Higher-End Build?

[Efie]

This will be my first time assembling a computer from scratch. I have put on/replaced parts from my current computer, but never fully built one, so any tips are greatly appreciated!

Here's what I have planned for 2016. I want to be able to run nearly any game at a very high FPS at 1920x1080p. I don't want to be any more expensive than this, in-fact, if there is a comparable graphics card for a lower price, that'd be preferable.

Tips/thoughts on the build? Thanks!



I realized I forgot to put a harddrive. I have a 128GB SSD sitting ready to go, as well as a 1TB HD. I also have replaced the motherboard with an ASRock Extreme6, as the one I had selected was an AMD mobo.

Could I get away with the cheaper ASRock H97M Pro4 Micro-ATX board instead of the ASRock Extreme6?

[Deleted]

Get cheaper case(I'd pick corsair 200r)
Get r9 390 instead of gtx 970
Drop that AOI cooler for something cheaper like be quiet! Dark rock 3 pro

and no you couldn't get away with that mobo, you want one with z97 chipset

also wait for somebody else than me to respond

[Miyagie]

Go for the Skylake i5 6600k, DDR4 and a Z170 board.
Skip the Aio watercooling and get a nice bequite or noctua aircooler.

[Kagthul]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($273.98 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: be quiet! Dark Rock 3 67.8 CFM Fluid Dynamic Bearing CPU Cooler ($59.90 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z170M-D3H Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($116.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($42.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Video Card: Asus Radeon R9 390X 8GB Video Card ($394.99 @ Micro Center)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case ($49.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: EVGA 600B 600W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($45.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $974.81
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-12-11 00:34 EST-0500

[Efie]

Here's the updated build;

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/9BtC7P

CPU: *Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($219.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: NZXT Phantom 410 Series ($89.99)
CPU Cooler: NZXT Kraken X61 106.1 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($123.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock Z97 EXTREME4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($87.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-2400 Memory ($38.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Kingston SSDNow V300 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (Purchased For $0.00)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($45.88 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 970 4GB Twin Frozr V Video Card ($328.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: Corsair CX 600W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($58.98 @ Newegg)

Total: $994.79.

I'm looking to save a little bit more money, the only spots I can see saving money are in the cooler, and the case. Any suggestions on a cheaper cooler? I would like to keep something quiet, although I enjoy the white theme/blue that the cooler and case have going on. That might be reason alone for me to keep it, and bite the cost. Especially since the mobo and RAM are also blue.

Again, open to suggestions, so let's hear 'em! Thank you to everyone who has been helping so far!

[Kagthul]

Uhhh... you managed to spend more money than my build on a less powerful system.... and one that has no upgrade path of any kind. Socket 1150 is dead.

And stay far, far away from that CX-series firecracker. Those things are junk. particularly the 600W model. The capacitors are terrible.

[Efie]

Uhhh... you managed to spend more money than my build on a less powerful system.... and one that has no upgrade path of any kind. Socket 1150 is dead.

And stay far, far away from that CX-series firecracker. Those things are junk. particularly the 600W model. The capacitors are terrible.

I swapped out the powersupply to the one you supplied, and I'm down to $981. A tiny bit more expensive than yours, but I don't want just a bland case/bland cooler. I'd like this case to be aesthetically pleasing as well.

Also, I'd like to stay away from Radeon as I have had trouble with them in the past, and will forever be GTX from here on. The 6600k's performance is minimal compared to the i5-4960k's performance, especially with how much more money it costs.

[Birdtaco]

you will regret not listening to him better mobo ddr4 , i do prefer Nvidia though, The 6600k is about a 10% improvement over the 4690k.

[Deleted]

~1k build, black/red theme throughout. You should note that the R9 390X Kagthul proposed is a higher performance gpu.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($273.98 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: be quiet! Dark Rock 3 67.8 CFM Fluid Dynamic Bearing CPU Cooler ($59.90 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming 3 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($141.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($50.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 970 4GB STRIX Video Card ($318.49 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: NZXT H440 (Matte Black/Red) ATX Mid Tower Case ($108.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: Corsair RM 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1014.33
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-12-11 02:43 EST-0500

[Deleted]

I agree that it hardly matters whether there is possible upgrade path for given mobo or not. There will not be any worthwhile upgrades for any socket anyway.

What I do not understand is this:

I swapped out the powersupply to the one you supplied, and I'm down to $981. A tiny bit more expensive than yours, but I don't want just a bland case/bland cooler. I'd like this case to be aesthetically pleasing as well.

