First Time Build Advice - Under $1000

[SOcean]

My girlfriend and I have both been gaming together on mid-range gaming laptops for several years now which are both close to crapping out. We're trying to put together roughly similar builds that we can use to game together. She's in Australia while I'm in the US so part availability may be tricky but I'll be visiting during Christmas so transporting parts isn't going to be a huge problem. She'll mainly use it for gaming & general use while I'll be using it primarily as a workstation and also for gaming.

 

We're both hoping to play AAA titles at higher settings (Witcher 3, GTA 5, Overwatch, etc) while I'll also be doing regular graphic design/video editing work. She's using 2 BenQ GW2270H monitors at the moment (temporary budget choice) but will likely upgrade in the coming year. I'm using an LG 34UM67-P ultrawide and may possibly upgrade to a BenQ XR3501. Other peripherals are covered - she'll a WASD Code V2 w/ MX Browns and a Logitech G300s while I have a CM Rapidfire TK w/ MX Browns and a Logitech G900 Chaos Spectrum. We're also covered for Windows - I'll be using an SSD that already has windows on it while she'll be acquiring it through 'other means'  

 

UPDATE: Redid the builds based on current sales. Decided to go with two separate builds rather than two identical ones.

 

Build #1 - Budget Gaming

 

PCPartPicker part list: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/WfRZtJ
Price breakdown by merchant: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/WfRZtJ/by_merchant/

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 1600 3.2GHz 6-Core Processor  ($189.99 @ Amazon) 
Motherboard: MSI - B350M GAMING PRO Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard  ($54.99 @ Newegg) 
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3200 Memory  ($154.99 @ Newegg) 
Storage: Samsung - 850 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($149.99 @ B&H) 
Video Card: PowerColor - Radeon RX 580 8GB Red Devil Video Card  ($284.98 @ Newegg) 
Case: NZXT - S340 Elite (Black/Red) ATX Mid Tower Case  ($74.99 @ Newegg) 
Power Supply: SeaSonic - FOCUS Plus Gold 850W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($69.99 @ Newegg) 
Total: $979.92

 

Notes: CPU & MoBo are $189 together at Fry's, SSD is $118 at Fry's, GPU is $230 on Newegg, Elite case because of the aesthetics and puck

 

Build #2 - Workcenter / Gaming

 

PCPartPicker part list: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/NhJjtJ
Price breakdown by merchant: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/NhJjtJ/by_merchant/

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 7 1700X 3.4GHz 8-Core Processor  ($279.99 @ Amazon) 
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master - Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler  ($24.39 @ OutletPC) 
Motherboard: Gigabyte - GA-AB350M-Gaming 3 Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard  ($59.99 @ Newegg) 
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3200 Memory  ($154.99 @ Newegg) 
Storage: Crucial - M500 480GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($299.99 @ Newegg Marketplace) 
Video Card: PowerColor - Radeon RX 580 8GB Red Devil Video Card  ($284.98 @ Newegg) 
Case: NZXT - S340 Elite (Black/Blue) ATX Mid Tower Case  ($82.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Power Supply: SeaSonic - FOCUS Plus Gold 850W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($69.99 @ Newegg) 
Total: $1257.31

 

Notes: CPU & MoBo are $260 together at Microcenter, SSD is already owned, GPU is $230 on Newegg, Elite case because of the aesthetics and puck

[Herman Mcpootis]

the ssd plus is mediocre, get the 850 evo instead. get a 1600 and use the stock cooler, B350 plus instead of that board.

[Herman Mcpootis]

abit more but:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 1600 3.2GHz 6-Core Processor  ($189.99 @ Amazon) 
Motherboard: Asus - PRIME B350-PLUS ATX AM4 Motherboard  ($59.99 @ Newegg) 
Memory: G.Skill - Trident Z 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory  ($154.99 @ Newegg) 
Storage: Crucial - MX300 525GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($129.99 @ Amazon) 
Video Card: Gigabyte - GeForce GTX 1070 8GB Mini ITX OC Video Card  ($399.99 @ Newegg) 
Case: Cougar - MX330 ATX Mid Tower Case  ($34.99 @ Newegg) 
Power Supply: Corsair - TXM Gold 550W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($42.98 @ Newegg) 
Total: $1012.92
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-11-19 23:05 EST-0500

[Streetguru]

22 minutes ago, SOcean said:

 

Pretty much just fixed everything, if you're overclocking add a Hyper T4 or Cryorig H5 and put a fan on the VRM

also got a case with airflow, possibly just add an SSD later, The firecuda drive seems like a decent stop gap.

