Help with (Noise Focused) Gaming Build $1,500 Budget

Sfthlt12

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Like the title says, I am looking to build myself a new system for Christmas and would like some help with parts. I really want to focus on making the system very quiet and reliable. Wish list would look something like:

I-7 (???)
CPU Cooler: (up for suggestions, probably liquid cooling for noise factor and heat control)
Case: Anything NZXT but would prefer a mid case
RAM: 16g (brand recommendations please)
MoBo: Lost here so recommendations pls
Video Card: GeForce 900 series (would like to get 6g card if I can make work for budget)
Hard Drive: 250g SSD - No need for anything else. Gaming only


I play mostly Blizzard title games but I would like to multi box WoW so that would put 3-5 separate WoW's running on the same system. Also interested in their new title Overwatch, so FPS maybe an option too.

Any help would be realty appreciated!!!
 
Solution
I have an H400 case and an EVGA 970 FTW GPU and I can't hear a think. The Kraken x61 (NZXT) is also on board, and I honestly don't hear a thing from my rig, idle or under load. As such, I'm more than happy to recommend the H440 and EVGA cards. Obviously some people have bad luck but those would be the two things I throw my two cents at for your build.

There's a link to my build in my sig to see what I threw together as a little theme build, but you'll see that the kraken fits well with the case.

mudpuppet

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I have an H400 case and an EVGA 970 FTW GPU and I can't hear a think. The Kraken x61 (NZXT) is also on board, and I honestly don't hear a thing from my rig, idle or under load. As such, I'm more than happy to recommend the H440 and EVGA cards. Obviously some people have bad luck but those would be the two things I throw my two cents at for your build.

There's a link to my build in my sig to see what I threw together as a little theme build, but you'll see that the kraken fits well with the case.
 
Solution

g-unit1111

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I like that build, especially the alternating RAM colors. That is something I haven't seen before. How is the Kraken? I didn't have much luck with mine, which is sitting in a closet right now.
 

Sfthlt12

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How about this? I kind of blew the budget, but only by a few hundred. Any thoughts?

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($273.98 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: NZXT Kraken X61 106.1 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($119.99 @ B&H)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z170MX-Gaming 5 Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($144.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($84.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 840 Pro Series 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($198.89 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Western Digital BLACK SERIES 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($116.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 980 Ti 6GB Video Card ($649.99 @ B&H)
Case: NZXT H440 (Blue/Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($119.99 @ NZXT)
Power Supply: Rosewill 850W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($109.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) ($94.99 @ Adorama)
Total: $1914.79
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-12-08 22:46 EST-0500
 
Well, two things strike me right off the bat.

One, the 840 Pro is slower than the 850 EVO, and has nothing to offer not present on the 850 EVO. It's doesn't have better longevity or a better controller, and it's benchmarks aren't faster, so it's a waste of money. Also, unless you have plans for SLI with your 980 TI, there is no way you need an 850w power supply, even if you max the clocks out on both the CPU and GPU card. If you do plan to SLI, then 850w is a good idea, but not with that Photon unit.

Two, I wouldn't pay ten cents for that Rosewill Photon PSU. If it's not a Capstone, even one of the newer models not made by Super Flower, I wouldn't even consider it for a mainstream unit much less a build of this caliber.

And there is absolutely no evidence that the WD Black drives are any more reliable than the WD Blue or the Seagate Barracuda, or that they last any longer. I wouldn't spend the extra money on that either.

This would be money much better invested and will perform exactly the same as the above build, for two hundred bucks less. There's your "couple of hundred" back in your pocket.


PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($273.98 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: NZXT Kraken X61 106.1 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($119.99 @ B&H)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z170MX-Gaming 5 Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($144.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($84.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($76.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($67.88 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 980 Ti 6GB Video Card ($649.99 @ B&H)
Case: NZXT H440 (Blue/Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($119.99 @ NZXT)
Power Supply: EVGA 850W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($109.99 @ Amazon)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) ($94.99 @ Adorama)
Total: $1743.78
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-12-08 22:57 EST-0500
 

g-unit1111

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On your budget you should be going with an i7. Especially if you plan to move beyond 1080P or get an Oculus Rift. And for storage keep in mind that a 250GB Samsung just won't cut it as your only storage device - keep in mind that games like Fallout 4, GTA V and Wolfenstein all have downloads ranging in the 40GB+ range. And upgrading a CPU isn't as easy as upgrading a GPU.

