Hi everybody,
I am contemplating my first PC build, and I wanted to throw out my current parts list to get feedback on whether I am spending too much / am picking bad parts / am insane / etc. I've looked around at a few tutorials (mostly on Tom's Hardware, blessed site that it is) and some builds people have posted online, including this forum's $1k PC build thread, and I think my choices are at least ok, but I'd like to get the perspective of some seasoned veterans, since I don't fully trust my own judgment.
First, some background: I have been wanting to build a gaming PC for a little while now. I am not a very serious gamer, but many of my friends are, and I'd like to be able to join them online occasionally. I'd also simply like to expand my gaming repertoir from the list of games my poor little all-in-one laptop can support (think Minecraft and Civ V if I push it). So, I don't need a PC that can play every game conceivable in 4k 60Hz VR on Ultra settings, but I want to be confident that if something comes out in the next few years, I can probably at least get it to run.
I would also like a computer that has a lot of room for me to play around in. I'd love to be able to try my hand at machine learning (maybe ANNs, genetic algorithms, <buzzword>, <buzzword>, <buzzword>) and maybe some GPGPU development, since that seems to be up-and-coming. I'd also love to have room to try some home automation (e.g., setting up a server VM that hosts a media service, or something). I don't have a lot of concrete ideas yet, which is why I want to build a rig that's beefy enough to handle whatever I come up with down the road.
Finally, since I can't plan for every eventuality, I want a setup that I can easily upgrade when I need to.
And I want to do it all for a pricetag on the order of $1,000.
So, with that in mind, here is my current parts list from PCPartPicker. I will go into more detail about my choices later.
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant
CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 2600X 3.6GHz 6-Core Processor ($209.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock - Fatal1ty B450 GAMING K4 ATX AM4 Motherboard ($100.88 @ OutletPC)
Memory: G.Skill - NT Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($119.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Kingston - A400 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($27.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital - Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($45.89 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: EVGA - GeForce GTX 1060 3GB 3GB GAMING Video Card ($189.99 @ B&H)
Case: NZXT - H500 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($69.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: EVGA - SuperNOVA G3 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($59.77 @ B&H)
Operating System: Microsoft - Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit ($94.89 @ OutletPC)
Monitor: Acer - UM.WV6AA.B01 21.5" 1920x1080 60Hz Monitor ($89.37 @ Amazon)
Mouse: Logitech - M325 Wireless Optical Mouse ($14.99 @ Dell)
Total: $1023.74
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-10-10 16:04 EDT-0400
This, I feel, is good overall, although I'd love to get the price down even further if I can. Most of these things can be changed, but I absolutely must have an NVIDIA graphics card (so I can use their CUDA API for GPGPU development), and I really don't want to go much cheaper on the power supply, as that's a part I don't want to have to worry about breaking on me. I don't want to spend a ton on the case (I don't care about it being flashy, a black brick is dandy with me), but I don't want to cheap out too much. A bad case, while not perhaps system-killing, I think would be more irritating than it is worth.
I also chose a number of these parts to support overclocking. I may not do it immediately, but I'd like to have the option at some point.
Finally, I chose to go with an AMD processor for a few reasons. Firstly, it appeals to the hipster in me to go for AMD over Intel (I try to drown him in coffee and craft beers, but he keeps coming back). Also, I have gotten the impression that AMD processors run cheaper than Intel for similar performance (Tom's Hardware's review of the 2600X shows it almost always in the best price/performance spot). However, I have not done an extensive comparison of Ryzen processors with their Intel counterparts, so this impression is only an impression. Still, I also like the fact that I don't have to make sure that the processor is the "unlocked" version if I want to overclock (unlike Intel), and the 2600X comes with a cooler, which is one fewer part I have to select / buy.
So, with all of that down, what do you think? Are there places I'm not seeing where I can cut cost? Am I cutting cost in places where it's really not advantageous to do so? Is leaving Intel for AMD really not worth it?
Thanks in advance!
