LTX 2019: Planning SIX BUILDS - Gaming at Every Price Point

[RILEYISMYNAME]

HEY SMART PEOPLE
It's me, the dumb one!

 

We're working on our "Gaming at every Price Point" LTX booth / video, so Linus tasked me with building the spec list for SIX different PCs, going from the cheapest gaming PC to the most overkill. We think these builds are pretty solid, but we wanted to get feedback from you guys. So...

 

What would you change about these builds?

Some notes about component selection:

- Other than the bottom two builds and the overkill build, we tried to keep the same vendor for the same part across price points. So all coolers are Corsair, all power supplies are EVGA, etc.

- We prioritized having the GPU fill up about 1/3rd of the budget, and structured the rest of the build around that. 

- We're prioritizing refresh rate over resolution, as you can see in the "High-end" build.

- The processors in the cheapest 3 builds come with coolers, so I didn't budget for it. 

- Most of the prices listed were found on Amazon US, with a few at Newegg.com.

 

Let us know what you think! 

 

Here's a color-coded screenshot of my spreadsheet: 
 

 

 

 

 

And here's the actual hyperlinks if you want to check the parts out:

	Cheapest	CHEAPEST	Budget (esports)	Price ~600	Mid-range (1080p)	Price ~1000
CPU	AMD Athlon 200GE	$60.00	AMD Ryzen 3 2200G	$86.99	Ryzen 5 2400G	$137.44	CPU
GPU	N/A		RX 580	$175.86	GTX 1660 Ti	$300.00	GPU
RAM	Patriot DDR4 4GB	$18.00	Patriot Signature DDR4 8GB	$37.99	Corsair Vengeance LPX 8GB (2x4GB)	$54.99	RAM
Mobo	Gigabyte GA-A320M	$50.01	Gigabyte GA-A320M	$50.01	ASUS Prime B450	$79.99	Mobo
SSD	Kingston 120GB A400	$19.99	ADATA SU635 240GB	$30.00	Kingston 240GB A400	$29.99	SSD
HDD	N/A				Seagate BarraCuda Internal Hard Drive 1TB	$49.99	HDD
PSU	Rosewill built-in		EVGA 500 BT 80+ Bronze 500W	$39.99	EVGA 500 BT 80+ Bronze 500W	$39.99	PSU
Case	Rosewill R379-M w/ PSU	$57.99	Thermaltake Versa H17	$34.56	Fractal Design Focus G Mini	$45.52	Case
keyboard	https://www.amazon.com/s?k=keyboard&s=price-asc-rank&qid=1555352540&ref=sr_st_price-asc-rank	$10.00	Turtle Beach Impact 100	$24.95	Logitech K840	$59.99	keyboard
mouse	AmazonBasics 3-Button	$10.00	PICTEK Gaming Mouse	$12.99	Logitech G203	$27.00	mouse
monitor	Acer SB220Q 21.5inch	$89.99	AOC 21.5 inch 5 ms	$99.99	ASUS VX248H 24in FHD 1ms	$160.99	monitor
		$315.98		$593.33		$985.89
	Upper-Mid-Range (1080p high refresh)	Price ~1500	High-end (4K / 1440p high refresh)	Price ~2500	Overkill	Price ∞
CPU	Intel Core i5-8600K	$259.99	Core i7-9700K	$410.00	Core i9-9900K	$500.00	CPU
GPU	RTX 2070	$500.00	RTX 2080	$750.00	RTX 2080 Ti	$1,200.00	GPU
					RTX 2080 Ti	$1,200.00
RAM	Corsair Vengeance LPX 8GB (2x4GB)	$54.99	Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2x8GB)	$89.99	Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro 32GB (4x8GB)	$219.99	RAM
Mobo	ASUS Prime H370M-Plus	$105.99	ASUS Prime Z390-P	$149.99	ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390	$399.99	Mobo
Cooling	Corsair H55 120mm AIO	$59.99	Corsair H100i 280mm	$109.99	CORSAIR HYDRO Series H150i PRO	$166.99	Cooling
Storage	Kingston A400 480GB SSD	$49.99	Kingston A400 480GB SSD	$49.99	Samsung 970 EVO 1TB NVMe m.2	$297.99	Storage
Storage 2			Seagate BarraCuda Internal Hard Drive 2TB	$59.88	Samsung 860 EVO 2TB	$299.00	Storage 2
PSU	EVGA 650 BQ 80+ Bronze	$59.99	EVGA 750 GQ, 80+ Gold	$99.53	EVGA Supernova 1000 80+ Platinum	$247.01	PSU
Case	Fractal Design Focus G	$50.07	Phanteks Pro M Tempered Glass	$99.99	Phanteks Evolv X ATX RGB	$189.99	Case
keyboard	Logitech G413	$69.98	Logitech G613 Lightspeed Wireless	$74.00	Logitech G613 Lightspeed Wireless	$74.00	keyboard
mouse	Logitech G MX518	$59.99	Logitech G703 Lightspeed Wireless	$81.75	Logitech G Pro Wireless	$134.25	mouse
monitor	ASUS VG278Q 27in FHD 144Hz G-Sync	$288.61	ASUS PG278QR 27in QHD 165Hz G-Sync	$541.38	ASUS PG27UQ 27in 4K 144Hz G-Sync	$1,889.90	monitor
		$1,559.59		$2,516.49		$6,819.11

