Recommendations for a $1000 Build

My last topic was about deciding between getting a laptop or a desktop. I came to the conclusion that a desktop would be most suitable for my gaming needs since I don't need all that portability. I'll get a laptop or a hybrid for that; plus I've already got my iPad Mini 2 for light gaming.

The purpose of this topic is to suggest components for a gaming desktop. My budget is $1000. A decent 1080p monitor (24" ?) and keyboard/mouse must be included in the build. You can use pcpartpicker.com to generate the list. My preferred retailer is amazon.

EDIT:@boneymfan@horgen@04dcarraher Sorry, I forgot to mention a couple of things. I already have a copy of Windows, so no need to include that in the build. And I would rather not mess around with mail-in rebates as I have no experience with them. And after much researching, my preferred components are a 4690k and a GTX 970, so try to incorporate that into the build.

Thanks, guys.

i5 + gtx960, everything else is up to you.

Do you have Windows already, or do we have to include that as well?

Here is a quick bundle LINK

Monitor

Only thing your missing is kb&mouse, hopefully you have a copy of windows then you will be good to go.

I think you need a higher budget if you want a GTX970 in it... I'll see what I can do, but I am no good at this. :(

Dunno if this link will work. That one is not completed though... Incompleted list though. It's without a case, monitor and KB/M.

I made my own list: pcpartpicker I had to remove my Kingston 120GB SSD in order to lower the price. It's good to know the Gigabyte GTX 970 came down in price a bit.

What do you guys think of it? What needs improvement? Where can I cut down the cost?
I'll be buying my PC in October. Hopefully, the prices will go down by then.

October???

That whole build will get replaced with new parts come October.

Its ok to do some window shopping early but when it comes time to order in October things change. From prices to product lines, its best to wait and see what fits your budget.

Just for the record, I'll be getting better performance for less price, right?

I see you used my list with a few changes.

The PSU is a total overkill, unless you want to SLI GTX970 (and even Tri-SLI if you plan not to everclock anything...).

The methodology: We have a device constantly monitoring the power draw from the PC. We simply stress the GPU, not the processor. The before and after wattage will tell us roughly how much power a graphics card is consuming under load. Our test system is based on a power hungry six-core Intel Core i7-3960X Extreme Edition Sandy Bridge-E based setup on the X79 chipset platform. This setup is overclocked to 4.60 GHz on all cores. Next to that we have energy saving functions disabled for this motherboard and processor (to ensure consistent benchmark results). We'll be calculating the GPU power consumption here, not the total PC power consumption.

Measured power consumption GTX 970

1. System in IDLE = 120 Watts
2. System Wattage with GPU in FULL Stress = 274 Watts
3. Difference (GPU load) = 154 Watts
4. Add average IDLE wattage ~10 Watts
5. Subjective obtained GPU power consumption = ~ 164 Watts

Measured power consumption GTX 970 2-way SLI

1. System in IDLE = 123 Watts
2. System Wattage with GPU in FULL Stress = 439 Watts
3. Difference (GPU load) = 316 Watts
4. Add average IDLE wattage ~10 Watts
5. Subjective obtained GPU power consumption = ~ 326 Watts

I couldn't recommend Gigabyte's GTX970 before, cause the card was too long and with EVO you need a case which has 160mm tall for CPU cooler and 315mm long for GPU. This would need a more expensive case, so along with the more expensive GPU were going around +40$ or more...

Thats why you got:

Compatibility Notes

• The Enermax OSTROG ATX Mid Tower Case supports video cards up to 413mm long, but video cards over 286mm may block drive bays. Since the Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 4GB WINDFORCE 3X Video Card is 310mm long, some drive bays may not be usable.

But if you are OK with this then...

@Coseniath First of all, I'm sorry I forgot to credit you in the post but I was in a bit of a rush. I apologize.

And about the case, I don't like it that much. It's just a temporary part which I plan or replacing later.

I'm a fan of the MSI 970 for its aesthetics. I put the Gigabyte one there because it was the cheapest.

What's that note about drive bays not being usable? I'm only going to put a HDD and an SSD. Will that not fit?

And no, lol, I'm not okay with that. :p

I picked out that 750 Watt PSU because I haven't yet decided on what my future GPU upgrade plan is going to be. My only thought till now is that I'll put in another 970 in a couple years (3 years?). I'm open to ideas though.

No one uses more than 1-3 HDD/SSD nowdays anyway, unless you plan on some server PC / workstation.

That's why they say some drive bays may not be usable.

You could easy install 2x 970s with 500Watt PSU.

@PredatorRules: I highly doubt a 500 Watt PSU would allow two 970s (overclocked) along with a 4690k (again, overclocked). Even 650 Watt PSU might not be able to handle that.

