Overclock.net banner

Build Advice: $1000 PC build for roommate

474 views 12 replies 4 participants last post by  chessmyantidrug 
#1 ·
He was considering going pre-built
puke.gif
without telling me but now that I've found out, I'll be assembling him a system for his bday/xmas. That said, the last system I built was in April.. stuff's changed since then and I haven't been keeping up.

So yeah suggestions within these parameters please:
1) It'll be tower only and he already has a 250gb 850 evo and 3TB HDD from his old system so no need for those.
2) He has a 500W Seasonic ss-500es that's been going strong for a couple years... not sure if that's good enough to use for this build?
3) Probably going to reserve $100 for the case.
4) He'll be on a 1080p monitor and doesn't really have plans to get a higher res. Don't think that should detract from getting the best video card possible within the budget though.

Please make suggestions via pcpartpicker.com as that'll make things easier to keep track of. Truth be told, I'll probably use the same motherboard/cpu/memory for a new build for myself and moving my current rig into the secondary gaming system.

Thanks in advance, guys!
thumb.gif
 
See less See more
2
#2 ·
I personally wouldn't carry over the PSU because it's out of warranty. If your friend can bump his budget a smidgen, he can fit in a GTX 1070. If he can't, then a GTX 1060 6GB is the next-best option.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i5-8400 2.8GHz 6-Core Processor ($199.89 @ B&H)
CPU Cooler: Noctua - NH-D15S 82.5 CFM CPU Cooler ($79.90 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock - Fatal1ty Z370 Gaming K6 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($161.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($148.55 @ Newegg Marketplace)
Video Card: MSI - GeForce GTX 1070 8GB Video Card ($429.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Phanteks - Enthoo Pro M Tempered Glass ATX Mid Tower Case ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA - SuperNOVA G2 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($63.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $1164.28
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-10-30 17:49 EDT-0400

I included the NH-D15S in case your friend wants to get an i7-8700K in a few years. You can select a more budget-oriented option or even opt for the stock cooler to save a little money and just get an aftermarket cooler if/when he wants an unlocked processor.
 
  • Rep+
Reactions: killa_concept
#3 ·
  • Rep+
Reactions: killa_concept
#4 ·
I made rather hasty selections. Case is going to be preference, though that's probably the case I would pick if I were in the market for one today.
 
#5 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by chessmyantidrug View Post

. . . Case is going to be preference, though that's probably the case I would pick if I were in the market for one today.
Looks like a solid case and I'll be sure to show it to him. I just decided to earmark $100 of his budget for the case just because it's such a subjective part of the build. Not everyone's tastes match up, but I'd side with you on that being something I'd go for.
Quote:
Originally Posted by chessmyantidrug View Post

I made rather hasty selections. . .
Okay so like I said, I've been away from the scene for quite awhile and haven't done any research prior to posting this thread... What's the main draw of the i5-8400? Assuming that the difference between the non-K and K CPUs are still the same as in previous generations, it's not overclockable? If so, then what's the point in spending $162 in the motherboard? or $80 in the cooler? 65 TDP @ stock doesn't seem like much and a CRYORIG H7 is only $35? (oops didn't see your point about upgrading later... Shouldn't a build be with the idea of "good enough for awhile" rather than intentional placeholders?)

Not bashing, just curious as I seriously haven't been keeping up with PC tech at all...

Also, dang - something happen to cause the DDR4 to suddenly get so expensive? Swear the 2x8GB DDR4-3000 I used for my friend's build earlier this year was only $100..
Quote:
Originally Posted by shilka View Post

You can get a Seasonic Focus Plus Gold 550 watt for a little less on newegg and its a better PSU
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151189&cm_re=Seasonic_Focus_Plus-_-17-151-189-_-Product

As for the Phanteks Pro M it only comes with a single 140mm fan in the back so at least one more 140mm fan should be ordered
Yeah, think his current PSU is a little dated as well. Good enough for a backup rig, but definitely shouldn't carry it over. Was just going over his (quite old) PC and trying to figure out what can be reused. Realistically, it's just his storage which was purchased earlier this year.

I'd trust Seasonic over EVGA any day...
 
