How powerful is this month's Unicorn? Is there a more cost-efficient build?

[DeltrusDisc]

Assuming we can trust Tomshardware?
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...k,3269.html#p2

As far as 850W PSU goes, you'll need a quad SLI or something to actually cap that power. 3 Drives + 1 Optical Unit + 1 GPU is not even going to tax a 550W PSU.

Seasonic vs Superflower debate, Seasonic has been at the top for as long as anyone can remember, Superflower was top of the medium layer, but they have gone up and are progressively getting better. You can't go wrong with either one.

Only thing I will say about Seasonic is read the reviews on their PSU that you want. They are very good, but their fans occasionally are bad in certain PSUs

Don't tell me bad fans was why you felt he should go with eVGA, an arguably extremely new company in the PSU space, over SeaSonic.

Sure the warranty is nice, but warranties aren't everything.

[Polarthief]

Still going SeaSonic PSU right?

If the difference between a Seasonic X-650 and X-850 is only 15USD then I say... hell yes take that.

Yup, still going with SeaSonic Gold or w/e, I just bumped up the wattage by 200 for +$25, with $10 mail-in rebate! It's on Newegg for anyone interested!

As far as HDDs go I can only speak out of personal preference and would recommend the Black over 2 x 1TB because it makes things a lot easier both in management and in building it in and using less cables etc.
That and the 5 year warranty on the HDD is VERY welcome and the Blacks are renowned for their quality.

Yeah I went with the 1 black over 2 blues. If it crashes though, I'm gonna rage at all of you :c lol

1 thing I do recommend is that if you're going with a Fractal Design Define R5 case is to grab another Fractal Design GP-14 fan with white fanblades to get optimal airflow within the R5, they are silent and good even if they do feel cheap.
The R5 only has 2 fans, 1 in front and 1 in back. You grab another identical fan and you place it in front with the other fan and you'll have positive pressure so less dust in the nooks and crannies of your case whilst also cooling your graphics card better.
And whilst a crapton of casefans don't matter as much in an open case it deffo has a proper effect in the R5 because of the sound dampening material embedded in the case which does increase heat retention a bit so another fresh airflow fan will counter-act that material.

If I leave the case opened for better airflow, will I need another fan though?

I don't need it to be literally silent, I would just like it to be quiet.

As far as GPU goes... as you yourself stated:
Wait till the RX 480 is out in full and reviews hit the net.
From that point decide for yourself if you want an RX 480 or a GTX 1070.
Multi-monitor will NOT be an issue for either of them at any point in time so that's not a concern you have to deal with.

Yeah, in the meantime though, I picked up a GTX 750 Ti for my current computer, just so I can have SOMETHING while I wait for the rest of the parts (everything won't arrive until at least July 5th...), plus I still plan to use the current rig for the family room, while the new beast you all helped me with, that's going in my room

[DeltrusDisc]

Wait, what do you mean by case opened? Like the side panel off? :O

I'll add: my computer keeps very cool, and only has two intake fans on the front, one exhaust on the back. All spinning very slowly.

[Polarthief]

Wait, what do you mean by case opened? Like the side panel off? :O

I'll add: my computer keeps very cool, and only has two intake fans on the front, one exhaust on the back. All spinning very slowly.

Nonono, the Fractal R5 said that you can "open it" for maximum airflow, or keep it closed for maximum sound dampening. I'm just repeating what they said *shrug*

[DeltrusDisc]

Oh!

That probably means opening the front panel and allowing the front two fans to pull in more air that way.

[munkeyinorbit]

~$1000 max; just bought the CPU though because I had some amazon credit and the date of them coming back in stock kept going up, so anything you recommend, commit to putting the 6600k in there.



I can definitely attest to Gigabyte myself. My current rig is using one and it's ran great for the last 5 years

Mind recommending a specific PSU?



I might OC though. "Do I need to?" is the bigger question



I'm not anti-WD Black or anything, I just didn't see anything different in the specs on Black vs Blue and noticed the significant price difference.

I'm a bit biased against SSDs since my main rig had its own crash and caused me to panic when that happened.



Overkill is good. Overkill means it'll last at least as long as my current rig, especially given how gaming seems to be stagnating in terms of power/graphics.

