Time to replace the Alienware R3

[Deleted]

Hey everyone,

Looking for some feedback on the final picks for our first build, see details below:

PC Build: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/user/Destinar/saved/tfg7YJ

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming, watching movies, surfing the internet, Gameplay recording,.

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Scan.co.uk

Overclocking: Yes

SLI or Crossfire: No

Your Monitor Resolution: 3440x1440

Additional Comments: We're still somewhat undecided on PSU as part of me is torn between the RM750i & AX860i, both of which are more than enough power. PSU length isn't an issue as the 380T harddrive bay is going to be removed. Would appreciate any feedback from you kind chaps/chapettes if possible.

Thanks for reading.

[Sorshen]

I'm somehow confused how you managed to include only a 6600K in a £3k build...

[Koyoti]

I don't think that the graphic card you've chosen will fit in that Corsair case.
The specs for the case show a maximum length of 290mm for the graphic card and the one you've picked is 295mm long.

[Deleted]

I'm somehow confused how you managed to include only a 6600K in a £3k build...

6700K was originally in the list but in the end felt it just isn't needed for what we'll be using the PC for. It bumps to 3k mainly due to the monitor and gpu, that's £1.6k of the budget alone. The saved money went to the SSD.

I don't think that the graphic card you've chosen will fit in that Corsair case.
The specs for the case show a maximum length of 290mm for the graphic card and the one you've picked is 295mm long.

It should, done some checking and someone managed to fit the strix 980ti in the 380t, which is 305mm. source

[Deleted]

Got a few questions you understand your thinking and what you really need.

First of all do you need the rig to be itx?
Secondo about the gpu and ssd you got in the list, are they purchased already? The intel one is waste of money. You can buy the samsung 951 that will be exactly the same as the intel in speeds in real life applications but its 512gb and almost half the money.
Ram 3200Mhz that 50% chance it won't even work without any cpu overclock. And even if it does 3k+ as soon as you overclock that cpu you will be happy to have it run even at 2666.
Don't buy the corsair H100i, buy something that won't make that little atx lift off, really its too loud.
The asus matrix looks awesome but are you really going to pay +100quid for 20hz more than a G1?
Also 750w is way too much and since you are on an itx build you can't sli so....

There is a lot of money wasted imo, more for bragging right or things that seem awesome but in reality i don't see them working well together, being practical and as someone else posted for that much money you should had the i7 even for the bragging rights. Again does it have to itx?

[Sorshen]

Secondo about the gpu and ssd you got in the list, are they purchased already? The intel one is waste of money. You can buy the samsung 951 that will be exactly the same as the intel in speeds in real life applications but its 512gb and almost half the money.

I agree money are pretty wasted there. He can RAID0 2x 850 EVO 500GB and he'd still have leftover money.
The EVGA superclocked acx2.0+ is a whole £124 cheaper than the Matrix. The impact is unnoticeable.

[Deleted]

Thanks for the feedback

Got a few questions you understand your thinking and what you really need.

First of all do you need the rig to be itx?

Yes it needs to be ITX, my partner and I are getting the same pc except a gpu and monitor difference & space is limited. Plus as our pc’s are in the bedroom, we were drawn more to the small form factors.

Secondo about the gpu and ssd you got in the list, are they purchased already? The intel one is waste of money. You can buy the samsung 951 that will be exactly the same as the intel in speeds in real life applications but its 512gb and almost half the money.

Would need to remove the Wi-Fi/Bluetooth module to fit M.2 so didn’t look into it too much. When I picked the Intel 750 it was around £224 so it wasn’t that much more than your suggestion and nothing needed to be removed, as the board has a dedicated U.2 connector. But you’re right, now it would be a good saving.

Ram 3200Mhz that 50% chance it won't even work without any cpu overclock. And even if it does 3k+ as soon as you overclock that cpu you will be happy to have it run even at 2666.

Ram speed was purely due to finding the sticks at the same price as some of the lower speed rams. I guess if i'm not intending to clock them to 3200, i'll be better off going with the lower speeds?!

