New gaming rig build, $1600 budget

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digicat

Limp Gawd
Joined
Aug 13, 2004
Messages
184
1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Gaming and web browsing, plus general office use (Word, Excel). I want the rig to be able to play any game out right now at 1920x1200 at 60+ FPS with maxed out settings. "Silence" is a quality I'm looking for. Mostly during general non-game use, but I don't want it noisy or coil-whiny during gaming either.
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
$2000
3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.
California
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. The word "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.
Ground up build, minus the monitor. I'm leaning towards a GTX 980 ti for the video card. This will be a single video card system though. I'm not looking to go SLI.
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
28" Hanns-G monitor HH281 (1920x1200)
6) Will you be overclocking?
Maybe, but not a priority
7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
28 inch, 1920x1200 max res
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
Next few months
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video (as a backup or main GPU)? UEFI? etc.
Whatever makes sense for gaming and general use.
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
Transfering 64 bit Windows 7 Pro

UPDATED for Skylake build: are there any sensable upgrades I could make to improve this build (and still come in at or under budget)?
PC Hound Part List - in progress

CPU: Intel Core i7-6700K 8M ($454.64 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASUS Z170-A ($156.99 @ B&H)
Memory: G.SKILL 16GB (2 x 8GB) TridentZ Series ($96.74 - PURCHASED)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 980 Ti 06G-P4-4998-KR ($585.69 - PURCHASED)
Power Supply: EVGA 850W 220-G2-0850-XR ($119.06 @ Amazon)
Storage: SAMSUNG 500GB 850 EVO MZ-75E500B/AM ($137.99 - PURCHASED)
Case: Fractal Design Define R5 FD-CA-DEF-R5-BK ($119.06 @ NCIX)
CPU Cooler: COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 EVO RR-212E-20PK-R2 ($22.72 @ Amazon)
Optical Drive: SAMSUNG SH-224FB ($16.89 @ OutletPC)
Thermal Compound: ARCTIC COOLING Arctic Cooling MX-4 AC-MX4 ($8.45 @ Amazon)
Total: $1,718.23
Price may include shipping, rebates, promotions, and tax
Generated by PC Hound
 
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Go with the latest Intel Skylake processors. i5 6600k or i7 6700k. That should close the gap on that $200 and give you a bit more performance. You'll also need DDR4 memory and a different motherboard.

I'm not a big fan of that case. Check into the R4 or R5 if the budget allows. I've got the R5 for a NAS build and it's an excellent built case. Super quiet, too.
 
Yeah, I was looking at the R5 as a case. I'll add that to the list.

Is the boost in going i7-6700k instead of i7-4790k worth the price (looks like it's just $150)?

Also, the system picker suggested the EVGA gtx 980 ti. Any specific reason to go EVGA over MSI or others?

This is what the Skylake build would look like: (edited, see first post)
 
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Yes, the 6700K is worth it over the 4790K -- higher IPC, runs cooler, newer chipset... You will need a Z170 board for it, though, not that Z97, and DDR4 rather than DDR3 as Skillz said.

Many people buy Evga for the warranty support, but honestly I don't think it's worth the price premium -- I haven't had a GPU die on me in something like 10 years now, maybe longer. Granted, I don't OC like crazy or over-volt either. This MSI is $590 shipped $560 AR. Why spend $80 more? Get a nice mouse or keyboard or something instead.

That PSU is also pretty overpriced -- I think you can get a modular Rosewill 750w for like $40 AR right now. It's not a piece of junk, so don't worry. Most are rebranded FSP or Superflower supplies.
 
digicat said:
Is there anything specific I should do to avoid coil whine?
Click to expand...

Only thing I've seen consistently is that many people say Seasonic PSUs seem to make it worse (which is odd as they're normally well-thought-of). Other than that? Seems to be luck.
 
Don't forget to fold on that 980 ti... Should be good for 600k+ ppd with f@h and not much power draw. Team 33!
 
How about the 980 ti brand?

I'm looking for a quiet running card. I know that the MSI, ASUS, and EVGA cards shut the fans off until they hit 70c.

The MSI 980 ti Armor 2x is pretty cheap, compared to the Gaming edition, but I've read that the Armor 2x runs louder than the Gaming edition. Can anyone confirm that?
 
