Building a new rig based on Intel Skylake, need input..

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c3rberus

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Hello,

Its that time again, where the old rigs goes out and a new come takes its place.. I have been out of the loop on PC building over the last few years so I wanted to run this by hard forum folks..

I want to build a new PC (doh!), this will be based on the Intel Skylake 6th gen CPUs..

I will be using this PC for various stuff (virtualization with VMware and VirtualBox, gaming, video/audio, code compiling, etc.).

Here's what I was thinking...


  • DISK 1 (boot disk): Samsung 950 Pro MZ-V5P256BW 256GB M.2 PCIe SSD
    CPU: INTEL® CORE™ I5-6600K 3.90GHZ
    MEM: G.SKILL Ripjaws V Series F4-3200C16D-16GVK
    CASE: Corsair Vengeance Series C70 Case (green)
    PSU: EVGA 220-G2-0850-XR 80 PLUS GOLD 850 W

What I am not sure about is the memory/motherboard. I like the C70 case (navy green), and the Sabertooth "tuf" series motherboards would compliant the look.


I have narrowed it down to..

SABERTOOTH Z170 MARK 1
MAXIMUS VIII HERO

Not sure about the memory, what's good? I am looking for a 16GB kit.

The boot drive, I definitely want to roll with the M.2 interface for gained performance over SATA SSD, so it comes down to Samsung SM951 or Samsung 950 Pro (256gb).

I am going from a i7 (3rd gen) / 128gb ssd on a EVGA Z77 FTW mobo to this..

Your comments and guidance is appreciated.
 
950 Pro has magician and other samsung utilities to help monitor and configure the drive. It's also much cheaper from the prices I've found. You may have trouble installing windows on it based on which mobo you choose. There are several threads around the web talking about it but thankfully many have resolved the issue.
 
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c3rberus said:
I am going from a i7 (3rd gen) / 128gb ssd on a EVGA Z77 FTW mobo to this..
Click to expand...

So you're going from an Ivy Bridge i7 3770k to a Skylake i5 6600k? You sure you want to give up the hyper-threading when your stated uses are the best cases for it? You're likely to see a performance drop cpu wise if your uses are really what you say they are.
 
Why are you upgrading?
Your current PC is high performance.
 
I want to keep up with the tech, my rig is based on 3rd generation of Intel processors, I want to move to the latest generation... while still being able to sell my rig for some good coin... and i guess for the sake of the thrill of building a new rig.
 
I may still decide to go with the i7 so I don't lose the additional cores in the upgrade process..

Just wanted some opinions on what the best memory choice is for the above motherboards.

Also the Hero seems to be much more popular than the Sabertooth.. hard to decide which route to go..
 
I bought Corsair 3000MHz and it cannot be clocked hardly.
After seeing reviews of GSkill Ripjaws V where they got a very good overclock, I would look there first.

Update posted below, looks like its a bad lottery!
 
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Like the others have mentioned, I don't think you really need to upgrade. M.2 isn't a massive performance increase over SATA 6.0Gb/s nor are the Skylake CPUs a huge and noticeable increase over the Ivy Bridge CPUs. The Skylakes are barely noticeable over Sandy Bridge CPUs.

At most, all you really need to do is max out the RAM on your current PC if you haven't already since DDR3 RAM is pretty cheap at the moment and upgrade your 128GB SSD for a Samsung 850 Pro 512GB or 1TB SSD. Maybe a GPU upgrade if your current GPU is lacking or a case swap if your current case is crap or just boring after so many years. But yeah, a whole new CPU, mobo, and DDR4 RAM isn't worth it for you even if you want to build a new PC. Might as well build yourself a HTPC or file server if you want to satisfy that itch.
 
Dangman,

The problem now is that I already sold the computer (lol whoops). It actually took awhile to sell, but it did and I got coin to build a new one.

So right now I don't have a choice, if I still had it I would go with exactly what you said swap the case and add more RAM. The computer was rock solid and fast, just a limiting hard drive and a boring case after so many years.

Anyway.. for my new build I wasn't going to purchase a GFX right away as my gaming time is limited, i would run off whatever is on-board so as long as I can get dual display out of it... for the first couple of months then add a card (I would never SLI, just not into it).

Here is my most up to date build list:

M.2 PCIe SSD
INTEL® CORE™ I7-6700K
G.SKILL Ripjaws V Series F4-3200C16D-16GVK
Corsair Vengeance Series C70 Case (army green)
Corsair Professional HX850W 850W ATX 12V 70A 24PIN ATX Modular Power Supply
Click to expand...

The motherboard I am still not sure, definitely ASUS (i'm a fanboy yes) so for 70% work / 30% gaming I am thinking the SABERTOOTH MARK 1 over the HERO? Given its extended warranty.. (yes i have read their warranty difficulties on this board).

