How to Choose Parts for Your Custom Computer Build

Bbear · November 2020

My son purchased a NH-L9i L-Type Low-Profile Cooler for his new build. We were wondering if this cooler is powerful enough to cool an AMD Ryzen 5 3600x CPU of if we should exchange it for something else? Any thoughts would be much appreciated! Thanks!

TSPhillipT · November 2020

Hello @Bbear

I posted the answer to your question here; https://community.microcenter.com/discussion/comment/20577/#Comment_20577

MerlEM · November 2020

Hi, I really need help choosing parts, I need to buy the parts this week so I hope that someone could answer my question quickly. Anyways, I am looking for parts for my gaming pc that stays within my 700 dollars budget. I want to be able to play Valorant, Leauge of Legends, Fortnite, and Roblox (maybe Call of Duty) fast, and non-lagging. I want to stream and maybe do some editing for youtube videos. I would also like to be able to upgrade my pc. Could someone send the pc parts list recommendation that fits my need. Thank you.

TSTonyV · November 2020

MerlEM said:

Hi, I really need help choosing parts, I need to buy the parts this week so I hope that someone could answer my question quickly. Anyways, I am looking for parts for my gaming pc that stays within my 700 dollars budget. I want to be able to play Valorant, Leauge of Legends, Fortnite, and Roblox (maybe Call of Duty) fast, and non-lagging. I want to stream and maybe do some editing for youtube videos. I would also like to be able to upgrade my pc. Could someone send the pc parts list recommendation that fits my need. Thank you.

So you have a couple options. If you want to build something yourself, you could put a build together like this:

https://www.microcenter.com/site/content/custom-pc-builder.aspx?load=75b07958-28b3-4ccc-b55f-c1806f01e415

But that's without including windows which is an extra $140.

I'm not going to lie. I think your best bet would just be buying a Powerspec G163 instead of building since you it includes Windows, and we can service it under warranty instead of dealing with individual manufacturers. The system will be upgradeable in the future as well since we don't use proprietary parts.

alr834 · November 2020

I would like to build my own computer capable of running Microsoft Flt Sim 2020 at ideal settings. I'm looking to spend around $2000.00. I've never done this before so I need some guidance. Also I don't want to spend extra money with any special lighting inside the case.

JohnGalt · November 2020

Hi Folks! I'm looking to build a PC to run adobe Premier and capture , edit , etc. all the video I currently have on video tape before it degrades further. Forgive if my nomenclature is flawed, but I plan to use an NVME for the operating system and programs and then several SSD drives for video storage. Sound like a plan? Any suggestions? Raid? Specific motherboard?

snow013 · November 2020

My first time here and I'm interested in upgrading my son's computer by harvesting parts from his old machine and buying new needed parts from you to install in a new case. in old system we will be re-using Corsair 650 watt power supply, Geforce GTX 1070 graphics card, 3 hard drives( 256 GB SS[main], 500GB mechanical drive and a portable 2 TB SSD hard drive. Am interested in i7 9700K cpu and a cooler for it and thermal paste, a mother board for it, case with a couple fans at least and 32GB of ram. What would you suggest ? Would it be worth building a new system with the old video card power supply and hard drives? Also would a M.2 drive SSD be faster then regular SSD drive?
Thanks
Al

JS_MC · November 2020

JohnGalt said:

Hi Folks! I'm looking to build a PC to run adobe Premier and capture , edit , etc. all the video I currently have on video tape before it degrades further. Forgive if my nomenclature is flawed, but I plan to use an NVME for the operating system and programs and then several SSD drives for video storage. Sound like a plan? Any suggestions? Raid? Specific motherboard?

