Anything wrong with this gaming build?

Well that site is down for me at the moment.

While we wait, what 650W PSU do you have now? When do you plan on buying the parts for the PC?
 
Probably up now but cliffnotes are:

Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor
Corsair H75 54.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler
MSI Z170A GAMING M5 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard
G.Skill TridentZ Series 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR4-3200 Memory
Samsung SM951 512GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive
MSI GeForce GTX 970 4GB Twin Frozr V Video Card

My PSU is a 650W Corsair
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139012

I'm more or less wondering if anyone has gripes with the M.2, is the motherboard OK? am I missing out on anything?

is 3200 a good speed for RAM or should I go more or less? I'm probably ordering in a week or so, it's a full refresh. I want 4k but I'm probably not going to game in 4k thus why I didn't get a 980TI / Titan.
 
First of all, there is no way in hell that 970 is going to run 2-3 4k monitors while gaming... You need a Titan X for that or multiple 980Ti's Second, Get a different CLC the H75 is laughable. Not sure WHICH Fractal case you have so I can't recommend one. The ram is completely overkill unless you plan to use it extensively for CAD or Photoshop or the like. Everything else is not too bad, the i7 is overkill if its going to primarily be used for gaming, you will get such a small performance increase if any over an i5 in 95% of games its typically not worth it. Might as well swap to the i5 and grab a 980Ti in place of that 970 so you can play with at least a single 4k monitor instead of none, like that 970 is going to net you.
 
I definitely want water cooled for the noise reduction, thanks for the cooler master suggestion looks like it has good reviews and will save me some $$

For the motherboard, good question. I want a high quality board with dual m.2 but beyond that what I'm not sure what I actually need beyond that. I'm not going to SLI or use a lot of the PCIe slots.

Millerboy thanks for advice, I wasn't intending on 4K gaming but I wanted to have 4K capability for productivity/work. That said my mind might change and if the 980 is more valuable than the i7 I think i'll take your advice and modify my build.

Edit: Here is a modified build, better?
http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/p/xRCCxr
 
Last edited:
I was shocked by the prices then realized you're in Canada. :)

Does the SSD have to be m2? You can get something like the 850 Evo for literally half the price. Or up it to a 1TB Evo for the same price.

Also the 980 is only 18% faster than the 970. The 980ti is around 50 - 60% faster (IIRC). Too lazy to look at pricing in Canada but at least a few months ago the 980 didn't make sense on the value curve. Gaming on one 4k I'd probably go 980ti... If you want high-ish settings. 970 on a single 4k would probably be medium?
 
Last edited:
Guldan said:
I definitely want water cooled for the noise reduction, thanks for the cooler master suggestion looks like it has good reviews and will save me some $$

For the motherboard, good question. I want a high quality board with dual m.2 but beyond that what I'm not sure what I actually need beyond that. I'm not going to SLI or use a lot of the PCIe slots.

Millerboy thanks for advice, I wasn't intending on 4K gaming but I wanted to have 4K capability for productivity/work. That said my mind might change and if the 980 is more valuable than the i7 I think i'll take your advice and modify my build.

Edit: Here is a modified build, better?
http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/p/xRCCxr
Click to expand...

Please provide us a list of the games you will be playing at 4k, and what sort of quality levels you like to play at.

If you want to play any recent games at 4k at anything more than medium, you're going to need a GTX 980 Ti.
 
Yeah also if there's a chance in hell you might do surround gaming (3x4k) a 980ti would at least give you a fighting chance. I would...
 
defaultluser said:
Please provide us a list of the games you will be playing at 4k, and what sort of quality levels you like to play at.

If you want to play any recent games at 4k at anything more than medium, you're going to need a GTX 980 Ti.
Click to expand...

Honestly nothing at the moment because I've never had the option, I mostly play dota2 right now but if I could play other games in 4K i might bet torn away.

I more or less want the ability to play 4K if I so choose but I'd prefer not to spend $1k on a video card.

If a 980 non ti can't cut it I'll probably get a 970 and simply wait a few years until 4k gaming becomes cheaper.
 
Guldan said:
Honestly nothing at the moment because I've never had the option, I mostly play dota2 right now but if I could play other games in 4K i might bet torn away.

