$1500 dollar PC build help needed

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ThomasPoleno

Commendable
Jun 29, 2016
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I am building a $1500 dollar gaming PC for my friend and this is what I have cooked up so far
[PCPartPicker part list](https://pcpartpicker.com/list/LCyqtJ) / [Price breakdown by merchant](https://pcpartpicker.com/list/LCyqtJ/by_merchant/)

Type|Item|Price
:----|:----|:----
**CPU** | [AMD - Ryzen 5 1600 3.2GHz 6-Core Processor](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/mV98TW/amd-ryzen-5-1600-32ghz-6-core-processor-yd1600bbaebox) | $209.99 @ Amazon
**Motherboard** | [MSI - B350 TOMAHAWK ATX AM4 Motherboard](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/Y4kwrH/msi-b350-tomahawk-atx-am4-motherboard-b350-tomahawk) | $99.99 @ Amazon
**Memory** | [Corsair - Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/MYH48d/corsair-memory-cmk16gx4m2b3000c15) | $151.99 @ Amazon
**Storage** | [Western Digital - Blue 250GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/smBrxr/western-digital-blue-250gb-m2-2280-solid-state-drive-wds250g1b0b) | $89.99 @ Amazon
**Storage** | [Western Digital - Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/MwW9TW/western-digital-internal-hard-drive-wd10ezex) | $49.99 @ Amazon
**Video Card** | [Zotac - GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 11GB AMP Edition Video Card](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/dHFXsY/zotac-geforce-gtx-1080-ti-11gb-amp-edition-video-card-zt-p10810d-10p) | $739.99 @ Amazon
**Case** | [Phanteks - Enthoo Pro M Tempered Glass ATX Mid Tower Case](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/2mQRsY/phanteks-enthoo-pro-m-tempered-glass-atx-mid-tower-case-ph-es515ptg_bk) |-
**Power Supply** | [Corsair - CSM 550W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/DbqdnQ/corsair-power-supply-cs550m) | $59.99 @ Amazon
| *Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts* |
| **Total** | **$1401.93**
| Generated by [PCPartPicker](http://pcpartpicker.com) 2017-09-10 00:12 EDT-0400 |
He is going to play at 1080p and 144hz. Is this overkill? I feel like it is and I should downgrade the 1080ti to a 1070 and upgrade his ssd and cooler or something, Thoughts?
 
Solution
Shektron
Firstly, since he'll be playing at 144 Hz, it might be a smart choice to wait for Intel's Coffee Lake, because Ryzen's not powerful enough to do high refresh rate. Secondly, yes, the 1080 Ti's a bit overkill, especially if he'll be upgrading the GPU fairly regularly, i.e, within three years or so.

Intel's Coffee Lake i7 will be 6-core 12-thread just like the R5 1600, but with higher clock speed/better IPC. This'll allow your friend to run more games at 144 Hz than with this system. However, Coffee Lake hasn't launched yet, and it's launch date hasn't even been announced, though Intel has hinted it'll be in October(very subtle hints, but hints nonetheless). If you can wait for some time, it might be beneficial. If not, well, Ryzen will...
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elbert

elbert

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Jan 11, 2005
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If your not wanting the motherboard RGB the PC mate is the same design. Get a 960 evo SSD as its much faster also get the 3200 RAM at a better price. The 1080ti being an OC'ed version you should get atleast a 600w. The EVGA is a high quality PSU.
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 1600 3.2GHz 6-Core Processor ($197.08 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: MSI - B350 PC MATE ATX AM4 Motherboard ($71.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair - Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($144.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung - 960 EVO 250GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($117.60 @ B&H)
Storage: Western Digital - Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($45.87 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Zotac - GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 11GB AMP Edition Video Card ($739.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Phanteks - Enthoo Pro M Tempered Glass ATX Mid Tower Case ($107.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA - SuperNOVA G2 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($79.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $1505.48
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-09-10 00:29 EDT-0400
 
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Shektron

Shektron

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May 31, 2017
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Firstly, since he'll be playing at 144 Hz, it might be a smart choice to wait for Intel's Coffee Lake, because Ryzen's not powerful enough to do high refresh rate. Secondly, yes, the 1080 Ti's a bit overkill, especially if he'll be upgrading the GPU fairly regularly, i.e, within three years or so.

Intel's Coffee Lake i7 will be 6-core 12-thread just like the R5 1600, but with higher clock speed/better IPC. This'll allow your friend to run more games at 144 Hz than with this system. However, Coffee Lake hasn't launched yet, and it's launch date hasn't even been announced, though Intel has hinted it'll be in October(very subtle hints, but hints nonetheless). If you can wait for some time, it might be beneficial. If not, well, Ryzen will still play games fine, but the CPU will definitely bottleneck the GPU at 1080p.

