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

[Polarthief]

Note: I already got the answers to my major questions and I not only already have all the parts (except the GPU because I'm waiting for prices to come down), but I've already built the PC. The only reason this thread is continuing so far is if people have similar questions to the topic or if I need assistance from the wonderful people who have been helping me. Unless it's about a GPU or a non-vital component to a computer, please do not recommend for me to buy major parts as, again, I already have the computer built. Thank you!


Looking to build a new rig and I'm very interested in Narwhal and Unicorn this month. I'm not huge on specific parts though so I'm not sure how strong it is, especially given the price tag. Would Unicorn be able to run just about anything at max? Do I need to OC parts (no idea how to overclock stuff or what I need for it)? Do I have to buy Win 10?

I guess I should also mention that I'm not a streamer/video maker, this is just for personal use, gaming, etc, but I reeeeeeally hate hiccups/everything slowing down.

Edit: I'm also waiting to see what happens with the 1070/1080 and the 480 regarding GPUs, but I'm asking for the rest of the parts.

[Polarthief]

@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.

[DeltrusDisc]

@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?

A budget would help us.

1. Gigabyte or ASUS, both are top-notch mobo brands, though cheaper is not always the best solution for obvious reasons. I would however advise a much better and more proven PSU brand than eVGA, such as SeaSonic, Super Flower, or Antec.

2. Then don't buy the heatsink, maybe get the Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo (whatever edition is the latest) if you want. It cooled my i7-5820K for close to 2 years with an overclock, so it's a beast.

3. Ya know? I used to be an anti-WD Black person. However I am now a believer. They may both be at the same RPM, however Black typically should have more cache and has a better warranty/lifespan. These are things to consider. You may save money now... but do you want to have to replace the drive sooner? As far as SSDs go... trust me, you SHOULD get an SSD. I don't know why chaud still suggests people buy Sandisk SSDs... they are not high quality and they use cheap drivers. Crucial and Samsung are the top two SSD brands. Period. Intel plays with them on occasion. How about $140 for Crucial's MX200 lineup's 500TB drive?! :O

https://www.amazon.com/Crucial-MX200...=crucial+mx200

Or $80 for the 250GB. https://www.amazon.com/Crucial-MX200...=crucial+mx200

Seriously though, SSDs will keep your system from slowing down over time, which you mention in the OP. Ever since I made the transition to having an SSD as the OS drive/games/Steam, etc, my computer has never slowed down. Not getting an SSD in 2016 when you obviously have the budget for it is just silly, if I may be perfectly honest with you. Why do you think you shouldn't get one? (I hope and pray that you aren't about to talk about limited writes or something like that hehe)

4. Two 1440x900 monitors but you are getting an i5-6600K and I guess GTX 1070/1080 or AMD 480? Holy shit, overkill. You better replace those monitors with something wonderfully better soon.

5. Fractal Design Define R5 is an absolutely wonderful case, especially if you like simplistic, clean looking designs and amazing cable-management. What exactly do you want the case to be like? Do you care if it looks SUPER KEWL or do you understand that function > form by a long shot? Frankly, usually the cases that perform best also look the sleekest/are the highest in build quality. (Hint: Cooler Master is not worthy! I know from far too much experience.)

[Polarthief]

A budget would help us.

~$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.

1. Gigabyte or ASUS, both are top-notch mobo brands, though cheaper is not always the best solution for obvious reasons. I would however advise a much better and more proven PSU brand than eVGA, such as SeaSonic, Super Flower, or Antec.

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?

2. Then don't buy the heatsink, maybe get the Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo (whatever edition is the latest) if you want. It cooled my i7-5820K for close to 2 years with an overclock, so it's a beast.

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

3. Ya know? I used to be an anti-WD Black person. However I am now a believer. They may both be at the same RPM, however Black typically should have more cache and has a better warranty/lifespan. These are things to consider. You may save money now... but do you want to have to replace the drive sooner? As far as SSDs go... trust me, you SHOULD get an SSD. I don't know why chaud still suggests people buy Sandisk SSDs... they are not high quality and they use cheap drivers. Crucial and Samsung are the top two SSD brands. Period. Intel plays with them on occasion. How about $140 for Crucial's MX200 lineup's 500TB drive?! :O

https://www.amazon.com/Crucial-MX200...=crucial+mx200

Or $80 for the 250GB. https://www.amazon.com/Crucial-MX200...=crucial+mx200

Seriously though, SSDs will keep your system from slowing down over time, which you mention in the OP. Ever since I made the transition to having an SSD as the OS drive/games/Steam, etc, my computer has never slowed down. Not getting an SSD in 2016 when you obviously have the budget for it is just silly, if I may be perfectly honest with you. Why do you think you shouldn't get one? (I hope and pray that you aren't about to talk about limited writes or something like that hehe)

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.

