Budget 21-30k PC Components advise

reborn

Disciple
I am building a new PC and need help deciding a few components. My use case is primarily gaming and general browsing. Here's what I have finalized

Processor: Intel i5 12400
Motherboard: MSI Mortar B660M DDR4
GPU: RTX 3070 (Gigabyte or Asus)
RAM: Corsair Vengeance 3600 MHz 16GB x2

What I need to decide on:
PSU: Corsair CX650M or XPG Core Reactor 750
SSD: Samsung 980 or WD SN770 (1 TB either)

I am leaning towards the Adata XPG Core Reactor over Corsair given the minimal price difference between the two but I have never purchased anything from Adata before whereas every Corsair purchase of mine has been rock solid. Is Adata a reputable brand? How are their warranty and after sales support in India?

On the SSD front, I prefer the WD SN770 since it is Pcie4 and price difference between it and Samsung 980 is again only 1.5k. However, I know WD mostly for their HDDs and have never purchased their SSDs. Would you recommend SN770 over Samsung 980? Or should I go for something else?
 
Adata is a reputed brand, no worries. My personal rig is similar, so the core part selection is fine, but what matters is the individual prices you are getting. Mention prices for all parts, including cabinet, monitor, etc.

I went for a top tier PSU, NZXT C750, for about 8.5k.

I picked Aorus Gen4 SSD w/o heatsink for 11k, not like I can see any noticeable improvement over old Gen3 HP EX920, still an upgrade indeed. SN770 at 10k seems good.
 
The Core Reactor has been gaining popularity plus it's 100w more than the Corsair (which is the basic line of theirs). Take the extra headroom and go for the XPG.

As for the SSD, there may be cheaper options that you can explore, no need to overspend when your requirements don't call for high speed storage.
 
Adata is a reputed brand, no worries. My personal rig is similar, so the core part selection is fine, but what matters is the individual prices you are getting. Mention prices for all parts, including cabinet, monitor, etc.

I went for a top tier PSU, NZXT C750, for about 8.5k.

I picked Aorus Gen4 SSD w/o heatsink for 11k, not like I can see any noticeable improvement over old Gen3 HP EX920, still an upgrade indeed. SN770 at 10k seems good.

Good to hear the vote of confidence in Adata. I checked prices with ITDepot and MDComputers. I don't want to order from too many places since it gets hard to coordinate shipments and ensure everything arrives at the same time so that I can test out the PC within the return window. Neither ITDepot nor MD was willing to give any discounts, the prices on their websites was final. ITDepot even increased the website price by Rs 200-300 after I inquired about the parts. I can't really haggle much :(.

So far have ordered from ITDepot:

Motherboard: MSI Mortar B660M DDR4 Wifi (18k, got the Wifi version since it is only 1.6k more)
Case: Antec DF700 Flux (7k)
RAM: 2x Crucial Ballistix 3600 16 GB (5.2k, almost same price as the Corsair, slightly better timings)

Processor and PSU yet to order. About 18.5k for the i5 12400, the 5.6k for CX650 and 7.1k for Core Reactor. SSD will be off Amazon - Appario retail has the Samsung 980 at 8.7k and the SN770 at 10k.

The Core Reactor has been gaining popularity plus it's 100w more than the Corsair (which is the basic line of theirs). Take the extra headroom and go for the XPG.

As for the SSD, there may be cheaper options that you can explore, no need to overspend when your requirements don't call for high speed storage.

Thanks for the vote of confidence in Adata!
 
Good to hear the vote of confidence in Adata. I checked prices with ITDepot and MDComputers. I don't want to order from too many places since it gets hard to coordinate shipments and ensure everything arrives at the same time so that I can test out the PC within the return window. Neither ITDepot nor MD was willing to give any discounts, the prices on their websites was final. ITDepot even increased the website price by Rs 200-300 after I inquired about the parts. I can't really haggle much :(.

So far have ordered from ITDepot:

Motherboard: MSI Mortar B660M DDR4 Wifi (18k, got the Wifi version since it is only 1.6k more)
Case: Antec DF700 Flux (7k)
RAM: 2x Crucial Ballistix 3600 16 GB (5.2k, almost same price as the Corsair, slightly better timings)

Processor and PSU yet to order. About 18.5k for the i5 12400, the 5.6k for CX650 and 7.1k for Core Reactor. SSD will be off Amazon - Appario retail has the Samsung 980 at 8.7k and the SN770 at 10k.



Thanks for the vote of confidence in Adata!
Mortar at 18k is something I won't recommend from technical standpoint because MSI B660M A Pro is 15k with same set of features, looks are inferior though. 18k is entry-level Z690 territory.

Case & RAM should be fine.

I won't recommend CX650 for 7.1k, too close in price to Tier A gold PSUs, like MSI A650GF or just get 750W ones for 8.5k, MSI or NZXT C750.
 
Mortar at 18k is something I won't recommend from technical standpoint because MSI B660M A Pro is 15k with same set of features, looks are inferior though. 18k is entry-level Z690 territory.

Case & RAM should be fine.

I won't recommend CX650 for 7.1k, too close in price to Tier A gold PSUs, like MSI A650GF or just get 750W ones for 8.5k, MSI or NZXT C750.

I chose B660M Mortar over Pro A because it has a USB 20 Gbps type C port and ALC 1200 audio. Also 2 extra Sata ports are good to have, especially since one Sata port becomes inoperative if you install a 2nd M.2 drive.

The CX650 is 5.6k and the Adata Core reactor 750W is 7.1k. So 1.6k difference.
 
