PC Build - Under 1k

Off-Topic Games, Gaming and Hardware
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There used to be an absolute madlad orc warlock on these forums that would put together some pretty suck builds for people and their budgets.

Last time I built was about 3 months before Legion launched and it’s time to build again. I’m looking to stay around 1k. I really only play classic wow and it’s iterations, plus some bioshock, and on occassion other non FPS games.

Any good builders out there that can help an idiot out?

Here is what I’m currently running:

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z170-HD3 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard
Memory: Crucial 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory
Storage: Seagate 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Hybrid Internal Hard Drive
Video Card: Zotac GeForce GTX 1060 6GB Mini Video Card
Power Supply: EVGA 600W B1 80+ Bronze
Case: MasterBox 5 Black Mid-tower

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If you’re looking for Quality FPS on a budget GPU Intel is not who I’d recommend at this point.

9800x3d is your boy for that. Problem is there’s nothing budget about it. It’s an expensive platform. Intel has nothing that compares unless you’re willing to spend money on a 7800mhz Ram kit and then intel can be slightly on par with the 9800x3D

9800x3d can you use a cheap 6000mhz Ram kit and blow just about anything in till has to offer out of the water. This is unfortunate because we need competition in the CPU space however right now there just isn’t much of any. So just like Nvidia with gpus AMD gets to play the name your price game with their CPU AM5 platform

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Recommend you save a bit more. Under 1k in todays market is difficult for new.

If you’re willing to look into the used market you can get a very nice gaming computer for under 1k. I sometimes see 5x00x3d + 7900GRE or higher for under 1k

Some quality of life changes you can do now is upgrade to a SSD and add some additional ram. I recall running on a 4790k until 2017 which ran legion more than fine.

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probably Sal on one of his Alts

That’s not a high bar to clear at all. You can max easily run WoW Classic at 1440p with something along the lines of an AMD 7600x & Nvidia RTX5060 or equivalent in performance. The AMD platform would give you a better upgrade path down the road but you can look at Intel at something like the i5-13400 (ballpark performance of the 7600x) or better but it would certainly need to be discounted compared to the AMD platform since you have a more limited upgrade path.
Bioshock is even easier to run and you would need to go into further detail on “non-FPS games” but like I said WOW classic you can certainly build a system at 1k or under.

You can re-use the case as well to save some money but probably want to move on from that cooler master HSF and evga PSU. Sites like techspot and logical increments have builds to help get you started on what parts you want to look at.

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I think the lock was Kagthul or something. Probably got tired of You.

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Hi!

I do believe they’re talking about Kagthul

That said, I’m back! (for now, with the new patch)

OP: Everyone’s saying 9800X3D and they’re not wrong, but it’s expensive. It’s a $500 CPU (after tax) where you can spend less than half that and get most of the performance.

In a budget build, where your target is under $1k, that severely limits your options given the CPU alone eats up half your budget.

If you live by an MC you might want to check that out. 7600X3D is a good choice for the money. MC has this bundle at the moment for $399:

https://www.microcenter.com/product/5007090/amd-ryzen-5-7600x3d,-asus-b650e-e-tuf-gaming-wifi-am5,-gskill-flare-x5-series-32gb-ddr5-6000-kit,-computer-build-bundle

Alternatively, Intel has this system which is much more well rounded for the same money:

https://www.microcenter.com/product/5006974/intel-core-i7-14700k,-asus-z790-gaming-wifi7,-gskill-ripjaws-s5-32gb-kit-ddr5-6000,-computer-build-bundle

Of the two, the 7600X3D is a smarter choice due to the platform giving you better options for upgrade; that said, since you’re coming up from a 6th gen Intel system I don’t think you’ll be doing an in-socket upgrade anyway. So this is less of an issue. The 7600X3D will game better but the 14700K will do everything else better. But the 14700K will need a better cooler whereas you can throw any cheap-o air cooler on the 7600X3D and it’ll work.

That leaves you with only $600 for everything else still, which is still kind of a stretch. A 9060 XT is your best bet at that price point, which is $370ish for the 16GB model.

MC has a $600 9800X3D combo, which is a deal, but that eats up the majority of your budget and you aren’t going to be able to fit GPU, PSU, case, and storage into the remaining $400. Unless you salvage stuff from your old build, which is possible, but not really a great idea. You don’t even have an SSD and your PSU is pretty old.

That only leaves you with another $230 for storage, case, PSU, and peripherals. Doable, but a stretch still.

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Welcome back, I hope North cal microcenter isn’t milking you dry.

I would disagree. A descent regular am5 7600 build is slightly above 1k not counting discount. If OP wants to build all new they will be spending above 1k before tax.

I would honestly just upgrade to a SSD and add another 8Gb of ram. That should run about $100 and should be enough for the games listed by OP.

When they do decide to do a full upgrade the SSD can be moved.

If they decide to wait back to school sales and black Friday isn’t exactly far off either

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Definitely hard to fit into that $1k budget. $1k doesn’t go nearly as far as it used to, sadly.

If you do go for an SSD - make sure to get an NVME one, not a SATA. Your motherboard has room for one Gen 3 NVME slot ( * PCIe Gen3 x4 M.2 Connector with up to 32Gb/s Data Transfer (PCIe NVMe & SATA SSD support)) which is backwards compatible.

That way, when you eventually move over, you’ll not be limited by a slow 2.5" SATA drive. More and more games are beginning to utilize direct storage technology and you’ll need an NVME drive for that.

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welcome back!

definitely doable since the OP already has a case and peripherals from his current PC. You can score plenty of solid PSU under a $100 that will power that rig 7600x or 7600X3D & 9060XT. Corsair CX650 for $80 is solid, Seasonic Core V2 650w for $90 is better (not their best effort but decent price), XPG Core Reactor II 750w for $90 if the OP wanted a bit more power. That leaves $120-ish for a fast 1TB or older 2TB SSD. So doable. That said OP has not been around since his initial post so I’m not going any further down the “lets build a PC” thread.

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personally im looking at 7800xt’s rn, they are on sale where i am for about $429 usd, 16gb of vram, 25% faster than a 9060xt. only thing you wont get is fsr4 and the better ray tracing from 9000 series (i dont care about either of those)