New build as a reward for myself, and for showing off and bragging rights!

sram

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Jul 30, 2007
Messages
1,699
Hi to all. Okay, this might be little different from your regular new builds threads, but here I go. It is been 2012 since my last build. It is the build you see in my sig. Frankly speaking, the build has been running smoothly with no major problems and it is able to run anything I throw at it. It is a very powerful machine. BUT, it is the upgrade bug kicking in again. Building computers is my joy. I'm about to finish my Master's so it will be like a reward also. One main reason is overclocking fun. I know it is not like before but we can still overclock. I should be buying in one month. It is bad that I missed black Friday.


1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Web browsing, word processing, little image/video editiing, little gaming, watching videos. Probably the most demanding task will be running virtual machines with Vmware. I run up to 10 machines some times for testing and trial purposes. I build virtual networks for scanning, monitoring and pen testing.
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
Money isn't really an issue. I'm willing to pay. Let's say up to 3000 USD (It can get high with server processors and extreme cooling solutions)
3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.

I don't currently live in the US but I'll buy all my parts from the US. Mostly from ebay and amazon and tigerdirect.

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.
Everything ^_^ Well, all main parts except the monitor because I already have a spare like the one in my sig. What I mean by main parts is what you see in the PC Hound list.
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
NA
6) Will you be overclocking?
Of course. It is one of the main reasons for this build
7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
Most probably: 1920 x 1200 . I still love the dell monitor in my sig. I have a spare one.
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
In a month time
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.
RAID + crossfire and SLI + USB 3.1? SATAIII + UEFI BIOS of course + Overclocking potential
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If so, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
Windows 8 64-bit. No windows 10 please


It might not be actually hard to choose and buy, but I can't pull the trigger before asking [H] and anandtech.com.
Here is a PC hound list after quick thinking:

https://pchound.com/UdVaSW/

More questions: Are custom open loop water cooling kits still worth with the good reviews we see for closed loop ones?

If I want to buy a CPU that's cherry picked and de-lidded for best overclocking, how can I do that? Will it be much more expensive?

Are gentle typhons still the best fans available out there?

Anyways, help me show off ! And thanks.

Many thanks
 
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No replies till now :(:(:(:(:(:(

You should actually strengthen my bug instead of being silent ! This way I will like you more ^_^
 
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1. That motherboard is RIDICULOUSLY overpriced. Look into something like the Asus Z170-A or Z170-DELUXE.

2. I would avoid EVGA Pascal cards due to heat issues (There are plenty of threads about how certain thermal pads were misplaced/missing). Check out MSI or Gigabyte instead.

3. The EVGA B1 PSU line is kind of their bottom of the barrel. Look into their EVGA SuperNova G2/P2 lines.

4. That 5TB WD Black for under 80 bucks is mismarked, that price is for the 1TB drive. The 5TB will run you around $220.

Lastly, since you're running a lot of VM's, maybe more cores would be beneficial? If so, you might wanna look into an X99/5820K setup.... (Those seem to hit 4.0-4.2 with ease on water)
 
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1. That motherboard is RIDICULOUSLY overpriced. Look into something like the Asus Z170-A or Z170-DELUXE.

2. I would avoid EVGA Pascal cards due to heat issues (There are plenty of threads about how certain thermal pads were misplaced/missing). Check out MSI or Gigabyte instead.

3. The EVGA B1 PSU line is kind of their bottom of the barrel. Look into their EVGA SuperNova G2/P2 lines.

4. That 5TB WD Black for under 80 bucks is mismarked, that price is for the 1TB drive. The 5TB will run you around $220.

Lastly, since you're running a lot of VM's, maybe more cores would be beneficial? If so, you might wanna look into an X99/5820K setup.... (Those seem to hit 4.0-4.2 with ease on water)

WOW. Good info buddy. I'll buy seasonic prime for PSU I think. Its reviews here are superb. Good point about more cores. I actually some time think about getting xeons so I don't know I'll see. Can I find cherry picked delidded xeons for good prices?

