1k USD PC build for game development.

[Kyatto]

Well, as title says, i'm close to retire my current laptop and it's been almost a month since i started getting interested on game development, i noticed the performance issues while trying to use DAW software to play around with sampling and stuff, at this point even Photoshop struggles to handle my memes so not even gonna talk about how it performs on heavier tasks like 3D modeling.

I expect my PC build to keep going well for 2-3 years (until i get my degree) and work with the following programs:

 

Blender

Unity 2D-3D

Game Maker Studio

Ren'Py

Adobe CC suite 

Ableton live 10 or similar DAW's

 

Edit: I'm by no means a professional developer, in fact just started diving into coding and stuff so it's not like i rely on making video games to make a living, but i still want to be able to develop a couple decent titles by the end of these 2-3 years i'll be studying it, any further advice will be much appreciated.

[SwingLifeAway92]

8700k 16gb of ram and a quadro P2000 should be enough can also drop to a p1000 or rx 580.  

[NTDaws]

3 minutes ago, SwingLifeAway92 said:

8700k 16gb of ram and a quadro P2000 should be enough can also drop to a p1000 or rx 580.  

That will go way past budget, there's a case, psu, mouse, keyboard, monitor, etc.

[Herman Mcpootis]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i7-8700 3.2GHz 6-Core Processor  ($310.98 @ Newegg) 
Motherboard: Gigabyte - Z370P D3 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($101.98 @ Newegg) 
Memory: Team - Vulcan 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory  ($164.99 @ Newegg) 
Storage: Crucial - MX500 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($134.88 @ OutletPC) 
Storage: Seagate - Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($54.99 @ Amazon) 
Video Card: Gigabyte - GeForce GTX 1050 2GB OC Video Card  ($154.98 @ Newegg) 
Case: Azza - Titan 240 ATX Mid Tower Case  ($29.99 @ Newegg) 
Power Supply: Corsair - TXM Gold 550W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($44.99 @ Newegg) 
Total: $997.78
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-02-14 23:33 EST-0500

[SwingLifeAway92]

Just now, Being Delirious said:

That will go way past budget, there's a case, psu, mouse, keyboard, monitor, etc.

Ah you're right so used to people upgrading from old desktops  Hmm now it's a bit more challenging 

 

[SwingLifeAway92]

3 minutes ago, herman mcpootis said:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i7-8700 3.2GHz 6-Core Processor  ($310.98 @ Newegg) 
Motherboard: Gigabyte - Z370P D3 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($101.98 @ Newegg) 
Memory: Team - Vulcan 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory  ($164.99 @ Newegg) 
Storage: Crucial - MX500 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($134.88 @ OutletPC) 
Storage: Seagate - Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($54.99 @ Amazon) 
Video Card: Gigabyte - GeForce GTX 1050 2GB OC Video Card  ($154.98 @ Newegg) 
Case: Azza - Titan 240 ATX Mid Tower Case  ($29.99 @ Newegg) 
Power Supply: Corsair - TXM Gold 550W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($44.99 @ Newegg) 
Total: $997.78
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-02-14 23:33 EST-0500

Doesn't a rx 560 outperform the 1050 in workstation use? 

[GDRRiley]

8 minutes ago, SwingLifeAway92 said:

Doesn't a rx 560 outperform the 1050 in workstation use? 

yeah but 200$

[GDRRiley]

changed to a p600 
 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i7-8700 3.2GHz 6-Core Processor  ($310.98 @ Newegg) 
Motherboard: Gigabyte - Z370P D3 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($101.98 @ Newegg) 
Memory: ADATA - XPG GAMMIX D10 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2666 Memory  ($158.99 @ Newegg) 
Storage: Crucial - MX500 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($134.88 @ OutletPC) 
Storage: Seagate - Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($54.99 @ Amazon) 
Video Card: PNY - Quadro P600 2GB Video Card  ($168.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Case: Corsair - 100R ATX Mid Tower Case  ($49.99 @ Amazon) 
Power Supply: Corsair - CX (2017) 450W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($44.89 @ OutletPC) 
Total: $1025.69
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-02-14 23:49 EST-0500

[Egg-Roll]

If possible try to get a M4000 used, if one can be gotten for cheap.

