Where can I save money on this build?

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esprade

Commendable
Oct 27, 2016
81
0
1,630
NZXT Phantom 530 Full ATX - £100
ASUS X99 A-II - £250
i7 5820K - £360
CORSAIR H100i - £100
EVGA GTX1080 FTW - £660
CORSAIR Vengeance LPX DDR4 3000 - £80
EVGA 850W Gold - £100
1TB WD Black HDD - £60
Samsung 256GB M.2 SSD - £80

Total - £1800

So I've made some changes since my last concept build, people commented about the build deserving a batter case, a better cooling system, and I learned that the EVGA FTW motherboard doesn't accept M.2 SSDs. The price has been hiked up quite a bit so I'm looking for ways to cut back a couple of hundred.

The obvious ways to me are first to go with a cheaper mobo, something like an ASRock that are close to half the price, but they get bad reviews and are apparently poor for compatibility. The others are the case and the cooling, air cooled over liquid cooled, and simply a cheaper case. Some questions would be, is the RAM overkill? Do I need to future proof the power supply by going for a higher wattage? Should I be looking at a different mobo? Is there a £50 case or air cooler that will do the job fine?

I think this is the closest I've been to being happy with and fully understanding what I need, how it's all going together and what's compatible with what, but like most people money is the issue so saving here and there will help go towards extra costs like OS, monitor and accessories.

Thanks
 
Solution
mcnumpty23
using sm951 M2 on my asrock no problem at all stuck M2 in loaded windows no messing about---this is either the only or one of a very very few that can support 3 x M2 drives---when prices fall more those other 2 slots will be useful---though this is the top of the range board on z170 thats why got 3 x M2 slots

no ram issues either got corsair 3000mhz ram put it in went in bios set xmp and away it went

this is my first ever asrock board used gigabyte and asus mainly before but just cant fault this board

any non reference blower gtx1080 should run quiet and its totally simple just to add a bit more speed using afterburner etc to get the same speed as the factory overclock
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E

esprade

Commendable
Oct 27, 2016
81
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The computer is designed for various types of production and development, 3D rendering, Unreal Engine 4, music production, video editing, gaming, etc. I'm wanting to develop games, and applications for VR environments, as well as make music and do typical editing like photo and video editing.

I'm skimping money on the monitor, keyboard and mouse. I'm looking for a basic 1080p 60hz IPS monitor just to get me by and get the machine up and running until prices come down. As long as the keyboard is ergonomic and the mouse is three click wheel then I'd pay as little as possible. The OS is the last piece of the puzzle so I need to do more research into what OS is going to suit me best, and this is where I feel the extra money is going to have to come in.
 
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Mr Kagouris

Mr Kagouris

Judicious
Sep 7, 2015
3,966
2
32,565
In that case, unless you're overclocking the CPU then you can cut from the CPU cooler by going for something like a Cryorig H7. It would offer more than sufficient cooling at significantly lower price, and be more reliable than an AIO.

Other than that, nothing further to be done. For the OS I'm assuming you'll be using Windows 10 at any rate (and I don't see why you wouldn't as DX12 access would be beneficial to a game developer), in which case if you're thinking on whether to get Home or Pro edition, this article should help.
 
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E

esprade

Commendable
Oct 27, 2016
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Thanks, I'll check out that link! What about Noctua coolers? Are they typically more expensive or can I get a similar price with equivalent cooling? I'm quite drawn to Noctua coolers they look nice. :)
 
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E

esprade

Commendable
Oct 27, 2016
81
0
1,630
Thanks for the replies. So can you reccomend an asrock mobo? What about compatibility with RAM and M.2 SSDs? Reason I've avoided asrock in my concept builds is because I've read people in reviews complain about compatibility with RAM and many of which switches to an ASUS where they had no problems.

I don't plan to overclock the CPU, this will be my first serious build so I'm just going to get used to stock performance before I think about using more juice. On the contrary I picked the EVGA FTW for that slight boost in performance, and apparently they run very quietly which is important. But I think I'm going to hold out till January to decide what to do with the GPU as news of the GTX 1080 Ti release date will surely come with some price drops, and give me some other things to think about. That will of course delay the build but if it means saving money I can wait a couple of months.
 
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E

esprade

Commendable
Oct 27, 2016
81
0
1,630
The only two I see on part picker for me really are the Extreme 3 and the Extreme 4. Extreme 3 saves roughly £100, Extreme 4 saves roughly £50, which are good savings, but I don't know if I'm gimping my self and what compatibility is like to the point that an extra £50 for the ASUS could be worth it. Most others are in the same price range or even higher.
 
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mcnumpty23

mcnumpty23

Polypheme
Jul 15, 2011
15,519
0
66,960
using sm951 M2 on my asrock no problem at all stuck M2 in loaded windows no messing about---this is either the only or one of a very very few that can support 3 x M2 drives---when prices fall more those other 2 slots will be useful---though this is the top of the range board on z170 thats why got 3 x M2 slots

no ram issues either got corsair 3000mhz ram put it in went in bios set xmp and away it went

this is my first ever asrock board used gigabyte and asus mainly before but just cant fault this board

any non reference blower gtx1080 should run quiet and its totally simple just to add a bit more speed using afterburner etc to get the same speed as the factory overclock
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
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