Looking to build a PC

[shikaku 706]

Hello everyone, i am currently looking to build a desktop. As a non tech savvy guy i asked some friends of mine to help me and this is what they got me: http://www.ibuypower.com/Store/Intel-X99-Core-i7-Configurator/W/328695

 

i want to budget at atleast $1400 and i wanna play dank games like overwatch and stuff. please help me

[Swed 2651]

Ok, here's literally everything you need:

 

http://www.logicalincrements.com/

 

http://pcpartpicker.com/

 

Do not, I swear on your mum, buy a pre-built or have a company build your PC for you.

 

I will help you create a build, message me if you want/need help.

[shikaku 706]

1 minute ago, Swed said:

Ok, here's literally everything you need:

 

http://www.logicalincrements.com/

 

http://pcpartpicker.com/

 

Do not, I swear on your mum, buy a pre-built or have a company build your PC for you.

 

I will help you create a build, message me if you want/need help.

 

hmu on steam bby

[Duex 1095]

building it yourself is easy as hell

[Koriko 79]

I can put my two cents in. Did you want a smaller and more portable PC or a full sized one? Did you want extra room for expansion like a second video card or more RAM down the line? How did you want the case to look? Are you buying a monitor too? Other peripherals such as a keyboard, mouse, or speakers/headphones?

[shikaku 706]

2 minutes ago, Koriko said:

I can put my two cents in. Did you want a smaller and more portable PC or a full sized one? Did you want extra room for expansion like a second video card or more RAM down the line? How did you want the case to look? Are you buying a monitor too? Other peripherals such as a keyboard, mouse, or speakers/headphones?

 

 

Full sized

Monitor

Keyboard

 

I'm looking to build something nice that'll last me.

[Koriko 79]

I should have asked this as well, but are you planning on doing any streaming/video rendering? What about anything like photo editing? Did you want a side window? If so, did you have a specific color combo you had in mind? I ask because the current motherboard and cooler is black, so it goes with basically any color. Do you plan on overclocking your PC if/when you learn to overclock? Do you live alone or have any circumstances that require a silent/quieter keyboard? Do you require a number pad on your keyboard?

In the mean time, here's a very rough build that I scraped together:

Quote

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($198.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler  ($26.88 @ OutletPC) 
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z170XP-SLI ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($118.99 @ B&H) 
Memory: Kingston FURY 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory  ($37.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Storage: A-Data Premier SP550 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($62.92 @ NCIX US) 
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($64.03 @ Amazon) 
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 1070 8GB Video Card  ($409.95 @ B&H) 
Case: Fractal Design Define S ATX Mid Tower Case  ($64.99 @ NCIX US) 
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA NEX 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($79.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit  ($88.89 @ OutletPC) 
Monitor: Acer H236HLbid 23.0" 60Hz Monitor  ($119.99 @ Best Buy) 
Keyboard: Cooler Master CM Storm Quick Fire TK Wired Gaming Keyboard  ($81.24 @ Amazon) 
Mouse: Razer DeathAdder Chroma Wired Optical Mouse  ($51.99 @ Best Buy) 
Total: $1406.84
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-08-19 02:10 EDT-0400