Regarding the 5TB, I figured there was something wrong. I don't know I sometimes think there is no need for a data drive my pc since I have my NAS storage (RAID 5). What do you think?

What is the best 64GB RAM kit for overclocking ?
 
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Hi, I may buy the RAM in few hours because of a deal. Like I said I want 64GB. I think the best option is 4 16GB sticks, right? I haven't been following RAM recently so please help me choose. Dual channel or Quad channel DDR4 or whatever with good speeds and timings. RAM will be no different after one or two months, right? I'll still need to get the same for the new i7 7700K/Mobo combo, right?

I'll go do my reading now, but you can save some time of course. Many thanks to you all.
 
Here's my take on it. I'd use a Samsung 950 Pro, but it wouldn't let me add it to the list. Add another $340 or so for that.
https://pchound.com/yz7gVb/

That'll get you about 50% more CPU horsepower than the Skylake i7 for just a few bucks. Seems like a no brainer if you're doing tons of VM work. I went with a 1070, since you didn't talk about gaming being a priority, but you could put a 1080 in there just as easily - you've got plenty of budget left.
 
Here's my take on it. I'd use a Samsung 950 Pro, but it wouldn't let me add it to the list. Add another $340 or so for that.
https://pchound.com/yz7gVb/

That'll get you about 50% more CPU horsepower than the Skylake i7 for just a few bucks. Seems like a no brainer if you're doing tons of VM work. I went with a 1070, since you didn't talk about gaming being a priority, but you could put a 1080 in there just as easily - you've got plenty of budget left.


Thanks for your list buddy. But, why not 960? Also, I have always been thinking of going the x99 route and it will be the first time I go to it. Is there anything I will lose from going away from the mainstream ? Like overclocking potential maybe? Thanks.
 
Thanks for your list buddy. But, why not 960? Also, I have always been thinking of going the x99 route and it will be the first time I go to it. Is there anything I will lose from going away from the mainstream ? Like overclocking potential maybe? Thanks.
I didn't know the 960 was available, actually. If you can get one reasonably priced, by all means, go with that. It looks like it's quite a bit faster.

The thing you lose, going with x99, is the maturity of the platform. The motherboard manufacturers don't expect to sell as many x99 boards as they do h170s, so they don't put quite the same level of effort into stuff like BIOS testing. Especially the early boards were kind of a mess - I have a Gigabyte board that was a nightmare, although the latest BIOS seems to have fixed it, mostly. The more recent ones are fine, though, from what I've seen. The MSI board I'm using in my desktop rig at home works very smoothly.

The other thing you lose is access to the very latest architecture. The current set of X99 chips use the Broadwell CPU architecture. This is one step back from Skylake, but you gain the advantage of more cores, as all the X99 chips have at least six. For your situation, where you're planning on using the system primarily for something other than games, more cores is well worth the tradeoff. They're still plenty fast for games, with quite a bit of room for overclocking. If not getting the very latest CPU design bothers you that much, wait until early next year, when the new X299 boards and Skylake-E chips come out. Kaby Lake will be available by then as well, but those aren't that different from Skylake anyway.

Edit: You asked about the memory. Four modules is probably best. Z170 boards only have dual channel memory, so if you're going that route, you could conceivably get two 32GB sticks, if you can find them. For X99, because it has a quad-channel memory controller, you want either four or eight modules.
 
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I didn't know the 960 was available, actually. If you can get one reasonably priced, by all means, go with that. It looks like it's quite a bit faster.

The thing you lose, going with x99, is the maturity of the platform. The motherboard manufacturers don't expect to sell as many x99 boards as they do h170s, so they don't put quite the same level of effort into stuff like BIOS testing. Especially the early boards were kind of a mess - I have a Gigabyte board that was a nightmare, although the latest BIOS seems to have fixed it, mostly. The more recent ones are fine, though, from what I've seen. The MSI board I'm using in my desktop rig at home works very smoothly.

