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[Silvard]

I'm getting the itch to build a beefy PC to welcome VR and Xbox ports/PC exclusives with open arms. My last build was in 2011 and that PC stopped working at some point (one of its GPUs went bust I think) and I never even bothered to fix it; I simply played games on handhelds and consoles while working on a MacBook Pro. I own a crapton of Steam games though and recent got a Surface Pro 4

So yeah even though I keep track of things on the PC side I've been kind of out of the game for a while now. That doesn't stop me from wanting to put together a killer machine with LC and everything, so I got a few questions for you master builders.

Is it even worth it to put together a build this close to Pascal purportedly hitting?

If the previous answer is a yes, what's the most future proof GPU set up that will either serve me well into Pascal or be easy to unload? I want to use VR and a UltraWide 1440p monitor.

X99/5820k or 6700k/Z170? Motherboard suggestions?

 

[mkenyon]

I'm getting the itch to build a beefy PC to welcome VR and Xbox ports/PC exclusives with open arms. My last build was in 2011 and that PC stopped working at some point (one of its GPUs went bust I think) and I never even bothered to fix it; I simply played games on handhelds and consoles while working on a MacBook Pro. I own a crapton of Steam games though and recent got a Surface Pro 4

So yeah even though I keep track of things on the PC side I've been kind of out of the game for a while now. That doesn't stop me from wanting to put together a killer machine with LC and everything, so I got a few questions for you master builders.

Is it even worth it to put together a build this close to Pascal purportedly hitting?

If the previous answer is a yes, what's the most future proof GPU set up that will either serve me well into Pascal or be easy to unload? I want to use VR and a UltraWide 1440p monitor.

X99/5820k or 6700k/Z170? Motherboard suggestions?

Buying a 970, and selling it to buy Pascal when released.

I like the 5820 over the 6700k due to the extra 2 cores/4 threads.

The ASUS X99-M is the X99 board I'd personally buy.

 

[brandonh83]

Hm, site seems to say that there aren't any disc drives compatible with my build. Anyone know why? I'm sure it's a duh answer but I'm not sure. Maybe the case (Fractal Node 304) doesn't support it?

edit: yep that's it lol. Gonna have to get Windows on a USB then or I guess an external drive.

 

[bomblord1]

Hm, site seems to say that there aren't any disc drives compatible with my build. Anyone know why? I'm sure it's a duh answer but I'm not sure.

What is your case?

 

[Golgo 13]

snip

Finally someone actually replied to me! Thank you for the info and advice. Still mulling it over but I've saved your post.

 

[Silvard]

Buying a 970, and selling it to buy Pascal when released.

I like the 5820 over the 6700k due to the extra 2 cores/4 threads.

The ASUS X99-M is the X99 board I'd personally buy.

How well does the 970 drive VR and/or 3440x1440 with relatively modern games?

I'm ambivalent about the 2 extra cores. I wish the answer were clearer cut.

 

[brandonh83]

What is your case?

It's the case, just saw that there's no optical drive bay on it. Now I'm just looking for an external optical drive. They seem to cost about the same anyway.

 

[Talonz]

It's been a very long time since I've had to shop for a laptop and I'm looking at this one right now: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/hp-17-3...lack/4793900.p?id=1219822140243&skuId=4793900

Are AMD laptop processors still crap like they were or have they improved enough to compete with Intel now?

I'm mainly going to use this for School(Office, One Note, etc..), some Twitch watching, and very little gaming if at all.

I'm also looking at this one too: http://www.staples.com/HP-Pavilion-...tView-Intel-Core-i3-5020U-1TB/product_1716534

Still deciding if I should go 15.6" or 17.3". The laptop I'm replacing is a Studio 1747 which had a 17.3" screen but I think 15.6 will be fine for school. I'm still debating on that part is really just personal preference.

 

[mkenyon]

How well does the 970 drive VR and/or 3440x1440 with relatively modern games?

I'm ambivalent about the 2 extra cores. I wish the answer were clearer cut.

