Build or prebuilt PC for my needs

[The Franchise]

I couldn’t find the “Build Your Own PC” thread, so I figured I’d create my own.

Haven’t had a gaming PC in a long time. I mostly play PS4. I’m looking into getting a desktop PC that can handle gaming (both on a monitor and a TV), Photoshop and Illustrator and then as a media PC that I can play movies. I’m looking into burning all of my DVDs to a hard drive so that I can play them in my media room or downstairs on my main TV.

Any thoughts or recommendations?

Should I go prebuilt or build my own? Keep in mind that I’ve never built my own.

[The Franchise]

Originally Posted by jd1020

The P400 was more than big enough to hold the video card.

"Max GPU Length Allowance 395mm"

The card you have selected is only 280mm long.

I probably wouldnt put a Ryzen 7 3700x in a 2000 series B450 board.

English man. What board should I be looking at then?

[jd1020]

Originally Posted by Pants

The card is slightly longer than 280mm and the compatibility note said anything over 280mm may block expansion bays.

It's a generic compatibility note. You have to actually look at specs and see if its a problem. There's literally nothing inside the P400 for it to block except from maybe 1 additional HD bay if he wanted to buy the extra bracket to install in the case behind the front fans, but the case already comes with 2 slots below the PSU shroud and he's only going to use 1 of those.

[ModSocks]

Ok one last chime from me:

When it comes to the Air vs Liquid cooling debate, yeah i get that air is plenty effecient.

But im a big fan of this product here:

https://www.corsair.com/us/en/Catego.../CW-9060040-WW

It's basically liquid cooling for the CPU for dummies. It's all self contained.

I like it because:

1. Whisper quiet. Couple this with the right case fans and you can barely hear the computer at all.

2. It looks cool. And i mean, if you're building your own PC it should look cool, right? Heh.

3. @ $89 it's not much more (and in some cases, less) than some of the more popular air cooled fans.

[Pants]

Originally Posted by jd1020

It's a generic compatibility note. You have to actually look at specs and see if its a problem. There's literally nothing inside the P400 for it to block except from maybe 1 additional HD bay if he wanted to buy the extra bracket to install in the case behind the front fans, but the case already comes with 2 slots below the PSU shroud and he's only going to use 1 of those.

Gotcha. I would still go full tower, personally, for ease of build and room. But then again, I do not care for the looks that much and the bulkiness doesn't bother me. I have zero LED fans in my very simple-looking NZXT case. Only the video card, parts of my mobo and the AIO liquid cooler are lit up (all LEDs are set to white and the case is black).

[The Franchise]

I should just have everyone send me their final builds like it’s a ****ing reality show.

[DaneMcCloud]

Originally Posted by Pants

I could be wrong but I do not think lower RPM translates to shorter life span or a high chance of failure. I think it just affects the access times which don't matter at all with media.

I don't know how it affects video games but it definitely matters in terms of Read/Write times of audio and video, which is why we used SCSI in the 90's and early 2000's, then 7200 RPM to finally, SSD's.

It's nearly impossible to record even 10 audio streams of 32 bit 48k audio simultaneously to a 5400 RPM drive and then if you throw video into the equation, you're looking at continual crashing and errors.

[DaneMcCloud]

Originally Posted by The Franchise

I should just have everyone send me their final builds like it’s a ****ing reality show.

[Pants]

Originally Posted by The Franchise

I should just have everyone send me their final builds like it’s a ****ing reality show.

[DaneMcCloud]

Originally Posted by Detoxing

When it comes to the Air vs Liquid cooling debate, yeah i get that air is plenty effecient.

I'm a huge proponent as well and have been using liquid cooling fans for a decade because my work is extremely CPU intensive.

[lawrenceRaider]

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

I don't know how it affects video games but it definitely matters in terms of Read/Write times of audio and video, which is why we used SCSI in the 90's and early 2000's, then 7200 RPM to finally, SSD's.

It's nearly impossible to record even 10 audio streams of 32 bit 48k audio simultaneously to a 5400 RPM drive and then if you throw video into the equation, you're looking at continual crashing and errors.

You might want to revisit this one. Much higher cache and spin speeds of 5900 and larger platters will do just about anything you want.

Just swapped out an older 5TB 7200 drive from my son's gaming PC that was starting to talk loudly with a 4 TB 5900 drive with a 256MB cache and it is noticeably quicker.

[lawrenceRaider]

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

I'm a huge proponent as well and have been using liquid cooling fans for a decade because my work is extremely CPU intensive.

In modern cases, which are basically all fans around the outside, you can maintain similar temps to liquid cooling with just air, and due to the low rpms on the larger fans, it is actually quieter. Plus cheaper.

[DaneMcCloud]

Originally Posted by lawrenceRaider

You might want to revisit this one. Much higher cache and spin speeds of 5900 and larger platters will do just about anything you want.

Just swapped out an older 5TB 7200 drive from my son's gaming PC that was starting to talk loudly with a 4 TB 5900 drive with a 256MB cache and it is noticeably quicker.

Yeah man, all of the pro audio software and hardware companies recommend nothing less than 7200 RPM drives but typically, SSD's.

It's very intensive to Read/Write huge audio files while streaming video in addition to sample libraries. I need separate SSD's for those, some of which are a TB in size.

Pro audio and video are a completely different animal, unfortunately.

[DaneMcCloud]

Originally Posted by lawrenceRaider

In modern cases, which are basically all fans around the outside, you can maintain similar temps to liquid cooling with just air, and due to the low rpms on the larger fans, it is actually quieter. Plus cheaper.

My computers are racked, so there's not much, if any, air flow.

[The Franchise]

If anyone wants to take a shot at it.....throw something together.

I’m looking to use my computer for gaming, photoshop/illustrator work and then possibly as a media center hub. I may or may not be looking into burning my DVDs to watch later.

Budget is $1400-$1500.

I’d prefer an SSD and maybe two regular hard drives for storage (movies and files).

Probably won’t be OCing at all since I have no idea what goes into it.

[Pants]

Originally Posted by lawrenceRaider

In modern cases, which are basically all fans around the outside, you can maintain similar temps to liquid cooling with just air, and due to the low rpms on the larger fans, it is actually quieter. Plus cheaper.

I am not sure how hot the new Ryzens run at stock clocks or whether he wants to OC them at all.

I haven't ****ed with AMD since the Athlon 64 days.