Calling all TKP computer experts!
I'm interested in building a gaming PC at an affordable cost. I know that the affordable part can be the challenge, but I'm not wanting to spend 2k on a machine. In the world of building a computer, I'm very much a noob. I know what parts you need to make a computer tick, but as far as which make/models to choose I'm clueless. Some of the games I want to be able to play w/o any problems are Battlefield 1, Squad, TF2 and Payday 2. I would like to spend between $500-$1000 max for the whole system. Is this possible? Any and all suggestions are welcome.
Thanks in advance everyone!
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I built a gaming pc about two years ago. I used these two resources extensively beforehand. PC part picker is great for pricing out all of the components and finding the best deal. r/buildapc is good for seeing other people's builds and getting advice on your own build. It only took me about 4 hours to build mine from start to finish, but I probably spent 20-30 hours researching.
https://pcpartpicker.com/
https://www.reddit.com/r/buildapc/
Definitely use the links above. It helped me so much when doing research. PC Partpicker is great as it shows compatible parts and you can search by everything even color of you want to have an aesthetically pleasing build. It also compares pricing between websites, shows price trends and you can set price alerts. I was able to get a very good SSD, power supply, and graphics card by just waiting a couple weeks. I also got a free trial account with NewEgg to get free 2 day shipping.
For a budget, I would say definitely get an AMD CPU. It's cheaper and they come unlocked so you can over clock and do other tinkering in the settings. Intel is more expensive and the unlocked versions are even more expensive.
I also agree with below. Make sure you have more slots than you need because you will add more to your build. After finishing, I started looking for other things to add. It was a very fun experience.
Suggestion that I wish I had listened to- get yourself a motherboard with plenty of slots/ports. It may be tempting to go with a smaller case/motherboard/etc. in order to save money, but if you ever want to expand memory (both RAM and hard disk size) you'll want the room to do so without getting a bigger motherboard.
If you want to save money, you'll probably want to go the AMD route for your CPU/GPU than Intel/Nvidia. Performance suffers a bit in the high end (which is doubtful that you'll need), but definitely cheaper. I've heard some horror stories about AMD graphics updates, but Nvidia isn't immune from that either.
It is definitely worth it in my opinion though to push your computer to the limits of your budget (as long as your budget is actually meaningful) in order to try and combat the fast rate of obsolescence inherent in computer hardware. Even if you buy the best-available stuff, it'll be replaced in about 6 months by something better. That's not really a problem unless you're doing some crazy computing, but if you buy a budget computer you need to keep in mind its effective lifespan will be shorter. For example- I built my computer for about $1500 dollars my senior year at Tech (yeah, I didn't have anything else to spend my money on, apparently). I've added about $500 dollars into it at points over the years, mostly on more RAM and another SSD, but it has lasted me over 7 years now, and is still capable of doing anything I need.
Sent you an email. If you can use the stuff I have it could save you a chunk of your budget.
Here is another good website
http://www.logicalincrements.com/
You can easily build a good PC in that price range.
You can definitely build a nice rig for $500-1000 dollars. I would wait a bit though because GPU prices are out of control due to people mining crypto currencies right now. Four months ago I bought an msi rx480 4 GB for $170 that I could sell for over $300 on ebay.
Here's a quick build I made. It's at the higher end of your budget but it has good specs for the price. Only 8Gb of RAM but can easily install more.
PCPartPicker part list: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/nFYNVY
Price breakdown by merchant: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/nFYNVY/by_merchant/
CPU: Intel - Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($219.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master - Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($24.88 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Asus - Z170 PRO GAMING ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($90.88 @ OutletPC)
Memory: Crucial - Ballistix Sport LT 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($59.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital - Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($48.44 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: MSI - GeForce GTX 1060 6GB 6GB GT OCV1 Video Card ($249.98 @ Newegg)
Case: NZXT - S340 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($64.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA - SuperNOVA NEX 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($74.88 @ OutletPC)
Operating System: Microsoft - Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit ($89.89 @ OutletPC)
Total: $923.91
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-06-25 12:14 EDT-0400
Does he need the GTX1060? You could drop that and maybe grab an SSD for the OS. Although I'm a bit out of touch on GPUs, I have a GTX670 that works like a charm for me.
