[Badedyret]

Hi everyone,

 

After 6 years of inactivity in the PC-building arena, I've decided to throw out the old desktop (i7 920 system) and build a new high-res gaming desktop from scratch. I've done the first round of basic research on all the new developments since I last tried to build a desktop, and so far I've come up with the following:

 

CPU: Intel i7 6700

MOBO: Gigabyte GA-Z170 HD3

GPU: ASUS GeForce 970 GTX

PSU: Seasonic G series 750W

RAM: G.Skill 2x8 Gb 3200 mhz DDR4

SSD: Samsung Evo 850 250gb

HDD: Western Digital 2TB Green

OS: Windows 10 

CASE: NZXT Phantom 410 Gunmetal

CPU COOLING: TBA?

GPU COOLING: TBA?

 

The main weakness in the build is probably the mobo, and whilst it has received fairly decent reviews from e.g. tomshardware it is a budget mobo, and I'm unsure if I'm making a huge mistake by not spending 50-100$ on a different motherboard.

 

I don't intend to overclock my machine, so I'm not sure whether or not I should bother investing in additional cooling (the PC will be in an aircon controlled room), but I could potentially harvest a Noctua NH-U12P CPU cooler from my old rig. However its a massive beast and I'm not really sure if will fit inside the NZXT casing I've chosen (anyone with experience in this?). But for gaming I'm guessing GPU cooling would be more important anyway? Suggestions to good cooling options (if needed in the first place) is most welcome.

 

If any of you are spotting other major flaws with this build, please do feel free to highlight them to me. I'm really rusty, so any kind of feedback is welcome.

 

Cheers!

Edit I:  I forgot to mentioned that I'm also not sure about the selected PSU. Is it overkill with 750W when not intending to overclock? 

Edited by Badedyret, 16 February 2016 - 04:08 AM.

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Hello Badedyret,

 

The CPU and 16GB of Ram are overkill for gaming atm but no harm being ready for the future.

 

MB is ok but spending a little bit more would do no harm to get one with better reviews/a better track record.

 

PSU is an old model and only has a 5 year warranty, nothing wrong with the 750W output as newer add on GPUs, additional storage devices and cooling fans will all need supporting should you upgrade/add more in the future, PSU with a 10 year warranty that I would opt for here

 

WD Green HDD would be a no for me, 5400rpm is too slow, WD Blue or Black would be better sticking with the same brand.

 

Case and OS both good choices.

 

No OCing is also good as it is easier on the hardware + you dont need third party coolers that have the potential to void your warranty if things go wrong.

[phillpower2]

Hello Badedyret,

 

The CPU and 16GB of Ram are overkill for gaming atm but no harm being ready for the future.

 

MB is ok but spending a little bit more would do no harm to get one with better reviews/a better track record.

 

PSU is an old model and only has a 5 year warranty, nothing wrong with the 750W output as newer add on GPUs, additional storage devices and cooling fans will all need supporting should you upgrade/add more in the future, PSU with a 10 year warranty that I would opt for here

 

WD Green HDD would be a no for me, 5400rpm is too slow, WD Blue or Black would be better sticking with the same brand.

 

Case and OS both good choices.

 

No OCing is also good as it is easier on the hardware + you dont need third party coolers that have the potential to void your warranty if things go wrong.

[phillpower2]

Not heard back from you Badedyret , do you still require assistance or has your question been answered, an update would be appreciated.

[Badedyret]

Hi phillpower2,

 

I'm deeply sorry about my lack of response (real life suddenly got hectic), and thank you a lot for your feedback to the build I posted. I really appreciate the time you've taken to evaluate my build. Your notes on the harddrive were very useful. I'm gonna go with WD Blue as I can understand that's less noisy and slighty faster than Black for gaming.

 

In regards to third party coolers: E.g. if I get a third party cooler (I've been thinking about getting the Corsair H80i GT cooler for my CPU just to keep things nice and cool) and replace it with the CPU stock fan, will I then void the manufacturers warranty on the CPU? 

 

For motherboard I'm thinking of getting ASUS Z170 Pro Gaming instead. As far as I can tell by most reviews is that it's a good value board with a lot of features.