I more or less want the ability to play 4K if I so choose but I'd prefer not to spend $1k on a video card.

If a 980 non ti can't cut it I'll probably get a 970 and simply wait a few years until 4k gaming becomes cheaper.
Click to expand...

You don't even need the 970 for casual 4k usage.

You should just get a 4GB GTX 960. My thinking on this:

1. You still get 4GB ram, just less gaming performance. Should be enough for any productivity use case you can find, aside from something intense like 3d modeling game assets.

2. You still get 3 DisplayPort outputs in the standard configuration, plus HDMI 2.0, allowing for up to 4 4k displays at 60Hz (or 3 displays plus 4k TV).

Bonus over the 970: you get h.265 4k full decode acceleration, if you like to watch movies on your new pretty display :D

Also, it seems to be almost capable of playing games like Mordor at 4k Medium (4k High = 20fps), so you'll be able to play some of the less intense modern games if you suddenly get the desire.

http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/gigabyte_geforce_gtx_960_g1_gaming_4gb_review,22.html

So yeah, either splurge TODAY and get the GTX 970, or save a few bucks today with a GTX 960 so you can splurge when Nvidia's Pascal comes out next year!
 
Dayaks said:
I was shocked by the prices then realized you're in Canada. :)

Does the SSD have to be m2? You can get something like the 850 Evo for literally half the price. Or up it to a 1TB Evo for the same price.

Also the 980 is only 18% faster than the 970. The 980ti is around 50 - 60% faster (IIRC). Too lazy to look at pricing in Canada but at least a few months ago the 980 didn't make sense on the value curve. Gaming on one 4k I'd probably go 980ti... If you want high-ish settings. 970 on a single 4k would probably be medium?
Click to expand...

I forgot to answer this, 512GB is more than enough. I only use half of that currently and half of what I use I can delete at any time. That M.2 drive is as fast as it gets, amazing tech for the price.

Regarding the video card yeah its looking like either I go full bore @ 980TI (for high res 4k gaming) or I go straight productivity with a 960 and stick to gaming @ 1080P.

Appreciating all the responses. Basically I got a large performance bonus at work and I'm using it to build the dream PC I could never previously afford (without feeling guilty).

That said it's hard to take the safety off and go all out.
 
I don't think the 970 supports more than 2 4K screens at once. Add on to that: the 970 is not really cut for 4K gaming: Even two Titan X cards can't "dominate" all games at 4K. The 970 would be fine for ~medium-high 1440p gaming, though: which wouldn't look too bad.
 
Guldan said:
I definitely want water cooled for the noise reduction, thanks for the cooler master suggestion looks like it has good reviews and will save me some $$

For the motherboard, good question. I want a high quality board with dual m.2 but beyond that what I'm not sure what I actually need beyond that. I'm not going to SLI or use a lot of the PCIe slots.

Millerboy thanks for advice, I wasn't intending on 4K gaming but I wanted to have 4K capability for productivity/work. That said my mind might change and if the 980 is more valuable than the i7 I think i'll take your advice and modify my build.

Edit: Here is a modified build, better?
http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/p/xRCCxr
Click to expand...
Water cooling can lower noise. But the Contained Liquid Coolers (CLC) like any of the Corsair's Hydro series or the Coolermaster Seidon I linked to aren't quiet nor are they actually "water coolers". A proper water cooling setup will cost around $300 minimum give or take. So if you actually want quiet for a reasonable price, the Noctua NH-D14 that I linked to earlier is your best bet considering that you're in Canada. It's significantly quieter than the Seidon 120V. The Seidon 120V will cool better than either the Corsair H75 or the Noctua but that comes at the expense of higher noise. The H75 is still poor choice no matter what.

For the motherboard, you'll be fine with the ASRock Z170 Extreme4, Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming 3, or GA-Z170X-Gaming 5 motherboards. The MSI Z170A Gaming M5 is a good motherboard but its Canadian pricing makes it a very poor choice for the money.

As for the CPU, stick with the Core i7 if you can afford it. In general, whatever CPU you buy now is effectively the CPU you'll be stuck with for the useful lifetime for that PC.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top