[Crunchy Dragon]

Is there really no cheaper option than an Athlon 200GE? That's....a little shocking, to be honest. I would have thought something like a Celeron or Pentium would cost less.

 

You should probably also get a Z-series board for the Upper Midrange build, doesn't make much sense to get an unlocked CPU and shove it in a non-overclockable board. Another option would be a Core i7-8700 instead of the i5-8600K.

[Raudi_]

The upper midrange build I would maybe do a 2600x and a B450 board that way you can factor in money towards storage, accessories, or cooling?

Cause personally in my opinion you could do an overclocking board with a cheaper option for that being the ASUS PRIME Z370-P II to make sense of using that CPU as an option for that build.

[Stormseeker9]

Think the upper mid range pc should have 16 GB of ram to be fair. 

Also no builds with ryzen 2600/2700 ?

[porina]

The "high end" build feels wrong to me. In my opinion, it should have the single fastest GPU (2080Ti) paired with the fastest non-HEDT CPU (9900k). But they're in the overkill category. Also it has a SATA SSD? NVMe at least...

 

Also like previous two comments, I would have liked to see a 2600/2700 build in the mid+ area.

[r2724r16]

I recommend changing the "overkill" build to this: 

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	Intel - Core i9-9900K 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor	$484.99 @ B&H
CPU Cooler	be quiet! - Dark Rock Pro 4 50.5 CFM CPU Cooler	$88.09 @ Amazon
Motherboard	Gigabyte - Z390 AORUS MASTER ATX LGA1151 Motherboard	$259.99 @ Amazon
Memory	G.Skill - Trident Z RGB 32 GB (4 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 Memory	$339.99 @ Newegg
Storage	Samsung - 970 Pro 1 TB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive	$332.99 @ Amazon
Storage	Samsung - 860 Evo 2 TB 2.5" Solid State Drive	$297.99 @ B&H
Video Card	Asus - GeForce RTX 2080 Ti 11 GB ROG Strix Gaming Advanced Video Card (2-Way SLI)	$1289.99 @ Newegg
Video Card	Asus - GeForce RTX 2080 Ti 11 GB ROG Strix Gaming Advanced Video Card (2-Way SLI)	$1289.99 @ Newegg
Case	Phanteks - Evolv X ATX Mid Tower Case	$189.99 @ Amazon
Power Supply	Corsair - RMx 1000 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply	$159.89 @ OutletPC
Monitor	Asus - ROG SWIFT PG27UQ 27.0" 3840x2160 144 Hz Monitor	$1883.21 @ Amazon
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total (before mail-in rebates)	$6637.11
	Mail-in rebates	-$20.00
	Total	$6617.11
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-06-06 18:05 EDT-0400

 

For "Upper-Mid-Range", change the build to this: 

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	Intel - Core i5-9400F 2.9 GHz 6-Core Processor	$149.89 @ OutletPC
CPU Cooler	ARCTIC - Freezer 34 eSports DUO CPU Cooler	$39.99 @ Amazon
Motherboard	ASRock - Z390 Extreme4 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard	$139.89 @ OutletPC
Memory	Corsair - Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory	$79.89 @ OutletPC
Storage	Crucial - MX500 500 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive	$66.99 @ Adorama
Video Card	EVGA - GeForce RTX 2070 8 GB Black Video Card	$479.99 @ Amazon
Case	Fractal Design - Focus G ATX Mid Tower Case	$53.56 @ Amazon
Power Supply	Corsair - RMx (2018) 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply	$82.98 @ Newegg
Monitor	Asus - VG279Q 27.0" 1920x1080 144 Hz Monitor	$319.99 @ B&H
Keyboard	Logitech - G413 Carbon Wired Gaming Keyboard	$69.96 @ Amazon
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total (before mail-in rebates)	$1508.13
	Mail-in rebates	-$25.00
	Total	$1483.13
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-06-06 18:15 EDT-0400

 

[XR6]

For the Ryzen builds I would recommend changing the motherboard from a GA-A320M/B450 Prime to an ASRock B450 Pro4 (or B450M Pro4 depending on price and case size).

I would also recommend changing PSUs from a 500BT to a Corsair CX450 (or maybe a be quiet! System Power U9 400W if CX450 is too expensive).