Also, I'd like to stay away from Radeon as I have had trouble with them in the past, and will forever be GTX from here on. The 6600k's performance is minimal compared to the i5-4960k's performance, especially with how much more money it costs.

Please explain, what the hell does it matter what cooler looks like? It's locked inside case anyways, you're not going to be looking at it most of the time. I mean its your money, by any means do whatever you want with it, I just would like to understand reasoning behind it.

Also as was said before gtx 970 in inferior card in comparison to r9 390x

[Efie]

I agree that it hardly matters whether there is possible upgrade path for given mobo or not. There will not be any worthwhile upgrades for any socket anyway.

What I do not understand is this:



Please explain, what the hell does it matter what cooler looks like? It's locked inside case anyways, you're not going to be looking at it most of the time. I mean its your money, by any means do whatever you want with it, I just would like to understand reasoning behind it.

Also as was said before gtx 970 in inferior card in comparison to r9 390x

This particular cooler provides dual fans with RGB lighting, which will be top mounted on the case. I'm a fan of LEDs and having computers look as good as they run.

[Artorius]

I swapped out the powersupply to the one you supplied, and I'm down to $981. A tiny bit more expensive than yours, but I don't want just a bland case/bland cooler. I'd like this case to be aesthetically pleasing as well.

390X is better than a 980, it doesn't make sense to swap it for a 970.

Also, I'd like to stay away from Radeon as I have had trouble with them in the past, and will forever be GTX from here on. The 6600k's performance is minimal compared to the i5-4960k's performance, especially with how much more money it costs.

Yes but it gives you DDR4 RAM which you can reuse at your next system, and is a clear upgrade path. Also, people have problems with graphic cards from both brands, buying a 970 instead (which has far worse dx12 support and that memory problem) over AMD isn't exactly a good option now. GTX 950 or 980Ti are the Nvidia cards worth buying.

I agree that it hardly matters whether there is possible upgrade path for given mobo or not. There will not be any worthwhile upgrades for any socket anyway.
What I do not understand is this:
Please explain, what the hell does it matter what cooler looks like? It's locked inside case anyways, you're not going to be looking at it most of the time. I mean its your money, by any means do whatever you want with it, I just would like to understand reasoning behind it.

Also as was said before gtx 970 in inferior card in comparison to r9 390x

I'm particularly against AIOs when you can go with a good air cooler, and I also fail to understand why he doesn't want to go with a dark rock 3.

This particular cooler provides dual fans with RGB lighting, which will be top mounted on the case. I'm a fan of LEDs and having computers look as good as they run.

Well, ok. Every single person with his/her own taste.

[Kagthul]

I agree that it hardly matters whether there is possible upgrade path for given mobo or not. There will not be any worthwhile upgrades for any socket anyway.

If he's going with an i5 now, then there ARE going to be clear upgrades for his socket - he could find performance lacking in some area (maybe he wants to heavily multitask, stream at 1080p, edit video, whatever) - he'd want to add an i7.

In socket 1151, which has about another 2 1/2 years of life at a minimum (provided Intel can stick to their usual timing on the Tick/Tock cycle, which theyve already warned investors theyll be unlikely to do - Cannonlake is apparently going to run at least six months late) - probably more like 3 1/2, he can easily upgrade to whatever i7s are available (Skylake or Cannonlake as the case may be).

In that Haswell/1150 setup... he's pooched. Socket 1150 i7s are already out of production. In a year or two if he decides he needs more oomph for whatever reason - get ready to pay MORE than Skylake/Cannonlake chip, and maybe not be able to find one new at all.

And there's the added benefit of DDR4 RAM (unlike Haswell/Broadwell and earlier, Skylake is showing MUCH better scaling with RAM speed), and newer motherboard technologies (USB 3.1, M.2 support, better NIC, VRMs, more PCIe lanes on the chipset AND the CPUs).

For the extra ~45$, its a no-brainer.

And yeah... i mean, i'm generally an nVidia fanboy, but a GTX 970 is not a good option right now. When it launched, it dominated the price/performance bracket by a clear mile and then some...

these days AMD has compelling offerings at that price point (vanillla R9390) that are better, and for just a little more (way less than the cost jump to a vanilla GTX 980) the R9390X which is comparable to said GTX 980 but about 90-120$ cheaper.

nVidia really only has the crown at the high and low ends right now, with AMD rather easily holding midrange firmly in their grasp (R9380, 380X, 390 and 390X all are better price/performance than their nVidia counterparts). If you aren't buying a GTX 950 (which is kicking the snot out of AMDs low end) or a GTX 980Ti... AMD is where the dollar value is.

