Best PC build for $700?

Hey there! Since you guys have been doing such an awesome job helping everyone out lately, I was hoping you could help me put together a solid build with a budget of around $700. I’m looking for something that can handle some heavy lifting for schoolwork, specifically CAD drawing, but I also want to dive into some gaming on the side—mostly just jumping into Call of Duty or Assassin's Creed every now and then. Could you give me two options? One that includes an SSD and one without, just so I can see the price difference. I've been eyeing parts over at Best Buy http://www.mylelemon.at
Thanks so much!

Sent from my Galaxy S8 via Reddit

AMD Ryzen 5 1400 WRAITH 3200 AM4 box
MSI B350 PC Mate
AntecVPF 550 EC (80+ Bronze)
Aerocool gt Black Advance ATX BarraCud
BarraCuda 1TB
SanDisk PLUS - SSD - 120 GB
G.Skill Aegis DIMM Kit 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4-3000 CL16-18-18-38
GIGA VGA NV PCIe 4GB GTX1050Ti TOC DP/H/DVI

Total: $770.00

The only thing that feels a bit off to me is how cheap that VPF550 is ($46)... maybe it's just an RMA model or something.😬

Hey there! I was wondering if anyone could suggest an Intel-based build for me, though you can leave out the SSD from the list. Thanks so much!

Intel isn't really worth it right now. For that kind of money, you could grab an i5 with four cores, whereas this Ryzen gives you four cores plus SMT (4+4). Plus, you can actually overclock the Ryzen a bit, which you can't really do with Intel.

If you're dead set on Intel, I guess you should just wait until around October. They’re dropping a new series then where the i3 will have four cores and the i5 will jump to six, so they might finally fix their pricing. Right now, compared to Ryzen, what they're offering just doesn't make much sense.

crimsonstag84 said:AMD Ryzen 5 1400 WRAITH 3200 AM4 BOX | Wraith Stealth 65W Cooler
MSI B350 PC MATE
Netzteil ATX 550W AntecVPF 550 EC (80+ Bronze)
Aerocool GT Black ATX
BarraCuda 1TB
SanDisk PLUS - SSD - 120 GB
G.Skill Aegis DIMM Kit 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4-3000 CL16-18-18-38
GIGA VGA NV PCIe 4GB GTX1050Ti TOC DP/H/DVI

Total amount: $713.25

The only thing that feels a little bit off to me is how cheap that VPF550 is ($43)... I wonder if it might be some kind of RMA model😬

What exactly is an RMA model?

fadedorca66 said:Right now, going with Intel just doesn't make much sense; for the same budget, you can grab an i5 that's quad-core, whereas this Ryzen gives you four cores plus SMT (effectively 4+4). On top of that, you can actually play around with overclocking the Ryzen, which isn't really an option with Intel right now.

If you're really set on Intel, I'd suggest holding out until around October when their new series drops. They'll be bumping up the core counts—making the i3 quad-core and the i5 hexa-core—and hopefully adjusting prices then, because what they're offering currently just can't compete with the value of Ryzen.

Got it, thanks for the heads-up!

By the way, my little guy is insisting that we skip the SSD for now, so I was wondering if the money we save by cutting the SSD could be better spent elsewhere to beef up the build, like maybe upgrading the processor or the graphics card?

Jack Alvarez:

http://www.mylemon.at/artikel/zotac/...2mb-pci-e.html
http://www.mylemon.at/artikel/amd/yd...0x-3-7ghz.html

AMD AM4 Ryzen 5 1600
Toshiba P300 Desktop 1TB
GiBy4GB D5 GTX 1050 Ti D5 4G
Aerocool gt Black Advance ATX BarraCud
PSU 500W EVGA
Frostbyte G3 K2 MSK
MSI B350 PC Mate Netzteil ATX 550 w AntecVPF 550 EC

$750

So, is this basically the final build?

MSI B350 PC Mate
Netzteil ATX 550W AntecVPF 550 EC (80+ Bronze)
Aerocool gt Black Advance ATX
BarraCuda 1TB
Zota 3 GB D5 GTX 1060
CPU AMD AM4 Ryzen 5 1500 x
G.Skill Aegis DIMM Kit 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4-3000 CL16-18-18-38

Edit: I was also wondering why nobody seems to be including optical drives in their builds anymore—you know, those CD/DVD RW or Blu-ray players... just nothing at all lately.

That’s my take, anyway. Getting the R5 1600 seems like a smarter move since you're looking at 50% more cores and threads, though that bumps your total up to about $750.
If you can swing the extra cash, I'd go with the R5 1600 paired with that GTX 1060 3GB. If not, the R5 1500 x is still a solid choice.

EDIT: We aren't including an optical drive because everything is digital nowadays—just a USB stick 😁 but if you have old DVDs you need to run, you could always add one; it shouldn't be more than $12 or $13, I guess.

Just picked up the 1600 and the 1060. Huge thanks to you guys!