Help building a $2,000 or less gaming pc

Hello I have been wanting to build a pc since 2013 but didnt have the funds to build one. I need help picking out parts for my gaming rig. I live in NA(usd) more specifically Arkansas. I’m really going to be using this pc for gaming,media, and college work. I honestly do not have any peripherals and would like help finding a monitor 1440p mostly for video content and gaming. I already have choosen a mouse and keyboard. ( g810,g903)

I want this pc to be able to play the latest games that are out or are coming out as I haven’t played anything since 2013. I’ve been waiting a long time to build this and I hope it’ll be able to play fps. I want to play pubg, overwatch, bf1,bf3,bf4,mgs5, gta5, and many more . If i had only one it would be Bf1.

So roughly 1400 for your tower and what say 500 for your monitor? With 100 dollars for keyboard/mouse?

1400 bucks is going to get you a long ways in to awesome pc land. :smiley:

I wanted 2,000 or less for the tower. I think 17 to 15 hundred for the system. Peripherals are extra I think.

https://pcpartpicker.com/user/kghbv889/saved/DcPLD3

I went over but you could tweak this a bit to get under 2k. The linked build leaves room for a near-future ram expansion. I would start by shaving off cost at the case. However, I really enjoy all things Fractal Design and can’t recommend them enough. MSI has also done me right. I Love my EVGA PSU.

I also did this in a big hurry. Not a fan of case windows or LED’s … woops!

Did you use the wrong link? I’d appreciate a second look when you’re not so busy. :slight_smile:

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Woops! Corrected. Works for you now? Also: weird … when I was making the list it said 2100 and now says much less.

It appears the GPU price disappeared.

Wow, that is odd. Okay, corrected. I downgraded it to a 1080 from the ‘Ti’. I would prefer you go with the Ti though and save costs elsewhere. Trying to find something in Star Citizen right now. I will look again later. :smiley:

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/FbkcZ8

I took @dot404’s list and swapped some things.

  • Better cooler (although Ryzen doesn’t really need it)
  • Cheaper and faster SSD (add a mechanical drive for bulk storage if you want)
  • Good bang-for-the-buck case
  • Great PSU for a very reasonable price.
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At that point of budget I would put it back up to the 1080 Ti :stuck_out_tongue:

"or less"
You may be pleasantly surprised what you can get in the 1000 and 1500 hundred dollar range also.

I’m open to anything and I’d be glad to see something that in that price range. I Honestly just want a gaming rig.

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https://pcpartpicker.com/list/x6WGm8

What I would consider to be one step below the one I linked before.

It will still be more than adequate for 1440p, since an overclocked 1070 Ti will perform about on par with a stock 1080.

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2560x1440p/144Hz/IPS gaming. I have two 140mm fans for the front intake, and the front 120mm that the case comes with would go in the top as an exhaust.

This monitor has FreeSync and you could get away with a RX 580 in this build. The GTX 1080 will be much better though.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 1600 3.2GHz 6-Core Processor ($196.97 @ OutletPC)
CPU Cooler: CRYORIG - H5 Ultimate 76.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($46.88 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: MSI - X370 SLI PLUS ATX AM4 Motherboard ($91.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($193.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung - 850 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($139.99 @ Best Buy)
Video Card: Zotac - GeForce GTX 1080 8GB Mini Video Card ($549.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Fractal Design - Meshify C ATX Mid Tower Case ($86.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: SeaSonic - EVO Edition 620W 80+ Bronze Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Case Fan: be quiet! - Pure Wings 2 140 61.2 CFM 140mm Fan ($9.79 @ SuperBiiz)
Case Fan: be quiet! - Pure Wings 2 140 61.2 CFM 140mm Fan ($9.79 @ SuperBiiz)
Monitor: Pixio - PX277-N 27.0" 2560x1440 144Hz Monitor ($399.99 @ Newegg Marketplace)
Total: $1786.35
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-01-07 19:22 EST-0500