Hey @JohnGalt Welcome to the community! For data security, having multiple copies of data is always my first recommendation. One on-site, one in the cloud, and one off-site. For additional safety, you could run in Raid. Sounds like a plan to me! Let me know if you have any other questions!

snow013 said:

My first time here and I'm interested in upgrading my son's computer by harvesting parts from his old machine and buying new needed parts from you to install in a new case. in old system we will be re-using Corsair 650 watt power supply, Geforce GTX 1070 graphics card, 3 hard drives( 256 GB SS[main], 500GB mechanical drive and a portable 2 TB SSD hard drive. Am interested in i7 9700K cpu and a cooler for it and thermal paste, a mother board for it, case with a couple fans at least and 32GB of ram. What would you suggest ? Would it be worth building a new system with the old video card power supply and hard drives? Also would a M.2 drive SSD be faster then regular SSD drive?
Thanks
Al

Here's what I'd recommend for your main 3. https://www.microcenter.com/site/content/custom-pc-builder.aspx?load=d3fce1c6-11d9-4056-a6e5-6a3065382254

Cases are a subjective thing. It's what you'll see when you see your build. I think it's important to make that decision yourself based on your preference of looks and the amount of money you want to put on it.

Your new CPU cooler will come with thermal paste pre-applied, but we do carry several brands of paste if you're looking for something different. M.2 drives are typically faster than 2.5" SSDs and it's normally quite a difference. Because of that difference and the minimal differences in cost, I'd almost always recommend an M.2 drive, especially for your boot device.

To your question about building a new system. I think it depends on the value of keeping the old system. Would you gain a large benefit from keeping a working older system? Once you move some of the parts over to the new system, the old system will be collecting dust, as it's incomplete. If you're not going to be using it anyway, might as well save the money and use the old parts.

I hope that explanation makes sense. Let me know if you have questions!

assasinracer21 · December 2020

Hi my name is Seth and I am looking to build my firts ever gaming pc used for gaming and to strike big in streaming. I would like to show you my parts that I have and plz respond with questions, comments, suggestions, or concerns

Graphics Card- PowerColor Radeon RX 5700 XT Red Devil Overclocked Triple-Fan 8GB GDDR6 PCIe 4.0 Graphics Card
439.99

CPU- AMD Ryzen 7 3700X Matisse 3.6GHz 8-Core AM4 Boxed Processor with Wraith Prism Cooler
299.99

Motherboard- ASUS X570-Pro Prime AMD AM4 ATX Motherboard
249.99

Memory- Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3200 PC4-25600 CL16 Dual Channel Desktop Memory Kit CMW16GX4M2E3200C16 - Black
85.99

SSD- Samsung 860 EVO 1TB SSD 3-bit MLC V-NAND SATA III 6Gb/s 2.5" Internal Solid State Drive
99.99

Case- Corsair iCUE 220T Tempered Glass RGB ATX Mid-Tower Computer Case - Black
109.99

Power Supply- EVGA SuperNOVA 750 GT 750 Watt 80 Plus Gold ATX Fully Modular Power Supply
134.99

Id you see anything im missing or a better part I need lmk
My budget is $1000

drumgod77 · December 2020

I am currently trying to find parts for 2 different types of pc's. The first will be a totally new build. It will be mainly for music production and mild video editing but i also want to start pc gaming as well. I was thinking Ryzen 7 5800 & 6800 combo. I have th3e motherboard and a phanteks p500a case as well as a noctua dh 15 cooler already. The other I want to upgrade(if need be) my Ryzen 1800x & 580 combo. That computer will strictly be used for photo editing for a 61mp camera that also shoots in 5k

Mando_Lando24 · December 2020

Hello guys ! I have a GXi3400BST

Hi ! I just got my very first gaming pc ever and I was just wondering if I can get some help from someone with a pc background in upgrading it. I want it to perform better for gaming and streaming on dual monitors, Editing videos here and there, having RGB controlled fans and cooling (if possible ) with like two SSD’s that can hold many open world ( huge download size games ). I listed my pre build in the tittle I believe but if not I’ll list it once more and with a copy and paste of my hardware.

