Need Help with Deciding gaming PC parts

[DrunkCossack]

I am looking to get a top Gaming PC atleast around $1k-$1.2k

I am also hearing that AMD isnt the greatest. Intel and Nvidia are my choices as I use to have Nvidia and Intel parts before.

[AOD_DukeCLR]

Do already have the peripherals or any parts?

[Rev_Vertias]

If I had the money I'd have gone with NVIDIA's flagship GPU, the GeForce GTX 1080. I'd also say to go with an Intel i7 octacore processor, but that will run you about your entire budget just for a 3.0 Ghz CPU alone, so you could choose a slower core speed or go with a 3.5Ghz quad core CPU for cheaper.

[AOD_Blackb4ss]

The GTX 1080 is very expensive. I wouldn't bother that card unless you plan on running 4k graphics. A 1060 or 1070 should be good.

[Hymn]

what games do you want to play,
how long do you want it to last before you upgrade or get a new machine.

[ZED]

The GTX 1080 is very expensive. I wouldn't bother that card unless you plan on running 4k graphics. A 1060 or 1070 should be good.

I have GTX 1070 and I kinda sometimes want to order GTX 1080 Ti but knowing that Volta is around the corner and could be out by the end of 2017 stops me from ordering one. That Oculus Rift is hungry for performance and many games won't run 144 FPS stable at 1080p.

[Seahagz]

This is my gaming rig and for 1.5k its a great deal for super fast gaming. Asus Strix 1070 GTX full sized GPU https://www.amazon.com/G-SYNC-Gaming...01MY1ZCM5?th=1 you can find it cheaper if you wait for a sale. I love it.

[Seahagz]

I have GTX 1070 and I kinda sometimes want to order GTX 1080 Ti but knowing that Volta is around the corner and could be out by the end of 2017 stops me from ordering one. That Oculus Rift is hungry for performance and many games won't run 144 FPS stable at 1080p.

Sorry wrong link :) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06WRT9Y5L?th=1 can't edit my post past 5 min :)

[AshxAffliction]

There are a lot of things to consider when looking at building a gaming PC. What games do you play and what settings/resolution would you like to play them at? What form factor would you like for the case? Do you plan on doing any sort of content creation/streaming, or is this strictly for gaming? Do you prefer air cooling or an AIO liquid cooler? Do you plan on overclocking the CPU at all, or do you at least want to option to do so? Do you want a window on your case, and if so do you care if your parts have matching colors? If so, what color scheme would you like? Do you need Wi-Fi/Powerline or is a wired connection sufficient? Do you need any additional storage or will you be salvaging the drives from your old build?

[AshxAffliction]

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/hV6dZ8 Here's a part list I tossed together real quick. It has a black/red color scheme with just a little bit of LED lighting. It's a little bit over your budget, but I didn't strictly worry about it since it's more of a mock-up. If you plan on using it strictly for gaming at 1080p, this is about the best you can get right now. A better graphics card would be a waste, as a I don't know of a single game that the 1070 isn't capable of maxing at 1080p. Something like the Ryzen 7 1700 would be a much better value if you plan on streaming or anything, but the 7700K provides slightly better performance in games due to the higher clock speed. The CPU cooler is pretty beefy and capable of providing a moderately good overclock if you're inclined. 16GB of RAM is plenty for gaming, but two slots on the motherboard are open if you ever need to upgrade it.

This build doesn't include an OS, any peripherals, or any storage, as I don't know if you already have these or if you'll need something new. A non-OEM Windows key can be reused after deactivating it on the computer it's currently on. It's also fairly common for storage to be transferred from the previous computer into the new one.