CPU: Newest generation of i5 processors. Non K to save ~$30 to spend elsewhere. If you believe that you want to overclock in the future, you have to get the K version.
CPU Cooler: Well-regarded in the PC community as an amazing low-cost air cooler.
Motherboard: Full-sized ATX board with all the goods, including SLI support if you want to add a second 1070 in the future, as well as USB type C.
Memory: Nothing fancy. Black heatspreader and a single stick of DDR4 2400 so you have three more slots to add more RAM later on if you need to. If you choose to pick a case with a window you can swap out the ram for one of a better color.
SSD: Well-reviewed budget SSD. I'm jealous you can even get ~250 GB SSDs at this price nowadays. I spent ~$170 on 120 GB years ago.
HDD: Good secondary storage device for less-important games, programs/applications, and definitely not porn.
Video Card: This is what you want to splurge on. This GTX 1070 will last you years to come, especially at 1080p and 1440p gaming.
Case: You can have it any color as long as it's black. I don't know what you want your PC to look like, so this black box is what I picked out for now. It's got a sound-resistant design and is lined with some sort of magical sound-isolating phone. Lots of expansion room and has two places where you can fit 360mm of pure radiator if you decide to feed the beast and water cool in the future.
Power Supply: Full modular in case you want to swap out your power cords for better color coordination in the future, and to avoid having to shove unused connectors somewhere else. 90+ gold for amazing power efficiency for lower power bills and can provide 650 watts for extra headroom should you add anything to your PC in the future.
OS: Windows 10. Windows 7 is double the price, and Windows 10 will have more support moving forward.
Monitor: No frills 1080p panel. It's IPS which is the same technology that makes your smartphone's colors look good. Glossy black which is not to everyone's taste, but I mean in a budget like this you can't really complain.
Keyboard: No frills mechanical keyboard. It's got backlighting and a full numberpad. Once you go mech you can't go back.
Mouse: Razer makes good mice. It's from their Chroma line, which uses their Chroma API. Overwatch has native support for the Chroma API, meaning you'll get a lighting effect when stuff happens. It syncs up with my Razer Firefly and Black Widow Chroma as well, which fills me with the impression that I'm at a club socializing instead of playing Overwatch alone to ease my crippling depression.

[shikaku 706]

I have no idea what you just asked me

[Koriko 79]

Well at least I don't have to change my build then.

 

[Sean 3760]

6 hours ago, Koriko said:

Well at least I don't have to change my build then.

 

1 8gb stick of ram???

locked cpu?

a-data ssd?

RAZER MOUSE?

60Hz MONITOR?

 

uwotm8

 

[nothing_but_fail 484]

@shikaku158 Just use the logical Increments site that Swed linked, and take your time to learn how all the components work, where they go, and what they do. After that you should look at WHAT components you should get. Once again Logical Increments does a good job giving builds. 

[Duex 1095]

https://www.reddit.com/r/buildapc/

 

https://www.reddit.com/r/buildapcforme/

 

https://www.reddit.com/r/buildapcsales

 

 

[driz 2626]

8 hours ago, Sean said:

1 8gb stick of ram???

locked cpu?

a-data ssd?

RAZER MOUSE?

60Hz MONITOR?

 

uwotm8

 

i don't see an issue with 8G but prefer 2x4g stick, i doubt most gamers leverage more than 8 and he still has 3 bays for expansion up to 32G on pretty much any z170 atx board.

locked-cpu i have to agree with sean.. 6600k is def worth it. when you start thinking , oh i need to upgrade, just OC..

a-data... wtf  

no fucks on mice

the only 60hz monitor i would buy is 4k.. get a gsync 144.

 

how about 

your case doesnt matter, get one that fits and is cheap (spend your money where it matters, dont be dumb)

board: asus z170 pro gaming ~160 (you have to shop around)

cpu: it-6600K ~199 (you have to shop around)

video: gigabyte GTX 1060 (~290)

ram: patriot viper 16G kit (~125) (or drop to gskill ripjaws 4 16G kit for around 109)

psu: corsair RM550x (89.99) if you plan on doing SLI some day get the 750x)

cooling: ID-Cooling Frostflow 240L (~99) it's a closed loop water cooler that won the 2016 editors choice award on THG

case: enermax ostrog gt (~72) it's even got a fag window

monitor op1: benq xl2720z (~340) <-- 144hz 27" 1ms response, only 1080p

monitor op2: aoc g2460pg (~230) <--144hz 24" gsync 1ms, only 1080p

keyboard: find some shit that fits what you have left, it's a fucking keyboard

 

total w/ op1: 1374.99

total w/ op2: 1264.99

 

you need to dig up 318$ to buy a samsung 950 pro. it's about 4x faster than an evo 840 and 8x faster than a WD raptor

 

 

ref info: the i5 6600k is a 3.5GHz proc, mine is OC'd to 4.2GHz stable. the patriot viper is xmp for 3400, you can OC, but you don't need to.

the samsung 950 pro: 

 

for perspective, the fastest SSD, the evo 850 pro does up to 550MB/s read and up to 520MB/s write..  this is 4.7x faster on read and 3x faster on write. 

