Looking to build a Gaming PC in the $1200 range. What are the best deals on parts?

[Claymore]

I'm not in a particular rush (although my current desktop is hella old and struggling to run Shadowlands; other gaming is completely off the table right now).

That said, I *DO* want to take advantage of any good deals on parts. My intention is to hold out until I can get a GTX 3080, but knowing that could take potentially months, I'd rather buy the parts at a good price and piece it together once I get my hands on the GTX 3080 (or is there another comparable video-card now I should be aware of?), saving money on the parts that are a little more readily available, then trying to buy everything all at once.

Of note; I'm planning to use my desktop primarily for Gaming, but I like being able to flip around to other things, and may even try Streaming at some point. So I think I'm leaning towards an AMD CPU, unless there's a solid reason you think otherwise, or there's like a CRAZY good deal on an Intel!

Anyways, I know this is a ton of work, so I genuinely appreciate any insights or suggestions you guys can offer. Trying to learn all about computer parts has been pretty overwhelming, and I really appreciate hearing you guys' thoughts on various parts and brands. As a newcomer to even attempting to build my own PC, I have a hard time distinguishing credible information from marketing sales-pitches.

- - - Updated - - -

EDIT: Oh also! I'm sorry, I forgot to mention:

While I generally don't like the thought of dealing with liquid-cooling, I honestly really dig the look of the "HZXT H1" case, which looks like it comes with a PSU and liquid-cooling... stuff?

Unless anyone has had a negative experience with it, I just like the minimalist look of the thing. Assuming I'm not trading off any power or increasing the cost of building?

[Temp name]

While I generally don't like the thought of dealing with liquid-cooling, I honestly really dig the look of the "HZXT H1" case, which looks like it comes with a PSU and liquid-cooling... stuff?

Unless anyone has had a negative experience with it, I just like the minimalist look of the thing. Assuming I'm not trading off any power or increasing the cost of building?

There's currently a problem with it, where in some cases it will spark a fire. It'll probably be fixed soon though.

As for the rest: Why do you want a 3080? What resolution do you play at? Frame rate?
Basically just fill out this: https://www.mmo-champion.com/threads...-build-Read-me!

[Claymore]

Well I honestly do a lot of gaming, and I would like to be able to run games at max settings without suffering performance issues. Or at least, very *good* settings, without stuttering.

I can already tell that even in Shadowlands, I'm not getting "the full experience" because all my graphics are turned to the bare minimum, and when I did a random BG the other day, I could tell it was really affecting me because I couldn't see where anyone was at, where the Horde was running off to, stuff like that. A ton of Hordies would show up, and I'd basically be like "well I guess I'm about to die".

But even other games, like Devil May Cry V is one that I'd love to run at max graphics, or the new Doom. Fighting games are another big part, because my current desktop won't even *play* most Fighting games, but I'm a huge fan of them. And those, you've got to run as smoothly as possible, or you're just not going to have a good time.

Definitely good to know about the NZXT H1 case, though. Definitely don't want my PC to catch fire!

[Azortharion]

The cookie cutter modern gaming PC build is a 5600X and an RTX 3080. I managed to squeeze that into $1225 for you with some difficulty.
https://pcpartpicker.com/list/QynbkX

Weak points are:

- No aftermarket CPU cooler. If the budget was say $1300, this would be the first thing I upgrade and I would upgrade to a modest, cheap air cooler. Almost anything is better than stock.
- Slower-than-ideal RAM. Ideally you'd want something like 3600 CL16 but that quickly adds $50 to the price.
- Somewhat budget motherboard although this really shouldn't matter for this CPU. If budget was $1400-1500 I would go for an X570 Tomahawk (largely same board, different chipset).

You could probably go sub-$1200 if you skimped on the case. This case is basically the best budget option you can get though, as evaluated by Gamers Nexus which is basically the leading authority on case performance and stuff. The Silverstone case technically beats it, but it sort of assumes that you have fans lying around to put into it.

