Good Build? Buy Date After Jan 15th

[tobiashunter]

I need to wait till the 15th for work reasons to buy. This is the build I am looking at: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/f3MfxY


Budget: $1500 (incl Shipping/tax, thus free shipping, incl Amazon Prime, is preferable) can go SLIGHTLY over
Resolution: N/A, Using older DVI-D (2) monitors
Games / Settings Desired: Ideally want to play WoW, Civ 6, Fallout 4, and Universim (and similar) games at Good or better quality
Any other intensive software or special things you do (Frequent video encoding, 3D modeling, etc): Recording, possibly
Country: USA, Pittsburgh for Zip purposes (pick a suburb)
Parts that can be reused: Mouse and Monitors.
Do you need an OS? Yes, Win 10, LEGAL COPY
Do you need peripherals (e.g. monitor, mouse, keyboard, speakers, etc)? Just Keyboard. Using a super basic Dell Keyboard now.

I also wouldn't MIND overclocking GPU and CPU, but if it saves significant money, I would take non-overclockable parts

If budget allows, with adjustments, I would love (in preference order, thus NONE are required): New Monitors (2), new Mouse (using a Naga, so yes 12 buttons pls), Microphone for recording, Upping RAM to 32gb.


Any help is appreciated, thanks in advance! Cheaper is better!!!! (If I can get sub 1200 I would be stoked)


Note: Optical drive is optional. I want it for older games, but I have older computer I'm sure I can salvage one from. Just selected a BR capable one.

[Nuckels]

If you don't plan to stream or encode video or whatever you don't need a i7 and can go for a 6600k.
That cpu cooler needs to go if you plan to overclock.
Change the mobo to a asus z170-A unless the one there is cheaper right now.
That case seems liek a pile of wack if im honest but perhaps its fine.
The power supply is uhhh.. I'd never get a lesser named brand for something so crucial.


Best I could offer here at 4 in the morning, if you want quality stuff I don't see you going under 1200 tho.

[tobiashunter]

I know sub 1200 is a long shot, but sometimes people find those special quality parts

I am UNSURE if I am going to stream/encode, so I went i7 INCASE I do.

CPU cooler, I was on the fence about, I have read others were able to OC with it. so I stuck with it.

MOBO I thought was solid. I am saddened :-(

Case I went with becuase it had 2 preinstalled fans, so I thought it would help with airflow

PSU I changed 6 times....


Also this is only my 2nd build.

[mrgreenthump]

If Ryzen is a hit and Vega does what it's supposed to do.. It should force Intel and Nvidia to lower their highend prices, hence making mainstream cheaper.. So a sub $1200 build is possible, just not very likely until Q2 of next year.


Also I agree with Nuckels, never skimp on Motherboard or PSU.. Although the MB you chose should be ok, just Z170-A is probably a bit better due to it not having the "gaming" tax.

[Fascinate]

Actually motherboard is the one thing you CAN skimp on in a build as long as it has enough ports they all overclock the same really. CPU power requirements for the mainstream have come down so much even the cheapest z170 board can max out what your CPU can do.

This is the build id do today if it was my money:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($328.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: CRYORIG H7 49.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($34.88 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock Z170 Extreme3 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($104.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Avexir Core Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial MX300 275GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($79.60 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 3TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($90.09 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 1070 8GB SC GAMING Video Card ($384.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Phanteks ECLIPSE P400 ATX Mid Tower Case ($54.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA NEX 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($74.99 @ Jet)
Keyboard: Cooler Master Devastator II Wired Gaming Keyboard w/Optical Mouse ($28.99 @ NCIX US)
Other: Windows 10 ($31.33)
Total: $1283.83
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-12-26 14:06 EST-0500

Mobo in this build is just priced well, its not "cheap". Its a full sized ATX board and competes with feature list on z170-A. No reason to go with sata m.2 drive in a full sized build so went with 2.5" form factor.

[tobiashunter]

Actually motherboard is the one thing you CAN skimp on in a build as long as it has enough ports they all overclock the same really. CPU power requirements for the mainstream have come down so much even the cheapest z170 board can max out what your CPU can do.

