So uhh.. did I do alright picking parts?

[Fenix]

Hey all it's been awhile.
Had a storm a week or so ago and it took out my internet radio, router, computer-specifically the motherboard (after many, many tests), and my mouse (Don't understand how but hey, it doesnt power on now. lol). Been meaning to upgrade for many years anyways since the rig I made in 2009 wasn't even mid-range so I guess this was a blessing in disguise. Right now I just want to get what I need to have a computer up and running.

Originally I was going to get an i7 but I let people convince me it was a waste of money since I will mostly just be gaming. However I've always wanted a dual monitor setup so I could play a game on one and browse the web/chat/watch a video on the other. Is this still doable? Will I regret my decision of downgrading to an i5?

So far I've got the following on the way:
*CPU: Intel Core i5-6600k
*Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper TX3 - Spent too long on this since my mid-tower case wasn't big enough for any of the often recommended coolers. Still seems like a decent cooler.
*Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-Z170-HD3
*RAM: 16GB DDR4 2400
*OS: Win 10 Home

I plan to reuse my HDD, graphics cards, and power supply for now so I can at least have a usable computer. In the near future I plan to get a SSD, a bigger HDD for storage, and a 1070 (assuming it's better than 980 ti, mixed signals on that front). I do hope I can reuse my PSU with the 1070, but I'll add that to the list if not.

Either way this will be a huge upgrade compared to what I used to have but will this be a good gaming rig for a couple years, right? Will I regret not going for the i7 or is an i5 adequate since I'll mostly be gaming with eventually some minor dual monitor stuff down the road. What do you wonderful PSU chaps think of my planned gaming rig?

For comparison here is my old rig I built in 2009, I'm aware I made some serious mistakes. I've kinda regretted it - mostly the GPU - almost since day one:
* CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 940 Black Edition + Stock cooler
* Motherboard: MSI K9N2 SLI Platinum Motherboard
* RAM: 4GB DDR2 800
* GPU: Geforce GTS 250
* Storage: 2x 500 GB HDD
* Powersupply: 600W
* OS: Win Vista (lol)
* Other: Creative Labs Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer PCI Sound Card (Don't ask.. lol)

 

[Christopher]

Every thing I've read says i5 is the sweet spot for gaming so I think you did the right thing. Looks to me like you are on your way to a kick ass gaming PC.

I'm not sure about 1070 > 980 Ti. Doesn't seem like it is that much of a leap. Personally, I'd stick with the 980 Ti.

Dual monitors are a must-have, imo. Not always easy to move between game and web/email/etc unless you play the game in windowed mode, which works fine for a lot of games. But yeah, I keep chat windows and such open in my other monitor and alt-tab if need be while in game. Works fine.

 

[Fenix]

I *know* you're knowledgeable about this stuff so I appreciate the reassurance. Was getting help on reddit and near the end I couldn't tell if the guy was helping me making a gaming computer or an "entry" computer. Seemed confused when I was inquiring about which GPU I should get in the future. So I got pretty frustrated and started to doubt my order - which I had just placed - and just sort of left reddit. lol

The 980 ti is about $200 more than the 1070, the 1080 is about $30 more than the 980 ti - at least right now, kind of hoping once they get back in stock more they will become lower. I assume investing that much more into the GPU is worthwhile? With downgrading my CPU to an i5, and opting for the 2400 ram, I saved about $180 - which I hope I won't regret - so I think I could easily afford a 1080 if it's a worthwhile investment. Currently I'm only in about $672 with a GPU, PSU - if I need one, and an SSD still to get. Think I'll need to buy a new PSU? Like to know, roughly, how much more I need to get.


Dual Monitors have always been a dream of mine. Whenever I play games I'm always alt-tabbing to check emails, sites, just browse around maybe watch a video. So that's my ultimate goal, besides having as "top of the line" gaming computer as I can afford.

 

[Fijiandoce]

You should be fine with your current power supply. Both the i5 6600, and the Pascal GPU's use less power than the previous generation. Generally, with the PSU you want to take care of how much power you are drawing from the 12V rail, but i doubt you're planning on running any exotic set-up?