 

For casing I'm also considering the COOLER MASTER Storm Enforcer ATX casing. It seems to have very good potential for upgrades in the future.

 

Finally, in regards to the CPU. Would it make more sense to get an i5 (any recommendation?) rather than the i7 6700 and then use thosesavings towards a Geforce GTX 980 (or similar) in order to get a better gaming experience?

 

The Witcher 3 is one of the games I'm looking forward to playing the most, and hope to get a beautiful experience out of the game with this build. However, I don't have a monitor that supports 4K (or the funds to buy one), so that's something to take into account too.

 

Again, my sincere apologies for the very delayed response.

 

Cheers,

Jonas

[phillpower2]

Best Answer

Hello Badedyret,

 

No worries we understand people have other things going on but we get so many abandoned threads that I prefer to check back with an OP to make sure that they received notification of a reply to their thread.

 

HDD details acknowledged.

 

3rd party coolers, with AMD you automatically void your warranty if you use any cooler other than what was provided in the same box as the CPU, they state this in their warranty terms, Intel are a little more vague but after myself having a conversation with an Intel rep I can tell you that you do not automatically void your 3 year warranty if you use a 3rd party cooler, that`s clear enough but now the vague part, if for some reason you need to RMA the CPU and it is deemed by Intel that the use of a 3rd party cooler has damaged the CPU the 3 year warranty is voided, how would they know you may ask, well they have ways of finding out with their microscopes etc and many people will actually tell Intel that a third party cooler has been used, you are not OCing so give any stock cooler a go and if not happy then consider an upgrade (the stock cooler should be used in the initial build in any event and up until the OS is installed, this so that you know everything works as stock and that a third party cooler has not hosed the system should it not power up etc.

 

I like and use ASUS MBs but the ASUS Z170 Pro Gaming board does not get very good reviews at Newegg, see here an alternative is the ASUS Z170-AR 

 

COOLER MASTER Storm Enforcer, wouldn`t be my first choice but it is ok and gets reasonable reviews.

 

If only for gaming an i5 would be more than adequate but if you are ever likely to take up CAD, games programming, professional video rendering or 3D modelling then an i7 would be the way to go, you have said that you will not be OCing so you do not need an unlocked processor but just so that you have as much info to go on before deciding I will make sure that you are aware of the following regarding the two versions of the i5 6600, the k version which is unlocked is faster, has a higher maximum TDP of 91W, does not ship with a stock cooler and is more expensive, the locked i5 6600 has a max TDP of 65W and does ship with a stock HS and cooling fan.

 

4K screens are already coming down in price + remember that you are building as future proof as possible a rig so having the card and its capabilities now makes more sense than not getting the best that you can now and then find yourself contemplating upgrading the GPU again further down the line when you have the cash for a 4K display.

 

Hope the above helps and any further questions let us know. 

 

BTW: I started this reply on the 22nd in the afternoon but got sidetracked elsewhere so fully understand that no one can be around 24/7 

[Badedyret]

Hi phillpower2,

 

Thank you very much for your reply. Your knowledge on warranty issues are very useful, and I appreciate your time and effort in helping me.

 

You might hate me for this, but I've done a full re-evaluation of my build based on the fact that I do not want to overclock and that this machine is purely gonna be for entertainment. In my professional life I actually do a lot of modelling that requires hyper-threading (i7 and Xeon processors), but in order to protect my work-life balance I've decided to build a computer that not allows me to work from home, so based on some additional research and your advice I've come up with the following build which is probably closer to mid-range than high-end now.

 

CPU: Intel i5 6600

MOBO: ASUS H170 Pro Gaming (I realized the main difference between the H- and Z- series is the ability to overclock and run SLi. Since I don't want to do either of that, I thought I might as well save some bugs, and according to some benchmarks, the H170 seems to score pretty high within its series. If you think it's ludicrous to go with a H-series mobo, please let me know.)

GPU: ASUS GTX 970 STRIX

PSU: Seasonic M12II-MODULAR 620W (My supplies doesn't stock EVGA PSU's unfortunately, and I'm thinking 620 should be enough a non-overclock build (the GTX 970 requires 500W to my knowledge) and the S12II M12II series are both on the Tier 2 list of PSU's.)

