Question Upgradable Starting 1080p/2k VR Build (Please Review)

[JackNeedsAPC]

PCPartPicker Part List

Type|Item|Price
:----|:----|:----
CPU | Intel - Core i3-8100 3.6 GHz Quad-Core Processor | $129.99 @ Amazon
Motherboard | ASRock - Z390 Extreme4 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard | $154.89 @ OutletPC
Memory | Team - T-Force Vulcan 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory | $79.99 @ Newegg
Storage | Intel - 660p Series 512 GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive | $60.99 @ Amazon
Video Card | Zotac - GeForce GTX 1060 6GB 6 GB Video Card | $199.99 @ Newegg
Case | Corsair - Air 540 ATX Full Tower Case | $115.53 @ Amazon
Power Supply | Corsair - RMx (2018) 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply | $109.99 @ Amazon
| Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts |
| Total (before mail-in rebates) | $876.37
| Mail-in rebates | -$25.00
| Total | $851.37
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-04-29 00:31 EDT-0400 |

After days and days of research I have settled on this as my entry level build. Ive seen lots of budget builds, but none for the sole purpose for upgrading in mind.

I went with this full tower because it was the best looking, best air flow within that price range. plus down the road i want room to grow and water cool if i decide to do that.

I want to game at 1080/2k at 60+ fps with VR and I think this will get the job done for now.

I plan on upgrading my CPU/GPU in about 6 months to a year to i7/i9 and 2080 depending on price per performance (but that's more research). I just wanted to get you guy's thoughts. How well do you think it will perform and are their any glaring mistakes?

 

[Lucky_SLS]

Changed it a bit :

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel - Core i3-8100 3.6 GHz Quad-Core Processor ($129.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock - Z390 Phantom Gaming 6 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($161.88 @ Amazon)
Memory: Team - T-Force Vulcan 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: HP - EX900 500 GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($64.89 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Asus - Radeon RX 580 8 GB AREZ Dual OC Video Card ($169.99 @ Newegg Business)
Case: Cooler Master - MasterBox MB520 RGB ATX Mid Tower Case ($79.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Corsair - HX Platinum 750 W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $786.72
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-04-29 02:43 EDT-0400

 

[JackNeedsAPC]

Changed it a bit :

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel - Core i3-8100 3.6 GHz Quad-Core Processor ($129.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock - Z390 Phantom Gaming 6 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($161.88 @ Amazon)
Memory: Team - T-Force Vulcan 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: HP - EX900 500 GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($64.89 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Asus - Radeon RX 580 8 GB AREZ Dual OC Video Card ($169.99 @ Newegg Business)
Case: Cooler Master - MasterBox MB520 RGB ATX Mid Tower Case ($79.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Corsair - HX Platinum 750 W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $786.72
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-04-29 02:43 EDT-0400

Thanks for looking it over.
I'm curious why you made the changes you did?
I guess I should of mentioned a few reasons for my choices.

I went with the full tower because it was the best looking, best air flow within that price range. plus down the road i want room to grow and water cool if i decide to do that.

I will do some research into the radeon you chose vs the nvidia, but curious what your thoughts are.

I don't know much about SSD's but I guess i missed that HP one, is it true that M.2's rob bandwidth on the mobo from other things?

good find on the power supply though, will definitely swap that!

 

[JackNeedsAPC]

Thanks for looking it over.
I'm curious why you made the changes you did?
I guess I should of mentioned a few reasons for my choices.

I went with the full tower because it was the best looking, best air flow within that price range. plus down the road i want room to grow and water cool if i decide to do that.

I will do some research into the radeon you chose vs the nvidia, but curious what your thoughts are.

I don't know much about SSD's but I guess i missed that HP one, is it true that M.2's rob bandwidth on the mobo from other things?

good find on the power supply though, will definitely swap that!

I also remember why I chose an nvidia over the radeon and it was because gysnc and which monitor I'm going to eventually get.

 

[Lucky_SLS]

The ssd has better ratings and performance compared to the 660p.

The phantom gaming 6 and extreme 4 is almost the same, but the gaming 6 has more headers/connectors.

If you want to do a custom loop down the line, look at the lian li pc o11 dynamic.

 

[JJoner]

You dont need an m.2 drive for gaming. And if you really want one the 660p is still really fast. There is no fps gain unless you run out of RAM but at that point you're screwed anyways, and you won't run out with 16 gb. The load times are only single digit percentages faster than a sata ssd, same with boot times.

 

[JackNeedsAPC]

You dont need an m.2 drive for gaming. And if you really want one the 660p is still really fast. There is no fps gain unless you run out of RAM but at that point you're screwed anyways, and you won't run out with 16 gb. The load times are only single digit percentages faster than a sata ssd, same with boot times.

Ya ive seen that from my research, I found a1tb 660p for 109 bucks so i figured why not snag it? It's not the best ssd out there but it's Intel still and I'm not looking for anything crazy considering it's just for gaming.
Do you think it's a dumb choice to get that for other reasons or the 660 will do just fine with the added benefit of nvme?

 

[JackNeedsAPC]

The ssd has better ratings and performance compared to the 660p.

The phantom gaming 6 and extreme 4 is almost the same, but the gaming 6 has more headers/connectors.