Don't buy the corsair H100i, buy something that won't make that little atx lift off, really its too loud.

I was intending to replace the fans in the H100i and read some good reviews on it. Any recommendations on alternatives?

The asus matrix looks awesome but are you really going to pay +100quid for 20hz more than a G1?

I’ve previously looked at the Evga, MSI and Gigabyte cards but this one is personal preference, wanting to stick with Asus and not wanting to cram the Strix 980ti in. It is more expensive but it’s not long been released, so that’s where the extra £ goes. Plus I have had bad experiences with Evga cards.

Also 750w is way too much and since you are on an itx build you can't sli so....

The PSU was something we’ve been undecided about but is only £100. Decent lower wattage psu are not that much cheaper.

There is a lot of money wasted imo, more for bragging right or things that seem awesome but in reality i don't see them working well together, being practical and as someone else posted for that much money you should had the i7 even for the bragging rights. Again does it have to itx?

This was taken from http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/...0#post38289280

Unless you are doing a lot of video rendering or streaming, you do not need the 6700K and should spend that money elsewhere.

So you're saying I should spend the extra £120 ish on a i7 and save £160 ish on GPU and lower wattage PSU?! Sorry, I don’t see much of a saving there? However, I see the logic tho, i guess you gain more from upgrading to the i7 than you lose from changing the GPU.

None of the items were picked for “bragging rights” and completely disagree this build contains "a lot of wasted money"

I agree money are pretty wasted there. He can RAID0 2x 850 EVO 500GB and he'd still have leftover money.
The EVGA superclocked acx2.0+ is a whole £124 cheaper than the Matrix. The impact is unnoticeable.

Not sure how you worked x2 850evo 500gb comes in cheaper than an Intel 750 for £224?! Appreciate a link if you have


P.s Did this while weaving actual work , so if i miss quote or made an error, apologies.

[Deleted]

What did you buy and what do you still need to buy? Because I am completely lost at the moment.

[Deleted]

Yes it needs to be ITX, my partner and I are getting the same pc except a gpu and monitor difference & space is limited. Plus as our pc’s are in the bedroom, we were drawn more to the small form factors.

i was thinking maybe micro atx can cut it if in a small case. There are itx cases that are alsmost same size as some matx

Would need to remove the Wi-Fi/Bluetooth module to fit M.2 so didn’t look into it too much. When I picked the Intel 750 it was around £224 so it wasn’t that much more than your suggestion and nothing needed to be removed, as the board has a dedicated U.2 connector. But you’re right, now it would be a good saving.

My comment was that if we can get you a micro build in a small case, so the matx board has m2 slot.

Ram speed was purely due to finding the sticks at the same price as some of the lower speed rams. I guess if i'm not intending to clock them to 3200, i'll be better off going with the lower speeds?!

Indeed, there is no point spending money on something that it won't or you won't run it that high. You are fine with 2133/2400Mhz.

I was intending to replace the fans in the H100i and read some good reviews on it. Any recommendations on alternatives?

I have the same with be quiet!shadow wings 2, similarly some do it with noctua fans others with corsair SP ones. They are still not quiet enough - quiet as a good air cooler.

The PSU was something we’ve been undecided about but is only £100. Decent lower wattage psu are not that much cheaper.

Its not the cost only. You could theoretically find a decent 1000watt psu for that price. You would still not want to buy it for your rig. You don't want the psu to run at 20% load all the time. Its bad for the psu.

So you're saying I should spend the extra £120 ish on a i7 and save £160 ish on GPU and lower wattage PSU?! Sorry, I don’t see much of a saving there? However, I see the logic tho, i guess you gain more from upgrading to the i7 than you lose from changing the GPU.

No you misunderstood me or i wasn't clear. You don't need the i7 for gaming, the i5 is enough. I am just saying that for an enthousiast build that includes pieces for bragging purposes rather than being needed, i would justify the i7 over say the intel ssd and/or the asus matrix.

