Need Advice on This Build, Please

Mikarri

Honorable
Jan 29, 2014
131
0
10,690
Hi! Was hoping someone could look at the parts I've chosen and let me know if I've made good decisions.

I will be using this rig largely for gaming. I mostly play World of WarCraft, but I also play everything else from Cities: Skylines to Metro: Last Light. I also do occasional video and image editing.

Here's the parts list.

Thanks!
 
Solution


The revised build is one I think you will be happier with. The cost cost a bit more, but more than performance wise, aesthetically the case is absolutely gorgeous and well worth the investment. Along the aesthetic front, I used the Noc cooler you selected as it does top the charts for performance / noise ratio. But it is a bit fugly with those fan colors. If aesthetics us a concern, I'd look at the Phanteks PH-TC14PE which loses a degree to the Noc but comes in 4 or 5 colors which can be selected to match your case.

Again, addressing aesthetics, might take a...
Just a little tweak like more storage & RAM for video and image editing and up-to-date cpu.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-7700K 4.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($343.89 @ OutletPC)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i v2 70.7 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($99.99 @ B&H)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z270X-Ultra Gaming ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($164.99 @ Jet)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR4-2666 Memory ($174.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO 250GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($94.79 @ Jet)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($69.89 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1080 8GB G1 Gaming Video Card ($599.98 @ Newegg)
Case: NZXT Phantom 530 (Black) ATX Full Tower Case ($99.97 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA P2 650W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($105.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($18.80 @ OutletPC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit ($92.99 @ B&H)
Total: $1866.27
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-01-31 12:17 EST-0500

 
It looks like you have well researched your choices and on;y have really 2 areas of concern.

a) I'd strongly recommend against the h100i or any CLC for that matter.
b) You need storage beyond the SSD

The rest I am just offering for considering as the nature of these types of posts, fall into the 'this is what I am thinking but perhaps there are better options I might consider category". So this is what Id think about before pulling the trigger

1. Depending on "how much" video editing, if budget is an issue, consider the i5 if its only a very rare thing on the editing. If it was me, I'd spring for the i7. Also, if not in a rush and willing to wait til say April, Id consider Z270 / Kaby Lake 7700k build.

2. I simply can not recommend the h100i even if it was free (or any CLC for that matter)... it's noise level is horrendous ... it can not cool as well as a $80 air cooler and to even get close it has to be 12 times as loud. See 17:00 mark.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TivNOgQqW-M

If you want to listen for yaself ... I'd have to leave the room at 55% CPU load...the noise would drive me nuts.

https://youtu.be/cTf0Vq1j4Ec

The weak pump and cheap aluminum radiator just can't move enough heat for CLCs to compete with the better air cooler w/o using extreme speed / noisy fans. If you want water, look at the Swiftech H220 X2 / H240 X2

http://www.swiftech.com/aio.aspx
H220-X2-COLOR-PICS.jpg


3. I recent months the number of extremely negative reviews on Z170 boards has skyrocketed across the board.

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA4S844G6223

Here we see just 40% giving the Hero 5 eggs and 20% giving it the extremely dissatisfied 1 egger rating. However, the Gigabyte Gaming 7 .... 6 time customer choice award winner isn't a whole heckuva lot better ... I look for > 50% 5 eggs and , < 20% 1 eggs and the Gaming 7 just barely makes the cut at 51% / 19%. we have had issues with our last 3 Hero builds but I can't rely on that as it's statistically insignificant. So only advice here is look around b4 making a decision. Feature wise ...

The Giga ...

supports faster memory
has extra M.2 slot
has more SATA Express ports
has 2nd LAN port (w/ built in anti-surge)
has 3 more USB 3 ports
has 1 less chassis fan header (3 vs 4)
cost significantly less


4. Be aware of the voltage concers on RAM above 3200 ... lotta peeps are spooked by the extra RAM voltage required. You will see a lot of "ooh scary scary" posts about using anything above 1.2v. To my eyes, if Intel says its OK (and they do), it's OK. There is a big price jump above 3200 ... as well as more work getting it to run stable so just be aware of those walking in.