I know OP came from the initial 3D topic, if able to get a M4000 it will work just as good if not better than a 560.

 

hell a k4000 is only slightly worse than the P600... possibly dirt cheap depending where OP lives. (can pick up a system here for $500+- with a K4000). It'll work for at least 2 years imo.

[panther420]

1 hour ago, herman mcpootis said:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i7-8700 3.2GHz 6-Core Processor  ($310.98 @ Newegg) 
Motherboard: Gigabyte - Z370P D3 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($101.98 @ Newegg) 
Memory: Team - Vulcan 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory  ($164.99 @ Newegg) 
Storage: Crucial - MX500 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($134.88 @ OutletPC) 
Storage: Seagate - Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($54.99 @ Amazon) 
Video Card: Gigabyte - GeForce GTX 1050 2GB OC Video Card  ($154.98 @ Newegg) 
Case: Azza - Titan 240 ATX Mid Tower Case  ($29.99 @ Newegg) 
Power Supply: Corsair - TXM Gold 550W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($44.99 @ Newegg) 
Total: $997.78
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-02-14 23:33 EST-0500

Wow, it's sad that $1000 can only get you a 1050 now. Luckily, however, I think a 1050 is all this system needs.

38 minutes ago, Egg-Roll said:

If possible try to get a M4000 used, if one can be gotten for cheap.

I know OP came from the initial 3D topic, if able to get a M4000 it will work just as good if not better than a 560.

 

hell a k4000 is only slightly worse than the P600... possibly dirt cheap depending where OP lives. (can pick up a system here for $500+- with a K4000). It'll work for at least 2 years imo.

I don't think people recommending Quadros for this understand where Quadros are actually cost effective (especially given this budget which, in the great scheme of workstations, is very low). Rendering, which appears to be 90% of what 3D work OP is doing, such as Blender, and I think Adobe CC might count to some extent, leverages components very differently than viewing. Viewing high poly-count models in Solidworks and the like is where a Quadro can actually be a worthwhile investment (which, keep in mind, is mostly due to its tweaked drivers and associated application support in Solidworks, rather than a fundamental hardware change. Which means, if you're crafty enough, you might be able to flash a Geforce to a Quadro and get the excelled viewing performance. This has been done before.). Also, LTT just published a video on the "Quadro vs Geforce argument" that seems to come up far too often. Returning to rendering vs viewing, keep in mind as well that rendering is extremely CPU intensive, while typically only leveraging GPU power as an accelerator of sorts. This means that the more money you put into GPU performance, the less return you'll get in rendering performance as opposed to not having a GPU at all.

 

Anyway, for what OP has described, I think a 1050 like @herman mcpootis linked in his build is a perfect choice. Blender & Adobe CC (specifically Premiere, but I think Ps and Lightroom are similar) highly leverage CPU power and only GPU power in so far as acceleration as I mentioned before, making the the 8700 and 1050 the perfect combination for the money. Additionally, adobe CC remains slightly archaic in terms of resource usage, as it works best with about 6 high clock speed cores, which makes the 8700 an even better option.

 