1920x1080/FreeSync (43Hz-75Hz)/IPS:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 1600 3.2GHz 6-Core Processor ($196.97 @ OutletPC)
CPU Cooler: CRYORIG - H5 Ultimate 76.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($46.88 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: MSI - X370 SLI PLUS ATX AM4 Motherboard ($91.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($193.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung - 850 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($139.99 @ Best Buy)
Video Card: Asus - Radeon RX 580 8GB DUAL Video Card ($349.89 @ B&H)
Case: Fractal Design - Meshify C ATX Mid Tower Case ($86.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: SeaSonic - EVO Edition 620W 80+ Bronze Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Case Fan: be quiet! - Pure Wings 2 140 61.2 CFM 140mm Fan ($9.79 @ SuperBiiz)
Case Fan: be quiet! - Pure Wings 2 140 61.2 CFM 140mm Fan ($9.79 @ SuperBiiz)
Monitor: LG - 24MP59G-P 23.8" 1920x1080 75Hz Monitor ($165.09 @ Amazon)
Total: $1351.35
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-01-07 19:14 EST-0500

Since Zen refresh is coming would it be best to wait?

Is there a reason for sticking to zen?

I’ve sat here for an hour I hope you like what I’ve come up with. Should do you great, its something that I would build minus the 1060 (I’d buy another 580 since I already have one).

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/gWmqLD

I tried to go as high as I could with firepower and not break your limit. Even threw in a 10000 RPM 1TB drive. Should do great.

Its cheap and powerful. Outperforms the Intel chips in a lot of areas and you get more cores for not-1000+ dollars.

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Since the primary use case is gaming, the price-to-performance of a $200 6 core/12thread Zen CPU keeps the cost low.

That 2560x1440/144Hz/IPS monitor for $400… that is a good deal. You should really consider trying to grab one up.

There is nothing wrong with going Intel. Note that this is straight 6-core with no virtual threads. You can drop down to a GTX 1070, or 1070Ti to save a few bucks:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i5-8600K 3.6GHz 6-Core Processor ($265.00 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: CRYORIG - H5 Ultimate 76.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($46.88 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte - Z370 AORUS GAMING WIFI (rev. 1.0) ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($100.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($189.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung - 850 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($139.99 @ B&H)
Video Card: EVGA - GeForce GTX 1080 8GB SC2 Gaming iCX Video Card ($599.00 @ B&H)
Case: Fractal Design - Meshify C ATX Mid Tower Case ($86.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: SeaSonic - EVO Edition 620W 80+ Bronze Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Case Fan: be quiet! - Pure Wings 2 140 61.2 CFM 140mm Fan ($20.00 @ Amazon)
Case Fan: be quiet! - Pure Wings 2 140 61.2 CFM 140mm Fan ($20.00 @ Amazon)
Monitor: Pixio - PX277-N 27.0" 2560x1440 144Hz Monitor ($399.99 @ Newegg Marketplace)
Total: $1928.81
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-01-08 15:35 EST-0500

Firstly by media are you consuming or are you creating? Secondly being new to the pc you probably don’t want to overclock I would guess?

If youre a consumer of media I would go for a ryzen 5 1500x based system. its a 4c8t processor and has a decent out of the box speed. couple it with either 8 or 16gb of ram and a b350 board and say a gtx 1080 you could probably build it for $1200 or so… https://pcpartpicker.com/list/kc6sbj

If you create media I would look into a similar system based on the 1600x 6c12t or the 1800x 8c16t and up the ram on the 1800x to 32gb as an option. this would probably cost around the $1500 mark. something like this… https://pcpartpicker.com/list/yp9Gm8

There are some huge savings on ryzen now that ryzen 2 has been announced and to be fair its a great ecosystem. you can also find 240mm AIo coolers for cheap by buying last years model like the CMseidon240 and such like so shop around and don’t be afraid of clearance sections of new old stock

Any of those systems would crush 1440p gaming at high refresh ratesand if you look around the L1techs YT channel you will find some very inexpensive panels that are available from Korea leaving you money for a nice keyboard mouse and pad.

Hope that helps and that you enjoy the process of deciding exactly what you will go for and getting it then building it