Desperately need new system...asking for advice.

[hail2skins]

I'm a computer guy who, five years ago, built a wicked good system. That has crashed and I'll probably fix it, but I figure it's time to build new. I saw a spec list on the front page of this site for the "Unicorn" computer. I'm largely only a WoW player, but also dabble in Eve and World of Tanks and some Fallout here and there with an occasional game like that.

If I were to buy the pieces for the Unicorn system listed on the main front page of MMO-Champion, would I be able to play those games, WoW in particular, in high res without any issues, or would I need to bump something up? I am currently using a five-year old RoG gaming laptop to play and it is iffy here and there with WoW now, so I will need to move on this or actually start sucking when Raiding begins.

Here's a cut and paste of the specs.

Unicorn
Updated September 4, 2016 $1345
Case Corsair Air 540 $125
Power Supply EVGA G2 650W $100
CPU Intel 6600K $235
Heatsink Noctua 6 NH-D15 $88
Motherboard ASUS Z170-A $149
Memory 16GB Kingston HyperX FURY DDR4 $79
Graphics Card GTX 1060 OR GTX 1070 $313 $400
Hard Drive Western Digital Black 2TB $123
SSD SanDisk Extreme PRO 240GB OR
SAMSUNG 850 Pro 256GB $111 $123
DVD Asus 24X SATA DVD+/-RW $22

[Lathais]

I'm a computer guy who, five years ago, built a wicked good system. That has crashed and I'll probably fix it, but I figure it's time to build new. I saw a spec list on the front page of this site for the "Unicorn" computer. I'm largely only a WoW player, but also dabble in Eve and World of Tanks and some Fallout here and there with an occasional game like that.

If I were to buy the pieces for the Unicorn system listed on the main front page of MMO-Champion, would I be able to play those games, WoW in particular, in high res without any issues, or would I need to bump something up? I am currently using a five-year old RoG gaming laptop to play and it is iffy here and there with WoW now, so I will need to move on this or actually start sucking when Raiding begins.

Here's a cut and paste of the specs.

Unicorn
Updated September 4, 2016 $1345
Case Corsair Air 540 $125
Power Supply EVGA G2 650W $100
CPU Intel 6600K $235
Heatsink Noctua 6 NH-D15 $88
Motherboard ASUS Z170-A $149
Memory 16GB Kingston HyperX FURY DDR4 $79
Graphics Card GTX 1060 OR GTX 1070 $313 $400
Hard Drive Western Digital Black 2TB $123
SSD SanDisk Extreme PRO 240GB OR
SAMSUNG 850 Pro 256GB $111 $123
DVD Asus 24X SATA DVD+/-RW $22

There is a Subforum in this forums called Computer Build/Upgrade Help and there is a sticky there. If you start a new post there and fill out the sticky, we will be able to help you better. Personally, I am not a huge fan of the builds posted in builds of the month. They are kind of general and we can help tailor something specifically for you and you budget.

[hail2skins]

There is a Subforum in this forums called Computer Build/Upgrade Help and there is a sticky there. If you start a new post there and fill out the sticky, we will be able to help you better. Personally, I am not a huge fan of the builds posted in builds of the month. They are kind of general and we can help tailor something specifically for you and you budget.

Thank you. Will go there and look .

[unbound]

I'm a computer guy who, five years ago, built a wicked good system. That has crashed and I'll probably fix it, but I figure it's time to build new. I saw a spec list on the front page of this site for the "Unicorn" computer. I'm largely only a WoW player, but also dabble in Eve and World of Tanks and some Fallout here and there with an occasional game like that.

If I were to buy the pieces for the Unicorn system listed on the main front page of MMO-Champion, would I be able to play those games, WoW in particular, in high res without any issues, or would I need to bump something up? I am currently using a five-year old RoG gaming laptop to play and it is iffy here and there with WoW now, so I will need to move on this or actually start sucking when Raiding begins.

Here's a cut and paste of the specs.