[Claymore]

The cookie cutter modern gaming PC build is a 5600X and an RTX 3080. I managed to squeeze that into $1225 for you with some difficulty.
https://pcpartpicker.com/list/QynbkX

Weak points are:

- No aftermarket CPU cooler. If the budget was say $1300, this would be the first thing I upgrade and I would upgrade to a modest, cheap air cooler. Almost anything is better than stock.
- Slower-than-ideal RAM. Ideally you'd want something like 3600 CL16 but that quickly adds $50 to the price.
- Somewhat budget motherboard although this really shouldn't matter for this CPU. If budget was $1400-1500 I would go for an X570 Tomahawk (largely same board, different chipset).

You could probably go sub-$1200 if you skimped on the case. This case is basically the best budget option you can get though, as evaluated by Gamers Nexus which is basically the leading authority on case performance and stuff. The Silverstone case technically beats it, but it sort of assumes that you have fans lying around to put into it.

Awesome, I really appreciate it!!!

I'm totally willing to add to the budget, if you think it's worth it. I could do as high as $1500, if that opens up better options?

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EDIT: Sorry, another question!

I was talking to a friend of mine lastnight, and he was really encouraging me to veer away from AMD and go with an Intel CPU. I'm kind of curious what you guys think? I'm admittedly not the biggest tech guy, so it's entirely possible I wouldn't even notice the difference, but I was under the impression that AMD were better for multitasking, plus generally a little more bang-for-your-buck in terms of price?

I suppose I don't have a strong preference either way. I just know that when I'm playing WoW specifically, I often have Wowhead or social media stuff running in the background, and my current PC doesn't like that very much.

[Azortharion]

PCPartPicker Part List


CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5600X 3.7 GHz 6-Core Processor
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($24.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: MSI MAG X570 TOMAHAWK WIFI ATX AM4 Motherboard ($219.99 @ Adorama)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 CL16 Memory ($74.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial P1 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($93.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Asus GeForce RTX 3080 10 GB TUF GAMING Video Card ($726.99 @ Staples)
Case: Corsair 4000D Airflow ATX Mid Tower Case ($79.99 @ Best Buy)
Power Supply: Corsair RMx (2018) 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($289.98 @ Amazon)
Total: $1510.92
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-11-30 13:17 EST-0500

This is with the higher-end motherboard, faster RAM, and the better CPU cooler.

Regarding your friend's insistence on Intel, it's really much more helpful to just look aside from the name and color of the CPU box and look at the actual performance.

Until recently, Intel ruled gaming. For like, a decade, maybe more. This is probably why your friend reckons you should go Intel, but the newly released 5000 series of AMD CPU's has Intel beat in pretty much every gaming scenario.

The closest Intel competitor to the 5600X at the pricepoint would be the 10600K, which is probably what I would suggest if your budget was closer to $1100. It's a bit worse, and it costs a bit less (in most markets).

This video compares the two CPU's at stock and in their best possibly tuned setups. The 5600X just kind of wins everything. And even if the CPU is a bit more expensive, Z490 motherboards tend to cost more than the AMD B550/X570 ones AND the Intel does not come with a stock cooler (irrelevant if you go with an aftermarket one like I suggest above).

There's nothing inherent about Intel or AMD that make one better for a workload than another. It's just that in recent years, AMD has been focusing on making higher core-count CPU's that are better for multitasking (quantity of cores) at the expense of single-core performance (generally what matters for games, aka quality of cores).

With the latest AMD stuff, they've basically closed the gap on the single-core stuff and are now beating Intel on all fronts. This doesn't mean Intel sucks, or that I am an AMD fanboy, or that your friend is stupid.. It's just how the market is right now. In Q1 2021, Intel will drop their answer and it may be even better. That is the glory of competition. Right now AMD wins that competition.

[Claymore]

Awesome, I REALLY appreciate your help, and also explanations!!! I think I'm going to go for this build, unless you have any particular suggestions on why I may want to wait?

[Azortharion]

I can't think of anything, I would be more than happy with the build I listed myself for this price.

If it were my PC I would change to a slightly niftier case (Phanteks P500A with a bunch of my own fans) but that's just my own snobbery really and not something I would recommend anyone else does necessarily. Out of the box, the 4000D Airflow is really really good.

I think down the line the CPU deserves a better cooler like an ARCTIC Liquid Freezer II 280mm, but this is also mostly just snobbery and while better cooling technically helps performance, it's not really by enough to justify the extra cost at least when first building.

