$1,000 gaming build in LA?

Alright, feel free to lock this thread.

A buddy of mine is putting together a new gaming rig, and he’s willing to drop $2333 whatever it takes, as long as we're just talking about the tower itself.

Is there anything decent available for $2333 that would include an Intel Core i5 with 6 cores and a GTX 1060? Does that kind of setup actually fit within that budget? Thanks!

So, basically looking for an Intel Core i5 with 6 cores paired with a GTX 1060. Thanks for the help.

so $2333you grab an RTX 2060 paired up with a Ryzen 1600x or 2600
honestly, Intel processors in that bracket aren't even worth looking at right now. you'd basically be throwing an extra 500-$200 out the window just to get more or less the same performance

I’ve been there myself, and honestly, I told him the same thing—he’s definitely one of those die-hard Intel and Nvidia guys.😉

Edit;

If I were picking parts for a budget build like this, here is what I'd aim for:

A GTX 1060.
An Intel Core i5 6-core
12 GB of RAM
A 256 GB SSD.
A decent motherboard.
A reliable power supply.
A solid case.

+

He already has an old HDD lying around.

And he's got a monitor. So, we're really just looking at the tower itself.

Do you think all of that can fit into a $700 budget?

stormyviper2 said:I’ve been there myself, and honestly, I told him the same thing—he’s definitely one of those die-hard Intel and Nvidia guys.😉

Edit;

If I were picking parts for a budget build like this, here is what I'd aim for:

A GTX 1060.
An Intel Core i5 6-core
12 GB of RAM
A 256 GB SSD.
A decent motherboard.
A reliable power supply.
A solid case.

+

He already has an old HDD lying around.

And he's got a monitor. So, we're really just looking at the tower itself.

Do you think all of that can fit into a $700 budget?

ASUS Prime B360M, LGA 1151 8th Gen
Intel Core i5-9400F (9MB Cache, 2.90GHz)
DDR4 8GB (1x8) PC4-21300U 2666MHz CL19 G.Skill NT Series
Gigabyte RTX 2060 OC GDDR6 6GB
Crucial MX500 250GB SSD
SAMA 750W 80PLUS GOLD
Zalman Z1 NEO mid tower case

Total: $2325 Best Buy

The PSU is overkill, but it's such a killer deal it's totally worth it.
I wouldn't even touch 12 GB of RAM; I'd stick to either 8 or 16. If he really wants to save money, he could swap the SAMA for an EVGA 850 and get maybe another $33 back.

BTW, does anyone know what happened with the new site layout at Best Buy? There aren't even any filters for detailed component searches?

As long as everything looks fancy and polished... 🕺

Personally, I’d rather go with 16 GB of RAM paired with a solid midrange power supply, maybe something like a Corsair CX m or similar. Honestly, a 750W Gold unit feels like overkill when you're just running a 65W CPU and a 120W GPU.

Edit; I just caught the price tag—at $499, it would be pretty silly not to grab it.

stormyviper2 said:Personally, I’d rather go with 16 GB of RAM paired with a solid midrange power supply, maybe something like a Corsair CX m or similar. Honestly, a 750W Gold unit feels like overkill when you're just running a 65W CPU and a 120W GPU.

Edit; I just caught the price tag—at $499, it would be pretty silly not to grab it.

Exactly. If they really want that 16GB for Future-proofing, they should just stretch the budget there. It doesn't make sense to cut corners on other parts of the build just to afford the extra RAM.

Just a heads-up for anyone else planning to build their rig: I should mention that we'll be paying by credit card.

My mistake, I honestly thought I had already mentioned that. :/

Intel Core i5-9400F
H310M (honestly, don't bother with anything pricier since you can't/won't be overclocking anyway)
8GB DDR4 RAM
Kingston A400 240GB SSD
EVGA 850
Gigabyte RTX 2060

Total: $2338 for the card (if you split it into 12 monthly payments, you grab a 3% discount)
So basically $2267

Pick whatever case you want; it doesn't really matter. It could even be some cheap junk. This build isn't exactly going to turn into a space heater. Even if it does, you’re ten times better off sinking that cash into a decent cooler rather than a fancy case. The only thing you actually need to check is that everything physically fits inside and that the power supply isn't just dangling out of nowhere. That's mostly for cable management, but honestly, even that isn't a huge deal.

You can easily slap in an extra 8GB of RAM later down the road when you actually need it.
There is zero point in buying a GPU that's 50% weaker just to get an extra stick of RAM.

I sent him this link, and honestly, I don't think you can beat it. XD If he decides to pass on it, that's his call, but this setup is an absolute steal. We're talking a GTX 1070, 16 GB of RAM, and a Ryzen 1600. If he doesn't grab this, he's crazy. xD

1 * AMD Ryzen 5 1600x 3.6GHz, Sck. AM4 + AC Freezer 33 Cooler
Part Number: YD160XBCAEWOF2 - $463

1 * GIGABYTE GA-AB350M-DS3H Motherboard (S.AM4, 4xDDR4, RAID) mATX
Part Number: GA-AB350M-DS3H - $170

1 * GSkill Aegis 16GB (2x8) DDR4 3000MHz Memory
Part Number: F4-3000C16D-16GISB - $316

1 * Palit GF GTX 1070 JetStream, 8GB
Part Number: pal-1070-js-8gb - $866

1 * SAMA ARMOR 550W 80PLUS GOLD
Part Number: 0151335 - $150

1 * Zalman S3, 1x120mm, USB3.0
Part Number: ZAL-S3 - $83

Total: $2048
Free assembly and shipping

I really believe you won't find anything better than this for $700 on the used market. Right? 😁

I would suggest adding $100 since at the end of the day, the RTX 2060 is really the heart of any gaming rig.

