PC for me/son

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Rydawg5143

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Updated OP as I have started to really dive into the project and relearn PC pricing. ATM I am unsure on memory. Is getting ddr4-4000 really that much better than the lower speeds? Seems I could save a few bucks here.

Mobo-$110- z370-A Pro
GPU-160ish,GTX 1060
CPU-,$200, i5-8400
RAM- 100ish, ?

I'm looking to build another PC for my son. He mainly plays Fortnite and uses CAD(Solidworks)

1) Used for Fortnite, CAD and school work
2)Unsure on budget as I haven't built a computer in many years. 300?
3)I live in the US, near a microcenter
4) I need CPU/Mobo/RAM/GPU
5) Have a case(Antec 300) and power supply(EVGA 700B) and we have an extra monitor.
6) Unlikely I'll be overclocking
7)22" monitor
8) I plan on building between now and end of January
9) I definitely want a SSD and a GPU good enough to run Solidworks.
10) I have various windows copies that are 64bit

** He currently plays on my PC which is I5-2500, Nvidia GTX 960, 500GB SSD, 16 GB RAM and we want to build something similar as Fortnite looks good on my PC and it runs Solidworks pretty well.
 
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may want to check craigslist, and even facebook marketplace in your area for some second hand pc's that you might more or less just have to slightly upgrade (throw in a gpu of sorts....1050ti, second hand 1060...run ya about 200 bux, plus another 150-200 for a reasonable computer on par with what you got....

otherwise, perhaps look into a amd system with a ryzen 3 2400g (built in igpu that will more then run fortnite 1080p high/ultra, unsure about the cad....) prob end up around 400-500 all said and done that route.... mostly due to memory prices....
 
Agree with DigitalPanhandler, I don't think you can come anywhere close to what you currently have with that budget. Get up around $500 and you can skimp on some stuff and get close.
 
for the record these are the kinds of second hand pcs i was thinking you'd be looking at

https://cosprings.craigslist.org/sys/d/workstation-pc-34ghz-i7-quad-core-16gb/6778807180.html

+ some sort of gpu....

or

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/NgcvFt

and that could always be adjusted slightly but dont expect much in the way of to much cheaper.... but it would run most games just fine 1080p low/med, some games high (fortnite)

throw in a reasonable gpu down the line....slowly upgrade things as need be


2200g - $99

2400g - $159


these are quite capable cpus/igpus, that said, ryzen does enjoy FAST memory, which usually equates to more money, also you really need to check the motherboards QVL memory support list, to see if whatever memory you chose is compatible.....

also not sure how relevant this is, im not familiar with cad related stuff...

 
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Thank you for the replies. Ive reconsidered the price and am able to spent some more but really my biggest question is what GPU would be equal or slightly better than the one I'm running? Ive been oit of the tech game for far too long
 
GTX 970, GTX 980, GTX 980Ti, GTX 1050Ti, GTX 1060, GTX 1060Ti, GTX 1070 are some GPUs that are better than a 960 GTX. Most of them aren't going to fit into a $300 budget though unless you get a good deal on a used one. Which, with a $300 budget, you're looking at used parts anyway for the most part.
 
Skillz said:
GTX 970, GTX 980, GTX 980Ti, GTX 1050Ti, GTX 1060, GTX 1060Ti, GTX 1070 are some GPUs that are better than a 960 GTX. Most of them aren't going to fit into a $300 budget though unless you get a good deal on a used one. Which, with a $300 budget, you're looking at used parts anyway for the most part.
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Thank you!
 
for the record if you haggle right / catch a good deal, you are in for a treat, got my 1070ti for 275 used, non mined
 
You cannot go wrong with a Dell Precision T3500 in that price range. I have built 2 of them for gaming ( and being old workstations they will also do Solidworks just fine ).

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-T3500...h=item282d62f3cc:g:FKcAAOSwmVdbgBrR:rk:8:pf:0

pair that with a used RX580 4gb which will cost under $150, and you make your mark on $300. Spend $20 more for a 120gb SSD

If you wanted a little more power, a Precision T1650/T1700 ( 3rd and 4th gen Intel ) are a good bang for buck but you'll need to go 16gb of Ram and then only short versions of video cards fit and the stock power supply won't be enough but you have that. You will only need the extra if you want a GTX 1070 or better graphics card
 
He has a case so he can transplant the stuff into a case that will fit longer GPUs. Might require a little fabbing assuming Dell's motherboard aren't standard ATX form factor though.
 
