Building a new PC

[TheLunchBawx]

Hello.

I need some help building my first actually good PC. So far I have this: http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/list/B8zTdC I already have a CX750 power supply, I'm not sure if I should replace that for a better power supply because I'm looking to get the GTX1060 once it comes out. 

My budget is around $1500 and I live in Canada. This computer will mostly be used for Gaming, Editing, Rendering and Photoshop etc. I'm not sure what case to get and if I should downgrade the build at all. I would like a really good PC so I wont have to upgrade for a little while.

 

Thanks in advance.

[Zyndo]

is that 1500 including things like monitor, keyboard, mouse, etc?

 

Or is it 1500 for just the tower? (possibly minus the PSU)

[TriFlix Films]

1500 us dollars or 1500 cad?

[TheLunchBawx]

2 minutes ago, Zyndo said:

is that 1500 including things like monitor, keyboard, mouse, etc?

 

Or is it 1500 for just the tower? (possibly minus the PSU)

1500 for just the tower. I already have all my peripheral's. I'll be buying a good monitor in the future hopefully. 

[Zyndo]

Do you have your heart set on overclocking? or are you more interested in whatever is the best performing CPU for your needs? Also do you care for any particular colour scheme aesthetic or brands?

[TheLunchBawx]

5 minutes ago, Zyndo said:

Do you have your heart set on overclocking? or are you more interested in whatever is the best performing CPU for your needs? Also do you care for any particular colour scheme aesthetic or brands?

For the overclocking, no I'm not. Just the issue in the future I have no idea if I'll want to overclock or not. Right now I don't think so. I would like to go with a green build, the build doesn't have to have a green motherboard but not a red one etc. For brands, not really but I do like ASUS. 

[TheLunchBawx]

13 minutes ago, TriFlix Films said:

1500 us dollars or 1500 cad?

1500 cad

[Zyndo]

This would probably be your best bet for 1500 bucks: http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/list/Knqkd6

 

I7 for all your productivity needs. Its also pretty much future proof (unless you're doing a TON of professional rendering applications, then maybe in a few years you could want more cores, but going X99 isn't really in your budget atm)

 

32GB of RAM. This is honestly overkill. 16GB should be plenty for your needs, but its not all that much more expensive to get 32GB and you were interested in future proofing, so having more would be better long term.

 

When it comes to storage you have a 480GB SSD, and 2TB of HDD. I don't know if you're going to need more than that, but there should be enough budget leftover for you to increase it if needed.

 

Case is the NZXT S340 Razer Edition. This is a solid case, chosen around your black and green aesthetic. You could also buy some green LED's from cablemod or bitfenix or whatever and put them in here if you want more green since most of your components are very black.

 

When it comes to your PSU, the CX750 (although not the best quality in the world) is plenty for the needs of this mid-range build. This build should draw in the area of 300W MAX at full load even if you overclock your GPU reasonably hard.

 

Graphics card. I left this spot empty since you wanted a 1060 and there are none on the market yet. I've allocated about 450 of your budget for the 1060. I don't know what launch prices are going to be like, but this should be a very reasonable amount of money to set aside with a comfortable amount of breathing room (I think FE will be about 375-400 bucks, and cheaper aftermarkets will start around 325-350). For aesthetic purposes, the FE may not be a bad investment for your build if that's all you can get your hands on (it has a black and silver cooler, with green GEFORCE led on the side. it would look awesome in here, although it has no backplate). You could also potentially get a 1070 with a 1500 budget, but if you're only playing on 1080p @ 60hz, that would be a waste of money, so I decided to put the money to other things instead.

 

 

You should have enough money leftover to do LED's if you want, add additional case/cooling fans if you want, or take your girlfriend out for dinner and a movie =)

 

 

Where you could save money if you don't want to use the full 1500 budget:

 

Motherboard: I don't recommend skimping out on a motherboard that you intend on using for a while. This motherboard I chose comes with all the modern features like M.2, USB 3.1 A&C, RAID, great audio, and so on. There wont be a raw performance difference if you want a cheaper one, but you will miss out on many of the good features just to save yourself a few bucks.

 

Your CPU cooler. You could get a smaller aftermarket cooler, or no aftermarket cooler if you really wanted. There aren't any good, budget coolers that match well aesthetically, so I picked the Hyper 212 EVO which is predominantly silver and black, which should look just fine. (not to mention it will cool your I7 exceptionally well). You could shave up to 32 bucks off this component if you choose something cheaper, or just go with the ugly, loud, and inefficient stock intel cooler.

