HP_Wuvcraft
Banned
HX1050. Maybe I misspoke about the warranty.
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"I Need a New PC!" 2015 Part 2. Read the OP. Rocking 2500K's until HBM2 and beyond.
- Thread starter Hazaro
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I'm a bit of a novice at this PC stuff, so a lot of what you said completely went over my head. How do I find the amps on the 12v rail? And how do I compare that with a potential new GPU?
Cute Dragon Here
Member
You indeed did. There's still a good 4 years left in the warranty... and due to its quality, it should be very safe for you to reuse it.
Mind you, if it's potentially faulty, make use of their RMA process. It's top-notch, and they might even slip in an upgrade if they feel like it (just don't mention that bit - just mention that your PSU might have a problem.)
HP_Wuvcraft
Banned
Sneaky Gato
Member
Edit: Opps I'm sorry I didn't see the laptop thread I'll just move this post there.
Cute Dragon Here
Member
Generic/OEM replacement batteries should work more than well enough in my experience. Check the battery model, look up your favourite online marketplace, buy from someone with a good rep.
Though I didn't personally use online stores myself - I bought my replacement battery off a local shop, and it works fine. So long as you avoid the "fakes" (nobody but your laptop's original manufacturer/service centre should sell the original battery packs; best you can do outside of it are generics in my experience, may be different in the USA), you will be fine.
(Man, as I finish this, things got edited out... now this post seems off-topic.)
Anyway... what's a good high-refresh monitor on the cheap?
I asked a few weeks back, but asking again as my friend is extremely close to pulling the trigger on a new build. Figured i'd ask here again just before.
He wants a build for gaming, video editing / after effects / VR. His budget is upto £1000.
Now the biggest thing is the GPU.. With new cards on the horizon I guess its better for him to buy a stop gap card and wait and see how the new cards unfold right? Even then stuff like the 980 or TI will drop in price. What card would be good as a wait and see option?
He really wants to get into VR but I feel like the 980 tier is too expensive, and the 970 might not be good enough to run VR games 100% well..
Here are some parts that've been put together: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/t4nFWZ
No GPU or case yet (what cases are recommended with good space to put it together)
Anything else to consider? Thanks!
He wants a build for gaming, video editing / after effects / VR. His budget is upto £1000.
Now the biggest thing is the GPU.. With new cards on the horizon I guess its better for him to buy a stop gap card and wait and see how the new cards unfold right? Even then stuff like the 980 or TI will drop in price. What card would be good as a wait and see option?
He really wants to get into VR but I feel like the 980 tier is too expensive, and the 970 might not be good enough to run VR games 100% well..
Here are some parts that've been put together: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/t4nFWZ
No GPU or case yet (what cases are recommended with good space to put it together)
Anything else to consider? Thanks!
Ok, so it sounds like I should go with 2x4gb, thanks! Is there a slot for another intake fan on the 100r?
roadrunn3r
Member
Probably the worst time ever to buy a new GPU. Get the rest of the system but tell him to wait till June when the new cards should be out. If he really can't wait, get a 390X at least. A 970 is not a good choice anymore IMHO, certainly not for £320.
Cute Dragon Here
Member
While you're making your own part list, I thought that this might be a good reference.
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant
CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($194.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: MSI H170A PC Mate ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($79.99 @ Micro Center)
Memory: Crucial 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($56.99 @ Adorama)
Storage: Kingston FURY 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($47.99 @ Micro Center)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 970 4GB Twin Frozr V Video Card ($304.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case ($44.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair CX 600W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($48.98 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($18.89 @ OutletPC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home Full - USB (32/64-bit) ($108.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $966.79
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-04-27 06:58 EDT-0400
Keep in mind that this is for the "I must have a system now!" crowd - best to not buy the video card if you want to wait for Pascal/Polaris.
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant
CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor (£160.97 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: MSI H170A PC Mate ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (£80.99 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Crucial 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory (£49.04 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Kingston SSDNow V300 Series 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£51.37 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£42.99 @ Ebuyer)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 970 4GB Twin Frozr V Video Card (£275.92 @ Aria PC)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case (£52.50 @ CCL Computers)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 600W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£49.99 @ Amazon UK)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer (£11.48 @ Amazon UK)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home Full (32/64-bit) (£85.88 @ More Computers)
Total: £861.13
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-04-27 11:51 BST+0100
Here's a whole system coming at £861.13 including ODD and OS.
