Finally upgrading from my old computer

[Joelok314]

Hey,

I've been wanting to upgrade my PC for a while, but unexpected medical costs and other issues got in the way. But, with my taxes in and a cool $2000 refund check heading my way, I can finally get that better build I've been wanting for a long time. However, since the last time I built a PC was about 7 years ago and I haven't kept up with the technology lately, I wanted to confer with others to make sure I wasn't about to make huge mistakes. I appologize for the length of my post as I tend to ramble. So, if you are a tl;dr type, just scroll to the bottom of my post for the final build I'm considering and want your opinion on. However, I felt I would explain how I got where I was first for those who don't mind a little reading...

As I said, my current build has been going for about 7-7.5 years (I'm actually not entirely sure the exact age anymore). I currently have an i7 920 that can, on a good day reach about 3.19 GHz. 6GB DDR3 RAM at about 800 MHz with a GTX 480 graphics card. It wasn't too bad in its time, though I upgraded the GPU later on. But, I am reaching the end of it's use.

Since I hadn't built a full PC in so long, I asked my friends what they suggested and was directed to logicalincrements.com. I found it quite useful to give me an idea of where I might want to be for my level of use. Using that, I built up a baseline setup with their recommendations to work from (or even use) and came up with the following:

R9 390X Graphics card
Intel i5 6600 Processor
Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO HS & Fan
MSI Z170A SLA + Motherboard
2x Crucial 8GB DDR4 2133 MT/s RAM
SanDisk Extreme Pro 2.5" 240GB SSD
EVGA SuperNOVA 650 GS 80+ GOLD, 650W PSU
NZXT Phantom 630 Windowed Case (which works since a friend of mine has one and is willing to let me have it for only $90)

This was nice and fairly affordable. But, as I looked into builds more and more, I felt I wanted a little more oomph in my CPU and GPU. I was also wondering about the speed of the RAM (while not nearly as important, it can help some). I must also add in the disclaimer that I have always been on the nvidia side of the battle over AMD. But, I'm willing to be flexible if its worth it.

So, with all that in mind, I decided that I wanted to upgrade to the i5 6600k with it's much improved lifespan usability with higher overclock speeds if I need it. As for graphics, I was eyeing the GTX 980 Ti from the beginning, but worrying on the price point (though that was somewhat assuaged when I saw the size of my refund). Then for memory I decided that everything I know says that going from 2133 to 2400 isn't going to actually have a huge impact (let me know if I'm wrong). So, with this in mind I've now worked out a build as such:

MSI GTX 980 Ti Graphics card
Intel i5 6600k Processor
Noctua NH-U14S HS & Fan
ASUS Z170 PRO GAMING LGA 1151 Motherboard
2x Crucial 8GB DDR4 2133 MT/s RAM
SanDisk Extreme Pro 2.5" 240GB SSD
SeaSonic Platinum SS-860XP2 860W ATX12V SU
NZXT Phantom 630 Windowed Case

I would like to be able to save some of my refund check, so I would put the upper build limit at about $1750 USD (but, if absolutely necessary, I can go over that). The build above is approximately $1600 for me right now. This will be exclusively for web browsing and gaming. No video editing or the like. I am actually using the living room tv as my monitor and plan on using it for a while. It has a resolution of 1920 x 1080. I am happy with my mouse, speakers, and keyboard as is, so I won't be getting new ones. However, I do need wireless internet for my computer due to multiple people using computers in the house and not wanting to have a long wire going along the house to my PC.I am currently using a USB wireless adapter because, when I first built it, I was able to wire directly into the router. So, I will need advise for a wireless adapter. I will also need a new copy of windows and am thinking of going with 10.
 

What do you guys think? Again, sorry for the long post...

Edit: I have a 1 TB External for movies and the like.

Edited February 2, 2016 by Joelok314

[Badazzz]

The specs look great, but don't you think you would want a little more storage?

[LeonKennedy6]

I agree with Badazzz, needs a hard drive.

