Built this PC for my dad who my daughter calls "Papi." My dad had an iMac from 2012 that was basically unusable. Applications would take forever to load and if you had more than a few apps running, everything would slow considerably. The newest entry level '27 iMac goes for $1799. I told him I could build him a PC with way more power for way less money. He decided to trust me and this computer is the result.

Compared to the iMac, this has double the thread count, double the RAM, x4 the storage, the RX 580 vs the 570x with double the GDDG5 VRAM, and it's $500 cheaper. Admittedly, the iMac does have a better monitor, but we did manage it get a 4k display with decent color.

The plan was to make something not too big and not too expensive, but still a pleasure to look at. My dad doesn’t game, but he does do a lot of photo editing and some light video editing, so I thought he'd still benefit from having a gpu (I also needed to make sure it was better than the iMac). As you might notice in the photos, the original plan was to use AMD's Wraith Max cooler, as it is one of the only air coolers I find aesthetically pleasing, but I made the mistake of installing it last and just could not get it on. I originally bought the cooler on Amazon and the package came mildly damaged, but I don't know if this was the problem. Regardless, it was extremely difficult to install and I was worried I was going to break the motherboard in the process. If you get the Wraith Max, install it before putting the motherboard in the case and make sure you're comfortable putting significant pressure on the motherboard to get those stupid clips hooked in on both sides. I just went with the Ryzen 5 stock cooler, but it was a bit loud. I almost went with the EVO 212, but I just can't stand the look of it. I love AIO water coolers, so we went with the H60. Not exactly the best for budget, but it's keeping things real cool and is pretty quiet, even with its stock fan. We have no plans to overclock.

This case was such a pleasure to build in, really great for cable management. The only thing I didn't like was that the positions of the SSD on the front, as well as the position of the HDD, force the SATA power cable to bend significantly. I was worried it might not work, but they do. The gpu was also way bigger than I thought it would be, but it still manages to fit in the case.