4. Two 1440x900 monitors but you are getting an i5-6600K and I guess GTX 1070/1080 or AMD 480? Holy shit, overkill. You better replace those monitors with something wonderfully better soon.

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)

5. Fractal Design Define R5 is an absolutely wonderful case, especially if you like simplistic, clean looking designs and amazing cable-management. What exactly do you want the case to be like? Do you care if it looks SUPER KEWL or do you understand that function > form by a long shot? Frankly, usually the cases that perform best also look the sleekest/are the highest in build quality. (Hint: Cooler Master is not worthy! I know from far too much experience.)

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

[Polarthief]

With motherboards and RAM it's mostly just getting good quality one, after that you're basically picking based on looks and price the majority of the time. Basically just look for something with a lot of good reviews and chances are you'll be fine.

Awesome. Might go with the Gigabyte one you posted as I've had nothing but good things to say about mine.

The RAM, I guess it won't really matter. Corsair Vengeance is on Unicorn, but I'm sure the Ripjaws work just as well. Long as it's DDR4 and... whatever makes them good... again, I don't know the tech details on stuff yet.

Even if you doubt that you'll overclock you'll still need a heatsink because the K series for Skylake don't come with stock heatsinks anymore. If you're going to overclock though I suggest watching some videos on youtube about it and doing it yourself rather than using any one button solution that your motherboard may have. The Hyper 212 evo is around $25 and will get the job done. May be louder than the be quiet! one, but for the most part should be muffled by the case.

Volume is definitely a concern to me; I'd be more than happy spending an extra $30-40 on a quieter and more powerful heatsink.

At that resolution and 1080p the RX 480 shouldn't have any problem at all. If the benchmarks show it being able to reach 980 level of performance it'll even be able to serve as an entry level 1440p card.

But if I upgrade my monitors, will I have a problem?

As for cases almost all the newer cases shouldn't have a problem with that. They'll have a bunch of locations on the back where you can zip tie cables to to keep them nice and neat. Having a modular power supply also makes it easier to deal with. I'd go with the Define r5 if you're just after functionality.

I'll look into that one too, thanks

[DeltrusDisc]

~$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.

Good.

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?

SeaSonic 650 watt Gold. Full modular, one of the highest-rated over the years, best quality builds out there.

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

OCing is good.
And if the Hyper 212 Evo was able to cool my i7-5820K (a much much bigger chip, with bigger cores, and two extra cores to boot!) then it won't have a problem with the little i5-6600K.

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.

That's fine if you want to go Blue. Black has its benefits, but I don't blame anyone if they just plan to use the HDD for a storage device. The Black would be faster if you're anti-SSD for OS... speaking of which...

Any chance your SSD was an OCZ? They had a big big problem with massive failure rates, I could go into specifics, but do not believe it necessary at this juncture.

I can totally understand being wary of going SSDs again, however the technology has vastly improved over the last 5 years, reliability rates are pretty great. I have four, yes FOUR Crucial SSDs, with one of them being an m4 128GB that I bought waaayyyy back in 2011, which has gone through several Windows reinstalls, games being reinstalled, and now hosting a 24/7 Minecraft server and it's chugging along wonderfully!

Again, go with Crucial, Intel, or Samsung and you should be golden! I advise the MX200 line. The prices are amazing and the performance and reliability are great.

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)

What proof do you have gaming is stagnating? If anything, it's at a pretty exponential point with the direction resolutions are going. You asked for cost-efficiency, at the moment, the newest biggest GPUs are overpriced almost everywhere they're in stock and considering your resolution, I'd almost suggest holding onto your current GPU and waiting. Maybe buy a new GPU when you buy the new monitors? Better drivers will be out, better selection will be out, (from both the red and green teams) and frankly, this will result in you having the absolute best chance at getting the most bang for your buck. For instance: buy monitor and GPU on Black Friday/Cyber Monday/that week.

