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Up to 1.5k PC Build

scottyseng
By scottyseng
in New Builds and Planning
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So planning a PC build for a friend. He is only using the PC for gaming, nothing else. He does require a Blu Ray drive and a hard drive of some sort (At least 1TB). I was planning on using my old CPU / Motherboard that's just been lying on my floor for the past two or three years.

 

Budget is up to 1.5k, but I'm trying to stick closer to 1.2 to 1.4k.

 

Used from me:

CPU: Intel i5-2500K

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z68AP-D3 (Not on PC Partpicker list...I couldn't find it at least).

 

I was thinking $180 for the CPU / Mobo, but I'm not exactly sure how much a i5-2500K is worth now. I know both work just fine though. Do let me know if I should lower my price on the used CPU / Mobo combo.

 

PC PartPicker List:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-2500K 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($214.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler  ($24.98 @ OutletPC)
Memory: G.Skill Sniper Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory  ($74.89 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($81.49 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Western Digital Red 2TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($84.00 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 980 Ti 6GB WINDFORCE 3X Video Card  ($599.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Cooler Master MasterCase Pro 5 ATX Mid Tower Case  ($128.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: Cooler Master V850 850W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($129.99 @ Amazon)
Optical Drive: LG WH16NS40 Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer  ($49.88 @ OutletPC)
Total: $1389.20
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-12-27 16:58 EST-0500

 

PSU:

Either Cooler Master V850 or EVGA G2 750W

 

Case:

Cooler Master Pro 5, Phanteks Enthoo Pro, Be Quiet Silent Base 800, or Fractal Design R5.

 

Questions I have:

Which case would be best? (I figured roughly $100-130 would be fair)

Is the PSU overkill? (I want some headroom, but I think I could probably get away with 650W?)

I also have a used 280X lying around (I think $120-150 is fair for it?) if that can be of use (I figured it would be better to use a newer gen card though).

Did I skew too much of the budget towards the GPU? (It is a gaming PC after all, so I figured more GPU would be better).

 

Edit:

Ended up cutting the budget by a fair amount and going for a 390 since a 980 Ti is completely overkill for 1080p. Also ended up going for a 6500 with a Z170 board. The build is here:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($204.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler  ($24.98 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z170XP-SLI ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($133.55 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory  ($84.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($81.49 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($45.88 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: MSI Radeon R9 390 8GB Video Card  ($319.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Phanteks Enthoo Pro ATX Full Tower Case  ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA 850W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($105.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $1066.83
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-12-27 22:04 EST-0500

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I would not go with z68! It had several issues. I had an Asus z68 board and it was RMA'd 3 times

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Pcpartpicker please?

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what res is he gaming on? i think sandy bridge is fine, i still use ivy bridge and it works fine, the 280x should be great for 1080p, 1440p im not sure about,but it isnt in the same league as the 980ti, and the budget skew to the gpu is normal for gaming builds, and the psu isnt the most overkill,and the case doesnt matter

 

and please use pcpartpicker for these lists

~dm

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I would not go with z68! It had several issues. I had an Asus z68 board and it was RMA'd 3 times

 

This board runs completely fine. It originally was bought in 2009, ran fine for 2-3 years before I stopped using it.

 

 

Pcpartpicker please?

 

Ah, sorry, I'll set that up now. I don't really use PCpartpicker much.

 

 

what res is he gaming on? i think sandy bridge is fine, i still use ivy bridge and it works fine, the 280x should be great for 1080p, 1440p im not sure about,but it isnt in the same league as the 980ti, and the budget skew to the gpu is normal for gaming builds, and the psu isnt the most overkill,and the case doesnt matter

 

and please use pcpartpicker for these lists

 

1080P.

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This board runs completely fine. It originally was bought in 2009, ran fine for 2-3 years before I stopped using it.

 

 

 

Ah, sorry, I'll set that up now. I don't really use PCpartpicker much.

 

 

 

1080P.

wow, then yea, the 980ti is pretty overkill for 1080

~dm

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Pcpartpicker please?