GXi3400BST

Specs:

CyberPowerPC

CyberPowerPC - Gamer Xtreme Gaming Desktop - Intel Core i7-10700F - 16GB Memory - NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER - 1TB HDD + 500GB SSD -

Noaage · January 2021

Alright, so i started out with a budget at around 1500$ and was hoping to go even lower on the price becuase 1500$ is already more than i first thought about spending, but the budget went to shit and i ended up at 1900$+. I was hoping to build the pc with a I7 and RTX 3060 ti FE, i thought about instead of HHD i would use SSD but that would make it almost 3-4 times more expensive. I am lost in all the different parts, btw i live in Norway so i have alot of stores selling parts so if you would like to you can suggest parts that are not availabe at micro center as well, goddamn i wish i lived in USA so i also could visit micro center. Well here is the build i have made so far, if you could help me improve my part choises and make it more affordable that would be great! Also is it best for me to go for a I7 9700K or I7 10700K? Thanks for any answers, also the GPU in the list is just a card with similar price to the FE and is temporary.

https://www.microcenter.com/site/content/custom-pc-builder.aspx?load=3a2fc0a3-2801-4046-be2e-4a9f7e3fe1ba

ChickenSalad · January 2021

TSTonyV said:

Hello! Welcome to the Micro Center Community. If you've been here before, you probably noticed the multiple threads I posted going over how to choose parts for a custom built PC. Rather than having each thread stay at the top and clutter up the page, I'm going to have this single mega-thread we keep at the top that links to each respective part of the guide.

For those of you who are new here, this is a comprehensive guide across a series of posts on how to choose individual parts for your computer and what sorts of things you should be looking for. Whether you're new to building or have experience, there's a lot of information that I think you'd find helpful.
Part 1: The Processor (CPU)
Part 2: The Video Card (GPU)
Part 3: The Motherboard
Part 4: RAM (Memory)
Part 5: The Power Supply (PSU)
Part 6: SSDs and Hard Drives
Part 7: The Case
Feel free to comment in any of the original threads or this one, or make your own post if you have any questions!

TSTonyV said:

Hello! Welcome to the Micro Center Community. If you've been here before, you probably noticed the multiple threads I posted going over how to choose parts for a custom built PC. Rather than having each thread stay at the top and clutter up the page, I'm going to have this single mega-thread we keep at the top that links to each respective part of the guide.

For those of you who are new here, this is a comprehensive guide across a series of posts on how to choose individual parts for your computer and what sorts of things you should be looking for. Whether you're new to building or have experience, there's a lot of information that I think you'd find helpful.
Part 1: The Processor (CPU)
Part 2: The Video Card (GPU)
Part 3: The Motherboard
Part 4: RAM (Memory)
Part 5: The Power Supply (PSU)
Part 6: SSDs and Hard Drives
Part 7: The Case
Feel free to comment in any of the original threads or this one, or make your own post if you have any questions!

Hi I am trying to build a pc for gaming, mainly games like Minecraft, Battlefield, and other big games like that. I hope to build one under 1500 dollars but will save if it means I can play the games I want with good FPS. What parts should I get to play those games, I’ve heard the GeForce rtx 2080 super is a good gpu but I still want help with all the parts

ChickenSalad · January 2021

ChickenSalad said:

TSTonyV said:

Hello! Welcome to the Micro Center Community. If you've been here before, you probably noticed the multiple threads I posted going over how to choose parts for a custom built PC. Rather than having each thread stay at the top and clutter up the page, I'm going to have this single mega-thread we keep at the top that links to each respective part of the guide.

For those of you who are new here, this is a comprehensive guide across a series of posts on how to choose individual parts for your computer and what sorts of things you should be looking for. Whether you're new to building or have experience, there's a lot of information that I think you'd find helpful.
Part 1: The Processor (CPU)
Part 2: The Video Card (GPU)
Part 3: The Motherboard
Part 4: RAM (Memory)
Part 5: The Power Supply (PSU)
Part 6: SSDs and Hard Drives
Part 7: The Case
Feel free to comment in any of the original threads or this one, or make your own post if you have any questions!

TSTonyV said:

Hello! Welcome to the Micro Center Community. If you've been here before, you probably noticed the multiple threads I posted going over how to choose parts for a custom built PC. Rather than having each thread stay at the top and clutter up the page, I'm going to have this single mega-thread we keep at the top that links to each respective part of the guide.