It's in the new 1000 series, and it's about half the price of a 1070 (which I use). It's brand new and would more than handle the gaming the OP wants. It's also gonna be good for the foreseeable future.
I must agree. The GTX 1060 is...
I'd say drop the 3rd party CPU cooler and put that extra $ towards an SSD instead of the HDD. Unless he's going to mess around with overclocking there's no need for it.
I can't advise on skimping out on cooling or a decent PSU. I'm of the general thought that you pay the extra few bucks to make sure your system is running cool and can handle the power. Too many times I've dealt with overheated silicon; the nightmares of fried systems never leave!
With the PSU, I went a little more powerful than needed primarily for future upgrades. Odds are, a budget gaming PC now will be upgraded in the future. Also, I would recommend a modular PSU. Makes install so much easier, especially if it is in a smaller case. Another big thing is to make sure it has the right cables to power your entire PC. Some items will be powered through your motherboard, while others will be powered through the PSU.
I also would recommend a smaller SSD for your OS and anything you will run on startup, and a HUGE HDD for everything else. It is amazing how quick a PC can start up on a SSD.
He really doesn't need an i5. An i3 or G series is more than sufficient. Take that savings and put it into an SSD.
Been building my own PCs for over a decade now. In my experience, Intel and Nvidia are generally more expensive at a given performance level, but they offer way more stability. I've had overheating issues with every AMD CPU I've ever owned aside from the Athlon 64 FX I got in about 2005. I even had to underclock my Phenom II x6 chip until I finally gave in and set up liquid cooling. After that experience, I decided to switch to Intel, where even a stock cooler is generally sufficient for light-to-moderate overclocking. These days, a base-level i5 is all you really need for the vast majority of games anyway, and I've had some success using an i3 with most of the games that I've tried.
I've had similar experiences with GPUs. 2 of the last 3 computers I built with an AMD card would randomly refuse to power back on from sleep due to driver issues, and overheating has occasionally been an issue. Just over a year ago I swapped out my Radeon 7950 for an Nvidia GTX 970, the only thing I did in software was uninstalling all of the AMD software, and I haven't had any stability issues since.
If you're fine with having to make minor tweaks when things aren't working quite right, then going the cheaper (read: AMD) route might work for you. However, if you're willing to either hand out a little more cash or compromise a bit on performance, you will generally have an easier experience with Intel and Nvidia.
However... prices on all GPUs are skyrocketing at the moment. Up until a week ago, you could buy a GTX 1060 for $250, and if you wait out the most recent cryptocurrency craze it should drop back down to that level again. Get that and a modern i5 for $200, combined with budget-minded picks for the rest of the build, and you could have a quality gaming PC for around $850. It won't play everything on max settings, but even the most taxing games should run well on at least medium settings.
May those loyal servants rest in peace! Love that line of chips.
I appreciate the feedback and resources fellas. This is a great start.
FAM.
You can certainly make a build in that budget, but depending on what you truly value immediately over future upgrades depend on your preference, and how much you want to future proof it. For example, what resolution do you want to play games at, 1080p60fps or closer to 4k/30fps? What peripherals do you already own (monitor and such) that can you use the PC on? This will ultimately help you build something current, that you can actually use, and look very pretty for a few years, without breaking the bank.
Like most have mentioned, the parts picker webpage is a great way to get a general idea of how much to spend, and where to buy things. If you're near a Micro Center, they usually have MoBo/CPU deals that can save you about 100 bucks. Shop around for sure. Timing is also a big factor. Are you immediately in the market, or can you shop deals for the next month or so? Newegg has great flash deals from time to time weekly that include memory, power supplies, and the occasional GPU.
Based on what you're looking to play, and getting a general feel of what you need, you don't need to spend more than $200 on your GPU. As mentioned in a previous reply though, wait for GPU prices to normalize because the crypto currencies. You don't need more than a 1050 Ti 4GB or 1060 3GB (nvidia), or an RX 570/580 4GB (AMD) (when their prices normalize). And for CPU, you will be fine with Intel's i5 7th gen (doesn't need to be the unlocked ones), or AMD's Ryzen 1500X. Again, look for MoBo/CPU bundles if you can for more savings. If you can walk away with a CPU/GPU combined cost of 400-450, you're golden! Hope this helped a little for your pre-planning and thinking of what you're really wanting.
