New build time - X99 vs Z170

Jon20 · 5 Aug 2015 at 14:26

Hey,

Been a bit out of the loop having not had a gaming PC for a while. With the release of Skylake, I think its time to get back into it. I'll be gaming at 1920x1200. Be mostly playing most recent games, along with some FSX. Which one should I go for? I currently have the following items:

YOUR BASKET
1 x Phanteks Enthoo Evolv ATX Mid Tower Case - Black £139.99
1 x Noctua NH-D15 Dual Radiator Quiet CPU Cooler with two NH-A15 Fans £77.99
1 x EVGA Supernova G2 650W '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply £74.99
1 x CableMod E-Series G2 & P2 Cable Kit - Black / Red £69.95
Total : £377.92 (includes shipping : £12.50 Ex.VAT).

Plus a Crucial MX100 512 SSD and some Noctua 140mm fans.

Z170

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz (Skylake) Socket LGA1151 Processor - Retail £319.99
1 x Asus GeForce GTX 970 DirectCU II OC Strix 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £289.99
1 x Asus Maximus VIII Hero Intel Z170 (Socket 1151) DDR4 ATX Motherboard £169.99
1 x Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-21300C16 2666MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black (CMK16GX4M2A2666C16) £109.99
Total : £899.57 (includes shipping : £8.00 Ex.VAT).

X99

YOUR BASKET
1 x Asus GeForce GTX 970 DirectCU II OC Strix 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £289.99
1 x Intel 5820K 3.30GHz (Haswell-E) Socket LGA2011-V3 Processor - OEM (CM8064801548435) £287.99
1 x Gigabyte X99-Gaming 5P Intel X99 (Socket 2011) DDR4 ATX Motherboard £229.99
1 x TeamGroup Elite 16GB (4x4GB) DDR4 PC4-19200C16 2400MHz Quad Channel Kit - Black (TPKD416GM2400HC16QC01) £83.99
Total : £901.56 (includes shipping : £8.00 Ex.VAT).

BriT · 5 Aug 2015 at 14:44

X99 all the way.

stulid · 5 Aug 2015 at 14:56

That last one (X99 with that nice gigabyte board).

mnc fear · 5 Aug 2015 at 15:02

Agree with Stulid- the X99 is the better bundle

AtticusFinch · 5 Aug 2015 at 15:05

X99 seems the better buy all-around base don't he observations of 8 Pack and others

Jon20 · 5 Aug 2015 at 15:56

X99 it is then, pity Skylake doesn't appear to be that much of a jump compared to Haswell. Looks as though I'll have to get the 2011-3 mount for the cooler, didn't buy the one that comes with it as I wasn't expecting to need it.

Edit: Are the MSI boards any good? Bit cheaper but will stick with Gigabyte if its better.

stulid · 5 Aug 2015 at 15:59

Socket 2011 is the same as 2011-3 fittings, so if you have that.

Jon20 · 5 Aug 2015 at 16:09

stulid said:
Socket 2011 is the same as 2011-3 fittings, so if you have that.

Ah yeah so it is lol. I must have been looking at the D14 which doesn't come with it, rather than the D15 that I have, which does.

X99 order placed

Jon20 · 8 Aug 2015 at 16:17

So finished building the PC and I'm not getting anything on the monitor. Just starts, runs for 30 seconds, then turns off. This loops until I force a shutdown. Any ideas?

PhoenixSP · 8 Aug 2015 at 16:34

have you made sure the graphics card is in the correct pcie slot ? could be outputting from the wrong lane.

Jon20 · 8 Aug 2015 at 17:04

Panic over, think a couple a couple of the ram sticks weren't quite pushed down enough. Or at least it's started working after I did that lol

Teuton · 8 Aug 2015 at 17:22

I had the same quandry as you and have also opted for the 5820k/X99.

Glad you've got it working

Daytrader · 11 Aug 2015 at 21:17

i was going to go with i7 4790K setup, but now thinking of the x99 route like you, does your new setup perform in games as good as a i7 4790K setup you reckon ? cheers