I would do something like this:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-5820K 3.3GHz 6-Core Processor ($372.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Phanteks PH-TC12DX_BK 68.5 CFM CPU Cooler ($61.83 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock X99 OC Formula EATX LGA2011-3 Motherboard ($279.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (4 x 4GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($76.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($67.88 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 980 Ti 6GB Video Card ($706.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Phanteks Enthoo Pro ATX Full Tower Case ($99.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA 1000 P2 1000W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($186.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($16.88 @ OutletPC)
Total: $1970.51
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-12-08 23:15 EST-0500

That is all top of the line, gives you plenty of room for SLI and has a black / gold theme throughout.
 

mudpuppet

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For my board and a number of the ASUS Sabertooth line boards, the thermal armor comes with the mobo. I've seen a few people with the black boards do a plastidip or spray job on their armor, but I don't know how well it's worked in the case over time so I can't exactly recommend it.

g-unit1111 -
The Kraken has worked flawlessly for me. The first one I got I thought was bad because the fans wouldn't spin up at boot. I sent it back for a second with the same issue. Come to find out the SATA power on the end of the cable I was using was bad. Connected it to a different cable and haven't had an issue since then. I still haven't gotten to OC the chip yet and the tower is actually built down waiting to move into my new house this weekend, but the temps on PC partpicker have been accurate over the last few months.

 

mudpuppet

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I'll add that I like the builds you both posted, but and the 980ti is a great card... but if we're talking blizzard titles, I don't think it's needed. That said I'm not 100% what 3-5 WoW boxes would run resource wise. If you cut that out, a 970 would be more than enough and cut about 300$ off the budget bringing that back down more in line with the original budget.

The PC is for what you want to do, but personally I don't think multiboxing WoW is really worth it, and it's a lot of money. I'd opt to getting some nice 24" or 27" monitors instead, or even a new TV etc. WoW was great for a long time for me but I never went down the multibox route, just too much money to justify investing into a game, but if it's what you're in to, then maybe the 980ti is what you'll need to look at and you'd have to be accepting of that extra 300$ tag that comes with it.
 

g-unit1111

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Maybe I just got a bad unit then. I might get an RMA for it and then reuse it at some point, but I'm pretty satisfied with the cooling setup I have now.
 

mudpuppet

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Hey whatever works works right? I knew it would fit in the H440, it's quite as hell, the LED is programmable (in color and display patterns)... as long as it worked there wasn't a downside past it was more expensive. I wanted a themed build, so the color changing LEDs said DO IT! I mean in comparison it was only about 20$ or so to Corsair's coolers. Hell I bought mine from a Warehouse Deal at Amazon (open box).
 

Sfthlt12

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Ok guys, I took everything you said into consideration and here is the build I think I am going to go with. I thought about it and I really don't think I will need the 980ti 6g card. And I think Id rather try and build a more budget friendly build. Thank you for all the help. Hope you agree with my changes :) :

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/vfkX4D
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/vfkX4D/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i7-6700 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($439.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: NZXT Kraken X61 106.1 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($123.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock Fatal1ty Z170 Gaming K6+ ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($193.49 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3400 Memory ($164.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($77.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($45.88 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 4GB WINDFORCE Video Card ($338.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: NZXT H440 (White/Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($118.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: EVGA 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($89.99 @ Amazon)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) ($89.88 @ OutletPC)
Total: $1684.18
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-12-09 15:32 EST-0500
 

king3pj

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Not that there is anything wrong with that build but if you are building a gaming PC I don't think it makes sense to spend more money on the CPU than the GPU. Remember that most games depend more on the GPU than the CPU.

