need help building a pc please

@chachou_kharis  I understand you don't have a budget, but some parameters would be helpful here.  Do you plan to play other, more demanding games, for example Baldur's Gate 3 or Hogwarts Legacy?  What do you mean by "get into editing or rendering my sims 4 characters"—is this an in-game activity or something you'd be doing outside of it, and with what tools?

Separately, do you have a standalone monitor already, and if so, what are its specs?  If not, do you have some idea of what you'd like, in terms of specs or price or some other details?  The reason this is important is because the more pixels the graphics card needs to render, the higher the workload.  So a budget graphics card that would easily handle running Sims 4 at a resolution of 1920x1080 and 60 frames per second is not necessarily the right choice for playing at 2560x1440 and 144 fps.

I would be happy to help you pick out components once I have an idea of what you're looking for.  But I don't want to suggest more powerful and more expensive hardware than you'll ever need, or encourage you to buy something marginal when you can afford a noticeable improvement.

Hi,

I’d rather not pay more than $2,000 overall. I do plan on playing some more demanding games like Hogwarts Legacy as well. And for the editing/rendering, i meant like a video editing software (but i don’t find it important anymore as I can just use my laptop). 

I do not have a standalone monitor. I was looking at monitors earlier and there’s a part of me that wants an ultra wide monitor (but i don’t know if it’s necessary) because i really like the way it looks. however, i was also checking out the 27” ones and i like those as well. (hopes that answered your spec question- really new to all of this). 

please let me know if you need anymore info. thank you so much!

@chachou_kharis  Ultrawide monitors are not my style, but people who like them tend to love them, so if it's what you want, it's probably a good investment.  It would also help with productivity, or productivity-like tasks, where you'd want a number of windows open at the same time.  You could of course get a secondary monitor, but that can be inconvenient and take up extra space.  At any rate, I can look around for those.

The next question is whether you want me to send you an actual parts list, and if so, what country you're in.  (I would guess the U.S. but don't want to assume.)  Additionally, are you ready to order now, as in, today or in the next few days?  Or do you want to move through the process more slowly as you learn about hardware and consider the decisions you're making?  That's the difference between my finding the best deals available right now vs. giving you more general guidance about what to look for.

As an example, this RTX 3070 is on sale right now for significantly less than other models and less than the faster (but not massively faster) 4070.  But the sale ends at midnight Newegg time, after which it won't be a great deal anymore, so if you weren't ready to buy now, it wouldn't be worth keeping on your list.

https://www.newegg.com/gigabyte-geforce-rtx-3070-gv-n3070gaming-oc-8gd/p/N82E16814932449

That's not to pressure you to make any decisions before you're ready—there are always deals to be had if you're patient, and it's easy to search if you know how.  I'm just saying the conversation is different depending on where you are in the process.  I'm happy to help no matter what your answer is; I just want to give the most useful kind of help.

$2,000 is a very reasonable budget even including the monitor, and you'll be able to get components that will make you a great gaming computer.

Yes, please if it’s not an inconvenience for you i’d really appreciate it if you helped me search for some ultra wide monitors.

Yes, I’d want you to send me a parts list. I live in the U.S. I’m ready to order the parts throughout this month. I want to take this slowly, but not too slow. If that makes sense? Again, thank you a lot! 

@chachou_kharis  Before saying anything else, I would suggest that if you're ready to buy the graphics card, I would suggest the one I linked earlier.  The RTX 3070 is in theory about as fast as the newer 4060 ti but has better 1% lows.  So when a game is starting to lag, it won't feel as laggy or choppy with the 3070.  That's not to say the 4060 ti is a terrible option, only that all else being equal, the 3070 is the better choice.

Aside from the one model 3070 I linked though, the 4060 ti is somewhat cheaper, and it's one of the two options I'd suggest in your price range, with the other being somewhat more expensive.  It's your call which tier (and price) of graphics card you want; I'm just saying that if the 4060 ti is your choice, this particular 3070 is worth substituting in.  But as I mentioned before, it's not going to be on sale after tonight, and it's not nearly as good an option at full price.

For the rest, I used PCPartPicker to look at prices, which makes shopping a lot easier.  I'd suggest keeping an eye on the components you want there and looking for sales as you go through the process.  Components:

CPU: i5-13600K, $294

CPU cooler: Enermax AquaFusion 2-fan ($70-75) or 3-fan ($100)

     [alternate: for air cooling, Noctua NH-D15, $110)

Motherboard: Asus Prime B760-Plus, $140

     [alternate: MSI Pro Z690-A Wifi, $160]

Memory: G.Skill Flare X5 2x16 GB DDR5-6000 CL36, $90

Storage: Samsung 980 Pro 2 TB, $165 or 1 TB, $100

Power supply: Corsair RM750e 750 W 80+ Gold, $85

Video card: RTX 4060 ti (any 2-fan card), $375-400

     OR RTX 4070 (Asus if 2 fans, otherwise 3 fans), $530-550

     OR RTX 4070 Super (fans as above), $600+

For the processor, I went with an i5-13600K because it's a little faster in gaming than an i7-12700K, it's newer, and no game you'll play will ever need the two extra P cores of the 12700K.

