Upgrading from a Latptop

[TGamer64]

Hey guys, so new guy here on the forums, also somewhat of a newbie to building PCs, as I've never built one from scratch before (though I have taken a number apart and put them back together, including laptops). Anyway, I'm looking to upgrade my old Dell XPS17 laptop to a new desktop, as I've had this thing since 2011, if I remember correctly, and it's been really showing it's age this past year, though it still has a good amount of life left I think. This thing has an i7-2760QM, and a Nvidia GT 555m in it, and it really can't handle any modern games that more modern spec requirements. I've been a gamer for a long time, and have enjoyed multi-platform gaming, PC was the final piece of the puzzle I was missing and this thing filled that piece decently for the time, however now it's due for an upgrade for sure.

 

Currently this is the list of parts I have, thanks to PCPartPicker:

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/wWFqqk

(original list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/bWXWGf )

 

The budget is $2000 for this, though I don't have the money at this point in time, I should have it by July or at worst August. I also don't pushing the budget up (or down for obvious reasons) a little bit to accommodate things people might suggest to me that are better. The build will be used, as I said for gaming, also light video editing and streaming. I enjoy all of those activities as hobbies so I don't plan to go overly crazy with most of them, except for gaming of course.

 

Some things to note about this build, I like this case, one of the very few SFF cases I've found to like the look of a lot, so I don't plan on changing it, but I'm open to suggestions. I also don't plan on overclocking much, if at all, as I do want this to be a SFF mATX build, and I doubt the case I picked will be able to fit any kind of liquid cooling to REALLY keep the CPU cool, the size of the case I think would also make it difficult for air cooling to keep the CPU properly cooled for such a task, not even mentioning the fact that I don't know much about overclocking in the first place to even try it. Also the GTX 980 is going to be a place holder, PCPartPicker at the time of posting this didn't have the GTX 1070 listed, which is the card I actually want to use for this build, the reason for this is that the 980 seemed to have the closest price point to the 1070 if Luke's review is to be believed. Now from PCPartPicker is telling me, and from what Silverstone is telling me, I should have no issues fitting any GPUs inside this case, but I won't say I'm any sort of expert on this. The 3 hard drives are somewhat of an OCD thing for me, I like the idea of having a hard drive for specific things, namely the first SSD for OS and general programs, the second SSD for games, games, games, and the HDD for mass storage of files, edited videos, music, pictures, porn, etc.

 

As for the 5.25" drive, I just like having one, I'm weird like that, watching blue-rays on my computer sounds appealing even if I have a PS3 and am soon getting a PS4. The monitors are something I know almost nothing about, I fell out of keeping up with computer hardware around 2013, and it's been interesting trying to get back into, but even when I was into it, monitors never appealed to me for educational purposes, so anything on those is much appreciated, but as it shows, I want 2, 144hz 1080p monitors, one will be basically to full screen games on, the other is for general work purpose stuff I can look at on the fly while doing gaming or something. Finally the OS, I've played around with Windows 10, but I can't say I have any sort of extensive knowledge on it, I have it listed there as Windows 7 may be my preferred OS right now, it's slowly being weeded out, so I think it's better to just upgrade now.

 

I have a cheap keyboard and mouse that I like to use a lot, I could upgrade, but that's still to be decided. Anything you guys can provide as feedback is greatly appreciated.

 

EDIT: Updated list link to incorporate some things from everyone who's already commented, thanks.  Also highlighted some key points for better understanding, and corrected some typos/edited what I said to make sense with the list update.

[STRMfrmXMN]

3 minutes ago, TGamer64 said:

 

That looks great, though instead of that PSU you should use a Corsair SF450. Much quieter. Otherwise that's a damn fine looking PC!

[Cyracus]

These tiny cases are where I'd switch to high end water cooling because it is more compact than high end air cooling, and much better than moderate air cooling. Also note you can't OC that cpu unless you get a Z170 board, so if you aren't going to OC just get a 6600 and save a couple bucks. Also I'd go with a good 600W PSU because the power demand is gonna be a bit more after you overclock and having a little overhead is never a bad idea. 

[Mira Yurizaki]

Here's my two cents.

• Unless you plan on adding an expansion card in the future, why not get a mini-ITX system? You can get a sub 15L case like the Silverstone RVZ01/02 or FTZ01, or the Fractal Node 202. Though the problem is that you need an SFX power supply (good ones are kind of pricey) and you can't use an optical drive or you need a slim drive (which for BD drives is very hard to find). Though for the optical drive, I'd suggest a portable one since it can be more versatile that way.
  
  If that's not an option, you can bump it up to a larger case like the Corsair 250D, Phanteks Evolv, or the Fractal Node 304. While they may take up as much room as a mATX case, they are open enough for water cooling. Though, from this selection, only the 250D has a 5.25" drive, but it'll be a tight fit. If you still need a 5.25" bay, you can check out this selection: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007583%20600006318%20600030545&IsNodeId=1&name=Mini-ITX%20Tower&cm_sp=Cat_Computer-Cases_4-_-VisNav-_-MiniITXTower
• Regarding coolers though, the Noctua NH-L9x65 33.8 CFM CPU Cooler  you selected is not suitable for 6600K even at stock speeds. According to Noctua, it's not suitable for overclocking and there's a warning about using CPUs with a TDP over 84W (the 6600K is 91W). The NH-L12 will work (rated for up to 95W TDP) but you won't be able to overclock it. Otherwise the NH-C14S is your only option if you want to overclock. Another one to look at is Silverstone's NT06. However if you go the bigger route, you can't use the sub 15L cases I mentioned.
  