Change the 970 into a 390 if you prefer the red camp. Note that the PSU is best fit with the 970, and changing it into a 390 would make the PSU a bit more close to its limits. Shouldn't be too much trouble, though, given the amount of budget leeway.
I have made the storage options and the PSU to be the bare minimum you should be getting for the rig in question - while the SSD and HDD are perfectly fine as is either way, you probably can get a nicer PSU, but do note that you'll be paying a lot more. Something about the quality of a RM650x, for example, might be a lot better long-term, but at least, within 5 years, the CX600 should be fine (if it's a v3 - that one has Japanese primaries.) (I actually has a CX600M, powering an i5-4590 + 970 rig, and the 970 is OC'ed as far as it can get.)
You probably don't need the i7, unless you plan on using the rig for a lot of video editing, then might as well go for the i7-6700 (it still won't go over the £1000 limit).
Nah, the 390 is the comparable to the 970 in my opinion... but yeah, this appears to be a poor time to buy a video card. Wait for Pascal and/or Polaris first. (If you must buy a video card now, 970 or 390, and remember to overclock the 970 like mad to match it to a 980. Pretty sure you can use the leeway to get a 980 or 390X...)
Cute Dragon Here
Member
The integrated HD 530 should be able to let him coast by until the new cards arrive while at least affording him playability on the lower-end, but popular games (things like CS:GO, DOTA2, most MMOs, Rocket League, that kinda games). What does he play usually?
Yeah, if lots of video work, get an i7-6700 (that will still not make him overbudget) and you'll be at the best Skylake can offer. Probably a good idea to go high-speed RAM, too...
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant
CPU: Intel Core i7-6700 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor (£248.94 @ More Computers)
Motherboard: MSI Z170A PC MATE ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (£86.99 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory (£67.98 @ Ebuyer)
Storage: Kingston SSDNow V300 Series 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£51.37 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£42.99 @ Ebuyer)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case (£52.50 @ CCL Computers)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 600W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£49.99 @ Amazon UK)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer (£11.48 @ Amazon UK)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home Full (32/64-bit) (£85.88 @ More Computers)
Total: £698.12
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-04-27 12:21 BST+0100
I have still made the motherboard the bare minimum, but I strongly recommend going at least the MSI SLI Plus/Gaming M3 or the Asus equivalent (Pro Gaming?) for the feature set (or SLI support if SLI Plus, but it's going to be less "featureful" compared to the M3) - I think that board I've picked might not be the best choice for high-speed RAM (besides chipset and CPU IMC, to some extent power delivery on the motherboard counts, too.)
When the new hotness arrive, there's bound to be a £300 card or so that might make sense. Heck, if he's saving up between now and then, he might have a much larger budget... perhaps he'd be able to get the 980 Ti equivalent then?
GlamFM
Banned
Wow! Thank you!
Cute Dragon Here
Member
Hmm...
How much faster than the baseline VR-ready system you'd like it to be?
Do you care about looks?
GlamFM
Banned
I don´t, and I´m already kind of overwhelmed to be honest.
Is this thing any good?
I might just buy it and be done with it..
Cute Dragon Here
Member
I don´t, and I´m already kind of overwhelmed to be honest.
Is this thing any good?
I might just buy it and be done with it..
Ah, so the same crazy HP desktop deal as so many others have seen.
It seems overpriced in Germany, though. That 2 year warranty doesn't inspire confidence, either.
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant
CPU: Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor (€343.78 @ Mindfactory)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H80i v2 70.7 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler (€97.78 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Motherboard: MSI Z170A GAMING M3 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (€140.95 @ Mindfactory)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory (€88.84 @ Mindfactory)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (€90.03 @ Mindfactory)
Storage: Western Digital BLACK SERIES 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (€132.05 @ Mindfactory)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 980 Ti 6GB Video Card (€650.85 @ Mindfactory)
Case: NZXT Phantom 530 (White) ATX Full Tower Case (€119.90 @ Caseking)
Power Supply: Corsair 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (€123.48 @ Mindfactory)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NSC0 DVD/CD Writer (€14.59 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home Full (32/64-bit) (€162.23 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Total: €1964.48
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-04-27 15:11 CEST+0200
Should be close enough (though sans input devices or Wi-Fi), and you get a system that's truly yours, components have full warranty terms, and best of all, everything is standardized, and easily replaceable.
