First time building a gaming desktop

I've never built a PC before but am confident I can do it. This will mainly be used for gaming and CAD here and there.

My budget is capped at $1050.

This is the build I've parted out so far: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/Mbx39W

Any suggestions to improvements are welcome.

Big question; I have a SSD with WIN 10 on it along with my files from my previous laptop. Can I just plug it into this mobo and have it work? Or do I need to buy a new WIN 10 key...?
Thank you

 

That PSU scares me a bit. Check EVGA B-Stock or spend a bit more. Just spend a bit less on the mobo. You will probably need a new key. Windows doesn't like mobo changes.

 

You could also get a cheaper case to put the money into the power supply. That's the #1 failed component in any computer, don't want to go cheap

 

I like it, though watch out on the ACX card, they were discontinued in favor of the ICX cards and though EVGA claims the problem was fixed on newer ACX cards, retailers sometimes still have the older ones and don't realize it.

 

Care to clarify? I owned two EVGA ACX cards in the past with zero issues

 

The 10 series ACX cards had a small problem with catching on fire. They have largely been replaced by the manufacturer with ICX coolers.

 

Gotcha, didn't have a 10 series so that explains it

 

Especially beware of secondhand or refub ACX, they might have the extra heat pads, they might not.

 

I've learned from experience not to cheap out on a PSU.

 

Another thing:
Unless you're dead-set on Intel, might wunna hold-off and see how the Ryzen 5 series performs. So far they appear to be very competitive against the Intel i5 series. And cheaper.

I'd also recommend getting a better PSU. You never want a cheap PSU. When it comes to PC hardware (and this statement isn't true for Intel or Nvidia products most of the time), you typically get what you pay for. My first PC rig straight-out of high school years ago, I made the mistake of getting a cheap PSU. Lasted a whopping 4 months.

I'd recommend the EVGA SuperNOVA 750W PSU. It's damn good.

I also see that I forgot to touch-on your question regarding your SSD.
I would not recommend just plugging your SSD into the new rig and expect everything to be hunky-dory. If your SSD currently contains drivers/utilities from a previous rig, that might be problematic in conjunction with your new hardware. I would copy any data you want to keep ( or at least, data that you cannot re-acquire later) and then format your SSD and do a clean OS install.

 

I've never built a gaming computer before either but did about a week ago and it worked. Then I decided to delid my i7 7700k with liquid metal. So we will see if I wasted 330 bucks tomorrow.

 

Go big or go home, right?

 

It's only 330 bucks right.

 

Was joking, I did my first repaste on an old junker to make sure I could do it. You're braver than I.

 

Put everything back together and it still works. Everything is stock. Using a Corsair h100i v2. One hour of OCCT at stock and my temps maxed at 72 C and pretty much stayed between 68 and 70 C. After delid and grizzly the max temp was 57 C and averaged around 50 C.

 

Well done!

 

Just a side note. If you register your Windows 10 key on your windows account, you can remove it from one computer and transfer it to another pretty easily.