TL;DR - I want a cool, quiet mini-ITX gaming PC that will match or exceed what I'm currently getting from a BootCamped iMac Pro. I'm re-using a ThermalTake Core V1 chassis and Corsair RM550 PSU
Approximate Purchase Date: ASAP
Budget Range: $1250, flexible
System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming. Overwatch, Wow, Beyond all Reason
Are you buying a monitor: No
Parts to Upgrade: CPU, MB, GPU, RAM, m.2.
Re-using PSU: Corsair RM550
Re-using Case: Thermaltake Core V1. Potentially moving to something smaller eventually, but not a priority now.
Do you need to buy OS: No
Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Amazon
Location: Arizona
Parts Preferences: No
Overclocking: No
SLI or Crossfire: No
Your Monitor Resolution: Monitor is 4k. Looking to game at 1440
Additional Comments: I want the quietest, smallest machine that meets my requirements for older games. Interested in AIO liquid cooling if it helps this goal
And Most Importantly, Why Are You Upgrading: Last gaming PC was built in ~2016. (core i5-4460, GTX 1050 Ti). Got an iMac Pro for work, ran games acceptably on Bootcamp, but now I am changing to a MacBook Pro for work. I'd like to have a separate gaming PC again.
Not sure if this helps, but I re-ran Time Spy on my iMac (in windows) and the old gaming PC which I haven't used since 2018. Old PC scored 2420, iMac Pro scored 6778, so any build should be an improvement over that. I know that's not a high bar, but I'm looking to do this in a Mini ITX case that is cool and quiet.
The GPU market & naming conventions are very confusing to me. It seems like I bought my 1050 Ti just before crypto mining affected prices and it's still considered a good value...I saw 1050 Ti's appearing in budget build videos as recently as a few months ago which really surprised me. I'm not sure how such an old video card (or any electronic) is still on the market, so maybe there are newer model years of the 1050 Ti? Also, I'm not sure how the iMac Pro Time Spy benchmark really stacks up. I turn settings down on games to avoid the fans running full blast and still get good performance so I'm not sure if I'm actually getting that 6776 benchmark's worth of performance in games in the same way I got full benefit from my old, unthrottled PC.
TENTATIVE COMPONENTS:
CPU - AMD Ryzen 5 5600X 6-core, 12-Thread Unlocked Desktop Processor with Wraith Stealth Cooler
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08166SLDF/ref=ox_sc_act_title_3?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&th=1
MB - GIGABYTE B550I AORUS PRO AX (AM4 AMD/B550/Mini-Itx/Dual M.2/SATA 6Gb/s/USB 3.2 Gen 1/WiFi 6/2.5 GbE LAN/PCIe4.0/Realtek ALC1220-Vb/DisplayPort 1.4/2xHDMI 2.0B/RGB Fusion 2.0/DDR4/Gaming Motherboard)
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B089FWWN62/ref=ox_sc_act_title_4?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1
Sapphire Technology 11310-01-20G Pulse AMD Radeon RX 6600 Gaming Graphics Card with 8GB GDDR6, AMD RDNA 2
https://www.amazon.com/Sapphire-Tec...s=AMD+Radeon+RX+6600+XT&qid=1648744742&sr=8-4
RAM - Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 X 8GB) DDR4 3600 MHz (PC4-28800) C18 1.35V Desktop Memory - Black (CMK16GX4M2D3600C18)
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07RM39V5F/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&th=1
Storage - SAMSUNG 980 SSD 1TB M.2 NVMe Interface Internal Solid State Drive with V-NAND Technology for Gaming, Heavy Graphics, Full Power Mode, MZ-V8V1T0B/AM
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08V83JZH4/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1
Approximate Purchase Date: ASAP
Budget Range: $1250, flexible
System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming. Overwatch, Wow, Beyond all Reason
Are you buying a monitor: No
Parts to Upgrade: CPU, MB, GPU, RAM, m.2.
Re-using PSU: Corsair RM550
Re-using Case: Thermaltake Core V1. Potentially moving to something smaller eventually, but not a priority now.
Do you need to buy OS: No
Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Amazon
Location: Arizona
Parts Preferences: No
Overclocking: No
SLI or Crossfire: No
Your Monitor Resolution: Monitor is 4k. Looking to game at 1440
Additional Comments: I want the quietest, smallest machine that meets my requirements for older games. Interested in AIO liquid cooling if it helps this goal
And Most Importantly, Why Are You Upgrading: Last gaming PC was built in ~2016. (core i5-4460, GTX 1050 Ti). Got an iMac Pro for work, ran games acceptably on Bootcamp, but now I am changing to a MacBook Pro for work. I'd like to have a separate gaming PC again.
Not sure if this helps, but I re-ran Time Spy on my iMac (in windows) and the old gaming PC which I haven't used since 2018. Old PC scored 2420, iMac Pro scored 6778, so any build should be an improvement over that. I know that's not a high bar, but I'm looking to do this in a Mini ITX case that is cool and quiet.
The GPU market & naming conventions are very confusing to me. It seems like I bought my 1050 Ti just before crypto mining affected prices and it's still considered a good value...I saw 1050 Ti's appearing in budget build videos as recently as a few months ago which really surprised me. I'm not sure how such an old video card (or any electronic) is still on the market, so maybe there are newer model years of the 1050 Ti? Also, I'm not sure how the iMac Pro Time Spy benchmark really stacks up. I turn settings down on games to avoid the fans running full blast and still get good performance so I'm not sure if I'm actually getting that 6776 benchmark's worth of performance in games in the same way I got full benefit from my old, unthrottled PC.
TENTATIVE COMPONENTS:
CPU - AMD Ryzen 5 5600X 6-core, 12-Thread Unlocked Desktop Processor with Wraith Stealth Cooler
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08166SLDF/ref=ox_sc_act_title_3?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&th=1
MB - GIGABYTE B550I AORUS PRO AX (AM4 AMD/B550/Mini-Itx/Dual M.2/SATA 6Gb/s/USB 3.2 Gen 1/WiFi 6/2.5 GbE LAN/PCIe4.0/Realtek ALC1220-Vb/DisplayPort 1.4/2xHDMI 2.0B/RGB Fusion 2.0/DDR4/Gaming Motherboard)
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B089FWWN62/ref=ox_sc_act_title_4?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1
Sapphire Technology 11310-01-20G Pulse AMD Radeon RX 6600 Gaming Graphics Card with 8GB GDDR6, AMD RDNA 2
https://www.amazon.com/Sapphire-Tec...s=AMD+Radeon+RX+6600+XT&qid=1648744742&sr=8-4
RAM - Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 X 8GB) DDR4 3600 MHz (PC4-28800) C18 1.35V Desktop Memory - Black (CMK16GX4M2D3600C18)
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07RM39V5F/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&th=1
Storage - SAMSUNG 980 SSD 1TB M.2 NVMe Interface Internal Solid State Drive with V-NAND Technology for Gaming, Heavy Graphics, Full Power Mode, MZ-V8V1T0B/AM
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08V83JZH4/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1