I am contemplating my first PC build, and I wanted to throw out my current parts list to get feedback on whether I am spending too much / am picking bad parts / am insane / etc. I've looked around at a few tutorials (mostly on Tom's Hardware, blessed site that it is) and some builds people have posted online, including this forum's $1k PC build thread, and I think my choices are at least ok, but I'd like to get the perspective of some seasoned veterans, since I don't fully trust my own judgment.
First, some background: I have been wanting to build a gaming PC for a little while now. I am not a very serious gamer, but many of my friends are, and I'd like to be able to join them online occasionally. I'd also simply like to expand my gaming repertoir from the list of games my poor little all-in-one laptop can support (think Minecraft and Civ V if I push it). So, I don't need a PC that can play every game conceivable in 4k 60Hz VR on Ultra settings, but I want to be confident that if something comes out in the next few years, I can probably at least get it to run.
I would also like a computer that has a lot of room for me to play around in. I'd love to be able to try my hand at machine learning (maybe ANNs, genetic algorithms, <buzzword>, <buzzword>, <buzzword>) and maybe some GPGPU development, since that seems to be up-and-coming. I'd also love to have room to try some home automation (e.g., setting up a server VM that hosts a media service, or something). I don't have a lot of concrete ideas yet, which is why I want to build a rig that's beefy enough to handle whatever I come up with down the road.
Finally, since I can't plan for every eventuality, I want a setup that I can easily upgrade when I need to.
And I want to do it all for a pricetag on the order of $1,000.
So, with that in mind, here is my current parts list from PCPartPicker. I will go into more detail about my choices later.
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant
CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 2600X 3.6GHz 6-Core Processor ($209.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock - Fatal1ty B450 GAMING K4 ATX AM4 Motherboard ($100.88 @ OutletPC)
Memory: G.Skill - NT Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($119.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Kingston - A400 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($27.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital - Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($45.89 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: EVGA - GeForce GTX 1060 3GB 3GB GAMING Video Card ($189.99 @ B&H)
Case: NZXT - H500 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($69.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: EVGA - SuperNOVA G3 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($59.77 @ B&H)
Operating System: Microsoft - Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit ($94.89 @ OutletPC)
Monitor: Acer - UM.WV6AA.B01 21.5" 1920x1080 60Hz Monitor ($89.37 @ Amazon)
Mouse: Logitech - M325 Wireless Optical Mouse ($14.99 @ Dell)
Total: $1023.74
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-10-10 16:04 EDT-0400
This, I feel, is good overall, although I'd love to get the price down even further if I can. Most of these things can be changed, but I absolutely must have an NVIDIA graphics card (so I can use their CUDA API for GPGPU development), and I really don't want to go much cheaper on the power supply, as that's a part I don't want to have to worry about breaking on me. I don't want to spend a ton on the case (I don't care about it being flashy, a black brick is dandy with me), but I don't want to cheap out too much. A bad case, while not perhaps system-killing, I think would be more irritating than it is worth.
I also chose a number of these parts to support overclocking. I may not do it immediately, but I'd like to have the option at some point.
Finally, I chose to go with an AMD processor for a few reasons. Firstly, it appeals to the hipster in me to go for AMD over Intel (I try to drown him in coffee and craft beers, but he keeps coming back). Also, I have gotten the impression that AMD processors run cheaper than Intel for similar performance (Tom's Hardware's review of the 2600X shows it almost always in the best price/performance spot). However, I have not done an extensive comparison of Ryzen processors with their Intel counterparts, so this impression is only an impression. Still, I also like the fact that I don't have to make sure that the processor is the "unlocked" version if I want to overclock (unlike Intel), and the 2600X comes with a cooler, which is one fewer part I have to select / buy.
So, with all of that down, what do you think? Are there places I'm not seeing where I can cut cost? Am I cutting cost in places where it's really not advantageous to do so? Is leaving Intel for AMD really not worth it?
Thanks in advance!
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