#7 ·
The i5-8400 is the best bang-for-buck gaming CPU on the market at the moment. The i3-8350K isn't a bad value either, but I'd rather have the extra cores from the i5-8400. I wouldn't consider an i7-8700K for $400, especially when it's not that much better than the i5-8400 in gaming. Spending under $200 on the CPU makes it easier to afford a GTX 1070, though I can understand if he doesn't want to reach that far out of his budget. As for the motherboard selection, the only chipset available for Coffee Lake CPUs at the moment is Z370. I figure I could have gone one of two ways with the motherboard: something incredibly cheap with just enough features to get by, or something that will be a good overclocking motherboard should your friend want to get an unlocked processor down the road. If H370 boards were available, I would definitely select one of those.

After thinking about it, I think it makes the most sense for him to pickup an aftermarket cooler if/when he decides to get an unlocked processor. A budget cooler is probably enough for an i5-8600K, but I would want a more high-end cooler for the i7-8700K because of the extra heat hyper-threading will create. That's something to worry about when the times comes.

DDR4 prices have risen due in large part to supply not keeping up with demand. Demand rose dramatically leading up to Ryzen. Prices won't come back down until supply catches up with demand. I'm a little upset I didn't buy myself a 16GB Mushkin kit a year ago when prices were do damn attractive. I don't like the looks of heat spreaders on G. Skill kits and don't like the price of HyperX kits.
 
  • Rep+
Reactions: killa_concept
#8 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by chessmyantidrug View Post

The i5-8400 is the best bang-for-buck gaming CPU on the market at the moment. The i3-8350K isn't a bad value either, but I'd rather have the extra cores from the i5-8400. I wouldn't consider an i7-8700K for $400, especially when it's not that much better than the i5-8400 in gaming. Spending under $200 on the CPU makes it easier to afford a GTX 1070, though I can understand if he doesn't want to reach that far out of his budget. As for the motherboard selection, the only chipset available for Coffee Lake CPUs at the moment is Z370. I figure I could have gone one of two ways with the motherboard: something incredibly cheap with just enough features to get by, or something that will be a good overclocking motherboard should your friend want to get an unlocked processor down the road. If H370 boards were available, I would definitely select one of those.

After thinking about it, I think it makes the most sense for him to pickup an aftermarket cooler if/when he decides to get an unlocked processor. A budget cooler is probably enough for an i5-8600K, but I would want a more high-end cooler for the i7-8700K because of the extra heat hyper-threading will create. That's something to worry about when the times comes.

DDR4 prices have risen due in large part to supply not keeping up with demand. Demand rose dramatically leading up to Ryzen. Prices won't come back down until supply catches up with demand. I'm a little upset I didn't buy myself a 16GB Mushkin kit a year ago when prices were do damn attractive. I don't like the looks of heat spreaders on G. Skill kits and don't like the price of HyperX kits.
Yeah it's just unfortunate that the best bang-for-buck is also the option that doesn't OC.. The moment Intel started doing the K and non-K versions, I just knew that was the direction they were taking things. i3-8350K is quad core, yeah? And about on par with the 7600k from the previous gen? So that's the best OC'able, sub-$200 quad-core pick now... **edit** nvm - 8350Ks are out of stock everywhere, or selling for $250 when Intel suggests they be priced at $168 and below the 8400 ($182).

The i5-8400 is about the same price point, 6-core, but not OC-able? Hence best bang-for-buck? 8600k seems like it should be the winner at the $257 price point that Intel said, but it's nowhere to be found and places are listing it closer to $300 on back-order. So was Coffee Lake just a blatant paper launch to show AMD's Ryzen up?
confused.gif


Honestly it just seems like a bad time to build a system from what I'm hearing... Cannonlake got pushed back to 2018, Coffee Lake got a paper launch to block AMD from gaining too much market share, 8600K's aren't available, and DDR4 prices are ridiculous..
 
#9 ·
Coffee Lake was pushed to market several months ahead of schedule. Ryzen has forced Intel to release Skylake-X, Kaby Lake-X, and Coffee Lake-S sooner than anticipated.

The i5-8600K can probably overclock to 4.9+ GHz, but an i5-8400 can run 3.8 GHz on all six cores and performs rather closely to unlocked processors. For 1080p gaming, price-to-performance ratio is more important. Also, just because a processor is locked does not mean it's bad.

