What do you all think?

[dwright]

I'm new to the PC building community but I managed, with a little guidance to get this far in my first build. This is to me, my starting point for any upgrades I come to do in the future. Still working on it and when graphics cards get cheaper I'll be moving to a different card. It's for gaming and I'm trying to keep the computer itself wihin plus or minus $200 of $1,000. I plan on playing games like Stellaris, Total War, The Forest, and X3. What do you all think? Anything else I could do differently?

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i5-8400 2.8GHz 6-Core Processor ($201.88 @ OutletPC) 
Motherboard: ASRock - Z370M Pro4 Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($121.98 @ Newegg) 
Memory: Corsair - Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory  ($204.99 @ Best Buy) 
Storage: Crucial - MX300 275GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($89.89 @ OutletPC) 
Storage: Seagate - Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($59.99 @ Newegg) 
Video Card: Asus - GeForce GTX 1050 2GB DUAL Video Card  ($194.99 @ Newegg Marketplace) 
Case: Corsair - SPEC-OMEGA ATX Mid Tower Case ($99.99 @ Corsair) 
Power Supply: Corsair - CX (2017) 450W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($28.98 @ Newegg) 
Operating System: Microsoft - Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit  ($89.89 @ OutletPC) 
Monitor: Asus - VG248QE 24.0" 1920x1080 144Hz Monitor  ($253.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Keyboard: Corsair - K65 RGB Wired Gaming Keyboard  ($79.95 @ Amazon) 
Mouse: Logitech - G900 CHAOS SPECTRUM Wireless Optical Mouse  ($84.99 @ Best Buy) 
Total: $1511.51
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-01-24 19:41 EST-0500

[Vasllo]

I would go with a 500GB SSD, I feel kinda trapped in my 850 Evo 250GB. And maybe consider used GPUs? You would get considerably better performance with a GTX 970, which is exactly what I did. And I would DEFINITELY upgrade the PSU, I bought myself a TX550M, so I would suggest you to go with a CS series at the very least, and aim for a TXM/RM series, CX series have very poor components which can cause issues and die earlier. Also, take a closer look at Cherry MX switches to see which one you think will fit you better or maybe even try them out, I, for one, am waiting for the stores here to have the K70 MX Brown in stock, even though it's considerably more expensive than the K65 MX Red, I think it'll suit me better. Monitor wise this one is pretty decent, but I think you could go with something better, afterall that's whats gonna show you all of those beautiful frames your PC made with love for you.

 

Other than that there's just one caveat, the CPU/MOBO combo. Since Intel screwed up, there are just Z370 boards for now, which is 20-40 dollars mostly wasted if you go with an i5 8400, so maybe consider getting an 8600k, not necessary, but would be a better fitting option and you would have overclocking to get you more life out of your PC down the line (which is exactly what I'm doing with mine atm, an i5 2500k that I'll OC to 4.5Ghz soon). If it's beyond your budget, it's fine go with an 8400.

[brob]

Looks pretty good.

 

You might want to consider a modular or semi-modular psu. The case does not have a psu shroud so hiding unused power cables is pretty difficult.

 

Windows 10 OEM license does not permit use in DIY builds. One is supposed to buy a full retail version.

[dwright]

1 hour ago, Mateus Campello said:

I would go with a 500GB SSD, I feel kinda trapped in my 850 Evo 250GB. And maybe consider used GPUs? You would get considerably better performance with a GTX 970, which is exactly what I did. And I would DEFINITELY upgrade the PSU, I bought myself a TX550M, so I would suggest you to go with a CS series at the very least, and aim for a TXM/RM series, CX series have very poor components which can cause issues and die earlier. Also, take a closer look at Cherry MX switches to see which one you think will fit you better or maybe even try them out, I, for one, am waiting for the stores here to have the K70 MX Brown in stock, even though it's considerably more expensive than the K65 MX Red, I think it'll suit me better. Monitor wise this one is pretty decent, but I think you could go with something better, afterall that's whats gonna show you all of those beautiful frames your PC made with love for you.

