Right Size Right Price Solutions With Your Resident Sarcastic Skeleton

Hardware Hub Build a PC
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I’ve been seeing a lot of of “I need to build a computer for [application that isn’t gaming]” threads that play out as follows:

  • OP asks what balance of compnents makes sense for their use case
  • The forum recommends gaming build style specs or HEDT parts for no reason other than “Quad cores are old news” or “but you can play minesweeper at 2k+ fps” or similar.
  • The forum then shouts down sensible solutions when the more experienced members try to contribute

So I’m compiling a list of “right size” parts lists that perform well for specific use-cases that aren’t gaming, so people here at least have a point of reference. I’ll be updating this as time permits and people suggest updates and discuss them. These builds will not be bargain basement, nor will they be extremely high end.

The goal is to strike a balance where you tick all the “Must Have” boxes, plus a few extras are readily met, but you aren’t paying for hardware you don’t need. I encourage suggestions and discussion below, as this is a living document. If you have level 3 membership status, and want to contribute, You’re welcome to as long as you PM me beforehand so I know what you intend on changing.

2d/Photo Editing/Graphic Design

Must Haves (in order of importance):

  • A properly Spec’d, well calibrated monitor (and colorimeter)
  • Workflow specific peripherals (drawing tablet etc.)
  • performant disk I/O
  • decent single threaded performance
  • enough GPU Horsepower to drive accelerated functions

Nice-to-Haves:

  • 10-bit monitor and GPU with 10 bit color support
  • A high end, color accurate printer
  • dedicated scratch disk

Not Important:

  • gaming performance
  • high refresh rates
  • massive storage capacity
  • core count (past quad)
  • overclocking

Reference build:

Part Model Rationale
PSU Seasonic S12II 520W cheap, reliable, fits power needs
Case Corsair 200R Inexpensive, nice to build in, professional looking, good compatibility, comes with good fans
Motherboard ASRock AB350M Inexpensive board with good reviews, has every feature you’re likely to need, option for m.2 scratch disk.
CPU Ryzen 5 1400 Powerful enough for photoshop, Krita and Illustrator, half the price of other HT quads that fit the bill
GPU FIrepro V7900 or W4100 Full color bit depth pipeline support, good enough for any 2d program’s acceleration needs, inexpensive with certified drivers.
RAM 2x8GB G. Skill Flare X F4-2400C15D-16GFXR Cheap ram on the supported list for the motherboard.
Storage 1x 1TB Crucial MX300 or ADATA Ultimate SU800 SATA 2.5" SSD performance, covers storage needs in one drive. Cheaper than an m.2 scratch disk + boot disk + hdd combo while leaving the option of a scratch disk open.
Montior Dell UP2516D, Asus Pro Art PA249, or Philips 276E6ADSS Either 10 bit or 99% aRGB 8 bit, best performers in their price class for color reproduction and industry print-accuracy. Don’t get the 10 bit (asus) option if you don’t intend to get a firepro or quadro.
Colorimeter Colormunki Display or Pantone Huey Pro This is absolutely necessary for any graphical work. Even if you don’t get a high end panel, you need one of these to get the best performance out of your panels and match them in your environment. Both of these models are reasonable and DisplayCAL compatible.

Useful Peripherals/addons:

Part Model Rationale
Pen Tablet Huion H610 Pro, Ugee M708, Bamboo Fun Huge boost for illustration work
Pen Display Artisul D13, Huion GT-190, Ugee UG-2150, or Yiynova MVP22U(V3) These perform comparably to Wacom Cintiqs, for the price of an intuos. huge workflow boost with 1:1 feedback over traditional tablets.
M.2 Scratch disk Samsung 960 EVO 250 GB Increases performance somewhat in adobe applications, probably low value for money, but a valid improvement depending on your specific needs.

Video Editing/3DCG

Must Haves (in order of importance):

  • enough GPU Horsepower to drive accelerated functions
  • A properly Spec’d, well calibrated monitor (and colorimeter)
  • Adequate, Reliable Storage space and performance
  • performant disk I/O
  • decent multithreaded performance
  • dedicated scratch disk

Nice-to-Haves:

  • 10-bit monitor and GPU with 10 bit color support, certified drivers for 3d

  • Decklink or 3d navigation peripheral

  • high bandwidth footage ingestion

Not Important:

  • gaming performance
  • high refresh rates
  • overclocking

Reference build:

