Building a new pc (cheap $1300 - $1400)

A few years ago, I came to MDL, joined, and asked pretty much the same questions that you are asking.
That was more than 3 years ago.

What I settled on was an Intel CPU (Core I7-3770K unlocked) and the ASUS P8-Z77 V PRO Motherboard. I put 32 GB of PC2400 RAM and a SSD (Samsung).
That combination seems to be quite fast and reliable. I did, however, change the CPU thermal compound for Arctic Silver. But that was a year or so later when I started to have CPU thermal problems.
Since I changed the compound, I haven't had a problem with it (> 2 years later)

Get yourself a good power supply. The Power Supply is the most critical part of any electronics system.
Overrate the power supply, seeing as how you may want to add components later.
And since you're in the Philippines, I would suggest buying a UPS / Battery backup for your machine.
Something small, just to give you enough time to safely power the machine down.

I don't game, so I can't tell you much about them. But I think my rig will stand against most games.
I use my system to run Cubase 7 with -lots- of VSTs, and real-time rendering. Using both Native Instruments and Arturia, My CPU usage rarely goes above 30%.

At this point, the big money is in what monitor and graphics card you buy. I'd focus on the monitor, finding the best you can afford.
If the onboard graphics are not to your liking, then you can invest in a graphics card. Bear in mind that you will be drawing considerably more current from the power supply.
So, you might want to buy a 750 Watt supply instead of a 450 Watt PSU.

Then, pick a case for your motherboard. The ASUS I mentioned is an ATX form factor. I ended up putting my MoBo in a rack mounted case. In the near future, I will be building my own case.

More to follow on that...

BTW: Welcome to MDL.

 

A GTX 970 will do everything you want and they don't cost an arm and a leg. Wait a few months for Pascal to come out and you should be able to pick up a 970 on a really good sale.

Pick up a Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO or Hyper T4. They are inexpensive and work very very well (tho the T4 mounts funny on AMD boards).

I recommend ASUS motherboards as they tend to be very nice and reliable. You don't need an expensive one. As far as processor, any i7 would be great and last a long time. If you need to save $100 tho you will be gaming just fine with an i5. Since you aren't interested in overclocking, avoid the K models and save yourself $20.

As far as memory goes, it's cheap and there is no reason to spend a lot for it. Just get 8GB or 16GB total (D3-1600 for Haswell or D4-2133 if you're doing Skylake).

Keep in mind that next time you upgrade your processor, you will be buying a new motherboard to go with it (Intel likes to change sockets).


And one last thing to note for gaming - spending $100 more on a GPU will yield way more performance than spending $100 more on your processor.

 

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Being located in The Philippines I'm wondering from where You'll be getting the parts ? Will You order online and be paying shipping charges, or do You have someone who can purchase the parts then pack a Balikbayon box to send You ? I haven't been there in many Years so I'm not sure what's available locally.

Things I'd be concerned about were mentioned above, and that's the Heat and frequent "brown outs" We call em black outs in The US A Quality spacious Case with good airflow is a Must Have, or You'll find yourself with a side panel off and box fan cooling Your PC. The Hyper 212+ is an excellent air cooler for the price and I use one with a second fan added for My FX.

As MJ said a High Quality PSU with a small UPS is going to be a Must Have considering the electric grid in The Philippines. Don't go with a "Cheap" off brand. Go with a Corsair, Coolermaster, etc. that rates the PSU wattage using Only the 12V Amps ! Electricity is also very expensive versus income so I'd advise going with Intel instead of AMD for the CPU. The GPU depends on what You consider as acceptable Resolution and Frame rates ?

Making any specific recommendations is almost impossible given not know what's available locally or if a significant part of the Budget needs to be spent for shipping

 

Keep in mind that the next generation of video cards are about to be released. These are a significant leap over the current cards in terms of power draw and performance, so if you can hold off a couple of months that would be good. Alternatively, if you currently have a 'not ancient' video card you could reuse it until such time the new cards are avialable. In terms of the power supply, it definitely should be the best quality unit you can get without paying a stupid amount of money for it. Availability may be an issue though. If you can get an EVGA Supernova G2 power supply go for that, as that should be the best one without spending too much. They are made by Super Flower, so if you can get one of those go for it as well. Just make sure whichever power supply you do get it isn't an outdated model.

