$10k-$15k PC build for digital art, 3D, and gaming?

Great, three pages (actually, make that four) and we haven't even picked a monitor yet—let alone the other 8 or 9 components... ☕

Alexander Diaz4 said:We’ve already burned through three—actually, make that four—pages of discussion and we haven't even settled on a monitor yet, so where does that leave the other eight or nine components? ☕

I honestly don't quite follow why the monitor has to be the first priority, but since we've thrown out several suggestions, shouldn't the OP be actively participating by checking reviews on what we're offering or asking for clarification if something seems off? It feels like everyone has their own ideas, but shouldn't we be using this discussion to narrow down all these different proposals until we finally land on just one perfect option?

Alexander Diaz4 said:We’ve already burned through four whole pages—four!—and we haven't even settled on a monitor yet. I mean, seriously? We still have eight or nine other components to go... how are we ever going to finish this build? ☕

I'm here to help! What's on your mind? 🙂

I’d much rather take my sweet time doing this right than rush in and screw the whole thing up—honestly, why the rush? If I'd listened to those self-proclaimed "PC experts" you see all over the internet, they probably would've pushed a 144Hz monitor on me too... which, let's be real, isn't even my priority right now.

wanderingbison9;88664019j wanderingbison9 said:So, I was thinking—maybe we could find a little middle ground here? Like, what if we look for something that hits that sweet spot with size while still keeping the 4K resolution? It’s all about that balance, right? I’m looking for something that checks all the boxes: 10-bit color, HDR (because honestly, why wouldn't you want that?), and a wide gamut—but—and this is the big "but"—it absolutely needs an sRGB mode to actually keep things under control. That part is huge, seriously. Throw in some VRR support, and even though we were talking about 60 Hz earlier, looking at the requirements now, maybe that isn't even a dealbreaker anymore. Plus, if it has a stand that can swivel, tilt, and pivot... well, then we're really talking.

So, I was browsing Best Buy the other day—you know how it goes, you go in for one thing and suddenly you're three hours deep into spec sheets—and I stumbled upon this 28-inch monitor. It’s one of those setups that makes you stop and think for a second. Honestly, is it worth the upgrade if you're already decent? Who knows! But looking at the details, it definitely catches the eye. Just one of those things that sits there waiting for someone to pull the trigger.

I can't believe I’m actually sitting here watching this—honestly, where does the rabbit hole end? It’s one of those videos that starts off seemingly normal and then just... pulls the rug out from under you. You think you know what you're getting into, and then suddenly you're three layers deep into some niche technical debate or a deep dive into hardware architecture that you didn't even know existed ten minutes ago. Is it just me, or does everyone eventually hit this wall? You start looking for simple answers, maybe some quick benchmarks or a basic comparison, and before you know it, you're questioning everything you thought you knew about how silicon actually works. It's kind of wild, really. Does anyone else feel like they spend more time researching the tools than actually using them? Just a thought. Anyway, if you have a spare twenty minutes and want to feel slightly more overwhelmed by the sheer complexity of modern tech, this is definitely worth the click.

This thing is actually incredible—seriously. Now my choice has basically narrowed down to this one or that Philips model I was looking at a few pages ago before I dropped the link. 🙂

Jerry Fowler79 said:If you're looking for a monitor specifically for Photoshop, this is it—we're talking 100% Adobe RGB coverage right out of the gate.

So, I was just scrolling through some specs earlier—you know how it goes, one minute you're looking at something else and the next you're deep in a rabbit hole of monitor refresh rates—and I stumbled upon this BenQ model. It’s a 27-inch setup, 16:9 aspect ratio, which is pretty much the standard if you aren't trying to live in a different dimension, right? It looks like a solid contender for anyone trying to balance productivity with a bit of gaming on the side. I mean, at that size, you get enough real estate to actually see what you're doing without feeling like you're staring at a postage stamp, but it's not so massive that it takes over your entire desk setup. Is it life-changing? Probably not. But is it a decent pick for a daily driver? Honestly, yeah, I think so. Just one of those things where you have to weigh the price against whether you actually need all those specific color accuracies or if you're just gonna be watching YouTube and playing a few rounds of something after work. What do you guys think? Worth the investment or should I keep hunting?
The Sw320 is a 32-inch model.

Man, I probably should’ve just grabbed that monitor instead of shelling out for an entire new rig—damn.
Right now, dropping over $900—yeah, that’s a chunk of change—is just a bit too much for me to swing. I mean, come on, who has that kind of extra cash lying around? But hey, maybe I'll pick up another monitor down the road or something, and then I might actually reconsider. 🙂

mellowcyclist3 said:
...this one really is an excellent choice, though my options have now narrowed down to this model and that Philips one I mentioned just a few pages ago before I posted the 🙂...
...

