Building a new gaming PC

[Deleted]

Hi,

As the title said, looking to build a new PC. I have don't have a lot of experience with hardware or PC building, so i'm using a website with a online PC buildertool. I mostly play Blizzard games: WoW, D3, HotS and some SC2. I would like to be able to play wow at 2560x1440,
wich i can on my old PC but i have to lower most setting quit a bit. I would like to able to have them on ultra (I can live with having lower setting for raids, so FPS don't drop below 60). Also looking at buying a second monitor with same resolution, sometimes i have 2 wow's running at once.


I've been fiddling with builds on Alternate.nl a Dutch PC website that sell pre-made rigs. But you can also make your own.

Here is what i have come up with, i took most of it from the last Computer setup of the Month

Case: Corsair Carbide Air 540 - €145
Power Supply: Corsair RM850X - €143
CPU: i5-6600k, 3.5GHz - €259
Heatsink: Noctua NH-D15 - €90
Motherboard: ASUS Z170-A - €155
Memory: Corsair 16GB DDR4-2133 - €85
Graphics Card: GIGABYTE GV-N980G1 GAMING-4GD (NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980) - €579
SSD: 2x Samsung 850 Pro, 512 GB SSD - €446
OS: Win10

Total: €1902

My budget is €2000 for just the PC, not including the new monitor.


At first i had differant memory :Corsair 16 GB DDR4-3000. But that kept giving a error message in the buildtool, saying my memory is faster than CPU can handle. I don't know if that's a issue or not. Are there any other problems, or parts i could upgrade ?

Thanks in advance.

[Iannis]

Looks mighty fine. However, there are several new video cards coming out very soon. Like mid June soon.
I'd wait, at the very least the 980/980tis will be cheaper when the new ones launch.

[Evildeffy]

Hi,

As the title said, looking to build a new PC. I have don't have a lot of experience with hardware or PC building, so i'm using a website with a online PC buildertool. I mostly play Blizzard games: WoW, D3, HotS and some SC2. I would like to be able to play wow at 2560x1440,
wich i can on my old PC but i have to lower most setting quit a bit. I would like to able to have them on ultra (I can live with having lower setting for raids, so FPS don't drop below 60). Also looking at buying a second monitor with same resolution, sometimes i have 2 wow's running at once.


I've been fiddling with builds on Alternate.nl a Dutch PC website that sell pre-made rigs. But you can also make your own.

Here is what i have come up with, i took most of it from the last Computer setup of the Month

Case: Corsair Carbide Air 540 - €145
Power Supply: Corsair RM850X - €143
CPU: i5-6600k, 3.5GHz - €259
Heatsink: Noctua NH-D15 - €90
Motherboard: ASUS Z170-A - €155
Memory: Corsair 16GB DDR4-2133 - €85
Graphics Card: GIGABYTE GV-N980G1 GAMING-4GD (NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980) - €579
SSD: 2x Samsung 850 Pro, 512 GB SSD - €446
OS: Win10

Total: €1902

My budget is €2000 for just the PC, not including the new monitor.


At first i had differant memory :Corsair 16 GB DDR4-3000. But that kept giving a error message in the buildtool, saying my memory is faster than CPU can handle. I don't know if that's a issue or not. Are there any other problems, or parts i could upgrade ?

Thanks in advance.

Fellow Dutchman! Helloes!

Anyway ... for what you're wanting it's a stupidly overpowered rig .. you could drop down some things easily.
However looking at your build here's my following advice:

Case: Ok, personally don't like it due to the flimsy sidepanel (feels VERY cheap) but it works well enough, although the vertical ODD drive is "meh" to me.
PSU: Severe overkill, with these things you can easily drop it down to a proper 550W and not give 2 craps.
CPU: Cool beans, nothing wrong with that one.
Cooler: Thumbs up on that one as well but since you're going for such a build you are you'd be better off with the Cryorig R1 Ultimate for contrast looks.
Motherboard: Nothing wrong with that one.
RAM: Grab a kit of 2x8GB that is DDR4 2666MHz CL15 or CL16, Corsair sells these and it's fine. XMP on it makes it good stuff, just make sure it's 1.2V.
GFX: Complete was of money right now, wait for a couple months if you can for the next generation of cards if not grab like an MSI R9 390X Gaming variant which is better than a GTX 980 and cheaper.
SSD: Why do you need 2? Is 1 not enough? RAID0 is pointless to use for these things anyway.

Those are my opinions and if so needed I can even assist you with actually building it for a small fee.
(Used to be my job, unemployed for a while now )

[Deleted]

Hey,

Thanks for the replies.

About the GFX i can hold out untill the next gen comes out. Goal is to have the new PC before the Legion expasion. I'll keep a eye out on information about that.

As for the case, a other one i found is Corsair Obsidian 450D. I actually like that one a bit beter dimensionwise and looks.
The CPU cooler you mentioned doesn't show up in the buildtool i'm using. So i guess they don't have that one. How would the cooling of that case be with the factory fans, good enough or would you recommend some upgrades there ?