Not sure how you worked x2 850evo 500gb comes in cheaper than an Intel 750 for £224?! Appreciate a link if you have

The samsung 850evo is for £119 so 2 would be for 240, not far off. Then again the 1tb version is for £229


Will check dimensions and will come back to you and basically try to save you money without loosing performance, then you decide what is worth or not.

[Denpepe]

If you want to save some space you could go for http://phanteks.com/Enthoo-MiniXL-DS.html 1 case for 2 pc's.

[Sorshen]

Not sure how you worked x2 850evo 500gb comes in cheaper than an Intel 750 for £224?! Appreciate a link if you have

The intel 750 was listed at 308 quid in your build.

[Deleted]

What did you buy and what do you still need to buy? Because I am completely lost at the moment.

380t, Bitfenix fans and some peripherals are the only items purchased.

i was thinking maybe micro atx can cut it if in a small case. There are itx cases that are alsmost same size as some matx

My comment was that if we can get you a micro build in a small case, so the matx board has m2 slot.

Indeed, there is no point spending money on something that it won't or you won't run it that high. You are fine with 2133/2400Mhz.

I have the same with be quiet!shadow wings 2, similarly some do it with noctua fans others with corsair SP ones. They are still not quiet enough - quiet as a good air cooler.

Its not the cost only. You could theoretically find a decent 1000watt psu for that price. You would still not want to buy it for your rig. You don't want the psu to run at 20% load all the time. Its bad for the psu.

No you misunderstood me or i wasn't clear. You don't need the i7 for gaming, the i5 is enough. I am just saying that for an enthousiast build that includes pieces for bragging purposes rather than being needed, i would justify the i7 over say the intel ssd and/or the asus matrix.

The samsung 850evo is for £119 so 2 would be for 240, not far off. Then again the 1tb version is for £229


Will check dimensions and will come back to you and basically try to save you money without loosing performance, then you decide what is worth or not.

Thank you, look forward to the build

If you want to save some space you could go for http://phanteks.com/Enthoo-MiniXL-DS.html 1 case for 2 pc's.

Nice case, remember seeing a review on Youtube. However, my partner dislikes the look and fell in love with the 380T.

The intel 750 was listed at 308 quid in your build.

Yeah Scans prices change like the wind on certain items, guess depends on demand. I was surprised they had it so much cheaper than everywhere else.

[Xs]

http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/J6RJYJ modified parts along with the auto updating sections

It fucked up the parts from your build, so I just left it blank so you could easily see the parts changed.

[Deleted]

Ok so....i changed the mobo for one with m2 slot and added the ssd. To tease you with the Asus Matrix i've changed it with something faster and cheaper! Watercooled 980ti can overclock more to heaven and the block does actually cool both the gpu chip and vram.

Got the newer corsair gtx100i and two be quiet fans instead of the corsair ones that are usually loud, unless you reconsider going for air cooling.

So you got the cpu cooler on one side and the 120mm gpu block as exhaust. Another option would be to get a single fan cpu aio cooling solution like a 80iGT and have both gpu and cpu radiators next to each other, installed on the side.

edit: About the monitor, since you said you don't have much space and thus why went for itx, isn't it a little too big for you?


PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor (£199.96 @ More Computers)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i GTX 70.7 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler (£92.64 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z170N-Gaming 5 Mini ITX LGA1151 Motherboard (£131.95 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory (£75.11 @ More Computers)
Storage: Samsung 512GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive (£209.94 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 980 Ti 6GB Video Card (£589.98 @ Aria PC)
Case: Corsair 380T Mini ITX Tower Case (£107.59 @ Aria PC)
Power Supply: SeaSonic 650W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply (£101.51 @ Amazon UK)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit)
Case Fan: be quiet! SilentWings 2 50.5 CFM 120mm Fan (£14.48 @ Aria PC)
Case Fan: be quiet! SilentWings 2 50.5 CFM 120mm Fan (£14.48 @ Aria PC)
Keyboard: Corsair STRAFE Wired Gaming Keyboard (£94.99 @ Amazon UK)
Mouse: Razer Naga Epic Chroma Wireless Laser Mouse
Speakers: Razer Leviathan 60W 2.1ch Speakers (Purchased For £160.00)
Other: Asus PG348Q 34" 100Hz G-Sync Curved Monitor With IPS Panel (£999.95)
Total: £2792.58
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-01-28 09:20 GMT+0000

