New PC from scratch (Suggestions?)

[Twinzen]

Hello!

A friend of mine has asked me to pick and build a new PC for him from scratch. He currently only has a laptop, and plays almost exclusively Blizzard games like WoW and HotS and such.

Now with the release of Overwatch he has been getting hiccups and has finally decided that he wants to buy a proper PC for himself, and asked me to help since I've built mine.

I have some ideas for parts but it's been over 3 years since I fully upgraded myself so I'd like to get some suggestions here on what parts are good and optimal. His only real requirement is that he is able to play games like Overwatch and WoW at a steady 60fps without any hiccups, and the budget is somewhere around 1000-1200 euros (or ~1100-1400 US dollars).

Now as I said he needs everything from power supply to a PC case and memory and everything.
I've been doing some surfing and good benchmark GPU/CPU seem to be the GTX 970 & i3-6100 / i5-4690 for optimal but not over the top high-end performance. But I'd love to hear suggestions on any and all components! Thank you in advance!

PS. While I'm posting here, I'd also love to hear of any good budget upgrade to my current R9 280 (not 280X) GPU, as it's likely my bottleneck component atm.

 

[Wayfall]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor (£194.99 @ Overclockers.co.uk)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D15 82.5 CFM CPU Cooler (£67.98 @ Ebuyer)
Motherboard: Asus Z170-A ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (£116.99 @ Overclockers.co.uk)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (4 x 4GB) DDR4-2400 Memory (£65.99 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£69.99 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£39.48 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 970 4GB Video Card (£273.54 @ Amazon UK)
Case: NZXT Phantom 530 (White) ATX Full Tower Case (£84.95 @ Overclockers.co.uk)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA G2 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (£69.47 @ CCL Computers)
Optical Drive: Pioneer BDR-209DBK Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer (£50.72 @ CCL Computers)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 OEM 64-bit
Monitor: Asus PB258Q 25.0" 60Hz Monitor (£255.60 @ Ebuyer)
Total: £1289.70
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-06-06 13:25 BST+0100

I picked the GTX 970 4GB but you could reach for the GTX 980 4GB, GTX 980TI 6GB or R9 390 8GB.

 

[redgarl]

I would play the wait game. New CPUs and GPUs are around the corner and will be available by October.

 

[Wayfall]

I don't buy new tech till its one year old at the very least as the prices on release are just so bloatedly dum. When they do come out they are not worth the stupidly high price tag.

The pc will do fine.

 

[jaytechgaming]

I would play the wait game. New CPUs and GPUs are around the corner and will be available by October.

This or buy a used 970. Prices on these cards used have plummeted. Don't buy new unless you really need it.

 

[Vic 40]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Might want to rethink that one,pounds and euro's are not the same value,pound are more valuable and you are already over budget.Set The pcpartpicker to german (Deutschland) if you want euro's.

 

[Rodrigo_Rosa98]

I've built my PC recently too and I'm no "expertise" but a few changes on the build Wayfall suggested could help:
The CPU could be an Intel Core i5-6500 or 6600, no need to go for the overclocking imo, if it's just for games like those overclocking is just too much, I think, the 6500/6600 already brings a cooler from Intel which is fairly good, no need to spent any money on a cooler too.
The case could be another too, I've that case myself and it's really really good for 1st build, very easy to build things up, top air flow, etc. really good for cable management, I don't know where do you live but in my country this is was 130€ and I think that you could get one more cheap that can make the job too.

Note: Still, care on the case pick cause Asus Z170-A has the same size of my motherboard (Z170 Pro Gaming) and it's a really big. NZXT Phantom 530 is a full tower, take care if you choose a mid tower on the width dimensions.

Power Supply: Well, I don't understand much of these, I just bought a Corsair CX750M Semi-Modular so I don't know, power supply is something you shouldn't try to "cheap" too much. If you find something that you know it's reliable basically same price and full modular then go for it. Really strong point on being fully modular.

Optical Drive: Nobody cares much about optical drives nowadays so just pick: Lite-On DVDRW iHAS124 (17,90€ on my country, with IVA) it's cheap, simple, does the job so...
OS: Ok if you want to buy the OS, there are many options and it depends a bit about what you have available if Win7 it's really cheap where you search then go for it, but if Windows 10 OEM is almost the same price there than I would recommend Windows 10 just because it supports DirectX12 and it really helps a lot on games, just in case your friend wants to start playing other stuff, etc.

Care on the post before too cause it's on pounds. If you wait a bit 970 can be cheaper because GTX 1070 and 1080 just came out.

Try to see what you can get there, shipment prices for things out of the country, etc.

 

[JQB45]

This build is with in your budget.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor (€205.21 @ Mindfactory)
Motherboard: ASRock H170 Pro4 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (€107.89 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Memory: Kingston Savage 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory (€78.89 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (€94.71 @ Mindfactory)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (€48.99 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Video Card: XFX Radeon R9 380X 4GB DD XXX OC Video Card (€224.74 @ Mindfactory)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case (€61.89 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Power Supply: XFX XT 600W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (€62.17 @ Mindfactory)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NSC0 DVD/CD Writer (€14.59 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit (€98.72 @ Mindfactory)
Monitor: LG 27MP37VQ-B 27.0" 60Hz Monitor (€196.00 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Total: €1193.80
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-06-06 15:07 CEST+0200

 

[Wayfall]

