Another one trying to build a gaming pc...

[Lindelf]

Hello there,
I am in need of help building a gaming pc.
I have been a mac user for as long as I can remember but since it is starting to die on me and the approach of Legion I thought it might be the perfect opportunity to build my very first gaming PC.
The issue is that I have absolutely no idea what to do. I have been reading many forums in the past weeks but those can also be a bit confusing for a newbie like me.
People tend to disagree in almost everything always suggesting something else so I decided to appeal to fellow gamers that have experience in the area.

Based on what I have read, I came up with a list of components that seem alright for my needs but yeah, if that is indeed true I am not sure.

CPU: Intel Skylake Core i5 6600K 3.50GHz 6MB
CPU cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO
GPU: Asus Strix GTX 970
Motherboard: ASRock mATX S1151 B150M Pro4S
RAM: GeIL 16 GB DDR4-2400
SSD: Samsung SSD 750 EVO 2.5", 250GB
Case: Cooler Master Midi Tower K280 ATX (zwart)
Power Suply: Seasonic Voeding G Series 550W, Modulair
Monitor: LG 34" Inch | 21:9 UltraWide™ |
Keyboard: CM Storm Quick Fire TK
Hard Drive: Seagate 2TB SATA III 7200RPM 64MB Barracuda
System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home 64bit NL

Budget: 1500-1800 euro. Would really love to stay on the lower end of the budget though.
Resolution:Not sure what you mean by this but I already have the monitor that is listed above. So 2560x1080?
Games / Settings Desired: I play mainly WoW. Would be nice to play some Overwatch but WoW is definitely the main target.I would like to have WoW between good and high settings, ultra is absolutely not needed/desired.
Any other intensive software or special things you do (Frequent video encoding, 3D modeling, etc):The idea is to be able to record kills and possibly stream (but the latter is not a must, would be nice to have the possibility to though).
Country: Netherlands
Parts that can be reused:Nope.
Do you need an OS? Yes. Windows 10 is my guess.
Do you need peripherals (e.g. monitor, mouse, keyboard, speakers, etc)?I only need the keyboard. Would like to go for a mechanical one while I am at it.

Please help a newbie out

[Fascinate]

You are gonna want a z170 chipset motherboard for overclocking. I would pick a different case that is a really old design, phanteks P400 is a good case for a reasonable price. GPU you are going to want to find a gtx 1060, they are faster than a 970 while being cheaper when you can find them for MSRP.

[Lindelf]

Thanks for your reply.
I found a Palit GeFroce GTX 1060 for 289euro in Germany (some sending costs will apply) but I guess it is still worth it.
About the case, yeah. I saw the one you suggested and it's double the price of the one I listed. I don't really care that much how the outside looks so I wouldn't mind going for an old model as long as it does not interfere with what is happening inside.
I also found an Asus Z170Pro Gaming motherboard. I guess it is the one you meant.

[Fascinate]

Double the price? The p400 retails for 69.99 USD here. You really dont want that case you listed, try and find something newer with dust filters unless you want a filthy PC inside.

Basically any z170 motherboard will work, its all about how many features you want and how much you want to spend.

[Akonji]

Lindelf, you could take a look at the items in the picture at the end of the following link: http://i.imgur.com/thvfYrn.jpg
Kostattoo came up with that build when I was looking for suggestions, but it's missing the GPU, keyboard, and monitor in the price.
You can downsize the SSD and HDD to save some money (the picture has a 500 GB SSD and 3 TB HDD, so using your amounts would save roughly seventy euro).
Changing the case is also possible if you don't want an expensive one (but as Fascinate said, do look for one with dust filters).

About the motherboard and Fascinate's remark: the Asus Z170 Pro Gaming motherboard is decent (I'm using that one myself) and the best for its price (give or take a few euro) from what I've found (I do use all the USB ports though). You could also go for a cheaper motherboard if you want to save some money (the GIGABYTE GA-Z170-Gaming K3-EU motherboard is a cheaper alternative I had my eyes on before deciding to stick with the Asus for example).

[Thunderball]

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K Box € 250
CPU Cooler: be quiet! Dark Rock 3 € 65
Motherboard: ASUS Z170-A € 150
Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury HX426C15FBK2/16 16GB € 87
SDD: Samsung 850 EVO 250GB € 93
HDD: WD Blue WD10EZEX, 1TB € 53
Videocard: Palit GeForce GTX 1070 JetStream 8GB € 469
Case: Phanteks Enthoo Pro M € 75
PSU: XFX XTR 550W € 90
OS: Windows 10 Home NL x64 € 92
Keyboard: CM Storm QuickFire TK Brown Switch € 90

Total: € 1514

If you want to stream I suggest looking into 6700K but it's a € 100 difference.