SSD's are the one piece of hardware I am not quite as well-versed in as others. Perhaps there are better sub-$100 M.2 SSD's out there that I do not know of.

Here are some reviews of the Crucial P1, both positive and average (I couldn't find any straight up bad reviews):

ExpertReviews
AnandTech
Guru3d
PCPartPicker User Reviews
Newegg User Reviews
Amazon User Reviews

I would generally not use User Reviews since frankly most people making user reviews are not very knowledgeable and the positive things they say could be said for pretty much any SSD that isn't terrible.

I am just one guy on a forum, it's worth checking reviews of every product I suggest to make sure it's right for you.

[Naiattavain]

i had to build a all brand new computer new everything. i spent 5150$ on the parts runs great if you select cheapo parts your bound to run into problems.

[drukai]

Awesome, I REALLY appreciate your help, and also explanations!!! I think I'm going to go for this build, unless you have any particular suggestions on why I may want to wait?

The biggest reason is you will have to. The Ryzen 5000 series has been out of stock since the first hour it was available.

[Temp name]

i had to build a all brand new computer new everything. i spent 5150$ on the parts runs great if you select cheapo parts your bound to run into problems.

Okay, first of all: No one cares
Second of all: 1200 dollars isn't "cheapo" parts.

[Claymore]

PCPartPicker Part List


CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5600X 3.7 GHz 6-Core Processor
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($24.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: MSI MAG X570 TOMAHAWK WIFI ATX AM4 Motherboard ($219.99 @ Adorama)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 CL16 Memory ($74.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial P1 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($93.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Asus GeForce RTX 3080 10 GB TUF GAMING Video Card ($726.99 @ Staples)
Case: Corsair 4000D Airflow ATX Mid Tower Case ($79.99 @ Best Buy)
Power Supply: Corsair RMx (2018) 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($289.98 @ Amazon)
Total: $1510.92
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-11-30 13:17 EST-0500

This is with the higher-end motherboard, faster RAM, and the better CPU cooler.

Regarding your friend's insistence on Intel, it's really much more helpful to just look aside from the name and color of the CPU box and look at the actual performance.

Until recently, Intel ruled gaming. For like, a decade, maybe more. This is probably why your friend reckons you should go Intel, but the newly released 5000 series of AMD CPU's has Intel beat in pretty much every gaming scenario.

The closest Intel competitor to the 5600X at the pricepoint would be the 10600K, which is probably what I would suggest if your budget was closer to $1100. It's a bit worse, and it costs a bit less (in most markets).

This video compares the two CPU's at stock and in their best possibly tuned setups. The 5600X just kind of wins everything. And even if the CPU is a bit more expensive, Z490 motherboards tend to cost more than the AMD B550/X570 ones AND the Intel does not come with a stock cooler (irrelevant if you go with an aftermarket one like I suggest above).

There's nothing inherent about Intel or AMD that make one better for a workload than another. It's just that in recent years, AMD has been focusing on making higher core-count CPU's that are better for multitasking (quantity of cores) at the expense of single-core performance (generally what matters for games, aka quality of cores).

With the latest AMD stuff, they've basically closed the gap on the single-core stuff and are now beating Intel on all fronts. This doesn't mean Intel sucks, or that I am an AMD fanboy, or that your friend is stupid.. It's just how the market is right now. In Q1 2021, Intel will drop their answer and it may be even better. That is the glory of competition. Right now AMD wins that competition.

Sooo, I think I'm finally ready to start buying parts and building something. I assume video cards are still going to be difficult to find, but my current PC just isn't really cutting it anymore. Maybe it's because I have it hooked to my living room TV (fairly large, 4K), but even youtube videos seem to constantly stutter, and it's nothing to do with the network.

Is there anything on this list you'd change your mind on, or think this is still a good shopping list?

[Thunderball]

Sooo, I think I'm finally ready to start buying parts and building something. I assume video cards are still going to be difficult to find, but my current PC just isn't really cutting it anymore. Maybe it's because I have it hooked to my living room TV (fairly large, 4K), but even youtube videos seem to constantly stutter, and it's nothing to do with the network.

Is there anything on this list you'd change your mind on, or think this is still a good shopping list?

