New Gaming Build - approx. 1450$ + my soul.

ratava · Dec 7, 2015

Hey guys, I am pretty hopeless when it comes to hardware, never put a PC together, so this is more of a "will it fit together" sort of thing. I am also limited by where I am buying from, so unless something seems terribly overpriced for what it does, I am more interested in how it might run (and fit in the case) together.

All prices are inflated by our great EU taxes, just keep that in mind-

System Usage - Gaming has priority, some light video editing, steaming and 3ds Max.
Overclocking: - Some slight OC, but not immediately.
SLI: - In the future perhaps, certainly would like to keep it an option.
Notes - No SSD yet, my budget is strained to a breaking point, but I will buy it later on.

Specs
Case: Zalman Z3 Plus - 48$
Motherboard: MSI Z170 KRAIT GAMING - Intel Z170 - 157$
CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K - 300$
GPU: GIGABYTE GTX 980 G1 GAMING 4GB - 612$
Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Black 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 2133 - 103$
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 7200.14 - 1TB - 58$
CPU Cooler: Scythe SCNJ-4000 Ninja 4 - 50$
PSU: EVGA SuperNOVA 650 GS 650W - 116$
Total: 1444$ish

Main concerns:
Am I missing something?
The case should have some basic fans packed with it to get some airflow in the case going, but will I be able to keep reasonable temperatures?
Will everything fit in the case space and dimensions-wise?
Is the PSU good enough to sustain the system as is? Can it handle slight OC at least on the CPU?
Have I created a bottleneck anywhere aside from the lack of an SSD?
Is the motherboard just an overpriced "gaming in the name" trap to catch the wallets of the innocent (like me), or is it decent?

Thank you for you time and your advice.

king3pj · Dec 7, 2015

Ouch! $612 for a 980? That same model can be purchased on Amazon in the US right now for $499. You could get a 980Ti for that price here. I feel for you man.

Back on topic.... I think the parts you selected should all work together. If it was my build I think I would save some money by getting a i5-4690k so you can buy cheaper DDR3 RAM. You could also get away with 8GB instead of 16GB of RAM for a gaming PC.

I don't think there is enough difference between Skylake CPUs and Devil's Canyon for gaming right now to justify the extra cost.

I think you would probably be able to squeeze in a 980 Ti and get much better gaming performance if you made those changes. I can't say for sure because I am not familiar with pricing in your country though.

ratava · Dec 7, 2015

king3pj :

Yeah, its fun, 980 Ti would cost me 812$ ... its insane. Actually at the moment, there is a deal for that DDR4 memory, it costs the same as reasonably good DDR3 16gb, so that was my main motivation for going for something Skylake (and 16gb instead of 8). But anyway, happy to hear I managed not to screw up ports or sockets or dimensions. Hardware details can be a bit overwhelming for me, so thanks for the input.

Catalytic · Dec 7, 2015

If you post the games you're wanting to play, folks might be able to redirect you to different parts to save you some money for an SSD.

ratava · Dec 7, 2015

Catalytic :

The first game I plan on trying out is Witcher 3, as I still didnt have time to play it because of work. I would also finally get to play Planetside 2 with decent FPS, or at least I hope that will be the case. But I play everything from Hearts of Iron 3 to Fallout 4.

The problem with SSDs for me is the storage. I own an external 2TB harddrive and its full. Storage is king for me, speed is secondary as far as HDD goes. Besides, plugging in an SSD two months down the road shouldnt be that much of an issue I hope. Is it really a big problem not to have it these days?

Catalytic · Dec 7, 2015

I only play World of Warcraft and other Blizzard games, so I can only speak about them, (I'm unfamiliar with the games you mentioned) but using an SSD makes for fast loading times. Like, my log in speed now is probably a fifth of what it was with a mechanical HD. Also when reloading the UI, changing zones that require a load screen, etc...that's where the SSD makes the difference for me. I only put my OS and my games on the SSD, all my other storage is on mechanicals.

Hopefully someone familiar with those games can come along and look over your build and tell you if you could save money anywhere.

king3pj · Dec 7, 2015

There is no problem with adding an SSD later but you would want to do a clean install of Windows if you did that. If you upgrade to an SSD you absolutely want Windows installed on it instead of the HDD. It makes just about everything you do on the PC faster.

That being said, you won't notice much, if any difference in FPS with a SSD. What you will notice is much faster load times. They are almost instant in some games.

What I did in my build was use a 240GB SSD and a 2TB HDD. The SSD only has Windows, the programs I use the most, and about 3 AAA games I happen to be playing the most at any given time on it. Everything else goes on the HDD. Right now I have Fallout 4 on my SSD but when I'm finished with it I will uninstall it or move it to the HDD.

ratava · Dec 7, 2015

@ Catalytic - As far as Blizzard games go, I play mostly Hearthstone and boy, I could use SSD for that

Takes forever to load sometimes. But yeah, I know, the loading times are something I am prepared to put up with for a little while longer, as even a 240 gig SSD would be too small for the data I need to transfer from my current setup and as I said, right now I cant afford both mechanical and an SSD.

@ king3pj - Yeah, thats the only thing that makes me a bit annoyed, but at least I can try out Windows 10 and decide if I want to keep it, or downgrade to W7 after those 2, 3 months.

Catalytic · Dec 7, 2015

ratava :

Well, I mentioned Blizzard games mainly because you could go a lot cheaper on the GPU for them, but I don't know about the other games. I just built a computer yesterday (the one I'm on) with the 6600k and I'm using an old GTX770OC in it, but I used a GTX960SC in it just to see how it was and it was comparable...both are 2GB GPUs.

OH...if I could advise you to change one thing...don't go with a Seagate hard drive. I bought 5 Barracudas in 2012 (1 in January 2tb, and 4 in Nov/Dec 3tb) and within 6 months one of the 3tb was dead, within 18 months 3 of the 3tb were dead, and the 2tb was dead. I wouldn't use a Seagate HDD again if someone gave me them free. If you could find a different brand HDD, I would highly recommend it.

You might price a DeepCool Kendomen case...I'm loving it, and it comes with 5 fans already in it. (Most of the other ones only came with 1 or 2 fans, so you have to add a few bucks each for more fans) It looks like maybe the case you picked has 4 fans with it, so that's still better than most I looked at.

ratava · Dec 8, 2015

Catalytic :

ratava :

Well, I mentioned Blizzard games mainly because you could go a lot cheaper on the GPU for them, but I don't know about the other games. I just built a computer yesterday (the one I'm on) with the 6600k and I'm using an old GTX770OC in it, but I used a GTX960SC in it just to see how it was and it was comparable...both are 2GB GPUs.

OH...if I could advise you to change one thing...don't go with a Seagate hard drive. I bought 5 Barracudas in 2012 (1 in January 2tb, and 4 in Nov/Dec 3tb) and within 6 months one of the 3tb was dead, within 18 months 3 of the 3tb were dead, and the 2tb was dead. I wouldn't use a Seagate HDD again if someone gave me them free. If you could find a different brand HDD, I would highly recommend it.

You might price a DeepCool Kendomen case...I'm loving it, and it comes with 5 fans already in it. (Most of the other ones only came with 1 or 2 fans, so you have to add a few bucks each for more fans) It looks like maybe the case you picked has 4 fans with it, so that's still better than most I looked at.

I heard something about the bigger drives failing more often, will take a look if I can find something else for the same price. Thanks for the heads up.

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