Gaming PC under $1500 | Suggestions Needed

[Gabriel_1105]

Budget: $1500 USD

Country: United States of America

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Gaming, mostly Minecraft or other random games

Other details: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/nWLcTn. I would like to get 1080p at 60 fps. Probably going to buy in the summer so in about 2 months. I will have 2 1080p monitors. I need a keyboard and speakers/headphones. I have never built a PC before so any advice is helpful.  

I don't care about RGB, color or size but a unified color would be nice. 

I would like to keep the price at $1300-$1400 so $1500 is the max. 

[Queen Chrysalis]

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i5-10400F 2.9 GHz 6-Core Processor  ($127.29 @ Amazon) 
Motherboard: Gigabyte B560M DS3H AC Micro ATX LGA1200 Motherboard  ($112.99 @ Amazon) 
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory  ($66.99 @ Newegg) 
Storage: Samsung 980 500 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive  ($61.29 @ Amazon) 
Video Card: ASRock Radeon RX 6600 XT 8 GB Challenger D OC Video Card  ($459.99 @ Newegg) 
Case: Cooler Master MasterBox Q300L MicroATX Mini Tower Case  ($49.99 @ Amazon) 
Power Supply: Corsair CXM 650 W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply  ($59.99 @ Best Buy) 
Total: $938.53
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2022-04-06 21:01 EDT-0400

[Queen Chrysalis]

IDK if you have the monitors already, but with this setup you should be able run most games, especially anything that isn't brand new at well over 165fps, so I would highly recommend using some of your remaining budget for a nice gaming monitor.  Not much of a point to buying a nice tower and having the end product look no different than a console from last gen.  The part list totaled $935 and the fans I'll recommend later will bring it to $965, so a good monitor should be in the cards. Also, I'd highly recommend going with 1440p, as the 6600XT can still play new games at it, just some of the more intense one might need medium to high settings instead of ultra, but anything more than a year or two old will be totally fine at 1440p, and the improved pixel density on a larger, more immersive screen will be worth it.   

 

I only went with a 500GB SSD because with how fast internet downloads are now, and the understanding that most people only play a few games at a time that it would be sufficient but you could easily sap it out for the 1TB version of the 980 for $50 more. You could also just roll with the 500GB until it's getting full and then add more storage later, as a 2TB  HDD is ~$50 and will run 90% of games the same as an SSD, and use that for mass storage of less-played games.

 

 

I included 16GB of RAM, and the motherboard has 4 slots so you could upgrade to 32GB when you identify the need to, or just get a 32GB (2x16) kit now, up to you.  I personally am still using 16Gb and RAM has never been an issue, but some users would prefer to just get 32 now to avoid the apparently upcoming rampocalypse.  You have the budget for 32 now if you want it.

 

The stock cooler for the 10400f will be more than enough as it's not a very hot CPU.

 

That case DOES NOT come with any fans other than a rear exhaust, so I'd recommend a 5-pack of arctic f12s, which can be found on Amazon for ~$30 (2 on the top, 2 on the front, 1 on the rear).

[Entropy.]

35 minutes ago, Queen Chrysalis said:

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i5-10400F 2.9 GHz 6-Core Processor  ($127.29 @ Amazon) 
Motherboard: Gigabyte B560M DS3H AC Micro ATX LGA1200 Motherboard  ($112.99 @ Amazon) 
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory  ($66.99 @ Newegg) 
Storage: Samsung 980 500 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive  ($61.29 @ Amazon) 
Video Card: ASRock Radeon RX 6600 XT 8 GB Challenger D OC Video Card  ($459.99 @ Newegg) 
Case: Cooler Master MasterBox Q300L MicroATX Mini Tower Case  ($49.99 @ Amazon) 
Power Supply: Corsair CXM 650 W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply  ($59.99 @ Best Buy) 
Total: $938.53
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2022-04-06 21:01 EDT-0400

I'm wondering why you chose to undershoot the budget by so much (while arguing adequate performance is reasonable, the above build seems to be on a razor-thin margin), as well as why you chose the q300L and cxm power supply. Could you shed some light on that? 

[innoBius]

No.

 

System builders get gpus outside of the retail chain. Maingear or Origin...