Part Model Rationale
PSU SeaSonic SS-750AM2 750W cheap, reliable, fits power needs
Case Corsair 200R Inexpensive, nice to build in, professional looking, good compatibility, comes with good fans
Motherboard ASRock X370 GAMING X Inexpensive board with good reviews, has every feature you’re likely to need, option for m.2 boot disk.
CPU Ryzen 7 1700 OR Ryzen 5 1600 Powerful enough for grading, 3D and rendering, by far the cheapest chip in it’s performance class for this workload.
GPU RX 480, 580, GTX 1070 Cheapest accelerated rendering options, No certified drivers or 10 bit support, but most cost effective outside of color grading specific builds.
RAM 4x 8gb G. Skill Flare X F4-2400C15D-16GFXR Cheap ram on the supported list for the motherboard.
Storage 1x 2TB Crucial MX300 or ADATA Ultimate SU800 SATA 2.5" + 250GB Samsung M.2 Boot Disk + (x amount) 8TB Toshiba X300 Cold Storage HDD Cheaper than using an external NAS to save projects, and you need a dedicated scratch SSD to make large projects workable.
Montior Dell UP2516D, Asus Pro Art PA249, or Philips 276E6ADSS Either 10 bit or 99% aRGB 8 bit, best performers in their price class for color reproduction and industry print-accuracy. Don’t get the 10 bit (asus) option if you don’t intend to get a firepro or quadro.
Colorimeter Colormunki Display or Pantone Huey Pro This is absolutely necessary for any graphical work. Even if you don’t get a high end panel, you need one of these to get the best performance out of your panels and match them in your environment. Both of these models are reasonable and DisplayCAL compatible.
USB 3.0 or PCIe card reader depends on your camera’s storage format must have for fast footage ingestion.

Useful Peripherals/addons:

Part Model Rationale
Suggestions incoming.

4k HEVC Streaming Client/High End Cord Cutting

SECTION UNDER CONSTRUCTION

Must Haves (in order of importance):

  • Adequate HEVC Decoding
  • Small size
  • Surround Sound Support
  • UHD Format Playback (BDROM, Youtube and Silverlight)
  • Adequate Networking Capability
  • Quiet Operation

Nice-to-Haves:

  • 10-bit decoding support
  • 4k60 Support
  • Home Theater control via remote
  • Ultra low profile

Not Important:

  • Gaming Performance
  • Storage capacity
  • productivity
  • core count (past duo)
  • Overclocking
  • RAM

Reference build:

Part Model Rationale
PSU FSP 220W FSP220-60LE cheap, reliable, fits power needs and form factor
Case nMediaPC HTPC 1800B flat, cabinet friendly form factor, cutout for front for IR sensor
Motherboard MSI - B250I GAMING PRO AC Built in AC wifi, small form factor, 7.1 Surround Audio Support
CPU Pentium G4600 Has full 10-bit 4k HEVC decode support, seems to be better supported than the 4560 at this juncture, and they’re the same price anyway now.
RAM Crucial CT8G4DFD8213 Inexpensive, perfect for this application.
Storage ADATA - Premier Pro SP600 64GB Inexpensive Boot Disk, enough space for All the client software and whatever OS you decide to use.
Disc Drive LG - UH12NS40 Reads blu rays, inexpensive.
IR Sensor FLIRC 2 USB Seems to be the best supported IR remote reciever, wide compatibility, You may want to consider internal front mounting using a usb 2 header to female cable.
Remote Logitech Harmony 350 All in One Remote Good universal remote with App Hotkeys, configurable through FLIRC.

Useful Peripherals/addons:

Part Model Rationale
TBA

I encourage you to link this thread to new posts asking for a build application mentioned here, and contribute your own applications where your experience applies. Tell them to control + F for their use case.

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CRT BABY!
cost effective and one hell of a sexy refresh rate

I recommend the Commodore 1702 monitor

nice classic vintage feel

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Only the top end CRTs are still relevant for that application, and are either completely unavailable or entirely too expensive.

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Funnily enough, i actually use my 1702 with a few of my comps when i did color correction because it was just so accurate, tho this is mostly for limited case scenarios and not for general consumption

it’s like, 85% impractical for today’s application

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It’s not completely outside the realm of reality, but if you’re building new it isn’t a great option.

If you’ve got one sitting in your closet, then it’s a lot less expensive than an IPS with similar performance though.

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Put thread on watched. Curious where this will go.

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Just updated with new use case, Video editing and 3dcg. I’ll be posting patch notes down the line:

  • Added section section: Video Editing/3DCG
  • Added Specific quantities of RAM to section 2d/Photo Editing/Graphic Design
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A very comprehensive start.
One possible category to think about.

Minimum spec SFF HTPC .
A 1st and only PC in the house for a noob with a TV.
Not a console killer but some games should be possible.
A bare minimum PC.
I’m thinking with a A-10 or A-12? or whatever Ryzen-A AMD has next.

