Help on building a PC that runs most games VERY well and runs VMs under VMware very well

[AS162]

Hi LTT,

 

I'm looking into building my own PC and I want some help choosing parts for the PC. 

 

Budget: $1000-1500 USD, but I can go up if needed for performance

 

Aim: I plan to use this PC to run games like Destiny 2, Warframe, and The Division (and its upcoming sequel) at high-very high settings. In addition to this, I want to be able to run virtual machines under VMware Workstation with good-great performance while doing other tasks as well. Motherboard would preferably be one in the relatively high end, but whatever works best for my setup would be great. Storage would be an NVMe based SSD preferably

 

Monitors: 1 monitor, 2 at the absolute most.

 

Peripherals: I do need to purchase a gaming keyboard and mouse, as well as a monitor. The keyboard would preferably be mechanical, and the monitor I'd prefer around 1080p-1440p OLED or IPS LCD. I'd also like a recommendation for a case as well that looks nice. Acrylic/tempered glass side panel preferred.

 

Why am I upgrading/building: I'm going to transition away from Mac to PC and I want to build it custom so I am asking for your help

 

Any help would be appreciated and if I need to give more specifics, please by all means say so.

Thanks!

[Radium_Angel]

33 minutes ago, AS162 said:

I want to be able to run virtual machines under VMware Workstation with good-great performance

Aye, there's the rub...

 

What are you going to be doing, *specifically*, in the VM? Most VMs will give you 30% performance hit unless you set it up very carefully (read: know what you are doing) and have RAM and something like an nVME or SSD dedicated for it

[AS162]

I plan to use VMs for code development and isolated code and program testing and I do know about the performance hit, but performance should at least be relatively decent and not like the computer is screaming in agony because of the VM.

[brob]

You prefer acrylic side panel to tempered glass?

 

VM running when gaming?

 

[Herman Mcpootis]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 7 1700 3GHz 8-Core Processor  ($219.90 @ OutletPC) 
Motherboard: Gigabyte - X470 AORUS ULTRA GAMING ATX AM4 Motherboard  ($139.99 @ Walmart) 
Memory: Team - T-Force Delta RGB 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory  ($159.99 @ Newegg) 
Storage: ADATA - XPG SX6000 256GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive  ($62.99 @ Newegg Marketplace) 
Storage: Toshiba - 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($56.90 @ OutletPC) 
Video Card: Gigabyte - GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 11GB OC BLACK Video Card  ($724.98 @ Newegg) 
Case: Phanteks - Enthoo Pro M Acrylic ATX Mid Tower Case  ($64.99 @ Newegg Business) 
Power Supply: Cooler Master - MasterWatt 750W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($60.98 @ Newegg) 
Total: $1490.72
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-07-06 21:25 EDT-0400

[This_guy1998]

49 minutes ago, AS162 said:

-snip-

 

Here is a modified version of my Tinker PC (changed the cpu up from a 4 core to a 6 core): https://pcpartpicker.com/list/kKkzZR

 (you will lose some gaming performance with a Ryzen Chip compared to a mainstream Intel chip but since your budget is limited this may be your best option)

 

Or you could go last gen Intel and lose some VM performance (personally VMWare works decently on my 7700k and my 7700hq (laptop))

Here is a cut down version of my main rig (I bought more expensive parts for mine/some stuff isn't available anymore): https://pcpartpicker.com/list/zhdvZR

 

Now you will have to buy a GPU for either of these builds though. At the moment I recommend a used 970 or 980 from EBay because they can be bought for around $200-250 and that would be better than buying a new one at the same price point for the time being. I run my old 970 G1 Gaming in my Tinker PC and it still runs fine (My main rig has a 1070 in it that I bought right before the coin mining craze in 2017, paid $380 for it and the prices for a new one right now are still a little high). 

 

 

Also, on the nvme side of things, it isn't needed for VMs or for most things in general. I run sata based SSDs for my boot drives in my laptop, my main desktop rig, and tinker PC and then I have mechanical drives in them too which can then be my mass storage and run the VMs fairly decent. Remember most business that uses virtualization still have their servers using mechanical drives that run the VMs. We talked about this in Computer Hardware and Networking classes that I took at a different college when I was in High School (I currently attending a better college in my state for an IT degree, I came into college with a semester worth of IT/CS classes (had another semesters more but the credit wouldn't transfer even in the same state)). With that said though I plan on later on upgrading to a nvme drive in my main PC (or just swap my ssd to a 256 GB one), but it isn't a priority for me (I am waiting for optane-like technology to become mainstream so the costs goes down).

 

On the peripherals for the time being you may want to hold off on "gaming" or high-end stuff because they are expensive and will eat up a good chunk of your budget.  Same goes for the monitors too.

 

[This_guy1998]

12 minutes ago, Herman Mcpootis said:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 7 1700 3GHz 8-Core Processor  ($219.90 @ OutletPC) 
Motherboard: Gigabyte - X470 AORUS ULTRA GAMING ATX AM4 Motherboard  ($139.99 @ Walmart) 
Memory: Team - T-Force Delta RGB 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory  ($159.99 @ Newegg) 
Storage: ADATA - XPG SX6000 256GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive  ($62.99 @ Newegg Marketplace) 
Storage: Toshiba - 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($56.90 @ OutletPC) 
Video Card: Gigabyte - GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 11GB OC BLACK Video Card  ($724.98 @ Newegg) 
Case: Phanteks - Enthoo Pro M Acrylic ATX Mid Tower Case  ($64.99 @ Newegg Business) 
Power Supply: Cooler Master - MasterWatt 750W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($60.98 @ Newegg) 
Total: $1490.72
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-07-06 21:25 EDT-0400

This build is great but I think the OP wanted that $1500 to include the peripherals too.

