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.