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Published on April 9th, 2016 | by Brandon

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PC Build Guide – April 2016

Welcome to the April version of our PC build guides. As with before, we have implemented hard price limits ($500, $800, $1300, $1800) on ourselves and have had to make tough decisions with each build. Your personal budget will likely be flexible, but we hope this article will give you a baseline. You can of course spend more or spend less, but you run into a case of diminishing returns at either end. Please keep in mind that pricing information is immediate and may not necessarily reflect real prices by the time you have read this article.

The Starter ($500 maximum)

Type Item Price
CPU Intel Core i3-6100 3.7GHz Dual-Core Processor $112.99 @ SuperBiiz
Motherboard ASRock Z170 Pro4S ATX LGA1151 Motherboard $109.88 @ OutletPC
Memory G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2400 Memory $29.99 @ Newegg
Storage Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5″ 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive $47.77 @ OutletPC
Video Card Zotac GeForce GTX 950 2GB Video Card $129.99 @ Newegg
Case NZXT Source 210 (White) ATX Mid Tower Case $34.99 @ Directron
Power Supply EVGA 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply $29.99 @ Newegg
Total $495.60

The Sweet Spot ($800 maximum)

Type Item Price
CPU Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor $194.99 @ SuperBiiz
Motherboard ASRock Z170 Pro4S ATX LGA1151 Motherboard $109.88 @ OutletPC
Memory G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2400 Memory $29.99 @ Newegg
Storage Kingston SSDNow V300 Series 120GB 2.5″ Solid State Drive $42.65 @ OutletPC
Storage Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5″ 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive $47.77 @ OutletPC
Video Card MSI GeForce GTX 970 4GB Twin Frozr V Video Card $304.99 @ Newegg
Case NZXT Source 210 (White) ATX Mid Tower Case $34.99 @ Directron
Power Supply EVGA 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply $29.99 @ Newegg
Total $795.25

The Enthusiast ($1300 maximum)

Type Item Price
CPU Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor $348.99 @ SuperBiiz
CPU Cooler Corsair H110i GTX 104.7 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler $94.99 @ Newegg
Motherboard Asus Z170-A ATX LGA1151 Motherboard $139.99 @ Amazon
Memory G.Skill Ripjaws 4 series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory $56.99 @ Newegg
Storage Samsung 850 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5″ Solid State Drive $149.45 @ OutletPC
Storage Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5″ 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive $47.77 @ OutletPC
Video Card Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 4GB WINDFORCE Video Card $323.98 @ Newegg
Case NZXT S340 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case $61.59 @ NZXT
Power Supply EVGA SuperNOVA NEX 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply $69.99 @ NCIX US
Total $1293.74

The Professional ($1800 maximum)

Type Item Price
CPU Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor $348.99 @ SuperBiiz
CPU Cooler Corsair H110i GTX 104.7 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler $94.99 @ Newegg
Motherboard Asus MAXIMUS VIII HERO ATX LGA1151 Motherboard $222.98 @ Newegg
Memory G.Skill Ripjaws 4 series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory $56.99 @ Newegg
Memory G.Skill Ripjaws 4 series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory $56.99 @ Newegg
Storage Samsung 850 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5″ Solid State Drive $149.99 @ Newegg
Storage Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5″ 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive $47.77 @ OutletPC
Video Card Gigabyte GeForce GTX 980 Ti 6GB Video Card $638.99 @ SuperBiiz
Case NZXT Phantom 530 (White) ATX Full Tower Case $114.99 @ SuperBiiz
Power Supply EVGA SuperNOVA NEX 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply $69.99 @ NCIX US
Total $1784.67

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3 Responses to PC Build Guide – April 2016

vol1tion

Avatar photoBrandon

Brandon started his PC gaming days playing Doom II (IDDQD/IDKFA for life) and has been hooked on online gaming since the original Starsiege: Tribes. The way to his heart is through proper grammar, corn dogs, and cookie cake.


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