Helping a friend with a build - some help would be appreciated!

[SnakeEater]

Budget (including currency): Below $1600ish

Country: United States

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Primarily for gaming (but some homework as well). Specifically strategy games like Total War WH2, and other AAA games

Other details Going to be at 1080p 60hz. Already have all needed peripherals

 

Here's the list my friend came up with so far. I'm not as familiar with the range of hardware that's out there right now so I figured someone else should take a look at his list and give suggestions. I told him about the new Nvidia cards coming out shortly, but he isn't too concerned with having the latest and greatest GPU and won't upgrade for a number of years anyways. Not sure about that cooler in 2020 lol. Maybe someone could suggest a better one

 

PCPartPicker Part List: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/YnDQ4n

CPU: Intel Core i7-10700K 3.8 GHz 8-Core Processor  ($409.99 @ B&H) 
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler  ($34.99 @ B&H) 
Motherboard: MSI MPG Z490 GAMING EDGE WIFI ATX LGA1200 Motherboard  ($199.99 @ Best Buy) 
Memory: Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory  ($158.99 @ Amazon) 
Storage: Intel 660p Series 1.02 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive  ($119.99 @ B&H) 
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER 8 GB WINDFORCE OC Video Card  ($399.99 @ Newegg) 
Case: Corsair Air 540 ATX Mid Tower Case  ($154.99 @ Newegg) 
Power Supply: Corsair CXM 650 W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply  ($94.99 @ Best Buy) 
Total: $1573.92
 

[Oswin]

if you are going to get something high end, i would strongly suggest waiting for the new zen 3 and nvidia ampere, it's just a couple months away.

[SnakeEater]

3 minutes ago, Oswin said:

if you are going to get something high end, i would strongly suggest waiting for the new zen 3 and nvidia ampere, it's just a couple months away.

Yeah I mean that's what I told my friend, but I think he really doesn't care and just wants the stuff now

[Oswin]

Just now, SnakeEater said:

Yeah I mean that's what I told my friend, but I think he really doesn't care and just wants the stuff now

well then, i dont think its a good idea to get something that is going to be outperformed in 2 months or so. will work on a build to help.

[Mateyyy]

10700K and Hyper 212 sounds like a recipe for disaster. Also, 1080p 60Hz seems like quite a waste for a new PC with this budget tbh.

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor	$171.89 @ Amazon
Motherboard	Gigabyte B550 AORUS PRO AC ATX AM4 Motherboard	$189.00 @ Best Buy
Memory	G.Skill Ripjaws V 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 CL16 Memory	$75.99 @ Newegg
Storage	Silicon Power A80 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive	$129.99 @ Amazon
Video Card	EVGA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER 8 GB BLACK GAMING Video Card	$519.99 @ Walmart
Case	Fractal Design Meshify C ATX Mid Tower Case	$98.99 @ Walmart
Power Supply	be quiet! Straight Power 11 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply	$109.90 @ B&H
Case Fan	be quiet! SilentWings 3 PWM High-Speed 77.57 CFM 140 mm Fan	$22.29 @ Amazon
Case Fan	be quiet! SilentWings 3 PWM High-Speed 77.57 CFM 140 mm Fan	$22.29 @ Amazon
Monitor	Asus TUF GAMING VG249Q 23.8" 1920x1080 144 Hz Monitor	$249.00 @ B&H
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	$1589.33
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-07-16 09:03 EDT-0400

As suggested by @Oswin above, I would also advise waiting (if possible) a couple more months, since we're getting new GPUs (Nvidia Ampere and AMD RDNA2) as well as new CPUs (AMD Zen 3), especially if your mate plans on keeping the parts for as long as possible, without having to upgrade.

[spartaman64]

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	Intel Core i7-10700K 3.8 GHz 8-Core Processor	$409.99 @ B&H
CPU Cooler	ARCTIC Freezer 34 eSports DUO CPU Cooler	$49.99 @ Amazon
Motherboard	MSI MPG Z490 GAMING EDGE WIFI ATX LGA1200 Motherboard	$199.99 @ Best Buy
Memory	Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory	$84.99 @ Amazon
Storage	Western Digital Blue SN550 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive	$128.99 @ Amazon
Video Card	Gigabyte GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER 8 GB WINDFORCE OC 3X Video Card	$499.99 @ Best Buy
Case	Fractal Design Meshify C ATX Mid Tower Case	$98.99 @ B&H
Power Supply	Corsair CXM 650 W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply	$94.99 @ Best Buy
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	$1567.92
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-07-16 09:08 EDT-0400

I dont think your friend would need 32GB of ram for a while so i switched it for 16GB. i put on a slighter better cooler. From what ive seen the wd blue sn550 performs better than the intel probably because the intel uses qlc. I bumped up the gpu. I really like the meshify case so i switched for that.

