First ever PC build, Will update as the lasts parts come in

[russianRider]

CPU: Intel i7 6700k

CPU Cooler: Thermaltake 3.0 RGB 360 AIO Liquid CPU Cooler

Motherboard: MSI M9 ACK

RAM:  2x8 GB Corsair Vengence LED 3200 

Graphics Card: MSI Gaming X gtx 1080

Storage: Samsung 950 PRO series 256GB M.2 and WD Blue 1TB 7200 RPM

Case: Phantek Enthoo Evolv

PSU: EVGA SuperNOVA T2 750W

Extra Fans: 3 X 140mm Thermaltake Riing RGB

 

 

First I like to say that I am extremely excited to be finally building a PC!  For the last two years I had done countless hours of research, and QA, to know as much as I can before I invest anything.  I will like to say before anyone points things out, yes the PSU is overkill, yes the motherboard is overkill, yes the RAM is overkill, yes the CPU cooler is overkill. I went with the 6700k for multiple reasons. One, gaming, two I am a student studying electrical engineering and astrophysics, and I am required to do a lot of coding, simulations, and rendering.  I chose the PSU because I did not want a good PSU, I wanted the best because everyone always said: "do not cheap out on a PSU."  I know that 80+ gold is all I need for this build but I did not mind spending the extra money one an 80+ titanium.  The motherboard... yes I got overly excited and went all the way, but my mother bought this as a gift for me, so it was a win-win for me.  I went with the Vengence LED kit because red LED will go great with my build.  Also, I apologize for the black and red theme build; I know red and black is completely overused.  And again I went with the Thermaltake CPU cooler because I wanted a 360 radiator, and it came with LED fans.  I do acknowledge that this is a very expensive CPU cooler, and I could have gone a hell of a lot cheaper.  I got the Gaming X because I initially saved up for the 980 ti, and then the 1080 came out, so I waited and bought the 1080.  I went with an M.2 for more the bragging rights, and for ample storage, I went with the WD Blue.  The case was the one thing I did not care how much it was. I fell in love with this case once I first saw it.  I did not want the tempered glass one though because I am scared what would happen if the glass broke. But I could not be happier with any other case.  So far I have all my parts for my PC, with the exception of the CPU cooler.  The CPU cooler was delayed due to weather(said Amazon), and will be arriving tomorrow.  I will update with photos on Saturday when the entire PC is built.  I am just overly excited about building this PC I just had to post this now!  Sorry for anyone expecting photos at this moment, I promise they will come soon!  

[CarsonAurum]

Good luck! Can't wait to see pictures..... Cable manage well, my friend.

[Guest]

Should have gone with Corsair AX for more red

[russianRider]

CarsonAurum, I am not looking forward to cable management, the T2 cables are all very stiff and unforgiving when it comes to bending. 

deXxterlab97, damn, at least the PSU is hidden when the case is closed up. 

[DutchTexan]

12 minutes ago, russianRider said:

CPU: Intel i7 6700k

CPU Cooler: Thermaltake 3.0 RGB 360 AIO Liquid CPU Cooler

Motherboard: MSI M9 ACK

RAM:  2x8 GB Corsair Vengence LED 3200 

Graphics Card: MSI Gaming X gtx 1080

Storage: Samsung 950 PRO series 256GB M.2 and WD Blue 1TB 7200 RPM

Case: Phantek Enthoo Evolv

PSU: EVGA SuperNOVA T2 750W

Extra Fans: 3 X 140mm Thermaltake Riing RGB

Good luck!

 

Try not to get addicted after you finish the build and get windows installed. You'll want to build another PC very soon!

[Princess Luna]

3 minutes ago, russianRider said:

-snip-

Honestly MSi is the brand I dislike the most out of the big ones I find they to be like Razer who will heavily advertise on the "Gaming" idea and just sell stuff their competitors sell for a higher price because its "Gamer" and they also like Razer and Apple will often add some costs only for their name but oh well that's just a personal feeling.

but darn for a first full custom build its looking great on the paper! I wish you the biggest fun while doing it, putting mine altogether at the beginning of the month was hell of a cool experience ^^

[Guest]

3 minutes ago, russianRider said:

CarsonAurum, I am not looking forward to cable management, the T2 cables are all very stiff and unforgiving when it comes to bending. 

deXxterlab97, damn, at least the PSU is hidden when the case is closed up. 