Ok updated:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($194.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: Asus Z170-A ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($137.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (4 x 4GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($87.69 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($47.49 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 4GB Video Card ($279.99 @ Best Buy)
Case: Phanteks Enthoo Pro ATX Full Tower Case ($95.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA G2 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($64.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($19.98 @ OutletPC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 OEM 64-bit ($83.89 @ OutletPC)
Monitor: Acer K272HULbmiidp 27.0" 60Hz Monitor ($337.98 @ Directron)
Total: $1430.95
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-06-06 09:12 EDT-0400

 

[Vic 40]

Above,the one from JQB45,looks fine,but i'd rather use one of these psu's,
http://de.pcpartpicker.com/product/2tckcf/xfx-power-supply-xfxts550w
or
http://de.pcpartpicker.com/product/CmMFf7/antec-power-supply-hcg520

 

[JQB45]

Thanks Vic 40

 

[sookut]

http://pcpartpicker.com/list/VB9fr7

 

[Vic 40]

PS. While I'm posting here, I'd also love to hear of any good budget upgrade to my current R9 280 (not 280X) GPU, as it's likely my bottleneck component atm.

It would be better to start a different thread for that,but i don't think there's a good "budget" upgrade for that.Depends on what you call "budget".If the possibility is there,looking at the psu and motherboard probably also cpu,could you think about crossfire and get a second used one.


@JQB45,

you're welcome.


@Twinzen,

if your friend also needs a new keyboard+mouse could you look at these for a lower budget,
http://pcpartpicker.com/products/compare/cooler-master-keyboard-sgb3010kkmf1us,cooler-master-keyboard-sgb3020kkmf1us/

 

[Twinzen]

Thank you all so much for your inputs and suggestions, this has helped me a lot!

I put together a test build that looks like this:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($194.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($24.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z170-HD3 DDR3 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($104.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Black 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($52.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($87.69 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($47.49 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 4GB Video Card ($279.99 @ Best Buy)
Case: Phanteks Enthoo Pro ATX Full Tower Case ($99.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA GS 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($65.98 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($16.88 @ OutletPC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit ($83.89 @ OutletPC)
Monitor: BenQ GL2460HM 24.0" 60Hz Monitor ($131.49 @ Newegg)
Total: $1191.26
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-06-06 13:52 EDT-0400


Now few questions that I'd like to ask about certain components.

1. I picked Z170 but H170 would probably be sufficient since no overclocking will be done, just didn't find any good on the list.
2. I have very little clue about RAM and just picked something that looked good, is there a big difference in the clock speedsand such? All I know is that 16gb is probably something he will want.
3. What is the difference in reliability in Western Digital and Samsung Barracuda? I've always bought Samsung HDD's for myself but everyone seems to be suggesting WD as the HDD.
4. Case: Full Tower vs Mid Tower? I picked full to be safe and the case looked good.
5. Any difference in bronze/silver/gold certification in PSU? I assumed gold is best and picked that one. Is 550W enough for this setup?

 

[Rodrigo_Rosa98]

3. - WD is more known and I think people dropped Seagate cause it had some problems before (before the Barracuda HDD), I guess it's cause WD offers more options for what you prefer (blue, black, etc) it depends on preference. I don't remember now what each WD version offers.
4. - Full then, it allows more upgrades in future too.
5. - Gold is best yes. I don't remember now a website I used to pick parts and it showed the power supply needed too, either way I think 550W is enough but if you want to upgrade it in the future using more slots you might want a more powerfull psu. Google power supply calculator and you can check it there, I've used your components and it said ~380W needed.

 

[Vic 40]

I wouldn't use a ddr3 board with that cpu,get a motherboard that supports ddr4 and get ddr4 ram.It's okay to use aZ170 board even when not overclocking,it will support higher speed ram and it will make it possible to run all cores at max turbo speed instead of two.
The cpu's memory controller isn't really meant to handle ram with a voltage over 1.35V so that's the reason why you want ddr4 ram and a motherboard to match.Or you must find low voltage ddr3 ram= <1.35v ,but i would just go for what i mentioned before.

The rest looks good to me.

 

[Twinzen]

3. - WD is more known and I think people dropped Seagate cause it had some problems before (before the Barracuda HDD), I guess it's cause WD offers more options for what you prefer (blue, black, etc) it depends on preference. I don't remember now what each WD version offers.
4. - Full then, it allows more upgrades in future too.
5. - Gold is best yes. I don't remember now a website I used to pick parts and it showed the power supply needed too, either way I think 550W is enough but if you want to upgrade it in the future using more slots you might want a more powerfull psu. Google power supply calculator and you can check it there, I've used your components and it said ~380W needed.

Alright I'll check up on the WD versions, thanks.
I just actually checked the size difference on Full vs Mid towers and it's pretty big o_o I'll have to ask my friend on what he thinks will suit him better.
Yeah I checked the calculator and 550W seems to be well enough.

I wouldn't use a ddr3 board with that cpu,get a motherboard that supports ddr4 and get ddr4 ram.It's okay to use aZ170 board even when not overclocking,it will support higher speed ram and it will make it possible to run all cores at max turbo speed instead of two.
The cpu's memory controller isn't really meant to handle ram with a voltage over 1.35V so that's the reason why you want ddr4 ram and a motherboard to match.Or you must find low voltage ddr3 ram= <1.35v ,but i would just go for what i mentioned before.

The rest looks good to me.

Right, DDR4 it is, will update the list when I have time, thanks for the reply!

 

[JQB45]

I think you have a good build, just change the motherboard to one that supports DDR4-2133 and update your RAM selection and you should be good to go as recommended above. The DDR4-2133 I recommended in my design has a CAS rating of 13 which is as low as you can go with DDR4-2133 before you really start to spend extra money.

Memory: Kingston Savage 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory (€78.89 @ Amazon Deutschland)