VR Desktop Build vs Oculus Bundle?

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OminousD

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I'm planning on building my first desktop later down the line this year and my primary goals for the build are:
a) That it's VR ready
b) Has at least 16GB RAM
c) Cumulatively below $1000 (including monitors, mouse, and keyboard)
I've been using a gaming laptop for the past 3 years to serve as my workstation and gaming platform, but it has aged very quickly in terms of gaming standards. I've done a lot of research in the past few months on desktop builds and compiled a build on pcpartpicker.com below.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4590 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor ($189.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock H97M-ITX/AC Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard ($88.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Black 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($64.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($49.89 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 4GB WINDFORCE 3X Video Card ($299.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Cooler Master Elite 130 Mini ITX Tower Case ($32.99 @ Micro Center)
Power Supply: EVGA 400W ATX Power Supply ($20.98 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($15.99 @ Newegg)
Monitor: Asus VX228H 60Hz 21.5" Monitor ($109.99 @ Newegg)
Monitor: Asus VX228H 60Hz 21.5" Monitor ($109.99 @ Newegg)
Keyboard: Logitech K120 Wired Standard Keyboard ($11.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Mouse: Cobra E-3lue Wired Optical Mouse ($8.90 @ Amazon)
Total: $1004.67
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-03-01 00:03 EST-0500

I mainly want to gauge:
a) Whether this is a good value (or if I can cut the price further)
b) if it has decent upgradeability
c) How it compares to the likes of the Oculus Bundled ASUS G11CD-WS51
(http://www.amazon.com/Oculus-Rift-Ready-G11CD-WS51-Desktop-Bundle/dp/B01BHFI4XG)

I've come close only going $4 over the budget, but I'm willing to make further cuts to get below $1000. It's still important to have the basic VR requirements and 16GB RAM. Would you recommend the ASUS bundle and purchase of the 2 monitors, keyboard, and mouse, or go for this build and get the Oculus separately?
It seems much more cost effective going for this build, but the ASUS bundle is a lot more convenient and I can't gauge how the two builds compare in terms of upgradeability. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
 
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Thats a preatty good value build but you shoul change a few things. Firstly definetly change the psu to a higher quality one, then if you want better upgradebilty getting a skylake i5 would be a better option than haswell, you should also get a better mouse, while a keyboard like that is still preatty good for gaming imo, cheap mouses are preatty bad to play with. The build you have is better than the asus in terms of pure preformance so i would go with this one, the asus one has a bit more upgradibilty since it does have a skylake cpu (comparing the same model skylake vs haswell eg. i5 4690k vs i5 6600k skylake is around 10% faster)
You may want to save up a bit and get a better pc if you can.
Why are you getting two monitors?

jollypirate

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Thats a preatty good value build but you shoul change a few things. Firstly definetly change the psu to a higher quality one, then if you want better upgradebilty getting a skylake i5 would be a better option than haswell, you should also get a better mouse, while a keyboard like that is still preatty good for gaming imo, cheap mouses are preatty bad to play with. The build you have is better than the asus in terms of pure preformance so i would go with this one, the asus one has a bit more upgradibilty since it does have a skylake cpu (comparing the same model skylake vs haswell eg. i5 4690k vs i5 6600k skylake is around 10% faster)
You may want to save up a bit and get a better pc if you can.
Why are you getting two monitors?
 
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OminousD

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Thanks for the reply! After considering upgradeability, I made the following changes to this build.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($199.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock Z170M-ITX/ac Mini ITX LGA1151 Motherboard ($121.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill NT Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($59.49 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($49.89 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 4GB WINDFORCE 3X Video Card ($299.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Cooler Master Elite 130 Mini ITX Tower Case ($32.99 @ Micro Center)
Power Supply: Corsair CX 500W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($43.98 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($15.99 @ Newegg)
Monitor: AOC i2367Fh 60Hz 23.0" Monitor ($129.99 @ Amazon)
Keyboard: Logitech K120 Wired Standard Keyboard ($11.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Mouse: Cobra E-3lue Wired Optical Mouse ($8.90 @ Amazon)
Total: $975.08
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-03-01 04:33 EST-0500

The two monitors in the earlier build are primarily for work in Photoshop and Maya. Considering the budget, I can save the second monitor for later and use my current laptop as a second screen (for the time being). When it comes to most of the games I play on PC, I tend to use a controller more often than the mouse, and I'm not particularly picky with them since I've been using a generic Dell mouse for the last 10+ years. This mouse might actually be an upgrade lol, but ergonomic tastes may change after using it so I'll consider upgrading after trying this out. Adding the Oculus to this build still leaves it at a similar price range with the ASUS bundle, but with better features and a monitor, keyboard, and mouse.
 

bob0011

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Remember that the asus build will not allow you to open the case for upgrades ect. unless you wish to void your warranty, which may void the warranty of the whole oculus bundle.
 

OminousD

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I have a question I forgot to mention earlier. In this build I chose a motherboard with built in 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac WiFi. I haven't researched the comparison in price, but would it be cheaper going with a motherboard and separate WiFi card, or a motherboard like this with built in WiFi?
 

bob0011

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Depends on the price of the card. You can get get good wifi cards that cost about $30, but remember the motherboard it self may be significantly better/have more other features.

Also consider power line adaptors from the likes of TP LInk, as long as you have relatively new wiring in your house it should work fine and normally provides a lot better of a connection to your router then a wireless card.

Hope this helps.
 
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