The smartest thing you can do is build a PC before NVIDIA executives realizes that your kidneys come in pairs. Trying to optimize a workstation/content/AI build around $4k without drifting into the “why does my computer cost more than my car” territory :) Please help.
Posted by TrainingIndividual13@reddit | buildapc | View on Reddit | 18 comments
BUDGET — $4000
COUNTRY — USA, *close to microcenters
NEEDS:
- 1.) Professional Content Creation
- 2.) General Business Logistical, Business Ops Data
- 3.) Coding & Light Software Development, Automations
- 4.) General Workstation Capabilities, Computation And AI Hosting Experimentation
PREFERENCES:
- 1.) Similar capability as the parts I already have below while getting as close as I can to $4000 as possible.
- 2.) To keep the hybrid style of this build as much as possible (and, ig as much is rational with $4000)
NOTE — Microcenter pricing already included as custom prices for parts listed.
https://pcpartpicker.com/list/QyJ2mL
| COMPONENT | PART | PRICE |
|---|---|---|
| CPU | AMD Ryzen 9 9950x | $480 (MC Included) // $499 |
| CPU COOLER | Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120SE | $39 |
| MOTHERBOARD | ASUS TUF Gaming X870-Plus | $199 |
| RAM | Corsair Vengeance 96GB (2x48GB) ddr5-6000 | $1100 |
| STORAGE #1 (Apps) | Samsung 9100 Pro 2TB M.2-2280 PCle 5 x4 Nvme | $430 |
| STORAGE #2 (Active) | Samsung 990 4TB M.2-2280 PCle 5 x2 Nvme | $795 |
| STORAGE #3 (External) | Seagate External Drive 10TB HDD | Not Included |
| GPU | NVIDIA Founders Edition Geforce RTX 5080 16 GB? // —Geforce RTX 5080 | $999? (Out of stock on best buy but seems to not be updated) otherwise Assuming realistic 5080 pricing around $1300. |
| CASE | Fractal Design North Momentum Edition ATX Mid Tower | $180 |
| PSU | Corsair RM1000x | $160 |
| OS | Windows 11 Pro | $199 |
| MONITOR #1 | Samsung Odyssey 49" G9 DQHD | Not Included |
| MONITOR #2 | ASUS VG245 27" | Not Included |
| BASE TOTAL = | $4892 (w reasonable gpu price) |
HotConstruction677@reddit
i would suggest the 270k plus bundle over the 9950x unless you plan to upgrade the cpu within the next 3 years as it has better performance and value
would also suggest a 360 AIO. The 120se will thermal throttle on full load My 9800x3d was throttling with the 120se it even with a -30 undervolt. (plenty of Thermalright options around 60$).
BTW r/hardwareswap has plenty of 5080, ram and ssd listings at discount \~350 for 4tb \~200 for 2tb and some sellers even have receipts for warranty.
BaronB@reddit
CPU - For a content creation system, you should be looking at the Intel Core Ultra 270k Plus. Out performs the 9950X across the board for $320. At Microcenter you might be able to get a bundle with a Gigabyte Z890 Eagle AX motherboard for around $400.
Cooler - Phantom Spirit 120 is the successor to the Peerless Assassin 120. Get that instead.
SSDs - Look for a Crucial T700 / T705 / T710. These are often less expensive than many other high end SSDs like the 9100 Pro or 990 Pro for a lot less, and out perform them. For the 4TB SSD, look at something like a Lexar NM790 or Klevv C910. These are TLC drives unlike the Crucial P310. The Crucial P310 has impressive performance for a QLC SSD, until you get to around 80% full at which point the performance will start to drop off quickly. This is because like many QLC SSDs it uses hybrid SLC cache where it uses a portion of the unused capacity as fast cache, but has no dedicated cache. So once it gets close to full you'll start to see only native QLC write speeds and it'll drop to under 150MB/s write speeds.
GPU - New Founders Edition cards haven't been seen for about 5 months now, and likely won't ever return. The spike in RAM prices have made the MSRP price impossible, and FE cards have always been sold at MSRP (ignoring resellers). Nvidia can't pretend their MSRP is still real if they have to raise the price on those, so yes, $1300 is the new price, unless you find an open box at Microcenter. If you really are interested in local AI, 16GB is going to be a little rough, as is that $4k price point.
