Building my First CPU Advice

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doubleodonut

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Sep 28, 2017
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I am building my first PC and I want to make it a beast; I am planning on getting a Gigabyte AORUS z270X Gaming 5, Intel Kaby Lake i7-7700k, and Noctua NH-D15 or D15S (full build link below). I absolutely want an air cooler.

I have two questions:
1) Will the NH-D15 block my PCI-Ex16 slot on my mobo, or be too heavy for the mobo (it's like 3lbs)?
2) Would the NH-D15S be a better pick for me because I don't plan on overclocking my CPU, and don't want the cooler to block my x16 slot?

Here is my planned build: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/x7fgGf

I plan on using this PC mostly for gaming but I also record and mix music. This is my first PC build, so advise is appreciated too. Perhaps the build is overkill or there are better parts for the price or something. My main goal is to make a darn fine gaming PC that I won't have to upgrade anytime soon, with potential for overclocking if I get anymore knowledge about PCs and decide to go that route in the future. I'd like an optical drive, too, if someone could recommend a good, basic one with rip/burn capabilities for CDs and DVD playback (blu-ray not needed but is a plus).

I would prefer to keep the target budget between $1500 and $2000, with $2000 being the absolute maximum, if that helps narrow things down.

Thanks in advance!
 
Solution
QwerkyPengwen
That cooler is highly unnecessary. For that money you can get a competent AiO liquid cooler.
The two SSD's are unnecessary as well. You are only gaming and mixing music. You don't need all of that SSD storage. Get yourself a 500gb SSD for main OS and programs and then use an HDD for mass storage.
And SSD doesn't make your games faster either. It will only effect loading screens mostly. Which isn't that big of an improvement to begin with. It will definitely help if you are ever going to be doing any video editing and encoding because that faster it can pull the data from the drive and write to it determines how much less time you spend on editing and encoding.

The RAM is also overkill as the 3000Mhz speed won't effect anything...
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QwerkyPengwen

QwerkyPengwen

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That cooler is highly unnecessary. For that money you can get a competent AiO liquid cooler.
The two SSD's are unnecessary as well. You are only gaming and mixing music. You don't need all of that SSD storage. Get yourself a 500gb SSD for main OS and programs and then use an HDD for mass storage.
And SSD doesn't make your games faster either. It will only effect loading screens mostly. Which isn't that big of an improvement to begin with. It will definitely help if you are ever going to be doing any video editing and encoding because that faster it can pull the data from the drive and write to it determines how much less time you spend on editing and encoding.

The RAM is also overkill as the 3000Mhz speed won't effect anything involving gaming and music. You can use 2133Mhz and there won't be any difference.

A platinum PSU is also not necessary as gold is just fine but that one comes down to preference. And the case also comes down to preference. If you absolutely love the look of it then go for it otherwise if you want to be more practical you can save money by getting something different.

All in all here is your part list adjusted with a few things to get you what you are looking for but not break the bank either.
This list is just to give you ideas for changes you can make to get more for your money.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i7-7700K 4.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($299.00 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: NZXT - Kraken X62 Rev 2 98.2 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($154.79 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: Gigabyte - GA-Z270X-Gaming 5 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($171.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($139.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial - MX300 525GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($144.89 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Seagate - Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($69.88 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Gigabyte - GeForce GTX 1080 8GB G1 Gaming Video Card ($539.88 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Phanteks - Enthoo Pro ATX Full Tower Case ($89.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: SeaSonic - FOCUS Plus Gold 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($98.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $1709.39
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-09-28 15:15 EDT-0400

 
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Solution
Eximo

Eximo

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Noctua D15 have been proven time and again to outperform most All-in-ones while doing a quieter job of it. Big disadvantage being the weight on the socket and having to work around it.

Many many benchmarks out there that low latency DDR4-3000/3200 is about the best bang for the buck for Intel. It is a small improvement, but certainly worth $20. You get more gains with even faster memory, but the cost goes up drastically.

I'm all for a 100% SSD gaming system, been doing it for years. Sure it only improves load times, but you know what, it improves load times. (And NVMe drives really simplify builds, no wires, though it is hard to pass up the SATA 850 Evo cost/performance)

I will argue against a full tower case though. With a single GPU system it really isn't necessary.

First slot on that board is a PCIe 1x, so I don't think the Noctua will block it.

Not that I don't have most of the parts in question, but now just isn't a good time to build with Intel.
Z370 and i7-8700k here on October 5th I believe. And Intel talking about a Z390 that supports 8 core CPUs in the near future.

I would feel safer with AMD to be honest. Plain roadmap showing AM4 support through 2020 and releasing upgraded Zen processors in February, and Zen2 in 2019.

Z270 and LGA1151 effectively dead already. Z370 LGA1151 might be a one shot. And Intel's upcoming switch to 10nm and possibly PCIe 4.0? (Though I would expect to see that first on HEDT)
 
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M

MadOver

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If your doing a bit of rendering and other multitasking stuff, even if ur not, Ryzen might be better future proof.

PCPartPicker part list: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/9bxWRG
Price breakdown by merchant: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/9bxWRG/by_merchant/

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 7 1800X 3.6GHz 8-Core Processor ($418.47 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Deepcool - CAPTAIN 240EX WHITE 153.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($99.99 @ B&H)
Motherboard: ASRock - X370 Taichi ATX AM4 Motherboard ($183.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: *Patriot - Viper Elite 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($134.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: *SanDisk - Ultra II 480GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($135.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: *Hitachi - Ultrastar 7K3000 3TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($69.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: *Zotac - GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 11GB Mini Video Card ($712.88 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Phanteks - ECLIPSE P400S TEMPERED GLASS ATX Mid Tower Case ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: *SeaSonic - G 550W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($68.59 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $1914.87
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-09-28 20:34 EDT-0400
 
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