This machine is technically overkill if you consider the minimum recommended specifications for either Vive or Rift, but you will be covered for a long, long time if you splurge out of the box.
Though...
Think you can get away with an i5 and a 970/390? Don't need really fast RAM? Lesser storage (performance or capacity)? Or perhaps a more "black box" case?
GlamFM
Banned
And another WOW!
Thank you so much.
This will be my PC!
Since my VIVE wont ship till early June I will wait a bit and see if something happens GPU wise (read some rumors about Pascal).
Again, thank you.
Cute Dragon Here
Member
You probably should play around with the PCPartPicker part list I've created - it's probably not as optimal as it should be, but as it is right now, it should still take you very far. I'm sure that there's probably better deals in Germany if you can find it!
Turns out he used a crappy Y-splitter for the 6-pin connector, lol.
Two molexes into one 6-pin power connector.
He tried to make it work again today and one of the Y-splitter wires lit up like a Xmas tree.
Don't use a Y-splitter on your GPU, m8s, unless it comes with your card and your power supply is capable of it. Which, if it doesn't have a 6-pin connector, it probably isn't.
I guess I should've told him that, but he said his power supply was a "good 650W one", so I just assumed.
Cute Dragon Here
Member
Sometimes it does feel like power supplies are too opaque, really. Have you enquired about the exact model he had? How old was it?
At least he's probably thinking of getting a new PSU.
Things I have
GPU:OEM Nvidia 980ti
Processor:i7 6700K
Memory:16gb crucial 2133 memory
Storage:120gb Kingston V300 ssd + samsung 840pro 120gb ssd
Storage:3tb seagate 7200rpm HDD
Power Supply:600W thermaltake T2 Power Supply
Case:Corsair C70 Vengence (Military Green)
What I need
Motherboard
Cooler
What I want to do
Water cooling... I've never done watercooling before and I want to give it a go.
Case has room for up to 2 280mm radiators and I would like to water cool the GPU and the CPU....
Any advice on a kit? What to do to get started?
I'd prefer not to just take the "safe" route with the AIO coolers out there I want some customization. I'm thinking like a simple dual loop maybe? With a neon green or prehaps a yellow/orange colorant.
GPU:OEM Nvidia 980ti
Processor:i7 6700K
Memory:16gb crucial 2133 memory
Storage:120gb Kingston V300 ssd + samsung 840pro 120gb ssd
Storage:3tb seagate 7200rpm HDD
Power Supply:600W thermaltake T2 Power Supply
Case:Corsair C70 Vengence (Military Green)
What I need
Motherboard
Cooler
What I want to do
Water cooling... I've never done watercooling before and I want to give it a go.
Case has room for up to 2 280mm radiators and I would like to water cool the GPU and the CPU....
Any advice on a kit? What to do to get started?
I'd prefer not to just take the "safe" route with the AIO coolers out there I want some customization. I'm thinking like a simple dual loop maybe? With a neon green or prehaps a yellow/orange colorant.
Oh, he already ordered a proper new one. Thankfully it looks like all the components survived, he tested them with another power supply.
The PS that melted the wires was of a brand I never even heard of. According to him it's a 2011 unit, but I highly doubt it. Could be though, with no-name brands.
Cute Dragon Here
Member
OEM 980 Ti? Uh, pardon, but do you mean it's a reference cooler 980 Ti? Or you do not remember the exact brand? More information might be needed to see if you need more cooling on it first.
First things first: a motherboard! What's your RAM type? DDR3 or DDR4? That will decide on our motherboard selection, which will be a Z170-chipset type since it's going to power up a 6700K.
As for the cooler, usually, people opt for water cooling (specifically AIOs) either due to looks or stress relief on the motherboard. They tend to be not worth it on the lower-end of the scale unless case space is in a premium, though. Something about the level of the Corsair H80i v2 (formerly H80i GT) would be more than sufficient for a 6700K; this should perform similar to most top-end air coolers without looking ugly, or entry-level 240mm radiator water cooling setups. They are designed for CPUs and CPUs only, though, I think.
For water cooling on the GPU, best bet is probably to either go custom or premade. I'm not too well versed with regard to this (seems getting a souped-up cooler is more than enough for most people), though.
The only thing you need to be careful of? Make sure your case has airflow going through it, and don't mix CPU and GPU radiator in the same cooling chain (keep them separate, please!)