About the memory, that was a bit to technical for me, why is it important that it's 1.2v ? (the ones i picked originally are 1.35v.. is that a problem ?)

The PSU, i don't mind paying a some more for a overkill one, maybe with the idea of any future upgrades. More memory, extra GFX.

The SSD, i don't really know why, i don't need alot of space. I just thought about having win10 on one, and my games on a other. So i figured 2 SSD for their speed.

I'm trying to get more familiar with all the hardware stuff. Eventually i would like to able to build any future PC myself. But not this one yet.


Thanks again for the advice, really appreciate it.

[Evildeffy]

Hey,

Thanks for the replies.

About the GFX i can hold out untill the next gen comes out. Goal is to have the new PC before the Legion expasion. I'll keep a eye out on information about that.

As for the case, a other one i found is Corsair Obsidian 450D. I actually like that one a bit beter dimensionwise and looks.

That'll work, the case is good and waiting for GFX is deffo recommended at this point as f.ex. AMD claims to be releasing a 300USD/EUR graphics card on par with a 980 Ti.

The CPU cooler you mentioned doesn't show up in the buildtool i'm using. So i guess they don't have that one. How would the cooling of that case be with the factory fans, good enough or would you recommend some upgrades there ?

The CPU cooler is in Alternate's stock .. the problem is that the Obsidian 450D only supports up to 165mm CPU cooler height where the R1 Ultimate is 168mm.
Even the Noctua NH-D15 you selected prior with fans will be touching the side panel of the case as it's 165mm exactly.

Why not consider a Fractal Design Define R5? It's a silent case and if you add 1 more of the same GP-14 fans to it you'll have good cooling performance as well.

About the memory, that was a bit to technical for me, why is it important that it's 1.2v ? (the ones i picked originally are 1.35v.. is that a problem ?)

I believe any RAM above 2666MHz on DDR4 goes to 1.35v, I selected 2666MHz for it's sweet spot with both voltage, price and performance due to the fact that Intel recommends 1.2v for the Integrated Memory Controller (IMC) on their CPUs, anything above that MAY reduce lifetime and/or break the IMC.

The PSU, i don't mind paying a some more for a overkill one, maybe with the idea of any future upgrades. More memory, extra GFX.

The only thing that would add any remote form of stress would be another GFX card for Crossfire/SLI.
Even then you'd need 2 giant GPUs for that in the Fury X/980 Ti class (even in the new gen) to make that happen.
That said I guess the RM850x isn't too costly compared to others.

The SSD, i don't really know why, i don't need alot of space. I just thought about having win10 on one, and my games on a other. So i figured 2 SSD for their speed.

Pointless really, just take 1 SSD of 512GB now of w/e you prefer regarding brand as long as it's not a Kingston V300.
My personal preferences for normal cost SSDs are the Crucial MX200 or the Samsung 850 Pro as you stated.
The Crucial one has my preference due to some seriously weird Samsung bugs I've had with the 840 and 850 series but that's just personal experience.

I'm trying to get more familiar with all the hardware stuff. Eventually i would like to able to build any future PC myself. But not this one yet.

Thanks again for the advice, really appreciate it.

No worries, as far as building goes ... I believe you could directly add it to Alternate's services and last I checked with building and windows install it'd cost you 80 - 100 euros extra I think... but not 100% sure on that.

[Deleted]

Hey me again,

I think i figured out why i can't select the Cryorig R1 Ultimate. I can select it, but when i do i can no longer pick the i5-6600K. There seems to be a issue between those 2.
When i ever i select any of the skylake cpu's i can no longer select that cooler. So i guess i'll be sticking with the Noctua one.

The Fractal case you mentioned is nice indeed, and has more room inside for the cooler 180MM so that should be enough. The case comes with 1 fan in front and 1 in the back, so i will be adding 1 more in the front. Should that plenty of airflow to give a nice cool case ?

Changed the memory to what you mentioned.

Checked my current PC and i only have a total of 125GB on it, inc win10 and what ever programs and all my games. So just 1 512GB SSD should be enough.

Here is what the build looks like now, excluding the GFX wich i will wait a bit longer for next gen :

Case: FD Define R5 Black - €109
Power Supply: Corsair RM850X - €143
CPU: i5-6600k, 3.5GHz - €259
Heatsink: Noctua NH-D15 - €90
Motherboard: ASUS Z170-A - €155
Memory: Corsair 16 GB DDR4-2666 (CMK16GX4M2A2666C16, Vengeance LPX, XMP) - €73
Graphics Card:
SSD: 1x Samsung 850 Pro, 512 GB SSD - €223
OS : Win10 - €99

Total: €1151

I think that leaves plenty of room in the budget for one those new GFX.

Open to any suggestions, advice.

Thanks.

