Building my first PC - advice needed

[NoctusT]

Hi so I've used PS4/PS3 and MacBooks all this time and I'm building my first PC. I have a decent monitor 1080p with a 50-70 hz refresh rate that I've been using since 2013. So I didn't think I'd need an upgrade and set my budget at $1800 (+/-100 for a keyboard/mouse). I was able to pick out some nice parts (according to reviews) along with Samsung B-Die RAM for the Ryzen CPU. (The CPU is something I can't compromise on as I'll need the processing power in the future (in about a year's time) for more than just gaming like for grad school and such.)

 

But it turned out that apparently I need to buy a new monitor after all and there's this thing called g sync so I'm currently going way out of budget with this build and I could use some help. 

https://pcpartpicker.com/user/NoctusT/saved/vRgbXL 

 

So I'd really appreciate it if someone could take a look at this and let me know what you think. Is there any changes I can make to lower the price? Or do I need to have a monitor capable of GSYNC? I found a perfectly nice acer monitor at ~$300 with everything but Gsync (it uses free sync instead)  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00VRCLHYS/?coliid=I2LZV220JNKX4K&colid=3N0MIC35VDBVH&psc=0&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it

 

Alternatively, is it worth it to change the graphics card to an AMD one? (Vega 64?) 

Thanks for your help!!

 

P.S. - I'm basically clueless about all of this and going with parts that I found to be safe and reliable according to multiple reviews online. I expected to pay a little extra for the safety, up to $2000 including the keyboard and mouse, but this is coming up to $2700 so I'm a little worried since, again, I'm new to all of this and don't know if it's worth paying that much. 

EDIT: Thank you for the help! I edited the builds with some help from you all and I'm currently at this: Ryzen with a 1080 or Ryzen with a Vega 64 (which will give me free sync) or Intel with a GSync monitor (and additional speakers) and a 1080. The Noctua fans are ugly as sin, so I added a fan cover thing to the list for $30. 

[Firewrath9]

there are cheaper 1080s that will get the job done, dont get 2 sata ssds,

the noctua looks ugly AF so get a AIO

G-sync doesnt really matter imo but your choice.

[Brooksie359]

So the monitor you are buying is probably one if the best monitors on the market tbh. You don't need it but it's not a bad buy at all. Also you don't need gsync and could just stick with your current monitor. It might be a bit overkill to have a 1080 for 1080p though. 

[NoctusT]

7 minutes ago, Firewrath9 said:

there are cheaper 1080s that will get the job done, dont get 2 sata ssds,

the noctua looks ugly AF so get a AIO

G-sync doesnt really matter imo but your choice.

oh are two SATA suds bad? 
And yeah I've never used gsync or anything and I didn't even know it existed until 30 mins ago so I'm pretty confused about it all. IDK if I want to pay +$300 just for one piece of software. Since I could have lived with a $300 monitor. 
Regarding AIO's I was told that theres a chance of leakage? I got these clip on black borders for the Noctua so I could use some advice on Aios

TY!
EDIT - changed the gnu to a Gigabyte one. 

[NoctusT]

2 minutes ago, Brooksie359 said:

So the monitor you are buying is probably one if the best monitors on the market tbh. You don't need it but it's not a bad buy at all. Also you don't need gsync and could just stick with your current monitor. It might be a bit overkill to have a 1080 for 1080p though. 

Ty for the advice. So thing is that I was ok paying an additional $300 for a new 1440p monitor but just not sure about whether or not g sync is worth a $670 monitor. Do you use gsync? 

[Origami Cactus]

5 minutes ago, NoctusT said:

oh are two SATA suds bad? 
And yeah I've never used gsync or anything and I didn't even know it existed until 30 mins ago so I'm pretty confused about it all. IDK if I want to pay +$300 just for one piece of software. Since I could have lived with a $300 monitor. 
Regarding AIO's I was told that theres a chance of leakage? I got these clip on black borders for the Noctua so I could use some advice on Aios

TY!

Yeah i also dont agree on using aio's, because decent aircoolers perform the same(and noctua is more than decent), and aircoolers have less points of failure.