My last point here might be a little polarizing, as I know most of the custom PC community in general isn't a big fan of Macs, but I'd like you to humor me for a second. If that last item on your list is one of your higher priorities, and specifically your workload involves a lot of external sound devices, you might want to consider an older cheese grater-style Mac Pro, as I like to call them. The systems have tons of Xeon power if upgraded and macOS has some of the best compatibility with older sound devices and software like Ableton around. If you look on ebay, for example, you'll probably laugh out loud since the prices are horrendous ($600 for a decent one at least). But, if you find the right deal, you can get a stupendous workstation that can be upgraded easily (just look that up on google and a ton of results will pop up) and plays very well with audio hardware (That's why many professionals still use them to this day). And, I'll provide an example of a good deal for these things and where you might be able to find one, so this route has a sense of tangibility. Recently, I was looking for a Mac Pro for iOS development using Xcode, another common use for a Mac nowadays. For Xcode, as opposed to music software, there really is no proper Windows alternative, so I really needed this Mac. Luckily, there happened to be an excellent used computer parts shop near me, FreeGeek! After some negotiation from someone who was a staff member there, I took a Mac Pro Early 2008 with dual quad-core LGA 771 Xeon X5482s, 16GB of RAM, an HD 5770 video card (which I might upgrade later), and a 750GB HDD running El Capitan home for just $200! It's been running great ever since, and I've had it hooked up to a KVM swtich which allows me to switch between it and my Windows gaming PC with ease.

 

Just wanted to throw that option out there. If Ableton or music production is just a hobby, or it's not something you view as super important, than you can probably just go with Herman mcpootis' list.

[Kyatto]

22 hours ago, herman mcpootis said:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i7-8700 3.2GHz 6-Core Processor  ($310.98 @ Newegg) 
Motherboard: Gigabyte - Z370P D3 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($101.98 @ Newegg) 
Memory: Team - Vulcan 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory  ($164.99 @ Newegg) 
Storage: Crucial - MX500 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($134.88 @ OutletPC) 
Storage: Seagate - Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($54.99 @ Amazon) 
Video Card: Gigabyte - GeForce GTX 1050 2GB OC Video Card  ($154.98 @ Newegg) 
Case: Azza - Titan 240 ATX Mid Tower Case  ($29.99 @ Newegg) 
Power Supply: Corsair - TXM Gold 550W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($44.99 @ Newegg) 
Total: $997.78
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-02-14 23:33 EST-0500

 

Thanks a lot, this build looks pretty solid, and the only peripheral i'm lacking is a monitor, which honestly is not that expensive if bought as used.  

 

21 hours ago, Egg-Roll said:

If possible try to get a M4000 used, if one can be gotten for cheap.

I know OP came from the initial 3D topic, if able to get a M4000 it will work just as good if not better than a 560.

 

hell a k4000 is only slightly worse than the P600... possibly dirt cheap depending where OP lives. (can pick up a system here for $500+- with a K4000). It'll work for at least 2 years imo.

Sadly, i live in Mexico, so finding decent hardware at a fair price is pretty challenging, i will keep it mind and try to get it if i happen to come across one nonetheless.

[Kyatto]

21 hours ago, panther420 said:

Wow, it's sad that $1000 can only get you a 1050 now. Luckily, however, I think a 1050 is all this system needs.

I don't think people recommending Quadros for this understand where Quadros are actually cost effective (especially given this budget which, in the great scheme of workstations, is very low). Rendering, which appears to be 90% of what 3D work OP is doing, such as Blender, and I think Adobe CC might count to some extent, leverages components very differently than viewing. Viewing high poly-count models in Solidworks and the like is where a Quadro can actually be a worthwhile investment (which, keep in mind, is mostly due to its tweaked drivers and associated application support in Solidworks, rather than a fundamental hardware change. Which means, if you're crafty enough, you might be able to flash a Geforce to a Quadro and get the excelled viewing performance. This has been done before.). Also, LTT just published a video on the "Quadro vs Geforce argument" that seems to come up far too often. Returning to rendering vs viewing, keep in mind as well that rendering is extremely CPU intensive, while typically only leveraging GPU power as an accelerator of sorts. This means that the more money you put into GPU performance, the less return you'll get in rendering performance as opposed to not having a GPU at all.

 

Anyway, for what OP has described, I think a 1050 like @herman mcpootis linked in his build is a perfect choice. Blender & Adobe CC (specifically Premiere, but I think Ps and Lightroom are similar) highly leverage CPU power and only GPU power in so far as acceleration as I mentioned before, making the the 8700 and 1050 the perfect combination for the money. Additionally, adobe CC remains slightly archaic in terms of resource usage, as it works best with about 6 high clock speed cores, which makes the 8700 an even better option.