The other thing you lose is access to the very latest architecture. The current set of X99 chips use the Broadwell CPU architecture. This is one step back from Skylake, but you gain the advantage of more cores, as all the X99 chips have at least six. For your situation, where you're planning on using the system primarily for something other than games, more cores is well worth the tradeoff. They're still plenty fast for games, with quite a bit of room for overclocking. If not getting the very latest CPU design bothers you that much, wait until early next year, when the new X299 boards and Skylake-E chips come out. Kaby Lake will be available by then as well, but those aren't that different from Skylake anyway.

Edit: You asked about the memory. Four modules is probably best. Z170 boards only have dual channel memory, so if you're going that route, you could conceivably get two 32GB sticks, if you can find them. For X99, because it has a quad-channel memory controller, you want either four or eight modules.


The new X299 boards and Skylake-E chips come out: The new Xeons, right? Can you please give me a link to the specs? And they will go retail January? right? Mature builds are actually important. I don't want to spend my day troubleshooting stupid problems and bugs.

To help me better, please remember the main theme of this build: For bragging rights and to show off without paying ridiculous prices.

Many thanks to all.
 
X299 will probably be compatible with LGA2066 Xeons, but it's mainly intended for use with the high end i7s. Unfortunately, it appears they may not be available until mid-late 2017, so unless you're prepared to wait that long, you'll want to go with a Broadwell-E CPU. I think the one I recommended above is a 6850K.

I hate to say it, but troubleshooting is part of the process of building your own PC. If you're unwilling to tolerate the possibility that something won't just go together and work properly on the first try, maybe you should consider an OEM like Dell or Lenovo. That said, my experience with X99 has been smooth, with the exception of that one Gigabyte board.
 
Dell or Lenovo? No way...I will build my own. I enjoy building. That is actually one reason I'm getting a new build. If you ask me: I don't really need a new machine. My current one is powerful enough to probably live for another 3 years. It is a hobby. I build a new box and sometimes donate the old one or give it to a family member. Normal troubleshooting is fine. What I meant is stupid bug issues. Weird issues that you see once or twice in a lifetime, and where the fault isn't really yours. But rather, the maker. Things that get fixed by a firmware upgrade/update, which otherwise won't be fixed.
 
The new X299 boards and Skylake-E chips come out: The new Xeons, right? Can you please give me a link to the specs? And they will go retail January? right? Mature builds are actually important. I don't want to spend my day troubleshooting stupid problems and bugs.

To help me better, please remember the main theme of this build: For bragging rights and to show off without paying ridiculous prices.

Many thanks to all.

At this point, X99 is QUITE mature.

Any decent Asus/MSI board will treat you just fine with a 6-core 5820k.

I think for your needs with an AIO cooler, you'll be very pleased with the results.

Look at the [H] employees/editors, and you'll note their all on X99.

Skylake-E is still a ways off. I wouldn't factor that into the decision.
 
At this point, X99 is QUITE mature.

Any decent Asus/MSI board will treat you just fine with a 6-core 5820k.

I think for your needs with an AIO cooler, you'll be very pleased with the results.

Look at the [H] employees/editors, and you'll note their all on X99.

Skylake-E is still a ways off. I wouldn't factor that into the decision.

Thanks dude. I'm almost convinced. But if I go 2011 v3 and x99, I think I'll go for i7-6850K. Hopefully I'll be able to find a delidded one that is cherry picked.
 
Oh, really? That's a deal breaker then :eek:

But I didn't notice that when reading reviews
I wouldn't let that stop me. The alternative is Skylake, which only has four cores. Broadwell-E can be had with as many as ten, and it's not like you can't overclock them at all. They just come from the factory set closer to the limit.

For doing something other than gaming, the additional cores can make up a lot of the marginal IPC deficit with Skylake.
 
