[Build Log] Replacing the tired old Core 2 Duo System

[tyson.b]

[build Log] Replacing the tired old Core 2 Duo System

 

OK Guys so here goes nothing. I've been lurking around this forum for a few months now and I was inspired by build logs so I decided I'd build myself a new computer. My current system is struggling at my little resolution (1440x900) in a lot of titles and I felt it was time to retire and sell my Core 2 Duo System and build a new Skylake system since that's the newest platform out right now. I have bought some parts, and I am waiting on checks to buy others. This rig will be used for gaming and 3d rendering of projects on revit, inventor and solidworks, etc. I am aiming for ultra settings in all currently released titles at my resolution. I do not need 60fps, however, I require a frame locked 31fps. 31fps I have found to be the spot where the picture isn't stuttering and the gameplay is smooth. The frame lock is the reason why I am going with a NVIDIA card for the new rig as opposed to an AMD card which I have currently. I will also be requiring 16gb of ram for the buffer on editing, rendering and gaming. I've delt with small amounts of ram long enough, and even 8gb will become small in about 2 years. I have no need for high level features from the Z170 boards, so I decided an H110 board would work well enough. As for storage, I am going to be purchasing a 2tb drive and a 120gb ssd for OS and office programs. For the new system specs, components in bold have been purchased already. Anyway, without further ado, I present you with the old systems specifications.

 

Tired Old Core 2 Duo System Specifications

 

NZXT Source 210

NZXT GRID

Antec VP-450

7x Rosewill Blue LED Fans

Dell LGA 775 Motherboard

Intel Core 2 Duo E6850

4GB DDR2 800

Asus DirectCUII R7 260X

250gb Hard Drive

 

As you can imagine those specs do not run anything I want them to to nearly the threshold I have. I am clearly in need of a new system, which is why I am posting my build log today. While my other build log was halted because of financials, this one will be completed in the near future because of my new financial stance. I will be purchasing a few parts every week or so and will be posting pictures and my thoughts along with it. My new system will be consisting of:

 

New Skylake PC Build System Specifications

 

Cooler Master N200

EVGA 430 W1 80+

5x Rosewill Fans *Comparable to CM Sickleflow*

GIGABYTE H110M-A

Intel Core i7-6700K

16gb DDR4 2133 (8gb bought)

ASUS STRIX GTX 970 4GB

Toshiba 4TB 128MB Cache/7200RPM Hard Drive

250GB Samsung 850 EVO

 

With this configuation I should definately be able to run all current titles at high or ultra at 1440x900 and I will see a nice boost in CAD rendering times and abilities. Windows 7 will boot very quickly and I will have no trouble in launching small applications quickly. My Folders in Windows 7 will be moved to the Hard Drive in order to keep the SSD's read and write cycles down for longevity of fast NAND. All programs will be stored on the SSD except for steam, which will be kept along with my game library on the Hard Drive. All of those fans will keep the system running nice and cool, and the EVGA PSU (Don't yell at me, I've read multiple places that EVGA's OEM is Seasonic) will keep the system powered nicely. Intel's Core i5 will be amazing coupled with the 960 and will keep me at my fps and detail threshold as well as keep my rendering times way down. I will be using the stock Intel CPU Cooler until I see a CPU temp rise above 65C in my normal use.

 

Definately let me know what you guys think, and if I should change anything I haven't already bought based on what I've said about my thresholds in how the new system will need to perform. Pictures will be updated shortly (Give me a couple days, lol) and will be updated as I receive parts and install them. Thanks for reading, and have a great rest of your day!

 

EDIT 1: 12/1/2015 2:31PM PST - Changed storage solution

​EDIT 2: ​12/7/2015 1:38PM PST - Changed storage solution, graphics card, processor, and deleted fan hub

[Tedster]

Please don't go with that PSU. I'd personally go with a nice XFX 550w unit.

[babadoctor]

Nice build log...

better than anything i could make ):

you must be a professional lurker

[TheRandomness]

Please don't go with that PSU.

Please listen to him. Also R9 380 4GB. Better than a 2GB 960 @tyson.b

[babadoctor]

Please don't go with that PSU.

I bet its gonna come RMA'd because the company gives no fucks whatsoever

[pcman365]

try and get an i7 if your doing 3d rendering

[tyson.b]

I'm sorry guys, if you read in the first post you would know that the items in bold have already been bought. Amazon does not send someone else an RMA'd product, so if it doesn't work, I send it back and get another one from Amazon. Or a refund. Is a 4gb r9 380 in my price range of under $250? Also, I am needing to go with NVIDIA because I've had multiple AMD cards and the control panel doesn't allow for FPS Locks.

[tyson.b]

try and get an i7 if your doing 3d rendering

only issue is cost. I am not willing to spend $350 right now on an i7 of this platform.

