PC build advice please (Skylake)

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Bartjz

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Aug 21, 2015
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I need a new PC and decided to build it myself, it's my first build, therefore I would like to ask for some advice on the configuration I made. I did quite some research, but before I order I would like to know if I did it right. Mainly for the cpu cooler and RAM, I find it hard to figure out the right one, there are so many options.
Is it a good combination of parts, will it fit all together (like cooler/ram dimensions), is there something I can better replace with another component ?
The computer will mainly be used for photo editing, sometimes a game. I know it will be more than fast enough, but I want to keep this PC for quite some years, also the reason I went for Skylake.

Thanks for taking a look.

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/pZKzcf
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/pZKzcf/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($359.99 @ NCIX US)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-U12S 55.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($64.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: Asus Z170-A ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($158.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Black 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($119.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($89.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital BLACK SERIES 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($70.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB Video Card ($106.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Fractal Design Define R5 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($107.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: Corsair RM 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($90.00 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($18.75 @ OutletPC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) ($93.89 @ OutletPC)
Wireless Network Adapter: TP-Link TL-WDN4800 802.11a/b/g/n PCI-Express x1 Wi-Fi Adapter ($37.24 @ Amazon)
Total: $1319.80
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-08-21 12:34 EDT-0400
 
Solution
jmsellars1
DDR4-2133 is the maximum speed that CPU supports without overclocking so that's a good choice. As for different brands, they're all pretty much the same to be honest. Most of the DIMM's are made by the same companies such as Micron and give lifetime warranties so just get whichever brand is cheapest. Crucial, Kingston, Corsair and G.Skill are some of the more well known brands. Geil, Mushkin, Samsung etc. make memory as well and I wouldn't hesitate in buying those. Don't worry about heat spreaders as well, they're just there for show. RAM creates next to no heat as stock (non overclocked) settings.

The GTX 950 is quite a lot faster than the 750Ti so that's a great choice.

If you're not professionally doing your photo editing then I'm...
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jmsellars1

jmsellars1

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That should be fine for your usage, there are a few ways you could improve it though:

- The WD black drives are only very slightly faster than standard 7200RPM drives and you won't notice the speed difference anyway if your programs are on a SSD so I'd get a cheaper standard drive. A Seagate Barracuda, WD Blue or Samsung/Seagate Spinpoint.

- That PSU is very overkill for that build. It is only going to pull like 200W under full load so 300W+ would be fine and cheaper. Here are a few suggestions:

https://pcpartpicker.com/part/antec-power-supply-ea380dgreen
https://pcpartpicker.com/part/seasonic-power-supply-ssr360gp
https://pcpartpicker.com/part/antec-power-supply-ea450green
https://pcpartpicker.com/part/seasonic-power-supply-s12ii430b

- If you're not overclocking, you could go with a cheaper cooler like a hyper 212 evo or TX3 Evo. If you are overclocking I'd stick with the Noctua or for $10 more you could get a NH-D14 which is one of the best coolers on the market. It is absolutely enormous but I have one in a Fractal Design Define R3 and ATX board and it does fit. It should still fit in an R5.
 
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g-unit1111

g-unit1111

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Yeah I agree I would not purchase that unit - the RMs are also not good Corsair quality either . I'd definitely go with the Seasonic unit mentioned - I have that same supply and it's held up very well after two years.

I would also consider getting one of the new GTX 950 cards as opposed to the 750TI: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&N=8000&Order=BESTMATCH&Description=PPSSKQKDFPGTFN

Cost won't be too much off the original system price. Something like this:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($359.99 @ NCIX US)
CPU Cooler: Phanteks PH-TC12DX_BK 68.5 CFM CPU Cooler ($49.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Asus Z170-A ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($158.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($124.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($89.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($49.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 950 2GB Video Card ($169.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Corsair 300R ATX Mid Tower Case ($69.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: SeaSonic 450W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply ($63.98 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($16.99 @ Directron)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 Pro OEM (64-bit) ($135.99 @ Directron)
Total: $1290.88
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-08-21 12:29 EDT-0400
 
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Bartjz

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Aug 21, 2015
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Thanks for the advice.
As for my budget, I just updated my original post to add prices. That's about the amount I want to spend, but I'm not so much fixed on a budget. Of course cheaper is always nice as long I still get what I want (good enough performance for photo editing and a PC ready for the future), but I'm also willing to spend 100-200 more if it will be really worth it for me.

I guess I'll keep the cooler, at the moment I won't over lock, but I might in the future.
Thanks for the advice on the PSU, I'll pick another one. I'll also take a look at the GTX 950, for some reason I've only seen the 960 as an alternative so far.
 
