Help finding the right parts for a build

[DragosteaDinTea]

I'm building a budget desktop PC for the first time, but i'm not new to the tech scene. I finally got tired of trying to game on a pentium laptop with no GPU.

The parts I already have are listed below:

Coolermaster Cosmos 1000 (Discontinued)

Antec EarthWatts 430w PSU

Tons of miscellaneous cabling

Several optical drives

Several card readers

Monitors with DisplayPort and HDMI ports

2 fans that came with the case

 

I feel it also worth noting that I do have an EVGA GTX 260, but that would purely be a stand-in for either waiting for a GPU or saving for one (if compatible)

 

I'm working on a $400-500 USD budget, and still need to source (in this order):
Motherboard (must have 802.11b/g/n, at least 2 USB 3.0 ports, LGA1151 Socket, Z170 or Z270 chipset, DDR4)
Processor (LGA1151, preferably i5 6600K or better)

RAM (at least 8GB DDR4)

SSD Boot Drive and 1TB HDD, or a hybrid

CPU Cooler

GPU (NVidia or AMD, doesn't matter, preferably >1GHz boost clock)

2 120mm case fans

 

Size doesn't matter on any of these parts ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) because the Cosmos 1000 is one of the largest full-tower cases i've ever seen

 

Parts I'm looking at, best i've found so far:

Mobo: ASrock Z170 Pro4S

 

Thanks for your consideration, and any builds, ideas, or advice are appreciated.

[kaiju_wars]

I'd wait for Ryzen before going for a new build, honestly. 

[HKZeroFive]

Let's be real. On a $400-500 budget, why do you need a K-series CPU and Z170/Z270 motherboard that will take up more than half of your budget, essentially giving you nothing when it comes to the rest of the parts (GPU, CPU cooler, memory and storage)?

[DragosteaDinTea]

6 minutes ago, kaiju_wars said:

I'd wait for Ryzen before going for a new build, honestly. 

It is tantalizingly close, but I'm not sure about going AMD. I know a lot more about Intel. The values look amazing, though. Odds are I'd be waiting to buy anything for about a month anyway, so it's definitely a possibility in this build.

[DragosteaDinTea]

1 minute ago, HKZeroFive said:

Let's be real. On a $400-500 budget, why do you need a K-series CPU and Z170/Z270 motherboard that will take up more than half of your budget, essentially giving you nothing when it comes to the rest of the parts (GPU, CPU cooler, memory and storage)?

Upgradability

[kaiju_wars]

1 minute ago, DragosteaDinTea said:

It is tantalizingly close, but I'm not sure about going AMD. I know a lot more about Intel. The values look amazing, though. Odds, are, too, I'd be waiting to buy anything for about a month anyway, so it's definitely a possibility in this build.

Like you said, it's close and it's a possibility.  Just wait for reviews, if they stack up to as promised (Haswell like performance at least) you'll have more info.

 

1 minute ago, DragosteaDinTea said:

Upgradability

You can do that with anything on Skylake or Kaby Lake.  Hell, you could buy a 6400, then buy a 6700 or 6700K later on down the road (depending if you have a Z170 board or not)

[DragosteaDinTea]

Will do for Ryzen

[HKZeroFive]

6 minutes ago, DragosteaDinTea said:

Upgradability

So you'd rather have a poorly balanced build for the sake of "upgradability"? In my honest opinion, that's not wise move at all.

 

The CPU and mobo already take up $300, giving you about $200 for the rest. The RAM takes up about  $50, a decent cooler costs $20 and a 1TB HDD is about $40-50. So you have less than $100 for a GPU, which is arguably one of the most important components. Don't expect to run games well.

[DragosteaDinTea]

1 minute ago, HKZeroFive said:

So you'd rather have a poorly balanced build for the sake of "upgradability"? In my honest opinion, that's not wise move at all.

 

The CPU and mobo already take up $300, giving you about $200 for the rest. The RAM takes upabout  $50, a decent cooler costs $20 and a 1TB HDD is about $40-50. So you have less than $100 for a GPU, which is arguably one of the most important components. Don't expect to run games at relatively high settings.

