Buying a PC, need opinions!

[Forlorn OO]

Hello again! So I've finally decided on a build. I'm buying PREBUILT, BUT with the option to configure myself. I made a few tweaks to the original build, and I welcome any opinion. I've hit my budget, so if your changes makes it more expensive, please justify ^^ Will this be enough to run wow on ultra?

Motherboard - ASUS B150M-A, Socket-1151

CPU - Intel Core i5-6600K Skylake, Quad Core, 3.5GHz, 6MB,

CPU Cooler - Akasa CPU Cooler AK-959CU

GPU - Gainward GeForce GTX 960 2GB

Memory - Kingston Value DDR4 2133MHz 8GB

HDD - Seagate Barracuda® 2TB

SSD - Samsung SSD 850PRO 128GB

Power supply - Corsair VS550 550W KPC Bulk Edition

Case is a midi tower from their stock.

This will cost 1200$ (in norway!), which is fairly competitive. I'm mostly wondering if I it's worth putting in a little extra for Intel i7? Or upgrading to GTX g70? Will obviously cost more, but if it's absolutely needed I might have to.

Mostly play blizzard games, and the occasional FPS. Again, ANY reply is welcome, thanks in advance.

[Miyagie]

You dont need a I7 for gaming the I5 6600K or I5 6500 is enough.
The Mainboard is really cheap and you cant overclock your unlocked CPU so spend more for a Z170 Board or go for a I5 6500.
The CPU cooler is terrible i would search for the cheap Cooler Master Evo 212 or a BeQuiet cooler.
GPU and Ram are ok.
As HDD i would prefer a 1-2 TB WD Blue and for the SSD i would pick a 256GB version since they cost most time only 10-15$ more.
PSU is not the best but it will do the job.

[Forlorn OO]

You dont need a I7 for gaming the I5 6600K or I5 6500 is enough.
The Mainboard is really cheap and you cant overclock your unlocked CPU so spend more for a Z170 Board or go for a I5 6500.
The CPU cooler is terrible i would search for the cheap Cooler Master Evo 212 or a BeQuiet cooler.
GPU and Ram are ok.
As HDD i would prefer a 1-2 TB WD Blue and for the SSD i would pick a 256GB version since they cost most time only 10-15$ more.
PSU is not the best but it will do the job.

Thanks for reply, exactly what I was looking for. It's nice to know the I5 is sufficient. Regarding the mainboard, I don't plan on overclocking any time soon.
What makes the CPU cooler so bad btw? Appears to have decent reviews. Also it's default for the Intel i'm buying, comes with it.
Upgrading to 256GB SSD would cost me 50$, so I don't think I'll go there.

[Soisoisoi]

If you're getting a 960 I'd go for the 4GB version, might be a little more but it makes life a little better too.

[Forlorn OO]

If you're getting a 960 I'd go for the 4GB version, might be a little more but it makes life a little better too.

Yeah but the question is, seeing as it's upping the price, is it worth it?

[Deleted]

Regarding your choice in CPU/motherboard: either go with the 6600k + Z170 or an 6400 / 6500 + B150 / H170. If you are not going to overclock your cpu, stick to the B150 or H170 chipset, they are usually cheaper than Z170 motherboards. If you are going to overclock, you are bound to a Z170 board (not taking the BCLK overclocking into account).

Swap out the Samsung 850 PRO for 850 EVO. Easiest 50 - 60 dollar every made.

You can consider some of these options as well:
- A GTX 970, much better value for money.
- Swap the CPU cooler for something 'more decent': I have found the Scythe Fuma fantastic bang for buck and isn't even that expensive. If you are going with the 6600k, a solid aftermarket cooler is almost required.
- A 500GB SSD. More is better, especially with ginormous Steam games taking up massive chunks of precious SSD space.
- A RAM upgrade to 16gb. Not really needed right now, but might be in the future. RAM isn't expensive anyway.

Do NOT consider:
- A 6700k. Hyperthreading has no benefit to gaming, and the extra clock speed can easily be achieved by a 6600k.

[Forlorn OO]

Regarding your choice in CPU/motherboard: either go with the 6600k + Z170 or an 6400 / 6500 + B150 / H170. If you are not going to overclock your cpu, stick to the B150 or H170 chipset, they are usually cheaper than Z170 motherboards. If you are going to overclock, you are bound to a Z170 board (not taking the BCLK overclocking into account).

Swap out the Samsung 850 PRO for 850 EVO. Easiest 50 - 60 dollar every made.

You can consider some of these options as well:
- A GTX 970, much better value for money.
- Swap the CPU cooler for something 'more decent': I have found the Scythe Fuma fantastic bang for buck and isn't even that expensive. If you are going with the 6600k, a solid aftermarket cooler is almost required.
- A 500GB SSD. More is better, especially with ginormous Steam games taking up massive chunks of precious SSD space.
- A RAM upgrade to 16gb. Not really needed right now, but might be in the future. RAM isn't expensive anyway.

Do NOT consider:
- A 6700k. Hyperthreading has no benefit to gaming, and the extra clock speed can easily be achieved by a 6600k.

Again, awesome reply. Regarding CPU, wouldn't going from 6600k to 6400 decrease performance on wow quite significantly? I am thinking about going for the GTX 970, but it's much more expensive.

I'm currently standing on 6500 and gtx 970, not sure if I should change the cooler aswell

[Denpepe]

You do not need to buy a cooler if you get a non K CPU, only K CPU's need a separate cooler, the intel supplied ones for the regular CPU's is good enough for standard use.

[Deleted]

The 6500 is a great choice, and if your budget allows you to combine it with a 970, it is a solid combo.

