Returning to PC, Building system from scratch, help. (Gaming and High Performance A/V Software)

ACF1994

Honorable
Oct 22, 2016
14
0
10,510
Hi All, first off i'd like to put it out there that i don't usually use forums so correct me if i'm doing something wrong and i apologise for length of this! Okay, so i've decided to return to my roots after a few years of using MacBooks and games consoles and start using Windows PC of gaming again, but this time i'd like to make my own. It's quite clear by this point that i am new to this but creating my own PC was highly recommended and personally i'm quite interested. So the guidance that i'm after is in selecting the components to create the system that i need. Currently i have a basic understanding of what is needed and how they work but i feel like i'm missing out on a few things, so could anyone help me out here. What i'd appreciate is a list of each component's that i'd need to build from scratch and maybe the prices (I've get all the CPU, Graphics cards etc but get confused with things like wifi hardware, sound cards etc).
I understand that somewhere (probably at the top) of this forum and other sites (pcgamer) there is updated information on this but i'd like to see what any of you would come up with specifically for me. My budget is up (hopefully less) £2000 ($2446) and want to try and focus on as high performance as i can, remembering that this is intended to be a gaming PC that i will upgrade in future but want to separate that time as much as i can for now. I'd also like to mention that this idea was hugely influenced by the upcoming release of Star Citizen (for those who understand its specs etc), but would also like to be able to revisit some of the oldies i have. Keep in mind that i won't be buying any parts until around christmas so please mention any competent releases or deals and discounts that i should note. I also work with a lot of Visual/Audio and 3D image design which work steadily on my mac for now but would like to play about with on the PC.
What a story and thanks all..
 
Solution

Aeacus

Titan
Ambassador
How about this high-end rig with OC (overclock) capability, color theme: black/red.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor (£310.00 @ Amazon UK)
CPU Cooler: NZXT Kraken X61 106.1 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler (£115.98 @ YoYoTech)
Motherboard: MSI Z170A GAMING M3 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (£125.33 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LED 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory (£85.00 @ Ebuyer)
Storage: Samsung SM951 512GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive (£236.28 @ Aria PC)
Storage: Hitachi 4TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£158.81 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 1080 8GB GAMING X 8G Video Card (£649.99 @ CCL Computers)
Case: NZXT H440 (Matte Black/Red) ATX Mid Tower Case (£99.98 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: SeaSonic 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (£124.99 @ Amazon UK)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit (£84.98 @ Novatech)
Total: £1991.34
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-10-22 22:08 BST+0100

Few words.

This build has the best LGA1151 Skylake CPU that comes handy both in games and in 3D rendering. CPU cooler is the best AIO water cooler. Only the custom made water loop is better than the Kraken. Went with the Gaming series MoBo from MSI and put in 3000 Mhz DDR4 RAM (16GB) with red LEDs for eyecandy. There's also plenty of storage: an ultra fast M.2 NVMe SSD (512GB) for OS and great reliability HDD (4TB) for data. GPU is the 2nd best in the world, superseded only by Titan X Pascal. I hope you like the case i picked out to match the black/red theme i went with this build. PC's power plant comes directly from the best PSU OEM, Seasonic. And lastly, an OS to run the whole system.

Note: I can also put together a white theme build if you don't like the black/red combo.
 

ACF1994

Honorable
Oct 22, 2016
14
0
10,510
Hi Aeacus,
First off thanks for taking the time out, appreciated! B/R colour scheme sounds great. My main concern wasn't so much finding the parts but making sure that they all fit and worked with each other but that sounds like its covered. So is this everything aside from all the peripherals (keyboard, mouse etc.)? I take it i don't need any sort of wifi hardware (is it built into the motherboard or do i just use the ethernet input?). Same goes for sound cards, is that just a distance part of the past or am i completely wrong about its existence entirely. But as i said, thanks for the help i'll definitely be looking into this build, all looks great.
Lastly i know i said i have around a £2000 budget but would you agree that investing this amount is worthwhile in the long run, or could i get away with a slightly cheaper build. I'd sooner get it right now and forget for a while than having to change up in a year or twos time.
Thanks again! Better get saving
 
hey act welcome to the forums

would you please fill this in so we can recommend you a nice pc.


