$1000 Build Running 240Hz

[Minibeniitec]

Budget (including currency): 1200 Dollars

Country: US

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Fortnite, Warzone, Overwatch

Other details (existing parts lists, whether any peripherals are needed, what you're upgrading from, when you're going to buy, what resolution and refresh rate you want to play at, etc): 

I have an interesting request from a friend that is new to the PC world. She recently bough a 240hz 1080p monitor and only has a PS4 connected to it. She would like to me to build her a PC for her so she can utilize the monitor and she doesn't really know how to do it herself. Although I'd love to, I am still pretty new to it all. I realize that getting a computer with such a budget is not that realistic, so I'm thinking I could maybe give her my RX580 until the RYX 3000 series cards come out so she can save up some more money and make a decision then. With that said, what kind of builds would you recommend?

 

1. Budget & Location

1000-1200 USD

2. Aim

Gaming and School work, possibly streaming in the future....

3. Monitors

1 Allienware AW2518HF 1080p 240hz monitor

4. Peripherals

Windows may need to be purchased, although I can figure that out later.

Any keyboards and mice can be included, but aren't quite our focus at the moment. 

5. Why are you upgrading?

Friend bought a 240hz monitor and is using a PS4 on it...

 

I was thinking the following but I'm not sure at all and really just guessing:

 

CPU: Ryzen 7 3700X w/ stock cooler - 270$

Motherboard: ASRock  B450M Pro4 mATX - 80$

Ram: 2x8 gb skill ripjaws 3200 Black - 60$

Case: NZXT H510 White - 70$

PSU: Powerspec 750 W 80 Bronze ATX Semi Modular - 85$

SSD: Samsung 860 Evo 250gb - 50$

HD: Seagate BarraCude 2tb 7200rpm 3.5 - 55$

Fans: 3 x 120mm Corsair AF120s White LED Hydraulic Bearing - 50$

          1 x 140mm Corsair AF140   White LED Hydraulic Bearing - 25$

Total is about $750 plus tax and with a GPU that'll come later that can push the frames I think it'll be a great setup! I really don't know what I'm doing though, so any and all advice is welcome!

Edited September 7, 2020 by Minibeniitec

[Pixel5]

for maximum FPS you may want to go for a 3800XT as it has a higher turbo clock.

Beside this i would go for a cheaper/different case that already comes with all fans you need that would clear up like 100 bucks you could spend on a better GPU.

[George Vella]

I'd reccomend an aftermarket cooler, or some basic water cooling if you want your setup to look dope!

[CELERIC07]

3 minutes ago, Minibeniitec said:

Budget (including currency): 1200 Dollars

Country: US

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Fortnite, Warzone, Overwatch

Other details (existing parts lists, whether any peripherals are needed, what you're upgrading from, when you're going to buy, what resolution and refresh rate you want to play at, etc): 

I have an interesting request from a friend that is new to the PC world. She recently bough a 240hz 1080p monitor and only has a PS4 connected to it. She would like to me to build her a PC for her so she can utilize the monitor and she doesn't really know how to do it herself. Although I'd love to, I am still pretty new to it all. I realize that getting a computer with such a budget is not that realistic, so I'm thinking I could maybe give her my RX580 until the RYX 3000 series cards come out so she can save up some more money and make a decision then. With that said, what kind of builds would you recommend?

 

I was thinking the following but I'm not sure at all and really just guessing:

 

Monitor: Alienware 25" AW2518HF (already owned)

 

CPU: Ryzen 7 3700X w/ stock cooler - 270$

Motherboard: ASRock  B450M Pro4 mATX - 80$

Ram: 2x8 gb skill ripjaws 3200 Black - 60$

Case: NZXT H510 White - 70$

PSU: Powerspec 750 W 80 Bronze ATX Semi Modular - 85$

SSD: Samsung 860 Evo 250gb - 50$

HD: Seagate BarraCude 2tb 7200rpm 3.5 - 55$

Fans: 3 x 120mm Corsair AF120s White LED Hydraulic Bearing - 50$

          1 x 140mm Corsair AF140   White LED Hydraulic Bearing - 25$

Total is about $750 plus tax and with a GPU that'll come later that can push the frames I think it'll be a great setup! I really don't know what I'm doing though, so any and all advice is welcome!

I would suggest you go with either the 2700x or the 3700x depending on whats cheaper. I am saying this because of the price fluctuations.  And please do not buy a RX580 because the new RTX 3000 series are out and are expected to be available by September 17th. The rest of the build is well balanced. Should You have any further queries please quote me.

[CELERIC07]

2 minutes ago, George Vella said:

I'd reccomend an aftermarket cooler, or some basic water cooling if you want your setup to look dope!