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

Say no more, you basically just defined the Fractal Design Define R5 to a t... I mean R.

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With motherboards and RAM it's mostly just getting good quality one, after that you're basically picking based on looks and price the majority of the time. Basically just look for something with a lot of good reviews and chances are you'll be fine.

Even if you doubt that you'll overclock you'll still need a heatsink because the K series for Skylake don't come with stock heatsinks anymore. If you're going to overclock though I suggest watching some videos on youtube about it and doing it yourself rather than using any one button solution that your motherboard may have. The Hyper 212 evo is around $25 and will get the job done. May be louder than the be quiet! one, but for the most part should be muffled by the case.

At that resolution and 1080p the RX 480 shouldn't have any problem at all. If the benchmarks show it being able to reach 980 level of performance it'll even be able to serve as an entry level 1440p card.

As for cases almost all the newer cases shouldn't have a problem with that. They'll have a bunch of locations on the back where you can zip tie cables to to keep them nice and neat. Having a modular power supply also makes it easier to deal with. I'd go with the Define r5 if you're just after functionality.

I would say it's better if people approach literally all aspects of their computer with the mentality of good quality first and foremost.

If this was the case, some brands wouldn't exist anymore because they're so low quality.

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Volume is definitely a concern to me; I'd be more than happy spending an extra $30-40 on a quieter and more powerful heatsink.

Trust me, I have the Define R4 (the earlier version of the R5) and both have wonderful sound-proofing. The Hyper 212 is NOT as loud as some people think it is. You won't be running your CPU at full load with high voltages anytime soon (if ever!) so a quiet heatsink really shouldn't be a huge worry, but again, the Hyper 212 is quiet, especially when it's in a sound-proofed case.

[Deleted]

Honestly, consider a better case. Corsair Carbide 400C / 500R are both amazing cases that will last a long time and will never suck. Memory I would use HyperX Fury cheapest solution, 2x8GB. That speed is quite literally uselses, lower CAS frequency (CL13/14) is a lot better than 3GHz memory running CL16.

RX 480 vs GTX 1070 is still an open debate, wait for benchmarks, no real ones for RX 480 are out yet

[Polarthief]

If you upgrade to 1080p there still won't be a problem. Only thing that could give it a problem would be a terribly done console port, which isn't going to solved by any video card really.

At 1440p the 480 would still do well. At that point you'll have to adjust settings for games that are heavy on the video card, I'm talking about games like Witcher 3. Games like WoW won't have problems.

There should be plenty of benchmarks of the 480 on the day of launch, which is the 29th. Sapphire is the brand that I would argue makes the best version of AMD cards normally.

Incoming stupid question: When people refer to 720p and 1080p and stuff, is that the second number on a monitor's resolution? You say to "upgrade to 1080p", but I'm using a 1440x900 so... I'm confused :X

OCing is good.
And if the Hyper 212 Evo was able to cool my i7-5820K (a much much bigger chip, with bigger cores, and two extra cores to boot!) then it won't have a problem with the little i5-6600K.

Hey, it's not about the size of the processor... :c (lol)

That's fine if you want to go Blue. Black has its benefits, but I don't blame anyone if they just plan to use the HDD for a storage device. The Black would be faster if you're anti-SSD for OS... speaking of which...

Any chance your SSD was an OCZ? They had a big big problem with massive failure rates, I could go into specifics, but do not believe it necessary at this juncture.

I can totally understand being wary of going SSDs again, however the technology has vastly improved over the last 5 years, reliability rates are pretty great. I have four, yes FOUR Crucial SSDs, with one of them being an m4 128GB that I bought waaayyyy back in 2011, which has gone through several Windows reinstalls, games being reinstalled, and now hosting a 24/7 Minecraft server and it's chugging along wonderfully!

Again, go with Crucial, Intel, or Samsung and you should be golden! I advise the MX200 line. The prices are amazing and the performance and reliability are great.

I don't know what the differences are between them. Again, I'm really derp when it comes to technical stuff.

Yes, it actually was a 90GB OCZ that I got back in 2011, and I have no idea what I did for it to break It was also incredibly aggravating trying to find ways to download everything to the HDD (The D drive) over the SSD (C drive).