Approximate Purchase Date: (e.g.: this week (the closer the better))

Budget Range: (e.g.: 600-800) Before / After Rebates

System Usage from Most to Least Important: (e.g.: Folding@Home, gaming, surfing the internet, watching movies)

Parts Not Required: (e.g.: keyboard, mouse, monitor, speakers, OS) **Include Power Supply Make & Model If Re-using**

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: (e.g.: newegg.com, ncix.com -- to show us selection & pricing)

Country: (e.g.: India) we need to know where these parts are being assembled

Parts Preferences: by brand or type (e.g.: I would like to use an AMD CPU & Biostar mobo with a 24" LCD and full tower case)

Overclocking: Yes / No / Maybe

Wifi card?(cable is better) Yes/ No

SLI or Crossfire: Yes / No / Maybe

Monitor Resolution: (e.g.: 1024x768, 1280x1024, 1440x900, 1600x1200, 1680x1050, 1920x1080, 1920x1200)

Additional Comments: (e.g.: Need to have a window and lots of bling, I would like a quiet PC)
 

ACF1994

Honorable
Oct 22, 2016
14
0
10,510
Hi superninja12,
Thanks for the help!
I'll try to answer as best as i can but still a bit slow on a few things so bare with me!

Approximate Purchase Date: Around christmas 2016, so in about 2 months time.

Budget Range: I'd like to be able to push £2000 (about $2446 usd) but like i mentioned to the previous replier don't mind forking out the money so long as it lasts as long as possible (less updating parts), otherwise cheaper parts aren't the end of the world, you could say less is more in that sense!

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Based on the power and performance i'm after its primary for high end gaming (on and offline use), then using beefy Audio/Visual/3D Graphic design software, films/streaming, internet surfing and so on..

Parts Not Required: I'm building completely from scratch, i've got a few old keyboards and so on but i'd rather just spend a little now and forget. So if you could recommend anything and everything it would be appreciated! (Mouse, Keyboard, Monitor etc..)

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: You alone on this one, i haven't really had a chance to have a good old fashioned browse yet.

Country: UK

Parts Preferences: No preference, just what fits and works!

Overclocking: Dependent on the parts, i'm assuming that if it was powerful enough it won't be necessary, but like i said if cutting costs to get a less powerful system results in overclocking then yes. (I hope i answered that correctly, wasn't too sure on it).

Wifi card?(cable is better): For the moment i won't have direct access to use a cable so i'm assuming a wifi card would be necessary, however; could you still recommend a cable (not too sure with speeds etc).

SLI or Crossfire: No idea, of recent i've been a bit ignorant with my mac usage so i've basically got what i've been given so can't give a preference on this.

Monitor Resolution: Once again you'll have to help me out on the, on account of how this whole system works together.

Additional Comments: No further comments!

I hope i answered that well enough, i apologise for not being as detailed as you probably would of hoped for!
Once again thanks a lot!
 

Aeacus

Titan
Ambassador
Refined my initial build a little.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-6700 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor (£272.28 @ Aria PC)
CPU Cooler: NZXT Kraken X61 106.1 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler (£115.98 @ YoYoTech)
Motherboard: MSI Z170A GAMING PRO ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (£123.78 @ YoYoTech)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LED 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory (£85.00 @ Ebuyer)
Storage: Samsung 512GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive (£220.68 @ Kustom PCs)
Storage: Hitachi 4TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£158.81 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 1080 8GB GAMING X 8G Video Card (£649.99 @ CCL Computers)
Case: NZXT H440 (Matte Black/Red) ATX Mid Tower Case (£99.98 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: SeaSonic 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (£124.99 @ Amazon UK)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit (£84.98 @ Novatech)
Wireless Network Adapter: Gigabyte GC-WB867D-I PCI-Express x1 802.11a/b/g/n/ac Wi-Fi Adapter (£23.09 @ BT Shop)
Total: £1959.56
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-10-23 09:56 BST+0100

This time i put in non-K CPU that you can't OC. But it performs as well as the K-series. Went with a little bit cheaper MoBo that has LEDs for eyecandy.
MoBo has LGA1151 socket which supports current Skylake and future Kaby Lake and Cannonlake CPUs from Intel. So, you're well set for the future if you ever need to upgrade your PC after 3-5 years. Since MoBo is a Z-series, you can buy a K-series CPU for it and OC the CPU if you ever need it. Also put in a good wi-fi card for your needs.
I also switched out the M.2 SSD since in the initial build, i mistakenly put in an ACHI drive and not a NVMe drive. ACHI sends it's data over the SATA protocol while NVMe sends it's data over the PCI-E protocol and thus is much faster.

