[SOLVED] New Gaming PC Build - Details included in post

[Skrad]

I copied/pasted the "outline" for new PC builds to hopefully make this easier to read. I've included the specific parts below as well as the PC Part Picker link.

Approximate Purchase Date: e.g.: Around Cyber Monday (Nov 30)

Budget Range: The range will be fairly close to $1300 for the PC itself. Monitor and peripherals not included.

System Usage from Most to Least Important: The main purpose of this PC will be gaming, with a heavy focus on VR.

Are you buying a monitor: Yes

Parts to Upgrade: Just need a general overview on my build. I've checked out reviews on all of the products, but wanted some other opinions as well.

Do you need to buy OS: Yes

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Newegg, NCIX, etc. Ultimately, it depends who gives the better deal. Planned on using PC Part Picker to figure that portion out.

Location: Oklahoma City, OK

Parts Preferences: I'd prefer to stick with Intel CPU and Nvidia GPU

Overclocking: Maybe - Not for awhile

SLI or Crossfire: No

Your Monitor Resolution:1920x1080

And Most Importantly, Why Are You Upgrading: Built a computer 7 years ago and it's time for a new one.

Link to parts list: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/Bfs3TC

Component		Selection	Base	Promo	Shipping	Price
CPU		Intel Core i5-9600K 3.7 GHz 6-Core Processor	$199.99			$199.99
CPU Cooler		Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler	$25.99			$25.99
Motherboard		Gigabyte Z390 AORUS ELITE ATX LGA1151 Motherboard	$169.99			$169.99
Memory		Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory	$59.99			$59.99
Storage		Crucial P1 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive	$104.99		FREE	$104.99
Storage		Samsung 970 Evo Plus 250 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive	$69.98			$69.98
Video Card		MSI GeForce RTX 2060 6 GB GAMING Z Video Card	$367.67	-$15.00 1	FREE	$352.67
Case		Corsair 750D ATX Full Tower Case				No PricesAvailable
Power Supply		EVGA 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply	$98.99		$9.95	$108.94
Optical Drive		Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer	$19.98			$19.98
Operating System		Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit	$108.78		FREE	$108.78
Monitor		Asus VG248QE 24.0" 1920x1080 144 Hz Monitor

Base Total:

$1226.35

Thank you for taking the time to read this and any advice given.

 

[Darkbreeze]

That CPU cooler is not capable enough for that CPU if you plan to do any overclocking at all. So if you plan to do it later, don't get it. In fact, I'd avoid it anyhow. There are much better coolers available for not that much more, besides which by the time Cyber Monday comes, it probably won't still be that price anyhow. Normally that cooler runs about 30-35 bucks, and for 40-45 bucks you can NORMALLY get a much better unit. The 212 EVO is certainly better than a lot of cheap coolers out there, but that's not saying much.

Truthfully, this would be a MUCH better place to start, or end, than what you have up there. By the way, NCIX has been bankrupt and out of business for many years now.

The ASUS Z390 Pro gaming is a better choice based on reviews than the Aorus elite. Much more stable higher clocks and way better memory stability across the board.

MSI, and anybody really, doesn't really offer the same build quality or, more importantly, the same exemplary customer support, as EVGA. No way I'd chose an MSI card over EVGA and that's without even factoring in MSI's really terrible track record with super poor moral code, ripping off customers, trying to push reviewers around, etc. EVGA, hands down.

And, this Corsair power supply is MUCH better than that EVGA GQ model, which is itself "ok", but isn't particularly special and has some glaring shortcomings at that price.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i5-9600K 3.7 GHz 6-Core Processor ($199.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Thermalright TRUE Spirit 140 Direct 73.6 CFM CPU Cooler ($42.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Asus TUF Z390-PRO GAMING ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($169.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: G.Skill Trident Z RGB 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL14 Memory ($124.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 970 Evo Plus 250 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($69.98 @ Amazon)
Storage: Crucial P1 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($104.99 @ Adorama)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce RTX 2060 6 GB SC ULTRA GAMING Video Card ($369.55 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Corsair RMx (2018) 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($99.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $1182.46
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-10-14 01:24 EDT-0400[/B][/SIZE]


