New gaming build for first timer

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Milton95

Milton95

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Jul 7, 2015
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Hello, I'm David and I'm new to PC building and Tom's Hardware. After spending a lot of time with gaming consoles, and laptops that would bust every couple of years I felt it was time to change to a PC that I could game with and also use for my studies. I bought a monitor and also went through a couple of sites looking at some builds and came up with a list of parts, but like I said I'm new to this so any opinions would be most welcome. This is my list on PartPicker:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($485.00 @ Centre Com)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H60 54.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($99.00 @ CPL Online)
Motherboard: MSI Z97-GAMING 5 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($245.00 @ Mwave Australia)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance Pro 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($175.00 @ IJK)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($169.00 @ CPL Online)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($70.00 @ IJK)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 980 4GB Twin Frozr Video Card ($739.00 @ Centre Com)
Case: Corsair 750D ATX Full Tower Case ($199.00 @ Mwave Australia)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA NEX750B BRONZE 750W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($98.00 @ CPL Online)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer
Total: $2279.00
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-08-30 09:26 AEST+1000

Approximate Purchase Date: This month

Budget Range: $2000-$2500

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming, study, surfing the net, movies, etc.

Are you buying a monitor: No

Do you need to buy OS: Yes.

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: newegg.com, pccasegear.com

Location: Queensland, Australia

Parts Preferences: I have no preferences as I simply don't know enough to have any.

Overclocking: No

SLI or Crossfire: Maybe
 
Solution
endeavour37a
The Z170 boards are more expensive than the Z97, the CPU's are just a bit more, the DDR4 is going to be more than DDR3. BUT, in the long run it will be worth it because it will serve your needs for a much longer period of time so it would be cost effective over the years. Perhaps a new graphics card down the road is all that would be needed. And you get 20 lanes of PCIe 3.0 instead of 16, that opens the door to some ultra fast NVMe storage when the pricing drops some day as you have 4 lanes free for that M.2. card :) A 6700k would be the cats meow.

The Z170 boards all differ a bit, from OK to good so read up on the one you like before getting it, you'll have a great rig that rocks your socks off.....
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CTurbo

CTurbo

Pizza Monster
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Aug 27, 2013
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I switch the psu to a newer much better EVGA. Switched the CL water cooler to a better air cooler. Your RAM was wildly overpriced(wow), and I threw in a better ssd value.


PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($485.00 @ Centre Com)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D14 65.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($99.00 @ CPL Online)
Motherboard: MSI Z97-GAMING 5 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($245.00 @ Mwave Australia)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($127.00 @ PLE Computers)
Storage: Crucial BX100 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($135.00 @ Umart)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($70.00 @ IJK)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 980 4GB Twin Frozr Video Card ($739.00 @ Centre Com)
Case: Corsair 750D ATX Full Tower Case ($199.00 @ Mwave Australia)
Power Supply: EVGA 750W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($129.00 @ CPL Online)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer
Total: $2228.00
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-08-30 09:50 AEST+1000
 
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endeavour37a

endeavour37a

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Feb 25, 2013
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On a new game rig why not go with a Skylake/Z170 set up? If this is primarily a gaming machine an i5 would save you some money and perform nearly as well as an i7 would, a very few FPS difference. Skylake is not any vast improvement over Haswell of course but it is not worse by any standard, yet the Z170 is an improvement over the Z97/Z87 chip-set and the 1151 socket should fit the next Gen CPU later down the road. In the states it's about $10 more, not sure what it would be there. The reviews I have read say the 6700k can OC to 4.6-4.8 so they OC really good from a 4.0 base clock.

The ASUS Z170-A MB seems to OC just as well as the new HERO VIII also, but not as good for the DRAM OC, no big deal I think because the DDR4 speeds are plenty fast for gaming at the rated speed anyway. Just something to think on..
 
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Milton95

Milton95

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Jul 7, 2015
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Wow, I'm surprised at the price difference in RAM, that helps a lot with the power supply, and I don't know much about cooling so I'll take your word for it as it looks good. If it looks decent apart from that then I'm pretty set, although I still haven't a clue as to what OS I should get.
 