Overall, now is not a great time to build a new system because of inventory issues. RAM is in stock, but low inventory has driven prices sky high. Video cards are still priced a little too high, but prices are closer to where they should be compared to a month or two ago.

Another option is going Ryzen. Gaming performance will be a little worse than an Intel setup, but Ryzen does have better multi-threaded performance. If he can wait a few more months, Coffee Lake CPUs should be more attractively priced.

Cannonlake desktop processors were never scheduled to release this year, at least not to my knowledge. I don't remember what the roadmap looked like a few years ago.
 
#10 ·
Ah I was going off of the Wikipedia article on Cannonlake: "Cannonlake was initially expected to be released in 2016, but the release was pushed back to 2018."
But I guess the delay was established way back in 2015 and the roadmap has been what it is since.

As it stands, I don't think Ryzen is the best choice for him... he doesn't do video editing, 3D rendering or anything else intensive that would justify the sacrifice in gaming performance for improved multi-threading in those tasks. Looks like the choice is to either go for a 8400 now or wait on the 8600K production to properly ramp up and catch up with demand? He'll probably want to keep the same setup without changing out any parts for a couple years, so the $80 difference (msrp) seems like it would be worth it for the added performance and OCability later down the line.

Are people mostly going for the 8400 or waiting on the 8600K / 8700K because 6 cores are finally getting proper utilization in games? This benching comparison between the 7800x and 7700k from earlier this year seemed to show the quad outperforming the hexa in most games?
confused.gif


More suggestions would be appreciated guys!
 
#11 ·
Personally, I'm waiting for Z390. If I were to choose a CPU today, it would be an i7-8700K because I don't want to give up cores or threads. I previously upgrading from X58 and i7-930 to Z97 and i7-4790K, but the performance difference simply didn't make the money worth it. Then I found out I could install a X5670 and I've been using it for almost three years. My system shows its age from time to time, but it's never so unbearable that I hastily order something from Newegg. By the time Z390 comes around, Coffee Lake supply issues should be addressed. It looks like Zen 2 won't hit the market until 2H 2018 so there's little point in me waiting that much longer if Coffee Lake is the upgrade for which I have been waiting, and it appears to be. If there's rumblings about Intel bringing even more cores to mainstream, I might wait a little while longer. I doubt it, though.

Your friend's situation is entirely different from mine. Budget is his limiting factor and the i5-8400 best fits the budget. If I had to choose between the i5-8400 and GTX 1070 or i5-8600K and GTX 1060 6GB, I'm taking the former. Being able to overclock is nice and all, but locked processors are good enough to get the job done. Games still like more powerful graphics processing potential, even if a handful of games actually take advantage of more cores and threads. Here is a video comparing the i5-8400 to the i5-8600K and i7-8700K both overclocked to 5.0 GHz. The i5-8400 trails the i5-8600K by about 21% in the worst results and the unlocked i5 is about 40% more expensive at the moment. Math says the locked CPU is the better value. I guess you can let your friend make the decision for himself.
 
#12 ·
He did say he was willing to go up to $1500 if it meant a large difference in performance or more longevity in the system,so I feel like a 1070 and 8600k would be doable. Probably even better if I wait for production on Coffee lake to catch up to demand, maybe cut a few corners on other components, and wait for DDR4 prices to drop?

Any further opinions?
 
#13 ·
Performance difference between the i5-8400 and i5-8600K overclocked to 5.0 GHz was about 21% in CPU-bound titles and negligible in GPU-bound titles. For longevity sake, I think it's worth the extra $80 and aftermarket cooler. As for the GTX 1070, I can't be as sure. It looks like Volta might be a huge step forward. If he decides to move from Pascal to Volta, he shouldn't have a hard time finding someone willing to buy a GTX 1070. Gaming at 1080p, he wouldn't have a reason to adopt Volta.

Waiting for DDR4 prices to drop probably isn't worth it. Prices rose because more platforms require it. As long as there's a shortage on RAM prices will remain high. When they eventually settle down, I don't expect them to get as low as they were a year ago. Then again, I'm not an economist.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top