RX 580 for free-sync savings whenever the monitor upgrade comes.

If the current monitors are 1080p 60hz there's not much reason to go past a 580

MSI AM4 boards suck, and VRM kinda suck until you get to the ASrock Killer or ASUS Prime Pro
 

PCPartPicker part list: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/dvsDBP
Price breakdown by merchant: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/dvsDBP/by_merchant/

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 1600 3.2GHz 6-Core Processor  ($189.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock - AB350M Pro4 Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard  ($74.49 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3200 Memory  ($154.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate - FireCuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Hybrid Internal Hard Drive  ($99.88 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: MSI - Radeon RX 580 4GB ARMOR OC Video Card  ($254.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Cooler Master - MasterBox 5 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case  ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: SeaSonic - FOCUS Plus Gold 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($89.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $914.31
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-11-19 23:04 EST-0500

[Narukin]

17 minutes ago, SOcean said:

I'll be using an SSD that already has windows on it

Not a good idea... AFAIK Windows has detection for changed hardware and will probably prompt you for the key to verify again or just outright stop working because it detects that it's a new computer. Have a look at this and see if it applies to you: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/20530/windows-10-reactivating-after-hardware-change

[katoptrys]

Get a 1600, the X variant isn't worth it. It includes a decent stock cooler so don't get the dark rock. Also go B350, X370 is only worth it if you wanna do extreme overclocking or SLI

[Vandorlot]

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/QWyYnn

Fixed everything. It has a 1070, you dont need a cooler on cpu i oc to 3.8 to 60 degrees on a little higher fan curve. Ram makes a big jump in performance. The PSU is amazing and the system looks nice.  X370 is pointless and MSI boards are a solid meh.

[Vandorlot]

18 minutes ago, Streetguru said:

Pretty much just fixed everything, if you're overclocking add a Hyper T4 or Cryorig H5 and put a fan on the VRM

also got a case with airflow, possibly just add an SSD later, The firecuda drive seems like a decent stop gap.

RX 580 for free-sync savings whenever the monitor upgrade comes.

If the current monitors are 1080p 60hz there's not much reason to go past a 580

MSI AM4 boards suck, and VRM kinda suck until you get to the ASrock Killer or ASUS Prime Pro
 

PCPartPicker part list: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/dvsDBP
Price breakdown by merchant: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/dvsDBP/by_merchant/

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 1600 3.2GHz 6-Core Processor  ($189.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock - AB350M Pro4 Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard  ($74.49 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3200 Memory  ($154.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate - FireCuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Hybrid Internal Hard Drive  ($99.88 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: MSI - Radeon RX 580 4GB ARMOR OC Video Card  ($254.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Cooler Master - MasterBox 5 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case  ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: SeaSonic - FOCUS Plus Gold 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($89.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $914.31
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-11-19 23:04 EST-0500

Armor OC is a really bad cooling deisgn and why a 4g version of the card. Might as well but a 1060 for that price. He also doesnt need another hdd since he said he already has one. And an s340 is arguably better than the masterbox 5.

[SOcean]

10 minutes ago, Narukin said:

Not a good idea... AFAIK Windows has detection for changed hardware and will probably prompt you for the key to verify again or just outright stop working because it detects that it's a new computer. Have a look at this and see if it applies to you: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/20530/windows-10-reactivating-after-hardware-change

Appreciate the heads up on this. I'm using Windows 8.1 on that SSD at the moment and have bounced it between my work and gaming laptop without any issues. It seems like if I run into any problems, I'll need to call into Microsoft and have them activate it for me based on some threads I found on the Microsoft forums / Tom's. Will have a backup plan just in case.

[Vandorlot]

2 minutes ago, SOcean said:

Appreciate the heads up on this. I'm using Windows 8.1 on that SSD at the moment and have bounced it between my work and gaming laptop without any issues. It seems like if I run into any problems, I'll need to call into Microsoft and have them activate it for me based on some threads I found on the Microsoft forums / Tom's. Will have a backup plan just in case.

