The following is a post in response to what a friend requested when having need of help putting together his DIY machine. This is my second response to our in-person talk about the build.

After three distinct builds and particular regional screenshots from my desktop, I figured that web spreadsheet was just going to make things more complicated - especially since there is the fact that there was no need to really change much of anything given the available parts that are around in the market place and the particular brands, makes, and models that I took into account to make the build lists possible.

There is one bad news to the current situation for builders despite my best efforts to find something that would definitley fit the bill for what you are looking for and that is graphics cards are expensive overall.

The reason for market asking prices are so high on average is because of one particular reason: cryptocurrency mining. This application, that orignally requires for just one standalone, overclocked graphics card now requires for a multitude of graphics cards, motherboards, and SSDs that such builds are now the reason why some particular areas in the country where cheap electricity was the norm is now going up.

This is not something favorable for consumers and it’s something that vendors of graphics cards are working on with building and releasing dedicated cards thatdo not use as much electricity as well as motherboards that are solely just for having one slot for graphics cards and the rest, m.2 SSDs.

That being said, the options for a 2 port video output (with one port being HDMI and the other DisplayPort) are going to be the only thing you are really going to have to end up with in order to get a decent video card that will meet your requirementts for gaming and basic computing with just two 1920x1080 displays of physically large size.

Just keep in mind though, that there might be some under performance that will require some setting adjustments on your part when you start playing a game or two that may have either high-resolution textures or are modified by yourself.

Upgrades will be necessary.

The other thing is RAM: DDR4 still, for the same reason as for graphics cards, are on average above the usual prices that were a few years ago. This has to be understood for a different set of reasons as well.

You see, vendors of RAM modules are prone to spiking prices when consumers are not looking and they have been persecuted before for doing so in the past (search for a case involving the Department of Justice and the memory module vendor, Crucial). So right now the immediate notice of prices spiking is leaving people already leery from buying so that leaves for vendors with little choice but to raise prices a bit in response to the general consumer market reluctance to buy from vendors.

There are cheaper, Chinese made options but I do not generally trust the their durability and build quality given that their target market are not really builders that are looking for long-term investment returns as much as young, aspiring competative gamers that are all about getting a quick setup ready for playing a game of the latest competative video game title on a Windows PC. So, “wear-and-tear” is the name of the game for them as they are cheap and are large in volume in the market.

There are three particular builds that I made that use similar CPUs, somewhat different motherboards that meet the criteria for what maximum amount of RAM is possible that you requested (the max that could be supported by the motherboard - 32GB in your application case).

I’ll put a screenshot and a table for each build along with links to the Newegg store page that shows the product for each component. Keep in mind, that although I am using just Newegg for the listing of components it is quite possible that I can buy some parts somewhere else that can offer compoenents even cheaper, such as Amazon or Frys. But the usage of just the Newegg website is to maintain consistency as the price difference and changes are only slight (10 to 20% off the MSRP). Thsi also helps in keeping best a over-estimation of costs than underestimations that can delay the purchases within desired time-frame (we want to buy and build this within a period of a month and a half or so).

Lian Li PC-7HB

The computer case that would be ideal for all builds that I’m putting together for the purposes that you discussed with me are going to be for what could fit in an ATX mid-tower size chasis.

More specifically, all build lists are going to be using the Lian-Li PC-7HB aluminum case. This case is excellent as it is light, and dissipates heat, working as very passive heatsink of sorts itself.

This assures for the ambient operational temperature within the case to remain relatively cool which guarantees a longer lifespan of your hardware components.

The cost of this case is $114.99 USD MSRP but there are discounts to drive the price down to $101.15 USD in Newegg but there could be deals out there that could drive the price to less than $100.00 USD

Build 1

High-End Performance and overhead.

When referring to the ability to epxand the capabilities of a computer, computer program, or computer network, you refer this ability as “scaling”.

The second concept of performance, usually concerns itself with merely the speed fo execution of a task that the computer is being given by either a computer application(s) running in the back ground - such as an operating system - or a physical end-user (you).

They are both concepts that are not mutually exclusive in most cases: you can have a machine that scales in capabilities and still be relatively slow in the execution or have a machine that is fast in execution but very limited in capabilities.

But when you have the two concepts as a requirement when building a computer, that’s when expenses do begin to go higher on average. The result is a system that maintains its value not necessary in market valuation but for you the user to where further expenses for the machine become wholly optional as they’ll be a matter of choice with regards to performance and not necessarily capability.

