Question Let's build me a $1250 PC with a RTX 3060 or better!

[gamemaster3000]

Building a new PC! I think the thing I'm most decided on is a RTX 3060 (Ti?). No more than $500 for the graphics card, I'm not that much a videophile. But my current rig is 5 years old, I'm doing ok on money with a new job and a cheaper living situation, crypto is crashing, and it's time.

I'm willing to do eVGA or Gigabyte for the manufacturer, might consider others, but not MSI.

I've had no problems with my Intel processor so I'll go with them again as well.

I like a huge case, a big ol' heatsink, and I'm gonna get a decent SSD and hard drive as well.

Will probably want a new monitor too.

I do not overclock.

Also...what games am I gonna play on this bad boy?

 

[tennis2]

What country are you shopping in?

If USA, do you live near a Microcenter store?

Complete replacement of all components except keyboard and mouse within the $1,250 budget?

 

[Why_Me]

https://www.amazon.com/Phanteks-PH-EC360ATG_DBK01-Ultra-fine-Performance-Digital-RGB/dp/B08KKF38XV/
Phanteks Eclipse P360A Performance Mesh Mid-Tower Case $89.99

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

https://www.newegg.com/evga-supernova-550-ga-220-ga-0550-x1-550w/p/1HU-00J7-004V3
EVGA SuperNOVA 550 GA 550W 80+ Gold Modular Power Supply $54.99

https://www.newegg.com/p/N82E16813144528
MSI MAG B660M BAZOOKA DDR4 $139.99

https://www.newegg.com/intel-core-i5-12400f-core-i5-12th-gen/p/N82E16819118360
Intel Core i5-12400F $169.94

https://www.newegg.com/deepcool-ak400/p/N82E16835856202
DeepCool AK400 CPU Cooler $29.99

https://www.newegg.com/team-16gb-288-pin-ddr4-sdram/p/N82E16820331354
Team T-FORCE VULCAN Z DDR4 3200MHz 16GB (2x8GB) CL16 $49.99

https://www.amazon.com/PNY-CS1030-Internal-Solid-State/dp/B08M49JGKB/
PNY CS1030 1TB M.2 NVMe PCIe Gen3 x4 Internal SSD $79.99

https://www.amazon.com/MSI-RTX-3060-OC-12G/dp/B08WTFG5BX/
MSI GeForce RTX 3060 Ventus 3X OC 12GB Graphics Card $429.99

https://www.amazon.com/AOC-27G2-Frameless-Adjustable-Guarantee/dp/B07WSK5W7V/

AOC 27G2 27" IPS FHD 1080P 1ms 144Hz NVIDIA G-SYNC Compatible Frameless Gaming Monitor $199.99

Total: $1254.85

A better look at those components.

https://us.aoc.com/en-US/gaming/products/monitors/27g2

https://phanteks.com/Eclipse-P360A.html

https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/MAG-B660M-BAZOOKA-DDR4

https://global.deepcool.com/product...AK400-Performance-CPU-Cooler/2021/15222.shtml

https://ark.intel.com/content/www/u...2400f-processor-18m-cache-up-to-4-40-ghz.html

i5 12400 / 12400F gaming benchmarks.

 

[gamemaster3000]

What country are you shopping in?

If USA, do you live near a Microcenter store?

Complete replacement of all components except keyboard and mouse within the $1,250 budget?

In the US in Vegas, no Microcenter store, and Fry’s went belly-up.

I’ll probably have to throw a few more dollars at this, I want a larger case and a full-size motherboard.

I’m willing to pay $50 extra for a nice case, heatsink, power supply, etc.

 

[Zerk2012]

Building a new PC! I think the thing I'm most decided on is a RTX 3060 (Ti?). No more than $500 for the graphics card, I'm not that much a videophile. But my current rig is 5 years old, I'm doing ok on money with a new job and a cheaper living situation, crypto is crashing, and it's time.

I'm willing to do eVGA or Gigabyte for the manufacturer, might consider others, but not MSI.

I've had no problems with my Intel processor so I'll go with them again as well.

