Guide to pick the best CPU and GPU for budget builds

Now that Intel Coffee Lake Series has finally launched, it's time we finally put nitpick which CPUs from both AMD and Intel's camp to choose for builds based on budget alone. For those late in the party, Intel has finally released a series that become a dramatic improvement from their previous lineups, substantially by adding more cores. Though in this quarter of the year, it's very difficult to purchase a brand new spanking PC all thanks to cost inflation of RAM, SSD and GPUs. But most of the consumers being gamers often focus on saving cash and spending primarily on GPU. The only two components; GPU and CPU are the ones where build expenses mostly go to. So here's a guide on how to choose the perfect combination of both based off performance per price based assessments.


                                    550 USD entry level gaming build:
There are parts that need to be bought with 35-40% of the budget such as: RAM, PSU, Casing, Motherboard and HDD, considering price rates at this point it's difficult and you can't even have an SSD to add on. But hey, relax because I got you covered. P.S: Sorry about adding 50 extra USD to this and not making a definitive build on 3 figure budget with double zeros. (Power requirements: 400W of PSU is sufficient, any bronze rated)


- Intel Core i3 8100 4 Core/4 Thread (MRP: 117 USD)
Pair this with a 2x4GB DDR4 2400Mhz RAM kit and a Z370 board(budget ones from Gigabyte sadly cost above 150 USD) and you'll be good to go. Just avoid RGB RAM kits, they're too expensive right now.


-AMD Ryzen 5 1400 4 Core/8 Thread (MRP: 150 USD)
Yes I know, this is more expensive in official price than the i3 above. But you can snag this in a B350 board which you could find under 100 USD and some fast DDR4 RAM kit same configuration as above but running at much higher bus speed. For example: 3200Mhz.

Now this guide isn't complete without a GPU for the build, so far I can recommend two choices right now:


-AMD RX 560 4G (MRP: 120-160 USD)
GPU prices aren't kind to gamers in 2017, especially for mid to high-range GPUs like GTX 1070, 1080 and Vega series GPUs. But you should be thankful that entry levels are still worth the purchases starting with this RX 560, yes it doesn't kick the teeth in against GTX 1050 Ti but if you're limited by budget and own a Freesync monitor, you're well on your way. (Recommended board partners: MSI, Gigabyte and Sapphire)


-NVIDIA GTX 1050 Ti 4G (MRP: 160-210 USD)
On the other hand, there's this guy. This is the Juggernaut of entry-level GPUs, in fact it surpassed my ASUS Strix GTX 960 4G within multiple games. But still priced way higher than it's supposed price from earlier days which is why is difficult to recommend this. (Recommended board partners: Mostly EVGA)


                                  800 USD mid-tier gaming build:
Now that extra 250 USD eases the tension a bit, unfortunately you still have to save cash just to spend on mostly CPU and GPU. If you live in USA, chances are good rebates will get you somewhere or maybe score a deal in Microcenter, they're giving Ryzen CPUs away like with really great bundles at much affordable prices as of recently. Maybe by then, you could squeeze in some extra cash just for a better looking case, faster RAM kit or put in an SSD inside. But for any normal scenarios, the guide am making will do for the most part. (Power requirements: 500W PSU or more, bronze or gold rated)


-Intel i5 8400 6 Core/6 Thread (MRP: 210 USD)
Our Intel overlords blessed us (ehhmm don't forget you have AMD to thank for that) with a budget priced highly clocked 6 Core CPU (It's clocked at 2.8Ghz but hey Turboboost will get your CPU running way above that once you start running games with only 4 cores) but alas, there's those expensive Z370 board, gosh if only there was a cheaper series of boards you could purchase just for the sake of using a single GPU and non-overclockable CPU.


-AMD Ryzen 5 1600 6 Core/12 Thread (MRP: 200 USD)
This bad boy has SMT, yeah that's attributable a lot for streaming and recording gaming footage. Yes it's running under 3.2Ghz and per core performance compared to Intel is kind of lackluster but what makes this CPU such a good choice is not only the B350 boards you can find for cheap, it's also the fact that you can run this with high-speed memory and get more than your money's worth.

Now provided if you could save up around 300 USD or over, here are the best GPUs to pick for in here . In fact, I've added about 3 options this time:


-AMD RX 570 4G (MRP: 220-270 USD)
Oh how the mighty GPU market has fallen. Indeed especially when it comes to this budget based product, was certainly priced well below 200 USD not long ago before Ethereum mining came crashing. However, once you get this started even with 4GB of VRAM, this GPU offers quite the bang for buck performance even as to going to hand to hand against GTX 1060 in some games. (Recommended board partner: PowerColor, Sapphire, MSI, XFX[Most preferable])

-AMD RX 580 8G (MRP: 290-???)
It seems no matter where you go, there's bound to be that one GPU that was suppose to be cheap but ended up costing more than it should. This GPU trounces its rival: The GTX 1060 6G. Yet most of the brands can't seem to stock this card as fast as possible, could also be that AMD is limited in resources when it came to production of both the Silicon chip and Memory chips. For the definitive Polaris 10 GPU at its peak, it's also a disappointment that some of these absurd high asking price even exists. (Recommended board partner: PowerColor, Sapphire, MSI, XFX[Most preferable])

