Gaming PC for a friend

[Carnage15]

Hey all,

I am helping a friend that was interested in playing a few new games and get a VR setup running in the near future... but his old rig just won't cut it anymore. He is looking at around $2000 CAD. We have a few local Memory Express stores here, so we are playing around with its system configurator and I wound up coming up with the following:

 

$339.99   CPU: i5 8600k

$144.99   Motherboard: MSI Z370-A PRO
$64.99     Heatsink: Cooler Master Hyper 212 RGB Black Ed.

$9.99       (Thermal Paste)
$489.99   GPU: Gigabyte GeForce RTX 2060

$169.99   RAM: Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro 16GB DDR4 2666MHz (2 x 8GB)
$149.99   PSU: Corsair CS Series 750W Modular
$94.99     Case: NZXT H500 Mid Tower Black/Red
$309.98   Hard Drives: Samsung 860 EVO 1TB and Seagate 1TB FireCuda
$199.99   OS: Windows 10 Pro 64 Bit OEM

 

Total with GST: $2073.64

I thought I would open this up to the masses to see what else could be thought up. He isn't too picky on how it looks, but I thought why not add some RGB in ;) ... and cable management would be a nice to have as well.

 

Would love to hear your thoughts and suggestions! ... side note ... I have zero experience with AMD based builds (I've only built two personal PCs and both were i7s - 920 and 4790k)... so I am open to the suggestion of an AMD based system as well.

[Findiculous]

Price to performance the 1660ti is looking better than the 2060. 

 

If you're getting the 8600k you are presumably going to consider an overclock in which case an AIO could go better.

 

If you were to go AMD on the CPU, you would want a higher frequency on your RAM.

[Eastman51]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Type	Item	Price
CPU	Intel - Core i5-9600K 3.7 GHz 6-Core Processor	$339.99 @ Memory Express
CPU Cooler	Noctua - NH-U12S 55 CFM CPU Cooler	$78.99 @ PC-Canada
Motherboard	MSI - Z370-A PRO ATX LGA1151 Motherboard	$134.99 @ Amazon Canada
Memory	G.Skill - Trident Z RGB 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory	$183.99 @ Amazon Canada
Storage	Western Digital - Blue 250 GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive	$59.99 @ Canada Computers
Storage	Western Digital - Caviar Blue 1 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive	$47.99 @ Newegg Canada
Video Card	MSI - GeForce RTX 2060 6 GB VENTUS OC Video Card	$478.99 @ Mike's Computer Shop
Case	Fractal Design - Meshify C ATX Mid Tower Case	$111.99 @ PC-Canada
Power Supply	SeaSonic - FOCUS Plus Gold 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply	$113.99 @ PC-Canada
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	$1550.91
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-02-27 15:30 EST-0500

edit: Canadian link, instead of US

The i5-9600k is better and cheaper than the 8600k. (Only cheaper in US apparently).

Corsair RAM isn't very good (my experience).

Coolers come with thermal paste, no need to buy any.

edit 2: The Noctua NH-U12S is a better cooler than the Cooler Master 212, highly recommended.

I'd recommend against Gigabyte anything, but its up to you

I've used the board I listed in a build for a friend; its a good board.

I like Seasonic PSUs, but you can get a recent 80+ Gold unit that is at least $60 and be just as well off

H500 is a good case, I like the Meshify C better; again, up to you.

 

--> You don't need to pay for Windows  Microsoft doesn't lock you out of the OS anymore, or disable much in the way of features; all they really do is leave a watermark and disable customization (which you can still set wallpapers, so...) <--

[mrmoyer]

The cooler master 212 comes with thermal paste already so you wont need it, but if he would ever want to overclock the CPU he wouldn't be able to go with a super aggressive overclock. I have a 9600k with this cooler and have no complaints with it so far other than the oc capability. Other than that the build looks pretty solid.