I like a huge case, a big ol' heatsink, and I'm gonna get a decent SSD and hard drive as well.

Will probably want a new monitor too.

I do not overclock.

Also...what games am I gonna play on this bad boy?

1250 Monitor and everything? Your trying to eat steak on a hamburger budget.

 

[Maestro Colby]

Looks pretty good to me.

Make sure to get the EVGA 3060 tho, it has a boost clock of 1882 MHz.

Other than that, it seems pretty solid.

 

[tennis2]

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i5-12500 3 GHz 6-Core Processor ($202.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Deepcool AS500 70.81 CFM CPU Cooler ($50.00 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: MSI MAG B660M MORTAR WIFI DDR4 Micro ATX LGA1700 Motherboard ($159.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: TEAMGROUP Vulcan Z 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 CL18 Memory ($55.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Blue SN570 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($88.85 @ Amazon)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB XC BLACK GAMING Video Card ($387.49 @ Amazon)
Case: Cooler Master MasterBox MB311L ARGB MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($64.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA G5 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($64.98 @ Amazon)
Case Fan: Cooler Master MasterFan MF Halo 47.2 CFM 120 mm Fan ($18.98 @ Newegg)
Monitor: LG 27GL650F-B 27.0" 1920x1080 144 Hz Monitor ($196.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $1291.25
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2022-06-15 21:46 EDT-0400


PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5600 3.5 GHz 6-Core Processor ($179.99 @ B&H)
CPU Cooler: Deepcool AS500 70.81 CFM CPU Cooler ($50.00 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: MSI B550M PRO-VDH WIFI Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard ($109.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: TEAMGROUP Vulcan Z 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 CL18 Memory ($55.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Blue SN570 2 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($179.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon RX 6600 XT 8 GB NITRO+ Video Card ($389.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Cooler Master MasterBox MB311L ARGB MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($64.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA G5 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($64.98 @ Amazon)
Case Fan: Cooler Master MasterFan MF Halo 47.2 CFM 120 mm Fan ($18.98 @ Newegg)
Monitor: LG 27GL650F-B 27.0" 1920x1080 144 Hz Monitor ($196.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $1311.89
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2022-06-15 21:51 EDT-0400

 

[Why_Me]

In the US in Vegas, no Microcenter store, and Fry’s went belly-up.

I’ll probably have to throw a few more dollars at this, I want a larger case and a full-size motherboard.

I’m willing to pay $50 extra for a nice case, heatsink, power supply, etc.

This case is about as good as it gets imo for a gaming case.

https://www.newegg.com/black-lian-li-lancool-ii-performance-atx-mid-tower/p/2AM-000Z-00086
LIAN LI LANCOOL II MESH C PERFORMANCE $119.99

Lancool-II-Mesh-Performance

<h2>Born to push the limits</h2> LANCOOL II MESH Performance features a mesh front panel and mesh bottom left shroud panel, honeycomb vent design and built-in PWM fans, ensuring bountiful airflow delivered to your components while the system runs at peak performance. <span...

lian-li.com

Here's your full size ATX board although less than 10% of PC users will ever think of using that extra PCI slot that comes with it.

https://www.newegg.com/p/N82E16813144523
MSI PRO B660-A DDR4 $149.99

https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/PRO-B660-A-DDR4

or ...

https://www.newegg.com/p/N82E16813145381
GIGABYTE B660 GAMING X AX DDR4 $169.99

https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/B660-GAMING-X-AX-DDR4-rev-10#kf

Either one of these coolers is a bit overkill imo for that i5 I posted in that build up above but they're both equally good.

https://www.amazon.com/DeepCool-AK620-High-Performance-Dual-Tower-Dissipation/dp/B09CSXS3X4
DeepCool AK620 CPU Cooler $64.99

https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/deepcool-ak620-review

https://global.deepcool.com/product...-High-Performance-CPU-Cooler/2021/13067.shtml

or ...

https://www.amazon.com/Rev-B-Cooler-LGA1700-LGA1151-Towers/dp/B09NZGH4RD/
Scythe Fuma 2 Rev.B CPU Cooler $65.99

https://hardwarecanucks.com/forum/t...-review-the-best-cpu-cooler-got-cooler.84709/

https://www.scytheus.com/fuma2-rev-b

 

[gamemaster3000]

Ok I absolutely used everyone's feedback but it turns out I had some requirements I discovered in the process of picking out components.