Yeah, most of that list needs changing. However, I suggest you start off with getting a GPU. If you want a 3080 you wont be able to fit it into a $1200 range, especially with current prices and availability. If you really cant go above $1200 mark I would suggest to look for a 3070. So, get the GPU you want and come back with the budget that is left.

[durenas]

Ryzen 5000 CPUs in general are also going to be pretty hard/expensive to find. This is not a great time to be buying a computer, but if you can, be prepared to pay through the nose for it.

[Kagthul]

And if youre in the US... Tarrifs are about to go up. 25% cost increase in GPU and MoBo MSRPs. Yeee haw.

[bowchikabow]

PCPartPicker Part List


CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5600X 3.7 GHz 6-Core Processor
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($24.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: MSI MAG X570 TOMAHAWK WIFI ATX AM4 Motherboard ($219.99 @ Adorama)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 CL16 Memory ($74.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial P1 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($93.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Asus GeForce RTX 3080 10 GB TUF GAMING Video Card ($726.99 @ Staples)
Case: Corsair 4000D Airflow ATX Mid Tower Case ($79.99 @ Best Buy)
Power Supply: Corsair RMx (2018) 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($289.98 @ Amazon)
Total: $1510.92
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-11-30 13:17 EST-0500

This is with the higher-end motherboard, faster RAM, and the better CPU cooler.

Regarding your friend's insistence on Intel, it's really much more helpful to just look aside from the name and color of the CPU box and look at the actual performance.

Until recently, Intel ruled gaming. For like, a decade, maybe more. This is probably why your friend reckons you should go Intel, but the newly released 5000 series of AMD CPU's has Intel beat in pretty much every gaming scenario.

The closest Intel competitor to the 5600X at the pricepoint would be the 10600K, which is probably what I would suggest if your budget was closer to $1100. It's a bit worse, and it costs a bit less (in most markets).

This video compares the two CPU's at stock and in their best possibly tuned setups. The 5600X just kind of wins everything. And even if the CPU is a bit more expensive, Z490 motherboards tend to cost more than the AMD B550/X570 ones AND the Intel does not come with a stock cooler (irrelevant if you go with an aftermarket one like I suggest above).

There's nothing inherent about Intel or AMD that make one better for a workload than another. It's just that in recent years, AMD has been focusing on making higher core-count CPU's that are better for multitasking (quantity of cores) at the expense of single-core performance (generally what matters for games, aka quality of cores).

With the latest AMD stuff, they've basically closed the gap on the single-core stuff and are now beating Intel on all fronts. This doesn't mean Intel sucks, or that I am an AMD fanboy, or that your friend is stupid.. It's just how the market is right now. In Q1 2021, Intel will drop their answer and it may be even better. That is the glory of competition. Right now AMD wins that competition.

Or... If he did:
Motherboard: https://pcpartpicker.com/product/dmG...570-plus-wi-fi

He could upgrade his cooler, with the extra money, to this:
https://pcpartpicker.com/product/vpt...r-rrtx3e22pkr1

[SigmaShift]

PCPartPicker Part List


CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5600X 3.7 GHz 6-Core Processor
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($24.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: MSI MAG X570 TOMAHAWK WIFI ATX AM4 Motherboard ($219.99 @ Adorama)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 CL16 Memory ($74.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial P1 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($93.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Asus GeForce RTX 3080 10 GB TUF GAMING Video Card ($726.99 @ Staples)
Case: Corsair 4000D Airflow ATX Mid Tower Case ($79.99 @ Best Buy)
Power Supply: Corsair RMx (2018) 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($289.98 @ Amazon)
Total: $1510.92
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-11-30 13:17 EST-0500

This is with the higher-end motherboard, faster RAM, and the better CPU cooler.

Regarding your friend's insistence on Intel, it's really much more helpful to just look aside from the name and color of the CPU box and look at the actual performance.

Until recently, Intel ruled gaming. For like, a decade, maybe more. This is probably why your friend reckons you should go Intel, but the newly released 5000 series of AMD CPU's has Intel beat in pretty much every gaming scenario.

The closest Intel competitor to the 5600X at the pricepoint would be the 10600K, which is probably what I would suggest if your budget was closer to $1100. It's a bit worse, and it costs a bit less (in most markets).