As for GPU's, maybe hold off until AMD release their top end cards? Not going to say they will be the best cards, but for securing the best purchase for your money, it may be worth waiting to see how they perform. Nvidia see next to no gain from DX12, AMD on the other hand benefit big time. If the DX11 performance is more or less equal, you can bet AMD will take the lead with DX12 titles, and DX12 titles will be more common place going forward. So something to think about.

Otherwise, that is a pretty good set-up. Should last quite a while. CPU's aren't really limiting atm. i3's do really well in a lot of titles. It's only when you get really complex titles that they tend to taper off.

 

[Fenix]

What do you mean by exotic set-up? If you mean water cooler? No. At least not for some time. Right now it's just three 120mm case fans + the 92mm fan on the CPU cooler besides everything else listed. I considered getting an AIO Water Cooler for my CPU but I coudlnt see paying an extra $40 right now since I wasn't gonna OC it anytime soon.

Not in any rush for a GPU just trying to figure out which way I should go. After I pay this off on the credit credit, shouldn't take long, I'll probably be putting a GPU on it. So hopefully within the next few months I figure that out.

Again, thanks for the reassurance.

 

[Fenix]

Well that's new. Computer parts were coming via purolator and then it got to Lindsay and they dropped it off to Canada post. Who didn't bother trying to deliver it and sent it to the post office. What a waste of time... Can't get it till tomorrow.

Now I got a question about installing win 10. Got it on a flash drive and there's apparently the normal way and the eufi way to install. Does it matter what way I do?

 

[Fijiandoce]

[QUOTE="Fenix, post: 6518144]What do you mean by exotic set-up? If you mean water cooler? No. At least not for some time. Right now it's just three 120mm case fans + the 92mm fan on the CPU cooler besides everything else listed. I considered getting an AIO Water Cooler for my CPU but I coudlnt see paying an extra $40 right now since I wasn't gonna OC it anytime soon.

Not in any rush for a GPU just trying to figure out which way I should go. After I pay this off on the credit credit, shouldn't take long, I'll probably be putting a GPU on it. So hopefully within the next few months I figure that out.

Again, thanks for the reassurance.[/QUOTE]
An exotic set-up would be if you were to (for example) run a water cooling solution and then try for extreme overclocks, you may, in that case, want to check the 12v rail provides sufficient power. Even more so if you added a second card in SLI/Xfire.

The 12v rail powers the 'bigger' components, and while the PSU may have a 600w rating, the wattage on the 12v rail could be ~490w - Depending on the PSU. Generally it's not really an issue. But just something to be aware of as future proofing goes. You may in future decide on a second 980ti/1070, so you would then need to address the PSU at that point. Just a thought for the "upgrade" roadmap

 

[MacP]

[QUOTE="Fenix, post: 6518169]Now I got a question about installing win 10. Got it on a flash drive and there's apparently the normal way and the eufi way to install. Does it matter what way I do?[/QUOTE]

UEFI is a different type of BIOS, With a Legacy bios traditionally there are boot sectors on hard drive, Window's uses the first secotrs which is known as an MBR and install's there.

UEFI: Is the motherboard and bios take control of how the OS is started up, and let's youself use more modern feature's like creating a RAID using the motherboard rather than loading driver's in during a Window's installation.

If you boot into a device using UEFI you need to make sure that when installing an OS etc is installed in UEFI and vice versa

 

[Fenix]

[QUOTE="Fijiandoce, post: 6518176]An exotic set-up would be if you were to (for example) run a water cooling solution and then try for extreme overclocks, you may, in that case, want to check the 12v rail provides sufficient power. Even more so if you added a second card in SLI/Xfire.

The 12v rail powers the 'bigger' components, and while the PSU may have a 600w rating, the wattage on the 12v rail could be ~490w - Depending on the PSU. Generally it's not really an issue. But just something to be aware of as future proofing goes. You may in future decide on a second 980ti/1070, so you would then need to address the PSU at that point. Just a thought for the "upgrade" roadmap [/QUOTE]

Was in my case getting all the dust out and ready for tomorrow, and apparently the 12v rails are 504w.

[QUOTE="MacP, post: 6518184]UEFI is a different type of BIOS, With a Legacy bios traditionally there are boot sectors on hard drive, Window's uses the first secotrs which is known as an MBR and install's there.

