Introduction
The Best PC Builds. Our title is practically self-explanatory. Unlike the System Builder Marathon, these configurations are not chosen by Tom's Hardware's editors. They are submitted and selected by our forum members based on defined pricing tiers. Every so often, we ask the community for its help picking parts based on performance and features for the price. Feel free to quibble in the comments, as always, and submit your own ideas next time around.
The Tom's __hardware editors and forum team believe this is a great place to come together and showcase the fusion of content and community. For nearly two decades (2016 marks our 20th anniversary) Tom's Hardware has brought you the news and reviews of the latest in PC hardware, but also the famous Tom's Hardware forum, now more than 2 million members strong, a remarkable milestone we recently surpassed.
The forum attracts technology enthusiasts of all stripes and levels, connected by their interest in discussing computer __hardware and helping solve technical challenges. Many are ultimately seeking help in building a PC, and they receive that help not only through our editorial content but thanks to the dedicated moderators and forum members who put countless hours into assisting others. Because of their expertise and the constant requests for help with PC builds, our members have developed a talent for finding the best prices and putting together the best system builds.
The following selections showcase all of that. We received numerous submissions and enjoyed examining all of your PC builds, but we could ultimately only select one system per price range — thanks to the readers and forum members who participated!
MORE: How To Build A PC
MORE: All PC Builds Content
September 2016 Update
With the new wave of AMD and Nvidia graphics cards flooding the market, it’s time to update our community-driven Best Builds feature. We asked you for your best builds at various budgets, and we received some excellent submissions. We narrowed those down with the help of our dedicated readers, and we’re ready to show you the results.
Best PC Builds
- Homeless OverclockerBest @ $500
No Review$493.93 Suggested price-
- Case
- DIYPC P48-BK
-
- Cooling
- ✗
-
- CPU
- Intel Core i3-6100
-
- Graphics
- PowerColor RED DRAGON Radeon RX 460
-
- Memory
- G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 8GB (2 x 4GB)
-
- Motherboard
- ASRock Z170M Pro4S
-
- PSU
- Rosewill 450W 80+
-
- Primary Storage
- OCZ TRION 150 240GB
-
- Secondary Storage
- ✗
-
- Other
- ✗
-
- Built By
- damric
-
- My PC Costs As Much As My Vive!!Best @ $750
No Review$744.90 Suggested price-
- Case
- Corsair 200R ATX
-
- Cooling
- ✗
-
- CPU
- Intel Core i5-6500
-
- Graphics
- EVGA GeForce GTX 1060
-
- Memory
- Kingston HyperX Fury Black 8GB (2 x 4GB)
-
- Motherboard
- Gigabyte GA-H170-GAMING 3
-
- PSU
- SeaSonic S12II 520W 80+ Bronze
-
- Primary Storage
- Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB
-
- Secondary Storage
- ✗
-
- Other
- ✗
-
- Built By
- g-unit1111
-
- i5-6600K GTX1070 BuildBest @ $1000
No Review$995.89 Suggested price-
- Case
- NZXT Source 210 (Black)
-
- Cooling
- Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO
-
- CPU
- Intel Core i5-6600K
-
- Graphics
- Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1070 8GB Windforce OC
-
- Memory
- G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB)
-
- Motherboard
- ASRock Z170 Pro4S
-
- PSU
- Corsair RMx 750W 80+ Gold
-
- Primary Storage
- A-Data Premier SP550 120GB
-
- Secondary Storage
- Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB
-
- Other
- ✗
-
- Built By
- King Dranzer
-
- Broken FlamesBest Mini ITX @ $1000
No Review$1006.64 Suggested price-
- Case
- Cooler Master Elite 130
-
- Cooling
- ✗
-
- CPU
- Intel Core i5-6500
-
- Graphics
- EVGA GeForce GTX 1070 8GB
-
- Memory
- G.Skill Ripjaws 4 series 16GB (2 x 8GB)
-
- Motherboard
- ASRock H110M-ITX/ac Mini ITX
-
- PSU
- EVGA 750W 80+ Bronze
-
- Primary Storage
- A-Data Premier SP550 240GB
-
- Secondary Storage
- Hitachi Ultrastar 1TB
-
- Other
- ✗
-