Updated with larger budget and new potential build. (See first post)

Would it improve gaming performance to upgrade to a m.2 pcie SSD?
 
digicat said:
Updated with larger budget and new potential build. (See first post)

Would it improve gaming performance to upgrade to a m.2 pcie SSD?
Click to expand...

Nah, not really. Currently posted build looks super solid.

I'd say you're ready to buy :)
 
Climber said:
All those pics and you never took the most important one, what it looks like completed. No wonder no one commented
Click to expand...

Exterior pics of the Silverstone FT02 are available on Silverstone's website.
 
I wouldn't recommend the FT-02 if you move your PC at all -- I have one, and with components installed (and I only have 2 HDDs and no 5.25" devices) it's like 60LB, and huge. Quiet, yes, looks good, yes, cools well, yes... but it's honestly too big for me, and I'll probably go back to a mid tower or smaller for my next case.
 
Actually, I vastly prefer the FT02 over the FT05 because the former is much easier to move thanks to its curved base - it slides over my carpet much more easily.
 
Honestly, with a single card I'd seriously consider mATX / mITX unless you're strongly considering adding a second down the line. No reason for a modern machine to be that big, and then you could use something like the Silverstone FT03.
 
I'm in Nor-Cal, so nowhere close to Microcenter.

With the "shortage" going on with the i7-6700k, I might wait until January to complete this build, when the new stock comes out and prices settle down.
 
Ok, I'm in this thing now.

Already picked up the video card, hard drive, and the RAM (nice deals).

I put the video card in my existing i7-860 rig from 2009, and my most recent game, Skyrim, looks awesome. The hard drive is coming with a code for Assassin's Creed Syndicate. I'm curious to see how bad (or good?) that looks with what I have now.
 
Nice. Don't forget to see what kind of PPD you can get with it by running F@H on the rig. (I'd disable CPU folding though. Not worth the numbers on that old of a CPU)

Check out the DC Sub forum if ya got questions and don't forget to type 33 in the team field. [H]ardOCP!
 
I'm a few hundred under budget still. Would a mobo upgrage be good? Asus maximus hero, MSI Gaming m7, etc?
 
digicat said:
I'm a few hundred under budget still. Would a mobo upgrage be good? Asus maximus hero, MSI Gaming m7, etc?
Click to expand...

I think you'd want to look at what in those higher end MOBO's there is that you would want out of it. Some of them have higher quality components, etc. and perhaps will last longer, but it's hard to say. Probably better to identify specific features you'll know you'll want. Or even maybe just aesthetic things (i.e. the TUF Z170 mobo).
 
I went ahead and took the plunge on the Hero. Seems like a solid board, based on all the reviews.


I think the 500 gb HD should be enough for me. I've currently got 2 SSDs in my rig, a 148 gb and a 223gb, and have 125 gb free between the two of them.
 
I haven't updated this in a bit, but everything's assembled and I'm trying to do the initial validation to make sure it's gonna work. I ended up about $200 under budget, so I'm keeping that in mind as I work on this, in case I feel the need to add an extra fan or change the cooler completely.

Here's the final parts list:
PC Hound Part List - in progress

CPU: Intel Core i7-6700K 8M ($454.64 - Custom)
Motherboard: ASUS ROG MAXIMUS VIII HERO ($238.71 - Custom)
Memory: G.SKILL 16GB (2 x 8GB) TridentZ Series ($96.74 - Custom)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 980 Ti 06G-P4-4998-KR ($585.69 - Custom)
Power Supply: EVGA 850W 220-G2-0850-XR ($119.06 - Custom)
Storage: SAMSUNG 500GB 850 EVO MZ-75E500B/AM ($137.99 - Custom)
Case: Fractal Design Define R5 FD-CA-DEF-R5-BK ($96.74 - Custom)
CPU Cooler: COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 EVO RR-212E-20PK-R2 ($32.24 - Custom)
Optical Drive: SAMSUNG SH-224FB ($11.93 - Custom)
Thermal Compound: ARCTIC COOLING Arctic Cooling MX-4 AC-MX4 ($8.45 - Custom)
Total: $1,782.19
Price may include shipping, rebates, promotions, and tax
Generated by PC Hound
 
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