Major improvements = better GPU and/or overclockable CPU (e.g. https://pcpartpicker.com/list/mDDHkT ).
SSD isn't just about boot times. I doubt you're brushing your teeth every time you start a program, open a document, save a document, load a map or do literally anything that touches any data.
Adding an SSD means reinstalling the OS.

Any other features other than 144 Hz that you want?

Major improvements sounds like what I'm looking for then, and if the budget gets exceeded a bit I was budgeting fairly conservatively. I would still like to stay below $1000, but if there are significant benefits to be had from venturing a little above that, then its not too hard to make happen. As far as other features, were you talking specifically about the monitor or the build overall? For the monitor I was mostly interested in 144hz. How important is it to have gsync/freesync? I definitely can't handle vsync's input lag, so is it viable to just avoid getting so many frames that tearing is a concern? The added cost of gsync seems a little high, but freesync sounds like it has plenty of limitations to offset the affordability. I've heard that displayport is very good to have compared to hdmi, is that true for a build of this scale?

As far as the SSD, I have never used one before so maybe I'm underestimating how much better it will feel. I know it offers improvements essentially to anything you might want to read/write, so faster loads for games/levels, programs, file transfers, and all that. The consensus seems to be that it is worth the extra cost. I end up saving too many videos and such in order to make do with just an SSD, so how strongly would you recommend going SSD + HDD over just trying to tolerate HDD alone? I think in the end the best choice might be the one in #2703, with a 250GB SSD and a 1TB HDD. I get the feeling I'll probably have no idea how I made it this long without an SSD once I get one.

I don't think I'm going to overclock, the performance benefits seem marginal and I really wouldn't feel that confident that I'm not messing it up somehow. Maybe in a future build. Thanks for being patient with all my questions; every time I try to go look up the answer myself to things like the advantages of an SSD, freesync/gsync, displayport, etc., it just feels like so much information is out there that it's very hard to parse it to the point I can make a good decision for this build.

Specifically the monitor.
Depends on your fps. G-Sync/FreeSync do nothing when you get more fps than your refresh rate.
Getting less fps makes screen tearing worse. If you get more than your refresh rate you can just cap them, but capping at 30 isn't going to look great.
What would FreeSync's limiatitions be?
DP, DVI or HDMI doesn't really matter. At least one needs to be supported by both monitor and GPU or you'll have problem connecting them. Other than the choice is usually made for you since most 144 Hz monitor only support 144 Hz via DVI (even if they have HDMI port, it would max out at 60 Hz) and G-Sync/FreeSync is usually only available via DP.

For anything other than framerates an SSD is probably the most noticeable upgrade you can get. So I'd recommend adding an SSD before dropping an extra 100$ on a CPU that'll get you an extra 5 fps.
Yes, 250GB + HDD is generally the default choice. 120 is a bit too small to be useful once windows starts taking up a bit more space or when you have more than one large game installed.

Ok, that narrows it down a bit since all oc builds don't make sense in that case.

When I looked up freesync and gsync to get a little more information on them there were a couple small limitations of freesync mentioned, really more just things to keep in mind for your purchase. The fps range for it to work was the thing I mainly noticed, and apparently entering and exiting that range isn't a great transition. There is some sort of feature that mitigates that though, so really it seems to come down to just paying attention to the features of the specific monitor. I've been going without vsync and just capping fps when the game allows it for a while now, and don't notice any tearing while playing. In any event, 144hz is the more important part to me. I was looking at the ASUS VG248QE as a potential option, the only real concern I'd have about it is the lack of an adaptive sync feature. It sounds like with a little management though its not too hard to minimize screen tearing, so that doesn't really bother me.

At this point I'm sold on adding the SSD; a 250GB SSD paired with a 1TB HDD should be great. Is there any other information you or is the build basically described well enough now?

The first 144 Hz FreeSync monitors could only do 90-144 or 70-144 Hz, any new monitor will do 48-144 Hz. If you drop below 48 fps you should not be trying to use 144 Hz. But yes, LFC is a thing now.

The ASUS VG248QE is older that both G-Sync and FreeSync. Unsurprisingly it supports neither. It is also generally not recommended anymore because it's a tiny bit outdated. Being the oldest 144 Hz monitor that I know of still sold without any upgrades/improvements since the release and all that. And generally being outdated since 2014.