I wouldn't let that stop me. The alternative is Skylake, which only has four cores. Broadwell-E can be had with as many as ten, and it's not like you can't overclock them at all. They just come from the factory set closer to the limit.

For doing something other than gaming, the additional cores can make up a lot of the marginal IPC deficit with Skylake.

Hmmmm. I'll see. I'm now between i7 6850K and i7 7700K . I'll keep thinking and see how it goes. And I'll inform you guys.
 
Hmmmm. I'll see. I'm now between i7 6850K and i7 7700K . I'll keep thinking and see how it goes. And I'll inform you guys.

For what you're actually doing, the 6850K is the clear choice, especially if this is as much about dick measuring as it is about actual performance.

You get twice as many cores with the 6850K and quad channel memory. You can't really bring all that firepower to bear in games, which are a single application that is designed specifically to use four cores (since that's how many most people have), but once you start running virtual machines or productivity stuff, the extra cores really start to be worth it. Furthermore, you get twice as many cores as your buddies with their pleb mainstream Skylake trash. Twice as many cores, brah.
 
For what you're actually doing, the 6850K is the clear choice, especially if this is as much about dick measuring as it is about actual performance.

You get twice as many cores with the 6850K and quad channel memory. You can't really bring all that firepower to bear in games, which are a single application that is designed specifically to use four cores (since that's how many most people have), but once you start running virtual machines or productivity stuff, the extra cores really start to be worth it. Furthermore, you get twice as many cores as your buddies with their pleb mainstream Skylake trash. Twice as many cores, brah.

Thanks for your encouragement dude. It looks like it will be an i7 6850K. How does a delidded i7 6850K sound? Any reports on overclocking potential for a delided one?

What performance area does quad channel memory benefit? Multi-tasking also?

Thanks.
 
I would not delid any CPU I intended to use every day. That sounds like a huge pain in the neck for very little actual gain.
 
Hi again guys.

I'm now very much decided on everything except for the RAM. I'm going i7 7700K.

See this list:

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/NV4kzM

I want 64 GB of RAM, but at what speed? Do you have any kits you can recommend to me? Should I get the fastest RAM? I think that will need more voltage....right? What would be the optimum speed for my overclocking purposes?

How does the kit in my list sound to you?
 
Hi again guys.

I'm now very much decided on everything except for the RAM. I'm going i7 7700K.

You sure about that? You're unusual around here in that your primary use case is not apparently the playing of video games. As such, you'd likely benefit more from the extra cores offered by, say, a 6900K, or 5930K than you would from the IPC advantage that Kaby Lake offers. Fast Haswell/Broadwell cores are still plenty fast, especially when you overclock them.

See this list:

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/NV4kzM

I want 64 GB of RAM, but at what speed? Do you have any kits you can recommend to me? Should I get the fastest RAM? I think that will need more voltage....right? What would be the optimum speed for my overclocking purposes?

How does the kit in my list sound to you?

The one you have selected will definitely work. I like the G.Skill RAM I have in my machines. You don't necessarily need 3Ghz+ memory, though. The spec clock for Kaby Lake is 2133, and you can overclock the CPU without the need to overclock the RAM at all, with a K series CPU.

I'd be looking at something more like this, if I were you. $100 cheaper, almost as fast, and slightly tighter timings. You also get spiffy LEDs. :p
https://pcpartpicker.com/product/Qz...4-x-16gb-ddr4-3000-memory-cmu64gx4m4c3000c15r
 
You sure about that? You're unusual around here in that your primary use case is not apparently the playing of video games. As such, you'd likely benefit more from the extra cores offered by, say, a 6900K, or 5930K than you would from the IPC advantage that Kaby Lake offers. Fast Haswell/Broadwell cores are still plenty fast, especially when you overclock them.



