Need help planning my new build !

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Lawrence Banks

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Apr 12, 2015
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Hey guys, just a few questions about my new build, I would really appreciate answers. I'm upgrading from the following build .

nzxt phantom case
16gb ddr3 1666mhz
i7 4790k
gtx 980 superclocked
240gb samsung evo SSD
1TB HDD

I'm going to upgrade to the following PC :

I7 6700K
MSI GTX 1070 X
16GB Ripjaw GSKILL Ram
MSI Z170A TOMAHAWK ATX / GIGABYTE Z170 K3 EU ( Cannot decide )
240GB Sandisk SSD
Western Digital RE3 1TB HDD
Corsair Builder 750W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX ( Cannot decide )
Be Quiet! Dark Rock 3 CPU Cooler ( Cannot decide, feel free to recommend diff ones )


I'm particularly stuck between which motherboard is better. The Gigabyte looks nicer and has some nice features, but the MSI has a better IO on it. I'm not 100% sure which is the better board - all i know is they are both Z97 chip-sets.

I'm also stuck on the corsair PSU. IT's not very highly rated but it's the same PSU I have now and I've never had a problem with it. Are there better ones?

Additionally, in the Phanteks Enthoo Pro is there a way to mount an SSD in the FRONT of the case so it's visible? I think it would look quite nice , i've never understood why people mount it on the back of the motherboard - it looks awkward.

I'd appreciate if people could rate this build and recommend different parts. I cannot budge much on the price, up to £110 ish for the mobo, up to £70 for psu, up to £60 for water cooler, up to £60 for SSD and £50 for HDD. The case, graphics card and processor and RAM are decided on unless someone has a really good argument for a better one!

Also am open to criticism about the color scheme ( black / red )


 
Solution
bootcher
Any particular reason to upgrade? Because going from a 4790K to a 6700K isn't really an upgrade, your CPU performance will remain about the same. You don't mention the resolution you are aiming for, so I can't really comment on the choice of GPU. Going from a GTX 980 to a GTX 1070 should be a nice upgrade if your resolution actually needs the extra GPU power.

You don't mention what type of ram speed, with ddr4 it is important to have a good mix of higher speed and lower cas, otherwise you might end up with a lower ram speed if compared to ddr3. Since you have a z170 build you might as well get a high speed ddr4, 2666 or 3000 mhz.

Personally I always prefer MSI motherboards, but really both are good brands.
Your Corsair PSU isn't a...
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bootcher

bootcher

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Feb 22, 2013
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Any particular reason to upgrade? Because going from a 4790K to a 6700K isn't really an upgrade, your CPU performance will remain about the same. You don't mention the resolution you are aiming for, so I can't really comment on the choice of GPU. Going from a GTX 980 to a GTX 1070 should be a nice upgrade if your resolution actually needs the extra GPU power.

You don't mention what type of ram speed, with ddr4 it is important to have a good mix of higher speed and lower cas, otherwise you might end up with a lower ram speed if compared to ddr3. Since you have a z170 build you might as well get a high speed ddr4, 2666 or 3000 mhz.

Personally I always prefer MSI motherboards, but really both are good brands.
Your Corsair PSU isn't a very good one, it would seem weird to get a higher end PC and cheaping out on the PSU. I would recommend a gold rated PSU for a stable and high overclock, for example seasonic, fsp, evga, xfx, antec, thermaltake. Corsair also has some very good gold rated psu's.

If you want the best SSD you should get a samsung one. If you have the cash get a pci-express/nvme one, they are the fastest ones available, but a bit expensive. As far as I know harddrives and SSD always are put in the front of the case, I never have seen an SSD being mounted in the back. The newer m.2 SSD's go on the motherboard though.

edit: put your build in pcpartpicker.com so it can be more easily be viewed and commented on.
 
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Lawrence Banks

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Apr 12, 2015
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I guess my plan is that in the future i'm saving money.

If I get a new PC 2 years from now while just staying with mine, my PC would be worth like, 300 or something right? Whereas, if I just sell it now, I can spend my savings and get a proper futureproof PC, with a good motherboard, DDR4, Pascal and new components.