Skillz said:
He has a case so he can transplant the stuff into a case that will fit longer GPUs. Might require a little fabbing assuming Dell's motherboard aren't standard ATX form factor though.
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The T1650 and T1700 have the blue PCIE x16 slot to where a longer card will run overtop the memory. It's not actually a case limitation. Zotac 1070/ TI and Gigabyte mini's aren't hard to find now though.. The T1700 ( 4th gen ) also requires a power supply adapter but it's like $8 on Amazon
 
4000mhz ram really isn't needed unless you want to be on the bleeding edge, and be paying a premium for it....
2400-3200 would be sufficient but that would still raise the prices somewhat, probably 160 ish for intel platform....200 for amd...

gtx 1060 probably wont see for around 160.... unless your lucky

AVOID the 3gb version at all cost....

beyond that
 
Starting to piece stiff together.

Would a $30 difference be worth it for a z370/z390 board vs a b360. I'm not OCing obviously with the i5 8400. Got a 1060 6gb for 200.
 
If you're having to ask this question then no. A z370/z390 probably doesn't have any extra features you'll need that a b360 doesn't have. Most of those features are extra PCIe slots, more USB ports, that sort of thing.
 
matt167 said:
You cannot go wrong with a Dell Precision T3500 in that price range. I have built 2 of them for gaming ( and being old workstations they will also do Solidworks just fine ).

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-T3500...h=item282d62f3cc:g:FKcAAOSwmVdbgBrR:rk:8:pf:0

pair that with a used RX580 4gb which will cost under $150, and you make your mark on $300. Spend $20 more for a 120gb SSD

If you wanted a little more power, a Precision T1650/T1700 ( 3rd and 4th gen Intel ) are a good bang for buck but you'll need to go 16gb of Ram and then only short versions of video cards fit and the stock power supply won't be enough but you have that. You will only need the extra if you want a GTX 1070 or better graphics card
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Or a T5500/7500 with dual chip options.
 
fetoma11 said:
Or a T5500/7500 with dual chip options.
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Not really worth it. Dual processor 5500's and 7500's generally will come with trash cpu's, and then you would have to have matched decent X series cpu's. Would help solidworks slightly but gaming will never take advantage of it. Extra few hundred dollars for nothing really

The magic CPU's are the W3680's as they have unlocked multipliers. Intel XTU will allow the multipliers be bumped up and they will overclock to 4.0 ghz stable on a T3500. W3690 works as well, but they are basically the same chip and will both will only go to 4.0. No playing with voltages on a Dell so that's really it
 
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matt167 said:
Not really worth it. Dual processor 5500's and 7500's generally will come with trash cpu's, and then you would have to have matched decent X series cpu's. Would help solidworks slightly but gaming will never take advantage of it. Extra few hundred dollars for nothing really

The magic CPU's are the W3680's as they have unlocked multipliers. Intel XTU will allow the multipliers be bumped up and they will overclock to 4.0 ghz stable on a T3500. W3690 works as well, but they are basically the same chip and will both will only go to 4.0. No playing with voltages on a Dell so that's really it
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I agree. For gaming you also need a good GPU that will work with the T3500 legacy BIOS and run you $150 easy. No UEFI on the BIOS of those machines. Also no 6gbs SATA without the addition of a RAID comtroller card.
 
fetoma11 said:
I agree. For gaming you also need a good GPU that will work with the T3500 legacy BIOS and run you $150 easy. No UEFI on the BIOS of those machines. Also no 6gbs SATA without the addition of a RAID comtroller card.
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That's actually incorrect on the UEFI bios. They were actually one of the first to implement UEFI and modern cards work fine. My personal box runs a GTX 1070 ( had a 1060 6gb ) and my other box runs an RX 580 4gb
The RX 580 cost $125 on Ebay and the GTX 1070 cost $212 shipped on Ebay. I would bet the 20 series GTX would work too while the CPU would be bottlenecked. No fast Sata but that only matters for a blazing fast SSD. spinner hard drives don't go any faster. I run an HP SSD as a boot drive which gets respectable numbers on itself
 
matt167 said:
That's actually incorrect on the UEFI bios. They were actually one of the first to implement UEFI and modern cards work fine. My personal box runs a GTX 1070 ( had a 1060 6gb ) and my other box runs an RX 580 4gb
The RX 580 cost $125 on Ebay and the GTX 1070 cost $212 shipped on Ebay. I would bet the 20 series GTX would work too while the CPU would be bottlenecked. No fast Sata but that only matters for a blazing fast SSD. spinner hard drives don't go any faster. I run an HP SSD as a boot drive which gets respectable numbers on itself
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There is no UEFI option in my T3500 A17 BIOS.
 
It's a very early version of UEFI. for sure supports modern graphics cards and UEFI. AMD Polaris need UEFI and mine works 100%
 
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