To be totally honest, there isn't really a single GPU that can drive 3440x1440 very well with all the bells and whistles turned to 10.

Project Cars @ 1440p:

GTA V @ 4K:

Witcher 3 @ 1440p:

VR is a totally different beast though. A 970 would certainly be serviceable until the next gen of cards are out. My 780 Ti Kingpin is able to push most games I play at 1440p/120hz, though I'm not too fussed on cranking up AA or other settings.

You'll take less of a hit on used price with a 970, since it's already fairly low. With PCs today, you need to look at it as though the GPU is entirely transient. The proc/mobo/storage/memory will be golden, even with a 6700K, for many years. Selling and upgrading the GPU every 1.5-2 years is the only way to future proof.

If money's no object, there's no reason to not get a 980 Ti though.

 

[Ellite25]

Just finished installing my 970 and booted up Ryse (which I had been playing using my 770). Was getting about 30 fps with drops before, now with better settings I'm in the 70s. So far I'm quite happy!

 

[EVA UNIT 01]

Should i be bothering with OEM copies of windows at all?
Or just strait retail?

 

[mkenyon]

Should i be bothering with OEM copies of windows at all?
Or just strait retail?

TMK, the price is the same on Win 10.

 

[EVA UNIT 01]

TMK, the price is the same on Win 10.

Amazon OEM win 10 atm is $88.
retail $120

Price isnt the issue, im more confused about future installs or MS support and limitations involving an OEM version.

 

[mkenyon]

Amazon OEM win 10 atm is $88.
retail $120

Price isnt the issue, im more confused about future installs or MS support and limitations involving an OEM version.

In the past, it was just the difference of needing to call them when you made a major hardware change to validate the key. Not sure on Win 10 though.

 

[Silvard]

To be totally honest, there isn't really a single GPU that can drive 3440x1440 very well with all the bells and whistles turned to 10.

Project Cars @ 1440p:

GTA V @ 4K:

Witcher 3 @ 1440p:

VR is a totally different beast though. A 970 would certainly be serviceable until the next gen of cards are out. My 780 Ti Kingpin is able to push most games I play at 1440p/120hz, though I'm not too fussed on cranking up AA or other settings.

You'll take less of a hit on used price with a 970, since it's already fairly low. With PCs today, you need to look at it as though the GPU is entirely transient. The proc/mobo/storage/memory will be golden, even with a 6700K, for many years. Selling and upgrading the GPU every 1.5-2 years is the only way to future proof.

If money's no object, there's no reason to not get a 980 Ti though.

Yeah, I know. That's what I'm thinking I'll be doing, which is why I ask which would be the easiest to unload. It's just that so close (apparently) to Pascal I'm missing out on potential value. Although the 980 Ti equivalent probably won't be releasing any time soon if the past is any indication, and they're bound to open up with the Titan which is usually a joke price/performance wise. I wonder how much it will drop in value since then though.

How about SLI? I had it in my 2011 build (2xGTX 570s), how is it these days?

 

[mkenyon]

SLI is generally better than it was in the past. If you like to play a lot of beta/early release type games, it's very hit or miss, and mostly the latter. If you're looking at using an ultrawide 1440p panel, then it makes more sense.

 

[brandonh83]

edit: nvm

 

[e90Mark]

Buying a 970, and selling it to buy Pascal when released.

I like the 5820 over the 6700k due to the extra 2 cores/4 threads.

The ASUS X99-M is the X99 board I'd personally buy.

Just curious, why that board? I have been throwing around the idea of selling my skylake stuff to build an haswell/broadwell-e but I don't like most of the available matx boards, sans the micro2.
Also the 8 pin connectors are confusing me, there's 2?