 

Other than that there's just one caveat, the CPU/MOBO combo. Since Intel screwed up, there are just Z370 boards for now, which is 20-40 dollars mostly wasted if you go with an i5 8400, so maybe consider getting an 8600k, not necessary, but would be a better fitting option and you would have overclocking to get you more life out of your PC down the line (which is exactly what I'm doing with mine atm, an i5 2500k that I'll OC to 4.5Ghz soon). If it's beyond your budget, it's fine go with an 8400.

So I have this now but the Core i5 8600k doesn't come with a stock cpu cooler, what do you recommend?

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i5-8600K 3.6GHz 6-Core Processor  ($256.79 @ OutletPC) 
Motherboard: ASRock - Z370M Pro4 Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($121.98 @ Newegg) 
Memory: Corsair - Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory  ($204.99 @ Best Buy) 
Storage: Samsung - 850 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($139.99 @ B&H) 
Storage: Seagate - Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($59.99 @ Newegg) 
Video Card: Asus - GeForce GTX 1050 2GB DUAL Video Card  ($194.99 @ Newegg Marketplace) 
Case: Corsair - SPEC-OMEGA ATX Mid Tower Case  ($99.99 @ Corsair) 
Power Supply: Corsair - CSM 550W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($59.99 @ Newegg) 
Operating System: Microsoft - Windows 10 Home Full 32/64-bit  ($109.99 @ B&H) 
Monitor: Asus - VG248QE 24.0" 1920x1080 144Hz Monitor  ($253.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Keyboard: Corsair - K65 RGB Wired Gaming Keyboard  ($79.95 @ Amazon) 
Mouse: Corsair - Raptor M45 Wired Optical Mouse  ($62.99 @ Amazon) 
Total: $1645.63
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-01-25 02:20 EST-0500

[Guest]

6 hours ago, Mateus Campello said:

CX series have very poor components which can cause issues and die earlier.

That is not true at all. The newer Grey label versions are a big improvement over the older models. He can actually get a semi modular Seasonic Focus Gold for less which is a better option.

[Guest]

5 hours ago, dwright said:

So I have this now but the Core i5 8600k doesn't come with a stock cpu cooler, what do you recommend?

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i5-8600K 3.6GHz 6-Core Processor  ($256.79 @ OutletPC) 
Motherboard: ASRock - Z370M Pro4 Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($121.98 @ Newegg) 
Memory: Corsair - Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory  ($204.99 @ Best Buy) 
Storage: Samsung - 850 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($139.99 @ B&H) 
Storage: Seagate - Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($59.99 @ Newegg) 
Video Card: Asus - GeForce GTX 1050 2GB DUAL Video Card  ($194.99 @ Newegg Marketplace) 
Case: Corsair - SPEC-OMEGA ATX Mid Tower Case  ($99.99 @ Corsair) 
Power Supply: Corsair - CSM 550W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($59.99 @ Newegg) 
Operating System: Microsoft - Windows 10 Home Full 32/64-bit  ($109.99 @ B&H) 
Monitor: Asus - VG248QE 24.0" 1920x1080 144Hz Monitor  ($253.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Keyboard: Corsair - K65 RGB Wired Gaming Keyboard  ($79.95 @ Amazon) 
Mouse: Corsair - Raptor M45 Wired Optical Mouse  ($62.99 @ Amazon) 
Total: $1645.63
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-01-25 02:20 EST-0500

Something like a Cryorig H7 if you don't plan to overclock much.

 

As an alternative you could look at a Ryzen R5 1600 with a B350 board. Maybe even get a cheaper mouse and keyboard. That would free up some money for a better gpu from the off.

 

Also I would suggest the Seasonic Focus Gold semi-modular unit over the CSM.

 

https://pcpartpicker.com/product/KmgzK8/seasonic-focus-gold-550w-80-gold-certified-semi-modular-atx-power-supply-ssr-550fm

 

[Vasllo]

5 hours ago, lee32uk said:

That is not true at all. The newer Grey label versions are a big improvement over the older models. He can actually get a semi modular Seasonic Focus Gold for less which is a better option.

Thanks for the insight, I was not aware of this. The tests I saw were of the older one and it didn't perform great, specially in ripple suppresion, which was pretty bad.

 

10 hours ago, dwright said:

So I have this now but the Core i5 8600k doesn't come with a stock cpu cooler, what do you recommend?