Also there is nothing wrong with 2x ssds if you have a use case for them.

Also amd freesync monitors tend to be cheaper, so choose either (vega 64 + freesync) or (gtx 1080 + gysnc) they perform the same, so choose the cheaper out of the 2 options.

 

You can also use a freesync monitor as a normal monitor with a nvidia card, but then you get screen tearing.

[Firewrath9]

PCPartPicker part list: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/fzLRw6
Price breakdown by merchant: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/fzLRw6/by_merchant/

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 7 2700X 3.7GHz 8-Core Processor  ($319.99 @ Amazon) 
CPU Cooler: Corsair - H115i 104.7 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler  ($99.99 @ Amazon) 
Thermal Compound: ARCTIC - MX4 4g Thermal Paste  ($3.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Motherboard: Gigabyte - X470 AORUS ULTRA GAMING ATX AM4 Motherboard  ($128.99 @ Amazon) 
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3200 Memory  ($144.99 @ Newegg) 
Storage: Samsung - 970 Evo 250GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive  ($99.99 @ Amazon) 
Storage: Seagate - Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($59.39 @ OutletPC) 
Video Card: Gigabyte - GeForce GTX 1080 8GB D5X Video Card  ($429.99 @ Newegg) 
Case: Fractal Design - Meshify C Dark TG ATX Mid Tower Case  ($96.78 @ Walmart) 
Power Supply: EVGA - 650W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($69.99 @ Amazon) 
Operating System: Microsoft - Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit  ($98.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Case Fan: Corsair - ML140 Pro 97.0 CFM  140mm Fan  ($25.89 @ OutletPC) 
Case Fan: Corsair - ML140 Pro 97.0 CFM  140mm Fan  ($25.89 @ OutletPC) 
Monitor: Acer - XG270HU 27.0" 2560x1440 144Hz Monitor  ($344.88 @ OutletPC) 
Keyboard: Corsair - STRAFE RGB Wired Gaming Keyboard  ($89.99 @ Amazon) 
Mouse: Corsair - M65 PRO RGB FPS Wired Optical Mouse  ($45.88 @ OutletPC) 
Total: $2085.61
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-08-30 12:41 EDT-0400

 

there are cheaper 1080s that will get the job done, dont get 2 sata ssds,

the noctua looks ugly AF so get a AIO

G-sync doesnt really matter imo but your choice.

 

go push pull on the h115i with the ml140s.

[NoctusT]

1 minute ago, Origami Cactus said:

Yeah i also dont agree on using aio's, because decent aircoolers perform the same(and noctua is more than decent), and aircoolers have less points of failure.

Also there is nothing wrong with 2x ssds if you have a use case for them.

Also amd freesync monitors tend to be cheaper, so choose either (vega 64 + freesync) or (gtx 1080 + gysnc) they perform the same, so choose the cheaper out of the 2 options.

 

Are Vega's worse than 1080's? The reason I picked 1080 is because all of my friends use Nvidia cards so I don't know anything about Vega graphics cards. 

[Origami Cactus]

Just now, NoctusT said:

Are Vega's worse than 1080's? The reason I picked 1080 is because all of my friends use Nvidia cards so I don't know anything about Vega graphics cards. 

Vega 64 = gtx 1080.

One is better in some games, the other in others. They are basically the same performance.

The problem with vega cards is the availability, they cant be had for a normal price thanks to very limited supply.

[Herman Mcpootis]

if you're just gaming, an i7 8700 would be a better choice over the 2700x. no point getting 2 seperate SSDs, just get a single SSD and make a boot partition if you must. 

