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.

[kepp]

I'm going to listen in...I've been thinking about getting a gaming laptop. They get expensive quick though. And it would be easier to keep up with hardware advancements with a desktop unit. I'm undecided.

[Bill Brasky]

Building a PC is like an expensive lego set. It's very clear how to do things because the slots all line up. A stick of RAM only fits in the RAM slot. You can't accidentally put the RAM where the video card goes.

The main thing with building your own is the time it takes to pick the parts, assemble the pc, and then load drivers and software vs picking out a prebuilt and putting it in the car (or shipping it to your house).

Personally, I think it would be easier to split those tasks up. Get a home theater PC that's small form factor and quiet, then get a next gen console for gaming. Their value is way better that what you can get for a gaming PC right now. Video card prices are reeruned high.

edit: I just checked Amazon for fun, and a Radeon 5700, which is essentially the same as what's going into the PS5, is $330. Building a gaming PC comparable to a PS5 would easily cost over $1k. That's a non-starter on value imo.

[The Franchise]

Originally Posted by Bill Brasky

Building a PC is like an expensive lego set. It's very clear how to do things because the slots all line up. A stick of RAM only fits in the RAM slot. You can't accidentally put the RAM where the video card goes.

The main thing with building your own is the time it takes to pick the parts, assemble the pc, and then load drivers and software vs picking out a prebuilt and putting it in the car (or shipping it to your house).

Personally, I think it would be easier to split those tasks up. Get a home theater PC that's small form factor and quiet, then get a next gen console for gaming. Their value is way better that what you can get for a gaming PC right now. Video card prices are reeruned high.

edit: I just checked Amazon for fun, and a Radeon 5700, which is essentially the same as what's going into the PS5, is $330. Building a gaming PC comparable to a PS5 would easily cost over $1k. That's a non-starter on value imo.

Just know that if I do get a PC....I will also still be getting the PS5. This isn’t going to eliminate my console gaming. I just want to be able to play certain games on PC as well. Now with that in mind....I’m not looking to get an over the top, amazing gaming PC that will play everything.

[Pants]

I am not sure how resource-intensive PS and Illustrator are. I know for video editing, you need a beast CPU where you can get away with something much more reasonable purely for gaming. For gaming, the most important component is the GPU and you only want enough CPU to not bottleneck it. That usually means an upper mid-range CPU.

Media centers don't require much at all and you can get away with a super cheap machine serving that role. Now that $/terabyte is a complete joke, it's even less cost prohibitive.

Bill Brasky mentioned something about the drivers, but that honestly hasn't been a pain at all since Windows XP came out many years ago.

Stick to PC Part Picker (https://pcpartpicker.com/) and you can't **** up.

Putting it together is fun and will feel very rewarding when you're done. Getting the most juice out of it by overclocking your CPU and GPU while keeping your system stable is a more advanced, equally as rewarding a step.

I should add, that if you want to get OCD about cable management, it will make the putting-together part a little more time-consuming.

How much are you willing to spend?

[The Franchise]

Originally Posted by Pants

I am not sure how resource-intensive PS and Illustrator are. I know for video editing, you need a beast CPU where you can get away with something much more reasonable purely for gaming. For gaming, the most important component is the GPU and you only want enough CPU to not bottleneck it. That usually means an upper mid-range CPU.

Media centers don't require much at all and you can get away with a super cheap machine serving that role. Now that $/terabyte is a complete joke, it's even less cost prohibitive.

Bill Brasky mentioned something about the drivers, but that honestly hasn't been a pain at all since Windows XP came out many years ago.

Stick to PC Part Picker (https://pcpartpicker.com/) and you can't **** up.

Putting it together is fun and will feel very rewarding when you're done. Getting the most juice out of it by overclocking your CPU and GPU while keeping your system stable is a more advanced, equally as rewarding a step.

I should add, that if you want to get OCD about cable management, it will make the putting-together part a little more time-consuming.

How much are you willing to spend?

I’m probably looking anywhere between $800-$1300. All depends on the deal and what it’s going to do.

[DaneMcCloud]

Originally Posted by The Franchise

I’m probably looking anywhere between $800-$1300. All depends on the deal and what it’s going to do.

I'd recommend purchasing a Gigabyte motherboard, the latest and fastest Intel i9 processor, at least 32 gigs of Ram, a 700 watt power supply and a high end cooling fan.

I'm not up on the latest graphics cards because I'm not a gamer but if you purchase and build the fastest computer computer today, it'll last you at least 5 years, if not more.

