Build Advice for Gaming PC

greatchap

Weaksauce
Joined
Mar 22, 2012
Messages
103
Hello Everyone,

I wish to upgrade my home PC. I use my home PC for gaming and a bit of software development. Even thoughI do not find a lot of time for gaming but at time I do like to play my favorite titles such as Far Cry, Crysis, Metro etc. Basically I like FPS games with great graphics.

My current PC build is:

- i5 3rd Gen
- 8 GB DDR3
- Samgung Evo SSD
- Cooler Master PSU (I will check exact model)
- Geforce GTX 970
- Windows 7

I am from India so the PC components are expensive. However I have a relative who is coming from the US. Thus I wanted to upgrade now so that he could get the components from there for me.

My thoughts:

I need to order the following :
- Processor
- RAM
- Graphics card
- Motherboard

Please suggest me what should I go for and which is the best site (in US) to order from.

Thank you,

Regards,
GR
 
What monitor are you using? 1080p? 60hz? 144hz? etc.

I can't comment on the best site, but newegg and amazon are generally most popular, or if your friend is near a microcenter you can get some awesome deals from them.

My suggestions for budget-oriented:
AMD: Ryzen 2600 + 16GB 3000-3200mhz RAM + a decent B450 board
Intel: Intel i5 9400f + 16GB 2666mhz RAM + any reasonable B360 board

GPU, consider the GTX 1660 or 1660 Ti, or if your budget is more constrained consider the RX 580/570. If you've got wiggle room, RTX 2060 will have you going for a long while to come with the latest and greatest features.

I personally prefer the AMD build (could you tell by my sig? I tossed up between an i5 8400 (pre 9400f) and Ryzen 2600 for a long while, and decided longevity wise I much preferred the ryzen path, given newer chips will be compatible with this platform + higher threaded workloads. The fact it was 50-100 dollars cheaper also helped! (Australia)).
 
What monitor are you using? 1080p? 60hz? 144hz? etc.

I can't comment on the best site, but newegg and amazon are generally most popular, or if your friend is near a microcenter you can get some awesome deals from them.

My suggestions for budget-oriented:
AMD: Ryzen 2600 + 16GB 3000-3200mhz RAM + a decent B450 board
Intel: Intel i5 9400f + 16GB 2666mhz RAM + any reasonable B360 board

GPU, consider the GTX 1660 or 1660 Ti, or if your budget is more constrained consider the RX 580/570. If you've got wiggle room, RTX 2060 will have you going for a long while to come with the latest and greatest features.

I personally prefer the AMD build (could you tell by my sig? I tossed up between an i5 8400 (pre 9400f) and Ryzen 2600 for a long while, and decided longevity wise I much preferred the ryzen path, given newer chips will be compatible with this platform + higher threaded workloads. The fact it was 50-100 dollars cheaper also helped! (Australia)).

Thank you very much. My friend lives in Austin so I don't know if he will be near a microcenter. But I will try newegg or amazon.com.

I think I would spend a little more as its a build which should run for at least next 3 years. Plus I am not an AMD fan so I will stick to Intel.

1) Intel i5-9600K
How is Intel 9400F as you mentioned ? It base frequency is 2.9 GHZ ? Is that fine ?

2) RTX 2060 - which one should I go for i.e. 2 fans, 3 fans or ? Suggest a good model please

3) I guess it better to go for a better board. Please suggest a board which supports higher speed RAM

4) RAM ??

I am currently using a monitor with 1080p resolution. It is a Dell monitor.
 
You mentioned 'expensive' so assumed you wanted to be wary of a budget, hence the recommendations. (and surely the conversion isn't amazing either?)

Whether you're a fan or not doesn't really matter. Given you're not fussed by budget as much, if the price is right, consider instead last-gen 8700K instead of the 9600k. Better performer, more threads, just better for longevity.
I suggest you do your own research on which model, lookup reviews of the models you're looking at/are available.
Grab Z390 intel board, as above do your own research to consider which board is right for you (some boards have onboard wifi, better VRM cooling, more M.2 slots etc).
I stick with 16GB 3000-3200mhz for Intel on the Z platform. G Skill, Corsair, doesn't really matter.

I assume then it's 1080p60hz, so the 2060 based system will crush that res no problem.
 