Also, I recommend changing the PSU in the Upper Mid-Range and High End builds to a Corsair RM650x (or TX650M if an RM is too expensive).

To be honest I would've also liked to see a R5 2600/R7 2700 in the mid-range builds.

[porina]

For current high end build, I'd replace the Adata 500GB+HD, get Intel 660p 1TB for $99 on newegg.

 

Thinking more about the builds, can we really call the Athlon 200GE build a "gaming" system? I'd use the 2200G (without GPU) as the minimum gaming configuration.

 

Would be interesting to see an all AMD system in there, something like a 2700X + Radeon VII for upper-mid?

[Firewrath9]

inland professional (house brand of microcenter) has 500GB ssds for 50$

B450 Prime is a disgusting motherborad, perhaps a B450 Gaming plus from MSI or an aorus board

and get Z370 on that 8600k build

and perhaps a i3-8100 instead of a 2200g

[Raudi_]

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD - Ryzen 5 2600X 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor	$184.99 @ Newegg
Motherboard	Asus - ROG STRIX B450-F GAMING ATX AM4 Motherboard	$123.98 @ Newegg
Memory	G.Skill - Aegis 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory	$66.99 @ Newegg
Storage	Patriot - Burst 480 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive	$45.99 @ Amazon
Video Card	Asus - GeForce RTX 2070 8 GB STRIX GAMING Video Card	$469.99 @ Newegg
Case	Corsair - 400QC ATX Mid Tower Case	$59.99 @ Newegg
Power Supply	SeaSonic - FOCUS Plus Gold 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply	$75.98 @ Newegg
Monitor	Asus - VG278Q 27.0" 1920x1080 144 Hz Monitor	$288.65 @ Amazon
Keyboard	Redragon - K552-R KUMARA Wired Gaming Keyboard	$36.99 @ Amazon
Mouse	Logitech - G502 HERO Wired Optical Mouse	$57.90 @ Amazon
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total (before mail-in rebates)	$1486.45
	Mail-in rebates	-$75.00
	Total	$1411.45
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-06-06 18:17 EDT-0400

The mid range build I would personally do as so, because it will also allow for streaming and future upgrade support.

[Spotty]

23 minutes ago, RILEYISMYNAME said:

Other than the bottom two builds and the overkill build, we tried to keep the same vendor for the same part across price points. So all coolers are Corsair, all power supplies are EVGA, etc.

Are you being sponsored by those companies for those items?
If not, that's a terrible way to choose components. A company may have some good products in the high end SKUs but some awful or overpriced products in the low-mid range. You may end up paying a higher price for a worse product just because you wanted to stick to a particular brand.

I'll probably do up some lists in a bit, but at a glance I see a number of issues with the builds as they stand.

• A320M motherboard paired with 2nd gen Ryzen CPUs (probably updated, but can't guarantee if you're recommending it for others)
• Poor quality PSUs (EVGA BT in particular is not good)
• Low speed 2400Mhz memory in Zen based systems (only $5-$10 more for faster memory and it does make a difference)
• Budget Kingston A400 SSD used in "High End" build. (Fine for the low end builds since any SSD is better than no SSD, but for high end builds you should grab something that has a DRAM Cache)
• 120mm AIO in the Upper Mid range PC isn't very good, you can get better performing air coolers for less (Didn't LTT do a video on this recently?)
• Unlocked K series Intel CPUs paired with non overclockable motherboards
• Only 8GB RAM in mid range and upper mid range systems (16GB recommended for anything but low budget systems)

[Oalei]

Can you get evga to send in better Psu tbh. 

[melete]

I feel like a good point could be made here about how air coolers compare to smaller AIOs like that 120mm Corsair H60 in the upper-midrange build. There's several outstanding coolers around that price, like be Quiet's Dark Rock 4, Thermalright's Macho Rev B, Scythe's Mugen 5 Rev B, etc. A big part of why that unlocked 8600k is a great product is how much you can overclock it, after all.

 

Also, only 8GB of RAM in the upper midrange? 16GB of Vengeance LPX is getting very affordable these days.

 

edit: oof, just saw that's a H370 motherboard and not a Z370. You might want to stick with an overclocking board to not confuse newer builders. If that's hard to fit in the budget maybe the extremely well priced R5 2600 or 2600X is in order, here.

[r2724r16]

I see common problems with a lot of your builds:

- They use bad motherboards (with bad power delivery, VRMs, features). Please refer to the Motherboard Tier List. I'm specifically referring to the ASUS Prime Z390-P and XI Maximus Formula. Not sure if you're aware of this, but ASUS's Z390 motherboards have been known for being bad (in terms of overclocking, price, and features) compared to motherboards from Gigabyte and ASRock, so they should be avoided at any cost.

