Guidance Needed on new PC.

Omochao_87

Omochao_87

Omochao_87

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9 Oct 2016
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Hello OC forums.

I recently fell victim to a pretty hefty hardware malfunction. I've salvaged parts from an older PC to get this one back up and running, but my GPU and such are all pants, I'm stuck on DX10 so none of the games I wanna play will run, I can barely watch some HD videos lol... Prior to my PC crapping out on me, I had been looking at getting a completely new one.

I use my PC primarily for gaming and will be investing in VR sometime after the build is complete. I also do a moderate amount of image editing in Photoshop and prior to the stroke my PC had, I was teaching myself to use After Effects and Sony Vegas for video editing and some other audio editing software.

I am looking to buy all the parts and build this one myself. I am not desperate for my new computer and since finance is out of the question I am gonna have to wait and save. I should have the money ready for this build around mid November. I would like some advice on specs to choose before I invest money in parts for which there may be better alternatives.


The current build I'm looking at getting is this:

EVGA DG-85 Full Tower Gaming Case - Gunmetal Grey Window - £159.95
Asus Z170 Maximus VIII Hero - Skylake i7 6700K CPU & Motherboard - £506.98
Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB DDR4 3200MHz Quad Channel Kit - £109.99
Samsung 500GB 850 EVO SSD 2.5 - £199.99
Asus GeForce GTX 1070 Strix OC Gaming 8192MB GDDR5 - £509.99
Corsair Hydro Series H100i v2 Extreme - £109.
Corsair RM Series RM850X '80+ Gold' 850W PSU - £127.99

Total Price: £1,732.84

I have 2 other HDDs in this current PC that are relatively new so i'll take them out and put them in this new build and swap them out with newer ones at a later date, the 500gb samsung one will be sufficient until then anyway.

I'd be willing to spend a bit more, up to or around £2500, but if possible I would like to keep it below £2000 since it will take another month to get that extra £500 and with it being December, I'll be shorter wallet wise for xmas pressies so it may end up getting pushed back to Jan.

So the primary things that I need to know is:

1, Is there anything besides OS (which I already have) that I am missing from this build?

2, Should I go X99 or Z170? as I have no idea what the difference is and most forums/sites tend to just have people arguing one way or the other with no real information.

3, I may put the extra few hundred into getting a 1080 instead of a 1070. Or should I improve something else instead?

4, I really like the case I've chosen and am pretty set on getting one of the DG-8X cases. Is having the extra features on the case worth going up another £30-£60? Since I imagine most of those features are software controlled anyway?

Pretend I have no idea what I'm doing too lol, the easier people can explain things the better :D

Thanks in advance.
 
at the minute I'm using 1920x1080, once my PC is built, new monitors along with one of the VR sets will be my next purchases. I'll definitely be going beyond my current resolution though.
 
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Here's my thoughts:

1. Looks like a solid build. The PSU is a little overspec for the build if you're going single GPU, 650w would do fine. Also, perhaps a dedicated sound card if music and in-game sound is important to you. But I would wait and see what you think of the quality of the on-board sound of the Maximus before going down that route.

2. You'll not get a definitive answer to this one. But given your stated usage, an X99 system would likely be overkill and you'll not be disappointed with Z170.

3. If you're currently at 1080p and mostly aiming at VR, the 1070 should be more than enough. This gives you ample headroom to go up to 1440p. You only really need a 1080 if you're wanting to push your resolution to 4k and even then a single 1080 might not be enough, depending on the games you want to play. The price difference between the 1070 and 1080 is better invested elsewhere IMO.

4. The EVGA is a nice case, but don't be swayed by gizmos. As you say, things like the K-boost can be software controlled and are likely safer controlled that way too. Main things you should be looking for in a good case are airflow, sound proofing and working space to fit in everything you need. You can easily meet these requirements with a cheaper case (take a look at the Fractal Design Define R5 for example).

As a footnote - SSD prices are in a really silly place at the moment, if you shop around you can definitely beat that £199 for the 500GB 850 EVO.
 
A solid build as already been mentioned but I would:

Get a 1080, if you're potentially going 4k or VR, this will be better suited for the future.

PSU - Unless you intend to get another GFX at some point, you can do with a good 650 Watt.

Swap the SSD for a Samsung 950 Pro PCIE SSD, bit more expensive but 4 times faster, if you're dealing with large images then you'll notice the difference.

On this occasion, seeing as you mostly game I would stick with the Z170 chipset with an 6700K - X99 is good, the CPU's have more cores but they run a tad slower and they're aging a bit now.
 
Yeah case wise as bling as some are, I consistently ponder my not buying a Fractal Define R5 for it's silence and simplicity.

As for SSD prices, yeah they have became a joke, £120 one month, £200 the next. Prices just increased and for what reason, oh yeah, excuses! The prices of PC components really can be a bit much these days.

The 960 pro and Evo M.2's will be out soon, but to be honest I would say google actual performance increases related to real world applications.
The Pro 950 is a huge increase over the Evo. A 951 currently the same price roughly as the 850 Evo. An M.2 OS drive is the logical choice though, with a secondary SSD for working.

I went with a single 1070, thinking either getting a second in future, or 1080ti, if 4k gaming becomes viable, thing is though, I play a lot of indy titles, and I would say the majority of games I play don't need two GPU's never mind 4k resolution, especially old titles.
 
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