[KemoKa]

Is a 4gb r9 380 in my price range of under $250? Also, I am needing to go with NVIDIA because I've had multiple AMD cards and the control panel doesn't allow for FPS Locks.

Should be, and FPS locks = Vsync. Yes, they do.

 

If you can't find any, you can look for some used 7970s - those are beasts.

[tyson.b]

Should be, and FPS locks = Vsync. Yes, they do.

 

If you can't find any, you can look for some used 7970s - those are beasts.

No no no. I literally mean the software physically locks the card from producing anything more than the FPS that I set it to. I.E. 31fps like described above. This apparently has been a function of NVIDIA drivers since version 299 or something like that. AMD's CCC doesn't work well and uses too many resources (at least I find)

[tyson.b]

Please don't go with that PSU. I'd personally go with a nice XFX 550w unit.

I'd personally go with a Seasonic Power supply but that was over twice the cost of this power supply. We shall see how it goes.

[tyson.b]

PICTURE TIME!

Motherboard, 8gb of the ram, and all 5 fans have been installed. I am still waiting on the other 8gb and the power supply at the moment. As you can see its extremely difficult to cable manage. And yes, I know I am dumb. Fan orientation in the front has been switched.

 

 

[Heesleemer]

notwithstanding other's comments, this is a very balanced system, looks budget friendly and professional at the sametime! 

[tyson.b]

notwithstanding other's comments, this is a very balanced system, looks budget friendly and professional at the sametime! 

I believe so as well. I am shooting for that 31fps frame lock in all my games, as in dipping not below or above 31 frames. The gpu will be consuming tiny amounts of power with a 31 frame lock on basically any game.

[tyson.b]

My advice to anyone building in this case:
 

Cable ties are your friend. Order 100 of them just because you can. There's tons of cable tie holes but not enough cable management holes. You can also buy little cable tie sticky pads that give you a hole for a cable tie wherever you need one. Also, if you can, go for 2.5" drives only. The drive bay will block a long videocard and there's 2x 2.5" drive mounts in the back of the case. For anyone wondering that like the look of this case but want to build a very high end system here's what you could do.

 

ASUS ROG Maximus VIII GENE

Intel Core i7-6700k

32gb crucial vengeance lpx

512GB Samsung 950 PRO M.2 SSD

2x Seagate ST2000LM003 2tb 2.5" hard drives in raid 0 for high performance total of 4tb

2x ASUS Strix GTX 980 Ti in SLI

EVGA SuperNova 750 G2

5x Noctua PPC Industrial Fans

NZXT Grid+ Fan Controller and Hub

Corsair H110 GTX

 

I wish I had the cash to do the build I just listed but damn that thing would last a solid 5 years even for a 1440p gamer!

[thenotoriousone]

380!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! NO 960!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[tyson.b]

380!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! NO 960!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I've been researching and not only is the 380X $40 more expensive than a GTX 960, it doesn't run games any better.

I will be getting the EVGA GTX 960 SSC w/ACX model # 04G-P4-3967-KR as it has 4gb of vram and has their nice acx cooler on it.

 

By the way, can anyone help me out with a storage solution? I have $150 to spend on storage and I can't figure out what I want. The only caveat is it needs to be 2.5" drives. No 3.5" drives. I am either thinking

A) 2x 1tb Seagate SSHD's in RAID 0

B) 2x 250gb Samsung 850 EVO in RAID 0

C) 1x 500gb Samsung 850 EVO

D) 1x 120gb Sandisk SSD Plus + 1x 2tb Seagate

 

I am leaning more towards D but I keep telling myself B will be the best option. At this moment I don't have an extensive game library and now I have 60gb left out of 232gb of my main drive right now so even if I got a couple more big games, programs and a few more smaller games I would still have about 150gb left (exaggerating completely, could be more like 200 left) if I went with either of the 850 evo options.

[tyson.b]

Updates to the build plans

 

Just so you guys know all of my updates will also be posted in the original build plans

 

I have decided on a new storage solution and I believe it will suit me very well for the 2.5" drive market. I have decided on getting a 250gb Samsung 850 EVO as well as a 1tb Seagate SSHD for the storage. I am not at the point where I can shell out the cash for a 250+1tb ssd only, even though I wish I could. This is not the kind of build that would ever even need the speed of 2x 2tb samsung 950 pro SSD's in RAID 0.

 

I realized that I should go with a smaller SSD and a second storage drive when I saw the cost relative to the other parts in the system. I could have gone with a 1tb samsung 850 evo but it's 350 dollars and my graphics card and processor barely go over that price. There's no reason for the storage to go over about 20% of the total budget of the build. I have a $1100 budget for this system and I don't believe that $350 towards one part is necessary. Maybe when I do my next build (watercooled N200, I love this case) I will decide to go full SSD's simply because of speed.

