$700 Best-Value Gaming PC Build Guide (Jun 2020)

[Countryside]

Very nice build but its hard to get hands on an 1600AF their selling like hotcakes

1TB nvme very good but never have i heard anything about Sabrent.

 

[kapone32]

Very nice build but its hard to get hands on an 1600AF their selling like hotcakes

1TB nvme very good but never have i heard anything about Sabrent.

Sabrent are actually pretty good.

 

[dirtyferret]

I'd love to find an 85$ Ryzen 1600 AF on amazon, besides the fact they start at 100$ and upwards

Even at $100 it is a great deal.

It's $85 with free shipping if you buy from the seller "AMD Authorized Reseller"
If you want to use two day prime shipping then it's $108, although units from "Ideabuy" are $100 but on back order

Amazon.com: Buying Choices: AMD Ryzen 5 1600 65W AM4 Processor with Wraith Stealth Cooler (YD1600BBAFBOX)

 

[kapone32]

It's $85 with free shipping if you buy from the seller "AMD Authorized Reseller"
If you want to use two day prime shipping then it's $108, although units from "Ideabuy" are $100 but on back order

Amazon.com: Buying Choices: AMD Ryzen 5 1600 65W AM4 Processor with Wraith Stealth Cooler (YD1600BBAFBOX)

Indeed it will ship to Canada but it would be $181 with fees and customs. On top of that the earliest I would get it would be Mar 11 while the 2600 is $159.99 ($180) and I could get it today. I would save exactly $1 and have to wait. I really want this chip to come to Canadian retailers.

 

[silentbogo]

I'd love to find an 85$ Ryzen 1600 AF on amazon, besides the fact they start at 100$ and upwards

Normal retailers are quickly running out, so what you see is speculative prices from third-parties.
Even locally, with double import tariffs I can get one for $110-$115 (>$85 actual value if we subtract EU VAT and Ukr. tax).
If you are from US, just keep an eye on one of the official AMD retailers, like Newegg, Microcenter etc.

 

[milewski1015]

Well done. As aforementioned, this is a tough price point to work with. Personally, I would forego the Sabrent Rocket and swap in a 1TB M.2 MX500 or WD Blue 3D, which usually run about $110. Yeah you lose NVMe, but at this price point you likely don't have a use-case for NVMe,and it frees up $10 to dump into faster memory. Only other change I would make would be swapping the case for the CoolerMaster NR400 It's a well-featured mATX case (to match the motherboard form factor), with a minimalist aesthetic similar to the ever-popular NZXT S340/H500/H510, as well as two stock fans included and a full mesh front to foster good airflow. Even has a 5 1/4" bay for an ODD if that's your thing.

 

[crazyeyesreaper]

Well done. As aforementioned, this is a tough price point to work with. Personally, I would forego the Sabrent Rocket and swap in a 1TB M.2 MX500 or WD Blue 3D, which usually run about $110. Yeah you lose NVMe, but at this price point you likely don't have a use-case for NVMe,and it frees up $10 to dump into faster memory. Only other change I would make would be swapping the case for the CoolerMaster NR400 It's a well-featured mATX case (to match the motherboard form factor), with a minimalist aesthetic similar to the ever-popular NZXT S340/H500/H510, as well as two stock fans included and a full mesh front to foster good airflow. Even has a 5 1/4" bay for an ODD if that's your thing.

Right in the article it straight up mentions you can grab a cheaper SSD or to keep ones eyes open for other deals. Back in November (spoiler tag in the article) shows the Crucial P1 being just $96. Prices are creeping upwards but SATA SSD such as the BX500 etc can be had still in the $90 range for a 1TB which for a gaming rig is still more than adequate. Again already mentioned in the article. As a build is never one size fits all.

As for the case, i was originally going to swap in the Phanteks P300A (mesh front panel for better airflow) however Amazon in their infinite wisdom didn't offer prime / free shipping so it pushed the price up considerably at the time.

