Building gaming computer near $4k, advice needed please

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#2924472 9-Jun-2022 21:38

It's unclear if you need a monitor, those computer lounge builds don't include a monitor or keyboard mouse etc so allow budget for that.

CPU: AMD 5900x | RAM: GSKILL Trident Z Neo RGB F4-3600C16D-32GTZNC-32-GB | MB: Asus X570-E | GFX: EVGA FTW3 Ultra RTX 3080Ti| Monitor: LG 27GL850-B 2560x1440

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ratsun81

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#2924489 9-Jun-2022 22:07

There are a few things you need to decide on, here's what i try and look at when building a system.

1 AMD or Intel. Both processors are closely competitive currently. e.g 5700X vs 12700

2. Graphics and display, AMD or Nvidia. Generally Nvidia has an edge but this depends on the game, price does come into it. Adaptive refresh makes a lot of difference to the experience (g-sync & freesync). Also worth considering is other tech like AMD's SAM (Smart Access Memory) which aides AMD systems in gaming performance needs AMD CPU and GPU paired together.

3. What resolution will you be on. Typically the popular resolution is 1440p (2560x1440) and at a rate of 144Hz. Or you move up to 4k, however this requires much more graphics capability not to mention screen cost.

4. Power supply and power consumption. Some of these newer systems are drawing large amounts of power. Some graphics cards call for a minimum of a 700+ watt power supply.

5. Heat and noise, these new systems boost the frequency of the CPU's generating a lot of heat and side effect of needing decent cooling as well as not using cases with closed off fronts. Headphones while gaming can become a necessity.

6. Memory speeds. These do matter more for AMD but dont go overboard. getting a good kit of high frequency with ok latency will work just fine for the majority of people.

7. Storage. SATA SSD's work just fine for gaming computers. My thoughts would be to get a smaller NVME for the boot drive 250GB and then a much larger SATA SSD for general storage.

Hope this helps.

Twalknz72

156 posts

Master Geek

#2924496 9-Jun-2022 22:16

mentalinc:
It's unclear if you need a monitor, those computer lounge builds don't include a monitor or keyboard mouse etc so allow budget for that.

I will be needing a monitor but nothing bigger than a 28" but no to the keyboard and mouse.

Twalknz72

156 posts

Master Geek

#2924501 9-Jun-2022 22:36

ratsun81:
There are a few things you need to decide on, here's what i try and look at when building a system.

1 AMD or Intel. Both processors are closely competitive currently. e.g 5700X vs 12700

2. Graphics and display, AMD or Nvidia. Generally Nvidia has an edge but this depends on the game, price does come into it. Adaptive refresh makes a lot of difference to the experience (g-sync & freesync). Also worth considering is other tech like AMD's SAM (Smart Access Memory) which aides AMD systems in gaming performance needs AMD CPU and GPU paired together.

3. What resolution will you be on. Typically the popular resolution is 1440p (2560x1440) and at a rate of 144Hz. Or you move up to 4k, however this requires much more graphics capability not to mention screen cost.

4. Power supply and power consumption. Some of these newer systems are drawing large amounts of power. Some graphics cards call for a minimum of a 700+ watt power supply.

5. Heat and noise, these new systems boost the frequency of the CPU's generating a lot of heat and side effect of needing decent cooling as well as not using cases with closed off fronts. Headphones while gaming can become a necessity.

6. Memory speeds. These do matter more for AMD but dont go overboard. getting a good kit of high frequency with ok latency will work just fine for the majority of people.

7. Storage. SATA SSD's work just fine for gaming computers. My thoughts would be to get a smaller NVME for the boot drive 250GB and then a much larger SATA SSD for general storage.

Hope this helps.

I'm sorry but 1 AMD or Intel, no idea. I only know I bought an AMD laptop about 10 years or so ago for gaming and wish I'd bought the Intel but I know they've cone along way. I want something that is, at least, equals or betters the i7 in his brothers and it won't need replaced in the next 2 years. I don't know what 5700x or 12700 is sorry.

2 graphics, the only graphics I'm familiar with at all is Nividia, sort of. Again it's all about the best value and performance for money and not having to replace it in the very near future.

3 resolution, definitely do not want to be having to play games on low resolution. Games are only going to be demanding higher and higher resolutions.