Well, at least he'll be more aware of a need for a decent PSU in the future. Consider it a lesson learned.
PeskyToaster
Member
Damn it feels good just to go into some games I had trouble running smooth on my 5 year old laptop and just cranking the settings. I need to find an explanation of all these settings though.
Cute Dragon Here
Member
Generally...
Texture size/resolution/quality: affects how well a texture can look like in the game. Usually won't cause performance losses, but keep an eye on the video RAM usage. Mild spill-over to the system RAM is OK, but try to keep the RAM usage in check - under your VRAM is best.
Texture filtering/anisotropic filtering: affects how well a texture can look like when it's displayed at steep angles. Usually, again, won't cause noticeable performance losses on modern cards, but you should check just to be sure.
Anti-aliasing: Reduces the appearance of jagged edges in the scene. FXAA or SMAA usually does a decent job while keeping the performance impact to a minimum. MSAA is more expensive but deals with sub-pixel polygon aliasing well - but it won't work on textures at all. Usually, the best results happen when you combine MSAA with temporal and post-processed filtering.
Shadows and ambient occlusion: affects how shadows and dark areas are rendered for the most part, former dealing with general shadowing, and the latter adding some additional occluding/shadowing to objects that are near to each other or the environment. Turning it all up makes for a very nice scene, but usually has a large performance impact.
Lighting: how well the scene lighting looks like. May depend on game; performance impact also depends on how the game engine handles lighting, though it's definitely not a "free" boost.
Draw distance/object fade: higher this is, farther you can see, or at least farther things can get before looking worse. Implementation depends on game; some games may provide additional "how bad the quality should get" too. Usually multiple things have their distance settings. up to and including lighting and shadows (see above).
Reflections: handles rendering of reflection, from nothing at all to highly-accurate. Again, performance impact depends on game.
Effects and post-processing: usually the thing that gives a game its distinct look, keep it at least sort of turned on. Of course, the higher it goes, the harder it is.
Gross oversimplification, really. Probably a good idea to just hit up the tweak guides available at the GeForce website... Just remember that the only "free" options are the stuff related to textures and texture filtering, so long as VRAM requirements are still being met.
Any thoughts on the NZXT S340? I didn't realize the 100r was all plastic, which is a bit of a turn-off.
EDIT: Didn't realize the NZXT s340 isn't designed to use intake fans. Crap, I imagine this is something I'll want, unless you guys don't think it'll make a huge difference in someone moderately OCing a 6600K with a 970. However, if newer cards that run hot come out it may be a problem.
PeskyToaster
Member
Thanks! I didn't know they had guides. I'll check em out.
If you've answered this already, apologies, but what do you not like about Gigabyte BIOS?
I've been using their boards for awhile, and have a Gigabyte Z170MX right now, and don't find any issues with it.
Thought about the Phanteks Eclipse P400? Can still use intake fans well whilst having a relatively closed front.
Oh man, I love the look of this! Thanks for the link.
To anyone in particular: If I'm only going with a two case fan setup, is it better to have a top mounted exhaust fan plus a read exhaust, or a front in take and rear exhaust?
Lashley
Why does he wear the mask!?
Ah, will do.
Collateral22
Member
I got it. My first PC build too and I found it really nice to operate with. Has good room for everything, and a cool shield to route the 24 pin power connector through and keep it hidden, although I had to take mine out because the evga 600w psu didnt have bendy cables so I couldnt get a good angle to put it in.
Lots of good cable tie mounts for cable management and its easy to keep it tidy. Some of the thumbscrews however were way over tightened. Not sure if its an individual basis but it was a paid, specifically SSD mounts.
Pretty sure my back fan is an intake fan too, top one is definitely exhaust though.
Canklestank
Neo Member
Huh? Here's a promotional render in an intake setup.
Definitely the latter. You want positive pressure, so you can help keep dust to a minimum.
well I think the S340 has space for 2 intake fans at least on the front, it's just the air opening is on top.
The phanteks def looks better to me tho haha. And you want to have both intake and exhaust.
Lashley
Why does he wear the mask!?
Instead of spending a load on a 980ti build, I'm considering going with this and upgrading the GPU when pascal comes out, as well as the CPU at a later date.
