New Build!

[Sh0tTy]

Hey first post for me here. I am building a new computer and finally upgrading after about 6 years of my current build. I don't do anything too crazy, mainly use it for gaming. I did my research and chose some parts but everytime I get to this point and need to start to pull the trigger on purchasing I always second guess myself and then can't decide between parts. Any input on the parts picked out would amazing, also if I have any fatal flaws like two things are gonna blow up and kill me I would love to know before it does

Build:

Case: Phanteks Eclipse P400S (white)
CPU:Not sure if the little extra gained on the i7 7700k is worth the extra $100 so as of now I'm going with the i5 7600k
GPU: 6GB EVGA GeForce GTX 1060 FTW2
Mobo: Asrock z270 Extreme4
RAM: Was going to go with either Ripjaws V series or try out the Trident RGB for the added look
PSU: I always do this last so i can determine how much power to get
NIC: I know nothing about network cards but the placement in my new house is going to require me to buy some kind of wireless network card and I don't put up with lag
Cooling: I currently own Cooler Master 280 pro, everything else will be air...not quite ready to dive down the rabbit hole that is complete liquid cooling
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO 2.5 for windows

Again any feedback would be awesome.

 

[trents]

You will not need a big watt PSU if you are only running one video card. Would suggest the EVGA Super Nova series. 650 watts will be considerably more than you will actually need. Don't get a cheap brand of PSU.

What games do you play? I would have you reconsider the GTX 1060. That is a low mid range card. GTX 1070 at least. Also you might want to reconsider the 7600k v. 7700k. More and more AAA games are able to use the extra processing threads of the 7700k and that trend will continue.

I would recommend 16 gb of RAM. Go for 3200 MHz which may make a little difference in performance on some games.

What is your budget by the way?

 

[Daleon]

Yeah what games you playing and on what kind of monitor?
Live near a Microcenter?

Personally I wouldn't build a new system right now and get a 4\4 cpu instead of a 4\8 to save $100. In the long run your wasting money as it will not give high end performance for as long.

For GPU, if your gaming at just 1080p@60hz and don't need to run ultra on the most demanding games then a 1060 would likely do. Hard to find anything else in its price range better. It can push The Witcher 3 at max 1080p and keep it in the 70's but your basically on the cutting edge. From here on new games could bring it down under 60 and if your doing anything higher like 2.5k or 144hz its not enough. 1070's are starting to come back down to $400 where it should be. There are some new ones on Ebay for $430 range but a lot of places still selling for $500 or more. Vega 56 at would be one option at $400 if it was out and in stock.

 

[Sh0tTy]

Thanks for the quick responses. To answer some of the questions.

I never really thought about a budget. I probably should have considered that I guess looking for something in the 800-1000 range. I can cut corners if need be, I already own 16 GB of gskill RAM so upgrading memory is something I can do later.

I don't live near any type computer hardware stores unfortunately.
The most recent games I've been playing before my old computer kicked the bucket was Dark Souls 3, The Witcher 3, MMOs here and there, Total War.
I have dual monitors, both are ASUS VX238H-W. No 4k or anything too fancy there. The upgrade will come eventually so I should probably buy something I won't
have to replace so soon down the line.

I would go for a 1070 if i can find one for a reasonable price, that hike up in prices is what made me drop down to a 1060. As for the processor, I looked last night and pushing to a 7700k seems pretty reasonable from where I was if the difference is justifiable. If you had to choose between spending extra on a GPU or CPU which would you go, I'm leaning toward GPU unless I can find one that's not way to much or still out of stock. I really want an EVGA.

 

[Daleon]

You have 16 GB of DDR4?

Do you game across both monitors? Would consider picking up a 3rd would make for some nice surround gaming.
If your just gaming on one monitor at 1080p I would put the extra into the 7700K now. Easier to either go SLI or upgrade GPU later and not be stuck with a gimp cpu.

Would up the mb to a ASRock Z270 TAICHI for the built in dual band 802.11ac and better OC'ing.
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16813157754

 

[batboy]

If the choice comes down to saving a little on the CPU or vid card, get the better CPU, because as a gamer you'll want to upgrade the vid card way before the rest of the system.