4 power supply, nope no idea. I know I did some research when I ended up with the other computer but I'd probably just look at what the pre builds had.

5 we definitely want enough cooling but not a lot of noise. We wouldn't be over clocking as we have no idea how to do that.

6 memory speeds that I do know something about in that I'd opt for 16 to 32 DDR4 and maybe upgrade to the DDR 5 if and when the games started requiring it.

Both the boys play graphic intensive, storage hungry games so was hoping I would be able to get a couple of build suggestions from all y'all and why you'd choose them. We will be requiring a monitor as well but nothing big, 28" is a good size. We had to use a local company for assembly last time so we'd be doing that again so happy to order from multiple supplier's as well.

I'm really sorry, I just don't know more and am really struggling to try and understand and make sense of all the computer language.

concordnz

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EMT (R)

#2924585 10-Jun-2022 09:20

Stick with Intel/Nvidia
Some games play better on one platform vrs the other - if he has similar to his brother, at least you have consistentsey

I'd go with 12700k intel processor
And go with 16gb or 32gb DDR5 Ram (price difference is really not that great)
DDR5 motherboards can handle 'twice' the amount of ram a DDR4 board can.
(giving you a cheap improvement/upgrade path in 4yrs if necessary)

Don't go any smaller than a 512Gb M.2 SSD (you start reducing drive performance on anything smaller, due to how SSDs work with 8 channels.)
Avoid Kingston Axxxx drives in any form(they are slow)
Samsung M.2 is a good choice - go for a Gen4 drive, these are up to twice as fast as the current gen3 M.2 drives.
(and the motherboard for the 12700k will support the faster M.2 well.

Get a 2TB or 4TB Sata SSD for bulk storage - 4TB M. 2 are still too expensive for at least another 3-4 years.

Power Supply
800w or 1000w minimum Corsair or Evga (gold efficiency)
(could go 1200w Corsair if you want)

Graphics cards
Forget about the 4000 series Nvidia - they are too far away and too much of an unknown.
But stick with Nvidia and go with RTX3070

darylblake

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#2924596 10-Jun-2022 09:48

AMD is different these days. 5 years ago I would have said get an Intel hands down.

But to be honest AMD now days is better bang for buck. As for Graphics cards. I am not an AMD fan, but they do offer good bang for buck.

I would go 32GB Ram
5000 Series Ryzen chip (5600x is enough for gaming).
I would spend the bulk of the money on a nice screen and 3000 series nVidia card. 3070 is a good card if your budget allows. I got a 3060ti and a 3080 and both cards kick butt.

Get a gold PSU. EVGA is a pretty good brand.

As for Motherboard brand, I would look at ASUS/MSI/Gigabyte

arcon

423 posts

Ultimate Geek

#2924664 10-Jun-2022 12:33

As you've said you don't want to replace the graphics for a while - an 8GB VRAM card should be fine for a couple years but will become a limiting factor in high-end games. AMD's Radeon cards are probably more future proofed in that regard.

nVidia's 4000 series will be awesome & have more VRAM across the mid-range cards. But its hard to know if you should wait a few months, there will be huge demand & the stock levels on release might turn out to be horrible lol.

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cruxis

480 posts

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#2924726 10-Jun-2022 14:02

Heres my picks, for 1440 gaming, Went 3080 12GB as will be still very good in 2 years and extra 2GB vram.

Prices proberly be cheaper in the next "sales" event my guess next one might be on June 24th = Matariki.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5600X 3.7 GHz 6-Core Processor ($384.00 @ 1stWave Technologies)
CPU Cooler: Deepcool AK620 68.99 CFM CPU Cooler ($109.00 @ PB Technologies)
Motherboard: MSI MPG X570 GAMING PLUS ATX AM4 Motherboard ($275.00 @ 1stWave Technologies)
Memory: Kingston FURY Renegade 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3600 CL16 Memory ($256.93 @ Paradigm PCs)
Storage: Samsung 970 Evo Plus 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($197.00 @ 1stWave Technologies)
Video Card: MSI GeForce RTX 3080 12GB LHR 12 GB VENTUS 3X PLUS OC Video Card ($1545.60 @ Newegg New Zealand)
Case: Corsair 5000D AIRFLOW ATX Mid Tower Case ($220.00 @ Computer Lounge)
Power Supply: Corsair RMx (2021) 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($245.42 @ Ascent Technology)
Case Fan: Cooler Master SickleFlow 62 CFM 120 mm Fans 3-Pack ($77.17 @ Aquila Technology)
Monitor: Asus TUF Gaming VG27AQ 27.0" 2560x1440 165 Hz Monitor ($599.00 @ Computer Lounge)
Total: $3909.12
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
[i]Generated by PCPartPicker 2022-06-10 13:54 NZST+1200[/i]