This is the build id do today if it was my money:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($328.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: CRYORIG H7 49.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($34.88 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock Z170 Extreme3 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($104.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Avexir Core Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial MX300 275GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($79.60 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 3TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($90.09 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 1070 8GB SC GAMING Video Card ($384.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Phanteks ECLIPSE P400 ATX Mid Tower Case ($54.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA NEX 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($74.99 @ Jet)
Keyboard: Cooler Master Devastator II Wired Gaming Keyboard w/Optical Mouse ($28.99 @ NCIX US)
Other: Windows 10 ($31.33)
Total: $1283.83
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-12-26 14:06 EST-0500

Mobo in this build is just priced well, its not "cheap". Its a full sized ATX board and competes with feature list on z170-A. No reason to go with sata m.2 drive in a full sized build so went with 2.5" form factor.

Ty I bookmarked this.

If Ryzen is a hit and Vega does what it's supposed to do.. It should force Intel and Nvidia to lower their highend prices, hence making mainstream cheaper.. So a sub $1200 build is possible, just not very likely until Q2 of next year.


Also I agree with Nuckels, never skimp on Motherboard or PSU.. Although the MB you chose should be ok, just Z170-A is probably a bit better due to it not having the "gaming" tax.

Unfortunately, due to a long series of unfortunate events, I am all the way down to my college computer... Intel Pentium D Dell Inspiron.... And as a gamer, I can't enjoy very many games I want to play, so I don't think I could make it a whole quarter on this computer lol. I could wait a couple weeks maybe, and raise my budget if I do.. but 3 months is just too long haha.

[mrgreenthump]

Unfortunately, due to a long series of unfortunate events, I am all the way down to my college computer... Intel Pentium D Dell Inspiron.... And as a gamer, I can't enjoy very many games I want to play, so I don't think I could make it a whole quarter on this computer lol. I could wait a couple weeks maybe, and raise my budget if I do.. but 3 months is just too long haha.

Mm, CES is next week I think, so waiting till then at least is a good choice.

[Fascinate]

Just remember PC part pricing changes daily and it can be drastic, best to post here the day you intend to buy

[Remilia]

What @Fascinate said, please do check back at the date of purchase. Prices sometimes can be extremely stable for some things or extremely erratic (especially SSDs). Sometimes new stuff comes out that are better in terms of performance, price or features. Mostly pertains to cases, SSDs, peripherals and PSUs. Personally speaking I'm very curious on how SeaSonic's new Prime Gold / Platinum will perform at the given prices seeing as how their Titanium Prime series is basically the best Titanium PSU without gimmicks to make it perform better on paper (like capacitors in cable) or stupidly expensive(digital, which actually isn't a gimmick but extremely expensive but reliable). It's sad cause paper performance sometimes beats out practicality of certain things.

[Bobblefet]

So, my old q6600 isnt really cutting it anymore. In MoP I put a GTX 960 and a SSD in the poor thing and it held on till now, but my load times between switching toons (a minute normally, sometimes about two), frame rate drops while raiding even with everything but the essentials turned down, etc, is just too much to handle. I was a bit drunk and actually ordered some parts while I pissed off, but to be honest I dont really know what I was doing. I'm pretty sure it's all going to work just fine, but I dont really know what expect. Parts will be here Friday, those parts being...

I'm ditching basically everything in my old box except for the 960 and the power supply. What I ended up ordering is...

MSI MSI Gaming Z170A GAMING M5 LGA 1151 Intel Z170 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.1 ATX Intel Motherboard

Intel Core i5-6600K 6M Skylake Quad-Core 3.5 GHz LGA 1151 91W BX80662I56600K Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 530

Intel SSD 600p Series (512GB, M.2 2280 80mm NVMe PCIe 3.0 x4, 3D1, TLC)

G.SKILL TridentZ Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM DDR4 3200 (PC4 25600) Intel Z170 Platform / Intel X99 Platform Desktop Memory Model F4-3200C16D-16GTZB

Going to pick up a case and a cooler locally. I figure while I'm at it I might as well get a new monitor too, but frankly I dont know if I'm going to get 30 fps or 130, so I dont know what refresh rate monitor I need. I'd like to have my monitor and shit bought and ready to go when my stuff shows up, so point me in the right direction for a monitor please

[Fascinate]

So, my old q6600 isnt really cutting it anymore. In MoP I put a GTX 960 and a SSD in the poor thing and it held on till now, but my load times between switching toons (a minute normally, sometimes about two), frame rate drops while raiding even with everything but the essentials turned down, etc, is just too much to handle. I was a bit drunk and actually ordered some parts while I pissed off, but to be honest I dont really know what I was doing. I'm pretty sure it's all going to work just fine, but I dont really know what expect. Parts will be here Friday, those parts being...

