Best performing build for <$1000

[Jasun]

Budget (including currency): $1000 USD

Country: US

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: LoL, Minecraft, those type of games so nothing too serious. Mostly going to be a productivity/workstation build for school. So some engineering/CS programs should be able to run. 

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): Don't worry about peripherals. 1080p - minimum 60fps but probably going to aim around 120+. Brand new build, will probably buy all parts from a local Micro Center. I have compiled a part list: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/n8H3wc. 

 

Also planning on buying a 1070Ti from a friend so don't worry about the GPU. I would just like suggestions to squeeze every last bit of performance from the parts so I would like suggestions on which parts I should switch out or change...

 

Thanks!

[Squidywoof]

recommend getting a fully modular psu for cable management

[RONOTHAN##]

4 minutes ago, Jasun said:

Also planning on buying a 1070Ti from a friend so don't worry about the GPU.

How much are you spending on that 1070 Ti, and is the $1000 budget including the 1070 Ti or not?

[Fasauceome]

17 minutes ago, Jasun said:

will probably buy all parts from a local Micro Center. 

Are you getting a good price on that CPU and motherboard?

 

If you're not going for 12th gen Intel, a Ryzen 5 5600 with an inexpensive B450 motherboard would outperform this system. You could also save some money and get a better GPU, like a 2070.

[Jasun]

15 minutes ago, RONOTHAN## said:

How much are you spending on that 1070 Ti, and is the $1000 budget including the 1070 Ti or not?

unsure how much the 1070Ti is going to be but I would it expect it to be <$300 as in $300 is the max I'd pay for it.

[Jasun]

3 minutes ago, Fasauceome said:

Are you getting a good price on that CPU and motherboard?

 

If you're not going for 12th gen Intel, a Ryzen 5 5600 with an inexpensive B450 motherboard would outperform this system. You could also save some money and get a better GPU, like a 2070.

can you explain how the Ryzen 5 5600 would outperform the i5-11400? AMD in this option is ~$50 more for equal if not less performance from what I saw. 

[RONOTHAN##]

5 minutes ago, Jasun said:

unsure how much the 1070Ti is going to be but I would it expect it to be <$300 as in $300 is the max I'd pay for it.

I wouldn't pay any more than $250 for it. If you're paying more than that you might as well get an RX 6600 for $330 that will be a bit faster. 

 

TBH for this budget, unless you're getting that card for dirt cheap I'd try and just get something else. 

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/Mrph78

 

This system would have a faster GPU, a faster CPU, and be all around great. The CPU is the price at Micro Center, the motherboard is $20 less but MC has a bundle deal where it's $20 off if you buy a mobo/CPU together, so it should be the same overall. 

 

3 minutes ago, Jasun said:

can you explain how the Ryzen 5 5600 would outperform the i5-11400? AMD in this option is ~$50 more for equal if not less performance from what I saw. 

Where'd you see equal performance? The 12400 is the same as the 5600, which is ~10-20% faster than the 11400. 

[Fasauceome]

6 minutes ago, Jasun said:

can you explain how the Ryzen 5 5600 would outperform the i5-11400? AMD in this option is ~$50 more for equal if not less performance from what I saw. 

This review was published before the 5600 came out, but ganers nexus' subsequent testing showed that the 5600 has near identical performance to the 5600X so use that for comparison

 

Now the 5500 is a different story. I don't recommend going for that one.

 

When you compare $50 more, are you comparing the CPU and motherboard or just the CPU? Because there are B450 motherboards suitable for this CPU that are very inexpensive.

[Jasun]

20 minutes ago, RONOTHAN## said:

I wouldn't pay any more than $250 for it. If you're paying more than that you might as well get an RX 6600 for $330 that will be a bit faster. 

 

TBH for this budget, unless you're getting that card for dirt cheap I'd try and just get something else. 

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/Mrph78

 

This system would have a faster GPU, a faster CPU, and be all around great. The CPU is the price at Micro Center, the motherboard is $20 less but MC has a bundle deal where it's $20 off if you buy a mobo/CPU together, so it should be the same overall. 

 

Where'd you see equal performance? The 12400 is the same as the 5600, which is ~10-20% faster than the 11400. 

This build looks solid. You think it'll be fine if I switch up the RAM + Storage based on Micro Center availability? Also if I buy from Micro Center, do you think the BIOS would already be updated to support the 12th gen CPUs?

[Jasun]

16 minutes ago, Fasauceome said:

This review was published before the 5600 came out, but ganers nexus' subsequent testing showed that the 5600 has near identical performance to the 5600X so use that for comparison

 

Now the 5500 is a different story. I don't recommend going for that one.

 

When you compare $50 more, are you comparing the CPU and motherboard or just the CPU? Because there are B450 motherboards suitable for this CPU that are very inexpensive.

I might be trippin' and was looking at raw spec performance instead of real-life performance. So do you think I should stick with @RONOTHAN##'s build or do you suggest me switch over to AMD?

[RONOTHAN##]

2 minutes ago, Jasun said:

You think it'll be fine if I switch up the RAM + Storage based on Micro Center availability?

That's fine, though if the deals they have aren't great you can always order the RAM/Storage while you're in store. There's not really a reason to go with something name brand, so just get whatever the cheapest 3200MHz CL16 2x8GB kit you can find, whether it be on Micro Center, Amazon, Newegg, etc. If you just wanna walk out of the store with a full system you can build that day though and are willing to take the $5-10 upcharge for a name brand kit, that's fine too. 

 

5 minutes ago, Jasun said:

Also if I buy from Micro Center, do you think the BIOS would already be updated to support the 12th gen CPUs?

I still have no idea why PCPartPicker has that warning, that board was released after the 12400 was released, MSI would have been complete idiots in order to not have support for that chip in the release BIOS (they're not complete idiots, they've made some dumb decisions in the past but this is not one of them). 

 

So yes, the BIOS will be updated. You can also get the ATX version of that board, last I checked it was the same price as the mATX version, so you might as well get the extra expansion options for that board.

[Somerandomtechyboi]

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/bHbpKp

You can prob go further with used parts and get used everything except storage and any new parts that are a better deal than used

 

Also case wise thats the lowest priority so go buy a cheap 3$ scrap office case or something and swap later when you have the budget

[Fasauceome]

13 minutes ago, Jasun said:

I might be trippin' and was looking at raw spec performance instead of real-life performance. So do you think I should stick with @RONOTHAN##'s build or do you suggest me switch over to AMD?

If you want to get the extra performance from 12th gen then it's worth it. But like I said, those cheap B450 motherboards are something nice. They're both worth it