Yeah, I definitely plan to get some sexy ass monitors (at least 1920 if not higher)



I truly do not give a crap how it looks. The less bright lights and cable messes, the better. I don't even care if it has a clear panel on the side to see inside of it. I'm not trying to show this thing off or anything. Whatever is the most utilitarian

First thing is to get a refund on the CPU. It might be four generations newer than what you have already but you should never upgrade your CPU unless you get at least 100% performance increase. There is not 100% inc in performance. This is actually very important because you might find that your new processor is a bottleneck, especially when you are getting the graphics cards that you say you are getting AND the CPU you have is definitely too slow for WoW to be on Ultra.

Change it to a current generation i7. If the processor has a k on the end of the model number then it is capable of being overclocked. If you dont want to overclock than get the cheaper non-k model. Overclocking, for the most parts, is not worth it. With that statement I expect to get a few people in here telling me I'm full of shit but why would you do it? If you have a passion for overclocking and you want to get the last little bit of performance out of your hardware then do it. But it takes a lot of patience and testing and work and time to get there. Not worth the hassle.

Get over your fear for SSDs. They are very reliable now and some companies give you a 10 year warranty. Why would they do that if they didn't think that they could handle it? Samsung SSDs get pretty good press. Get, as a minimum, a 240GB, but get as large as you can afford with a large mechanical HDD for data.

[Evildeffy]

Oh!

That probably means opening the front panel and allowing the front two fans to pull in more air that way.

Opening the Fractal Design Define R5 means removing the side fan mount dampening panel and the "Moduvents" up top.
Whilst you could do that adding another fan for 14USD is preferable as it would mean no dust build-up on the side due to graphics card fan and top.
Keeping it closed with another fan added in front is both more silent AND more effective than removing the moduvents.

Also the SeaSonic PSU gives you 7 year warranty as well.
In fact it was SeaSonic whom started the 7 year warranty rage among PSUs.

Also the fan bit is true of any PSU when they get a bad fan shipped with it that has a rattling in the motor etc.
Seen it happen to every single brand except for 1: Be Quiet!
They are the only ones whom have an aftermarket QA and fan placement after receiving their HEC PSUs.
Frankly normally I'd never grab a HEC based PSU unless I was seriously out of options but the Be Quiet! variants are custom design and actually good.

[Polarthief]

Opening the Fractal Design Define R5 means removing the side fan mount dampening panel and the "Moduvents" up top.
Whilst you could do that adding another fan for 14USD is preferable as it would mean no dust build-up on the side due to graphics card fan and top.
Keeping it closed with another fan added in front is both more silent AND more effective than removing the moduvents.

*cough* Could you please ELI5 that all, Evil?

I honestly don't know anything about adding additional fans outside of a CPU heatsink.

[DeltrusDisc]

First thing is to get a refund on the CPU. It might be four generations newer than what you have already but you should never upgrade your CPU unless you get at least 100% performance increase. There is not 100% inc in performance. This is actually very important because you might find that your new processor is a bottleneck, especially when you are getting the graphics cards that you say you are getting AND the CPU you have is definitely too slow for WoW to be on Ultra.

Not saying the 6600K is this over the 2500K, but you're saying someone shouldn't upgrade, even if there was an 80% increase in performance? Dude are you kidding me? This is silly. Power savings, newer available technology like PCI-E 3, more SATA 6Gbps, m.2, NVMe, more RAM space, there's a lot of reasons to upgrade CPU (mobo too, usually RAM as well) other than just performance!

Why would the new processor be a bottleneck but the old one would not be? Do you realize what you're saying? He's gotten a better, newer i5 than his old one. That will be less of a bottleneck.

Change it to a current generation i7. If the processor has a k on the end of the model number then it is capable of being overclocked. If you dont want to overclock than get the cheaper non-k model. Overclocking, for the most parts, is not worth it. With that statement I expect to get a few people in here telling me I'm full of shit but why would you do it? If you have a passion for overclocking and you want to get the last little bit of performance out of your hardware then do it. But it takes a lot of patience and testing and work and time to get there. Not worth the hassle.

Great, suggesting someone who just wants to play games to get an i7. The OP even said he doesn't plan to stream, etc, so why an i7? That's silly. Getting the non-K edition of CPUs is usually to the whopping savings of a whole $10! Hardly worthy of going to it to "save money".

Yeah, you are full of shit about the overclocking statement, however you follow it up with "why would you do it?" so I'll explain so you can stop spreading that huge piece of misinformation.

