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I have a 9 years old PC, with my still valiant i7 4790K along with an 1070GTX. I'm developing at home on personals projects to be up to date in development while I'm seeking a job in it.

I'm recently (2 years) exploring the new MAUI framework as an easier entry point for to develop on mobile that I used to avoid before.

I found it to be an hassle using the android emulator, my PC performance are really bad each time I use it. I suspect I get bottle necked here because of my 8Gb DDR3 Ram. So I'm starting to think to change my PC soon or later.

Usually I mount my PC myself, and I have relatively good knowledge on choosing PC parts, but I prefer to ask from other more experienced fellow developer here, especially those with multi-platform background, what they found to be most relevant to ease the development process ?

Especially I wonder if 32 GB DD5 Ram is overkill or not ? Does having a processor with maximum Thread/ core is worth the extra money in this case ?

I don't have special deadline. My budget is relatively low (around 1000€) but can increase if the extra money is really worth the investment.

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  • 32 GB RAM is definitely not overkill for a software developer. RAM is cheap, too.
    – idspispopd
    Commented Nov 13 at 7:59
  • Hi TRex, welcome to Hardware Recs! Agreed that you've probably got insufficient RAM. Few questions: Have you checked device manager/top to see what your RAM/CPU usage is while running Android Emulator? How are you feeling about your current compile times? What other components do you have in your PC (case, power supply)? Do you have any aesthetic or size requirements? What country are you in?
    – JMY1000 ♦
    Commented Nov 15 at 21:25
  • Didn't get the exact number of RAM / CPU usage, under task manager I see them a high. Will repost whenever I can monitor those figure. Build + Deploy time are very long (5 to 10 minutes before starting inside emulator) I'm in France, for the case / power supply I have de Define R3 + a 500W Gold Power Supply). Those aren't not an issue for me too choose. Usually I read about what are the power requirement for my config and choose a good quality power supply, for the case I prioritize silence. The main part I need confirmation is about newer CPU and what dev found usefull feature on those.
    – TRex
    Commented Nov 17 at 5:03

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I develop webapps, it's way lighter to my hardware than emulating mobile phones, and sometimes 16GB isn't enough. RAM is cheap so going 32GB looks great for your needs. Of course if you need to save as much as possible, you can build a PC that has 16GB and the slot available for upgrading later.

edit: I have a hobbyist-only background in multi-platform, but I feel you'll need RAM, CPU, and disk. I believe GPU is the expensive part that won't make a big difference in this area.

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PCPartPicker Part List

Type Item Price
CPU AMD Ryzen 9 7900X 4.7 GHz 12-Core Processor €395.53 @ Amazon France
CPU Cooler Thermalright Phantom Spirit 66.17 CFM CPU Cooler €40.90 @ Amazon France
Motherboard *Gigabyte B650 EAGLE ATX AM5 Motherboard €137.69 @ TopAchat
Memory *Patriot Viper Venom 64 GB (2 x 32 GB) DDR5-5600 CL36 Memory €154.99 @ Amazon France
Storage SK Hynix Gold P31 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 3.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive €136.99 @ Amazon France
Video Card NVIDIA 9001G4112520001 GeForce GTX 1070 8 GB Video Card Purchased For €0.00
Case Fractal Design Define R3 ATX Mid Tower Case Purchased For €0.00
Power Supply EVGA 500 GD 500 W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply Purchased For €0.00
Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
Total €866.10
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2024-11-18 09:03 CET+0100

Justifications

  • CPUs have gained a substantial amount of single-core and multicore performance since 2014. Even a modern "midrange" CPU would probably be totally sufficient for your purposes; however, since your budget allows for it, I've opted for a high-end option. If you want to reduce the cost of this build, I would recommend stepping down to a 5900X (which would also allow you to save on the motherboard and RAM if you're willing to buy used.) You could also step up to a 9900X, 7950X, or 9950X and stay within budget, but I think the diminishing returns aren't worth the cost generally.
    • X3D chips offer very little or no benefit in most compilation workloads, and often come with reduced clock speeds and extra cost. I do not recommend them for most software development (outside of game development.) I haven't found anything meaningful to suggest that JVM or .NET applications benefit from X3D particularly.
  • The motherboard is nothing special, if you have specific I/O requirements you may choose something else. If you choose to go with a 9000-series chip, you will have to flash the motherboard to a newer BIOS (though you can do this on the B650 Eagle without the CPU installed.)
  • I've prioritized high-capacity memory over high-performance. Although AMD chips do still benefit from higher performance memory to an extent, it's not really a big deal for development workloads; any kit around or below a first word latency of 14ns should be more that sufficient.
  • Storage is a similar story; I've opted for an inexpensive, high-capacity drive with DRAM. I suspect that even a Gen 3 drive should be fine in terms of bandwidth, and that we care more about IOPS usually.
  • Your GTX 1070 should be just fine, I see no reason to upgrade it.
  • The Define R3 remains a nice case.
  • I don't know exactly which power supply you have. If it's a reputable unit, I see no reason to replace it; however, you'll be approaching 500W (even without overclocking/PBO.) It's not just the 80+ rating that matters, there are good and bad 80+ Gold units; if you have any doubt about your power supply, I would replace it with a well-rated unit. It's not worth risking the rest of your hardware with a bad power supply.
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