 

RAM. I chose 32GB instead of 16 GB. You could save 60-80 bucks (depending on your choice of RAM) if you went with a 16GB kit instead. 16GB will likely be more than enough for you, I just chose 32GB since you were going to be doing things, like Photoshop, which can potentially benefit from having that extra RAM headroom. But realistically 16GB is all you really need (8GB could be limiting for your workload)

 

Storage: You could always go without SSD if you don't think you need that. SSD's are awesome and make everything you do much faster than a HDD. many of your programs would also scale well with the speed of the SSD, again, programs like photoshop, but also hugely beneficial in editing scenarios. You could also get smaller capacities of the selected drives to save a few bucks if you desired.

 

Case: You could save more on your case if you don't care about aesthetics. there are a ton of functional 30-50 dollar cases on the market that would do just fine for you. There are even other good black and green options out there if you wanted. but investing in a case is never a bad investment. It is the only thing you can buy for a computer that never expires. It can last well over a decade if you aren't careless, and almost indefinitely if you take care of it. $120 is a bit on the high side, but this case is awesome, good quality, and looks badass.

 

 

If you have any further questions or concerns, feel free to ask.

[TheLunchBawx]

9 minutes ago, Zyndo said:

This would probably be your best bet for 1500 bucks: http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/list/Knqkd6

 

I7 for all your productivity needs. Its also pretty much future proof (unless you're doing a TON of professional rendering applications, then maybe in a few years you could want more cores, but going X99 isn't really in your budget atm)

 

32GB of RAM. This is honestly overkill. 16GB should be plenty for your needs, but its not all that much more expensive to get 32GB and you were interested in future proofing, so having more would be better long term.

 

When it comes to storage you have a 480GB SSD, and 2TB of HDD. I don't know if you're going to need more than that, but there should be enough budget leftover for you to increase it if needed.

 

Case is the NZXT S340 Razer Edition. This is a solid case, chosen around your black and green aesthetic. You could also buy some green LED's from cablemod or bitfenix or whatever and put them in here if you want more green since most of your components are very black.

 

When it comes to your PSU, the CX750 (although not the best quality in the world) is plenty for the needs of this mid-range build. This build should draw in the area of 300W MAX at full load even if you overclock your GPU reasonably hard.

 

Graphics card. I left this spot empty since you wanted a 1060 and there are none on the market yet. I've allocated about 450 of your budget for the 1060. I don't know what launch prices are going to be like, but this should be a very reasonable amount of money to set aside with a comfortable amount of breathing room (I think FE will be about 375-400 bucks, and cheaper aftermarkets will start around 325-350). For aesthetic purposes, the FE may not be a bad investment for your build if that's all you can get your hands on (it has a black and silver cooler, with green GEFORCE led on the side. it would look awesome in  here). You could also potentially get a 1070 with a 1500 budget, but if you're only playing on 1080p @ 60hz, that would be a waste of money, so I decided to put the money to other things instead.

 

 

You should have enough money leftover to do LED's if you want, add additional case/cooling fans if you want, or take your girlfriend out for dinner and a movie =)

 

 

Where you could save money:

 

Your CPU cooler. You could get a smaller aftermarket cooler, or no aftermarket cooler if you really wanted. There aren't any good, budget coolers that match well aesthetically, so I picked the Hyper 212 EVO which is predominantly silver and black, which should look just fine. (not to mention it will cool your I7 exceptionally well). You could shave up to 32 bucks off this component if you just go with the ugly, loud, and inefficient stock intel cooler.

 

RAM. I chose 32GB instead of 16 GB. You could save 60-80 bucks (depending on your choice of RAM) if you went with a 16GB kit instead. 16GB will likely be more than enough for you, I just chose 32GB since you were going to be doing things, like Photoshop, which can potentially benefit from having that extra RAM headroom. But realistically 16GB is all you really need (8GB could be limiting for your workload)

 

Storage: You could always go without SSD if you don't think you need that. SSD's are awesome and make everything you do much faster than a HDD. many of your progams would also scale well with the speed of the SSD, again, programs like photoshop, but also hugely beneficial in editing scenarios.

 

Case: You could save more on your case if you don't care about aesthetics. there are a ton of functional 30-50 dollar cases on the market that would do just fine for you. There are even other good black and green options out there if you wanted. but investing in a case is never a bad investment. It is the only thing you can buy for a computer that never expires. It can last well over a decade if you aren't careless, and almost indefinitely if you take care of it. $120 is a bit on the high side, but this case is awesome, good quality, and looks badass.

Thanks so much! My only question would be, wouldn't it be better to go with a H100i for the cooler? I also already have a Coolermaster Hyper 212 EVO but it doesn't support Skylake because I got it awhile ago :(. 

