My First Desktop... Ever

[OmegaPsy]

Hello all! I'm new to this forum and building desktop in general so I'll start off with a short introduction. 

 

My name is Jon and I'm an avid gamer and have played computer games since I was a young teen on low-end laptops for about the last 7 years. I've never owned a desktop nor have I had a laptop with a dedicated graphics card so obviously my gaming experiences have been limited to minimum resolution and having low settings across the board.  (That's when i can EVEN run the games as of the last few years). I have generally played Titles such as League of Legends as that's about  all my laptop can handle while I've tried to run a plethora of games such as WoW, Diablo III, H1Z1, Dead by Daylight and many more to no success.

 

Fast forward 7 years and I'm here today, ready to make a gaming laptop so I can experience everything I've missed out on. Over the past 3 days I've done some research on what seems like every part of a desktop and have come to a somewhat comprehensive understanding of what parts I'll need for my purposes. 

 

I'll go ahead and list the parts here for convenience:

 

Motherboard: 

$89.99 Gigabyte LGA 1151 Z170 HDMI 2-Way CrossFire ATX DDR4 Motherboards GA-Z170-HD3  

 

CPU: 

$204 Intel Core i5 6500 3.20 GHz Quad Core Skylake Desktop Processor, Socket LGA 1151, 6MB Cache [BX80662I56500]   

 

GPU: 

$203 EVGA GeForce GTX 1060 3GB SC GAMING

 

Ram:

 

$49.99 Corsair Vengeance LPX 8GB (2x4GB) DDR4 DRAM 3000MHz 

 

Power Supply:

 

$49.99 EVGA 600 B1, 80+ BRONZE 600W

 

Case: 

 

$41.99 VIVO ATX Mid Tower Computer Gaming PC Case / Black Red Desktop Shell / 3 Fan Mount, Dual USB 3.0 (CASE-V03)

 

Monitor: 

 

$129.99 Acer R240HY bidx 23.8-Inch IPS HDMI DVI VGA (1920 x 1080) Widescreen Monitor

 

Memory:

 

$49.99 WD Blue 1TB SATA 6 Gb/s 7200 RPM 64MB Cache 3.5 Inch Desktop Hard Drive

 

Wifi:

 

$8.99 Edimax EW-7811Un 150Mbps 11n Wi-Fi USB Adapter, Nano Size Lets You Plug it and Forget it, Ideal for Raspberry Pi / Pi2, Supports Windows, Mac OS, Linux (Black/Gold)

 

TOTAL: $846.92

 

1. Budget & Location

Although I'm not set on a specific number, I don't want to go much above the price of $800-$850 I have from my build now. Mind you, as I started this build 3 days ago, I had a set price of $600 which wasn't taking me anywhere and decided to bump up the budget for a bit of future-proofing and headroom to upgrade my CPU, GPU, and Ram if need be in the next year or so. Also, I'm in the US.

2. Aim

Aside from general web-browsing and netflix viewing, this desktop will spend most of its time being used for gaming.

3. Monitors

I am planning on getting a 24inch 1080p IPS monitor as of now. I'd like to either get a second identical screen in the future or look to upgrade to an ultrawide 1440p monitor. (Second monitor could possible be in the next 2-3 months, an ultrawide 1440p monitor won't happen for over a year unless I find a great deal.)

4. Peripherals

Yes, I'll need a keyboard(Already have a good gaming mouse from my laptop), Microsoft Pro 10, and a gaming chair but I've left that outside the budget I have set for the actual desktop.

5. Why are you upgrading?

To make my first desktop and scrap this i3 and pentium laptop paperweights I have

 

Now, my main question to all of you informed people is this:

1. Are there any aspects of my build I can alter(such as switching to another manufacturer and why, or switching to another product and why).

2. Will I have an issue with compatibility in this build?

3. Will my motherboard make use of the 3000mhz ram?

4. Is a 600W power supply ample power for this build and will it still be enough power supply if I start to overclock?

5. I have heard I'll need an aftermarket cooling system if I begin overclocking but can I get away with overclocking AT ALL with the INTEL manufacturer fan?

6. Is the Z170 motherboard necessary for my needs or should I downgrade to H170 or H110(which I initially had until I figured I could use the 2 extra ram slots for future upgrades plus OC could only be done on Z170)

 

MANY THANKS AHEAD OF TIME!

[Electronics Wizardy]

Get a better wifi card. Cheap ones are slow

 

2. Get a ssd.

 

3. Get 16gb or ram.

 

4. Id get a b150 board.

 

Your not gonna oc this cpu, 600w is more than enoug, id personally get a 400w.

