Need help on first ever set up. ($1000 and lower)

[JackieG8991]

So I live in the US and I never built my own PC before but I have played games on the PC long time with normal computers but I've been wanting to play games like GTA 5 (mostly open world games) and Sims on a nice ultra HD setting but I don't know a lot about CPUs, motherboards, and that fancy stuff. Can anyone please help me pick out a good setup for the type of games I play under $1000? If it's possible? The keyboard and mouse isn't necessary also. I don't know about the monitor. But thank you

 

[BadAsAl]

I started to write a novel on this but there are a lot of guides out there already.
So my advice is go to pcpartpicker.com/list and start a build. You need pretty much everything it asks you to pick for a build that is in blue font except for Software which is optional (this is like Office and such).
I like Intel but AMD is more budget friendly.
Check out others builds and get some ideas for your build.
Once you have a build together, copy the Permalink at the top left of the page and paste it here and we will tell you what we think. Here is mine as an example: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/km88bj
Use passmark.com to check the score of the processors and video cards you are considering (I'd stay above 5000 for each for a decent mid range gaming machine).

This should get you started!

 

[Jeff Kaos]

I just built a higher end gaming PC at your price point and here's a few tips I picked up after doing months of research:

For CPU forget AMD right now. Some time next year they'll be releasing their new Zen chips but how they'll stack up against the current Intel chips and what price point they'll be I don't really know. As for normal PC gaming at high or ultra settings you can stick with an Intel i5 chip. The i7 seems to mostly be for extremely high end gaming and streaming. I went with an i5 6600K. Buying a "K" CPU means you can overclock it and they're usually around $30-$50 more than a non-"K" chip. The caveat is that you also need a "Z" rated motherboard to overclock the chip as well as 3rd part CPU cooler because the "K" chips don't come with one.

I also did a ton of research on motherboards. After all my research I cam to the conclusion that overall ASUS is the best. Their boards consistently get high reviews and ratings from multiple sources.

Another thing is you don't want to skimp on the PSU. When you finally have a build you like post the specs here and the Tom's community will let you know if anything needs to be changed.

If you're planning on doing high to ultra gaming at 1080p then a GTX 1060 or 1070 will do okay. I don't know a thing about Radeon though so you might be able to get something better for a lower price if you research Readeon cards.

For reference here's the specs of the PC I just built last month:

CPU: i5 6600k
RAM: Corsair Vengeance 16GB DDR4 DRAM 3000MHz
MOBO: ASUS Z170 A
GPU: MSI GTX 1070 Gaming X
Case: DIYPC VT380-W
PSU: SeaSonic G Series SSR-550RM 550W 80 PLUS GOLD Certified
OS Drive: SanDisk SSD PLUS 120GB Solid State Drive
Gaming Drive: Seagate 4TB Gaming SSHD(Solid State Hybrid Drive)

This setup has a lot of space so that I can store my entire game library without needing to delete anything. Though I only really have about a dozen games downloaded out of about 300+. The system also pretty much crushes anything I play at ultra settings at 1080p with 60 FPS at least. Most games I play lately are console ports like GTA V and Fallout 4 and they cap out at 60 FPS without mods. I recently picked up the Division and play at ultra settings and have yet to see frames drop below 60 FPS; despite removing the frame limiter it doesn't go any higher either though but I haven't really looked into it.

 

[BadAsAl]

Hey Jeff, liked your post, good info for first timers and even us seasoned builders!
I didn't know about the K not coming with the cooler but pcpartpicker actually warned me when I put the build together. I was impressed! Saved me from missing an important part since the past boxed CPU's I had purchased came with a cooler.