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New mid-range gaming build after 6 years

TraumaRN

TraumaRN

Diamond Member
So my mobo on my 6 year old rig finally died. Won't make it past BIOS so it's new rig time. Not interested in Kaby Lake because I'm not looking for the latest and greatest right now.

I'm trying to keep it right around $1000 bucks because significant other says so. So here's what I've got so far.

Part to be reused-

Cooler Master CM 690 case
Blank 1 TB HDD that I bought and never used
24 inch 1080p monitor
Mouse + keyboard

I5 6600K ($239)
Cooler master hyper 212 EVO CPU cooler ($35)
Windows 10 Home ($90)
Arctic Silver Paste ($8)
2 x 8gb DDR4 16gb ($99)
Gigabyte G1 gaming ga-z170x-gaming 7 mobo ($185)
Geforce GTX 1070 ($409)

Total cost = $1075

Thoughts? Should I skimp on the ram and get 8GB? Is it more future proof to get 16 now? Thanks all
 
Buy a cheaper motherboard and put the money towards a 240-250GB SSD. Keep 16GB of RAM if you are a gamer, or are a power user (video editing, Photoshop, etc.).

A SSD for at least your OS is one of the most important purchases you can do.
 
TraumaRN said:
Any suggestions on which Mobo? I want good quality audio as I've got a 5.1 system for my rig.
Click to expand...

Just watch Newegg daily email deals, as they always have a few good boards on sale. It won't help much price wise right now, but they currently have the Asus Z170-PRO on sale for $156 after MIR.

They also have the Gigabyte GA-Z170X-UD5 for $150.
 
They also have an EVGA GTX 1070 for $380. Between saving on those two items, you should be close to budgeting a SSD. Also, I wouldn't personally drop $8 on Artic Silver. They were leaps and bounds better than everybody else 20 years ago, but I'd just use the paste that came with the CM 212 Hyper Evo. They are all very similar in performance.
 
Thanks for the suggestions! That definitely drops the price a little bit.

I'm debating the SSD part as I could always buy one later.
 
TraumaRN said:
Thanks for the suggestions! That definitely drops the price a little bit.

I'm debating the SSD part as I could always buy one later.
Click to expand...

You could. But a clean install on a SSD is always the best route. I honestly wouldn't build anything without the OS on a SSD. There's honestly no bigger upgrade you can do than going from a HDD to a SSD. It makes the system feel fast and responsive. I hate even working on friend and family PCs when they have a HDD in them. It feels like I am always waiting for Windows to do its thing.

Only $70. You can do it. If you can't do it, go with 8 GB of RAM and add the SSD.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820211984&ignorebbr=1
 
Seconding the SSD idea. For a gaming rig, 8 gigs is fine. I use 16, but that's mainly because I am normally running 2-3 VM's using at least 2 GB each at any given time (I allow them up to 4).

Found a nice price right now on this Asus with a Rebate card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813132567&ignorebbr=1

Did a Gigabyte build for a guy a couple years ago and their software and BIOSes have gotten a lot better, but I still think the Asus software and BIOS options are MUCH better than what Gigabyte is offering. As far as specs go, they seem pretty even (plenty of SATA, Intel Gigabit Ethernet, a slightly different mix of numbers in USB 3.0 and 3.1 ports.

BTW, great case. Had a CM 690 for a few years and it worked very well with plenty of space.
 
3rd vote for an SSD... and don't cheap out and settle for a ~120GB. I'd go with 8GB RAM before I'd neglect the SSD. If you have a reasonable GPU in the old rig, I would run it for a while if you needed to free up funds...

I worked on a PC yesterday that I have a backup image of the OS on a HDD, I booted into it to update it and I was clawing my eyes out waiting... waiting... waiting...
 
Thanks for all your input. Went with the suggested $70 SSD and the Gigabyte GA-Z170X-UD5.

Ordered everything through my Amazon Prime because I stopped trusting Newegg 2 years ago but only paid maybe 30 bucks more total. Should all be here Friday/Saturday

And Ketchup- Yes, I love this CM 690. It's a great great case. I've got 4 x 120 mm fans in it and it kept my old rig quite cool. Assuming it'll be the same here.

Charlie 98- It's a EVGA Superclocked GTX 770. Considering the rest of the rig...not really worth it.

Normally I'd not be so tightfisted on cash, but I have a brand new 2017 Ford Fusion Hybrid Titanium coming in about 3-4 weeks. So most of my spare cash went towards that. 😉

Thanks for the help!
 
TraumaRN said:
Thanks for all your input. Went with the suggested $70 SSD and the Gigabyte GA-Z170X-UD5.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure if you are posting here through mobile or desktop, but if on desktop you will notice I have that Gigabyte motherboard in my signature.

I've owned it for over a year now, and it is solidly built, stable motherboard with great audio.

One piece of advice though:. Do not flash it to the F20 BIOS. It will most likely come with the F5 BIOS, and that is what I am on. F5 has been extremely stable since being released in March 2015. However, the F20 BIOS which adds support for Kaby Lake CPUs, is buggy across most of Gigabyte's entire motherboard lineup. Wait until they update it to a better version.
 
Thanks for that tidbit. I'll post pictures this weekend of the final build out. Excited to finally see Doom, Attila Total War and others in their fully detailed glory!
 
Buy a Xeon E3-1280V2 16GB workstation off ebay and equip it with a GTX 1080. Will blow away anything you could build new for under $1000.
 
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