[KaosC57]

So, the rumor mill is churning up again and someone on the internet found from Nvidia something about a 1070 Ti. And, it looks like from a proposed possible Specs (Which are usually correct) that it's gonna be a 1080 with some CUDA cores disabled. Making it the best 400 USD range GPU on the market. If you are willing to wait a few months and see if this is a true rumor, then you could probably see a price drop in the 1070 and get one for 400 - 350 USD. If it's not, then here's what i'd build and why.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 7 1700 3.0GHz 8-Core Processor ($289.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock - AB350 Pro4 ATX AM4 Motherboard ($87.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Team - Vulcan 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($122.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: SanDisk - SSD PLUS 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($84.99 @ B&H)
Storage: Western Digital - Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($45.69 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Asus - GeForce GTX 1070 8GB Dual Series Video Card ($429.89 @ Amazon)
Case: Phanteks - ECLIPSE P400 ATX Mid Tower Case ($59.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: EVGA - SuperNOVA G3 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($97.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Operating System: Microsoft - Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit ($92.99 @ B&H)
Total: $1312.41
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-09-27 10:21 EDT-0400

Reasoning for the parts:

CPU: I don't care what people say about the 7700k being the absolute Be-All-End-All for Gaming CPU's. That's a load of boosh. My roommate and I just built an R7 1700 system that trades blows and even beats my dad's 6700k system. And the 7700k is just an overclocked 6700k. The Ryzen 7 1700 will be a much longer lived CPU with the 8000 series of Coffeelake CPU's coming out soon (October 8th or so is when Review Embargo lifts on that line). Additionally, even when Overclocking is put into play, the AMD Wraith cooler runs just fine with the R7 1700 and keeps it's thermals in check just fine. I had originally thought you could put a Corsair H110i into the system and get away with the 1.2k USD price point. Sadly not...

RAM: While I would have like to fit a 16 GB 3000 speed kit into this build, it just wasn't economical. My roommate currently runs at DDR4 stock speeds and his PC does just fine in all of the games we play. Both AAA and Indie.

Motherboard: This was a no-brainer. The cheapest ATX B350 Motherboard is perfectly fine. I'm even considering this board for when I upgrade because of it's white accenting!

Storage: I've used a couple of Sandisk SSD's in my PC building time, and they work perfectly fine compared to my current Samsung 850 Evo. And a 1TB Storage HDD is perfectly fine for a moderate Steam Library.

GPU: This is probably the most divisive part in this system. I could have gone with a 1080, but I don't think it would be worth it in a system like this. The 1070 performs great with the R7 1700, and kicks ass in 1080p gaming. Enough said, this isn't the absolute cheapest 1070, but it's one of the better ones before getting too ridiculously expensive.

Case: I was actually trying to find the brand new Phanteks P300 case which retails for the same 60 USD as this Non-Tempered Glass P400, but I think the P400 is a better overall case.

PSU: You could go slightly cheaper with the G2 Supernova 650w, but the G3 makes cable management easier due to it's smaller nature. It's a smaller PSU that doesn't compromise on efficiency and power delivery. And 650w is plenty of juice for even Overclocking with Ryzen and the 1070.

[ZED]

CPU: I don't care what people say about the 7700k being the absolute Be-All-End-All for Gaming CPU's. That's a load of boosh.

It's not. i7 7700k is still the fastest CPU for gaming because games still prefer Single Core performance over Multi-Core performance. i7 7700k in every single benchmark will show that it is roughly 30% faster in any game at 1080p. 1700 comes closer with a smaller gap on higher resolutions like 1440p and much closer at 4k. I have nothing against AMD as I used to have AMD back in the days 2000 - 2006 when AMD was faster than Intel in gaming. AMD still has to catch up to bring back that reputation. Until then, Intel keeps dominating in gaming.

[AshxAffliction]

I don't agree with AOD_KaosC57 about the 7700K barely being better for gaming and I don't know about the Wraith Cooler (unless you aren't overclocking, in which case it's fine), but I agree with everything else and it's a pretty good parts list, especially if you're doing any streaming or editing.

