[SOLVED] $750 Upfront, $1400 Long-Term Budget Gaming Build

[pyxell]

Approximate Purchase Date: September 2017

Budget Range: After Rebates, $750 Initial (Additional $650 in January 2018)

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Final Fantasy XIV, single-tab web browsing, occasional Microsoft Office usage

Parts Not Required: Speakers, Monitor

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: NewEgg, Amazon

Country: USA

Parts Preferences: No Preference

Overclocking: Nope

SLI or Crossfire: Single GPU

Monitor Resolution: Unsure, Looking at 2k+

Additional Comments:
I'm a college student, so I'm using some of my scholarship refund this semester to build a PC to play FFXIV with my partner. Don't care if it's quiet, don't care if there's bling, probably won't ever need to overclock it. I just want something that can churn out stable 60+ FPS at a minimum of 1080p for a couple years with minimal fuss.
Looking to get it up and running with an i5 6700k or Ryzen 5 1600 by September 2017, then upgrade the GPU and misc come January 2017.

 

[g-unit1111]

Here you go:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 1500X 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($176.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock - AB350M Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard ($65.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($85.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung - 960 EVO 250GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($127.88 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Western Digital - Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($47.88 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: EVGA - GeForce GTX 1050 Ti 4GB SC GAMING ACX 2.0 Video Card ($154.77 @ OutletPC)
Case: Cooler Master - N200 MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($46.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: SeaSonic - S12II 620W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($47.79 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $754.27
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-07-14 12:02 EDT-0400

Or if you want to go Intel:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i5-7400 3.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($175.28 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte - GA-B250M-DS3H Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($69.89 @ OutletPC)
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($85.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung - 960 EVO 250GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($127.88 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Western Digital - Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($47.88 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: EVGA - GeForce GTX 1050 Ti 4GB SC GAMING ACX 2.0 Video Card ($154.77 @ OutletPC)
Case: Cooler Master - N200 MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($46.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: SeaSonic - S12II 620W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($47.79 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $756.47
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-07-14 12:04 EDT-0400

 

[King Dranzer]

I would recommend you to save money for now without spending it on a startup build add that $650 or even more by Jan and go for a high performance build with new hardware which will probably launch by then. Coffeelake and Volta be out by then go for a solid build with probably Intel i7-8700K and NVIDIA GTX 2080.

 

[pyxell]

@g-unit1111
Thanks so much for the builds! Probably gonna go the Ryzen route. Quick q- is there a particular reason I should go the 3200mHz route for RAM instead of 2400? It seems like the payout would be low if I cap my FPS at 60, I could probably funnel the extra $20 into a better graphics card like the Nvidia GTX 1060-3GB (or 6GB depending on prices when I buy).

 

[pyxell]

@King Dranzer

I was thinking of waiting but tbh I'm not sure any of my usage would ever warrant a high-end i7, though I will be bumping up the graphics card come Jan. As I'm gonna be capping my maximum FPS, so I don't really need a rig that can push me into 150+ FPS.

 

[g-unit1111]

@g-unit1111
Thanks so much for the builds! Probably gonna go the Ryzen route. Quick q- is there a particular reason I should go the 3200mHz route for RAM instead of 2400? It seems like the payout would be low if I cap my FPS at 60, I could probably funnel the extra $20 into a better graphics card like the Nvidia GTX 1060-3GB (or 6GB depending on prices when I buy).

It's mainly for overclocking. Ryzen is proven to be more stable with faster RAM speeds as opposed to anything between 2133 and 3000. Although getting a GTX 1060 for an extra $20 - that ain't happening at the moment. Thank coin miners and the GPU shortage for that one. For a strictly gaming standpoint the i7 is the more superior CPU, but on your budget Ryzen will provide plenty of short and long term upgrade options.

 

[King Dranzer]

It depends on how regularly you upgrade the system. If you plan on upgrading the system in every 2-3Yrs then yes you can get satisfactory results with i5 but if you plan on using the build for 4-5Yrs or more then i7 is recommended and i7 will make a lot of difference for future games.

If you are not in a hurry I would still recommend you to wait and go for a high end build which will last you long without the requirement of an upgrade.

 

[pyxell]

@King Drazner
I replace my electronics every 2-4 years depending on longevity, though I'm definitely going to be building a new rig and passing this one on to a friend in approximately 3 years. So this is just to get me by, with occasional upgrades, until then. I don't mind wasting a couple hundred in the mean time, as I have folks waiting on their raid healer, lol.

 

[pyxell]

@g-unit1111
Thanks! And yeah I'm more looking at overall price drops in each item building into some big change, but after a quick look on ol' Google I'll probably stick to your suggestion and go the 3200 route.

 

[King Dranzer]

@King Drazner
I replace my electronics every 2-4 years depending on longevity, though I'm definitely going to be building a new rig and passing this one on to a friend in approximately 3 years. So this is just to get me by, with occasional upgrades, until then. I don't mind wasting a couple hundred in the mean time, as I have folks waiting on their raid healer, lol.

Well then here is the list:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i7-7700 3.6GHz Quad-Core Processor ($289.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: Asus - PRIME B250M-A Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($65.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Crucial - 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($54.88 @ Amazon)
Storage: Samsung - 960 EVO 250GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($127.88 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: EVGA - GeForce GTX 1050 Ti 4GB ACX 2.0 Video Card ($144.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Fractal Design - Core 2300 ATX Mid Tower Case ($37.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: Corsair - TXM Gold 650W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $781.71
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-07-14 14:54 EDT-0400

Skipped HDD for now. You can add it in few months.

 

[King Dranzer]

Here is the Ryzen Build:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 7 1700 3.0GHz 8-Core Processor ($269.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Asus - PRIME B350-PLUS ATX AM4 Motherboard ($73.98 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung - 960 EVO 250GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($127.88 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: EVGA - GeForce GTX 1050 Ti 4GB ACX 2.0 Video Card ($144.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Fractal Design - Core 2300 ATX Mid Tower Case ($37.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: Corsair - TXM Gold 650W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Other: Crucial Ballistix Tactical 8GB Single DDR4 3000 MT/s (PC4-24000) DIMM 288-Pin Memory - BLT8G4D30AETA ($70.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $785.81
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-07-14 15:07 EDT-0400