Must Haves (in order of importance):

enough GPU Horsepower to accelerate video playback
SSD Storage space for performance
4 core multi threaded performance

Nice-to-Haves:

GPU for 3d gaming
WI-Fi. Wireless peripherals
DVD, Blu-Ray playback
Additional storage

Not Important:

gaming performance
disk space
overclocking

Proposed min spec build

Part Model Rationale

Case + PSU
< I’m cheating. I wouldn’t wish this PSU on an enemy >
Logisys - - CS6801BK MicroATX Mini Tower Case w/350W Power Supply

I have read / seen some good reviews for this cheap & basic combo PSU + case. $41

Motherboard - - Gigabyte - GA-F2A68HM-H
Inexpensive board $50

CPU - - AMD - A10-7860k 3.6GHz Quad-Core Processor
GPU - - Radeon R7 iGPU.
Powerful enough for light gaming and general usage $89

RAM - - Patriot Signature 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory
Cheap ram. $55

Storage - - PNY - CS1311 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive $65
Storage - - Western Digital - Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive $40.

Wireless Rosewill - RNX-N250PCe PCI-Express x1 802.11b/g/n WI-Fi Adapter. $15
I figured this user would be using an ISP provided WI-Fi gateway.

Monitor HDTV.

Internal Lite-On - iHAS124-14 DVD/CD Writer. $15

This build should come to around $400 plus another $100 for a wireless Keyboard, mouse and Xbox controller.

1 Like
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Need to add Quality AP/Wirless router in the HTPC as most likely will be wireless (not guarantee but worth commenting on for streaming stuff)

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I like this idea. But a ‘master thread’ for this may/may not work for some, although using this as reference will definitely assist some folks before asking questions.
That being said, I have asked this forum for assistance before.

@Streetguru this seems like your place to shine.

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Stock cpu coolers actually work at stock clocks :slight_smile:

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Does ram speed affect performance in editing/rendering tasks for ryzen? Or does ram speed affect overclocks?
Also doesn’t ryzen prefer dual channel ram?

Unless the user overclocks the ram like @wendell did

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It’s important to note that the majority of programs enable GPU accelleration in renders. Unless you’re using an ancient editor the GPU is a larger factor than your RAM, and sometimes your CPU. The rationale for octo-core is that transcoding, ingestion, proxy creation etc. are still mainly CPU intensive. Amount of ram (affects workflow responsiveness among other things) is more important than ram speed in this use case.

It can effect render times to a certain extent, but the market for RAM right now is pretty terrible. The DIMMS I list are more of a placeholder until prices come down, but they are the cheapest single-rank B-die kits that are officially supported. I have the same kits in my rig overclocked to 2993 no problem, but this may be an outlier.

Also, these kits can be run in a dual-channel configuration without any issues. All you have to do for dual channel is make sure you have the same type of DIMM in each channel.

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Your suggestions are noted and appreciated.

However, this use-case is a bit too broad to fit the scope of this project:

  • A gaming htpc will generally have similar specs to a budget/SFF gaming pc with a few minor tweaks
  • this thread is to cover underrepresented use cases, we’re leaving the gamers to their own because there is far more of them here, they can continue to reinvent their own wheels.

That said, HTPC (Streaming client) HTPC (set top box and DVR) and HTPC (NAS AND SERVER COMBO) may be good additions.

The case looks like a good one to standardize on for anything that needs SFF, and your networking suggestions make good sense.

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I’m currently drafting HTPC and FreeNAS sections. Need suggestions.

HTPC Unknowns:

  • bare minimum CPU and network horsepower needed to stream 4k30
  • Requirments of Purpose Built OS, distributions, or software made for streaming clients
  • hardware compatibility with frameworks like silverlight
  • good wireless TV style remotes

@mutation666 @DerKrieger @anon85933304 @DrewSaga @Adubs all seem to have experience with this use case, I’d welcome your input

As for Freenas,

@NielsKarsten @Trooper_ish @sanfordvdev @Dynamic_Gravity @freqlabs should have some useful input.

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Point of the thread is to help people that want to build their own. If you’re buying for someone else, you’'re gonna ask for a product recommendation, not a build guide.

Yes, Rokus and the like are perfectly valid options. That’s not what this thread is for.

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Like I said, I’m aware, and that is a completely valid option.

If we list a client build here, that option does not become any less valid.

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I am up for giving some advice on both, what do you need?

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anything to do with listed unknowns, and whatever you reckon will be inexpensive, adequate components.

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On NAS side whether it be Freenas or a linux distro I am thinking that will need to be broken into a few sections. Suggestion of breakdown are:
Simple File Storage NAS
Simple NAS with Virtualization capability.
The All out I want it to do everything except gaming build.
Let me know what you think and ill send you my recommended setups for each.

1 Like