[asapansh]

5 minutes ago, OmegaPsy said:

Hello all! I'm new to this forum and building desktop in general so I'll start off with a short introduction. 

 

My name is Jon and I'm an avid gamer and have played computer games since I was a young teen on low-end laptops for about the last 7 years. I've never owned a desktop nor have I had a laptop with a dedicated graphics card so obviously my gaming experiences have been limited to minimum resolution and having low settings across the board.  (That's when i can EVEN run the games as of the last few years). I have generally played Titles such as League of Legends as that's about  all my laptop can handle while I've tried to run a plethora of games such as WoW, Diablo III, H1Z1, Dead by Daylight and many more to no success.

 

Fast forward 7 years and I'm here today, ready to make a gaming laptop so I can experience everything I've missed out on. Over the past 3 days I've done some research on what seems like every part of a desktop and have come to a somewhat comprehensive understanding of what parts I'll need for my purposes. 

 

I'll go ahead and list the parts here for convenience:

 

Motherboard: 

$89.99 Gigabyte LGA 1151 Z170 HDMI 2-Way CrossFire ATX DDR4 Motherboards GA-Z170-HD3  

 

CPU: 

$204 Intel Core i5 6500 3.20 GHz Quad Core Skylake Desktop Processor, Socket LGA 1151, 6MB Cache [BX80662I56500]   

 

GPU: 

$203 EVGA GeForce GTX 1060 3GB SC GAMING

 

Ram:

 

$49.99 Corsair Vengeance LPX 8GB (2x4GB) DDR4 DRAM 3000MHz 

 

Power Supply:

 

$49.99 EVGA 600 B1, 80+ BRONZE 600W

 

Case: 

 

$41.99 VIVO ATX Mid Tower Computer Gaming PC Case / Black Red Desktop Shell / 3 Fan Mount, Dual USB 3.0 (CASE-V03)

 

Monitor: 

 

$129.99 Acer R240HY bidx 23.8-Inch IPS HDMI DVI VGA (1920 x 1080) Widescreen Monitor

 

Memory:

 

$49.99 WD Blue 1TB SATA 6 Gb/s 7200 RPM 64MB Cache 3.5 Inch Desktop Hard Drive

 

Wifi:

 

$8.99 Edimax EW-7811Un 150Mbps 11n Wi-Fi USB Adapter, Nano Size Lets You Plug it and Forget it, Ideal for Raspberry Pi / Pi2, Supports Windows, Mac OS, Linux (Black/Gold)

 

TOTAL: $846.92

 

1. Budget & Location

Although I'm not set on a specific number, I don't want to go much above the price of $800-$850 I have from my build now. Mind you, as I started this build 3 days ago, I had a set price of $600 which wasn't taking me anywhere and decided to bump up the budget for a bit of future-proofing and headroom to upgrade my CPU, GPU, and Ram if need be in the next year or so. Also, I'm in the US.

2. Aim

Aside from general web-browsing and netflix viewing, this desktop will spend most of its time being used for gaming.

3. Monitors

I am planning on getting a 24inch 1080p IPS monitor as of now. I'd like to either get a second identical screen in the future or look to upgrade to an ultrawide 1440p monitor. (Second monitor could possible be in the next 2-3 months, an ultrawide 1440p monitor won't happen for over a year unless I find a great deal.)

4. Peripherals

Yes, I'll need a keyboard(Already have a good gaming mouse from my laptop), Microsoft Pro 10, and a gaming chair but I've left that outside the budget I have set for the actual desktop.

5. Why are you upgrading?

To make my first desktop and scrap this i3 and pentium laptop paperweights I have

 

Now, my main question to all of you informed people is this:

1. Are there any aspects of my build I can alter(such as switching to another manufacturer and why, or switching to another product and why).

2. Will I have an issue with compatibility in this build?

3. Will my motherboard make use of the 3000mhz ram?

4. Is a 600W power supply ample power for this build and will it still be enough power supply if I start to overclock?

5. I have heard I'll need an aftermarket cooling system if I begin overclocking but can I get away with overclocking AT ALL with the INTEL manufacturer fan?

6. Is the Z170 motherboard necessary for my needs or should I downgrade to H170 or H110(which I initially had until I figured I could use the 2 extra ram slots for future upgrades plus OC could only be done on Z170)

 

MANY THANKS AHEAD OF TIME!