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i5-8600K 3.6GHz 6-Core Processor  ($256.79 @ OutletPC) 
Motherboard: ASRock - Z370M Pro4 Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($121.98 @ Newegg) 
Memory: Corsair - Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory  ($204.99 @ Best Buy) 
Storage: Samsung - 850 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($139.99 @ B&H) 
Storage: Seagate - Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($59.99 @ Newegg) 
Video Card: Asus - GeForce GTX 1050 2GB DUAL Video Card  ($194.99 @ Newegg Marketplace) 
Case: Corsair - SPEC-OMEGA ATX Mid Tower Case  ($99.99 @ Corsair) 
Power Supply: Corsair - CSM 550W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($59.99 @ Newegg) 
Operating System: Microsoft - Windows 10 Home Full 32/64-bit  ($109.99 @ B&H) 
Monitor: Asus - VG248QE 24.0" 1920x1080 144Hz Monitor  ($253.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Keyboard: Corsair - K65 RGB Wired Gaming Keyboard  ($79.95 @ Amazon) 
Mouse: Corsair - Raptor M45 Wired Optical Mouse  ($62.99 @ Amazon) 
Total: $1645.63
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-01-25 02:20 EST-0500

As suggested above, a Cryorig H7 or a Hyper 212x (I just bought one myself, waiting it to arrive) would allow you to sustain a good overclock as long as you keep the voltage as tight as possible.

It's pretty much perfect now, I would only suggest you to take a look at some used GPUs as US$195 for a 1050 is just ridiculous, that should get you a 1060 if the market wasn't so fucked up, and if you can get a 970 for the same price, you would have 1060 like performance.

And don't forget to take a closer look at which type of switch you'll get in your keyboard.

*Also: Samsung just announced the 860 series, which seems to have crazy endurance, so you might want to keep an eye out for that.

[Parideboy]

I know it's for gaming, but Ryzen? Not that far away from the 8600k, cheaper, with a platform that will last longer.

Won't even bottleneck a 1050.

[dwright]

2 hours ago, Mateus Campello said:

And don't forget to take a closer look at which type of switch you'll get in your keyboard.

I'm sorry, could you explain? I didn't know there were switches I had to get in my keyboard.

[Vasllo]

3 hours ago, Parideboy said:

I know it's for gaming, but Ryzen? Not that far away from the 8600k, cheaper, with a platform that will last longer.

Won't even bottleneck a 1050.

Sadly Ryzen doesn't perform great in games due to IPC and optimization and he plans to get a better GPU in the future.

43 minutes ago, dwright said:

I'm sorry, could you explain? I didn't know there were switches I had to get in my keyboard.

Mechanical keyboards have different types of switches in them. The most well-known brand of switches is Cherry MX, and they have several different switch models, and a Corsair K70, for example, can come with blue, brown, red or clear switches. Each "color" or type of switch will have a different feel to it. You and your friend might both buy a K70, for example, and his keyboard might use clear switches while yours might use brown switches, which will be considerably different.

 

A quick exaplanation of the common Cherry MX switches:

 

Blue switch - Good for typing, has tactile feedback (a bump mid-way down) and audible feedback (it makes clicky noises on top of the switch's sound)

Brown switch - Has the tactile feedback but not the audible feedback, so it feels like a normal keyboard and is less noisy than the Blue switch (most keyboard have a bump mid-way down the travel of the key).

Red switch - Has no tactile nor audible feedback, it's completely linear from top to bottom and is pretty sensitive, you have to get used to how much you have to press to register the key since there's no bump to tell you.

Clear/Rapidfire switch - Same as Red but even more sensitive.

 

I haven't tried a mechanical keyboard yet, but I'm trying to buy myself a K70 MX Brown (almost giving up and getting a K65/K68 MX Red tho, because of stock and price), but AFAIK, Red/Clear/Rapidfire switches are pretty bad for typing and are hard to get used to, although very sensitive and possibly better for gaming.

 

If you're unsure you would enjoy the sensitive and linear Red/Clear switches, you can go with a safer choice that is the Brown switch, that will feel more normal but still with a mechanical keyboard quality.

[brob]

5 hours ago, Parideboy said:

I know it's for gaming, but Ryzen? Not that far away from the 8600k, cheaper, with a platform that will last longer.

