New PC Build. Can't Decide Between All Of This For A Week! Help Needed.

[ReptarRoblin]

Hi everyone, 

 

As the title suggests, I've been really conflicted about so many things with my new PC build. I picked up gaming again and decided I want to build a new rig. Initially I was thinking going with an i5 6500, GTX 1070, and using my old 24" 1080p monitor. Then I've realized how things have shifted to 1440p, with features such as 144hz. I've been reading, watching YouTube videos, etc., and still don't know what to do. If I'm going to get a 1070, I may as well get a 1440p monitor. Done deal. But then, why not just upgrade to 144hz? Well, then I've been reading that I should get a 1080 if I want to do that and play games in max settings, but people were saying that about the last gen 900 series.

 

The difference between a 27" 60/75hz 1440p vs. one with 144hz is ~$200, not to mention the added cost of ~$200 for a 1080. If I went with 144hz, I'm worried I'll be stuck in a revolving door of having to upgrade every generation, and I really do not want to do that. 

 

Also, is G-Sync really worth it, regardless of the option I go with in this situation? 

 

Moreover, if I were to get a 1080 or 1070, is an i5 6500 sufficient for the next couple years or is it really worth upgrading to an i7? Would an i5 bottleneck my performance 2-3 years down the road, as opposed to an i7? 

 

I know it's easy to recommend biting the bullet on everything and go for the best experience with, but ultimately I'd like to be mindful of cost but also be able to not have to upgrade for 2 years at the minimum. 

 

Maybe there's some middle ground I'm missing in all of this. I'd really appreciate your input! Thanks a lot in advance. 

 

 

[Lurick]

Why not an i5 6600K with a Z170 motherboard and a 1080, use the current monitor you have while you save up a little bit of money and then upgrade to a 144Hz monitor down the road.

[AlexMc]

The NVidia GTX 1070 is a great card for 1440p, and will run 1080p maxed out without breaking a sweat.  I'd probably keep the 24" you have for now.  Have a look at TFTCentrals news on upcoming monitors:

 

http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/news.htm

 

There are some really nice high refresh and curved monitors coming out later in the year.

 

If you can afford to go for an i7 it will make your rig that much more future proof, especially with the 1070 if you're aiming for high framerates on a new monitor later.  Make sure to put in at least 16GB of RAM and an SSD.  I suspect that it's worth waiting for AMD to release their RX490, even if you no intention of getting the AMD card it may well trigger a price cut on the high end NVidia cards. 

 

You also have a choice of going for an SLI setup later if you find a single 1070 can't max out your new monitor at 1440p.  I'd check the multi GPU scaling on the games you're playing before doing that though.  Two cards don't always scale up as much as you might have hoped.

 

[Gonio]

The current gen Nvidia is a good efficiency step over the 900 series. The 1060 is already able to perform wel at normal refreshrates for 1440P. The 1070 can handle  higher refresh rates good enough. Sure it might not gain always far above on 144 Hz at ultra but it will manage fine to get very decent fps. Combine this with Gsync and you have best of both worlds. This use scenario benefits well from Gsync.

 

Would say that things like 6500 and up is enough and if you take an K series an OC can extend the usable lifespan if needed. Look at how many gamers still use an older intel CPU with good results. The 6700K is the best gamers CPU however (currently)