You mentioned 'expensive' so assumed you wanted to be wary of a budget, hence the recommendations. (and surely the conversion isn't amazing either?)

Whether you're a fan or not doesn't really matter. Given you're not fussed by budget as much, if the price is right, consider instead last-gen 8700K instead of the 9600k. Better performer, more threads, just better for longevity.
I suggest you do your own research on which model, lookup reviews of the models you're looking at/are available.
Grab Z390 intel board, as above do your own research to consider which board is right for you (some boards have onboard wifi, better VRM cooling, more M.2 slots etc).
I stick with 16GB 3000-3200mhz for Intel on the Z platform. G Skill, Corsair, doesn't really matter.

I assume then it's 1080p60hz, so the 2060 based system will crush that res no problem.

Thank you for your feedback. Let go step by step

- RAM : No worries. I understood what I have to go for.
- MB: I will go for a Z390 board, do wish to suggest a name & model or I should choose one myself. I don't care for Wi-fi as my PC is connected through Ethernet cable.
- Graphics Card: We have already frozen on RTX 2060. | Please suggest as some card have 1 fan , 2 fans or more. Which one to choose ?
- Processor: i5-8700K costs $100 more than i5-9600K. I don't know if I would want to spend that much even though the former one has more threads.
 
Thank you for your feedback. Let go step by step


- MB: I will go for a Z390 board, do wish to suggest a name & model or I should choose one myself. I don't care for Wi-fi as my PC is connected through Ethernet cable.
It is hard to recommend a motherboard. How much to you want to spend? What features do you want? This article may help you to decide on a motherboard.
https://www.hardocp.com/article/2018/03/16/are_more_expensive_motherboards_better_motherboards63

- Graphics Card: We have already frozen on RTX 2060. | Please suggest as some card have 1 fan , 2 fans or more. Which one to choose ?

How much do you care about fan noise? Do you want to spend more on a card with a better heatsink and higher quality fans? Do you want a 2 slot card or a 3 slot card?
 
Thank you very much. My friend lives in Austin so I don't know if he will be near a microcenter. But I will try newegg or amazon.com.

I think I would spend a little more as its a build which should run for at least next 3 years. Plus I am not an AMD fan so I will stick to Intel.

1) Intel i5-9600K
How is Intel 9400F as you mentioned ? It base frequency is 2.9 GHZ ? Is that fine ?

2) RTX 2060 - which one should I go for i.e. 2 fans, 3 fans or ? Suggest a good model please

3) I guess it better to go for a better board. Please suggest a board which supports higher speed RAM

4) RAM ??

I am currently using a monitor with 1080p resolution. It is a Dell monitor.

No Microcenter in the Austin area. Frys is about it.
 
Ill be glad to help if you give a budget.

Do you want a new PSU?
 
My budget is around $800. I will be glad if you guys can give suggestions.

On the HDD front my main OS runs on Samsung 850 Evo (250 GB) SSD. While I have a 2 TB HDD connected in which I store other data and games. You can let me know if I can keep this SSD setup or I need to make changes here also.
 
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod...tx 2060&cm_re=rtx_2060-_-14-500-458-_-Product Zotac RTX 2060 $350
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod...600x&cm_re=ryzen_2600x-_-19-113-497-_-Product Ryzen 2600x $200
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod...s b450&cm_re=Asus_b450-_-13-119-140-_-Product Asus B450-F Board ~$130
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod...b 3200&cm_re=16gb_3200-_-20-232-476-_-Product G Skill Trident Z 16GB 3200mhz. ~$125

Yes I know you're 'not a fan of AMD', but your budget is pretty limited frankly, and the 2600x is a great chip, and comes with a decent cooler, the 9600k doesn't come with one and costs even more, and B450 boards are much cheaper/still well featured, compared to Z390.

~$805 total. You try this with a 9600k, a decent cooler/board and you'll be well over. (prices based/assumed from Newegg as an example, your mileage may vary from other vendors)

The above is what I would do with your budget. It's up to you to decide. I think your SSD is fine, just note I suggest you reinstall windows from scratch for the cleanest/smoothest experience.
 