[Evildeffy]

Hey me again,

I think i figured out why i can't select the Cryorig R1 Ultimate. I can select it, but when i do i can no longer pick the i5-6600K. There seems to be a issue between those 2.
When i ever i select any of the skylake cpu's i can no longer select that cooler. So i guess i'll be sticking with the Noctua one.

The Fractal case you mentioned is nice indeed, and has more room inside for the cooler 180MM so that should be enough. The case comes with 1 fan in front and 1 in the back, so i will be adding 1 more in the front. Should that plenty of airflow to give a nice cool case ?

Changed the memory to what you mentioned.

Checked my current PC and i only have a total of 125GB on it, inc win10 and what ever programs and all my games. So just 1 512GB SSD should be enough.

Here is what the build looks like now, excluding the GFX wich i will wait a bit longer for next gen :

Case: FD Define R5 Black - €109
Power Supply: Corsair RM850X - €143
CPU: i5-6600k, 3.5GHz - €259
Heatsink: Noctua NH-D15 - €90
Motherboard: ASUS Z170-A - €155
Memory: Corsair 16 GB DDR4-2666 (CMK16GX4M2A2666C16, Vengeance LPX, XMP) - €73
Graphics Card:
SSD: 1x Samsung 850 Pro, 512 GB SSD - €223
OS : Win10 - €99

Total: €1151

I think that leaves plenty of room in the budget for one those new GFX.

Open to any suggestions, advice.

Thanks.

If you add the same fan in front it should be more than enough yes.
It's a silent design case so it'll always be slightly warmer inside than some others but if you have 2 intakes and 1 exhaust it should be perfectly fine.
If you don't use a lot of storage you also remove the top HDD cage (which can house 5) and you will get increased airflow to your system because of less resistance.

However since the Cryorig R1 Ultimate and the NH-D15 are about equal price and the R1 Ultimate being better I would actually call Alternate and have it altered.
The thing that annoys me most about the Noctua cooler is that it looks like vomit and diarrhoea, hence the R1 Ultimate with better performance.

I've built this very combination quite often (different mobo though in general) and it works perfectly fine with each other.

As far as GFX cards go ... if we believe current rumours from AMD's Polaris 10 f.ex. it will be GTX 980 Ti performance in DX11 for 300 USD/EUR.
It is rumour as of yet but if true than that's pure goodness value right there.

[Mystrome]

About storage, 1 SSD is plenty for your OS and a few games. You can easily fit your OS and ~12 WoW-sized games on that 512 GB SSD (my current WoW directory is ~32GB). You could consider adding a traditional 1 TB HDD for additional storage for video's, music and other files you don't want cluttering up your SSD (if you have any).

I have a 256 GB SSD and a 500 GB HDD and have all the space I need and then some.

[Deleted]

Heya

i'm back with some updates.

I mentioned before i'm playing on 2560x1440. I am thinking about picking up a Acer Predator X34 34.0" 100Hz Monitor. And still keep using my old 2x27"monitors. So i would be running 3 monitors, idea is to have the 34"on the desk, the other 2 on a wallmount above it.
I know not all the games i play make full use of that resolution. I read Overwatch for example doesn't support that, and you get some black bars on the side. I'm fine with that. My main goal is WoW anyway. And have it as much "future proof"as it can be.

I've been keeping an eye out on all the gtx 1080 info that's been coming out. As far as i can tell i should avoid the Founders Edition, and go for a after market one, with beter specifications. I'm looking at EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 SC. Would 1 of those be enough to run WoW on Ultra 60FPS on that 34" monitor ? I'm seeing mixed reports from other people. Some say it will od just fine, other say a single 1080 would be cutting it close.

I'm still not comfortable with going with watercooling, there is just something about it that scares me. I've always had aircoolers, served me well in the past i'll stick with that.

Been fiddeling around on the Alternate's PC builder tool quite a bit.

If i had to order it now it would look something like this :

CPU: i5-6600k, 3.5GHz - €259
Motherboard: ASUS Z170-A - €155
Heatsink: Noctua NH-D15 - €90
Memory: Corsair 16 GB DDR4-3200 Kit, CMK16GX4M2B3200C16, Vengeance LPX, XMP - €83
Graphics Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 SC - €819
SSD: Samsung 850 Pro, 512 GB SSD - €223
Power Supply: Corsair RM850X - €143
OS: Win10 - €99

Case: Not sure yet, trying to decide between these 3:

Corsair Graphite 780T - White version, blue led fans. Looks really nice. - €220
Corsair Obsidian 900D - Massive case, something i find really cool. Lots of potential fans slots, also something i really like. - €349
Fractal Design Define R5 Titanium - Smaller case, clean look. - €120

Totaal - €1991 - 2220 depending wich case i pick.

So biggest question, will this run WoW Legion, Ultra 3440 x 1440 at 60FPS (Raid settings can be set a lower to maintain FPS). I have considered going 2xGTX1080 in SLI,
if that's needed. Wich would go over my original 2k budget, that's ok.

hhhmmm I'm sure i have missed something important. If you see anything that can be improved on please advice.

Thanks in advance.