First, I want 64 GB of RAM for WoW and for a poker program.

Second, I want a big ol' SSD drive because WoW takes so much space and this 256 GB is barely enough to hold Windows and WoW.

Third, I need a regular hard drive because I record each pull, and I like to store a ton of video so that's a big one.

I'm having a hard time pulling the trigger on a graphics card north of $500. Not that the $400 one is "cheap". But the ti version does get in to ray tracing...

I am interested in the 12600kf chip but the cost is getting north of $1500 which I was trying to avoid, this is $100 cheaper. I also kinda wanted to do DDR5 but that also seems to be swelling the cost.

So here's what I came up with, there's probably some silliness in the cooler and the power supply but let me know to what degree.

Also I currently have the 3060 card that is at a 1700 clock speed, the 1882 one is $30 more, dunno how much a difference that makes.

I didn't build it on part picker but on newegg, but I think I selected most the right components:
https://pcpartpicker.com/list/tbVL78

From Newegg, which is what I actually picked:
$170 Intel Core i5-12400F - Core i5 12th Gen Alder Lake 6-Core 2.5 GHz LGA 1700 65W Desktop Processor - BX8071512400F

$180 ASRock Z690 Pro RS LGA 1700 Intel Z690 SATA 6Gb/s DDR4 ATX Intel Motherboard

$400 EVGA GeForce RTX 3060 XC BLACK GAMING, 12G-P5-3655-KR, 12GB GDDR6, Dual-Fan

$100 EVGA 750 BQ 110-BQ-0750-V1 80+ BRONZE 750W Semi Modular Includes FREE Power On Self Tester Power Supply

$150 WD Black 4TB Performance Desktop Hard Disk Drive - 7200 RPM SATA 6Gb/s 256MB Cache 3.5 Inch - WD4005FZBX

$100 Noctua NH-D15, Premium CPU Cooler with 2x NF-A15 PWM 140mm Fans (Brown)

$110 SAMSUNG 980 M.2 2280 1TB PCI-Express 3.0 x4, NVMe 1.4 V-NAND MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) MZ-V8V1T0B/AM

$120 LIAN LI LANCOOL II MESH C PERFORMANCE BLACK Tempered Glass ATX Case -Black Color ,Type C Included-LIAN LI LANCOOL II MESH C PERFORMANCE -X

$228 G.SKILL Ripjaws V Series 64GB (2 x 32GB) 288-Pin PC RAM DDR4 3600 (PC4 28800) Intel XMP 2.0 Desktop Memory Model F4-3600C18D-64GVK

There's a difference in the price on newegg and partspicker for the SSD drive, the one I'm actually buying is only $107.

Questions remaining:
is the RAM, Motherboard, CPU, and heat sink all compatible?
How much overkill are the case, heatsink, and PSU?
What are my USB 3.0 (is that USB-C?) needs?
What stats am I looking for on a hard drive? (I just did the really highly rated ones.)

If I could find similar RAM that doesn't ship from China that'd be great.

 

[Lafong]

Looks to me like that adds up to 1558 ...........

But no monitor.

You don't need one now?

 

[gamemaster3000]

Well I don't...think...so. My current monitor supports 1920 by whatever 1080p is, and nothing higher. I dunno this monitor isn't that sexy but...I don't think it needs to be?

 

[Lafong]

Building a new PC!


Will probably want a new monitor too.

Probably became probably not.

 

[tennis2]

First, I want 64 GB of RAM for WoW and for a poker program.

What poker program requires 64GB of RAM?!?!?

WoW only requires 16GB of RAM
https://eu.battle.net/support/en/article/311752

What's the official new budget including monitor?

