Bang for the Buck Build for a friend

[JOSHBLY]

Hello, I have some experience configuring builds and such and I configured this using PCPARTPICKER, obviously. I want to make a decent bang for the buck $1000 build. Any tips? (Please note that some items, like the really cheap and crappy keyboard are per my friends request)

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/R2K723

Intel Core i5-4590 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor
ASRock H97M PRO4 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard
Crucial Ballistix Sport 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory
Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
Gigabyte Radeon R9 390X 8GB Video Card
Thermaltake Versa H25 ATX Mid Tower Case
Thermaltake Smart M 850W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply
LG GH24NSC0B DVD/CD Writer
Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit)
Corsair Air Series SP120 High Performance Edition (2-Pack) 62.7 CFM 120mm Fans
AOC E2260SWDN 60Hz 21.5" Monitor
Cooler Master CM Storm Devastator Gaming Bundle Wired Gaming Keyboard w/Optical Mouse

 

[Onefurrybanana]

You could try and go with a 6500 and an h110 board with some ddr4 ram but it would be a minor upgrade. Also why do you have the SP fans? Those are made for radiators if you want higher airflow then get the AF fans. In terms of the video card the 970 and 390x are around the same performance and i personally prefer the lower temps and better driver support from nvidia but that is just me.

 

[JOSHBLY]

Very interesting, I'll take that into account

 

[Mxhawthy]

Hi there,

I'd personally recommend your friend having a skylake-oriented build, simply for future upgradeability. It will increase the price by around $35, which isn't too much, for the improvement you get. Also, for a 'bang-for-buck' PC, you want 8GB, not 16GB.
8GB is plenty right now, and getting 16GB isn't giving you any more 'bang', but is reducing your 'bucks'

Here's my changed suggestions:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($194.99 @ B&H)
Motherboard: ASRock H170 Pro4 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Black 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($34.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($48.73 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon R9 390X 8GB Video Card ($393.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Thermaltake Versa H25 ATX Mid Tower Case ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Thermaltake Smart M 850W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NSC0B DVD/CD Writer ($15.89 @ OutletPC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) ($86.49 @ OutletPC)
Case Fan: Corsair Air Series SP120 High Performance Edition (2-Pack) 62.7 CFM 120mm Fans ($21.99 @ Amazon)
Monitor: AOC E2260SWDN 60Hz 21.5" Monitor ($80.98 @ Newegg)
Keyboard: Cooler Master CM Storm Devastator Gaming Bundle Wired Gaming Keyboard w/Optical Mouse ($26.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $1074.99
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-04-04 11:58 EDT-0400

Hope this helped

 

[Barty1884]

As far a performance goes, the R9 390 (non-X) will be a better "bang for buck" card, there's only minor improvements in the X card, not enough to justify the (usually somewhat significant) increased price.
Of course there's the nVidia route with the 970, lower temps I agree with. "Better" drive support is an interesting comment. That certainly used to be the case, but AMD have caught up there, driver support is pretty equal these days. The 390/390X would perform similarly at 1080p, but be substantially better at higher resolutions. I would assume the increased VRAM would add to the longevity of the card too.

I don't believe the Thermaltake SMART M PSUs are very good at all.
Take a look here: http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-2547993/psu-tier-list.html
Tier 1 or 2 would be perfect (Tier 2 tends to be a bit cheaper, but it'll depend on your location).
Anything by SeaSonic or XFX, which is made by SS and EVGA B2/G2/GS/GQ/P2/T2 models are great options.

 

[ComputerSecurityGuy]

I'd get an SSD, a big boost and easier when first installing a system. If it means you have to drop to 8GB of RAM or lose the optical drive so be it, it's worth it.

 

[geofelt]

Because of the graphics card, I might presume this is for gaming.

On a budget, I suggest a more modern i3-6100 processor.
The higher single thread performance will be important in most games.

Use a Z170 motherboard to permit a future upgrade to a i5-6600K or kaby lake in the future.

16gb in a 2 x 8gb kit is probably best up front. 1.2v ddr4 2133 speed is fine.

