New user New Build

[johnsavv]

Hi guys! So happy to have found this forum! I tried the Vive and was absolutely BLOWN AWAY! IMHO there is no way the ps vr will be the same, so I decided to take the $ I put down on the ps vr and will apply that to the vive... Now, I don't have a PC! I drank the Apple kool-aid and have been using Macs for the past 10yrs, love the Mac but for gaming they are a POS! So I started looking at sites like ibuypowerpc and cyberpowerpc, loved the fact I could pick my own parts etc but than I got to thinking back in the day 10+ years ago I've built a few pc's, I am thinking things couldn't have changed that much..though am hesitant with the things like needing thermAlpaste for the cpu etc... I am thinking of a build along these lines
Case Mid Tower (an atx case so many to choose from but don't want a huge foot print was thinking a thermaltake 31 $125)
I7 6800 $420
PsU (not sure here thinking a 850w) $200ish
MB Asus Rampage 10 $480
Mem was going to go with dd4 3200 32gn $204
Gpu Evga 1080 FTW edition $670
A pci ssd for the OS $200 to $300
Need windows 10
Cooler Thermaltake Water 3.0 Riing RGB 360 Edition $180
SAMSUNG 950 PRO M.2 256GB $190 (will use as OS drive)
Than probably a 7200rpm 3tb hdd
Comes to around $2800
Would love some input and suggestions, down the road I want the ability to be able to upgrade my cpu if need be and throw another 1080 in sli in there for true 4K gaming without a stutter , but for now I just want a good machine to play vive and was thinking of getting rid of my xbox one since what would I need for anymore? Will keep my ps4 for exclusives but otherwise will use PC for gaming... Thanks for any input suggestion help etc...
John

 

[EarthDog]

Welcome!!!

That is a beast of a PC, but, overkill on many parts. You can easily go 6700K and Z170 among other things. There is no need for a hex core for gaming.


* If you are always going single GPU and not dual, a quality 550W PSU will be fine (EVGA 550 G2 comes to mind).
* That motherboard is massive overkill. If you like the look of the ASUS board, get the Strix and save $200
* 32GB is a ton of ram, but you 8GB sticks are pretty common so, that is what it is for me
* As far as M.2 PCIe drives, Go samsung 950 Pro or the OCZ RD 400.

 

[johnsavv]

I was thinking the MB was way over kill but I like the fact it had the sound built into it, looking to just be able to plug a hdmi into. Tv or monitor and no other cables, figured the on board sound was what stuck out to me... I know. Hex core may be overkill but an sorta hoping down the road and games require more power I want to be able to just upgrade, looking to sort of future proofing my build... Still need to do a lot of research, any other suggestions on MB's? Priced out my build and still was cheaper than what they have over at Ibuypowerpc or cyberpowerpc ... Though I do like the fact they put it all together for you.... What suggestions to foam the case to quiet it? Also I think if I build it I don't want it looking sloppy... Thanks for any more suggestions or help

 

[EarthDog]

Every motherboard has onboard sound... that asus board also comes with a discrete solution. You only need that if you have good speakers or cans. One wire would require you to use your monitor/TV speakers which are garbage anyway.

I wouldn't sound proof things... I'd buy better fans for the case.

As far as putting it togerher, it's easy...same with with wire management.. just takes a little logic and creativity.

 

[TechWizard]

From what I have been seeing/experiencing if you're looking to "future proof"; less is more.

Buy what you need to create a solid rig for "right now". How much bang you will get for your buck is what you should be focused on - everything you'll buy today will be far cheaper in a year or two regardless of how much you spend now. IMO you will be better off spending at most $1500-2000 now and another $1000-1500 in upgrades in two years or so.

You could buy a crazy expensive $500 dollar motherboard that supports quad channel memory - or you could spend a fifth of the price on any Z170 board and combine that with a 6700k for less than the entire cost of that particular motherboard. Grab 16 or 32GB of some fairly high frequency memory (3000+) with decent timings and find a good sale on a decent GPU (970 or better).