A GTX 1070 with a decent cooler for $40, versus a $50 single-fan RTX 2060? LOL.
It’s just not worth shelling out an extra $75 or so for that upgrade.

Alexander Moore67 said:I would suggest adding $100 since at the end of the day, the RTX 2060 is really the heart of any gaming rig.

Not really $100. This GTX 1070 is going for $0.87, while an RTX 2060 with decent cooling is closer to $1.00 ($167 difference). You're looking at maybe a 10 FPS average difference at most, so if someone wants to pay extra, be my guest

stormyviper2 said:A GTX 1070 with a decent cooler for $40, versus a $50 single-fan RTX 2060? LOL.
It’s just not worth shelling out an extra $75 or so for that upgrade.

The GTX 1070 is priced at $0.87. I've got a solid cooler on mine and 36 months of warranty left. Those single-fan RTX 2060 cards are sitting around $0.97, while a dual-fan model with actual cooling is somewhere between $300 and $1.00. I'm not sure where you're seeing these prices... But yeah, paying the gap between a dual-fan GTX 1070 and an RTX 2060 just for $167 more to get 10 extra FPS
isn't a great deal.

Using a card, Future it. It’s not cash. XD 2750. XD

Edit:

We pay by card, which ends up being anywhere from 50 to $50 more expensive than the cash price per component. All in all, it's roughly $233 pricier than paying cash. 😉

Edit:

I can barely remember when the GTX 1070 with 16 GB of RAM and a Ryzen 1600 finally came out; we really had to squeeze it in. XD

Just go ahead and grab it then. Honestly, there’s no point in overcomplicating things or making up fake scenarios about hot water on two different forums.
ryzen 1600x + 16gb ram + gtx1070 and you're good to go.

swiftfalcon89 said:Just go ahead and grab it then. Honestly, there’s no point in overcomplicating things or making up fake scenarios about hot water on two different forums.
ryzen 1600x + 16gb ram + gtx1070 and you're good to go.

That’s pretty much how I ended up too... whether it was about having XFR2 or deciding if Zen+ was worth the investment for the Future, all those debates eventually lead to the same spot. Now, I've settled on the 1600x as the most practical choice, and it's running at a solid 4GHz overclock on my Arctic 33 cooler, hitting a max of 70C under Prime95 stress tests, and honestly, I couldn't be happier with the results.

Adam Moore3 said:ASUS Prime B360M, LGA 1151 8th Gen
Intel Core i5-9400F (9MB Cache, 2.90GHz)
DDR4 8GB (1x8) PC4-21300U 2666MHz CL19 G.Skill NT Series
Gigabyte RTX 2060 OC GDDR6 6GB
Crucial MX500 250GB SSD
SAMA 750W 80PLUS GOLD
Zalman Z1 NEO mid tower case

Total: $2325 Best Buy

The PSU is overkill, but it's such a killer deal it's totally worth it.
I wouldn't even touch 12 GB of RAM; I'd stick to either 8 or 16. If he really wants to save money, he could swap the SAMA for an EVGA 850 and get maybe another $33 back.

BTW, does anyone know what happened with the new site layout at Best Buy? There aren't even any filters for detailed component searches?

As long as everything looks fancy and polished... 🕺

My theory? The guy running AMD's webstore is either a total saboteur or just some kind of agent provocateur.

I can't make sense of this link. It looks like it might be broken or lead to a page that isn't loading properly on my end. If you're trying to share something specific, try sending the text directly or checking the URL again.

wiredotter14 said:My theory? The guy running AMD's webstore is either a total saboteur or just some kind of agent provocateur.

I can't make sense of this link. It looks like it might be broken or lead to a page that isn't loading properly on my end. If you're trying to share something specific, try sending the text directly or checking the URL again.

🤣

But what's actually insane is that those filters used to work perfectly fine. Why on earth would you pull a perfectly functional feature that an e-commerce site actually needs? Now they're worse than Walmart—Walmart has crappy filters, but at least they actually have them...

Honestly, the filters on these sites are absolutely useless right now. It’s especially bad when you're trying to hunt for GPUs. It feels like they were too lazy to just implement basic dual-category filtering—you know, letting us toggle between AMD vs. Nvidia, or even filtering by specific cooler manufacturers. It’s the same story with motherboards; why can't we just select a socket and then a manufacturer? Instead, I find myself stuck manually digging through endless lists every single time. It's such a hassle. -.-

Plus, on AMD's site, you can see the cash price on the individual item, but it doesn't show up in the cart. You have to go through the damn hassle of logging in or entering all your info just to see the total discount for the whole basket.

Finally finished this nightmare setup. I managed to pick up an Intel Core i7-7700K and an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070. 😉