Buying a new gaming PC on a budget

[stratospvm]

Been running on a very old build for too many years now, figured I'd save up some money so I can play games without having horrible frame rate.

My current rig is:

• 
  AMD Phenom II x4 955
  Biostar TA790 GX 128m
  Zotac GTX 560 1gb 256 bit DDR5
  2x2gb DDR2

My plan is to just buy all new parts and do a fresh build and give the old computer to a family member. This is the current bundle of parts I plan on buying: https://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboBundleDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.3845383

However, before I spend that much money, I just want to know if it's worth it. By that I mean would I be able to tell a huge difference playing on an i7-8700K and a GeForce GTX 1080 vs something a little downgraded like an i5-8400 and a GeForce GTX 1060? I don't have a 144hz monitor and I am not going to be overclocking anything (I know the processor in the bundle is designed for overclocking but it was the only one available).
The main thing that I need help with is if the performance between those specs would be significant and if someone who has been playing on a very outdated build the past 6-ish years, would be able to notice a performance decrease/increase between them.

The $1300 PC I linked would be at the top of the line for what I want to spend. If anyone knows where I could get those parts for cheaper that would be amazing.

 

[cookiemania66]

So before i wanna throw some stuff together ( or somebody else) and say "BUY THIS BECAUSE ITS GOOD!" i would like to know what your Goal is.
This means, what games do you wanna play? Is 1080p, 60FPS+ and high settings your goal?

The Computer you linked will definitly be faster and deliver more fps then the 8400 and 1060 combination, but is it worth it?
Both of the options (8400/1060 and 8700k/1080) will be able to deliver you more then 60fps in 1080p games.

So a short response of what you are planning to game and overall do with the pc would be nice

 

[srimasis]

You can make a little bit better PC for 1300$. This one below has larger SSD and a HDD and faster RAM for the same price.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i7-8700K 3.7GHz 6-Core Processor ($318.99 @ Walmart)
CPU Cooler: Deepcool - CAPTAIN 120EX RGB 76.5 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($58.49 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: MSI - Z370M MORTAR Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($94.99 @ B&H)
Memory: GeIL - SUPER LUCE RGB SYNC 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($149.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital - Blue 500GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($94.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate - Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($59.09 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Zotac - GeForce GTX 1080 8GB Mini Video Card ($449.99 @ B&H)
Case: Deepcool - DUKASE V2 ATX Mid Tower Case ($34.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: EVGA - SuperNOVA G2 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($49.99 @ B&H)
Total: $1311.51
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-08-23 02:05 EDT-0400


And of course you can downgrade to i5 8400 and Gtx1060. If gaming is your main priority for this PC then downgrading to i5 8400 is a good decision since it will save money without losing much FPS.

I recommend
i5 8400 + Gtx1060 for 1080p gaming
i5 8400 + Gtx1070 for 1440p gaming
i5 8400 + Gtx100ti or Gtx1080 for 1440p 144Hz gaming
i5 8400 + Gtx1080ti for 4k gaming

 

[stratospvm]

So before i wanna throw some stuff together ( or somebody else) and say "BUY THIS BECAUSE ITS GOOD!" i would like to know what your Goal is.
This means, what games do you wanna play? Is 1080p, 60FPS+ and high settings your goal?

The Computer you linked will definitly be faster and deliver more fps then the 8400 and 1060 combination, but is it worth it?
Both of the options (8400/1060 and 8700k/1080) will be able to deliver you more then 60fps in 1080p games.

So a short response of what you are planning to game and overall do with the pc would be nice

I am going to be using it for mostly gaming and yes, 1080p, 60FPS+ and high settings is what I'm shooting for. I do have some experience in hardware and building PCs, but I'm not comfortable installing liquid cooling and I'm not too hung up about that. It don't need it to be top of the line, just something that I can get smooth game play from at an above average performance. I like to watch youtube/stream on my second monitor while gaming. Also a list of the games I plan on playing:

• 
  GTA:V
  World of Warcraft
  PUBG
  Stranded Deep - The Forest
  Dark Souls 3

Being able to play these games on high graphics with a steady frame rate would be ideal, not sure if I need to have an i7 and a 1080 for that to happen though.

 

[stratospvm]

You can make a little bit better PC for 1300$. This one below has larger SSD and a HDD and faster RAM for the same price.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i7-8700K 3.7GHz 6-Core Processor ($318.99 @ Walmart)
CPU Cooler: Deepcool - CAPTAIN 120EX RGB 76.5 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($58.49 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: MSI - Z370M MORTAR Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($94.99 @ B&H)
Memory: GeIL - SUPER LUCE RGB SYNC 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($149.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital - Blue 500GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($94.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate - Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($59.09 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Zotac - GeForce GTX 1080 8GB Mini Video Card ($449.99 @ B&H)
Case: Deepcool - DUKASE V2 ATX Mid Tower Case ($34.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: EVGA - SuperNOVA G2 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($49.99 @ B&H)
Total: $1311.51
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-08-23 02:05 EDT-0400


And of course you can downgrade to i5 8400 and Gtx1060. If gaming is your main priority for this PC then downgrading to i5 8400 is a good decision since it will save money without losing much FPS.

I recommend
i5 8400 + Gtx1060 for 1080p gaming
i5 8400 + Gtx1070 for 1440p gaming
i5 8400 + Gtx100ti or Gtx1080 for 1440p 144Hz gaming
i5 8400 + Gtx1080ti for 4k gaming

Since I am not going to be buying a 144hz monitor anytime soon (which I know, is a huge mistake), would there be a difference between a Gtx1060 vs Gtx1080 performances?

 

[srimasis]

Since I am not going to be buying a 144hz monitor anytime soon (which I know, is a huge mistake), would there be a difference between a Gtx1060 vs Gtx1080 performances?

Performance difference is obviously big. But on a 1080p 60hz monitor, the monitor is only capable of showing 60fps at max. So even if the Gtx1060 churns out 70 FPS and the Gtx1080 produces 140 FPS, the monitor would only show 60Fps to the eyes. So Gtx1060 is a better choice on 1080p 60hz and Gtx1080 would be overkill.