Help with new (first time) system build

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matthew-1990

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Jun 23, 2015
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Hi all,

I am building my first system and have finally chosen all my components. I'm going for a gaming build and would like comments about compatibility and maybe even parts that can be replaced with cheaper parts without any negative effects on the system. I am not thinking of overclocking at this point in time and it is purely a gaming system.
I've done research on the parts I have chosen. However, as I said, I'm a first time builder and may have made rookie errors!
Thank you in advance.

Parts are as follows:

CPU - Intel Core i7-5930K 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor
CPU Cooler - Noctua NH-D15 82.5 CFM CPU Cooler
Motherboard - EVGA FTW EATX LGA2011-3 Motherboard
Memory - G.Skill Ripjaws 4 series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory
Storage - Samsung 850 EVO-Series 1TB 2.5" Solid State Drive
- Seagate Barracuda 3TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
Video Card - EVGA GeForce GTX 980 4GB ACX 2.0
Case - Corsair 760T White ATX Full Tower Case
Power Supply - Corsair 850W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply
Optical Drive - LG BH16NS40 Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer <Not too concerned>
Windows 8.1
Probably looking at a monitor with 2560 x 1440 resolution also.

Let me know if I have missed any details,
Thanks,
Matt.
 
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atheus

atheus

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Just my 2 cents — if all you're doing is gaming, especially with this config you're probably throwing your money away going with an X99 build rather than a Z97. It's pretty cool for things like 3 GPU systems, quad channel memory, something like that, but when you're just running a single 980 (good choice, imo), 2x8GB memory, and you're not using those extra cores for video encoding or rendering or something, I don't see the point.

My advice is think of grabbing an i7 5775C instead, and go from there. You'll save yourself a few hundred dollars and lose pretty much nothing as far as gaming performance goes in 95% of today's games. Come to think of it, though, you'd have to overclock the i7 5775C to get better performance than an i7 4790K, so that would be worth considering too. Still, though, with that kind of parts list, it's a waste not to overclock it — especially considering you're springing for a super expensive and powerful Noctua NH-D15, which is a complete waste of money if you don't overclock. You can just use the CPU cooler that comes with the CPU if you're just going to run it stock.

On second thought since you're planning on gaming at 2560 x 1440 you may as well take some of that money you saved and put it into a GTX 980 Ti. You'll get a lot more gaming performance out of that than you would ever get out of an under-utilized X99 CPU and board.
 
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matthew-1990

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Yeah thanks, that's the kind of help I need. As I said, I'm keen to get the i7-5930K so should look into overclocking. Is it still viable to get the 5930K but use a cheaper motherboard ? However, if it's completely pointless I will change the CPU as, as you said, it would be a waste.
 
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bsod1

bsod1

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That CPU is pretty overkill and doesn't add to gaming performance at all. You can check gaming benchmarks online. The only advantage of that CPU is 40 lanes PCIE -- SLI. I'll build you something really good including a monitor. I'll go with a somewhat more standard storage space, too. Do you need so much space if you're purely gaming?

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($459.00 @ Centre Com)
CPU Cooler: NZXT Kraken X61 106.1 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($175.00 @ CPL Online)
Motherboard: Asus MAXIMUS VII RANGER ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($235.00 @ Umart)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($153.00 @ IJK)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($255.00 @ Centre Com)
Storage: Western Digital BLACK SERIES 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($169.00 @ Umart)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 980 Ti 6GB Superclocked+ ACX 2.0+ Video Card ($1129.00 @ CPL Online)
Case: Fractal Design Define S w/Window ATX Mid Tower Case ($154.00 @ PLE Computers)
Power Supply: EVGA 850W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($185.00 @ CPL Online)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 OEM (64-bit) ($135.00 @ CPL Online)
Monitor: Asus PB278Q 60Hz 27.0" Monitor ($579.00 @ PCCaseGear)
Total: $3628.00
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-06-23 21:43 AEST+1000
 
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atheus

atheus

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PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($459.00 @ Centre Com)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D14 65.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($99.00 @ CPL Online)
Motherboard: Asus MAXIMUS VII HERO ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($299.00 @ CPL Online)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-2133 Memory ($180.00 @ IJK)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 1TB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($499.00 @ Centre Com)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 980 Ti 6GB Superclocked+ ACX 2.0+ Video Card ($1129.00 @ CPL Online)
Case: Fractal Design Define R5 (White) ATX Mid Tower Case ($159.00 @ CPL Online)
Power Supply: SeaSonic 660W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($215.00 @ CPL Online)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 OEM (64-bit) ($135.00 @ CPL Online)
Total: $3174.00
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-06-23 21:40 AEST+1000
 
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atheus

atheus

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Ah I didn't see the Define S in the list for Australian PCPartPicker, but heck yeah, I'm right with bsod1 that Fractal Design Define R5 or S is the shiznit. I'd probably favor the S variant even if I weren't water cooling, since I have no need to pile in stacks of HDD's in the front of my case. Also agree that a 500GB EVO with a 2+TB HDD for bulk storage is a good way to go. In fact that's exactly what I have in my system (500GB 840 EVO + 5TB WD Red).
 
