Eviltechie builds a pc

[Eviltechie]

My old desktop is from 2007. I've been playing on laptops ever since. Time to change that.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/6WGdsY

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor ($229.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z170XP-SLI ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($118.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($67.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 850 Pro Series 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($121.98 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Hitachi Deskstar 7K2000 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($59.95 @ Amazon)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 980 4GB Superclocked ACX 2.0 Video Card ($479.99 @ Micro Center)
Case: NZXT S340 (Black/Blue) ATX Mid Tower Case ($64.99 @ Micro Center)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA NEX 750W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($50.99 @ NCIX US)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Pro OEM (64-bit) ($124.78 @ B&H)
Monitor: Dell P2214H 60Hz 21.5" Monitor ($179.99 @ Best Buy)
Total: $1484.63

Thoughts?

[MrBlip]

What games do you play? What games are you looking to play? Will you be doing any of your video editing on this desktop?

CPU: for an extra $40 you can get a 6600K which can be overclocked, but I don't know how well. I have a 2500K, and with a $20 HSF I can get it from 3.3ghz (stock) to 4.2 ghz easy. A buddy of mine says he has his at 4.5ghz. I don't have any benchmarks proving it's worth it, though, and it's been at 4.2 for so long I can't remember if I ever saw any difference in performance.

Memory: My dad has 16 gb of ram, I have 8gb ram. Our systems are very much different, but I still don't notice any substantial difference in how fast our systems operate, or how fast images load in photoshop, etc. One thing I haven't tried is opening a shit ton of movies or images on both computers and seeing what happens. I'm just not sure if 16gb is really absolutely worth it. But at the same time, it's ram, and ram is cheap. So fuck it.

Storage: damn SSDs have gotten cheap. Does your case come with a mount for SSD? Otherwise you'll need to be a 2.5" to 3.5" mount (unless you already have one?)

Video Card: EVGA is great and everything, and the 900 series has been out for a while now, but just be aware: my 970 came with a pretty horrible coil whine. It doesn't affect performance, but it's kinda annoying and throws you off when you first hear it. You're getting a 980, I have a 970, but at the time this was affecting both cards.

Case: your graphics card is 10.5" long. Your case is 17" front to back. That leaves you with 6.5" of space. Depending on how your hard drives fit in the case, you might be getting a little tight.

Operating System: absolutely disgusting

[I_AM_SQUIRREL]

I would change out the stock CPU cooler. Must of the a garbage. This is the cooler I suggest you get. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6835608067 It is a lot more quite can will cool it better.

[Grndslmhttr3]

On the topic of coil whine, I have that 980 and it's pretty quiet. That was my first build so I couldn't believe how big graphics cards are. I have that case too and it will fit the hard drives easily. I think it can fit 2 2.5" and 2 or 3 3.5".

For coolers, I use this http://m.newegg.com/Product/index?itemn ... 6835103099

[MrBlip]

I would change out the stock CPU cooler. Must of the a garbage. This is the cooler I suggest you get. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6835608067 It is a lot more quite can will cool it better.

Does not explicitly state that it fits on a 1151 socket (which is the CPU Eviltechie has). Also, in my experience, stock coolers are perfectly fine with a stock processor.

For coolers, I use this http://m.newegg.com/Product/index?itemn ... 6835103099

This is the one I have, it works great and is pretty cheap, and matches Techie's socket. But again, stock coolers for stock processors has always been fine for me.

[mbaxter]

Swap the 850 PRO 256gb for the 850 EVO 500gb

That's nearly double the storage for 30ish dollars more. EVO comes with a 5 year warranty, PRO with a 10 year warranty. Are you really going to be using something as small as 256gb in 10 years?

[Grndslmhttr3]

yeah I wish I got a bigger SSD, 500gb would be pretty dope

[Eviltechie]

What games do you play? What games are you looking to play? Will you be doing any of your video editing on this desktop?

Mostly it's been CS:GO. I haven't bought any games in a long time simply because I don't have anything to run them on. Top of my list right now are JC3, GTAV, and MGSV.