[Streetguru]

a 980ti would be completely wasted on a 1080p display, and skylake processors generally aren't worth it yet, in addition, spending extra money on overclocking stuff also isn't generally worth it

Build below includes an R9 nano, and 4k IPS free-sync display, though 27" is a bit small for 4k, you generally want something 32-40" check out tek syndicates videos on a bunch of korean ones

the nano is going to pretty close to a stock 980ti, and going with AMD saves you a good deal of cash on an adaptive sync display

also this CPU has twice the threads of that one at the same price

 

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/83M6YJ
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/83M6YJ/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1231 V3 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($244.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock H97M PRO4 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($79.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Corsair 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($78.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Sandisk Ultra II 480GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($133.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($49.89 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: PowerColor Radeon R9 Nano 4GB Video Card  ($484.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Fractal Design Core 1000 USB 3.0 MicroATX Mid Tower Case  ($34.99 @ Micro Center)
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12II 620W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($64.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Monitor: LG 27MC67-B 60Hz 27.0" Monitor  ($453.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $1626.80
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-01-31 19:05 EST-0500

[roctrebira]

16 minutes ago, Joelok314 said:

Hey,

I've been wanting to upgrade my PC for a while, but unexpected medical costs and other issues got in the way. But, with my taxes in and a cool $2000 refund check heading my way, I can finally get that better build I've been wanting for a long time. However, since the last time I built a PC was about 7 years ago and I haven't kept up with the technology lately, I wanted to confer with others to make sure I wasn't about to make huge mistakes. I appologize for the length of my post as I tend to ramble. So, if you are a tl;dr type, just scroll to the bottom of my post for the final build I'm considering and want your opinion on. However, I felt I would explain how I got where I was first for those who don't mind a little reading...

As I said, my current build has been going for about 7-7.5 years (I'm actually not entirely sure the exact age anymore). I currently have an i7 920 that can, on a good day reach about 3.19 GHz. 6GB DDR3 RAM at about 800 MHz with a GTX 480 graphics card. It wasn't too bad in its time, though I upgraded the GPU later on. But, I am reaching the end of it's use.

Since I hadn't built a full PC in so long, I asked my friends what they suggested and was directed to logicalincrements.com. I found it quite useful to give me an idea of where I might want to be for my level of use. Using that, I built up a baseline setup with their recommendations to work from (or even use) and came up with the following:

R9 390X Graphics card
Intel i5 6600 Processor
Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO HS & Fan
MSI Z170A SLA + Motherboard
2x Crucial 8GB DDR4 2133 MT/s RAM
SanDisk Extreme Pro 2.5" 240GB SSD
EVGA SuperNOVA 650 GS 80+ GOLD, 650W PSU
NZXT Phantom 630 Windowed Case (which works since a friend of mine has one and is willing to let me have it for only $90)

This was nice and fairly affordable. But, as I looked into builds more and more, I felt I wanted a little more oomph in my CPU and GPU. I was also wondering about the speed of the RAM (while not nearly as important, it can help some). I must also add in the disclaimer that I have always been on the nvidia side of the battle over AMD. But, I'm willing to be flexible if its worth it.

So, with all that in mind, I decided that I wanted to upgrade to the i5 6600k with it's much improved lifespan usability with higher overclock speeds if I need it. As for graphics, I was eyeing the GTX 980 Ti from the beginning, but worrying on the price point (though that was somewhat assuaged when I saw the size of my refund). Then for memory I decided that everything I know says that going from 2133 to 2400 isn't going to actually have a huge impact (let me know if I'm wrong). So, with this in mind I've now worked out a build as such:

MSI GTX 980 Ti Graphics card
Intel i5 6600k Processor
Noctua NH-U14S HS & Fan
ASUS Z170 PRO GAMING LGA 1151 Motherboard
2x Crucial 8GB DDR4 2133 MT/s RAM
SanDisk Extreme Pro 2.5" 240GB SSD
SeaSonic Platinum SS-860XP2 860W ATX12V SU
NZXT Phantom 630 Windowed Case

I would like to be able to save some of my refund check, so I would put the upper build limit at about $1750 USD (but, if absolutely necessary, I can go over that). The build above is approximately $1600 for me right now. This will be exclusively for web browsing and gaming. No video editing or the like. I am actually using the living room tv as my monitor and plan on using it for a while. It has a resolution of 1920 x 1080. I am happy with my mouse, speakers, and keyboard as is, so I won't be getting new ones. However, I do need wireless internet for my computer due to multiple people using computers in the house and not wanting to have a long wire going along the house to my PC.I am currently using a USB wireless adapter because, when I first built it, I was able to wire directly into the router. So, I will need advise for a wireless adapter. I will also need a new copy of windows and am thinking of going with 10.
 

What do you guys think? Again, sorry for the long post...

