Building a future upgradable PC

[genehack]

Hello everyone!

 

I saw many people asking for help here and I figured I'd ask too since I need a bit of help.

 

I have exactly $1224 USD dollar I gathered over 4 months with summer job. I can probably squeeze out $100 USD from my pocket if necessary. My goal is to build a whole system from scratch. That means I have nothing, even a monitor. I'm in Australia so that makes about $1614 AUD.

My goal is a future upgradable built (maybe in a year or so). I can start off with smaller HDD for example and upgrade later. It will be used for AAA gaming (like DOOM, ROTTR and heavy games) and 3D modeling and game developing (mostly in UE4). I will probably use 2 monitors but for now just one would do (preferably 1080p @120Hz) and I'll probably use my laptop's display as a second display over LAN until I get enough money. I do have a mouse but I will probably get a cheap $5 keyboard.

I was thinking of getting a GTX 1060 but it has no SLI and I'll have to throw it away if I buy a new GPU later on, so... I don't know

 

So wizards, help me with thy techie magic!

[The Belgian Waffle]

Do you have a mouse and a keyboard or really nothing at all? 

Edit : sorry, didn't read everything. 

[Cereal5]

I see this going one of two ways. i5-6500 and a non overclockable MoBo (H170) and a nice GPU (a 1060 will not play triple A titles on high/max settings above 60 fps, 1070 recommended) which can later be upgraded with an i7-6700 non K, cause your MoBo wont be able to OC, or you get a nice CPU (i7-6700K, Z170 motherboard, nice cooler too for OCing) and soemthing like a GTX 1060, which on one setting off of max might pump out 100 FPS, and you can sell later on to upgrade to a GTX 1070 or 1080. DO NOT DO SLI unless you are doing GTX 1080s or something better

[The Belgian Waffle]

7 minutes ago, genehack said:

I was thinking of getting a GTX 1060 but it has no SLI and I'll have to throw it away if I buy a new GPU later on, so... I don't know

You can still sell it later !

[Guuhan]

-removed-

 

 

[Morgan MLGman]

Would something like that work for you? (Prices in AUD)

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-6700 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($418.00 @ Shopping Express)
Motherboard: ASRock Fatal1ty H170 Performance ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($149.00 @ IJK)
Memory: Kingston FURY 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory  ($96.00 @ CPL Online)
Storage: OCZ Trion 100 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($64.00 @ CPL Online)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($65.00 @ IJK)
Video Card: GALAX GeForce GTX 1060 6GB 6GB EX OC Video Card  ($395.00 @ PLE Computers)
Case: Phanteks ECLIPSE P400 ATX Mid Tower Case  ($99.00 @ PCCaseGear)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($79.00 @ PCCaseGear)
Monitor: AOC G2460PQU 24.0" 144Hz Monitor  ($379.00 @ CPL Online)
Total: $1744.00
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-10-12 18:54 AEDT+1100

[Morgan MLGman]

Just now, Guuhan said:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($267.00 @ Shopping Express) 
CPU Cooler: CRYORIG H7 49.0 CFM CPU Cooler  ($55.00 @ PCCaseGear) 
Motherboard: ASRock H170M Pro4 Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($135.00 @ IJK) 
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory  ($108.00 @ IJK) 
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($129.00 @ PLE Computers) 
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($65.00 @ IJK) 
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1070 8GB G1 Gaming Video Card  ($649.00 @ Shopping Express) 
Case: Corsair Graphite Series 230T Orange ATX Mid Tower Case  ($99.00 @ Skycomp Technology) 
Power Supply: SeaSonic 520W 80+ Bronze Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($111.10 @ Skycomp Technology) 
Total: $1618.10
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-10-12 18:54 AEDT+1100

 

 

OP wanted a high-refresh rate monitor as well within that budget. And an i5 (especially a locked one) will bottleneck the 1070 at higher refresh rates at 1080p

[Cereal5]

27 minutes ago, genehack said:

So wizards, help me with thy techie magic!

Hard truth: you can't get everything you ask for on that budget. The computer alone you can maybe squeeze by on 1250-1300 AUD. Not with a monitor, and certainly not a high refresh rate monitor

[Guuhan]

14 minutes ago, Morgan MLGman said:

OP wanted a high-refresh rate monitor as well within that budget. And an i5 (especially a locked one) will bottleneck the 1070 at higher refresh rates at 1080p

oops, didn't read. Soz my fault.