 

[dirtyferret]

Right in the article it straight up mentions you can grab a cheaper SSD or to keep ones eyes open for other deals. Back in November (spoiler tag in the article) shows the Crucial P1 being just $96. Prices are creeping upwards but SATA SSD such as the BX500 etc can be had still in the $90 range for a 1TB which for a gaming rig is still more than adequate. Again already mentioned in the article. As a build is never one size fits all.

As for the case, i was originally going to swap in the Phanteks P300A (mesh front panel for better airflow) however Amazon in their infinite wisdom didn't offer prime / free shipping so it pushed the price up considerably at the time.

newegg has it for $60 with free shipping and a $10 MIR

Phanteks Eclipse P300A Full-Metal Mesh, ATX Computer Case - Newegg.com

Buy Phanteks Eclipse P300A High Airflow Full-Metal Mesh Design, Compact ATX Mid-Tower, 120mm Black Case Fan, Black, PH-EC300ATG_BK01 with fast shipping and top-rated customer service. Once you know, you Newegg!

www.newegg.com

 

[crazyeyesreaper]

newegg has it for $60 with free shipping and a $10 MIR

Phanteks Eclipse P300A Full-Metal Mesh, ATX Computer Case - Newegg.com

Buy Phanteks Eclipse P300A High Airflow Full-Metal Mesh Design, Compact ATX Mid-Tower, 120mm Black Case Fan, Black, PH-EC300ATG_BK01 with fast shipping and top-rated customer service. Once you know, you Newegg!

www.newegg.com

I stick with amazon rather than mix match etailers as it keeps the tables / clickable links embedded in images etc much easier to manage. They are also world wide reach same as TPU itself where Newegg is more focused in NA. One of those pick a poison options cant make everyone happy

 

[silentbogo]

As for the case, i was originally going to swap in the Phanteks P300A (mesh front panel for better airflow) however Amazon in their infinite wisdom didn't offer prime / free shipping so it pushed the price up considerably at the time.

That would be a good option. Also, Cougar has some decent cases for pennies. Recently got this one for one of my customers, and it's pretty solid, considering ridiculously low price tag.
Kinda a hybrid of "cheapified" Antec 900 ripoff and Zalman ZM-T1, but it works well. It's even better than my slightly more expensive Chieftec, cause it has better airflow for front-side mounted AIO.
Though, I'd replace that rear fan right away.

Cougar MX330 Mid Tower Case with Full Acrylic Transparent Window - Newegg.com

Buy Cougar MX330 Mid Tower Case with Full Acrylic Transparent Window and USB 3.0 with fast shipping and top-rated customer service. Once you know, you Newegg!

www.newegg.com

 

[milewski1015]

Right in the article it straight up mentions you can grab a cheaper SSD or to keep ones eyes open for other deals. Back in November (spoiler tag in the article) shows the Crucial P1 being just $96. Prices are creeping upwards but SATA SSD such as the BX500 etc can be had still in the $90 range for a 1TB which for a gaming rig is still more than adequate. Again already mentioned in the article. As a build is never one size fits all.

As for the case, i was originally going to swap in the Phanteks P300A (mesh front panel for better airflow) however Amazon in their infinite wisdom didn't offer prime / free shipping so it pushed the price up considerably at the time.

Fair enough. I'll be honest, I just quickly skimmed the parts list and prices so I missed the mention of a cheaper SSD.

If I remember correctly, the BX500 lacks DRAM. Quoting NewMaxx (AKA SSD Jesus from Reddit): "One specific characteristic divides the “good” drives from the “bad”: the presence or lack of DRAM. DRAM on a SSD does not act as a write or data cache as you would find on a HDD. Instead, it helps with the flash translation layer (FTL) – the method by which the drive communicates between the OS and the flash. The FTL handles myriad functions and the presence of DRAM assists it in these tasks, improving both performance and endurance. Drives utilized with mixed workloads – reads and writes – and especially many small operations benefit most from DRAM. This includes OS and mixed-use."

Basically how I understand it is no DRAM = more sluggish performance, which is obviously something you want to avoid on an OS drive.

I hear you on the shipping front for the case.

