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First computer build plan (input appreciated/wanted!)

Azgoth 2
By Azgoth 2
in New Builds and Planning
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So, I'm going to be going about building my first PC in the next few months, and I've been scoping out parts and such, but would love some input from people with more experience before I commit to anything here.  I've only been reading into PC building as of the last two or three months or so, so I'm relatively green on a lot of this. 

 

I'm looking at a budget of about US $1300 (with some wiggle room--that's not a hard upper limit), and the main goal will be a nice gaming and general-purpose PC I can run code on.  Most of the code will probably be scientific/numeric computational stuff in Python, but I don't need it to execute at lightning-fast speeds, and it's not going to be for work or big research simulations or anything.  Just stuff I play around with out for my own edification and curiosity.  Plus, the gaming will be the biggest use of the system, and the coding will be a smaller (but not insignificant) one.  I also expect I'll be doing mild overclocking on the CPU/GPU, but nowhere near the "pushing the upper bounds of what this chip can do" levels.

 

Current parts list:

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z170-HD3P ($124)

CPU: Intel i5-6600k ($250)

GPU: Gigabyte R9 390 gaming ($330)

Storage: Samsung 850 EVO 250GB SSD ($100) + Seagate Barracuda 3TB HDD ($90)

RAM: GSkill Ripjaws 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 2133 ($110)

PSU: Corsair CX750M 750 watt, 80+ bronze ($85)

Case: to be determined (~$50-$75, I estimate)

Current total (without case, by Newegg prices): $1,089 (leaves wiggle room for case, shipping, miscellaneous things I've maybe forgotten about/not known about, or switching out parts for nicer/more reliable ones)

 

My main questions:

  • Motherboard--I don't know much about selecting a motherboard, so if I've made a dumb choice, please let me know.
  • RAM--I also don't entirely know if DDR4 is necessary; I've heard some people say that it doesn't make a difference as gaming goes, and the programming stuff I do isn't so intense that I'd need top-of-the-line memory, so if DDR4 is overkill/doesn't have a huge performance difference, I'll switch over to some DDR3 and save a few bucks.
  • Storage--I know the Samsun EVO series of SSDs is supposed to be pretty good, but I don't know how reliable the Seagate Barracuda HDDs are (or any HDDs, for that matter).  Ideally I want at least 2TB on the HDD for mass storage, but if there's some comparably priced, far better/more reliable HDD out there, please let me know.
  • Case--I'm not too partial about the case's aesthetics, but I also don't know much about what to look for in one.  I'll probably take a trip to my local Microcenter or Frys and find one that looks nice and is reasonably priced--but I would like to know if there are any big points about case buying I might not be aware of.  I know to check for ATX motherboard compatability, that it'll fit the graphics card, and that it has a good number of air intake/exhause ports.  Beyond that, I don't know what to look for as functinoality goes, so any tips (or specific case recommendations!) are appreciated.
  • Cooling--I don't have anything specced out for cooling at the moment.  I imagine I may have to get another case fan or two, and my CPU will obviously need something.  But I don't have any idea what to look for with a CPU cooler.  I don't plan to overclock more than a few hundred MHz, but I've never played with overclocking before so I don't know what a good, stable OC level is on the 6600K.  That said, I don't know if an air cooler would do the trick, or if I would need a liquid cooler, and I wouldn't know how to go about picking a cooler anyways.  So this is where I need the most help/feedback.

My less pressing questions:

  • GPU--I've gone with the Gigabyte 390 because I've heard it mentioned from time to time as one of the better 390 models, even though the performance differences between most of them are generally minor.  But if I'm horribly mistaken on this, let me know.  If I end up well enough under-budget, I'll swap this out for a 390x.
  • CPU--Some people have been murmuring (or shouting) that the Skylake processors aren't worth it compared to their Haswell predecessors.  But, the Haswell processor I would probably get--the i5-4690k--is about the same price as the 6600k.  I don't know quite enough to have strong feelings, but one of you has to know more about this than me.  Would the 6600k be fine?  Should I slap myself and switch to a 4690k?  Or would a 4690k just shave a few bucks off my total price tag at a minimal performance cost?
  • Power supply--did I do my math right?  According to the specs on Newegg, the 390 needs a 600W PSU, and the 6600K has a 91W TDP.  600+91 = 691W, with a 750W supply for a bit of wiggle/"just in case" room.  I don't want to go overkill on the PSU for no reason because electricity isn't free, unfortunately.