Is the reason why you say the PSU is not the best quality is because it's 80+ Bronze?

[Zyndo]

18 minutes ago, TheLunchBawx said:

Thanks so much! My only question would be, wouldn't it be better to go with a H100i for the cooler?

The H100i is a much better cooler than the Hyper 212 EVO. but the I7 6700 (non k version) doesn't get hot enough under load to require such cooling. and the H100i is much more expensive in order to get better cooling that you don't need. A cpu running at 60 C and a cpu running at 70C will perform exactly the same, and have pretty much identical lifespan. So yes, you COULD get a liquid AIO cooler if you wanted, and it would do a great job of it, but its not really needed for non-overclocked chips. I actually have a 6700k that I run at 1.22V and 4.0 GHZ (which is essentially your stock 6700) and I have a H100i V2 cooling it. even in a case with terrible radiator ventilation (and I mean god awful) my CPU never goes above 60 C in my games (and that's with LED SP120's, which are slower than the stock fans, and I have them running at 60%).

 

You could definitely get a H100i for your 6700 if you wanted to spend the extra money required to get it, but it would be wholly unneeded.

 

24 minutes ago, TheLunchBawx said:

I also already have a Coolermaster Hyper 212 EVO but it doesn't support Skylake because I got it awhile ago :(. 

Your model probably DOES actually fit into this motherboard. from my understanding all of the 115x sockets (such as 1150,1151,1155, and 1156) all share the same mounting bracket spacing. if its compatible with any of the 115x sockets, it should almost definitely be compatible with this motherboard. It probably just isn't labeled on the box/manual you have because 1151 wasn't invented at the time of your purchasing that product.

 

29 minutes ago, TheLunchBawx said:

Is the reason why you say the PSU is not the best quality is because it's 80+ Bronze?

Quality isn't the same as efficiency rating (its also not the same as maximum wattage). When I say quality I mean the quality of the components and materials that the power supply is made out of. Better quality components can provide more stable power output across a wider range of loads and operating temperatures. Its really only the sort of thing you need to concern yourself if you're going to overclock your nutz off, or when building extreme high end systems with multiple GPU setups. High quality PSU's are typically not that much more expensive than similarly wattage mid-low end quality PSU's.

 

For example, currently on Pcpartpicker your CX 750 PSU is $87 CAD. A high end PSU like the EVGA Supernova 650 G2 is $104 CAD.

 

Keep in mind, I'm not saying your PSU is dangerous to use or anything. Its fine for the system I suggested. But it DOES have its limitations (such as if it gets too hot), and if you try to push lower quality PSU's close to or past those limitations you can in some cases damage components other than your PSU (but that should not happen in your build. You have more than enough headroom, and this PSU is still decent enough that you don't need to fret about such things when used in this build). If you were going to run 6700k, with H100i V2, get a 1080 and overclock everything to the limit, then I would probably recommend a different PSU. but in your build it will not be needed at all.

 

Back to quality vs efficiency rating... nearly all high quality PSU's have good 80+ efficiency ratings. but you CAN get terrible quality PSU's that come with high 80+ ratings as well. If you're ever unsure about a PSU, you can always check out a 3rd party review of the component on a site like JonnyGuru. Here is the review of the CX750 if you were interested. http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story&reid=416

[TheLunchBawx]

22 hours ago, Zyndo said:

The H100i is a much better cooler than the Hyper 212 EVO. but the I7 6700 (non k version) doesn't get hot enough under load to require such cooling. and the H100i is much more expensive in order to get better cooling that you don't need. A cpu running at 60 C and a cpu running at 70C will perform exactly the same, and have pretty much identical lifespan. So yes, you COULD get a liquid AIO cooler if you wanted, and it would do a great job of it, but its not really needed for non-overclocked chips. I actually have a 6700k that I run at 1.22V and 4.0 GHZ (which is essentially your stock 6700) and I have a H100i V2 cooling it. even in a case with terrible radiator ventilation (and I mean god awful) my CPU never goes above 60 C in my games (and that's with LED SP120's, which are slower than the stock fans, and I have them running at 60%).

 

You could definitely get a H100i for your 6700 if you wanted to spend the extra money required to get it, but it would be wholly unneeded.

 

Your model probably DOES actually fit into this motherboard. from my understanding all of the 115x sockets (such as 1150,1151,1155, and 1156) all share the same mounting bracket spacing. if its compatible with any of the 115x sockets, it should almost definitely be compatible with this motherboard. It probably just isn't labeled on the box/manual you have because 1151 wasn't invented at the time of your purchasing that product.