Happy hunting!
I'll echo the Newegg flash sales thing. I just snagged a 1080Ti for $520 the other day. They're now selling around $700. A lot of that is the crypto-currency bloat, but the point still stands: newegg will have some crazy deals if you put a lot of time into tracking them.
That's a damn steal for that GPU, holy crap
Yup use PC Part Picker to see the price trends, and then set a notification for a price range that you would pay for that part. Don't be afraid to be stingy because NewEgg's flash deals can be amazing from time to time.
As a side to this thread, my nephew just graduated high school and needs a new video card for his gaming rig. Any advice on a good card in the $150-250 range?
NVIDIA 1050 Ti 4GB (on the lower range of his budget) or the 1060 GB (might find one around 250 if you're lucky/bargain binning)
I would hold off for a while. The current prices have skyrocketed due to cryptocurrency mining. They have started stabilizing, but in the recent weeks the prices almost doubled what they used to be.
^ditto. But normalized prices, the two cards I listed are in the price range he was asking for. You can get the 1050Ti for the standard price now actually. While on the lower end of the budget, it still can hold it's own with newer game titles. The 1060 price is still a bit too high as of today because of the aforementioned cyrptocurrency mining though.
As someone experienced with building computers, I feel like I have to weigh in. I also love talking about this stuff, so here goes.
First, your biggest usability improvement for the computer will come from having an SSD instead of an HDD for your boot drive. I personally use a 120GB boot drive for regular applications and OS and a 600GB HDD for media and game storage. Games don't get as much improvement from the fast storage as other applications.
Second, I would recommend an i3 or Pentium G series in your current price range. It saves you money, especially since it sounds like you'll need everything that doesn't sometimes get budgeted for (operating system, peripherals, etc). It's not a huge performance hit against the i5 in gaming, and it save your $100.
Third, I would say that you should keep your mouse, keyboard, and monitor under $200 for now. You can easily upgrade these later, after you determine how much time you spend on the computer and whether upgrading those things are worth it to you.
Here's an example PC Part Picker build with an i3 and plenty of storage and what not. It has OS, mouse, keyboard, and a monitor.
https://pcpartpicker.com/list/Y2vDvV
TL:DR - Get an SSD. Downgrade the CPU to an i3. Buy cheap peripherals to start.
Based upon my (limited) knowledge of CPU's, I'd say an i5 is what I need. I haven't done a ton of research yet because of school, but it looks like the i5 is the best mix of power and cost. Does anyone concur with getting an i5 versus an i3?
Currently I'm gaming on my laptop (a Dell Inspiron 15z with an i7). I already have a mouse that I like a lot, and I may be able to find a usable monitor for the time being. I definitely will be investing in a SSD, I have one in this laptop and I love how quickly it boots up.
It all depends on what you're trying to play, and with what level of detail. The i3 will likely be able to play most games at 60 FPS, with occasional dips to 30 FPS during high-computational moments. I'm sure there are some games that depend more on the CPU, but if you can reduce the draw distance (reducing the number of things the game has to track) and disable CPU-intensive features like reflections then you'll see less of an issue.
My old Surface Pro 2 is able to play everything I've thrown at it at 1080p, at least on low settings. It has an i5-4200U, which is much less powerful than even the desktop i3's available at the time (1.9 GHz, dual-core with HyperThreading). And the reason the graphics settings are so low is the fact that it runs Intel integrated graphics.
The i5 will probably offer more performance. The question is whether any performance bump you get is worth the added expense ($80 at the low end of each, $75 if you want to overclock meaning you're looking exclusively at "unlocked" chips).
Here's a good site with tons of benchmarks for just this exact comparison. CPU bound games tend to be games with more assets that "think". Classically, RTS games (Heroes of the Storms, etc) and Civilization are the most CPU bound games. It doesn't seem like you want to play those style games. I'll post average FPS numbers from 3 games shown on the site.