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g-unit1111

g-unit1111

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Depends what you're going to be spending the extra money on before I would say it's worth it or not.

I guess I'll keep the cooler, at the moment I won't over lock, but I might in the future.
Thanks for the advice on the PSU, I'll pick another one. I'll also take a look at the GTX 950, for some reason I've only seen the 960 as an alternative so far.
Click to expand...

Yeah power supply is very important and we definitely emphasize here the importance of purchasing a quality unit vs purchasing a bad one. Even good manufacturers are known to put out less than quality units like the Corsair RMs and CX series. The best units are the tier 1 PSUs and those generally include the EVGA G2/P2/T2/B2, Seasonic X/G, Antec Earthwatts, Corsair AXi and HXi, and XFX Pro. You should buy one of those units before considering anything else.

The 950s are brand new, they just started showing up on the market this week. Some of the early tests show them matching the GTX 960's performance for $100 less, practically a steal.
 
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Bartjz

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Depends what you're going to be spending the extra money on before I would say it's worth it or not.
Click to expand...
That depends on the suggestions ;-)
I think I'm quite happy with my list and for your information, as I said it's mainly for photo editing, but I'm not a professional, so I don't need the best because a time is money.
For example the PSU you mentioned, if this will be 100,- more expensive (didn't look at the prices yet) I'll put it in, it's an important component and I want a good computer which lasts long. So, this also count for other suggestions that are simply worth the extra money.

Just to be sure... Is the RAM also a good choice ? I still don't get all the differences for this.

 
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jmsellars1

jmsellars1

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DDR4-2133 is the maximum speed that CPU supports without overclocking so that's a good choice. As for different brands, they're all pretty much the same to be honest. Most of the DIMM's are made by the same companies such as Micron and give lifetime warranties so just get whichever brand is cheapest. Crucial, Kingston, Corsair and G.Skill are some of the more well known brands. Geil, Mushkin, Samsung etc. make memory as well and I wouldn't hesitate in buying those. Don't worry about heat spreaders as well, they're just there for show. RAM creates next to no heat as stock (non overclocked) settings.

The GTX 950 is quite a lot faster than the 750Ti so that's a great choice.

If you're not professionally doing your photo editing then I'm sure an i5 would be more than fine, quite a lot cheaper as well. That's up to you really.
 
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Bartjz

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Aug 21, 2015
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Thanks for the explanation ! Good to know I'm good with the RAM, I'll look a bit at the prices of the different brands when I order.

I just check with a local supplier and they have the GTX 950 in stock, so I will definitely go with this one. Thanks for the tip, I would have missed it because it's so new.

As for the CPU, then I might go with the i5 after all. I thought about it before but wasn't sure it would be sufficient for the future, for now it would be good though. I can always upgrade by the time I need it, if some day I buy a new camera with huge RAW files or something ;-)

Thank you all very much for the advice, it helped me a lot. I will look it over once more and will soon order the parts. I'll let you know how it works out.
 
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Bartjz

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Aug 21, 2015
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Ok, I started ordering the parts but it's quite difficult to get RAM, there's not much in stock (I'm in Switzerland). I did find a few options, but first like to be sure if that is also good and compatible.

1. Patriot Viper Extreme (2400MHz) 2x8Gb kit
2. Corsair XMS Vegeance LPX (2133MHz) 2x8Gb kit
3. Kingston HyperX Predator (2133MHz) 4x4Gb kit

Never heard of the first brand, the 3rd is a kit of 4 I don't know if that is supported or useful, and the 2nd seems to be good, but I want to be sure. If I look at the supported RAM list of my main board
from Asus, there's not even Kingston on there in the 2133 MHz section, so I don't know how serious I can take that list ?
 
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Bartjz

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Aug 21, 2015
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Just want to say I picked up all the parts today, assembled my PC and it's working :) Well, just performed the first boot and checked in the bios if everything is recognized and temps are normal, tomorrow I'll continue closing up the case and install Windows.
This is the configuration I ended up with, taking your advice into account.

tpicker.com/p/pZKzcf/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-U12S
Motherboard: Asus Z170-A
Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Black 16GB (4x4 Gb) 2400 MHz
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB SSD
Storage: Western Digital BLUE SERIES 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 950 Strix 2Gb
Case: Fractal Design Define R5 (Black)
Power Supply: Seasonic G-450
Optical Drive: Samsung DVD/CD Writer
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit)
Wireless Network Adapter: Asus AC-65 WLAN adapter

I also added a PCI USB 3.0 (4 ports) expansion card and Intel 120 Gb SSD, which I had laying around.

Thanks again for the useful advice !
I might have some questions now the PC is just build, but I'll open a new topic if that's the case.
 
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