[Queen Chrysalis]

17 minutes ago, Entropy. said:

I'm wondering why you chose to undershoot the budget by so much (while arguing adequate performance is reasonable, the above build seems to be on a razor-thin margin), as well as why you chose the q300L and cxm power supply. Could you shed some light on that? 

Minecraft and random games is a pretty general description of activity.  Unless this person's primary gaming appetite is the current lineup of benchmarkers at ultra everything settings, that's not razor-thin.  The 6600xt is on par with current gen consoles, which not all games are squeezing every ounce of performance out of.  Not to mention a 10400f/6600xt will still play the benchmarkers at relatively high settings and fps, just not as fast as far more expensive options.  This person also indicated the need for peripherals, which I'll leave up to taste, but cheaping out on peripherals is not a sin to be taken lightly, as they drastically effect the end-experience more significantly than theoritcal fps above refresh rate.  I also wanted to leave room for a monitor in the budget, which is something first-time pc buyers frequently overlook, especially those of the more budget-conscious variety.  

[GeorgeMKane]

Went with a NVME SSD + HDD combo for your storage. NVME SSD for your OS & applications, and the 7200RPM HDD for your games. Should be plenty of storage there. I also went with only 16GB of RAM for now. I would recommend adding another 16GB later on, as needed, if you plan on streaming & gaming as well as video editing.

 

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/k3zHzf

CPU: Intel Core i5-12400F 2.5 GHz 6-Core Processor  ($179.99 @ B&H) 
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-U12S redux 70.75 CFM CPU Cooler  ($49.95 @ Amazon) 
Motherboard: Gigabyte B660 GAMING X AX DDR4 ATX LGA1700 Motherboard  ($169.99 @ Newegg) 
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory  ($66.99 @ Newegg) 
Storage: Samsung 970 Evo Plus 500 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive  ($69.98 @ Amazon) 
Storage: Seagate Barracuda Compute 2 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($47.99 @ Amazon) 
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce RTX 3050 8GB 8 GB EAGLE OC Video Card  ($349.99 @ Newegg) 
Case: Corsair 4000D Airflow ATX Mid Tower Case  ($104.99 @ Amazon) 
Power Supply: Corsair RMx (2021) 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply  ($99.99 @ Amazon) 
Keyboard: Corsair K55 RGB Wired Gaming Keyboard  ($39.99 @ Corsair) 
Mouse: Corsair NIGHTSWORD RGB Wired Optical Mouse  ($79.98 @ Amazon) 
Speakers: Logitech Z337 w/BlueTooth 40 W 2.1 Channel Speakers  ($116.99 @ Amazon) 
$1376.82

Edited April 7, 2022 by GeorgeMKane

[Entropy.]

1 minute ago, Queen Chrysalis said:

Minecraft and some other games is a pretty general description of activity.  Unless this person's primary gaming appetite is the current lineup of benchmarkers at ultra everything settings, that's not razor-thin. 

Apologies. My intention was to ask regarding components outside of the GPU and arguably cpu, but after multiple edits I was rate limited and I decided to leave for a while. 

Quote

This person also indicated the need for peripherals, which I'll leave up to taste, but cheaping out on peripherals is not a sin to be taken lightly, as they drastically effect the end-experience more significantly than theoritcal fps above refresh rate.  I also wanted to leave room for a monitor in the budget, which is something first-time pc buyers frequently overlook, especially those of the more budget-conscious variety.  

Very fair. I kind of missed my intention in the first post, which was to make a comment like this: 

I was wondering why (if you specifically chose these components) you chose the case- due to it's acrylic side panel and seemingly poor construction, and the cxm, which in previous years was known to poses coil whine (unsure if a fix existed). Iirc, the Bitfenix formula gold is known to go for low prices, since OP is building in a few months I think I would've recommended seeing if prices for it dropped.

price chart: https://graph.keepa.com/pricehistory.png?asin=B0776XSRJJ&domain=com

[Queen Chrysalis]

2 minutes ago, Entropy. said:

Apologies. My intention was to ask regarding components outside of the GPU and arguably cpu, but after multiple edits I was rate limited and I decided to leave for a while. 