Unicorn
Updated September 4, 2016 $1345
Case Corsair Air 540 $125
Power Supply EVGA G2 650W $100
CPU Intel 6600K $235
Heatsink Noctua 6 NH-D15 $88
Motherboard ASUS Z170-A $149
Memory 16GB Kingston HyperX FURY DDR4 $79
Graphics Card GTX 1060 OR GTX 1070 $313 $400
Hard Drive Western Digital Black 2TB $123
SSD SanDisk Extreme PRO 240GB OR
SAMSUNG 850 Pro 256GB $111 $123
DVD Asus 24X SATA DVD+/-RW $22

That should cover you just fine for the games you listed.

If you are doing other things (for example, I do some video editing and graphic work from time-to-time), that might be the basis for bumping some things ups. In my case, I have a larger SSD because of the video editing and graphic work (makes a huge difference there). But the specs on that is pretty solid for most gaming purposes...it won't run the latest FPS at ultra-high rez on a 4k monitor, but it doesn't sound like you are looking to do that.

[Thunderball]

You can save pretty big (at least $200) on the build while getting the same performance and still quality components. Fill these out please:

Budget
Resolution
Games / Settings Desired
Any other intensive software or special things you do (Frequent video encoding, 3D modeling, etc)
Country
Parts that can be reused
Do you need an OS?
Do you need peripherals (e.g. monitor, mouse, keyboard, speakers, etc)?

[hail2skins]

Budget: Technically unlimited, but I am married and want to see her naked, so, say, $1500.
Resolution: Highest possible and am considering an Ultra4K television, but that is not part of budget.
Games / Settings Desired: WoW, World of Tanks, Fallout4, Witcher, and new stuff that comes out. Mostly WoW though. Highest settings possible.
Any other intensive software or special things you do (Frequent video encoding, 3D modeling, etc): I do computer programming, but that's mostly done through Cloud9's IDE and not locally.
Country: US
Parts that can be reused: Case.
Do you need an OS?: No.
Do you need peripherals (e.g. monitor, mouse, keyboard, speakers, etc)? No. Those I have. This is just for the system itself.

[Thunderball]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($227.88 @ OutletPC)
CPU Cooler: CRYORIG H5 Ultimate 76.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($46.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Asus Z170-A ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($137.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($68.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($94.00 @ B&H)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($69.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1070 8GB G1 Gaming Video Card ($428.89 @ OutletPC)
Case: Phanteks Enthoo Pro M ATX Mid Tower Case ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA G2 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($87.98 @ Newegg)
Other: Windows 10 - Kinguin.net ($28.23)
Total: $1250.92
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-09-15 14:24 EDT-0400

You can add an optical drive if you need it, but in my opinion it's unnecessary. If you're serious about 4K you could consider GTX 1080 + i7 but that will bump the price close to $1600.

[hail2skins]

This is quite nice and thank you.

I was looking at the Gigabyte G1 gaming 7 z170 motherboard due to multiple m.2 slots.

I was thinking that because of the multiple M.2 slots, though generally I am partial to ASUS.

I will review this given I am currently pricing a box out and I think I'm at like $4K and I don't think I have a power supply yet. Eyes are bigger than my stomach I think . And my eyes still request and require wifey nudity, so this will achieve that .

[Thunderball]

This is quite nice and thank you.

I was looking at the Gigabyte G1 gaming 7 z170 motherboard due to multiple m.2 slots.

I was thinking that because of the multiple M.2 slots, though generally I am partial to ASUS.

I will review this given I am currently pricing a box out and I think I'm at like $4K and I don't think I have a power supply yet. Eyes are bigger than my stomach I think . And my eyes still request and require wifey nudity, so this will achieve that .

You dont need multiple M.2 slots. You most likely dont need them at all but most Z170 motherboards have them so why not.