And if you wanted to take it up a notch from there, with the latest Gen Intel platform, for a little more, you'd get a bit better CPU performance.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i5-10600K 4.1 GHz 6-Core Processor ($274.89 @ B&H)
CPU Cooler: Thermalright TRUE Spirit 140 Direct 73.6 CFM CPU Cooler ($42.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Asus TUF GAMING Z490-PLUS (WI-FI) ATX LGA1200 Motherboard ($198.90 @ Amazon)
Memory: G.Skill Trident Z RGB 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL14 Memory ($124.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 970 Evo Plus 250 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($69.98 @ Amazon)
Storage: Crucial P1 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($104.99 @ Adorama)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce RTX 2060 6 GB SC ULTRA GAMING Video Card ($369.55 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Corsair RMx (2018) 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($99.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $1286.27
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-10-14 01:28 EDT-0400

 

[Darkbreeze]

Or, you could also stay with the 9th Gen CPUs, but move up to an i7 instead, and probably get better performance than with the 10th Gen i5.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i7-9700K 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor ($274.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Thermalright TRUE Spirit 140 Direct 73.6 CFM CPU Cooler ($42.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Asus TUF Z390-PRO GAMING ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($169.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: G.Skill Trident Z RGB 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL14 Memory ($124.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 970 Evo Plus 250 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($69.98 @ Amazon)
Storage: Crucial P1 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($104.99 @ Adorama)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce RTX 2060 6 GB SC ULTRA GAMING Video Card ($369.55 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Corsair RMx (2018) 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($99.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $1257.46
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-10-14 02:10 EDT-0400

 

[Skrad]

Ok, so from my understanding Darkbreeze.. I need to upgrade my CPU cooler if I plan to overlock. I haven't overclocked on my current build as I've never needed more CPU power from my current i5, with only my GPU holding back my performance. The specs with the CPU cooler you provided seems nearly identical with the one I found. What makes the Thermalright cooler ready for overclocking?

You mentioned swapping the motherboard from a gigabyte to an asus. Is that a preference for asus hardware or does the asus motherboard provide more ports or fan connections?

So EVGA is the way to go on graphics cards, but they don't make good quality PSU's? What is the main difference between the Corsair PSU and the EVGA one I mentioned, excluding the fully modular/semi-modular?

For the CPU, I don't feel like I would be bottlenecked on the i5-9600k for at least a few years. which makes upgrading to an i7 seem like it's just not worth the price. I'll check out some benchmarks and see how the CPUs look.

Thanks for lending a hand and I appreciate the response. I'll gladly consider swapping out some parts, but I just need some definitive information along with the suggestion.

 

[Darkbreeze]

That isn't a cooler I'd recommend for "overclocking" any of the recent i7 or i9 CPUs. It would be "ok" for a mild overclock on an i5 from any generation or a half decent overclock from any i5 within the Gen1 through Gen 7 Intel families. It is really just a very good option for stock configurations like those above. Not relevant for i9's or i7's past 9th gen.

Keep in mind, none of the K sku processors comes with a cooler. And that cooler is in NO-WISE on the level of that Hyper 212 EVO which should realistically be considered the very MINIMUM model for anybody requiring an aftermarket tower cooler, and is not suitable for any overclocking at all on 8th-11th Gen Intel i7 or i9 processors or i5 processors newer than 7th Gen. It is a very old design, small 120mm cooler and is not particularly good, or quiet or easy to install and it is definitely not something that has the same level of engineering and quality built into it as any of the Noctua or Thermalright coolers.

It is exactly what it seems to be. A cheap, entry level option that is better than any of the stock coolers, but not by much in some cases. I'd recommend it over any stock cooler, depending on what is really needed, but I would never recommend it for any kind of overclocking except on low core count, low TDP processors that might be overclockable.

EVGA is like any other company. They make both good AND not-so-good products, and then a few real turds as well.

Read this for some clarity on selecting a power supply model.