[Deleted]

If he's going with an i5 now, then there ARE going to be clear upgrades for his socket - he could find performance lacking in some area (maybe he wants to heavily multitask, stream at 1080p, edit video, whatever) - he'd want to add an i7.

In socket 1151, which has about another 2 1/2 years of life at a minimum (provided Intel can stick to their usual timing on the Tick/Tock cycle, which theyve already warned investors theyll be unlikely to do - Cannonlake is apparently going to run at least six months late) - probably more like 3 1/2, he can easily upgrade to whatever i7s are available (Skylake or Cannonlake as the case may be).

In that Haswell/1150 setup... he's pooched. Socket 1150 i7s are already out of production. In a year or two if he decides he needs more oomph for whatever reason - get ready to pay MORE than Skylake/Cannonlake chip, and maybe not be able to find one new at all.

And there's the added benefit of DDR4 RAM (unlike Haswell/Broadwell and earlier, Skylake is showing MUCH better scaling with RAM speed), and newer motherboard technologies (USB 3.1, M.2 support, better NIC, VRMs, more PCIe lanes on the chipset AND the CPUs).

For the extra ~45$, its a no-brainer.

And yeah... i mean, i'm generally an nVidia fanboy, but a GTX 970 is not a good option right now. When it launched, it dominated the price/performance bracket by a clear mile and then some...

these days AMD has compelling offerings at that price point (vanillla R9390) that are better, and for just a little more (way less than the cost jump to a vanilla GTX 980) the R9390X which is comparable to said GTX 980 but about 90-120$ cheaper.

nVidia really only has the crown at the high and low ends right now, with AMD rather easily holding midrange firmly in their grasp (R9380, 380X, 390 and 390X all are better price/performance than their nVidia counterparts). If you aren't buying a GTX 950 (which is kicking the snot out of AMDs low end) or a GTX 980Ti... AMD is where the dollar value is.

It is not impossible but it is very unlikely that anyone would decide they needed more "oomph" and going from i5 to i7 would be solution. The only way I can see it being even remotely worth it is if he dramatically changed target usage of his machine, and even then it is unlikely that it would be worth it.
In terms of gaming unless there is some massive change in 2-3 years upgrading cpu would still be waste of money. Its like people asking now if its time to upgrade their sandy or ivy i5s you don't tell them "yes it's time! buy and i7 or whole new setup", you tell them "OC That and be done with it for at least another 2 years".

I agree new technologies are nice to have, but than again, is he going to be using them? Maybe maybe not what he does want is to shave price and if going for last gen would achieve that, I see no reason not to.

All in all it is better to get new tech if possible, but going for more expensive parts that are equalish in performance just because of "upgrade path" that nobody will ever take (not even the ddr4s - by the time one would want to build new pc it would be more efficient to get new, cheap and better sticks) does seem kind of pointless to me.

Would I go for inferior build just to be able to get "nice looking" case and cooler? Hell no, but it's his money, going skylake is better, but it's not like going haswell is bad

[Kagthul]

It is not impossible but it is very unlikely that anyone would decide they needed more "oomph" and going from i5 to i7 would be solution. The only way I can see it being even remotely worth it is if he dramatically changed target usage of his machine, and even then it is unlikely that it would be worth it.

If he decides to do 1080p streaming, or any kind of video and/or audio editing, going from an i5 to i7 is a substantial performance gain. Cutting a 90 minute render down to ~50 minutes is not a small savings, and that's pretty typical (if a bit on the low side, actually) going from an i5 to an i7 at similar clocks.

Video and audio work love extra cores, even virtual ones.

also, OP:

do you live within driving distance of a Microcenter? (for the potential savings, here, i'd say a 60-70 minute drive isn't out of the question)

and

if you want more bling in your case, you can just add more bling. LED lit fans aren't exactly rare or expensive. BitFenix even has some killer magnetic LED strips that are fun to route in all sorts of places in your case (color-changing, too). "It has blue fans" isn't a great reason to stick with an expensive radiator that will not perform any better than a good air cooler that costs half as much, and may actually be *noisier* because the pump(s) and fans may actually be louder than a beQuiet! or Noctua cooler.

- - - Updated - - -

As for case selection - if you like the case, get the case.

I try to let people do their own thing with cases unless they ask for recommendations because its so subjective.

Personally, for instance, you couldn't pay me to own an ATX full or mid-tower. My personal tastes run almost exclusively to mITX and (rarely) to mATX cases.