 

for further fun, far left, seagate barracuda, middle, evo 850 pro, far right, 950 pro

[ChosenOne2000 4440]

I agreed with @driz about the GPU. A 1060 will play any game you own on ultra. Unless you want e-peen or will be a hardcore VR player, stick with a 1060.

[Atari Breakout 164]

You could try an RX 470 if ur ok with team red and FHD (1080p) 

If you bought the 4k screen already, then rip

 

BenchMark pics

http://imgur.com/a/88elP

 

[Koriko 79]

5 hours ago, Sean said:

1 8gb stick of ram???

locked cpu?

a-data ssd?

RAZER MOUSE?

60Hz MONITOR?

 

uwotm8

 

And yet with all those corners cut, everything was still $4 over budget.
8GB is the standard amount of RAM nowadays, and very few games ever take advantage of more.
He clearly doesn't understand what overclocking is, and most people new to PC building are uneasy about overvolting/overclocking a processor they just dropped >$200 on. The $30 was allocated elsewhere since his budget is somewhat low. And even at that, he's just putting down $30 into the silicon lottery for a chance at a noticeable performance increase.
This particular Adata SSD is a very well-reviewed and got good ratings from places like NCIX. I don't understand why you're equating a specific SSD model with the brand who builds it.
Mice are very user specific. I happen to like Razer mice, and he can change it out if he wishes, but he specifically mentioned Overwatch, which pairs well with Razer mice on the aesthetics side. Again, Razer mice are very user-specific, so a trip to Best Buy or other computer store with mice out on display to demo would be helpful.
A cheap 60Hz FHD monitor is very well in the "throwaway range" while still being good for now. If he wants to expand his budget by a couple of hundred of dollars he can pick up a better one.
 

3 hours ago, driz said:

locked-cpu i have to agree with sean.. 6600k is def worth it. when you start thinking , oh i need to upgrade, just OC..

Overclocking isn't a very good substitute 4 years down the line when he needs to refresh most of his parts anyway.
 

4 hours ago, driz said:

(you have to shop around)

Of course the guy has to shop around; that's why PCPP has actual pricing graphs so he knows exactly how much money he's going to put down. Lowballing every component without specifics doesn't really help him if he wants a computer in the short term.
 

4 hours ago, driz said:

video: gigabyte GTX 1060 (~290)

While I do agree with you on the choice of video card if he plans on changing his card and monitor out if he wants to go above 1080p in the future...
 

4 hours ago, driz said:

if you plan on doing SLI some day get the 750x

The 1060 doesn't support SLI, and he will have to change out his video card to a 1070 or greater in the future anyways. Given the 1060's price point, I wouldn't consider it a "throwaway card".

It wasn't until

4 hours ago, driz said:

you need to dig up 318$ to buy a samsung 950 pro. it's about 4x faster than an evo 840 and 8x faster than a WD raptor

That I realized you were going over budget. IMO storage speed isn't a very good place to go over budget, and that can easily be spent on a 1400p 144Hz monitor. If he has some sort of brand loyalty for SSDs, he can throw that extra $10 on an SSD from a brand he likes if he wants a different sticker on the drive.

 

2 hours ago, Atari Breakout said:

You could try an RX 470 if ur ok with team red and FHD (1080p)

If you bought the 4k screen already, then rip

 

BenchMark pics

http://imgur.com/a/88elP

 

I have a team red build right now, but I mean at his budget he may as well at least get an Intel/NVidia combo.