From the advice I had received the only major difference you need to worry about is if you're concerned about gaming in 4k. There is a major difference in building a system that will handle graphics at 1080p and a system you intend to handle games at 4k. For that it'll come down to your graphics cards mostly. Personally I just picked up a GTX 970 because they're at a great price point right now and can handle any AAA game at max settings for the most part at 1080. I figure this will buy me enough time to save up for a pair of 1080 GTX's in the near future while I wait for 144hz 4k monitors to hit the market.

The sad truth that I have come to grasp is that 4k gaming isn't here 100%. If you want that super crisp smooth gaming experience then you're stuck waiting for everything to come together.

Hex Core won't do you any favors for gaming. Most games barely accommodate 2 cores. Honestly, simply put, Skylake is just where it is at economically because you have excess processing power with 4 cores as it is. It's price point is great right now (nearly $100 cheaper than anything else in its performance ball park). It is also a fantastic OC candidate as there is plenty of documentation and testing done for it already (at least I think so).

If you go this route you'll spend roughly $1500 and end up with a rig that can handle just about anything at 1080. Then when monitors come around and you decide you want to upgrade to 4k you can drop another $1000-1500 on graphics cards and a monitor. This way you'll at least have a lot of flexibility in terms of upgrades with what is available at the time. There is nothing worse than being stuck dealing with a market where there isn't much room for choice.

Lastly, if you're going to buy an M.2 drive (a premium storage choice) you should just spring for the 512GB version - it's just $100 more for double the capacity, a worth while investment. I'll be doing this myself when the time is right per ED's recommendation.

 

[johnsavv]

So far from what I understand if future proofing is my goal it seems I may be best going with a z170 and a i7 6700 especially for the fact I game and that's my main reason to build a PC, also seems if I understand correctly that the z170 will take the next gens of Intel CPUs they release, also thinking going for the mb a msi gaming titanium z170 as they a heck cheaper than their x99 counterpart.. For the gpu I want the Evga gtx 1080 ftw... Is this starting to sound more like a plan? What's the best mid size tower case I can grab that will be super easy for a noob to install?if I do end up building myself sounds like I can get a heck more for my buck! Just also nervous setting everything up... Thank god for google! Does the MB sound like a decent choice? Really would love some more direction here my budget is between 2,000 to absolute worse case scenario (3500) though money at the end of the day isn't a concern I don't want to be a fool either and part with it to quickly...as the entire reasoning besides better gaming quality than my consoles can offer, I'm all about that VIVE (which the price of is not a part of that 2k - 3.5k budget) would love some more input... At least researching further sounds like most expensive isn't always the best choice (will the x99 accept the next couple of cpu's like the z170?)

 

[EarthDog]

Z170 will not accept kabylake cpus. Maybe the updateday skylake, but will not offer performance gains, it will be a die shrink.

That z170 MPower titanium board is a better choice (I just reviewed it on the front page), but you still don't need anything like that either. A $180 board or so that has the features you need (m.2, usb 3.1 g2, etc..). Something the asrock z170 extreme 6 or giga gaming m5, or msi gaming g5, Asus z170 pro...

 

[johnsavv]

Hi, first off sorry for the other post and not keeping this all in one thread, my bad. Well I just keep researching and racking my brain with all this stuff, my budget is upwards max 3g. I know this system is a bit overkill but at the end of the day I do also use the PC for slightly more than just gaming (photos videos etc but just as a end user nothing intense by any means) what do you guys think of this build? The price point is right where I want to be just not sure the difficultly involved with putting all these parts together and thab setting up the bios etc...
PCPartPicker part list:
CPU: Intel Core i7-6800K 3.4GHz 6-Core Processor ($419.99 @ B&H)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i v2 70.7 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($91.99 @ Newegg)
Thermal Compound: Cooler Master HTK-002 0.01g Thermal Paste ($3.98 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Asus ROG STRIX X99 GAMING ATX LGA2011-3 Motherboard ($322.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($169.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 512GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($287.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 8GB FTW DT GAMING Video Card ($659.95 @ B&H)
Case: Phanteks Enthoo EVOLV ATX ATX Mid Tower Case ($154.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA NEX 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($79.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Pro OEM 64-bit ($129.83 @ OutletPC)
Case Fan: Thermaltake CL-F043-PL14SW-B 51.1 CFM 140mm Fan ($63.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $2380.68