 

Quality isn't the same as efficiency rating (its also not the same as maximum wattage). When I say quality I mean the quality of the components and materials that the power supply is made out of. Better quality components can provide more stable power output across a wider range of loads and operating temperatures. Its really only the sort of thing you need to concern yourself if you're going to overclock your nutz off, or when building extreme high end systems with multiple GPU setups. High quality PSU's are typically not that much more expensive than similarly wattage mid-low end quality PSU's.

 

For example, currently on Pcpartpicker your CX 750 PSU is $87 CAD. A high end PSU like the EVGA Supernova 650 G2 is $104 CAD.

 

Keep in mind, I'm not saying your PSU is dangerous to use or anything. Its fine for the system I suggested. But it DOES have its limitations (such as if it gets too hot), and if you try to push lower quality PSU's close to or past those limitations you can in some cases damage components other than your PSU (but that should not happen in your build. You have more than enough headroom, and this PSU is still decent enough that you don't need to fret about such things when used in this build). If you were going to run 6700k, with H100i V2, get a 1080 and overclock everything to the limit, then I would probably recommend a different PSU. but in your build it will not be needed at all.

 

Back to quality vs efficiency rating... nearly all high quality PSU's have good 80+ efficiency ratings. but you CAN get terrible quality PSU's that come with high 80+ ratings as well. If you're ever unsure about a PSU, you can always check out a 3rd party review of the component on a site like JonnyGuru. Here is the review of the CX750 if you were interested. http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story&reid=416

Alright thanks for the info. I might actually be able to increase my budget, and I was thinking this build: http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/list/zKNP3F

That may be a little too much including tax and maybe shipping. Any tips on that build would be great. 

Also I'm not sure about cases, I like the H440 but I don't know if there's any better cases for that build. 

[Zyndo]

I too have a 6700k in a Z170-A board with corsair vengeance LPX ram haha. its pretty good stuff. good choice. and the X61 is pretty much designed for the H440 and S340 cases. Good decision on the 850 EVO, probably the best performing SATA III drive (next to the 850 pro) on the market. But again if you're on a tight budget, the A-Data SP550 series may be the way to go for you. much cheaper and not a ton of performance difference. Cases are largely a personal choice. I have a 2500 dollar system in a 70 dollar case; simply because I liked the case. The H440 isn't exactly cheap, but its gorgeous and is a decent build experience. The only negative review about the H440 is that it doesn't have as much airflow as you could expect out of a case at that pricepoint, but its also not that bad. the H440 also makes a Razer edition if you still wanted a sexy black and green looking build (although its more expensive and it may clash a bit with the white shroud of the Z170-A)

 

http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/product/GkL7YJ/nzxt-case-cah440wra

 

 

 

If you're tight on budget, and still want to overclock, don't worry so much about getting liquid cooling or anything like that. You could use your Hyper 212 EVO (since you already have one) and probably get a decent 4.3GHz-4.5GHz OC out of your 6700k without much issue. you could always buy the kraken later if you need to save money now. Then there is the issue of your power supply. Whilst I don't think its going to cause you any grief, you may run into slight limitations if you want to get your 6700k to massively high overclocks.

 

Budget aside, you have all quality components in that build if you decide to get it (aside from the mediocre PSU), and I certainly support you getting that build if you think that is what you want. I'm not sure what sort of money you have left over for your GPU or OS, but be sure to factor that in as well. in that build you should aim for the 1060 for 1080p gaming, or the 1070 for 1440p gaming. if you find yourself short on money, you could also go with the RX 480. Basically, of the 480, 1060, and 1070, just buy whichever you can best afford with your remaining money. 1070 will be overkill for 1080p gaming, but its also not a bad idea to get one if you can afford it just for some future proofing.

[TheLunchBawx]

Yeah, for cases I was also thinking of the Phanteks P400S or Evolv ATX but the Evolv is pretty expensive for a case. I just need a good cheap case and the only one I have found is the P400S that I like. 

http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/list/X6Bjyf I could also go with this, not too sure how good this Gigabyte Mobo is but it is black and I have read some good reviews. (If it isn't good I'll just go with the Z170-A).

The only reason I want the 6700K is because that will hopefully allow me not have to upgrade for a while and that's what I want.

I'm just kinda worried that the Hyper 212 EVO that I have wont supply enough cooling for the 6700K.

I also added a RM650X, do you think that will be enough for my build including a 1060? 

 

If I do have extra money I'll get the Kraken or H100i V2 but if I don't I'll get a Hyper 212 EVO.