Buying a new PC $1500 max

[Cephii]

I still consider myself new to the PC gaming world because I have little to no understanding of what's good or what's bad. So my question is what would be the best PC I could get for a $1500 or less? The games I'm currently playing right now are Path of Exile, Skyrim, Fallout 4, and any other F2P games that my friends wish to play with me. In the future I'd like to get into more games like Ark, Witcher 3, and Rainbow 6 Siege to name a few.

I'm not against building my own PC but I would prefer a pre-built system mostly because it looks like there is a lot of things I could mess up.

 

[VR PC-BUILD]

I still consider myself new to the PC gaming world because I have little to no understanding of what's good or what's bad. So my question is what would be the best PC I could get for a $1500 or less? The games I'm currently playing right now are Path of Exile, Skyrim, Fallout 4, and any other F2P games that my friends wish to play with me. In the future I'd like to get into more games like Ark, Witcher 3, and Rainbow 6 Siege to name a few.

I'm not against building my own PC but I would prefer a pre-built system mostly because it looks like there is a lot of things I could mess up.

There is nothing you can mess up if you follow few simple steps. If you build your own there is nothing you need to compromise with.

2 main things needed attention while building PC
1. Mounting CPU and CPU cooler
2. Cable management

There are many videos on them just check them out and there will be no problem trust me.

 

[apk24]

I would also recommend building your own PC. It is really just about matching the shape of a connector to the shape of a port. Dont push hard enough to snap plastic or bend metal and you are going to be fine. Use a site like PCPartPicker.com to help ensure comaptibility and it'll be pretty smooth experience overall.

 

[Hyboria]

What currency?

 

[VR PC-BUILD]

Here is one of the possible builds you can get for $1500

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($339.99 @ B&H)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i v2 70.7 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($98.00 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Asus Z170-E ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($115.99 @ Micro Center)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Sandisk SSD PLUS 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($41.90 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($47.49 @ OutletPC)
Case: NZXT Phantom (Black) ATX Full Tower Case ($109.99 @ B&H)
Power Supply: Corsair RMx 850W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($109.99 @ Amazon)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($18.89 @ OutletPC)
Other: GTX1080 ($600.00)
Total: $1532.23
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-05-24 03:41 EDT-0400

I threw in 850W PSU because even if you decide to go for SLI in future it would be enough.

 

[apk24]

Here is one of the possible builds you can get for $1500

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($339.99 @ B&H)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i v2 70.7 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($98.00 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Asus Z170-E ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($115.99 @ Micro Center)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Sandisk SSD PLUS 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($41.90 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($47.49 @ OutletPC)
Case: NZXT Phantom (Black) ATX Full Tower Case ($109.99 @ B&H)
Power Supply: Corsair RMx 850W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($109.99 @ Amazon)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($18.89 @ OutletPC)
Other: GTX1080 ($600.00)
Total: $1532.23
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-05-24 03:41 EDT-0400

I threw in 850W PSU because even if you decide to go for SLI in future it would be enough.

Personally, I'd go for a less beefy cooler and slightly cheaper case and instead spring for better storage. Maybe 250 SSD+ 2TB hdd kind of thing.
Kinda Like: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/qjZRsJ

 

[Inkiad]

For $1500, i say wait for gtx 1080 to come and buy that. Get a good power supply, like EVGA G2 550w.

 

[VR PC-BUILD]

Here is one of the possible builds you can get for $1500

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($339.99 @ B&H)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i v2 70.7 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($98.00 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Asus Z170-E ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($115.99 @ Micro Center)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Sandisk SSD PLUS 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($41.90 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($47.49 @ OutletPC)
Case: NZXT Phantom (Black) ATX Full Tower Case ($109.99 @ B&H)
Power Supply: Corsair RMx 850W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($109.99 @ Amazon)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($18.89 @ OutletPC)
Other: GTX1080 ($600.00)
Total: $1532.23
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-05-24 03:41 EDT-0400

I threw in 850W PSU because even if you decide to go for SLI in future it would be enough.