Budget build that can play new games on 40fps + 1080p on high at least
PCPartPicker part list: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/XB2NkL
Price breakdown by merchant: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/XB2NkL/by_merchant/
CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor (£194.28 @ Aria PC)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H60 54.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler (£59.95 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: Asus Z170-A ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (£121.57 @ More Computers)
Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Black 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory (£29.80 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: A-Data Premier SP550 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£31.98 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£37.98 @ Novatech)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 970 4GB Twin Frozr V Video Card (£275.92 @ Aria PC)
Case: Corsair SPEC-03 Blue ATX Mid Tower Case (£49.99 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Certified ATX Power Supply (£39.58 @ CCL Computers)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) (£73.98 @ Ebuyer)
Total: £915.03
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-04-27 17:18 BST+0100
Would I run into any problems upgrading the computer at a later date?
Budget build that can play new games on 40fps + 1080p on high at least
PCPartPicker part list: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/XB2NkL
Price breakdown by merchant: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/XB2NkL/by_merchant/
CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor (£194.28 @ Aria PC)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H60 54.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler (£59.95 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: Asus Z170-A ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (£121.57 @ More Computers)
Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Black 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory (£29.80 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: A-Data Premier SP550 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£31.98 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£37.98 @ Novatech)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 970 4GB Twin Frozr V Video Card (£275.92 @ Aria PC)
Case: Corsair SPEC-03 Blue ATX Mid Tower Case (£49.99 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Certified ATX Power Supply (£39.58 @ CCL Computers)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) (£73.98 @ Ebuyer)
Total: £915.03
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-04-27 17:18 BST+0100
Would I run into any problems upgrading the computer at a later date?
Yes, I think I misread.
What SSDs do you guys like/what size do you recommend? Looking to be as cheap as I can without getting something junky, top of the line performance doesn't matter much. Do most people go for a 240/120 and put the OS/whatever games they're actively playing then put the rest on whatever other hard drive you have? Thanks.
https://www.ekwb.com/shop/ek-kit-x240
Fully customizable, extendable and very good components.
Swiftech is another option (and maybe preferable if you're stateside)
Collateral22
Member
I just got a 120gb SanDisk SSD. Have my OS, programs, Fallout 4 and small MP games on it and the rest on my 1TB HDD. Load times are well worth it. about 8 seconds to boot to windows and 5 seconds to shut down.
AndrewDean84xX
Banned
I just got a laptop.
17.3 1080p screen
6th Generation Intel Skylake i7-6700HQ (3.5 GHz)
GTX 980M 8GB GDDR5
32GB DDR4 2133 MHz of RAM
250GB SSD
1TB HDD
17.3 1080p screen
6th Generation Intel Skylake i7-6700HQ (3.5 GHz)
GTX 980M 8GB GDDR5
32GB DDR4 2133 MHz of RAM
250GB SSD
1TB HDD
Thinking about going for a 240gb, PC games are freaking enormous now filse size wise. Is the SanDisk one a decent HD? Thanks.
ethomaz
Banned
Fact is these MSI mobo I listed lakes features compared to Gigabyte... to be fair even looking at R$1300 price range the GA-Z170X-UD3 looks like an amazing featured mobo or even the GA-Z170X-Gaming 5.
the Gigabyte are $130-160 being sold at R$1000-1300 here while the MSI $130-160 are being sold at R$1200-1600... same for ASUS.
I'm thinking to up my budget to R$1200 but the Gigabyte will be the best option.
What is so bad about GA firmware?
I will try to make better comparisons using the US price too.
Cute Dragon Here
Member
It's a far cry from what's being offered by Asus and MSI for their Z170 boards, but if you're used to it, it should be fine. Just that for new users or people that want to get things done ASAP, it's not very good.
That, and anecdotal tales of firmware going bad, but I wonder if that's widespread. (Mind you, that includes my dad's office computers and how they stopped going Gigabyte.)
For best overclocking results, I'd prefer a H80i v2 (formerly the H80i GT), but that H60 will still take you far, and keep your case looking neat and pretty.
That RAM isn't going to run optimally. Get a dual-channel kit. (Either 2 sticks or 4 sticks; you probably want a 2 sticks of 4 GB (2x4GB) kit.) That small price premium pays for it by giving you double the bandwidth! And although 8 GB works, sometimes you might run into limits. If you want to, get a 2x8GB kit. Also, pair that board with a DDR4-2400 kit or better. Best to avoid the plain Jane memory if possible - sometimes CPUs get bottlenecked by such memory.
