New Prodigy build

[Ivy]

Estimated specs for new build. Will be my new gamer-PC and estimated to be completed in about 1 to 2 months. If any weakness or maybe improvements found i may have interest. Hardware in bold i already got, most of the stuff is still able to be exchanged if there is good reason doing it.


GPU: 980 TI Matrix
CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K (LGA 1151)
CPU-Cooler: Megahalems Red Series
MB: ASUS Maximus VIII Gene mATX
RAM: G.Skill Trident Z 16GB (2x8 GB) DDR4-3200 C16
SSD/HDD: Game-SSD: Samsung SSD 950 PRO 512GB [M.2] / OS-SSD: Samsung SSD 850 PRO 256GB [SATA 6]
PSU: Seasonic Snow Silent 750W
Case: BITFENIX Prodigy M Orange

Maybe some additional coolers, not sure yet...

As you may see, it is not about "cutting cost", since it is meant to be pricy and long lasting. However, it should still be reasonable, performance without use may not be meaningful. Most important to me is a somewhat compact system (not a huge tower), while maintaining a sufficient cooling without to much noise and a PC able to be long lasting and still powerful. Platinum PSU is important to me because every bit of heat i can take away may add endurance and may even lower noise, as the case is not to huge it is useful in order to lower the heat-signature.

 

[caddi daddi]

I don't see a need of 16 gigs of ram, 8 shoud be plenty.

 

[Ivy]

Well, the cost of those 16 GB RAM is about 125 USD, in term i go down half the size (2x4 GB) the price cut will be less than half because the 16 GB spot is pretty much the "mainstream" size nowadays and in this case it is a pretty good "price to performance" ratio. So i feel it will add some security for future content and games, without to much difference in cost. I think i will keep the 16 GB, the safe up is just to minor and some headroom always useful.

 

[Witchdoctor]

Looks nice, always have been a fan of the Gene

Hope you post some pics,

 

[Dlaw]

750w is overkill for a single GPU, but I can't imagine a 550w or 650w platinum PSU will be much less cost wise.

The only thing I see, is you'll definitely want your OS on the 950. The 850 is a great drive, but the 950 is better.

My suggestion, is to go with the 256GB 950 Pro for almost half the cost, and go with a 500GB 850 EVO with the leftover for games. Then, you can use the 850 Pro for whatever else (maybe the games that benefit the most from the boost in speed?), but you'll still end up with more storage for the same money.

 

[Ivy]

Well, been a Long time. Actually i made a Picture of the final specs and i think the PC turned out to be pretty awesome and it pretty much is crunching everything at 1080P, so my target is meet. At 2160P/4K there is currently no single GPU able to provide smooth FPS at high Settings and i still lack a good Screen (preferably a OLED TV but so far there is no sufficient one, so it´s not a issue staying on 1080P for more years). I may upgrade my GPU as soon as there is a capable GPU for 2160P/4k with at least 2 times the Performance (16 TFLOP+ at OC) but at 1080 P i see no reason to upgrade anymore because i already told... the GPU is crunching this Resolution (for my games at least) so i surely had a nice present with the free 980 TI Matrix (at OC around 8 TFLOP) with astounding cooling power, expensive but clearly a dream GPU for many more years to come.



Certainly, i can make Picture of the PC too using my new camera, yet i still lack a USB cable so i have to postpone a Little. Cabeling is still worse but the PC Looks great and the red LEDs including White/black Colors fits perfect, certainly worth a shot. I think it´s hard to get even more cooling power at a case of this size, it got a powerful fan Setup (surprisingly, still quiet*).

*of Course i had to adjust some fan profiles in order to make it almost without noise; CPU fan run at around 700 rpm, almost same for the big 230 mm spectre runs around 670 rpm (DC mode, they lack the better PWM mode, however the spectre runs with low noise at 670 rpm DC mode), and all the other fans run at around 400+ rpm. Fully sufficient and the Standard Settings are Overkill in term there is so many fans attached, it would truly overload the airflow without good reason. Actually the only time the fans are speeding up is when the CPU is at 100% load but this is very unrealistic in any gaming Situation and it only may happen in Benchmarks and other synthetic stuff, so this is no matter, but still important to know that the fans can properly power up in term there is a Need. Need means, when CPU is above 80 C (will Need almost full load, again, pretty unrealistic, so purely theoretical). The GPU will usually stay below 75 C at full load, with a TDJ of 91 C absolutly no issue and actually great too. More important, a GPU is prone to have Close to max load in many games, so the fan still staying quiet is more critical at this spot and it is fully sufficient doing so. Sure many GPUs can provide same Performance but usually not with same low noise Level, so i think it can be a good Investment to pay a Bonus.

 

[Dlaw]

Very nice specs, and I like how you set your partitions up on the M.2 drive. You should see plenty of years on that system.

I love Prodigy builds, that case is probably my favorite in the SFF category. I can't wait to see pics.

 

[Ivy]

In my mind it´s one of the biggest SFF (bigger than this is not anymore considered SFF to me) and the weight with all the pretty chunky stuff inside is at the Limit of being able to move without to much sweat (unless you are a Body builder that´s not me). But the outstanding Thing this big sized SFF case is able to execute (especially together with the newest mATX MBs from Asus and others with almost full scale ATX abilitys) is that it really can do the Task usually only a pretty large (a least 1/3 more size or even twice) ATX build is able to handle (especially if someone is not going for Multi GPU for different reasons) without any real drawbacks on cooling and without any power issues (even the biggest ATX supply is easy match) and at the same time it truly is looking good, so i don´t Need to hide it.

Sure, there is some rather minor issues, i would use another material on certain spots and the material Quality is not all that great, and some architecture related stuff can be improved too but in Overall the engineers made a nice Job into the right direction and the Prodigy is able to supply a new age of builds previously rather difficult to achieve because boards had lesser capability (Technology not able to be miniaturized at Close to no Performance cost) and PSU was with lesser capacity and Quality too and the fan and cooling in general technology is slowly improving too, giving better airflow without adding noise nor size and the RAM is without heat issues anymore even at high OC and more stuff. Many manufacturers finally are realizing the new possibilitys and it's interesting to see that there is a increased amount of SFF cases all around the world. Some time ago, most true Gamers had in mind it's hilarious going small or smaller (mainly because of heat, because cooling technology was way weaker) but time is changing. I think it's now fully possible to create SFF builds (single GPU with almost any cooler size and power demand and with CPUs at good OC) without any true drawbacks vs. huge ATX builds. Full ATX usually only makes sense if someone is going for several GPUs (and the PSU is not the issue, not even case cooling in term of Prodigy but the huge space needed), but the Efficiency will be decreased and the cost can be very beefy too; For example my single GPU got a Launch Price of Close to 850 USD... if someone want several of them the Money bag Need to be pretty wealthy.

Anyway, just as i told, in my mind the strength of the Prodigy is not small size but simply the great in-between step between reduced size but at the same time Close to the same potential compared to many full ATX, and i have to admit... they simply made a great Job doing so. I have lot of joy using this build and i may create even more build like this in future, so stay tuned.