How to allocate $2,700 AUD for a complete setup?

[blbarclay]

CPU i5 7600 3.5ghz $302
GPU GTX1060 6GB Asus $429
Motherboard Asus B250M Pro 4 $119
Memory Corsair 16GB 2400 $155
SSD Samsung 500GB $229
Chassis Corsair 100R $74
Power supply Corsair RM650 $165
Wireless WN851ND PCI $19
Monitor XB271HU $979
Keyboard Corsair Vengeance K70 $139
Mouse Corsair Vengeance M65 $84
$2,694

Would the 1060 have enough balls to drive the XB271, or am I better off spending less on the monitor and more on the GPU?

 

[pjgowtham]

I dont think 500gb SSD is a NECESSARY thing
250 would be more than enough as a boot partition
I would suggest you to checkout AMD ryzen 7 series CPUs. I7 7700k is now 299$
THAT PSU IS CRAZY EXPENSIVE ! - I bought EVGA 850 P2 (Platinum Rated ) for 110$
Monitor sells on amazon for a cheaper price - Buy a second hand maybe?
A bit doubtful about your mouse choice. Specify your purpose, i can suggest you one.
wait for vega series of GPU maybe. 1060 sells for ~250$
i think you forgot to put some on your speakers/headphones

 

[rhysiam]

I think you can get a 1070 in your budget. All I've done is dropped to an i5 7500, an MX300 SSD instead of the Samsung, and dropped to a cheaper (but still solid) PSU and that gets you to a GTX 1070, which is a good fit for that nice GSync display.

I haven't added your KB+Mouse+Wifi, but you can do that yourself.

You'll have to check availability on those prices as Australian Partpicker does a terrible job of tracking price changes and availability. But you should be able to find similar components with a bit of shopping around.

You also haven't included Win10 (or other OS?) So that will affect the price if you don't own it already. But for sure the much more capable 1070 should be possible in your budget.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-7500 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($270.00 @ Shopping Express)
Motherboard: ASRock B250M Pro4 Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($119.00 @ IJK)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2666 Memory ($155.00 @ Umart)
Storage: Crucial MX300 525GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($185.00 @ Shopping Express)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 1070 8GB Dual Series Video Card ($575.00 @ Shopping Express)
Case: Corsair 100R ATX Mid Tower Case ($74.00 @ Shopping Express)
Power Supply: Antec High Current Gamer 520W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($99.00 @ Umart)
Total: $1477.00
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-02-28 23:01 AEDT+1100

 

[rhysiam]

RE Ryzen 7, unfortunately AU pricing has the 1700 starting around $460... about 50% more than the i5. When Ryzen 5 (6 core 12 thread) CPUs launch they should be fantastic competition for i5 shoppers, but Ryzen 7 is overbudget for this sort of build. While OP could wait for Ryzen 5, and probably if she/he has a working gaming PC right now and is just upgrading, that would be a good idea. But it could be a couple of months before they launch... who knows.

One additional thought though... the Vega (probably RX 500) series launch event starts in like 6 hours. It would be worth OP waiting (just 6 hours at least!) to see whether AMD can offer a decent competitor to the 1070 in my suggested build above.

 

[blbarclay]

RE Ryzen 7, unfortunately AU pricing has the 1700 starting around $460... about 50% more than the i5. When Ryzen 5 (6 core 12 thread) CPUs launch they should be fantastic competition for i5 shoppers, but Ryzen 7 is overbudget for this sort of build. While OP could wait for Ryzen 5, and probably if she/he has a working gaming PC right now and is just upgrading, that would be a good idea. But it could be a couple of months before they launch... who knows.

One additional thought though... the Vega (probably RX 500) series launch event starts in like 6 hours. It would be worth OP waiting (just 6 hours at least!) to see whether AMD can offer a decent competitor to the 1070 in my suggested build above.

Thanks Rhy.

Do you think the 1070 & XB271HU is a good match? Or is the display (36% of overall budget) overkill?

 

[rhysiam]

Thanks Rhy.

Do you think the 1070 & XB271HU is a good match? Or is the display (36% of overall budget) overkill?

Yes, the 1070 & 27" Gsyc 1440P @ 144hz display are really well matched. You won't be getting too close to 144hz on very high -> ultra settings on demanding games, but that's where Gsync kicks in and keeps things nice and smooth. It also allows you to make a trade off between detail settings and frame rate without having to worry about tearing or hitting vsync targets. A 1060 on the other hand is going to struggle with 1440P and won't really make use of the high frame on that monitor unless you're playing older or less demanding games.

RE monitor budget, that's going to vary depending on who you ask. Ultimately it comes down to what your priorities are. Some people would look at a 2.7K AUD budget and think Ryzen 7/i7 on an OCable platform with good cooling and a 1080/Vega GPU. The problem is that all that hardware is totally and completely wasted if you hook it up to a cheap 1080P @ 60hz display... like so many people do. Given that you'll be spending all your time looking at that display, I tend to think it's a good investment.