I know an i7 was recommended earlier but that was when you were considering a $2000 budget and a GTX 980 Ti. Are you going to overclock your CPU? If not you could save over $200 on an i5-6500 that still won't bottleneck a GTX 970.

Also if you aren't buying a "k" series CPU you don't need to buy a "Z" series motherboard.

Those two changes could knock nearly $300 off your build price. That $300 could either be kept in your pocket or you could swap out the 970 with a 980 Ti and have a much stronger gaming build for about the same amount of money.

With the Blizzard games you mentioned being your focus I would probably save the money and go with an i5-6500, h170 motherboard, and GTX 970. Those parts should absolutely handle all the games you mentioned.
 
Regardless of whether or not you have an unlocked chip, there are plenty of reasons for a Z series board, both in the Z97 and Z170 varieties. SLI, full speed Crossfire, M.2, future upgrade path, higher quality capacitors, better VRM cooling (Thus a longer lifespan), additional PCI slots, color choices, number of fan headers and the use of faster RAM are all good reasons to require a Z series board even without an unlocked processor.
 

king3pj

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I stand corrected. Do you think it makes sense to put a $440 Skylake i7 and a $330 GTX 970 into a PC but solely for gaming though? A modern i5 will not hold the GTX 970, or even stronger cards, back in gaming.

I think an i5 paired with a cheaper motherboard would be fine if that price difference could be put into getting a GTX 980Ti for about the same total build price. That would also do much better for gaming than a high end i7, a motherboard with more features, and a GTX 970.

Admittedly a 980Ti is not necessary for the Blizzard games he plays but neither is a $440 i7. Maybe the best build would be to stick with a Z series motherboard and GTX 970 but get a nice i5 instead. It would easily handle all the games he mentioned and save him some money.
 
That's true, an unlocked i5 is unlikely to be the bottleneck in most configurations, currently. That's highly likely to change with upcoming titles though if the presumed move to optimizing for DX12 starts coming through in the game engines we will be seeing. Better use of more cores or higher thread usage could be a serious advantage if that happens, at least on those titles that are increasingly CPU intensive. We've just seen this with the preliminary results for Just cause 3, even though that's probably not a good DX12 example, it's still much more CPU intensive than previous iterations.

I'd agree that a higher end GPU card should be a bigger priority, IF you feel the need for higher resolution gaming or you have to have as much eye candy as possible, but not everybody feels that way and a lot of folks have multi-use machines that are not strictly for gaming only so whether or not you are one of these people would be a considerable factor in this regard.

There are many things that are not absolutely necessary, for now, but might be a tremendous advantage two or three years down the road and I for one don't like having to upgrade more than once every five years or so, which is why I went with a Skylake i7 as well. I considered an X99 build, but the problems with the ASUS OC socket and the fact that the Haswell-E cores didn't really outperform the HR or Skylake chips left me with considering some of the other features as my point of contention. Since there will be no further LGA 2011-3 chips, at least with a SL build there is some chance of an upgrade path to a somewhat better performing CPU at some future date.

Also, with Skylake having 20 PCI lanes versus 16 for Haswell refresh, if M.2 or dual cards are a consideration, there may be some benefit to Skylake there as well. Many of the Z97 boards are incapable of using dual x8 cards AND an M.2 device, without shutting down some of the other PCI slots or SATA headers.

If you just want something that works NOW with a high end GPU, and worry about later, later, then any HR or Skylake i5 will do the job.
 

Sfthlt12

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Thank you guys. I have learned quite a bit from this thread and it has helped me through some decision making. I think I may take the build I put above and shell out for the 980ti. Probably overkill for what I play, but hey, its Christmas!
 

king3pj

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That would be a beastly machine. Yeah, it's overkill for Blizzard games but it should max out any game that comes out for quite a while.
 
Plus, Blizzard or otherwise, game developers have been intentionally limiting the resource requirements on games for some time now. Considering the widespread availability of higher end hardware now, that trend is likely to change and having hardware that might be overkill now, will probably not be before long.