 

please use pcpartpicker.com it makes building systems so much easier for you and us

[MoonlightSylv]

3 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

Get a better wifi card. Cheap ones are slow

 

2. Get a ssd.

 

3. Get 16gb or ram.

 

4. Id get a b150 board.

 

Your not gonna oc this cpu, 600w is more than enoug, id personally get a 400w.

I'd rather spend the money saved from 8GB of ram and the b150 board to get the 6gb 1060.

[OmegaPsy]

Can you direct me to better wifi cards? Do you mean the actual cards that go into the motherboards? Because this one is a USB wifi. If so, what port do the wifi cards occupy and will I have a spare one on this motherboard?

 

2. I had an SSD in my build but the price was getting hefty so when I started taking things off, the SSD was one of things to go. Ill probably revisit it and get a cheap 120GB in a month just to boot windows atleast. 

 

3. I had 16GB at first but upon review, I was surprised to see most games won't even use half of that. Is 16GB necessary or a luxury?

 

4. Also from my research, I read the 'B' brand of boards were meant for business. What does the B150 have that I should be looking for over the Z170?

 

Lastly, what do you mean im not gonna oc this CPU? As in I literally can't do it or it's ill advised? Thanks for the reply!

[Daniel644]

20 bucks more, plus a CPU cooler will get a 6600k, if you aren't getting a k-series chip there is no point in a z170 board, GET AN SSD

[OmegaPsy]

I went ahead and made a PCPARTSLIST real quick. http://pcpartpicker.com/list/2gfyFd

[Electronics Wizardy]

2 minutes ago, OmegaPsy said:

Can you direct me to better wifi cards? Do you mean the actual cards that go into the motherboards? Because this one is a USB wifi. If so, what port do the wifi cards occupy and will I have a spare one on this motherboard?

 

2. I had an SSD in my build but the price was getting hefty so when I started taking things off, the SSD was one of things to go. Ill probably revisit it and get a cheap 120GB in a month just to boot windows atleast. 

 

3. I had 16GB at first but upon review, I was surprised to see most games won't even use half of that. Is 16GB necessary or a luxury?

 

4. Also from my research, I read the 'B' brand of boards were meant for business. What does the B150 have that I should be looking for over the Z170?

 

Lastly, what do you mean im not gonna oc this CPU? As in I literally can't do it or it's ill advised? Thanks for the reply!

1. Look for a card with a 450 rating or higer. Also pcie cards are normally faster https://www.amazon.com/Gigabyte-GC-WB867D-I-Bluetooth-Adapter-Computer/dp/B00HF8K0O6

 

2. Id get a 240gb now and buy the hdd later.

 

3. Its nice. you os will use the extra as a cache. Ram is cheap

 

4. It can't OC(but you can't oc your chip anyways) It also doesn't have raid and 2 less sata 6 ports.

[OmegaPsy]

I looked into the 6600K but with the cooler, it would bump me into the $900 territory plus I have the SSD to get so I don't think I can afford that. Do you have an recommendations for SSD or are they all the same?

[Pizzalord]

Why are you getting Windows 10 pro? You're blowing almost another 100 bucks

 

[OmegaPsy]

2 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

1. Look for a card with a 450 rating or higer. Also pcie cards are normally faster https://www.amazon.com/Gigabyte-GC-WB867D-I-Bluetooth-Adapter-Computer/dp/B00HF8K0O6

 

2. Id get a 240gb now and buy the hdd later.

 

3. Its nice. you os will use the extra as a cache. Ram is cheap

 

4. It can't OC(but you can't oc your chip anyways) It also doesn't have raid and 2 less sata 6 ports.

1. 450 rating? Like customer rating? I'll look into it. As you mention the PCI-E slots, doesn't this board only have 1? Which the GPU will occupy?

 

2. Interesting, didn't think of that, I'll shop for SSD's now then.

 

3. Yeah, I saw it for a roughly $50 increase. I'll shop around for it.

 

4. Well then, if i can't OC, then what do you think of downgrading to a H110 Motherboard? The only reason I moved up was for the OC potential.

[OmegaPsy]

2 minutes ago, Pizzalord said:

Why are you getting Windows 10 pro? You're blowing almost another 100 bucks

 

I have a website to get Windows 10 Home for $27 and Windows 10 Pro for $30. Figured it won't matter for $3. That's how I got Pro on my laptop.

