PC build

[lightsout]

Building my first gaming PC. Made the switch while using the wife's pre-built rig and falling in love with mouse and keyboard. So, decided to build my own and as such, have been digging for info on parts and trying to come up with a graphics card that is going to do well for me for the next 5+ years but not break the bank (so no 2080 ti).

 

Was looking at the 1660 ti as it is in a reasonable middle ground price point currently and it's not dated. Current PC has an rx 580 and while it does fine and I wouldn't be upset at simply getting that card to go in and be replaced later, I simply want something that might perform well for longer.

 

Any recommendations?

[Dex]

Can you give us your budget and the rest of the specs pls?

[lightsout]

2 hours ago, Dex said:

Can you give us your budget and the rest of the specs pls?

 

I'm trying to not go over $1k on everything before peripherals.

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/yFRCpG

[lightsout]

I can cut the RGB on the RAM and be at around max of my comfortability price wise.

[Cdw]

Nice, have fun building it!  I just built my first 'gaming pc' several months ago, kinda similar to what you're putting together.  I went with the 2600x processor to save a few bucks and went with a 2060 graphics card.  Been happy so far, but have yet really play any newer games.  Don't see a cooler on your part list, are you going with stock?  You can add a good air cooler for less that $50 probably.

[lightsout]

2 hours ago, Cdw said:

Nice, have fun building it!  I just built my first 'gaming pc' several months ago, kinda similar to what you're putting together.  I went with the 2600x processor to save a few bucks and went with a 2060 graphics card.  Been happy so far, but have yet really play any newer games.  Don't see a cooler on your part list, are you going with stock?  You can add a good air cooler for less that $50 probably.

Probably go stock for now. See how she performs, and add what i need. Still not sure what to do about buying a case with fans or buying one without and adding fans to it. Every case I see with pre-fixed fans have complaints of poor air flow so IDK.

[R0CKnR0LLA]

I recommend to everyone to just buy a prebuilt gaming PC, it takes out all of the guesswork and you end up paying about the same anyway. Also, if you getting a new monitor I'd recommend going for a 240hz. Even switching from a top of the line 165hz I immediately noticed a pretty sizable difference.

Here is my current setup, not top of the line but decent

pc - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07G77QHV8/

monitor - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01MCYUV19/

[CarolinaSock]

I'd recommend downgrading your cpu and upgrading your graphics card if you're mainly concerned with gaming.  A 2600x or 3600 would be my recommendation as I believe you're gaming performance overall will be much better with one of these cpu's and a better graphics card opposed to a 2700x and a 1660ti. Also I'm curious as to how attached you are to that case and if you are looking for specific features in a case. You can get the H500 which is a very similar case for 40 dollars less.

Here's a build that leaves you 400$ for your GPU. Letting you choose between the 2060 super or 5700 xt for a 400ish graphics card. If you want to save a little money or spend 50$ more on some other part you could go with a rx 5700 for around 350$. I do recommend getting a custom card 5700xt or 5700 if you're going that route as the reference card coolers are not very good.

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/bk3Bgw

[Chimera]

I kinda agree with CarolinaSock. If you're going with the B450 chipset, you might as well go with the Ryzen 5 3600. It costs slightly less but has better single core performance (important for gaming) while still being a multithreaded CPU for non-gaming functions. 

There's no reason to pay that much for RAM unless its purely aesthetic and that RAM kit comes with two dummy DIMMS. I mean, here's the same capactity, same clock speed, and same CAS latency for $30 less https://www.newegg.com/g-skill-16gb-288-pin-ddr4-sdram/p/N82E16820232181?m_ver=0

You can probably save a bit more with another SSD, but that's entirely understandable if you stick with Samsung. Their SATA SSDs do tend to outperform all others, but in essence you're paying about 30-40% more for about a 10-15% improvement.  I'd just highly recommend a drive with a DRAM cache if you're going to be using it as both an OS drive and a storage drive. Crucial MX500, Adata SU800, WD Blue are good alternatives. Again, the Samsung drive will outperform all of these - I'm only making the recommendation for costs. 

The 1660Ti is a good card. It's decidedly better than the RX580, but.... it's also still in the same mid-range class as the RX580. You aren't exactly "moving up" - it's more like a better lateral movement. I agree with CarolinaSock here too and would recommend any of the GPUs he mentioned. 

[Arroz con Panther]

Can I steal this topic since it's been a while? I'm looking to upgrade some parts, but not sure what to upgrade first. I really want a new monitor (IPS), but I'm not sure if it's worth doing that with the GPU and CPU that I currently have. Here's my build from Dec. 2016: 

https://pcpartpicker.com/user/nlannin3/saved/#view=DkCLkL

My monitor is only 1080p 60Hz, so I feel like I'm lacking in that area. However, I don't know whether I should jump to 1080 144Hz or to 1440 60Hz (or 144Hz if I can find a deal.) Also, everyone keeps telling me to get a g-sync monitor since I have a Nvidia graphics card, but that seems pricey for what you get in return. Thoughts?

If you think my GPU or CPU is worth upgrading first, let me know!

 

Edit: I use it purely for gaming. FPS's mostly, but also play single player games from time-to-time. Apex, COD, BF, Fallen Order, PUBG...all the standards.

[lightsout]

1 minute ago, Arroz con Panther said:

Can I steal this topic since it's been a while? I'm looking to upgrade some parts, but not sure where to upgrade. I want to go with either a new monitor (IPS), but I'm not sure if it's worth doing that on the GPU and CPU that I currently have. Here's what I have: 

https://pcpartpicker.com/user/nlannin3/saved/#view=DkCLkL

My monitor is only 1080p 60Hz, so I feel like I'm lacking in that area. However, I don't know whether I should jump to 1080 144Hz or to 1440 60Hz (or 144Hz if I can find a deal.) Also, everyone keeps telling me to get a g-sync monitor since I have a Nvidia graphics card, but that seems pricey for what you get in return. Thoughts?

If you think my GPU or CPU is worth upgrading first, let me know!

Absolutely steal it.

On the monitor, I have a Asus VQ248qe. It's sick. Highly recommend. G-sync is nice but not needed IMO (but I'm an AMD guy personally).

As far as GPU, you could spend the same as your current GPU's price for a AMD RX 5700 for a slight improvement. Honestly, short of going to a 20-series GPU from Nvidia, you're not going to see a huge difference. You will need to replace it after next year though as games start really pushing the older GPUs out (and your GPU is 3.5 years old).

As far as CPU, I'll toss the AMD Ryzen 5 3600. Newer processor, faster processor, better all around and not crazy expensive right now

https://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Core-i5-6600K-vs-AMD-Ryzen-5-3600/3503vs4040