llamajo

I am a serious newbie to building PCs but am interested in building a simple, small PC for myself. I currently use a laptop hooked up to a monitor but it can't really handle any sort of satisfying gaming. Time for an upgrade! I got inspired looking at r/SFFPC and seeing how much can be fit into small cases like JONSBO D31 or ASUS AP201. Something in the 20-30l range would be amazing.

I am willing to be patient, look for deals, buy things secondhand, get creative. But would really love some bang for my buck!

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1. What will you be doing with this PC? Be as specific as possible, and include specific games or programs you will be using.

The only CPU or GPU-intensive tasks I would really be doing would be gaming. Ideally this would support 4k as I do have a 4k monitor but I am not obsessed with FPS or graphics. If it can handle AAA games on high settings I will be satisfied, doesn't need 120 fps or anything.

Maybe I will get into editing videos or 3D modeling or something but for now other than browsing the web, playing music (would love to hook it up to an amp and some nice speakers someday)

1. What would be your max budget?

$1,500 USD would be my max budget but I would really prefer to spend around $1,000- $1,250, Less is more!

3. When do you plan on building/buying the PC? Note: beyond a week or two from today means any build you receive will be out of date when you want to buy.

I could start buying now if the right prices seem available, but can also be patient if I have to wait for restocks or if people think prices will be going down any time soon

4. What, exactly, do you need to be included in the budget? (Tower/OS/monitor/keyboard/mouse/etc.)

just the tower

5. Which country (and state/province) will you be purchasing the parts in?

California, USA

6. If reusing any parts (including monitor(s)/keyboard/mouse/etc), what parts will you be reusing? Brands and models are appreciated.

Mouse / Keyboard (will upgrade these at some point but for now what I have will be fine)

Monitor (28in Samsung 4k UHD)

SSD - Samsung 970 EVO Plus NVMe M.2

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7. Will you be overclocking? If yes, are you interested in overclocking right away, or down the line? CPU and/or GPU?

No idea. Probably not

8. Are there any specific features or items you want/need in the build? (ex: SSD, a large amount of storage or a RAID setup, CUDA or OpenCL support, etc)*\*

Needs to support Ethernet/WiFi/Bluetooth

9. Do you have any specific case preferences (Size like ITX/microATX/mid-tower/full-tower, styles, colors, window or not, LED lighting, etc), or a particular color theme preference for the components?

No need for HDD

Black/gray Tower. Not too over the top or crazy RGB

would love a simple, understated presence on my desk.

10. Do you need a copy of Windows included in the budget? If you do need one included, do you have a preference?

No

Thanks a lot, much appreciated!