That sounds about right, actually, because by the time i go about buying everything, I'll still have $100 towards a good GPU, and can run something on the 260 while i save a bit more. It just makes more sense to me to buy high on the things I don't have now, and use the worse things I have while saving for upgrades (all this depends on compatibility OC)

[DragosteaDinTea]

What would you suggest instead?

[That_PC_Kid]

I have a great CPU + Cooler + Mobo combination for about $472 USD.

 

It is practically impossible to make a list with what you are asking for at $500 max.

 

PCPartPicker part list:

 

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/Q2jGd6
Price breakdown by merchant: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/Q2jGd6/by_merchant/

 

• CPU: Intel Core i5-7600K 3.8GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($238.75 @ OutletPC) 
• CPU Cooler: Corsair H80i v2 70.7 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler  ($89.88 @ OutletPC) 
• Motherboard: ASRock Z270 Extreme4 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($143.98 @ Newegg)  -This board has 8 SATA 6Gb/s ports-

 

Total: $472.61

[DragosteaDinTea]

2 minutes ago, That_PC_Kid said:

I have a great CPU + Cooler + Mobo combination for about $472 USD.

 

It is practically impossible to make a list with what you are asking for at $500 max.

 

PCPartPicker part list:

 

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/Q2jGd6
Price breakdown by merchant: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/Q2jGd6/by_merchant/

 

• CPU: Intel Core i5-7600K 3.8GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($238.75 @ OutletPC) 
• CPU Cooler: Corsair H80i v2 70.7 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler  ($89.88 @ OutletPC) 
• Motherboard: ASRock Z270 Extreme4 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($143.98 @ Newegg) -This board has 8 Sata 6Gb/s ports-

 

Total: $472.61

I don't need a liquid cooling system, so even something like a Coolemaster Hyper 212 EVO, which i found for $34.99, could cut down considerably, and a 6600K should be fine, so with that alone it cuts ~$75 off of yours, and that's without any research. I think it may be possible.

[HKZeroFive]

14 minutes ago, DragosteaDinTea said:

That sounds about right, actually, because by the time i go about buying everything, I'll still have $100 towards a good GPU, and can run something on the 260 while i save a bit more. It just makes more sense to me to buy high on the things I don't have now, and use the worse things I have while saving for upgrades (all this depends on compatibility OC)

The problem with the GTX 260 is that it's so weak in terms of performance that the integrated GPU of the i5 6600K will actually outperform it. So to be frank, it's practically useless.

 

Now, most games today require a decent GPU in order to have an enjoyable experience. So unless you're solely playing something that doesn't require any graphical power such as LoL or CSGO, it's better to get a locked processor with a cheap motherboard and investing the rest of the money into a decent graphics card. It'd be pointless to spend $400-500 on an unbalanced build just to have an unenjoyable experience. Most call that a waste of money.

[DragosteaDinTea]

8 minutes ago, HKZeroFive said:

The problem with the GTX 260 is that it's so weak in terms of performance that the integrated GPU of the i5 6600K will actually outperform it. So to be frank, it's practically useless.

 

Now, most games today require a decent GPU in order to have an enjoyable experience. So unless you're solely playing something that doesn't require any graphical power such as LoL or CSGO, it's better to get a locked processor with a cheap motherboard and investing the rest of the money into a decent graphics card. It'd be pointless to spend $400-500 on an unbalanced build and not have an enjoyable experience at all.

Would it be better to invest in a mobo with just what I need, and get one of the lower-end Ryzens? For reference, games I play are (in no particular order): LoL, War Thunder, Heroes and Generals, tons of arcade Steam stuff, and not much else. However, most of the reason I don't play much else is because, well, I can't run it. I have copies of BF1, the new DOOM, and For Honor, but even running the open beta of FH i averaged 9-12 FPS in the benchmark. Completely unplayable.

So I might as well sell the 260 for some extra spending room in the budget, then. Ebay says $20-30 after fees, so I could probably sell it locally for around $30. It's not a ton more, but in a build like this anything helps.

 

I'm also pretty well set on peripherals, got a razer naga chroma, an orbweaver chroma, a man'o'war chroma, and a QcK XL pad.