Shadow of Mordor - GTX 1060 @ 1080p
i5-7600K - 93.66 FPS
Ryzen 5 1500X - 88.76 FPS
i3-7100 - 93.39 FPS
Grand Theft Auto V - GTX 1060 @ 1080p
i5-7600K - 75.94 FPS
Ryzen 5 1600 - 70.25 FPS
i3-7100 - 60.92 FPS
Rocket League - GTX 1060 @ 1080p
i5-7600K - 158 FPS
Ryzen 5 1500X - 100 FPS
i3-7100 - ~139 FPS (i3-7320 is shown, and it's slightly higher clocked)
Ashes of Escalation - GTX 1060 @ 1080p
i5-7600K - 53.01 FPS
Ryzen 5 1600 - 51.64 FPS
i3-7100 - 41.95 FPS
Price
i5-7600K - $240
Ryzen 5 1600 - $215
i3-7100 - $120
Again, if you like playing Civ or RTS games, or have the budget for the i5, sure get that. However, if you need OS, monitor, keyboard, case, etc. for $1K or less, I feel like your money is better spent on improving the GPU. Or, if you're set on a 1050 Ti or 1060, the monitor is a very good buy since you'll really see a big difference in monitor quality vs. one you can just find (probably, depends what you have lying around). Or if you're wanting to do it all, you may need to expand your budget a tad. You're at ~$900 with the tower, monitor, OS, and keyboard. If you want the i5, that's more. You can take out the monitor and get the i5 if you want. It's up to you and what you think is important for your machine.
Here's a build with an i5-7600 (about 2-3 FPS loss vs the 7600K, about $50 cheaper). That puts the whole kit including monitor at $1013. That'd be a VERY strong build, but if you're going to stretch your budget, I'd recommend stretching on the GPU instead of the CPU. An i5-7600 + GTX 1050 Ti will be outperformed by an i3-7100 + GTX 1060/RX580/RX480.
Biggest lesson you will learn: THERE ARE NO BAD CHOICES!! What you buy WILL play your games, even if you lose out on 10 FPS, it's not the end of the world.
Good luck!
TL;DR - It comes down to choice. You can save $80-100 on the CPU, lose maybe 10 FPS on average in your games (more in games like Civ). Determine what's important to you, and go with it.
I've been kicking around the idea of building a machine myself, so I've also found this thread helpful. Can anyone speak to how much performance can be improved by over clocking the CPU? (FWIW I'm not a gamer, I'd be primarily running Lightroom and Photoshop)
Overclocking the CPU will always make a computer faster, the question is whether is will overclocking make it noticeably faster. The biggest benefit would be with any programs that are CPU Intensive. I don't know much about lightroom or photoshop to know how CPU bound those programs are. You also need to keep in mind overclocking isn't going to do much if you have a memory or hard disk bottleneck.
If you are doing a budget build I wouldn't recommend overclocking the CPU. The money you would spend on better CPU cooling would probably be best spent on an SSD, more/faster memory or a better monitor. Overclocking a CPU is a lot like doing aftermarket modifications to a car. The cost benefit of it will largely be in the eye of the beholder.
It depends on the work you're doing, just like pretty much everything else involving computers. Every task has a bottleneck, or a specific part of a component that is the limiting factor in how quickly the computer can accomplish a task. For some tasks in some machines, the raw processing speed is the bottleneck. For others, it may be the memory bandwidth, or memory capacity, or video bandwidth, or video memory. If the process is purely limited by the raw processing time, then boosting your CPU speed by 10% could reduce the processing time by 10%. However, this is rarely the case.
To complicate matters, most tasks are bottlenecked by multiple components, especially if multiple iterations of the task cannot be run in parallel (meaning, for example, that a disk read for one iteration cannot be run while processing other data). In this case, improving the speed of one component will only have a marginal improvement on the entire process time.
While I don't use Photoshop, I know enough about it to know that it has many functions, which can either be limited by the CPU, memory bandwidth, disk read/write speed, GPU bandwidth/processing, or any combination therein. It is a very difficult question to answer without knowing more about your use case.
I just popped in to say one thing.
Impressed by the knowledge in here though... k bye