As for the amount, 32 GB wouldn't hurt for the video editing ... again if this will be a significant part of your usage and i expect from you post that it is not. If that's the case, I'd stick w/ 16 GB. Either way keep it above DDR4-3200

5. HX 850 is a great PSU ... but there are other great ones that are less costly ... is future SLI in the picture ? If not, Id get smaller. Right now the best PSUs on the market are the Seasonic prime series ... can't say anything bad about the HX, just throwin it out there in case ya wanna comparison shop. There's also a 750 and 850 watter.

SeaSonic PRIME 650W ($150)
http://pcpartpicker.com/product/nn648d/seasonic-prime-650w-80-titanium-certified-fully-modular-atx-power-supply-ssr-650td

6. The 1080 Ti has been ready since late 2016 ... nVidias holding it till AMD drops their cards (expected 2nd quarter) .. so if ya willing to wait, that would be the way to go. By that time you also might want to consider the Z270 Boards w/ Kaby Lake

7. Case choice is generally / primarily a aesthetics thing ... so only have two things to consider here:

a) a $99 case is a bit outta place in a $2k build.
b) If performance matters, tweaktown ranks the case:
http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/5607/nzxt-phantom-530-mid-tower-chassis-review/index8.html

performance 93%
quality 98%
features 96%
bundle 95%
value 95%

c) In that vein I'd consider Enthoo Luxe (has a tempered glass version also)
http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/6574/phanteks-enthoo-luxe-full-tower-chassis-review/index8.html

performance 100%
quality 99%
features 100%
bundle 98%
value 100%

and the Evolv Tempered Glass which "belongs in an art gallery". The case won "Case of the year 9w/o th glass) and is widely regarded as the best case available today < $200
http://www.tweaktown.com/news/49624/tempered-glass-phanteks-enthoo-evolv-atx-belongs-art-gallery/index.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKUkj23GgFE
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=evolv+tempered+glass

8. The SSD will presumably contain your OS, utilities and applications ... that's say 165 GB. At that point GTAV won't fit....Witcher 3 , with DLCs and Expansions is iffy. The 250 GB only holds 232 GB of files. We have not used a HD in almost 7 years. After testing when they first came out, we found that SSHDs excel for both workstation and gaming scenarios. You see that they top the charts in the link below, being 50% faster than the WD Black and w/ a 5 year warranty.

Gaming
http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/hdd-charts-2013/-17-PCMark-7-Gaming,2915.html
Video Editing
http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/hdd-charts-2013/-13-PCMark-7-Video-editing-using-Windows-Movie-Maker,2911.html

http://pcpartpicker.com/product/NpBrxr/seagate-firecuda-2tb-35-7200rpm-hybrid-internal-hard-drive-st2000dx002

Again, the only real issue I have is the cooler ... the H100i does not cool as well as the Noctua NH-D15 air cooler and is 12 times as loud.... the H100i doesn't cool neat as well as the Swiftech and is 6 times as loud. The extra storage is not essential immediately, you have some time to make hat decision

Other than not, the others are just something ya might want to look at before pulling the trigger.
 

logainofhades

Titan
Moderator
The price, of that PSU, is insane. Made some tweaks, to get you a bigger/better SSD, and a 7700k.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-7700K 4.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($343.89 @ OutletPC)
CPU Cooler: CRYORIG R1 Universal 76.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($79.99 @ Newegg Marketplace)
Motherboard: Asus STRIX Z270-E GAMING ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($199.00 @ B&H)
Memory: G.Skill TridentZ Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3600 Memory ($139.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial MX300 525GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($139.99 @ B&H)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 1080 8GB STRIX Video Card ($633.79 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: NZXT Phantom 530 (Black) ATX Full Tower Case ($105.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: EVGA 850W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($117.49 @ SuperBiiz)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($18.80 @ OutletPC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit ($92.99 @ B&H)
Total: $1871.92
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-01-31 14:11 EST-0500
 