Discussion - PSU recommendations and power supply discussion thread - Tom's hardware

Below you will find MY standard list of recommended power supplies and beyond that this thread is intended as a landing place for questions or discussions regarding specific units, platforms or related PSU tech, all of which are all welcome to be discussed here. If it's related to power supplies...

forums.tomshardware.com

 

[Desch_]

if i was putting 1300$ down before monitors and peripherals theres no way in hell id settle for an i5 + 2060 configuration, just saying.

i feel like a much better system could be built for this price range with upgrades in mind for later. for example do you really need 1tb m.2 nvme and 250gb sata6 ssd? why not a 250gb m.2 nvme for OS and some of your most frequently utilised apps and a 500gb sata6 secondary ssd? or why not just a single 1tb m.2 nvme ssd and get a secondary later when that one is close to full? or do you need 2 drives from the get-go?

watch sales on gpus in the upcoming weeks. do yourself a favor and dont spend nearly 400$ on a 6gb vram 2060. keep your eye out for sales, i imagine by nov. 30th there will be a few good deals on brand new 2070 cards in lieu of more and more rtx3000 cards getting to the market. navi 2 might be a consideration for you in the near future as well.

also, 100$ on windows 10..... you can get a keycode for under 20$ most times. theres a couple websites that sell them like kinguin. they get these keycodes as surplus because, ie, dell buys 10,000 keycodes obly uses 9000 in their oems and only 8000/9000 sell so theyre left with 2000 keycodes to get rid of. theyre actuually pretty reliable, the only time i ever had one not work was when i bouught keycode and didnt attempt to activate until 2 or 3 months later. they probably resold same code since it was still inactive. so if you go this route just make sure you install and activate asap. easy way to save $75 or more, put it towards nicer gpu!

build looks good! excited for ya

 

[Darkbreeze]

also, 100$ on windows 10..... you can get a keycode for under 20$ most times. theres a couple websites that sell them like kinguin.

Sigh. Yes, I realize our psuedo tech writers on the editorial side of the fence have previously, in the past, run an article suggesting this is an ok thing to do but let me clarify how things on THIS side of the fence, in the forum, work.

We don't recommend people take this path, for a variety of reasons.

One, it's illicit, in most cases. Microsoft doesn't EVER sell off bulk licenses to the general public. They sell them ONLY to corporate partners. People who get a hold of those corporate licenses and sell them off to the general public are breaking the law and while they may work fine, for a while, when Microsoft becomes aware of a range of licenses that are not legit are being used, they WILL blacklist them, and they will no longer work. You will NOT have any path for reparations or remedy. You will SIMPLY be out of luck.

Two, MANY of those licenses are obtained through criminal and mafia activities. Transport vehicles like trucks and trains are pilfered, one way or another, and pallets of product are absconded with. Then, they sell those licenses that are ill-gotten, for steep discounts to offload them quickly, on sites like Kinguin, Cheap keys, G2A, etc.

While they may work fine, for a while, when Microsoft becomes aware of a range of licenses that are not legit are being used, they WILL blacklist them, and they will no longer work. You will NOT have any path for reparations or remedy. You will SIMPLY be out of luck.

Our position on this is simple. Microsoft has said that they don't support ANY kind of deep discount on keys through ANY of their retail partners or channels, and therefore we do not support encouraging this kind of activity. Whether Microsoft actually pursues this actively these days like they used to in the past is irrelevant, because even if they don't you are STILL supporting criminal operations of one kind or another in 90% of "cheap keys" sales. There are very few cases of somebody buying a legitimate key and then selling it at a discount price out there. Practically none. So if you see Windows for less than 75 bucks someplace, and actually more like less than 90 bucks, it's 99% likely that it's a stolen key that will at some point be blacklisted and even if it isn't you are telling criminals to keep on stealing these keys and selling them to the public.

Now, on the other hand, if you already HAVE a Windows 7 or 8.1 license that you do not intend to reuse after the build, you can STILL use that key, to this date, to obtain a digital entitlement that will allow you to upgrade to and run Windows 10 on your system. Legitimately. Not half way, shady, questionable, probably going to get blacklisted later.

Doing a clean install and simply plugging in your product key for your older product, 7 or 8, has worked for ME in every case, even when the original license was an OEM product. You might want to do an upgrade first, if in doubt, but I haven't had to do that at all.