- They use cheap PSUs (80+ ratings aren't an indicator of quality). Please refer to the PSU Tier List. I'm specifically referring to the EVGA BT, BQ, and GQ, none of which are great (for their price).

- They use overpriced AIO liquid coolers that easily get beaten by air coolers in terms of cooling performance, noise levels, long-term reliability, and most importantly, value. Also, there's no reason to use a 120mm AIO cooler in any situation (I'm looking at the Corsair H55).

 

Also, the Kingston A400 is a really bad SSD (with no DRAM IIRC) so please don't use it in your builds.

 

And please use the Fractal Design Meshify C TG in your "High-end (4K)" build because it's just amazing. Definitely the best case on the market for around U$100.

 

Also, please stop with the brand fanboyism (for Corsair coolers and EVGA PSUs).

[RobFRaschke]

I would not do a $1000 build with 8GB of RAM, let alone a $1500 build with 8GB. 

 

On the $1500 PC, you could do a 2600 or 2600X and likely make up the price difference between motherboard and CPU cost, especially if you throw out that crap watercooling for a decent air cooler. Your(LTT) own testing has shown that decent aircoolers outperform low end and even middling watercooling.

 

On the $1000 build, drop the HDD, bump up to a 500GB class SSD, ditch the logitech peripherals at that price range and get the extra memory in there.

[RobFRaschke]

I understand the idea of trying to keep all parts from a single company for a part type across the builds, I get where you're coming from there, as at least on the surface it would make things seem more "fair" but it just doesn't work. I wish it did, I wish we could say A brand is good, B brand sucks, like we could 10 years ago, but it just doesn't work anymore. If that's a sponsorship limitation, then I get it, but you'll need a little extra wiggle room in prices to accommodate it.

 

I have to say as well, there is something to be said for being able to overclock the iGPU, so a 2200G and a B350 or 450 low end board would be DRASTICALLY more performance per dollar, especially when you get that iGPU at 1500-1550mhz, which has been quite reasonable on my samples thus far, even on something like the Gigabyte B450M DS3H. My nephews system is 24/7 rock solid stable at 3.75ghz CPU and 1500mhz GPU. It would do 3.8 CPU or 1575 GPU, but not together on that B450M DS3H, which it would on my MSI X470 Gaming Pro, so I had to find a happy medium.

[Firewrath9]

12 minutes ago, r2724r16 said:

I see common problems with a lot of your builds:

- They use bad motherboards (with bad power delivery, VRMs, features). Please refer to the Motherboard Tier List.

- They use cheap PSUs (80+ ratings aren't an indicator of quality). Please refer to the PSU Tier List.

- They use overpriced AIO liquid coolers that easily get beaten by air coolers in terms of cooling performance, noise levels, and most importantly, value.

 

Also, the Kingston A400 is a really bad SSD (with no DRAM IIRC) so please don't use it in your builds.

well they have to have sponsors

[r2724r16]

1 minute ago, Firewrath9 said:

well they have to have sponsors

If LTT only uses components from brands that are sponsoring them, they'll end up misguiding many consumers in the market looking to build a PC. Many people will be tricked into thinking that only, for example, Corsair CPU coolers are good and only EVGA PSUs are good because of the influence that LTT has (they have 8M+ subscribers) and the trust that viewers have in LMG.

[Stefan Payne]

1 hour ago, RILEYISMYNAME said:

Some notes about component selection:

- Other than the bottom two builds and the overkill build, we tried to keep the same vendor for the same part across price points. So all coolers are Corsair, all power supplies are EVGA, etc.

- We prioritized having the GPU fill up about 1/3rd of the budget, and structured the rest of the build around that. 

- We're prioritizing refresh rate over resolution, as you can see in the "High-end" build.

- The processors in the cheapest 3 builds come with coolers, so I didn't budget for it. 

- Most of the prices listed were found on Amazon US, with a few at Newegg.com.

 

Let us know what you think! 