What proof do you have gaming is stagnating? If anything, it's at a pretty exponential point with the direction resolutions are going. You asked for cost-efficiency, at the moment, the newest biggest GPUs are overpriced almost everywhere they're in stock and considering your resolution, I'd almost suggest holding onto your current GPU and waiting. Maybe buy a new GPU when you buy the new monitors? Better drivers will be out, better selection will be out, (from both the red and green teams) and frankly, this will result in you having the absolute best chance at getting the most bang for your buck. For instance: buy monitor and GPU on Black Friday/Cyber Monday/that week.

Personal thoughts based on how gaming has been going, but that's just me. Also, the main reason I'm building a new computer is because of my GPU which has died and I really want a higher processor and memory as well. At that point, I decided "hell, might as well build an all new comp and use my current one for couch-gaming with family/friends".

Say no more, you basically just defined the Fractal Design Define R5 to a t... I mean R.

That's on the top of my "to check" list then

Trust me, I have the Define R4 (the earlier version of the R5) and both have wonderful sound-proofing. The Hyper 212 is NOT as loud as some people think it is. You won't be running your CPU at full load with high voltages anytime soon (if ever!) so a quiet heatsink really shouldn't be a huge worry, but again, the Hyper 212 is quiet, especially when it's in a sound-proofed case.

I'll look into all of them, I just really hate loud noises. Like, blue switches on a mechanical keyboard would drive me insane (which is why my K70 has browns), so a non-stopping fan would make me want to break something

Honestly, consider a better case. Corsair Carbide 400C / 500R are both amazing cases that will last a long time and will never suck. Memory I would use HyperX Fury cheapest solution, 2x8GB. That speed is quite literally uselses, lower CAS frequency (CL13/14) is a lot better than 3GHz memory running CL16.

RX 480 vs GTX 1070 is still an open debate, wait for benchmarks, no real ones for RX 480 are out yet

- Case is questionable as there's plenty of options.
- Sorry, I'm confused what you're saying about the memory. ELI5, por favor?
- Don't really have a choice but to wait on the GPU. I'm probably not going to buy parts (except the CPU which I already bought) for another week or two. I want to do as much research as I can first.

[Deleted]

Cases you have plenty, very few are actually good.
NZXT series really are not good cases sub high pricing range. Cases have changed a lot lately, you have to look at a lot of specific details. A lot of people love the Fractals, I personally despise them, its not a solid case, even though people want it to be, when compared to the aforementioned copies. (maybe I just dont like the fractal cases, probably is the trtuh)

As far as memory goes, you want size and low CAS frequency over frequency(MHz), you don't want fast memory with high CAS as that offsets its efficiency. Imagine you're carrying a bigger and bigger tank of water, but you're moving slower and slower with it. Smaller and running with it will yield better results. Memory will quite literally never be something that bottlenecks your system, its all so fast. CAS frequency makes your memory work "faster" within its already ridiculous speed. The lower CAS, the better. 2133 MHz vs 3000 MHz, anyone claiming there is a significant difference, has first and foremost reduced the CAS of the memory they have overclocked. Think of CAS like the brain giving your body instructions. The higher the CAS, the longer it takes for your body to react. Its quite literally the time it takes from the system telling the RAM "Yo chap, I need that file from 1994" to the memory saying "Here it is, boss!". My personal favorite RAM currently is the HyperX Savage, cos they got the CAS down even lower!

The only thing you want to consider about RAM is to get 64GB for a ram drive, now that my friend is a FAST drive, people think SSD is fast, well you can compare SSD and RAM Drive, as we today compare SSD to mechanical ones :P

[Polarthief]

1080p is 1920x1080 and 1440p is 2560x1440.

As for getting things to download to your hard drive these are the steps I followed to set it up that way for my computer.

1) Click on Start, then click on Computer
2) Click on C:\ drive, and then click on User’s folder.
3) Under user’s folder click on your user name, then click on Downloads, right click on downloads select Properties
4) Click on the Location Tab.
5) Under location tab Change the location to the require drive.
6) Click on Apply, finally click OK..


I personally have a Corsair 400C as my case, with my previous being a Corsair 400R. Only complaint about the case I have is that removing the front panel is annoying and the cover for the power supply can be tricky to put back on. Personally went with the windowed version but they also have a version with no window and sound dampening material instead called the 400Q. I don't think there's a wrong choice between the r5 and the 400Q.