Very fair. I kind of missed my intention in the first post, which was to make a comment like this: 

I was wondering why (if you specifically chose these components) you chose the case- due to it's acrylic side panel and seemingly poor construction, and the cxm, which in previous years was known to poses coil whine (unsure if a fix existed). Iirc, the Bitfenix formula gold is known to go for low prices, since OP is building in a few months I think I would've recommended seeing if prices for it dropped.

price chart: https://graph.keepa.com/pricehistory.png?asin=B0776XSRJJ&domain=com

Couldn't see which year the CXM was, but with a >300 watt system I didn't think it would have mattered much. Gotta assume it's not that dogshit 2017 model anymore, that stock should have dried up by now.  But I assume OP will be back when it's time to buy, I'd agree on a formula gold 550 if it's available at price.  

 

As for the case, I've done a couple of computers with CM cases and never had complaints about build quality, and this one looked to have decent specs and airflow material for a >$50 case.  Didn't see anything much better in the price neighborhood.  Sure anyhting in the $100 neighborhood would be better, but iof you apply that logic to every component budget gets out of control, and I wanted to try to keep the the tower under 1k to allow for monitor and peripherals.  I'd cheap out on a case any day before cheaping out on an SSD or RAM, as those can and have often led to very frustrating initialization experiences for first time buyers.  

[Entropy.]

2 hours ago, Gabriel_1105 said:

Budget: $1500 USD

Country: United States of America

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Gaming, mostly Minecraft or other random games

Other details: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/nWLcTn. I would like to get 1080p at 60 fps. Probably going to buy in the summer so in about 2 months. I will have 2 1080p monitors. I need a keyboard and speakers/headphones. I have never built a PC before so any advice is helpful.  

I don't care about RGB, color or size but a unified color would be nice. 

I would like to keep the price at $1300-$1400 so $1500 is the max. 

Here's my two cents: As mentioned above, it is definitely a good idea to think ahead about peripherals and not skimping on them. For the audio, I can recommend the koss ksc75's, ur40, kph7 wireless, and ksc35 wireless for very cheap headphones that sound incredible for what you pay- with the drawback of their aesthetics. A more expensive option would be the creative aurvana live! SE. For speakers, I'd advise going with the creative pebble v2's, or the sayun sw208's if you care about aesthetic but not so much about sound (they don't sound significantly better than the pebbles). if you do care, the edifier r980t's for a little more are nice. 
List: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/2XvNPX

 

You'll be running a little toasty with this CPU on a stock cooler (upper 80 degres Celsius while gaming), You could go for an ID-cooling SE-224, 225, 226, or the Scythe Fuma 2 rev 2 if you wanted to tame temps, but you don't need it per se. I tossed in the 225. 

For ram, just choose the cheapest 2x8 gigabyte, 3200mhz, ca latency (CL) 16 kit that you can find, like I did there. 
The storage doesn't matter all too much, I went with a cheap-but-still-fine team mp34 drive, 1tb should be enough but there should be decent upgrade options for it. 

6700xt's are continually decreasing in price, I'd just recommend the cheapest one most generally. 
The case ships with 3 RGB fans, should be alright in this config. 

Finally, the PSU can get as low as $50-$60 USD, you might just need a little patience to purchase it. Otherwise, a good option.  

[Queen Chrysalis]

5 minutes ago, Entropy. said:

Here's my two cents: As mentioned above, it is definitely a good idea to think ahead about peripherals and not skimping on them. For the audio, I can recommend the koss ksc75's, ur40, kph7 wireless, and ksc35 wireless for very cheap headphones that sound incredible for what you pay- with the drawback of their aesthetics. A more expensive option would be the creative aurvana live! SE. For speakers, I'd advise going with the creative pebble v2's, or the sayun sw208's if you care about aesthetic but not so much about sound (they don't sound significantly better than the pebbles). if you do care, the edifier r980t's for a little more are nice. 
List: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/YzKkXy

 

You'll be running a little toasty with this CPU on a stock cooler (upper 80 degres Celsius while gaming), You could go for an ID-cooling SE-224, 225, 226, or the Scythe Fuma 2 rev 2 if you wanted to tame temps, but you don't need it per se.

For ram, just choose the cheapest 2x8 gigabyte, 3200mhz, ca latency (CL) 16 kit that you can find, like I did there. 
The storage doesn't matter all too much, I went with a cheap-but-still-fine team mp33 drive. 512gb, but you can always bump it up if you think you'd want more. 