[caervek]

Two note's, firstly the 951 you have in that list is the MZHPV512HDGL-00000 model which is AHCI (basically a regular SSD in M.2 form) the one you're looking for is the MZVPV512HDGL-00000 which is the faster NVMe model.

Secondly You would be better sticking with the Intel 750 over the Samsung 951, I own both in different systems and the difference is noticeable when loading games/large files/booting. The Samsung looks close in some areas on paper because they are listing it's max performance whereas Intel's figures are bordering on minimums, plus the I750 destroys the 951 on IOPS which is what really counts anyway not MB/s (unless you're running a file server). Also NVMe drives will slow down as they heat up, the Intel has much better cooling and seems to maintain performance whereas the sammys load times will suffer after a long gaming session.

[Deleted]

Two note's, firstly the 951 you have in that list is the MZHPV512HDGL-00000 model which is AHCI (basically a regular SSD in M.2 form) the one you're looking for is the MZVPV512HDGL-00000 which is the faster NVMe model.

Nice catch, indeed thats the one i wanted to include in the build, apparently i clicked the one above that, thanks. Edited the list above

Secondly You would be better sticking with the Intel 750 over the Samsung 951, I own both in different systems and the difference is noticeable when loading games/large files/booting. The Samsung looks close in some areas on paper because they are listing it's max performance whereas Intel's figures are bordering on minimums, plus the I750 destroys the 951 on IOPS which is what really counts anyway not MB/s (unless you're running a file server). Also NVMe drives will slow down as they heat up, the Intel has much better cooling and seems to maintain performance whereas the sammys load times will suffer after a long gaming session.

I am aware about the iops and the cooling. The m2 obviously will run hotter since its on the mobo but throttling would happen during benchmarks not normal use and we are talking about a gaming pc here. Also about the iops, agreed, but we are talking here + £100 for the intel. Something that is already unnecessary for the job that will be used in the first place. Personally i would have gone with a 1tb 950, barelly any noticeable difference in normal use, double storage and still cheaper.

[Artorius]

And if spending this much money with a NVMe SSD is a thing, I don't see how the 6600K is fit for this build.

If the point is building something enthusiast-level then I'd probably put at least a 5820K.

- - - Updated - - -

But you probably don't have mobos for it at this form factor, okay.

[Deleted]

There is actually.

Question is more, would you want to.

[Deleted]

Btw in case you find another case better and you can returns your for another....have a look at the brand new Fractal Design Nano S, you can have it with window or not depending how quiet you want your build. Far better than the corsair 380T imo, i'd definately grab that, not sure when its supposed to be out on selves tho.

[Deleted]

Thanks for the build list Kostattoo, some interesting picks

Appreciate everyone's feedback, has made us think about some of our choices. Curious, if you could get the Intel 750 for £224, would you still go for the Samsung M.2 @ £209? Also, just realised I selected the wrong cpu cooler on partpicker lol! Is meant to be the H100i GTX with the BitFenix Spectre Pro PWM 120 fans.

I think we will change our CPU to the 6700k but Skylake is definitely the build we wanted to go with. I think when we first started looking in August, we went for Haswell.

I wouldn't say we were intentionally going for a enthusiasts build, this is just the spec we naturally got to from numerous tweaks and changes.

The Nano case is very nice but we really are drawn to the 380T, which we appreciate is more down to the look over anything else.

I've plenty of room for the monitor due to the built in monitor stand that runs nearly the length of the desk, just the pc itself that wont fit on top :/