IMO if budget allows, nvme sure, however IMO the speed increase just from HDD to SSD is already like rocket speed, adding in an additional speed on top of this seems almost "why"

to each their own, I rather save that extra $150 or w/e on that nvme and put into a higher grade cpu, more memory, high grade standard sata based SSD or such things.

not my $ though ^.^
 
I'd suggest a b350 motherboard ($70) a Ryzen 1600 ($119) 16GB ram ($100) the budget then allows $500 for a graphics card so an RTX 2070.
 
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I am a tad confused on a few things.

Q-1) Do you think I should get rid of my Samsung 850 Evo SSD and get an NVME SSD. Is the speed difference considerable ?

My thought on components :

CPU: Intel - Core i5-9600K 3.7 GHz 6-Core Processor ($264.89)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master - Hyper 212 Black Edition 42 CFM CPU Cooler ($31.99)
Motherboard: Gigabyte - Z390 AORUS ELITE ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($159.99)
Memory: ADATA - XPG GAMMIX D10 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-2666 Memory ($76.99)
Video Card: Zotac - GeForce GTX 1660 6 GB GAMING Video Card ($219.99 @ Amazon) OR Video Card: Zotac - GeForce RTX 2060 6 GB GAMING Video Card ($348)

Overbugdet by 10% ($882) is I go for RTX 2060 otherwise within budget ($754).

Is the RAM OK ? or should I change. Did not include any SSD. What do you guys think ?
 
I think that amd platform is not recommended at foreign countries. the 2nd hand market value is horrible.

Since NVME ssd is highly recommended, i think that a b360 motherboard ( 70$) with 256 NVME ssd (70$) and 9400F (180$) +nice cooler (30$) along with the zotac 2060 (350$) and any 16gb ram up to 100$, is better for him.

Really? Why is that? Is it a case of Intel is the equivalent iPhone and everyone has to have one? (geniunely curious?)

OP: RAM is fine, your SSD is fine. If it's a question between a new SSD (NVME) and a higher graphics card, stick with the better GPU/CPU. As someone who went form an 840 Pro SSD to a 970 Evo NVME, the differences are minimal at best for general use. Faster, yes, but not if it compromises on any other components.
 
Great !!! So the build I mentioned is fine and I am going to stick with my current SSD. Just thinking if I should go for RTX GPU or not.

Now the only component which I need to finalize is GPU.

GTX 1660 costs $219, GTX 1660 Ti Costs $280 and RTX 2060 costs $350.

I think if I wish to save money then I should go for 1660 or I should go for RTX 2060. The price differnece between 1660TI & 2060 is just $70. Since I have a 1080p monitor is it work going for 2060 anyways. Can I run latest games in highest settings using 1660. What do you say? Or do you feel 1660TI is best as long I am sticking to 1080p.
 
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just jumping on that question of "should drop the SSD for nvme" (860 for 870 or w/e)

personally, if you already have a decent SSD selected, adjust your build with that extra $100 or extra gained from dropping the nvme.

They are fast, absolutely no doubt about that, I would think adjusting higher end cpu, gpu or other parts of that buld will give you far more valuve than going from a mach 8 storage drive to a mach 9 one instead (cost a chunk more for speed you will NOT see every single time like) where SSD on the other hand, very rare not see majority of what it can give.


^.^
 
Make sure that your monitor supports what outputs the video card has physically. At present I have 2 x Samsung 1080p panels that only have VGA & DVI inputs, yet almost every single video card with a 1080, 2070 or 2080 chipset on them (that I have seen) only has HDMI & DisplayPort (& if lucky enough to find a card with a DVI port it is only one which is no good for me without faffing around trying to find a splitter etc). Your budget may increase if your Dell monitor doesn't have HDMI or Display port connections.
 
Spending more on a cpu than a gpu for a gaming pc seems to me like a mistake.
It also depends on the apps that the user is running more frequently. I do agree that it is just plain dumb to spend a lot less for a GPU than a CPU. But if one is doing content creation more than gaming, it is also a mistake to spend way more on a GPU than on a CPU. (And I'm talking about the proverbial "gaming" system that's running only a slow single-core, single-thread Celeron CPU but a GTX 2080 Ti GPU, which likely won't work correctly.)

With that said, for a gaming system one might want to err on the pricier side for a GPU - but not too much more: On some systems, spending far more money on a GPU than on a CPU can, and sometimes does, cause major headaches when running everyday apps. On the other hand, spending far more on a CPU than on a GPU will slow everything down significantly.
 
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