This video compares the two CPU's at stock and in their best possibly tuned setups. The 5600X just kind of wins everything. And even if the CPU is a bit more expensive, Z490 motherboards tend to cost more than the AMD B550/X570 ones AND the Intel does not come with a stock cooler (irrelevant if you go with an aftermarket one like I suggest above).

There's nothing inherent about Intel or AMD that make one better for a workload than another. It's just that in recent years, AMD has been focusing on making higher core-count CPU's that are better for multitasking (quantity of cores) at the expense of single-core performance (generally what matters for games, aka quality of cores).

With the latest AMD stuff, they've basically closed the gap on the single-core stuff and are now beating Intel on all fronts. This doesn't mean Intel sucks, or that I am an AMD fanboy, or that your friend is stupid.. It's just how the market is right now. In Q1 2021, Intel will drop their answer and it may be even better. That is the glory of competition. Right now AMD wins that competition.

That same PSU is only $144 at best buy

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CPU isn't relevant to most games at 1440p-4k gaming, it's primarily all GPU there. Well except for WoW, and in that case any Intel 4-6 core offering will match Ryzen 5. Intel 10th Gen and Ryzen 5, will perform about the same in GPU bound games at those higher res's.

[Kagthul]

This video compares the two CPU's at stock and in their best possibly tuned setups. The 5600X just kind of wins everything. And even if the CPU is a bit more expensive, Z490 motherboards tend to cost more than the AMD B550/X570 ones AND the Intel does not come with a stock cooler (irrelevant if you go with an aftermarket one like I suggest above).

My only issue with this video is that as Steve himself will tell you, you have to see it in the correct context. They reduced it to 1080p/medium to make CPU differences meaningful. At higher settings (that you would be playing at with a 10600K or 5600X) they are pretty much at a dead heat, or the difference is small enough that it wont be noticeable for the effective lifetime of the machines.

This is not me saying that the 5600X isnt technically more powerful - it is. But is it enough more powerful to justify the extra expense (with the 10600K often dipping into the 250 range right now) and waiting and playing whackamole to get a 5600X?

Im thinking... no. They are close enough at 'real' settings that people play at that it is unlikely the owner of either machine would ever be dissatisified with their machine for its effective life (generally 4-5 years). Nor would it ever make the difference, in that time, between a game being playable or not. You're not going to see a situation where the game is unplayable on one and playable on the other.

In regards to specifically the bolded:

Sorta a myth. While B550 boards do go down to the 85$ range, you wouldn't want to OC on any of those. Theyre technically capable, but their VRMs are not really up to it. You get into boards you can OC a 5600X on at around the ~125$ mark.

There are Z490 boards that you can OC a 10600K on at around the same price (about 129$).

In either case, you're going to want to get something in at least the 150$ range if you're going to be throwing down an 8+core CPU as well (from either camp).

The cooler can be a potential issue, but as i continually have to be reminded, the stock cooler that AMD now includes with the 6 core chips is NOT the good, larger cooler they shipped with the original 1600 (its half as big and doesn't have the giant copper slug in it) so you're gonna have to go aftermarket if you want the 5600X to be able to maintain its max clocks under TVB anyway... so, sorta moot.

But its not as big a deal as the "common wisdom" makes it out to be.

There's nothing inherent about Intel or AMD that make one better for a workload than another.

Err... AVX, Quicksync, etc, do, in fact, make Intel better for some workloads. Theyre kinda niche, but they are there.

With the latest AMD stuff, they've basically closed the gap on the single-core stuff and are now beating Intel on all fronts.

For a few more weeks. Rocket Lake looks to be about 10% faster than AMD on IPC, putting Intel back on top in some situations. Core Count will not be one of them, though, as Rocket Lake seems stuck at 8 cores. So if you need more cores, AMD will still be the way to go regardless.

[Claymore]

So, it seems like the CPU and Video-card are generally the hardest things to find right now.

Well, there's a Micro Center nearby that has these in stock:

https://www.microcenter.com/product/...stealth-cooler

Should I jump on that and plan to run by after work, or even on my lunch break? It seems like *most* of the other parts, I'll probably be able to get pretty much at-will, I would just be stuck waiting for a video card.

Also, is that Ryzen the same as what was suggested? It sounds like it might include a cooler, but am I better replacing said cooler with the one recommended above?