 

My last point here might be a little polarizing, as I know most of the custom PC community in general isn't a big fan of Macs, but I'd like you to humor me for a second. If that last item on your list is one of your higher priorities, and specifically your workload involves a lot of external sound devices, you might want to consider an older cheese grater-style Mac Pro, as I like to call them. The systems have tons of Xeon power if upgraded and macOS has some of the best compatibility with older sound devices and software like Ableton around. If you look on ebay, for example, you'll probably laugh out loud since the prices are horrendous ($600 for a decent one at least). But, if you find the right deal, you can get a stupendous workstation that can be upgraded easily (just look that up on google and a ton of results will pop up) and plays very well with audio hardware (That's why many professionals still use them to this day). And, I'll provide an example of a good deal for these things and where you might be able to find one, so this route has a sense of tangibility. Recently, I was looking for a Mac Pro for iOS development using Xcode, another common use for a Mac nowadays. For Xcode, as opposed to music software, there really is no proper Windows alternative, so I really needed this Mac. Luckily, there happened to be an excellent used computer parts shop near me, FreeGeek! After some negotiation from someone who was a staff member there, I took a Mac Pro Early 2008 with dual quad-core LGA 771 Xeon X5482s, 16GB of RAM, an HD 5770 video card (which I might upgrade later), and a 750GB HDD running El Capitan home for just $200! It's been running great ever since, and I've had it hooked up to a KVM swtich which allows me to switch between it and my Windows gaming PC with ease.

 

Just wanted to throw that option out there. If Ableton or music production is just a hobby, or it's not something you view as super important, than you can probably just go with Herman mcpootis' list.

 

Wow, i'd never really thought about Mac's  so far but i guess there's a fair point in saying those things carry some top of the line hardware when released and buying an used one might prove to be worth.

Anyway, music production came for me as a mere hobby, but even if i ever get into real game development, i think basic MIDI support and audio editing should be enough, not like i'm good at music anyway

[panther420]

Just now, Kyatto said:

 

Wow, i'd never really thought about Mac's  so far but i guess there's a fair point in saying those things carry some top of the line hardware when released and buying an used one might prove to be worth.

Anyway, music production came for me as a mere hobby, but even if i ever get into real game development, i think basic MIDI support and audio editing should be enough, not like i'm good at music anyway

Ok, yea, then just get the PC herman mcpootis linked. And don't bother with a quadro

[GDRRiley]

@Kyatto maybe try and stretch for a 1060 3gb https://pcpartpicker.com/product/HWtWGX/evga-geforce-gtx-1060-3gb-gaming-video-card-03g-p4-6160

or get used 980/980tis.

[AMDPRO]

@LinusTech just posted a video on this, which you should check out. If I remember correctly, he recommended Ryzen for Blender and Intel for 3d modeling, so pick whichever you use more. Also definitely go for a quadro as outlined by @LinusTech

[Egg-Roll]

1 hour ago, AMDPRO said:

@LinusTech just posted a video on this, which you should check out. If I remember correctly, he recommended Ryzen for Blender and Intel for 3d modeling, so pick whichever you use more. Also definitely go for a quadro as outlined by @LinusTech

OP actually came from that videos topic  They created a new topic for help as suggested by @dalekphalm.

[VEXICUS]

Here is a build that I just made

 

[PCPartPicker part list](https://pcpartpicker.com/list/YQjrxG) / [Price breakdown by merchant](https://pcpartpicker.com/list/YQjrxG/by_merchant/)

 

**CPU** | [AMD - Ryzen 5 1600X 3.6GHz 6-Core Processor](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/8hwqqs/amd-ryzen-5-1600x-36ghz-6-core-processor-yd160xbcaewof) | $209.89 @ OutletPC 

**CPU Cooler** | [Cooler Master - Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/hmtCmG/cooler-master-cpu-cooler-rr212e20pkr2) | $19.99 @ Newegg 

