[SOLVED] Seeking advice for a ~$700 gaming build

vertigoelectric

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I'm helping a friend of mine put together a new gaming PC sometime within the next couple of weeks. I've already picked out some parts that I believe would be good but before we buy anything I wanted to get some more feedback.

First, here are the parts we've chosen so far: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/kYp83b (I used another build I found online as a starting point but have been making adjustments)

Ignore the SSD and unlisted parts. Most of that we can decide on easily or already have. I'm mostly concerned we get the best motherboard/cpu/gpu/ram combination.

So basically what I'm wanting to do is make sure I can "future-proof" this thing as much as possible while staying somewhere in the ballpark of a $700 or so budget. If possible, I'd like to make sure that whatever we decide on will be able to hold up for at least a few years.

This PC will mostly be used for 1080p gaming. My friend would like 4k but I don't see that happening with our budget. Still, if someone can think of a way, I'm sure he'd love that.

The game we've been trying to play recently is ARK: Survival Evolved. It barely runs on his laptop and sometimes not at all. Would be great to run it flawlessly. The Witcher 3 is another.


Oh, he also mentioned that he might be doing some video editing so we want to make sure we have enough RAM for that. I know I've currently only added 8gb to the parts list, and we'll probably want more.

Any and all suggestions are welcome and I am grateful for the feedback!

NOTE: I may update the parts list as suggestions are made
 
Solution
Which would you choose, more RAM or a better GPU?


I would rather do both...

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 2600 3.4 GHz 6-Core Processor ($164.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock - B450 Pro4 ATX AM4 Motherboard ($89.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: G.Skill - Aegis 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($94.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial - MX500 250 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($44.99 @ Adorama)
Video Card: Gigabyte - GeForce GTX 1070 8 GB Windforce OC Video Card ($299.89 @ OutletPC)
Total: $694.85
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker...
For your intended purpose, this should be better overall...

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 2600 3.4 GHz 6-Core Processor ($164.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock - B450 Pro4 ATX AM4 Motherboard ($73.88 @ OutletPC)
Memory: Corsair - Vengeance LPX 8 GB (2 x 4 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($64.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial - MX500 250 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($44.99 @ Adorama)
Video Card: XFX - Radeon RX 580 8 GB GTS XXX ED Video Card ($199.89 @ OutletPC)
Total: $548.74
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-01-24 23:22 EST-0500
 

vertigoelectric

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Thanks for the ultra quick reply!

Hmmmm so what do you think about going with 16gb RAM instead of 8gb? Do you think it would be worth it?
 

vertigoelectric

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Which would you choose, more RAM or a better GPU? I wonder if we could afford to do both. Which GPU would you go with for a better one? As for the RAM, should I just get another 2x4gb of the same Crucial you suggested (total of 16gb)?

We already have a PSU (in box, never used). Should be plenty of wattage. Is there anything other than the wattage that I need to be looking for in a PSU?

Thanks for your help with this, and I appreciate your patience and help with all the questions!

 

logainofhades

Titan
Moderator
You should be fine with that. It's not G2/G3 quality, but it's far from fire hazard/dumpster fire quality. A little over $700, but much better GPU.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 2600 3.4 GHz 6-Core Processor ($164.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock - B450 Pro4 ATX AM4 Motherboard ($87.83 @ Newegg Business)
Memory: Team - Vulcan 8 GB (2 x 4 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($60.88 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Crucial - MX500 500 GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($57.99 @ Adorama)
Video Card: Zotac - GeForce RTX 2060 6 GB GAMING Video Card ($348.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $720.68
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-01-25 15:32 EST-0500
 

vertigoelectric

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What is considered G2/G3 quality?

How do you get that exported list from PCPartPicker? I see the buttons next to the permalink but none of them give me the right format (in fact they're all giving me the same format, which I believe is markdown, so maybe it's bugged).

Anyway, logain, I am really liking your list of parts. That GPU is way better (plus I'm personally kinda partial to Nvidia anyway). Yes it's a bit over 700 but that shouldn't be any problem. I'll see what he says. Thanks!
 

vertigoelectric

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Strange. Once I click one of those buttons, clicking any of the others will give me the same code format as the first one I clicked... until I do a hard refresh of the whole page.
 
Which would you choose, more RAM or a better GPU?


I would rather do both...

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 2600 3.4 GHz 6-Core Processor ($164.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock - B450 Pro4 ATX AM4 Motherboard ($89.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: G.Skill - Aegis 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($94.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial - MX500 250 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($44.99 @ Adorama)
Video Card: Gigabyte - GeForce GTX 1070 8 GB Windforce OC Video Card ($299.89 @ OutletPC)
Total: $694.85
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-01-26 00:21 EST-0500


The EVGA GQ is fine quality... https://linustechtips.com/main/topic/631048-psu-tier-list-updated/
 
Solution

vertigoelectric

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Thanks. So far, though, I'm liking logain's build the most. Not only is does it include an RTX 2060, but it also has a 500gb SSD. As for the extra RAM, we can start with the 8gb for now and get more any time without having to 'switch out' anything.