[Lindelf]

Thanks a lot for your feedback guys. That helps a ton to point me at the right direction!

- - - Updated - - -

Quick question:
For the occasional stream (not planning to do it professionally/full time) is the gtx 1070 a MUST or can I get away with a gtx 1060. The price difference over here is insane and I am not interested in overkilling stuff.
As mentioned previously my main goal with this pc is to: play WoW at good to high settings, have a TS/Ventrilo/Skype open(one of them at a time), record fights and possibly stream

Thanks in advance.

[Thunderball]

Thanks a lot for your feedback guys. That helps a ton to point me at the right direction!

- - - Updated - - -

Quick question:
For the occasional stream (not planning to do it professionally/full time) is the gtx 1070 a MUST or can I get away with a gtx 1060. The price difference over here is insane and I am not interested in overkilling stuff.
As mentioned previously my main goal with this pc is to: play WoW at good to high settings, have a TS/Ventrilo/Skype open(one of them at a time), record fights and possibly stream

Thanks in advance.

I'd say with your resolution GTX 1070 is a must either way. Streaming wont tax your videocard very much though.

[Lindelf]

So, if I was to change my videocard to the gtx 1060 you recommend changing the monitor?
Any 27" monitor you would recommend for the 1060 then?

This is all so confusing... many say that even to have the possibility to stream I need an i7 with gtx1060 or better, others say that an i5 would do just fine, and now you tell me that streaming won't have much to do with which gpu I choose.

[Thunderball]

So, if I was to change my videocard to the gtx 1060 you recommend changing the monitor?
Any 27" monitor you would recommend for the 1060 then?

This is all so confusing... many say that even to have the possibility to stream I need an i7 with gtx1060 or better, others say that an i5 would do just fine, and now you tell me that streaming won't have much to do with which gpu I choose.

I'll try to explain. Streaming doesnt stress you videocard much, most of it is CPU load. WoW is a very CPU heavy game aswell so to play and stream on high settings you will need a lot of processing power. i7 will allow to scale your processor resources a lot better when using streaming/video encoding software, which can result in up to 15% performance gains. To sum it up: you will be fine with streaming on i5 (i5s are almost identical to i7s on the same frequency) but having an i7 will leave more processor resources for CPU demanding games like WoW. For the 27 inch monitor I would recommend this.

In the end the most important thing for you situation (no matter if choose i5 or i7) is overclocking your CPU as high as possible.

[Lindelf]

Would you mind to tell me why overclocking is so important?
I have, of course, also posted my first questions and thoughts in other forums here in Holland and that was one of the single things they all agreed: I do not need overclocking.
Not knowing what that actually was I googled it and it said that you should only overclock your CPU if you know what you are doing, and that it is a risky move that could cause you to lose warranty of parts in case they stop working since it will be an own fault case.

[Fascinate]

Overclocking of course isnt necessary, but for just a little bit more money you can get fairly large boosts in performance by doing so (depending on the application). Intel sells processors designed to be overclocked, they dont even come with heatsinks because they KNOW people will be buying proper ones for overclocking. In a game like WoW it really is worth it to spend the little extra, and as for heatsinks id suggest getting a proper aftermarket model even if you werent overclocking for lower noise and longevity.

[Thunderball]

Would you mind to tell me why overclocking is so important?
I have, of course, also posted my first questions and thoughts in other forums here in Holland and that was one of the single things they all agreed: I do not need overclocking.
Not knowing what that actually was I googled it and it said that you should only overclock your CPU if you know what you are doing, and that it is a risky move that could cause you to lose warranty of parts in case they stop working since it will be an own fault case.

You are basically running two games at once when you stream WoW. K CPUs are build for overclocking, you shouldnt even buy one if you dont overclock.

[Fascinate]

You are basically running two games at once when you stream WoW. K CPUs are build for overclocking, you shouldnt even buy if you dont overclock.

That's not even close to accurate, with game capture and OBS i couldnt even tell i was streaming with a lowly 2500k. Back in the days of xsplit and windows capture sure, but you sound like someone who has never streamed, or at least recently.

[Thunderball]

That's not even close to accurate, with game capture and OBS i couldnt even tell i was streaming with a lowly 2500k. Back in the days of xsplit and windows capture sure, but you sound like someone who has never streamed, or at least recently.

Put in decent settings now. Also, overclocked 2500K is not lowly.

[Fascinate]

Put in decent settings now. Also, overclocked 2500K is not lowly.

What settings do you mean? I was running 3500 bitrate in OBS with "veryfast" preset 1080 30 FPS, in WoW i have always ran on high with cmaa and max view distance. I fully understand the 2500k is an awesome CPU and its fine for streaming, but if you took this forum's word on it (and apparently yours as well) you need an x99 system just to stream WoW.