 

[jerubedo]

45 minutes ago, Eastman51 said:

--> You don't need to pay for Windows  Microsoft doesn't lock you out of the OS anymore, or disable much in the way of features; all they really do is leave a watermark and disable customization (which you can still set wallpapers, so...) <--

We should not endorse piracy on these forums.

[Guest]

30 minutes ago, jerubedo said:

We should not endorse piracy on these forums.

You can use W10 for free. Nothing to do with piracy.

[Guest]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i7-8700K 3.7 GHz 6-Core Processor  ($463.99 @ Amazon Canada) 
CPU Cooler: ARCTIC - Freezer 34 eSports DUO CPU Cooler  ($74.82 @ Amazon Canada) 
Motherboard: Gigabyte - Z390 AORUS ELITE ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($209.00 @ Canada Computers) 
Memory: G.Skill - Aegis 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory  ($116.99 @ Newegg Canada) 
Storage: Crucial - MX500 1 TB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($179.99 @ Mike's Computer Shop) 
Storage: Western Digital - Caviar Blue 1 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($47.99 @ Newegg Canada) 
Video Card: Gigabyte - GeForce RTX 2060 6 GB GAMING OC Video Card  ($489.99 @ Memory Express) 
Case: Phanteks - Eclipse P350X (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case  ($84.99 @ Canada Computers) 
Power Supply: Antec - Earthwatts Gold Pro 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($86.10 @ Vuugo) 
Total: $1753.86
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-02-27 16:57 EST-0500

 

 

If you want Ryzen just swap out the cpu to the R5 2600 and the board for something like an MSI B450 Tomahawk.

[jerubedo]

3 minutes ago, lee32uk said:

You can use W10 for free. Nothing to do with piracy.

Using Windows 10 without activating it perpetually constitutes piracy, 100%. You are using paid software (not freeware) without paying for it. That is the very definition of piracy. Microsoft does not offer any kind of free version. The not activated version is not freeware. You are also breaking the EULA which states: "You are authorized to use this software only if you are properly licensed and the software has been properly activated with a genuine product key or by other authorized method."

[Guest]

1 minute ago, jerubedo said:

Using Windows 10 without activating it perpetually constitutes piracy, 100%. You are using paid software (not freeware) without paying for it. That is the very definition of piracy. Microsoft does not offer any kind of free version. The not activated version is not freeware. You are also breaking the EULA which states: "You are authorized to use this software only if you are properly licensed and the software has been properly activated with a genuine product key or by other authorized method."

Not sure what you are on about. You can download W10 from Microsoft's own website and install it without a key. You can either activate it later by buying a key, or use it free but you get a watermark in the bottom right corner. There is no piracy involved.

 

 

[Guest]

If you want further proof:

 

https://www.howtogeek.com/244678/you-dont-need-a-product-key-to-install-and-use-windows-10/

[jerubedo]

1 minute ago, lee32uk said:

Not sure what you are on about. You can download W10 from Microsoft's own website and install it without a key. You can either activate it later by buying a key, or use it free but you get a watermark in the bottom right corner. There is no piracy involved.

 

 

This is completely incorrect. Yes you can install it without a key, but that is meant for scenarios where you might not have the key readily available. It is for convenience only. It's not some magical free way to get Windows. The watermark is asking you to activate because you need to. Again, right out of their EULA:

 

"You are authorized to use this software only if you are properly licensed and the software has been properly activated with a genuine product key or by other authorized method."

 

If you break the EULA to use the product for free that isn't free, it is 100% piracy. That is the definition.

[jerubedo]

2 minutes ago, lee32uk said:

If you want further proof:

 

https://www.howtogeek.com/244678/you-dont-need-a-product-key-to-install-and-use-windows-10/

That website is also endorsing piracy. If some site told you to jump off the Brooklyn Bridge because everyone else was doing it, would you?

[jerubedo]

4 minutes ago, lee32uk said:

Not sure what you are on about. You can download W10 from Microsoft's own website and install it without a key. You can either activate it later by buying a key, or use it free but you get a watermark in the bottom right corner. There is no piracy involved.