Nobody has addressed the wifi card. I moved to a new house a couple years ago and went all wireless. I went through a couple of cheap wifi cards and I can assure you, do not skimp on the wifi card. Asus has the best available at the moment. I have a Asus PCE-AC68 and love it (follow link and click on AC1900). The Asus PCE-AC56 is just as good, just doesn't have the remote antenna (same link, click on AC1300).

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16833320173

 

[Tír na nÓg]

You have 16 GB of DDR4?

Do you game across both monitors? Would consider picking up a 3rd would make for some nice surround gaming.
If your just gaming on one monitor at 1080p I would put the extra into the 7700K now. Easier to either go SLI or upgrade GPU later and not be stuck with a gimp cpu.

Would up the mb to a ASRock Z270 TAICHI for the built in dual band 802.11ac and better OC'ing.
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16813157754

Nice mobo!

For 3 monitors, a 1060 or a 1070 would not cut it. OP would need at least a 1080.

 

[Sentential]

That's a pretty tame setup what kind of budget are you working with? I say that because it is far more cost effective to buy a laptop or prebuilt and then overclock it. I'll give an example not too long ago there were Alienware 17s with 1070s on the outlet that were around $1500 with HK CPUs that overclock. I know it's heresy but unless you're going with a $2k big **** swinging HEDT there really isn't much reason to do it yourself when you factor in the cost of a decent monitor and the OS.

If the choice comes down to saving a little on the CPU or vid card, get the better CPU, because as a gamer you'll want to upgrade the vid card way before the rest of the system.

Nobody has addressed the wifi card. I moved to a new house a couple years ago and went all wireless. I went through a couple of cheap wifi cards and I can assure you, do not skimp on the wifi card. Asus has the best available at the moment. I have a Asus PCE-AC68 and love it (follow link and click on AC1900). The Asus PCE-AC56 is just as good, just doesn't have the remote antenna (same link, click on AC1300).

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16833320173

Most current gen routers have a vicious tendency to overheat so stick with either the RG supplied by your ISP or buy a prosumer one (like Ubiquiti)

 

[batboy]

I thought in his first post he said wifi card. Yep. went back and looked, he's talking card not router. Some of the upper crust motherboards have built-in wifi. of course

 

[Jeff G]

That's a pretty tame setup what kind of budget are you working with? I say that because it is far more cost effective to buy a laptop or prebuilt and then overclock it. I'll give an example not too long ago there were Alienware 17s with 1070s on the outlet that were around $1500 with HK CPUs that overclock. I know it's heresy but unless you're going with a $2k big **** swinging HEDT there really isn't much reason to do it yourself when you factor in the cost of a decent monitor and the OS.

Case: Phanteks Eclipse P400S (white) - $85 Newegg
CPU: i7 7700k - $320 Newegg
GPU: Gigabyte 3 Fan GTX 1080 - $510 Newegg
Mobo: Asrock z270 Extreme4 - $155 Newegg
RAM: 2x8gb Ripjaws V 3200 - $127 Newegg
PSU: EVGA G2 650w - $90 Newegg
NIC: I know nothing about network cards but the placement in my new house is going to require me to buy some kind of wireless network card and I don't put up with lag
Cooling: Hyper 212 EVO - $35 Newegg
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO 250gb - $104 Newegg

Without the NIC, that totals $1426. Add in $40 for Windows 10, you're at $1466. Sure, you won't have a built in 17" screen, but it'll blow away that Alienware laptop.

Most current gen routers have a vicious tendency to overheat so stick with either the RG supplied by your ISP or buy a prosumer one (like Ubiquiti)

I have two 'current gen' routers and neither of them get warm to the touch. Which routers are overheating?

 

[trents]

That's a pretty tame setup what kind of budget are you working with? I say that because it is far more cost effective to buy a laptop or prebuilt and then overclock it. I'll give an example not too long ago there were Alienware 17s with 1070s on the outlet that were around $1500 with HK CPUs that overclock. I know it's heresy but unless you're going with a $2k big **** swinging HEDT there really isn't much reason to do it yourself when you factor in the cost of a decent monitor and the OS.