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/wR6mYJ
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/wR6mYJ/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($249.99 @ Best Buy) 
CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i GTX 70.7 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler  ($102.88 @ Amazon) 
Motherboard: Asus Z170-A ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($149.99 @ B&H) 
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2400 Memory  ($42.88 @ OutletPC) 
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($82.99 @ Amazon) 
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($49.89 @ OutletPC) 
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 980 Ti 6GB Video Card  ($623.00 @ Amazon) 
Case: NZXT S340 (White) ATX Mid Tower Case  ($64.99 @ Micro Center) 
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA G2 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($83.98 @ Newegg) 
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit)  ($87.95 @ OutletPC) 
Wireless Network Adapter: Gigabyte GC-WB867D-I 802.11a/b/g/n/ac PCI-Express x1 Wi-Fi Adapter  ($29.89 @ OutletPC) 
Total: $1568.43
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-01-31 19:14 EST-0500

[Sir Asvald]

10 minutes ago, Streetguru said:

a 980ti would be completely wasted on a 1080p display, and skylake processors generally aren't worth it yet, in addition, spending extra money on overclocking stuff also isn't generally worth it

Build below includes an R9 nano, and 4k IPS free-sync display, though 27" is a bit small for 4k, you generally want something 32-40" check out tek syndicates videos on a bunch of korean ones

the nano is going to pretty close to a stock 980ti, and going with AMD saves you a good deal of cash on an adaptive sync display

also this CPU has twice the threads of that one at the same price

 

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/83M6YJ
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/83M6YJ/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1231 V3 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($244.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock H97M PRO4 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($79.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Corsair 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($78.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Sandisk Ultra II 480GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($133.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($49.89 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: PowerColor Radeon R9 Nano 4GB Video Card  ($484.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Fractal Design Core 1000 USB 3.0 MicroATX Mid Tower Case  ($34.99 @ Micro Center)
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12II 620W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($64.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Monitor: LG 27MC67-B 60Hz 27.0" Monitor  ($453.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $1626.80
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-01-31 19:05 EST-0500

I would change the psu to 520w version. 

[Joelok314]

17 minutes ago, Badazzz said:

The specs look great, but don't you think you would want a little more storage?

I actually have just over that amount of storage on my computer now and still have over 80 GB left to work with...

Oh, Whoops! I forgot to mention that I have a 1 TB external I use for my videos and music. Sorry about that.

[Badazzz]

Just now, Joelok314 said:

I actually have just over that amount of storage on my computer now and still have over 80 GB left to work with...

Oh, Whoops! I forgot to mention that I have a 1 TB external I use for my videos and music. Sorry about that.

 

Ohhhh haha I was going to say.

[Joelok314]

 

20 minutes ago, Streetguru said:

a 980ti would be completely wasted on a 1080p display, and skylake processors generally aren't worth it yet, in addition, spending extra money on overclocking stuff also isn't generally worth it

Thanks for letting me know. Note that I would need to find a place for the monitor since, right now, I just have the tower next to my TV. Do you think it's really worth it to buy a new monitor?

[Dzzope]

Do you ever plan to go SLI?

 

Personally I think a 980TI on a 1080 screen is a total waste, I wouldn't go higher than a 970.

For bang for buck I'd go back to EVGA and get a G2 PSU, great quality and reasonable price.

 

What GPU have you got at the moment?

[Joelok314]

1 minute ago, Dzzope said:

Do you ever plan to go SLI?

Personally I think a 980TI on a 1080 screen is a total waste, I wouldn't go higher than a 970.

For bang for buck I'd go back to EVGA and get a G2 PSU, great quality and reasonable price.

What GPU have you got at the moment?

From what I'm seeing above, it looks like I'm over reaching what I need already. So, I don't think I need SLI at the moment. So, you think I could drop to GTX 970 with this build?

Current GPU is GTX 480...

[Streetguru]

1 minute ago, Joelok314 said:

 

Thanks for letting me know. Note that I would need to find a place for the monitor since, right now, I just have the tower next to my TV. Do you think it's really worth it to buy a new monitor?

