It seems over half (small #) of my posts on MMO-Champ have been in this forum looking for help on building a computer that never ended up getting built! This time, however, my old gaming laptop has officially died so I really HAVE to build one now. Below is the list of parts I have come up with after reading many reviews and ratings. What I could really use though is an experienced eye going over my list to tell me if anything could be optimized.
Some usage background. Honestly 90% of my gaming time right now is spent on WoW. I just enjoy the hell out of the game and, even though I have a full Steam library of various titles they do not get played that often, I always come back to WoW. So I would like to be able to finally play at Ultra settings while still getting playable fps, prefer 60+ of course. The other 10% of gaming is everything from old school Warcraft 1-3, some Final Fantasy Steam Playstation converts, all other Diablo and Starcraft versions, and very limited Overwatch. Other than that is a bunch of Youtube, movie streaming, FanFiction reading/writing, and general browsing.
Just to give a number my budget is a max of $2,000 but would prefer to stay under $1,700. From what I have read forever WoW seems to be much more CPU bound than GPU. Therefore I want the absolute best CPU I can get? From other people building recently it seems I would be foolish not to wait for the new Coffee Lake CPUs from Intel to come out? So I have an i7-7700 as a placeholder in my list below to (HOPEFULLY) simulate the rough price for now. I plan on doing some medium over clocking of whatever CPU I get to increase WoW performance that much more while staying away from stressing the system too much or getting it too hot. Taking suggestions on which of the new CPUs you think would be the best fit for my setup.
You may notice my Storage line is empty. This is because I have a 1.5 year old Samsung 256 GB SSD as my laptops main drive that I would like to yank out and re use for the same purpose in this build. I also JUST bought a Samsung 850 EVO 1 TB SSD that i was going to use to replace a 1 TB old school hard drive that was currently installed in the laptop to try and mitigate some heat issues (looks like I was too late). So my storage should be good. I also have 2 monitors and all other peripherals I should need.
Some questions I have from my experiences with my gaming laptop over the last 6 years (so always dealing with heat):
1 - Is the CPU cooler I picked a good one? I do not want to mess with a liquid cooling set up and this one had many amazing reviews.
2 - I really like the simpleness of the case I picked out plus the dust filters it come with (we have indoor dogs and cats as well as live on a farm so dust is a never ending battle). Does the case have enough fans or do I need to add more?
3 - A crazy idea I have always wondered about. My computer room has an AC floor vent very close. Is it a dumb idea of tray and route some of that cold air to the computer? Will it cause moisture/condensation problems? More trouble than its worth?
4 - This is the first desktop I will have ever owned so is heat even that big of a deal with the larger space volume between parts plus the extra fans so am I making a mountain out of a mole hill?
Other questions;
1 - Do I need 32 GB of RAM or will 16 work? I went 32 mainly because I had the slots and budget for them but if they give me no discernible improvement then I am always up for saving some $$.
2 - My only connection will be wireless and I tried to pick out a well reviewed mother board with built in WiFi. Will this suffice or will I need a stand alone card?
3 - I am a simple man with simple sound tastes. As long as voices and music are crisp and clear then I am good. Do I need a sound card?
4 - My laptop only supported 2 monitors or itself and one monitor. Will this video card (from the picture of its ports) support 1 HDMI, 3 Display ports, and 1 DVI? To be more precise, could I support 1 HDMI TV, 1 DVI-VGA Monitor, and 1 Display Port Monitor all at the same time?
5 - What is the best way to work with my old SSD to make it ready for the new computer? Put it in an external enclosure to make sure I have any files I want off of it then wipe it? Any specific/good wiping program to make it ready/pristine for a new system?
Other than that please peruse my list and give me some feedback. I am willing to spend some more if you think it will give me more bang for my buck and I am willing to shave off items or go cheaper if you don't think it adds any real value. I could also use you opinion on when to buy these parts. Buy them all now? Buy a couple now and wait to see if some others drop a bit? Thank you very much for slogging through this wall of text and for all your help and suggestions!!!
[PCPartPicker part list](https://pcpartpicker.com/list/4PgxzM) / [Price breakdown by merchant](https://pcpartpicker.com/list/4PgxzM/by_merchant/)
Type|Item|Price
:----|:----|:----
**CPU** | [Intel - Core i7-7700K 4.2GHz Quad-Core Processor](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/VKx...bx80677i77700k) | $322.88 @ OutletPC
**CPU Cooler** | [Noctua - NH-U9S 46.4 CFM CPU Cooler](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/Fcf...u-cooler-nhu9s) | $58.35 @ Newegg
**Motherboard** | [Asus - STRIX Z270-E GAMING ATX LGA1151 Motherboard](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/2Ph...-z270-e-gaming) | $187.49 @ SuperBiiz
**Memory** | [Corsair - Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/MYH...6gx4m2b3000c15) | $147.88 @ OutletPC
**Memory** | [Corsair - Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/MYH...6gx4m2b3000c15) | $147.88 @ OutletPC
**Video Card** | [EVGA - GeForce GTX 1070 8GB SC Gaming ACX 3.0 Video Card](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/Tv3...08g-p4-6173-kr) | $479.89 @ OutletPC
**Case** | [Fractal Design - Define R5 Blackout Edition ATX Mid Tower Case](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/nwV...e-fdcadefr5bko) | $89.99 @ SuperBiiz
**Power Supply** | [EVGA - SuperNOVA G2 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/9q4...ly-220g20650y1) | $75.98 @ Newegg
**Optical Drive** | [Asus - DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/2v9...rw24b1stblkbas) | $18.69 @ OutletPC
**Operating System** | [Microsoft - Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/wtg...ft-os-kw900140) | $89.89 @ OutletPC
| *Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts* |
| Total (before mail-in rebates) | $1648.92
| Mail-in rebates | -$30.00
| **Total** | **$1618.92**
| Generated by [PCPartPicker](http://pcpartpicker.com) 2017-08-31 13:10 EDT-0400 |