$1600 Intel Build for Gaming & Music Production. Any help is appreciated :)

RJR

THIS WILL BE MY 1ST BUILD EVER! Looking to make it a great experience!
Budget: $1600 - I'd like to go Intel because I hear AMD is more gaming focused. I'd like this build to be used for both Gaming and Music Production.

Here's what I put together so far: https://www.microcenter.com/site/content/custom-pc-builder.aspx?load=e7776e83-2f71-4949-a811-51e235cef4e9
-Music will be produced on Logic Pro X
-Games will include: PUBG, COD-Warzone, EFT (Escape from Tarkov)

There's room to add or swap out parts, but I don't know enough about them to decide which ones will be best for my use!

TSTonyV

Hello @RJR! Welcome to the Community.

So, while it warms my heart to hear somebody say AMD is gaming focused after how much they've improved their CPUs recently, it's actually the opposite that is true. Intel still has an edge in gaming performance, but AMD takes the crown when it comes to multi-threaded production type workloads . With that in mind, I decided to put together an AMD build for you:

https://www.microcenter.com/site/content/custom-pc-builder.aspx?load=cc98d3ed-b463-4b65-be86-fa63a7b7dee2

The biggest thing I need to highlight here is that the Intel 9600k you were looking at does not include a CPU cooler, which means that you have added cost on top of the CPU itself. The most basic CPU cooler would still be about $20, a decent aftermarket one like the Hyper 212 EVO is going to be around $40. The 3700x, on the other hand, includes a solid stock cooler in the box, and you jump from 6 cores/6 threads to 8 cores/16 threads, which is a big benefit. You also have the benefit of being to able go with DDR4-3600 speed memory which is the sweet spot for the Ryzen 3rd gen chips. 

I switched it over to an NVMe M.2 SSD for convenience, and also decided to go with a lower-cost motherboard and case to make a little extra wiggle room to allow you to jump up to 2070 Super instead of the 2060 Super. 

Lastly, I didn't include the cost of Windows on the build because you didn't have it on your build, to make it a little bit of an easier comparison, but don't forget to factor that into your cost. With the AMD build, adding Windows puts it right at $1600 before taxes so that's something to think about. That said, you probably also don't need 32GB of RAM. I don't know enough about Logic Pro X to know how RAM intense it is, but if you want a little more wiggle room, I'd jump down to 16GB of memory. 16GB is more than enough for gaming and should still provide a really solid foundation for the music production work, and you can always add more later if it's required. 

If you want to stick with Intel, I can work it around a bit to bump you up to a 9700k and not change your overall cost too much, but you'd probably have to stay on the 2060 Super instead. Personally speaking, I have a Ryzen 7 3700x in my system and it's been a workhorse since the day I got it so I'm kind of partial to AMD right now, especially considering how strong the value is.

RJR

Thank you for putting this together! I don't have much knowledge with either Intel or AMD so it's nice to hear these details. I'll gladly take the AMD build if it means a better experience for me! Thanks again for this part list. I'll probably go with 16gb of RAM to save a little cash.

TSTonyV

Of course!  Let us know if you have any other questions, and make sure you take lots of pictures of your build and post it when it's built!