My first computer job was swapping 5MB disks out of an IBM machine and loading punch cards.
5 years later built my first computer around an Intel 80286 CPU.
My brother worked at PERTEC and helped introduce hard drives into personal PC
Last 30 plus years I built hundreds of systems BUT mostly bought premade systems the last 10 years  
 
Things just getting faster.  Same basics but devil in the details.
 
Graphics today IMHO  are the first area to look how a system will perform.
 
Today I have teenagers wanting to build gaming computers.
 
So I have a budget of 2 to 2.5 grand US dollars to build their first system.
 
I tried PC builder BUT ... 
 
Did a build bought a power supply and come to find out needed a 20+4 pin for better performance.  So return it to scrambled egg store.
 
Also bought a Phanteks Enthoo Series Primo Aluminum ATX Ultimate Full Tower Case and figure the thing will last a while for ATX motherboard builds.  I do have an old HD server rack in the garage but not gonna use it.
 
Stopped buying stuff until get a better feel on what works.  Most retail stores techs tell me to buy an EVGA card … even if they don't sell them at their workplace.
 
My endgame is to have a gaming upper middle of the road build and upgrade every couple of years.  Probably AMD i7 , low end ETX2080 or high end 2070 , monitor 144 MHz refresh rate.   Its been my experience to go lower than state of the art or end up a BETA tester.
 
I am trying to figure out the nomenclature … maybe a quantified grid explaining which video card works best.
 
How the heck do you pick a graphics card for gaming when starting from scratch?   Sweet spot money wise seems to be 600-$800.
 
BTW gonna post similar question about power supplies so if there is a place to like general forum and then branch off to specific forums (graphics , Power supply, cooling etc.) I'd like to know

donbrownz
So I have a budget of 2 to 2.5 grand US dollars to build their first system.

Also bought a Phanteks Enthoo Series Primo Aluminum ATX Ultimate Full Tower Case and figure the thing will last a while for ATX motherboard builds. 

My endgame is to have a gaming upper middle of the road build and upgrade every couple of years.  Probably AMD i7 , low end ETX2080 or high end 2070 , monitor 144 MHz refresh rate.   Its been my experience to go lower than state of the art or end up a BETA tester.

Here's a sample build I did based on what I would buy today for around $2500.  Some would consider it a bit unbalanced with the 9600K and 120mm cooler, but it should keep up with the 2080S at 1440p pretty well.  
 
https://pcpartpicker.com/list/xrZtgJ
 
CPU
Intel Core i5-9600K 3.7 GHz 6-Core Processor $229.99
 
CPU Cooler
EVGA CLC 120 CL11 58.87 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler $53.89
 
Motherboard
Asus ROG STRIX Z390-E GAMING ATX LGA1151 Motherboard $232.99
 
Memory
G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory $219.99
 
Storage
HP EX950 2 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive $262.99
 
Video Card
EVGA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER 8 GB FTW3 HYBRID GAMING Video Card $793.98
 
Case
Phanteks Enthoo Primo ATX Full Tower Case $259.98
 
Power Supply
EVGA SuperNOVA G3 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply $104.89
 
Monitor
LG 32GK650F-B 32.0" 2560x1440 144 Hz Monitor $339.99
 
Base Total: $2539.71
Mail-in Rebates: -$55.00
Shipping: $17.97
Total: $2502.68
 
 

2nd hand be pretty good..

Intel I7 8700k 4 core cpu at 5ghz+ per core.
Asus Maximus Apex Z270 MB
16GB (2x 8GB) DDR4 3200Mhz <-- dont have ram.
Evga 1080ti FTW3 Hybrid GPU like new barely used and has a ton of warranty left.
Evga SuperNova 1000watt PSU
Large Good air flow case.

OR

Intel I7 6700k 4 core cpu
Asus Maximus VIII Hero Z170 MB
G.Skill 16GB 3600mhz (2x8GB) DDR4
Evga 1080ti FTW3 Hybrid GPU like new barely used and has a ton of warranty left.
Evga SuperNova 1000watt PSU
Large Good air flow case.

:)

Can list those 2 sell ya.

