Phased build project for multi-use PC

[baileyswalk]

It’s been a long time since I’ve had a proper PC but over the last few years my daughter has got more & more into gaming and I’ve been toying with the idea of getting a gaming/multi-use PC setup.
Then I saw Starfield. Mmm… shiny, would like to give that a shot myself.
This will be a project over several months (3 or 4) but once I get going, I’ll probably strip the lead off the roof to get it over the line sooner.

Phase 1:
Play Minecraft & Roblox
Streaming/Video capture
Phase 2:
Starfield etc. at 1440p
Phase 3:
Music & video creation/editing

Just looking at getting a solid base right now to build upon initially. So that probably means MB, CPU, 16GB RAM, Case/cooler etc. Might buy a cheap/2nd hand GPU initially to get up & running then upgrade to a better one for Starfield & video creation/editing.
For the audio/video side of things, other than adding more memory, I'm not sure. Are the external interfaces the better approach these days? Back in the day I had a creative sound blaster that went in the drive bay which was the bees-knees. Will be mostly for guitar & vocals. I guess that’s not really important righty now anyway, getting the base unit sorted is the main thing.
Is intel the way to go given that this won’t be a straight up gaming machine? Been trying to read up on some of the best configurations and some say that the CPUs are so good/fast/powerful now that it doesn’t really matter but my head hurts from getting stuck in all these rabbit holes, so thought I would ask here. Ideally, I don’t want to upgrade for a couple of years (or if I do not a system overhaul).

Total budget around £1500 (hopefully).

 

[Tetras]

For the audio/video side of things, other than adding more memory, I'm not sure. Are the external interfaces the better approach these days? Back in the day I had a creative sound blaster that went in the drive bay which was the bees-knees. Will be mostly for guitar & vocals. I guess that’s not really important righty now anyway, getting the base unit sorted is the main thing.

The higher-end boards usually have spdif, more jacks (5 or 6), higher-end codec and an amp (for headphones). They also have rear USB Type-C, which might be relevant, depending on what you want to connect. In regard to microphones and the sound quality, that's all way beyond me.

Is intel the way to go given that this won’t be a straight up gaming machine? Been trying to read up on some of the best configurations and some say that the CPUs are so good/fast/powerful now that it doesn’t really matter but my head hurts from getting stuck in all these rabbit holes, so thought I would ask here. Ideally, I don’t want to upgrade for a couple of years (or if I do not a system overhaul).

The budget is the important part, since 1500 doesn't give you a lot of flexibility for a higher-end PC to play newer games like Starfield @ 1440p.

In regards to upgrades, AM5 should have future CPU upgrades available, but the Intel almost certainly won't after the release of the 14th gen refresh.

The CPU itself, it is hard to say because it depends on what you buy, but e.g. a Ryzen 7600 with a 7800 XT should take one more GPU upgrade, but you'll need a new CPU after that.

Example build:

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x Intel Core i5-13400 (Raptor Lake) Socket LGA1700 Processor - Retail (SKU: CP-6BC-IN) = £229.99
• 1 x MSI B760 Gaming Plus WIFI (LGA 1700) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MB-37M-MS) = £149.99
• 1 x TeamGroup Vulcan 32GB (2X16GB) DDR5 PC5-44800C36 5600MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black (FLBD532G5600HC36BDC01) (SKU: MY-0BB-TG) = £99.95
• 1 x Zotac GeForce RTX 4070 Twin Edge OC 12GB GDDR6X PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GX-13Q-ZT) = £578.99
• 1 x Seagate FireCuda 520 2TB SSD PCIe Gen4 NVMe M.2 Solid State Drive (ZP2000GV3A012) (SKU: HD-3EX-SE) = £94.99
• 1 x Phanteks Eclipse G300A Mid-Tower High Airflow PC Case - Black (SKU: CA-0C0-PT) = £64.99
• 1 x Seasonic Focus GX-750 750W 80+ Gold Modular Power Supply (SKU: CA-06U-SS) = £119.99
• 1 x Microsoft Windows 11 Home 64-Bit DVD - OEM (KW9-00632) (SKU: SW-18J-MS) = £109.99

Total: £1,460.87 (includes delivery: £11.98)​

I've assumed that nvidia is preferable for your software, but if not I'd get the 7800 XT.

Swap the CPU to the i5-13500, it has more E-Cores and better integrated graphics.

Motherboard has rear spdif, 5 jacks and USB Type-C.

CPU cooler: this (under £50).

 

[baileyswalk]

Thanks for the advice.

I don't need windows as have a copy already. If I was to allow some budget creep, I'm guessing that be best placed in the CPU? From what I've read nvidia is the better choice (but not by much) for video editing/creation

 

[Tetras]

I don't need windows as have a copy already. If I was to allow some budget creep, I'm guessing that be best placed in the CPU? From what I've read nvidia is the better choice (but not by much) for video editing/creation

Hard to say. The i5-13500 is a very good CPU for mixed usage (games/creativity), so I think it depends on the demands of your software.

For example: if the GPU is used heavily, then you might be better off with a better graphics card (4070 Ti also has 2 NVENC, 4070 only has 1), a doubling of the RAM to 64GB, or getting a motherboard with more than 2x M.2 slots so you can fit more storage.