Well ya, you could always just upgrade to a 4K TV, if you use it from a few feet away you'd still need some scaling, if nothing else for 1080p you could easily get away with a less expensive GPU

42" Wasabi Mango, Has 4K Free-sync or 120Hz 1080p

 

Or if you want a TV TV, that's 4k and decent as a PC monitor, read up here, he ended up with the 50" UHD 4K Flat Smart TV JU7000, you lose free-sync, but get a TV tuner and all that, although I don't believe it has display port, so sadly you either need an nvidia card, or a display port to HDMI 2.0 adapter for an AMD card, however AMD cards in general have good performance at 4k due to their architecture/memory bandwidth.

http://www.samsung.com/nz/consumer/tv-av/tv/uhd/UA50JU7000SXNZ

https://barnacules.wordpress.com/2015/11/25/ny-frustrating-quest-to-4k/
 

[Dzzope]

3 minutes ago, Joelok314 said:

From what I'm seeing above, it looks like I'm over reaching what I need already. So, I don't think I need SLI at the moment. So, you think I could drop to GTX 970 with this build?

Current GPU is GTX 480...

It totally depends on your expected results... a 970 can max out the vast majority of games but not all at 1080.. The question is, do you want to spend the extra on a 980 ti for the few settings in a few games that the frames can drop to where you don't want them.

 

Your in the un-envyable situation where you pretty much need a new PC but I would say it's at a bad timing with a die shrink on the next round of GPU's... If you could hold out for 6 - 9 months, I would.. or perhaps get a 970 as a stop-gap and see what happens when they are released.

 

For your budget though you could go insane on components, that will no doubt last you a few years. Or you can go for bang-buck and put the rest away in a safe place for emergencies / upgrade fund.

 

Don't change your TV if your happy with it. 4k is only useful in HUGE displays or if you are really close to them. Display market is moving too fast right now to say anything is a good buy unless you need a new one.

[Joelok314]

Thanks for all the help. It's good to know that I can get away with less than the GTX 980 Ti and still work great. I think I'm just going to go with the TV we have and downgrade my GPU. It's also good to know that I was WAY overestimating the power I'd need.

Any other suggestions for wireless adapters?

[Dzzope]

Try grab a board with one already in so that you have nothing in the way if you do ever wish to go sli... 2 970's will easily run on a good 650w psu

It'll be better than a usb adapter too.

[Streetguru]

1 hour ago, Dzzope said:

It totally depends on your expected results... a 970 can max out the vast majority of games but not all at

4k is still going to be great as a monitor though, even if he's using it far away it'll make pretty much all text much sharper and more readable, if he uses it closer as a PC monitor you have 4 times the screen real estate of 1080p, in addition GPU prices are always going down, 4k display prices for decent displays probably aren't going to change much

 

Basically, I'd invest in a 4k display over a high end GPU, you're going to have the display for much longer, and with 4k I can't imagine needing anymore pixels any time soon

 

1 hour ago, Joelok314 said:

Any other suggestions for wireless adapters?

30 bucks from gigabyte, has wireless AC support
https://pcpartpicker.com/part/gigabyte-wireless-network-card-gcwb867di
 

and I'd still probably stick to recommending like a 390 over a 970, Nvidia's current GPUs look like they may not fully support DX12/Vulkan, and you can always use VSR to render games at higher resolutions and make them sharper on your 1080p display if you're sticking to it, a 390 would scale better with 1440p compared to a 970.

or really like a 380/X at even less is going to be fine for 1080p

[Dzzope]

@Streetguru

4k is in it's infancy, in 2 years you'll get 4k ips / oled for same price as current tn 4k panels... the technology in displays is moving far too fast to suggest upgrading to anyone that is happy with what they have. Which is also why I suggested dropping down the GPU range a bit.. by the time DX12 becomes an issue for people, it'll be time to upgrade again anyway.. so the point is mute... always is with first and even second gen cards after a major DX release.

 

AMD vs nvidia, it's swings and roundabouts. AMD is a bit more bang for buck, but I consistently have a better experience on Nvidia.. AMD are just too slow at releasing updates and optimizations for new games... There was a point last year where they had 2 releases in nearly a year vs Nvidia's 10 I think it was. But then I have friends who swear they have nothing but issues with nvidia cards..

 

As I said, swings and roundabouts, op stated a preference to nvidia, 380 is less money and they trade blows depending on the game for average fps.. Thats up to the op though.

[Streetguru]

21 minutes ago, Dzzope said:

@Streetguru

4k is in it's infancy, in 2 years you'll get 4k ips / oled for same price as current tn 4k panels... the technology in displays is moving far too fast to suggest upgrading to anyone that is happy with what they have. Which is.

