DIY PC Rig Recommendations For 2026

[Alyeska]

he's passing ownself shop warranty off as "local" warranty, which technically isnt wrong but is not the same as distro warranty. if he close shop one day then ur out of luck.

better, though the case is very cheap. id rather go with something like the enthusiast reco on the first page, better nvme and psu while having a wider selection of cases at about the same price.

for the performance class, pretty good. though the 12gb of vram on the 4070ti is abit iffy for longevity. i would also upgrade to 32gb of ram when spending this much on a pc.

i think id go with msi on this one, superflower only offers 5y warranty while msi offers 7.

yep, though viipc has the cheapest last i checked at 125.

7600x no need aio, air cooler like the pa120 is enough for half the price from tradepac.

actually just a suggestion @NightRaven49 - you can consider some good parts for each parts - that way people can mix and match while still using your recommendation templates

 

[nakedtons]

This is how I usually assemble my rig when I don't have much money to burn. Get the CPU and mobo combo first and reuse the rest of the components. When I have enough cash, I'll slowly upgrade the rest of the system individually and sell the old components at Carousell. After one year, I have an entire system.

 

[pettyfaux]

Good day fellow members.

I was planning for a 1440P gaming build centering around the AMD RYZEN 7800X3D after reading and watching reviews and had approached Fortran with a pc part list.


Gratefully, Fortran responded. Though the general opinion was that AMD/Ryzen CPU's & Motherboard experiences a higher rate of failure and that a build centred around Intel I7-13700K would be the recommended alternative. I've approached a notable SLS PC shop and was offered more or less a similar opinion.

I am now at a loss as to which line of build to go for (AMD/Ryzen or Intel) and joined this forum in hopes of advices that will help me make a decision.

With Fortran having a very positive reputation and practically the consensus best to approach for, for customised pc (in terms of the feedback I've read on this forum), the opinion provided was completely unexpected; more or less the opposite of the reviews I've seen, with the 7800X3D being more or less the consensus best CPU at this point in time (way less power draw, more room for future upgrades and etc as compared to Intel) thus creating the conflict and conundrum I am facing.

I also want to be as hassle free as possible, avoiding issues (hardware or software) with my pc due to my horrendous experience with a certain SLS shop that I got my current 8 year old on the verge of death build from and would like to have a reliable servicing outlet should issues do happen.

Furthermore, I avoid notable Pre-builts due to negative reviews.

Thank for reading and sorry for the long post (no potato).

 

[NightRaven49]

actually just a suggestion @NightRaven49 - you can consider some good parts for each parts - that way people can mix and match while still using your recommendation templates

that would make it very cluttered and hard to keep track of every price change - these are all 100% manually checked from the provided price lists. u are free to mix and match from different tiers anyway.

Though the general opinion was that AMD/Ryzen CPU's & Motherboard experiences a higher rate of failure and that a build centred around Intel I7-13700K would be the recommended alternative.

perhaps they are referring to when the 7800x3d first launched and there was some incorrectly set voltages that caused the cpus to draw too much power, killing themselves and potentially the motherboard in the process. but that was quickly rectified with bios updates and there have been no recent reports of exploding cpus (unlike melting 4090 power connectors), so i would say it is safe to go with ryzen nowadays as long as the bios on the mobo is updated. u would want to choose am5 anyway for the platform longevity, so u could conceivably slot in a 9800x3d likely with substantially better performance years down the road without having to swap motherboards. whats ur budget?

Furthermore, I avoid notable Pre-builts due to negative reviews.

some prebuilts can be pretty good value for money with decent support. ive not heard many complaints from dreamcore or mansa, and invaderpc is another si that is the sister company of a big shop in sls.

