[SOLVED] Building First Gaming PC

[JohnyMayhem]

Hello all,
I know I have a post already about a build
I’m considering but I’d like to hear ideas from experienced builders on a decent set up.

Approximate Purchase Date: Within the next month

Budget Range: $1200 USD

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Online gaming, music production/recording, home PC

Are you buying a monitor: Yes



Parts to Upgrade: First build, no parts bought

Do you need to buy OS: No

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: No preference

Location: Chicago, Illinois, USA

Parts Preferences: AMD

Overclocking: Maybe

SLI or Crossfire: No

Your Monitor Resolution: Looking for 1440p

Additional Comments: Mainly gaming on COD Modern Warfare and Gears of War 5, ProTools/ Cubase for music production

And Most Importantly, Why Are You Upgrading: Leaving the console world and join

 

[greigm78]

To be honest, $1200 might be a bit tight to want a 1440p monitor AND the system capable of delivering on it.

Probably as close as I can get without starting to compromise on actually being able to support the 1440p gaming

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor ($179.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: MSI B450 TOMAHAWK MAX ATX AM4 Motherboard ($114.99 @ B&H)
Memory: G.Skill Trident Z RGB 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 Memory ($98.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial P1 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($109.66 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon RX 5700 XT 8 GB PULSE Video Card ($409.00 @ Walmart)
Case: Phanteks P300 ATX Mid Tower Case ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair TXM Gold 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply ($73.98 @ Newegg)
Monitor: AOC CQ27G1 27.0" 2560x1440 144 Hz Monitor ($249.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $1286.59
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-01-27 03:42 EST-0500

I have a similar set-up using two 27" Samsung 1440p 144hz monitors. I have 3200MHz RAM and an older Ryzen 2700 CPU with the Pulse RX 5700 XT and get roughly 70FPS at high settings on Wildlands and Borderlands 3.

 

[jmsellars1]

I know you specified 1440P but as greigm said, you'll struggle to build a PC capable of gaming at 1440P and buying the monitor itself in this budget. Also, 2+ monitors are absolutely essential for music production IMO, they are even nice for having a browser/netflix/music open on another screen when you're gaming. Means you can get a quality 1080P monitor as well, like a 144hz model, personally I prefer 1080/144 to 1440/60 for gaming anyway.

CPU and GPU greigm suggested are great at this budget, AMD GPU means you get Freesync with certain monitors as well, good for gaming.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor ($179.99 @ Best Buy)
Motherboard: Gigabyte B450M DS3H Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard ($67.98 @ Amazon)
Memory: G.Skill Aegis 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($62.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Blue 500 GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($64.98 @ Amazon)
Video Card: XFX Radeon RX 5700 8 GB DD Ultra Video Card ($299.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Fractal Design Define Mini C MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($75.98 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: be quiet! Pure Power 11 500 W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply ($69.90 @ Amazon)
Monitor: AOC C24G1 24.0" 1920x1080 144 Hz Monitor ($144.99 @ Amazon)
Monitor: AOC 24B1XHS 23.8" 1920x1080 60 Hz Monitor ($89.99 @ Best Buy)
Total: $1056.79
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-01-30 04:05 EST-0500

Leaves some cash left over if you want to upgrade something else on there. More storage, better monitor etc. I'm a big fan of very quiet PC's, particularly for music production, if you're going down the quiet route I'd do something like this:

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor ($179.99 @ Best Buy)
CPU Cooler: Thermalright Macho Direct 73.6 CFM CPU Cooler ($44.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Gigabyte B450M DS3H Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard ($67.98 @ Amazon)
Memory: G.Skill Aegis 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($62.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Blue 500 GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($64.98 @ Amazon)
Video Card: XFX Radeon RX 5700 8 GB DD Ultra Video Card ($299.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Fractal Design Define Mini C MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($75.98 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: SeaSonic FOCUS Plus Platinum 550 W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($107.99 @ Amazon)
Case Fan: Noctua NF-P14s redux-1500 PWM 78.69 CFM 140 mm Fan ($14.95 @ Amazon)
Case Fan: Noctua NF-P14s redux-1500 PWM 78.69 CFM 140 mm Fan ($14.95 @ Amazon)
Case Fan: Noctua NF-S12B redux-1200 PWM 59.1 CFM 120 mm Fan ($13.95 @ Amazon)
Monitor: AOC C24G1 24.0" 1920x1080 144 Hz Monitor ($144.99 @ Amazon)
Monitor: AOC 24B1XHS 23.8" 1920x1080 60 Hz Monitor ($89.99 @ Best Buy)
Custom: 4 Way, 4 Pin Fan Splitter ($7.99)
Total: $1191.71
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-01-30 04:17 EST-0500

Fan setup would be PSU with the fan facing down, 2 x 140mm blowing air into the case from the front, CPU cooler blowing front to back and the 120mm fan exhausting out the back. Plug the fan splitter into the CPU fan header then the 4 fans (CPU cooler fan and the 3 Noctuas) into the splitter. That way, when you change the CPU fan speed in BIOS, it will change those 4 fans. That board is good for this because the PCI-e slot is further away from the CPU, meaning that massive cooler should fit. Be Quiet! Shadow Rock 2 is another big cooler which is slightly less wide so a bit more likely to fit.

 

[JohnyMayhem]

Thanks! Good information on the 1080p. I’ve been thinking more about it and may want to keep a really good 1080p set up so I can do a 2 monitor set up