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/gdMF7P
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/gdMF7P/by_merchant/
 
CPU: Intel Core i5-2500K 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($214.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler  ($24.98 @ OutletPC) 
Memory: G.Skill Sniper Gaming Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory  ($64.99 @ Newegg) 
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($81.49 @ OutletPC) 
Storage: Western Digital Red 2TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($84.00 @ Amazon) 
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 980 Ti 6GB WINDFORCE 3X Video Card  ($599.99 @ NCIX US) 
Case: Fractal Design Define R5 w/Window (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case  ($92.99 @ NCIX US) 
Power Supply: EVGA 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($83.99 @ NCIX US) 
Optical Drive: LG WH16NS40 Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer  ($49.88 @ OutletPC) 
Total: $1297.30
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-12-27 17:01 EST-0500

I5 4460 | Sapphire R7 265 | 8gb DDR3

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thank you, definitely a well rounded build. I would look into upgrading mobo + CPU first thing to something more recent like the 6600k or the 4690k

The only thing I would change is the Hard Drive type, Red is mainly used for NAS, not sure how much it will effect gaming performance and load times however.  

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Owo You could get a 980ti for that budget with an i5 skylake..

 

Yeah, I should probably go price that and see if I can get that in.

 

 

wow, then yea, the 980ti is pretty overkill for 1080

 

Well, my bro used to run the 280X and for some odd reason it got pretty poor performance in some games (barely over 30fps). He upgraded to a 780 Ti EVGA Classified that we got from ebay, and that thing is quite awesome. The 280X has been lying on my floor since then.

 

This is the 280X (We bought it new for $330 when they first launched...we bought into the hype too much):

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121803

 

 

thank you, definitely a well rounded build. I would look into upgrading mobo + CPU first thing to something more recent like the 6600k or the 4690k

The only thing I would change is the Hard Drive type, Red is mainly used for NAS, not sure how much it will effect gaming performance and load times however.  

 

Will look into newer CPUs / Mobos. The hard drive is nothing but storage. No games on it. I looked at the WD Green, but the Red is like $6 more at the moment, so I was like might as well.

 

 

Owo You could get a 980ti for that budget with an i5 skylake..

 

How'd you get that in the budget? I tried to, but this is what I got:

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($279.99 @ B&H)

CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler  ($24.98 @ OutletPC)

Motherboard: Asus Z170-A ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($117.98 @ Newegg)

Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws 4 series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory  ($74.99 @ Newegg)

Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($81.49 @ OutletPC)

Storage: Western Digital Red 2TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($84.00 @ Amazon)

Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 980 Ti 6GB WINDFORCE 3X Video Card  ($599.99 @ NCIX US)

Case: Cooler Master MasterCase Pro 5 ATX Mid Tower Case  ($128.99 @ NCIX US)

Power Supply: Cooler Master V850 850W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($129.99 @ Amazon)

Optical Drive: LG WH16NS40 Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer  ($49.88 @ OutletPC)

Total: $1572.28

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-12-27 17:46 EST-0500

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thank you, definitely a well rounded build. I would look into upgrading mobo + CPU first thing to something more recent like the 6600k or the 4690k

The only thing I would change is the Hard Drive type, Red is mainly used for NAS, not sure how much it will effect gaming performance and load times however.  

No problem

I5 4460 | Sapphire R7 265 | 8gb DDR3

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Owo You could get a 980ti for that budget with an i5 skylake..

yep.... i guess if he really loves z68

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yep.... i guess if he really loves z68

 

Well, budget cuts now, It's down to 1.1-1.2k.

 

This is what we came up with now:

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/pHdqGX

 

Questions:

Would the 2500K beat the 6500?

Is there really a point to getting the 8GB variant of the 390 (On par with the 970)?

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-snip-

 
Motherboard: ASRock Z170M Pro4S Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($98.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Storage: Sandisk SSD PLUS 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($38.99 @ NCIX US) 
Video Card: Zotac GeForce GTX 980 Ti 6GB AMP! Video Card  ($596.99 @ NCIX US) 
Case: Cooler Master N200 MicroATX Mid Tower Case  ($39.99 @ NCIX US) 
Keyboard: Logitech Y-UY95 Wired Gaming Keyboard  ($59.99 @ Amazon) 
Mouse: Logitech G700s Wireless Laser Mouse  ($49.99 @ Amazon) 
Headphones: Sony MDR-7506 Headphones  ($99.99 @ Adorama) 
Total: $1468.88
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-12-28 01:54 EST-0500
 
 
 
Or 3: if you dont want that, you'd get this.
 