 

[brandonh83]

OKAY... I ordered the case from Newegg (Fractal Node 304), and in my Amazon cart is the following:

Motherboard
Gigabyte LGA1151 Intel Z170 Mini-ITX DDR4

Graphics
EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB SC GAMING ACX 2.0, 26% Cooler and 36% Quieter Cooling Graphics Card

CPU
Intel Boxed Core I5-6600K 3.50 GHz

Memory
G.SKILL Ripjaws 4 Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM 2800

Storage
WD Blue 1TB Desktop Hard Disk Drive - 7200 RPM SATA 6 Gb/s 64MB

Cooling
Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO - CPU Cooler with 120mm PWM Fan

Power supply
Cooler Master G550M 550W 80 PLUS Bronze Power Supply

...and Windows 10 USB. Look good? Missing anything? Just over $1064. Obviously nervous about pulling the trigger so just wanted to do another pass beforehand. Thanks for the help guys

 

[bomblord1]

OKAY... I ordered the case from Newegg (Fractal Node 304), and in my Amazon cart is the following:

Motherboard
Gigabyte LGA1151 Intel Z170 Mini-ITX DDR4

Graphics
EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB SC GAMING ACX 2.0, 26% Cooler and 36% Quieter Cooling Graphics Card

CPU
Intel Boxed Core I5-6600K 3.50 GHz

Memory
G.SKILL Ripjaws 4 Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM 2800

Storage
WD Blue 1TB Desktop Hard Disk Drive - 7200 RPM SATA 6 Gb/s 64MB

Cooling
Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO - CPU Cooler with 120mm PWM Fan

Power supply
Cooler Master G550M 550W 80 PLUS Bronze Power Supply

...and Windows 10 USB. Look good? Missing anything? Just over $1064. Obviously nervous about pulling the trigger so just wanted to do another pass beforehand. Thanks for the help guys

Do you have a particular affinity to Nvidia? If not I usually recommend the r9 390 to 970 buyers same price point more power

 

[brandonh83]

Do you have a particular affinity to Nvidia? If not I usually recommend the r9 390 to 970 buyers same price point more power

Nope. I know very little about this stuff, it's just what someone suggested on the last page. If that one's better and compatible with what I'm building though I'll look into it.

edit: seems like it might be a bit too much for the power supply I have picked?

 

[RGM79]

Yep, already have most of that stuff in several website carts. Just fine combing the pricing and other details. Should be a pretty good build. Trying to lasso everything from Amazon, aside from the case which they don't seem to have.

edit: just to be sure, since I'm not ordering a disc drive, I'd need to order Windows 10 on a USB?

Gotcha. Probably just do USB, but then again drives aren't that expensive.

Hm, site seems to say that there aren't any disc drives compatible with my build. Anyone know why? I'm sure it's a duh answer but I'm not sure. Maybe the case (Fractal Node 304) doesn't support it?

edit: yep that's it lol. Gonna have to get Windows on a USB then or I guess an external drive.

All you need is the Windows product key, which will come in the box. You can create a Windows 10 installer on a USB drive very easily with official downloads from Microsoft, and you'll get the latest build of Windows 10 with the guided installer so you won't need to download as many patches. Installing from USB is faster than disc and you can save yourself the cost of the DVD drive unless you still need it for some reason.

OKAY... I ordered the case from Newegg (Fractal Node 304), and in my Amazon cart is the following:

Motherboard
Gigabyte LGA1151 Intel Z170 Mini-ITX DDR4

Graphics
EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB SC GAMING ACX 2.0, 26% Cooler and 36% Quieter Cooling Graphics Card

CPU
Intel Boxed Core I5-6600K 3.50 GHz

Memory
G.SKILL Ripjaws 4 Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM 2800

Storage
WD Blue 1TB Desktop Hard Disk Drive - 7200 RPM SATA 6 Gb/s 64MB

Cooling
Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO - CPU Cooler with 120mm PWM Fan

Power supply
Cooler Master G550M 550W 80 PLUS Bronze Power Supply

...and Windows 10 USB. Look good? Missing anything? Just over $1064. Obviously nervous about pulling the trigger so just wanted to do another pass beforehand. Thanks for the help guys

Do you have a particular affinity to Nvidia? If not I usually recommend the r9 390 to 970 buyers same price point more power

Nope. I know very little about this stuff, it's just what someone suggested on the last page. If that one's better and compatible with what I'm building though I'll look into it.

edit: seems like it might be a bit too much for the power supply I have picked?