I think I might end up going with two 1TB Blue WDs and a decent sized SSD then. One of the blues will be for documents/storage, the other for backup. SSD for Windows, games I play daily, etc.

The only thing you want to consider about RAM is to get 64GB for a ram drive, now that my friend is a FAST drive, people think SSD is fast, well you can compare SSD and RAM Drive, as we today compare SSD to mechanical ones :P

64 GB for my memory? That sounds extremely overkill!

I also can't go with the memory you recommended because my MoBo will be using DDR4 not 3.

[DeltrusDisc]

Honestly, consider a better case. Corsair Carbide 400C / 500R are both amazing cases that will last a long time and will never suck. Memory I would use HyperX Fury cheapest solution, 2x8GB. That speed is quite literally uselses, lower CAS frequency (CL13/14) is a lot better than 3GHz memory running CL16.

RX 480 vs GTX 1070 is still an open debate, wait for benchmarks, no real ones for RX 480 are out yet

Having had a HyperX kit that went bad after ONE year... no. Don't.

Also, buying the cheapest solution is, again, stupid. Especially when it comes to things like memory.

However, Crucial is wonderful. I have their cheapest solution (omg hypocrite!) and they're wonderful... but Crucial has been around longer than Kingston and are true innovators and staples in the memory field. Kingston is just another off-shoot who won't be around for long, Crucial on the other hand already has and will continue to be.

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Incoming stupid question: When people refer to 720p and 1080p and stuff, is that the second number on a monitor's resolution? You say to "upgrade to 1080p", but I'm using a 1440x900 so... I'm confused :X

Yes, essentially.

720p = 1280x720, 1080p = 1920x1080.

1440p means 2560x1440, however if someone maybe says UW 1440p or 21:9 1440p, they mean 3440x1440... which is usually what is written, anyways!

Hey, it's not about the size of the processor... :c (lol)

Yes it is. :P

I don't know what the differences are between them. Again, I'm really derp when it comes to technical stuff.

Yes, it actually was a 90GB OCZ that I got back in 2011, and I have no idea what I did for it to break It was also incredibly aggravating trying to find ways to download everything to the HDD (The D drive) over the SSD (C drive).

Right there with you! It wasn't you, it was OCZ. I took my Agility 3 80GB (or some such size, possibly 90GB) back after less than a week because the computer kept freezing up... traded towards an m4 128GB, magic! Disappeared were my problems!

Personal thoughts based on how gaming has been going, but that's just me. Also, the main reason I'm building a new computer is because of my GPU which has died and I really want a higher processor and memory as well. At that point, I decided "hell, might as well build an all new comp and use my current one for couch-gaming with family/friends".

Ah, fair enough. Though, you said you're using the 2500K still? Wouldn't be a bad CPU to just stick with, since this new one means you have to buy DDR4... maybe just buy a top-end GPU and really nice monitor like a curved 3440x1440@100Hz?

That's on the top of my "to check" list then

Swell!

I'll look into all of them, I just really hate loud noises. Like, blue switches on a mechanical keyboard would drive me insane (which is why my K70 has browns), so a non-stopping fan would make me want to break something

Ah, I love the clickies, but a bit of fan noise I'm neutral to. Again though, the case is pretty damned-well sound-proofed and since the CPU heatsink fan is easily set to never go to 100% unless, for some reason, your CPU is reaching 80 Celsius (wtf are you doing?!) you have nothing to worry about! ^_^

- Case is questionable as there's plenty of options.
- Sorry, I'm confused what you're saying about the memory. ELI5, por favor?
- Don't really have a choice but to wait on the GPU. I'm probably not going to buy parts (except the CPU which I already bought) for another week or two. I want to do as much research as I can first.

No it's not. JOIN US ON THE FRACTAL SIDE OF THE FORCE.
I think he meant CL15, which means CAS Latency 15, the amount of, I believe nanoseconds, it takes the memory to talk to the CPU. Don't worry *too* much about this.
You came to a great place for help with research!

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I think I might end up going with two 1TB Blue WDs and a decent sized SSD then. One of the blues will be for documents/storage, the other for backup. SSD for Windows, games I play daily, etc.

Yay!

64 GB for my memory? That sounds extremely overkill!

I also can't go with the memory you recommended because my MoBo will be using DDR4 not 3.