You should definitely change the cooler, I don't feel it's going to add much to the build. Either stick with the stock Intel cooler of get an aftermarket air cooler. My favorite is the Scythe Fuma (already mentioned that one above), but also consider a Scythe Mugen 4 or Cooler Master Hyper 212. It is both quieter and better coolign than the stock Intel cooler.

[Forlorn OO]

The 6500 is a great choice, and if your budget allows you to combine it with a 970, it is a solid combo.

You should definitely change the cooler, I don't feel it's going to add much to the build. Either stick with the stock Intel cooler of get an aftermarket air cooler. My favorite is the Scythe Fuma (already mentioned that one above), but also consider a Scythe Mugen 4 or Cooler Master Hyper 212. It is both quieter and better coolign than the stock Intel cooler.

Aight, 6500 / GTX70 it is. The cooler listed here is the one which is chosen as default while choosing the Intel core. Only problem with the cooling is that as I'm buying prebuilt, (with configs), you only get a set list of choices for improved cooling. While this one is default, and neither of the Scythe are on the list.

[Deleted]

Can you list the options available to you here?

[Forlorn OO]

Can you list the options available to you here?

Cooler Master Hyper TX3 Evo
Cooler Master Seidon 120V v2
Cooler Master Nepton 120XL
Corsair H55 Hydro Series
Corsair H60 Hydro Series
Corsair H75 Hydro Series
Corsair Hydro H80i GT
Intel TS15A
Noctua NH-U9S
Silverstone Tundra TD03-LITE
Silverstone Tundra TD03-SLIM

Here they are, prices vary from 35-150$.

[Deleted]

I would not recommend a waterbased CPU cooler for your PC (not enough power to justify the cost), so here are the air-based coolers:

- Cooler Master Hyper TX3 Evo
- Noctua NH-U9S
- Intel TS15A

Out of those, the CM Hyper TX3 gets my recommendation. It is very effective if you do not overclock, at a low price. Noctua is the strongest one of the three, but it's overkill for your system. I have no idea how the Intel cooler performs... but my gut feeling tells me to stay away from it.

[Forlorn OO]

I would not recommend a waterbased CPU cooler for your PC (not enough power to justify the cost), so here are the air-based coolers:

- Cooler Master Hyper TX3 Evo
- Noctua NH-U9S
- Intel TS15A

Out of those, the CM Hyper TX3 gets my recommendation. It is very effective if you do not overclock, at a low price. Noctua is the strongest one of the three, but it's overkill for your system. I have no idea how the Intel cooler performs... but my gut feeling tells me to stay away from it.

And yet again you deliver!

I've finalized my build now, and I present to you my new PC.

Komplett 200R Midi Tower Black.
Corsair VS550 550W KPC Bulk Edition
Intel Core i5-6500 Skylake
Cooler Master Hyper TX3 Evo CPU Cooler
ASUS B150M-A, Socket-1151
Kingston Value DDR4 2133MHz 8GB
MSI GeForce GTX 970 Gaming 4GB
Samsung 850 EVO 250GB SSD
WD Desktop Blue 1TB

Now that it's up there, how do you suppose this will handle wow? Full ultra?

[Sheor]

Now that it's up there, how do you suppose this will handle wow? Full ultra?

Well even my pc doesnt run WoW Ultra 60+fps all the time, WoW is poorly optimized and CPU heavy. You will run ultra but will bog down in citys and certain raid situations like everyone else. But you got a decent rig there.

[Kagthul]

Yeah but the question is, seeing as it's upping the price, is it worth it?

No, not remotely. It is quite literally like lipstick on a pig.

The 960 cannot produce playable framerates at a resolution and detail settings that would require more than 2GB of frame buffer.

Dont waste your money.

[Deleted]

Well even my pc doesnt run WoW Ultra 60+fps all the time, WoW is poorly optimized and CPU heavy. You will run ultra but will bog down in citys and certain raid situations like everyone else. But you got a decent rig there.

Nothing more to add. You should be able to run ultra at 60 fps 95% of the time, and still maintain playable fps (30+) the remaining 5%, which are busy cities and intense fights.


What is the build cost atm, and does it differ much from your original build?

[HeiAggra]

And yet again you deliver!

I've finalized my build now, and I present to you my new PC.

Komplett 200R Midi Tower Black.
Corsair VS550 550W KPC Bulk Edition
Intel Core i5-6500 Skylake
Cooler Master Hyper TX3 Evo CPU Cooler
ASUS B150M-A, Socket-1151
Kingston Value DDR4 2133MHz 8GB
MSI GeForce GTX 970 Gaming 4GB
Samsung 850 EVO 250GB SSD
WD Desktop Blue 1TB

Now that it's up there, how do you suppose this will handle wow? Full ultra?

Well for your budget it's a pretty decent rig!
You will run the game just fine. In raids just deactivate some of the features and you will be just fine.

[Forlorn OO]

Nothing more to add. You should be able to run ultra at 60 fps 95% of the time, and still maintain playable fps (30+) the remaining 5%, which are busy cities and intense fights.


What is the build cost atm, and does it differ much from your original build?

It's standing on 1.4k usd. It's pretty much what you have to expect when buying prebuilt in norway.

After this post I went from 6600k to 6500, I added the cooler, went from 960 to 970, and chose the WD 1TB hard drive. I also chose the EVO over the pro Samsung SSD, but of course they went out of stock while I was in here, so ended up choosing a Hyper X savage SSD instead.

- - - Updated - - -

Well for your budget it's a pretty decent rig!
You will run the game just fine. In raids just deactivate some of the features and you will be just fine.

I had to increase the budget in order to fit the 970 in there, but yea think this will do!

[Deleted]

Sweet, glad to see you got the build sorted. If you have the opportunity/patience to wait for the 850, it is worth considering to do so. The difference between the two is minimal, but present, and the 850 has 10 more gigs to start with.