CPU: for an extra $40 you can get a 6600K which can be overclocked, but I don't know how well. I have a 2500K, and with a $20 HSF I can get it from 3.3ghz (stock) to 4.2 ghz easy. A buddy of mine says he has his at 4.5ghz. I don't have any benchmarks proving it's worth it, though, and it's been at 4.2 for so long I can't remember if I ever saw any difference in performance.

I may consider this. The trick is you can spend "only $40 more" on about every part and add an extra $300 to your cost.

it's ram, and ram is cheap. So fuck it.

Yep.

I would change out the stock CPU cooler.

Stock is going to be perfectly fine to start with. I might be able to get my hands on a prototype thermoelectric cooler at some point anyway.

Swap the 850 PRO 256gb for the 850 EVO 500gb

That's nearly double the storage for 30ish dollars more. EVO comes with a 5 year warranty, PRO with a 10 year warranty. Are you really going to be using something as small as 256gb in 10 years?

I like this.

Is the video card appropriate for my build? It's not super overkill is it? I'd like to use this computer as is for years to come.

[I_AM_SQUIRREL]

Is the video card appropriate for my build? It's not super overkill is it? I'd like to use this computer as is for years to come.

Not really overkill you can play more graphic demanding game like GTA V and others without any issues on the highest setting. Amazon has it cheaper right now with the same deal as Mircocenter and it is free shipping and tax free (maybe)

[scobywhru]

There are only a few CPUs that are faster and even the none k CPUs can be overclocked. i5-6600k i7-6700 and i7-6700k are only slightly faster. No game is truly multithreaded so you are limited by the single fastest core. The K cpu may allow overclocking but don't allow certain virtualization tech, and I think platform encryption, if either are important you would want to avoid the K series.

Video card seems a bit much and similar performance from AMD I believe is cheaper, doesn't support Nvidia proprietary tech but does support Mantle and DX12 with high frame rate.

RAM limit of Windows 10 is 32gb with a 16gb two stick kit you can easily upgrade to that if you need it. One thing that windows 10 does well is use the extra RAM to cache frequently used applications and files, the more RAM you have the faster the OS feels with the same hardware.

[Eviltechie]

Is there anything I should know about SSD's? Is it plug and play, or do I have to screw around with drivers and aligning my bytes?

[I_AM_SQUIRREL]

Is there anything I should know about SSD's? Is it plug and play, or do I have to screw around with drivers and aligning my bytes?

It is plug and play if you want it to dangle in your case. LOL You need to screw it into the hard drive cage that comes with the case.

[MrBlip]

Is the video card appropriate for my build? It's not super overkill is it? I'd like to use this computer as is for years to come.

The only thing that's important is that you get a video card with 4gb of RAM. 970 is a little weird because technically it's 3.5gb. There's a lot of bullshit that nVidia does to make their cards perform better over AMD, but AMD cards are cheaper. At the moment I'd say it's overkill, but at the same time, 2gb is not enough. Stick with the 980 or go with a Radeon R9 290 and save $100. Compare benchmarks with your favorite games to be sure you know what you're getting into.

Is there anything I should know about SSD's? Is it plug and play, or do I have to screw around with drivers and aligning my bytes?

Depends on your motherboard/BIOS I think? Whenever I reformat my computer, I need to unplug all my drives, and start with just the SSD, fuck with some bios settings, install windows, fuck with some bios settings again, then plug in the remaining drives. I don't remember the specifcs atm.

Best to just google your SSD and motherboard and see what hits.

[Eviltechie]

It is plug and play if you want it to dangle in your case. LOL You need to screw it into the hard drive cage that comes with the case.

At the moment I'd say it's overkill

That's the impression I'm getting. I'm okay with that though, especially if I can avoid having to screw with it down the line.

[scobywhru]

SSDs are plug an play as long as you have a UEFI bios and capable OS. SATA is as plug an play as any other SATA HDD, NVMe and PCIe through they require more current OS, windows 8.1, 10, Server 2016 along with UEFI Bios that allows booting to PCIe/NVMe. The benefit of a PCIe/NVMe SSD, beyond the physical smaller size in the m.2 format, is the increase in speed and decrease in latency.