It is not a last "little bit" of performance out of your computer, and overclocking is NOTHING like what is was 8 years ago. Overclocking is super easy, even to get 20-30% increases out of your CPU! That's a HUGE amount of increased performance, for just tweaking maybe 3 settings in your UEFI-BIOS and running some stress tests. DEFINITELY worth the hassle. 20-30% or more, whatever degree of overclocking someone does is very visible in real world scenarios, like WoW. It definitely gives a bump to fps and why wouldn't that be a beneficial thing that's worth a few hours of tweaking and testing?

So yes, you're full of shit, but now you've been educated and so I expect that you won't share ignorant thoughts like that anymore.

[Evildeffy]

First thing is to get a refund on the CPU. It might be four generations newer than what you have already but you should never upgrade your CPU unless you get at least 100% performance increase. There is not 100% inc in performance. This is actually very important because you might find that your new processor is a bottleneck, especially when you are getting the graphics cards that you say you are getting AND the CPU you have is definitely too slow for WoW to be on Ultra.

6600K too slow for WoW on Ultra? No.. WoW's engine is old and horrid, a 6600K is not too slow and will not bottleneck the GTX 1080/1070 or RX 480.

Change it to a current generation i7. If the processor has a k on the end of the model number then it is capable of being overclocked. If you dont want to overclock than get the cheaper non-k model. Overclocking, for the most parts, is not worth it. With that statement I expect to get a few people in here telling me I'm full of shit but why would you do it? If you have a passion for overclocking and you want to get the last little bit of performance out of your hardware then do it. But it takes a lot of patience and testing and work and time to get there. Not worth the hassle.

You suggest for him to go i7 over the i5 for WoW? And overclocking not worth it again ... for WoW?
The i7 is _literally_ useless for WoW due to it's aforementioned engine and overclocking for WoW is actually among the most impactful things due to the fact of yet again aforementioned inefficient engine.
Had you been talking about say... DOOM or Ashes of the Singularity I might've agreed (and only partially) but that's a bit weird of you to recommend returning an i5-6600K and say he shouldn't upgrade unless it gives +100% performance (I honestly do not know where you got this metric from) and then you recommend an i7-6700k ... this doesn't make sense nor is it smart for a person on a bit of a budget.

Get over your fear for SSDs. They are very reliable now and some companies give you a 10 year warranty. Why would they do that if they didn't think that they could handle it? Samsung SSDs get pretty good press. Get, as a minimum, a 240GB, but get as large as you can afford with a large mechanical HDD for data.

He's already put one in his list, have you read past the first posts?

[stevenho]

AND the CPU you have is definitely too slow for WoW to be on Ultra.

Change it to a current generation i7.

Wow is a single-double core game. Like most games. There is close to zero reason for buying i7.

Overclocking, for the most parts, is not worth it. With that statement I expect to get a few people in here telling me I'm full of shit but why would you do it? If you have a passion for overclocking and you want to get the last little bit of performance out of your hardware then do it. But it takes a lot of patience and testing and work and time to get there. Not worth the hassle.

You don't have a clue what you're talking about.

[Evildeffy]

*cough* Could you please ELI5 that all, Evil?

I honestly don't know anything about adding additional fans outside of a CPU heatsink.

For the R5 it is literally 2 minutes of work:

Step 1: Open the front door
Step 2: Click open the fan maintenance area
Step 3: Remove the dust filter
Step 4: Grab the 2nd fan
Step 5: Put the power cable of the fan through the same hole of the fan you saw in step 3 which should be at the bottom right of that fan
Step 6: Align the fan right below the already present fan you saw in step 3 with the screw holes
Step 7: Screw the fan in place with the 4 screws provided with the case.
Step 8: ???
Step 9: PROFIT!

[Polarthief]

For the R5 it is literally 2 minutes of work:

Step 1: Open the front door
Step 2: Click open the fan maintenance area
Step 3: Remove the dust filter
Step 4: Grab the 2nd fan
Step 5: Put the power cable of the fan through the same hole of the fan you saw in step 3 which should be at the bottom right of that fan
Step 6: Align the fan right below the already present fan you saw in step 3 with the screw holes
Step 7: Screw the fan in place with the 4 screws provided with the case.
Step 8: ???
Step 9: PROFIT!