 

 

Linus himself had a video recently about why he "pirates" Windows 10. Given in his specific case he's mostly justified. But even he called it pirating. 

[Guest]

10 minutes ago, jerubedo said:

This is completely incorrect. Yes you can install it without a key, but that is meant for scenarios where you might not have the key readily available. It is for convenience only. It's not some magical free way to get Windows. The watermark is asking you to activate because you need to. Again, right out of their EULA:

 

"You are authorized to use this software only if you are properly licensed and the software has been properly activated with a genuine product key or by other authorized method."

 

If you break the EULA to use the product for free that isn't free, it is 100% piracy. That is the definition.

You are downloading it from Microsoft not some dodgy 3rd party site. Also notice how when installing you can click on 'I don't have a product key'. If they didn't want you to continue then they could stop the install right there. Just like in the days of W7 or W8 etc. If you didn't have a key then you couldn't install it. Also you are not getting a free copy of W10 as some features are disabled and the watermark is permanent until you activate it. If they allow people to download it and use it without a key then how is that the end users problem ? 

[jerubedo]

11 minutes ago, lee32uk said:

You are downloading it from Microsoft not some dodgy 3rd party site. Also notice how when installing you can click on 'I don't have a product key'. If they didn't want you to continue then they could stop the install right there. Just like in the days of W7 or W8 etc. If you didn't have a key then you couldn't install it. Also you are not getting a free copy of W10 as some features are disabled and the watermark is permanent until you activate it. If they allow people to download it and use it without a key then how is that the end users problem ? 

They are NOT allowing it. The EULA I quoted above makes that crystal clear. The software is only to be used by those who have a genuine product key. That feature, "I don't have a product key," isn't for people to perpetually never have one. It's for people to get Windows installed if they don't have a key handy, or they have one they ordered and it's on its way, or their key isn't working and you need to call Microsoft, etc. It's for one of hundreds of different circumstances. Microsoft did that to make it user friendly, not so that people steal Windows.

 

The EULA and Microsoft are the judge and jury here, not any other website, not you, not anyone else. It's very clear in it's phrasing:

 

"You are authorized to use this software only if you are properly licensed and the software has been properly activated with a genuine product key or by other authorized method."

[Guest]

46 minutes ago, jerubedo said:

They are NOT allowing it. The EULA I quoted above makes that crystal clear. The software is only to be used by those who have a genuine product key. That feature, "I don't have a product key," isn't for people to perpetually never have one. It's for people to get Windows installed if they don't have a key handy, or they have one they ordered and it's on its way, or their key isn't working and you need to call Microsoft, etc. It's for one of hundreds of different circumstances. Microsoft did that to make it user friendly, not so that people steal Windows.

 

The EULA and Microsoft are the judge and jury here, not any other website, not you, not anyone else. It's very clear in it's phrasing:

 

"You are authorized to use this software only if you are properly licensed and the software has been properly activated with a genuine product key or by other authorized method."

You have a different view of piracy then than I do. Not really my  problem if they allow you to download it and continue using it. If they wanted to stop you they could do it quite easily by setting a time limit of xxx number of days etc. Plus I would imagine that most people will buy a key anyway as the watermark is pretty annoying especially if you were a gamer. I don't use W10 myself so it doesn't really affect me either way.

 

As for the EULA can't say I have ever read one. I would imagine that 99.99% of people don't when installing software.

 

 

[jerubedo]

1 hour ago, lee32uk said:

 

As for the EULA can't say I have ever read one. I would imagine that 99.99% of people don't when installing software.

That doesn't mean you aren't legally bound to them. You clicked on the "I agree to the terms of the EULA" checkbox when installing. Whether you read them or not, you entered into a legally binding contract with Microsoft.

 

The definition of piracy is NOT subjective. This assuredly falls under the definition of piracy objectively speaking. If people choose to loosen their own definition of piracy to justify "free Windows" then do so at your own risk. Microsoft would have the legal right to sue you if they wanted to because of that EULA agreement you agreed to (but don't worry, they wouldn't because it's not worth the legal cost to go after an individual). 