  Though don't worry about cramped spaces as long as there's plenty of airflow. I have the FTZ01 and the motherboard space is basically the motherboard itself and 2.75" of height and the CPU stays at about 30C idling.
• Corsair makes a compact AIO water cooler, the H5 SF. But depending on how the airflow should be, it may not be effective. It sucks up air from the CPU side, so if the airflow path was meant to suck air in from the outside in via a case fan, this is not a good cooler to use.
• As mentioned, if you're going to overclock, you need a Z170 board. I want to say some H170 boards can do it but I don't know which ones or if that's still a thing. However, even if you don't plan to overclock, you can at least enjoy the better stock clocks over the non K parts.
• There'd be no point in keeping two separate drives. A 1TB Samsung 850 Evo goes for about the same as two 500GB ones. You could also try a RAID0 array, but I've found going past SATA SSD speeds does little to improve performance for almost all things. If you really want two separate drives, you can partition the single drive into whatever you want.
• Wait for the GTX 1070 to come out (and stay near its MSRP), instead of getting the GTX 980. The GTX 980 also isn't really going to drop in price all that much, especially below the GTX 1070.
• Regarding power, 450W is enough as long as it's a good enough power supply, and that looks like a good power supply. Even if you're overclocking. I had a 4670K overclocked modestly running with an H80i and a GTX 980 on a 450W power supply and there weren't any hiccups.

Edited May 30, 2016 by M.Yurizaki

[TGamer64]

3 hours ago, STRMfrmXMN said:

 

3 hours ago, TGamer64 said:

 

That looks great, though instead of

 

Went with the Corsair CX500W PSU because I couldn't find the one you suggested, this one is also a bit cheaper, I have no preference for semi-modular or fully-modular PSUs so yeah. Thanks though!

 

2 hours ago, Cyracus said:

These tiny cases are where I'd switch to high end water cooling because it is more compact than high end air cooling, and much better than moderate air cooling. Also note you can't OC that cpu unless you get a Z170 board, so if you aren't going to OC just get a 6600 and save a couple bucks. Also I'd go with a good 600W PSU because the power demand is gonna be a bit more after you overclock and having a little overhead is never a bad idea. 

Decided to switch to a Z170 board for possible overclocking in the future, thanks!

 

2 hours ago, M.Yurizaki said:

Here's my two cents.

And to M.Yurizaki, thank you very much for your advice, and to answer some of your questions, I don't have any plans for an expansion card in the future, but I could later down the line, which is why I decided to go for the mATX over mITX, I am a very "what if" person, so sometimes I like to prepare a bit more than I should. As for the optical drive and case, I decided to go with your idea of just going for portable optical drive, but I switched my case to one that COULD have one just because I felt like it. The case choice I switched to being the SG10B instead of the SG12B, as it's a bit bigger so I could add a water cooler, namely the Corsair H80i GT, as I found an Amazon reviewer had used one in his build (seen here and here, apologies for the small image). While it looks a bit tight I think it could work decently, any other advice in this department would be greatly appreciated though. I also switched out the 2, 500GB drives for 1, 1TB drive based off your suggestion and some thinking on my end. I also clarified in my post why the 980 is there, it's simply a placeholder for the 1070 as it's not listed on PartPicker yet. 

 

The list has been updated but I kept a link to the original list in the post in case people wanted to look at that again.

[STRMfrmXMN]

15 minutes ago, TGamer64 said:

Went with the Corsair CX500W PSU because I couldn't find the one you suggested, this one is also a bit cheaper, I have no preference for semi-modular or fully-modular PSUs so yeah. Thanks though!

 

Decided to switch to a Z170 board for possible overclocking in the future, thanks!

 

And to M.Yurizaki, thank you very much for your advice, and to answer some of your questions, I don't have any plans for an expansion card in the future, but I could later down the line, which is why I decided to go for the mATX over mITX, I am a very "what if" person, so sometimes I like to prepare a bit more than I should. As for the optical drive and case, I decided to go with your idea of just going for portable optical drive, but I switched my case to one that COULD have one just because I felt like it. The case choice I switched to being the SG10B instead of the SG12B, as it's a bit bigger so I could add a water cooler, namely the Corsair H80i GT, as I found an Amazon reviewer had used one in his build (seen here apologies for the small image). While it looks a bit tight I think it could work decently, any other advice in this department would be greatly appreciated though. I also switched out the 2, 500GB drives for 1, 1TB drive based off your suggestion and some thinking on my end. I also clarified in my post why the 980 is there, it's simply a placeholder for the 1070 as it's not listed on PartPicker yet. 

 

The list has been updated but I kept a link to the original list in the post in case people wanted to look at that again.

The CX500 is nowhere near as good as the SF450. The SF450 is available on Amazon.

[TGamer64]

5 minutes ago, STRMfrmXMN said:

The CX500 is nowhere near as good as the SF450. The SF450 is available on Amazon.

How come when I was looking for this before on Amazon, it wasn't there, this was on Amazon itself too, but the instant you say something it shows up out of nowhere. Are you some kind of PSU wizard??

[STRMfrmXMN]

2 hours ago, TGamer64 said:

How come when I was looking for this before on Amazon, it wasn't there, this was on Amazon itself too, but the instant you say something it shows up out of nowhere. Are you some kind of PSU wizard??

I'd tell you but I'd have to kill you.