Note that this motherboard has issues trying to run DDR4-3000 memory or faster. These memory aren't much more expensive than DDR4-2400 kits, so that might be worth considering. Otherwise, it's solid.
Should go with a 240-256GB SSD at this time unless you plan on having it keep only the OS, page file, and standard apps on the drive. It's not going to leave a lot of space once everything's in place, and write performance suffers.
For builds where you plan on upgrading to a better GPU when they come out, I don't suggest spending so much on the video card. Think you can coast by with Intel integrated first?
Think you could use semi-modularity and/or 80+ Bronze? PSUs with such capabilities are just a few more pounds away... Same for 600W PSUs.
Strongly consider getting a full licence of Windows 10 (non-OEM, in other words) if you plan on changing the motherboard for this PC in the future instead of building a new PC.
Ah, just read the above link. If you're the kind of person that prefers to work with firmware instead of Windows utilities, Gigabyte does leave something to be desired, but usually, if lots of features, it should be fine to go with Gigabyte.
...that is, if I'm not reserved, after hearing tales of my dad's office computers no longer using Gigabyte boards due to issues.
Lashley
Why does he wear the mask!?
Will get a full license of Windows, thanks.
I'll get another 8gb stick too, to avoid bottlenecking. For the SSD, I was just going to place Windows on it, and the occasional game, but I might get a bigger sized one.
I was wanting to be able to play the newest games right away, thats why I was after a GTX 970. Wasn't going to upgrade the GPU for another two-three years. Think it would last me until then? For 1080p + gaming?
Will get another PSU. Is the Processor a decent choice?
Thanks for all the help, really appreciate it!
Magicman103
Member
Hey guys, I'm about to pull the trigger on these parts. I just wanted to verify that this will be a solid PC that should last me about 4 years. I plan to use it for 1080p/60fps gaming as well as some VR applications eventually.
CPU: Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz 8m Processor
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO
Motherboard: Gigabyte LGA1151 Intel Z170 ATX Motherboard ATX DDR4 (GA-Z170X-GAMING 5)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 DRAM 3000MHz
Storage: Crucial MX200 250GB
Storage: Seagate 2TB Desktop Gaming SSHD
Video Card: NVIDIA GTX 670 (However I plan to upgrade to a GTX 1080 when Pascal arrives)
Case: Corsair Carbide Series 100R Silent Edition
Power Supply: Thermaltake TOUGHPOWER 750W 80 PLUS GOLD Full Modular Power Supply
Wifi: ASUS Wi-Fi PCI Express Adapter
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home
Thanks in advance!
CPU: Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz 8m Processor
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO
Motherboard: Gigabyte LGA1151 Intel Z170 ATX Motherboard ATX DDR4 (GA-Z170X-GAMING 5)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 DRAM 3000MHz
Storage: Crucial MX200 250GB
Storage: Seagate 2TB Desktop Gaming SSHD
Video Card: NVIDIA GTX 670 (However I plan to upgrade to a GTX 1080 when Pascal arrives)
Case: Corsair Carbide Series 100R Silent Edition
Power Supply: Thermaltake TOUGHPOWER 750W 80 PLUS GOLD Full Modular Power Supply
Wifi: ASUS Wi-Fi PCI Express Adapter
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home
Thanks in advance!
Cute Dragon Here
Member
Note that the SSD is more like "what I use, I'm putting it in there too" - adjust to your preference.
Yes, the CPU should be more than good enough, especially when overclocked. You want at least an i5-6500 to be comfortable - the i5-6600K is quite a bit nicer, and you can overclock it to further the margin. Brushed up on your OC knowledge yet?
That should be fine, or you can get a 390 instead (adjust your PSU plans accordingly due to 100W extra.)
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant
CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor (£194.28 @ Aria PC)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H80i v2 70.7 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler (£74.99 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: Asus Z170-A ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (£121.57 @ More Computers)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory (£56.99 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Kingston HyperX Fury 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£59.93 @ More Computers)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£37.98 @ Novatech)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 970 4GB Twin Frozr V Video Card (£275.92 @ Aria PC)
Case: Corsair SPEC-03 Blue ATX Mid Tower Case (£49.99 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 600W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£49.99 @ Amazon UK)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer (£11.48 @ Amazon UK)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home Full (32/64-bit) (£85.88 @ More Computers)
Total: £1019.00
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-04-27 18:38 BST+0100
It's quite a bit more expensive than our previous build, but that's mostly caused by the additional memory, SSD, and to a lesser extent the cooler, OS, and PSU changes. Add a bit more for semi-modularity or noticeably better quality (though the PSU should still last you about 5 years in practice if you're not straining it with 550W+ loads) (That PSU? It's actually what I use, sans modularity, and it might be the best CX series PSU when all's said and done.)