[Swed 2651]

Here's a quick first pass, I'm busy but I only went 100$ over, @driz please look at it and refine anything u see necessary

 

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/list/XRdRTH
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/list/XRdRTH/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($219.99 @ Newegg) 
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler  ($24.99 @ Newegg) 
Motherboard: Asus Z170I PRO GAMING Mini ITX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($159.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory  ($84.88 @ OutletPC) 
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($157.89 @ OutletPC) 
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($64.00 @ Amazon) 
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 1070 8GB SC Gaming ACX 3.0 Video Card  ($429.99 @ B&H) 
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case  ($59.99 @ Newegg) 
Power Supply: Corsair RM 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($89.99 @ Newegg) 
Monitor: Asus VS239H-P 23.0" Monitor  ($126.89 @ B&H) 
Keyboard: Cooler Master Storm QuickFire Rapid Wired Gaming Keyboard  ($86.90 @ Amazon) 
Total: $1505.50

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-08-19 17:55 EDT-0400

[driz 2626]

Obviously my suggestions are best. Follow them, downgrade the nvme to an SSD if you like, you can always buy one later. Install Asus tool click oc enjoy an extra 700mhz . Only the nvme breaks your budget, worth it for an 8x improvement over spinning disk, but you can buy an evo 840 cheap now

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

[Koriko 79]

19 minutes ago, driz said:

Only the nvme breaks your budget, worth it for an 8x improvement over spinning disk

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

Any SSD is an improvement over a spinning disk. What real-world benefit would he see in everyday use by picking an NVMe or M.2 SSD over a SATA III SSD? Realistically speaking, of course. With a power combo such as an i5 6600K and 8 GB of DDR4-2400 RAM with an optimized OS like Windows 10 with its enhanced prefetch/superfetch features and whatnot, how would benchmark scores from an NVMe over SATA III make an impact on the user experience, and is it enough to justify the cost of going >$300 over budget? Even if we're going >$300 over budget, how can you justify spending it on an area of high diminishing returns in exchange for little future-proofness as opposed to an area of the build that has a lower diminishing returns coefficient and can aid in future proofing the build?

[driz 2626]

You act like m.2 indicates not sata3 ... Plz research more before I can continue taking to you

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

[Koriko 79]

I never said nor implied it, and even if I did, it doesn't refute any argument or point I'm trying to get across.

[driz 2626]

your point was rendered moot like 6 posts ago when i said he could skip the nvme and get an evo 840 which would be in his budget.. you're basically now attempting to flaunt knowledge that you clearly lack by making statements such 

 

50 minutes ago, Koriko said:

What real-world benefit would he see in everyday use by picking an NVMe or M.2 SSD over a SATA III SSD? Realistically speaking, of course. With a power combo such as an i5 6

you also appear to think an i5 is a "power combo" when in reality it's a middle of the road affordable cpu that can be had for 200$ with a free 700MHz. 

 

 your suggested build doesn't even leverage any benefits of the chipset you selected, presumably because you don't actually understand. why would you ever choose a single stick of ram with a chipset that hugely benefits from 2? if you want 8G, buy 2 4G sticks. 

 

you clearly state a sata SSD is faster than an HDD and go as far to suggest one.. a sata ssd is ~4x faster than the fastest HDD and an nvme is 4-5x faster than the fastest sata ssd; so the metrics speak for themselves. if it's worth getting a sata ssd, it's worth getting an NVMe. that being said, it's impossible to say what his real-world experience with it will be. in terms of online games, instant map loading is a noticeable effect... but once the game is loaded, you might as well be on an HDD... regardless, an HDD or a SATA ssd will be the bottleneck in the system, an NVMe will not.

 

further, you are poor at math, since in only one case were we even close to 300 over.and while windows 10 may be the best OS since Windows 95 from Microsoft, referring to it as a "highly optimized OS" is ignorant. it's not optimized in any way, thats why it runs on EVERYTHING. Optimization limits compatibility.

 

for your last ditch effort to sound educated

Quote

how can you justify spending it on an area of high diminishing returns in exchange for little future-proofness as opposed to an area of the build that has a lower diminishing returns coefficient and can aid in future proofing the build?

i provided speed comparisons and real world numbers and suggested it; i further stated it could be skipped for a brand with a good reputation, good warranty and a length of history to establish quality in manufacturing. you strung together a bunch of big words to sound intelligent and failed because you couldn't be bothered to research, read, or comprehend. 