If anything you could install windows 10 and have the watermark on the bottom left for a while. Also you could get a key from kinguin for 20 dollars.

[Streetguru]

7 minutes ago, SOcean said:

Appreciate the heads up on this. I'm using Windows 8.1 on that SSD at the moment and have bounced it between my work and gaming laptop without any issues. It seems like if I run into any problems, I'll need to call into Microsoft and have them activate it for me based on some threads I found on the Microsoft forums / Tom's. Will have a backup plan just in case.

When installing windows 10 you can just hit "I don't have a key" and use the OS 100%

 

 

8 minutes ago, Vandorlot said:

Armor OC is a really bad cooling deisgn and why a 4g version of the card.

RX 580s are still slightly messed up, 8gbs cards are like $300, it's just a quick list, would want it over a 1060 for future free-sync savings, Vega 56 is likely to be at MSRP for black friday/cyber money as well over a 1070

Would go for an RX 570 if were $199, really solid for the money there. Miss when they were under $200...

Did they fix the VRM on the Power Color 580s?
https://pcpartpicker.com/product/hwbkcf/powercolor-radeon-rx-580-4gb-red-dragon-video-card-axrx-580-4gbd5-3dhdoc

Where is the Airflow on the S340?

[Vandorlot]

1 minute ago, Streetguru said:

When installing windows 10 you can just hit "I don't have a key" and use the OS 100%

 

 

RX 580s are still slightly messed up, 8gbs cards are like $300, it's just a quick list, would want it over a 1060 for future free-sync savings, Vega 56 is likely to be at MSRP for black friday/cyber money as well over a 1070

Where is the Airflow on the S340?

You might as well spend the extra 30 dollars for a red devil 8g card.

IDK where the airflow is but reviews that I watched long ago show that the temps are really close with the side panel on and off showing no airflow problem.

 

[Streetguru]

2 minutes ago, Vandorlot said:

You might as well spend the extra 30 dollars for a red devil 8g card.

IDK where the airflow is but reviews that I watched long ago show that the temps are really close with the side panel on and off showing no airflow problem.

 

Then go for that one, unless OP is waiting on black friday deals at which point buy a $200 RX 570

For the S340 the Elite is basically the same case? As it seems like it runs hot.
 

 

[SOcean]

1 hour ago, Streetguru said:

For the S340 the Elite is basically the same case? As it seems like it runs hot.

 

HardwareCanucks did a review video with a stress test on the S340 and there didn't seem to be any major cooling issues on the S340 compared to the other cases. However, I'm sure that a case with a front or side mesh would make a difference with airflow which could be important during Australian summers which can get pretty toasty.

 

Would be good to get some other folks opinions on this.

 

1 hour ago, Streetguru said:

Then go for that one, unless OP is waiting on black friday deals at which point buy a $200 RX 570

 

1 hour ago, Vandorlot said:

You might as well spend the extra 30 dollars for a red devil 8g card.

Right now, I think I'm leaning towards a RX580 8GB for around $289. Should I consider an RX480 or a RX580 4GB if there's a good sale on them? Or is the performance drop not worth the roughly $90 or so in savings? 

 

Side note, Vega 56 is $100 off at Best Buy if anyone is interested.

[Streetguru]

1 minute ago, SOcean said:

Side note, Vega 56 is $100 off at Best Buy if anyone is interested

Not much of a sale if it's not at MSRP lol

a 580 8GB should be around $250 at most

Are you waiting for Black Friday deals?

[SOcean]

2 minutes ago, Streetguru said:

Not much of a sale if it's not at MSRP lol

a 580 8GB should be around $250 at most

Are you waiting for Black Friday deals?

Ah okay, I see. And yes, I'll be waiting for Black Friday deals.

[Streetguru]

1 minute ago, SOcean said:

Ah okay, I see. And yes, I'll be waiting for Black Friday deals.

Then if you see 580 4gb or 570 4gb for close to $200 buy that, if an 8GB card that has a decent cooler is near $250 buy that, not a huge difference in most games, but the extra VRAM will be nice to have.

[SOcean]

I've looked through the Black Friday sales that are available in my area and updated the builds accordingly (see original post for details). Would appreciate any feedback y'all have on the two builds.

 

[SOcean]

Would anyone be able to suggest a good cooler for the Ryzen 7 1700x build since that won't come with a cooler?