[HKZeroFive]

5 minutes ago, DragosteaDinTea said:

Would it be better to invest in a mobo with just what I need, and get one of the lower-end Ryzens? For reference, games I play are (in no particular order): LoL, War Thunder, Heroes and Generals, tons of arcade Steam stuff, and not much else. However, most of the reason I don't play much else is because, well, I can't run it. I have copies of BF1, the new DOOM, and For Honor, but even running the open beta of FH i averaged 9-12 FPS in the benchmark. Completely unplayable.

So I might as well sell the 260 for some extra spending room in the budget, then. Ebay says $20-30 after fees, so I could probably sell it locally for around $30. It's not a ton more, but in a build like this anything helps.

 

I'm also pretty well set on peripherals, got a razer naga chroma, an orbweaver chroma, a man'o'war chroma, and a QcK XL pad.

No surprise there. You have no GPU. You will have the same experience if you only relied on a i5 6600K and its integrated graphics, hence my suggestion to get a more balanced build.

 

Waiting for Ryzen is a good idea in order to see if AMD presents a better price/performance than Intel. If it turns out to be an absolute flop, then get a locked i5 with a cheap motherboard and a decent GPU such as the RX 470. If it doesn't, you may be able to get more bang for your buck.

[DragosteaDinTea]

2 minutes ago, HKZeroFive said:

No surprise there. You have no GPU. You will have the same experience if you only relied on a i5 6600K and its integrated graphics, hence my suggestion to get a more balanced build.

 

Waiting for Ryzen is a good idea in order to see if AMD presents a better price/performance than Intel. If it turns out to be an absolute flop, then get a locked i5 with a cheap motherboard and a decent GPU such as the RX 470. If it doesn't, you may be able to get more bang for your buck.

Thanks for the help.

[That_PC_Kid]

26 minutes ago, DragosteaDinTea said:

I don't need a liquid cooling system, so even something like a Coolemaster Hyper 212 EVO, which i found for $34.99, could cut down considerably, and a 6600K should be fine, so with that alone it cuts ~$75 off of yours, and that's without any research. I think it may be possible.

Why get a K chip if you aren't planning on overclocking it? Air cooling will not suffice in a sufficient overclocking.

[Guest]

4 minutes ago, That_PC_Kid said:

Why get a K chip if you aren't planning on overclocking it? Air cooling will not suffice in a sufficient overclocking.

Depends on which air coolers, some are on par with AIO

[That_PC_Kid]

1 minute ago, deXxterlab97 said:

Depends on which air coolers, some are on par with AIO

My friend has the AIO that I selected and uses it to cool his i5-6600k which is overclocked to 4.2 GHz. Unless an air cooler can do that then I'd go with AIO.

[Guest]

1 minute ago, That_PC_Kid said:

My friend has the AIO that I selected and uses it to cool his i5-6600k which is overclocked to 4.2 GHz. Unless an air cooler can do that then I'd go with AIO.

You underestimate the power of Noctua NH-D15 and Dark Rock Pro 3

[That_PC_Kid]

2 minutes ago, deXxterlab97 said:

You underestimate the power of Noctua NH-D15 and Dark Rock Pro 3

Well those cost the same as the AIO that I selected and Noctua is ugly.

[Herman Mcpootis]

3 minutes ago, deXxterlab97 said:

You underestimate the power of Noctua NH-D15 and Dark Rock Pro 3

no love for thermalright Le Grand Macho?

[Guest]

1 minute ago, herman mcpootis said:

no love for thermalright Le Grand Macho?

no

[Herman Mcpootis]

7 minutes ago, That_PC_Kid said:

Well those cost the same as the AIO that I selected and Noctua is ugly.

https://pcpartpicker.com/product/LzNypg/deepcool-cpu-cooler-luciferk2 matches a 240mm AIO on overclocked load for $43.

http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/5854/gamerstorm-lucifer-cpu-cooler-review/index7.html

[That_PC_Kid]

10 minutes ago, herman mcpootis said:

https://pcpartpicker.com/product/LzNypg/deepcool-cpu-cooler-luciferk2 matches a 240mm AIO on overclocked load for $43.

http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/5854/gamerstorm-lucifer-cpu-cooler-review/index7.html

Why make AIOs at all then? ?