[Solidus23]

If gaming is your sole purpose then stick with the i7 7700k or whatever the lastest i7 is when you go to purchase. Games are still more core clock dependent and not many games actually utilize over 4 cores yet. Spend the bulk of your money on a good GPU, especially if wanting to play at higher resolution and/or framerates. Then I would get at least 8GB of RAM. Everything thing else in negligible, just go with parts from brands you feel comfortable with and have solid reviews. Lastly, have fun!

[AshxAffliction]

If gaming is your sole purpose then stick with the i7 7700k or whatever the lastest i7 is when you go to purchase. Games are still more core clock dependent and not many games actually utilize over 4 cores yet. Spend the bulk of your money on a good GPU, especially if wanting to play at higher resolution and/or framerates. Then I would get at least 8GB of RAM. Everything thing else in negligible, just go with parts from brands you feel comfortable with and have solid reviews. Lastly, have fun!

The motherboard isn't negligible unless he doesn't want to overclock. A Z270 motherboard is needed to overclock Kaby Lake CPUs, or I think some Z170 boards with an updated BIOS. A good cooler is also needed if you'll be overclocking, but you can mostly judge how good a cooler is by how large it is. That isn't strictly true, cooling performance is decided more by surface area, but these are designed by actual engineers that know what they're doing. A larger cooler than what's necessary also means you'll be able to keep it just as cool at a lower fan speed, making the computer quieter as long as the GPU fans aren't what's making it loud. For example, my i5 6500 is cooled by a CoolerMaster TX3. I don't know what speed the fan runs at (I'm not using a custom curve) but it's always quieter than my GPU with a blower-style cooler and I've never seen it go above about 45 degrees Celsius, although it might when I stream and the CPU is pretty much pinned at 100% usage.

You also really shouldn't get a bad power supply, since some can die and take out other parts with it, and some can even kill or damage other parts without dying itself through a process known as voltage ripple. Determining how good a power supply is, but there are websites made by more educated individuals (such as jonnyguru.com) that can tell you how good a power supply is. It's not just about wattage and the 80+ rating. Most brands have some fairly good power supplies and some fairly bad ones. SeaSonic is the only brand I know of that makes good power supplies pretty much exclusively; I've never heard of a bad SeaSonic power supply.

Also, I find that 8GB of RAM is finally starting to be a limiting factor in some games. GTA V, Batman: Arkham Knight, Battlefield 1, and I think Dying Light all had some performance issues (i.e. stuttering) that have been fixed since I upgraded to 16GB. It's probably because I like to play games on max settings, but if you're building a computer over $1k then you probably do too, and it's something to consider.

[MightyDWC]

I just stuck a EVGA 1080Ti SW2 Hybrid 11gb ($875)on a 6 year old Asus X79 Sabertooth mobo rocking an i73930K with 16gigs of ram. The diffrence is night and day versus my 970. I want to upgrade my mobo and cpu, but went first with a GPU I knew would carry me for a bit until I could drop the funds on a new mobo/cpu. This 3930k cost me 450 6 years ago, and OC'ed to 4.2 on air, it still rocks, even if it's old. Here's a link to see the benmarks for the 7700k vs my 3930.
http://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare...30K/3647vs1487

[ZED]

Also, I find that 8GB of RAM is finally starting to be a limiting factor in some games. GTA V, Batman: Arkham Knight, Battlefield 1, and I think Dying Light all had some performance issues (i.e. stuttering) that have been fixed since I upgraded to 16GB. It's probably because I like to play games on max settings, but if you're building a computer over $1k then you probably do too, and it's something to consider.

That's because those games use more than 8GB of RAM. Even if the game is using 6 GB of RAM it still can cause stuttering because you should also count Windows RAM usage, which roughly is usually around 2 GB. So, stuttering is cause once the system runs out of RAM. 8GB, IMHO is no longer enough these days.

When I run GTA 5, my system is using 10 GB of RAM + 2 GB of RAM are being utilized by Windows.