Advice on $1500 gaming PC please

[ericio123]

Hi i'm going to build my first PC soon and after days of research this is what I came up with.

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/32LgWZ
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/32LgWZ/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($249.95 @ B&H)
CPU Cooler: CRYORIG H5 Universal 65.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($46.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Asus Z170-A ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($158.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2800 Memory ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($174.61 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 980 Ti 6GB Video Card ($688.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Fractal Design Define R5 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($107.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA NEX 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($82.17 @ Amazon)
Total: $1579.68
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-08-17 22:33 EDT-0400

Also, would going for 2x4gb be better than 1x8gb? I know it's faster but if I want to upgrade to 16gb later then would 1x8gb be the better option? And is 16gb the better option if I will be playing games like The Witcher 3 and GTA V? Are there any ways the price can be brought down to somewhere in the $1400-$1500 range while keeping the 980ti?

 

[Frag Maniac]

I was psyched for Skylake and DDR4, but so far test results show both are not really noticeably faster at gaming than Haswell.

I'm waiting until Summit Ridge releases to see how it compares. If you must buy now though, you might consider just going 1150 to try and save some that way.

As for the RAM, it's best to run dual channel via a matched pair of modules vs adding one later. As for capacity, 8GB is enough for gaming. The only real exception is temporary issues when games release with memory leaks. The problem is though, usually games with such bugs aren't really solved by 12 or 16GB RAM. A mem leak can keep amassing mem usage to ridiculous amounts, even beyond 12 or 16GB.