RAM: G.Skill Ripjaws-X 2400 Mhz 16gb DDR4 (8x2 Pcs) memory (unchanged, I like the safety in having plentiful memory)

SSD: Samsung EVO 850, 250 GB

HDD: WD 7200 RMP Caviar Blue 1TB (as per your first suggestion)

WIRELESS: TP-LINK TL-WDN4800 Dual Band Wireless N900 PCI Express Adapter (Seems to be good value for money)

CASE: NZXT Phantom 410 (I think I will revert back to this case. It has better reviews than the Storm Enforcer after all. pcpartpicker warns that the size of my GPU might be compromise one/some of my drive bays in this mid-tower case, but I guess that's fine as long as I don't intend to use all my drive bays?)

COOLING: I'll go with stock after reading your comments.

 

By "downgrading" to parts that do not support features that I'm not interested in (overclocking, SLi), and thus also saving money on additional cooling, I've managed to save quite a bit of money on this revision of my original build. However, I'm naturally always looking to find weak spot and optimize parts within the same pricerange.

 

Let me know if you have any additional thoughts on this build, but if you're getting tired of me constantly switching out parts and going left and right with my build, I can also understand if you've had enough of me!

 

Cheers!

Edited by Badedyret, 24 February 2016 - 01:51 AM.

[phillpower2]

Hello Badedyret,

 

Not problem whatsoever with you changing parts around, we are here to help you make the best decision/s that you can 

 

Revised parts list looks 99.99% ok to me but again not sure about the MB, too much bad feedback from Newegg purchasers, especially when you consider that there are only 11 reviews, see here as opposed to the feedback for the board that I suggested which you can check here your call I know but I like to nag 

 

Don`t know what it is but it seems hard to find a 170 MB with really good reviews for under $200 

[Badedyret]

Thanks for your patience with me phillpower2!

 

I forgot to tell you that the reason why I had to "ignore" your otherwise sound suggestion for the Z170-AR is that my provider does not stock it. A little background to this:

 

I am an expat living in Singapore where parts are about 60% more expensive than if you bought them in the US. In Singapore all the cheapest retailers are grouped into one big mall (Sim Lim) where you basically have to be careful not to be cheated or hustled. One reputable seller there (which I trust) is willing to assemble and install all OS basics if all parts are bought in the same store for zero added price. This is a good offer since you at most can hope to save ~20-30 dollars on your build if you buy each part from different stores, and I'm saved from the hustle of assembling myself.

 

The biggest downside is of course in situations like this, where the part that you want is not on the list of items (as with the Z170 Asus).

 

I don't want to trouble you more than I have already done, but here is the pricelist that is available to me in case you're interested:

https://www.dropbox....celist.pdf?dl=0

 

In any case, you might very well be right that it's not possible to get a good 170-series motherboard based for less than 200$, but at least among the H170's the Asus H170 Gaming pro seems to score the highest in benchmarks among other H170's:

http://motherboardbenchmark.net/ (look under best H170 boards).

 

Hrmm always so hard to decide on the motherboard - it was the same part that caused most confusion last time I built a computer, hehe.

 

Cheers!

[Badedyret]

Hi again,

 

After some research I realized the ASUS Z170-A is virtually identical to the ASUS Z170-AR, and the latter is available from my retailer (Problem solved!). In regards to Z170-A vs ASUS Z170 Pro Gaming, the general consensus on forums seems that both boards are pretty evenly matched, but the Pro Gaming comes with newer onboard sound tech and more USB 3.0 ports (which is always nice). And of course, the -A is black/white while the Pro is black/red (so just looks really). 

 

In terms of benchmarks they are matched too with pro gaming scoring a little higher in onboard sound/video tests:

http://motherboardbe...et/asus-z170-a/

and

http://motherboardbe...170-pro-gaming/

 

 

My thoughts right now is that I will be pretty well off with choosing either board. But please let me know if I overlooked some critical difference between the two.

 

Cheers,

[phillpower2]

Hello Badedyret,

 

Very evenly matched boards but just shading it is the ASUS Z170 PRO GAMING due to its superior Audio/Video score, most modern MBs have a very good integrated audio chips these days in any event so it really comes down to making the decision as to whether the $30 price difference is justified.

[phillpower2]

How are things progressing with the new build Badedyret.