- - - Updated - - -

So, I went ahead and took the plunge and got that CPU. Hoping that is indeed the correct CPU I need?

Anyways, definitely feels good to have actually bought the first part! I'm going to start arriving in the mornings and see if I can secure an RTX 3080 (Micro Center isn't nearly as far away as I'd thought, so they have a process for "waiting in line" each morning I guess; if nothing else, kind of an opportunity to maybe get to meet some other cool folks in the area).

Now... I happen to see this case when I was picking up the CPU, and I actually thought it was kind of cool. Certainly more than most towers, although... would I been hamstringing myself by using a mini-ITX case?

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ...ni_itx_pc.html

Or something like this could also be kind of cool, but it's maybe something that would be a nightmare to build in...?

https://www.zoro.com/fractal-design-...us/i/G6732346/

[Kagthul]

So, I went ahead and took the plunge and got that CPU. Hoping that is indeed the correct CPU I need?

Hard to say "the" correct CPU. It is one of many good CPUs you could have bought, but the 5600X is currently tops in that price range, yes. It does come with an included cooler, but given the higher temps of the 5000 series chips (because of higher clocks) its.... adequate. It wont let your CPU overheat, but itll be loud. Getting an aftermarket cooler is likely a good idea. Especially if youre going to go with mITX as you mention below. You're likely looking for a 120mm or 140mm AIO at that point.

Anyways, definitely feels good to have actually bought the first part! I'm going to start arriving in the mornings and see if I can secure an RTX 3080 (Micro Center isn't nearly as far away as I'd thought, so they have a process for "waiting in line" each morning I guess; if nothing else, kind of an opportunity to maybe get to meet some other cool folks in the area).

Ask the people in the DIY section what days they get their shipments. Waiting every day is not worthwhile since the shipments only come in twice (three times at really really busy stores) a week. Find out when those days are. Get there EAAARRRRLLLY. Around here (not sure where you are) people are in line at like 5am.

Now... I happen to see this case when I was picking up the CPU, and I actually thought it was kind of cool. Certainly more than most towers, although... would I been hamstringing myself by using a mini-ITX case?

Hamstringing, no. Adding expense, yes (at least in some ways; motherboards are more expensive in ITX (but they tend to come with WiFi and Bluetooth and a few other features that cheaper mATX or ATX boards dont have). Cases tend to be more expensive, and you sometimes need to spend more on certain parts (depending on the case, if it doesn't fit ATX Power Supplies, youll have to spend more on an SFX PSU, youll likely need an AIO cooler, etc).

But you wont hamstring the system. I run in a fairly contained mITX case (Phanteks Evolv Shift - https://phanteks.com/Enthoo-Evolv-Shift.html) and run an i5 8600K (@ 5ghz) and an RTX 3080 (EVGA SC3 Gaming Ultra) without issues and without anything even hitting really high temps (GPU stays below 80c under load, CPU hovers around the mid 60s with a 120mm AIO). And many mITX cases are less constrained than mine.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ...ni_itx_pc.html

Im not a fan of this case, but there is nothing wrong with it. Plenty of airflow at least. It falls into that category of mITX cases that arent really a lot smaller than a small mATX case, but use mITX parts so you can water cool or whatever more easily. If im going mITX, i prefer (personally) to take advantage of the form factor and get a really interesting/unique looking case (like my Shift). And/or, really embrace mITX and go SUPER small, like a DanCase.

Or something like this could also be kind of cool, but it's maybe something that would be a nightmare to build in...?

https://www.zoro.com/fractal-design-...us/i/G6732346/

You wont fit 3 slot GPUs in there. Which will SEVERELY limit your 3080 options (my case has the same limitation, though the current version - the Shift 2 - does not as they redesigned the PCIe riser bracket). And itll run HOT as youll have trouble even putting a small AIO in there (it can be done, but its a nightmare) and you really dont want to try to use the low-profile air cooler you'd have to use otherwise).

Also, once NZXT actually fixes the PCIe riser issue for this case (should be "soon"), the H1 is also pretty sweet.

https://www.nzxt.com/products/h1-matte-white

But wait till they are shipping the fixed version. The non-fixed version can catch on fire (the placement of a screw had a chance to go through a power cable on the non-fixed version) rarely. But they already said theyve got the fixed version coming.