$1500 Gaming PC Build – High-End – 2017 November

In this $1500 PC Gaming Build guide. I’ll be going over all the parts you need to build this high-end gaming system. This PC gaming rig will be able to game at 1080p, 1440p and 4K. This gaming build will be a good one if you are looking to play VR games as well. In my opinion it is one of the best gaming computers you can build for the true PC gamers out there with a $1500 budget. With its specs you shouldn’t need to upgrade for a long time but that’s the nice part about a PC. It gives you flexibility to upgrade down the road and not have to replace your whole system.

Type	Component	Price
Case	MasterCase 5 Mid-Tower Case	$108.00
Motherboard	ASUS PRIME Z270-A	$144.99
CPU	Intel Core i7-7700K	$329.89
Heatsink	Corsair Hydro Series H100i v2 Liquid CPU Cooler	$109.99
RAM	Corsair Vengeance 16GB DDR4 3000	$179.99
Graphics Card	ZOTAC GeForce GTX 1070 Mini 8GB	$389.99
SSD Hard Drive	Samsung 850 EVO 500GB M.2	$168.00
Power Supply	EVGA SuperNOVA 650 G1 Modular	$69.99
Computer	$1500 PC GAMING Build	$1501.00

CPU

If you don’t need a Productivity PC and your just looking for raw CPU game horsepower go with this Intel Core i7-7700K for this build. It’s a Quad Core Kabylake based Desktop Processor running at 4.20 GHz with a 4.50 GHz turbo clock. It has 4 core and 8 hyperthreads to handle all your multitasking needs. Socket LGA 1151 with 8MB Cache.  This K model CPU is overclockable since it is an unlocked K model. Running at stock speeds it is fast but will respond in games very well once you increase the clock multiplier a little bit. This one will not bottle neck any graphics card that you would pair with it.

TECH SPECS

• 4 Cores / 8 Threads
• Frequency: 4.20 GHz (4.50 GHz Turbo Boost)
• Cache: 8 MB
• Socket: LGA 1151
• TDP: 91 Watts

MOTHERBOARD

I am partial to ASUS motherboards. I have been using them for over 14 years and have never had a problem with them. I have went with the ASUS PRIME Z270-A for the motherboard.

TECH SPECS

• 4 x DIMM, Max. 64GB, DDR4 2133 Mhz, 2400-3866 Mhz (OC)
• 2 x PCIe slots 3.0 x16 (x16 or dual x8), 1 x 3.0 x16, 3 x 3.0 x1
• 6 x SATA 6Gb/s ports, 2 x M.2
• 2 x USB 3.1 gen 2 ports, 6 x USB 3.1 gen 1 ports, 6 x USB 2.0 ports

GRAPHICS CARD

The ZOTAC GeForce GTX 1070 Mini 8GB is one of the best graphics cards out there. It is faster and more powerful than the previous generations GTX 980, GTX 980 TI, and the Titan X. While consuming less power than they do and it is still cheaper than the older generation graphics cards to.

With this Pascal based GTX 1070 graphics card you will be able to game at 4K with descent quality settings. If you are planning on playing VR games the card will be able to handle them as well. It supports NVIDIA G-SYNC and DirectX 12 OSD. To take advantage of the G-SYNC you will need a monitor that supports it. See my recommendations at the end of this blog build.

TECH SPECS

• 1920 NVIDIA CUDA Cores
• 1518 MHz Base Clock
• 1708 MHz Boost Clock
• 8192 MB, 256 bit GDDR5
• PCI-E 3.0 16x
• 3x DisplayPort, HDMI 2.0b, DVI
• 8-pin PCI-E power
• Total Power Draw : 150 Watts

SSD

If you’re building a computer in this price range there is no reason not to include a SSD hard drive. They offer superior booting times in to windows,  load times of applications and games. I’m going with the Samsung 850 EVO 500GB M.2 for this gaming system. The nice part about M.2 drives is it mounts on your motherboard with no wires or locating an empty drive bay to mount a 2.5 drive. It’s a decently fast and priced m.2 SSD.

Even with 512 gigabytes of storage it can run out of space quickly once you install windows, your applications and start installing all your favorite PC game titles. To ensure you not wasting space on your SSD drive store the applications and games that you want to load fast on the SSD. Use another regular spinning disk hard drive for everything else like your media (pictures, music, videos and other documents) that doesn’t need extremely fast load times.

TECH SPECS

• Sequential Read/Write: Up to 540MB/s and 500MB/s
• Random Read/Write IOPS Performance: Up to 97K and 89K
• SATA III M.2 – 6GB/s

If you require more storage than this you could go with another drive or maybe consider building a NAS build like one of these -DIY NAS $1000 Budget Build 2016 or 2016 NAS System Build for Home or Small Business.

