Timmiej93

Hi guys, History in spoiler tag. Not relevant for the PC, but it gives a view into why I'm looking for a PC again. I've been looking at small, quiet gaming PCs a bit now, but I've been out of the running for so long, that I'm not really sure what's what anymore. I'll use the Build Plan Thread Recommendations topic as a guideline for my wishes. 1. Budget and location I'm thinking about roughly €1000, ex peripherals at the moment. If we later on determine that this would lead to too many compromises, I can consider increasing the budget, but a grand would be a nice starting point. I live in the Netherlands, but I'm very close to Germany, and quite close to Belgium. 2. Aim I am going to use it for my day to day stuff, which is a mix of basic stuff like web browsing, programming, basic image editing, etc., mostly low intensity stuff. I also expect to do quite some casual gaming on the machine, but I'm not into FPS or other very intensive games, I'm more into simulators. Things that come to mind are Farming Simulator 19, Train Simulator (World & 2019), etc. A decent draw distance and framerate would still be nice in these games, but it's not as pressing as in shooters. I also really like games like Factorio and Cities Skylines, which are always CPU bottlenecked. 3. Monitors If I can find one I like, I'd use an ultrawide monitor. Probably 1080p, but I might look into 1440p. Given that those monitors with refresh rates above 60Hz are crazy expensive, I'm more than fine with 60FPS. I'm definitely not looking for 4K gaming. 4. Peripherals I do have a decent mouse and keyboard, so I'm not in direct need. Like I said before, I'd like to ignore peripherals for now. Since I'm looking at a pre-built system, I'd prefer having Windows 10 pre-installed. 5. Why are you upgrading? I am currently running everything on a laptop, since I need portability for my education. I spent a good bit of money on this laptop a long time ago (€1000+), and it's still really good for what it is, but for gaming, it's starting to fall behind. Specs in the spoiler for those who are interested. So, what are the key features I want quiet and small, mainly: Quiet: I really, really don't like noise pollution. A bit of noise is fine, especially under heavy load, but I don't want a tiny jet engine. Small: I've never been one to show off my gear, I always like it to be hidden and surprisingly powerful. Better to impress by quality than by looks. I've looked around a bit for small gaming PCs, and I came across the ZOTAC mini gaming PCs, but I've been having a hard time trying to figure out what they are doing. It's quite hard to find something you like if you can't even find prices :/. Also, I saw things like an i3 combined with a 1080Ti. Might make sense for the knowledgeable people, but I was very confused. For the case, I don't care too much what it will look like. I'm probably gonna have it hidden below my desk anyway, but I'd prefer it to be low-key, so I don't need RGB lighting or anything like that. Hopefully my wishes are somewhat realistic, I'm excited to see what you guys can teach me! Tim

So I've been hanging out on a Dutch forum for a while, with the same question, sharing the info you guys gave me, to see what their thoughts were (and to find a Dutch assembler). At the moment, I'm looking at the following: CPU: i7-6700k CPU cooler: Scyth Mugen 4 PCGH Edition MotherBoard: Asus B150I Pro Gaming/Wifi/Aura GPU: MSI 1080 Gaming X 8G RAM: Kingston HyperX Fury 16GB PSU: be quiet! Straight Power 10 500W There are some points people can't seem to agree on though. The first one is the CPU. Some are saying it's BS to buy a 6700k if you're not overclocking, some say it's perfectly fine. In my mind, the K gives a little bit more performance for a little bit more money, so why not? The motherboard is also a discussion point, especially in combination with the 6700k. Somebody said they wouldn't use the 6700k on a motherboard where VRMs are cooled passively. I asked for some details on that reasoning, but haven't got that until now. Can somebody here enlighten me? Somebody else just said "An i7 6700k in combination with a B150 motherboard. Not a handy combo.". Again, I asked what's his reasoning for that claim, but I haven't heard back from them unfortunately. Then finally, there has been some discussion over the PSU. Some people were saying that the 500W be quiet! PSU is kinda a waste of money, since the Corsair RM550x is just a few bucks more, but quality is way higher. On that part, people agreed. But then people stated their fears about using a semi-passively cooled PSU in a small case. I haven't gotten much detail on that from them either. I hope somebody here can enlighten me a bit on these points, since I'm not experienced enough to know what's right and what's wrong.

Some other questions that popped into my mind, while checking some stuff: What is the main difference between the two suggested motherboards? One is about €150, the other €250, while they seem to be pretty much the same. Is it purely a case of preference? I've also done some trimming (switched the 1TB SSD for a 500GB, can always add / upgrade later, switched MoBo to the cheaper one), so I'm thinking I'll swap the 1070 for the 1080. The 1080 does seem to be that extra bit of umpf, for future-proofing (again). What version of the 1080 would you guys recommend? I haven't got a single clue what to look for in all those versions, or where I could compare them, without looking through spec sheets I don't understand. For the Dutch (or Belgian / German) folks here: Could you recommend me a place that builds your custom PC? I'm using Alternate atm, because I've dealt with them before, so I know and trust them. I found some other companies out there, but since I've never dealt with those before, I don't feel like sending them 2k, without even knowing if they company is legit. You're right about that, can't put it any other way. Benchmarks are just the easiest for me to compare them though. It's hard to find CPU vs CPU comparisons that have exactly those 2 you are looking for.