I chose B660M Mortar over Pro A because it has a USB 20 Gbps type C port and ALC 1200 audio. Also 2 extra Sata ports are good to have, especially since one Sata port becomes inoperative if you install a 2nd M.2 drive.

The CX650 is 5.6k and the Adata Core reactor 750W is 7.1k. So 1.6k difference.
You can get Z690 at 18-20k with much more of those ports & even extra M.2 slots, hence B660 Mortar. Tomahawk, etc don't get recommended. Anyways, whats done is done.

XPG Core reactor is a tier A PSU: https://cultists.network/140/psu-tier-list/
 
Don't feel bad but i have pretty fair questions for everything you are ordering. First of all the budget mentioned doesn't make sense or clarify for which component you want. And some of you have are worthless for this budget. Please clarify what is your total budget for components you want.
 
Processor and PSU yet to order. About 18.5k for the i5 12400, the 5.6k for CX650 and 7.1k for Core Reactor. SSD will be off Amazon - Appario retail has the Samsung 980 at 8.7k and the SN770 at 10k.
Well I would suggest if you could wait for a while for the rest to get better deals because the annual big shopping sales begins in a couple of weeks time from the big eCommerce sites and as well through various PC hardware sites. You could shortlist the components better and complete your build with better choices.
 
I am building a new PC and need help deciding a few components. My use case is primarily gaming and general browsing. Here's what I have finalized

Processor: Intel i5 12400
Motherboard: MSI Mortar B660M DDR4
GPU: RTX 3070 (Gigabyte or Asus)
RAM: Corsair Vengeance 3600 MHz 16GB x2

What I need to decide on:
PSU: Corsair CX650M or XPG Core Reactor 750
SSD: Samsung 980 or WD SN770 (1 TB either)

I am leaning towards the Adata XPG Core Reactor over Corsair given the minimal price difference between the two but I have never purchased anything from Adata before whereas every Corsair purchase of mine has been rock solid. Is Adata a reputable brand? How are their warranty and after sales support in India?

On the SSD front, I prefer the WD SN770 since it is Pcie4 and price difference between it and Samsung 980 is again only 1.5k. However, I know WD mostly for their HDDs and have never purchased their SSDs. Would you recommend SN770 over Samsung 980? Or should I go for something else?
I don't know why you'd spend on an i5 if gaming and general browsing is all you're gonna do. i3 12100F is an excellent choice for CPU.
 
Thanks for you help guys, I completed the build! Final config:

Processor: Intel i5 - 12500 (20k)
Motherboard: B660M Mortar Max DDR4 WIFI (18k, and a mix up)
RAM: Crucial Ballistix 16 GB 3600 x2 (10.4k)
PSU: Adata Core Reactor 750W (7k)
Case: Antec DF700 Flux (7k)
SSD: WD SN770 1 TB (10k)
CPU Cooler: Deepcool AK400 (2.4k)
Case Fans: Deepcool CF120 Plus 3 pack(3k, received the old version unfortunately)
Extras: Dust Filters, USB 2.0 back panel bracket, motherboard buzzer, PC power cable (1.5k)

All in all about 80k, excluding GPU.

I got the parts from ITDepot, MDComputers and Vedant mostly, with the SSD and the Extras from Amazon. ITDepot charged me both shipping fee and credit card processing fee :( So had to pay about 2k extra to them. In hindsight, shouldn't have ordered from them. MDComputers and Vedant both had free shipping and no credit card processing fees.

You can get Z690 at 18-20k with much more of those ports & even extra M.2 slots, hence B660 Mortar. Tomahawk, etc don't get recommended. Anyways, whats done is done.

XPG Core reactor is a tier A PSU: https://cultists.network/140/psu-tier-list/

So there has been a mixup :(. I ordered a B660M Mortar DDR4 WIFI from ITDepot, and they instead sent a B660M Mmortar MAX WIFI DDR4 motherboard instead. This one has a PCIE 5.0 graphics card slot and Wifi 6E and some overclocking capability, none of which I actually need. It also has a ALC897 audio compared to the ALC1200 on the non-Max version :( And I specifically ordered the Mortar for ALC 1200 audio. So a bit bummed about it.

Honestly I don't think its ITDepot's fault, the Max version is pretty new and the boards look exactly the same. I didn't even notice it is a different board till I was assembling the PC and saw that my motherboard has 4 sys_fan headers compared to 2 in the manual which got me to double check. Not sure if I want to go through the hassle of returning the board and anyways the build is completed and up and running.

Don't feel bad but i have pretty fair questions for everything you are ordering. First of all the budget mentioned doesn't make sense or clarify for which component you want. And some of you have are worthless for this budget. Please clarify what is your total budget for components you want.

The budget of 20 - 30k was for the PSU + SSD, since the rest was already decided. I didn't really have a total budget in mind for my build, more of a component wise budget.

Well I would suggest if you could wait for a while for the rest to get better deals because the annual big shopping sales begins in a couple of weeks time from the big eCommerce sites and as well through various PC hardware sites. You could shortlist the components better and complete your build with better choices.

I couldn't wait :( My old PC is nearly 9 years old and is a hassle to get it to boot up. I do have a few parts for which I am waiting for the sale - GPU, HDD, speakers and maybe a monitor.

I don't know why you'd spend on an i5 if gaming and general browsing is all you're gonna do. i3 12100F is an excellent choice for CPU.

I thought i5 12400f is the choice for mid range gaming builds? I wanted an integrated GPU, so bought the 12500 since the difference between the 12400 and 12500 is only 1k.
 
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I am using a XPG Core reactor. Please do not use stock Power cable. It has no ground pin and it gave a current shock to me when I touch the cabinet. Just buy some aftermarket or old PSU cable it works great.
 
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