100GB or more. Sure, you can re-route your steam directory to any drive you want, but I'd recommend at least 1TB for the OS/boot, and for a build of this budget, probably 2TB.
I still like having my documents/photos/videos on a second drive in case an OS wipe is needed, but YMMV.

Not to discuss price/performance of the aforementioned PNY SSD I'm not familiar with.

He currently has a HDD so any ssd is going to be a plenty fast upgrade for him

 

[Noobgamer37]

A couple of things starting with the case. That case has a single 120mm fan up front which sucks. Secondly the 12700K gets a whopping one more frame per second than the much cheaper 12700F yet it not only cost more but it uses more power and creates more heat not to mention overclocking anymore is a hobbyist thing seeing how the gains from it with these 12 gen cpu's are minimal not to mention the extra cost. Third if you're going to run dual M.2 drives then get a board with dual M.2 heatsinks. Fourth spending $400 on RAM is insane imo.

If you're hell bent on an RGB AIO then this one is solid yet it cost less.

https://www.amazon.com/ARCTIC-Liquid-Freezer-RGB-Multi-Compatible/dp/B08WRJ5MQW/
ARCTIC Liquid Freezer II 240 A-RGB $111.99

These PNY SSD's come with a five year warranty and have DRAM cache.

O/S SSD

https://www.amazon.com/PNY-CS2130-500GB-Internal-Solid/dp/B0869BW8MH/
PNY CS2130 500GB M.2 PCIe NVMe Gen3 x4 Internal SSD $57.99

Storage SSD

https://www.amazon.com/PNY-CS2130-Internal-Solid-State/dp/B0869C35V2
PNY CS2130 2TB M.2 PCIe NVMe Gen3 x4 Internal SSD $176.00

Size up on your psu to an 850w and look for a case that doesn't need a crap load of extra fans added to it.

I like the recommendations. I came up with this after implementing these changes. RAM could probably still be reduced if needed but this definitely cuts a lot of the costs down. https://pcpartpicker.com/list/Dn9bpH

 

[KananX]

I like the recommendations. I came up with this after implementing these changes. RAM could probably still be reduced if needed but this definitely cuts a lot of the costs down. https://pcpartpicker.com/list/Dn9bpH

Other than the GPU, which is really the bottom barell 3080 I would not buy, it’s fine IMO. I would spend a little extra and get a GPU with a better cooler, not the bottom barrel trash from GB.

 

[Why_Me]

500GB OS drive is getting small these days with games taking up 100GB or more. Sure, you can re-route your steam directory to any drive you want, but I'd recommend at least 1TB for the OS/boot, and for a build of this budget, probably 2TB.
I still like having my documents/photos/videos on a second drive in case an OS wipe is needed, but YMMV.

Not to discuss price/performance of the aforementioned PNY SSD I'm not familiar with.

1TB for a boot drive? That's crazy. A boot drive is just that ... a boot drive ... not a storage drive.

 

[Why_Me]

I like the recommendations. I came up with this after implementing these changes. RAM could probably still be reduced if needed but this definitely cuts a lot of the costs down. https://pcpartpicker.com/list/Dn9bpH

If you plan on running dual M.2 SSD's then you want a board with two M.2 heat sinks such as this one down below as an example. M.2 SSD's slow down when they get too warm hence the reason for the heat sinks. btw a boot drive is for your OS. 500GB is more than plenty for Windows. The 2TB SSD is for your storage ... as in anything other than MS Windows.

https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/Z690-GAMING-X-rev-10#kf

https://www.newegg.com/p/N82E16813145392
GIGABYTE Z690 GAMING X $219.99

https://www.amazon.com/Kingston-2x16GB-5600MHz-Desktop-KF556C40BBK2-32/dp/B09N63G5R7/
Kingston Fury Beast DDR5 5600MHz 32GB (2x16GB) CL40 $219.44

 

[Vic 40]

Think the 6000mhz ram speed isn't really necessary and you can save there, think also that the ssd's chosen aren't the best and i would spend a little more, think i would go for something like this,

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i7-12700F 2.1 GHz 12-Core Processor ($309.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: ARCTIC Liquid Freezer II 280 72.8 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($109.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: MSI MAG Z690 TOMAHAWK WIFI ATX LGA1700 Motherboard ($259.99 @ B&H)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-5600 CL36 Memory ($249.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: PNY XLR8 CS3040 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($114.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: PNY XLR8 CS3040 2 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($198.00 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce RTX 3080 12GB LHR 12 GB GAMING OC Video Card ($799.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair 4000D Airflow ATX Mid Tower Case ($94.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA G6 1000 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($139.99 @ Amazon)
Case Fan: ARCTIC P12 56.3 CFM 120 mm Fan ($8.00 @ Amazon)
Total: $2285.92
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2022-06-10 07:37 EDT-0400

A boot drive of 500gb should be well enough and even 250gb for a boot drive should suffice, but if you (or better he) is determined to get such a big boot drive is that up to you/him. Keep in the end in mind what he would like, not what you would.