So basically it's just more future-proofing? That would make sense for the build I'm looking for. I always check PassMark (.com). They seem to have pretty much every CPU/GPU in their database, and I like their website. Never heard anything bad about them, so I primarily check those. --------------------------------------------------- So I've put something together on a local PC builder's website (Alternate). This is what I'm at right now: So this is a €2000 (2250USD, 2900CAD) PC, no peripherals, no extra case fans (Mostly based on vojta.pokorny and DeezNoNos (love your name)'s suggestions). Changing the 1070 out for an EVGA 1080 FTW puts me at €2250. This would mean that, including the peripherals, the total would reach something like €3000. Not that big of a deal, but I'm just wondering what I need. If I get a 1070 with a 1440p screen, I don't want to be scaling my graphical settings back in titles that come out in 2017/2018, that's not why I bought it. Of course I can always upgrade the GPU, but I'd rather not do that in the first or second year of running. What do you guys think, 1070 or 1080? Also, some other stuff I'm unsure about: PSU. None of the two you suggested were available at the local builder. I don't know about the reputation 'be quiet!' has in PSU's, but it seemed fitting, since I wanted a quiet PC. CPU cooler. Again, both weren't available. I picked a Noctua, since the noiseproduction was low, and airflow was high. Would that one do the trick? Case fans. I haven't got a lot in there. The case comes with a 120 and a 140, which I'd probably want to exchange for quieter ones, but I don't have a clue how many I would need. Any suggestions? As for the 1TB SSD: <10yo voice> I just want it. </10yo voice>. I know it's crazy to have normal storage on an SSD, and I'll never use the read/write speeds for anything that really requires them, it's just that I don't want a spinning disk anymore. I used to have a (basic home) desktop that was perfectly quiet, until you opened up explorer and it had to spin up the drive. I know I'm loosing 200 bucks, and not gaining much, but I just want this for peace of mind. Also, the builder website gives me two notices, which I have no idea about what this means for me: Memory - Processor: The speed of your memory is higher than the default speed that is supported by your chosen CPU. In general, the memory can be used without issues, but the memory's speed will be set at the max. speed that is supported by the CPU. Memory: The memory you chose does not meet the JEDEC standard. If you order the system assembled, the memory will be set at DDR4 timings, in accordance with the JEDEC standard. Could anyone explain what this means for me? Am I spending too much money on memory, since it'll be throttled or something?

I know, I'm not that worried about breaking them, but I've killed some stuff by static electricity already, don't feel like doing that to new stuff. I know the chances are slim, but with these prices, I just don't want to risk it. I'd rather pay a few bucks for it at a PC builder. I'll address the 6700k suggestion at the bottom. Again, I'll address the 6700k suggestion at the bottom. You actually have a very good point on the GPU part, didn't really think about that. My mind is still very much in 1080p mode, so the 1080/980Ti should be plenty there, but at 1440, it'd be a different story, like you said. I'll think about that. And yes, I know being on the green team for no reason is pretty much BS. I'd call somebody out on that too, when they didn't have any experience with the other team. It's just a comfort thingy. I've been with NVIDIA for my entire life, which makes it so that I know most stuff about them. AMD just doesn't have that good of a reputation for me, and I don't really want to try if AMD is for me on this kind of build. If I may ask, why would you suggest the non-K version if I'm not gonna overclock them (I'm not)? Looking at benchmarks, the non-K version performs about 10% worse, but also costs 10% less. Why not just spend the extra money for the linear performance boost? ----- Horizontal line break thingy ----- About the 6700k suggestions: Looking at the benchmarks, the 6700k performs a bit worse to similar to the 4790k, for pretty much the same money. Why would you all suggest the 6700k? Just because it's more recent? Are there other things I'm missing?

