Is this a good $1600 build?

[Malek Agha]

My friend wants to build a PC and he asked me to choose the parts for him. His maximum price is $1600. He demanded a 1 terabyte SSD and the Corsair Strafe keyboard in there. This, I think, is the best build I could possibly make for this price range.
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/sJ3nkL

 

[cleanshot911]

The build below far surpasses the one in the original post in processing power. It has an i5 instead of an i7, but if the purpose of this machine is just gaming then this is perfect. If he will be using it primarily for things like photo-editing and recording gameplay and streaming it, or other things of the sort, then an i7 would do him a better service, but this build is an incredibly powerful gaming machine. Just so you know, the processor and motherboard cannot overclock, but at stock settings this cpu can still crush practically any game on the market with the right graphics card to back it up. With this build, you'll be sitting pretty with settings maxed out at 1080p for years to come.

However, if you can convince your friend to get a slightly cheaper mechanical keyboard and a simple 250gb SSD with a 2TB HDD, you'd both save enough money to afford an i7 that can oc (with a matching motherboard), but you might even have saved more money in the end. SSDs are great, but price/performance? I'm not really sure a 1TB SSD is worth the price at this point in time. In a year or two it definitely will be, but they can be pretty expensive. All I'm saying is that his budget could be better allocated to processing power, but if that's not what he wants, then it's up to him. SSDs are great, so at least he'll have fast load times.

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/C8VPbv
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/C8VPbv/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor ($215.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($24.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H170-GAMING 3 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($84.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill NT Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($55.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Mushkin Reactor 1TB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($209.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 980 Ti 6GB ACX 2.0+ Video Card ($599.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Enermax ECA3280A-BL ATX Mid Tower Case ($73.99 @ Directron)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA G2 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($83.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($18.89 @ OutletPC)
Case Fan: Rosewill RFA-120-BL 74.5 CFM 120mm Fan ($7.89 @ OutletPC)
Monitor: Acer H236HLbid 60Hz 23.0" Monitor ($119.99 @ Best Buy)
Keyboard: Corsair STRAFE Wired Gaming Keyboard ($89.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $1586.58
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-04-10 19:15 EDT-0400

 

[Malek Agha]

The build below far surpasses the one in the original post in processing power. It has an i5 instead of an i7, but if the purpose of this machine is just gaming then this is perfect. If he will be using it primarily for things like photo-editing and recording gameplay and streaming it, or other things of the sort, then an i7 would do him a better service, but this build is an incredibly powerful gaming machine. Just so you know, the processor and motherboard cannot overclock, but at stock settings this cpu can still crush practically any game on the market with the right graphics card to back it up. With this build, you'll be sitting pretty with settings maxed out at 1080p for years to come.

However, if you can convince your friend to get a slightly cheaper mechanical keyboard and a simple 250gb SSD with a 2TB HDD, you'd both save enough money to afford an i7 that can oc (with a matching motherboard), but you might even have saved more money in the end. SSDs are great, but price/performance? I'm not really sure a 1TB SSD is worth the price at this point in time. In a year or two it definitely will be, but they can be pretty expensive. All I'm saying is that his budget could be better allocated to processing power, but if that's not what he wants, then it's up to him. SSDs are great, so at least he'll have fast load times.

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/C8VPbv
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/C8VPbv/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor ($215.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($24.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H170-GAMING 3 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($84.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill NT Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($55.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Mushkin Reactor 1TB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($209.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 980 Ti 6GB ACX 2.0+ Video Card ($599.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Enermax ECA3280A-BL ATX Mid Tower Case ($73.99 @ Directron)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA G2 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($83.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($18.89 @ OutletPC)
Case Fan: Rosewill RFA-120-BL 74.5 CFM 120mm Fan ($7.89 @ OutletPC)
Monitor: Acer H236HLbid 60Hz 23.0" Monitor ($119.99 @ Best Buy)
Keyboard: Corsair STRAFE Wired Gaming Keyboard ($89.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $1586.58
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-04-10 19:15 EDT-0400

Wait, the i7 has a k at the end of it which means it can OC right?

 

[cleanshot911]

Yes, the i7 in your build can OC. The i5 in mine cannot because it is not a K model. If you'd like to add $30 to the budget or can find $30 by getting cheaper keyboard and case for instance, then you could get the overclockable version of the i5 6600 (the i5 6600k) but you'd also need a motherboard that can OC, such as a Z170. I don't believe that H170 motherboards can OC, but I could be wrong on that.

 

[okcnaline]

He demanded a 1 terabyte SSD and the Corsair Strafe keyboard in there.

What's the build for?

 

[Malek Agha]

So what are the negatives of my build?

 

[okcnaline]

It depends on what this build is for.

 

[cleanshot911]

okcnaline is right it does depend on what the purpose of the build is. If it's for gaming, then you'll want to take some of the budget for the cpu and put it into getting a nice gpu like I did for my build. If he's building more of a workstation, then cpu processing power is more of a priority. And I also do have to wonder why he feels that a 1TB SSD is necessary when it I don't recall it being a necessity for any specific task or process, more so for a generally improved experience.

 

[Geekwad]

You can always split the difference, sort of, with this:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1230 V5 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($252.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: Asus E3 PRO GAMING V5 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($145.00 @ Amazon)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($61.88 @ OutletPC)
Storage: PNY CS1311 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($59.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: PNY CS1311 480GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($109.99 @ Best Buy)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 980 Ti 6GB ACX 2.0+ Video Card ($599.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Thermaltake Versa H22 Window ATX Mid Tower Case ($42.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA P2 650W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($74.99 @ NCIX US)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($18.89 @ OutletPC)
Monitor: Acer H236HLbid 60Hz 23.0" Monitor ($119.99 @ Best Buy)
Keyboard: Corsair STRAFE Wired Gaming Keyboard ($89.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $1576.69
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

The processor will more than capably handle the 980ti, and with 8-thread performance they'll have no issues with streaming, recording, multitasking while gaming, etc.

EDIT: Oh, and I'd really recommend having the OS and programs on one SSD, and then games and media on another.