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Here's my $1,400 Skylake build

DreadBelch

DreadBelch

Member
A little early for a Black Friday build, but I wanted to leave adequate time to research any suggestions you guys might have. I don't have a lot of free time lately. The CPU cooler is overkill, but I've had my eye on it for a long time and I want to try out water cooling.

1. PC will be used for: 1080p gaming (mostly FPS) and digital painting in PS.

2. Budget: ~$1,400

3. Country: U.S.

4. If outside the country... N/A

5. Brand preference. Intel and nVidia fan

6. Reusing parts? Asus VG248QE 144 Hz monitor; Seagate 4TB external HD; Logitech G600 mouse; Logitech 2.1 speakers

7. Overclocking? Yes

8. Resolution? 1980x1080

9. When do you plan to build it? Buying parts on Black Friday, building as soon as they arrive.

10. Software? Windows 10 Home 64-bit


Old build. Updated build(s) below
CPU: Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($369.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Nepton 280L 122.5 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($99.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z170-HD3 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($114.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2800 Memory ($119.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial BX100 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($159.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB Superclocked ACX 2.0 Video Card ($326.73 @ Amazon)
Case: *Fractal Design FD-CA-CORE-3500-BL-W ATX Mid Tower Case ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA G2 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($87.51 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) ($97.89 @ OutletPC)
Total: $1417.07


2nd Build
PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/vJLtGX

CPU: Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($369.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Thermalright Macho Rev.B 73.6 CFM CPU Cooler ($54.90 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z170-HD3 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($114.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($121.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($164.00 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 970 4GB STRIX Video Card ($324.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Fractal Design Core 2300 ATX Mid Tower Case ($49.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA G2 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($99.99 @ Amazon)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) ($97.89 @ OutletPC)
Total: $1388.73

10/20 Build
PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3TNXcf

CPU: Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($369.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Thermalright Macho Rev.B 73.6 CFM CPU Cooler ($54.90 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z170-HD3 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($114.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($121.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($162.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 970 4GB STRIX Video Card ($324.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Fractal Design Core 3500 ATX Mid Tower Case ($60.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA G2 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($99.99 @ Amazon)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) ($97.89 @ OutletPC)
Total: $1398.72

10/24 Build (Added Asus Pro Gaming motherboard and Noctua NH-D15 CPU cooler)
PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/9dF8Vn

CPU: Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($369.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D15 82.5 CFM CPU Cooler ($93.48 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Asus Z170 PRO GAMING ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($162.89 @ OutletPC)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($121.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($162.89 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 970 4GB STRIX Video Card ($324.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Fractal Design Core 3500 ATX Mid Tower Case ($60.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA G2 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($89.99 @ Amazon)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) ($89.99 @ NCIX US)
Case Fan: Fractal Design FD-FAN-SSR2-140 66.0 CFM 140mm Fan ($13.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case Fan: Fractal Design FD-FAN-SSR2-140 66.0 CFM 140mm Fan ($13.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $1495.18
 
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I recommend you skip the BX100 drive. I've had 2, both failed, including the 512Gb BX100 that is now a worthless paper weight even tho SMART & Crucials Storage Executive says everything's alright. It will not take a partition with only 17% of it's lifespan used (reliability sucks). Crucial discontinued this model and won't even repair it. Rest of the build looks fine.
 
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You'll definitely want a better motherboard for overclocking a 6700K with a relatively high end cooler like that. Asus Z170 Pro Gaming is pretty nice. Options: Z170-A (same as Pro Gaming with lesser audio implementation and different color scheme), Asrock Z170 Extreme4, Extreme6.

But I'm a little skeptical of AIO's. To really get your money's worth of performance out of an AIO you need to run an aggressive fan profile, which means lots of noise. The 280L comes with two 2000 RPM fans, you're probably not going to want listen to that. An AIO is still good at lower fan speeds but at that point there's little reason to pay the extra for it, since an air cooler at half the cost will do the job just as well. I'd recommend Thermalright HR-02 Macho Rev. B from Amazon. Great value for money, great performance and low noise. It's bulky but clears the DIMM slots.