Darn, if I knew you were going to order everything from Newegg and Amazon, I could have tailored the build around that. Oh well, I guess the parts list doesn't need to be min-maxed that badly, you'll probably only save a couple tens of dollars at this point.

I recommended the GTX 970 because this is a more compact build and the size of the Fractal Node 304 kind of dictates a smaller PSU (<160mm length) as well, meaning I'd have to pick the Cooler Master 550 watt PSU to fit closer to his $1000 budget instead of picking some EVGA PSU like I normally do. There's nothing bad about the R9 390 other than that it does draw higher wattage (especially if overclocked) and runs somewhat warmer than a GTX 970 would. The R9 390 does have a slightly better cost-to-performance ratio than the GTX 970, but the Nvidia card also comes bundled with a redeemable code for Rise of the Tomb Raider which is nice to have.

 

[mkenyon]

OKAY... I ordered the case from Newegg (Fractal Node 304), and in my Amazon cart is the following:

Motherboard
Gigabyte LGA1151 Intel Z170 Mini-ITX DDR4

Graphics
EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB SC GAMING ACX 2.0, 26% Cooler and 36% Quieter Cooling Graphics Card

CPU
Intel Boxed Core I5-6600K 3.50 GHz

Memory
G.SKILL Ripjaws 4 Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM 2800

Storage
WD Blue 1TB Desktop Hard Disk Drive - 7200 RPM SATA 6 Gb/s 64MB

Cooling
Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO - CPU Cooler with 120mm PWM Fan

Power supply
Cooler Master G550M 550W 80 PLUS Bronze Power Supply

...and Windows 10 USB. Look good? Missing anything? Just over $1064. Obviously nervous about pulling the trigger so just wanted to do another pass beforehand. Thanks for the help guys

On mobile, but make sure your PSU is 140mm in length instead of 160mm. 160mm will block proper length video cards.

Just curious, why that board? I have been throwing around the idea of selling my skylake stuff to build an haswell/broadwell-e but I don't like most of the available matx boards, sans the micro2.
Also the 8 pin connectors are confusing me, there's 2?

1) I like the layout the most.

2) ASUS EZ BIOS Flash is a tool that is beyond helpful.

3) I've been let down so many times by shitty BIOS releases from everyone. Except ASUS. I was really big on giving everyone a shot, and I'd go as far to say that I was a Gigabyte fanboy for awhile. But I don't have the patience I once did for dealing with that shit.

The second 8 pin is for people pushing heavy overclocks.

 

[electroflame]

I'd advise not sticking with EVGA with the motherboard. Not that they're bad, but it's kind of silly to have a ill-fitting motherboard for the case and what you need. Plus, it's somewhat expensive. Some of your other choices can be swapped out for better priced alternatives. This is what I recommend:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-5820K 3.3GHz 6-Core Processor ($374.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Phanteks PH-TC14PE_BL 78.1 CFM CPU Cooler ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: MSI X99A SLI PLUS ATX LGA2011-3 Motherboard ($211.06 @ Amazon)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (4 x 4GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($99.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 980 4GB FTW ACX 2.0 Video Card (Purchased For $0.00)
Case: Fractal Design Define R5 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA 750W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($59.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $906.01
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-02-10 22:42 EST-0500

All of this offers equal or better performance as your initial parts list, but for a lower price. Reviews for the motherboard, RAM, and power supply are very solid and largely positive. The Phanteks CPU cooler is larger than the 212 Evo and should be better able to accommodate the i7 5820K's heat. There's not much corner cutting here in terms of parts quality. I included the graphics card in there to show you that PCPartPicker confirms it will be compatible, and the motherboard includes optical S/PDIF support.

