Need Expert Assistance with Gaming PC Build

[Rhaegyn]

Hello TH Community, 

I am currently looking to build a new primary gaming /media PC and given that the new Ryzen CPU's and other budget performance components have been released since I last did this, I would like to reach out to the community of experts to get their advisement on going forward with which components to purchase considering the following:

- Budget $1500-$2k max > please provide the very best performance gaming build within this budget

- AMD Ryzen looks very attractive for performance PC builds at the moment so I'm currently leaning towards that for a CPU , but both AMD and Intel CPU recommendations are acceptable 

- Please provide a direct link using PC part picker (or equivalent tool) to show exact components for your suggested build. 

- Case will be a small/mid size tower (interested in tempered glass towers/windowed cases).

- Please only provide suggestions if you're experienced with PC builds and current with performance hardware yourself. 

- Upon posting your suggestions, please give a brief description on why you selected the performance components you did. 

- Additionally, provide any suggestions you have for monitors to fit within (or just slightly out of) this budget.

Thank you all in advance for taking the time to assist me in this build, as I can assure you that it's much appreciated. 

 

[Justiceinacan]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i7-7700K 4.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($334.98 @ NCIX US)
CPU Cooler: be quiet! - Dark Rock 3 67.8 CFM Fluid Dynamic Bearing CPU Cooler ($74.90 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Asus - PRIME Z270-A ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($159.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Corsair - Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($135.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Samsung - 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($107.99 @ B&H)
Storage: Seagate - Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($59.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: EVGA - GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 11GB SC Black Edition Video Card ($719.99 @ B&H)
Case: NZXT - S340 (White) ATX Mid Tower Case ($64.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA - SuperNOVA G3 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1728.81
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-05-16 17:27 EDT-0400

If you wanna take it to liquid or add more storage or something, you have room for playing around.

I'd pick the i7 because of it's unmatched single core performance and good multithreaded performance ; Ryzen won't match it in individual/quad-core performance which matters most in gaming
16 GB RAM because most games will use it and it's not outrageously priced
1080Ti is an amazing card, but if you're on 1080p or 1200p then get a 1070 or regular 1080, ti is overkill.
Dark rock 3 and ASUS z270-A should be fine for an overclock, won't need more unless you like extreme stuff.
Dunno how much storage you wanted but I think 2 tb mass storage and a 250GB SSD for frequented software sounds nice.

 

[Herc08]

I know people will flame me for not using Ryzen. don't get me wrong, Ryzen is an awesome chip, but it's still in it's infancy stage. I'd say wait at least six months until AMD can make some more improvements. Also, another thing that concerns me is the fact that Ryzen has no iGPU on the chip, maybe that's a personal opinion, but that's how I feel. So a Ryzen 7 and X379(even B350) will work in this build, but because I trust Intel I will provide that as well.

I did not include monitors, because not sure what size you are wanting. But expect to pay up to $7000 for a monitor. Both builds will be the same, but the motherboard and chip. Also realize that not all cooler makers include AM4+ chips. SSD is always good for loading up the OS and some games. The 1TB is there for all that extra storage. 16GB should be enough, but can be upgraded to 32 in the future. and 650watts is pretty much all you need, plus more. The 1080Ti is a beat in itself and will demolish any thing you throw it. It can pretty much play any game at 4K at 60fps.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i7-7700K 4.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($328.79 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Noctua - NH-D15 82.5 CFM CPU Cooler ($87.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Asus - PRIME Z270-A ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($149.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Team - Dark 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($99.88 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Samsung - 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($107.88 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Western Digital - Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($48.88 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Asus - GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 11GB STRIX GAMING Video Card ($768.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Corsair - 200R ATX Mid Tower Case ($58.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: EVGA - SuperNOVA G3 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1721.28
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-05-16 17:25 EDT-0400


---------------------ryzen is below------------------------

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 7 1700X 3.4GHz 8-Core Processor ($335.64 @ Jet)
CPU Cooler: Noctua - NH-D15 82.5 CFM CPU Cooler ($87.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Asus - PRIME X370-PRO ATX AM4 Motherboard ($149.49 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Corsair - Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($126.94 @ Amazon)
Storage: Samsung - 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($107.88 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Western Digital - Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($48.88 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Asus - GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 11GB STRIX GAMING Video Card ($768.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Corsair - 200R ATX Mid Tower Case ($58.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: EVGA - SuperNOVA G3 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1754.69
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-05-16 17:32 EDT-0400

 

[Rhaegyn]

Thank you for your quick replies. I noticed that both (and most others) tend to suggest the Samsung 850 Evo for the SSD, but what about NVMe/M2 performance SSD's? Although you'd probably know better than me, don't NVMe/M2 SSD's perform better (are overall faster) than the 2.5 form factor SSDs? Due to SSDs being one of the single most important components in your system for performance, I want to make sure that I spare no expense on this component.