I was going to say something Vega (AMD) opening up cheaper FreeSync displays, but I've just realised that the AMD even starting in a few hours is looking like a "preview" of Vega, which they're talking about releasing summer (winter here in Australia). So unless you're planning on waiting a few months, I think the 1070 & 1440P GSync display is the best you can do.

 

[blbarclay]

I think I'll run with the following, welcome any input. Intended use is for shooters and Autocad.

CPU: Intel Core i5-7600 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($295.00 @ Umart)
Motherboard: Asus PRIME B250M-PLUS Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($134.00 @ Umart)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($155.00 @ Umart)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO 250GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($138.99 @ Mwave Australia)
Storage: Western Digital Blue 3TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($130.00 @ IJK)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 1070 8GB Dual Series Video Card ($575.00 @ Centre Com)
Case: Fractal Design Define Mini C MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($125.00 @ IJK)
Power Supply: Corsair RMx 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($165.00 @ IJK)
Wireless Network Adapter: D-Link DWA-548 PCI-Express x1 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi Adapter ($19.00 @ IJK)
Monitor: Acer XB271HU bmiprz 27.0" 2560x1440 165Hz Monitor ($969.00 @ Shopping Express)
Keyboard: Corsair K70 RGB Wired Gaming Keyboard ($179.00 @ Mwave Australia)
Mouse: Corsair M65 PRO RGB FPS Wired Optical Mouse ($85.00 @ Centre Com)
Total: $2969.99
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-03-08 01:47 AEDT+1100

 

[rhysiam]

That'll all work well together. Here's a few optional suggestions:

You don't need anything like a 650W PSU for that build. You have a locked CPU with 65W TDP, and a very efficient GPU. This Corsair modular 450W unit is good quality and provides plenty of power for that build, even if you want to OC the GPU. Plus it's just $85 AU: http://www.shoppingexpress.com.au/buy/corsair-cx450m-80-bronze-450w-atx-power-supply/CP-9020101-AU

Depending on your distance from the router, you might be better off getting a higher quality wireless card. If you can run a cable, do that for sure. I personally haven't had great experience with ultra-budget wifi adapters. Range and throughput is often terrible.
Having said that, you're only spending $20 and it's super easy to swap in a better one if required. So you could make the argument that you may as well start with a cheap and see if it does the job, and if you find you need something better you've only wasted $20, so who cares.
Upgrading might look something like this one: http://www.shoppingexpress.com.au/buy/tp-link-ac1300-wireless-dual-band-pcie-adapter/ArcherT6E

Also bear in mind that for a little under $50 you can more than double the SSD capacity by swapping to a 525GB Crucial MX300 SSD. They're not premium SSDs by any stretch, but they're solid mid range units from an extremely reputable brand. There's nothing wrong with what you've got, I'm just raising it as an option: http://www.shoppingexpress.com.au/buy/crucial-mx300-525gb-sata-internal-ssd/CT525MX300SSD1

Nice build though, should serve you well!

 

[blbarclay]

That'll all work well together. Here's a few optional suggestions:

You don't need anything like a 650W PSU for that build. You have a locked CPU with 65W TDP, and a very efficient GPU. This Corsair modular 450W unit is good quality and provides plenty of power for that build, even if you want to OC the GPU. Plus it's just $85 AU: http://www.shoppingexpress.com.au/buy/corsair-cx450m-80-bronze-450w-atx-power-supply/CP-9020101-AU

Depending on your distance from the router, you might be better off getting a higher quality wireless card. If you can run a cable, do that for sure. I personally haven't had great experience with ultra-budget wifi adapters. Range and throughput is often terrible.
Having said that, you're only spending $20 and it's super easy to swap in a better one if required. So you could make the argument that you may as well start with a cheap and see if it does the job, and if you find you need something better you've only wasted $20, so who cares.
Upgrading might look something like this one: http://www.shoppingexpress.com.au/buy/tp-link-ac1300-wireless-dual-band-pcie-adapter/ArcherT6E

Also bear in mind that for a little under $50 you can more than double the SSD capacity by swapping to a 525GB Crucial MX300 SSD. They're not premium SSDs by any stretch, but they're solid mid range units from an extremely reputable brand. There's nothing wrong with what you've got, I'm just raising it as an option: http://www.shoppingexpress.com.au/buy/crucial-mx300-525gb-sata-internal-ssd/CT525MX300SSD1

Nice build though, should serve you well!

Thanks!

In terms of specification, what's the main benefit to running the more costly wifi adaptor?

 

[rhysiam]

In terms of specification, what's the main benefit to running the more costly wifi adaptor?

Better cards will give you significantly better range, lower latency, cope better in areas with lots of wifi interference, higher bandwidth (i.e. they're faster - if the device you're talking to has a similarly capable network connection) and, in my anecdotal experience, a more reliable connection that doesn't drop out or cause other strange issues.

This is particularly useful if you ever talk to other devices on the network (like you have a NAS, or copy files between computers), or you have very high speed internet. If you only ever use the network for a standard internet connection, AND you're plenty close enough to the router AND there aren't many competing wifi networks in your area, then a cheap adapter will probably work just fine. That's why it might be worth just starting with the cheap one and seeing how you go. It might be just fine and it's pretty easy to fix if you find you need something better.