My boyfriend asked for a computer build for podcasting and light gaming for Christmas. He specifically wants a custom build desktop and I wasn’t able to talk him out of going this route. We’re starting from zero so I’d need to get a tower, monitor, keyboard, mouse, mic, webcam, etc. Trying to keep it under $1300ish for the package.
What kind of specs should I target to future proof the system for podcasting in case this becomes a serious hobby for him? I’ve built hundreds of PCs in my lifetime but never had to consider audio/video production. Also curious if anyone has advice for the podcasting equipment.
Thanks ahead of time.
Your PSU recommendations are quite out of date. Modern day PSUs don’t need nearly as much power as they did 10 years ago. For example, my gaming rig with a Ryzen 5 5600x and a GTX 4060 Ti only draws ~320 Watts so I run a 500W PSU and it’s fine. I imagine for this build I’ll get away with even lower wattage.
I always suggest higher power than you need for a few reasons:
Peak efficiency is at about half load, and peak efficiency produces less heat, which is what kills components.
Long term compatibility - larger PSUs have more ports and can support significantly more specialized upgrade paths
Larger units tend to be made with higher quality parts. As I stated in the other comment, the PSU is the only thing that can take everything else with it when it goes.
As a generation of parts age, they often get more power hungry as companies start packing more chips into the same form factor. The regular CPU and GPU lines will get more efficient, so they’ll release a premium or creator line that has more cores or units.
Finally, a good power supply can be effectively permanent. Having more than you need is never a problem, and you can reuse it in an entirely new build ten years down the line when we have no idea how much wattage will be needed.