Yes she could do that. But i guess that'll get her way above her budget.

[George Vella]

1 minute ago, CELERIC07 said:

Yes she could do that. But i guess that'll get her way above her budget.

Maybe in the future tho?

[CELERIC07]

9 minutes ago, Minibeniitec said:

Budget (including currency): 1200 Dollars

Country: US

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Fortnite, Warzone, Overwatch

Other details (existing parts lists, whether any peripherals are needed, what you're upgrading from, when you're going to buy, what resolution and refresh rate you want to play at, etc): 

I have an interesting request from a friend that is new to the PC world. She recently bough a 240hz 1080p monitor and only has a PS4 connected to it. She would like to me to build her a PC for her so she can utilize the monitor and she doesn't really know how to do it herself. Although I'd love to, I am still pretty new to it all. I realize that getting a computer with such a budget is not that realistic, so I'm thinking I could maybe give her my RX580 until the RYX 3000 series cards come out so she can save up some more money and make a decision then. With that said, what kind of builds would you recommend?

 

I was thinking the following but I'm not sure at all and really just guessing:

 

Monitor: Alienware 25" AW2518HF (already owned)

 

CPU: Ryzen 7 3700X w/ stock cooler - 270$

Motherboard: ASRock  B450M Pro4 mATX - 80$

Ram: 2x8 gb skill ripjaws 3200 Black - 60$

Case: NZXT H510 White - 70$

PSU: Powerspec 750 W 80 Bronze ATX Semi Modular - 85$

SSD: Samsung 860 Evo 250gb - 50$

HD: Seagate BarraCude 2tb 7200rpm 3.5 - 55$

Fans: 3 x 120mm Corsair AF120s White LED Hydraulic Bearing - 50$

          1 x 140mm Corsair AF140   White LED Hydraulic Bearing - 25$

Total is about $750 plus tax and with a GPU that'll come later that can push the frames I think it'll be a great setup! I really don't know what I'm doing though, so any and all advice is welcome!

She can get 240+fps easily in overwatch and warzone but I dont know about Fortnite because people with a 10900k and an Rtx 2080ti cannot get stable and constant 240 frames. But on the lower end ie laptop that I use is Pushing constant 30fps in that game this season. So what i mean to say is she may or may not get stable 240 fps.

[CELERIC07]

1 minute ago, George Vella said:

Maybe in the future tho?

Yea sure It would be a sick and a beautiful machine with hard tubed water cooling and you can also overclock the sh*t out of it.

[Minibeniitec]

2 minutes ago, Pixel5 said:

for maximum FPS you may want to go for a 3800XT as it has a higher turbo clock.

Beside this i would go for a cheaper/different case that already comes with all fans you need that would clear up like 100 bucks you could spend on a better GPU.

I'll look into the 3800XT, but I heard on a recent Jayz 2 cents video ( I think ) that the 3800XTs were around the same in performance and aren't always able to boost as promised. 

 

2 minutes ago, George Vella said:

I'd reccomend an aftermarket cooler, or some basic water cooling if you want your setup to look dope!

Definitely would love to try something like this, but I'd have to wait till I've at least got my first normal build up and running! Soon I will be building myself a PC so I'll be looking for your advice when it comes to that!

 

2 minutes ago, CELERIC07 said:

I would suggest you go with either the 2700x or the 3700x depending on whats cheaper. I am saying this because of the price fluctuations.  And please do not buy a RX580 because the new RTX 3000 series are out and are expected to be available by September 17th. The rest of the build is well balanced. Should You have any further queries please quote me.

I wouldn't buy the 580, I would just let them borrow the one I already have until the new cards come out. I really would love to build with an RTX 3070!

 

Just now, CELERIC07 said:

She can get 240+fps easily in overwatch and warzone but I dont know about Fortnite because people with a 10900k and an Rtx 2080ti cannot get stable and constant 240 frames. But on the lower end ie laptop that I use is Pushing constant 30fps in that game this season. So what i mean to say is she may or may not get stable 240 fps.

 

Yeah I expected as much...

 

[Moonzy]

6 minutes ago, Minibeniitec said:

She recently bough a 240hz 1080p monitor and only has a PS4 connected to it.