 

[pettyfaux]

that would make it very cluttered and hard to keep track of every price change - these are all 100% manually checked from the provided price lists. u are free to mix and match from different tiers anyway.

perhaps they are referring to when the 7800x3d first launched and there was some incorrectly set voltages that caused the cpus to draw too much power, killing themselves and potentially the motherboard in the process. but that was quickly rectified with bios updates and there have been no recent reports of exploding cpus (unlike melting 4090 power connectors), so i would say it is safe to go with ryzen nowadays as long as the bios on the mobo is updated. u would want to choose am5 anyway for the platform longevity, so u could conceivably slot in a 9800x3d likely with substantially better performance years down the road without having to swap motherboards. whats ur budget?

some prebuilts can be pretty good value for money with decent support. ive not heard many complaints from dreamcore or mansa, and invaderpc is another si that is the sister company of a big shop in sls.

I have a flexible budget of 3k-4k+

 

[kandinsky]

General q re: local distros for mobos - do they still help with flashing bios?

Speccing a 14700K rig. The mobo I'm looking at (MSI Z790i Edge), doesn't look like it supports bios flashback (without posting/bios). But I don't have any existing LGA1700 chips to use. Saw some older posts saying can go to distro to flash.

 

[nakedtons]

General q re: local distros for mobos - do they still help with flashing bios?

Speccing a 14700K rig. The mobo I'm looking at (MSI Z790i Edge), doesn't look like it supports bios flashback (without posting/bios). But I don't have any existing LGA1700 chips to use. Saw some older posts saying can go to distro to flash.

Guess I wouldn't buy a mobo without manual bios flashback. I remember bricking a mobo with posting bios update as it got stuck and had to bring it to a PC repair shop to have the bios chip reprogrammed. Till today, bios update is still the scariest process for me. My mobo took about 30 seconds to post with a beep after an update. It always have a new bios every two months. Not sure if it is necessary to update it this frequently even though I still do.

 

[nakedtons]

As requested by @NightRaven49 here is my build.

I am thinking of getting extension cables for the ATX 24pin as well as the PCIe 8pin x 3 cables cos it looks nicer.
Should I got for Cablemod(more expensive) or has anyone gotten from Ray of DreambigbyRayMOD at ETSY?
Or just heck care and skip cos of extension cables horror stories?

Sorry for the late reply as I found out about this thread late! If you haven't bought any extension cables, I would suggest Lian Li Strimer Plus V2. I thought it was expensive at first but totally no regrets after I installed it. The RGB effects add so much vibes to the PC. Easy to install as well.

 

[mike911]

haha as long as u are happy

muhahaha, happy is something till today I'm still after-ing.
there cant be enough of happiness to fulfill.

I'm contemplating seriously what to do with the brand new psu.
sell, rebuild, spare and rust.

Even gaming laptop price is crazy jacked up.

An equivalent gaming laptop 3 years ago for 3k now cost 4k.

Build desktop hao le, half the price.

i'm not sure of notebook prices, i only know that lenovo legion notebooks had alot of hype in the notebook subforums. definitely for sure if down to performance/cost ratio, desktop will win, but comes with its pros and cons.

Guess I wouldn't buy a mobo without manual bios flashback. I remember bricking a mobo with posting bios update as it got stuck and had to bring it to a PC repair shop to have the bios chip reprogrammed. Till today, bios update is still the scariest process for me. My mobo took about 30 seconds to post with a beep after an update. It always have a new bios every two months. Not sure if it is necessary to update it this frequently even though I still do.

i thought BIOS update is supposed to be addressing bugs/faults/compatibility with the mentality of "if not broken, dont fix it"?

 

[NightRaven49]

I have a flexible budget of 3k-4k+

this is what id minimally go with:

ryzen 7 7800x3d + asus tuf gaming b650m plus wifi	864	dynacore
thermalright phantom spirit 120 se	51	pc themes
adata xpg lancer rgb 2x 16gb 6000c30 ddr5	172	tradepac
samsung 980 pro 1tb	108	dynacore
sapphire rx 7900 xtx pulse	1488	dynacore
adata xpg core reactor 750w	125	performance pc pte ltd

with $150 budget for case (recos in first post), this totals just under 3k for what is one of the best gaming systems u can buy today. of course, no one is stopping u from upgrading to x670, more storage, flashier case or even a 4090, so it boils down to what games u will be using the pc for and how much more u would be willing to spend. personally, id say other than storage and case budget increases, anything more would be steep diminishing returns.