Thanks for the advice! The RAM was an especially-great call. Here's where I'm at right now (including sales tax estimations):

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-5820K 3.3GHz 6-Core Processor ($403.11 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Phanteks PH-TC14PE_BL 78.1 CFM CPU Cooler ($75.98 @ Newegg)
Thermal Compound: Arctic Silver 5 High-Density Polysynthetic Silver 3.5g Thermal Paste ($7.51 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: MSI X99A SLI PLUS ATX LGA2011-3 Motherboard ($226.88 @ Amazon)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (4 x 4GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($107.48 @ Amazon)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 980 4GB FTW ACX 2.0 Video Card (Purchased For $0.00)
Case: Fractal Design Define R5 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($96.73 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($107.48 @ Amazon)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Professional SP1 OEM (64-bit) (Purchased For $0.00)
Total: $1025.17
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Basically the only thing I overruled was the power supply. I rarely swap them out, so I'm actually paying a bit more here for the Gold rated one as it comes with a 10 year warranty (compared to 5 year with the Bronze).

The MSI motherboard seems like a better fit than the EVGA Micro 2, but I'm still a bit concerned about a couple of things:

1. The audio chip/codec is old compared to other X99 boards.
2. MSI seems to have pretty terrible customer support. Without having dealt with them previously, is there anything I should be aware of here?
3. There seem to be complaints of slow booting with an SSD, which seems odd.
4. Plenty of complaints of boards randomly dying within ~7 months (vocal minority, or real problem?).

I spent a few hours browsing other compatible motherboards, but it seems like they all have their issues. I guess I was hoping for more of a clear-cut winner, but that was probably too much to hope for, given that there's only a handful of decent X99 boards. Is the MSI X99A SLI PLUS generally regarded as a good board?

I'm pretty happy with the rest of the build, but if anyone has further input fire away -- this is my first from-the-ground-up build so it's entirely possible I'm making a huge mistake somewhere.

 

[brandonh83]

On mobile, but make sure your PSU is 140mm in length instead of 160mm. 160mm will block proper length video cards.

It is according to Amazon

*5.5"(140mm) depth provides more room in compact cases

Thanks for checking on that though, it's stuff like that I'm absolutely clueless about.

 

[RGM79]

Nope. I know very little about this stuff, it's just what someone suggested on the last page. If that one's better and compatible with what I'm building though I'll look into it.

edit: seems like it might be a bit too much for the power supply I have picked?

A run of the mill R9 390 tends to draw somewhat less than 300 watts by itself (I think around 325 watts if overclocked?), and I'd expect the i5 6600K processor to draw somewhere around 75 watts at peak usage [1][2] and maybe 100~125 watts if overclocked, and 50~75 watts for the rest of the PC combined (motherboard, fans, hard drives, etc).

The Cooler Master G550M I recommended is a somewhat more compact PSU that can supply ~500 watts on the 12V rail, so I think it'd be just enough to handle the i5 processor and R9 390 if you decided to go for that. The PSU is a bit on the low end for overclocking the processor and graphics card, though.

 

[Celcius]

Current rumors say that the fifth Titan (pascal) will be called the Titan V and release in April. I hope it's true

 

[Delicious Waffles]

So I got my PC this past weekend (so long, 2009 MacBook Pro!) and I was wondering, what's the best way to clean the inside of the case, if that's something that needs to be done (I'm not sure), and rid it of any dust the fans might bring inside?

 

[opticalmace]

Current rumors say that the fifth Titan (pascal) will be called the Titan V and release in April. I hope it's true

Link?

 

[brandonh83]

A run of the mill R9 390 tends to draw somewhat less than 300 watts by itself (I think around 325 watts if overclocked?), and I'd expect the i5 6600K processor to draw somewhere around 75 watts at peak usage [1][2] and maybe 100~125 watts if overclocked, and 50~75 watts for the rest of the PC combined (motherboard, fans, hard drives, etc).