- Built By
- logainofhades
-
- i7-6700K GTX1080 BuildBest @ $1250 No Review$1286.90 Suggested price
-
- Case
- NZXT Source 210 (Black)
-
- Cooling
- Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO
-
- CPU
- Intel Core i5-6700K
-
- Graphics
- Asus GeForce GTX 1080 8GB TURBO
-
- Memory
- G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB)
-
- Motherboard
- ASRock Z170 Pro4S
-
- PSU
- Corsair RMx 750W 80+ Gold
-
- Primary Storage
- A-Data Premier SP550 120GB
-
- Secondary Storage
- Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB
-
- Other
- ✗
-
- Built By
- King Dranzer
-
- ANXIETYBest @ $1500
No Review$1501.58 Suggested price-
- Case
- Deepcool TESSERACT SW
-
- Cooling
- Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO
-
- CPU
- Intel Core i7-6800K
-
- Graphics
- EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 8GB
-
- Memory
- Crucial Ballistix Sport LT 8GB (2 x 4GB)
-
- Motherboard
- MSI X99A Raider ATX
-
- PSU
- EVGA BQ 650W 80+ Bronze
-
- Primary Storage
- Seagate Barracuda 1TB
-
- Secondary Storage
- ✗
-
- Other
- ✗
-
- Built By
- SR-71 Blackbird
-
- Little MonsterBest @ $2000
No Review$2002.36 Suggested price-
- Case
- Corsair 350D Window
-
- Cooling
- CRYORIG A80
-
- CPU
- Intel Core i7-6800K
-
- Graphics
- Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1080 8GB G1
-
- Memory
- G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16GB (4 x 4GB)
-
- Motherboard
- Gigabyte GA-X99M-GAMING 5
-
- PSU
- EVGA SuperNOVA P2 850W 80+ Platinum
-
- Primary Storage
- Sandisk X400 512GB M.2-2280
-
- Secondary Storage
- Seagate Barracuda 2TB
-
- Other
- LG WH14NS40 Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer
-
- Built By
- logainofhades
-
- ROSWELL REALITYBest VR @ $2000
No Review$2500.83 Suggested price-
- Case
- Phanteks Enthoo Pro M
-
- Cooling
- CRYORIG H5 Universal
-
- CPU
- Intel Core i7-6850K
-
- Graphics
- EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 8GB x2
-
- Memory
- Team Vulcan 16GB (2 x 8GB)
-
- Motherboard
- MSI X99A Raider ATX
-
- PSU
- EVGA 850W 80+ Bronze
-
- Primary Storage
- Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB
-
- Secondary Storage
- Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB
-
- Other
- ✗
-
- Built By
- SR-71 Blackbird
-
MORE: Best Cases
Best $500 PC Build
Homeless Overclocker - Built By: damric
NOTE:
These days, gaming on a budget has never been easier. Despite its name, the Homeless Overclocker designed by damric does not use a typical overclockable CPU. Instead, it uses an Intel Core i3-6100 processor with a locked core multiplier. Although Intel doesn’t want you to overclock its Core i3 processors, you can still base clock overclock them with select motherboards, such as Asrock’s Z170M Pro4S. Even if overclocking isn’t in your wheelhouse, the Core i3-6100 comes clocked at 3.7GHz and should offer decent performance out of the box.
For gaming, the Homeless Overclocker uses AMD’s budget friendly Radeon RX 460 GPU. This graphics card isn’t going to max out the latest games, but it should get them running with modest detail settings.
Although this system was compiled on a tight budget, it is important to point out the weak points in the build. The biggest issue is its rather limited storage space, with its 240GB SSD and no other storage devices. An SSD is a clear advantage in terms of performance, but you may find it difficult to fit many games on an SSD this size. The system also has less RAM than we would like to see in a 2016 gaming PC, but it would be exceptionally difficult to accommodate 16GB of RAM at this low budget.
MORE: Best CPU Cooling
MORE: How To Choose A CPU Cooler
Best $750 VR Build
My PC Costs As Much As My Vive - Built By: g-unit1111
This system, designed by g-unit1111, takes advantage of Nvidia’s recently released GeForce GTX 1060 GPU to achieve high-performance gaming on a relatively tight budget. The build also includes an Intel Core i5-6500 CPU and a Gigabyte GA-H170-Gaming 3 motherboard. No overclocking features here, but the Core i5-6500 should easily outpace the Core i3-6100 on the $500 build.
