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.

[Bill Brasky]

Originally Posted by The Franchise

And fans versus water cooled? What are your thoughts?

I’ve done water. I don’t recommend it at all.

[vailpass]

Originally Posted by Pants

After looking some more at the monitor you posted, it just seems like newer technology overall and it had some features listed with which I am not familiar and, therefore, do not know whether or not they make a difference.

After I built my old GTX 1070 tower, I realized it was silly to not have something better than my old ass 24" Samsung 60hz 1080p panel. My GTX 1070 was maxing the games on Ultra settings with ease. I needed something better to do it justice.

So I originally bought a 27" 1440p (2K) Dell TN panel with GSync and it was within my "new monitor" budget. When I hooked it up, though, I just felt like I wasn't quite happy and everything seemed a little too yellow no matter how much I ****ed with the RGB and temperature/hue settings. I was going to replace that monitor with an identical model hoping things would be better.

After some thought, I just decided to say "**** it" and splurge on something much better (at the time, it was basically like the best monitor you could get under $1000). It was much more expensive than the Dell and as soon as I bought, feelings of buyer's remorse started to creep in.

As soon as I hooked it up, I got the biggest shit-eating grin of all time and realized I made the right decision. Been happy as **** with it ever since. It's now been through 2 computer builds and I have zero interest in upgrading.

Thanks. My son is ready to buy but is hesitant to pull the trigger on a monitor since this time it’s his own money and he wants to get it right. I’ll share your review with him.

[vailpass]

Originally Posted by The Franchise

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/LbP6b8

I looked up completed builds and found this guys. He had 32 gb of ram so I changed it to 16 gb because I’m not sure if I need that much.

Are the amount of fans overkill?

A couple other comments for you to take or leave.

The spinning hard drive Son that list will very soon piss you off. Solid state drives (ssd) are now pretty affordable and 5x as fast. They definitely cost more than a spinning drive but you’ll feel the benefits every time you use your pc. And they are much less prone to crash.

Buy the Windows that comes on a thumb drive.

Nvidia will be launching their 3000 series gpu line in August-September this year. You might see prices drop on that 2070 as we get closer to the date. Probably. Maybe.

Everyone has an opinion but end of day whenever you decide to jump in you’ll end up with a new fast rig you’ll love.

[The Franchise]

Ok. Here is my updated list.

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/dMyKDx

Do I need to get extra fans since it looks like the Phanteks doesn’t have any in the front?

[Fish]

Originally Posted by The Franchise

Ok. Here is my updated list.

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/dMyKDx

Do I need to get extra fans since it looks like the Phanteks doesn’t have any in the front?

That case comes with both a front fan and a rear fan already installed. You can see it in one of the pics. You can optionally add another 2 in the front, and one blowing up from the top of the case as well. It would likely be fine with the 2 120mm fans it comes with, unless you plan on overclocking. It would be pretty easy to add more later too.

[Pants]

That is a lot of cash going into an SSD that's not super great.

What I like to do is get a smaller size SSD for your executables and a large capacity HDD for media.

I would suggest you get an M.2 SSD for your Windows and games.

And then get a few TB in HDD for your media files.

So your updated list would like this and save you $100:

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/66xsQq

You can then wait for a good deal and get another SSD whenever you see a good sale. Same thing with more HDDs if you need another 4TB or whatever down the line. The 500GB EVO 970 will be plenty for your windows and a few games. If you want a larger library of games just downloaded and sitting on your drives, 500GB may not be enough.

I currently have these and feel like it's more than enough for my needs:

• 250 GB M.2 Samsung EVO 970 SSD
• 240 GB SanDisk Pro SSD
• 1 TB ADATA XPG M.2 SSD
• 2 TB HDD for media

I didn't get all of those at the same time. I started this build with the EVO 970 and 2 TB HDD. Then I recycled the ancient SanDisk from an old build and then bought the 1TB XPG on a sale.

[Pants]

Also, make sure you check the compatibility notes on the bottom. You're getting a mid tower so room may be an issue. Also, my MB is set up to where I have 2 M.2 slots and they block 1 SATA each (SATA is the traditional way of connecting SSDs/HDDs to your motherboard). It looks like the mobo you selected may have 1 M.2 slot and it will block 2 SATAs so that may limit your expansion options. This isn't as big of a deal as your video card potentially being physically too big (I am not sure how large that 2070 Super is).

