What do you think about these gaming builds?

sroossie · May 10, 2016

Edit: Big thank you to the people who responded. I decided to go with this, though I may tweak it a bit if prices move between now and when I can get my hands on a GTX 1070: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/dtMT4D

Hello everyone,

Over the last couple of months, I've looked at dozens of threads and put together an MMORPG gaming build. I'd appreciate any thoughts you have about the build and if there are specific parts you would choose instead.

GOAL
Play any existing or upcoming MMORPG near maximum settings on a 1920x1080 60hz monitor with short load screen times and smooth fps even in areas with many players. I play with two screens, one for gaming and the other for a web browser (guides, youtube, netflix). This PC will be dedicated to gaming since I have a personal laptop and a work laptop for everything else.

BUDGET
$1,500 (excluding monitors)

BUILD
Both of the builds below are within my budget, but from what I've been reading, it seems like (i) the i5-6600K is nearly identical to the i7-6700K for gaming, (ii) there is no discernible difference in-game between 2133MHz and 3400MHz RAM, and (iii) the average user cannot tell the difference between NVMe and SATA III read/write speeds. If so, I could save about $250 by going with the cheaper of those options. Right? Wrong? Please let me know.

Option #1 http://pcpartpicker.com/p/R8xbsY
Option #2 http://pcpartpicker.com/p/Bcyq6h

Thanks in advance! What do you think?

RCFProd · May 10, 2016

For gaming only you want the i5-6600k. i7-6700k is more for multipurpose, if you do heavy stuff besides playing games.

The only problem here is your choice of PSU. Overall you have a strong set of components, but your power supply is poor quality.

I'd recommend the 950 Pro if It's in your price range.

sroossie · May 10, 2016

RCFProd :

Thanks! Is there a PSU you'd recommend?

beyondlogic · May 10, 2016

sroossie :

a seasonic power supply is good never cheap on this component also evga is pretty good

id recomend either

750w model of evga though id recomend at the moment as its price friendly and modular
http://www.ncixus.com/products/?usaffiliateid=1000031504&sku=125882&vpn=210-GQ-0750-V1&manufacture=eVGA&promoid=1287

its gold rated so its energy efficient less leaking then a bronze psu

Gnuffi · May 10, 2016

RCFProd :

might i ask why you recommend the 950 pro since OP is talking gaming build? and all tests show 0 benefit of 950 pro in gaming and teh price/GB storage is crazy compared to 850

i got so disappointed i returned my 950 pro very fast, again, since i too saw 0 gaming benefits

to OP @ sroossie
get a seasonic or evga PSU
EVGA supernova g2 or Seasonic m12II
dont need more than max 650watt, 520/550w will even do

RCFProd · May 10, 2016

sroossie :

Power Supply: EVGA 650W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($67.49 @ Amazon)
Total: $67.49
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-05-10 13:23 EDT-0400

Power Supply: EVGA 750W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($78.89 @ OutletPC)
Total: $78.89
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-05-10 13:22 EDT-0400

RCFProd · May 10, 2016

Gnuffi :

On paper the 950 Pro is faster. Since the OP seems to want the shortest load times, It's the reason I'd recommend it. Which motherboard did you use the 950 Pro with if I may ask?

Also regarding RAM,

There can be a big difference between 2133 and 3400 Mhz RAM. Proven to make over 15 fps difference consistently in GTA V, Far Cry Primal, Fallout 4, AC: Syndicate and even more titles. Seems to be open world games especially.

Gnuffi · May 10, 2016

RCFProd :

"on paper" stats matters not, only real world scenarios

and game load times simply dont function in a way that take advantage of the 950 pro or PCI'e SSD's
used my Asus Maximus VIII Hero mobo, which handles it nicely,
i just dont do any heavy data work that made me want to "justify" the 2x cost price/GB storage over the 850, when there was no gain/benefit for my needs and gaming,
which was sad, since i too for moment, like many, thought "2x-4x the stats/speed = reduced load times" but alas

sorta like putting grandma in a Ferrari, doesnt matter if the car can go really fast if grandma doesnt

, i.e. doesnt matter if your SSD is super speedy if the program doesnt utilize it
(games are Grandma)

sroossie · May 10, 2016

@Gnuffi
Awesome to hear a real world perspective. May I ask which game(s) specifically?

@RCFProd
Do you know of any articles people have posted seeing the 15fps difference? Faster RAM is twice as expensive as slower RAM, but it's only $45 more, so if it makes a difference it's worth it.