Awesome, thank you! One last thing, could you recommend/link fans of this nature? (I'm sorry, I know I'm such a scrub x.x)

[Evildeffy]

Awesome, thank you! One last thing, could you recommend/link fans of this nature? (I'm sorry, I know I'm such a scrub x.x)

http://pcpartpicker.com/product/cTH4...fdfandyngp14wt

I realized I didn't link the fan as I intended to in the first post when I suggested it right after I posted the 7 step plan :P
Here it is in PC Part Picker, I assume that'll do it for you.

[Polarthief]

http://pcpartpicker.com/product/cTH4...fdfandyngp14wt

I realized I didn't link the fan as I intended to in the first post when I suggested it right after I posted the 7 step plan :P
Here it is in PC Part Picker, I assume that'll do it for you.

<3<3 Thank you! I just need one of these though? Should be... hopefully painless XD

[Evildeffy]

<3<3 Thank you! I just need one of these though? Should be... hopefully painless XD

Yes... just 1, you already have 2 of these in your case.
You're making it so you have 2 intakes and 1 exhaust in your case.

It WILL be silent.

Now ... off to bed, it's 4 AM here.

[Jinpachi]

You do NOT need to overclock your cpu, especially if you're building a gaming rig. Most of your work will be done by the gpu, with a couple exceptions. the i5-6500 is more than enough cpu to handle your needs. check this build out.

http://pcpartpicker.com/list/LmqvKZ

[Polarthief]

You do NOT need to overclock your cpu, especially if you're building a gaming rig. Most of your work will be done by the gpu, with a couple exceptions. the i5-6500 is more than enough cpu to handle your needs. check this build out.

http://pcpartpicker.com/list/LmqvKZ

All the parts are already bought but thank you for your input.

[Jinpachi]

@Kilz Thank you for your assistance! I'm sorry if anything I'm about to say seems dumb, I legit just don't know too much about the technical details on parts, all I know is how to jam them together

- I'm assuming there's practically no difference between the MoBos besides the color/brand? Also the RAM as well? (not too concerned about color, I'd rather go with cheaper and/or better).

- Regarding the heatsink, I don't know if I will be overclocking, mostly because I don't want to screw anything up, haha. Currently running a default i5-2500k with a stock fan on my current build.

- Thank you SO much for pointing out the WD Blue storage. I didn't see any differences between the black and blue so that just saved like $40 since I'm buying 2 1TB drives I'm also greatly considering not going with an SSD at all.

- For resolutions, I have two 1440x900 monitors (only one used for gaming, the other for videos/music). Will want to upgrade them some day but for the time being, I only have the money for the rig.

- Lastly, I'm not fully sure which case I want to go with; would you mind telling me what I'm looking for to fit everything and not have a mess of cables like I currently do? Don't really care for it being flashy or anything (hell, bright lights hurt my eyes, haha), just efficient for cables and everything I need in it.

If you decide not to overclock, you dont even need the Z170 chipset motherboards. You'll find much more affordable options that will do the job just fine in the lower priced categories. Remember, put the bulk of the budget into your GPU. if you wait to see the custom pcb 1070's im sure you'll find an option that will do the job just fine for you. and unless you plan on gaming in 4k, you dont need the 1080. the 1070 absolutely KILLS IT for 1080 and 1440p applications

[Evildeffy]

You do NOT need to overclock your cpu, especially if you're building a gaming rig. Most of your work will be done by the gpu, with a couple exceptions. the i5-6500 is more than enough cpu to handle your needs. check this build out.

http://pcpartpicker.com/list/LmqvKZ

Ok after this reply I'll go to bed.

No he doesn't NEED to overclock but he wants the future option to.
Also you made a build using a Z170 motherboard and DDR4-2400MHz with a non-K CPU.
The funny thing about that is a Z170 motherboard offers no benefits to a non-K CPU technically as it won't be able to run the 2400MHz RAM at speeds above 2133MHz because of it being locked.
You also selected Ripjaws RAM which have high heatsinks thus possibly blocking the fan if installed in the first row of RAM slots.
Also it should've been clear what the desires of mechanical storage was for the OP, namely 2TB.

Also ... WoW is not GPU-bound but CPU-bound, an overclocked CPU helps tremendously.

Ok I'm done, NOW I'm going to bed!