Question Budget 1080p 60Hz System Build Advice

[dstiffler94]

Hey All,

My younger brother is looking at getting into PC gaming, and I am trying to design a system that can play esports titles at 1080p max settings and rainbow six siege on medium or higher settings at 60 fps. I am looking to build him a starter rig that he can expand on in the future (Better GPU, more RAM, better accessories, etc). I built a PC myself 3 or 4 years ago, but I am somewhat out of the know on current products. He is not looking to buy until the holiday time frame but I figured I would get a good build to go off of for when the sales start rolling in so I have a base point. No specific budget, just as cheap as I can get with reputable brands and products. He is looking to get a whole system with a monitor, mechanical keyboard, and speakers. I will be giving him an old mouse and mouse pad of my own.

I would like to know if I am picking the right parts (too much horsepower, or too little) and if there is somewhere I can make up a lot of ground pricewise because ~850 is probably going to be a little above what he is able to afford.

Here is the pcpartpicker link - https://pcpartpicker.com/list/8yvBw6

Thanks in advance!!

 

[ConanLock]

Firstly, do you have a compatible CPU to flash the BIOS for ix 9xxx support? If not, you will either need to make sure it has the BIOS pre updated or that you can borrow a compatible CPU, maybe from a friend or something.

However, https://pcpartpicker.com/list/v3YMRJ has basically got better everything and is cheaper. This might be a better option if Ryzen is a consideration.

 

[maxamillionfeettall]

4 cores is really cutting it close nowadays, I too would recommend going ryzen as one should expect the older chips to decrease in price since the 3000 series has just released. In that case, I'd go with a ryzen 5 2600($140 atm) and stick with the stock fan since you wont overclock. If you browse tomshardware, one will find numerous forums and an article about getting windows 10 cheap ~$30. Use the money saved for a better gpu like a gtx1650 or rx570/580.

The monitor is fine, but for $10 more, you can get one with an IPS panel, the colors are generally better with ips, even the cheap ones and would give ur bro more eyecandy.

 

[dstiffler94]

I was able to find a motherboard that had support for the 9xxx cpus with just a Bios update which i can perform.

Thank you for the tips!

I was wondering about Ryzen, but wasn't sure if it held up in games, glad to hear it does. Does dual channel RAM and higher RAM clock speeds make a big difference in a Ryzen build??

 

[maxamillionfeettall]

Dual channel is better for all cpu's, not just ryzen, though faster speeds do help ryzen more then intel, but 3000-3200mhz ram is pretty inexpensive nowadays anyways.

In order to flash the intel board, you would need a previous 8th gen chip, like a i3 8100 or so, not just any old intel chip.

AMD is still slower then intel, the new 3000 series reduces the difference to negligible, the 2000 series is a fair bit slower in the single core department(~10%) about 5fps slower. Using a 60hz monitor, I doubt it would even register.

On a side note, since you mentioned expanding in the future, the amd socket will be good till the 4000 series, intel will likely require a new motherboard for the upcoming new cpu's, *sigh again.

If you're still thinking about intel, I wouldn't go any lower then a i5 9400f, the stock cooler isnt as good as the ryzens, but should do if you want to shave some costs.

 

[dstiffler94]

I do not have an 8th gen chip, thank you for pointing that out. I think I will just go with AMD as my brother does not care and it seems like the better value even if it is a 10% loss in certain games. Even with that loss, I think that the RX580 will be perfect for him, should be able to get most modern 1080p games maxed at 60 Hz, or close to it, for a good price.

I was able to get the price down to $760, without windows. Granted there are some crazy deals on the RX580 and PSU right now, but this is definitely a great starting point for me to start buying come the holiday season. Here is my final build for now. Thank you for the help, was not even thinking about Ryzen or an AMD GPU. I guess Nvidia and Intel have me right where they want me haha.

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/GdKPjy

 

[cold_fuzz]

It's worth getting a 2600 over the 1600.
Will handle all your gaming needs, if you can grab a 1660 for a decent price I think it's worth the slight upgrade. This build will have a better upgrade path as you mention improving it later.
2600 will outperform the 9100, however if you do want to go intel, go for the 9400.

