Build dilemmas (i7, mITX)

[tacticious]

So I´ve been planning a new budget-ish build for a while now and I will be buying the parts this coming week.

My current plan is - 

• I7-6700k
• MSI Z170I Gaming Pro AC
• Corsair Vengeance 16gb 2400Mhz
• EVGA Supernova G2 550W
• NZXT Kraken X31
• Phanteks EVOLV mITX 
• ASUS GTX 980 (which I have in my old system)

This comes to about 8750 sek (swedish krones, equals to about 980 usd).

 

I am currently pondering if I even want/need to overclock. I am not a super hardcore enthusiast like some of the people here so I don´t even know if I will overclock (I currently have a i5-3570k in my system which I never got to overclocking in the 4 years I´ve had it).

 

I will be gaming on the system (obviously) and doing some video editing and some streaming.

 

Now the thing is that whatever I get will be better than the cpu I have had for a while, so If i happen to not overclock - is it worth saving some money and getting a normal i7-6700 or should I get the K version anyway? What is the difference in performance? And if not getting the K and not overclocking - what cheaper (and solid) motherboard should I get then?

 

[Zyndo]

7 minutes ago, tacticious said:

Snip

well, the 6700k base clock is 4.0 and boost clock is 4.2

but the 6700 base clock is 3.4 base and boost is 4.0.

 

So even if you never overclock it, the 6700k is a faster CPU than the 6700 (although only slightly). If you're looking to cut costs you could just get a 6700, but I honestly don't know how much cheaper that will be since ITX boards are usually not that cheap to begin with (even the cheaper ones). And if you want to do really high refresh rate gaming like 144hz+, then a 6700k will help you get there, as a 6700 can sometimes fall a bit short (although it will depend on the game, as a 6700 can often hit that mark in current games, but not always, and there is no promise in future releases)

 

My recommendation would be to stick to whatever your budget allows. if you can afford a 6700k then you should get that. if you're looking at your bank account and thinking you can't take that hit, then you should drop the price a little.

[porina]

Even without overclocking the 6700k is faster than a 6700 due to the different base and turbo clock speeds between them. You got from base clock of 3.4 to 4.0, and turbo clock of 4.0 to 4.2, bare in mind the max turbo is for single core use.

 

I've had cooling problems with my 6700k mini-ITX build although I think I have a below average IHS sample, the bits listed should do well with little or no overclock. I'm running mine at 4.2 for all cores. I'm not convinced it would be wise to push higher voltages to get higher clocks beyond that.

 

Basically I think if you're ok with spending for the 6700k and Z170 mobo go for it. It'll give you more flexibility should you want to push harder in future.

[Zyndo]

1 minute ago, porina said:

I've had cooling problems with my 6700k mini-ITX build although I think I have a below average IHS sample, the bits listed should do well with little or no overclock. I'm running mine at 4.2 for all cores. I'm not convinced it would be wise to push higher voltages to get higher clocks beyond that

Any chance you're running it at stock settings? the stock voltage "auto" settings on the 6700k is seriously overkill. The damn thing ran peaked hotter at stock settings for me than when I oc'd it to 4.6 GHZ @ 1.37V

[tacticious]

6 minutes ago, porina said:

Even without overclocking the 6700k is faster than a 6700 due to the different base and turbo clock speeds between them. You got from base clock of 3.4 to 4.0, and turbo clock of 4.0 to 4.2, bare in mind the max turbo is for single core use.

 

I've had cooling problems with my 6700k mini-ITX build although I think I have a below average IHS sample, the bits listed should do well with little or no overclock. I'm running mine at 4.2 for all cores. I'm not convinced it would be wise to push higher voltages to get higher clocks beyond that.

 

Basically I think if you're ok with spending for the 6700k and Z170 mobo go for it. It'll give you more flexibility should you want to push harder in future.

 

7 minutes ago, Zyndo said:

well, the 6700k base clock is 4.0 and boost clock is 4.2

but the 6700 base clock is 3.4 base and boost is 4.0.

 

So even if you never overclock it, the 6700k is a faster CPU than the 6700 (although only slightly). If you're looking to cut costs you could just get a 6700, but I honestly don't know how much cheaper that will be since ITX boards are usually not that cheap to begin with (even the cheaper ones). And if you want to do really high refresh rate gaming like 144hz+, then a 6700k will help you get there, as a 6700 can sometimes fall a bit short (although it will depend on the game, as a 6700 can often hit that mark in current games, but not always, and there is no promise in future releases)

 

My recommendation would be to stick to whatever your budget allows. if you can afford a 6700k then you should get that. if you're looking at your bank account and thinking you can't take that hit, then you should drop the price a little.

Okay then, the other question that remains is MSI Z170I Gaming Pro AC or ASUS Z170I Pro Gaming? They are in the same price range but I can´t decide on which one is better

[porina]

10 minutes ago, Zyndo said:

Any chance you're running it at stock settings? the stock voltage "auto" settings on the 6700k is seriously overkill. The damn thing ran peaked hotter at stock settings for me than when I oc'd it to 4.6 GHZ @ 1.37V

One of the first things I do is lower the voltage to something more sane and I run all 3 of mine at 4.2 GHz 1.25v.

6 minutes ago, tacticious said:

Okay then, the other question that remains is MSI Z170I Gaming Pro AC or ASUS Z170I Pro Gaming? They are in the same price range but I can´t decide on which one is better

I have the Asus. Now I have it, I don't like the external wifi magnetic module it comes with, as I do want to move the unit. Also mine didn't like running with Corsair LPX 3000 ram at full speed (ok at 2800), and I switched it initially to Crucial 2666 which was fine, and later to Kingston Hyper-X 2666. I know the Corsair ram is fine with the CPU as both were running in another mobo before I moved it over. Having said that, I have other MSI boards and they can be differently fussy with high speed ram also. Given the low speed 2400 ram mentioned in 1st post I wouldn't expect any problems either way.

[Zyndo]

20 minutes ago, tacticious said:

 

Okay then, the other question that remains is MSI Z170I Gaming Pro AC or ASUS Z170I Pro Gaming? They are in the same price range but I can´t decide on which one is better

I would choose the Asus board because I like Asus and they tend to have slightly better BIOS'. This board also has 2 more rear USB 3.0 ports from what I can see, as well as it looks like more power phases on the Asus board.

 

But i've also not gone to the product pages to see exactly what each board has, this is just at a glance... you should do your own individual research if you're conflicted. perhaps the MSI board has better audio, or wifi, more fan headers, or something like that to balance the playing field. I also like the EPS placement on the Asus board better, its a more common place for it and will probably have supporting cutouts in your case for cable routing.