The Cooler Master G550M I recommended is a somewhat more compact PSU that can supply ~500 watts on the 12V rail, so I think it'd be just enough to handle the i5 processor and R9 390 if you decided to go for that. The PSU is a bit on the low end for overclocking the processor and graphics card, though.

How necessary is overclocking? I'd be happy if I could run stuff like Bioshock Infinite at 1080/60 and Witcher 3 at least. The 970 seems fine though, and I can always upgrade later if I'm not 100% satisfied. However I'm not against a better PSU if you'd recommend it.

 

[Kudo]

Any opinions about this one:
http://www.samsung.com/global/busin...isite/SSD/global/html/ssd950pro/overview.html

Was thinking of getting the 512GB for OS, programs and games as 250GB SSD just isn't enough with all these new releases taking 50gb per game.

 

[EVA UNIT 01]

Part picker says compatible but the mb has an onboard 3.0 usb header yet my case has no front panel 3.0 ports.
Any fix for this besides choosing another case?

 

[RGM79]

Thanks for the advice! The RAM was an especially-great call. Here's where I'm at right now (including sales tax estimations):

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-5820K 3.3GHz 6-Core Processor ($403.11 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Phanteks PH-TC14PE_BL 78.1 CFM CPU Cooler ($75.98 @ Newegg)
Thermal Compound: Arctic Silver 5 High-Density Polysynthetic Silver 3.5g Thermal Paste ($7.51 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: MSI X99A SLI PLUS ATX LGA2011-3 Motherboard ($226.88 @ Amazon)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (4 x 4GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($107.48 @ Amazon)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 980 4GB FTW ACX 2.0 Video Card (Purchased For $0.00)
Case: Fractal Design Define R5 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($96.73 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($107.48 @ Amazon)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Professional SP1 OEM (64-bit) (Purchased For $0.00)
Total: $1025.17
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Basically the only thing I overruled was the power supply. I rarely swap them out, so I'm actually paying a bit more here for the Gold rated one as it comes with a 10 year warranty (compared to 5 year with the Bronze).

The MSI motherboard seems like a better fit than the EVGA Micro 2, but I'm still a bit concerned about a couple of things:

1. The audio chip/codec is old compared to other X99 boards.
2. MSI seems to have pretty terrible customer support. Without having dealt with them previously, is there anything I should be aware of here?
3. There seem to be complaints of slow booting with an SSD, which seems odd.
4. Plenty of complaints of boards randomly dying within ~7 months (vocal minority, or real problem?).

I spent a few hours browsing other compatible motherboards, but it seems like they all have their issues. I guess I was hoping for more of a clear-cut winner, but that was probably too much to hope for, given that there's only a handful of decent X99 boards. Is the MSI X99A generally regarded as a good board?

I'm pretty happy with the rest of the build, but if anyone has further input fire away -- this is my first from-the-ground-up build so it's entirely possible I'm making a huge mistake somewhere.

Looks good to me. Going with the gold rated PSU for the longer warranty is not a bad idea I suppose. If you want to save a tiny bit of money and still get a great warranty, the EVGA P2 650 watt model ($90 at Newegg with free shipping after $20 rebate) is platinum rated and also has a 10 year warranty. Yes, it is "only" 650 watts but that's still more than enough to overclock both your CPU and GPU with and have some headroom left over.

As for the motherboard.. well, I'm not really sure of any alternatives either that meet all your needs without going up drastically in price. I'm kind of busy at the moment, I'll take another look at some pricier X99 motherboards later. I've built a workstation for family of a friend with the older but similar MSI X99S SLI Plus with Windows 7 and there were no issues aside from an odd driver thing I resolved fairly quickly. I personally haven't had to RMA anything from MSI yet so I wouldn't know anything about their customer service, although it's not as though I've come across or bought that many of MSI's products.

How necessary is overclocking? I'd be happy if I could run stuff like Bioshock Infinite at 1080/60 and Witcher 3 at least. The 970 seems fine though, and I can always upgrade later if I'm not 100% satisfied. However I'm not against a better PSU if you'd recommend it.