[SnakeEater]

4 minutes ago, spartaman64 said:

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	Intel Core i7-10700K 3.8 GHz 8-Core Processor	$409.99 @ B&H
CPU Cooler	ARCTIC Freezer 34 eSports DUO CPU Cooler	$49.99 @ Amazon
Motherboard	MSI MPG Z490 GAMING EDGE WIFI ATX LGA1200 Motherboard	$199.99 @ Best Buy
Memory	Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory	$84.99 @ Amazon
Storage	Western Digital Blue SN550 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive	$128.99 @ Amazon
Video Card	Gigabyte GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER 8 GB WINDFORCE OC 3X Video Card	$499.99 @ Best Buy
Case	Fractal Design Meshify C ATX Mid Tower Case	$98.99 @ B&H
Power Supply	Corsair CXM 650 W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply	$94.99 @ Best Buy
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	$1567.92
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-07-16 09:08 EDT-0400

I dont think your friend would need 32GB of ram for a while so i switched it for 16GB. i put on a slighter better cooler. From what ive seen the wd blue sn550 performs better than the intel probably because the intel uses qlc. I bumped up the gpu. I really like the meshify case so i switched for that.

Good catch on the RAM! I didn't even notice he had put so much in there lol. 

[SnakeEater]

12 minutes ago, Mateyyy said:

10700K and Hyper 212 sounds like a recipe for disaster. Also, 1080p 60Hz seems like quite a waste for a new PC with this budget tbh.

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor	$171.89 @ Amazon
Motherboard	Gigabyte B550 AORUS PRO AC ATX AM4 Motherboard	$189.00 @ Best Buy
Memory	G.Skill Ripjaws V 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 CL16 Memory	$75.99 @ Newegg
Storage	Silicon Power A80 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive	$129.99 @ Amazon
Video Card	EVGA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER 8 GB BLACK GAMING Video Card	$519.99 @ Walmart
Case	Fractal Design Meshify C ATX Mid Tower Case	$98.99 @ Walmart
Power Supply	be quiet! Straight Power 11 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply	$109.90 @ B&H
Case Fan	be quiet! SilentWings 3 PWM High-Speed 77.57 CFM 140 mm Fan	$22.29 @ Amazon
Case Fan	be quiet! SilentWings 3 PWM High-Speed 77.57 CFM 140 mm Fan	$22.29 @ Amazon
Monitor	Asus TUF GAMING VG249Q 23.8" 1920x1080 144 Hz Monitor	$249.00 @ B&H
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	$1589.33
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-07-16 09:03 EDT-0400

As suggested by @Oswin above, I would also advise waiting (if possible) a couple more months, since we're getting new GPUs (Nvidia Ampere and AMD RDNA2) as well as new CPUs (AMD Zen 3), especially if your mate plans on keeping the parts for as long as possible, without having to upgrade.

Yeah it is a bit of a waste for sure. I'll probably try to convince him to upgrade to 1440 and a higher refresh rate at some point down the line. He's already got a monitor though so just getting the high end system no and waiting a bit for a better monitor makes sense to me

[5x5]

15 minutes ago, SnakeEater said:

Yeah it is a bit of a waste for sure. I'll probably try to convince him to upgrade to 1440 and a higher refresh rate at some point down the line. He's already got a monitor though so just getting the high end system no and waiting a bit for a better monitor makes sense to me

Mateyys list is FAR better than the option you have selected. I would STRONGLY suggest either waiting for new parts in two months or going with his list. I mean, the i7 is a massive and very power hungry/hot waste of money.

[Mateyyy]

18 minutes ago, SnakeEater said:

Yeah it is a bit of a waste for sure. I'll probably try to convince him to upgrade to 1440 and a higher refresh rate at some point down the line. He's already got a monitor though so just getting the high end system no and waiting a bit for a better monitor makes sense to me

Then if the monitor's out of the $1600 budget, you could swap the 2070S out for a 2080S and get a 1440p 144Hz monitor later on.

If you could also convince him to wait for a little longer for new hardware to come out, that'd also be ideal.

[SnakeEater]

5 minutes ago, Mateyyy said:

Then if the monitor's out of the $1600 budget, you could swap the 2070S out for a 2080S and get a 1440p 144Hz monitor later on.

If you could also convince him to wait for a little longer for new hardware to come out, that'd also be ideal.

Sigh yeah I know. It is what it is though. Sometimes you just want the instant gratification (and I think non tech people don't care as much anyays). I don't think I'll be able to, but I'll try. I'll probably recommend your build to him (with the 2080S) and then show him my 144hz 1440p monitor. He should definitely upgrade monitors within 6 months.