[NoctusT]

2 minutes ago, Firewrath9 said:

PCPartPicker part list: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/fzLRw6
Price breakdown by merchant: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/fzLRw6/by_merchant/

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 7 2700X 3.7GHz 8-Core Processor  ($319.99 @ Amazon) 
CPU Cooler: Corsair - H115i 104.7 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler  ($99.99 @ Amazon) 
Thermal Compound: ARCTIC - MX4 4g Thermal Paste  ($3.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Motherboard: Gigabyte - X470 AORUS ULTRA GAMING ATX AM4 Motherboard  ($128.99 @ Amazon) 
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3200 Memory  ($144.99 @ Newegg) 
Storage: Samsung - 970 Evo 250GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive  ($99.99 @ Amazon) 
Storage: Seagate - Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($59.39 @ OutletPC) 
Video Card: Gigabyte - GeForce GTX 1080 8GB D5X Video Card  ($429.99 @ Newegg) 
Case: Fractal Design - Meshify C Dark TG ATX Mid Tower Case  ($96.78 @ Walmart) 
Power Supply: EVGA - 650W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($69.99 @ Amazon) 
Operating System: Microsoft - Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit  ($98.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Case Fan: Corsair - ML140 Pro 97.0 CFM  140mm Fan  ($25.89 @ OutletPC) 
Case Fan: Corsair - ML140 Pro 97.0 CFM  140mm Fan  ($25.89 @ OutletPC) 
Monitor: Acer - XG270HU 27.0" 2560x1440 144Hz Monitor  ($344.88 @ OutletPC) 
Keyboard: Corsair - STRAFE RGB Wired Gaming Keyboard  ($89.99 @ Amazon) 
Mouse: Corsair - M65 PRO RGB FPS Wired Optical Mouse  ($45.88 @ OutletPC) 
Total: $2085.61
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-08-30 12:41 EDT-0400

 

there are cheaper 1080s that will get the job done, dont get 2 sata ssds,

the noctua looks ugly AF so get a AIO

G-sync doesnt really matter imo but your choice.

 

go push pull on the h115i with the ml140s.

Thanks for the edit!! Sorry what's push-pull? 

[NoctusT]

1 minute ago, Herman Mcpootis said:

if you're just gaming, an i7 8700 would be a better choice over the 2700x. no point getting 2 seperate SSDs, just get a single SSD and make a boot partition if you must. 

Sorry what's a boot partition? (as you can guess I know nothing at all about PCs) 

[Brooksie359]

3 minutes ago, NoctusT said:

Ty for the advice. So thing is that I was ok paying an additional $300 for a new 1440p monitor but just not sure about whether or not g sync is worth a $670 monitor. Do you use gsync? 

I own a gsync monitor and use it when playing games that have frame dips but otherwise not really. The main benefit of gsync is at lower fps so the higher the do a you get the less it matters. Also it is probably important to note that you can only take advantage of gsync when your fps is lower than your refresh rate. So if you have a 60hz monitor and you get over 60 fps in all the games you play then gsync is essentially useless unless you cap your fps in game which is kinda a weird imo. 

[Firewrath9]

Just now, NoctusT said:

Thanks for the edit!! Sorry what's push-pull? 

when you have a pair of fans pushing air through the radiator and when you have 2 pulling air through the radiator. It makes the radiator perform better as there is more airflow too cool the liquid in the radiator.

some NCIX tech tips vid

 

[Origami Cactus]

1 minute ago, NoctusT said:

Thanks for the edit!! Sorry what's push-pull? 

Fans on both side of the water cooler radiator, to get a little better performance.

But as i said i prefer aircoolers, becuase they dont stop working in 5 years.

 

[NoctusT]

1 minute ago, Brooksie359 said:

I own a gsync monitor and use it when playing games that have frame dips but otherwise not really. The main benefit of gsync is at lower fps so the higher the do a you get the less it matters. Also it is probably important to note that you can only take advantage of gsync when your fps is lower than your refresh rate. So if you have a 60hz monitor and you get over 60 fps in all the games you play then gsync is essentially useless unless you cap your fps in game which is kinda a weird imo. 

Ohh see I had no idea about any of this since most places I've look at either told me "ksngsngsfg GSYNC IS AMAZING AOFUAOFH AF" or "nah not needed" without explaining why @_@. Ok yeah I'm not gonna get a gsync monitor then. Cheers! 

[Brooksie359]

1 minute ago, Origami Cactus said:

Fans on both side of the water cooler radiator, to get a little better performance.

But as i said i prefer aircoolers, becuase they dont stop working in 5 years.