[tyson.b]

Power supply is getting delivered today, ugh time for tons and tons of cable ties and management

 

BTW, if you couldn't see already I'm really indecisive. I'm debating going for a 1440p screen but the 1080 for $90 on amazon with no ghosting looks very nice. I don't think I could quite run 1440 at the settings I like with the fps I like.

For this reason I am debating just going with a single gtx 960 like in the original plans and I'm actually going to be 3d printing a headset and controller stand for the xbox controller and Logitech wireless headset. 

I am coming from a 1440x900 monitor so I believe 1080 will look nice anyway so I don't believe I will need the quality of 1440 especially if I will need to turn the details down. I have completely narrowed down my storage solution and I will be going with the 4tb seagate sshd drive along with a 250gb crucial mx200 ssd.

[Heesleemer]

a 960 will do pretty decently on a 1440p monitor. Maybe not the highest end tripple A, but I run well over 60 fps on ultra on tomb raider and fall out 4. with that said I believe the bench marks on more demanding games at 1440, the 380 (and 380x) does better.

[Snooli]

I'm sorry guys, if you read in the first post you would know that the items in bold have already been bought. Amazon does not send someone else an RMA'd product, so if it doesn't work, I send it back and get another one from Amazon. Or a refund. Is a 4gb r9 380 in my price range of under $250? Also, I am needing to go with NVIDIA because I've had multiple AMD cards and the control panel doesn't allow for FPS Locks.

380 should be under $200. And yes, it does allow you to lock FPS. I think you can even force it to underclock to get that FPS, something Nvidia's contril panel does not do.

[EldarNi]

380 should be under $200. And yes, it does allow you to lock FPS. I think you can even force it to underclock to get that FPS, something Nvidia's contril panel does not do.

all this comes with a new radeon crimson drivers, 380 would be plain faster as well

[tyson.b]

There is no evidence that the 380 is faster than even something as entry level as the GTX 960.

I have seen multiple sites do benchmarks for the 380X ($250 at amazon for this one, R9 380X I want it because its only a single 8 pin and has gigabyte's support and wind force cooler. I would not and am not open for suggestions for a different 380X if I were to go that route.

Since the EVGA SSC ACX 2.0+ went up in price if I were to buy the 960 right now, this one from Gigabyte would still be $35 cheaper. GTX 960

 

I am also thinking hard about saving for i7+970. I cannot overclock using the motherboard I already have and the i7 already offers a 4ghz base clock, something the i5's do not offer. I will be using a Corsair H60 to cool the CPU so I think the i7 would belong well.

 

As for the 970, This one is the 8 pin, which I have, and its only $315 + $20.00 MIR (if it actually works, the rebate I mean) and its from a reputable company. I'm seeing the 6700k fluctuate wildly, so I will most likely buy the 970 before the CPU so it calms down and sits at $350 at amazon (probably another 2-3 weeks) GTX 970

 

By the way, I got the power supply in and completely wired (its a wonder the side panel even fits on, there's a solid inch of cabling that wires in and out of each other) and I do not believe I will be touching the wiring again because it was so difficult to put together. I will be taking pictures of how the case looks inside now (I will not be opening the other side panel, too difficult to put back on). BTW, this system is already just as loud as my old system ( the one with 7 fans) and it will only get louder when I add the H60. BTW, does the H60 completely plug in VIA the cpu fan connector? I kind of wired it to where I can't really have another sata or molex used. I could also go the hyper 212 route if necessary.

[tyson.b]

OK Guys so if you take a look at the first post you will see the changes to the build (for the better )

​

I got the power supply all wired up. I can't get another picture of the other side panel because its super hard to get it on and off, but here's what the front looks like.

[tyson.b]

Update:

 

​I put in a proposal for a sponsorship by messaging asus on facebook for the strix 970, their ac wireless router, and their ac pcie wireless card.

 

While this system is somewhat plain, it will be a beast at 1080p gaming and with the help of asus my dream can come alive. Otherwise, I will be sitting for months for cash flow to buy their router, gpu and wireless card.

 

Here is the message I sent.

 

"Hello Asus, my name is T**** B**** and I am contacting you regarding a possible sponsorship for my new computer build. This build will be taking the place of my current, 8+ year old system build. While it may be plain and dull looking, this computer will be a beast for playing games at 1080p. You can see the build log and what I have put into it so far by clicking on the link provided. I am currently looking at your GTX 970 STRIX and the PCE-AC68 wireless card along with RT-AC66U wireless router. I would be prepared to do a thorough review that would appeal to the modern buyer that doesn't know much about routers, wireless cards or graphics cards in exchange for the 970, wireless card and router, as well as putting multiple banners on my build log and thanking you on it. It has over 475 views on it now and it would help everyone if a sponsorship was in place. You can see the anticipated specifications of the system in the first post, and if you'd like to contribute to the build please contact me at t*******@gmail.com Thank you for your consideration and I look forward to hearing back from you!"

 

Hopefully they get back to me and I hope I can work with ASUS!