Personally, I'd go for a less beefy cooler and slightly cheaper case and instead spring for better storage. Maybe 250 SSD+ 2TB hdd kind of thing.
Kinda Like: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/qjZRsJ

Agreed to some extent but I went with water-cooling over air cooler is because it maintains lesser temperature even under OC even without fans at max speed.

About the case I only went for NZXT Phantom is because it looks good when he is spending $1500 he should get good looking PC. But if he wants he can go for cheaper case and get extra storage it depends on him.

You can throw in Storage according to your requirement whenever you need it.

 

[VR PC-BUILD]

Here you can go for this and throw in extra storage when required as per your requirements.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($339.99 @ B&H)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i v2 70.7 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($98.00 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Asus Z170-E ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($115.99 @ Micro Center)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Sandisk X400 512GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($122.99 @ Newegg)
Case: NZXT Phantom (Black) ATX Full Tower Case ($109.99 @ B&H)
Power Supply: Corsair RMx 850W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($109.99 @ Amazon)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($18.89 @ OutletPC)
Other: GTX1080 ($600.00)
Total: $1565.83
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-05-24 04:41 EDT-0400

Or you can go for cheaper cases and increase storage as apk24 said

 

[Inkiad]

Custom built pc will 99.99% of the time perform better for the same money against a prebuilt pc.
If the pc is mainly for gaming get the 6600k instead of 6700k.
Get 2666 or 3000mhz ram if you are going with unlocked cpu/overclocking.
I always prefer gigabyte motherboard over others.
A decent 550W power supply is more than enough for single GTX 1080. I would get the EVGA G2 550W. Best quality for money you can get right now.
With the saved money get the NZXT X61 cpu cooler. Some extra case fans like cooler master sickle flow.

So my suggestion is -

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($233.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: NZXT Kraken X61 106.1 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($114.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z170-HD3P ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($94.90 @ Micro Center)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($69.88 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($85.79 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($45.89 @ OutletPC)
Case: Phanteks Enthoo Pro M ATX Mid Tower Case ($65.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA G2 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($78.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24F1ST DVD/CD Writer ($17.88 @ OutletPC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) ($83.89 @ OutletPC)
Case Fan: Cooler Master SickleFlow 69.7 CFM 120mm Fan ($3.34 @ Newegg)
Other: NVIDIA GTX 1080 ($600.00)
Total: $1495.52
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-05-24 06:13 EDT-0400

Wait for the GTX 1080 to hit market.

 

[VR PC-BUILD]

Custom built pc will 99.99% of the time perform better for the same money against a prebuilt pc.
If the pc is mainly for gaming get the 6600k instead of 6700k.
Get 2666 or 3000mhz ram if you are going with unlocked cpu/overclocking.
I always prefer gigabyte motherboard over others.
A decent 550W power supply is more than enough for single GTX 1080. I would get the EVGA G2 550W. Best quality for money you can get right now.
With the saved money get the NZXT X61 cpu cooler. Some extra case fans like cooler master sickle flow.

So my suggestion is -

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($233.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: NZXT Kraken X61 106.1 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($114.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z170-HD3P ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($94.90 @ Micro Center)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($69.88 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($85.79 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($45.89 @ OutletPC)
Case: Phanteks Enthoo Pro M ATX Mid Tower Case ($65.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA G2 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($78.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24F1ST DVD/CD Writer ($17.88 @ OutletPC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) ($83.89 @ OutletPC)
Case Fan: Cooler Master SickleFlow 69.7 CFM 120mm Fan ($3.34 @ Newegg)
Other: NVIDIA GTX 1080 ($600.00)
Total: $1495.52
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-05-24 06:13 EDT-0400

Wait for the GTX 1080 to hit market.

Great build but,
I wanted to confirm 2 things
1. Why did you go for i5-6600K instead of i7-6700K
It is not like he wants his build under $1000 then we could have chosen i5-6600K as we cannot afford i7-6700K and stay in our budget without compromising in other areas.
As you know CPU to GPU performance ratio effects games fps if he goes with less powerful CPU there is no point in spending $1500 and get compromised fps.
2. I think you unnoticed or by mistake provided him a motherboard which dose not support SLI as he can throw in a GPU in future to make SLI.
Many would say why would he need SLI if he wants he can upgrade to better GPU instead but that is not true as GTX1080 is top of the line only to be succeeded by GTX1080Ti and stay like that for a long time.
Question why not go with GTX1080Ti instead of GTX1080 SLI it is plain GTX1080 SLI will outperform GTX1080Ti that's how it works for Nvidia.