UEFI: Is the motherboard and bios take control of how the OS is started up, and let's youself use more modern feature's like creating a RAID using the motherboard rather than loading driver's in during a Window's installation.

If you boot into a device using UEFI you need to make sure that when installing an OS etc is installed in UEFI and vice versa[/QUOTE]

Is it best to install via EUFI? I'll have to look into it if so.

Also does Fat32 or NTFS matter? Never installed via flashdrive. No idea why I chose this route. lol

 

[MATRIX 2]

[QUOTE="Fenix, post: 6518190]Was in my case getting all the dust out and ready for tomorrow, and apparently the 12v rails are 504w.



Is it best to install via EUFI? I'll have to look into it if so.

Also does Fat32 or NTFS matter? Never installed via flashdrive. No idea why I chose this route. lol[/QUOTE]

NTFS FAT 32 is rather outdated. Probaably will want to go the UEFI route since it is a bit more flexible than the legacy bios route.

 

[Fenix]

Putting it together within the hour. Always get nervous when it comes to the thermal paste crap. lol

I assume the pea method still stands as the go-to, even for tower radiator coolers? Are Prime95 and memtest still the go-to tests?

 

[Fijiandoce]

[QUOTE="Fenix, post: 6518200]Putting it together within the hour. Always get nervous when it comes to the thermal paste crap. lol

I assume the pea method still stands as the go-to, even for tower radiator coolers? Are Prime95 and memtest still the go-to tests?[/QUOTE]
Yep, pea method is still the way most people apply thermal paste. The pressure from the heatsink mounting brackets will level give you an even spread.

People disagree to some extent on Prime95. If you want as high a possible gaming overclock, Prime95 wont get you there. But if you merely want to overclock/test your system, Prime95 is solid for it.
Prime95 tends to put way more stress on your system than you would get running a game, so it will fail at a lower overclock. But, if you want rock solid stability, you can't get any better than running prime95 for a while. Because if it survives a torture test of that magnitude, it'll pass anything.

 

[Fenix]

If you wondered at any time in my years here if I'm an idiot. The answer is officially YES.

I knew I was suppose to do a "pea", but apparently I didn't do a pea-sized blob of paste. I put about a pea and a half - or more -and that was by far too much. Computer did nothing but beep at me five times indicting a CPU Error. I was freaking out starting to legit get upset at myself thinking I just blew $315 CDN.
I didn't have any of that special cleaner, so I did the next best thing: Cleaned the ever loving crap out of it with rubbing alcohol and reapply an actual pea-sized blob of paste. Hopefully I didn't do anything too wrong but she seems to hover around the 35c mark while idle and a bit higher depending what I do. I read the 212 EVO maintains 24-28 and the TX3 is a stage or two lower so I'm thinking that's fine. I'll have to do some tests for under load temps to make sure they don't get too high.

Seems in my desire to "save a buck", since I didn't need a lot of the big expensive features and this checked the ones I wanted, I got a board that doesn't appear to have a connector for a DVD burner? But it came with a CD with drivers? Err.. k. Is there another way to hook up a DVD drive that I don't know about besides that big ugly ribbon?
Though I don't miss it. I find my case is a lot cleaner and I tried to hide the cables as best as possible but I'm a novice at this crap so I suck. Also doesn't help there's fan controller wires, firewire, ect. that i have no use for that I also have to try and hide BUT I'm happy with it for now. Pic in the spoiler so you can laugh at my failure. :lol:

Spoiler

PC without GPU in:

Kinda disappointed in the orange LED, I knew the audio path had LEDs but I didn't expect that much.

Set this up kind of like how a SSD+HDD would be. Only this is two HDDs, one below 240 GB so I can eventually clone it to a 240 GB SSD and the other is bigger for general storage. I thought it was pretty smart of me. lol

I believe my fans are setup in the current configuration:
Back: Exhaust,
Front: Intake, thought there's a door infront so I don't really know how much it's doing.
Side: Intake, slightly blocked by the cooler - which I had to take the metal mesh filter(?) off so it wouldnt hit the heatsink, is that ok?
Cooler: is intake, I don't think I need a exhaust 92mm with how close it is to the back one.

Is that how most would do it, or should I change 'em? Only one that'll be a pain to change is the front.
Also is there anyway to protect your ethernet cord with some kind of surge protector?