Heatsink is massive overkill for a i5-12400F
You'll never use 64GB of RAM with the usage you've mentioned.
Don't need Z690 unless you've got a K series CPU
Storage capacity is something you'll have to tell us. A good place to start is to tell us how much storage your current PC has and if that's restrictive.
Don't need a 750W PSU for this component list, get less watts and higher quality.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i5-12500 3 GHz 6-Core Processor ($202.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Deepcool AS500 70.81 CFM CPU Cooler ($50.00 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: MSI MAG B660M MORTAR WIFI DDR4 Micro ATX LGA1700 Motherboard ($159.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: TEAMGROUP T-Create Expert 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3600 CL18 Memory ($97.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Black SN770 2 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($199.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Blue 6 TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($99.74 @ Amazon)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB XC BLACK GAMING Video Card ($409.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Cooler Master MasterBox MB311L ARGB MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($64.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA G5 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($64.98 @ Amazon)
Case Fan: Cooler Master MasterFan MF Halo 47.2 CFM 120 mm Fan ($18.98 @ Newegg)
Monitor: Asus TUF GAMING VG27WQ 27.0" 2560x1440 165 Hz Monitor ($229.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1599.62
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2022-06-17 10:50 EDT-0400

 

[Roland Of Gilead]

Also I currently have the 3060 card that is at a 1700 clock speed, the 1882 one is $30 more, dunno how much a difference that makes.

Just a note to consider. I wouldn't get hung up on model and boost clockspeed too much. All Nvidia cards use dynamic boost, and can/will more than likely boost past the advertised boost clocks. The algorithm determines the temp/power limit headroom and adjust on the fly. I'd recommend getting whichever brand has at least a two fan design, reasonably priced and not be concerned too much by the clocks.

Ill give you my example GPU: I've a Palit 3060ti Dual OC. It's advertised boost speed is 1695mhz or something close. However it runs all day long at about 1900-1950mhz (with temps never going above 65c). With a moderate OC, it runs along at 1950mhz-2050mhz (game dependant) and sits there all day.

As long as you have a decent case with good airflow, any of the 3060 models are suitable.

 

[ohio_buckeye]

Unless you are married to the idea of ray tracing, I wouldn't say that the 3060 is the only game in town.

Here's another consideration. It's slightly behind the 3060 but is about 100 dollars cheaper too.

XFX SPEEDSTER SWFT 210 Radeon RX 6600 Video Card RX-66XL8LFDQ - Newegg.com

Video showing the difference.

(46) RX 6600 vs RTX 3060 - 18 Game Test 1080p & 1440p - YouTube


You could also go with the 6600 xt, which trades blows with the 3060.

XFX SPEEDSTER SWFT210 Radeon RX 6600 XT Core Gaming Graphics Card, AMD RDNA 2 RX-66XT8DFDQ - Newegg.com

Another video showing 6600xt vs 3060.

(46) Radeon RX 6600 XT vs. GeForce RTX 3060, 50 Game Benchmark - YouTube


It looks like if you went with this AsRock model they have the amd raise the game bundle with it.

ASRock Challenger D Radeon RX 6600 XT Video Card RX6600XT CLD 8GO - Newegg.com


AMD Gift - Radeon Raise the Game Bundle - Newegg.com


The 3060 isn't a bad card, but is pricey. If you don't care about ray tracing, I'd say give the amd cards a look. Though I've owned nvidia cards also. I just finished shopping myself, and ended up with this on ebay.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/125369371157

There are used ones like this out there which are closer to a 3060 ti or 3070. But that said if you went that route watch the descriptions and seller feedback. In this case the seller has over 5000 feedback with a rating of 99.6% positive, and they list it as a manufacturer refurbished card. I looked at other cards but that much value for money was tempting. So my 6700xt is supposed to arrive monday it says.

 

[tennis2]

 

[ohio_buckeye]

There we go. Look on the left that should give a good idea.