General q re: local distros for mobos - do they still help with flashing bios?

Speccing a 14700K rig. The mobo I'm looking at (MSI Z790i Edge), doesn't look like it supports bios flashback (without posting/bios). But I don't have any existing LGA1700 chips to use. Saw some older posts saying can go to distro to flash.

best to confirm with the seller beforehand. if u buy from physical sls store, u can also ask the shop to flash. else, since u are buying msi, u can give corbell a call and ask if they still have this service.

 

[mindgamey]

muhahaha, happy is something till today I'm still after-ing.
there cant be enough of happiness to fulfill.

I'm contemplating seriously what to do with the brand new psu.
sell, rebuild, spare and rust.



i'm not sure of notebook prices, i only know that lenovo legion notebooks had alot of hype in the notebook subforums. definitely for sure if down to performance/cost ratio, desktop will win, but comes with its pros and cons.



i thought BIOS update is supposed to be addressing bugs/faults/compatibility with the mentality of "if not broken, dont fix it"?

AM5 BIOs still not stable, a lot of updates improve post times, so it's worth to flash to the latest version

 

[nakedtons]

Anyone here lazy to do cable management at the back of the case like me? I don't do it cause my case lacks tie down points and if anything goes wrong, it is more troublesome to untie and disconnect if anything goes wrong. So the back of my case is a cable mess which JulianTech would shake his head when he sees it!

 

[RockaRolla]

Anyone here lazy to do cable management at the back of the case like me? I don't do it cause my case lacks tie down points and if anything goes wrong, it is more troublesome to untie and disconnect if anything goes wrong. So the back of my case is a cable mess which JulianTech would shake his head when he sees it!

same lol, from the front looks nice but behind is a hideous mess haha
I just tie some loose cables tgt and maybe route abit here and there, thats it

 

[kianleong87]

Hello, new to the forum here.

Can I ask if these parts are compatible?

* CPU	Intel Core i7-14700KF | 20 Cores 28 Threads
* CPU / System Cooling	NZXT Kraken Elite 360 RGB LCD (White)
* Motherboard	Gigabyte Z790 Aorus Elite AX DDR5
* RAM	32GB ADATA Lancer RGB DDR5 6400MHz CL32 White (16x2)
* Graphics Card	Zotac RTX 4080 Trinity - 16GB
* Power Supply Unit	1000W Corsair HX1000i Ultra Low Noise 80+ Platinum (Full Modular)
* Thermal Compound	Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut 1 Gramm
* Primary SSD	2TB Samsung 990 Pro Gen4 SSD (R: 7450 | W: 6900)
* Secondary SSD	1TB Samsung 990 Pro Gen4 SSD (R: 7450 | W: 6900)
* Operating System	Windows 11 Home 64bit
* Chassis	Hyte Y70 Touch White
* Chassis Fans	9X Lian Li Uni Fan SL120 Infinity (White)

 

[menticidal]

Hi All, need to buy new desktop again as the old one from 2015 broke down. I want to build a white theme setup but will reuse RMe Series RM850e Fully Modular Low-Noise ATX since I just bought this year. Can buy new one and sell away this if needed.

Basic Gaming (Starcraft 1,2, D3 & D4 ) at 1080 & 1440 with 1 27"monitor and 43" TV and using M365 for work.
High floor dusty room with desktop being place on table at corner of wall so not sure what casing to use.
No other requirements.

Will be using this setup as example

CPU	Ryzen 5 7600
MB	Asrock A620m Pro RS Wifi
RAMS	Adata XPG Lancer 2x16gb 6000c30 DDR5 White
SSD	WD Black SN850X 1TB
GPU	Gigabyte RX 7800 XT Gaming OC
CPU COOLER	Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 *157mm White
PSU	Asus or Corsair White
CASING	Lian Li 216 White or Dynamic White

Thank you for your advises.