Think I'm gonna hold out for a 1080. Hopefully the expensive EVGA 1080s go cheap when in stock, but I think white LEDs on the GPU could work - they got a blue tinge to them.

 

[Ezekiel]

You went Intel? Ugh. I am so disappointed in you. Oh well.

 

[Fijiandoce]

[QUOTE="Ezekiel, post: 6518227]You went Intel? Ugh. I am so disappointed in you. Oh well. [/QUOTE]
Technically, AMD went Intel too by abandoning CMT in favour of SMT

But on that note, it's good to see AMD apparently pushing the envelope with their SMT approach. Zen leaks suggest the 'consumer' variant is likely to have 4 hyper threaded cores - Essentially mimicking the i7's. The enthusiast is rumoured too have 8 HT cores. So as far as multithreaded workloads go, AMD looks to be pushing forward relentlessly from the philosophy they had with the CMT Fx chips.

 

[MacP]

[QUOTE="Fenix, post: 6518213]If you wondered at any time in my years here if I'm an idiot. The answer is officially YES.

I knew I was suppose to do a "pea", but apparently I didn't do a pea-sized blob of paste. I put about a pea and a half - or more -and that was by far too much. Computer did nothing but beep at me five times indicting a CPU Error. I was freaking out starting to legit get upset at myself thinking I just blew $315 CDN.
I didn't have any of that special cleaner, so I did the next best thing: Cleaned the ever loving crap out of it with rubbing alcohol and reapply an actual pea-sized blob of paste. Hopefully I didn't do anything too wrong but she seems to hover around the 35c mark while idle and a bit higher depending what I do. I read the 212 EVO maintains 24-28 and the TX3 is a stage or two lower so I'm thinking that's fine. I'll have to do some tests for under load temps to make sure they don't get too high.

Seems in my desire to "save a buck", since I didn't need a lot of the big expensive features and this checked the ones I wanted, I got a board that doesn't appear to have a connector for a DVD burner? But it came with a CD with drivers? Err.. k. Is there another way to hook up a DVD drive that I don't know about besides that big ugly ribbon?
Though I don't miss it. I find my case is a lot cleaner and I tried to hide the cables as best as possible but I'm a novice at this crap so I suck. Also doesn't help there's fan controller wires, firewire, ect. that i have no use for that I also have to try and hide BUT I'm happy with it for now. Pic in the spoiler so you can laugh at my failure. :lol:

Spoiler

PC without GPU in:

Kinda disappointed in the orange LED, I knew the audio path had LEDs but I didn't expect that much.

Set this up kind of like how a SSD+HDD would be. Only this is two HDDs, one below 240 GB so I can eventually clone it to a 240 GB SSD and the other is bigger for general storage. I thought it was pretty smart of me. lol

I believe my fans are setup in the current configuration:
Back: Exhaust,
Front: Intake, thought there's a door infront so I don't really know how much it's doing.
Side: Intake, slightly blocked by the cooler - which I had to take the metal mesh filter(?) off so it wouldnt hit the heatsink, is that ok?
Cooler: is intake, I don't think I need a exhaust 92mm with how close it is to the back one.

Is that how most would do it, or should I change 'em? Only one that'll be a pain to change is the front.
Also is there anyway to protect your ethernet cord with some kind of surge protector?


Think I'm gonna hold out for a 1080. Hopefully the expensive EVGA 1080s go cheap when in stock, but I think white LEDs on the GPU could work - they got a blue tinge to them.[/QUOTE]

Do not worry rubbing alcohol on it should not bruse it. I understand you have bought a new motherboard am I right? To save money buy a new DVD drive you do not need top noch you can get a DVD drive for like 10-20 £'s or $'s as it will have a SATA connection as well

 

[MacP]

[QUOTE="MacP, post: 6518252]Do not worry rubbing alcohol on it should not bruse it. I understand you have bought a new motherboard am I right? To save money buy a new DVD drive you do not need top noch you can get a DVD drive for like 10-20 £'s or $'s as it will have a SATA connection as well or you can get a ribbion to sata adapter

 

[Ezekiel]

[QUOTE="Fijiandoce, post: 6518243]Technically, AMD went Intel too by abandoning CMT in favour of SMT