 

[helper800]

Here is a build with everything at about 1250 with another 50 I could put in a Lian Li 215 case instead:

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i5-12400F 2.5 GHz 6-Core Processor ($169.94 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Vetroo V5 52 CFM CPU Cooler ($34.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Asus PRIME B660-PLUS D4 ATX LGA1700 Motherboard ($139.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory ($57.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Intel 670p 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($74.59 @ Amazon)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti LHR 8 GB XC GAMING Video Card ($497.99 @ EVGA)
Case: Cougar MX330-G ATX Mid Tower Case ($51.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA G5 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($64.98 @ Amazon)
Monitor: AOC 24G2 23.8" 1920x1080 144 Hz Monitor ($169.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $1262.45
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2022-06-17 20:00 EDT-0400

 

[gamemaster3000]

Ok thanks everyone I realized I could plunder the case and NH-D15 from the PC I'm typing this one so that freed up a lot of money. One final check on mobo/tower/processor/RAM compatibility

$540 (with tax and shipping) eVGA RTX 3060Ti ordered from eVGA
$120 (with tax) SSD ordered
$140 (with tax) HD ordered
$45 CoolerMaster 212 ordered
$0 Mounting kit for NH-D15 ordered, I plan to take it off this PC and put it on the new one and put the coolermaster on the old one
$75 eVGA 220-GA-0750-X1 Super Nova 80 plus gold 750W Fully modular

One final check before pulling the trigger on the following components:
https://pcpartpicker.com/list/Dz4JnQ

$52 Cougar MX-330G Mid-Tower Case...I might use this for the old PC and the huge case for the new one

$120 ASRock B660M PRO RS LGA 1700 Intel B660 SATA 6Gb/s DDR4 Micro ATX Motherboard

$260 Intel Core i5-12600KF - Core i5 12th Gen Alder Lake 10-Core (6P+4E) 3.7 GHz LGA 1700 125W Desktop Processor - BX8071512600KF

$228 G.SKILL Ripjaws V Series 64GB (2 x 32GB) 288-Pin PC RAM DDR4 3600 (PC4 28800) Intel XMP 2.0 Desktop Memory Model F4-3600C18D-64GVK

 

[ohio_buckeye]

If you haven’t ordered the gpu yet, splitting hairs here, but EVGA appears to have a 3060 ti on their b stock site for 479.

https://www.evga.com/products/product.aspx?pn=08G-P5-3663-KL

Or go to 579 for a 3070

https://www.evga.com/products/product.aspx?pn=08G-P5-3751-KL

 

[gamemaster3000]

The 479 is what I got, but tax and shipping…I mighta been better off on amazon

 

[helper800]

The 479 is what I got, but tax and shipping…I mighta been better off on amazon

Did you already order your parts? A 12600k on a non-z690 board is a waste and that asrock board you posted above has really bad VRMs and is not intended for use with a 12600k because of that. Of course it will "work" but the VRMs will not handle a boosting 12600k for long and may cause many issues related to that.

 

[Why_Me]

Did you already order your parts? A 12600k on a non-z690 board is a waste and that asrock board you posted above has really bad VRMs and is not intended for use with a 12600k because of that. Of course it will "work" but the VRMs will not handle a boosting 12600k for long and may cause many issues related to that.

Add to that the CM 212 the OP listed is not only subpar for the 12600K but it won't fit in that Cougar case he posted.

 

[helper800]

Add to that the CM 212 the OP listed is not only subpar for the 12600K but it won't fit in that Cougar case he posted.

Yup and neither will that nh-d15, so the case in question wont work with either cooler he has available for the old computer.

 

[gamemaster3000]

Thank you guys, I went to the "completed builds" thing in pc part picker and that helped me visualize a little more.

I ordered a Corsair 4000D case which has tons of good ratings, and there are completed builds with both of my coolers in there, and similar / larger graphics cards.

So now I'm down to the ASRock Z690 Pro RS LGA 1700 Intel Z690 SATA 6Gb/s DDR4 ATX Intel Motherboard

Intel Core i5-12600KF - Core i5 12th Gen Alder Lake 10-Core (6P+4E) 3.7 GHz LGA 1700 125W Desktop Processor - BX8071512600KF

G.SKILL Ripjaws V Series 64GB (2 x 32GB) 288-Pin PC RAM DDR4 3600 (PC4 28800) Intel XMP 2.0 Desktop Memory Model F4-3600C18D-64GVK

PCPartPicker Part List: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/yN6dFg