College Gaming PC

[Lithaldoren]

Ok so I have been working full time for a year and will be attending college in September. My budget is between 1000 and 1500 CAD, and I'm building a the rig in a itx case most likely the node202 so I can move it to and from "home" and my apartment. It also must be future proof for at least the next 3-4 years..

current rig: https://pcpartpicker.com/user/Lithaldoren/saved/rwrgsY
I think I built this towards the beginning of 2014 and I had no idea what I was doing at the time.  It originally had a 760 inside of it and I found a 970 online for dirt cheap due to a pricing mistake.

planned future rig: https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/user/Lithaldoren/saved/T7YGXL
The node202 isn't on pc part picker so i just selected the silver stone case instead. 

So I have a few questions,
Is there a better cooling solution for the cpu? Since I've seen some people using the Cryorig C7 in the same case

Since Volta was just shown off today by NVidia should I set some money aside and wait for consumer cards to hit the market and use the 970 for now?

If anyone has any tips or changes they think I should make please let me know
 

[Damascus]

Don't get an i5 dude, you'll regret it!  Get either a locked i7 or a 1600 (non X)

[PCGuy_5960]

Don't get an i5. Get an i7 7700 non K or a Ryzen 5 1600

[Damascus]

Also, pcpartpicker has the node, its in HTPC section.  This PC is better in every way - less expensive, more versatile, better in gaming and way more long lived

 

PCPartPicker part list: https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/list/Nb4VXH
Price breakdown by merchant: https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/list/Nb4VXH/by_merchant/

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 1600 3.2GHz 6-Core Processor  ($278.98 @ DirectCanada) 
CPU Cooler: CRYORIG - C7 40.5 CFM CPU Cooler  ($40.00 @ Newegg Canada Marketplace) 
Motherboard: Biostar - X370GTN Mini ITX AM4 Motherboard  ($130.00) 
Memory: Corsair - Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3200 Memory  ($229.99 @ Amazon Canada) 
Storage: Seagate - FireCuda 2TB 2.5" 5400RPM Hybrid Internal Hard Drive  ($125.97 @ DirectCanada) 
Video Card: EVGA - GeForce GTX 1070 8GB GAMING Video Card  ($519.99 @ Amazon Canada) 
Case: Fractal Design - Node 202 HTPC Case  ($104.99 @ Newegg Canada) 
Power Supply: Corsair - SF 450W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular SFX Power Supply  ($111.99 @ PC Canada) 
Total: $1541.91
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-05-10 17:45 EDT-0400

Edited May 10, 2017 by Damascus
included cost of mobo

[Damascus]

And another option you have BTW is what I did. You take thePSU, put it where bitwit put his radiator and cut an opening for your radiator.  It works amazingly and you would be able to keep that awesome AIO you already have - take a look

Spoiler

 

[Lithaldoren]

 

1 minute ago, Damascus said:

Also, pcpartpicker has the node, its in HTPC section.  This PC is better in every way - less expensive, more versatile, better in gaming and way more long lived

 

PCPartPicker part list: https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/list/ss6b6X
Price breakdown by merchant: https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/list/ss6b6X/by_merchant/

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 1600 3.2GHz 6-Core Processor  ($278.98 @ DirectCanada) 
CPU Cooler: CRYORIG - C7 40.5 CFM CPU Cooler  ($40.00 @ Newegg Canada Marketplace) 
Motherboard: Biostar - X370GTN Mini ITX AM4 Motherboard 
Memory: Corsair - Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3200 Memory  ($229.99 @ Amazon Canada) 
Storage: Seagate - FireCuda 2TB 2.5" 5400RPM Hybrid Internal Hard Drive  ($125.97 @ DirectCanada) 
Video Card: EVGA - GeForce GTX 1070 8GB GAMING Video Card  ($519.99 @ Amazon Canada) 
Case: Fractal Design - Node 202 HTPC Case  ($104.99 @ Newegg Canada) 
Power Supply: Corsair - SF 450W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular SFX Power Supply  ($111.99 @ PC Canada) 
Total: $1411.91
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-05-10 17:43 EDT-0400

Is it because of the multi threading? I was told that the Ryzen 1600 wasn't all that great for gaming and any i7 was a waist of money again that was from people using i5's haha. And yeah I saw bitwits video on that! To be honest i wouldn't of thought my cooler would of fit in such a small case.

[Phentos]

8 minutes ago, Lithaldoren said:

 

Is it because of the multi threading? I was told that the Ryzen 1600 wasn't all that great for gaming and any i7 was a waist of money again that was from people using i5's haha. And yeah I saw bitwits video on that! To be honest i wouldn't of thought my cooler would of fit in such a small case.

Ryzen is fine for gaming. People who say it sucks are those who can't live without very high refresh rate monitors. 

 

i5's are also completely irrelevant now for gaming. There is no reason for their existence anymore, in their current state of being 4 core/4 thread CPUs.

[Damascus]

26 minutes ago, Lithaldoren said:

Is it because of the multi threading? I was told that the Ryzen 1600 wasn't all that great for gaming and any i7 was a waist of money again that was from people using i5's haha. And yeah I saw bitwits video on that! To be honest i wouldn't of thought my cooler would of fit in such a small case.

Take it from a guy who has access to a unlocked i7 (6700K) and one of the  best unlocked i5's (4690k)

 

The i7 is a huge difference and it applies to the 1600 as well.  You can fit you cooler but its an aggressive mod, it involves carefully cutting out a large portion of case.  

 

Cuttout.layout

[Damascus]

32 minutes ago, Lithaldoren said:

 

Is it because of the multi threading? I was told that the Ryzen 1600 wasn't all that great for gaming and any i7 was a waist of money again that was from people using i5's haha. And yeah I saw bitwits video on that! To be honest i wouldn't of thought my cooler would of fit in such a small case.

Don't think you saw my pics, I used a different method than bitwit as I did't get the performance I wanted.  It is outside of the case

[Lithaldoren]

1 minute ago, Damascus said:

Take it from a guy who has access to a unlocked i7 (6700K) and one of the  best unlocked i5's (4690k)

 

The i7 is a huge difference and it applies to the 1600 as well.  You can fit you cooler but its an aggressive mod, it involves carefully cutting out a large portion of case.  

 

Cuttout.layout

Yeah I'm not sure if i could do that an make it still look clean at all. I may just stick to a low profile air cooler for now. I'm selling a lot of my parts to a friend for their low budget home pc. I may just sell them the cooler because I cant bare to see anyone with the old amd stock coolers, under load those things can enter jet engine territory.

[Damascus]

Just now, Lithaldoren said:

Yeah I'm not sure if i could do that an make it still look clean at all. I may just stick to a low profile air cooler for now. I'm selling a lot of my parts to a friend for their low budget home pc. I may just sell them the cooler because I cant bare to see anyone with the old amd stock coolers, under load those things can enter jet engine territory.

totally understandable  check out this vid first tho