I'm ditching basically everything in my old box except for the 960 and the power supply. What I ended up ordering is...

MSI MSI Gaming Z170A GAMING M5 LGA 1151 Intel Z170 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.1 ATX Intel Motherboard

Intel Core i5-6600K 6M Skylake Quad-Core 3.5 GHz LGA 1151 91W BX80662I56600K Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 530

Intel SSD 600p Series (512GB, M.2 2280 80mm NVMe PCIe 3.0 x4, 3D1, TLC)

G.SKILL TridentZ Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM DDR4 3200 (PC4 25600) Intel Z170 Platform / Intel X99 Platform Desktop Memory Model F4-3200C16D-16GTZB

Going to pick up a case and a cooler locally. I figure while I'm at it I might as well get a new monitor too, but frankly I dont know if I'm going to get 30 fps or 130, so I dont know what refresh rate monitor I need. I'd like to have my monitor and shit bought and ready to go when my stuff shows up, so point me in the right direction for a monitor please

Kinda odd posting in this dudes thread but ya lol.

Your parts are all compatible but i have to mention the load time increases you saw lately are on WoW's end not your rig:
https://us.battle.net/forums/en/wow/topic/20749718759

That said, you were still due for an upgrade. As for FPS it will vary of course, but my one suggestion to you is NOT to max out the graphics, its not that your hardware cant handle it.....its that no hardware can. I suggest even the highest end systems to use what "recommended" is, or a notch above it, no one should be using the 10 preset as it is not optimized well.

For monitor you really have a ton of choices and the answer isnt very easy. If you mainly play MMO's i would say going with a 2560x1440 monitor is the best choice, if you play shooters a 144hz monitor can legit make you better at the game.

Ill just link a couple well priced options for each:

1440p:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01D4TCCZ4/?tag=pcpapi-20

144hz:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...D=3938566&SID=

Keep in mind many spots in WoW you wont be hitting FPS over the ~80 mark with a 960, but there are a lot of spots where you can (dungeons, pvp, world quests etc). It really is a hard decision, there are monitor that have both of these technologies but they start at ~400 bucks.

[Triggered Fridgekin]

Slightly OT but what the hell happened to RAM prices? I bought my Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB kit about four months ago for something like $90 after taxes/shipping (Canadian Newegg) and now most 16GB kits are $110+ on sale. The same Corsair Kit is now $120 + taxes/shipping as an example.

[Bobblefet]

Kinda odd posting in this dudes thread but ya lol.

Your parts are all compatible but i have to mention the load time increases you saw lately are on WoW's end not your rig:
https://us.battle.net/forums/en/wow/topic/20749718759

That said, you were still due for an upgrade. As for FPS it will vary of course, but my one suggestion to you is NOT to max out the graphics, its not that your hardware cant handle it.....its that no hardware can. I suggest even the highest end systems to use what "recommended" is, or a notch above it, no one should be using the 10 preset as it is not optimized well.

For monitor you really have a ton of choices and the answer isnt very easy. If you mainly play MMO's i would say going with a 2560x1440 monitor is the best choice, if you play shooters a 144hz monitor can legit make you better at the game.

Ill just link a couple well priced options for each:

1440p:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01D4TCCZ4/?tag=pcpapi-20

144hz:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...D=3938566&SID=

Keep in mind many spots in WoW you wont be hitting FPS over the ~80 mark with a 960, but there are a lot of spots where you can (dungeons, pvp, world quests etc). It really is a hard decision, there are monitor that have both of these technologies but they start at ~400 bucks.

Yeah I'm not sure how I landed here instead of creating a thread but I guess it worked out. 400$ is about my price point I have left to throw at this, think I'd better served by upgrading the 960 and just getting a monitor in another month or two?

[Fascinate]

Yeah I'm not sure how I landed here instead of creating a thread but I guess it worked out. 400$ is about my price point I have left to throw at this, think I'd better served by upgrading the 960 and just getting a monitor in another month or two?