The one you have selected will definitely work. I like the G.Skill RAM I have in my machines. You don't necessarily need 3Ghz+ memory, though. The spec clock for Kaby Lake is 2133, and you can overclock the CPU without the need to overclock the RAM at all, with a K series CPU.

I'd be looking at something more like this, if I were you. $100 cheaper, almost as fast, and slightly tighter timings. You also get spiffy LEDs. :p
https://pcpartpicker.com/product/Qz...4-x-16gb-ddr4-3000-memory-cmu64gx4m4c3000c15r


Well, I went for i7 7700K for several reasons. First, it is not like I will never game. I will but not much. Second, 7700K is the mainstream and is the fastest/newest single CPU in its segment. If I go the other route, the fastest cpu is about 1700 USD which is ridiculous or not cost-effective and they are not as overclockable. I actually searched to check if we can use two 7700K in dual cpu's motherboard to get the best of the two worlds, but it is not possible. I see your point but I already decided.

Regarding the ram, is there any disadvantage in going for faster ram?
 
You will be seeing extreme diminishing returns past DDR4 2800 CL15 or 3200 CL16. Since you already went with an AIO cooler, you're free to choose mega tall heatsinks. Do note that the high premium Corsair Dominators are quite heavy.

I see you chose two 2x16GB kits. I would go with a 4x16GB kit for not much more. That way you know that the sticks are factory matched for sure. I've made purchases of unmatched kits before and wasn't able to quite get the timings as tight as I would have liked. You can also try Jet.com and take advantage of their 15% off up to $30 for first three purchases deal (best way to save money on VGAs).

I'm too late to offer suggestions to the core build, but I would have went with an Intel 750 over the Sammy 960 Pro. The 750 is derived from the DC S3700 which was designed for data center workloads and excelled at VMs. It also has power loss protection the 960 does not. It's an older drive, but the performance consistency and reliability is well tested. I believe the Maximus VIII has the M.2 slot running off the PCH, so intense PCH workloads might throttle the M.2 960 at the DMI (or you can get a PCIe adapter card for it and have it run off the CPU lanes like most do with the 750).
 
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You will be seeing extreme diminishing returns past DDR4 2800 CL15 or 3200 CL16. Since you already went with an AIO cooler, you're free to choose mega tall heatsinks. Do note that the high premium Corsair Dominators are quite heavy.

I see you chose two 2x16GB kits. I would go with a 4x16GB kit for not much more. That way you know that the sticks are factory matched for sure. I've made purchases of unmatched kits before and wasn't able to quite get the timings as tight as I would have liked. You can also try Jet.com and take advantage of their 15% off up to $30 for first three purchases deal (best way to save money on VGAs).

I'm too late to offer suggestions to the core build, but I would have went with an Intel 750 over the Sammy 960 Pro. The 750 is derived from the DC S3700 which was designed for data center workloads and excelled at VMs. It also has power loss protection the 960 does not. It's an older drive, but the performance consistency and reliability is well tested. I believe the Maximus VIII has the M.2 slot running off the PCH, so intense PCH workloads might throttle the M.2 960 at the DMI (or you can get a PCIe adapter card for it and have it run off the CPU lanes like most do with the 750).
What would have you recommended if you saw this post early enough?
 
What would have you recommended if you saw this post early enough?
Well at this point, the Z270 boards are out so I would have to look them over. But I would have done things very differently.