For those of you who are new here, this is a comprehensive guide across a series of posts on how to choose individual parts for your computer and what sorts of things you should be looking for. Whether you're new to building or have experience, there's a lot of information that I think you'd find helpful.
Part 1: The Processor (CPU)
Part 2: The Video Card (GPU)
Part 3: The Motherboard
Part 4: RAM (Memory)
Part 5: The Power Supply (PSU)
Part 6: SSDs and Hard Drives
Part 7: The Case
Feel free to comment in any of the original threads or this one, or make your own post if you have any questions!

Hi I am trying to build a pc for gaming, mainly games like Minecraft, Battlefield, and other big games like that. I hope to build one under 1500 dollars but will save if it means I can play the games I want with good FPS. What parts should I get to play those games, I’ve heard the GeForce rtx 2080 super is a good gpu but I still want help with all the parts

I am now looking into an i7 intel CPU and the RTX 3080 graphics card, what are some other items needed to run these things? What motherboard,case, and coolers and power supplies would y’all recommend

JS_MC · January 2021

Hi @ChickenSalad Welcome to the community!

An i7 and RTX 3080 would pair well together. I've created a build that I'd recommend based on what you've mentioned. This does go a bit outside your budget. I tried to get things as close to your budget as possible while keeping the i7 and RTX 3080.

https://www.microcenter.com/site/content/custom-pc-builder.aspx?load=565fcb76-b1ec-480a-af4c-d5ff39cf3af4

If you wanted to reduce the cost, you could go with an RTX 3070. That would put you closer to your budget of $1500.

I hope this helps!

ChickenSalad · January 2021

LandShark said:

Hi @ChickenSalad Welcome to the community!
An i7 and RTX 3080 would pair well together. I've created a build that I'd recommend based on what you've mentioned. This does go a bit outside your budget. I tried to get things as close to your budget as possible while keeping the i7 and RTX 3080.
https://www.microcenter.com/site/content/custom-pc-builder.aspx?load=565fcb76-b1ec-480a-af4c-d5ff39cf3af4
If you wanted to reduce the cost, you could go with an RTX 3070. That would put you closer to your budget of $1500.
I hope this helps!

Thank you so much, what is the difference between the i7-9700k and the i7-10700k. Also what is different about the 3080 and 3070

JS_MC · January 2021

There is a generational difference in performance and in chip type. Intel release the i7-9700k in Q4'18 and the i7-10700k in Q2'20. The 10700k does outperform the 9700k in a generational step.

For differences between the 3070 and the 3080, I'd recommend that you take a look at our guide: How to Choose Your Parts, Part 2: The Video Card (GPU) If you check the High-End section of the discussion you'll find a lot of useful information about the 3070, 3080, and other GPUs in that range.

airsoft_combat1 · January 2021

What would be the best build for 1500-1800 that is water-cooled with an Nvidia RTX

JS_MC · January 2021

Hey @airsoft_combat1

I'd recommend this build! https://www.microcenter.com/site/content/custom-pc-builder.aspx?load=9e08ac91-1824-411f-86d9-8208b853fac9

Hi, @Ben_Ahmer

I'd recommend the build below! It's fairly similar to the build above however, it's perfect for the budget you mentioned. It does have RGB lighting and you're able to change the color of the RAM, GPU, and Motherboard to your liking.

https://www.microcenter.com/site/content/custom-pc-builder.aspx?load=9e08ac91-1824-411f-86d9-8208b853fac9

Please let me know if you have any other questions!

Ian · January 2021

airsoft_combat1 said:

What would be the best build for 1500-1800 that is water-cooled with an Nvidia RTX

Sorry for the delay in response, I would say something like this would be a good reference at this price range:
https://www.microcenter.com/site/content/custom-pc-builder.aspx?load=34cfce33-5949-4177-84d5-d2c7f3486412

Celt7551 · February 2021

After reading through several pages of q/a I am no closer to an answer. I have always bought or built computers with Intel CPU`s. My last one just died. Most of the time it's used for gaming. My question is Ryzen or Intel? I didn't get a consensus for a gaming rig. Thanks for the input.