The CPU cooler people mentioend is fairly decent, although there are better ones for around the same price. It also comes down to availability. For the CPU under that cooler, I agree with people in that Intel is currently the way to go, however if it were the end of the year I would be recommending AMD Zen, whatever they end up being called (it's a major new architecture).

If you make a list of what you think you might like, with prices, we can make better recommendations .

 

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There's actually nothing wrong with the stock Intel cooler. It's free and comes with the chip. You only really need better cooling if you're going to overclock.

 

What's your room temperature, the lower your room temp then the better it is for your pc, even with stock cooler.

 

Ambient room temperature takes a part in this, but I doubt it will overheat. If the CPU gets hot to the point of overheating, it will clock itself back to reduce it's temperature and prevent damage. Rendering videos will run all cores at 100% for the time it takes to get the job done, which would be a good stress test to see what kind of temperatures you will reach.

I suggest sticking with the stock cooler at first and running some stress tests for ~ 30 mins to see how hot it gets. If it ends up being a problem (usually over 80C or 90C) then you can purchase an aftermarket cooler at that point. Most Intel chips have thermal thresholds of 100C-115C, but you can look up your processor on ark.intel.com and find the rated temperature (usually marked as T_J or T_case).

 

@Foldonce-> You mentioned rendering, i mean you do serious rendering or just basic rendering. If its serious rendering then, you'd need workstation GPUs and CPUs to handle that extreme workloads and complete the work faster than a consumer one. Do you upgrade your PC every 3-5 years? If so,
1.Intel i5 6xxx is needed, I prefer non K version, since you can save some bucks for dual GPUs in SLI or CFX.
2.GTX 970 is better buy as others suggested and also if you're patient enough, you could wait Pascal GTX 1070 with competitive pricing is better buy.
3. A SSD is must have option.
4. Asus Boards are the best. You could look into z170 pro gaming board.

 

@VDev: I like Asus MoBos. I have a P8Z77 which is awesome. I opted for the I7 (3770K) and my system is slammin'

And yes. a SSD is a must-have.

@bpwnes: 2 summers ago in NYC, the temperatures were up in the 100's here. I used the stock intel cooler all through that summer, with no AC and all was well. What ends up going bad is the stock thermal paste.
Replace that with Arctic Silver and all should be well.

What the OP needs to watch out for is heat plus humidity. That's a "double-whammy" for just about any electronic system.

 

A little humidity might be better than too dry, with drier air you stand a bigger chance of creating an ESD

 

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Guess we should have asked if You were going to run the PC in a room with aircon ? or if not, do You live in a City like Manila or Zamboanga or a cooler place like Tagaytay City or have Beachfront property with a breeze ? If the little memory I have left is correct, it's the hottest part of the Year in The Philippines right now. After the end of June it'll cool off what little it cools.

The electric grid is Horrible and that's putting it nicely. 220V without a ground Believe Me being a fairly large Kano I had My d err I've seen stars on many occasions taking a shower in a Hotel with an inline water heater when my head touched the shower head A 220V to 120V transformer and a UPS which You already posted you have is a necessity.

Basically going with Intel it's going to come down to making a decision between a Socket 1150 and Socket 1151 Motherboard. Cheaping out on the MOBO is a Big Not Good. I'm also a ASUS fanboy and You should be looking at boards in the $150.00 +/- US range for the best value. An i5 is more than capable of handling everything You want to do but going with an i7 will guarantee some "futurability" if that's a real word ? Finding the right CPU MOBO combo with Local Availability Just post what You can find locally and then people can give their thoughts. 2x8 16GB of RAM is more than sufficient also. A single higher level GPU is also a better option vs. 2X SLI or CFX at this time. Deciding that 30FPS at 1080p is "good enough" instead of wanting 4K Gaming at 120FPS+ will save a incredible amount of money. My own two Gaming Rigs are running, one a 6850 1GB and the other a 6970 2GB. I'm Still holding out to see what's coming.