Most current gen routers have a vicious tendency to overheat so stick with either the RG supplied by your ISP or buy a prosumer one (like Ubiquiti)

I have a TP Link C9 (AC 1900) and though it does feel warm to the touch it has not given me any problems with overheating in two years of operation .

 

[Daleon]

That's a pretty tame setup what kind of budget are you working with? I say that because it is far more cost effective to buy a laptop or prebuilt and then overclock it. I'll give an example not too long ago there were Alienware 17s with 1070s on the outlet that were around $1500 with HK CPUs that overclock. I know it's heresy but unless you're going with a $2k big **** swinging HEDT there really isn't much reason to do it yourself when you factor in the cost of a decent monitor and the OS.

Ha, really? So its currently not worth building anything but a $2K Skylake-X\Kabby Lake-X machine right now? Not sure who you are working for, Intel or Dell...

I'll put my bust of a Ryzen home system up against your Alienware anyday of the week

 

[Tír na nÓg]

Ha, really? So its currently not worth building anything but a $2K Skylake-X\Kabby Lake-X machine right now? Not sure who you are working for, Intel or Dell...

I'll put my bust of a Ryzen home system up against your Alienware anyday of the week

Well, I must say I agree with you Daleon. And not talking about non upgradability of laptops (or super expensive!).

I have the rig in sig for quite a while now. Started with a 7970 and no NVME. moved to 780 ti,1080 and finally 1080 ti, added a 960 EVO M2. COUld have never done that with a laptop...

 

[Sh0tTy]

After reading through everything I think I'm onboard with upgrading the CPU and worrying about upgrading graphics cards as they go. I never realized until it was mentioned that over the life span of my old rig I upgraded the graphic card twice since initial build. It would also end up being cheaper to upgrade the motherboard over paying for a good wifi card. Plus that is a pretty looking mobo. So now I'm looking like:

Case: Phanteks Eclipse P400S (white)
CPU: i7 7700k
GPU: 6GB EVGA GeForce GTX 1060 FTW2
Mobo: Asrock 270z Taichi
RAM: Ripjaws V or Trident
PSU: EVGA SUPERNOVA 650
Cooling: I currently own Cooler Master 280 pro
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO 2.5 for windows

This brings me to around 1200 if there are no deals at time of purchase, which there usually are.

Also, sorry Sentinel. I build over buy because I love doing it even if I can't afford top of the line everything and getting some white sleeved wires I think it's going to be a pretty sight.

 

[wingman99]

You could save some money and purchase the EVGA GeForce GTX 1060 SC, it will overclock the same as the FTW2.

 

[Tír na nÓg]

^this: with Pascal, all card overclock the same except for extreme benchmarking (dice/ln2) where the beefier vrm's make a difference. But not under ambient cooling (air/water).

 

[Sentential]

I have a TP Link C9 (AC 1900) and though it does feel warm to the touch it has not given me any problems with overheating in two years of operation .

Three responses, first the archer is quite a good router, second a good resource for networking equipment would be smallnetbuilder which would confirm my previous remark. Also ambient temperatures play a significant part.

Case: Phanteks Eclipse P400S (white) - $85 Newegg
CPU: i7 7700k - $320 Newegg
GPU: Gigabyte 3 Fan GTX 1080 - $510 Newegg
Mobo: Asrock z270 Extreme4 - $155 Newegg
RAM: 2x8gb Ripjaws V 3200 - $127 Newegg
PSU: EVGA G2 650w - $90 Newegg
NIC: I know nothing about network cards but the placement in my new house is going to require me to buy some kind of wireless network card and I don't put up with lag
Cooling: Hyper 212 EVO - $35 Newegg
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO 250gb - $104 Newegg

Without the NIC, that totals $1426. Add in $40 for Windows 10, you're at $1466. Sure, you won't have a built in 17" screen, but it'll blow away that Alienware laptop.



I have two 'current gen' routers and neither of them get warm to the touch. Which routers are overheating?