 

For an air cooler the only thing that would realistically break is a fan which is 100% replaceable and are fairly cheap. A AIO pump failure means you have a dead AIO and have to buy an entirely new cooler. 

[Herman Mcpootis]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i7-8700 3.2GHz 6-Core Processor  ($309.99 @ Amazon) 
CPU Cooler: RAIJINTEK - AIDOS BLACK 48.6 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler  ($18.89 @ SuperBiiz) 
Motherboard: MSI - B360-A PRO ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($69.99 @ B&H) 
Memory: G.Skill - Aegis 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2800 Memory  ($126.99 @ Newegg) 
Storage: Samsung - 860 Evo 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($99.99 @ Amazon) 
Storage: Toshiba - Product Series:DT01ACA 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($51.99 @ Amazon) 
Video Card: Gigabyte - GeForce GTX 1080 8GB D5X Video Card  ($429.99 @ Newegg) 
Case: Fractal Design - Meshify C TG ATX Mid Tower Case  ($88.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Power Supply: Corsair - TXM Gold 650W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($54.98 @ Newegg) 
Operating System: Microsoft - Windows 10 Home Full - USB 32/64-bit  ($102.89 @ OutletPC) 
Case Fan: ARCTIC - Arctic F12 74.0 CFM  120mm Fan  ($5.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Case Fan: ARCTIC - Arctic F12 74.0 CFM  120mm Fan  ($5.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Monitor: Dell - S2716DG 27.0" 2560x1440 144Hz Monitor  ($444.99 @ Amazon) 
Keyboard: Corsair - K66 Wired Gaming Keyboard  ($49.99 @ Corsair) 
Mouse: Redragon - Centrophorus M601 Wired Optical Mouse  ($11.99 @ Amazon) 
Other: FFXIV: Complete Edition [PC Download] ($29.99)
Total: $1903.63
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-08-30 12:51 EDT-0400

[xriqn]

14 minutes ago, NoctusT said:

oh are two SATA suds bad? 

For the load time difference you get with m.2 compared to sata I really don't think it's worth going m.2 unless you're impatient and can't wait like 30 seconds for windows to boot, stuff to load, etc.

[NoctusT]

5 minutes ago, Firewrath9 said:

when you have a pair of fans pushing air through the radiator and when you have 2 pulling air through the radiator. It makes the radiator perform better as there is more airflow too cool the liquid in the radiator.

some NCIX tech tips vid

I had no idea about any of this, TY!

 

[NoctusT]

1 minute ago, xriqn said:

For the load time difference you get with m.2 compared to sata I really don't think it's worth going m.2 unless you're impatient and can't wait like 30 seconds for windows to boot, stuff to load, etc.

Sorry but I have no idea what that is. M2 is faster than SATA? or is it the other way around? I was gonna grab an 500GB 860 EVO and I removed the 250 GB evo and added in a 3 TB HDD instead of my 2 TB one. 

[Brooksie359]

1 minute ago, NoctusT said:

Ohh see I had no idea about any of this since most places I've look at either told me "ksngsngsfg GSYNC IS AMAZING AOFUAOFH AF" or "nah not needed" without explaining why @_@. Ok yeah I'm not gonna get a gsync monitor then. Cheers! 

No problem. Gsync is a great technology but it is only useful in certain scenarios.

[NoctusT]

16 minutes ago, Herman Mcpootis said:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-08-30 12:51 EDT-0400

Thanks very much! I actually edited my build with some of your parts, and saved your build so I can decide what to go with when  Start building next month. 

[Origami Cactus]

18 minutes ago, Brooksie359 said:

For an air cooler the only thing that would realistically break is a fan which is 100% replaceable and are fairly cheap. A AIO pump failure means you have a dead AIO and have to buy an entirely new cooler. 

Not even talking about the leaks...

They can kill every component.

[Herman Mcpootis]

21 minutes ago, NoctusT said:

Thanks very much! I actually edited my build with some of your parts, and saved your build so I can decide what to go with when  Start building next month. 

don't bother with an 8700k if you're not overclocking, stick with the locked i7.