No imho if you have the 400, just get the monitor and upgrade GPU later if you feel you need to. People grossly exaggerate how important video memory is on this forum, a game like WoW you will have no problems running at 1440p with a 2gb 960, but of course the experience could be better with say a 6gb 1060. This is the monitor i would suggest if you can swing it:

http://pcpartpicker.com/product/CwgP...onitor-s2417dg

This monitor would last you 10 years if it holds up, wish i woulda put more money into my monitor budget originally, it really is the best spot you can invest into when talking PC components.

[tobiashunter]

Bump! Ok It is time for me to buy so instead of starting a new thread I'm just reusing.

Budget: $1500 (incl Shipping/tax, thus free shipping, incl Amazon Prime, is preferable). Cheaper is better.
Resolution: N/A, Using older DVI-D (2) monitors (Have 2 DVI - HDMI converters)
Games / Settings Desired: Ideally want to play WoW, Civ 6, Fallout 4, and Universim (and similar) games at Good or better quality
Any other intensive software or special things you do (Frequent video encoding, 3D modeling, etc): Recording, possibly
Country: USA, Pittsburgh for Zip purposes (pick a suburb)
Parts that can be reused: Mouse and Monitors.
Do you need an OS? Yes, Win 10, LEGAL COPY
Do you need peripherals (e.g. monitor, mouse, keyboard, speakers, etc)? Just Keyboard. Using a super basic Dell Keyboard now. I can reuse this for a few weeks to save bucks on the initial purchase.

Also, when people find part lists, I'm going to browse a few of the sites to see if there are combo-savers (like CPU + mobo or Mobo + RAM) to see if it shaves off money. Free shipping is a plus. Ty guys for your help. (also, notice last week was probably a better time to buy, as prices were down during CES...)

As a basis, this is what @Fascinate posted earlier: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/HF8MXH

Also, can I get a couple monitor suggestions for purchase LATER (like 2-3 months. Will post again when I Have the money)? Just want 2, Anything under 32(?) in. (I have to measure my current ones, but I think they are 27).

[Fascinate]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-7700K 4.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($349.89 @ B&H)
CPU Cooler: CRYORIG H7 49.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($34.99 @ Newegg Marketplace)
Motherboard: MSI Z270 SLI ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($139.99 @ B&H)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LED 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($104.29 @ Amazon)
Storage: Crucial MX300 275GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($83.35 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 1070 8GB SC GAMING ACX 3.0 Black Edition Video Card ($379.99 @ B&H)
Case: Phanteks Enthoo Pro M ATX Mid Tower Case ($74.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA NEX 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($79.89 @ B&H)
Other: Windows 10 ($31.33)
Total: $1338.70
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-01-12 00:54 EST-0500

Worth it to go for the 7700k for the extra 300mhz out of the box Ram prices went up with the new releases, for not much more money i selected a LED 3000 speed kit from corsair.

I selected just a few trusted vendors for the parts since you are ready to buy, if you live in new york or california i can provide a different list.

[tobiashunter]

In reference to the HDD selected, when I went to Neweggs website, it said "New Version Available" and linked me this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...Tpk=22-178-993 (saves $3). Is there a problem with going for this HDD over the selected one?

Will make purchases when I get home from work tonight.

[Fascinate]

In reference to the HDD selected, when I went to Neweggs website, it said "New Version Available" and linked me this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...Tpk=22-178-993 (saves $3). Is there a problem with going for this HDD over the selected one?

Will make purchases when I get home from work tonight.

Oh pcppartpicker had price wrong, they claimed one i linked was 59 bucks. And yes the one you linked is just fine, ive had very good luck with seagate drives.

[tobiashunter]

Avoid Seagate. Not worth the headaches considering how often they fail.

See I have had a lot of trouble with Toshiba drives myself. Seagate I have been lucky (but my dad hasn't).

[Kagthul]

Avoid Seagate. Not worth the headaches considering how often they fail.

All the consumer reports and tracking sites show relatively the same overall rate of hardware failure between all manufacturers of HDs.

Ratings on websites like NewEgg are anecdotal at best.

To the OP:

Wait till Kaby Lake is widely available if you cant.

THe prices are very similar (about 15~20$ more than current Skylake prices, which have dropped a lot since launch..) and KL is overclocking far better (7700K's hitting 5Ghz on cheap air coolers and decently low voltages) and Z270 has more features that will future-proof the build a little more (More USB-C 3.1 slots, Thunderbolt support on relatively mid-range boards, 3.1 Rev B slots (10Gbs), etc).

Worth the wait, IMO.