[hello_there_123]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD - Ryzen 5 2600 3.4 GHz 6-Core Processor	$229.99 @ Amazon Canada
Motherboard	MSI - B450-A PRO ATX AM4 Motherboard	$127.99 @ PC-Canada
Memory	G.Skill - Aegis 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory	$116.99 @ Newegg Canada
Storage	Team - L5 LITE 3D 480 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive	$69.99 @ Canada Computers
Storage	Seagate - Barracuda 2 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive	$69.95 @ Vuugo
Video Card	Gigabyte - GeForce RTX 2060 6 GB OC Video Card	$469.00 @ Canada Computers
Case	Phanteks - Eclipse P350X (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case	$84.99 @ Canada Computers
Power Supply	BitFenix - Whisper M 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply	$109.90 @ Amazon Canada
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	$1278.80
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-02-27 19:25 EST-0500

 

[Guest]

46 minutes ago, jerubedo said:

That doesn't mean you aren't legally bound to them. You clicked on the "I agree to the terms of the EULA" checkbox when installing. Whether you read them or not, you entered into a legally binding contract with Microsoft.

While this is true, most of the time some EULA agreements are literally nosense, if you ever read one especially the one for videogames, would thinking of killing someone in real life while playing a video game considered piracy for a breaking in an eula agreement?? Maybe attempted murdering, but whatever (there was a game with that I don't remember)

 

But I'm not saying you need to break literally every EULA you want, but for something this stupid since you do not need to touch anything rather than what Windows will let you to do, to still use that software, like reverse engineering something or using some crack, they are not preventing in a real way to use that software, even in a class action no one is going to arrest you, neither Microsoft blame you in the first place

EULA needs also to respect the law, and in most proprietary software some clauses are ridiculous and while could be considered privacy this has to be decided by a judge

 

And if there is no note on when you are supposed rather than the 30 days evaluation, and you need to buy a real license, like no countdown or something similar,  you are not supposed to be a pirate, you could just say you will buy one eventually in the future and not breaking the Eula, it is really this stupid...IDK if there is something mentioned in there

 

This is another reason on why Microsoft wouldn't think of sue you in this case, if they really would to prevent you to use that software, they would already did something, they could decide eventually to do that in the future, and if you are going to find a way by using something not created by Microsoft for example, then you'll be a real pirate because you'll surely get in trouble

Edited February 28, 2019 by Guest

[jerubedo]

12 minutes ago, Lukyp said:

While this is true, most of the time some EULA agreements are literally nosense, if you ever read one especially the one for videogames, would thinking of killing someone in real life while playing a video game considered piracy for a breaking in an eula agreement?? Maybe attempted murdering, but whatever (there was a game with that I don't remember)

 

But I'm not saying you need to break literally every EULA you want, but for something this stupid since you do not need to touch anything rather than what Windows will let you to do, to still use that software, like reverse engineering something or using some crack, they are not preventing in a real way to use that software, even in a class action no one is going to arrest you, neither Microsoft blame you in the first place

EULA needs also to respect the law, and in most proprietary software some clauses are ridiculous and while could be considered privacy this has to be decided by a judge

 

And if there is no note on when you are supposed rather than the 30 days evaluation, and you need to buy a real license, like no countdown or something similar,  you are not supposed to be a pirate, you could just say you will buy one eventually in the future

This is another reason on why Microsoft wouldn't think of sue you in this case, if they really would prevent you to use them, they would already did something, they could decide eventually to do something in the future to really do something to prevent people to use software in the future, but imo not today, and if you are going to find a way by using something not created by Microsoft for example, then you'll be a real pirate because you'll surely get in trouble

You are mixing up two different things I've said. So the definition of piracy is obtaining software for free that needs to be paid for, unless there is a freeware version of that software and that's what you're running. The EULA for Windows 10 states that all copies needs to be running on a valid license, therefore the unactivated version is not freeware. That makes this piracy.