It's not really that necessary. Maybe a few years down the line you might want to if things are feeling like it's not enough or if you get the DIY fever and want more performance out of your existing parts.

I'll look up a compact PSU that fits into the Node 304 later as I'm somewhat pressed for time right now.

Any opinions about this one:
http://www.samsung.com/global/busin...isite/SSD/global/html/ssd950pro/overview.html

Was thinking of getting the 512GB for OS, programs and games as 250GB SSD just isn't enough with all these new releases taking 50gb per game.

Very expensive but also very high end. If you can spend the money for it and won't feel regret, then go for it.

Part picker says compatible but the mb has an onboard 3.0 usb header yet my case has no front panel 3.0 ports.
Any fix for this besides choosing another case?

You could get a frontal USB 3.0 panel, but I forget what case you have.

 

[Novum_Veritas]

Any opinions about this one:
http://www.samsung.com/global/busin...isite/SSD/global/html/ssd950pro/overview.html

Was thinking of getting the 512GB for OS, programs and games as 250GB SSD just isn't enough with all these new releases taking 50gb per game.

I'm using the same SSD with my PC.
Best M.2 SSD you can get for your money at the moment, works flawless with my Z170 board. I can recommend it.

 

[grumble]

Current rumors say that the fifth Titan (pascal) will be called the Titan V and release in April. I hope it's true

Might want to think about the new amd card too - rumours are it'll be a beast, though expensive.

 

[brandonh83]

It's not really that necessary. Maybe a few years down the line you might want to if things are feeling like it's not enough or if you get the DIY fever and want more performance out of your existing parts.

I'll look up a compact PSU that fits into the Node 304 later as I'm somewhat pressed for time right now.

No worries! If it's not that big of a deal I'm not too concerned about it. Most of the games I'm going to be playing for the time being are from last gen like Bioshock Infinite, Resident Evil 5/6, Skyrim, etc. and I'm sure those won't be a problem. The newer games I'd like to play are XCOM 2, Witcher 3, Fallout 4 for example. As long as the build is relatively future proof and I can upgrade my GPU and stuff in a few years it's no worry.

I'm not going to order just yet though, so if you find a better one that will fit I'll be around.

 

[Kudo]

Very expensive but also very high end. If you can spend the money for it and won't feel regret, then go for it.

I'm using the same SSD with my PC.
Best M.2 SSD you can get for your money at the moment, works flawless with my Z170 board. I can recommend it.

Sounds great!
I have Z170-A so I assume it should work out of the box just plugging it to the M.2 port of my motherboard? No need to mess around the SATA Express settings or anything as it uses the PCIe lane?

EDIT: Asus Z170-A.

 

[Novum_Veritas]

Sounds great!
I have Z170-A so I assume it should work out of the box just plugging it to the M.2 port of my motherboard? No need to mess around the SATA Express settings or anything as it uses the PCIe lane?

Depends, are you using an ASUS, MSI or ASRock mainboard?

Edit:
You have to activate the M.2 with your ASUS Mainboard.
I've found a video, should be easy:
https://youtu.be/No-ct8pQcIg?t=44s

 

[Celcius]

Link?

This is just a rumor so don't take it too seriously:
http://www.overclock3d.net/articles...itan_rumored_to_be_coming_as_early_as_april/1
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1889444

 

[Silvard]

Would a 980 Ti be bottlenecked by a 2600k? I thinking that if I do buy a 980 Ti to tide me over until Pascal then I could give the 980 Ti to my 2600k build when I upgrade.

Also, can anyone recommend me a great black/white themed modular PSU that I can buy sleeved cables for?

 

[opticalmace]

Would a 980 Ti be bottlenecked by a 2600k? I thinking that if I do buy a 980 Ti to tide me over until Pascal then I could give the 980 Ti to my 2600k build when I upgrade.

Also, can anyone recommend me a great black/white themed modular PSU that I can buy sleeved cables for?

