bobbywave

Looks like this will be the build, minus the monitor. Let me know what you think! http://pcpartpicker.com/p/ckKfqs I already have a case for him and we have to pick out a monitor. Thanks for your help, Bobbywave

Thanks all, I was looking at the 7700K simply because Microcenter has it bundled with motherboards for a great deal. I will see if the 860K can save me some money because I absolutely do not need those GPU cores. I would like an i3, but as stated it would be the motherboard/cpu budget on its own. I was looking at the pentium anniversary as well, but don't want to go down to two cores. I will make a PC partpicker of the computer so far for your thoughts. Thanks for your input! Bobbywave

Hey everyone, in need of a few opinions: I am building a very low budget gaming rig for a family member and am torn on the CPU choice. If it were up to me I would splurge a few bucks and pick up an i5 and cheap mATX board, but on a $550 budget and a focus on GPU intensive games I decided to spend most of the budget on an R9-380 that I got for a steal on Newegg. So for ~130 I need a motherboard and a CPU. My options are: AMD A-10 7700K or AMD FX-6300 The single core performance on the 7700K is about 6% better (Passmark) than the 6300, and I don't think there are many games that utilize 6 cores vs 4. I ask humbly for your opinions and justifications so I can make the best possible decision. Hopefully I neglected an option and there is something better that can be pointed out to me Thanks for your help! Bobbywave

That is one sexy case.

Well hopefully its a non issue then, it just seems like the water in the blocks would be stagnate.

Hey there, Just checking out your build, looks great! If I'm wrong please let me know, but won't your GPU's run a bit warm if water can just go straight through the "Left" Terminal on both cards straight to the CPU? If I were water and picking the path of least resistance, I would choose to run through that most of the time! I would recommend moving the inlet to the right terminal on the bottom card. Other than that, great work, I really like the evolution of the build!

Looks like a good part list. Good Luck with your first build! I like my GTX 970 (390 is a good option too), but please don't use a Xeon for a gaming rig lol. Skylake i5 is perfect as you picked. With an H105 you can overclock a bit, but don't push that motherboard too hard. Also you wouldn't notice any game changing benefits to NVMe vs Sata SSD in terms of game load times, and boot times are currently slower in Windows (correct me if there has been a firmware update). Only go m.2 if you need the space in the small build, else I don't think its worth the money (best spent elsewhere) Subbed

Hey Pokemon Kid, Glad to hear things are back on track! Never any fun to get dead components. Liking this build, I just built a small NAS myself and I'm jealous of some of your hardware now I'm glad you ditched the greens and went Reds, if your Dad is planning on running FreeNAS on the handy-down hardware, make sure he disables the full energy saving feature on the Greens or else they shall die a premature death. Google WD Greens in FreeNAS. Cheers and good luck with the rest of the build! Bobby Wave

If you are working with programs such a solid works, I highly recommend going team Red GPU here, Open CL vs. CUDA, check it out. Grab yourself a 290X 8Gb. It will game just fine, and be more useful with your work. All the other suggestions above seam valid.

I like the Corsair SP series fans. The rings allow you to match any color scheme, and with LNA's (Low noise adapters) they are very quiet for the amount of air they push. Twin packs run about $25. They're not Noctua's, but they're not $25 each and butt ugly.

For most fast paced games like CS people prefer ULMB (ultra low motion blur) over GSync, and you cannot use them at the same time. I also took a shot at a build in a micro ATX form factor that you can wall/shelf mount easily. http://pcpartpicker.com/p/86fxmG Like you mentioned with Driver issues crossfire/SLI is nice to avoid, especially for Linux users. A single Titan X should give you more than enough performance, though 2 980's would be nice. Since you do more than just gaming I figured a 6 core/12 thread processor on the latest architecture would be nice. Though the single core performance will not be as good as the 4790K, the 5820K can hold its own, particularly after a nice overclock. My biggest concern is is that you avoid purchasing a 90 dollar "7.1" headset that will sound like ****. I own a pair of Hyper-X Cloud's and they sound beautiful. Also match the red/black theme. Good luck with your build, sounds like a blast! Look forward to the build log.

If you only care about overclocking your CPU, or you have a very efficient GPU (I'm looking at you Maxwell) there is little performance benefit to a full custom loop over a decent AIO with a 240mm radiator. Maxwell GPU's have been able to hit TDP cap on air cooling even at max voltage with safe-ish temps (of course they could be better, and lower temps generally results in a longer life). I however have a pair of 7950's and an FX-8350 in my loop with a 3x120mm and a 3x140mm radiator. It dropped my GPU temps 23 degrees Celsius and gave me the headroom i needed to up the voltage on my GPU's and get a better overclock. Also, building my own loop as been a great experience, albeit an expensive one. The choice is yours, on forums there are always going to be differing opinions. It depends on your dedication to maximum performance, your love of pushing boundaries, and of course the size of your pocket book.

Get a weller. I use: http://www.amazon.com/Weller-WES51-Analog-Soldering-Station/dp/B000BRC2XU/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1427319071&sr=8-2&keywords=weller+soldering+iron but: http://www.amazon.com/Weller-WLC100-40-Watt-Soldering-Station/dp/B000AS28UC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1427319071&sr=8-1&keywords=weller+soldering+iron Would do just as well for almost all cases. Extra tips are nice to have, but won't be needed often if you take good care of yours.

Just gotta bump that voltage! Hopefully the Kraken X60 can take the heat! I like your build, jealous of the dual 290's!! 9.5/10. I bet it games like a champ. Even with AMD Chips Excellent Keyboard my friend

I have had a few bonding moments over Blue Switches, usually when I am playing with someone on Skype and I hear them typing. I be all like: "Sounds like blue switches over there. Same here." They be all like: "Yup. We should be best friends."