Need suggestions on improving the 2024 Q4 $2000 game development PC setup?
Need suggestions on improving the 2024 Q4 $2000 game development PC setup?
Approximate Purchase Date: already got core parts in 2023, want to buy final parts by June 2024 Budget Range: 2000-2500 EUR (2200-2700 USD) Country: France (you can check prices on websites like https://www.idealo.fr/ or https://ledenicheur.fr/, but I’m mostly interested in compatibility) System Usage from Most to Least Important: Game development: compiling (contributing to Godot) Game development: 3D rendering (Unreal Engine 5) Video editing Gaming Are you buying a monitor: No, I'll reuse my 1440p 165Hz monitor Parts to Upgrade: I only had laptops so far so it’s a brand new build; except for the SSD from my old laptop that I can reuse as a temporary solution, but that will ultimately need an update. Do you need to buy OS: Yes, Windows 11 (since my old Windows is installed on some laptop SSD, so must be OEM license) Preferred Website(s) for Parts: I’m in France so price comparators https://www.idealo.fr/ or https://ledenicheur.fr/ are good, or you could try https://www.amazon.fr/ for an average but not necessarily lowest price. If you type the product name in the top search bar you will be able to see results and should not need to understand French Location: Paris, France Parts Preferences: already purchased parts for Intel CPU, Motherboard for DDR5 RAM, Nvidia GPU (see “Already purchased” section more below). Otherwise, prefer air CPU cooler. No preferences for the other parts, just need compatibility. Overclocking: Maybe SLI or Crossfire: No Your Monitor Resolution: 2560x1440 Additional Comments: I want to develop with Unreal Engine 5 and compile Godot from source regularly. I have started buying parts sparsely over time from January 2023 and therefore my setup is quite suboptimal, but at this point I mainly care about finishing a build that actually works (compatibility, feasibility in terms of space allowed by the case, and decent cooling). And Most Importantly, Why Are You Upgrading: I have troubles running Unreal Engine 5. I can make it work, but it takes a long time to open, and it would sometimes crash on hot compile which means I must re-open it often. So I need to upgrade CPU to launch and compile faster, RAM to avoid reaching the limit too fast, and GPU to get high FPS at high quality settings. I want to compile Godot repeatedly so I can contribute to the engine code and test my iterations quickly. So CPU & RAM. List of chosen and candidate parts Table overview Core parts Chosen / Candidate? Price (EUR) Purchased? CPU Intel Core i9-12900K 3.2 GHz 16-Core Processor 444.93 Yes (2023-05) CPU Cooler Noctua NH-D15 82.5 CFM CPU Cooler (NH-D15) 117.54? No Motherboard ASRock Z790 Pro RS 245.99 Yes (2023-05) Memory G.Skill Ripjaws S5 32GB Kit DDR5-5600 CL28? 166.9? No Storage (system) Reuse 860 EVO 250 Go M.2 SSD (to upgrade) 0+ Reuse or upgrade Storage (data) TBD some 2TB M.2 SSD?? No Video Card (GPU) MSI GeForce RTX 3070 GAMING X TRIO 573.44 Yes (2023-01) Case Phanteks Enthoo Pro ATX Full Tower Case? 138.9? No Case Fans 3x ARCTIC P12 56.3 CFM 120 mm Fan 26.59 (pack of 5) No Power Supply TBD? No Video capture card Elgato 4K60 PRO (PCIe 2.0 x4)? 216? No Total 1928.69+ Details Already purchased Motherboard, CPU, GPU Motherboard ASRock Z790 Pro RS https://pcpartpicker.com/product/cFQcCJ/...790-pro-rs 245.99€ (2023-05) CPU Intel Core i9-12900K 3.2 GHz 16-Core Processor https://pcpartpicker.com/product/gGH7YJ/...071512900k 444.93€ (2023-05) Note: Turns out profiling showed i7-13700K to have similar or even better perfs vs temperature in some cases (and some people told me it was a better fit for my motherboard), but it was too expensive at the time. GPU MSI GeForce RTX 3070 GAMING X TRIO 8GB https://pcpartpicker.com/product/WR...b-...amingxtrio 573.44€ (2023-01) Total paid so far: 1264.36€ ~ 1260€ Out of budget range 2000-2500€ Budget left for remaining parts is: 740-1240 € (790-1330 USD) Below, I put all my research so far for the remaining parts. Reusing from old computer SSD Samsung 860 Evo 250 GB M.2-2280 SATA Solid State Drive https://pcpartpicker.com/product/G9rmP6/...z-n6e250bw It’s more like a temporary solution to get things started quickly, but I could get a better one since my new machine would support