 

[RockaRolla]

Hi All, need to buy new desktop again as the old one from 2015 broke down. I want to build a white theme setup but will reuse RMe Series RM850e Fully Modular Low-Noise ATX since I just bought this year. Can buy new one and sell away this if needed.

Basic Gaming (Starcraft 1,2, D3 & D4 ) at 1080 & 1440 with 1 27"monitor and 43" TV and using M365 for work.
High floor dusty room with desktop being place on table at corner of wall so not sure what casing to use.
No other requirements.

Will be using this setup as example

CPU	Ryzen 5 7600
MB	Asrock A620m Pro RS Wifi
RAMS	Adata XPG Lancer 2x16gb 6000c30 DDR5 White
SSD	WD Black SN850X 1TB
GPU	Gigabyte RX 7800 XT Gaming OC
CPU COOLER	Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 *157mm White
PSU	Asus or Corsair White
CASING	Lian Li 216 White or Dynamic White

Thank you for your advises.

You can reuse your RM850e, its more than enough
Your setup looks good, but I will switch out the Asrock a620 for Asrock B650m PG Riptide, its only abit more expensive during sales period

 

[nakedtons]

Hello, new to the forum here.

Can I ask if these parts are compatible?

* CPU	Intel Core i7-14700KF | 20 Cores 28 Threads
* CPU / System Cooling	NZXT Kraken Elite 360 RGB LCD (White)
* Motherboard	Gigabyte Z790 Aorus Elite AX DDR5
* RAM	32GB ADATA Lancer RGB DDR5 6400MHz CL32 White (16x2)
* Graphics Card	Zotac RTX 4080 Trinity - 16GB
* Power Supply Unit	1000W Corsair HX1000i Ultra Low Noise 80+ Platinum (Full Modular)
* Thermal Compound	Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut 1 Gramm
* Primary SSD	2TB Samsung 990 Pro Gen4 SSD (R: 7450 | W: 6900)
* Secondary SSD	1TB Samsung 990 Pro Gen4 SSD (R: 7450 | W: 6900)
* Operating System	Windows 11 Home 64bit
* Chassis	Hyte Y70 Touch White
* Chassis Fans	9X Lian Li Uni Fan SL120 Infinity (White)

Gigabyte Z790 AORUS PRO X Motherboard suits the white build better as I find that a black mobo in an all white build seems a little odd or ugly unless you don't mind it. This is one of the only few white motherboard I can find for Intel gen 14. The cheaper ones are for gen 13. If you want top performance and aesthetic at the same, you will need to prepare to spend more.

 

[pettyfaux]

this is what id minimally go with:

ryzen 7 7800x3d + asus tuf gaming b650m plus wifi	864	dynacore
thermalright phantom spirit 120 se	51	pc themes
adata xpg lancer rgb 2x 16gb 6000c30 ddr5	172	tradepac
samsung 980 pro 1tb	108	dynacore
sapphire rx 7900 xtx pulse	1488	dynacore
adata xpg core reactor 750w	125	performance pc pte ltd

with $150 budget for case (recos in first post), this totals just under 3k for what is one of the best gaming systems u can buy today. of course, no one is stopping u from upgrading to x670, more storage, flashier case or even a 4090, so it boils down to what games u will be using the pc for and how much more u would be willing to spend. personally, id say other than storage and case budget increases, anything more would be steep diminishing returns.

best to confirm with the seller beforehand. if u buy from physical sls store, u can also ask the shop to flash. else, since u are buying msi, u can give corbell a call and ask if they still have this service.

I'll look into it. Thank you for your time and recommendations

 

[NightRaven49]

Hello, new to the forum here.

Can I ask if these parts are compatible?