# Make Model Price Type
1 Lian Li PC-7HB $101.15 Case
2 Microsoft Win 10 Pro x64 $149.99 OS
3 Intel Core i7 8700 $319.99 CPU
4 Mushkin Enhanced Redline DDR4 32GB $329.99 RAM
5 Seasonic Prime Ultra 850W $190.11 PSU
6 Intel 760p Series M.2 SSD $139.95 SSD
7 Seagate FireCuda SSHD 2TB $ 95.19 SSHD
8 EVGA GTX 1080 FTW ACX 3.0 $719.00 VGA
9 LG SATA BD-XL Burner $ 72.99 Optical
10 ASUS TUF Z370 $ 151.74 Mobo
11 Noctua NH-D15 $ 84.43 CPU/Fan
    Total $2,380.49  

Two-thousand three-hundred eighty dollars is quite a bit of money that often than not is only justifiable when there is a priority for gaming. And seeing that the bulk of the costs are directly related to the graphics card.

The reason for a slightly-higher-than mid-range price is because the card is design to not just work ideally for a 1920x2160 display, but it could support a dual 4K (4096x4320) display and a third monitor.

The important thing is that it would be more than enough performance so as to have sufficient overhead to then later on have graphically intense applications run. This important to consider as time goes on: we are entering, in the next couple of years, a time where the next big thing will be 4960x2160 resolution monitors which will have some impact with how programs are made, broadcasted, and consumed.

And this won’t come that soon but consider the fact that I, with a system and graphics card that, until now, are starting to feel the strains if I do anything that is beyond 1920x1080 as far as high-resolution video decoding - let alone encoding which is even more computationally intense for a computer to do (i.e. video editing and outputting for consumption), after 10 years of using the same CPU and four years since having graphics card for five years now, I have to say I have a system that is meeting my needs and then some.

I now that PC gaming is something you absolutely, as of the time you’re reading this, is something you know much about or have played any extensive amount of that required you to have a high-performance machine in the past, but that will change and so will your adjustments in what you’ll go for going forward with regards to the kinds of games that you want to play.

That being said, there’s something you should consider for why to go for this build: video game console emulation is very hardware demanding. Sure, you can argue that the performance will do just fine but that after a certain point there is a perfmrance plateu that is reached that visually makes no difference and that certain emulation consoles are not that demanding. But honestly, all emulation will be, across the board, very demanding and that stems from the fact that what you’re really running is a virtual machine (a PC-within-a-PC in in software form that performs exactly as a regular machine would).

virtualization, and gaming 3D games on top of that vritual instance, are one of the most currently demanding things that you can run on a machine alongside video editing at high resolutions and heavy computational workloads such as bit-coin mining and distributed computing projects (i.e. “Fodlding@home”). And if you want to do these things while doing other things, consider the idea of having this setup for that performance overhead.

Build #1

Build 2

Performance oriented with mid-range card

The first build’s costs were coming from the video card mostly but this build is almost identical to the first with the exception that you are going to be using a Nvidia GTX 1060 video card than a GTX 1080.

The output in performance is relatively the same but the lack of a secondary fan is the thing tha will quite rightly cause some heat generation for intense loads but not so much to where it becomes a concern if you are not going to be, obviously, making videos or doing anything that involves multiple intensen applications at once.

The Intel CPU is of an older generation but that doesn’t mean that it does not still pack a punch with regards to performance. At 3.6 GHz with six cores for running multiple applications, this build would reuslt in there being the ability to have just about everything you want to do with as with the last build but without the video output perofrmance that would allow you to not have to worry about another upgrade until in the next four to five years.

this machine could still offer you that ability and honestly this would be the build that I would go for given that upgrades are going to be nominal in the long run going forward given the trends in the video game industry at the moment.

You could replace this with either a higher end card that comes along later on but it would be more prudent to just go with something of about the similar and reap the benefits of the advancements of the newer video card models without paying more than what you already did with this initial build

# Make Model Price Type
1 Lian Li PC-7HB $101.15 Case
2 Microsoft Win 10 Pro x64 $149.99 OS
3 Intel Intel Core i5-8600K $269.99 CPU
4 Mushkin Enhanced Silverline 32GB DDR4 $270.22 RAM
5 Seasonic 850W 80+ Titanium $191.07 PSU
6 Intel SSD 512GB $137.75 SSD
7 Seagate FireCuda SSHD 2TB $95.19 SSHD
8 EVGA GTX 1060 $309.99 VGA
9 Pioneer UHD BD-RW $129.99 Optical
10 ASUS Z370 Pro Gaming $151.74 Mobo
11 Notcua NH-D15 $84.43 CPU/Fan
    Total $1,812.56  

The total comes to being five-hundred fifty-one and thirteen cents cheaper than build #1. The difference mainly comes from the different graphics card (Nvidia GTX 1060 versus 1080) which comes to being only a matter of difference with regards to performance output and the longevity that spells for until you find either a reason or a need to change video cards for the application you want to run on your system that requires that new video graphics card.

