Clueless about building a PC

[Northern_Lion]

Hi, I am trying to spec out parts for my first PC build.

CPU: Intel skylake i5 6600k

GPU: GTX 970

Mobo: one with the proper socket for cpu (ATX)

power supply: Something that will work

Case: a midtower ATX one

Ram: preferably 16 gb

Since i am completely new to building a PC, i do not know what i should do for cpu cooling (water or air) because water is quiet, but risky for a first time builder. Then Air can be loud, but i have headphones that i use when gaming. Also i have a cousin who has a custom build PC and he says water cooling is the best. Anyways i also don't know what to do i choose air cooling because of the ram clearance issues i have seen. Basically any advice would be helpful

[desertcomputer]

What is your budget first ... so we can build/help you. 

[MajorGoob]

Yes, Budget please. 

[Northern_Lion]

MrUnknownEMC, my budget is in Canadian rupies so would like to say $2000

[Caminon]

1 minute ago, Northern_Lion said:

Hi, I am trying to spec out parts for my first PC build.

CPU: Intel skylake i5 6600k

GPU: GTX 970

Mobo: one with the proper socket for cpu (ATX)

power supply: Something that will work

Case: a midtower ATX one

Ram: preferably 16 gb

Since i am completely new to building a PC, i do not know what i should do for cpu cooling (water or air) because water is quiet, but risky for a first time builder. Then Air can be loud, but i have headphones that i use when gaming. Also i have a cousin who has a custom build PC and he says water cooling is the best. Anyways i also don't know what to do i choose air cooling because of the ram clearance issues i have seen. Basically any advice would be helpful

Try out the site PCPartPicker. It will automatically filter out any parts that are incompatable, and you can share your list with others. Before we (anybody who replies) can decide what's a good set of parts for you, you need to let us know how much you're willing to spend.

[TriFlix Films]

Is budget an issue? Water cooling is only as dangerous as you are careless... Watch tutorials, buy good parts, change water on the recommended dates. You'll be fine. Water cooling alloys for overclocking, since you have a "k" series you will be able to do this. I am a first time builder and after a great amount of research am planning a custom loop including the GPU

[MajorGoob]

2000 USD? Or CAD?

[colinreay]

Air is actually usually is quieter than water (AIO), unless you go for a custom loop. I would recommend something like the Cryorig H7/H5, low cost, great performance, great looks. Watercooling (AIO and custom loop) can and usually does yeild slightly better temps and a little more overclocking (plus they look sweet), but pretty much any decent air or water cooler will keep even an overclocked cpu under the thermal throttle limit (which is when the cpu slows down to avoid overheating) , so there won't be any real performance difference. If you stick with low profile ram like the Corsair LPX or the Hyper X fury, you should be fine.

[Northern_Lion]

canadian dollars

 

[Caminon]

Just now, MajorGoob said:

2000 USD? Or CAD?

I think he means $2000 CAD, which is ~$1500 USD.

[Midnitewarrior4]

1 minute ago, MajorGoob said:

2000 USD? Or CAD?

cad

[Caminon]

Okay, I'll generate a list for you in PCPartPicker. But first, what case color would you like?

[Northern_Lion]

Ok i will post a better part idea in a sec

 

[MajorGoob]

Ok. Wow.... 1500 dollars.... mine is like 600..... Are you looking at peripherals too? Perhaps a new screen or keyboard and mouse?

[Senzelian]

26 minutes ago, Northern_Lion said:

Hi, I am trying to spec out parts for my first PC build.

CPU: Intel skylake i5 6600k

GPU: GTX 970

Mobo: one with the proper socket for cpu (ATX)

power supply: Something that will work

Case: a midtower ATX one

Ram: preferably 16 gb

Since i am completely new to building a PC, i do not know what i should do for cpu cooling (water or air) because water is quiet, but risky for a first time builder. Then Air can be loud, but i have headphones that i use when gaming. Also i have a cousin who has a custom build PC and he says water cooling is the best. Anyways i also don't know what to do i choose air cooling because of the ram clearance issues i have seen. Basically any advice would be helpful

Welcome to the forum.
It would be great if you could answer the following questions, so we know more about your needs.

1. I would like to know what you'll use your new PC for. Is it simply for gaming or do you also want to edit videos and pictures or use your PC for something else? 
   We can only put a appropriate configuration for you together, if we know what you'll use it for.
2. What kind of features do you expect your motherboard to have?
   • Does it need SLI/Crossfire support to enable more performance in the future?
   • Do you need a certain amount of USB 2 / 3 / 3.1 ports?
   • How many Gigabit LAN ports do you need?
   • ...
3. How should your PC look like? Do you like a certain color scheme? Which color should your case have?