How does that look?
 
c3rberus said:
Dangman,

The problem now is that I already sold the computer (lol whoops). It actually took awhile to sell, but it did and I got coin to build a new one.

So right now I don't have a choice, if I still had it I would go with exactly what you said swap the case and add more RAM. The computer was rock solid and fast, just a limiting hard drive and a boring case after so many years.

Anyway.. for my new build I wasn't going to purchase a GFX right away as my gaming time is limited, i would run off whatever is on-board so as long as I can get dual display out of it... for the first couple of months then add a card (I would never SLI, just not into it).

Here is my most up to date build list:



The motherboard I am still not sure, definitely ASUS (i'm a fanboy yes) so for 70% work / 30% gaming I am thinking the SABERTOOTH MARK 1 over the HERO? Given its extended warranty.. (yes i have read their warranty difficulties on this board).

How does that look?
Click to expand...

Not that good of a setup for the money for your planned used. Your planned usage screams X99 platform to me. Yes you do take a hit to gaming performance at stock CPU speeds but you gain more performance in the virtualization with VMware and VirtualBox, video/audio, code compiling portions of your planned use. This is due to the extra two cores/threads as well as the greater RAM density of the X99 platform. In addition, from a cost-standpoint, the Z170 motherboards you're looking at are rather extremely expensive for what they are considering that there are X99 motherboards for around that price range. In other words, if you're looking at $200+ for a motherboard, maybe you should be looking at X99 instead. Plus there is the current price gouging for the Core i7 6700K. So here's what I would recommend:
PC Hound Part List

CPU: Intel Core i7-5820K ($389.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASUS X99-A/USB 3.1 ($233.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial 16GB (2 x 8GB) ($88.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $712.96
Price may include shipping, rebates, promotions, and tax
Generated by PC Hound

But the X99 platform does not have onboard video so you will need a video card. This cheap video card should do the job fine:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102882&ignorebbr=1

As for the case, that C70 is a good case. If that's the look you want, then it's not a horrible choice. With that said, objectively and financially speaking, this Phanteks case is a far better choice due to a lower price and better cooling:
$100 - Phanteks Enthoo Pro Full Tower Case

As for the PSU, that Corsair PSU is a good PSU. But the eVGA one you had earlier is far far far better in quality yet is cheaper as well.
 
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If you're upgrading and looking to maximize your bang for the buck, stick with the 6700K. 4Ghz. Nuff said.

One dumb question. What're you doing for video on the thing?
 
Dangman said:
Plus there is the current price gouging for the Core i7 6700K.
Click to expand...

Okay you talk about price gouging. $370 at Newegg, $320 at MicroCenter.

But you recommend a $390 3.3Ghz Hex Core? :confused:

Uh. No comprende.

While YES, the virtualization might indicate going with a chip sporting more cores, we should probably be asking exactly how he plans to be using virtualization.

Just random throw-away VMs? Pfft. Go with 1151.
Infrastructure VMs that are more or less always-on? Yeah, then look at a hex-core box.

Video and audio. Depends on what exactly he's doing.

Gaming? Pfft. Go with 1151.

Code compiling? Depends on how many projects he's compiling simultaneously and whether or not what he's doing is inherently subject to parallelization.

So, right now, we have a solid use case for 1151 (gaming) and a bunch of more nebulous use cases that need better definition before coming down on an optimal platform.
 
Chas said:
Okay you talk about price gouging. $370 at Newegg, $320 at MicroCenter.

But you recommend a $390 3.3Ghz Hex Core? :confused:

Uh. No comprende.
Click to expand...
Because the MSRP of the 6700K is $350 whereas the MSRP for the 5820K is $396. When a product is being sold for more than MSRP, that's price gouging to me.
Chas said:
While YES, the virtualization might indicate going with a chip sporting more cores, we should probably be asking exactly how he plans to be using virtualization.

Just random throw-away VMs? Pfft. Go with 1151.
Infrastructure VMs that are more or less always-on? Yeah, then look at a hex-core box.

Video and audio. Depends on what exactly he's doing.

Gaming? Pfft. Go with 1151.

Code compiling? Depends on how many projects he's compiling simultaneously and whether or not what he's doing is inherently subject to parallelization.

So, right now, we have a solid use case for 1151 (gaming) and a bunch of more nebulous use cases that need better definition before coming down on an optimal platform.
Click to expand...
He did say "70% work / 30% gaming". To me, that sounds like a serious work use. Hence my recommendation for the X99 platform. But you are correct that more information should be obtained just to be sure.

So c3rberus, please go into more detail about your " virtualization with VMware and VirtualBox, video/audio, code compiling" usage.
 
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