A 2600k is fine for a 980 Ti. Assuming you've overclocked it of course (and tbh even if you haven't it'll be fine).

 

[Skyfireblaze]

Holy crap, I could actually understand all of this. Thank you so much!
If anyone could chime in and confirm that this would work with my CPU, that would be great.

I just loaded up Dragon's Dogma to check my CPU temps and Core Temp says the max temp was 85C o_o. That's... not really good. I'm guessing I'll have to do something about that before I even think about overclocking my CPU :/.

You're welcome I'm glad I could write it simple enough That's what I don't like about most tutorials online:

What you want to do: Move flower-pot from A --> B

How tutorials explain it: Move mountain from A --> B



But wow yeah 85°C is way too hot to think about overclocking :/ Where are you from, US or EU? You definitely want to get a good budget cooler on the CPU D:

 

[brandonh83]

How necessary is 16GB RAM? Just saw that Quantum Break's recommended was that but the one I'm putting together has 8, and it doesn't cost much more to get 16.

 

[Mad Season]

How necessary is 16GB RAM? Just saw that Quantum Break's recommended was that but the one I'm putting together has 8, and it doesn't cost much more to get 16.

seems more games recommending 16. i just ordered 8gb more

 

[brandonh83]

seems more games recommending 16. i just ordered 8gb more

Yeah. I'm going to bump it up. It's really hardly that much more money.

 

[valeo]

How necessary is 16GB RAM? Just saw that Quantum Break's recommended was that but the one I'm putting together has 8, and it doesn't cost much more to get 16.

RAM is so cheap now that I don't see why you wouldn't get 2x8GB - it means an easier upgrade path if you ever want to get to 32GB.

I was trying to make the choice and I'm very happy I chose 16GB. Just built my PC last week!

Loving the Phanteks Pro M - if anyone wants a good budget mid-tower with great cable management would recommend this. Best case I have ever worked with.

Only issue I am having is that I can't plug the front USB 3.0 cable into the motherboard. Not sure what's gone wrong there! Just doesn't slot in. No pins broken or bent either.

 

[brandonh83]

Trying to stick close to what he suggested, instead of the 8GB Ripjaws I'm doing the 16 (8GBx2) Ripjaws. Just super worried about everything fitting/being compatible lol.

 

[RGM79]

No worries! If it's not that big of a deal I'm not too concerned about it. Most of the games I'm going to be playing for the time being are from last gen like Bioshock Infinite, Resident Evil 5/6, Skyrim, etc. and I'm sure those won't be a problem. The newer games I'd like to play are XCOM 2, Witcher 3, Fallout 4 for example. As long as the build is relatively future proof and I can upgrade my GPU and stuff in a few years it's no worry.

I'm not going to order just yet though, so if you find a better one that will fit I'll be around.

Alright, here's some higher wattage alternatives in case you want them, they should all fit well. In no particular order:

http://pcpartpicker.com/part/corsair-power-supply-cx750m
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/seasonic-power-supply-ssp650rt
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/cooler-master-power-supply-rs650amaab1us

 

[valeo]

Trying to stick close to what he suggested, instead of the 8GB Ripjaws I'm doing the 16 (8GBx2) Ripjaws. Just super worried about everything fitting/being compatible lol.

Compatibility is pretty easy - just make sure;

1. CPU fits motherboard
2. RAM is DDR3 for older mobos and DDR4 for newer
3. PSU will power everything without it exploding
4. GPU fits in case

With resources like NewEgg and PCPartPicker it's really hard to get that stuff wrong now!

 

[brandonh83]

Alright, here's some higher wattage alternatives in case you want them, they should all fit well. In no particular order:

Great! The one in the first link seems like the best deal so I'll go with that one. That being said, I should get the R390 instead of the GTX... are all variants of these cards pretty much the same, like I'm seeing MSI, Sapphire, etc. I've always wondered about that actually. Just want to make sure I get a good one.

PSU will power everything without it exploding

This would be me.