6700xt's are continually decreasing in price, I'd just recommend the cheapest one most generally. 
The case ships with 3 RGB fans, you can choose to replace them with arctic fans, mix n' match, or if you'd really like, buy an additional RGB fan and trash the arctic fans. You could also go for the phanteks p300a, which ships with one non-rgb fan. 

Finally, the PSU can get as low as $50-$60 USD, you might just need a little patience to purchase it. Otherwise, a good option.  

Didn't realize the 6700XTs were so cheap (read: close to msrp) now, I second this.  Big jump in performance for not much money. 

 

Also, the p12s are awesome rad fans but the f12s are better for airflow.  The p12s do work for airflow to (I did this once with p14s and it actually flowed pretty well), but optimal the f12s are about the same price for a airflow optimized fan.  Personally, if this is still to be a budget conscious build, fans are fans and I wouldn't buy new fans to replace ones that just werk, so I'd just use the stock one's on that case

 

For the RAM rec, it's probably fine, I have just always been averse to going with lesser brands than g. skill, crucial or corsair when saving less than $5.

[Entropy.]

5 minutes ago, Queen Chrysalis said:

Didn't realize the 6700XTs were so cheap (read: close to msrp) now, I second this.  Big jump in performance for not much money. 

 

Also, the p12s are awesome rad fans but the f12s are better for airflow.  The p12s do work for airflow to (I did this once with p14s and it actually flowed pretty well), but optimal the f12s are about the same price for a airflow optimized fan.  Personally, if this is still to be a budget conscious build, fans are fans and I wouldn't buy new fans to replace ones that just werk, so I'd just use the stock one's on that case

 

For the RAM rec, it's probably fine, I have just always been averse to going with lesser brands than g. skill, crucial or corsair when saving less than $5.

I forgot about f12 haha. I suppose it’s an "either or" situation for the fans and the CPU cooler. I built the list with the p300a in mind until I realized the mobo would look weird in it and transitioned to the deepcool cases, dredged up from the depths of my memories as a decent case. In this case though, yeah, It’d probably be a wise Idea to toss the additional fans perhaps and get a CPU cooler.

[Gabriel_1105]

20 hours ago, Entropy. said:

Here's my two cents: As mentioned above, it is definitely a good idea to think ahead about peripherals and not skimping on them. For the audio, I can recommend the koss ksc75's, ur40, kph7 wireless, and ksc35 wireless for very cheap headphones that sound incredible for what you pay- with the drawback of their aesthetics. A more expensive option would be the creative aurvana live! SE. For speakers, I'd advise going with the creative pebble v2's, or the sayun sw208's if you care about aesthetic but not so much about sound (they don't sound significantly better than the pebbles). if you do care, the edifier r980t's for a little more are nice. 
List: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/2XvNPX

 

You'll be running a little toasty with this CPU on a stock cooler (upper 80 degres Celsius while gaming), You could go for an ID-cooling SE-224, 225, 226, or the Scythe Fuma 2 rev 2 if you wanted to tame temps, but you don't need it per se. I tossed in the 225. 

For ram, just choose the cheapest 2x8 gigabyte, 3200mhz, ca latency (CL) 16 kit that you can find, like I did there. 
The storage doesn't matter all too much, I went with a cheap-but-still-fine team mp34 drive, 1tb should be enough but there should be decent upgrade options for it. 

6700xt's are continually decreasing in price, I'd just recommend the cheapest one most generally. 
The case ships with 3 RGB fans, should be alright in this config. 

Finally, the PSU can get as low as $50-$60 USD, you might just need a little patience to purchase it. Otherwise, a good option.  

Sorry if this is a dumb question, but in the power supply connecter usage in PcPartPicker in the motherboard power connecters it says an additional 4-pin ATX power connecter is required. Will I need to get something or is this not a problem? 

[Entropy.]

7 minutes ago, Gabriel_1105 said:

Sorry if this is a dumb question, but in the power supply connecter usage in PcPartPicker in the motherboard power connecters it says an additional 4-pin ATX power connecter is required. Will I need to get something or is this not a problem? 

It'd be completely fine. The CPU has only a 65w TDP (what it's rated to pull, it'll pull a bit more but not tons), the singular 8 pin that'll be connected to the board will support up to 235w of power draw.