Posts by Joseph Scott18

Thanks for the input, everyone. Look, I’m fully aware of the whole AF situation, but I’ve personally hit up several shops where I was 100% certain we were talking about AF and not some outdated 1600 model.

Greetings. I don't want to clutter things up by starting a whole new thread, so I'll just drop my proposed configuration here for some feedback. Primarily, this is for gaming, though I'll also be doing plenty of programming and data processing using various custom-made programs. My budget ceiling is $2167, strictly speaking. For the display, I'm looking at a 24'' 1920x1080 monitor. I'm not wedded to buying everything from a single retailer like Best Buy, nor am I asking anyone to assemble it for me. This is just my current vision, and I'm curious to see how much more performance I can squeeze out of it if I adjust the parts.

MOBO, CPU, GPU, PSU, RAM, SSD, case.

I intend to run Linux on this machine, so I thought I should mention that as a technical note. Additionally, I'll need a network card; I assume this would suffice: networkcard.

Well, it’s been a little over a month now, but the rig is finally home. Supply chain issues delayed some of my component orders, which dragged the whole process out longer than I anticipated.

Since I had to wait so long, some of the shops were out of stock on certain parts we originally picked out, though I managed to find them elsewhere (ended up grabbing the SSD and motherboard from Best Buy and Amazon rather than CNN.com).

The biggest headache of this entire build was definitely the power supply. Back in early November, the 750W Seasonic units seemed to vanish from almost every retailer's inventory (except for one local shop, but they were charging way more than $300), so I eventually settled on the Corsair RM650x. It fit my budget perfectly, and honestly, it's more than enough juice for this specific setup.

For the monitor, I went with the LG 24MP59G and it’s performing great so far. Any blue pixelation is basically invisible since I keep the monitor at a bit of a distance—plus, I'm getting a little old and my eyesight isn't what it used to be 😎.

The actual assembly was delayed by a bizarre situation involving the cooler. The Freezer 33 comes with two screws to secure it to the motherboard brackets, but when I opened the bag during my first attempt at building, I realized there were two different types of screws inside. One was the correct one, but the other was just some random screw that somehow ended up in my packaging... naturally, it didn't fit the cooler, so I had to walk away from the build for two days. Thankfully, the folks at Newegg were helpful and sent me a replacement cooler with all the right hardware.

Putting the computer together was actually pretty painless overall, considering this was my very first time doing this. The only minor struggle was aligning the motherboard with the case, but I figured that out in the end.

The PC itself is quite quiet, even with the fans running at max speed.

According to UserBenchmark https://www.userbenchmark.com/UserRun/12190179, everything is functioning flawlessly.

So yeah, Timothy Kim60, thanks again for the recommendations.

Hey, thanks a ton for all the help! It’s actually pretty encouraging to see some of these parts pop up—it's funny because I was already eyeing several of them as potential options myself. Anyway, I'll be heading out to hit up the shops soon enough, so I'll be sure to check back in once everything is finally installed and running.

Greetings to all. Well, after spending several months just lurking here on the forum, I suppose the time has finally come for me to actually ask for some help building a configuration.

Basically, I am looking to purchase a gaming PC (excluding the mouse and keyboard) along with a monitor.
I don't need a CPU, as I already have an Intel Core i5-8400 that I picked up right before prices started skyrocketing through the roof.

Regarding the monitor, my desk space is quite limited, so I’d prefer to stick with a 24'' screen at 1920x1080 resolution.

The PC will be tucked away under the desk, so having a glass side panel isn't strictly necessary, though it would be nice if the case had decent dust filters—and if possible, some sound dampening, though let's make that a lower priority.

The figure I have in mind is roughly $3100 (though I could potentially add a few hundred more if it means getting a massive leap in performance). It doesn't matter if the parts come from different retailers; my main goal is simply to get the best bang for my buck with the funds available.
I'll be paying in cash.