Off the top of my head...
SSD - Intel 750 400GB, or 1.2TB with added cost as mentioned earlier
Mobo - MSI MPower Titanium (something along that name, not sure if there's a Z270 equivalent) - significantly cuts down the ROG premium and bloat
RAM - not sure how heavy your VMs and workload is, but possibly start with a 2x16GB kit. I try to get even timings rather than the wonky CL 2ns lower than the rest (just seems like marketing spec to me) - cuts some $$$
Case - Phanteks Evolv ATX tempered glass - huge cost cut (I personally despise Corsair cases...they're way overhyped for their quality)
--- if you must have an optical drive, I'd get a newer Lian Li and grab some nice OEM peripherals for it from FrozenCPU (can't recommend a particular model atm because Newegg search is broken for some reason); I'd check out In Win too.
Cooling - I think you will regret this watercooling thing....450$ into the furnace is what I'm seeing
HSF - Noctua or Phanteks twin tower - cuts cost and comes with good TIM, likely to be more quiet than stock dual rad AIO
TIM - if you want to buy separate, its Gelid GC Extreme. AC5 is okay but it hasn't been king for a long time
PSU - Seasonic 660XP2 - sweet spot for power efficiency since you won't be breaking 500W max load even with future SLI and OC
HDD - HGST NAS drives
what extra savings go toward
- nice fans - Noiseblocker and/or Noctua. 12V in the intake hooked up to a nice fan controller like the Lian Li 3.5" bay one, and PWM for all other chassis locations
- real audio gear
- mechanical keyboard

Well that's what I would have done, but I realize my part preferences fit into a rather narrow window with more or less the same criteria every generation. Disclaimer: I don't have hardware requirements for professional work and I'm not a gamer.
 
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You will be seeing extreme diminishing returns past DDR4 2800 CL15 or 3200 CL16. Since you already went with an AIO cooler, you're free to choose mega tall heatsinks. Do note that the high premium Corsair Dominators are quite heavy.

Regarding this earlier statement of yours and just to make sure: You are saying here that it will be good to go higher in the RAM speed "performance wise", but after 2800 the performance gain will be less noticeable/measurable ?? In other words, the optimum RAM speed I should get is 2800 MHz, right?
 
Regarding this earlier statement of yours and just to make sure: You are saying here that it will be good to go higher in the RAM speed "performance wise", but after 2800 the performance gain will be less noticeable/measurable ?? In other words, the optimum RAM speed I should get is 2800 MHz, right?
Correct. 2800 CL15 or 3200 CL16. Anything faster doesn't make economic sense.
 
Sorry, but the budget is too restrictive. How are you going to even get a decent video card for less than $5k?

...but seriously, though. This is what I threw together last year to get in before the Windows 10 free upgrade deadline. I'm really using Windows 7, but just wanted to secure my free upgrade for future-proofing.

ASUS ROG MAXIMUS VIII FORMULA LGA 1151 Intel Z170 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.1 USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

Intel Core i7-6700K Skylake Quad-Core 4.0 GHz LGA 1151 91W BX80662I76700K Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 530

G.SKILL TridentZ Series 32GB (4 x 8GB) 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM DDR4 3200 (PC4 25600) Intel Z170 Platform / Intel X99 Platform Desktop Memory Model F4-3200C16Q-32GTZB

Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO - CPU Cooler with 120 mm PWM Fan

2x Seagate BarraCuda ST2000DM006 2TB 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Hard Drive Bare Drive

2x SAMSUNG 850 PRO 2.5" 256GB SATA III 3-D Vertical Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) MZ-7KE256BW

Thermaltake Suppressor F51 E-ATX Mid Tower Tt LCS Certified Gaming Silent Computer Case CA-1E1-00M1NN-00

CORSAIR RMi Series RM850i 850W 80 PLUS GOLD Haswell Ready Full Modular ATX12V & EPS12V SLI and Crossfire Ready Power Supply with C-Link Monitoring and Control


I just loaded my last copy of Windows 7 on it, cloned the SSD to the second one, did the Windows 10 upgrade, wiped the Windows 10 SSD, then put the Windows 7 SSD back in. The blank SSD is where I put my games like WoW that need fast load times. I'd have gotten an M.2 NVMe drive, but maybe later.

I just added an EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 FTW GAMING ACX 3.0, 08G-P4-6286-KR, 8GB GDDR5X, RGB LED, 10CM FAN, 10 Power Phases, Double BIOS, DX12 OSD Support (PXOC) to it.
 
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