Help my Surprise my Dad - Value Build Advice

AndyZ1983 · Jul 29, 2016

Hi Everyone,

My dad just retired and finally has the time to enjoy his hobbies. Some of those hobbies are related to computers and include:
- gaming at 1080p
- professional autocad and solidworks (he was an engineer)
- photo editing

Its my first time trying my hand at a custom build so I am certain there are areas that can be improved. The PSU, display, and case are the items I was most uncertain of. I've used partpicker to outline the first draft of my build, your expert advice will be well received!

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($254.93 @ Vuugo)
Motherboard: MSI H110M Gaming Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($84.99 @ NCIX)
Memory: Crucial 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($69.99 @ NCIX)
Storage: A-Data Premier SP550 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($69.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($62.95 @ Vuugo)
Video Card: MSI Radeon RX 480 8GB Video Card ($329.99 @ NCIX)
Case: Deepcool TESSERACT SW ATX Mid Tower Case ($44.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA GS 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($104.99 @ Amazon Canada)
Monitor: Acer H236HLbid 23.0" 60Hz Monitor ($184.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Total: $1207.81
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-07-29 23:22 EDT-0400

Thanks so much!

BadActor · Jul 29, 2016

That's a good budget build. You could save a little on the PSU, you only need 500 watts.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($254.25 @ Vuugo)
Motherboard: MSI H110M Gaming Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($84.99 @ NCIX)
Memory: Crucial 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($69.99 @ NCIX)
Storage: A-Data Premier SP550 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($69.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($62.95 @ Vuugo)
Video Card: MSI Radeon RX 480 8GB Video Card ($329.99 @ NCIX)
Case: Deepcool TESSERACT SW ATX Mid Tower Case ($44.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12II 520W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($79.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Monitor: Acer H236HLbid 23.0" 60Hz Monitor ($184.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Total: $1182.13
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-07-29 23:52 EDT-0400

CTurbo · Jul 30, 2016

Better motherboard for cheaper

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($254.25 @ Vuugo)
Motherboard: ASRock H170A-X1/3.1 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($74.98 @ NCIX)
Memory: Crucial 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($69.99 @ NCIX)
Storage: A-Data Premier SP550 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($69.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($62.95 @ Vuugo)
Video Card: MSI Radeon RX 480 8GB Video Card ($329.99 @ NCIX)
Case: Deepcool TESSERACT SW ATX Mid Tower Case ($44.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12II 520W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($79.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Monitor: Acer H236HLbid 23.0" 60Hz Monitor ($184.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Total: $1172.12
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-07-30 00:04 EDT-0400

AndyZ1983 · Jul 30, 2016

Thanks!
Good advice so far.

Anyone available to weigh in on the Monitor?