Memory - if you're going to pay $120 for RAM why settle for 2800Mhz? There's a Ripjaws V 3200MHz for $122. Not that it really matters, you could just as well buy a 2400MHz kit for $100 and overclock it to 2666-2800 yourself. You'll never notice a difference between that and 3200MHz outside of benches.

I'd be on the lookout for a black friday deal on a higher end SSD like Sandisk Extreme Pro (10 year warranty). 850 EVO is also worth buying, the 5 year warranty is nice. But there's nothing wrong with BX100. EDIT: That I know of. I'm not sure if Burpo's right about its reliability, and I'm also not sure why Crucial would refuse to repair / RMA his faulty drive.

GTX 970 is a good card, but EVGA isn't the quietest (at load). Consider Asus Strix for $325. Personally I'd get R9 390 (Sapphire Nitro w/ backplate or XFX), it scales better with bigger resolutions and FreeSync support is something to think about, given the high cost of G-Sync monitors.

PSU - good. But 650 G2 is not much more expensive, might as well buy that.

Core 3500W for $50... ? What is this 😀 Do want. It's a really nice case, especially for that cheap.
 
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Thanks guys. Build updated.

There's a lot of extra features on those $150+ motherboards I'll have to look into. Not sure how much of those features I'll actually need now that I'm dropping the AIO and backing off overclocking somewhat. Now that I think about it, I doubt the 6700k will need much of an OC for a long while anyway.

And you're right about the noise on that 200L, lehtv. I hadn't really considered how loud it would be. That's a jet engine at max power.
 
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Low level format detects bad blocks. Will NOT take a partition! $179 paper weight because I threw the box away. D:
378 unexpected power loss events? Cold solder between controller & Nand? NEVER again Crucial..
 
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That's an MX100. BX100 is actually very different. Even uses a different controller chip.
 
My bad.. Expensive paper weight, none the less. Yes, I'm cranky about it! D:
 
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Looks like you changed to case to Core 2300. This is quite far from Core 3500. 120mm fans instead of 140mm, less room, weaker cable routing (very little space behind the motherboard tray), fewer 2.5"/3.5" locations, one of the front USB ports is 2.0.

A $1300+ build deserves better (not that Core 2300 is bad, it's good for $50). Hard to say what's a good buy at around black friday... but here are some I'd consider buying:

Corsair 450D
Phanteks Enthoo Pro(-M)
BeQuiet! Silent Base 600
Fractal Design Define R4/R5/S
Core 3500
NZXT S340
 
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I would personally avoid AIO watercooling. Pumps are an additional point of failure and definitely don't last forever (I've been through several over ~15 years of watercooling), and add noise. If you have the room for it, a tower heatsink is arguably a better choice.

Other than that, I would like to suggest you consider mATX or ITX. If you're not planning on SLI down the road, an ATX midtower is a lot of empty space.
 
lehtv said:
Looks like you changed to case to Core 2300. This is quite far from Core 3500. 120mm fans instead of 140mm, less room, weaker cable routing (very little space behind the motherboard tray), fewer 2.5"/3.5" locations, one of the front USB ports is 2.0.

A $1300+ build deserves better (not that Core 2300 is bad, it's good for $50). Hard to say what's a good buy at around black friday... but here are some I'd consider buying:

Corsair 450D
Phanteks Enthoo Pro(-M)
BeQuiet! Silent Base 600
Fractal Design Define R4/R5/S
Core 3500
NZXT S340
Click to expand...

Yeah, the Core 3500 has a window on the case and I didn't want that. I just kinda quickly plugged in another case for the moment. But I'll look through your suggestions, thanks.
 
If I were you then I would have added a PCI WiFi card. It helps if you don't want unnecessary LAN cable to connect to router.
Also as other veterans suggested, do get a sturdy motherboard like Asus Z170 Pro, it'll make the overclocking go easy on the setup.
Since you're overclocking, do get a decent case like Antec P280 or something so as to have radiator mounts and sufficient fan mounts as well.
Also keep an eye out for those AIO closed loop cooler for both CPU and GPU.
Just my ideas 🙂
 
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