[SuperMonkey507]

Id get an SSD, ethernet or better wifi card

[OmegaPsy]

is this a sufficient SSD? https://www.amazon.com/Crucial-MX300-275GB-Internal-Solid/dp/B01IAGSD5O/ref=sr_1_2?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1476054098&sr=1-2&keywords=ssd

[SuperMonkey507]

1 minute ago, OmegaPsy said:

is this a sufficient SSD? https://www.amazon.com/Crucial-MX300-275GB-Internal-Solid/dp/B01IAGSD5O/ref=sr_1_2?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1476054098&sr=1-2&keywords=ssd

30 more bucks for 480gb pny ssd

 

[OmegaPsy]

Just now, SuperMonkey507 said:

30 more bucks for 480gb pny ssd

 

Can you explain to me the point of an SSD alongside a HD or are you saying get solely a 480gb SSD w/o the HD?

[SuperMonkey507]

Just now, OmegaPsy said:

Can you explain to me the point of an SSD alongside a HD or are you saying get solely a 480gb SSD w/o the HD?

If you dont need extra storage, SSDs are better because theyre faster. Speeds up boot up times, application boot up times, and loading times within games.

[Deimosian]

1 minute ago, OmegaPsy said:

Can you explain to me the point of an SSD alongside a HD or are you saying get solely a 480gb SSD w/o the HD?

i was gonna say get this: https://www.amazon.com/Kingston-Digital-SSDNow-SUV400S37-240G/dp/B01FJ4UL2S
but i may be a fanboy. 

Also, RAM is cheap. get 16GB of RAM. 

Don't bother with overcloking. Get the B-motherboard (or even consider going mini-ATX, OR find a mobo with integrated wifi)

To clearify what some people said earlier. The i5 6500 is good enough for games, but it can not be overclocked. You NEED a K-chip like the 6600k or 6700k AND a z-type motherboard in order to overclock. There is no need for that. 

Consider getting a monitor with G-sync. These are expensive but in my opinion totally worth it. either that or cheap out with a benq like i did. 

Quote

Can you explain to me the point of an SSD alongside a HD or are you saying get solely a 480gb SSD w/o the HD?

Well ok, typically the SSD houses the OS and some programs while people set up the slower HDD for files, movies and games that dont have bad load times. 

Listen to the people here and update your build as you go. Also, dont forget SATA3 cable(s) for your HDD/SSD
Get a tube of thermal paste and replace the padding on the intel cooler for lower temps and less noise. 

you can shave off a few bucks by going with a 450w psu
 

[Miller1218]

http://pcpartpicker.com/list/Txh3RG

 

I think if you spend the extra $200 you will get WAY BETTER performance!

[SuperMonkey507]

7 minutes ago, Miller1218 said:

http://pcpartpicker.com/list/Txh3RG

 

I think if you spend the extra $200 you will get WAY BETTER performance!

So how did you manage to lower him down a generation and still make it cost more? Just add an SSD and you will get much better performance with a lower price than that.

[Miller1218]

Just now, SuperMonkey507 said:

So how did you manage to lower him down a generation and still make it cost more? Just add an SSD and you will get much better performance with a lower price than that.

the performance difference in minimal

[SuperMonkey507]

Just now, Miller1218 said:

the performance difference in minimal

for 200 dollars more, you're contradicting your original point...

[Daniel644]

3 minutes ago, Miller1218 said:

http://pcpartpicker.com/list/xRfyFd

 

I think if you spend the extra $200 you will get WAY BETTER performance!

Why would you go back a generation, his original MOBO and CPU selection would put him at pretty much the same performance but more energy efficient and ptotentially be capable of Kaby Lake support if Gigabyte adds it like Asus did. Heck that much of a price increase would allow for a 6600k and a great cooler.

 

@OmegaPsy any particular reason you need a wifi card, can you not run a Ethernet cable to the location of the computer?

[Miller1218]

1 minute ago, Daniel644 said:

Why would you go back a generation, his original MOBO and CPU selection would put him at pretty much the same performance but more energy efficient and ptotentially be capable of Kaby Lake support if Gigabyte adds it like Asus did. Heck that much of a price increase would allow for a 6600k and a great cooler.

 

@OmegaPsy any particular reason you need a wifi card, can you not run a Ethernet cable to the location of the computer?

he wanted one

[SuperMonkey507]

1 minute ago, Daniel644 said:

Why would you go back a generation, his original MOBO and CPU selection would put him at pretty much the same performance but more energy efficient and ptotentially be capable of Kaby Lake support if Gigabyte adds it like Asus did. Heck that much of a price increase would allow for a 6600k and a great cooler.

 

@OmegaPsy any particular reason you need a wifi card, can you not run a Ethernet cable to the location of the computer?

Thats what I said...