 

And yes, enforceability is one thing, and a court will determine what is enforceable, but in the case of Microsoft their EULA is actually pretty solid. 

[Guest]

10 minutes ago, jerubedo said:

You are mixing up two different things I've said. So the definition of piracy is obtaining software for free that needs to be paid for, unless there is a freeware version of that software and that's what you're running. The EULA for Windows 10 states that all copies needs to be running on a valid license, therefore the unactivated version is not freeware. That makes this piracy.

You are not obtaining it for free, it's just what Microsoft let you to do from their official website and so far you are not a pirate unless you are clearly willing to not activate it in the future which no one can legally tell, EULA are so fucked up and stupid in this case and certainly not meant for be easily understandable without a lawyer and an eventual break in the agreements has to be decided if this is software privacy or not, always from a judge, which will unlikely to be in this case anyway, this is a software flaw and no one can sue you for this

 

If I don't remember wrong is "piracy" even using iTunes on a non-mac PC running Windows since they mention it in the EULA, and so far they seem to not care about that, they are not even checking if it's an Apple computer or not and you are not modifying their software anyway...

Edited February 28, 2019 by Guest

[jerubedo]

29 minutes ago, Lukyp said:

unless you are clearly willing to not activate it in the future which no one can legally tell

I thought that's what we've been talking about doing here but yeah. With that kind of logic, you'd make a good lawyer lol

[A Lini]

@jerubedo I'm pretty sure it's a WinRAR situation I may be wrong though

[jerubedo]

1 hour ago, A Lini said:

@jerubedo I'm pretty sure it's a WinRAR situation I may be wrong though

Yep, it's exactly the same. Using WinRAR for free forever is also piracy. WinRAR was released as shareware (30 days free and pay afterwards). They never block you from using it after those 30 days but their terms (and their pop up every time it launches) do explicitly say that WinRAR is not free and should be paid for. The reason they don't block you from using it after 40 days is to gain a good reputation amongst users in the hopes that word of mouth spreads the software around enough that it makes its way to enough paying users. I'm a senior programmer myself of 13 years now so it's my responsibility to know everything about software from developing it to distributing it (which includes understanding piracy, EULA legality, and regional laws, as well as best practices for mitigating piracy: WinRARs choices being a solid example of a decent mitigation strategy). 

 

For reference, here's the TOS piece that matters from WinRAR:

 

"The software is distributed as try before you buy. This means that anyone may use the software during a test period of a maximum of 40 days at no charge. Following this test period, the user must purchase a license to continue using the software."

[Guest]

13 hours ago, jerubedo said:

That doesn't mean you aren't legally bound to them. You clicked on the "I agree to the terms of the EULA" checkbox when installing. Whether you read them or not, you entered into a legally binding contract with Microsoft.

 

The definition of piracy is NOT subjective. This assuredly falls under the definition of piracy objectively speaking. If people choose to loosen their own definition of piracy to justify "free Windows" then do so at your own risk. Microsoft would have the legal right to sue you if they wanted to because of that EULA agreement you agreed to (but don't worry, they wouldn't because it's not worth the legal cost to go after an individual). 

The definition of software piracy:

 

Software piracy is the stealing of legally protected software. Under copyright law, software piracy occurs when copyright protected software is copied, distributed, modified or sold. Software piracy is considered direct copyright infringement when it denies copyright holders due compensation for use of their creative works.

 

Software piracy penalties apply to users that illegally reproduce copyrighted works and/or users who are knowingly in possession of illegally reproduced works. Unknowingly accepting pirated software is another scenario, provided it can be proven. End users may notice red flags, which indicate pirated software, especially if the acquired digital media is encased in inconspicuous or generic containers, such as CD sleeves or unnamed disk packaging.

 

 

 

So downloading Windows 10 from Microsoft website isn't piracy. Installing it without a product key isn't piracy. If you then use it without activating it then that could be seen as breaking the terms of the agreement. Trust Me if Microsoft wanted to sue you they would. Companies like Nintendo do it so why not them ?