Getting a full tower would solve all your worries when it comes to fitting things in.

[The Franchise]

Originally Posted by Pants

Also, make sure you check the compatibility notes on the bottom. You're getting a mid tower so room may be an issue. Also, my MB is set up to where I have 2 M.2 slots and they block 1 SATA each (SATA is the traditional way of connecting SSDs/HDDs to your motherboard). It looks like the mobo you selected may have 1 M.2 slot and it will block 2 SATAs so that may limit your expansion options. This isn't as big of a deal as your video card potentially being physically too big (I am not sure how large that 2070 Super is).

Getting a full tower would solve all your worries when it comes to fitting things in.

Ok. Updated to a full tower.

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/g6VwvW

[ModSocks]

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

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.

I'm betting the animation is the difference. I don't do any animation. I use photoshop damn near daily though and it runs smooth as hell with half the computing power you're describing.

When you get into live rendering, i.e video editing and animation, that gets real memory intensive. Without sufficient memory and a good multi-core processor that rendering can really slow things down.

[ModSocks]

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

In more than 22 years of building PC's for my recording studio, I've never built an AMD, nor has any manufacturer recommended that I purchase an AMD (as a matter of fact, it's been blatantly stated to avoid them at all costs), so I'll defer to you.

That said, I'll never purchase or build an AMD based computer. I'm sure they're fine for other applications but not for pro audio.

Intel all the way.

This is just my anecdote, but **** i've had the worst luck building AMD machines. Maybe its just me and im not matching components well, but im real gun shy about AMD's these days.

Intel builds have just always been more stable for me.

Could just be me though. I'm sure plenty of people would say otherwise and swear by AMD.

In my experience though, Intel builds have simply been more stable.

[jd1020]

Originally Posted by The Franchise

Ok. Updated to a full tower.

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/g6VwvW

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.

[DaneMcCloud]

Originally Posted by Pants

What I like to do is get a smaller size SSD for your executables and a large capacity HDD for media.

I would suggest you get an M.2 SSD for your Windows and games.

And then get a few TB in HDD for your media files.

I agree.

I'm not familiar with how much space video games use on the system drive but mine is packed with programs and I still have 30 gigs left on a 250 GB Samsung SSD.

Instead of a 4 TB 5400 rpm drive, I'd recommend a one or two TB 7200 rpm internal drive along with a 2 TB or larger external drive. It appears the case has 7 drive slots (if I'm reading it correctly) and putting everything on a 4TB drive is asking for a disaster to happen because if it dies, there goes all of your data.

To clarify, I'm not a gamer but I do believe in having data backup and faster drives for performance. I've had excellent luck with the WD Black drives for audio and video:

https://www.amazon.com/Black-Perform...s%2C204&sr=8-3

[Pants]

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.

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

[ModSocks]

Originally Posted by The Franchise

Ok. Updated to a full tower.

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/g6VwvW

Heh. It's really freakin' hard to find tower designs that don't look like they were made for a 14 y/o.

I'm a big fan of some of Thermaltake's designs. So much so that i have 3 of the same case. Wish i could remember the model this is that i have, but w/e im sure it's outdated.

But i find that Thermaltake has some of the classier designs on the market. Like this one, less the gaudy RGB shit unless you're into that.

https://www.thermaltake.com/versa-c2...b-edition.html

And my piece of advice: Don't skimp on the power supply. I do. And i always end up paying for it in the long run. I swear, 9/10 when i have some weird PC issue it's a faulty power supply that went bad a year or 2 later. I've replaced more power supplies than anything and it's always because i get some bronze rated thing that bites me in the ass a year or two later.

[Pants]

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

I agree.

I'm not familiar with how much space video games use on the system drive but mine is packed with programs and I still have 30 gigs left on a 250 GB Samsung SSD.

Instead of a 4 TB 5400 rpm drive, I'd recommend a one or two TB 7200 rpm internal drive along with a 2 TB or larger external drive. It appears the case has 7 drive slots (if I'm reading it correctly) and putting everything on a 4TB drive is asking for a disaster to happen because if it dies, there goes all of your data.

To clarify, I'm not a gamer but I do believe in having data backup and faster drives for performance. I've had excellent luck with the WD Black drives for audio and video:

https://www.amazon.com/Black-Perform...s%2C204&sr=8-3

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.

This is the reason you go with an M.2 SSD for things where access time matters (Windows, games, etc.).