Would love some feedback of what could be added or improved to this build...
John

 

[wingman99]

That looks like a good setup.

 

[johnsavv]

Thanks! I am pretty confident I am ordering the parts though am second guessing the MB (price not the issue but read a few poor reviews) wondering if I could get something better for around the same price (will go around 400 if needed for MB) also can't find the Evga gtx 1080 ftw edition any where in stock and I refuse to pay more than msrp... May put an order in with b&h though they currently are not stock... I have also decided I'm going to go with the Nzxt H440 (love the case though it doesn't have a spot for an optical drive which I would rather like, but heard no optical drive offers better cooling... Any case like the h440 that has all those nice features like allready having foam in it etc... Seems like a great beginners case... And in going with the 750 Evga psu (as I really want to make sure the psu is quality) could I order all the parts with the exception of the gpu and still be able to put the machine together and use the on board graphics to set it up etc?
Thanks
John


VIVE HERE I COME!

 

[wingman99]

The ASRock X99 Taichi LGA 2011-v3 is a good motherboard. The Core i7-6800K does not have on board Graphics. The PSU you picked out is fine.

 

[johnsavv]

damn wingman! Now you had to throw that in the mix, lol for the price that really does seem like a decent MB, also I see the fatality gaming one isn't much more money and offers better audio and wifi, man so many decisions.. The case and the MB are the hardest parts Im struggling with figuring out what to get...I don't want to buy a MB only to discover I don't like it or it doesn't perform well... Also any cases that come to mind that have all those features like the h440 (the sound dampening etc) that has a optical bay? I really got to look into all these new x99 motherboards and pick a damn one out.. lol part of me just feels like saying f-it and getting a god carbon or a rampage v 10 edition as than I would know there wasn't much better I could've chosen, though i want to stay with a ATX board, don't want a full tower hmm what to do?
Thanks John

 

[EarthDog]

Motherboards all 'perform the same' really.

Those high end boards are just not for you/your uses and would be a complete waste of money.

 

[Tír na nÓg]

^Fully agreed!

Even a mid range (well if you can call any X99 MoBo mid-range...) will take your CPU as far as possible under ambient cooling. Just make sure there is the OC socket for extra cache speed (yes, I know what you are going to say E_D... ).

 

[EarthDog]

Nobody gives a/should give a hoot about the OC socket that isn't on a benching team, correct.

 

[Tír na nÓg]

I knew it!

 

[EarthDog]

I mean, if it doens't do anything except for benchmarking team people.. why suggest it to others?

 

[Tír na nÓg]

Because, all X99 boards being in the same price range, why not getting the little extra?
You know I am not the kind of throwing money away in useless stuff...

Edit: and with such a beast, he could get the HWBot bug quite quickly!

 

[EarthDog]

Because the little extra doesn't matter, is the point. And it barely even matters at HWbot anyway.

 

[johnsavv]

So I went and got the cash out of the bank and transfered the money to my debit card account, I took out 3G just to be on the safe side but so far I've switched my case to the Nzxt h440 and am going with the kraken 61 for the cooler, should I go with 2 dimms or 4 for the memory... I think all that I left to pick is the sata hdd not sure which one to get and this sounds like a stupid *** question but Windows 10 oem comes with just a key... How the heck without an optical drive am I going to get that OS there? Where is the best and cheapest solution and place to get Windows 10 ? Thanks John