 
 
Motherboard: ASRock Z170M Pro4S Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($98.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Storage: Sandisk SSD PLUS 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($38.99 @ NCIX US) 
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R9 390 8GB Nitro Video Card  ($340.98 @ Newegg) 
Case: Fractal Design Define S ATX Mid Tower Case  ($74.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Monitor: Acer G257HU smidpx 60Hz 25.0" Monitor  ($254.10 @ B&H) 
Keyboard: Logitech Y-UY95 Wired Gaming Keyboard  ($59.99 @ Amazon) 
Mouse: Logitech G700s Wireless Laser Mouse  ($49.99 @ Amazon) 
Headphones: Sony MDR-7506 Headphones  ($99.99 @ Adorama) 
Total: $1511.96
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-12-28 01:59 EST-0500

Moist

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-snip-

 

 

Things kind of changed...Budget got cut to 1.1k, without peripherals. I updated the original post. I think your list is quite solid for 1.5k though.

 

What we came up with, with the goal of adding another 390 at a later date (hence the slightly overkill PSU) / We figured 16GB of RAM and a better SSD would fit better:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($204.99 @ Newegg)

CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler  ($24.98 @ OutletPC)

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z170XP-SLI ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($133.55 @ Newegg)

Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory  ($84.99 @ Newegg)

Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($81.49 @ OutletPC)

Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($45.88 @ OutletPC)

Video Card: MSI Radeon R9 390 8GB Video Card  ($319.98 @ SuperBiiz)

Case: Phanteks Enthoo Pro ATX Full Tower Case  ($79.99 @ Newegg)

Power Supply: EVGA 850W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($105.98 @ Newegg)

Total: $1066.83

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-12-28 03:26 EST-0500

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Things kind of changed...Budget got cut to 1.1k, without peripherals. I updated the original post. I think your list is quite solid for 1.5k though.

 

What we came up with, with the goal of adding another 390 at a later date (hence the slightly overkill PSU)

 

I'm not sure that motherboard supports overclocking on locked CPUs, otherwise I'd get a cheaper H170 instead if you don't intend on overclocking. Also, I've reduced the RAM to 8GB to save some money and because he's not going to need 16GB if he's just gaming. With this build, you can basically overclock the CPU now and have a beast 390 alongside it. Tell me what you think:

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

 
Motherboard: Asus Z170-A ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($117.98 @ Newegg) 
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($81.49 @ OutletPC) 
Video Card: MSI Radeon R9 390 8GB Video Card  ($319.98 @ SuperBiiz) 
Case: Phanteks Enthoo Pro ATX Full Tower Case  ($79.99 @ Newegg) 
Total: $1105.35
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-12-28 03:40 EST-0500

'Fanboyism is stupid' - someone on this forum.

Be nice to each other boys and girls. And don't cheap out on a power supply.

Spoiler

CPU: Intel Core i7 4790K - 4.5 GHz | Motherboard: ASUS MAXIMUS VII HERO | RAM: 32GB Corsair Vengeance Pro DDR3 | SSD: Samsung 850 EVO - 500GB | GPU: MSI GTX 980 Ti Gaming 6GB | PSU: EVGA SuperNOVA 650 G2 | Case: NZXT Phantom 530 | Cooling: CRYORIG R1 Ultimate | Monitor: ASUS ROG Swift PG279Q | Peripherals: Corsair Vengeance K70 and Razer DeathAdder

 

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-snip-

 

Yeah, looking into if the motherboard supports the overclocking of locked chips (I think only a few do). Ah, we went for 16GB since he's kind of a Chrome tab fiend and it's not much more than 8GB. We only got that one gigabyte z board because it's really cheap in a combo with the 6500. But hmm, let me see if I can go for the Z170 / 6600K combo you have, because I think that's still in budget. We're shopping on Newegg so we kind of cheaped out on the hard drive with the Seagate (Yeah, I don't like Seagate myself...but I hope it at least works fine...). Though if I can't get the 6600K, I guess I'll get a H series board instead.

 

Yeah, kind of being pushy since we plan on ordering the stuff tomorrow or in two days (As soon as my card clear out the money he gives me).

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Yeah, looking into if the motherboard supports the overclocking of locked chips (I think only a few do). Ah, we went for 16GB since he's kind of a Chrome tab fiend and it's not much more than 8GB. We only got that one gigabyte z board because it's really cheap in a combo with the 6500. But hmm, let me see if I can go for the Z170 / 6600K combo you have, because I think that's still in budget. We're shopping on Newegg so we kind of cheaped out on the hard drive with the Seagate (Yeah, I don't like Seagate myself...but I hope it at least works fine...).

