A Vanity seeking IT/PC info for building a new PC

11-19-2024 | Me

[sit-rep]

Greetings,

I dabble extensively in video and graphics and my current laptop is showing signs of fatigue big time so its time to think of my next machine.

I want to go the gaming computer route with possibly 2 processors and at least 128gb(more if I can). I want to get into more 3D graphics as well and my current app Blender starts lagging big time after 30 or so objects stacked. So, that being said, I have no clue where to start or where to buy.  searching the net is just overwhelming and ya have no clue who is legit, and who is full of...

[wastedyears]

There’s multiple YouTubers that have videos going over the ideal distro for gaming. I personally use Nobara, it ships with Proton and WINE already on the kernel, and I don’t need to download AMD graphics drivers, those are already on the kernel too.

[wastedyears]

Microcenter is better.

[wastedyears]

Maybe Dalberg meant 12 GB GDDR5/6. Graphics memory.

[linMcHlp]

Keep an eye on energy cost - the fuel to run your machine. So you can actually afford to run it into the future.

[Dr. Sivana]

I have had no luck with WINE. It never runs anything I need.

[Jonty30]

Me neither. One time I tried building one myself, but when I took it in for final inspection, the guy asked me if I turned it one. I told him no. He then said that is good, because I would fried the whole thing the way I had done it.

Maybe the Geek Squad can do something like that. Another thing you can do is Dell.

[daniel1212]

I built 3 of my own, and the latest runs 8 browsers concurrently (each generally for its own purpose, from forums to shopping to banking) with hundreds of tabs (and 128GB RAM) plus Bible programs, and multiple documents, and would like to help you, but not for playing computer games, which is usually a waste of time.

[daniel1212]

Excluding mouse, kbrd, paste, here is a quick basic low cost build I just selected, of the type that I would build that should, as with the Ryzen 3200G on a MSI b450Pro mobo and 128GB RAM, and NV and SSD drives I now have, run a whole lot, with integrated graphics for under $500 (not counting the Retail - so you can legally transfer it to another PC - W/ 11 pro, plus doubling the RAM), praise God, intended to be used in His will and purpose.

https://pcpartpicker.com/user/PBJ/saved/#view=RTjc4D

Component Selection Price

CPU AMD Ryzen 5 2400G 3.6 GHz Quad-Core Processor AMD Ryzen 5 2400G 3.6 GHz Quad-Core Processor $135.00

Motherboard ASRock B450 Steel Legend ATX AM4 Motherboard ASRock B450 Steel Legend ATX AM4 Motherboard $99.99

Memory Silicon Power GAMING 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory Silicon Power GAMING 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory $42.97

Memory Silicon Power GAMING 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory Silicon Power GAMING 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory $42.97

Storage Leven JM600 256 GB M.2-2280 SATA Solid State Drive Leven JM600 256 GB M.2-2280 SATA Solid State Drive $16.98

Case GameMax Nova N6 ATX Mid Tower Case GameMax Nova N6 ATX Mid Tower Case $41.99

Power Supply MSI MAG A550BN 550 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply MSI MAG A550BN 550 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply $56.48

Operating System Microsoft Windows 11 Home Retail - USB 64-bit Microsoft Windows 11 Home Retail - USB 64-bit $134.47

[Still Thinking]

Dell Precision, Win 10 LTSC IOT. Less garbage, fewer updates, supported through 2032

[MikelTackNailer]

Good advice here but also some personal biases (BIOS's? Lame LOL).

Seems to me your objective involves CPU capability and RAM but comes down to rate of data transfer more than anything. I'd go with a high end multi-core processor on a motherboard primarily designed with future expansion in mind. Maximum amount of RAM from a reputable manufacturer, high end USB ports and - get this - an additional external solid state hard drive that's far faster than USB alone.

This will probably run you $2,000 or more but consider that you're future proofing against the need for upgrades in your foreseeable future but Parts Picker and Amazon can help you reduce costs significantly.

Tom's Hardware site is an excellent place to start. They have detailed articles on home builds for specific pursuits like general purpose, gaming and cutting edge design.

Good luck to you!

[Hermes37]

For all decisions I suggest your main consideration (after budget) might be where is your support coming from.

If Free Republic is where you will seek support...
If most here go with AMD CPU that might be a good/best choice.
The speed differences at the top end are not huge.
I suggested Intel parts but, I am not a prolific PC support poster. I also mentioned very real patchable bugs in new Intel parts. Fixable with new mobo BIOS but that is beyond some folks to install.

The same thing goes for a flavor of Linux.
I run Slackware but it is the oldest still active distro and NOT hugely popular due to some old skool philosophy.
I do _NOT_ recommend it because I prefer to not spend my time doing support.

I mention,,, it is similar to how others might mention their preferred flavor of Christianity. (on Free Republic)
The passion involved in PC hardware/software is often quite similar to religion.

Ubuntu and Debian is where the ‘looked up’ challenge _ANSWERS_ point to. Many similar paths to the same results.

For huge RAM a new mobo ready for expensive DDR5 RAM at over 5000 MHz is going to produce noticable improvement in user experience.
DDR5 RAM come in 48 Gig sticks for a total of 192Gigs.
DDR4 sticks max out at 32Gig typically, 128Gig total with 4 slots. <<— still a very good user experience.

The video card I suggested is 12Gig of video RAM.
I think it is the max AMD GPU supported in win7 an unsupported OS where I run games. Not bleeding edge but capable due to RAM. I choose it partly because there is support for AMD GPU in the Linux kernel.

Today 12G or 16G GPU RAM is where it is at.
For gaming video RAM is very important.
I think Nvidia is the dominant GPU with ‘kids’ nowadays.
_I_ don’t have the reaction time to use the faster framerates possible. I’ll never know!!! :-)

Blender uses GPU RAM for textures. One of your mentioned desires.

Few solutions are perfect. Don’t cry when inevitably you discover that the box you built coulda had xyz if you had waited another week or read 900 more reviews.
Set expectations accordingly and avoid the tears.
There WILL be better hardware out tomorrow until forever...

[sit-rep]

>>Few solutions are perfect. Don’t cry when inevitably you discover that the box you built coulda had xyz if you had waited another week or read 900 more reviews.<<

thats where I was at a year ago when I first started researching... I take all comments and suggestions with a grain. even on this thread there are no 2 comments on hardware the same.

all comments are appreciated... well except for that cat above who is over 3K!! lol... jk...

[Hermes37]

I don’t recall you mentioning a display.
Whatever you choose needs a cable, and video ports of the correct flavor on the GPU.
Don’t assume anything, double check the GPU output ports.
Spinning a web of terror, LOL. :-)

Tangent alert...
A couple Blendtuts for later reference.

Editing video with blender
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYVZ6rtayaA

Video stabilization
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nU8zqn091rM

He covers many other Blender topics too.

[sit-rep]

my display is my 65” flat screen in my living room... mouse table is comfortably level with the arm rest of the couch!! HDMI for years!! The only problem is I never really knew how to match the resolution so to date, I am always resizing the PC screen to fit right on the flat screen! unless I go to full screen then all is good.