Lias

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#2924736 10-Jun-2022 14:09

cruxis:

Heres my picks, for 1440 gaming, Went 3080 12GB as will be still very good in 2 years and extra 2GB vram.

Prices proberly be cheaper in the next "sales" event my guess next one might be on June 24th = Matariki.

Given OP has clearly articulated their lack of knowledge, I don't think a self build from multiple vendors is advisable even if it is the absolute "best bang for buck". A pre built (or custom build) from a single vendor, with a warranty seems a much more prudent suggestion for them.

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SpartanVXL

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#2924757 10-Jun-2022 14:46

Yea kinda shot yourself in the foot by getting the brother a 4k (2160p) monitor, any screen with a lower res you’ll likely notice the resolution difference, even though you’d get better framerates on a better machine at 1440p.

Probably best to get something like Playtech’s assassin series (Gold?) with a 5800x and 3070, or customise to your liking. There is are intel builds as well if you take a look.

https://playtech.co.nz/collections/playtech-assassin-pc-collection

If you want the sibling to play at 4k like their brother then you need minimum an nvidia 3060ti/3070 or AMD 6700xt/6800 graphics card. (Or wait till september for 4xxx series)

Upgrade the brother while you’re at it unless they aren’t actually playing at 4k. A 2060 will not be handling most games at 4k unless they’re low requirement.

Edit: in fact it may be easier to remove the 4k screen entirely, it’s a screen for office use not gaming. If your kids are in to any multiplayer stuff then a higher refresh rate will be of more benefit. A 1440p 120/144/165Hz screen is in the sweet spot for resolution, fluidity and cost.

And a note on your previous comment, games don’t ‘demand’ a resolution. They run at whatever the screen the PC is attached it is capable of.

The larger amount of pixels the screen has the nicer it’ll look, but you need a much faster GPU to power it.

cruxis

480 posts

Ultimate Geek

#2924850 10-Jun-2022 16:52

Lias:

cruxis:

Heres my picks, for 1440 gaming, Went 3080 12GB as will be still very good in 2 years and extra 2GB vram.

Prices proberly be cheaper in the next "sales" event my guess next one might be on June 24th = Matariki.

Given OP has clearly articulated their lack of knowledge, I don't think a self build from multiple vendors is advisable even if it is the absolute "best bang for buck". A pre built (or custom build) from a single vendor, with a warranty seems a much more prudent suggestion for them.

He said he had someone to assemble for him.

Lias

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#2925093 10-Jun-2022 23:14

cruxis:

He said he had someone to assemble for him.

Yeah I know, but if anything goes wrong with it it's still probably an excessive amount of hassle for a non technical person to deal with to try and troubleshoot things. Single supplier is easy because you hand it back and say fix it :-)

sdavisnz

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#2925518 12-Jun-2022 11:22

save the $190 on a windows licence from retail, you can buy legitimate windows 10 licences from websites like kingwin, i have used them for years and your licence will only cost circa $20-25.

just my 2c.

Voice gives context

Lias

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#2925837 12-Jun-2022 21:12

sdavisnz:

save the $190 on a windows licence from retail, you can buy legitimate windows 10 licences from websites like kingwin, i have used them for years and your licence will only cost circa $20-25.

just my 2c.

No, you can't.

You can buy an activation key that might _work_ for that price, but it's not legitimate. Invariably they are keys from MSDN, DreamSpark, etc.

Twalknz72

156 posts

Master Geek

#2925839 12-Jun-2022 21:17

Ok so if y'all had up to 4k to build a gaming machine from scratch, monitor, keyboard, mouse the lot. You have to have at least 3TB of storage and at least 2TB of it has to be fast like m.2 fast or better. You won't be able to upgrade for 2 years. What would you build and where from please.

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