 

[Ruru]

Pretty good budget build. The case sucks though with its horrible airflow, but I guess that it's not that much of a problem since that is a pretty low-power system.

 

[Mescalamba]

Probably not bad, but maybe second-hand market would be better option? Altho this is really tight budget..

 

[gamefoo21]

I think the R7 2700 is an amazing steal on sale. It'll easily overclock to the same heights as the 2700X.

I think I'd rather have an RX 5600 to be honest over a 1660 too.

 

[Casecutter]

It's interesting that we see the use of a graphics card that is only a choice for like 12% of TPU respondents to W1zzard's pole.
$240 (and pushing the budget) is a lot of money for a card that offers strong 1080p though middling 1440p.

When I can find a XFX RX 5600 XT 6Gb THICC II Pro for $270 the $700 build it's a hard point to justify for a 1080p build, though not the outlay you need to push up to a decent entry 1440p box.

 

[crazyeyesreaper]

It's interesting that we see the use of a graphics card that is only a choice for like 12% of TPU respondents to W1zzard's pole.
$240 (and pushing the budget) is a lot of money for a card that offers strong 1080p though middling 1440p.

When I can find a XFX RX 5600 XT 6Gb THICC II Pro for $270 the $700 build it's a hard point to justify for a 1080p build, though not the outlay you need to push up to a decent entry 1440p box.

But its also hard to recommend AMD to a first time builder when they are just now getting their drivers in order before they drop the next big release. If you take into account the 5600 XT's issues with memory speeds since AMD upped those requirements while using lower binned memory. So that makes it kinda hard to recommend for a potential first time build not to mention that it basically blows the budget. If i was to do an $800 build sure but lets face it to get things to fit the budget already runs a tad high as is.

As for 1440P the 5600 XT isn't going to provide enough uplift to matter there if you take OCing into account. If thats the case most 5600XTs are heavily limitd 1660 Super can typically gain 10% more performance leaving the 5600 XT 10% faster. thats 10 fps at 100 5 fps at 50 not enough of a difference to matter instead the game tested will matter more than just about anything else. The argument can be made for or against and in many different ways. Right now the Nvidia card uses less power / meaning less heat dump in the case. if you go with a 5600 XT your likely gonna need to shell out for a couple of extra fans bare minimum for improved airflow to get the most out of the card. If going with a more powerful GPU with that level of heat output users will likely want to upgrade CPU cooling so while its possible your still looking at $30 GPU difference $20-30 for CPU $10-30 for fans. So end of day cost to have a system run as it should would likely result in another $100 give or take to get an experience thats worth having. After all while this may be a budget build nowhere in the article does it say min-max for performance. Its a build someone can likely be comfortable using. Even then i would prefer to have a better CPu cooler over the slightly better GPU.

You can go with a better GPU here sure but my question to you with the budget already pushing the $700 constraint how cheap are you gonna go on other components to fit that 5600 XT? i can also see the enthusiast bs here for 1440p is to far away for this build. Considering W1zz's own charts show an average of all games at 60 FPS at 1440p the outliers on both sides means lower FPS can be settled with lower quality settles. No one has to play games at maximum settings all the time every time that is a fallacy in and of itself.

Obviously however to those that read the article would understand alternatives to certain selections are mentioned and its also not meant to be the end all be all buy this build only. It serves as nothing more than an entry level build thats well rounded to help a potential gamer get started in regards to PC gaming.

 

[Casecutter]

You can go with a better GPU here sure but my question to you with the budget already pushing the $700 constraint how cheap are you gonna go on other components to fit that 5600 XT?

I think paying 30% more for a card that's say 17% better at 1080p and still not any huge Average Gaming Framerate difference (72 vs 87 Fps). I'd go with the MSI RX 5500 XT 8Gb MECH OC which today can be had for $184 after a $20 rebate and pocket $60. Also, Right today I would've saved another $15 and went with the Antec NeoECO Gold+ ZEN 500 W for $55 working a $15 rebate.
That means it costs right at $655 or saves >10% vs. $726.

I'll say it's sad that today we can't make a great 1080p box without thinking $700... is what people need to drop.