 

Your points were invalid and would only lead to a post like this, which i intended to avoid by allowing you time to research first. Our builds were right around the same cost, but i provided a better monitor (significantly so), a better cpu, more ram and actual supporting information for components that could be questions. the fact that you suggested an A-Data SSD and then claimed it had good reviews (by which quality reviewing group, i might ask) shows your poor decision making skills in terms of building a PC. I commend you for taking the leap and looking at custom builds, but you should do a lot more research first before suggesting builds to others. 

 

I would love to see your math supporting your input regarding diminishing returns   I also didnt lowball any numbers, i actually pulled from from my amazon purchase history, newegg, and a couple other stores (i also listed sales that recently ended but will obviously return).. but good research  

 

side note @OP if you only wanna play shit like rust, csgo, css, dota2, gmod (shit we have here) just run linux, it'll be much faster and a fuck ton more "optimized" than any windows version. obviously you need to verify all the games you wanna play will work, but i've yet to see a game i couldn't play in linux (and i've been a *nix user/gamer since 94). also, there's the whole free vs ~100$ thing to consider     free+more fps vs 100$+less fps  easy choice IMO.  and if anyone tells you linux is hard to use, they've probably never used it before.  if you can run windows or macOSx, you can run linux.

 

 

[Clamps 4783]

19 minutes ago, driz said:

your point was rendered moot like 6 posts ago when i said he could skip the nvme and get an evo 840 which would be in his budget.. you're basically now attempting to flaunt knowledge that you clearly lack by making statements such 

 

you also appear to think an i5 is a "power combo" when in reality it's a middle of the road affordable cpu that can be had for 200$ with a free 700MHz. 

 

 your suggested build doesn't even leverage any benefits of the chipset you selected, presumably because you don't actually understand. why would you ever choose a single stick of ram with a chipset that hugely benefits from 2? if you want 8G, buy 2 4G sticks. 

 

you clearly state a sata SSD is faster than an HDD and go as far to suggest one.. a sata ssd is ~4x faster than the fastest HDD and an nvme is 4-5x faster than the fastest sata ssd; so the metrics speak for themselves. if it's worth getting a sata ssd, it's worth getting an NVMe. that being said, it's impossible to say what his real-world experience with it will be. in terms of online games, instant map loading is a noticeable effect... but once the game is loaded, you might as well be on an HDD... regardless, an HDD or a SATA ssd will be the bottleneck in the system, an NVMe will not.

 

further, you are poor at math, since in only one case were we even close to 300 over.and while windows 10 may be the best OS since Windows 95 from Microsoft, referring to it as a "highly optimized OS" is ignorant. it's not optimized in any way, thats why it runs on EVERYTHING. Optimization limits compatibility.

 

for your last ditch effort to sound educated

i provided speed comparisons and real world numbers and suggested it; i further stated it could be skipped for a brand with a good reputation, good warranty and a length of history to establish quality in manufacturing. you strung together a bunch of big words to sound intelligent and failed because you couldn't be bothered to research, read, or comprehend. 

 

Your points were invalid and would only lead to a post like this, which i intended to avoid by allowing you time to research first. Our builds were right around the same cost, but i provided a better monitor (significantly so), a better cpu, more ram and actual supporting information for components that could be questions. the fact that you suggested an A-Data SSD and then claimed it had good reviews (by which quality reviewing group, i might ask) shows your poor decision making skills in terms of building a PC. I commend you for taking the leap and looking at custom builds, but you should do a lot more research first before suggesting builds to others. 

 

I would love to see your math supporting your input regarding diminishing returns   I also didnt lowball any numbers, i actually pulled from from my amazon purchase history, newegg, and a couple other stores (i also listed sales that recently ended but will obviously return).. but good research  

 

side note @OP if you only wanna play shit like rust, csgo, css, dota2, gmod (shit we have here) just run linux, it'll be much faster and a fuck ton more "optimized" than any windows version. obviously you need to verify all the games you wanna play will work, but i've yet to see a game i couldn't play in linux (and i've been a *nix user/gamer since 94). also, there's the whole free vs ~100$ thing to consider     free+more fps vs 100$+less fps  easy choice IMO.  and if anyone tells you linux is hard to use, they've probably never used it before.  if you can run windows or macOSx, you can run linux.