[brob]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i5-8600 3.1GHz 6-Core Processor  ($218.88 @ OutletPC) 
Motherboard: Asus - PRIME B360M-A Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($89.89 @ Amazon) 
Memory: Corsair - Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory  ($159.89 @ OutletPC) 
Storage: Samsung - 860 Evo 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($111.89 @ OutletPC) 
Video Card: EVGA - GeForce GTX 1060 6GB 6GB SC GAMING Video Card  ($269.99 @ Newegg) 
Case: Fractal Design - Focus G Mini (Black) MicroATX Mini Tower Case  ($49.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Power Supply: Corsair - CX (2017) 450W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($39.99 @ Amazon) 
Operating System: Microsoft - Windows 10 Home Full - USB 32/64-bit  ($103.95 @ Trusted Tech Team) 
Monitor: BenQ - GW2765HT 27.0" 2560x1440 60Hz Monitor  ($299.00 @ B&H) 
Keyboard: Corsair - K65 RGB Wired Gaming Keyboard  ($89.99 @ Amazon) 
Mouse: Corsair - M65 PRO RGB FPS Wired Optical Mouse  ($49.89 @ OutletPC) 
Total: $1483.35
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-07-06 21:57 EDT-0400

[Herman Mcpootis]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 7 1700 3GHz 8-Core Processor  ($219.90 @ OutletPC) 
Motherboard: ASRock - AB350 Pro4 ATX AM4 Motherboard  ($73.98 @ Newegg) 
Memory: Team - T-Force Delta RGB 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory  ($159.99 @ Newegg) 
Storage: ADATA - XPG SX6000 256GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive  ($62.99 @ Newegg Marketplace) 
Storage: Toshiba - 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($56.90 @ OutletPC) 
Video Card: MSI - GeForce GTX 1080 8GB GAMING X 8G Video Card  ($529.99 @ Newegg Business) 
Case: Phanteks - Enthoo Pro M Acrylic ATX Mid Tower Case  ($64.99 @ Newegg Business) 
Power Supply: SeaSonic - FOCUS Gold 550W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($54.99 @ Newegg) 
Monitor: MSI - Optix G24C 23.6" 1920x1080 144Hz Monitor  ($205.00 @ Amazon) 
Keyboard: Gigabyte - FORCE K83 Wired Standard Keyboard  ($39.29 @ Amazon) 
Mouse: Corsair - Harpoon RGB Wired Optical Mouse  ($28.23 @ Amazon) 
Total: $1496.25
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-07-06 22:11 EDT-0400

[Radium_Angel]

On 7/6/2018 at 8:45 PM, AS162 said:

I plan to use VMs for code development and isolated code and program testing and I do know about the performance hit, but performance should at least be relatively decent and not like the computer is screaming in agony because of the VM.

Throughput is paramount. So go with SSD or nVME if you can.

Next, add lots of ram, and a solid amount of CPU cores/hyperthreads.

 

GPU passthrough generally won't happen on free/low-cost VM software

[boey]

Selection	Base	Promo	Shipping	Tax	Price	Where
CPU		Intel - Core i7-8700 3.2GHz 6-Core Processor	$298.99		FREE		$298.99	SuperBiiz		Buy
Motherboard		ASRock - Z370 Extreme4 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard	$149.99	-$20.00	FREE		$129.99	Newegg		Buy
$20.00 mail-in rebate
Memory		Corsair - Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory	$149.99				$149.99	Amazon		Buy
Storage		Western Digital - Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive	$43.90		FREE		$43.90	OutletPC		Buy
Video Card		EVGA - GeForce GTX 1060 6GB 6GB SC GAMING Video Card	$299.99	-$30.00	FREE		$269.99	Newegg		Buy
+ USD $30 off w/ promo code EMCPWPV23, limited offer
Case		NZXT - S340 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case	$59.99				$59.99	SuperBiiz		Buy
Power Supply		EVGA - SuperNOVA G3 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply	$89.89	-$20.00	FREE		$69.89	OutletPC		Buy
$20.00 mail-in rebate
Operating System		Microsoft - Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit	$99.89	-$10.00	FREE		$89.89	OutletPC		Buy
$10.00 mail-in rebate
Monitor		Acer - G257HU smidpx 25.0" 2560x1440 60Hz Monitor	$239.89		FREE		$239.89	OutletPC		Buy
Keyboard		Logitech - G810 Orion Spectrum RGB Wired Gaming Keyboard	$86.97		FREE		$86.97	Newegg Business		Buy
Mouse		Razer - DeathAdder Elite Wired Optical Mouse

Total: $1533.00

Includes GTX 1060 6GB, Ryzen 7 2700X, X370 Mobo, 16GB RAM, a copy of Windows 10 Home, 25" 1440p monitor, Logitech gaming keyboard and Razer gaming mouse.