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matthew-1990

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Hi guys,
Thank you both for your help.
Firstly, I was avoiding liquid cooling so will go with Noctua at this point.
I will still use this computer for iTunes, videos and what not so will need decent storage. Also want to put steam on the SSD so going with 1TB.
What's the difference between those motherboards?
 
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bsod1

bsod1

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PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($459.00 @ Centre Com)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D15 82.5 CFM CPU Cooler ($115.00 @ CPL Online)
Motherboard: Asus MAXIMUS VII RANGER ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($235.00 @ Umart)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($153.00 @ IJK)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 1TB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($499.00 @ Centre Com)
Storage: Western Digital BLACK SERIES 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($169.00 @ Umart)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 980 Ti 6GB Superclocked+ ACX 2.0+ Video Card ($1129.00 @ CPL Online)
Case: Fractal Design Define S w/Window ATX Mid Tower Case ($154.00 @ PLE Computers)
Power Supply: EVGA 850W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($185.00 @ CPL Online)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 OEM (64-bit) ($135.00 @ CPL Online)
Monitor: Asus PB278Q 60Hz 27.0" Monitor ($579.00 @ PCCaseGear)
Total: $3812.00
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-06-23 22:00 AEST+1000

 
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atheus

atheus

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The ASUS Maximus boards are honestly going to be a bit of a waste of money if you're not overclocking, but you seemed to be after top grade parts so I grabbed a top end board. There is a discussion comparing the two boards here: http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-2139639/asus-maximus-vii-ranger-hero.html

If you're honestly not going to overclock, though, even the MAXIMUS VII RANGER is complete overkill. You could get a cheap $100 board, downgrade to the i7 4790 (non-K) and probably never notice the difference. Seriously, though, overclock that thing. You get quite a lot of performance (25%+) out of it, and if you do it right you can also make the system a bit more power efficient.
 
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bsod1

bsod1

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Exactly what I was gonna say and my reason for picking that motherboard.
 
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matthew-1990

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My reason for not overclocking is my lack of knowledge. As you're both adamant in overclocking, I'm sensing that's the way to go hah. Will OC now so that's the next step.
I'm liking the builds! Thanks again. With the power supplies, platinum being more efficient, however is 660W ample, or is it safer to go with the 850w?
 
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bsod1

bsod1

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660W is ample but 850W will let you overclock with more than enough headroom and also allow you to add a second 980 Ti later on. The 850W Gold is plenty good and is in fact cheaper than the 660W he chose. Your call, really.
 
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matthew-1990

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I would like to leave room to upgrade in the future so might go with the 850, thanks.
I was hoping to get the DDR3-2133 RAM that Atheus chose,
However, Pcpartpicker noted :
"The G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-2133 Memory operating voltage of 1.6V exceeds the Intel Haswell Refresh CPU recommended maximum of 1.5V+5% (1.575V). This memory module may run at a reduced clock rate to meet the 1.5V voltage recommendation, or may require running at a voltage greater than the Intel recommended maximum."

Should I change to one that has a voltage of 1.5, although CAS of 11, or should I ignore this message and stick with the 1.6v?
 
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atheus

atheus

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No worries, man. It's intimidating at first since there are a bunch of numbers and settings you have no idea what they all do, but there are some pretty straightforward guides on overclock.net to walk you right through it from beginning to end. It will probably take you less time to learn to do a basic overclock than it took you to figure out what parts you wanted for your system.

660 is more than enough for this build. In fact it probably wouldn't complain even if you put a second GTX 980 Ti in there. I picked that Seasonic since if you sniff out a review for it you'll find it's one of the best power supplies on the planet. Extreme quality, performance, and efficiency. This system will probably draw < 400 watts at most during gaming. I wouldn't want the 850 for a single GPU build mainly because it's a bit too much overkill - even a platinum PSU's efficiency nose dives at extremely low load, which is usually what a computer idles at. This might idle at 50 watts, which would be 6% load on the 850, but 7.5% load on the 660. Small difference, but I like to optimize what I can.

I have that exact Seasonic Platinum 660 in my computer, by the way. Makes me feel smart. When you look under the lid of all the highest quality PSU's on the market, Seasonic and SuperFlower make just about all of them. SuperFlower makes the EVGA 850 mentioned above. Either one is a high quality item, but the Seasonic platinum is one that reviewers wind up drooling over since it's basically perfect.
 
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matthew-1990

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Yeah, sure is! Awesome thanks for that, bookmarked for later. Will give that a read after I've finalised and ordered parts.
Thanks for the comparison there, with that in mind I'll go back to the 660w.
 
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