Help with $1500 Build

[jacobmeneses]

I am planning on building my first PC with a budget of around $1500, and this is what I came up with. I would appreciate any tips or recommendations to improve the system, which will be used primarily for gaming but also some engineering software. Also, I do not need any storage or an OS. Thanks!

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Type	Item	Price
CPU	Intel - Core i7-8700K 3.7 GHz 6-Core Processor	$369.89 @ OutletPC
CPU Cooler	be quiet! - Dark Rock 4 CPU Cooler	$67.49 @ SuperBiiz
Motherboard	Asus - ROG STRIX Z390-E GAMING ATX LGA1151 Motherboard	$199.99 @ Newegg Business
Memory	G.Skill - Trident Z RGB 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory	$129.99 @ Newegg
Video Card	MSI - GeForce RTX 2070 8 GB Video Card	$519.99 @ Newegg
Case	Cooler Master - MasterCase H500P Mesh White ATX Mid Tower Case	$134.99 @ Amazon
Power Supply	EVGA - SuperNOVA G2 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply	$69.89 @ OutletPC
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total (before mail-in rebates)	$1507.23
	Mail-in rebates	-$15.00
	Total	$1492.23
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-11-28 13:05 EST-0500

 

 

 

[not so Important]

it would run any game in 1080p at max settings in 60fps thats for sure

[Guest]

It could handle pretty much any game at 120+ fps max settings. And it should be fine for engineering and of course gaming. Seems fine and good value.

[Taf the Ghost]

1 hour ago, jacobmeneses said:

I am planning on building my first PC with a budget of around $1500, and this is what I came up with. I would appreciate any tips or recommendations to improve the system, which will be used primarily for gaming but also some engineering software. Also, I do not need any storage or an OS. Thanks!

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Type	Item	Price
CPU	Intel - Core i7-8700K 3.7 GHz 6-Core Processor	$369.89 @ OutletPC
CPU Cooler	be quiet! - Dark Rock 4 CPU Cooler	$67.49 @ SuperBiiz
Motherboard	Asus - ROG STRIX Z390-E GAMING ATX LGA1151 Motherboard	$199.99 @ Newegg Business
Memory	G.Skill - Trident Z RGB 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory	$129.99 @ Newegg
Video Card	MSI - GeForce RTX 2070 8 GB Video Card	$519.99 @ Newegg
Case	Cooler Master - MasterCase H500P Mesh White ATX Mid Tower Case	$134.99 @ Amazon
Power Supply	EVGA - SuperNOVA G2 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply	$69.89 @ OutletPC
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total (before mail-in rebates)	$1507.23
	Mail-in rebates	-$15.00
	Total	$1492.23
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-11-28 13:05 EST-0500

 

 

 

What is your monitor? (Anyone remember if that's the good or bad H500 case?)

[jacobmeneses]

18 minutes ago, Taf the Ghost said:

What is your monitor? (Anyone remember if that's the good or bad H500 case?)

Right now I have a 1080p and 1440p monitor at 60 Hz, but I will probably get a new one when I build it. Any suggestions? Also, I believe it is the good H500 case.

[lmeneses]

28 minutes ago, Taf the Ghost said:

(Anyone remember if that's the good or bad H500 case?)

That is the h500p mesh, so the good one. It was the h500p none-mesh that was the bad one

[Sorenson]

54 minutes ago, Taf the Ghost said:

What is your monitor? (Anyone remember if that's the good or bad H500 case?)

It's the good version of the H500; however, I would recommend a cheaper case in this price point.

 

A couple things I noticed: 

 

1. You are using choosing a z390 motherboard with an 8th generation CPU. You can save $50-100 by going with a z370 motherboard (The only difference really is the usb 3 ports on the back of the motherboard are 3.0 instead of 3.1) I'm using a z370 with my 8700k and it is great. 
   • I would recommend either the Asus Prime Z370 ($160 on Amazon) or the MSI z370 Tomahawk ($135 on Amazon) or the MSI Z370 Gaming M5 if you plan on really pushing your over clock ($182 on Amazon) 
   • I Have used both the Asus z7370 Strix and an MSI Z370 Tomahawk, and I found the overclocking was more beginner friendly on the MSI Z370
   • If you are planning on running the CPU at default Speeds (not overclocking) or just syncing the all core turbo boost to 4.7ghz I would go with the Z370 Tomahawk. If you really want to push the overclock go for the Asus or the more expensive MSI.
2. You don't have any storage Selected.
3. The NZXT H500 is a great case and only costs 65$ (doesn't come with an RGB controller, if that is important you could go with the H500I for $94). 
4. If you changed your case to lets say the H500I and the Asus Prime Z370 you would save ([200-160]+[134-94]) = $80.
   • This $80 would be better spent on a non blower style graphics card.
     • A blower style graphics card will be very loud (comparatively) and will not maintain the turbo boost. Generally they run about 10-20C hotter than a similarly priced dual fan card.
     • The EVGA XC Gaming 2070 is only 10$ more and would be a better choice IMO

Everything looks pretty good though, your pc as it is specced out will be great. 

 

Edited November 28, 2018 by Sorenson
changed 3.7 to 4.7 ghz for the all core sync

[jacobmeneses]

30 minutes ago, Sorenson said:

It's the good version of the H500; however, I would recommend a cheaper case in this price point.