JS_MC · February 2021

@Celt7551 It's hard to give a direct answer here as this is subject to change based on budget and release of new processors. What kind of budget did you have in mind for this?

In the first section of our article, we do go over how to choose your CPU. Part 1: The Processor (CPU) I'll include a quote from the article below.

With Ryzen 5000, AMD is boasting a 19% increase in IPC (instructions per clock), which means another massive increase in single-threaded performance. The performance gains are so significant that we've hit a point where on average AMD is beating Intel in gaming. I don't remember the last time I was able to say that phrase. AMD didn't just improve upon their previous generation, they've finally taken the performance crown away from Intel.

I hope this information helps! I'd recommend reading the rest of the article for a more encompassing answer. Please let us know if we can help with any other questions or concerns!

Celt7551 · February 2021

LandShark said:

@Celt7551 It's hard to give a direct answer here as this is subject to change based on budget and release of new processors. What kind of budget did you have in mind for this?
In the first section of our article, we do go over how to choose your CPU. Part 1: The Processor (CPU) I'll include a quote from the article below.
With Ryzen 5000, AMD is boasting a 19% increase in IPC (instructions per clock), which means another massive increase in single-threaded performance. The performance gains are so significant that we've hit a point where on average AMD is beating Intel in gaming. I don't remember the last time I was able to say that phrase. AMD didn't just improve upon their previous generation, they've finally taken the performance crown away from Intel.
I hope this information helps! I'd recommend reading the rest of the article for a more encompassing answer. Please let us know if we can help with any other questions or concerns!

LandShark that's the answer I was looking for. Thank you. The last computer I built is in a Cooler Master ATX case and 2 250g Sata drives which I will reuse. Beyond that I figure another $1000-$1500 for mb, cpu, memory, ps and video card. I'll start looking for a CPU/Motherboard combo and some type of cooler first and move on from there.

JS_MC · February 2021

@Celt7551 Glad I could help! Happy shopping. Let us know if we can assist further!

OrenEllison · February 2021

https://community.microcenter.com/discussion/comment/10507#Comment_10507

Same

JS_MC · February 2021

Hello @OrenEllison

Here's a pre-built selection.

Here's a parts list that would be a few dollars over your budget but it would be the closest we could get while matching the requirements you mentioned.

I hope the helps, please let us know if you have any questions!

ThomasRaidingYt · February 2021

Hi nice to meet you i need a pc that can do my online school (like 5-20 tabs) and minor gaming like Minecraft. And i found this pc

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/dell-refurbished-optiplex-desktop-intel-core-i5-16gb-memory-256gb-solid-state-drive/6392652.p?skuId=6392652

I dont know if its a good deal or not so can you tell me if this meets my standards and if it doesnt may you make me a pc list at most 400 dollars? Thank you for your time

JS_MC · February 2021

Hello @ThomasRaidingYt Nice to meet you too.

This item would be great for the school tabs, but Minecraft would be too much. To run Minecraft you'll want a dedicated GPU or an APU.

For a desktop with an APU, I'd recommend either a Dell OptiPlex 5055 SFF Desktop Computer or a PowerSpec B245 Desktop Computer.

I'd recommend an HP Pavilion Gaming Computer for something with a GPU.

APUs are less powerful than dedicated GPUs, but with that additional performance comes some cost.

ThomasRaidingYt · February 2021

Can i add a low profile APU or GPU in this
https://www.bestbuy.com/site/dell-refurbished-optiplex-desktop-intel-core-i5-16gb-memory-256gb-solid-state-drive/6392652.p?skuId=6392652

JS_MC · February 2021

It does have one PCI-E x16 Slot, so it may be possible, however, I'm not familiar with this product enough to guarantee that it will be compatible.

How to Choose Parts for Your Custom Computer Build

Comments

For a desktop with an APU, I'd recommend either a Dell OptiPlex 5055 SFF Desktop Computer or a PowerSpec B245 Desktop Computer.

I'd recommend an HP Pavilion Gaming Computer for something with a GPU.

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