As for Photoshop and Illustrator, you'll need at least 16 gigs of Ram at minimum and I'd recommend two SSD's, one for your system files, which can be 250 gigs and one for your data, which should be at least 750 gigs, if not a full terrabyte.

You should be able to build that system for $1,300 or less on Amazon and I'd definitely recommend purchasing your computer parts from them because it's just so easy to return and replace defective items. I received faulty motherboards for the last two computers I built. Amazon sent the replacements Next Day Air, so it wasn't a huge ordeal.

Good luck!

[Bill Brasky]

Originally Posted by The Franchise

I’m probably looking anywhere between $800-$1300. All depends on the deal and what it’s going to do.

In that case, I’d go with the AMD 3600 build on pcpart picker.

It will be more than enough for your office work and content creation and is still a beast for gaming. I recommended the AMD version because it has 6 cores 12 threads vs 6 cores 6 threads on the Intel. Also, the AMD cpu is 65 watts vs 95 watts for the intel, which means it will run quieter.

https://pcpartpicker.com/guide/gWv6M...treaming-build

[Fish]

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

I'd recommend purchasing a Gigabyte motherboard, the latest and fastest Intel i9 processor, at least 32 gigs of Ram, a 700 watt power supply and a high end cooling fan.

I'm not up on the latest graphics cards because I'm not a gamer but if you purchase and build the fastest computer computer today, it'll last you at least 5 years, if not more.

As for Photoshop and Illustrator, you'll need at least 16 gigs of Ram at minimum and I'd recommend two SSD's, one for your system files, which can be 250 gigs and one for your data, which should be at least 750 gigs, if not a full terrabyte.

You should be able to build that system for $1,300 or less on Amazon and I'd definitely recommend purchasing your computer parts from them because it's just so easy to return and replace defective items. I received faulty motherboards for the last two computers I built. Amazon sent the replacements Next Day Air, so it wasn't a huge ordeal.

Good luck!

The latest and fastest Intel i9 CPU will cost over $1000 just by itself.

If I were currently buying and not wanting to spend over $1300, I'd go for an AMD CPU. Much more likely to keep it under that price point. Intel CPUs are certainly better, but at the current price point, AMD is a much much better deal. Any other time, I would definitely recommend Intel, but their current pricing is dumb.

[DaneMcCloud]

Originally Posted by Fish

The latest and fastest Intel i9 CPU will cost over $1000 just by itself.

Sorry, my bad.

I should have linked the processor I had in mind, which is the Intel Core i9-9900 Desktop Processor, which is currently $556.

https://www.amazon.com/Intel-i9-9900...1046229&sr=8-8

[ToxSocks]

Photoshop and Illustrator don't take a whole lot to run, so i wouldn't worry too much about them.

I run the latest version of Photoshop on my old ass 2nd gen I5 w/ 8gigs of DDR3 and it runs smooth.

Hell, i was running photoshop back in the day on an old Windows XP w/ no dedicated video card. They really dont require a whole lot.

Premiere or any video editing software can also run on a minimal PC these days, but you'll certainly notice a performance difference there that you wouldn't with Photoshop.

[ToxSocks]

Originally Posted by Pants

I am not sure how resource-intensive PS and Illustrator are. I know for video editing, you need a beast CPU where you can get away with something much more reasonable purely for gaming.

Meh.

What you need is a true quad core or greater. When building my video editing PC i chose an 8-core AMD. Nothing fancy.

Programs like Premier and After Effects are designed to utilize true multi-core processors, so the more cores the better.

[ToxSocks]

Originally Posted by kepp

I'm going to listen in...I've been thinking about getting a gaming laptop.

Don't do it. Just build the desktop.

[DaneMcCloud]

Originally Posted by Detoxing

Photoshop and Illustrator don't take a whole lot to run, so i wouldn't worry too much about them.

Huh.

My wife and daughter have the Adobe Suite subscription and there are some projects in which 16 gigs of ram isn't enough. They both have i7's but my daughter is doing some intensive animation, so maybe that's the difference.

[Fish]

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

Sorry, my bad.

I should have linked the processor I had in mind, which is the Intel Core i9-9900 Desktop Processor, which is currently $556.

https://www.amazon.com/Intel-i9-9900...1046229&sr=8-8

Back to what I said earlier, if you're talking about the Intel 9900, then the current AMD offerings are a much better value for what you get. Right now is a terrible time to buy an Intel.

Also, you don't really need 16GB of RAM for Photoshop or Illustrator. 8GB is perfectly sufficient. I support hundreds of users running the latest Photoshop and Illustrator on 8GB RAM and Intel i3.