Help for a 1400 USD future-proof workstation

MarcusFunt · Apr 16, 2023

Hi smart computer people
the budget will be around 1400USD(for the computer itself)
I'm from Denmark
The build will be used for school, work, video editing, and a bit of gaming, but primarily in cad(fusion360). I really don't need that much storage.
A good SSD to boot into and store important files on, and a slower SSD/HDD for more general use stuff(1-3TB ish).
An upgrade path is also really important.
I'm using a two-monitor setup, but I might upgrade to 3 in the future(720p and 1080atm)

Even though this post is about the computer, does anyone have a recommendation for a good budget monitor? 60 hertz is fine(more would be nice though). more than 1080. good color accuracy. It will mainly be used for cad design(ofc)

I would really prefer components with a long lifespan since I really don't wanna fix a broken computer. IE high-quality components even if it means lower spec.

Why_Me · Apr 16, 2023

https://dk.pcpartpicker.com/product/WvXJ7P/fractal-design-focus-2-atx-mid-tower-case-fd-c-foc2a-01
Fractal Design Focus 2 ATX Mid Tower Case 684.00kr

NZXT PC strømforsyning Sort

PC-strømforsyningen NZXT C750 80+ Gold 750W leverer en pålidelig effekt på 750 watt, hvilket gør den til et godt valg til næsten ethvert system. Ta...

www.alternate.dk

NZXT C750 750W 80+ Gold Modular ATX Power Supply 849.00kr

https://dk.pcpartpicker.com/product...r4-atx-lga1700-motherboard-b760-gaming-x-ddr4
Gigabyte B760 GAMING X DDR4 1243.00kr

https://dk.pcpartpicker.com/product...13400f-25-ghz-10-core-processor-bx8071513400f
Intel Core i5-13400F 1776.00kr

https://dk.pcpartpicker.com/search/?q=DeepCool+AG400
Deepcool AG400 CPU Cooler 261.00kr

https://dk.pcpartpicker.com/product...2-x-16-gb-ddr4-3200-memory-cmk32gx4m2e3200c16
Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4-3200 32GB (2x16GB) CL16 635.00kr

https://dk.pcpartpicker.com/product...tb-m2-2280-nvme-solid-state-drive-wds200t3b0c
Western Digital Blue SN570 2TB M.2 PCIe 3.0 x4 NVME SSD 1017.00kr

https://dk.pcpartpicker.com/product...gaming-twin-edge-oc-video-card-zt-a30600h-10m
Zotac GeForce RTX 3060 GAMING Twin Edge OC 12GB Video Card 2842.00kr

Total: 9307kr

DDR5 board + RAM

https://dk.pcpartpicker.com/product...aming-x-atx-lga1700-motherboard-b760-gaming-x
Gigabyte B760 GAMING X 1459.00kr

B760 GAMING X (rev. 1.0) Key Features | Motherboard - GIGABYTE Global

Lasting Quality from GIGABYTE.GIGABYTE Ultra Durable™ motherboards bring together a unique blend of features and technologies that offer users the absolute ...

www.gigabyte.com

https://dk.pcpartpicker.com/product...-ddr5-6000-cl36-memory-f5-6000j3636f16gx2-fx5
G.Skill Flare X5 DDR5-6000 32GB (2x16 GB) CL36 1041.00kr

Optional CPU.

https://dk.pcpartpicker.com/product/mtmmP6/intel-core-i5-13500-25-ghz-14-core-processor-bx8071513500
Intel Core i5-13500 2099.00kr

Intel® Core™ i5-13500 Processor (24M Cache, up to 4.80 GHz) - Product Specifications | Intel

Intel® Core™ i5-13500 Processor (24M Cache, up to 4.80 GHz) quick reference with specifications, features, and technologies.

www.intel.com

A better look at those components.

https://www.fractal-design.com/products/cases/focus/focus-2/black-tg-clear-tint/

https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/B760-GAMING-X-DDR4-rev-10

Intel® Core™ i5-13400F Processor (20M Cache, up to 4.60 GHz) Product Specifications

Intel® Core™ i5-13400F Processor (20M Cache, up to 4.60 GHz) quick reference guide including specifications, features, pricing, compatibility, design documentation, ordering codes, spec codes and more.

ark.intel.com

AG400 - DeepCool

The DeepCool AG400 is a single tower 120mm CPU cooler that builds upon our legacy for high-quality cooling performance but stripped down for a streamlined and efficient package. - DeepCool was founded with the mission of providing professional, innovative, high-performance PC hardware and...

www.deepcool.com

Brian Boru · Apr 16, 2023

MarcusFunt said:
prefer components with a long lifespan … high-quality components even if it means lower spec

Welcome to the forum

I'm in a similar situation, in that my PC's first priority is to support my work. I'm out of the loop on current components, so just the general principles I will use on next build:

♣ Prioritize PSU—Power Supply
This guy regulates & distributes electricity to everything in the case. Don't save money here, get a top model.

Invest in an UPS—Uninterruptible Power Supply
This will give you 15-30 minutes to shut down your system whenever something happens with power. It'll also smooth out any spikes and troughs in the ongoing supply, and just give you peace of mind.

♦ Prioritize Heat management
Heat is the #1 enemy of hardware, along with bad electricity. So case, cooling system, cable management and internal parts layout need to handle heat as their #1 job.

♥ Prioritize Motherboard
Similar to PSU function, mobo distributes all the digital stuff to and from the various other parts. Focus on known quality rather than heavily marketed bells & whistles.

You mention 'upgrade path' so make sure you don't choose a mobo where its socket is about to go obsolete for future CPUs.

♠ Kitchen and Bathroom
Now you can get into the 'good stuff', the sexy parts—like in your house

But if the foundations, roof and temperature controls aren't forget-about good, you'll be uncomfortable pretty quickly, no matter how wonderful your kitchen is.

♣ Don't buy latest generation
These are the ones which usually have the most bugs and highest failure rates, cost a lot more, and generally have only around 5-10% performance gain—which only kicks in if your apps & games are coded to use the new stuff.

There's usually a 'sweet spot' in the last or 2nd-last generation where price and performance make sense.

♦ Avoid functions you don't need
Since you want reliability mainly, you won't be eg overclocking—so prefer components which don't support it. Also applies to software, be careful with regular updates—image your system disk beforehand so you have a quick escape hatch.

♥ Balance and Match
You want your parts working together optimally. Eg I've seen experts here say a certain speed of RAM works best with certain CPUs. HDDs are fine for storing large files which aren't accessed often.

♠ Using 2 Monitors
I see you have 720p & 1080p. I found a succession of niggly problems when I had 3 monitors for a short while, when the resolutions were different. I dropped the 3rd, and use 2 at the same resolution these days. But it could be different today, that was 8-9 years ago. I believe the thing is to use them at recommended resolution, if I recall correctly.

Btw for your possible 3rd, if you don't need best color accuracy and could use extra screen size on it, then a TV will be cheaper than a monitor for same screen size. I've run with 2 TVs for over a decade.