Use @deXxterlab97 to tag people. Yeah it has PSU basement still 

[intelCore]

2 minutes ago, Princess Cadence said:

Honestly MSi is the brand I dislike the most out of the big ones I find they to be like Razer who will heavily advertise on the "Gaming" idea and just sell stuff their competitors sell for a higher price because its "Gamer" and they also like Razer and Apple will often add some costs only for their name but oh well that's just a personal feeling.

but darn for a first full custom build its looking great on the paper! I wish you the biggest fun while doing it, putting mine altogether at the beginning of the month was hell of a cool experience ^^

But then again with Graphics Cards it's also a lot about looks and MSI does this best for red imo.

[DutchTexan]

15 minutes ago, russianRider said:

The motherboard... yes I got overly excited and went all the way, but my mother bought this as a gift for me, so it was a win-win for me. 

My god, that's a $400 z170 board!

 

[russianRider]

1 minute ago, DutchTexan said:

My god, that's a $400 z170 board!

 

 

I know, I was going to get the m5 or m7, but then my mom found out that I was looking at MSI for a z170 board,(she is a hardcore gamer) and she went all out

[Princess Luna]

7 minutes ago, intelCore said:

But then again with Graphics Cards it's also a lot about looks and MSI does this best for red imo.

I sure prefer MSi looks for the AMD cards than their reference ones, however I would pick Founders Edition from nVidia anytime before considering aftermarket ones hehe

[intelCore]

1 minute ago, Princess Cadence said:

I sure prefer MSi looks for the AMD cards than their reference ones, however I would pick Founders Edition from nVidia anytime before considering aftermarket ones hehe

How come?

[russianRider]

14 minutes ago, Princess Cadence said:

Honestly MSi is the brand I dislike the most out of the big ones I find they to be like Razer who will heavily advertise on the "Gaming" idea and just sell stuff their competitors sell for a higher price because its "Gamer" and they also like Razer and Apple will often add some costs only for their name but oh well that's just a personal feeling.

but darn for a first full custom build its looking great on the paper! I wish you the biggest fun while doing it, putting mine altogether at the beginning of the month was hell of a cool experience ^^

 

I know MSI does that, but I was going more for the looks, thank you! I will keep you posted on my progress!

[DutchTexan]

1 minute ago, russianRider said:

I know, I was going to get the m5 or m7, but then my mom found out that I was looking at MSI for a z170 board,(she is a hardcore gamer) and she went all out

She sure did. Very nice! I'm using the gaming m5 in my machine, which was also my first custom build.

 

Here is your machine:https://pcpartpicker.com/list/XFQh2R ignore the pricing, I only order parts from Amazon, Newegg or pick them up at a local Micro Center.

 

Good luck with your build and school, your area of study is very stressful.

[russianRider]

1 minute ago, wrathoftheturkey said:

can we just take a second to appreciate how awesome that is?

Please do, she was the one who pushed me to get build a PC

 

[CarsonAurum]

17 minutes ago, russianRider said:

CarsonAurum, I am not looking forward to cable management, the T2 cables are all very stiff and unforgiving when it comes to bending. 

That's what makes cable management fun. It's both problem solving and a testament to your ability to finish something with extreme care for all the details. ;D

[Princess Luna]

1 minute ago, intelCore said:

How come?

For once, in a pure aesthetic view I have always found Founders Edition to be the Ace of looks in any card, Most aftermarket ones seem to try far too much to make it look "cool" and ends up making the same mistake brands do when making a gaming notebook that has to be as much "alien" as possible lmao, simplicity is key for a good look.

Though I do have other reasons for one the closed cooling system works great with my fan orientation in the case working as an expelling air fan reducing even more the hot air from inside the case and allowing more positive cold air put in it.

[DutchTexan]

17 minutes ago, Princess Cadence said:

Honestly MSi is the brand I dislike the most out of the big ones I find they to be like Razer who will heavily advertise on the "Gaming" idea and just sell stuff their competitors sell for a higher price because its "Gamer" and they also like Razer and Apple will often add some costs only for their name but oh well that's just a personal feeling.

but darn for a first full custom build its looking great on the paper! I wish you the biggest fun while doing it, putting mine altogether at the beginning of the month was hell of a cool experience ^^

2 minutes ago, russianRider said:

I know MSI does that, but I was going more for the looks, thank you! I will keep you posted on my progress!

