Mac user, trying to build a PC

[flyer]

Hey there, first time building a PC since a decade ago. I'm mostly interested in VR gaming capabilities. I did some initial research and here's what I've come up with so far: https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/list/wbnkHN

 

Thanks in advance!

[Princess Luna]

if you want to spend heavy cash on this, go with 1080 sli and a PCI-E SSD from Intel

Any CPU will be compatible with any GPU you buy (at least considering new stuff) The only thing you have concern yourself is with the motherboard socket being the same of the CPU you want to buy, and it has enough PCI-E slots for all the expensive hardware you want to plug in into it.

I advise Asus for motherboard, they might not always be the prettiest but sure are the most reliable

[ARikozuM]

PC partpicker. You can build the PC and let us see the creation when you want more advice.

[flyer]

Thanks @Princess Cadence and @ARikozuM. I'll look into PC part picker right now.

[flyer]

@ARikozuM Ready for comments! https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/list/wbnkHN

 

I downgraded the Titan X to a 1080. After the parts came together it was more than what I budgeted for ($3k~ range). 

[ARikozuM]

I would drop down the drives to an HDD and SSD like the 850 PRO and WD Black series.

The PSU is overkill unless you intend to add a 2nd card for SLI. Make sure to get a high-quality unit by visiting the PSU Whitelist (in my signature) and the PSU Tier List.

[flyer]

11 minutes ago, ARikozuM said:

I would drop down the drives to an HDD and SSD like the 850 PRO and WD Black series.

The PSU is overkill unless you intend to add a 2nd card for SLI. Make sure to get a high-quality unit by visiting the PSU Whitelist (in my signature) and the PSU Tier List.

Alright, updated: https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/list/CXLV2R

 

Downgraded the SSD to a Intel 750 series instead, saved $400. I trust intel, and I put a lot of value in SSD speeds, so HDD isn't for me.

 

Also downgraded the power supply and made sure it was whitelisted. Seems like the estimated required watts is 430W. How accurate is this? Is 550W enough to overclock some components? 

 

Also I'm looking to get the 7700k Kaby Lake processor instead when it comes out. 

Thanks for the advice so far @ARikozuM!

[ARikozuM]

4 minutes ago, flyer said:

Alright, updated: https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/list/CXLV2R

 

Downgraded the SSD to a Intel 750 series instead, saved $400. I trust intel, and I put a lot of value in SSD speeds, so HDD isn't for me.

Having an HDD is a good thing for storing games and movies and both of these benefit very little from an SSD, but it's up to you.

4 minutes ago, flyer said:

Also downgraded the power supply and made sure it was whitelisted. Seems like the estimated required watts is 430W. How accurate is this? Is 550W enough to overclock some components? 

550W is more than enough for a single i7 and 1080 with about 200W of overclocking room, though overclocking doesn't raise wattage used by more than 30-50W.

4 minutes ago, flyer said:

Also I'm looking to get the 7700k Kaby Lake processor instead when it comes out. 

Thanks for the advice so far @ARikozuM!

 

[ChalkChalkson]

You probably do not need:

• Win 10 Pro
  Home has anything you need unless you do RDP so regularly, that TeamViewer is a hassle
• A Maximus Hero MoBo
  There are a lot cheaper options out there that have very similar features, think about what features you actually need. But I'd guess an Asus Z170 Pro, MSI MPower Titanium or a Gigabyte Z170 Designare are way more than enough
• A 400GB PCIe SSD
  -You really only need a few programs and windows to be on such a fast drive, even 256GB is way the heck over the top for that (remember Windows 10 takes up only a 10-16GB)
  -PCIe SSDs are for some reason way more expensive than comparable or even faster M.2 PCIe SSDs even by the same manufacturer
  -It is much better for diskmanagement to have more disks that serve particular purposes: I have a 128GB M.2 PCIe SSD for windows and some programs, a 256GB 850EVO for games and a bunch of HDDs (in a NAS admittedly) for cold storage this allows you to have the best out of all worlds
• 32GB of Dominator Platinum
  This is not only VERY expensive memory considering that memory (if oyu have enough of it) doesn't impact your systems performance in any measurable way, if I were you I'd go to PC-Partpicker, filter for DDR4 2x8GB kits, sort by price and buy the first one that you like visually.
  If you are going for anything that requires 32GB of RAM it is probably something that'd benefit from a 6800K and the enthusiast platform as well