To answer your question about "air or water":
Air is often even quieter than water, simply because you won't need a pump. With the right air cooler you can get great temperatures as well as a near silent system. It really depends on the quality of the fans and the pump. AIOs tend to be pretty loud in comparison with air and custom water-loops.

If you want to get quick answers, you should quote posts! Click the arrow button in the left bottom corner of each post to quote someone.

[Mcmole]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($324.95 @ shopRBC)
CPU Cooler: be quiet! Dark Rock 3 67.8 CFM Fluid Dynamic Bearing CPU Cooler  ($89.99 @ BestDirect)
Motherboard: Asus Z170-A ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($208.45 @ Vuugo)
Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Black 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory  ($89.99 @ Canada Computers)
Storage: Sandisk Z400s 256GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive  ($86.63 @ DirectCanada)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($62.99 @ Canada Computers)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 980 Ti 6GB WINDFORCE 3X Video Card  ($854.99 @ NCIX)
Case: NZXT S340 (White) ATX Mid Tower Case  ($95.05 @ Vuugo)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA P2 850W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($159.99 @ NCIX)
Total: $1973.03
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-03-27 20:46 EDT-0400

 

I would buy white sleeved extensions and this thing would look so damn sexy.

[Caminon]

19 minutes ago, Northern_Lion said:

Ok i will post a better part idea in a sec

 

I have the list done, save for the following question: Do you have a keyboard, mouse, and monitor? If you already have them, then keep your extra $200 CAD I guess. Otherwise, here it is: http://pcpartpicker.com/user/Caminon/saved/mTJ6Mp

[Northern_Lion]

i will be back, i just had a list and then i lost the list,

[HKZeroFive]

Assuming this is only for the rig:

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($324.95 @ shopRBC) 
CPU Cooler: NZXT Kraken X61 106.1 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler  ($168.98 @ Newegg Canada) 
Motherboard: MSI Z170A SLI PLUS ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($169.98 @ NCIX) 
Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Black 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory  ($89.99 @ Canada Computers) 
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($109.98 @ DirectCanada) 
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($62.99 @ Canada Computers) 
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 980 Ti 6GB WINDFORCE 3X Video Card  ($854.99 @ NCIX) 
Case: NZXT S340 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case  ($92.98 @ NCIX) 
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA G2 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($130.01 @ DirectCanada) 
Total: $2004.85
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-03-27 20:23 EDT-0400

[Northern_Lion]

On 3/28/2016 at 8:30 PM, HKZeroFive said:

Assuming this is only for the rig:

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($324.95 @ shopRBC) 
CPU Cooler: NZXT Kraken X61 106.1 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler  ($168.98 @ Newegg Canada) 
Motherboard: MSI Z170A SLI PLUS ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($169.98 @ NCIX) 
Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Black 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory  ($89.99 @ Canada Computers) 
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($109.98 @ DirectCanada) 
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($62.99 @ Canada Computers) 
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 980 Ti 6GB WINDFORCE 3X Video Card  ($854.99 @ NCIX) 
Case: NZXT S340 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case  ($92.98 @ NCIX) 
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA G2 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($130.01 @ DirectCanada) 
Total: $2004.85
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-03-27 20:23 EDT-0400

Thank you for this but i a may just start with 8gb of ram and the HDD, then later upgrade to ssd for boot up and 16 gb of ram later, i will be posting some part that i want and my design for my build later

[Northern_Lion]

So i made my list and i would love opinions and other ideas. My design theme is nuclear waste so green is will be the colour scheme.

 

Part list:

CPU: Intel core i5 6600K 3.5 ghz

CPU cooler: Noctua NH-L12 120mm & 92mm SSO Bearing PWM fans CPU Cooler

Motherboard: ASRock Z170 Pro4S LGA 1151 Intel 6gb/s USB 3.0 ATX

RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws V series 8GB (2x 4GB) 288-pin DDR4

Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5” 7200RPM internal hard drive

GPU: MSI GeForce GTX 970 Gaming 100ME

Power supply: some 600W modular PSU (thoughts on modular PSU?)

