Skylake 6600k build advice

[MozartSWG]

Hi guys,

Yet another help me thread! I've already put together a part list, but would love some input, as well as have some questions answered.

1. Gaming
2. 800 to 1,200 GBP, I prefer the most bang for my buck and future proofing my system as much as possible.
3. London, GB
4. uk.pcpartpicker.com
5. Intel, Nvidia fanboy.
6. Fresh build, no existing parts, except DX80 monitor.
7. I plan on overclocking for 1440p down the road. -- 4.4 to 4.5ghz
8. 1080p (Cisco DX80)
9. Planning to build asap.
10. No software needed.

My main questions are the following:
1) I need to go with a water-cooling solution as I'll be moving apartments soon and don't feel like taking off the CPU cooler and reapplying paste, etc. -- Which AIO solution is the best? My price range is Kraken x31 to Corsair H75 (50-59GBP). Or should I just stop being lazy and get something air-cooled?

2) I really don't like the look of the Asus Z170 Pro Gaming (would prefer the -A in white to match the case), but I am a sucker for function over style, and I read the realtek drivers and some codecs are better on the pro gaming. Anyone have something as good as this board for a similar price?

3) I am an nvidia fan, but all reviews are pointing towards the R9 390 (instead of GTX970) if you want to get the most bang for your buck, as well as future proofing via the 8gb of vram. My problem is, down the road I'd like to SLI/Xfire the cards and the R9 390 would need a 1k-1.1k PSU, which adds another 100 GBP investment, heat and power consumption. Whereas the GTX970 would be fine with a 650-750 watt PSU in SLI. Do the 8gigs really warrant it? Or will I be able to flawlessly run 1440p down the road on 2x 970s? (if so, what brand?)

4) Other than that, I'm pretty much open to input if you think I should change manufacturers, or could spend a couple extra pounds somewhere to improve my performance, or if I've gone overkill somewhere and can downgrade (keeping in mind I realize the system is overkill for 1080p, but 1440 is my goal in a year).


PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor (£199.99 @ Amazon UK)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H75 54.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler (£59.99 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: Asus Z170 PRO GAMING ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (£112.32 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2666 Memory (£80.87 @ Ebuyer)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£63.45 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£53.40 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: MSI Radeon R9 390 8GB Video Card (£264.94 @ More Computers)
Case: NZXT S340 (White) ATX Mid Tower Case (£54.72 @ CCL Computers)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA NEX 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (£63.31 @ Amazon UK)
Wireless Network Adapter: Gigabyte GC-WB867D-I 802.11a/b/g/n/ac PCI-Express x1 Wi-Fi Adapter (£28.50 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £981.49
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-10-29 16:23 GMT+0000

Thanks so much for the help guys, look forward to hearing your opinions!

Regards,
Mozart

 

[Ken g6]

In a year, when you say you want to go 1440p, I expect that there will be several new cards with 16nm chips which will be better alone than SLI-ing or Crossfiring any of today's cards.

 

[frozentundra123456]

Looks like you have the budget for it, I would seriously consider going with the i7 6700k.
Hyperthreading is starting to show up to 20 or 30 percent faster FPS in some new, highly threaded, cpu limited games. I would not say it would "future proof" the build, but it would give you some extra cpu grunt down the road.

 

[lehtv]

Hyperthreading is starting to show up to 20 or 30 percent faster FPS in some new, highly threaded, cpu limited games.

Which ones if I may ask?

 

[frozentundra123456]

Look at the overclocked results in this review posted originally in another thread:

skylake review .

In some games, granted, there is basically no difference, but Crysis 3 and Watchdogs are actually close to 40% faster. Even BF4 is about 10%. I believe i7 has bigger cache as well, and that could also be a factor, given the sensitivity of Skylake to memory performance. But it doesn't really matter. At only about 10% or less greater system cost, and considering the long upgrade cycles for cpu, I definitely think i7 is worth it.

 

[MozartSWG]

Thanks for the input guys! You're making me lean towards the i7 (I have a sickness, always the best), but I'm really trying to stick to the best bang for the buck philosophy.

According to this, it's the i5:
http://cpuboss.com/cpus/Intel-Core-i7-6700K-vs-Intel-Core-i5-6600K

Do you think I will be CPU limited at 1440p (if I get the next gen card in a year), or is the i7 suggestion based on smashing benchmarks? Whether it's 100 or 200 FPS, it doesn't make a difference for me.

I'm also looking at the Kraken x61 instead of the H75. It'll add another 60GBP to my price. Is there a cooler you guys prefer more than this? Is it overkill for 4.5ghz overclock?

I wanna start ordering the parts this weekend, so some final input on the build would be greatly appreciated.

Should I change any manufacturers? Can I an increase the performance/dollar somewhere?

Thanks a ton guys, I've read up as much as I could, but wanted to get a go ahead before pulling the trigger.

All my best,
Mozart

 

[frozentundra123456]

I would go by benchmarks from review sites and input from members of this forum. I have found cpuboss to be pretty much worthless in evaluating cpus.

 

[MozartSWG]

Definitely will go by input from people on this forum,that's why I'm posting

Is the i7 worth it from a gaming perspective, will I actually notice a difference? I think anything over 60fps should be fine, if I'm pushing 100 to 200, I don't think it's worth the extra investment.

 

[frozentundra123456]

Just look at the article I linked in post 5.

As you can see, whether the i7 is worth it depends of the game, and it would also depend on the gpu. Some games show little to no benefit (some of them may be gpu limited), while others, mostly newer games seem to show a pretty good increase. Personally, to me, it would be worth it, since the price difference in only about a hundred dollars, and a new cpu should last several years now, with the slow increase in performance on the cpu side.

It also depends on whether you will be overclocking. Another advantage to the 6700k is that it has quite a bit higher stock clocks, but that is not a factor if you plan to overclock.

 

[DigDog]

you can get a EVGA 750w or 850w for almost the same money as the 650 and it will crossfire anything. power consumption has gone down drastically these last few years.