Since performance is not paramount for this build, instead of going for performance oriented Mushking Enhanced Redline RAM modules, I replaced them with Silverline models that are supposedly are there to offer the best performance for what could be otherwise be your typical OEM-style RAM module by comparison (lack of heatsinks per module causes some degredation in performance in RAM over time).

So the only radical thing three items here that are driving the price total for this build is the CPU, RAM, and video card.

And like Build #1 this build’s motherboard allows for expansion for RAM to be added for a total of 64GB (that’s a lot of potential multi- tasking!).

Build 2

Build 3

Mid-range “budget build” that packs a punch!

Originally this build was going to be using an older model CPU but that whas because I put the list together on the fly back in 2014 and so, since then, ther ewas not much that was going on except for incremental improvements as the years went on where, until now, with the push for more VR games and applications on the rise, that there has been some trickle down of the performance improvements in the micro-architecture.

What this means is that you get the most money for raw performance as currently, as I may have implied in past posts, it is a buyer’s market right now for computer building and purchases.

So with a difference of one-thousand one-hundred and eighty cents with compared to the first build and five-hundred nine and sixty-seven cents to the second build, we’re seeing trade offs that are, honestly, not that quite significant although we are, as you can probably notice, are using an even lower-tier video card (a Nvidia GTX 1050 vs. a GTX 1060 v.s. a GTX 1080).

This drops the price quite significantly as there is a particular reason for this: you are restricted to just three video output port types.

This means that you will be forced to find a television or computer monitor display that supports either Displayport and/or DVI-I.

This is quite important because considering you already have a television monitor that uses exclusively HDMI, you’re setup will have to use something like a computer monitor that uses Displayport and another computer monitor that uses DVI-I to conect. So if you were thinking of a dual-television set, then a change of computer card is going to have to be in order for you to get away with that kind of setup ;a two-computer monitor plus television set is the likely.

But this shouldn’t be a deal breaker as it fits perfectly for the needs that you need for home offoce/theater setup that you can use for when there are needs for playing back media and working from the computer.

This setup can also be especially helpful if are doing research, for example, or want to view media online that you’d rather enjoy with a television set instead of using a computer monitor - like video games, or when casually web surfing with another person and would like to do it from the comfort of a couch.

Now if you really want that dual-HDMI output, I have some bad news: you’re going to have to get a GTX 1060 and settle with the premium instead of keeping the savings afforded with the GTX 1050. Unless you plan to otherwise upgrade later on, use the used video card later for a seperate, cheaper build for your significant other or family member, then understand that there is a bullet to bite for the dual HDMI output because HDMI, and anything to do with HDMI, is going to be unfortunately continue to be an expensive affair and that is why current, high-end cards that are nearing the nine-hundred dollar range are starting to only offer multiple-Displayport output options only with just one HDMI for television monitors as an option.

So with that being said, here’s the parts list

# Make Model Price Type
1 Lian Li PC-7HB $101.15 Case
2 Microsoft Win 10 Pro x64 $149.99 OS
3 Intel Core i3-8300 $159.99 CPU
4 Mushkin Enhanced Silverline 16GB DDR4 $131.82 RAM
5 Seasonic 750W 80+ Titanium $189.99 PSU
6 Intel SSD 256GB $70.05 SSD
7 Seagate FireCuda SSHD 2TB $95.19 SSHD
8 EVGA GTX 1050 Ti $171.99 VGA
9 ASUS DVD Burner $22.94 Optical
10 ASUS TUF B360M $93.99 Mobo
11 Notcua NH-C14S $77.34 CPU/Fan
    Total $1279.69  


Gemini budget build

And that’s pretty mucha bout it. You can always mix and match a few parts here and there, come back to me with any ideas and yeah, we’ll get started.

If anything, to be sure, let’s just get the Lian Li case to get this ball rolling and we’ll switch up things as we go along. Because the beautiful thing about DIY builds is that nothing is set in stone.