For the CPU cooler, it depends on whether you want an air or liquid cooler.  A Noctua NH-D15 is the gold standard in air coolers and can handle the 13600K; it's about equal in performance to a quality 2-fan liquid cooler.  If you're more worried than most people about high temperatures, or live in a hot climate with no or bad AC, a 3-fan cooler will give you more aggressive cooling.

For the motherboard, I went with ATX because it's much easier to build with a full-size board.  Both of these boards have more expansion slots than you'll realistically ever use and are quality products in general.  The MSI board supports CPU overclocking, while the Asus board doesn't, but you might never overclock.

For the memory, at current DDR5 speeds, it's less about the absolute speed than the first-word latency, so I picked the cheapest option with low latency from a reputable brand.  Getting 32 GB is cheap too, and you'll probably be glad you have it in a few years if not now.  Quality RAM is cheap and easy to make, so there are always lots of good options; don't overthink this.  These products come with a lifetime warranty for a reason.

For the storage, Samsung is still the gold standard for SSDs.  If you're shopping for a bargain, just pick the cheapest Samsung M.2 SSD that's PCIe 4.0 or 5.0 x4 and is the size you want.  (I chose 2 TB in case you want to hold lots of data, but 1 TB is more than enough for Sims 4, a giant pile of custom content, and a few Hogwarts Legacy-sized games.)  You could get a cheaper SSD for sure, but this is your data, and I personally think the Samsung premium is well worth not having to worry.

For the power supply, Corsair is the gold standard here, and this is even more critical than the SSD.  Don't mess around.  If prices change, the important specs are 80+ Gold or higher, and 750 W or higher.

For the graphics card, all of these are massive overkill for Sims 4, but Hogwarts Legacy will benefit from the extra speed, especially if you want to play in ultrawide and at a higher refresh rate.  You could still run the game on ultra settings at above 60 fps with a 4060; this is more about how high your framerates can go and how smooth the game will feel as a result.  So don't break the bank to upgrade; just get whatever GPU fits into your preferred budget.

I didn't pick a case because that's a personal decision, but if you want an idea of where to start, look at the Corsair 5000D.  It has good airflow and is easy to build in.  It's not cheap though, starting at $140.  If you want something smaller, consider Fractal Design's cases, which are cheaper but still high quality.  Anything that says ATX will fit an ATX motherboard, but a mid-tower may not be able to fit a 3-fan radiator (from the CPU cooler) into the case.  You'd want to double-check the measurements, or visit a store.

For Windows, all you need is a Windows 10 key, which you can often pick up on Amazon for cheaper than the standard license.  Windows 11 is a free upgrade, and you'll want to manually install Windows anyway; you can make your own install medium with a blank USB stick and temporary access to a computer currently running Windows.

For the monitor, there are not a lot of options in the ultrawide category, and many are more expensive than is reasonable.  Here are the best ones I found, all IPS panels (the highest quality in terms of color) and good peak brightness.  The first and fourth have a 75 Hz refresh rate, which is not that high, but they're also cheaper; the others have higher refresh rates.  The first three have a 2560x1080 resolution, the others a 3840x1440 resolution.  More pixels means a sharper image but also more work for the graphics card, but you can also turn down the resolution in-game if necessary, which it won't be for Sims 4 but might be for other games depending on which GPU you choose.

https://www.newegg.com/asus-vp299cl-29/p/N82E16824281158

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1766123-REG/lg_34bq650_w_34_uw_fhd_21_9.html

https://www.amazon.com/MSI-Rapid-IPS-Compatible-Optix-MAG301RF/dp/B096HVSTLG

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1601165-REG/lg_34bn770_b_34_ips_qhd_ultrawide.html

https://www.amazon.com/AOC-U34G3X-Frameless-UltraWide-Zero-Bright-dot/dp/B0B5FWW26N

https://www.amazon.com/MSI-G271CQP-FreeSync-Displayport-Adjustable/dp/B09GWDJ7JD

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/asus-34-lcd-monitor-with-hdr-displayport-usb-hdmi-black/6529281.p?skuId=6529281

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/gigabyte-m34wq-34-led-wqhd-freesync-premium-ips-gaming-monitor-with-hdr-hdmi-displayport-usb-black/6488589.p?skuId=6488589

There's no reason to worry about G-sync or FreeSync; you can accomplish much the same thing with software.  One thing that does matter, a lot, is size.  Please measure the space where the monitor will be before spending any money; a 34" ultrawide is quite large.

Ok. Thanks a lot for the help!