So I'm looking into building a gaming pc; my first one ever. It may not be soon, but I think I'll get it sometime this year ([especially if I get the second job I've been contacted about] I also know that prices will change, I'm ok with that).

I have two builds that I've been looking at, one with a gtx970 and one with a Radeon RX 480.

What I'm mostly looking at is:

1) What motherboard should I use? I have no clue how to pick a motherboard, but I don't want to worry about bottle-necking the computer by choosing a cheap one. With that said, I'm open to any other alternative suggestions (while kinda keeping to a $1000CAD budget + Windows).

2) What CPU should I use? Pretty much the same reasons as above. Many of other people's builds used the i5-6500 so I figured it would be a good choice. I'll be playing games, surfing the web, watching videos etc. and possibly using the computer to make music (which is why I was ok with the more expensive 6500 for the extra power that might take).

3) GTX 970 or Radeon RX 480? They're pretty even in price, and they both seem to outperform the other in certain areas in certain games. Are these the two graphics cards I should be focusing on or should I be looking into something else? Which do you prefer and why?

My Budget for this build was $1000 CAD (basically an $800 USD build), but I'm willing to spend a bit more than that if necessary (maybe up to $1100). The pcpartspicker costs more because I added the cost of Windows 10, which I'm not including as part of the $1000 budget.

I know that you're not all PC gods, but this is the community that I'm most included in, so I figured I'd post here for a few responses. Here are the builds.

https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/user/Fox...d/#view=PbX9TW Radeon RX 480

https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/user/Fox...d/#view=3zY6Mp GTX 970

Remember that you're using CAD if you try to edit these builds. If you would rather use USD, you can delete the ca. at the beginning of the url.

EDIT: The GTX 1060 releases tomorrow for just a little bit more than the Radeon, but it's claimed to be 15% faster, and 75% more power efficient than the Radeon. This could be another possible option.

rx480 to get those 8gb of V-ram... also might wanna buy it somewhere else to get it cheaper if its possible. I have the gtx970 tho, its a great GPU but Polaris is just a better bang for your buck. Especially on games like GTA V that eat V-ram like its, well you know.

That's what I've been thinking. The 970 had the whole issue where it has 3.5gb of vram and 0.5gb of vram that's secluded from the rest, which means that if a game needs more than 3.5gb there would be frame rate issues. For this reason, I'm kinda leaning towards the radeon, because future games will need even more vram, so the 8gb will be a good futureproof. I'm also willing to wait and buy some parts at different times to get them on sale and stuff.
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besides, I'll need to wait a while before I could find an rx480 in stock lmao

http://forum.toribash.com/showthread.php?t=557083

Yeah, I saw that. I didn't realize how close our selections were. Though, why not use the rx480 instead of the r9 390? They're the same price, and the 480 is newer and (from what I've seen) better.

I think for the graphics card I'm going to wait until the 1060 becomes more available, and then get it. Plus, they're supposed to be releasing non-founders editions for 249 instead of 299. If they do that, I'll get the 1060, if not, I'll get the rx480.

Thanks for your help! Turns out that my biggest concern was the gpu, but I guess I have that sorted out already. Closing