Dunno if OLED is going to be too widely available by then, but a display is going to last longer than a GPU for sure, especially a 4k display that's IPS/VA, like the wasabi mango, prices may dip a bit, but it's not like it's going to get better than that for a good number of years for the average consumer, we aren't even close to 144hz 4k display capable GPUs.

far as drivers go AMD seems to have fixed that a bit, but otherwise their cards are generally better right now aside from the 950>370, and 980ti OC'd > everything

 

however the DX12 support on AMD cards and less expensive free-sync displays gives them a fair advantage, not to mentions nvidia's seemingly general hatred of freedom, having to give up personal info just for the newest drivers is fairly lame.

[Dzzope]

6 minutes ago, Streetguru said:

Dunno if OLED is going to be too widely available by then, but a display is going to last longer than a GPU for sure, especially a 4k display that's IPS/VA, like the wasabi mango, prices may dip a bit, but it's not like it's going to get better than that for a good number of years for the average consumer, we aren't even close to 144hz 4k display capable GPUs.

If it moves half as fast as 4k did, then it should be.. There are already a range of tv's with OLED.. 2 years ago, where was 4k?

I know oled will stay expensive.. But I do think there will be decent selection and possibly my dream of UWQHD 34" oled 144hz with gsync / freesync whichever is the better at the time.. Maybe 3-4 years for that one though.. My point being similar to yours... screens last a long time.... If your happy with what you have, currently waiting a little longer should get you either a significant jump in added functionality / usability / quality / size or reduction in price if you wait a relativly short amount of time in relation to display life-cycles.

[Joelok314]

Ok Guys, and specifically @Streetguru & @Dzzope... I've taken some time to think it over as well as looking at my options. The results being that, I've realized that I found an unused desk a friend is will to give me and I can bring the whole setup into my room (even keeping my current PC in the living room for general use). So, I do think I'll go with the R9 Nano. However, I do want to keep overclocking as an option. What do you guys think of this rig? I actually already got the NZXT 630 Windowed Case from my friend because I really liked the look of it.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/GrYhWZ

[roctrebira]

1 minute ago, Joelok314 said:

Ok Guys, and specifically @Streetguru & @Dzzope... I've taken some time to think it over as well as looking at my options. The results being that, I've realized that I found an unused desk a friend is will to give me and I can bring the whole setup into my room (even keeping my current PC in the living room for general use). So, I do think I'll go with the R9 Nano. However, I do want to keep overclocking as an option. What do you guys think of this rig? I actually already got the NZXT 630 Windowed Case from my friend because I really liked the look of it.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/GrYhWZ

I really wouldn't go 4k for gaming unless your willing to drop your money on 2 graphics cards. I would save some money go down to a benq 27in 1440p monitor and then with the money saved pick up a 980ti.

[Joelok314]

11 minutes ago, roctrebira said:

I really wouldn't go 4k for gaming unless your willing to drop your money on 2 graphics cards. I would save some money go down to a benq 27in 1440p monitor and then with the money saved pick up a 980ti.

Well I figured, with the ATX motherboard, it could leave open the option for SLI/Crossfire later on.

[roctrebira]

2 minutes ago, Joelok314 said:

Well I figured, with the ATX motherboard, it could leave open the option for SLI/Crossfire later on.

That is an option but I really do suggest the 980ti over the nano because the nano will thermal throttle on the stock cooler and the price difference between the 2 is 100% worth it and I just don't think 4k is a good option till we have a card that can do it 60+ fps by itself and the jump from 1080p to 1440p is worth it.

[Joelok314]

1 minute ago, roctrebira said:

That is an option but I really do suggest the 980ti over the nano because the nano will thermal throttle on the stock cooler and the price difference between the 2 is 100% worth it and I just don't think 4k is a good option till we have a card that can do it 60+ fps by itself and the jump from 1080p to 1440p is worth it.

So, that would bring me up to $1860 for the 980 Ti and 1440 monitor... But, you think it's well worth it?

[roctrebira]

2 minutes ago, Joelok314 said:

So, that would bring me up to $1860 for the 980 Ti and 1440 monitor... But, you think it's well worth it?

Oh yea I went to a microcenter to check out 1440p monitors vs 1080p and the difference is amazing now and it made me want to upgrade to a 980ti and pick up a 1440p monitor later this year once I figure out which one I want to grab. Also what 1440p monitor did you pick out?