Have more like a i7 4790k system.

All well under your budget.

MSim
 
If your budget can afford it, get one of these SSD.
Samsung M.2 970 EVO Plus M.2 NVME 1TB SSD  ($213)
 
if you need to save like $75 for other hardware.
Samsung SSD 860 EVO 1TB 2.5 Inch SATA III  ($140)

Why when you can get an intel 660p M.2 1TB for $89.99 right now on newegg?

kevinc313
HP EX950 and EX920 are the best value going for M.2 price and performance.  IMHO.

Thank you for this!  Couldn't find a high performing 2TB M.2 at that price range at all.  It performs just as good as Samsung's 2TB EVO/PRO but for almost half the price.  I can only hope it drops further during Black Friday Week/Cyber Monday.
 
Was wondering if it was using Samsung flash memory but it's Micron as it performs really well.  Great review found here.
 
The Intel 660p 2TB I currently used as a game drive is just that, a storage and or game drive.  Once the cache fills up on it, its come CRAWLING to a snail pace. My average speeds at one point for the longest time was around 20 MB/s.  Slower than some HDs. 
 
I need to upgrade my OS drive soon (Samsung XP941 512 GB PCIe 2.0) to something like the HP EX950 2TB PCIe 3.0 x4 on my eventual soon to be CPU/MB X299 upgrade. 

On Ebay bought $85 delivered Micron 5100 ECO 960GB (1TB) SATA 6Gb/s M.2 80mm 2280 Solid State Drive SSD  
 
Compared Micron 5100 ECO 960GB (1TB) SATA 6Gb/s M.2 80mm 2280 Solid State Drive SSD to others SSD cards and seems to have adequate speed.

• Micron® 3D TLC NAND Flash
• TCG Enterprise compliant self-encrypting drive (SED)
• SATA 6 Gb/s interface
• ATA modes supported
  – PIO mode 3, 4
  – Multiword DMA mode 0, 1, 2
  – Ultra DMA mode 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
• 512-byte sector size support
• Native command queuing support with 32-command slot support
• ATA-8 ACS-3 revision 5 command set compliant
• ATA security feature command set and password login support
• Security erase command set: fast and secure erase
• Performance (steady state)
  – Sequential 128KB read: Up to 540MB/s
  – Sequential 128KB write: Up to 520MB/s
  – Random 4KB read: Up to 93,000 IOPS
  – Random 4KB write: Up to 28,000 IOPS

RainStryke

donbrownz
On Ebay bought $85 delivered Micron 5100 ECO 960GB (1TB) SATA 6Gb/s M.2 80mm 2280 Solid State Drive SSD  
 
Compared Micron 5100 ECO 960GB (1TB) SATA 6Gb/s M.2 80mm 2280 Solid State Drive SSD to others SSD cards and seems to have adequate speed.

• Micron® 3D TLC NAND Flash
• TCG Enterprise compliant self-encrypting drive (SED)
• SATA 6 Gb/s interface
• ATA modes supported
  – PIO mode 3, 4
  – Multiword DMA mode 0, 1, 2
  – Ultra DMA mode 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
• 512-byte sector size support
• Native command queuing support with 32-command slot support
• ATA-8 ACS-3 revision 5 command set compliant
• ATA security feature command set and password login support
• Security erase command set: fast and secure erase
• Performance (steady state)
  – Sequential 128KB read: Up to 540MB/s
  – Sequential 128KB write: Up to 520MB/s
  – Random 4KB read: Up to 93,000 IOPS
  – Random 4KB write: Up to 28,000 IOPS

900TBW, that's going to be a long lasting drive... that's probably the highest TBW i've seen in that price range. 

I returned it and went with HP EX950 1TB M.2 2280 PCIe 3.1 x4 NVMe 3D TLC NAND Internal SSD 5MS23AA#ABC for $132 on Ebay.  Multiple times faster.
I think the 900TBW is the result of VERY slow transfer rates … less heat , less work , lasting longer

Well right now I would consider the AMD route as the price to performance ratio is pretty good right now.
 
I am not a AMD fanboy mind you but right now Intel is looking a bit silly.