I have been thinking about buying a console for a long time, but have now decided that one of those is not my cup of tea. I'd rather have a small, future-proof PC, on which I could play some of the games with a controller. That's why I'm here. I've been out of the PC building loop for a long time (except for watching the LTT videos), so I could use some (a lot of) help. To start off, here are the answers to the Build Plan Thread Recommendations thread: Budget and location: I would say the budget is unlimited, just keep it real. But, since people prefer hard numbers, I'd say my budget is €2000. I can always tune suggestions to my liking of course. My location is the Netherlands. Aim: I want to use this PC as a gaming PC specifically. I might use it for other stuff, but gaming is the main (and most demanding) aim. Monitors: Probably only one at a time. I would probably like to use a 21:9 1080p or 1440p display. If I'd stay with a 16:9 screen, it'd be a 1440p for sure. I don't think I would use multiple monitors in the future. Peripherals: I would need to get all the peripherals new. I've got some stuff lying around, but I would prefer new stuff. So basically: Keyboard, mouse, monitor. A PS4 controller will be added to this too at some point. Why are you upgrading?: I currently don't have a gaming PC. I've got a "decent" laptop, which runs most games at an OK rate, but I just don't want to use my laptop for that purpose anymore. I would like to use my laptop for when I want to be mobile, but still do PC stuff that I don't want to do on a phone or tablet (word processing etc), and I'd like to use the new PC for gaming, and word processing etc. when I don't need to be mobile. Basically, this PC should be a gaming PC/console combo. Some games I'd play with mouse and keyboard, up close, others I'd play with a controller (on my TV, because of the larger viewing distance). So, now we've got that, let's get to the things I would like. I've been looking around a lot lately, but the amount of info and things you need to know to make an educated decision is just crazy. I know I would like a GPU in the GTX 980Ti or GTX 1070 range, but I don't have a clue what variant of those would be best for me. That's why my 'wishlist' is quite basic/general. First some things I think are important: Noise. Or rather, the absence of it. I don't mind a few fans blowing when I'm gaming, but my current laptop pretty much tries to take off like a Harrier jump-jet when I do anything more than browsing. So basically: All fans should be as quiet as possible. If the very quiet ones are terribly expensive, I would love a few alternatives, so I can decide if I want to trade the cash for the quiet, or not. Ease of use. I know water cooling is cool, but I absolutely do not want any leakages or stuff like that. I know it's very reliable these days, but I just don't want any fuss. This doesn't mean I'm against WC., but it does mean that WC. should be a big improvement over air cooling for me to see it as an advantage. Pre-assembled. I've been thinking about building the rig myself, but I don't think I want to do this. I'm quite confident in what I'm doing, but I really don't want to ruin a very expensive part, just because I didn't handle it properly. Those prices just make me nervous. No overclocking. I just don't plan to overclock anything. I feel like the speed of devices is determined by the producer for a reason, and don't need the extra speed, so there's no reason for me to do it. The base stuff: Case: I would love to have the Dan Cases A4-SFX, but it's not available at the moment, it's expensive, and it has no dust filters. All stuff I don't really like. After some searching, I came across the Fractal Design Nano S (no window). I quite like the looks of it, would've preferred it to be a bit smaller, but I can live with this size. So if you've got suggestions for a case that's similar or smaller, I'm always interested. CPU: This is a very random selection. I checked the specs of a few YouTubers I watch, and kept in mind that they use their CPU mostly for gaming/rendering, so it's probably a bit overkill to match them. On the other hand, it's future-proofing. I eventually came to the i7-4790K 4.0GHz. I'm not at all stuck on this CPU, it's just something I came up with. Feel free to suggest anything you'd think would match my rig better. GPU: Again, going for overkill because of future-proofing. Checking PassMark benchmarks, I came up with the GTX 1070 / GTX 980 Ti. Be warned, I am a dedicated member of the green team. I've only had good experiences with them, and don't really feel like switching for "no reason". I definitely won't discard any AMD suggestions, but I do prefer NVIDIA stuff. Storage: I'm quite devoted to having two drives from Samsung: A 256 (ish) GB drive for my OS, and a 1TB drive for general purpose storage. Both should be SSD's, preferably from the EVO series. I've compared some versions, but I don't really know what the differences are, so any version is good. If you know more than me (probably all of you) and have a suggestion for better storage, I'm all ears. RAM: I'm not committed to any brand here. I would prefer 32GBs, but in my testing on PCPartPicker, I noticed that many motherboards that fit in these small cases only take up to 16GBs. If 32GBs won't go, 16 will do too. I have a thing for Corsair, but I don't have a reason for it (probably because I've seen a lot of Corsair over here), so I'm open for anything here. On to more general side. Optical drives: None. Never use it, I'll get an external one if I ever really need one. Peripherals: I'll take a look at these myself after I get the PC. All suggestions for hooking up a PS4 controller to the PC would be cool though. PSU: Just anything that works with a bit of extra space (for efficiency loss, future-proofing, all that stuff). OS: Windows 10 Home. Connectivity: Ethernet: I believe a Gb ethernet connector is pretty much the default these days, which makes it my baseline too. Open for suggestions about less though. WiFi: Not required. Don't mind it as an option. Bluetooth: Preferably, in case I ever want to use a BT headset. Sound: I plan on using the PC with a 5.1 sound system (which I kinda converted to a 3.1). If there are dedicated rear and sub audio jacks, that'd be cool, but it's not a requirement, since the system converts a stereo signal to surround itself. I believe this pretty much covers everything. If I forgot anything, feel free to ask, I'll try to respond ASAP. Anyways, thank you for taking the time to read all this, I know it's a lot to go through. I'm looking forward to your responses. Tim -- Edit: Clicked send, and immediately remembered something I wanted to say. Derp. I don't think I want to build this PC myself. I'm quite confident in what I'm doing, but I just don't want to risk messing up a 500+ bucks part, just because I didn't handle it properly. I'll add this to the 'wishes' part of the post too.

This is a truly beautiful case, but like others, I'm quite concerned about it not having any filters. It'll probably be a bit tricky to get your hands on one of these as well. Does anyone maybe know about similar cases (in size and appearance) that are available? I gave up on desktops quite a while back, since laptops could fill my requirements at that moment, so I'm completely out of the loop on this stuff.