NVMe SSD. So I’m open to suggestions there. In general, I pick one SSD that faster but with less storage (250GB) for the system + a slightly less faster one but with a lot of storage (2TB) for data (generally a Western Digital for its lower price even at high capacity). However, I found out I had issues running the system on low capacity, esp. after a Linux + Windows partition (120GB each). So I’m considering combining both speed and storage in one SSD. I had a look at: Samsung 970 EVO Plus MZ-V7S1T0BW NVMe M.2 1TB SSD https://www.amazon.fr/Samsung-MZ-V7S1T0-...B07MBQPQ62 for 100€ (as of 2024-07-01), but I see other variants at different prices, such as: Samsung 970 Evo Plus MZ-V7S1T0B/AM NVMe M.2 1TB SSD https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B07MFZY2F2 at 123€, so I’m a bit lost and I don’t know if the other variants are worth for the price difference. Parts to confirm before purchase CPU Cooler, RAM, Video capture card, Case, Case fans CPU Cooler For now I’m looking at this one: Noctua NH-D15 82.5 CFM CPU Cooler (NH-D15) https://pcpartpicker.com/product/4vzv6h/...ler-nh-d15 117.54€ RAM Requirement: DDR5 (due to Motherboard) Preferred: 2x16GB = 32GB (can be discussed if you think I need more) I’ve been searching through many models and found their prices to vary between 100€ and 130€ over time, such as this one: G.Skill Ripjaws S5 32GB Kit DDR5-5600 CL28 (F5-5600J2834F16GX2-RS5W) https://pcpartpicker.com/product/ZP...dd...16gx2-rs5w but I’m not settled on a particular one yet. I was just monitoring the prices in the past months, hoping they’d go under the 100€ threshold, but they recently went up, so I guess I’ll have to bite the bullet and grab them at some point. I suppose there’s not much choice with DDR5. But tell me if you know better. Video capture card Not critical for the initial build but I intend to get this: Elgato 4K60 PRO (PCIe 2.0 x4) https://help.elgato.com/hc/en-us/ar...am...ifications 216€ for game recording. It’s an additional component but may affect Case and Power Supply so I prefer writing it down. Case My biggest fear here, that my components don’t fit esp. the CPU cooler. According to https://ncc.noctua.at/cases, NH-D15 height is 168 mm, but https://forums. also mentions a safety margin bringing up to 178mm… Otherwise the GPU MSI GeForce RTX 3070 GAMING X TRIO is 323 x 140 x 56mm Right now I’m looking at: Phanteks Enthoo Pro ATX Full Tower Case https://pcpartpicker.com/product/mn3RsY/...phes614pbk 138.9€ Case fans Right now I’m looking at: 3x ARCTIC P12 PWM PST 56.3 CFM 120 mm Fan https://pcpartpicker.com/product/68WfrH/...cfan00120a I found this 5x pack: https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B07HC7P3HJ/ 26,59€ which looks quite cheap and I could keep the extra 2 fans. But are they good enough? Parts to be decided Power Supply People told me to get something solid for because of the huge power required by my CPU and GPU, but I haven’t researched specific models yet.
Welcome to the forums, newcomer!
You can check out this RAM kit:
https://fr.pcpartpicker.com/product...dr...2gx2-rm5rw
Regarding your PSU, it’s recommended to choose a stable 850W unit. This should keep you from needing another PSU later when you decide to upgrade to a GPU, such as replacing the RTX3070. Consider looking into Corsair RMe/RMx series.
Thank you for sharing a thorough post with useful details we often seek from users to provide better guidance.
Thanks, although pricier, 64 GB should improve the performance of these large Unreal demos. So far I haven’t reduced my RAM budget to stay within the 2000€ limit, but now with a 2500€ budget it fits perfectly.
I was checking https://outervision.com/power-supply-calculator, which suggests 642W for an RTX 3070 with 64 GB RAM plus other components, and even with an RTX 4080 it recommends 744W, implying a 750W power supply would suffice. Do you know how accurate that estimate is?
Or should I consider the margin not just for future-proofing but for efficiency: I’ve read on https://www.howtogeek.com/833331/can-you...-of-a-psu/ that a PSU might lose efficiency at very low loads (under 20%) and very high loads (close to 100%), meaning choosing a model with higher maximum load capacity could be advantageous even when not operating below 80%?
If yes, I’ll be searching for an 850W Gold 80+ PSU.