Spoiler

 

7 minutes ago, Minibeniitec said:

Windows may need to be purchased

$5 keys exists

 

9 minutes ago, Minibeniitec said:

Motherboard: ASRock  B450M Pro4 mATX - 80$

get a better board

 

9 minutes ago, Minibeniitec said:

Ram: 2x8 gb skill ripjaws 3200 Black - 60$

what CL? CL16 or below is fine

 

10 minutes ago, Minibeniitec said:

Case: NZXT H510 White - 70$

not good airflow, it's fine if you want it for the looks. i recommend meshify C

 

10 minutes ago, Minibeniitec said:

PSU: Powerspec 750 W 80 Bronze ATX Semi Modular - 85$

no, just no

get a better PSU, maybe RM650x

 

12 minutes ago, Minibeniitec said:

HD: Seagate BarraCude 2tb 7200rpm 3.5 - 55$

would personally avoid seagate HDD, backblaze data shows it has higher failure rates

 

12 minutes ago, Minibeniitec said:

Fans: 3 x 120mm Corsair AF120s White LED Hydraulic Bearing - 50$

          1 x 140mm Corsair AF140   White LED Hydraulic Bearing - 25$

dont spend money on extra fans, use it on improving the build

stock case fans will do. if you want more fans, i think 1 more is enough if case only comes with 2

 

14 minutes ago, Minibeniitec said:

I could maybe give her my RX580 until the RYX 3000 series cards come out so she can save up some more money and make a decision then.

yea, 580 wont push 240 on most games

 

14 minutes ago, Minibeniitec said:

CPU: Ryzen 7 3700X w/ stock cooler - 270$

honestly, I'm not sure if you should go intel for 1080p high refresh rate, wait for 30 series review to drop to find out

[VeganJoy]

for 1080p a 9600k/10600k would be optimal compared to current ryzen offerings, especially for pushing 200+ framerates. zen 3 could change that but for a build right now intel would be the better choice

[Minibeniitec]

4 minutes ago, Moonzy said:

  Reveal hidden contents

 

$5 keys exists

 

get a better board

 

what CL? CL16 or below is fine

 

not good airflow, it's fine if you want it for the looks. i recommend meshify C

 

no, just no

get a better PSU, maybe RM650x

 

would personally avoid seagate HDD, backblaze data shows it has higher failure rates

 

dont spend money on extra fans, use it on improving the build

stock case fans will do. if you want more fans, i think 1 more is enough if case only comes with 2

 

yea, 580 wont push 240 on most games

 

honestly, I'm not sure if you should go intel for 1080p high refresh rate, wait for 30 series review to drop to find out

Windows I may already have a free key through education...

What board would you recommend?

CL16

With the PSU I'm just not sure if 750 is enough or too much..

Noted on seagate, I've experienced this myself...

Per case fans, I wasn't sure I fate case came with them..

and obviously on the 580 haha but it'll have display output and do okay for the time being.

I thought intel too, but I feel like I'd have to invest more into cooling if I did that...

[Moonzy]

1 minute ago, Minibeniitec said:

What board would you recommend?

@TofuHaroto may know better

but i'm gonna guess b550 tomahawk or x570 tuf gaming

 

3 minutes ago, Minibeniitec said:

I thought intel too, but I feel like I'd have to invest more into cooling if I did that...

hmm the wraith prism that comes with 3700x is ok, aftermarket cooler might make it run quieter

and intel cpu isnt too bad, thermal wise

[Haro]

10 hours ago, Minibeniitec said:

What board would you recommend?

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor	$199.99 @ Newegg
Motherboard	MSI B550-A PRO ATX AM4 Motherboard	$139.99 @ B&H
Memory	G.Skill Ripjaws V 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 CL16 Memory	$75.98 @ Newegg
Storage	Kingston A2000 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive	$119.99 @ Amazon
Case	Phanteks Eclipse P400A ATX Mid Tower Case	$69.98 @ Amazon
Power Supply	Corsair RMx (2018) 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply	$114.98 @ Newegg
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	$720.91
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-09-07 08:05 EDT-0400

 

 

Should be around 1200ish bucks with a 3070, for gaming the 3600 should perform similarly compared to the 3700x as games do not need 8 cores and don't really scale up to 8 cores.

as for streaming, just use nvec.

the b450 pro 4 is not bad, it uses 3 SM4337 and 3 SM4336, not bad and can handle a 3700x easily, but the b550 a pro is much better and uses 5 4C029N and 5 4C024N doubled with IR3598's. and can handle even the 3950x with no problem. 

the psu  is simply better. the a2000 is a good nvme dive and you could always get an HDD later down the line. 

as for the case, you could go with the p300a or the meshify c, though do buy a fan or two with them, or the 275r airflow.

 

10 hours ago, Moonzy said:

may know better

sorry for the late response.

[Herman Mcpootis]

2 hours ago, Moonzy said:

  Reveal hidden contents

would personally avoid seagate HDD, backblaze data shows it has higher failure rates

the backblaze data is highly flawed, so i'd take it with a big grain of salt.

https://www.tweaktown.com/articles/6028/dispelling-backblaze-s-hdd-reliability-myth-the-real-story-covered/index.html

[Moonzy]

4 hours ago, Herman Mcpootis said:

the backblaze data is highly flawed, so i'd take it with a big grain of salt.