[Zyndo]

18 minutes ago, genehack said:

My goal is a future upgradable built (maybe in a year or so). I can start off with smaller HDD for example and upgrade later. It will be used for AAA gaming (like DOOM, ROTTR and heavy games) and 3D modeling and game developing (mostly in UE4). I will probably use 2 monitors but for now just one would do (preferably 1080p @120Hz)

I was thinking of getting a GTX 1060

I do not think you're going to be able to hit all those marks for $1614

 

This is the kind of machine you're looking at for 120hz AAA gaming (even 1080p) and modeling. This does not include the entire build. You're still missing CPU cooler, monitors, case, PSU, mouse/keyboards/speakers.

http://au.pcpartpicker.com/list/sZV2kT

 

 

That being said if you're looking to buy something okay now, then upgrade in a few years to that goal, then we can arrange that:

http://au.pcpartpicker.com/list/TTGh9W

 

Nope.... doesn't look like we can do it. perhaps if you give up your desire for futureproofness or SLI or something like that, or increase your budget.... or something. Its a tall order for everything you want.

[Cereal5]

22 minutes ago, Morgan MLGman said:

Would something like that work for you? (Prices in AUD)

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-6700 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($418.00 @ Shopping Express)
Motherboard: ASRock Fatal1ty H170 Performance ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($149.00 @ IJK)
Memory: Kingston FURY 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory  ($96.00 @ CPL Online)
Storage: OCZ Trion 100 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($64.00 @ CPL Online)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($65.00 @ IJK)
Video Card: GALAX GeForce GTX 1060 6GB 6GB EX OC Video Card  ($395.00 @ PLE Computers)
Case: Phanteks ECLIPSE P400 ATX Mid Tower Case  ($99.00 @ PCCaseGear)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($79.00 @ PCCaseGear)
Monitor: AOC G2460PQU 24.0" 144Hz Monitor  ($379.00 @ CPL Online)
Total: $1744.00
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-10-12 18:54 AEDT+1100

This is basically what I came up with, just with an i5-6600K/Hyper 212X and an ASRock Z170 Pro4 ATX MoBo.

 

The problem is, a 1060 will not hit above ~70 fps on max settings. I almost guarantee it @genehack

 

[Jovidah]

Given that I found myself in a somewhat comparable situation recently, some things to consider:

 

When you are essentially 'smearing out'  your investment in time, it is usually most opportune to buy the components that suffer the most from inflation last. So for example, today I can buy component X with 100 performance for 100 dollars... if that component is still a 100 dollars a year from now there really is no advantage in postponing the investment. If however a year from now component X with 100 performance is only 50 dollars, or you can get Y instead with 200 performance, waiting a year can essentially get you more bang for the buck.

 

So some things to consider:

-Computer cases and PSUs are pretty much stagnant in prices. They are also long-lasting (if you don't buy utter crap). Thus, buying 'cheap' now and upgrading later is essentially throwing away money; as you could have saved yourself the initial cheaping out.

 

-Likewise, CPU, RAM & Motherboard development is really slow as well. If you buy decent stuff now it can last you 5 years. Therefore, buying cheap and upgrading later is essentially throwing away the money of the intermediate-cheapo-step, as the performance bought with the upgrade would be very similar to something you could have bought for the same amount of money right now. The whole trick of 'buying last-gen' doesn't really save you money either as those prices are usually quite comparable to current-gen.

The only reasonable 'postponable' upgrade here is the amount of RAM; it can make sense to just put in 16 GB now (which is pretty much enough for anything), and go for 32 GB in a few years if so required. Make sure you have spare RAM if you want to retain this option.

 

-CPU coolers and casefans are likewise rather stable in price and slow in development.

 

-SSD prices are still slowly dropping (and expected to drop more next year), while HDD prices are rather stagnant. So for 'bulk storage' it still makes more sense to go with a HDD, nor is it really the right moment to go wild and invest in excessively large SSDs 'so you have some room to grow'. 

 

-Graphics card is one of those areas where there is still a lot of development - and thus inflation - going on. I would say this is the best place to go slightly cheaper and upgrade later on. Especially as there isn't much of a penalty elsewhere, and graphics cards lose their value anyway. If you're on a budget there really is no sense in getting the really high end cards; it's cheaper to go for mid-end and upgrade every 2-3 years. 

This is especially true if you're not going for 4k yet. Even a years old GTX760 can still run everything at 1080p really well if you turn off a few of the eye candy features (running high instead of ultra).

 

-Monitor. This is another market that is currently in flux after years of stagnation. 4k is just slowly getting to the market and still has a long way ahead of it in regards to lowering its price. So if you want to cheap out, I'd say this is the place to do it. 1080p monitors are really getting pretty dirtcheap right now, while all the 4k screens are likely to cut their retail prices in half within the next year or two.

 

I would say the easiest 'budget cut' is to 'settle for 1080', while getting a good platform (CPU, RAM, Mainboard, Case, PSU). This saves you a lot of money now on both the monitor AND the graphics card (there is little sense in downgrading just one of the 2), while it is relatively easy to upgrade those both later on. Since those are also the 2 components suffering most from inflation as of right now this makes the most sense from a financial point of view.

Just my 2 cents.