 

[crazyeyesreaper]

I think paying 30% more for a card that's say 17% better at 1080p and still not any huge Average Gaming Framerate difference (72 vs 87 Fps). I'd go with the MSI RX 5500 XT 8Gb MECH OC which today can be had for $184 after a $20 rebate and pocket $60. Also, Right today I would've saved another $15 and went with the Antec NeoECO Gold+ ZEN 500 W for $55 working a $15 rebate.
That means it costs right at $655 or saves >10% vs. $726.

I'll say it's sad that today we can't make a great 1080p box without thinking $700... is what people need to drop.

Going 5500 XT isnt a bad option to be fair. But the 5600 XT tho has been a mess since launch. I also don't bother with rebates since they don't apply everywhere and they require the money up front anyway and you gotta hope they accept it and give you the rebate later (considering ive been denied rebates multiple times I consider counting on them to be a worthless endeavor).

That said by going 1660 super your paying 10% more for about 17-21% more performance and even if you add in overclocking the 1660 Super clocks better giving a larger return and that considering the performance uplift delivers a larger return on performance than the cost its not so bad. But i do agree that at 1080p the difference between the two is moot since if one cant run a title well the other isnt going to magically make it playable. But then we also run into the used GPU market conundrum where for the same performance of the 5500 XT you can find used RX 580s in the ballpark of $100 or sometimes less. and they end up delivering the same performance.

Its all relative I tried to squeeze as much performance as i could into the budget while keeping part quality in mind obviously could grab the cheapest mobo available slap in the cheapest memory and maybe fix an Ryzen 3600 in or keep current CPU do the same cut corners and grab a 5600 XT or RTX 2060. It essentially boils down to what I think works and what someone else thinks works are two very different things and neither choice is inherently wrong either.

As for the sad thoughts on $700 i kinda agree. We have hit the point where pricing / diminishing returns have kinda hit a wall and now prices keep sliding up the scale. I mean look at the 290x to 390x to RX 480 to RX 580 to RX 590 to 5500 XT. Its been 7 years and in that time span the performance of all of those GPUs remains fairly similar. Pricing started out at 549 on the 290X to $429 on the 390X the RX 480 dropped that to $229 RX 580 stayed similar RX 590 pushed prices back up to $279 before the 5500 XT dropped that to $180 or so. Meaning mid range performance has been semi stagnant since 2016 or at this point 4 years and across 4 product release cycles. Obviously in the US the trade war and tariffs aren't helping but I digress, Things have been stagnant and overall prices are continuing to rise.

 

[Casecutter]

As for the sad thoughts on $700 i kinda agree... Obviously in the US the trade war and tariffs aren't helping but I digress, Things have been stagnant and overall prices are continuing to rise.

Agree, and that second mining boom gave both of them a realization that prices could be pushed, or now GDDR6 memory prices... but yes we digress! Still do we think an old $500 build that could provide a decent overall 1080p experience say in 2014-2015 is now the 40% improvement (@ $700) in presenting a truly 40% "immersive experience" today? Sure sheer gaming graphics FPS are up, but are folks truly feeling "play" that's that much more effecting/engaging... more captivating?

I suppose the Sabrent 1Tb NVMe PCIe M.2 SSD while a good price it could be a component the pushed the budget over shouldn't pin it just the graphics choice. What does that NVMe M.2 SSD add over say any 1Tb 2.5" SSD that's $20 less? Is was it wroth paying 20% extra?

 

[Casecutter]

The reason I ask about the SSD was I've considered using something like a Mushkin PILOT 120Gb M.2-2280 NVMe ($36) and use it as the Windows 10 boot drive along with other drivers .
Then use a typical 1 TB 2.5" SSD that go for $100 as storage for programs/games/documents/.pst etc. I like the idea of maintaining the OS on a separate drive as then if there's a need to reinstall Windows all such data doesn't need to be reinstalled.