 

 

[driz 2626]

i was not savage, it was a logical reply that identified shortcomings in reply and illogical writing techniques commonly used to "confuse" the uneducated (like most US teachers!)

[Sieghart 9]

 

Quote

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($198.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler  ($26.88 @ OutletPC) 
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z170XP-SLI ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($118.99 @ B&H) 
Memory: Kingston FURY 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory  ($37.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Storage: A-Data Premier SP550 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($62.92 @ NCIX US) 
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($64.03 @ Amazon) 
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 1070 8GB Video Card  ($409.95 @ B&H) 
Case: Fractal Design Define S ATX Mid Tower Case  ($64.99 @ NCIX US) 
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA NEX 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($79.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit  ($88.89 @ OutletPC) 
Monitor: Acer H236HLbid 23.0" 60Hz Monitor  ($119.99 @ Best Buy) 
Keyboard: Cooler Master CM Storm Quick Fire TK Wired Gaming Keyboard  ($81.24 @ Amazon) 
Mouse: Razer DeathAdder Chroma Wired Optical Mouse  ($51.99 @ Best Buy) 
Total: $1406.84
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-08-19 02:10 EDT-0400

 

 

This is the best suggestion I've seen thus far, all of the money is in all of the right places. But I do have a few questions:

 

- Why pick a Z170 when with a locked processor you could settle for an H170 and save ~$50 or so? I know they lack SLI support, but I wonder if it's really even necessary. I don't know if I like the idea of going with a locked processor when the unlocked version could be better. Then again I see your point about upgrading, but more on that later.

 

- The memory is fine, but for a mere $3 or so you can get yourself Ripjaws 2800 2x4 GB. Probably doesn't matter at all, but I'd still do it because it's a pretty insignificant price increase. But you are on the edge with the budget. Also good find on the SSD.

 

- So if we're really going to SLI for upgrading, I'd recommend going AMD. You can get one RX 480 for dirt cheap (around $230) and always pick up a second one if it's still not enough juice to run crossfire. It's about as good as a GTX 1080 for a solid $150 cheaper.

 

Other than that I like the peripherals, they're often overlooked but I've found them to be the most important components. They're what you use every day to interact with the computer, even while you're doing non-intensive tasks like writing emails. So in summary, I really like what you're going for here, but I think it can be improved in a few ways.

 

10 hours ago, driz said:

i don't see an issue with 8G but prefer 2x4g stick, i doubt most gamers leverage more than 8 and he still has 3 bays for expansion up to 32G on pretty much any z170 atx board.

locked-cpu i have to agree with sean.. 6600k is def worth it. when you start thinking , oh i need to upgrade, just OC..

a-data... wtf  

no fucks on mice

the only 60hz monitor i would buy is 4k.. get a gsync 144.

 

how about 

your case doesnt matter, get one that fits and is cheap (spend your money where it matters, dont be dumb)

board: asus z170 pro gaming ~160 (you have to shop around)

cpu: it-6600K ~199 (you have to shop around)

video: gigabyte GTX 1060 (~290)

ram: patriot viper 16G kit (~125) (or drop to gskill ripjaws 4 16G kit for around 109)

psu: corsair RM550x (89.99) if you plan on doing SLI some day get the 750x)

cooling: ID-Cooling Frostflow 240L (~99) it's a closed loop water cooler that won the 2016 editors choice award on THG

case: enermax ostrog gt (~72) it's even got a fag window

monitor op1: benq xl2720z (~340) <-- 144hz 27" 1ms response, only 1080p

monitor op2: aoc g2460pg (~230) <--144hz 24" gsync 1ms, only 1080p

keyboard: find some shit that fits what you have left, it's a fucking keyboard

 

total w/ op1: 1374.99

total w/ op2: 1264.99

 

you need to dig up 318$ to buy a samsung 950 pro. it's about 4x faster than an evo 840 and 8x faster than a WD raptor

 

 

ref info: the i5 6600k is a 3.5GHz proc, mine is OC'd to 4.2GHz stable. the patriot viper is xmp for 3400, you can OC, but you don't need to.

the samsung 950 pro: <pictar>

 

for perspective, the fastest SSD, the evo 850 pro does up to 550MB/s read and up to 520MB/s write..  this is 4.7x faster on read and 3x faster on write. 