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Milton95

Milton95

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Jul 7, 2015
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I'm not familiar with the Z710 stuff so I'll have to look it up. While the difference in price with the i5 and i7 is worrisome, I've been told before that I should future proof with an i7, but if you think there's not a big enough difference to warrant the price gap, that's something to think about.
 
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Milton95

Milton95

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Jul 7, 2015
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I might just do that as I've already cut the cost with your help and I was willing to spend that much before. Thanks for the responses as well guys it's a big help.
 
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endeavour37a

endeavour37a

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Feb 25, 2013
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Here are a couple links from AnandTech on the Skylake, it also talks on the Z170 to go with it. I read many review sites, this site is the very best I have found for digging into the nuts and bolts of a device technically speaking.

The Intel 6th Gen Skylake Review: Core i7-6700K and i5-6600K Tested
http://www.anandtech.com/show/9483/intel-skylake-review-6700k-6600k-ddr4-ddr3-ipc-6th-generation
(it is rather in depth and long but you will have a good idea what they are all about when done.)

The Intel Skylake i7-6700K Overclocking Performance Mini-Test to 4.8 GHz
http://www.anandtech.com/show/9533/intel-i7-6700k-overclocking-4-8-ghz

Intel Skylake Z170 Motherboards: A Quick Look at 55+ New Products
http://www.anandtech.com/show/9485/intel-skylake-z170-motherboards-asrock-asus-gigabyte-msi-ecs-evga-supermicro

I have not read anywhere an i7 yields more than a few FPS in any of the new titles, not $100 worth anyway. And I think (my opinion) that will not change significantly in the next 5 years, about a good time to upgrade anyway. The Z170 MB seem to be more expensive than the Z97 boards, perhaps due to design difference, the extra etching for DDR4 over DDR3 would be one thing, and some of the power regulation is back on the MB instead of in the CPU like Haswell. The DDR4 itself is a bit more expensive also.
 
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Milton95

Milton95

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Jul 7, 2015
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So does the i7 I'd chosen not work on Z170? If so what makes the skylake i7 make that jump in price, and how does it compare to the skylake i5? Sorry, I'm not super tech savy so I don't understand some of the more in depth stuff.
 
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endeavour37a

endeavour37a

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Feb 25, 2013
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The 4790 would work on a Z97board with a 1150 socket, the Skylake CPUs need the new 1151 socket and a 100 series PCH, like the Z170. So the Haswell or Broadwell CPUs would not be able to plug into them as both are 1150 socket CPUs.

Generally speaking in the USA the difference in price between a (k) i7 and i5 is about $100 (for the ones used on Z97/Z87 boards. The difference between the 4790k and 6700k is around $15, the i5 4690k and i5 6600k around $5. So Skylake is roughly $10 more than a Haswell, generally speaking.

Hope that makes sense in some way......

The basic difference between the i7s and i5s is the i7 has Hyper Threading (4 physical cores and 4 software cores), the i5 does not support H/T. Also it has more cache and generally clocked higher in base and boost clock.
 
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Milton95

Milton95

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Jul 7, 2015
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Considering I saved some money by switching out the ram, and the Z170 mobo is similarly priced, I could just go with the skylake i7 and still be under budget.
 
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endeavour37a

endeavour37a

Honorable
Feb 25, 2013
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The Z170 boards are more expensive than the Z97, the CPU's are just a bit more, the DDR4 is going to be more than DDR3. BUT, in the long run it will be worth it because it will serve your needs for a much longer period of time so it would be cost effective over the years. Perhaps a new graphics card down the road is all that would be needed. And you get 20 lanes of PCIe 3.0 instead of 16, that opens the door to some ultra fast NVMe storage when the pricing drops some day as you have 4 lanes free for that M.2. card :) A 6700k would be the cats meow.

The Z170 boards all differ a bit, from OK to good so read up on the one you like before getting it, you'll have a great rig that rocks your socks off.....
 
Upvote 1 Downvote
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