Comments on First Mid-Range Budget Build

Danigar · Oct 11, 2016

Hi, I've been around this forum asking for help on my first ever gaming build and I finally compiled a list of the parts. My budget is around $600 and is mainly to play at 1080p. I've been debating on i3-6100 vs i5 and in GTX 1060 or RX 480 and 3GB vs 6GB vs 4GB, it's been exhausting! But I think this list reflects the best I can get under $700

I'm more of a casual gamer and it may be a little overkill for my needs but there's always a couple of AAA demanding games that I'm interested in and would love to be able to play them with high settings without problems (Tomb Raider and The Witcher 3 are two of them) plus a little future-proofing. Here's the link to the part list, any comments on what should I change or suggestions are very welcomed

http://pcpartpicker.com/list/FPHR4C

CTurbo · Oct 11, 2016

I already had this list made out and it's relevant to what you're looking for

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($197.88 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Asus B150M-A/M.2 Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($65.38 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($37.98 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($49.49 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 1060 3GB 3GB SC GAMING Video Card ($203.00 @ B&H)
Case: Cooler Master N400 ATX Mid Tower Case ($36.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: SeaSonic 520W 80+ Bronze Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $640.71
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-10-10 23:48 EDT-0400

Switching to the 6GB version puts it a tad over $700 before rebates.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($197.88 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Asus B150M-A/M.2 Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($65.38 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($37.98 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($49.49 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB 6GB GAMING Video Card ($249.99 @ B&H)
Case: Cooler Master N400 ATX Mid Tower Case ($36.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: SeaSonic 520W 80+ Bronze Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $687.70
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-10-11 00:56 EDT-0400

FD2Raptor · Oct 11, 2016

As a long term build with BLCK OC capable MB and a case that can be both cool and quiet:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6400 2.7GHz Quad-Core Processor ($174.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock B150 GAMING K4/HYPER ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($93.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Black 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($37.50 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($49.89 @ Directron)
Video Card: MSI Radeon RX 480 4GB GAMING X Video Card ($204.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Fractal Design Define S ATX Mid Tower Case ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: SeaSonic 520W 80+ Bronze Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $671.33
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-10-11 02:04 EDT-0400

Base Total: $698.34
Mail-in Rebates: -$30.00
Shipping: $2.99
Total: $671.33

BadActor · Oct 11, 2016

FD2Raptor :

You would need to use an aftermarket CPU cooler faster RAM in order to overclock the CPU as the RAM is overclocked along with the CPU. I would also recommend using a dual channel setup.

Danigar · Oct 11, 2016

Thank you for the replies and suggestions. Those seem like good alternatives. But so you mean that I need to OC the 6400 or 6500 to get good performance? One of my main questions when considering this build is the difference in performance of a i5-6400 vs an i5-6500. I'm willing to compromise and get the cheaper option if there's not a big difference or bottleneck problems. I wasn't planning on OCing, I wanted to keep it as simple as possible and without the need for extra parts that would make me stretch my budget.

CTurbo · Oct 11, 2016

No there is no reason to bother overclocking your cpu. I think the i5 6500 is the sweet spot for bang for buck.

BadActor · Oct 11, 2016

Seconded.

Danigar · Oct 11, 2016

Thanks for clearing that up. As far as the i5-6400, do I lose a lot in performance and future proofing or there's not really a big difference? (Keeping in mind that I would use the PC mostly to play and do basic stuff)

CTurbo · Oct 11, 2016

I believe the 6500 is worth the small price difference over the 6400.

FD2Raptor · Oct 11, 2016

The 6500 is ~$24 more than the 6400, and if you can actually move the budget up by that much it'd be much better to spend ~$27.49 more to get the Patriot Extreme Performance 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 that would definitely have a much bigger impact on performance than what a mere 300Mhz more maximum turbo boost clock can bring.

You do not need to overclock the i5; it's just there to
a> fulfill your "future-proofing" request
b> keep your options open in a few years time when you may feel the need to upgrade.

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Danigar

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Danigar

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CTurbo

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BadActor

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Danigar

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