 

[thebluebumblebee]

Then today, this happens. Of course, it turns it into an $800 build, but....
LINK

 

[milewski1015]

I suppose the Sabrent 1Tb NVMe PCIe M.2 SSD while a good price it could be a component the pushed the budget over shouldn't pin it just the graphics choice. What does that NVMe M.2 SSD add over say any 1Tb 2.5" SSD that's $20 less? Is was it wroth paying 20% extra?

Not in my opinion - seeing as this is targeted as a gaming system, we can only assume that gaming is the sole priority. It's been shown that NVMe offers very little to no noticeable difference compared to SATA for a gaming system: boot time decreases are extremely small, as well as game load time differences. That $20 would be much better allocated elsewhere in the build - maybe some faster RAM and better power supply? $20 doesn't really do much if you try and dump it into CPU or GPU.

The reason I ask about the SSD was I've considered using something like a Mushkin PILOT 120Gb M.2-2280 NVMe ($36) and use it as the Windows 10 boot drive along with other drivers .
Then use a typical 1 TB 2.5" SSD that go for $100 as storage for programs/games/documents/.pst etc. I like the idea of maintaining the OS on a separate drive as then if there's a need to reinstall Windows all such data doesn't need to be reinstalled.

Fair point about the OS on a separate drive. While it's not NVMe, the 120GB TC Sunbow X3 120GB SATA 2.5" looks like it goes for $26 on Amazon, has DRAM, and would be suitable for a budget OS drive. It's essentially a cheaper Team L5 Lite 3D

 

[Casecutter]

Not in my opinion - seeing as this is targeted as a gaming system, we can only assume that gaming is the sole priority. It's been shown that NVMe offers very little to no noticeable difference compared to SATA for a gaming system: boot time decreases are extremely small, as well as game load time differences.

Perhaps re-read... as I agree, that one big NVMe PCIe M.2 SSD for storing games provides "nill to any" really noticeable improvement during actual game play. Sure they say big mapped games such NVMe can help, or loading times on some games, but I couldn't qualitatively find or say what are the actual titles that show merit so hard to discern if that's a good purchase.

Fair point about the OS on a separate drive.

I today think for booting into windows it is the only way anyone should be configuring. Now not sure the $10 difference between them is probably more personal preference juggling $10 is less a budget worry as most tests show NVMe cuts only a few seconds. Now I don't find it, I thought I read NVMe is less prone to throughput slowdowns TRIM (can't remember actual term) than ordinary SSD's. Those need clearing/cleaning of of data block holding deleted info; however that could be something for older/earlier SSD not with today's newer controller

 

[milewski1015]

Perhaps re-read... as I agree, that one big NVMe PCIe M.2 SSD for storing games provides "nill to any" really noticeable improvement during actual game play. Sure they say big mapped games such NVMe can help, or loading times on some games, but I couldn't qualitatively find or say what are the actual titles that show merit so hard to discern if that's a good purchase.

I was agreeing with you as well. You asked whether NVMe was worth spending 20% more, to which I replied "Not in my opinion...". I was stating that I don't think it's a good purchase. At this price point, it's safe to assume (although not always true) that the builder is strictly gaming (especially because this article is titled "$700 Gaming System"). As you mention, there isn't a noticeable difference between SATA and NVMe in regards to gameplay, so it doesn't make sense to spend more money on NVMe speeds that you won't take advantage of or notice.

I today think for booting into windows it is the only way anyone should be configuring. Now not sure the $10 difference between them is probably more personal preference juggling $10 is less a budget worry as most tests show NVMe cuts only a few seconds. Now I don't find it, I thought I read NVMe is less prone to throughput slowdowns TRIM (can't remember actual term) than ordinary SSD's. Those need clearing/cleaning of of data block holding deleted info; however that could be something for older/earlier SSD not with today's newer controller

I haven't seen anything regarding NVMe being less prone to throughput slowdowns but that doesn't mean it's not out there. I would argue that in a relatively budget build, saving $10 here and there can really add up. As we just agreed on, NVMe doesn't really add a noticeable difference unless you're doing a lot of sequential reads/writes - why spend more money on a small NVMe OS drive if you won't notice the speed?

 

[DiBaco]

Do you recommend buying off amazon?