Any other features you want? Strobing/Lightboost/ULMB or anything else?

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i5-7600 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($209.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock - B250M Pro4 Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($52.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial - Ballistix Sport LT 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($91.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Samsung - 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($89.99 @ B&H)
Storage: Toshiba - P300 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($39.88 @ Other World Computing)
Video Card: Zotac - GeForce GTX 1060 6GB 6GB AMP! Edition Video Card ($279.89 @ B&H)
Case: Cooler Master - N200 MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($35.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair - CXM (2015) 450W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($48.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $849.69
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-12-10 17:26 EST-0500

Obviously will be a bit over budget with the monitor.
Can't really afford much more of a GPU upgrade and without overclocking I don't see any more expensive CPU that would make sense either.

I've really got no idea about the different monitor features quite frankly, after doing some googling I've got a slightly better idea, but I still feel lost in terms of deciding what is worthwhile. For me, I've been making do with a msi laptop from 2011 until now, so I have no idea what kind of experience to expect from a better monitor with more advanced features. I'm coming more to the conclusion that gsync is more of a luxury that I won't really feel the absence of that acutely. How big of a difference does having a form of strobing make? From what I read most of these features seem to be small improvements I really won't notice very much. I think the main factors for me will be the 144hz, a low response time, and price.

You should probably try to test it yourself somehow. I can't decide how much of a difference it would make for you.

I could head over to the nearby bestbuy and see what kind of features the monitors there have and how it feels, probably I can afford to spend some time tomorrow on that. I think either way the monitor will be 144hz, and probably a TN for price and response reasons and just try to calibrate the colors to an acceptable level. The choice will be whether or not to include gsync; I'm doubting that any form of strobing will be a decider. What would be your choices of monitor with/without gsync in this build? If you'd rather wait until after I know for sure to decide on just one that's fine too, you've already given me a lot of really useful help.

Edit: Didn't end up having time yesterday, but today I should. I'd also like to buy the parts soon, #2707 is ready to order?

Alright, went by and as I suspected but wanted to hope otherwise there is no way to run even a demo, let alone a full game on any of the monitors. Since I don't know anyone near me that plays much pc games I doubt I'll get a chance to see all of these features just yet. Still, got to see the effect of strobing and how much it reduces the motion blur, and its pretty significant. Still not a priority, and I've decided that gsync simply costs too much for what it is supposed to do. I've honestly never really noticed screen tearing while I'm playing, though doubtless it happens sometimes. So the final decision as far as monitor is 144hz and lower price, other features aren't really worth paying extra for me.

Hello, I was thinking of upgrading my old computer and build a brand new one; looking for a durable build that can last some time without changing all the parts every year. Budget would be around 1000 €, maybe a little bit more if needed.

It will be used mainly for gaming, specially TF2 but also some other upcoming games (I don't need to run all the modern games at ultra high settings with everything enabled, as long as they work fine on medium - high it's ok).

Don't think I can scavenge a lot of the old parts, maybe just the HDD. I'll be reusing all the peripherals for now tho, at least until I have more money. About OC; I was thinking of start testing with it eventually but so far I don't have enough experience yet.

Any help appreciated :)

#2711
Correct, if you wanted Sync it would be cheaper to switch back to an RX 580 and get FreeSync. However it's difficult to get FreeSync and strobing.
Just for strobing the default recommendation is the BenQ Zowie XL2411 (identical to BenQ XL2411Z if you're looking for a used monitor).

#2712
Any games specifically?
When are you going to build it?

#2713

Just the ones that came out this year and some of the ones that will come out next years. From the top of my head: AC Origins, Hellblade, Prey, Far Cry 5 (if Ubi doesn't fuck it up lol) Metro Exodus...

I'm not in a hurry to build it, I can wait for a bit if the parts are gonna be cheaper in the near future.

Are there any other things I need to worry about like thermal paste? Do I need to worry about case fans or is what comes with the part list you've given me enough? Any other recommendations I might not know to think about as a novice?

#2714

May the odds be ever in your favour.