**Motherboard** | [MSI - B350 TOMAHAWK ATX AM4 Motherboard](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/Y4kwrH/msi-b350-tomahawk-atx-am4-motherboard-b350-tomahawk) | $71.89 @ OutletPC 

**Memory** | [G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/4vWrxr/gskill-memory-f42400c15d16gvr) | $164.99 @ Newegg 

**Storage** | [Samsung - 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/3kL7YJ/samsung-internal-hard-drive-mz75e250bam) | $99.89 @ OutletPC 

**Storage** | [Seagate - Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/CbL7YJ/seagate-barracuda-2tb-35-7200rpm-internal-hard-drive-st2000dm006) | $59.79 @ OutletPC 

**Video Card** | [PNY - Quadro P1000 4GB Video Card](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/86H48d/pny-quadro-p1000-4gb-video-card-vcqp1000-pb) | $315.99 @ SuperBiiz 

**Case** | [Deepcool - TESSERACT BF ATX Mid Tower Case](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/g4XfrH/deepcool-case-tesseractbf) | $36.99 @ B&H 

**Power Supply** | [Corsair - VS 500W 80+ Certified ATX Power Supply](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/TbcMnQ/corsair-vs-500w-80-certified-atx-power-supply-cp-9020118-na) | $19.99 @ Newegg 

 | *Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts* |
 | Total (before mail-in rebates) | $1049.41
 | Mail-in rebates | -$50.00
 | **Total** | **$999.41**
 | Generated by [PCPartPicker]

 

Well....I managed to squeeze in a Quadro p1000 in ur tight budget of $1000

[Kyatto]

On 2/16/2018 at 1:56 PM, vexicus365 said:

Here is a build that I just made

 

[PCPartPicker part list](https://pcpartpicker.com/list/YQjrxG) / [Price breakdown by merchant](https://pcpartpicker.com/list/YQjrxG/by_merchant/)

 

**CPU** | [AMD - Ryzen 5 1600X 3.6GHz 6-Core Processor](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/8hwqqs/amd-ryzen-5-1600x-36ghz-6-core-processor-yd160xbcaewof) | $209.89 @ OutletPC 

**CPU Cooler** | [Cooler Master - Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/hmtCmG/cooler-master-cpu-cooler-rr212e20pkr2) | $19.99 @ Newegg 

**Motherboard** | [MSI - B350 TOMAHAWK ATX AM4 Motherboard](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/Y4kwrH/msi-b350-tomahawk-atx-am4-motherboard-b350-tomahawk) | $71.89 @ OutletPC 

**Memory** | [G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/4vWrxr/gskill-memory-f42400c15d16gvr) | $164.99 @ Newegg 

**Storage** | [Samsung - 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/3kL7YJ/samsung-internal-hard-drive-mz75e250bam) | $99.89 @ OutletPC 

**Storage** | [Seagate - Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/CbL7YJ/seagate-barracuda-2tb-35-7200rpm-internal-hard-drive-st2000dm006) | $59.79 @ OutletPC 

**Video Card** | [PNY - Quadro P1000 4GB Video Card](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/86H48d/pny-quadro-p1000-4gb-video-card-vcqp1000-pb) | $315.99 @ SuperBiiz 

**Case** | [Deepcool - TESSERACT BF ATX Mid Tower Case](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/g4XfrH/deepcool-case-tesseractbf) | $36.99 @ B&H 

**Power Supply** | [Corsair - VS 500W 80+ Certified ATX Power Supply](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/TbcMnQ/corsair-vs-500w-80-certified-atx-power-supply-cp-9020118-na) | $19.99 @ Newegg 

 | *Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts* |
 | Total (before mail-in rebates) | $1049.41
 | Mail-in rebates | -$50.00
 | **Total** | **$999.41**
 | Generated by [PCPartPicker]

 

Well....I managed to squeeze in a Quadro p1000 in ur tight budget of $1000

 

This is a damn master piece, i'll have to check the shipping and payment method but i'll try to stick to something similar, specially since i'm such an AMD fanboy myself.