I like the little LED debugger and the onboard sound on my GAMING m5. The little display is neat to look at and see current CPU temps, only wish the LEDs were red. The onboard sound is fantastic. Virtual 7.1 is useful and accurate, but most importantly the amplification can power headphones with impedance up to 300 ohms, advertised. I love it. I can't imagine all the neat things the m9 ACK can do!

 

 

[Princess Luna]

3 minutes ago, wrathoftheturkey said:

But they do the "Gaming" part right. And they actually aren't necessarily more expensive than others. Some of their laptops are bloody brilliant in both cooling and value

Hey I still dislike Razer more than I dislike MSi
I'm not the type of person who games on notebooks but yeah if I would ever buy one I'd be between Acer and MSi

[DutchTexan]

4 minutes ago, russianRider said:

Please do, she was the one who pushed me to get build a PC

 

PCPartPicker part list: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/XFQh2R
Price breakdown by merchant: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/XFQh2R/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($328.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
CPU Cooler: Thermaltake Water 3.0 Riing RGB 360 40.6 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler  ($161.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Motherboard: MSI Z170A GAMING M9 ACK ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($396.98 @ Directron) 
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LED 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3200 Memory  ($99.99 @ Newegg) 
Storage: Samsung 950 PRO 256GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive  ($195.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($49.78 @ OutletPC) 
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 1080 8GB GAMING X 8G Video Card  ($659.89 @ B&H) 
Case: Phanteks Enthoo EVOLV ATX Mid Tower Case  ($149.99 @ NCIX US) 
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA T2 750W 80+ Titanium Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($153.99 @ Jet) 
Case Fan: Thermaltake Riing 14 RGB 3-Pack 51.1 CFM  140mm Fans  ($49.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Total: $2247.58
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-12-29 23:27 EST-0500

 

Seriously, it will be a monster

[russianRider]

4 minutes ago, DutchTexan said:

I like the little LED debugger and the onboard sound on my GAMING m5. The little display is neat to look at and see current CPU temps, only wish the LEDs were red. The onboard sound is fantastic. Virtual 7.1 is useful and accurate, but most importantly the amplification can power headphones with impedance up to 300 ohms, advertised. I love it. I can't imagine all the neat things the m9 ACK can do!

 

 

 

I know!  I look forward to learning all about over clocking with this motherboard and one thing I am planning years down the road is custom water cooling with the m9

[intelCore]

5 minutes ago, Princess Cadence said:

For once, in a pure aesthetic view I have always found Founders Edition to be the Ace of looks in any card, Most aftermarket ones seem to try far too much to make it look "cool" and ends up making the same mistake brands do when making a gaming notebook that has to be as much "alien" as possible lmao, simplicity is key for a good look.

Though I do have other reasons for one the closed cooling system works great with my fan orientation in the case working as an expelling air fan reducing even more the hot air from inside the case and allowing more positive cold air put in it.

That's interesting as I would only find the FE cards to fit in a very limited amount of builds. As for the look of MSI cards I think they've found a pretty good balance between "alien" looks without going over the top.

 

For thermals I guess as long as you have a case with at least 3 fans any cooler design will work unless you have extreme circumstances.

[Princess Luna]

4 minutes ago, wrathoftheturkey said:

ACER? 

Don't wanna get off topic in here but just how I was explaining reasons why I favour Founders Edition over aftermarket to @intelCore I believe an important matter in aesthetics is simplicity and the Acer Aspire V Nitro looks pretty much a normal professional working laptop, without any eye jump from the "alien"  stuff I made fun about and it features powerful enough hardware to at least already run over iMacs.

[intelCore]

1 minute ago, Princess Cadence said:

Don't wanna get off topic in here but just how I was explaining reasons why I favour Founders Edition over aftermarket to @intelCore I believe an important matter in aesthetics is simplicity and the Acer Aspire V Nitro looks pretty much a normal professional working laptop, without any eye jump from the "alien"  stuff I made fun about and it features powerful enough hardware to at least already run over iMacs.

Exactly the reason I type these posts from this very laptop.

[DutchTexan]

1 minute ago, russianRider said:

I know!  I look forward to learning all about over clocking with this motherboard and one thing I am planning years down the road is custom water cooling with the m9

Custom loops are so attractive in my mind, but I struggle to justify the cost/returns of a fully custom loop.

 

I'll probably end up building one though... something about fluid dynamics as art.

 

I make one here almost weekly