 

for further fun, far left, seagate barracuda, middle, evo 850 pro, far right, 950 pro

<moar pictar>

 

I'm finding a hard time justifying this list. The A-Data SSD is actually a pretty good find. Samsung's SSDs are really if you have money to burn or if you can find a great deal here or there.

 

I find a good case to be pretty important. It doesn't have to be expensive, but considerations like airflow and such matter quite a bit. It can make the difference of more than a few degrees if you have cables all over blocking fans.

 

Paying $160 for a motherboard is pretty insane unless you're going enthusiast. There aren't any extra specs that are needed that a $100 Z170 doesn't also have. Except I guess the gaming branding. Let's stick to specs that actually matter and shy away from things like bells and whistles.

 

Dropping $125 on RAM is unreasonable, I spend around $70 on my own builds for an enthusiast budget, which is far higher than this. Maybe it was reasonable two years ago when memory was twice as expensive.

 

The RMx power supplies have been exceptionally well reviewed.

 

I'm not on board with getting a closed water loop cooler, I'd prefer just to get a $30 aftermarket. Water cooling (including closed loop) should really be reserved for enthusiasts.

 

Also the monitor seems dramatically over-inflated. So to summarize I think your build is trying to be enthusiast instead of mid-level budget. Your pricing is a bit off, the best I could do put it at over $1600. I think for this much money you could definitely do much better and think a lot of the money was misplaced into the wrong categories that will give imperceptible returns for gaming or everyday use. As a side note at the end, I do like m.2 form factor if only because you just attach them right on the mobo, which is cleaner and easier. M.2 is more exciting for laptops than desktops (if you really want performance, get yourself PCI-E storage).

 

4 hours ago, driz said:

your point was rendered moot like 6 posts ago when i said he could skip the nvme and get an evo 840 which would be in his budget.. you're basically now attempting to flaunt knowledge that you clearly lack by making statements such 

 

you also appear to think an i5 is a "power combo" when in reality it's a middle of the road affordable cpu that can be had for 200$ with a free 700MHz. 

 

 your suggested build doesn't even leverage any benefits of the chipset you selected, presumably because you don't actually understand. why would you ever choose a single stick of ram with a chipset that hugely benefits from 2? if you want 8G, buy 2 4G sticks. 

 

you clearly state a sata SSD is faster than an HDD and go as far to suggest one.. a sata ssd is ~4x faster than the fastest HDD and an nvme is 4-5x faster than the fastest sata ssd; so the metrics speak for themselves. if it's worth getting a sata ssd, it's worth getting an NVMe. that being said, it's impossible to say what his real-world experience with it will be. in terms of online games, instant map loading is a noticeable effect... but once the game is loaded, you might as well be on an HDD... regardless, an HDD or a SATA ssd will be the bottleneck in the system, an NVMe will not.

 

further, you are poor at math, since in only one case were we even close to 300 over.and while windows 10 may be the best OS since Windows 95 from Microsoft, referring to it as a "highly optimized OS" is ignorant. it's not optimized in any way, thats why it runs on EVERYTHING. Optimization limits compatibility.

 

for your last ditch effort to sound educated

i provided speed comparisons and real world numbers and suggested it; i further stated it could be skipped for a brand with a good reputation, good warranty and a length of history to establish quality in manufacturing. you strung together a bunch of big words to sound intelligent and failed because you couldn't be bothered to research, read, or comprehend. 

 

Your points were invalid and would only lead to a post like this, which i intended to avoid by allowing you time to research first. Our builds were right around the same cost, but i provided a better monitor (significantly so), a better cpu, more ram and actual supporting information for components that could be questions. the fact that you suggested an A-Data SSD and then claimed it had good reviews (by which quality reviewing group, i might ask) shows your poor decision making skills in terms of building a PC. I commend you for taking the leap and looking at custom builds, but you should do a lot more research first before suggesting builds to others. 