- The size of the SSD can be small, as it will only be used for games/a few apps, and everything else will be put on a HDD storage drive.

 

[Herc08]

Yes and no. It will only be useful when copying data from say a USB 3.0 to the M.2. But being that you probably will never truly take advantage of NVMe, there is no point in paying more when the 850 EVO will give you the similar results. That's just my 3 cents. Unless you plan on transferring 5GB files on a daily basis, a 250GB SSD should be good enough.

I caught a 500GB on sale ($115) and was lucky enough to have it. I render my videos on my SSD (faster that way), and then I copy them over to my hard drive. I could go the M.2 slot, but it isn't worth it.

 

[Justiceinacan]

SSD is not nearly as big of an impact on performance as other components so don't fret over it too much.

Yes, M.2 SSDs tend to be better than SATA SSDs but only a few come far enough in front of the pack to justify it.

An SSD will reduce your load time in singleplayer games due to the faster read speed vs. say, a hard drive, but after everything's loaded it's all on the CPU, GPU and RAM. SSD will also load Windows in like less than 8 seconds. Keep in mind I'm mainly citing my 850 EVO here.

 

[Herc08]

I have to agree, my 750 EVO can boot Windows 10 in 8.5 seconds, but that's because I had fast boot enabled as well. So imgainge getting the 850. You can go for the 960 (M.2), but in my book, it's not worth it.

 

[Isokolon]

My suggestion certainly isn't the best value ever to be seen but I think it got some interesting things:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 1600X 3.6GHz 6-Core Processor ($247.88 @ OutletPC)
CPU Cooler: CRYORIG - R1 Universal 76.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($88.49 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Asus - PRIME X370-PRO ATX AM4 Motherboard ($149.49 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Corsair - Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($136.99 @ Best Buy)
Storage: Samsung - 960 EVO 250GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($127.99 @ B&H)
Storage: Samsung - 850 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($159.99 @ B&H)
Storage: Seagate - Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($69.89 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Gigabyte - GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 11GB Gaming OC 11G Video Card ($683.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Anidees - AI-07BW ATX Desktop Case ($100.00)
Power Supply: SeaSonic - PRIME Gold 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($113.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $1878.70
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-05-16 17:49 EDT-0400

Went with a Ryzen 1600X. Not as fast as the 7700k but those extra cores might come handy sometime and is able to deliver plenty of frames still while outperforming the i7 in any editing task.
Paired it with a Asus motherboard, trusted quality. Nothing too fancy but not cheaping out on the board either.
The cooler was for looks and silence. You can of course also pick a BeQuiet Dark Rock Pro if you like it better (not quite as good at cooling but very potent still and might be a bit quieter) or a Scythe Mugen Max (half of the price of the Cryorig, not as stylish but as potent)
RAM - I'm a fan of low profile RAM as you don't have to worry about coolers. Went for the white sticks for aesthetic purposes.
The 1080Ti for 4k Displays, otherwise downgrade to a 1080 (2k) or a 1070 (1080p)
Packed in an ultra fast M2 ssd for the OS and some key software, a larger SATA SSD for software that can make use of it (drop it if not needed) and an HDD for general storage.
SSDs are all Samsung and good quality.
Case -- I went for a smaller case and a cubic formed for that matter. Anidees is a pretty nice brand imo and the quality is good. I like the cube form as it isn't as tall as a mid tower / full tower but still offers plenty of space. This specific one features a 200mm fan front (which I love in my tower case. 200mm intakes are the best if you don't need high pressure) and good overall airflow.
Comes with dust filters and a big window (a tempered glass side would have been preferred I know but you can't get everything I guess). Supports a 5'25 drive if you need one and has 240mm radiator support.
The design is simple yet not totally boring.
For the PSU I went with Seasonic's new Prime line up, trusted brand, new series. Fantastic.
I went with the 750W not because you'll need it (550-650 would do a fine job) but rather to keep noise levels at a minimum (unless under heavy gaming load it should run without a fan).

Hope there were some bits for you in this