• Avoid A320 Boards for the Ryzen Boards! They are the Buttom of the Barrel and won't get Zen2 Support, @XR6 Mentioned some good Boards.
•  Coolers -> look at Noctua, be quiet, for cheaper Options Scythe maybe EKL. And I'd Standardize on for example Scythe Mugen 5 or be quiet Shadow Rock Slim, Shadow Rock 2 for all but the highest End System. For those I'd either go 240 or 280mm AIO but personally I don't like them and would prefer Dual Tower. Either Dark Rock PRO or Noctua NH-D15.
• Power Supplys, either Corsair, CX minimum, or be quiet. For ATX, 400W Minimum. Can't messup much with either of those. System Power U9 for lower end, Pure Power 11 for Mid Range, Upper Midrange and High End 550W Straight Power 11, for Overkill Dark Power Pro 11, 850W.
  EVGA PSU are mostly shit. If you absolutely have to go for EVGA PSU for whatever Reason, B3 for the lower end, G2/3 for the higher end. But even I have Problems keeping up with all the nonsense they are putting out. At this point they are either totally incompetent and don't know what they are doing or evil and do that to disrupt other, smaller, manufacturers from doing good. And personally, I'd prefer smaller Companys -> be quiet, Silverstone. Just to name two (Silverstone is OK starting with 80plus Gold units).
• Why no VEGA?? There are some dirt Cheap Options. Over here the Blowers can be gotten for as low as 230€. Right now the Gigabyte is at that Price. The RX590 is a whopping 10€ cheaper...
• They are also somewhat OK, you could also change the Upper Mid Range from the i5-8600K to Ryzen 2700X or keep the Ryzen 3600X in mind. Allegedly they Launch at the same Price. Problem with Ryzen 3600X: You need someone with the 200GE to flash the BIOS before you can use them
• SSD; As said, I'd use a different one. Some people Seem like Crucial. Personally, I'd look for 500GB and 1000GB for Mid Range and higher, sacrificing the HDD.
  Maybe also look at putting it into the Budget eSports one. You can replace the Ryzen 3/2200G with a Ryzen 3/1200, 1300X or so to fit the 500GB SSD inside the Budget. 1TB SSDs start at only 90€ or so.

 

1 hour ago, Crunchy Dragon said:

Is there really no cheaper option than an Athlon 200GE? That's....a little shocking, to be honest. I would have thought something like a Celeron or Pentium would cost less.

Yeah, the 200GE is the best solution at that Pricepoint.

Its about the same as a A Pentium but comes with SMT enabled, so 4 Threads instead of two.

That is important because there are Games that either don't start or crash with only 2 Thread CPUs.

55 minutes ago, XR6 said:

For the Ryzen builds I would recommend changing the motherboard from a GA-A320M/B450 Prime to an ASRock B450 Pro4 (or B450M Pro4 depending on price and case size).

I would also recommend changing PSUs from a 500BT to a Corsair CX450 (or maybe a be quiet! System Power U9 400W if CX450 is too expensive).

Also, I recommend changing the PSU in the Upper Mid-Range and High End builds to a Corsair RM650x (or TX650M if an RM is too expensive).

To be honest I would've also liked to see a R5 2600/R7 2700 in the mid-range builds.

^what he said.

I totally agree with it.

Though I'd also liked to see a VEGA in one of the Builds, especially because they are so cheap.

[hello_there_123]

A400 is **extremely** bad, tcsunbow X3 instead for budget, maybe 660p or sx8200 pro for 1tb depending on use case 

[melete]

Did some toying around in PCPartsPicker because I enjoy that, trying to use the same components (so no Scythe Mugen or whatever) because I assume there's brand sponsorships etc. I tried to get an overclockable 9600k build around the same price as the upper-midrange build here and failed miserably.

 

An AMD build, which even gets to afford silly RGB AIOs:

 

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 2600 3.4 GHz 6-Core Processor  ($145.88 @ Amazon) 
CPU Cooler: Corsair - H100i RGB PLATINUM 75 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler  ($129.99 @ Amazon) 
Motherboard: Asus - ROG STRIX B450-F GAMING ATX AM4 Motherboard  ($119.99 @ Amazon) 
Memory: Corsair - Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory  ($84.99 @ Amazon) 
Storage: Kingston - A400 480 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($49.99 @ Amazon) 
Video Card: Asus - GeForce RTX 2070 8 GB DUAL OC Video Card  ($449.99 @ Newegg) 
Case: Fractal Design - Meshify C ATX Mid Tower Case  ($84.85 @ Walmart) 
Power Supply: EVGA - BQ 650 W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply  ($59.99 @ Amazon) 
Monitor: Asus - VG278Q 27.0" 1920x1080 144 Hz Monitor  ($288.65 @ Amazon) 
Keyboard: Logitech - G413 Carbon Wired Gaming Keyboard  ($69.96 @ Amazon) 
Custom: Logitech G MX518 ($59.99)
Total: $1544.27
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-06-06 19:22 EDT-0400

 

AMD without the AIO, but with some extra fans because Meshify C likes that:

 

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 2600X 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor  ($179.99 @ Amazon) 
Motherboard: Asus - ROG STRIX B450-F GAMING ATX AM4 Motherboard  ($119.99 @ Amazon) 
Memory: Corsair - Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory  ($84.99 @ Amazon) 
Storage: Kingston - A400 480 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($49.99 @ Amazon) 
Video Card: Asus - GeForce RTX 2070 8 GB STRIX GAMING Video Card  ($469.99 @ Newegg) 
Case: Fractal Design - Meshify C ATX Mid Tower Case  ($84.85 @ Walmart) 
Power Supply: EVGA - BQ 650 W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply  ($59.99 @ Amazon) 
Case Fan: Corsair - ML140 97 CFM 140 mm Fans  ($38.99 @ Amazon) 
Monitor: Asus - VG278Q 27.0" 1920x1080 144 Hz Monitor  ($288.65 @ Amazon) 
Keyboard: Logitech - G413 Carbon Wired Gaming Keyboard  ($69.96 @ Amazon) 
Custom: Logitech G MX518 ($59.99)
Total: $1507.38
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-06-06 19:28 EDT-0400