If you want to do a custom loop down the line, look at the lian li pc o11 dynamic.

Gotcha. Thx for the input. Appreciate it!

 

[g-unit1111]

You don't need a Z390 for an i3-8100. You could get a much less expensive motherboard like an H370 would be fine. But honestly at that price range I'd much prefer a Ryzen 2600 / 2700 but that is my personal preference.

 

[JackNeedsAPC]

You don't need a Z390 for an i3-8100. You could get a much less expensive motherboard like an H370 would be fine. But honestly at that price range I'd much prefer a Ryzen 2600 / 2700 but that is my personal preference.

I'm preparing for the future, I'm going to upgrade to an i9 soon (6 months or so) so I didn't wanna pay for a mobo twice. i felt that one was the best bang for my buck and would last a few years.

 

[JackNeedsAPC]

Ok, so I swapped a few things and I think this is pretty close to my final build. Thanks for the comments and help, I'm still open to changing though, untill I buy, which will be in about a month.

Realized the case might be too small, changed that.
went with a 1TB nvme drive
and changed the PSU

I will be checking the forums daily and if once I'm ready to purchase will re-check just to make sure prices and components still are up to snuff.

PCPartPicker Part List: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/m4VMsZ

CPU: Intel - Core i3-8100 3.6 GHz Quad-Core Processor ($129.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock - Z390 Extreme4 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($158.98 @ Newegg Business)
Memory: Team - T-Force Vulcan 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Intel - 660p Series 1 TB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($109.89 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Zotac - GeForce GTX 1060 6GB 6 GB Video Card ($199.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair - Air 740 ATX Full Tower Case ($149.99 @ B&H)
Power Supply: Corsair - HX Platinum 750 W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($119.89 @ OutletPC)
Total: $948.72
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-04-30 21:16 EDT-0400

 

[g-unit1111]

I'm preparing for the future, I'm going to upgrade to an i9 soon (6 months or so) so I didn't wanna pay for a mobo twice. i felt that one was the best bang for my buck and would last a few years.

Buying parts for future use I feel is usually not the best way to go about doing things, because by the time it's all said and done, you will spend way more money than you originally planned on spending and you'll have a whole drawer full of parts that you'll never use. I always feel that the best approach is to buy once and be done with it, then to buy and keep upgrading. If you're going to be using an i9, you would be much better off planning and saving your money for that, than you would if you're going to be using an i3 and then upgrading to an i9.

Look at it this way - that $130 that you would be spending on buying that i3 now, would easily go toward paying for an i9. If you buy the i3 now, and buy the i9 later, chances are that you won't be able to sell that i3 later on, and you'll be stuck with it.

 

[JackNeedsAPC]

Buying parts for future use I feel is usually not the best way to go about doing things, because by the time it's all said and done, you will spend way more money than you originally planned on spending and you'll have a whole drawer full of parts that you'll never use. I always feel that the best approach is to buy once and be done with it, then to buy and keep upgrading. If you're going to be using an i9, you would be much better off planning and saving your money for that, than you would if you're going to be using an i3 and then upgrading to an i9.

Look at it this way - that $130 that you would be spending on buying that i3 now, would easily go toward paying for an i9. If you buy the i3 now, and buy the i9 later, chances are that you won't be able to sell that i3 later on, and you'll be stuck with it.

I agree 100%, however that will inflate my price considerably. I knew going into this that some money would have to be wasted. I tried to limit that buy spending money on the parts that would last the longest, ie..Case, mobo, psu, ram, ssd. My idea PC would cost me about 2k right now, and I can't justify that much all at once unfortunately. I also did not mention that I am buying 2 of these, one for me and my wife. I might end up buying slightly better parts when the time comes to actually plop down the cash though, its hard to tell. I appreciate the input very much and will think on it.

 

[g-unit1111]

I agree 100%, however that will inflate my price considerably. I knew going into this that some money would have to be wasted. I tried to limit that buy spending money on the parts that would last the longest, ie..Case, mobo, psu, ram, ssd. My idea PC would cost me about 2k right now, and I can't justify that much all at once unfortunately. I also did not mention that I am buying 2 of these, one for me and my wife. I might end up buying slightly better parts when the time comes to actually plop down the cash though, its hard to tell. I appreciate the input very much and will think on it.

OK yeah if you're buying two of these then I can see where you would want to save money. One question I would have is are you in the US and do you live near a Micro Center? Because if you do then you can save money on the motherboard and CPU combo and get something much better than an i3-8100 for less money than you would if you want to buy them separately.

 

[JackNeedsAPC]

OK yeah if you're buying two of these then I can see where you would want to save money. One question I would have is are you in the US and do you live near a Micro Center? Because if you do then you can save money on the motherboard and CPU combo and get something much better than an i3-8100 for less money than you would if you want to buy them separately.

Yes, I'm in SoCal. I will definitely have to look one up then, maybe they will have some monitors I can look at before I start going down that rabbit hole lol.

 

[g-unit1111]

Yes, I'm in SoCal. I will definitely have to look one up then, maybe they will have some monitors I can look at before I start going down that rabbit hole lol.

The So Cal one is in Tustin. I picked up my Ryzen 2600 / B450 for less than $300. Worth the drive if you ask me.