SLI (for Nvidia) and Crossfire (for AMD) is running 2 or more GPUs in sync. It helps a lot in video rendering and also benefits in some of the games.
The repicked MoBo supports 2-way SLI and 2-way Crossfire.
specs: https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/Z170A-GAMING-PRO.html#hero-overview

Also a cheaper build that is considered medium/high-end according to the today's standards.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor (£199.98 @ Amazon UK)
CPU Cooler: ARCTIC Freezer i32 CPU Cooler (£29.77 @ More Computers)
Motherboard: MSI B150 Gaming M3 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (£89.99 @ CCL Computers)
Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Black 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory (£67.99 @ Novatech)
Storage: Samsung 256GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive (£114.99 @ CCL Computers)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£45.48 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 1080 8GB GAMING X 8G Video Card (£649.99 @ CCL Computers)
Case: NZXT H440 (Matte Black/Red) ATX Mid Tower Case (£99.98 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: SeaSonic EVO Edition 620W 80+ Bronze Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (£77.99 @ Amazon UK)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit (£84.98 @ Novatech)
Wireless Network Adapter: Gigabyte GC-WB867D-I PCI-Express x1 802.11a/b/g/n/ac Wi-Fi Adapter (£23.09 @ BT Shop)
Case Fan: ARCTIC F12 PWM 74.0 CFM 120mm Fan (£5.46 @ Ebuyer)
Monitor: LG 24M47VQ 24.0" 60Hz Monitor (£108.99 @ Amazon UK)
Keyboard: Logitech K120 - UK Layout Wired Standard Keyboard (£10.00 @ Amazon UK)
Mouse: Gigabyte M6880 Wired Laser Mouse (£22.16 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £1630.84
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-10-23 09:50 BST+0100

With this build, you can't OC CPU or RAM but it's still a great performer.
Since the initial cost of the PC got reduced, i had enough space to put in a nice 24", 60Hz monitor and also a generic KB with a very same gaming mouse that i use. The extra case fan is for upgrading CPU cooler to the push-pull system (fan on both sides of the heatsink). Oh, B-series MoBo doesn't support SLI.

Here is also a comparison between the 2 builds, i7-6700 as a base and i5-6600 as an alternative.

Userbenchmark PC Build Comparison

Baseline Bench: Game 134%, Desk 112%, Work 82%
CPU: Intel Core i7-6700
GPU: Nvidia GTX 1080
SSD: Samsung SM951 NVMe PCIe M.2 512GB
HDD: Hitachi HDS724040ALE640 4TB
RAM: Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 3000 C15 2x8GB

Alternative Bench: Game 130%, Desk 104%, Work 67%
CPU: Intel Core i5-6600
GPU: Nvidia GTX 1080
SSD: Samsung SM951 NVMe PCIe M.2 256GB
HDD: WD Blue 1TB (2010)
RAM: HyperX Fury DDR4 2133 C14 2x8GB

Note: If you ever want to OC CPU and use faster RAM than 2133 Mhz then you need a Z-series MoBo for it. H-series and B-series MoBos don't support OC. Same goes for Nvidia's SLI, a Z-series MoBo is needed. While AMD Crossfire is supported on some of the B and H-series MoBos.
About dedicated sound cards. This is more of a past now since the audio performance inside the MoBos is quite good and most users use the onboard audio. Nowadays, only the audio enthusiasts use the dedicated soundcards.

In general, low-end build lasts about 2 years before an upgrade is due. Medium-end about 4 years and high-end about 6 years. But it all depends on the purpose of the PC. Gaming PCs are usually upgraded every year. Mostly because of the GPU that needs to be up-to-the-date with the latest games.
For example, back in 2011 i bought my old AMD prebuilt PC that was low-end to start with. I upgraded it over the years and it lasted 5 years in my hands as a gaming rig before i went on and build myself a new high-end gaming rig. My old AMD build still works and it's for older games (2005 and older) while running Win XP pro SP2.
 
Solution

ACF1994

Honorable
Oct 22, 2016
14
0
10,510
Hi Aeacus,
Wow thanks a lot thats so helpful, I've really been looking into all those parts. I think i'd sooner follow the structure of the first, more expensive build for now just because of that little extra performance and storage size i'd get out of it. It's good to know that i'd get a few years out of it at least, but upgrading a little each year isn't that bad considering i'd have the majority of the costs out of the way by then. Considering also that i've seen builds varying from £600 to £10000 i'm sure around £2000 isn't too bad! The next step i'm going to struggle with is assembling it correctly when i've got it all, but we'll cross that bridge when we get to it!
Okay well thanks, you've been so helpful i feel like i need to pay you but unfortunately it looks like i'll need to be saving up every little penny from now!
Appreciated