Although this system is clearly more powerful, the system’s storage and memory are weak points again. Because the budget is somewhat higher, it would be much easier to fit a 16GB RAM kit in this build, but these are always the tough choices when picking parts. Unlike the $500 build, this system has plenty of storage space for the average user, but an SSD didn’t fit into the budget.
MORE: Best CPUs
MORE: Intel & AMD Processor Hierarchy
Best $1,000 PC Build
i5-6600K GTX 1070 Build - Built By: King Dranzer
King Dranzer’s i5-6600K GTX1070 Build pushes performance higher still, with an unlocked Core i5-6600K CPU and an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070. With $1,000 to spend, it becomes increasingly easy to build a powerful PC without significant weak points. The extra $250 allowed King Dranzer to push RAM capacity up to 16GB, and the system features both an SSD and an HDD. The weakest aspect of this system is its rather small 120GB SSD.
MORE: Best Graphics Cards
MORE: Desktop GPU Performance Hierarchy Table
Best $1,000 Mini-ITX PC Build
Broken Frames - Built By: logainofhades
Every PC gamer wants a powerful computer, but many of them also want a compact system that doesn’t clutter up their room. This build takes space into consideration, and it is limited to hardware that fits inside a mini-ITX case. Overall, Broken Frames is nearly as powerful as the i5-6600K GTX1070 build from King Dranzer. This system’s designer, logainofhades, also opted for an EVGA GeForce GTX 1070 graphics card and a 16GB RAM kit. Moreover, this system SSD is less problematic, with its 240GB capacity.
Broken Frames falls behind the i5-6600K GTX1070 Build in CPU horsepower with its slightly less expensive Core i5-6500. The system also uses a somewhat-lackluster ASRock H110M-ITX/ac motherboard, which uses the low-end H110 chipset. Finding an affordable high-quality mini-ITX motherboard is the hardest part of building a mini-ITX system, though, and this one is quite functional and shouldn’t hurt performance.
MORE: Best Memory
Best $1,250 PC Build
i7-6700K GTX1080 Build - Built By: King Dranzer
King Dranzer also submitted the best $1,250 build, improving on the $1,000 build by replacing the Core i5-6600k with a Core i7-6700k. The Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 gets an upgrade to an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080. While overall performance has increased, the 120GB SSD remains.
MORE: Best Motherboards
MORE: How To Choose A Motherboard
Best $1,500 PC Build
Anxiety - Built By: SR-71
Having reached the limits of the LGA1151 platform, SR-71 Blackbird was forced to use an LGA1166-3 CPU to further increase processor performance. This, however, comes with a heavy price tag, because X99 motherboards and LGA1166-3 CPUs are considerably more expensive than their LGA1151 counterparts. As a result, this build backtracks on RAM capacity to 8GB, and it also lacks an SSD. These are fairly significant trade-offs for a $1,500 build, but it is technically the fastest system so far (on paper).
MORE: Best Power Supplies
MORE: How We Test Power Supplies
MORE: How To Choose A PSU
Best $2,000 PC Build
Little Monster - Built By: logainofhades
Additional funds in your PC build budget can fix just about anything, and that is essentially what happened with Little Monster. This build uses the i7-6800K CPU, an X99 platform, and an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080. Unlike Anxiety, however, Little Monster beefs up the rest of the system with 16GB of DDR4 clocked at 3200 MHz, and a 512GB M.2 SSD.
Logainofhades also equipped the Little Monster with a higher-quality Platinum efficiency power supply. Although this build isn’t necessarily faster in terms of its processing hardware, the advantages it gains from the additional component hardware make it a much more well-rounded, feature-rich build.
MORE: Best SSDs
MORE: How We Test HDDs And SSDs
Best $2,500 VR Build
Roswell Reality - Built By: SR-71
SR-71 Blackbird’s Roswell Reality is designed to be the best $2,500 build for VR gaming. It far surpasses all other builds by using two EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 graphics cards in SLI. It also has the fastest CPU so far, with its choice of the i7-6850K. The power supply and SSD used in this build are lower quality components compared to the Little Monster build, but when you pack in multiple flagship graphics cards, even a budget of $2,500 can get tight. It’s doubtful you will have any issues running games in VR, though.
MORE: Best Monitors
MORE: How To Build A PC
MORE: Systems in the Forums
No comments:
Post a Comment