Won't even bottleneck a 1050.

I truly don't understand this "platform will last longer" argument. Do you mean that the platform will be really out of date in four years time with no prospect of something newer? No updates to take advantage of newer technology - faster USB, higher bandwidth M.2 (or something else), DDR5, PCIe 4. This is an advantage?

 

[plushkinn]

I won’t be saying anytging about ssd, psu and these stuff. What is really strange that you want to buy a 8400 and gtx 1050, not even gtx1050ti. I think minimal card for i5 8400 that will justify this build is gtx 1060. Check out the nvidia official web site where you can buy founders edition cheaper than market price, of course if they have GPUs in stock.

[Parideboy]

15 hours ago, brob said:

I truly don't understand this "platform will last longer" argument. Do you mean that the platform will be really out of date in four years time with no prospect of something newer? No updates to take advantage of newer technology - faster USB, higher bandwidth M.2 (or something else), DDR5, PCIe 4. This is an advantage?

 

 

It means that new ryzen cpus won't need a new motherboard. If you really want those new features (PCIe 4 really? lol) you could upgrade if you really have the money, instead of being forced on spending 400+$ on a cpu+mb+ram combo. Seems pretty obvious to me.

 

17 hours ago, Mateus Campello said:

Sadly Ryzen doesn't perform great in games due to IPC and optimization and he plans to get a better GPU in the future.

 

I honestly don't think that 20 fps are worth the extra money, I guess it's just me then.

[Vasllo]

17 hours ago, brob said:

I truly don't understand this "platform will last longer" argument. Do you mean that the platform will be really out of date in four years time with no prospect of something newer? No updates to take advantage of newer technology - faster USB, higher bandwidth M.2 (or something else), DDR5, PCIe 4. This is an advantage?

 

Yes, it is an advantage, because you most probably won't need any of the new technologies and you can upgrade your CPU, get better performance and later upgrade your motherboard if you want any new technology.

 

13 hours ago, plushkinn said:

I won’t be saying anytging about ssd, psu and these stuff. What is really strange that you want to buy a 8400 and gtx 1050, not even gtx1050ti. I think minimal card for i5 8400 that will justify this build is gtx 1060. Check out the nvidia official web site where you can buy founders edition cheaper than market price, of course if they have GPUs in stock.

He already said he plans on getting a better GPU soon, this is just so he has something decent in the meantime.

 

1 hour ago, Parideboy said:

It means that new ryzen cpus won't need a new motherboard. If you really want those new features (PCIe 4 really? lol) you could upgrade if you really have the money, instead of being forced on spending 400+$ on a cpu+mb+ram combo. Seems pretty obvious to me.

 

I honestly don't think that 20 fps are worth the extra money, I guess it's just me then.

LOL, 20FPS is fucking huge, it's obviously worth it in that example, lol. Not to mention that the 8th gen pretty much destroyed Ryzen, because they got way better IPC and now also have enough cores. I love how AMD is coming back on it's feet and giving us options back, but the numbers don't lie, I buy based on performance for my task, not based on brand. Let's hope Ryzen 2 will have IPC to compete with Intel.

[Parideboy]

29 minutes ago, Mateus Campello said:

LOL, 20FPS is fucking huge, it's obviously worth it in that example, lol. Not to mention that the 8th gen pretty much destroyed Ryzen, because they got way better IPC and now also have enough cores. I love how AMD is coming back on it's feet and giving us options back, but the numbers don't lie, I buy based on performance for my task, not based on brand. Let's hope Ryzen 2 will have IPC to compete with Intel.

1

I buy based on the performance/cost for my task. I get your point but honestly, I wouldn't care that much if my machine did 150 or 250 fps if I couldn't see any benefit from it. Both CPU's reach respectable fps (we're not talking 30 or 60) so I would save that money for a decent GPU. Am I that wrong?

[Vasllo]

47 minutes ago, Parideboy said:

I buy based on the performance/cost for my task. I get your point but honestly, I wouldn't care that much if my machine did 150 or 250 fps if I couldn't see any benefit from it. Both CPU's reach respectable fps (we're not talking 30 or 60) so I would save that money for a decent GPU. Am I that wrong?

We're not talking about a difference from 150 to 250, that's the deal. The difference is real.