[panos20]

I was about to buy Gigabyte G1 gaming 7 z170, but i read that the onboard sound card had issues for several people, sudden heavy sound distortion being the most common. In addition the bottom m.2 slot disables the bottom x8 pcie slot and the upper one disables 2 of the sata express ports. That means that you have 4 sata ports less, leaving you with 4. That may not be an issue for your needs, but it's worth mentioning it.

[hail2skins]

I was about to buy Gigabyte G1 gaming 7 z170, but i read that the onboard sound card had issues for several people, sudden heavy sound distortion being the most common. In addition the bottom m.2 slot disables the bottom x8 pcie slot and the upper one disables 2 of the sata express ports. That means that you have 4 sata ports less, leaving you with 4. That may not be an issue for your needs, but it's worth mentioning it.

I've also been reading on the sound card issues, so I will stick with the ASUS.

One question I do have is I have decided to go up a bit with the i7 6700, 1080 GeForce and I bumped power supply a hair due to that. But, would I be wise to consider the Asus ROG Formula though now we are starting to get seriously expensive at that point.

- - - Updated - - -

Oh, and one more question. If I buy a 4K "monitor" WoW will look ok on it, or do I have to do something special?

- - - Updated - - -

I went with the pissed off wife and extremely limited nudity option and bumped these base recommendations up to around $2500, because I am dumb and I decided I also wanted good-ish monitors too, which was $620.

In all, given I have hidden money away on a card she does not know about, I feel this is perfectly awesome and I can TELL her it cost the nudity amount and yet still get close to what I wanted .

[Thunderball]

I've also been reading on the sound card issues, so I will stick with the ASUS.

One question I do have is I have decided to go up a bit with the i7 6700, 1080 GeForce and I bumped power supply a hair due to that. But, would I be wise to consider the Asus ROG Formula though now we are starting to get seriously expensive at that point.

- - - Updated - - -

Oh, and one more question. If I buy a 4K "monitor" WoW will look ok on it, or do I have to do something special?

- - - Updated - - -

I went with the pissed off wife and extremely limited nudity option and bumped these base recommendations up to around $2500, because I am dumb and I decided I also wanted good-ish monitors too, which was $620.

In all, given I have hidden money away on a card she does not know about, I feel this is perfectly awesome and I can TELL her it cost the nudity amount and yet still get close to what I wanted .

You dont need a bigger PSU for an i7 and GTX 1080. Also getting anything more would just be a waste of money for you. ASUS ROG Formula aswell as Gigabyte G1 are overclocking motherboards first and foremost and have a lot of stuff that just wasted your money (namely build-in LED).

- - - Updated - - -

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($324.89 @ OutletPC)
CPU Cooler: CRYORIG H5 Ultimate 76.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($46.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Asus Z170-A ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($137.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($76.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($94.00 @ B&H)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($69.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 8GB Superclocked Gaming ACX 3.0 Video Card ($649.99 @ B&H)
Case: Fractal Design Define R5 w/Window (White) ATX Mid Tower Case ($99.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA G2 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($87.98 @ Newegg)
Monitor: Acer XB280HK 28.0" 60Hz Monitor ($542.87 @ Amazon)
Other: Windows 10 - Kinguin.net ($28.23)
Total: $2159.90
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-09-15 23:39 EDT-0400

[hail2skins]

You have been greatly helpful Thunder.

The box I landed on was very close to the one you just posted.

I did NOT go to the ROG Formula. I kept the Asus Z170a. I went with G.Skill 3200 memory instead of Corsair but cost was essentially the same.

I went with two of these monitors:

AOC G2770PQU Black 27" 144 Hz 1ms (GTG) Professional Gaming Monitor 300 cd/m2 80,000,000:1, Height & Pivot adjustable, Built-in Speakers & USB Hub

So, no 4K, but fast response, larger and well reviewed at Amazon and New Egg.

I did bump the power supply to an 850 as I will have an optical drive.

I have the 1 TB Samsung solid state drive, just because I felt like it .

Essentially though, this one you just put up is what I have, just with slightly swollen power supply, different monitors and bigger disks, with an optical drive.