Fg to helpful people who provide builds, have advice, recommendations, or critiques of others builds or my preferred specs. I’ll likely choose a build from this thread or some variation on a build based on any discussion in here.

Budget: $2,200-$2,500
Maximum you will spend? - $2,700 if it’s worth it
Will you complete mail in rebates? - Yes
If so, may we go over-budget if rebates bring you within budget? - Yes
Do you need Windows Operation System within budget? - Yes Windows 11 Home
Need a Monitor? / Mouse? / Keyboard within budget? - No

Basic Info:
Specific Uses (Programs, game titles etc.) - Streaming, multiple d2rs, Starcraft 2, hearthstone, pubg, cod, apex, some newer AAA games as they come out
Country? - USA
Will you travel to NCIX (canada) or Microcenter (USA) for parts? (Null if unsure) - No, nearest micro center is too far away

How much hard drive space do you want or need? - one boot 500 SSD, one 2TB storage can be SSD too
Will you use wireless or wired internet? - wireless
Will you overclock CPU and/or GPU? - Not likely
Any special requests or useful things to tell us? (Specific case, need lots of storage, audio etc.) - prefer good quality parts/brands - don’t want to skimp on quality for extra performance. I’ve had good experiences with msi and asus components, Corsair, gskill . Prefer intel over amd and prefer nvidia gfx

Style (optional)
Do you prefer any specific colors for the build/computer case? - don’t care at all - plain black is perfectly fine
Do you prefer a window on your case? - don’t care either way
*(Please note how picky you will be with colors. Sometimes it's just not feasible to get some colors on certain parts)*

I was thinking something along the lines of:

3080
32gb ram
i7 or i9 11/12th gen
Nice Mobo
Cooling system of some sort
2x SSDs 500 & 2 TB
850-1k gold rated PSU
High quality case airflow - don’t care about colors or style. Just performance/airflow/cooling for the case . All black is fine
Windows 11 Home
Wi-Fi 6 card?
Do I need a sound card or am I missing anything else?

I’ve never built a pc by myself and will have someone help me piece it together. I’m pretty nooby when it comes to pc stuff so any necessary explanations are helpful

Hello!

I would do the following (SFF Mini ITX)

Clean, No RGB, Black

CPU: i7 11700F @ $319
MB: MSI MPG B560I Gaming Edge WiFi Mini ITX @ $199
RAM: Team T-FORCE Dark Za 32GB (2x16GB) DDR4-3600 CL18 @ $149
STORAGE: (Boot) 500GB M2 Western Digital Black SN850 (PCIE 4.0) @ $105
STORAGE: 1TB M2 Crucial P2 @ $124.00
GPU: MSI GeForce RTX 3070Ti Ventus 3X OC @ $899
CHASSIS: Cooler Master MasterBox NR200P Mini ITX @ $125
PSU: EVGA SuperNOVA GM 750W +80 Gold Fully Modular SFX @ $133
OS: Windows 11 (Digital Chill Mart 50% w/ Honey Promo Code) @ $20
COOLING/AIRFLOW: Leave $100.00 for Fan Budget (Low Profiles)

($2173.00)

Potential item substitutes as it's under budget;

CPU: i7 11700F for i9 11900F (About $150 difference)
GPU: RTX 3070Ti for RTX 3080 (About $300 difference)
Chassis: NR200P to HYTE Revolt 3 (About $50 difference, subjective/style)
Storage: Switch out the 1TB M2 Crucial P2 to a 2TB M2 Crucial P2 (About $100 difference)

~ If you did both CPU/GPU, you'd want to upgrade PSU to around 850+ for stable loads and power distribution, which would push you past the $2700.00 max ~

SFF builds can take a bit more patience, but with a friend helping it would be a great project to learn more on PC building, the end result is fantastic and rewarding.

This setup is 1.5TB Storage vs the 2.5TB storage you were seeking, FYI.

GL!

Thank you for posting this build, I will keep it in mind

Anyone else wanna take a crack at it or have any advice before I buy?

There’s also the new nr200 max that’s comes with 280mm aio cooler and 850watt sfx psu already installed in the case

The Max series is sweet and the grey finish is nice too. You pay a bit of a premium (around $400-$500 I think?) but a nice setup in the NR200 for sure.

e/ The LOUQE Ghost S1 MK is an honorable mention at that price

This post was edited by Mardigan89 on Jun 2 2022 07:14am

yeah here in australia its $499 i saw it drop down to 300 a few months back but i already got the normal case and psu and nh-u12a lol

that's a nice build if you wanted SFF. I like the part selection, OP just make sure you would want SFF before doing this. there are some downsides (some performance depending on factors, ease of building/maintenance) that you should have a reason to take on. I think OP would have a better experience from a 12700k DDR4 3080 system in a mid-tower here given his use-case and budget. I think it would be easier to build, and be capable of a bit more performance at a lower noise level. I don't mean to imply your build wouldn't be a great machine to use, or that it can't be cool and quiet.. but I think we still need a reason to go SFF. I can't think of any good reason to suggest SFF to OP based on what he said (the only things that came to mind were convenience, you already had this build or are educated on the parts, potentially related to the 11th gen recommendation?

OP what resolution do you play at?

This post was edited by purplex on Jun 2 2022 02:22pm

Thanks for the information! To be honest, I don’t specifically want a SFF build. My first thought was it might be more difficult to put together and it might run hotter? I’m not sure. I plan to play at either 1080 or 1440 depending on the game. Will probably start out at 1440 on most games unless I’m not getting enough frames. I have several monitors for all different resolutions. I asked the person who will help me build it and he said he’s never done a SFF build before (I’m not sure how difficult it is)

This is true & not an "entry/beginners" build. Friend helping w/ build would want some PC building experience. Looking at today's price points, you could build this in 12th Gen i7 12700F/B660 MOBO for about an extra $70-$110 (600 Chipset ITX Boards come at a premium typically and stock can be an issue sometimes) Other components could remain the same without issue. Pricing/Deals are always fluctuating.

12th GEN runs rather hot, 11th GEN with the improved IPC performance from 10th GEN and running cooler seemed like a "sweet spot" for SFF ~ albeit I agree that SFF is a tall order for a 1st build (this was my reasoning for this style of a build). I know personally when I see someone's very clean, minimalistic SFF build ~ I envy them and want it haha.

MATX/ATX Mid Tower could def be the right option (and probably a better suit for OP) something like a Lian Mesh II or 4000D Airflow. Very easy to build in and would give a 3080 card lots of room to breathe as well for performance yield

Building is fun



1440P with a 3070Ti/3080 and proper CPU is very nice gaming!

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/r7NBv3

Windows cheaper somewhere else