 

And Intel's version, which still has that tiny AIO because I didn't want to go over your original budget:

 

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel - Core i5-9400F 2.9 GHz 6-Core Processor  ($149.99 @ Walmart) 
CPU Cooler: Corsair - H60 (2018) 57.2 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler  ($57.99 @ Newegg) 
Motherboard: Asus - TUF Z390-PRO GAMING ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($159.28 @ Amazon) 
Memory: Corsair - Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory  ($84.99 @ Amazon) 
Storage: Kingston - A400 480 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($49.99 @ Amazon) 
Video Card: Asus - GeForce RTX 2070 8 GB STRIX GAMING Video Card  ($469.99 @ Newegg) 
Case: Fractal Design - Focus G ATX Mid Tower Case  ($59.98 @ Newegg) 
Power Supply: EVGA - BQ 650 W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply  ($59.99 @ Amazon) 
Monitor: Asus - VG278Q 27.0" 1920x1080 144 Hz Monitor  ($288.65 @ Amazon) 
Keyboard: Logitech - G413 Carbon Wired Gaming Keyboard  ($69.96 @ Amazon) 
Custom: Logitech G MX518 ($59.99)
Total: $1510.80
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-06-06 19:13 EDT-0400

[hello_there_123]

1 hour ago, RILEYISMYNAME said:

Some notes about component selection:

- Other than the bottom two builds and the overkill build, we tried to keep the same vendor for the same part across price points. So all coolers are Corsair, all power supplies are EVGA, etc.

- We prioritized having the GPU fill up about 1/3rd of the budget, and structured the rest of the build around that. 

 

Let us know what you think! 

If you're going to stick w/ the same vendor for the same part for sponsorship purposes, then the best brands to use would be Corsair for PSU, Gigabyte for mobo, G.skill for ram, scythe for coolers, acer for monitor, logitech/redragon for keyboard, and WD for ssd. 

[Spotty]

 

@GoldenLag @Herman Mcpootis Are absolute legends when it comes to builds. I'm sure they can come up with something or tweak what I have below to give better price/performance. (Needs to include monitor + keyboard + mouse)

@TVwazhere could probably do a better job with case selection.

 

Did my best to keep items to Amazon or Newegg, though I might have missed something. Also did my best to avoid any mail-in-rebates but some where a little stubborn and had MIR no matter which store I chose. Might have also missed a couple as well.

Feel free to play around with peripheral selection. I mostly just went with whatever was at the top of the recommended list from PCPP.

 

$600 Budget PC (No HDD) Strangely the original $600 build list didn't have a HDD so I followed that here with only a 240GB SSD. Can fit in a RX580 8GB without a HDD, but almost defeats the purpose if you don't have any storage to install your games to...

Quote

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD - Ryzen 3 2200G 3.5 GHz Quad-Core Processor	$86.99 @ Amazon
Motherboard	ASRock - B450M PRO4 Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard	$59.99 @ Newegg
Memory	Team - Vulcan 8 GB (2 x 4 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory	$40.98 @ Newegg
Storage	Kingston - A400 240 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive	$29.99 @ Amazon
Video Card	PowerColor - Radeon RX 580 8 GB Video Card	$179.99 @ Amazon
Case	Cougar - MX330 ATX Mid Tower Case	$41.98 @ Newegg
Power Supply	Corsair - CX (2017) 550 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply	$54.99 @ Amazon
Monitor	Acer - SB220Q bi 21.5" 1920x1080 75 Hz Monitor	$89.99 @ Amazon
Keyboard	AmazonBasics - KU-0833 +MSU0939 Wired Standard Keyboard With Optical Mouse	$14.38 @ Amazon
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total (before mail-in rebates)	$609.28
	Mail-in rebates	-$10.00
	Total	$599.28
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-06-06 20:06 EDT-0400

 

 

$600 Budget PC (with HDD) Dropped the GPU down to a RX 570 and added a HDD. If you can increase the budget to $650 you can have both RX580 + 1TB HDD. (Unless someone else can do a better job to get it within budget with both RX580 + HDD)