Generally, since you can afford it I'd say something like quadcore + 1060 6GB (or RX 580 for FreeSync), maybe 1070.
So basically i5-7600 or 1500X. 1500X would be a bit cheaper, slightly slower single threaded, a bit faster for >4 threads.
1060 6GB / 580 should be within budget, should be enough for everything except FC5 / Metro Exodus since we obviously don't know much fps they'd get in either. Basically 1070 would be enough for high / maxed out in everything, 1060 / 580 not quite enough in ACO, in Hellblade you can get away with less so no problem and Prey needs even less than that.
If you're willing to go a bit over budget (~100€) or maybe wait a bit until the 1070 Ti pushes the 1070 prices a bit lower.

As usual pcp sucks outside of the USA, but I don't really have the time today do it manually with a price comparision site today, so it's just a rough sketch.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 1500X 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor (€168.41 @ Amazon Espana)
Motherboard: ASRock - AB350M Pro4 Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard (€77.03 @ Amazon Espana)
Memory: Kingston - HyperX Fury 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory (€155.50 @ Electronicamente)
Storage: Samsung - 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (€97.94 @ PC Componentes)
Storage: Seagate - BarraCuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (€45.50 @ Amazon Espana)
Video Card: EVGA - GeForce GTX 1070 8GB SC GAMING ACX 3.0 Black Edition Video Card (€449.00 @ Amazon Espana)
Case: Cooler Master - N200 MicroATX Mini Tower Case (€53.32 @ Amazon Espana)
Power Supply: SeaSonic - 520W 80+ Bronze Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (€74.95 @ Amazon Espana)
Total: €1121.65
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-12-15 21:51 CET+0100

#2715
Stock cooler comes with preapplied thermal paste.
Minimum 2 fans, one intake, one exhaust. I generally don't recommend any cases that come with less because it means you're getting ripped off. You can always add more later if you want lower temps/noise. Yes, lower noise too because more fans at lower speed will be quieter for the same volume of air per time.

Don't build on a carpet if you can avoid it (wooden table is ideal and your back and knees will thank you), touch something grounded beforehand so you don't shock anything to death.

Thanks for the help Setsul! :)

Hey I wanted to drop about 1k on a new pc build, I don’t care too much about an ssd since I already have a hdd in my laptop, I don’t need a mouse or keyboard but I do want a 144hz with it. I also do an occasional bit of streaming.

Would 1k be enough to get a build that can sustain 144 frames? If the shipping for the 144hz is too much I can always buy a vg248qe from Best Buy

Is there any magic in laptop HDDs that makes nearby desktop HDDs perform like an SSD or what logic is this?

Which game and at what resolution and settings?

Don't.

It’s a weird hybrid drive but it’s available and free so I was talking about it in terms of price, The only game I care about is tf2 and csgo, going to be used a graphics config/lower settings. I’m used to 1920x1080 but I can always go lower

I know this may be unrealated, but why don’t you favor the vg248qe? Is it the colors? I currently have one, and I don’t see any problems with it. Also, since I am moving my setup I ordered a new xl2411 for a change.

#2720
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i3-8350K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($183.59 @ OutletPC)
CPU Cooler: CRYORIG - H7 49.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($29.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock - Z370M Pro4 Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($101.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Team - Dark 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($169.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung - 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($84.99 @ B&H)
Video Card: MSI - GeForce GTX 1050 2GB GAMING X 2G Video Card ($120.88 @ OutletPC)
Case: Cooler Master - N200 MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($31.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair - CXM (2015) 450W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($24.99 @ Newegg)
Monitor: BenQ - XL2411 24.0" 1920x1080 144Hz Monitor ($222.91 @ Amazon)
Total: $971.20
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-12-23 18:59 EST-0500

RAM depending on what's actually in stock, case whatever you want, but you get the general idea.

#2721
It has been thoroughly outdated for years. Even if the colours weren't as bad (I mean there's other monitors with bad colours too, except with Lightboost/strobing in, it's unbeaten there) I don't know a single thing it does better than newer, cheaper monitors. Essentially all other models were updated and improved and some new models ended up being slightly cheaper while the VG248QE obviously didn't improve and didn't get significantly cheaper for quite a while. So in 2014-2015 the VG248QE cost around 300$, while newer/better monitors sold for 250-270$. I'm not sure how Asus still managed to sell it, but apparently they did. At this point it has finally gone down in price but it's still more expensive than budget monitors and worse than monitors at around the same (and slightly lower) price.