FWIW.
I will never again build without a ssd for the "C" drive. It makes everything you do much quicker.
120gb is minimum, it will hold the os and a handful of games. If you can go 240gb, you may never need a hard drive.

I would defer on the hard drive unless you need to store large files such as video's.
It is easy to add a hard drive later.
Samsung EVO is a good choice.

A GTX970 will perform about the same as a R9-390X, be quieter, use less power and be cheaper.
Look for a evga version with a mild factory overclock.
It will run any game at 1080P well.

Thermaltake quality is iffy. I would stick with a known good quality unit like Seasonic.
Here is a quality list, try to pick tier 1 or 2.
You need about 550w for GTX970, and 700w for R9-390X. No harm in overprovisioning some.

Cases are a personal thing. let friend pick out one that appeals to him.
Most any case with two 120mm front intake fans will do the job.

 

[ComputerSecurityGuy]

Pick the i5. The i3-6100 is slightly faster in single threaded tasks but the difference isn't much. And with games becoming more threaded, I'd stick with the i5.

 

[JOSHBLY]

Update:
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/DwgPbv


Intel Core i5-4590 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor
ASRock H97M PRO4 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard
Crucial 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory
Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
Samsung 850 EVO-Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive
EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB Superclocked ACX 2.0 Video Card
Thermaltake Versa H25 ATX Mid Tower Case
EVGA SuperNOVA P2 650W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply
LG GH24NSC0B DVD/CD Writer
Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit)
Corsair Air Series SP120 High Performance Edition (2-Pack) 62.7 CFM 120mm Fans
AOC E2260SWDN 60Hz 21.5" Monitor
Cooler Master CM Storm Devastator Gaming Bundle Wired Gaming Keyboard w/Optical Mouse

 

[JOSHBLY]

Another version:
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/Lsp3f7

Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor
ASRock H170 Pro4 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard
Kingston HyperX Fury Black 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2133 Memory
Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive
Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 4GB WINDFORCE Video Card
Thermaltake Versa H25 ATX Mid Tower Case
Thermaltake Smart M 850W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply
LG GH24NSC0B DVD/CD Writer
Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit)
Corsair Air Series SP120 High Performance Edition (2-Pack) 62.7 CFM 120mm Fans
AOC E2260SWDN 60Hz 21.5" Monitor
Cooler Master CM Storm Devastator Gaming Bundle Wired Gaming Keyboard w/Optical Mouse

 

[JOSHBLY]

Last Version:
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/TWfmVn

Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor
Asus H110M-A Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard
A-Data XPG Z1 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2400 Memory
Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive
Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 4GB WINDFORCE Video Card
Cooler Master N200 MicroATX Mid Tower Case
Thermaltake Smart M 850W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply
LG GH24NSC0B DVD/CD Writer
Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit)
Corsair Air Series SP120 High Performance Edition (2-Pack) 62.7 CFM 120mm Fans
AOC E2260SWDN 60Hz 21.5" Monitor
Cooler Master CM Storm Devastator Gaming Bundle Wired Gaming Keyboard w/Optical Mouse

 

[Barty1884]

Ok, some combination of those version you're building there would work, but do not include the Thermaltake SMART PSU (and the SuperNOVA P2 is overkill)

No sense in build RAM above 2133MHz on the H170 or H110 chipset, as you're limited to 2133MHz anyway.

I'd suggest this build for around $1,000.

You're using different cases and board sizes in every build, so it's hard to tell if any of the components you've chosen are a 'must', so I'm just building what I'd recommend to you.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($194.99 @ B&H)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H110M-A Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($41.38 @ Newegg)
Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Black 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($34.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($85.49 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($45.89 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon R9 390 8GB Video Card ($299.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Thermaltake Versa H23 ATX Mid Tower Case ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12II 620W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($59.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) ($86.49 @ OutletPC)
Monitor: AOC E2425SWD 60Hz 24.0" Monitor ($99.99 @ Micro Center)
Keyboard: Cooler Master CM Storm Devastator Gaming Bundle Wired Gaming Keyboard w/Optical Mouse ($26.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $1006.17
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-04-04 14:32 EDT-0400