Quote

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD - Ryzen 3 2200G 3.5 GHz Quad-Core Processor	$86.99 @ Amazon
Motherboard	ASRock - B450M PRO4 Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard	$59.99 @ Newegg
Memory	Team - Vulcan 8 GB (2 x 4 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory	$40.98 @ Newegg
Storage	Kingston - A400 240 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive	$29.99 @ Amazon
Storage	Western Digital - Caviar Blue 1 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive	$43.89 @ OutletPC
Video Card	PowerColor - Radeon RX 570 4 GB RED DRAGON Video Card	$129.99 @ Newegg
Case	Cougar - MX330 ATX Mid Tower Case	$41.98 @ Newegg
Power Supply	Corsair - CX (2017) 550 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply	$54.99 @ Amazon
Monitor	Acer - SB220Q bi 21.5" 1920x1080 75 Hz Monitor	$89.99 @ Amazon
Keyboard	AmazonBasics - KU-0833 +MSU0939 Wired Standard Keyboard With Optical Mouse	$14.38 @ Amazon
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total (before mail-in rebates)	$603.17
	Mail-in rebates	-$10.00
	Total	$593.17
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-06-06 20:05 EDT-0400

 

 

 

$1000 Mid Range PC

Quote

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD - Ryzen 5 2600 3.4 GHz 6-Core Processor	$145.88 @ Amazon
Motherboard	ASRock - B450M Steel Legend Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard	$89.99 @ Amazon
Memory	G.Skill - Ripjaws V 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory	$70.98 @ Newegg
Storage	Crucial - MX500 250 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive	$39.99 @ Adorama
Storage	Western Digital - Caviar Blue 1 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive	$43.89 @ OutletPC
Video Card	EVGA - GeForce GTX 1660 Ti 6 GB XC BLACK GAMING Video Card	$269.99 @ Amazon
Case	NZXT - H500 ATX Mid Tower Case	$69.99 @ Amazon
Power Supply	Corsair - CX (2017) 550 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply	$54.99 @ Amazon
Monitor	AOC - 24V2H 23.8" 1920x1080 75 Hz Monitor	$129.99 @ Newegg
Keyboard	Corsair - K55 RGB Wired Gaming Keyboard	$49.88 @ Amazon
Mouse	Logitech - G203 Prodigy Wired Optical Mouse	$26.38 @ Amazon
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	$991.95
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-06-06 18:51 EDT-0400

 

 

 

$1500 Ryzen Option

Quote

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD - Ryzen 5 2600X 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor	$179.99 @ Amazon
CPU Cooler	ARCTIC - Freezer 34 eSports DUO CPU Cooler	$39.99 @ Amazon
Motherboard	MSI - B450 TOMAHAWK ATX AM4 Motherboard	$109.89 @ OutletPC
Memory	Corsair - Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory	$78.99 @ Newegg
Storage	Crucial - MX500 500 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive	$66.99 @ Amazon
Storage	Seagate - Barracuda 2 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive	$59.99 @ Newegg
Video Card	EVGA - GeForce RTX 2070 8 GB Black Video Card	$479.99 @ Amazon
Case	NZXT - H500 ATX Mid Tower Case	$69.99 @ Amazon
Power Supply	BitFenix - Formula Gold 550 W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply	$69.00 @ Amazon
Monitor	Acer - KG241 Pbmidpx 24.0" 1920x1080 144 Hz Monitor	$176.93 @ Amazon
Keyboard	Corsair - K55 RGB Wired Gaming Keyboard	$49.88 @ Amazon
Mouse	Logitech - G502 HERO Wired Optical Mouse	$57.90 @ Amazon
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total (before mail-in rebates)	$1459.53
	Mail-in rebates	-$20.00
	Total	$1439.53
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-06-06 19:00 EDT-0400

 

$1500 Intel Option (Not recommended - God damn Intel Z series boards and K CPUs are overpriced)

Quote

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	Intel - Core i5-9600K 3.7 GHz 6-Core Processor	$259.99 @ Amazon
CPU Cooler	ARCTIC - Freezer 34 eSports DUO CPU Cooler	$39.99 @ Amazon
Motherboard	ASRock - Z390 Extreme4 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard	$139.99 @ Amazon
Memory	Corsair - Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory	$78.99 @ Newegg
Storage	Crucial - MX500 500 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive	$66.99 @ Amazon
Storage	Western Digital - Caviar Blue 1 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive	$43.98 @ Amazon
Video Card	EVGA - GeForce RTX 2070 8 GB Black Video Card	$479.99 @ Amazon
Case	NZXT - H500 ATX Mid Tower Case	$69.99 @ Amazon
Power Supply	BitFenix - Formula Gold 550 W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply	$69.00 @ Amazon
Monitor	Acer - KG241 Pbmidpx 24.0" 1920x1080 144 Hz Monitor	$176.93 @ Amazon
Keyboard	Corsair - K55 RGB Wired Gaming Keyboard	$49.88 @ Amazon
Mouse	Corsair - Harpoon RGB Wired Optical Mouse	$22.49 @ Amazon
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	$1498.21
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-06-06 19:11 EDT-0400