You shouldn't run two 970's on a 500w psu not even on a gold rated psu..... You dont have enough connectors, and would have to use adapters from 4 pin molex's. Its not smart at all to do so, at peak loads you would be stressing the psu near 90% usage or more depending on cpu. and if your dealing with overclocked or pre overclocked items a 500w wont be able to do it. A 650w psu can do the job.Grabbing a 750w psu is actually smarter for long term use. You only be stressing the psu aliitle over half its capacity and it will run cooler and much longer.

Yes you can, google some reviews on 970s with SLI.

Not without adapters and nearly using all the capacity of the psu. Gold rated 550w psu's tend to only have two 6+2 pin connectors. Two stock 970 in sli peak around 330w and with a cpu and other items your looking a 440w'ish load. with a 500w you would be using 88% of the capacity, and with a 550w 80%. Now if we are talking about non vanilla 970's your looking at 340-350w and if your using say an 125-140w AMD cpu you are looking at beyond 93% usage. So stop suggesting half way thought out recommendation saying that a 500w psu that can handle two 970 when it can not without stressing the psu and having to rely on adapters. If you want a psu to last a good length of time never surpass 80% threshold.

I see where your coming from with wattage loads, but your overlooking the aspects that prohibit and deny 500w psu's from actually handling two gpusand not shorting their lifespan.

@leeuwenhok: You don't have to apologise, you didn't do anything wrong.

I just pointed why I chose the parts I picked.

You can just take a good branded 500w PSU for 1 GTX570 and it will still be an overkill.

Now if you plan to SLI, 500w might seem enough but 600w at least is recommended so your PSU will have more room to operate and enough watts for OC.

If you are not ok with the case just pick one with the dimensions I posted. :)

He already picked i5 not AMD CPU.

There's nothing wrong using adapters, it comes along with the MOBO or the GPU (don't remember, haven't build a PC for a while)

"

Measured power consumption GTX 970 2-way SLI

1. System in IDLE = 123 Watts
2. System Wattage with GPU in FULL Stress = 439 Watts

From Guru3D.

"Our test system is based on a power hungry six-core Intel Core i7-3960X Extreme Edition Sandy Bridge-E based setup on the X79 chipset platform. This setup is overclocked to 4.60 GHz on all cores."

@PredatorRules:

Recommending a 500w is dumb plain and simple. especially when talking about SLI and overclocking is in the picture.

Is it? I can bring you some more reviews if you want...

If you want to play safe that's nice and all - it's your decision to make, but don't forget you're talking about a maxwell GPUs.

Common sense plays a role, if you want longevity from your psu reaching 80% or more from its capacity is a big no. The more stress/heat put on the psu lowers the capacitors abilities as they age. The extra heat quickens their death. while it is quite possible to use a 500w psu you will run into issues quicker as the psu ages.

It's fine for the 3-5 years run.

Before deciding on the PSU, can you help me decide what my future GPU upgrade should be?
I plan on spending on another GPU after 3 years probably. What's my best option if I'm buying a 970 now?

Getting another 970?

@PredatorRules Yeah, 970 SLI was what I was thinking of. It would be better price/performance ratio compared to buying the latest and greatest card, right?

If I'll be getting another 970 in 3 years, I should plan ahead, don't you think? I've heard that PSU efficiency decreases over time and I want to be in the safe zone. So what PSU do you suggest that would easily last 5 years and wouldn't be an obstacle in overclocking the 4690k (w/ Hyper EVO 212) along with overclocking the 2x970s?

Also, I would like to get recommendations on a good budget motherboard that supports SLI. I don't want to spend on a mobo more than I need to but it must have all the essential features.

I've heard of women shoppers but WTF are you doing?

TC IS BUILDING IN OCTOBER and you guys are debating about parts now...

In 6 months Skylake will be here, and its April, who the hell cares now?

Broadwell, Skylake, New GPUs from Nvidia and an entire new line from AMD.

DDR4 prolly for mainstream and PCIE4.0.

And all these IF an unpredictable radar stealth meteor will not hit Earth by then.

:P

@GTR12 Umm, won't Skylake CPUs be much more expensive when upon launch? I doubt it'll fit my $1000 budget (which btw includes a monitor).

@PredatorRules On this page and on many YT comments and many forum posts, I've read that 970 SLI isn't worth it unless you're playing at ultra resolutions. But I plan on sticking with 1080p for a long time, that too on a 60Hz monitor (I think so 'cuz 144Hz ones are expensive). Now I have 2 questions. Would games running at 100+ fps look any better than 60fps on a 60Hz monitor? And would I benefit from 970 SLI in future games while playing at 1080p or is it only good for higher res?

One more thing: Is microstuttering really a problem? I'm concerned.

Nope Skylake CPUs will just replace the current ones without charging extra.

And yes for 1080p 60fps GTX970 SLI is overkill. At the moment at least.

And if you plan for future upgrades more than 2 years (you said in 3years), its better to sold your old GPU and add $$ you wanted to buy one GTX970 more and buy a new GPU that will beat GTX970SLI.