 

Well, if you want to save money I'd go for a Sandisk 120GB SSD and 16GB RAM if there's not much difference in price. I haven't had any problems with Chrome needing more than 1GB but that could just be me.

 

Try to go for the i5 6600K and Z170-A combo, it should be better at overclocking overall.

 

Not much difference in price between the Seagate and WD HDDs so I'd go for the WD.

'Fanboyism is stupid' - someone on this forum.

Be nice to each other boys and girls. And don't cheap out on a power supply.

Spoiler

CPU: Intel Core i7 4790K - 4.5 GHz | Motherboard: ASUS MAXIMUS VII HERO | RAM: 32GB Corsair Vengeance Pro DDR3 | SSD: Samsung 850 EVO - 500GB | GPU: MSI GTX 980 Ti Gaming 6GB | PSU: EVGA SuperNOVA 650 G2 | Case: NZXT Phantom 530 | Cooling: CRYORIG R1 Ultimate | Monitor: ASUS ROG Swift PG279Q | Peripherals: Corsair Vengeance K70 and Razer DeathAdder

 

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Well, if you want to save money I'd go for a Sandisk 120GB SSD and 16GB RAM if there's not much difference in price. I haven't had any problems with Chrome needing more than 1GB but that could just be me.

 

Try to go for the i5 6600K and Z170-A combo, it should be better at overclocking overall.

 

Not much difference in price between the Seagate and WD HDDs so I'd go for the WD.

 

Yeah, I'll ask, I can overstep the 1.1k budget by a little, probably up to 1.2k, but I need a good reason for it since I don't think he's going to use much CPU...

 

If I did get stuck with the 6500 though, would these two motherboards be good?:

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813132575

 

or

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130883

 

Not sure if it matters much, but we plan on getting the parts from Newegg since it's easier for us to manage (I get free two day shipping with Newegg as well).

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Yeah, I'll ask, I can overstep the 1.1k budget by a little, probably up to 1.2k, but I need a good reason for it since I don't think he's going to use much CPU...

 

If I did get stuck with the 6500 though, would these two motherboards be good?:

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813132575

 

or

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130883

 

Not sure if it matters much, but we plan on getting the parts from Newegg since it's easier for us to manage (I get free two day shipping with Newegg as well).

 

Out of the two, I'd definitely pick the ASUS one. The MSI will hold itself well though if you're on a tight budget.

'Fanboyism is stupid' - someone on this forum.

Be nice to each other boys and girls. And don't cheap out on a power supply.

Spoiler

CPU: Intel Core i7 4790K - 4.5 GHz | Motherboard: ASUS MAXIMUS VII HERO | RAM: 32GB Corsair Vengeance Pro DDR3 | SSD: Samsung 850 EVO - 500GB | GPU: MSI GTX 980 Ti Gaming 6GB | PSU: EVGA SuperNOVA 650 G2 | Case: NZXT Phantom 530 | Cooling: CRYORIG R1 Ultimate | Monitor: ASUS ROG Swift PG279Q | Peripherals: Corsair Vengeance K70 and Razer DeathAdder

 

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Out of the two, I'd definitely pick the ASUS one. The MSI will hold itself well though if you're on a tight budget.

 

Alright, I'll bug him tomorrow about pushing for the 6600K or changing out the motherboard to the ASUS H170 one. RAM will probably stay at being the 16GB kit though with the 250 850 evo.

 

Thanks for the help.

 

Edit:

Got approval for $100 more to get the 6600K.

 

What the list looks like now:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($279.99 @ B&H)

CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler  ($24.98 @ OutletPC)

Motherboard: Asus Z170-A ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($117.98 @ Newegg)

Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory  ($84.99 @ Newegg)

Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($81.49 @ OutletPC)

Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($45.88 @ OutletPC)

Video Card: MSI Radeon R9 390 8GB Video Card  ($319.98 @ SuperBiiz)

Case: Phanteks Enthoo Pro ATX Full Tower Case  ($79.99 @ Newegg)

Power Supply: EVGA 850W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($105.98 @ Newegg)

Total: $1141.26

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-12-28 05:00 EST-0500

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