Cheapish VR Machine $900

xboxonthego3 · October 28, 2016

So i'm looking to build a cheapish VR Machine for the living room. Tired.... of dragging out my big full tower PC every weekend.. And waited too long to find a good/reasonable deal on a mini itx Z97 board for my 4790k. And others can play the VR while i'm using my main PC. So I think a new PC is a better choice.

My budget would be around $900. I'm from the United States. I can't decide between an RX 480 or a GTX 1060. They both appear to be about on par with each other with maybe the 1060 edging out. But I have seen the 480 even with 8GB appear to be about $20 cheaper. lol. I know it's only $20 but trying to spend less as I can.

I would like help reviewing what I have below. And I would like help choosing the GPU. Again I want this to be VR capable.

NOTE: Things to keep in mind. I can buy the i7 6700k off a friend for the price listed below. I already have a GOLD 650 EVGA PSU. And I already have an extra copy of windows. And an SSD i'm going to take from my other machine as the boot drive. I don't need a monitor or mouse. Also must be mini ITX would like small. But not necessarily as small as possible.

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/list/DVCtWX
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/list/DVCtWX/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($285.00)
CPU Cooler: CRYORIG C7 40.5 CFM CPU Cooler ($29.88 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock Fatal1ty Z170 Gaming-ITX/ac Mini ITX LGA1151 Motherboard ($157.89 @ OutletPC)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($78.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($49.49 @ OutletPC)
Case: Fractal Design Define Nano S Mini ITX Desktop Case ($54.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $656.24
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-10-27 22:58 EDT-0400

anybodykek · October 28, 2016

RX 480. If it's cheaper, the extra frame buffer really helps in VR.

HKZeroFive · October 28, 2016

The GTX 1060 6GB is undoubtedly the more powerful card... if you're lucky enough, you can snag a GTX 1060 6GB for $200-ish from Newegg with the right code and rebate.

Herman Mcpootis · October 28, 2016

if you're gonna be using a freesync monitor, then the rx 480 is better. if you're not then the gtx 1060 will perform better than the rx 480 so go for that instead.

antisleep · October 28, 2016

The 1060 has the higher SteamVR score, also overall better card.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($285.00)

CPU Cooler: be quiet! PURE ROCK SLIM CPU Cooler 120W TDP ($24.90 @ Newegg)

^Similar performance if not better than the C7, both are great value coolers
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z170N-WIFI Mini ITX LGA1151 Motherboard ($134.99 @ Newegg)

^Best value Z170 ITX board, great audio, 6 sata ports, etc - just not that great of an overclocker

^most OC you can get out of it is 4.5-4.6Ghz (w/c is still pretty good)

Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws 4 Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($79.99 @ Newegg)

^3000Mhz yaaas
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1060 6GB 6GB D5 6G Video Card ($249.99 @ Newegg)

^There's an ITX version of this with slightly better clock speeds, it's $249.99-$10 rebate on Amazon right now ($259.99-$10 rebate on Newegg)
Case: Fractal Design Define Nano S Mini ITX Desktop Case ($54.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $879.85