Build me a PC

[1LT (Ret) Burke]

I'm lazy and I need to build the first PC in probably 10 years so I'm not hip to the new shit that's gone down in desktop PC's.  I'm ready to have a desktop again and I have a budget of $1500-$2000ish so I'm calling on you hardware nerds to tell me what to buy.

I have one component:
A core i7 7700K 4.2Ghz, 8Mb cache, LGA1151

Now I just need everything else.  What do you suggest?

[SSG Redman]

I put together a list real quick. Many of the parts can be replaced with something cheaper if needed and others will probably have some ideas on improvements.

https://pcpartpicker.com/user/Peskyboyz/saved/7kkkTW

[SSG J. E. Smith]

well... minus the CPU that he already has, it is $1500.00, which is within his budget.

[SSG J. E. Smith]

Now you can get a better looking case for the same price. Also, you can get the 1080 or the 1060 6gb, but that is your decision.

[2nd Lt (Ret) Chance]

Do you really need a dvd/cd writer? I mean you could get away without one

[SSG Redman]

I just threw it on. It can be removed if needed

[SSG (Ret) Madsen]

Redman's outfit looks great. if you want to spend more i suggest 32gb ram instead of 16, and a secondary SSD in addition to the SSD and HDD, but neither are necesary at all and only if you wanted to splurge

[SGT (Ret) Bergwohl]

Redman's outfit looks great. if you want to spend more i suggest 32gb ram instead of 16, and a secondary SSD in addition to the SSD and HDD, but neither are necesary at all and only if you wanted to splurge

You could also always upgrade in the future LT. Hopefully RAM prices will be down by then.

[1LT (Ret) Burke]

I'm more about function than looking pretty.  I like that build.

What's the deal with the M2 vs SATA drives?  There's a 1TB Cruicial SSD for $200

Also the 750W power supply was $20 cheaper on amazon for some reason.

I'm also going to need monitor(s). EDIT: Now that I think about it, I may have a spare 32" HDTV around here somewhere.

[Laga]

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/DpjMFt

Case and monitors are at your discretion, you can also swap the 1TB SSD for 2 500gb ones (one for windows and non-gaming stuff and the other one for gaming). Optical drive also at your discretion and the difference between M2 and SATA is that M2 SSDs are connected directly through a PCIe slot (they're useful for when you have an HDD as your primary drive with heavy duty games, other than that, just stay with SATA)

That setup is not so different to the one I currently have, mainly the only difference is that I use an I5 7600k @ 4.9ghz (OCed).

The setup allows you US$700 for monitors, and I chose the 1060 because it will still give you a lot of bang for your buck for, at least, 1,5 to 2 years.

Hope it helps you!

Edit: Buy another fan for the CPU cooler (don't go on the cheap if you can help it), I'm using that one and rendering videos at max CPU capacity, my temperature doesn't go above 55 Celsius (I use a negative pressure air cooling system)

[SGT (Ret) Bergwohl]

I'm more about function than looking pretty.  I like that build.

What's the deal with the M2 vs SATA drives?  There's a 1TB Cruicial SSD for $200

Also the 750W power supply was $20 cheaper on amazon for some reason.

I'm also going to need monitor(s). EDIT: Now that I think about it, I may have a spare 32" HDTV around here somewhere.

M.2 is actually just the form factor AKA the physical shape and location of the drive. You can get M.2 drives in SATA and PCIe interfaces to connect with your RAM and in turn, CPU. PCIe is noticeably faster, but more expensive usually. Most modern gaming motherboards should have 1 or 2 M.2 slots.

That SSD looks really good for 1TB. I got my Samsung 1TB for $330 so clearly as technology gets better, the prices are going down.

[1LT (Ret) Burke]

What practical difference would I see between these two cards:
ASUS ROG STRIX GeForce GTX 1080 TI 11GB VR Ready 5K HD Gaming Graphics Card (ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-11G-GAMING)

EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 FTW GAMING ACX 3.0, 8GB GDDR5X, RGB LED, 10CM FAN, 10 Power Phases, Double BIOS, DX12 OSD Support (PXOC) Graphics Card 08G-P4-6286-KR

[SGT (Ret) Bergwohl]

What practical difference would I see between these two cards:
ASUS ROG STRIX GeForce GTX 1080 TI 11GB VR Ready 5K HD Gaming Graphics Card (ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-11G-GAMING)

EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 FTW GAMING ACX 3.0, 8GB GDDR5X, RGB LED, 10CM FAN, 10 Power Phases, Double BIOS, DX12 OSD Support (PXOC) Graphics Card 08G-P4-6286-KR

The 1080 TI (first link) is a different GPU from the 1080 (second link). The 1080 TI is the top of the line gaming card and is 21% better in overall performance than the 1080 as well as having 3GB more VRAM.

As for EVGA vs ASUS, both are great and you won't see much of a different between their coolers. Both sell OC versions of these cards which ship with a higher base clock for faster out of the box results compared to, say the founder's edition card by Nvidia themselves.

If you have the money to spend and are driving multiple monitors or one 4K one, you might as well get the 1080 TI.

[1LT (Ret) Burke]

Will I need to up the Powersupply > 750W with the beefier card?

[MSG J. Brewer]

Personally I would bump to a 750w and drop the extra $40 on a 8700k. That would be almost exactly the same rig as mine and it's a beast.