 

I would love to see your math supporting your input regarding diminishing returns   I also didnt lowball any numbers, i actually pulled from from my amazon purchase history, newegg, and a couple other stores (i also listed sales that recently ended but will obviously return).. but good research  

 

 

This is a pretty rude post, as I've found Koriko's posts fairly articulate and well-educated. But to elaborate on some points made:

 

The i5 6600K really is a power combo. Few applications use the i7 to any potential that a i5 can't deliver, and I've never particularly run into any power constraints on it. I've found it more than powerful enough to run CPU heavy computations such as lengthy calculations on complex queries or other tasks I've simply been too lazy to add GPU acceleration to. To be honest, an i3 is more than enough for a lot of gaming applications, and really ever since the new Core i series came out, Intel has been killing the performance area. Applications simply can't keep up to use it. The more exciting bits are the lower end processors such as the Intel Atom or mobile chips which can achieve similar performance with less power than before.

 

Even getting the unlocked version doesn't make much sense. The processor already has overclocking: that's what turbo is. If you wants to squeeze more performance out of it just get a better cooler (such as the closed loop one posted earlier). The lower temps will translate to faster performance since it can turbo for longer and more often without overheating. That is, if it were the bottleneck for gaming, which it isn't.

 

Quote

you strung together a bunch of big words to sound intelligent and failed because you couldn't be bothered to research, read, or comprehend. 

 

 

This is a pretty awful response. An attitude isn't helping the OP at all.

 

 

Quote

side note @OP if you only wanna play shit like rust, csgo, css, dota2, gmod (shit we have here) just run linux, it'll be much faster and a fuck ton more "optimized" than any windows version. obviously you need to verify all the games you wanna play will work, but i've yet to see a game i couldn't play in linux (and i've been a *nix user/gamer since 94). also, there's the whole free vs ~100$ thing to consider     free+more fps vs 100$+less fps  easy choice IMO.  and if anyone tells you linux is hard to use, they've probably never used it before.  if you can run windows or macOSx, you can run linux.

 

Linux isn't easier than Windows or OS X unless you're running Kubuntu I guess. I've had driver issues out of the gate, compatability problems, and a lack of general programs available. It's a tough choice as any sort of choice for a main machine. I keep it around for bash tools, but do you know how hard it is just to create a bootable USB in linux? A lot harder than using Rufus, that's for sure. Ubuntu and other more user-friendly distributions are really nowhere near ready for adoption by people who aren't tech-savvy.

 

Windows is simply the better option.

---

 

Ah well, so I built a suggestion to, hopefully to do some justice on the more budgeted side of things, using AMD of course.

 

Quote

 

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/list/pqQ4d6
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/list/pqQ4d6/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($198.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
CPU Cooler: CRYORIG C7 40.5 CFM CPU Cooler  ($29.99 @ Newegg) 
Motherboard: ASRock H170A-X1 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($76.98 @ Newegg) 
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory  ($39.99 @ Newegg) 
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($157.89 @ OutletPC) 
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($47.49 @ OutletPC) 
Video Card: Asus Radeon RX 480 8GB Video Card  ($249.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Case: Phanteks Enthoo Pro ATX Full Tower Case  ($74.99 @ Newegg) 
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA G2 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($90.99 @ NCIX US) 
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit  ($88.89 @ OutletPC) 
Monitor: ViewSonic VX2457-MHD 23.6" 60Hz Monitor  ($139.99 @ B&H) 
Keyboard: Cooler Master CM Storm Devastator Gaming Bundle Wired Gaming Keyboard w/Optical Mouse  ($19.99 @ Newegg) 
Total: $1216.17
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-08-19 23:30 EDT-0400

 

It came in $200 under budget or so. The monitor is freesync, and you can always upgrade with another RX 480 card if you want down the road (or right now) if you want GTX 1080 like performance. Or spend it on nice peripherals like a razer chroma keyboard or something.

Suggestions are welcome, of course.