How to associate your windows 10 license with a Microsoft account

Reactivating Windows 10 after a hardware change

Windows build 1607 (Or newer) and activation after a hardware change



and in case you should ever need to do a CLEAN install of Windows, this guide will help to ensure it gets done properly.

How to do a CLEAN installation of Windows 10, the RIGHT way​

 

[Desch_]

ive used the entitlement key before going from windows8 to windows10...such a nightmare. MS support was swamped back then so it took nearly 4 hours of caller waiting for me to explain why my keycode should still work. (prebuilt asus mobo failed. this is what got me into building custom pcs). maybe its better now. alot was changing back then.

anywho, ive also used a bunch of surplus keys from shady vendors and one time it failed, like i mentioned. sorry for the potentially awful advice

https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/get-windows-10-free-or-cheap,5717.html

heres some other suggestions on saving some dough.

btw, @Darkbreeze, microsoft already sold those keys so what its purchasers do with them is up to them. in the case of stolen cargo its totally different obviously. but in my example of dell only selling 8000/10000 keys, what they do with and how they choose to recoup the expense of those keys is entirely up to them, even if they sell them to kinguin or cheapkeys for supercheap.

 

[Darkbreeze]

You don't need to call anybody. You simply do the installation of Windows 10 and when prompted you input the valid Windows 7 or 8 license key. Poof. Automatically activated in EVERY instance I've used that method, which so far, is about fifty times on various systems and with various different "elevations" of product from OEM up to Pro.

And no, in MOST of those cases, Microsoft did NOT already "sell them". Those keys are not "sold" until somebody buys them, which hasn't happened when somebody snitches them off the loading docks, out of a train car or illegally obtains them through their corporate workplace. Places like Dell and HP, are not selling unused keys on these sites. Ever. At all. Even suggesting that shows you really don't have any understanding of how these businesses operate. Let me make it a bit clearer regarding this policy.

When I say "We don't recommend anybody take this path", that includes people making recommendations to take this path, on our forums. Thanks for understanding that we don't like anybody handing out potentially bad advice to our visitors and members. Even if only one shady license key out of ten gets blacklisted, that's bad. We wouldn't want YOU to be that person, and we don't want anybody ELSE being that person either, as a result of you making that recommendation.

 

[USAFRet]

btw, @Darkbreeze, microsoft already sold those keys so what its purchasers do with them is up to them. in the case of stolen cargo its totally different obviously. but in my example of dell only selling 8000/10000 keys, what they do with and how they choose to recoup the expense of those keys is entirely up to them, even if they sell them to kinguin or cheapkeys for supercheap.

Dell doesn't sell them to kinguin.
Like ebay, kinguin has no 'product'. They are simply the marketplace.

 

[Skrad]

if i was putting 1300$ down before monitors and peripherals theres no way in hell id settle for an i5 + 2060 configuration, just saying.

i feel like a much better system could be built for this price range with upgrades in mind for later. for example do you really need 1tb m.2 nvme and 250gb sata6 ssd? why not a 250gb m.2 nvme for OS and some of your most frequently utilised apps and a 500gb sata6 secondary ssd? or why not just a single 1tb m.2 nvme ssd and get a secondary later when that one is close to full? or do you need 2 drives from the get-go?

watch sales on gpus in the upcoming weeks. do yourself a favor and dont spend nearly 400$ on a 6gb vram 2060. keep your eye out for sales, i imagine by nov. 30th there will be a few good deals on brand new 2070 cards in lieu of more and more rtx3000 cards getting to the market. navi 2 might be a consideration for you in the near future as well.

also, 100$ on windows 10..... you can get a keycode for under 20$ most times. theres a couple websites that sell them like kinguin. they get these keycodes as surplus because, ie, dell buys 10,000 keycodes obly uses 9000 in their oems and only 8000/9000 sell so theyre left with 2000 keycodes to get rid of. theyre actuually pretty reliable, the only time i ever had one not work was when i bouught keycode and didnt attempt to activate until 2 or 3 months later. they probably resold same code since it was still inactive. so if you go this route just make sure you install and activate asap. easy way to save $75 or more, put it towards nicer gpu!

build looks good! excited for ya

I plan to buy closer to Cyber Monday as I know there will be better deals. Though I still haven't been convinced I need an i7 for the current generation of games, including VR. If I got a higher end i5, I feel it would hold me fairly solid for at least a few years. If I did purchase an i7, I wouldn't fluctuate much on the price. Higher end i5 vs lower end i7.