You should consider:

• A bunch of extra drives
  As I said, get 1 or 2 HDDs and an additional SATA SSD
• Caselighting
  Dude, you are dropping a lot of money there, you probably want to make it look as nice as you can
• Peripherals
  As a former Mac user you are used to some of the best monitors there are. You should keep in mind that good monitors, soundsystems, headphones, keyboards and mice cost money as well and can contribute way more to your experience than 10 additional points in PC-Mark

If you are interested, I could configure a list for you, but only if you tell me what the actual usecase will be like

[flyer]

Thanks for the comments @ARikozuM, @ChalkChalkson!

 

I'm going to stay my ground on the SSD, but thanks for the advice. I'm going to check out the Asus Z170 Pro like you suggested. I only picked the Maximus hero for a motherboard because it seemed to be highly rated.

 

Will do more research and report back. Many thanks!!!

[ChalkChalkson]

Quote

I'm going to stay my ground on the SSD, but thanks for the advice.

- @flyer

Ok, if you want the PCIe SSD, go for it  it is your PC after all

 

Here is what I'd go for if I were to spend 3k+ on a new setup or 2.5+k on a new rig for VR and had the preferences you "expressed" by selecting some of the items

 

Quote

Will do more research and report back

I'll give you a place to start (especially the links in the last section)

 

What does VR require

When building a PC it is probably best to estimate everything as more demanding as it actually is. 

There is a lot of trickery in VR, for example: a pascal GPU can actually render both eyes in one pass making VR less demanding as the pixelrate would suggest. So let's just run with the pixelrate to compare VR with normal monitors since it will do better than that in real life:

 

So lets calculate 2160*1200*90hz=233 Giga Pixels/s which is about 5% more than 1440p @60fps thus a 1070 will probably run all VR without a problem

 

(This isn't scientific and I would never recommend calculating performance this way, this is only an option when resolutions and refresh-rates are similar and you want a VERY rough estimate instead of an actual performance number)

 

About performance 

Performance isn't the whole story, there are very few games that get my PC to the limit (minecraft is one oddly enough, since there are insane shaders out there). Much more important are creature comfort features, you can get 1500€ PC that performs very similar to your build and even a 1000€ PC that will handle VR without a problem (see holiday buyers guide in the video sectio), but if you are going to spend more than 2K the PC becomes less a tool for playing and more the toy itself, best comparison I can think of are cars: you can get a used VW Golf 2.0 for 1000 bucks, it does everything you need and will be head to head with a Nissan GTR in any city and any highway (except in here Germany-we have streets with no speed limit ), but the GTR has a nicer feeling, more features, doesn't smell like crack.

 

 

Some LTT videos you might want to watch

• What motherboard to buy - Final Answer (this is a link)
  Here you will learn what you might want to consider when buying a MoBo
• What CPU to buy 2016
  This might make you think about 6700K vs 6600K vs 6500
• How To: Optimize your SSD+HDD setup
  This applies just as well when you are rocking an NVMe and a SATA SSD or even an additional HDD
• What SSD To Buy As Fast As Possible as well as (even more importantly) the 2 videos linked at the very beginning
  These will tell you about SSDs in general, I guess who will stick with the 750, but still: knowledge is power
• Build the Perfect Gaming PC - Holiday Buyer's Guide 2016 (linked the relevant time)
  This is a nice rundown of what matters and suggestions from a guy whose opinions most of us in the forum value quite a bit  
  To get the most for your price-point you need to mix stuff from the 1000 and 2000 build
• Nvidia GTX 1070 Performance Review

 

I hope I could help you, if you have any questions, go ahead and ask!

 

Edited December 25, 2016 by ChalkChalkson
added note about 1070