Is this build worth it?

[joshfassbind]

Try choosing from the components for the customac budget ATX build on the buyers guide page. It should do what you want to do quite nicely and still leave some room for upgrades later.

Thanks, I think that's what I will do.

 

[Ghotix]

I would either wait a few days for the August Buying Guide to be posted, or follow a build from the forum that uses the Z270 and Kaby Lake. You said you don't care about having the latest and greatest, which is exactly how I felt when I started. However, you said you want a system that will provide years of service, which was also my objective. I ended up being an early adopter of Z270 and Kaby Lake. Now that Apple has made the switch to Kaby Lake, it only makes sense to do the same, unless you can get a screaming deal on a Skylake setup. For me, the cost was almost the same at the time of purchase, so I opted to get the newest hardware to assure longer service.

Here is what I got:
GA-Z270MX $151.00
i7-7700k $329.99
Noctua NH-D15S $79.90
Ballistix Sport LT 32GB Kit (16GBx2) $219.99
1TB 850 EVO SATA $324.99
AX860 with individually sleeved cables $130
802.11AC Desktop Wifi Card $45.00
SilverStone Aluminum Micro ATX $169.99
GTX 770 $100.00
Total= $1,550.86

I do photography work, so my requirements are probably very similar to what you need. Yes, I spent substantially more, but I did get more than what I needed. I got 32GB of RAM, when I could have been fine with 16GB. I also got a 1TB SSD, when I could likely have gone with half of that. If you have a good HD for a system drive, you may not need to buy another one at all. Finally, I got a much higher priced case, because I fell in love with the tiny footprint of this one. It takes up a footprint of about the size of a sheet of paper. If I cut cost on all of those, I could have saved at least $350, putting my total around $1200, or even more if I already had a HD to use. I bought everything new on Amazon, except the PSU and GPU, which I got used on ebay. Like you, I already had a monitor, albeit not a very good one, but it works for now. The only thing my build doesn't have is Thunderbolt. My motherboard is Thunderbolt capable with an add-in card, but I don't need it right now. There are several good options for motherboards that already have thunderbolt built in, though.

I am happy I went with the Z270/Kaby Lake. My use so far hasn't put much of a dent in my resources and I know that it will serve me better than all the Apple computers I have been buying for the past 20+ years. I would highly recommend thinking about the "latest and greatest" and consider how much more you will spend to get it. Take that extra cost and divide it up over however many years you want to use this PC, for me I'd like 5 years. I think you'll find that the extra couple hundred bucks over 5 years is insignificant when you consider what you're getting.

 

[Ghotix]

You are more than welcome to ask me anything you want here. But frankly speaking, I am a beginner myself. So I don't know how much help I would be. You will get far better help by asking your important questions here, where you can get more than one opinion, and your questions will help others in the future.