What GPU would you recommend? I thought the 2060 was a decent card, but Dark and yourself mentioned it might be a bit pricey for what I'm getting.

I currently have a 120GB SSD for my OS and it fills up every couple years which was a slight hassle when the time comes, so I wanted a 250GB SSD to give myself more time before that happens. I also have a 1TB HDD in my current build as well and it feels like it's just enough space to keep 8 or 9 games on and still have about 300-400GB left over. Considering I'll also have VR games on here, I figured it's going to fill up quickly so I wanted to keep the space, but upgrade to an SSD.

I don't mind buying a new windows key. I plan to keep my old computer for office work anyways.

 

[Darkbreeze]

You don't NEED an i5 for 60fps gaming. If you plan to run a 144hz display, which clearly you do, then it's probably advisable to go with something that has at least 8 cores. Games are optimizing for higher core counts now, probably a lot more often than they are for stronger single cores (Are there even any AAA games left that prefer to see a strong single core rather than four to six (Or more) moderately strong cores?).

If you're going to be running any kind of a VR configuration, you pretty much want the best graphics card and CPU you can afford. Most VR systems worth using are pretty taxing on hardware resources and the experience is a lot better if you have better hardware. IMO the RTX 2060 is the minimum card you want to consider for any VR system, and if Cyberpunk is any indication of the direction games are going, maybe a lot of non-VR games too.

 

[Desch_]

for thay kinda $ id try and get a 3700x or 10600k and rtx 3070.i cant a
slap a build.together easily.on my phone when im at my desktop later.ill try to revisit.and make somethin for u on pcpartpicker

 

[ScrewySqrl]

I'd agree you can do better tan a 2-year old 2060 and 9xxx i5.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 3700X 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor ($309.99 @ B&H)
Motherboard: ASRock B550 Phantom Gaming 4 ATX AM4 Motherboard ($114.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Patriot Viper Steel 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3733 CL17 Memory ($79.98 @ Amazon)
Storage: Intel 660p Series 1.02 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($109.99 @ B&H)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda Compute 2 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($54.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Asus GeForce RTX 3070 8 GB STRIX GAMING Video Card ($499.99)
Case: DIYPC Solo-T2-R Black USB 3.0 ATX Mid Tower Case ($27.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Antec NeoECO Gold ZEN 700 W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply ($85.49 @ Amazon)
Total: $1283.41
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-10-22 12:52 EDT-0400

Use an existing license key for Windows 10

 

[Zerk2012]

Bumping to see if there are any others who wouldn't mind sharing their opinion as well.

If you not buying till cyber Monday their really no reason to make a exact list now.

Their no telling what the best deals will be to get you the best performance for your money.

Example you pick a SSD now then their a better deal on another brand, same thing with the power supply and everything else.

Their several different good SSD's, power supplies, boards, memory, processors, cases, everything.

 

[Skrad]

You don't NEED an i5 for 60fps gaming. If you plan to run a 144hz display, which clearly you do, then it's probably advisable to go with something that has at least 8 cores. Games are optimizing for higher core counts now, probably a lot more often than they are for stronger single cores (Are there even any AAA games left that prefer to see a strong single core rather than four to six (Or more) moderately strong cores?).

If you're going to be running any kind of a VR configuration, you pretty much want the best graphics card and CPU you can afford. Most VR systems worth using are pretty taxing on hardware resources and the experience is a lot better if you have better hardware. IMO the RTX 2060 is the minimum card you want to consider for any VR system, and if Cyberpunk is any indication of the direction games are going, maybe a lot of non-VR games too.

Do any of the current gen i5s have 8 core or is that strictly starting from i7s and onward? I took a look at the i5 10600k you mentioned and it shows 6 cores as well. I can afford bumping up the i5-9600k to the 10600k and even possibly bumping up the GPU. I just want to make sure I have a smooth VR gaming experience.