And, just overall: does this seem reasonable?  Are there any major problems that my inexperienced eye doesn't see?

 

Thanks!

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I agree with your comment on DDR4. The performance improvement isn't even noticeable except in benchmarks (and still only by a little more) and it is much more expensive.

Main PC: i5 4590 @ 3.5 GHz ♦ RX 480 Armor OC ♦ 16 GB DDR3 ♦ GA-Z97-HD3 ♦ 120 GB 840 EVO ♦ 120 GB Intel 520 ♦ W10 Home

Scrapyard PC: Xeon X5460 @ 3.8 GHz ♦ HD 7870 ♦ 8 GB DDR2 ♦ GA-P35-DS3L ♦ 80 GB Intel 320 ♦ 160 GB WD Caviar SE ♦ W10 Home

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-snip-

 

 
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z170-HD3P ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($124.99 @ Amazon) 
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($89.98 @ Mac Mall) 
Video Card: XFX Radeon R9 390X 8GB Double Dissipation Video Card  ($434.98 @ Newegg) 
Case: NZXT S340 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case  ($68.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Power Supply: EVGA 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($111.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Total: $1279.89
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-08-27 23:15 EDT-0400

i5-4690k@4.5GHz || MSI GTX 970 || MSI z97 Gaming 5 || NZXT Kraken x61 || WD Black 1TB || Crucial MX100 || 8GB Corsair Vengeance Pro || Corsair RM750 || NZXT H440 || Corsair k70 RGB mx browns || Acer H236HL || ViewSonic VX2255wm-4

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it looks good

 

your questions:

mobo: its a decent board but personally id go with asus just because i like their build quality, again nothing wrong with yours

ram: on your motherboard you have to get ddr4, its the only kind that it supports

hdd: the seagate one is fine but if you want more options WD blue? (the NAS kind) is pretty good

case: yep basically what you said but you might want to leave room if you plan on upgrading (btw NZXT and Fractal Design have some nice looking cases)

cooling: something like a cooler master 212 evo would do the trick, and should be able to overclock a little

 

gpu: 390 is fine but if you do modeling or that kind of stuff then opt for the 390x for the vram

psu: 750w should work but there are cheaper ones out there like EVGA ones

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STOP FUCKING USING THAT PSU FOR HIGH END BUILDS! 

 

 
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z170-HD3 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($114.99 @ Amazon) 
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($89.98 @ Mac Mall) 
Video Card: MSI Radeon R9 390 8GB Video Card  ($329.98 @ SuperBiiz) 
Case: Fractal Design Define S ATX Mid Tower Case  ($69.99 @ Newegg) 
Total: $1170.79
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-08-27 23:16 EDT-0400
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...

 

Other than the psu it is a decent build.

 

Motherboard is fine, although something a little better wouldn't hurt. I have a preference for Asus motherboards. In my opinion, they have a better BIOS and utility software.

 

Stick with Skylake. It has significantly better performance than Haswell - about 5%.

 

PSU math is off. The R9 390 has a TDP of 250W. The manufacturer recommends a 600W psu for a system with a single R9 390.

 

You will likely want to spend more on a good case.

80+ ratings certify electrical efficiency. Not quality.

 

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Awesome.  Thanks for all the input, everyone!  Looks like I'll definitely be switching to a different PSU (since ever person here recommended an EVGA one over the one I picked) and changing up a few other things.  I think I'll stick with the 6600k processor, and can probably do a 390x over a 390 without as much hassle as I may have originally thought.  And now I have a bunch of cases to go sift through/drool over.

 

Thanks again, everyone.

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