Build Guides

Published on June 4th, 2017 | by Brandon

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PC Build Guide – June 2017

Welcome to the June 2017 version of our PC build guides. We have implemented hard price limits ($800, $1400, $2000) on ourselves and have had to make trade-offs 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 often 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.

After an accidental extended hiatus, our build guides have returned with a vengeance! Starting this month, we’ve removed the $500 Starter build and renamed the $800 build to “The Essentials” to signify that $800 is a good essential set of parts that gets the job done, but doesn’t have many frills. While it’s certainly possible to build a gaming PC for under $500, we’ve found that it’s often a challenge to put together a list of parts that we would actually purchase ourselves at the $500 price point. And if you’re planning to build a gaming PC, there’s a good chance that you’ve already budgeted to spend more than $500 anyway. We’ve also increased our maximum price points for the Enthusiast and Professional builds by $100 and $200, respectively, to represent a bit more diversity across each build. Without further ado, check out the builds below!

The Essentials ($800)

Type Item Price
CPU AMD – Ryzen 5 1600X 3.6GHz 6-Core Processor $229.99 @ Amazon
CPU Cooler Cooler Master – Hyper T4 70.0 CFM Rifle Bearing CPU Cooler $26.07 @ Amazon
Motherboard MSI – B350 PC MATE ATX AM4 Motherboard $76.98 @ Newegg
Memory Crucial – Ballistix Sport LT 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory $54.99 @ Amazon
Storage Western Digital – Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5″ 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive $49.99 @ Amazon
Video Card MSI – GeForce GTX 1060 6GB 6GB GT OCV1 Video Card $249.99 @ Amazon
Case NZXT – S340 (White) ATX Mid Tower Case $69.99 @ Amazon
Power Supply EVGA – 600B 600W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply $39.99 @ Amazon
  Total $797.99

The Enthusiast ($1400)

Type Item Price
CPU Intel – Core i7-7700K 4.2GHz Quad-Core Processor $339.99 @ Amazon
CPU Cooler Corsair – H100i v2 70.7 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler $94.99 @ Newegg
Motherboard Gigabyte – GA-Z270-HD3 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard $114.99 @ Amazon
Memory Corsair – Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory $115.88 @ Amazon
Storage Samsung – 960 EVO 250GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive $127.99 @ Amazon
Storage Western Digital – Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5″ 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive $49.99 @ Amazon
Video Card Gigabyte – GeForce GTX 1070 8GB G1 Gaming Video Card $392.43 @ Amazon
Case NZXT – S340 (White) ATX Mid Tower Case $69.99 @ Amazon
Power Supply EVGA – SuperNOVA NEX 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply $79.99 @ Amazon
  Total $1386.24

The Professional ($2000)

Type Item Price
CPU Intel – Core i7-7700K 4.2GHz Quad-Core Processor $339.99 @ Amazon
CPU Cooler Corsair – H100i v2 70.7 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler $94.99 @ Newegg
Motherboard MSI – Z270 SLI PLUS ATX LGA1151 Motherboard $106.98 @ Newegg
Memory G.Skill – Ripjaws V Series 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR4-2400 Memory $222.99 @ Newegg
Storage Samsung – 960 EVO 500GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive $247.99 @ Amazon
Storage Western Digital – Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5″ 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive $49.99 @ Amazon
Video Card EVGA – GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 11GB SC Black Edition Video Card $719.99 @ Amazon
Case NZXT – Phantom 530 (White) ATX Full Tower Case $119.99 @ Amazon
Power Supply EVGA – SuperNOVA NEX 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply $89.99 @ Amazon
  Total $1992.90

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One Response to PC Build Guide – June 2017

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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