But on that note, it's good to see AMD apparently pushing the envelope with their SMT approach. Zen leaks suggest the 'consumer' variant is likely to have 4 hyper threaded cores - Essentially mimicking the i7's. The enthusiast is rumoured too have 8 HT cores. So as far as multithreaded workloads go, AMD looks to be pushing forward relentlessly from the philosophy they had with the CMT Fx chips.[/QUOTE]

Yep. I read about that a few months back. The CMT vs SMT approaches will always be a controversial topic though. IIRC, AMD partially screwed up their CMT execution and it didn't help that Intel was lobbying software devs to push heavily into utilizing its SMT approach. I also understand that CMT had some inherent flaws which AMD was never able to rectify and so, they opted to embrace Intel's approach. I'll grant Intel this. They definitely nailed this aspect of their processors. I still don't think it justifies the exorbitant prices they charge for them but that's them breaks methinks.

AMD though, has drastically improved its IPC efficiency and I am eager to see how they stack up overall with Intel.

 

[Fenix]

I went AMD last time purely cause it was cheap.. and I liked the word Phenom, yeah I'm not shitting you there. :lol: Figured I'd go out and go Intel this time cause they always sound to be better. Was I wrong or something? Still hoping I won't regret not getting an i7.


Over the last week or so I've done some thinking and I'm not sure I'm comfortable spending $800+tax on a graphics card. Do you think I'd regret going for an 1070? In my reading it sounds like a 1070 is - depending on the game - better, as good, or worse than a 980 ti. An i5-6600k + a 1070 should still make for a kickass gaming PC, right?

The only problem is I want a card with a RGB LED, due to my blue LED theme and no GPU has just a blue LED on it, and it seems most of those require TWO 8-pin. Will buying THIS be a good idea, at least for now, or will that do more harm than good? My current OCZ600MXSP is a 600w with 504w on the 12 rail, but that should still be more than I need right now. Kind of hoping to order a new GPU within the month since I'm really tired of my current GPU, not sure I could afford a new PSU as well right now. I'm tempted to try the adapter but I'd rather not do any harm to something.


EVGA is generally my brand so I'd probably be going with the $619.99 Geforce 1070 FTW.

 

[Christopher]

Personally, if I'm going to spend that much money then I'd be expecting to see some significant performance upgrades. I don't think you are going to see that going from 980 Ti to 1070.

 

[Fijiandoce]

One of the main 'selling points' for a 1070 over a 980Ti will be the VRAM. The Frostbite engine (for example) uses VRAM as a sort of cache (you can see this with Mirrors Edge). So for Frostbite engine titles, more Vram is always going to be better.

For future proofing, it depends on whether other devs start to use VRAM as a cache for their assets - Which would be highly likely considering 8GB is the average amount of system RAM in a system, and now GPU's are shipping with 8GB of VRAM on the low end (RX 480).

So it's up to you if that sort of future proofing is worth biting the bullet for

 

[PBM]

[QUOTE="Fijiandoce, post: 6518631]One of the main 'selling points' for a 1070 over a 980Ti will be the VRAM.[/QUOTE]
And the low power consumption.

 

[Fenix]

:lol: Think at some point I've confused you, sorry about that. :facepalm: I don't currently have a 980 ti. I was hoping to get one at minimum, though.

 

[Fenix]

Just ordered myself a EVGA Geforce GTX 1070 SC.
Was originally going to order a FTW, mostly for blue LEDs, but then I realized that's $20-ish extra for the card and another $10-20 for a cable -if not an entire new PSU - because I wanted the RGB LEDs on the GPU. Which I'm not even sure you'll really see. lol :dejection:



*CPU: Intel Core i5-6600k
*Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper TX3 - barely fit in my case as it is.
*Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-Z170-HD3
*RAM: 2x8GB DDR4 2400
*GPU: EVGA Geforce GTX 1070 SC
*storage: 2x HDDs but I'll get a SDD + bigger HDD for storage later on.
*Powersupply: 600w, 504w on the 12 rail
*OS: Win 10 Home

Should be a kickass little computer without completely raping the bank, yes? Would you say this is kind of high end?


Going from a GTS 250 to a GTX 1070 SC is going to be freaking amazing.