I know the first thing everyone will say is to use an AMD GPU. Agreed, sounds good (NVIDIA is sucky on my current machine). I have no clue which ones to start looking in to however.
I’m someone that is pretty good with the software side of computing, but not so much with the hardware side. I can comfortably construct a computer, just don’t know much about what the best components to buy are. Any hardware suggestions / recommendations (for any component) are greatly appreciated (reasons for the suggestion is an optional bonus I would appreciate).
As for budget, I probably don’t wanna spend much over $2.5K USD. $1K to 2K is probably about my preferred budget.
Thanks in advance to anyone that decides to help out.
(For anyone asking what I’ll likely run on it: Arch Linux)
The air cooler market is very competitive right now. Noctua has great customer support and quality, as always, but there are better value options.
I would pick Thermalright Phantom Spirit 120 SE, or alternatively the Peerless Assassin 120 SE
I would argue that as a proportion of the total build cost, the difference in cost between air coolers is fairly negligible, and as one of the few moving parts in the build, the reliability of the fan on the cooler should be a priority. I don’t think a single other manufacturer has a demonstrated record of fan reliability and longevity that comes close to Noctua.
Would you pick those based on price or on performance?
Both. One downside seems to be the required pressure necessary when mounting. Noise normalized performance and overall value is great though. The phantom spirit is a slightly upgraded version with one more heat pipe compared to PA120SE
https://youtu.be/Mm4hyIHe1PM?si=oG_wLXj8vN_CJZj7
Here is an alternative Piped link(s):
https://piped.video/Mm4hyIHe1PM?si=oG_wLXj8vN_CJZj7
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
I’m open-source; check me out at GitHub.
Thanks