Does this look okay for a <$2000 gaming system that can do anything?

Deus Alias (working title)

My intention is to build a system that I can effectively use as a final system. It would replace my current laptop for gaming and general use.I'll admit I'm not really a major PC gamer - while having a large collection due to SteamSales I mostly end up playing on my Wii U (I have a minor buying addiction) and so would at bare minimum have something that handles what I throw at it, even if it isn't the best possible. It would be my first proper gaming system (and my second built system) - and I admit I am uncertain about if I've chosen the correct components and such. I'm undecided on the GPU and might go for the new AMD RX 480, and I have no idea how to choose from the 100+ PSUs that seemingly meet the requirements.

Any advice would be appreciated.

FuturDreamz said:

I have no idea how to choose from the 100+ PSUs that seemingly meet the requirements.

Any advice would be appreciated.

I'd eliminate all the PSUs that provide less than 450Watts. It's also important if using an Add-in graphics card that the PSU meets its specifications, will be listed in the cards specs. There's also the consideration that the room outlets where the computer will be used has sufficient power [at least 15Amp breaker or 20Amp] and are the 3-prong variety [older homes may have only the 2-prong/conductor wiring].

I assume you're talking about a desktop and not a laptop?

I'll tell you what I just built, and I love it. It's an intel NUC NUC6i7KYK (Skull Canyon).

This has a beastly 6th Gen (Sky lake) i7 6770HQ (Quad core processor, not dual core like the i7 U series), uses Intel Iris Pro 580 integrated graphics (Yes, it's integrated, and won't compete with a high end card, but it does pretty well and is Intel's top end graphics chip). If you play largely indie games, or lower requirements games, this should be more than fine.

Hands-on with Intel's Skull Canyon NUC, the most powerful game-ready mini-PC | PCWorld

It has Thunderbolt 3, 2 m.2 NVMe ready slots, and can take up to 32GB of memory. all in a small form factor that is whisper quiet. It can take up to 3 monitors (one HDMI 2.0, one Mini-DP, and the Thunderbolt. You could also add a display via USB for more.. but you get the point).

It supports multiple 4K displays (though playing any monster FPS's at 4k would be painful on this). However, if you really really wanted to, you could upgrade the GPU later via an external GPU and Thunderbolt, such as Razor's external GPU (obviously, if the video is super important to you that would be a silly thing to do, but i'm just pointing out that there is an option should you wish, someday to improve the GPU).

Cost is around $650 without memory or disk. I added two Samsung 950 NVMe 512GB drives (2500+MB/s performance) and 32 GB of crucial DDR4 for a total of about $1400

It's super tiny, and doesn't take over my desk, and gives me the power to run Virtual Machines, and just about anything else I want to do, except play the latest FPS shooter at max resolution. If I want, I can pick it up and put it in a pocket (if you're wearing cargo shorts) and go anywhere with it. It's a great portable alternative to a laptop if you can rely on there being a TV or monitor wherever you are going.

An alternative might be an Alienware Alpha, which has a dedicated GPU, but won't compete with the Skull Canyon in raw non-gaming performance.

Sorry I thought I had linked to my Newegg list in my original post. Computer Parts, PC Components, Laptop Computers, Digital Cameras and more - Newegg.ca

SanDisk SD8SN8U-512G-1122 X400 M.2 2280 512GB Internal SSD - Internal SSDs - Newegg.ca
Thermaltake Suppressor F31 ATX Mid Tower Tt LCS Certified Gaming Silent Computer Case CA-1E3-00M1NN-00 - Newegg.ca
MSI GeForce GTX 960 DirectX 12 GTX 960 4GD5T OC 4GB 128-Bit GDDR5 SLI Support ATX Video Card - Newegg.ca
CORSAIR RMx Series RM750X 750W Full Modular ATX12V EPS12V SLI and Crossfire Ready Power Supply - Newegg.ca
MSI Z170A Krait Gaming 3X LGA 1151 Intel Z170 HDMI SATA 6Gbs USB 3.1 ATX Intel Motherboard - Newegg.ca
Intel Core i7-6700K 8M Skylake Quad-Core 4.0 GHz LGA 1151 91W BX80662I76700K - Newegg.ca
CORSAIR Vengeance LPX 16GB Desktop Memory Model CMK16GX4M2A2666C16 - Newegg.ca
CORSAIR Vengeance LPX 16GB Desktop Memory Model CMK16GX4M2A2666C16W - Newegg.ca
Phanteks PH-TC12DX_BK Dual 120mm PWM CPU Cooler - Newegg.ca

The 100+ list of PSUs was after eliminating everything under 500W, only choosing ones with 5/5 rating, and ensuring it had the pin connectors that plug directly into the GPU. I have a GTX 960 as the GPU for the moment, but I'm looking at the new AMD which would would be more powerful at the same price - but it's not out yet.

Sorry, I thought you were asking for recommendations.

why did you choose such an expensive 960 gpu????????

EVGA GeForce GTX 970 04G-P4-2974-KR 4GB SC GAMING wACX 2.0, Silent Cooling Graphics Card-Newegg.com

4GB 128-Bit GDDR5 vs 4GB 256-Bit GDDR5

1024 Stream Processors vs 1664 CUDA Cores 1664 Stream Processors ............. for the same price??

and id get a 16gb kit consisting of 4x 4gb of ram to run quad channel (not a huge perf gain but still a gain) , its all about maximising your kit :)

Mystere said:

Sorry, I thought you were asking for recommendations.

Yeah sorry I was mostly just wanting to make sure I wasn't making a mistake anywhere

Archie123 said:

why did you choose such an expensive 960 gpu????????

EVGA GeForce GTX 970 04G-P4-2974-KR 4GB SC GAMING wACX 2.0, Silent Cooling Graphics Card-Newegg.com

4GB 128-Bit GDDR5 vs 4GB 256-Bit GDDR5

1024 Stream Processors vs 1664 CUDA Cores 1664 Stream Processors ............. for the same price??

and id get a 16gb kit consisting of 4x 4gb of ram to run quad channel (not a huge perf gain but still a gain) , its all about maximising your kit :)

In Canadian dollars the 970 is $100 more, but mostly it's a placeholder as it seems the RX 480 is not available yet plus it matches the Black&white color scheme better, which doesn't really matter anyways as it's a opaque case.

I do have two 2x8GB Ram sets (two black, two white) as I was hoping to match the color scheme of the motherboard, but white ram is a bit more rare and so restricting if I want a matched set, but the case I'm planning to use doesn't have any windows so it's a moot point anyway. I'll swap them out with a 4x4GB set.

BunnyJ said:

How about using this: System Build - PCPartPicker

to make it a lot easier to see what you want to do??

How's this?
Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz Quad-Core, GeForce GTX 970 4GB Superclocked ACX 2.0, Suppressor F31 ATX Mid Tower - System Build - PCPartPicker Canada

Right now it is pretty close to $2000, seems the partpicker can't find the lowest price for some things (for example the Wifi card is $60 on Newegg, but it's seeing $100 from Amazon) so there should be some leeway for a lower price.