PC Build for Gaming

[rcoops72]

1. What YOUR PC will be used for. Gaming (High End; Settings to HIGH on all games). I would like to try and build a i7 Skaylake system if it fits my price range and makes sense (meaning the gains of i5 and 3rd gen i7s). I also would like a SSD drive 250/500 GB plus a 2 TB internal Drive and based on what I see a GTX 980 or 980 ti would be great if it fits the budget :sneaky: I have not had luck with Seagate or Radon GPUs

2. What YOUR budget is. $2,000 US

3. What country YOU will be buying YOUR parts from. (USA)

4. IF you're buying parts OUTSIDE the US N/A

5. IF YOU have a brand preference. Intel, nVidia and Western Digital (2TB blue?).

6. If YOU intend on using any of YOUR current parts, and if so, what those parts are. None all parts over 6 yrs old

7. IF YOU plan on overclocking or run the system at default speeds. I have never tried but am willing as I heard it is easier now with software

8. What resolution, not monitor size, will you be using? Would like to buy a new one outside of the $2,000 budget mentioned above. Can you suggest a new 25-27 inch widescreen low MS LCD or LED if the price is right but it would be max resolution or best for gaming

9. WHEN do you plan to build it? In the next 2 months

10. Do you need to purchase any software to go with the system, such as Windows or Blu Ray playback software? YES Windows 10 please. I do not like 8 and I assume 7 is already outdated

 

[Ken g6]

If you're willing to overclock, an i7 5820K or 5930K is the way to go. 6 cores FTW, plus you might be able to upgrade to 8, 10, or more with Broadwell-K.

Are you sure you want to build now? Nvidia's supposed to come out with much better cards "soon". Maybe 3-9 months from now.

Anyway, here's a nice build for $2000 + the cost of a nice monitor:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-5820K 3.3GHz 6-Core Processor ($384.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i GTX 70.7 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($102.34 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock X99 Extreme6 ATX LGA2011-3 Motherboard ($213.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: *G.Skill Ripjaws Series 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($138.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: *Samsung 850 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($153.28 @ Newegg)
Storage: *Hitachi Deskstar 7K2000 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($59.95 @ Amazon)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 980 Ti 6GB FTW ACX 2.0+ Video Card ($639.99 @ Amazon)
Case: *NZXT Source 530 ATX Full Tower Case ($82.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: *EVGA SuperNOVA NEX 750W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($51.98 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: *LG WH14NS40 Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer ($46.50 @ Amazon)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) ($87.95 @ OutletPC)
Monitor: *Dell S2716DG 144Hz 27.0" Monitor ($569.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $2517.93
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-02-10 12:14 EST-0500

 

[rcoops72]

Thank you!

The nVidia information is interesting I am sure that means the card you mentioned in the build will go down a few hundred right away? Which would help the budget.

How much would I be able to overclock that CPU to 3.8 or 4GHZ and what software do you recommend using to do that? or is it now a BIOS feature?

Also can I fit all my needs into a mid tower? I would also like to go black case with blue LED fans.

Last question...do you all agree I should go Windows 10 opposed to Windows 7 professional? I have an opened copy of Win 7 Pro at home. I think it makes sense to go new as I do not rebuild every year its more like 5+

I honestly cannot wait to start fresh. I am moving from a Vista 64 gaming system 6 years old with upgrade GPU to this.

 

[Ken g6]

How much would I be able to overclock that CPU to 3.8 or 4GHZ and what software do you recommend using to do that? or is it now a BIOS feature?

I'd be very surprised if you couldn't reach at least 4GHz. Some people reach 4.4-4.7. You do it in the BIOS.

Last question...do you all agree I should go Windows 10 opposed to Windows 7 professional? I have an opened copy of Win 7 Pro at home. I think it makes sense to go new as I do not rebuild every year its more like 5+

Did you know that if you have Win7 installed before late July of this year, you can upgrade to Win10 for free?

Also can I fit all my needs into a mid tower? I would also like to go black case with blue LED fans.

The only case I could find that meets those specs is this Enermax. Apparently it's workable but not ideal. :\ Edit: Switching to a small air cooler might make it work better.

 

[rcoops72]

I did not know about Win 7 to 10 for free. Thank you! That is valuable info.
Thank you also on the mid tower vs full tower. I can accommodate either. I guess cooling is this issue where the full tower will work for better with air flow.

I never installed one of these "Corsair H100i GTX 70.7 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler" Easier then a "Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO"?

And do you have any experience with these "Hitachi Deskstar 7K2000 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive"? I have not and I asked my friends and they also have not. Is there a WD comparable or is it not worth the extra money?

Can you also explain the DDR4-2400? If the CPU and MB can go faster (3000) does it make sense upgrading. This is my weakest knowledge segment...RAM, Latency, CAS? use all for slots vs 2 etc..