 

 

 

$2500 High End build

Quote

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	Intel - Core i7-9700K 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor	$409.99 @ Newegg
CPU Cooler	Corsair - H100i PRO 75 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler	$109.89 @ OutletPC
Motherboard	Gigabyte - Z390 AORUS PRO ATX LGA1151 Motherboard	$169.99 @ Amazon
Memory	G.Skill - Trident Z RGB 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory	$95.99 @ Newegg
Storage	Crucial - MX500 500 GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive	$66.85 @ OutletPC
Storage	Seagate - Barracuda 2 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive	$59.99 @ Newegg
Video Card	EVGA - GeForce RTX 2080 8 GB XC ULTRA GAMING Video Card	$769.99 @ Amazon
Case	Phanteks - Enthoo Pro M ATX Mid Tower Case	$79.99 @ Newegg
Power Supply	Corsair - RMx (2018) 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply	$82.98 @ Newegg
Monitor	Asus - ROG SWIFT PG279QZ 27.0" 2560x1440 165 Hz Monitor	$552.14 @ Amazon
Keyboard	Corsair - K55 RGB Wired Gaming Keyboard	$49.88 @ Amazon
Mouse	Logitech - G403 Prodigy Wired Optical Mouse	$39.99 @ Amazon
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total (before mail-in rebates)	$2517.67
	Mail-in rebates	-$30.00
	Total	$2487.67
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-06-06 19:32 EDT-0400

 

Overkill ~$7k

Quote

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	Intel - Core i9-9900K 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor	$484.99 @ Amazon
CPU Cooler	Corsair - H150i PRO 47.3 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler	$166.89 @ OutletPC
Motherboard	Gigabyte - Z390 AORUS MASTER ATX LGA1151 Motherboard	$259.99 @ Amazon
Memory	Corsair - Vengeance RGB Pro 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory	$199.99 @ Amazon
Storage	Samsung - 970 Pro 1 TB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive	$332.99 @ Amazon
Storage	Samsung - 860 Evo 2 TB 2.5" Solid State Drive	$297.99 @ B&H
Video Card	EVGA - GeForce RTX 2080 Ti 11 GB FTW3 ULTRA GAMING Video Card (2-Way SLI)	$1299.99 @ Amazon
Video Card	EVGA - GeForce RTX 2080 Ti 11 GB FTW3 ULTRA GAMING Video Card (2-Way SLI)	$1299.99 @ Amazon
Case	Lian-Li - PC-O11 Dynamic ATX Full Tower Case	$139.99 @ Newegg
Power Supply	Corsair - HX Platinum 1000 W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply	$159.99 @ Newegg
Monitor	Asus - ROG SWIFT PG27UQ 27.0" 3840x2160 144 Hz Monitor	$1883.21 @ Amazon
Keyboard	Corsair - K95 RGB PLATINUM Wired Gaming Keyboard	$168.78 @ OutletPC
Mouse	Logitech - G Pro Wireless Wireless Optical Mouse	$135.44 @ Amazon
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total (before mail-in rebates)	$6870.23
	Mail-in rebates	-$40.00
	Total	$6830.23
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-06-06 19:48 EDT-0400

 

 

[RILEYISMYNAME]

Woo right on! Thanks for the initial feedback, everyone! LUV YA, 'PRECIATE YA

Seems like the biggest issues are the CPU and mobo choices for the Mid-range + Upper-mid-range builds - should definitely have either a Z370 for the i5-8600K or switch to a Ryzen 2600(X)

Also the Kingston A400 is bad.

Also EVGA BT PSUs are bad.

Also the upper-range builds could use 16GB of RAM probs, and faster than 2400Hz for Ryzen CPUs optimally

 

I'll be spending some time to adjust the builds based on your feedback, so thank you! 

To answer some questions:

- Yes, we were trying to keep the same vendors for all parts in a category because we're looking to have sponsors send us some parts. No guarantees at this point that we'll be able to GET all those, so we might have to swap out some parts anyway.

- The purpose of this project isn't necessarily to recommend specific components to the end user (e.g. buy Cooler A at 70 dollars instead of Cooler B at 85 dollars), but to give a general feel for what KIND of gaming experience you could expect at various price points (e.g. big noticeable changes like much faster refresh rates or higher resolution) - but like I said, there are some glaring problems with these builds as they stand, so I'll be making changes! 

 

 

[trevb0t]

I get that the cheapest build is actually THE CHEAPEST...

But I would never recommend Athlon over a 2200G, when the Vega 8 and overclockability is there for an extra $20.

If you want to label it a "Gaming PC" I'd at least give it that courtesy