The Philips is a decent enough monitor, but does it truly offer superior image quality compared to the AOC? It’s about $120 more expensive, and honestly, isn't the main selling point just that sensor which feels unnecessary to me, along with the USB-C port?

wanderingbison9 said:The Philips is alright, sure, but let's be real—it doesn't exactly blow you away with image quality compared to an AOC. Plus, it’s about $120 more expensive just for some sensor nobody actually needs, I think, and a USB-C port...

Yeah, exactly—you nailed it with your choice 😁 haha. Unless something crazy good and cheap pops up in that price range, I'm grabbing this one.

Moving right along, what about the processor?

mellowcyclist3 said:yeah, you nailed it with your choice 😁 haha, unless something truly amazing and budget-friendly pops up in that range, I'm grabbing this one.

Moving on, what about the processor?

Wait!!!, you should check this out:

On the Best Buy website, it says there's no pivot functionality, yet the AOC site claims it does have it:

https://stag.aoc.frontkom.io/en/prod.../specification

Though, I suppose it really depends on whether you actually need a pivot if you aren't doing any print work, doesn't it?

Next up, the processor: you really want the best bang-for-your-buck regarding IPC, especially since most of the software you'll be running is hopelessly single-threaded—with the exception of Blender. I'll let anyone else who follows CPU trends and market prices more passionately jump in with their suggestions...

https://www.cpubenchmark.net/singleThread.html

Here’s the single-thread table... personally, I think anything north of 3000 is solid...

Granted, even if Intel holds the crown when it comes to raw IPC, things tend to play out quite differently once you get into real-world workloads:

https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/ar...0-Series-2099/

https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/ar...0-Series-2103/

https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/ar...0-Series-2097/

To me, it seems like the Ryzen 5800 x serves as an excellent middle ground for these specific applications, though wouldn't you agree that the 5900X or 5950X are the absolute winners here, especially when they sit at roughly the same price point as Intel?

Thanks guys—honestly, I was leaning toward an i9 at first, but now that I've seen the amd RYZEN 5800 x, I’m kind of loving it. It feels like $1000 would definitely be the Best Buy here, don't you think?

wanderingbison9 said:I know my way around hands-on experience; the theory was just something that clicked later on to confirm what I already knew. 😉

That said, maybe G-Sync could actually help when playing back variable frame rate footage, which is how a lot of smartphones record. I haven't really dug into that side of things yet.

The whole "how most phones record" thing isn't exactly the kind of video you'd use for a final cut. It’s not the industry standard. We're still looking at 25, 30, 50, 60 fps, and of course those NTSC decimal values like 29.97 and 59.94—not to mention the classic cinematic 24.

granitecrane2 said:The idea that "this is how most phones record" doesn't mean you can just use that footage for your final cut. It isn't the industry standard. We still rely on 25, 30, 50, 60 fps, and of course those NTSC fractional values like 29.97 and 59.94, not to mention the classic cinematic 24 fps.

What I meant was regarding the actual viewing experience rather than what's written in the post—I wouldn't even consider using sources like that unless it was something caught unexpectedly on a phone that is absolutely vital to the story of the final project. 😉

wanderingbison9 said:I was referring to the actual playback process rather than the post-production stage—I wouldn't even consider using sources like that unless it was something captured on a phone during an unpredictable moment that was absolutely essential for the final cut.😉

Fair enough. That’s why we moved away from what used to be called a retimer—which was always clunky and slow—and transitioned to Optical flow, which can now be handled by graphics cards almost entirely in real time. I agree with you there.

mellowcyclist3 said:Thanks, guys. I was actually leaning toward an i9 at first, but after seeing what the amd RYZEN 5800 x is offering, I’m really starting to like that option too. $1000 Would that definitely be Best Buy?

Even as a die-hard Anti-AMD enthusiast, I finally gave in. I’m currently putting together a build featuring the 9500x (12 cores). Honestly, there was just something about AMD that eventually won me over:

The 7nm process being used over at TSMC is the same one powering the Apple M1.
A higher core count.
I went with the Asus rog Strix 550-F because, honestly, these boards just feel a bit more flexible than what Intel is putting out right now. Some people might look at my build and ask, "Why didn't you just grab the newer X570-F chipset?" Well, it’s not even about the price tag for me. It's that annoying proprietary chipset cooler they use—I really don't want the headache that comes with it. Plus, since PCIe 4 is handled directly by the processor, there's really no point paying the premium for it on the motherboard itself. I also made sure to get a board with built-in WiFi and Bluetooth; coming from a laptop, I've developed a bit of an obsession with having those features ready to go. I mean, it's 2021, we shouldn't be living in the stone age.
Even if the cores are a bit slower than what you get with Intel, they just don't offer that kind of core count or clock speed within a reasonable price range. For my workflow, I really need that parallel processing power.
A smaller 7nm process generally means less heat, which is a huge plus. Currently, Intel is still stuck on that 14nm process, though I’ve heard rumors they're working on 5nm and might even be moving away from silicon toward carbon nanotubes... we'll just have to wait and see how that plays out. For now, they don't really have anything on the table that can compete with the Apple M1 or AMD.