 

A couple things I noticed: 

 

1. You are using choosing a z390 motherboard with an 8th generation CPU. You can save $50-100 by going with a z370 motherboard (The only difference really is the usb 3 ports on the back of the motherboard are 3.0 instead of 3.1) I'm using a z370 with my 8700k and it is great. 
   • I would recommend either the Asus Prime Z370 ($160 on Amazon) or the MSI z370 Tomahawk ($135 on Amazon) or the MSI Z370 Gaming M5 if you plan on really pushing your over clock ($182 on Amazon) 
   • I Have used both the Asus z7370 Strix and an MSI Z370 Tomahawk, and I found the overclocking was more beginner friendly on the MSI Z370
   • If you are planning on running the CPU at default Speeds (not overclocking) or just syncing the all core turbo boost to 4.7ghz I would go with the Z370 Tomahawk. If you really want to push the overclock go for the Asus or the more expensive MSI.
2. You don't have any storage Selected.
3. The NZXT H500 is a great case and only costs 65$ (doesn't come with an RGB controller, if that is important you could go with the H500I for $94). 
4. If you changed your case to lets say the H500I and the Asus Prime Z370 you would save ([200-160]+[134-94]) = $80.
   • This $80 would be better spent on a non blower style graphics card.
     • A blower style graphics card will be very loud (comparatively) and will not maintain the turbo boost. Generally they run about 10-20C hotter than a similarly priced dual fan card.
     • The EVGA XC Gaming 2070 is only 10$ more and would be a better choice IMO

Everything looks pretty good though, your pc as it is specced out will be great. 

 

Originally, my dad was going to get me some storage from his work, but it would probably be better to just buy some storage with my budget. I want to have maybe a 500 GB SSD for my main games and programs and then a 1-2 TB HDD for the rest of my files and whatever.  What would you recommend for these? Also, thank you for your other recommendations! I will definitely take a look at those other options.

[Sorenson]

2 minutes ago, jacobmeneses said:

Originally, my dad was going to get me some storage from his work, but it would probably be better to just buy some storage with my budget. I want to have maybe a 500 GB SSD for my main games and programs and then a 1-2 TB HDD for the rest of my files and whatever.  What would you recommend for these? Also, thank you for your other recommendations! I will definitely take a look at those other options.

 

For storage you need to decide how fast you want the storage first.

• If you want it to be really fast I would go with an NVME SSD.
  • a good one would be the Samsung 970 EVO (120$ on amazon)
• If you want it to be fast but don't mind windows taking 15 seconds to startup instead of 13 seconds i would go with a 2.5" SSD.
  • you can get the Samsung 860 EVO 1tb for 128$
• If your dead set on the 1tb hard drive I would go with a Western Digital Blue. (45$ on amazon)
  • you can make the hard drive faster by adding intel optane to accelerate it. The 16gb stick costs 20-30$ and the 32gb version costs around 40$. This would essentially turn the hard drive into a hybrid drive. 

I have a Samsung 970 EVO and a 500gb Sata SSD in my computer and I don't notice a difference in game load time between the two. I think NVME really makes a difference for workstation stuff or video editing (but i could also be wrong).

[lmeneses]

2 hours ago, Sorenson said:

or just syncing the all core turbo boost to 4.7ghz

The 8700k does not turbo boost to 4.7 Ghz on all cores, try 4.3 Ghz. 

2 hours ago, Sorenson said:

If you really want to push the overclock go for the Asus or the more expensive MSI.

Asus has started to lag in producing quality motherboards, while still maintaining the asus tax. I think he'd be better off getting an Asrock z370 or z390 extreme 4 or the gigabyte aorus z370 gaming 7. 

 

2 hours ago, Sorenson said:

The NZXT H500 is a great case and only costs 65$ (doesn't come with an RGB controller, if that is important you could go with the H500I for $94). 

for that price, he'd be better off paying $10 more for the fractal design meshify c, which has far superior airflow and cable management. 

[Sorenson]

14 minutes ago, lmeneses said:

The 8700k does not turbo boost to 4.7 Ghz on all cores, try 4.3 Ghz. 

Asus has started to lag in producing quality motherboards, while still maintaining the asus tax. I think he'd be better off getting an Asrock z370 or z390 extreme 4 or the gigabyte aorus z370 gaming 7. 

 

for that price, he'd be better off paying $10 more for the fractal design meshify c, which has far superior airflow and cable management. 

• All core sync is an OC option in motherboard bios that matches the all core boost to the single core boost. The 8700k single core boost is 4.7, so checking all core sync would make the cpu’s All core boost go to 4.7ghz. This is a very common setting to check, as it usually doesn’t require adding voltage to the CPU.
• ASUS motherboards are fine, check any review of them, but they do tend to be slightly more expensive. I’ve never used an ASrock motherboard And I would be skeptical about the VRM quality on a discount motherboard. Also I personally do not like the bios on gigabyte motherboards.
• Both the NZXT h500 and the meshify c have been positively reviewed for airflow. Hell I get great airflow in my h200i. Also the cable management in NZXT cases are top notch.

Edited November 28, 2018 by Sorenson
NZXT cable manegment