Up to you to decide if a better PSU (80+ Gold, semi-modularity minimum, 600W minimum, 5yr warranty minimum) is worth the jump in PSU costs.
Note: PCPartPicker (it seems you're using it?) has a specialized BBCode export option for use in forums like NeoGAF.
You don't need an SSHD if you have an SSD for boot, apps, and multiplayer games. That HDD can be safely downgraded into a normal 2TB unless you're more into that newly-introduced 5-year warranty term for Seagate hybrids.
Also, cheaper SSDs exist. They provide you more value, so long as you don't intend to write to them all day.
Is the video card pre-existing?
Do you really need a Wi-Fi adapter?
OEM copies are good, but it's preferable to have a full licence if you foresee doing a motherboard swap. OEM licences will never activate again on a different model motherboard.
Alright, I've decided that I'm definitely going to go with the S340. I love the look of it and the price.
In terms of fan setup: If I have non-water cooling setup for the CPU (using a 212 and doing some overclocking, nothing crazy though) what is the optimal setup for the two case fans that are included? Should I have the intake fan in the front or on the top?
In terms of fan setup: If I have non-water cooling setup for the CPU (using a 212 and doing some overclocking, nothing crazy though) what is the optimal setup for the two case fans that are included? Should I have the intake fan in the front or on the top?
Can't go wrong with samsung. I have my OS and some softwares on 250 gb 850 and games and the rest on a 1TB Blue on my setup.
You might be enough with 120 if you don't have many softwares I guess, but I have quite a lot and I'm left with 100-ish on mine, as I want them to run faster on SSD.
Cute Dragon Here
Member
Intake at front row of fan mounts (use the topmost one for single-fan configs), exhaust at the rear. Don't bother with the top or bottom mounts at the moment. It's likely your case comes with such a configuration out of the box. This way, your case air flow should be fairly balanced...
I also strongly recommend filling empty top vents with exhausts if you get additional fans later on, since otherwise your rear exhaust might take shortcuts and not cool as effectively. Make sure to balance that with additional intakes. I personally don't think there's a wrong way to do computer case fan setups, so long as it's not exclusively positive airflow (intakes only, in other words) - in that case, heat's not going anywhere. Make sure that, no matter what, at least one fan in the rear or top is acting as the exhaust. That's probably the ground rule.
Intake heavy layouts keep the dust out, but are less effective at getting heat out.
Exhaust heavy layout gets heat out a lot faster, but things can get dustier.
Great, thanks a lot. Just waiting on my friend to pull through with that sweet sweet $120 6600K and I'll put in the order for the other parts. Here's what I've decided on getting for my CPU upgrade:
Case: http://www.amazon.com/NZXT-Tower-CA-S340W-B1-Glossy-Black/dp/B00NGMIBUU?ie=UTF8&psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=ox_sc_act_title_1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER
SSD: http://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-Plus-240GB-2-5-Inch-SDSSDA-240G-G25/dp/B00S9Q9VS4?ie=UTF8&psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=ox_sc_act_title_2&smid=A1CIO1FZK7A4ZD
RAM: http://www.amazon.com/Crucial-Ballistix-PC4-19200-BLS2K4G4D240FSA-BLS2C4G4D240FSA/dp/B00MTSWEQE?ie=UTF8&psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=ox_sc_act_title_3&smid=A3N7VF71PEMVE
Mobo: http://www.amazon.com/Gigabyte-2-Way-CrossFire-Motherboards-GA-Z170-HD3/dp/B012AQGKXC?ie=UTF8&psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=ox_sc_act_title_4&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER
Nothing about this should overstress my 620w CPU, right? Even with the added hard drive and new ram? This is, as mentioned before, with a non-oc'd 970. As far as I understand it, reasonably OCing my 6600K should result in less power draw than my currently OC'd 2500K (4.2ghz)
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