* CPU	Intel Core i7-14700KF | 20 Cores 28 Threads
* CPU / System Cooling	NZXT Kraken Elite 360 RGB LCD (White)
* Motherboard	Gigabyte Z790 Aorus Elite AX DDR5
* RAM	32GB ADATA Lancer RGB DDR5 6400MHz CL32 White (16x2)
* Graphics Card	Zotac RTX 4080 Trinity - 16GB
* Power Supply Unit	1000W Corsair HX1000i Ultra Low Noise 80+ Platinum (Full Modular)
* Thermal Compound	Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut 1 Gramm
* Primary SSD	2TB Samsung 990 Pro Gen4 SSD (R: 7450 | W: 6900)
* Secondary SSD	1TB Samsung 990 Pro Gen4 SSD (R: 7450 | W: 6900)
* Operating System	Windows 11 Home 64bit
* Chassis	Hyte Y70 Touch White
* Chassis Fans	9X Lian Li Uni Fan SL120 Infinity (White)

yep. feels a little strange to have the secondary ssd be the same model and smaller than the primary one, most ppl have a smaller faster one for the os and a bigger slower but also cheaper drive as secondary, but nothing really wrong or incompatible.

Hi All, need to buy new desktop again as the old one from 2015 broke down. I want to build a white theme setup but will reuse RMe Series RM850e Fully Modular Low-Noise ATX since I just bought this year. Can buy new one and sell away this if needed.

Basic Gaming (Starcraft 1,2, D3 & D4 ) at 1080 & 1440 with 1 27"monitor and 43" TV and using M365 for work.
High floor dusty room with desktop being place on table at corner of wall so not sure what casing to use.
No other requirements.

Will be using this setup as example

CPU	Ryzen 5 7600
MB	Asrock A620m Pro RS Wifi
RAMS	Adata XPG Lancer 2x16gb 6000c30 DDR5 White
SSD	WD Black SN850X 1TB
GPU	Gigabyte RX 7800 XT Gaming OC
CPU COOLER	Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 *157mm White
PSU	Asus or Corsair White
CASING	Lian Li 216 White or Dynamic White

Thank you for your advises.

for basic gaming like those easy to run games, u dont need a 7800xt, even a rx7600 for half the price can do 1440p60 high on d4. for a low power system and matx board, u can consider the tecware fusion for case since it is very compact and will not take up much space on a desk; the lancool 216 is very bulky and having built with one before i wouldnt put it on anything other than the floor or a very large and sturdy table. u will have to opt for the se version of the pa120 to make it fit in the fusion though. if i were u, id get the fusion in white (as the sama quzao 先马趣造) and white pa120se from taobao, around $100 for both with free shipping as opposed to >$70 each locally.

You can reuse your RM850e, its more than enough
Your setup looks good, but I will switch out the Asrock a620 for Asrock B650m PG Riptide, its only abit more expensive during sales period

menticidal wants white theme, the a620m pro rs fits that but the b650m pg riptide doesnt as an almost full black mobo. but yes the rm850e is good to keep.

 

[uni_user]

hello pros, i've always been a laptop user... but would like to try out gaming CPU... budget wise 1.5k include win10/11.

Preference : intel 13th gen and 32gb RAM (to run multi NOX)
My current monitor is just a 1080p but might get 1440p in near future.

Generally is the below build from invader good to go ? I self pick from pricelist seems to be much more expensive.

INTEL I5-13400F 2.50GHz 20MB CACHE 10C/16THREAD
ASUS TUF GAMING B760M-PLUS WIFI DDR5
COOLER MASTER HYPER 212 SPECTRUM V3 ARGB\
KINGSTON FURY BEAST RGB 5600MHz 16GB(8GBx2) CL40 KIT
ASUS DUAL GeForce RTX™ 4060 Ti O8G TWIN FAN GDDR6
WD BLACK SN770 1TB GEN4 NVME M.2 SSD
SILVERSTONE ET650-650W V1.4 80+ BRONZE
NEOTEZ DEUS CASING
4 X 120MM ARGB FANS
HIGH SPEED AX WIRELESS AND BT | WIFI 6 + BT 5.2
WIN 11 UN-ACTIVATED
OPERATING SYSTEM:
WINDOWS 11 HOME OEM x 1
Ram Upgrade 3:
KINSGTON FURY BEAST RGB DDR5 6000MHz 32GB(16GBx2) CL40 KIT x 1

another question : is it worth to wait for 11.11 sales ? haha