-Nvidia GTX 1060 6G (MRP: 260-320 USD)
Well no wonder AMD is having a difficult time selling their GPUs, it's being pawned by EVGAs single fan based 1060s. Yes this little wonder cost cheap amidst this chaotic price hike. Almost every EVGA GPUs being sold are well priced in comparison to its competitor. Yet doom and gloom may arrive once Nvidia increases price since memory costs are getting higher so grab yours while you still can. Although there is a chance you could still consider the alternative thanks to its support for Freesync but hey, if you don't want to scrounge for rare AMD GPUs, this is a worthy option to take. (Recommended board partner: EVGA, MSI, ASUS, Zotac)


                                  1200-1500 USD Uber-class gaming build:
Ah yes, go crazy with this budget cause there's plenty of flexibility to get from here on out. Spice up your build adding LED strips, RGM RAMs, hardcore PC casing, using 16GB DDR4 RAM instead etc. Puts some sizzle into that bad boy but hey let's really get into the nitty gritty, because what's more important than CPUs? need I remind you? it's all about them GPUs bruh. (Power requirements: 600-700W PSU, do not go anything under. Gold or Platinum rating, will be more costly however)


-Intel Core i5 8600K 6 Core/6 Thread (MRP: 260 USD)
Et tu, i5? Yes this budget 6 Core is fully unlocked for your pleasure and compared to its bigger brother i7, it's 100 USD cheaper and you don't need Hyper-Threading entirely because physical cores are the real deal. Overclock this bad boy towards 5Ghz and you have one solid machine ready to pump out the extra FPS(Provided game is also CPU dependent), just be sure to use a good cooler cause it's also a stinker in the thermal department.

Yeah, am not going to include an AMD CPU on this one unless of course you're ok with purchasing the Ryzen 5 1600 I mentioned in previous budget which is solid, but just to avoid bottlenecking it's better if you purchase the 1600X especially if you aren't interested in overclocking at all. But I think the i5 is the perfect choice, especially with any flagship GPUs you run with plus saves the extra 100 USD. But for GPUs, oh boy these options are a doozy whether you game at 1440p or 4K. Here are several of the GPUs you could use for your build(And yes you can finally add an SSD to this, heck just put in a 256GB Samsung Evo):


-Nvidia GTX 1080 8G (MRP: 530-600 USD)
You could call this the mid-range 4K GPU, cause let's face it; that 320GB/s bandwidth isn't still enough for complete high performance at max settings. Almost every game runs fine with it but the caveat is that some of them being visually demanding, it narrows to this being in the lower performance spectrum. For 1440p however, it's a blast and the price of admission is damn worth it. (Recommended board partner: EVGA, MSI, ASUS, Gigabyte, Zotac)


-AMD RX Vega 64 8G (MRP: 570-900 USD)
Yeah don't hold your breath about this price, it seems Vega is having a hard time being more available than our 1080 friend. Nonetheless however, production is ramping up this month especially after Apple has requested that AMD starts making more for their Mac Pro AIO system. This GPU is good enough for 4K gaming, hopefully the AIB partner cards show up soon and help alleviate the thermal issues from blower style cooler of the reference models. (Recommended board partner: XFX, Sapphire, MSI....basically any brand except ASUS cause their AIB card kind of sucks)


-Nvidia GTX 1080 Ti 11G (MRP: 770-900 USD)
It seems the cryptocurrency market has little to no affect on the 1080 Ti's pricing, but let's not get ahead of ourselves with this all the way. This GPU is the ultimate 4K gaming product, it means business especially in the overclocking department, AMD was quite shocked and surprised since they were teasing Vega for almost a year before 1080 Ti came and subverted their expectations entirely. What's even more interesting is that it's packing highly fast GDDR5X memory running at 352-bit bus width. Run any game with this, it'll run past 60FPS without a hassle...well few games being the exception, just be sure to drop the AA settings a little. Seriously, you don't need so much AA when you're playing games at 4x the pixel density compared to 1080p.

Ok am done, this is all you need to look at. But if you want me to go further towards enthusiast's territory, I'll make another post that is a follow up to this. Also I want to be clear why I chose the i5 instead of the i7. Compared to the i7 7700K, the 8600K outperforms it thus making the 8700K overkill. Although for streaming and recording game footage, the extra threads might come in handy. Another issue is the motherboard series, B360 or H370 series won't launch anytime soon till next year and the current prices of Z370 are somewhat inconvenient.

If you liked this, do let me know in the comments. I want to know how my audience think when they come to Steemit to read my posts.

Disclaimer: Some of the Intel CPUs right now seems to have limited availability as well, probably a marketing gimmick thrown to thwart AMD's advance, some reviewers are calling it a paper launch and the prices of units that are available has staggeringly high price. So feel free to go AMD alternatives if you need a build quickly, especially for the Uber-class build. GPU prices are calming down after the storm, if you want to follow up on current rates, visit this site.