As for the GPU, it's best you go for a GTX 1080. For 1080p 144 Hz, it's absolutely enough, and should easily last 3 years, maybe more. With the additional money, consider getting a better storage option as well as a fully modular power supply.

Here's my recommended build, mostly with the above changes:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 1600 3.2GHz 6-Core Processor ($197.08 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: MSI - B350 TOMAHAWK ATX AM4 Motherboard ($99.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Corsair - Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($151.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Samsung - 850 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($139.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate - Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($66.89 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Gigabyte - GeForce GTX 1080 8GB WINDFORCE OC 8G Video Card ($544.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Phanteks - Enthoo Pro M Tempered Glass ATX Mid Tower Case ($107.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA - SuperNOVA G3 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($99.89 @ B&H)
Total: $1408.79
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-09-10 00:35 EDT-0400
 
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Solution
T

ThomasPoleno

Commendable
Jun 29, 2016
29
0
1,530

Is the 1600 strong enough?
 
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T

ThomasPoleno

Commendable
Jun 29, 2016
29
0
1,530


Thank you
 
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elbert

elbert

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Jan 11, 2005
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Sure the 1600 is as its about an equal to 7600k at max overclock. This benchmark was with a 1080 so the 1080ti would put you over 144hz on the most demanding game.
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ingtar33

ingtar33

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Dec 17, 2012
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Then haswell, broadwell and broadwellx or skylakeX aren't fast enough for 144hz. Seriously, some people got to step back a moment and actually look at the benches.

Sidenote, if one of THOSE chips won't hit 144hz, neither will a Kaby or likely even a Coffee lake, seeing as intel seems to have hit a wall with their IPC increases and the Core I design. haswell = broadwell = skylakex (which is basically the HEDT chip version of Broadwell), skylake and kaby both got a boost from higher ram speeds which ended up being all the performance gain there was over haswell/broadwell, and both clocked higher and higher each, which again made the difference in performance. The trick intel has managed to pull is make people think there has been any real improvement since Haswell. They've released Devils Canyon, Broadwell, skylake, kaby lake, and the soon to be released coffee lake with very minimal to non-existent clock for clock, core for core performance gains (with the same ram speed). Into this mix comes Ryzen, which basically paces Broadwell/Haswell performance, and we get endless people talking about how SLOW the amd offerings are.

Its silly frankly.

Don't get me wrong. I can understand why someone might want to get an Intel Coffee Lake chip. I can get why someone might want an intel <anything> chip. I won't talk someone off team blue when there are good OR personal reasons for going with team blue. But I'm not going to poop on team red either for imagined disadvantages either. Are there disadvantages to a ryzen chip? Sure, but it's nowhere near as cut and dry as this poster marks out with his blanket statement.

 
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Shektron

Shektron

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May 31, 2017
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It seems you have misunderstood me as an Intel fanboy/promoter of some sort. Well, I'm not. In fact, I totally admire the value equation of Ryzen. You are correct, the improvements in the previous Intel generations haven't been exciting to put it mildly. However, Coffee Lake will be definitely better than the Ryzen lineup for games, because of reasons we know - it has the multi-threading that Ryzen has, and the better IPC of Intel. I never said Coffee Lake will be better than Kaby Lake at 144 Hz - Kaby Lake is absolutely enough for 144 Hz, it's just not future-proof anymore, while Coffee Lake will be, thanks to 6-cores on the i5's and i7's. Ryzen will do 144 Hz, but it just won't do it as good as Coffee Lake might. We all know Intel's better IPC helps in gaming. Even if Coffee Lake has literally the same single-core performance as Kaby Lake, it'll still be better than Ryzen at 144 Hz. Coffee Lake can be considered to be a mix of Kaby Lake single-core performance and Ryzen's multi-threading, a mixture absolutely devastating for gaming. Now, of course, all of this is with the assumption that Coffee Lake will have 6-core i7's and also have the same/better IPC/clock speed of Kaby Lake. If it doesn't, well, then we'll have to wait for the benchmarks to see what's the best for gaming.
 
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elbert

elbert

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Jan 11, 2005
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No one is disputing the 8600k and 8700K will probably be top end. Thing is price as it looks the I5-8600k will be $250~275 with out a cooler. The Ryzen 5 1600 tho is $198 with a cooler that will still be on par with the 8350k. It turns out the 8350K will only be 4 thread for around $190 without a cooler. The 1600 then is still a good deal now as the i5-7600k isn't. The other side is the Ryzen 1600 is more on par to the 6800K in none gaming. Expect the 1600 peformance to get better in games as more games are optimized for more cores. This issue will also effect coffee lake just like you see on the 7900X.
 
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