My first home build PC, help check the spec

Freud_Lao · Sep 28, 2016

Hi Guys,

I finally save up enough for my first PC yay

I have to says that I'm a hardcore gamer lol. I play every type of games and I play at least like 3 hours a day even with a full time job .

Here is the spec I'm thinking of;

CPU : I7 6700K
Mainboard: z170x gaming 3
GPU : GTX 1070 GI Gaming 8G
RAM : 32/2400 Corsair
SSD : 480 GB
Harddisk : 2TB
PS : Aerocool 750w
Case : custom + water cooling system

The total cost is around 1400$ excluding monitor.

my question is that, is the spec a bit too high for just gaming? Should i just get 16 gb ram and 970 GPU instead? would save at least 300$

This is the first time that I will buy my own PC so its a little bit hard for me to decide and I kinda need guidance ;D

Any help or comment are appreciate.

Thanks in advance.
Michael L.

BadActor · Sep 28, 2016

If strictly for gaming, you could build something with equivalent performance but much cheaper. Do you intend to overclock and what resolution monitor will you be using?

snurp85 · Sep 28, 2016

Drop down to a i5-6600k cpu (then overclock to 4.4-4.6 Ghz), drop from 32 to 16gb ram. substitute the water cooling for a cooler master 212+ evo. then upgrade to a gtx 1080.

Also, scrap that PSU. Go with a Seasonic or high end EVGA (P2, G2, B2 series). you want to make sure you have a good PSU.

All that said, if youre only gaming at 1080p or 1440p, a GTX 1070 is more than adequate.

Isokolon · Sep 28, 2016

honestly I'd say the build is fine except for the PSU
32 GB RAM are overkill though

the i7 performs much better in games that can use it's full potential (like BF1 for example)
board is good
GPU is good

tune down to 16GB RAM if you wanna save a dime
and get a quality PSU. I suggest Evga G2/P2, XFX XTR or Corsair RMx/RMi/Hx/Ax
550-650W are sufficient (depending on your OC 550 or 650W)

Freud_Lao · Sep 28, 2016

snurp85 :

Hi snurp85,

can u elaborate a bit more? I'm kinda new at these thing, so why do you recommend i5 over i7? (since i can overclock both right?) and I heard people saying water cooling is better than just using fan cooler so I'm not sure on that part.

for GPU I will probably stick with 1070 since my current screen only support up to 1080p

thanks for your reply

Freud_Lao · Sep 28, 2016

Isokolon :

Hey Isokolon,

Thanks for your suggestion man

I'm a bit worry on the RAM cause I'm currently use 16GB for work with i7 but the CPU cant handle running a large excel files, and gaming is way more heavy so I might overthink this a bit thats why I'm thinking of getting 32.

and yeah, seems like i need to change the PSU hahhaha

BadActor · Sep 28, 2016

If not overclocking, you could make this cheaper still.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($227.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: CRYORIG H7 49.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($34.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming 3 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($139.88 @ OutletPC)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($84.88 @ OutletPC)
Storage: PNY CS1311 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($64.99 @ B&H)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($69.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1070 8GB G1 Gaming Video Card ($414.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair SPEC-01 RED ATX Mid Tower Case ($39.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA GS 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($88.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $1166.66
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-09-28 10:15 EDT-0400

iyzik · Sep 28, 2016

The i5, in general, performs very similarly to the i7 in terms of gaming performance. The majority of games are programmed to operate best on 2-4 threads. The i7 has 8 which is great for video/photo editing and other CPU-intensive programming, but there aren't a ton of games (yet) that will take advantage of the extra 4 threads.
As for water cooling, unless you're doing a full custom loop system or getting one of the nice big dual fans radiators...it's extremely overrated in my experience. I used to have a Corsair water cooler on my 3770K, I think it was an H80 that cost me $70~80 at the time. My $25 Hyper 212 air cooler on my 4670K completely and totally outperforms it. I'm overclocked to 4.4GHz and sitting pretty at around ~55 Celcius.

Freud_Lao · Sep 28, 2016

BadActor :

Hi BadActor,

I'm not sure about overclocking because many people said its shorten your CPU lifespan but not sure by how much

also thank you for the detailed spec breakdowns, very appreciate, but do you think i5 will suffice for many new games that will come out in the following years?

BadActor · Sep 28, 2016

The i5 will be fine. The rate of development and performance gains has slowed dramatically and game developers are not going to limit their potential customers to only those with an i7, it would be a very small market.

BadActor · Sep 28, 2016

As you can see, a non overclocking system will save you quite a bit of money and would still have 90 percent or so of the performance of the overclocked system.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($198.88 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-B150M-DS3H Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($56.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill NT Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($64.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: PNY CS1311 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($64.99 @ B&H)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($69.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1070 8GB G1 Gaming Video Card ($414.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair SPEC-01 RED ATX Mid Tower Case ($39.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA GS 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($88.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $999.77
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-09-28 10:26 EDT-0400

Karadjgne · Sep 28, 2016

Still trying to figure why you need a gtx1070 for a 1080p monitor, you can save a lot of money by dropping down to a gtx1060/RX 480 which are perfectly suited to 1080p. The gtx 1070 is more suited for 1440p

snurp85 · Sep 28, 2016

Freud_Lao :

If youre mainly using it for gaming, youd rather have a better GPU than a CPU. Sure you might get a couple frames more with the i7 under certain stress conditions, but overall it wont make much of a difference. You will first see limitation with the graphics card. The only advantage the i7 has is hyperthreading which can be beneficial in everyday applications. here's a benchmark comparing the two... http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/1543?vs=1544
Obviously the i7 is better, but will you be taxing it all the time and is it worth the price?

Yes, watercooling is better. But unless you are trying to squeeze every last drop out of your cpu, the 212 EVO does a nice job. I currently have my i5 overclocked to 4.4 (limit of my silicon unfortunately) and it runs at 24C idle and 48C playing games. That said, water cooling is the better of the two cooling methods assuming you have a two fan wide radiator.

Isokolon · Sep 28, 2016

Freud_Lao :

honestly with momory hungry games I haven't gotten over 12 GB usage while having a 9 tabs browser open on the second display and music playing and steam running in the background.
so 16 GB should be enough but if money is no issue, sure, why not go for 32GB. It doesn't hurt. but it'd be the first thing to cut back to save cost.

also concerning water cooling: really expensive water cooling is better than air. but with modern day air coolers you'll hit the limit of your chip long before the air cooler becomes too insufficient to cool the cpu

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My first home build PC, help check the spec

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