CPU LIQUID COOLER

Liquid cooling is a must if you plan on over clocking the Intel I5 6600k very much past the stock clock speeds. I went with the Corsair Hydro Series H100i v2 Extreme Performance Liquid CPU Cooler, Black to help keep this Skylake cool while overclocking it. This block will help keep your CPU temps down. Features a closed loop design that comes pre-filled, tool free mounting bracket, 240mm dual-fan radiator, and Corsair Link built into it.

The Corsair Link plugs into a USB header on your motherboard. This allows you to  customize cooling performance, monitor coolant, CPU temperatures, and change the RGB LED lighting color to match your system. The color can be changed based on temperature and other inputs.

RAM

I selected Corsair Vengeance 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 3000 for the memory for this build. It should be enough RAM to keep it running well for the foreseeable future and DDR4 is the latest standard. These have LED light for extra show inside your case. Most computer gamers will not require more than 16 GB at this time. Many games only recommend 8GB but there are a few that recommend up to 16 GB. There will be two extra slots on the motherboard to upgrade later on if needed. You may want more if you do 3D rendering or video content creation and editing.

TECH SPECS

• 16GB (2 x 8GB)
• Speed: 3000MHz
• Latency: 15-17-17-35
• Voltage: 1.35V
• 288 Pin
• Heat spreader: Anodized Aluminum with LEDs

CASE

I have owned many cases over the years and a high quality computer case is a must. They are built to last and have better cool capacity then cheaper ones. I went with the MasterCase 5 Mid-Tower Case for this build.

TECH SPECS

• Radiator Support Front: 280/240/140/120mm x 1 Rear: 140/120mm x 1
• Fans Included: Front: 140mm x 3 Rear: 140mm x 1 or 120mm x 1 Top: 140/120mm x 2
• FreeForm Modular System
• Expansion Slots: 7, Drive Bays: 2 x 5.25″, 2 x 3.5″, 2 + 2 x 2.5″

POWER SUPPLY

For this gaming build you don’t need a huge power supply. With improves in the architecture of CPU’s and GPU’s now a days they are getting extremely power efficient.

This EVGA SuperNOVA 650 G1, 80+ Gold Fully Modular is enough to keep your gaming system running with no problems. It has 650 watts of power and is 80+ gold certified.

TECH SPECS

• Full Modular
• 80 PLUS Gold efficiency
• 135 mm Fan
• Dimensions: 150 mm (W) x 180 mm (L) x 85 mm (H)

BUILD PARTS SUMMARY AND PRICING

Here is a complete listing of all the computer hardware parts I used for this $1500 gaming computer build.

Type	Component	Price
Case	MasterCase 5 Mid-Tower Case	$108.00
Motherboard	ASUS PRIME Z270-A	$144.99
CPU	Intel Core i7-7700K	$329.89
Heatsink	Corsair Hydro Series H100i v2 Liquid CPU Cooler	$109.99
RAM	Corsair Vengeance 16GB DDR4 3000	$179.99
Graphics Card	ZOTAC GeForce GTX 1070 Mini 8GB	$389.99
SSD Hard Drive	Samsung 850 EVO 500GB M.2	$168.00
Power Supply	EVGA SuperNOVA 650 G1 Modular	$69.99
Computer	$1500 PC GAMING Build	$1501.00

The total cost of this gaming computer system build comes in at $1501 (as of 10 Nov 2017) right at the $1500 budget. This system will be an outstanding performer with the combination of Intel 6600K and the GTX 1070. You’ll be able to game at 1080p, 1440p and 4K. This system is also VR ready if you decide to buy a VR headset like the HTC VIVE.

Check link below for current pricing for the High-End $1500 Gaming PC.

If you are looking cheaper gaming computer check out this my other $1000 budget gaming build.

Recommended/Optional Components and Accessories

OS

Recommended Operating System Windows 10 64 bit. I did not included in the build because you may want to go with something else like Windows 7, 8, Ubuntu or some other Linux distro.

Virtual Reality (VR) Headset

You will be able to use the HTC VIVE VR headset on this gaming computer. The GTX 1070 will be good for it.

Monitors

Here are some of choices for monitors. They are all compatible with NVIDIA G-Sync which delivers a smooth gaming experience.

4k Monitors:

Acer Predator XB271HK 27-inch IPS UHD .

Acer XB280HK bprz 28-inch Display Ultra HD

 

Both of these are good choices for a 4k Gaming monitors that support NVidia G-Sync.

1440p Monitor:

Acer Predator XB271HU bmiprz 27-inch WQHD

1080p Monitor:

Acer Predator XB241H bmipr 24-inch Full HD