Early 2016 PC part buying guide!

[fizzbawz]

This guide will help you choose optimal parts for your PC build depending on your budget. When building PCs there are sweet spots for the money spent to the performance you get, the 3 listed builds offer the most cost efficiency in it's price range. Entry-level rig offers great performance for the cost, it is able to run the newest gamest with playable settings and reasonable FPS. Enthusiast's rig can run all games without problems, it also has the CPU/Ram power needed for video editing and other CPU oriented tasks. Enthusiast's rig has the best price to performance ratio. High end PC is more for hardcore games, allowing you to play the newest games on max settings at high FPS. It sacrifices some of the cost efficiency for raw power. It's also a perfect tool for video editing.

NOTE: These rigs are meant for gaming use. They're more than capable of doing tasks such as video editing. Also the systems are Intel based because I do think that they offer better price to performance in gaming use. The builds don't have windows included in the costs. Also prices may heavily wary from the place you're buying them, so I am trying to put average prices! Also the GPUs are Nvidia due the lack of my knowledge in Radeon cards, but it isn't a problem you should worry about since in most titles Nvidia better price to performance.


Entry-level rig

CPU: Intel Core i3 4130 ~130$
It might look like a high cost CPU for entry-level grade, but having a solid CPU makes future upgrades cheaper. Also it has hyper-threading, which allows for a lot better multitasking than just a normal 2-core CPU.

Motherboard: Asus B85M-G LGA ~70$
Micro-ATX board that has everything you would need in a entry-level rig. 4 x DIMM slots, meaning upgrading ram if it's needed is possible. 4 x USB3 and 8 x USB2 so ports wont be a problem either.

RAM: Kingston value RAM DDR3 1333MHz 4gb or 8gb(if you buy 2 sticks, not necessary) ~20$ per stick
For gaming use you don't need more than 4gb of RAM. Also RAM speed doesn't really affect gaming performance at all. If you need more RAM in future it's cheap to upgrade and easy to install.

Graphics card: GTX 750Ti 2gb ~100-150$ depending on what manufacturers card it is
The differences between different manufacturers cards are not huge. ASUS GeForce GTX 750Ti GDDR5 2GB is a solid option if you don't know which one to buy. By googling you can find benchmarks between these cards.
NOTE: If you have extra money GPU is where you're going to sink it. Getting a GPU like GTX950 or GTX960 increases the performance greatly but will also add a chunk in the cost. 750Ti offers best cost efficiency for this price range.

Storage: Seagate Barracude 1TB ~50$
Optional SSD(Boot drive): Kingston Digital 120GB SSDNow ~50$
SSD is by no mean necessary but if your budget allows I'd recommend getting one. Getting only SSD isn't a good option due to the low capacity, you will run out of storage really quickly. Cheap 1TB HDD and cheap ~100GB SSD is one of the most solid combinations.

PSU: Corsair VS450 ~40$
Really solid quality PSU for the price. Has more than enough power to run all the components selected and also has enough power to run future GPU upgrade.

Case: Pretty much anything will do. Micro-ATX cases will also do because the motherboard is a Micro-ATX board. You should spend probably spend ~50$ on case.
Fractal Core 1100 Micro 50$
BitFenix Neos (with side window) 60$

Total cost: ~500$ (+50$ if you went with SSD)
For 500$ you get a PC that is able to run almost everything. Obviously some games aren't gonna be enjoyable, but after all you're just paying 500$.


Enthusiast's rig

CPU: Intel Core i5 4690K 3,5 ~240$
In this price range you could run the LGA1151 CPUs which allow use of DDR4 memory, but I still feel like the last gen LGA1150 offer better price to performance currently. Altought this may change if the price of DDR4 RAM goes down as well as other LGA1151 products. i5 4690K is also easily overclockable with aftermarket CPU cooler, this means that if you in future need more CPU power you can obtain it cheaply and easily.

Motherboard: Asus Z97-AR Black Edition Intel Z97 LGA 1150 ~150$
Really solid motherboard with everything needed. Also has slots for 2 GPUs for future upgrades(SLI or CrossFireX). Also the board looks pretty good.

RAM: Kingston HyperX FURY 16GB 1600MHz ~70$
16GB might be a bit overkill for most us, but the HyperX kit is reasonably priced and wont leave us needing for more RAM. If you really need more than 16GB RAM you can purchase a second 16GB kit. The motherboard supports up to 32GB ram.

Graphics card: GTX970 ~350$
Really powerful GPU. Has enough power to run the latest titles without problems. In future you can purchase second of these if you happen to get interested in high resolution gaming(Surround/4K).

Storage: Seagate 2TB HDD + Samsung 850 EVO 250GB SSD ~160$
Solid SSD for bootdrive and 2TB HDD for mass storage. If you need more storage or want backup drives you can always upgrade and buy more of HDDs. Samsungs SSD offers great performance with high read/write speeds.

PSU: Corsair CX 750W ~80$
Mediocre high power PSU that allows you to run your future upgrades. 750W is enough to run GTX970 in SLI.

Case: Again this is up to your preference. I'd recommend getting a solid ~100$ case with enough space for upgrades.
Fractal Design Define R5 120$
NZXT S340 90$

Total cost: ~1150$
This build has a lot of upgrade possibilities and that is why I think it's all around the best build to get. If you in future you need more performance you can get it cheaply. Build somewhat in these lines is what I recommend.


High end PC

CPU: Intel Core i7-6700K ~400$
In this price range you can for the absolute best. 6700K is at the moment the best CPU for gaming. Also has DDR4 support. This is a gaming build so I can't recommend getting a LGA2011 CPU.