 

[Charlie98]

The nVidia information is interesting I am sure that means the card you mentioned in the build will go down a few hundred right away? Which would help the budget.

Don't count on it... that's NVidia's flagship card (besides the Titan) and I wouldn't expect it to do down much, if any. They might throw some rebates in there, but a major price drop... no.

I did not know about Win 7 to 10 for free. Thank you! That is valuable info.
Thank you also on the mid tower vs full tower. I can accommodate either. I guess cooling is this issue where the full tower will work for better with air flow.

I never installed one of these "Corsair H100i GTX 70.7 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler" Easier then a "Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO"?

And do you have any experience with these "Hitachi Deskstar 7K2000 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive"? I have not and I asked my friends and they also have not. Is there a WD comparable or is it not worth the extra money?

If you have W7 Pro, just install that and run with it. If you really want to upgrade to W10, you will be able to.

A giant tower doesn't necessarily mean better airflow... a properly configured case does. Don't be afraid of smaller cases, or more 'closed' cases... newer components are far more energy efficient and run much cooler than the old days.

Hitachi is owned by WD, they are good drives.

 

[rcoops72]

Thank you!

Can someone explain this to me

"Can you also explain the DDR4-2400? If the CPU and MB can go faster (3000) does it make sense upgrading. This is my weakest knowledge segment...RAM, Latency, CAS? use all for slots vs 2 etc.."

 

[bradly1101]

Thank you!

Can someone explain this to me

"Can you also explain the DDR4-2400? If the CPU and MB can go faster (3000) does it make sense upgrading. This is my weakest knowledge segment...RAM, Latency, CAS? use all for slots vs 2 etc.."

Start with the motherboard's recommended list:

http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/X99%20Extreme6/?cat=Memory

 

[tential]

I did not know about Win 7 to 10 for free. Thank you! That is valuable info.
Thank you also on the mid tower vs full tower. I can accommodate either. I guess cooling is this issue where the full tower will work for better with air flow.

I never installed one of these "Corsair H100i GTX 70.7 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler" Easier then a "Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO"?

And do you have any experience with these "Hitachi Deskstar 7K2000 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive"? I have not and I asked my friends and they also have not. Is there a WD comparable or is it not worth the extra money?

Can you also explain the DDR4-2400? If the CPU and MB can go faster (3000) does it make sense upgrading. This is my weakest knowledge segment...RAM, Latency, CAS? use all for slots vs 2 etc..

I mean, basically you're getting builds that other people would do if they had your money. They really aren't builds of what is exactly made for you.

The questions that are asks in this section for building a PC are stupidly general. How you use a PC, how often you upgrade parts, whether you're willing to OC, how much time do you spend fiddling with settings/understand settings, are you more concerned about noise or getting a high OC/low temps.

Those are the types of things that actually help you pick parts.

In this case, the watercooler is good for low temps, but is louder.
The Noctua is good for being quiet, and well, has the same CPU temps, but doesn't directly exhaust that heat out of your case (which with how you orient the fan setup on the Noctua, it will push the heat out of the case anyway).

Also, not only does Nvidia put out a new card in the next 3-9 months. But last time they did put out a new card, their old cards mysteriously lost performance, in any game in which Nvidia sponsored. So that's one reason why I wouldn't get a GTX 980Ti now. Because if this trend continues, you'd be screwed out of a flagship card price.

I'd take a GTX 970 (Actually I wouldn't. I'd take an R9 290 from AMD. It's the best price/performance card and is faster than a GTX 970, while being cheaper. It's been the TOP of techpowerup's price/performance metric charts for such a ridiculous long time it's insane that you have to convince people to actually buy the card. But brand/marketing at it's finest and it's only in 2016, that people are slowly breaking away from blindly following as information becomes more and more easy for the masses to obtain).

This way, you can get the new card when it does come out. Because if the trend continues (and you're sticking with Nvidia which I bet you will), you at least want to be on their latest card. Either way, it'll be faster than a GTX 980Ti and with newer tech that you'll actually need for new games (Remember, GTX 900 series cards don't play well with Async Compute, which while isn't important now, may be important in the future. Just like how Nvidia utilized the improvements in Maxwell to such extremes to the point where they offered 0 IQ improvement, but severely inhibited other cards performance while letting their latest Maxwell architexture shine. Don't be surprised when Pascal comes out with Async Compute working, and Gameworks games use Async Compute extensively in a way that benefits the Pascal architecture while hurting everything else.

This is a tried and true method from Nvidia to get people to upgrade that works and really, I can't blame them at this point because really, most people just don't ever follow companies/politicians/artists/etc. to really see they couldn't care less about the consumer and do what they do to make money.

But hey, until you're in the room yourself trying to figure out ways to extort as much money as possible from a person, you won't really understand how a person goes about doing it to you.