Hey guys, I'll try my luck here since I feel like you are knowledgable about tf2.

My little brother basically only plays tf2, and I would like to build him a budget pc that could run it well with comanglia's config. (I'd say regular graphics, but he insists on the cfg. Says he got used to it.) No really strict budget. Maybe $600 max if possible, basically I'll pay as much as needed.

If you don't fancy wasting your time, a cpu and gpu suggestion will do.

Overclocking yes/no?
Anything he could reuse?

Preferably no overclocking, only if necessary (I don't really know how to do that). He's currently on a laptop, so no parts.

Ok.
How much storage capacity does he need? 250GB or more?
Now where are you going to buy it? Because I'm pretty sure Croatia does not use Dollars.
So what currency and country is it? If it is Croatia then give me your budget in kn and either a shop or ideally a price comparision site I can use.

Thanks.

Here's a good store: https://www.adm.hr/
The store builds it for free, but if they don't have the parts here's a price comparison site: https://www.nabava.net/
I'd like to cut down the budget as much as possible. I'm thinking 3000kn if possible, but could do 3500kn.
He says he'd need 500GB of storage.

Even 3500kn is "only" 550$ so you're a bit more budget constrained than what 600$ would get you in the US (taxes and all that).

https://www.adm.hr/product.asp?product=procesor-intel-pentium-g4560-3mb-cache-35ghz-s1151&code=85024ADM
or https://www.adm.hr/product.asp?product=procesor-intel-pentium-g4600-3mb-cache-360ghz-s1151-bx80677g4600&code=85036ADM if you want to get away with integrated graphics (maybe just for a while).
https://www.adm.hr/product.asp?product=maticna-ploca-asrock-b250m-pro4-lga-1151-90-mxb3c0-a0uayz&code=86274ADM
SSD only is going to be a bit expensive with 500GB so I'd go with SSD + HDD.
500GB HDDs are almost the same price or more expensive than 1TB so I'd recommend 1TB.
https://www.adm.hr/product.asp?product=hdd-1tb-toshiba-p300-high-performance-35-7200rpm-64mb-cache-sata3-hdwd110uzsva&code=88067ADM
or https://www.adm.hr/product.asp?product=hdd-1tb-seagate-barracuda-compute-4kn-35-7200rpm-64mb-cache-sata3-st1000dm010&code=88075ADM a bit faster.
SSD: https://www.adm.hr/product.asp?product=ssd-120gb-25-sata3-tlc-7mm-sk-hynix-sl308-retail-hfs120g32tnd-n1a2a&code=88155ADM
or 250GB and a bit faster https://www.adm.hr/product.asp?product=ssd-250gb-samsung-850-evo-sata3-mz-75e250b&code=09826ADM

Figure out what he wants in terms of storage and case and that should pretty much decide what GPU you can still afford (or skip the GPU for now as mentioned above).

Thanks so much for your time!
I created a build using your G4560 suggestion. I decided for no SSD, might go for it later or something.
For the GPU I picked a GT1030. Also, would 4GB of RAM be enough for tf2?

Forgot to mention a few things.
Getting an SSD later means reinstalling windows.
I don't think anything below a GTX 1050 / RX 560 is really worth buying. You're much better of either buying a used GPU or sticking with integrated graphics until you can afford something better.
You want dual channel, which is not an option with DDR4 and 4GB since there are no 2GB DIMMs.

Why would I need 2 channels? Can't find any motherboards that support 240 pin on adm.
I thought tf2 wasn't ram intensive, would getting a 1x4 now, upgrading to 2x4 later make sense?

Because twice the bandwidth.
240 pin is DDR3. DDR4 is 288 pin.
Kaby Lake doesn't support DDR3 anymore officially so your choices are
-100 series chipset with Kaby Lake. Good luck with that, cheap mobos won't support updating without a CPU and you can't use the G4560 because it's not supported without an update.
-100 series chipset with Skylake. No Hyperthreading on the Pentiums so either much more expensive i3 or slower Pentium.
-200 series chipset with Kaby Lake and DDR4.

Not about capacity. With DDR3 you could get 2x2GB. It's still a terrible idea.
Can you really not afford it? Drop the GT 1030 and get the G4600 instead, then buy a proper GPU later.