That was a good read

I'd take it with a grain of salt too, but the majority of the drive failure I see in real life is also Seagate, though that might be because majority of the drives people use are Seagate

I've had one die in 7 days of operating, so that didn't leave a good taste in my mouth too

[Minibeniitec]

1 hour ago, Moonzy said:

That was a good read

I'd take it with a grain of salt too, but the majority of the drive failure I see in real life is also Seagate, though that might be because majority of the drives people use are Seagate

I've had one die in 7 days of operating, so that didn't leave a good taste in my mouth too

I didn't read any article, but I know that wholesale companies like Costco sell Seagate and people that I know only buy from them. They're the ones who always have issues and mostly because they don't know what they're doing (how to mount a drive, access it, or format it) but I also know photographers who use them as backup drives and the drives tend to stop mounting and/or start spinning non-stop. I've also experienced a short period dead drive as well.

 

 

7 hours ago, TofuHaroto said:

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor	$199.99 @ Newegg
Motherboard	MSI B550-A PRO ATX AM4 Motherboard	$139.99 @ B&H
Memory	G.Skill Ripjaws V 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 CL16 Memory	$75.98 @ Newegg
Storage	Kingston A2000 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive	$119.99 @ Amazon
Case	Phanteks Eclipse P400A ATX Mid Tower Case	$69.98 @ Amazon
Power Supply	Corsair RMx (2018) 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply	$114.98 @ Newegg
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	$720.91
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-09-07 08:05 EDT-0400

 

 

Should be around 1200ish bucks with a 3070, for gaming the 3600 should perform similarly compared to the 3700x as games do not need 8 cores and don't really scale up to 8 cores.

as for streaming, just use nvec.

the b450 pro 4 is not bad, it uses 3 SM4337 and 3 SM4336, not bad and can handle a 3700x easily, but the b550 a pro is much better and uses 5 4C029N and 5 4C024N doubled with IR3598's. and can handle even the 3950x with no problem. 

the psu  is simply better. the a2000 is a good nvme dive and you could always get an HDD later down the line. 

as for the case, you could go with the p300a or the meshify c, though do buy a fan or two with them, or the 275r airflow.

 

sorry for the late response.

this is a great build, I really like it, I just know that they wanted the 3700X, but I mean they don't really know much and if your saying a better board and chipset can offload a lot of the streaming thats great! I was actually just thinking of getting an elgato card for them somewhere along the road, but I guess this is a better option price wise. I'm just not sure how stressed this configuration would be since the monitor is at 240hz and if your streaming how that would affect everything. My guess is that pretty much no matter what, you'll have to lower your fps and adjust for streaming, but that really wouldn't be the end of the world.

 

As for the storage, I'm not worried, they're new to gaming and probably wouldn't need that much, I'm just giving them what I thought was cheaper. But I love the NVMe option. 

 

Back to the motherboard, I'm not really sure they'll upgrade the CPU anytime if at all... So I kind of like the option with the cheaper board.

 

As for the case, I really don't care thats really up to them.

 

 

[Haro]

Just now, Minibeniitec said:

My guess is that pretty much no matter what, you'll have to lower your fps and adjust for streaming, but that really wouldn't be the end of the world.

Nvec has little effect on performance and looks quite similar to x264, so you can just use that. 

1 minute ago, Minibeniitec said:

But I love the NVMe option. 

The a2000 is an nvme drive. 

2 minutes ago, Minibeniitec said:

So I kind of like the option with the cheaper board.

Well the board is just all around better with better features. 

 

 

[Moonzy]

15 minutes ago, Minibeniitec said:

I mean they don't really know much and if your saying a better board and chipset can offload a lot of the streaming thats great!

AMD's GPU encoder isnt great, so i wouldnt trust anything with it unless you have no other options

Nvidia's NVENC is the best you can get, better quality than x264 and much lower system performance impact, so definitely use that

 

17 minutes ago, Minibeniitec said:

I was actually just thinking of getting an elgato card for them somewhere along the road, but I guess this is a better option price wise

elgato doesnt help encode the stream, it helps capture external device's video (say, a PS4) and allow you to decorate and such before streaming it from your desktop.

buy one if you intend to stream external devices like consoles, streaming games running on the PC will not need an elgato card

 

18 minutes ago, Minibeniitec said:

I'm just not sure how stressed this configuration would be since the monitor is at 240hz and if your streaming how that would affect everything.

your system will run the game as fast as it can, regardless of monitor refresh rate  (unless you set some sort of cap)

streaming will not affect your game's performance much, you can game at 200fps and stream at 60fps, no problem.

 

tofu answered your other questions.