@beyondlogic
Thanks. I think I put the least amount of thought into the PSU. Oops.

Gnuffi · May 10, 2016

faster ram is not twice as expencive https://pcpartpicker.com/parts/memory/#t=14&s=402133,402400,402800,403000&Z=16384002&sort=a10&page=1&m=11,12,17,23
example, picked at random
https://pcpartpicker.com/part/corsair-memory-cmk16gx4m2a2133c13
https://pcpartpicker.com/part/corsair-memory-cmk16gx4m2b3000c15r

Gnuffi · May 10, 2016

as for my "personal" game tests, Fallout, Far Cry 3, Rise of the Tomb Raider, Bioshock Infinite, Total War Rome 2, Dishonored, World of Warcraft, Xcom2, and more i cant even remember
even Rome2 slow load times doesnt get "blistering" fast going from a regular 850 ssd to 950 pro, because its not how things work
some 3rd party perspective should you want to read if its "worth it" for gaming for a performance stand point and not just "bragging rights"

http://techreport.com/review/29221/samsung-950-pro-512gb-ssd-reviewed/4

sroossie · May 10, 2016

@Gnuffi
I was referring to 3400 vs. 2133. Looks like 3000 is quite a bit cheaper. Do you agree with @RCFProd that the faster memory is worth it?

RCFProd · May 10, 2016

sroossie :

Let the numbers speak for themselves.

[video="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Er_Fuz54U0Y"][/video]

And yeah, 3000 is much better value than 3400.

Gnuffi · May 10, 2016

yes i agree with RCFProd
for a z170 board, you might aswell go for faster ram not just because of the price being so cheap, but there is a performance difference on Skylake going from standard speed ram to higher speed
and skylake reaches it performance peak at around the 2800-3000-3200 so no "need" to go faster, you actually just risk potential performance loss (very minute tho)

sroossie · May 10, 2016

@RCFProd
Wow. This is fantastic. Thanks so much for sharing.

@Gnuffi
That makes sense. Thank you.

It looks like the prices are pretty low through 3200. Only the 3400 is particularly expensive. I think I'll probably go with 3200.

beyondlogic · May 10, 2016

sroossie :

things to note latency with ddr4 and voltage cpus of skylake can take 1.35v note you will have to overclock to hit higher speeds beyond 2133mhz also note overclocking does lower a processors life span as your pushing it beyond its normal however if you can keep it stable and cool

under 64c at full whack you should be fine and the chip should last ages

heat is the enemy also noted if your overclocking a gpu and a cpu i defo recomend 750w and up

https://pcpartpicker.com/part/gskill-memory-f43000c15d16grbb

Gnuffi · May 10, 2016

beyondlogic :

you dont need 750w for any of those builds, overclocking or not are you daft??!
520/550w is fine, and 600-650w more than enough with huge head room
and dont make it sound like he "needs to overclock" to activate his ram
just enables XMP and everything is sorted and they run at specified speeds latency and voltage without any effect or interference from the SKylake CPU, it will handle it fine automatically
nor even if he decided to overclock his CPU (which is likely considering the K sku chosen) would that affect his ram in anyway, not like the old days where increasing BCLK would increase ram too, that doesnt happen on Skylake when overclocking by multipliers, which is by far teh easiest and best recommended way to overclock the CPU on teh platform, specially for novices

and teh Skylake CPU can handle 1.4v on 24/7 overclock with temps up to 80c easy (tho below 80c is highly recommended), but still even 75c is perfect at 100% load

all in all besides "heat is the enemy" your statement is terribad

sroossie · May 10, 2016

Is the memory @beyondlogic linked compatible with my Z170 motherboard?

https://pcpartpicker.com/part/gskill-memory-f43000c15d16grbb

Gnuffi · May 10, 2016

yup any DDR4 288-pin DIMM would be

sroossie · May 10, 2016

Thanks everybody. Really appreciate the help. I think I'm going to go with this:

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/Twdryc

Gnuffi · May 10, 2016

solid choice, not bad build
i would prefer if you would opt for teh EVGA Supernova 650 G2, since the G2 models is "the best" the GQ model you have chosen isnt bad, the G2 model is just "superb",
one of THE best on the market if not the best, and well worth the extra few dollars when planning to overclock
and it comes with a 10year warranty

http://pcpartpicker.com/part/evga-power-supply-220g20650y1

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