First a good HDR or 4K monitor is easily $300 and he’s talking closer to $1000 not $2000 as I said initially. From a value standpoint for the moment pre-builds are a better choice unless you’re spending over $1500

Second as for routers? I’ve trashed just about every brand you could name: Dlink, TPLink, Linksys, Netgear, Belkin, Amped Wireless and more I can’t think of. The only ones I’ve seen that hold up to heavy wireless traffic are Cisco Aironets and Ubiquiti APs. When you slam both Ethernet and Wireless hard at the same time with inTRAnet traffic with things like TimeMachine or Plex the heat of the amplifiers will thermally throttle/kill 99.9% of consumer routers.

Ha, really? So its currently not worth building anything but a $2K Skylake-X\Kabby Lake-X machine right now? Not sure who you are working for, Intel or Dell...

I'll put my bust of a Ryzen home system up against your Alienware anyday of the week

Neither I’ve been around long enough to not really have to justify these kinds of thing but w/e.

Straight benchmarks aren’t necessarily everything if you’re cash strapped and can’t afford a balanced system. Everyone here would admit it’s difficult to buy and build a machine with an i7 with a GTX1060 and an OLED/4K monitor for $1100 like I got. That’s all I’m saying.

I’m not saying a desktop like yours doesn’t have its place but from a pure benching perspective like you suggest Ryzen is a garbage processor that even overclocked will lose to a Coffeelake laptop in the immediate future.

I will build a system eventually and when I do it’ll most likely be a heavily modified and overclocked 2P Purley based Mac Pro for about 3-4K which is justifiable over doing another scrapped together windows box.

Well, I must say I agree with you Daleon. And not talking about non upgradability of laptops (or super expensive!).

I have the rig in sig for quite a while now. Started with a 7970 and no NVME. moved to 780 ti,1080 and finally 1080 ti, added a 960 EVO M2. COUld have never done that with a laptop...

Thunderbolt 3 pretty much ended that argument. It’s getting to be a hard sell in my mind to justify building a gaming machine anymore when doing a server is approaching parity.

After reading through everything I think I'm onboard with upgrading the CPU and worrying about upgrading graphics cards as they go. I never realized until it was mentioned that over the life span of my old rig I upgraded the graphic card twice since initial build. It would also end up being cheaper to upgrade the motherboard over paying for a good wifi card. Plus that is a pretty looking mobo. So now I'm looking like:

Case: Phanteks Eclipse P400S (white)
CPU: i7 7700k
GPU: 6GB EVGA GeForce GTX 1060 FTW2
Mobo: Asrock 270z Taichi
RAM: Ripjaws V or Trident
PSU: EVGA SUPERNOVA 650
Cooling: I currently own Cooler Master 280 pro
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO 2.5 for windows

This brings me to around 1200 if there are no deals at time of purchase, which there usually are.

Also, sorry Sentinel. I build over buy because I love doing it even if I can't afford top of the line everything and getting some white sleeved wires I think it's going to be a pretty sight.

All good! I try to be the voice of reason on here because without that some responses tend to be biased towards the adventure and not results. Some people just don’t have the time to tinker with things incessantly like a lot of us do and so I try to be respectful of that.

Also if you’ve set your mind on a 7700k try to source a used board since lots of folks will be unloading them for Coffeelake. That should save some for you to put elsehwere

 

[Mjolnir]

I admittedly haven't read through most of this thread..

But Considering your original post revolved around an i5 vs i7, have you considered a Ryzen 1600? 6c/12c. Minor OC to 3.8ghz will keep you going for a while I believe.

Grab a B350 board on the mid range, grab a slightly cheaper PSU around 500-550w, and ensure you grab 2933-3200mhz RAM. I imagine overall this should leave you with a slightly cheaper core build, with perhaps the room to breathe to grab a GTX 1070 or something. I'm in Australia so I can't comment pricing off the top of my head though...

 

[maxfly]

keep an eye on this seasonic psu, you can usually catch it on sale with a rebate for close to $45. ive used it more times than i can remember in client builds and have never had an issue with one. if you prefer an evga they are running a sale on their psus right now so youll likely find a good deal.
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16817151095

https://www.evga.com/products/productlist.aspx?type=10