Really the biggest problem for me is my motherboard sucking ( shitty overclocking for a z97, not futureproof bc ddr3, bad IO system and looks meh too ) , and ontop of that im looking to move to 1440p so i'd have to upgrade graphics and mobo , aswell as my case because i truly hate my case.

tl;dr - if im upgrading case and graphics card and i (want) to upgrade my mobo, shouldn't I just get a new system?

 
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Lawrence Banks

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Apr 12, 2015
18
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4,510


I guess my plan is that in the future i'm saving money.

If I get a new PC 2 years from now while just staying with mine, my PC would be worth like, 300 or something right? Whereas, if I just sell it now, I can spend my savings and get a proper futureproof PC, with a good motherboard, DDR4, Pascal and new components.


Really the biggest problem for me is my motherboard sucking ( shitty overclocking for a z97, not futureproof bc ddr3, bad IO system and looks meh too ) , and ontop of that im looking to move to 1440p so i'd have to upgrade graphics and mobo , aswell as my case because i truly hate my case.

tl;dr - if im upgrading case and graphics card and i (want) to upgrade my mobo, shouldn't I just get a new system?

 
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Lawrence Banks

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Apr 12, 2015
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Idk man, as I said in the reply below, it just seems that if I buy now, i'm saving myself money in the future. If I upgrade just my case and graphics card, it seems like spending £300 ( thats the cost after my card is sold ) I mineaswell just put in the £200 and get an all new shiny PC. I know the 4790k and the 6700k are similar ( 6700k imo is still better ) but won't DDR4 motherboards evolve to the point that DDR3 is just worthless trash? That's what i'm scared of, that when I want to upgrade my DDR3 PC will be worthless.


edit : By " Front mounted " I meant mounting it facing outwards, not just in the hard-drive trays. As in, mounting it in the same position as the mobo. Is that possible?

Apologies for the stupid questions. Also, I already have a samsung SSD, I belive the 840 EVO.
 
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bootcher

bootcher

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Feb 22, 2013
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I still would hold on to the i7 4790K. You don't mention your current motherboard, but if it is holding you back in overclocking you could consider getting a good overclocking motherboard. Seeing Skylake is the new standard Z97 boards can be had alot cheaper nowadays.
You could also be being held back by your current PSU, which is not the best for overclocking. A better PSU might enable higher and stable overclocks on both CPU as GPU.
of course old tech will not be viable in the future anymore, but ddr3 is still very relevant and still can perform up to par with ddr4. With your current setup you can get even higher rated ddr3, though it depends on your motherboard what limits on the ddr3 speed it supports.

About the SSD kmounting I don't know if it is possible, it would depend on the case. Most cases wouldn't allow to mount the ssd straight like the motherboard, but some might. Or you could do it yourself if you're a bit handy.
 
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Lawrence Banks

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Apr 12, 2015
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I guess you've convinced me. I think i'll grab a 1070 and change case to a phanteks enthoo pro case, lovely case with every feature, 500x better then this terrible phantom.
My motherboard holds me back in multiple ways, not just the overclocking. It has no SLI or crossfire, no usb 3.1 or C type, it's a bare standard board.
As for the PSU - would you say there's a problem there? Afaik, psu doesn't have a direct impact on performance does it?

If the PSU doesnt matter too much and if you think DDR3 and a 4790K will last me a while and won't bottleneck my system, i'll just get a new case and upgrade to the 1070.
 
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bootcher

bootcher

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Feb 22, 2013
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PSU's can matter, especially in an overclocking build. A good quality PSU will provide steady current to enable higher and stable overclocks, where cheaper PSU's might not be able to do the same and thus limiting your overclock at a lower frequency.

Bt if your i7/GTX 980 clocks fine it should continue to do so with the 1070. The 1070 requires same amount of power as the 980, so no trouble there for the PSU.

About ddr3 vs ddr4, there are numerous benchmarks and tests done about it. The difference is negligible mainly because of the higher cas latency with higher speed ddr4. ddr3 has lower frequency but is faster because of even lower cas latency. I found this to be a decent article covering different benchmarks:
https://us.hardware.info/reviews/6678/skylake-ddr4-vs-ddr3-review
 
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