NEW PC Build for Quest 2

[bennyHD]

What I'm looking to build for:

I'm looking to play these games with their mods; Half Life Alyx, Bonelabs and Cyberpunk 2077 in VR with my Quest 2 on 120Hz and highest settings possible based on budget.

Apart from gaming, the most intensive use would be for amateur video editing of VR content.

I don't care about the case size or aesthetics.

But also hope to future proof the system by being able to upgrade some of the components every 6-12 months.

Budget is $1500 USD/ $2000 CAD

 

[Brian Boru]

Welcome to the forum

Your location—ie country—and any preferred stores to buy parts from?

 

[bennyHD]

Hi!

I'm in Edmonton, Canada. I don't have a preferred store for PC parts as I haven't had to purchase many parts lately, but I use BestBuy, CanadaComputers (good for when I lived in Toronto), Costco and Amazon for hardware in the past and PS Store and Steam for games.

 

[Why_Me]

Hi!

I'm in Edmonton, Canada. I don't have a preferred store for PC parts as I haven't had to purchase many parts lately, but I use BestBuy, CanadaComputers (good for when I lived in Toronto), Costco and Amazon for hardware in the past and PS Store and Steam for games.

What is your monitor resolution?

 

[bennyHD]

I've never built a PC before and I'm not that technologically inclined, but I came up with this so far:

1. CPU, I'm thinking either an Intel i5 12600kf or an AMD Ryzen 5 7600X, but I'm open to suggestions (I may need slightly more cores and threads for the VR and physics intensive games like Bonelabs?). Even with taking into consideration that I'm trying to achieve 120hz, will I still be GPU bound anyway with these games?
2. GPU Nvidia RTX 3070/3070ti, might consider even going lower at the moment considering the GPU prices might be falling even more with the demand for GPU's crashing (crypto mining with GPUs are dead). Might just buy a decent card now and upgrade again in 6 months or so. I'm still in need of an NVIDIA card rather than an AMD for the ray tracing and DLSS that appears to only be supported for Cyberpunk.
3. Motherboard (depends on CPU) but one with a chipset that can OC CPU, has PCIe 4.0 (at least 1 PCIr 5.0), DDR5 and WiFi6- I believe that's the future anyway
4. Don't care if the memory is DDR4 or 5 at the moment, but likely DDR4 right now because of price... Not sure how worthwhile the difference in upgrading from 3200 vs 4600+ Ram is anyway.
5. Still on the fence with regards to cooling systems (fan vs liquid AIO or custom), PSU and case.
6. Storage is likely gonna be 1TB M.2 NVMe gen 4/5 PCIe and a backup HDD of 2-4 TB

Any help with these points are appreciated!

 

[bennyHD]

What is your monitor resolution?

I don't have one, I use virtual desktop on my Quest 2

 

[Why_Me]

https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B07TYR1P1G

Phanteks Eclipse P400A Mid-Tower Case $124.99

Rear exhaust fan for that case.

https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B07GJGF56
Arctic PWM 4-Pin 120mm Case Fan $13.90

https://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/MX00120100
Corsair RM Series RM650 80+ Gold 650W Modular Power Supply $109.99

Gigabyte B660M AORUS PRO AX DDR4 w/ DDR4-3200, 7.1 Audio, Dual M.2, 2.5G LAN, Wi-Fi 6, USB 3.2 Type-C - Intel 1700 Boards - Memory Express Inc.

www.memoryexpress.com

GIGABYTE B660M AORUS PRO AX DDR4 $179.99

https://www.vuugo.com/intel-cpu-BX8071512700F.html?tracking=5108053939762
Intel Core i7-12700F $447.50

DeepCool AK620 CPU Cooler, Black w/ Dual Tower Radiators, 2x 120mm Fluid Dynamic Bearing PWM Fans - Air CPU Coolers - Memory Express Inc.

www.memoryexpress.com

DeepCool AK620 CPU Cooler $79.99

https://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/MX00115488
Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 3200MHz 32GB (2x16GB) CL16 $119.99

Western Digital Blue SN570 NVMe M.2 SSD Solid State Drive, 2TB - M.2 Solid State Drives - Memory Express Inc.

www.memoryexpress.com

WD Blue SN570 2TB M.2 NVMe SSD $234.99

https://www.canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?cPath=43_557_559&item_id=198405
GIGABYTE GeForce RTX 3060 Ti GAMING 8G (rev 2.0) Video Card $599.00

Total: $1911.33 CAD

A better look at those components.

https://www.phanteks.com/Eclipse-P400A.html

B660M AORUS PRO AX DDR4 (rev. 1.x) 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://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/deepcool-ak620-review

https://www.intel.com/content/www/u...-25m-cache-up-to-4-90-ghz/specifications.html

i7 12700 / 12700F gaming benchmarks.

 

[bennyHD]

I thought the B660M doesn't have a PCIe 5.0 port (likely just gonna use for storage then for the graphics card when necessary), and there's no DDR5 or WiFi 6 support?

I think the SSD you mentioned is gen 3, I was likely to go with a PCIe gen 4 and later 5 in the future.

The prices I was looking at, 3060ti to 3070 was like a $100 CAD difference.

The performance of the 12700 vs 12600 looks nearly identical, but it does have more cores.

I wonder if the PSU of 650 will be enough when I upgrade to something like a 3090 or a real 4080 in the future when the prices go down?

 

[Why_Me]

I thought the B660M doesn't have a PCIe 5.0 port (likely just gonna use for storage then for the graphics card when necessary), and there's no DDR5 or WiFi 6 support?

I think the SSD you mentioned is gen 3, I was likely to go with a PCIe gen 4 and later 5 in the future.

The prices I was looking at, 3060ti to 3070 was like a $100 CAD difference.

The performance of the 12700 vs 12600 looks nearly identical, but it does have more cores.

I wonder if the PSU of 650 will be enough when I upgrade to something like a 3090 or a real 4080 in the future when the prices go down?

It's all about budget. You're also going to need Windows. PCIe 5 won't be a thing for years to come and that SSD will work fine.

 

[bennyHD]

UPDATE: 9OCT2022

I was looking to build a VR gaming PC for playing HL Alyx, Cyberpunk 2077 in VR (low settings) and Bonelabs. Here's a link to my build on PC Part picker: https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/list/f4jkRv

1. Intel Core i5-13600KF 3.5 GHz 14-Core Processor ($50 CAD more from a 12600kf)
2. EVGA FTW3 ULTRA GAMING iCX3 GeForce RTX 3070 LHR 8 GB Video Card
3. ARCTIC Liquid Freezer II 420 A-RGB 68.9 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler (getting a good deal on this but it does see like overkill, even though I plan to OC it)
4. MSI MAG Z690 TOMAHAWK WIFI DDR4 ATX LGA1700 Motherboard
5. TEAMGROUP T-Force Delta RGB 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 CL18 Memory (might forgo the RGB and find a kit with CL16 instead for the same price)
6. Sabrent Rocket 4.0 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive
7. Lian Li LANCOOL III RGB ATX Mid Tower Case (could go cheaper on the case and save $100 CAD)
8. Corsair RM750x (2021) 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply

What do you think? Will this be enough to run these games on my Quest 2 in 90+fps?
I'm also worried that I won't be able to flash the bios without a previous gen intel on this mobo, but it does have a bios flash button (never used one before)?
Also, there might be a size restraint with CPU cooler fans in top mount position with the RAM sticks in that orientation?
Should I opt for more 12700kf/13700kf instead for VR (does it need more P cores)?