 

[Skrad]

I'd agree you can do better tan a 2-year old 2060 and 9xxx i5.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 3700X 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor ($309.99 @ B&H)
Motherboard: ASRock B550 Phantom Gaming 4 ATX AM4 Motherboard ($114.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Patriot Viper Steel 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3733 CL17 Memory ($79.98 @ Amazon)
Storage: Intel 660p Series 1.02 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($109.99 @ B&H)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda Compute 2 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($54.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Asus GeForce RTX 3070 8 GB STRIX GAMING Video Card ($499.99)
Case: DIYPC Solo-T2-R Black USB 3.0 ATX Mid Tower Case ($27.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Antec NeoECO Gold ZEN 700 W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply ($85.49 @ Amazon)
Total: $1283.41
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-10-22 12:52 EDT-0400

Use an existing license key for Windows 10

I'd prefer to stick with an Intel CPU, but I see what you're getting at. Nothing against AMD. I feel like it might be difficult getting the 3070 at launch with that price, but with 2 people now recommending it, I'll keep it on my watch list. I don't mind spending a little extra money on my computer if it means a more comfortable VR experience. Dark mentioned EVGA being phenomenal when it comes to quality GPUs and customer support. How is ASUS when it comes to their GPU products?

 

[Skrad]

If you not buying till cyber Monday their really no reason to make a exact list now.

Their no telling what the best deals will be to get you the best performance for your money.

Example you pick a SSD now then their a better deal on another brand, same thing with the power supply and everything else.

Their several different good SSD's, power supplies, boards, memory, processors, cases, everything.

I hear ya, but I'd rather not wait until Cyber Monday to try and get a list together. This will at least give me a general scope of what I need to look for.

 

[Zerk2012]

I hear ya, but I'd rather not wait until Cyber Monday to try and get a list together. This will at least give me a general scope of what I need to look for.

Your missing what I'm saying you can do a list but be ready for what they actually have a good price on you will pretty much need a spread sheet.

Some examples. Some will be marked down some will not or be sold out quick
Processor any of these would be a good choice plus add in the newer AMD 5600.

https://pcpartpicker.com/products/compare/QKJtt6,9nm323,dLK2FT,HcPgXL/

Now you need a motherboard. So you picked one of the AMD processors If you got the AMD 5600 your best option is the MSI B550 since if it don't come with the required BIOS version you can update the BIOS without a working processor, any of the others and any of these would work fine. (or another B550 / X570 board that has the same feature)

https://pcpartpicker.com/products/compare/wb7v6h,jcYQzy,BHBhP6,3Mxbt6/

Now we need CPU cooler.

You picked one of the AMD processors any of these would work (make sure it fits inside the case you pick. (their also a few more good options)

https://pcpartpicker.com/products/compare/7dTrxr,8GBrxr,HyTPxr,dmXnTW/

OK you picked one of the Intel processors now you need better cooling. Same thing must fit in the case you pick. Again their more options.

https://pcpartpicker.com/products/compare/4vzv6h,F3gzK8,c4MTwP,B6pmP6/

Drive for the OS and programs SSD is the way to go all good choices. (their more good options than just this but it only lets you compare 4.

https://pcpartpicker.com/products/compare/P4ZFf7,xpYLrH,KTQG3C,G9XYcf/

https://pcpartpicker.com/products/compare/V3mxFT,LRkj4D,ft8j4D,6yKcCJ/

Power supply. These are all 650 watts but make sure to look at the 750 sometimes they cost less money. The CXM is not the best but would work for the right price if it helped get a better processor or video card.

https://pcpartpicker.com/products/compare/R2mxFT,y88H99,PVzZxr,WxL48d/

https://pcpartpicker.com/products/compare/WrNypg,B9CD4D,2HbwrH,VbhmP6/

The same thing with all the other parts do you see now why I said their really no reason to make a list? You would really need more like a spread sheet to get the best for the money spent.

EDIT Their a big difference in buying parts everyday and buying them during sales when it's only certain items.

As of right now the video card will be the problem buy, their either out of stock or way overpriced for that I might consider buying a lower end card and suffer through the performance loss till prices get back to normal and then get a good card.