Took the 5 fan pack out since hardly necessary, can put the two Corsair fans in the front, the cooler at the top and add one fan to the back. One more thing about the cooler, will likely have to order a socket 1700 bracket from the manufacturer.
https://www.arctic.de/en/LGA1700-Mounting-Kit-Liquid-Freezer-II-Series/MPSAS00891A
or
https://www.amazon.com/ARCTIC-Intel-LGA1700-Upgrade-Kit/dp/B09K452ZTR

 

[digitalgriffin]

I would say his requirements are "casual mid to low tier gaming" He doesn't have to spend $2000.

As he has a little wiggle room in his budget, I would aim for 1TB NVME as a boot drive + a 2 TB M.2 drive. Game storage is always gets eaten up first.

That said GPU prices are plummeting as there is an over supply and next gen will be out soon. Come August or September he should be able to pick up a bargain on this gen. Say a 3070/3070ti/6700XT for $500 or below.

CPU: 5600X + 3600 C16 RAM (2x8GB is fine for eSports and a number of lighter games.) Intel has a viable alternative in the 12700 or 12700K, BUT you pay for more expensive motherboards. Intel snags you with a better value CPU, but worse value motherboard chipsets. So it's close to a tie value wise.

The rest concentrates on style and form factor. Does he want small and stylish but more costly, or expansion friendly, or more quiet? Is it a bragging piece (style) or something he doesn't care about space/looks?

Motherboard: $80->$200 X570 or B550 (AMD). ASUS still makes the best motherboards, but even an ABit B550 (AMD) will work in a pinch if you don't put too hungry a processor in there. ITX can be amazing looking, but it cost more.

Sesonic Focus 650+ GX/GM (or SGX if aiming for a small form factor cases) or a Corsair CX/CX-M $100-$120

Cases vary depending on what you aim for.

So to sum up:
CPU: $200
RAM: $100-$120
GPU: $500
Motherboard: $80-$200
PSU: $100-$120
Case: $100-$120
Boot drive: $90
Game drive: $180

Most expensive build: ~$1530. Again a lot depends on how important esthetics vs functionality are for him.

IF he intends on upgrading in the future, aim for a $150 750W->850W PSU, and a $350 5800X3D and a $200 B550/X570 motherboard. The only thing he will have to swap out is the graphics card. The 5800X3D is being scalped right now. But their availability should be better soon.

 

[Vic 40]

Well, digitalgriffin has a point, but as long as he keeps his friend in the loop, he gets updates on what is going on and if he agrees should it be fine. Hope his friend is watching this thread so he can make up his own mind as well looking at all advice.

 

[tennis2]

Would be nice to know what monitor is being used....

Budget is obviously an important factor, but as others are saying, buyers don't always know what their performance target costs. Certainly it's better to have a client with a generous budget than one that expects to get more than their budget allows. However, you don't always have to spend the whole budget, especially if the performance/aesthetic targets make it unnecessary.

Budgeted money is great, but it's not like the money you don't spend just vanishes. The client can use that money for other things in their life, even if they set it aside for a PC purchase. An extra $500 to spend elsewhere in life isn't insignificant. When you're working with a generous budget, you just need to be careful not to "cheap out" on something that the buyer may later regret, especially since they had the money available to get good quality stuff. That being said, I haven't seen any glaring quality sacrifices being suggested here.

On the flip side, you also need to make sure you can justify "upsells" so the client doesn't get smart later on (either on their own, or via external factors) and regret spending extra for something that they can't justify (spending >>> for RAM speed that gives near-zero performance gain, spending >>> money on an AIO that barely/doesn't reduce CPU temps compared to air/alternative, spending >>> on a mobo that doesn't increase performance or add features, etc etc)

That's why I like to give "baseline" builds (again, something befitting the original budget and performance target), then present the client with optional upgrades and have the conversation for each upgrade. Educate the client and let them make the choice, then your hands are clean.

Ultimately, PC builds have plenty of "grey area" for variety. There isn't necessarily one right/perfect answer, especially with constantly fluctuating component prices.