Motherboard: ASUS ROG MAXIMUS VIII RANGER ~250$
Really solid board with everything you could ever want. Solid for overclocking and supports more RAM than you will probably ever need. Also in my opinion the best cost efficiency for LGA1151 boards.

RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 2400MHz ~100$
Again if you really need more than 16GB you can purchase second one. Really fast speed RAM which will speed up some processes.

Graphics card: GTX 980 Ti ~700$
The best card you can get right now. Has the perfomance of 1000$ Titan X without the massive VRAM it offers. Again if you need or want more power you can run two of these in SLI. I just don't really know why you would do that, but you can.

Storage: Intel 750 Series PCI-E SSD 400GB + Seagate 3TB ~500$
Really fast professional grade SSD. Insane read/write speeds. Mass storage can be upgraded or you can switch seagates to higher end brands such as WD. Storage is really optional in this build, but getting 750 Series SSD is recommend due to the incredibly performance it offers.

PSU: Corsais AX1200i ~300$
Probably has more power than you will ever need. Really solid and power efficient high end PSU. If you feel like you don't want so powerful CPU you can switch up to 800-1000W PSU. Corsais AX series has solid option in that power range too. AX860i is really solid option if you don't need that much power.

Case: Once again everything is here up to preference. Anything up from 100$ will serve you just fine.
Brands such as Corsair or Fractal are recommend due to the high build quality.

Total cost: ~2350$
This build allows you to run pretty much everything you'd ever want to run. It also has upgrade possibilities if you are in need of more power. This will work more than fine for casual editing, even in close to professional editing. It isn't the absolute overkill build instead it is affordable high end PC capable of doing what ever you want.




I hope this helped you! I'll try to add replacements for the parts if some of them are out of storage or not being sold near your area. I can also try to answer if you have further questions!

EDIT: If you're curious how big PSU you should get for your build you can use this: powersupplycalculator.net it estimates power consumption of your future build!

[EL Surenzo dA KK Caponeiyl]

Hello!
I would like to thank you for such thread, very nice job
you may need to change the PSU at the Entry-level, of course it's all up to you
PSU: 450 wats sounds a little low for me, i'd go at least 550 for future overclocks

otherwise, great guide

[generator]

A entry level rig should cost about $460 max no more if you add the ssd then $500

[fizzbawz]

Hello!
I would like to thank you for such thread, very nice job
you may need to change the PSU at the Entry-level, of course it's all up to you
PSU: 450 wats sounds a little low for me, i'd go at least 550 for future overclocks

otherwise, great guide

Actually 450W is more than enough even for overclocking. System like this is using around 300W at full load. If you're curious about power consumptions you can use this: https://powersupplycalculator.net/ should probably add it to original post

A entry level rig should cost about $460 max no more if you add the ssd then $500

I tried to use somewhat average prices so yes, it could be cheaper from where you are looking the parts.

[brisrock]

Thanks for the guide!
For the Entry-level rig, could the motherboard be switched with one by MSI?

[generator]

Thanks for the guide!
For the Entry-level rig, could the motherboard be switched with one by MSI?

no asus motherboard rocks

[brisrock]

no asus motherboard rocks

I wouldn't argue with that but just wanted a MSI cause it fire.

[fizzbawz]

Thanks for the guide!
For the Entry-level rig, could the motherboard be switched with one by MSI?

Definitely could be switched! I believe you're talking about MSI H97M-E35 Intel H97? H97 chipset allows for use of more USB3 and some RAID things, I went with Asus B85 board because often cheap or low end H97 boards have worse reviews than B85. Is it bad going with low end H97 board? Definitely not, but low end B85 board offers better bang for the buck.


EDIT: To clarify, H97 is "higher" end chipset which means it has the tools necessary to use RAIDs and more USB3 for example. But often in low end boards you don't even have the necessary slots to use many USB3s etc. So basically you are paying for something you can't even use. So H97 low end boards are often worth more than what they offer.

[brisrock]

Definitely could be switched! I believe you're talking about MSI H97M-E35 Intel H97? H97 chipset allows for use of more USB3 and some RAID things, I went with Asus B85 board because often cheap or low end H97 boards have worse reviews than B85. Is it bad going with low end H97 board? Definitely not, but low end B85 board offers better bang for the buck.


EDIT: To clarify, H97 is "higher" end chipset which means it has the tools necessary to use RAIDs and more USB3 for example. But often in low end boards you don't even have the necessary slots to use many USB3s etc. So basically you are paying for something you can't even use. So H97 low end boards are often worth more than what they offer.

Thanks for the clarification on that. Makes sense now to stick with the low end B85 for the build.

[fizzbawz]

Thanks for the clarification on that. Makes sense now to stick with the low end B85 for the build.

No problem. If you have further questions or thinking of building a rig just pm me I am more than happy to help!

[Genocide]

A entry level rig should cost about $460 max no more if you add the ssd then $500

Where are you going to find a decent SSD for under $50?

[generator]

Where are you going to find a decent SSD for under $50?

ebay auctions and kjijji if you live in america
like this one : https://www.kijiji.ca/v-computer-comp...ationFlag=true

[fizzbawz]

Where are you going to find a decent SSD for under $50?

https://www.amazon.com/Kingston-Digit.../dp/B00A1ZTZOG
It isn't the best SSD you can get in terms of performance, but it's still a 120GB SSD for less than a 50$. Those Kingston ones are often on sale for less than 50$, like right now on Amazon. I'd say that is still a good SSD for budget rig.