Not to mention that maybe if you delay your PC a bit or just buy a troll GPU and leave the $$ aside till December where probably Pascal will appear...

edit: Microstuttering doesn't appear in SLI Nvidia GPUs. It was a problem in Crossfiring AMD GPUs but AMD solved it also.

You try to play GTA5 on max settings with one 970 at 100fps @1080p

Guys are quite right, it doesn't matter right now if you plan on buying the rig in October, price will change so will the hardware.

No, also Intel CPU's dont go down in price, if they do, expect about $25 MAX.

GPU's are also the same, they last for about 8-12 months then they are not produced, they reduce in price about $100 max.

PC parts dont get cheaper!!! They are produced and when the next best thing comes along, they are replaced at the same price point.

Also like @Coseniath said, the earth could be hit by a meteor, October is a looooooong way off and anything could happen between now and then. You could look at monitors for the time being and spend $1000 on one now if you wanted, monitors dont get outdated as fast.

Okay, so you're saying I shouldn't be picking parts atm. Rather I should wait till a week before I buy it. Is that what you're saying?

And I remember about the prices. The i5 processor that was produced 3-4 years ago still costs about the same as today's 4690k.

Yes, but the modules have changed, come back when you actually plan to buy that PC.

@PredatorRules That sounded rude... but I'll take that as a suggestion.

Dude, not trying to be rude or anything, but I may suggest a different GPU later on, also a different CPU, new MOBOs might come out, who the hell knows what more; prices and discounts change every day - today build might not be the same build tomorrow with the same budget.

It's okay. It sounded rude though. It was like a store owner yelling, "Get outta here and don't come back unless you decide what you want to buy."

I'm having my exams next week. I should probably quit picking parts as it's useless, and instead prepare for my exams.

Now that 4 months have passed and the new Skylake CPUs are out along with some new graphic cards... what under $1000 build do you recommend?

I checked out pcpartlist.com but all the builds featured are using older components.

P.S. I think this topic should be moved to the Hardware section.

@PredatorRules@sSubZerOo@insane_metalist@Coseniath

If you want an Nvidia card then go with this: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/wdppP6

If you want an AMD card, need more VRAM then go with this: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/LVh8t6

@insane_metalist I read somewhere that the R9 390 is actually a rebrand of a 3 year old card. Is this true and does it matter? Btw, I have no partiality towards AMD or NVIDIA.

Moved to Hardware forum

@leeuwenhokhttp://pcpartpicker.com/p/CZ8w4D if you do not need a monitor I could build you a 2x 290 build =)

@leeuwenhok: R9 390 is a rebranded R9 290 with higher core/mem clocks and more VRAM. (AMD Radeon R9 390 8GB vs. R9 290 4GB Clock vs. Clock Testing)

You can just buy an R9 290 and o/c yourself. @PredatorRules has o/c his R9 290 to higher clocks than R9 390 if I remember correctly.

So, do you still prefer amazon as retailer or you can buy things from other shops as well?

@Coseniath I'm going to my home country and I'll see if the amazon.com shipping rates are not too much. If they are, I might buy the components from a local retailer.

It's a rebrand of R9 290 that's not even two years old. GTX 970 and R9 390 are on the same level, some people prefer Nvidia, some prefer AMD. I'd go with R9 390 myself because of extra VRAM (but I have a higher res monitor). If you don't need more VRAM then just grab a 290, it'll be $50 - $80 cheaper.

@insane_metalist I'm gonna stick with 1080p for at least the next 5 years. Will the 290 last me that long? Or should I get a GTX 970? Or if I'm going to spend the extra $100, why not the 390?

Should we wait till you go back to your home country then?

@Coseniath No, I'd rather have an approximate of the parts I should buy.

@insane_metalist@sSubZerOo@PredatorRules
First of all, I'm unable to decide whether I should go all out and buy a $1000+ PC right now which would last me the next 5-6 years. (Yeah, $1000 is about my all-out option). The other option is to get a cheaper, under $800 PC which would last me around 4 years before needing an upgrade.

Secondly, should I get the latest and greatest 6600k processor, the 4690k, or drop low and get the 4460 for about a $100 less (than 6600k)? Also, will the 4460 last me 5-6 years from now?

Next is the GPU, is it better to get the best GPU out there (I assume the R9 390), or should I get a $100 less GPU such as the, I don't know, 270X or 280? Same question as for the CPU, will it last the next 5-6 years? Or if I'll upgrade the GPU, while keeping the 4460, will the GPU be the only thing to be upgraded?

Don't get 390 unless you plan to crossfire for 4k resolution only.

2x 290s or single 980Ti is what you're looking for if you plan for 4 years not upgrading.

Any i5 will be good, the more you spend the better (because clock speeds add a little boost when needed), I would recommend going for 6600K because it's brand new socket and all that goodies.