Case: Cooler Master N400 NSE-400 KKN2 N-Series Mid Tower Computer Case

[Northern_Lion]

On 3/28/2016 at 8:30 PM, HKZeroFive said:

Assuming this is only for the rig:

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($324.95 @ shopRBC) 
CPU Cooler: NZXT Kraken X61 106.1 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler  ($168.98 @ Newegg Canada) 
Motherboard: MSI Z170A SLI PLUS ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($169.98 @ NCIX) 
Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Black 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory  ($89.99 @ Canada Computers) 
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($109.98 @ DirectCanada) 
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($62.99 @ Canada Computers) 
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 980 Ti 6GB WINDFORCE 3X Video Card  ($854.99 @ NCIX) 
Case: NZXT S340 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case  ($92.98 @ NCIX) 
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA G2 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($130.01 @ DirectCanada) 
Total: $2004.85
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-03-27 20:23 EDT-0400

I am a huge fallout fan and i love green so any suggestions for my design for a more post apocalyptic feel? Also whats your opinion on my parts list

On 3/29/2016 at 6:46 PM, Northern_Lion said:

So i made my list and i would love opinions and other ideas. My design theme is nuclear waste so green is will be the colour scheme.

 

Part list:

CPU: Intel core i5 6600K 3.5 ghz

 

CPU cooler: Noctua NH-L12 120mm & 92mm SSO Bearing PWM fans CPU Cooler

 

Motherboard: ASRock Z170 Pro4S LGA 1151 Intel 6gb/s USB 3.0 ATX

 

RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws V series 8GB (2x 4GB) 288-pin DDR4

 

Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5” 7200RPM internal hard drive

 

GPU: MSI GeForce GTX 970 Gaming 100ME

 

Power supply: some 600W modular PSU (thoughts on modular PSU?)

 

Case: Cooler Master N400 NSE-400 KKN2 N-Series Mid Tower Computer Case

 

 

[Northern_Lion]

So figured out the difference between modular, semi-modular and no modular PSU's and i think i will just do a semi or non modular because they are cheeper and cable management is only really for aesthetics

[IgnorantBastrd]

With your budget you could actually build a pretty bitchin' pc.  Since this is your first pc though I'd recommend being a little conservative and save some money (no need to go with a hyper-threaded i7.  I'd only list an unlocked processor just for the ability to overclock later on down the line, wouldn't recommend trying it immediately considering you're new to pc's.)  You'd be perfectly fine running an i5, a nice air cooler, 8gb of ram, and a gpu around the 960-970 area.  Considering your budget you may as well go for a Boot SSD, especially since they've been dropping in price as of late.  Fully modular power supplies are always nice to go for since they help A LOT with cable management.  I also noticed you said that you're a fan of the fallout series and would like something to fit that theme so I picked out a Corsair C70 Vengeance in OD green, I had one for my first full-on build and it was pretty awesome, a little big and kind of expensive but still a very cool case nonetheless.

 

We've all started where you're at and learned from there, and this forum is pretty friendly so please don't be afraid to ask questions.  I do also recommend searching old forum posts, youtube videos, and guides, as many, many questions have already been answered and it's always a good idea to get a good knowledge base.

 

 

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($324.95 @ shopRBC) 
CPU Cooler: be quiet! Dark Rock 3 67.8 CFM Fluid Dynamic Bearing CPU Cooler  ($89.99 @ BestDirect) 
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming 5 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($189.99 @ NCIX) 
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory  ($59.99 @ Canada Computers) 
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($116.98 @ DirectCanada) 
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($64.98 @ DirectCanada) 
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 4GB WINDFORCE 3X Video Card  ($424.99 @ NCIX) 
Case: Corsair C70 Military Green (Green) ATX Mid Tower Case  ($159.98 @ NCIX) 
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA P2 650W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($104.99 @ NCIX) 
Total: $1536.84
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-03-30 23:24 EDT-0400

[IgnorantBastrd]

On 3/27/2016 at 4:52 PM, Northern_Lion said:

"Also i have a cousin who has a custom build PC and he says water cooling is the best."

Watercooling is generally better than air cooling, however it's only really necessary when overclocking, though depending on how much you OC there are plenty of air coolers that will suffice.

 

Quote

"Anyways i also don't know what to do i choose air cooling because of the ram clearance issues i have seen."

Depending on how big the Air cooler is and how tall the heat spreaders are on your ram you could potentially have clearance issues, though they normally just require you to shift the fan position, or in what order you install parts (i.e. ram first, then heatsink, then put the fans on).  As someone else said earlier you can get low profile ram that pretty much renders the issue null.  Big heat-spreaders on RAM serve nearly no purpose anyways.