wanderingbison9 said:Moving on to the processor: you really want the best bang for your buck when it comes to IPC. Most of the software you'll be running is hopelessly single-threaded, with the exception of Blender. I'd love to hear if anyone else who follows CPU trends and pricing closely has some better suggestions...

Applications that rely on single-thread performance aren't exactly heavy on the processor anyway—though I won't even get started on games, given how much worse coding has become lately with today's developers.

When you look at video editing, heavy mathematical computations, or rendering 3D scenes—and I’m not just talking about Blender here, but also 3D Studio Max, Maya, Cinema 4D, or Lightwave—it’s all fundamentally multithreaded. It relies on parallel processing to get anything done efficiently. In my own work, I actually write multithreaded algorithms and handle complex calculations myself. Even when I’m not doing that directly—say, when I'm fine-tuning parameters within a single-threaded algorithm—the software itself is built for multithreading and multitasking. It ends up running something like seven processes simultaneously just to keep up. I set it that way because I’m working on an Apple laptop with 8 cores, so I might as well put them all to work.

Alright, let's move on to the graphics card,

I was looking at the price list and noticed there are a bunch of different versions of the GeForce RTX 3060 out there. I’m leaning towards just grabbing the cheapest one available—there are $2000 of them, right?—since I honestly don't have a clue what the actual differences are anyway.

mellowcyclist3 said:Alright, let's move on to the graphics card.

I was looking at the price list and noticed there are several different versions of the GeForce RTX 3060. I'm leaning towards grabbing the cheapest one available, which is about $2000, since I honestly don't see what the actual differences are between them.

When you look at GPU generations, the RTX cards feature dedicated hardware support for ray tracing, which makes them quite pricey. The GTX models are older tech and much more budget-friendly. Even for people who aren't hardcore gamers, an RTX card is usually the recommendation specifically because of that ray tracing capability—it’s useful for more than just gaming. $2000 really is the baseline if you want a 30-series card, and that's my point about prices skyrocketing; they cost as much as an entire PC used to back in the day. I have no idea if we'll see a price drop anytime soon, but right now they're staying high because of the crypto mining craze (manufacturers are holding onto them for the same reason a cat licks its own paws—just because they can). Honestly, they're worth maybe $1167. Not a penny more.

Since they feature dedicated Tensor cores for machine learning, RTX cards really pull their weight when it comes to handling Optical flow and upscaling tasks in programs like DaVinci Resolve or Blender. If you're looking for a solid recommendation, the RTX 3060Ti is definitely the way to go; I noticed they have one available at Best Buy for $1867:

wanderingbison9 said:The RTX cards come equipped with Tensor cores for machine learning, which really helps out with things like Optical flow and upscaling—you know, stuff for DaVinci Resolve or Blender... Honestly, an RTX 3060Ti is the way to go here. I saw one listed for $1867 over at Best Buy:

Awesome, we can move on then. What about the motherboard?

mellowcyclist3 said:Great, we can move on. What about the motherboard?

I honestly have no clue.

Now that we’ve finally settled on which use-specific components to pick, could someone who keeps a close eye on current market prices step in and help me round out this build with some solid, general-use parts?

wanderingbison9 said:The RTX cards come equipped with Tensor cores for machine learning, which really help out with Optical flow and upscaling tasks in software like DaVinci Resolve or Blender. If you're looking for a solid choice, the RTX 3060Ti is definitely the way to go—it's available for $1867 over at Best Buy:

Let's not confuse TensorFlow with the actual Tensor cores inside a GPU. Those cores are essentially specialized units designed for rapid matrix manipulation. In practice, they function quite similarly to a processor's SIMD instructions, just on a massive scale.

granitecrane2 said:Don't go confusing TensorFlow with the actual tensor cores inside a GPU. Those are really just specialized units designed for lightning-fast matrix manipulation. In a way, they function much like a processor's SIMD instructions, just on a massive scale.

Yeah, sure... So, what's next? Motherboard, then RAM, then the SSD, then the hard drive, then the power supply... We aren't GPU cores, after all, so we have to tackle things one single operation at a time, don't we?😬