TokageLife@reddit
The PA120SE is great for 99% of people who have gaming only use cases but if you're throwing down proper workloads for long periods you will want something like the Royal Pretor, D15 G2, Assassin IV or the Arctic 360 LF3 Pro for a cheaper AIO.
Your setup is fine but know that m2.2 shares lanes with the primary GPU slot and drops it from 5.0x16 to 5.0x8. Your 5080 will not be bottlenecked in a meaningful way by this but I also don't think you'd miss much just using a high end 4.0x4 drive in m2.3 or m2.4 instead.
TrainingIndividual13@reddit (OP)
Ah okay, yea that makes sense — basically just avoid the lane-sharing M2 slot and use a high-end PCIe 4 drive in the other slots since I probably wouldn’t notice the difference anyway with the 5080.
theflavoryellow@reddit
Decent build but is going to be bottlenecked by your GPU with all of that money spent you need more vram
TrainingIndividual13@reddit (OP)
you think I should go with the 5090?
WherePoetryGoesToDie@reddit
You cant fit a 5090 into a sub-4k build unless you find a sweet deal on one or start cutting a whole lotta corners.
In any case, getting bottlenecked by a 5080 is nonsense. You don’t need more vram unless you’re really planning on getting into local AI shenanigans.
theflavoryellow@reddit
Read number 4 it specifically says ai
WherePoetryGoesToDie@reddit
I read “AI hosting experimentation” differently than getting really serious about it. You can run most 13b models fine on 16 GB. Running 27b+ competently starts getting into a whole different grade pf hardware. If that was the top concern, Apple silicon with 64 gb of RAM is the more cost-effective play.
theflavoryellow@reddit
Yes or dual cards
Holiday_Bug9988@reddit
Here I edited it and shaved almost $800 off.
PCPartPicker Part List
MartinEdge42@reddit
for a 4k box thats doing AI hosting + content work id put the money into the gpu and ram first, 4090 if you can still find one near msrp and 64gb minimum. the cpu matters way less than people think unless youre doing heavy compiles. and dont cheap out on the psu, thats the part that takes everything else with it when it dies
TrainingIndividual13@reddit (OP)
Do you think the 5080 is still enough for starting local AI work, or is 16GB VRAM gonna become a problem way faster than I'm thinking?
Marzie247@reddit
You are probably fine with a modern mobo, but I will always reccomend against the corsair RM1000x. I know it is a top tier psu, but I got burned by it (figuratively) because in the most recent version, they changed the spec from atx 3.0 to atx 3.1, they removed the -12V rail from the atx connector. On my older high end workstation motherboard, they used that pin and the issue was very hard to troubleshoot and resulted in hundreds of dollars of hardware, hours of trial and error troubleshooting, and multiple weeks waiting for parts/return shipping parts and waiting for refunds. I went with a be quiet Pure Power 13M 1000W. Also a highly reviewed psu and reasonably priced. Cables aren't quite as long but it has worked well for me.
TrainingIndividual13@reddit (OP)
Man that sucks, noted. Thanks
Isitharry@reddit
Remove the OS. Win11 can operate with watermark and save 200 bones. Phantom Spirit succeeded Peerless Assassin.
I’d keep a plan B and plan C for the CPU/motherboard/memory combo especially when you have a MC near you. Top tier-ish AM5 CPU makes your CPU upgrade path less likely, which can bring Intel in the fold, especially if a deal comes up.
Middle-Sand-5222@reddit
Honestly the build is extremely strong already, but there are a few places where you’re massively overspending without gaining meaningful real-world performance. The biggest issue by far is the RAM and storage pricing $1100 for 96GB DDR5 and $795 for a 4TB 990 is honestly insane unless those are placeholder prices. You could redirect that money into a better GPU setup, backup solution, or just save literal thousands while keeping the system fully runnable for AI experimentation, coding, content creation, and workstation use. I’d honestly keep the 9950X + 5080 combo, use Runable for planning the workstation/dashboard layout then swap to more reasonable SSD/RAM pricing and you suddenly land much closer to your original budget without sacrificing capability.
TrainingIndividual13@reddit (OP)
Just trying to have more than 10 chrome tabs open ... smh