- Joined
- Dec 14, 2010
Had someone ask me about building a PC for their son recently. Didn't have a lot to go on, just that the son wanted a white case (purely for aesthetic reasons) and possibly other white components (to match said case) and wanted Intel if possible (because they heard it was better than AMD) and something like a RTX3070 or 3070Ti (AMD GPU's not to be considered at all). And that they wanted some RGB if possible, "because it looks cool." Oh, and that it had to be 1-2 generations/years old at most for greater future compatibility/use life, so anything 3-4+ years old is out. Estimated max budget 2K USD.
They said they don't really have any real preferences brand wise aka no real brand loyalties, as they've never owned a desktop PC before. PC is for gaming, but they'd probably use it for school work as well. Basically they've always been on console, but some of their friends play games on PC that they can't play so they're wanting to make the move to PC. But, since I'm the one spec'ing it out some brands will likely be avoided *looking at you Seagate, and Thermaltake, and a few others*. Since they and their parents said they don't know much about PC's I'm not going to consider an AIO or other liquid cooler, I feel that would be too much to start them off with for maintenance of a first PC build. Being that they're considering using it long-term I figured I would rule out DDR4 in favor of DDR5, as who knows if Intel 14th gen would be supported on Z690 if they wanted to upgrade to a newer/faster CPU at some point in the future.
So, I've spent a couple hours creating and refining parts lists. Discovered a few things:
1. RTX 3070 Ti's seem to be sold out everywhere.
2. RTX 3070's are also sold out nearly everywhere, especially the one's that are white-themed that would match what they were going for.
3. Most Z790 motherboards I looked at seem to be out of stock, and if it looks like a good one by specs or appearance for their preferences it's pretty much guaranteed to be out of stock. This greatly limits my options for a build list.
So, I've got a couple of build lists so far and want to see if any of you think these make sense.
First build with SATA SSD's: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/LW8sC6
Second build with m.2 NVMe SSD's: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/2YzsC6
I had considered the Corsair iCue 4000X RGB case initially due to them wanting RGB, but on my initial build list it pushed the cost beyond their planned budget. I've tweaked and adjusted things from my initial list though, so maybe that would fit in the budget now. I don't know if the front panel on the 4000X RGB is glass or some sort of mesh, I'd prefer mesh personally, so that they don't have to deal with an airflow issue from the case suffocating its hardware.
Alternatively, I'd considered the Asus Strix OC RTX 3070 or Asus ROG Strix White OC V2 RTX 3070. Seems like any 3070 or 3070Ti will likely have to be bought pre-owned on eBay, Amazon, OfferUp or some other site though, as they are few and far between new at retailers.
They said they don't really have any real preferences brand wise aka no real brand loyalties, as they've never owned a desktop PC before. PC is for gaming, but they'd probably use it for school work as well. Basically they've always been on console, but some of their friends play games on PC that they can't play so they're wanting to make the move to PC. But, since I'm the one spec'ing it out some brands will likely be avoided *looking at you Seagate, and Thermaltake, and a few others*. Since they and their parents said they don't know much about PC's I'm not going to consider an AIO or other liquid cooler, I feel that would be too much to start them off with for maintenance of a first PC build. Being that they're considering using it long-term I figured I would rule out DDR4 in favor of DDR5, as who knows if Intel 14th gen would be supported on Z690 if they wanted to upgrade to a newer/faster CPU at some point in the future.
So, I've spent a couple hours creating and refining parts lists. Discovered a few things:
1. RTX 3070 Ti's seem to be sold out everywhere.
2. RTX 3070's are also sold out nearly everywhere, especially the one's that are white-themed that would match what they were going for.
3. Most Z790 motherboards I looked at seem to be out of stock, and if it looks like a good one by specs or appearance for their preferences it's pretty much guaranteed to be out of stock. This greatly limits my options for a build list.
So, I've got a couple of build lists so far and want to see if any of you think these make sense.
First build with SATA SSD's: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/LW8sC6
Second build with m.2 NVMe SSD's: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/2YzsC6
I had considered the Corsair iCue 4000X RGB case initially due to them wanting RGB, but on my initial build list it pushed the cost beyond their planned budget. I've tweaked and adjusted things from my initial list though, so maybe that would fit in the budget now. I don't know if the front panel on the 4000X RGB is glass or some sort of mesh, I'd prefer mesh personally, so that they don't have to deal with an airflow issue from the case suffocating its hardware.
Alternatively, I'd considered the Asus Strix OC RTX 3070 or Asus ROG Strix White OC V2 RTX 3070. Seems like any 3070 or 3070Ti will likely have to be bought pre-owned on eBay, Amazon, OfferUp or some other site though, as they are few and far between new at retailers.