PCPartPicker Part List

Type|Item|Price
:----|:----|:----
CPU | AMD - Ryzen 5 2600 3.4 GHz 6-Core Processor | $139.89 @ OutletPC
Motherboard | Gigabyte - B450 AORUS M Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard | $73.99 @ Amazon
Memory | Corsair - Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory | $69.99 @ Newegg
Storage | TCSunBow - X3 480 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive | $43.99 @ Amazon
Storage | Western Digital - Caviar Blue 1 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive | $41.99 @ Newegg
Video Card | Sapphire - Radeon RX 580 8 GB PULSE Video Card | $169.99 @ Newegg
Case | Zalman - T2 Plus MicroATX Mini Tower Case | $39.99 @ Amazon
Power Supply | Corsair - CX (2017) 650 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply | $69.99 @ Newegg Business
Case Fan | Corsair - Air Series AF120 White 52.19 CFM 120 mm Fan | $10.99 @ Dell Small Business
Monitor | Sceptre - E225W-1920 22.0" 1920x1080 60 Hz Monitor | $79.99 @ Amazon
Keyboard | Logitech - K840 Wired Standard Keyboard | $59.99 @ Amazon
Speakers | Logitech - S120 2.3 W 2.0 Channel Speakers | $10.99 @ Amazon
| Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts |
| Total | $811.78
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-07-09 10:18 EDT-0400 |

Edit: Improved SSD.

 

[maxamillionfeettall]

the m.2 ssd you have is just a sata drive in m.2 form, tbh, most people wont notice a difference in load time from the ssd you had originally chosen vs a sata one, but I'd recommend sticking with a 2.5" ssd and keep your m.2 slot open for a day when you may want to pick up a better nvme m.2 drive. One can also go for a proper(albeit budget) nvme drive like a crucial p1, intel 660p, or mp300 240gb or higher, 120 is to small. Personally, I'd go for a straight 1tb mx 500 and skip the hdd as games are space hogs nowadays.

 

[cryoburner]

Yeah, I too would go Ryzen right now. The i3-9400F currently offers some decent value as well, but the Ryzen 2600 or 2600X get you SMT (hyperthreading) for about the same price, and 6 cores with 12 threads will likely offer more stable performance in the long term than 6 cores with 6 threads. Slight differences in performance-per-core are not going to really matter when paired with a graphics card around this performance range.

Of course, by the time you go to build this system several months from now, the recommendations could change, so it will probably be worth asking again then. An RX 580 for around $160 is currently a pretty good value for 1080p60 gaming, but AMD just released some new cards in the $350-$400 range, and it seems likely that lower-end models could follow in the coming months, with performance that may be favorable to the RX 580. The GTX 1660 is also worth considering, with performance around 15-20% higher than an RX 580 / 1060 6GB, but it's priced a little over $200 right now.

As for storage, you might consider just going with a larger SSD rather than an SSD with a hard drive, as games installed to the SSD will have reduced load times. The prices of SSDs have been falling lately, while the prices of hard drives have been stagnating, so it's possible to get a decent 1TB SSD for not that much more than the cost of a 250GB SSD + 1TB hard drive. Currently you can find a number of 1TB SSDs priced around $100, but I wouldn't be surprised if you saw some substantially better sale prices during the holiday shopping season.

 

[dstiffler94]

I think I will be sticking with the Ryzen 2600 as I do not want to have to worry about motherboard support for a 9th gen intel chip since I do not have an 8th gen one to update the bios.

That is a good point, I did not realize that the prices of SSD's had dropped so much! I may go with a 1TB SSD or a 500 GB SSD if I need to scrounge an extra $30-40, that will be enough for 5-10 games with some room to spare. He will not be installing tons of games, to start at least.

I will definitely look into getting a 1660 depending on pricing around the holidays, as I made the mistake of not spending enough on my GPU and I regret it as it bottlenecks my CPU now.

Thank you for all of the help, I think that will about do it!