 

[Inkiad]

Well,

1. Why did you go for i5-6600K instead of i7-6700K
It is not like he wants his build under $1000 then we could have chosen i5-6600K as we cannot afford i7-6700K and stay in our budget without compromising in other areas.
As you know CPU to GPU performance ratio effects games fps if he goes with less powerful CPU there is no point in spending $1500 and get compromised fps.

i5 6600k and i7 6700k are kinda same. The i7 only has hyper threading. No games uses it so 6600k and 6700k will perform similar if not exactly same. There will be like 1-2 fps difference. Some benchmarks showed hat hyper threading decreases fps sometimes. So there will be no noticeable compromise in FPS.

I think you unnoticed or by mistake provided him a motherboard which dose not support SLI as he can throw in a GPU in future to make SLI.
Many would say why would he need SLI if he wants he can upgrade to better GPU instead but that is not true as GTX1080 is top of the line only to be succeeded by GTX1080Ti and stay like that for a long time.
Question why not go with GTX1080Ti instead of GTX1080 SLI it is plain GTX1080 SLI will outperform GTX1080Ti that's how it works for Nvidia.

That motherboard does support dual gpu. Check here - http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=5495#sp
Also dual gpu actually decreases performance in some games, does not work in some of them, has bugs on some of them and works for some of them. Not to mention a higher wattage power supply. If the op does not want to run 4K at 144, then 1080 will suffice most of the time according to the benchmark we saw.
Even if he wants to have SLI, i would say sell your old card, buy a new better one with the saved second card money+ selling money.

 

[VR PC-BUILD]

That motherboard does support dual gpu. Check here - http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=5495#sp
Also dual gpu actually decreases performance in some games, does not work in some of them, has bugs on some of them and works for some of them. Not to mention a higher wattage power supply. If the op does not want to run 4K at 144, then 1080 will suffice most of the time according to the benchmark we saw.
Even if he wants to have SLI, i would say sell your old card, buy a new better one with the saved second card money+ selling money.

Motherboard supports 2-way Crossfire not 2-way SLI
Selling and buying part, nope it wouldn't work like that. GTX1080 and GTX1080Ti would have at-least a $200 difference and at that the card will only fetch you half rate of that time and prices will drop so by adding the money you got by selling it and the difference remaining in new cards price will add up to nearly the cost of GTX1080 at that time as prices will drop so there is no question in upgrading it where as he can fetch a new one add it in SLI and get better performance than upgrade.

 

[Inkiad]

My suggestion was, suppose you have money for a new 1080 for sli. Instead of buying a 2nd 1080, sell your first 1080 and get better graphics card with the money for 2nd 1080+selling money.

 

[VR PC-BUILD]

My suggestion was, suppose you have money for a new 1080 for sli. Instead of buying a 2nd 1080, sell your first 1080 and get better graphics card with the money for 2nd 1080+selling money.

Got it please read the quote from before:

I think you unnoticed or by mistake provided him a motherboard which dose not support SLI as he can throw in a GPU in future to make SLI.
Many would say why would he need SLI if he wants he can upgrade to better GPU instead but that is not true as GTX1080 is top of the line only to be succeeded by GTX1080Ti and stay like that for a long time.
Question why not go with GTX1080Ti instead of GTX1080 SLI it is plain GTX1080 SLI will outperform GTX1080Ti that's how it works for Nvidia.

I mentioned GTX1080 SLI will outperform GTX1080Ti that's how Nvidia top end cards of each lineup works.
So why for GTX1080Ti

 

[Inkiad]

I don't see the point for argument. So i will stop now.
In the mean time the op is missing.

 

[VR PC-BUILD]

I don't see the point for argument. So i will stop now.
In the mean time the op is missing.

Seriously when we spend time in sorting out and providing a build and OP doesn't show up it is a pain.