First timer needs your opinion

[Andrew_29]

This is my very first time building a pc or getting into pc gaming at all. That said I've been trying to do the best job of researching as I can. My budget has crept from 500 to 550 to 600. I don't mind spending a little more now if that means more longevity and noticible proformance.

Game taste: action rpg, skyrim, fallout, either, etc. Other needs: arc gis map rendering. I'm not a super graphics focused person. Using a led TV for a monitor. Hoping to get at least 5 years without any major upgrades needed. I've put together a part list based on research and guessing.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/wcvNt6

Questions: are some components too cheap and will break,
Do I need the i5 or would I be fine with saving some money there and going with something else,
Will it do what I want and be adequate and run new titles for the next few years

Thank you, sorry for rambling, these forums have been a great help already in my research and I trust your collective judgement.

 

[g-unit1111]

I wouldn't touch that case or PSU - that PSU is most definitely junk and won't power that rig. A quad core Intel and an R9-380 is definitely a step in the right direction though.

 

[azaran]

Keep the i5, your gaming will thank you for it.

Change out that PSU. The PSU is such an incredibly important part of your build that you really don't want to skimp on it. At the very least I'd recommend stepping up in to the SeaSonic S12II 520W. Its $10 more, solid quality and gives you a bit more headroom with your power.
Here's a decent list of PSU's to look at for a good start for your own research.
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/id-2547993/psu-tier-list.html

Also consider changing out the RAM to something like the G.Skill Ripjaws Series. Its $4 more, but has better timings.
Since you're planning on this lasting a few generations of hardware, and your board only had two RAM slots you may want to consider a move to 16GB. Some games are already approaching using 6GB+ and this would mean not having to swap out RAM later and try and either sell the old kit or let it collect dust in a drawer. This is of course purely optional and more of a thought to future games instead of current titles.

 

[Andrew_29]

Ok so I swapped out the PSU for an EVGA and the RAM for ripjaws.

What's wrong with the case?

 

[g-unit1111]

Ok so I swapped out the PSU for an EVGA and the RAM for ripjaws.

What's wrong with the case?

I'm personally not a fan of really cheap cases. Pretty much anything in the $20 range you take your chances with something being really poorly made. If you're willing to go with a case that has a much smaller form factor, one I use and recommend a lot is the Cooler Master N200: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119274&cm_re=cooler_master_n200-_-11-119-274-_-Product

If you want to do a $600 budget here's a rig that I would suggest:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-4170 3.7GHz Dual-Core Processor ($112.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock H97M PRO4 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($70.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance Pro 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-2400 Memory ($50.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($62.44 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($44.89 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: MSI Radeon R9 380 2GB Video Card ($190.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Cooler Master N200 MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12II 520W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($53.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $617.16
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-11-16 16:19 EST-0500

That's slightly over $600 but that's just about as good as it gets right now for that particular budget.

 

[Andrew_29]

So would you advise dropping the i5 for an i3 and putting that money into the rest of the components ?

 

[azaran]

Cheap cases suck, but as far as cheap cases go its not badly reviewed, G-unit picked out a much nicer unit tho. If you're planning on gaming, keep the i5. If its a general use machine and only light gaming, the i3 will work.

 

[g-unit1111]

So would you advise dropping the i5 for an i3 and putting that money into the rest of the components ?

In the long term that would be a much wiser investment. You get a good case and a good power supply and you can reuse those components on build after build.

 

[Andrew_29]

Ok, considering your comments, I've made amendments

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/8N8m99
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/8N8m99/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($172.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-B85M-DS3H-A Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($51.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($39.98 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 250GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($23.65 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Asus Radeon R9 380 2GB Video Card ($179.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Corsair SPEC-03 Red ATX Mid Tower Case ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA 600B 600W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($19.00 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) ($90.75 @ OutletPC)
Total: $608.23
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-11-17 01:03 EST-0500

 

[g-unit1111]

Ok, considering your comments, I've made amendments

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/8N8m99
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/8N8m99/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($172.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-B85M-DS3H-A Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($51.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($39.98 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 250GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($23.65 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Asus Radeon R9 380 2GB Video Card ($179.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Corsair SPEC-03 Red ATX Mid Tower Case ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA 600B 600W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($19.00 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) ($90.75 @ OutletPC)
Total: $608.23
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-11-17 01:03 EST-0500

EVGA 600B - not a good power supply. You don't want to buy a PSU that cheap or it will end very badly. This would be better: http://pcpartpicker.com/part/seasonic-power-supply-s12ii520bronze

 

[Andrew_29]

Ok. That bumps the budget to $643.22. Gonna try to do the buying black friday and I've got a micro center and Fry's nearby to check out to keep the price down.

Is everything else fine besides that? Motherboard and all that? Also is the i5 really worth it / will I end up upgrading an i3 in a few years anyways and should go for it now. Don't mind upfront cost if it ends up cheaper in the long run but I also don't want to get more than I need to be happy enough for the next 5ish years

 

[azaran]

The difference in price is around $30-$50 now or a couple hundred later to upgrade. To me that's a no brainer, but if the $50 makes enough difference now to not be able to do the build then its obviously better to have a computer and game with what you have than nothing at all.

 

[Andrew_29]

Ya I've come to the same conclusion. Does which i5 I choose matter? Looking at the comparisons most of the cheaper Haswell i5s are pretty similar in performance

 

[azaran]

If you go with a Haswell line, go for the Devils Canyon refresh. Those models had a better TIM put in for cooling and also had a bump in their speed. Skylake did get a bump in performance over Haswell, so there is some difference there. If you already had a Haswell system I wouldn't recommend upgrading to Skylake, however coming from nothing its hard to recommend a CPU that is technically 2 generations old. You can absolutely build a great rig from Haswell, people were doing it all of 3 months ago, but it is a system that can not be upgraded from only rebuilt should you want to upgrade later on.

As for which i5 to go with the 6500 or 6600 would be the best bets. The 6400 is a bit under powered for the $10 difference. The 6600K is only really if you want to overclock or you think you need those extra 200mhz. The 6500 and 6600 should run a touch cooler than the 6600K too which is nice.

 

[Andrew_29]

What about the 4590? I found it for a good price at microcenter