Don't listen to him. Anyone talking about RAMDisks in a thread that also mentions "Cost efficiency" and "a budget of ~$1,000" is not here to be helpful. Not saying he's trolling or anything, he's just going, like you said, overkill. Even I, someone with the potential to go 128GB DDR4 memory, still haven't, and still haven't made a proper 24/7 RAMDisk.

RAMDisks are also horribly volatile. Should your computer shut down for whatever reason, you need to save all those files to SSD/the like (time-consuming, not going to happen in a power outage, for instance) and then transfer them back later (more time lost)... and I even have a battery backup! RAMDisks are silly in 99.999999% of cases. Speaking of cases... case closed!

[Polarthief]

Right there with you! It wasn't you, it was OCZ. I took my Agility 3 80GB (or some such size, possibly 90GB) back after less than a week because the computer kept freezing up... traded towards an m4 128GB, magic! Disappeared were my problems!

Cunts. Fucking cunts, that OCZ company

Ah, fair enough. Though, you said you're using the 2500K still? Wouldn't be a bad CPU to just stick with, since this new one means you have to buy DDR4... maybe just buy a top-end GPU and really nice monitor like a curved 3440x1440@100Hz?

2500k is still in my current rig, but I'm moving that to the family room for general use/couch gaming with friends & family. A 6600k is also already en route to my house, so... yeah.

Ah, I love the clickies, but a bit of fan noise I'm neutral to. Again though, the case is pretty damned-well sound-proofed and since the CPU heatsink fan is easily set to never go to 100% unless, for some reason, your CPU is reaching 80 Celsius (wtf are you doing?!) you have nothing to worry about! ^_^

It'd probably happen to me since I haven't OC'd anything yet. Be ready to see "I blew up my 6600k..." next month on here xD

No it's not. JOIN US ON THE FRACTAL SIDE OF THE FORCE.

Wat.

I think he meant CL15, which means CAS Latency 15, the amount of, I believe nanoseconds, it takes the memory to talk to the CPU. Don't worry *too* much about this.

Well the memory I was looking at was CL 15, but as far as DDR4 goes for cost efficiency, I don't think you can find better.

Don't listen to him. Anyone talking about RAMDisks in a thread that also mentions "Cost efficiency" and "a budget of ~$1,000" is not here to be helpful. Not saying he's trolling or anything, he's just going, like you said, overkill. Even I, someone with the potential to go 128GB DDR4 memory, still haven't, and still haven't made a proper 24/7 RAMDisk.

RAMDisks are also horribly volatile. Should your computer shut down for whatever reason, you need to save all those files to SSD/the like (time-consuming, not going to happen in a power outage, for instance) and then transfer them back later (more time lost)... and I even have a battery backup! RAMDisks are silly in 99.999999% of cases. Speaking of cases... case closed!

Still have no idea what you guys are talking about with that, but alright then



Anyways from this point on, I think all I need to do is pick out a case, heatsink, PSU, GPU (though this will take some waiting time), and decide on if I'm going Win 7 (already bought from my current rig) or Win 10.

[DeltrusDisc]

Windows 7 is old and dated, with no real updates anymore. 8.1 is faster and better, and 10 is even fastererrrrr... maybe better. Though I'm still not convinced.

I own a Fractal, I think that guy might own a Fractal, so get a Fractal Design case. That was what I meant by my Fractal side of the Force Star Warsy comment. :P

If you could blow up your CPU, I'd be impressed. It's more likely to crash and have you try again with different settings. They make these things damned well, nowadays!

RAMDisks are like hard disks... made up of RAM. Literally. You use some software that takes a chunk of RAM (so it will always be used, unavailable to the rest of the system) and makes it into a virtual disk drive... thus it's incredibly fast. We're talking like 20x faster than SSDs... however, like I explained earlier, horribly impractical!

[8bithamster]

my tip, don't take any of the frontpage builds seriously. They are just thrown together stuff with no idea or system behind them. This has been brought up several times before, but alas nothing is done with it.
Just ask around here, where people can help you out

My current build concept:

I5-6600k
16GB Memory
Bitfenix Neos Black
Kingston SSDNow 120GB
2TB Desktop Seagate
MSI B150 Gaming M3

and a 1070 GPU, although that might run you severly over budget

Sadly as well, the 1070 is sitll not available in holland <_<

[DeltrusDisc]

Why would you advise someone a B150 chipset motherboard? =|

Your current build concept is pretty poor. Bitfenix Neos? I almost forgot Bitfenix exists... and a Seagate HDD? Kingston SSDNow? That's like a 5 year old SSD technology, isn't it? Nonononono.