Didn't see all the replies while I made this list , but this works substantially cheaper & will allow you money for an extra traditional drive.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-7700K 4.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($343.89 @ OutletPC)
CPU Cooler: CRYORIG R1 Ultimate 76.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($79.99 @ Newegg Marketplace)
Motherboard: ASRock Fatal1ty Z270 Gaming K6 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($169.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($94.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial MX300 525GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($134.27 @ Amazon)
Storage: Toshiba 3TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($84.88 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 1080 8GB STRIX Video Card ($633.79 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: NZXT Phantom 530 (Black) ATX Full Tower Case ($99.97 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA P2 650W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($104.88 @ OutletPC)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($18.80 @ OutletPC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit ($88.58 @ OutletPC)
Total: $1854.03
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-02-01 07:33 EST-0500
 


The revised build is one I think you will be happier with. The cost cost a bit more, but more than performance wise, aesthetically the case is absolutely gorgeous and well worth the investment. Along the aesthetic front, I used the Noc cooler you selected as it does top the charts for performance / noise ratio. But it is a bit fugly with those fan colors. If aesthetics us a concern, I'd look at the Phanteks PH-TC14PE which loses a degree to the Noc but comes in 4 or 5 colors which can be selected to match your case.

Again, addressing aesthetics, might take a look at the color scheme for the RAM and MoBo slots

Given the MoBo selection, I'd think about Red or Black, and I'd also go low profile to avoid any potential installation issues with the cooler

https://pcpartpicker.com/product/p6RFf7/corsair-memory-cmk16gx4m2b3200c16


I actually agreed with your choice to hold off on the Z700k Z270 MoBo. Inevitably, and this has been true since the 80s, the 1st stepping CPUs and MoBos will not be as good as the ones that come later. CPU production lines are tweaked, CPU efficiency rises over time and later CPUs **on average** will clock a bit higher than the 1st steppings. With MoBos, there's always a few bugs, rare that they are major, but not all of these can be fixed by BIOS updates. For example, I waited for the C1 stepping on the Asus Maximus Formula to arrive as prior versions had an issue with external devices not being able to awake from sleep mode. If you want to avoid these or the major ones like the P68 B3 stepping which was the result of an industry wide recall, best to wait a few months for the bleeding edge folks to find and report these an the manufacturers time to fix them.

However, you're in the middle between two generations. Rather than mix, I'd pick one:

Z170 Board with 6700k
Z270 Board with 7700k

Here's the Z270 version of the board you picked
https://pcpartpicker.com/product/YM2rxr/gigabyte-ga-z270x-ultra-gaming-atx-lga1151-motherboard-ga-z270x-ultra-gaming


However, aesthetically I think this works better:

Silver Enthoo Evolve Tempered Glass (Silver / Gray)
https://pcpartpicker.com/product/Vw8H99/phanteks-enthoo-luxe-tempered-glass-atx-full-tower-case-ph-es614ltg_ag

GIGABYTE GA-Z270X-UD5 w/ Silver / Gray heat sinks
https://pcpartpicker.com/product/jwH48d/gigabyte-ga-z270x-ud5-atx-lga1151-motherboard-ga-z270x-ud5

Your original RAM (Silver / Gray)
https://pcpartpicker.com/product/gVcMnQ/gskill-memory-f43000c15d16gvs

Phanteks Cooler in white or black
https://pcpartpicker.com/product/qX6BD3/phanteks-cpu-cooler-phtc14pe
https://pcpartpicker.com/product/wdkD4D/phanteks-cpu-cooler-phtc14pebk


Still gotta pick something for large storage.....

1. Be aware of RMA rates. Note that large drives have a substantially higher return / failure rate than 2 TB drives. The gap is narrowing but larger drives still fail 2-4 times as much as 2 TB drives.

2. Stay away from < 7200 rm drives if performance matters. Look at the Tomshardware link for Gaming performance when picking a drive

3. Longer warranties indicate 1 of 2 things:

a) The manufacturer used superior parts to make it last longer
b) The manufacturer included a cost increase to be able to write off the increased number of drives that will fail in that period.


As for the PSU, here's one sampling of how various model series stack up

perf.png

 
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