[Deleted]

If a memory stick goes bad, doesn't actually mean the whole concept is bad. HyperX Savage exists in DDR4 as well afaik, but it is VERY expensive and somewhat limited.
Corsair Vengeance are usually good sticks.

https://www.komplett.se/product/8684...4-2400mhz-32gb - Savage DDR4

Stick with Corsair or Kingston, Crucial is OK as well, even though I'm not a fan of them, they are not bad though. Corsair Dominator has the best cooling imo, followed by vengeance/hyperx. I just think the HyperX looks really sleek and neat, I do have vengeance sticks in my current rig though.

[Deleted]

lots of talk about fractal cases here. Anyone have some opinions on define r5 vs define s? nobody has recommended the s so far, despite it being cheaper, does it have some problems i'm not seeing?

it's 25% cheaper then the r5 where i live, and it seems to me to be the same case but without optical/drive bays/fancy door that you don't need and/or remove anyways. the r5 has a more convenient bottom dust filter and i think has a fan controller, but is that worth $20-30 on a budget? is the r5 significantly cooler or quieter to make it worth more?

[Denpepe]

Making a different case suggestion https://pcpartpicker.com/product/8v3...e-phec416pswbk

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum...se-review.html

Phanteks has some amazing cases in a lot of price segments.

[Polarthief]

Windows 7 is old and dated, with no real updates anymore. 8.1 is faster and better, and 10 is even fastererrrrr... maybe better. Though I'm still not convinced.

My main concern though is adding another $100+, unless I could just upgrade to Win 10 from the Win 7 thing still.

[DeltrusDisc]

My main concern though is adding another $100+, unless I could just upgrade to Win 10 from the Win 7 thing still.

You can.
Do eet!

- - - Updated - - -

lots of talk about fractal cases here. Anyone have some opinions on define r5 vs define s? nobody has recommended the s so far, despite it being cheaper, does it have some problems i'm not seeing?

it's 25% cheaper then the r5 where i live, and it seems to me to be the same case but without optical/drive bays/fancy door that you don't need and/or remove anyways. the r5 has a more convenient bottom dust filter and i think has a fan controller, but is that worth $20-30 on a budget? is the r5 significantly cooler or quieter to make it worth more?

Personally, I just know that a lot of people still like having optical disk drive mounting available, even though you can just as easily get a USB converter, or buy a USB DVD/Blu-ray drive and be done with it.

The Define S is wonderful, however it's designed for a very specific group of consumers and it's hard to know if someone fits the bill. If you ever want more than 2 or 3 hard drives, it won't work out so nicely in the S vs the R5. More SSDs? Either let them hang in the case or put them in HDD spaces... It's very well-built, but it's a minimalist type of setup. Not much room for future additions in this front.

- - - Updated - - -

If a memory stick goes bad, doesn't actually mean the whole concept is bad. HyperX Savage exists in DDR4 as well afaik, but it is VERY expensive and somewhat limited.
Corsair Vengeance are usually good sticks.

https://www.komplett.se/product/8684...4-2400mhz-32gb - Savage DDR4

Stick with Corsair or Kingston, Crucial is OK as well, even though I'm not a fan of them, they are not bad though. Corsair Dominator has the best cooling imo, followed by vengeance/hyperx. I just think the HyperX looks really sleek and neat, I do have vengeance sticks in my current rig though.

Crucial is OK? Why aren't you a fan of them? Crucial actually makes the memory chips! Corsair and Kingston simply buy them. Crucial is much deeper in the memory space and specialize in it, whereas Corsair and Kingston, it's just one of the many things they do... not quite specializing in/mastering it.

Also, the whole concept of heatsinks on RAM is absolutely stupid. They don't need to be cooled as much as these companies would have you believe. Sigh. My DDR4 RAM has absolutely no heatsinks on it and it's fine. Airflow will cool it better than heatsinks.

Plus, heatsinks make it taller, cutting down on your selection for CPU heatsinks... you know, a heatsink that's ACTUALLY a necessity.

AIOs = a bunch of noise, btw, OP.