Which way to go?

MrBukey

MrBukey

MrBukey

Associate
Joined
30 Dec 2013
Posts
30
Hi all,

So I need a PC, the driving excuse/reason being to allow virtualisation to get myself through various industry certs, the residual benefit being a return to PC gaming.

I spent from '97 through to '09 building my own PCs (and everyone else's!), gaming, etc. I've had most consoles over the years, but back in '09 I ended up switching to Macbooks of various guises for my own non-gaming computer uses, and sticking to consoles for gaming.

I did build myself an AMD FX8350 gaming rig a few years back when AMD released Piledriver CPUs, and started playing with it - but the better half ended up with it after their computer accidentally "drank" wine.

The only PC specs I really deal with these days is when it comes to spec'ing out servers for work, but with more and more apps, etc moving to the cloud, I deal more with resource names/qualifications than I do real hardware specs.

Soooo.... After that wall of text, I'm after a bit of advice from those of you that are still day-to-day drenched in hardware.

I gather that until AMD get their act together and release their Zen processors that they're lagging behind Intel again (booo... I prefer AMD, but not if they're not match-ready!).

So the realistic options are:

- Z170/Skylake.

- X99/Haswell-E.

- X99/Broadwell-E.

From a bit of research, the X99 chipset is going to outlive the Z170 chipset, and supports more threads/cores? Also from what I gather, Broadwell-E CPUs don't overclock as well as Haswell-E CPUs?

I've built three systems on OCUK, all to roughly the same cost:

1) Z170/Skylake - OCUK built (saves me a few hours, nothing major though):

My basket at Overclockers UK:
  • 1 x OcUK Tech Labs Skylake Z170 Pro Gaming PC Configurator = £1,959.86
    • Processor:Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz (Skylake) Socket LGA1151 Processor - OEM
    • CPU Cooler:Corsair Hydro Series H100i v2 Extreme Performance Liquid CPU Cooler (CW-9060025-WW)
    • Motherboard:Asus Maximus VIII Hero Intel Z170 (Socket 1151) DDR4 ATX Motherboard
    • M.2 Solid State Drive **For Operating System If Selected**:Samsung SM951 512GB M.2 PCI-e Gen3 8Gbps x 4 AHCI Solid State Drive (MZHPV512HDGL-00000)
    • Solid State Drive 1:Unwanted
    • Solid State Drive 2:Unwanted
    • Mechanical Hard Drive 1:Unwanted
    • Mechanical Hard Drive 2:Unwanted
    • Optical Drive **Please Check Chassis Support**:Unwanted
    • Graphics Card:Asus GeForce GTX 1080 DirectCU III OC Strix Gaming Aura RGB 8192MB GDDR5X PCI-Express Graphics Card
    • Power Supply:Corsair RM Series RMi 1000 '80+ Gold' 1000W Modular Power Supply (CP-9020084-UK)
    • Sound Card:Unwanted
    • Networking:Unwanted
    • Operating System:Microsoft Windows 10 Pro 64-Bit DVD - OEM (MS-FQC-08929)
    • Security Software:Unwanted
    • Keyboard:Unwanted
    • Mouse:Unwanted
    • Monitor:Unwanted
    • Gaming Headset:Unwanted
    • Speakers:Unwanted
    • Memory:Ballistix Sport LT 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-19200C16 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit - White (BLS2C8G4D240FSC)
    • Build Time:Standard Build Systems - Dispatched within 7 working days
    • Case Lighting:Unwanted
    • Case:NZXT H440 New 2015 Edition Case - White & Black
    • Gaming Chair:Unwanted
    • Graphics Card 2 (SLI/Crossfire):Unwanted

Total: £1,973.96
(includes shipping: £14.10)
​

2) Z170/Skylake (self-build, plus Asus Strix GTX 1080 OC version):

My basket at Overclockers UK:

Total: £1,838.82
(includes shipping: £0.00)
​

3) X99/5820K (again with Asus Strix GTX 1080 OC version):

My basket at Overclockers UK:

Total: £1,958.82
(includes shipping: £0.00)
​

So from what I can see, option 3 would be best unless someone can correct me on that; the X99 chipset has more longevity, and the 5820K has better OC'ing abilities.

If I haven't got the chipset/CPU architecture decision wrong, then the only variable I can see is the motherboard. The Z170 range seems to have better quality MB's at cheaper prices. I was very impressed with my Asus ROG Crosshair V Formula-Z board, and with the Z170's above, liked the look at the Asus ROG Maximus V Hero board...

The Asus ROG Rampage V Extreme board is a lot more expensive than the Asus Strix X99 board, but which would you recommend? Is the Strix worth taking for the cost saving? Is the Rampage worth the extra? Or is one of the MSI boards worth using instead?

Thanks in advance for anyone's advice!
 
Thanks for the feedback stulid & lee32uk.

The only reason I considered an OCUK build is to save me time and effort, but that really is neither here or there. More than happy to build, and makes sense to do so.

Bit more info: I'm a techie. I need W10 Pro over home for three reasons:

1) Bitlocker. I work in identify management and security; I have a slightly higher paranoia level than the average bear. I know that not all threats can be stopped, and not all are worth losing sleep over - but I still prefer to do the things I can to mitigate risks from bad actors.

2) Trusted Boot: For the same reasons as 1 (I've seen the crazy compromises first-hand that led to MS introducing Trusted Boot).

3) Hyper-V: It's the primary "reason" for me to build a PC (gaming is the "excuse" ;) ).

I know that there will be no optical drive in my build - I don't want an optical drive. I have a spare USB drive knocking about with which I can build an install USB, alternatively I can borrow the optical drive from the better half's computer for the install.

Thanks both for the pointer on the nVME version of the M.2 SSD, and thanks lee32uk on the pointer on the 950 Pro - that's blatantly the way to go!

stulid:
- Thanks for the catch on the faster RAM - will definitely switch to that! Also on the CPU/chipset front, what would you recommend?

- I was originally looking at Z170/6700k, but reading various threads here and opinion threads elsewhere led me to the conclusions I made, but I"m open to listening to all advice on this matter. Whilst I can afford to purchase a rig, I want to make sure I do so in the way that makes most sense.

lee32uk:
- My mancave that masquerades as a "spare room" and my home office has a red/white/black theme, hence me going for the H440 white.

- You recommend an 850w PSU - will this be enough for a second 1080 card in the future (as I'm guessing that's going to be the best way in 12/18 months time to add 4k and performance for the "gaming excuse" over changing other components).

- You recommend the MSI x99A SLI Krait edition - I'm more than open to suggestions here, but could you give me an understanding over your reasoning?

- You recommend the KFA3 HOF GTX 1080 - is the reason for choosing this version over the Asus Strix down to cost, or is there other reasons?

Thanks both again - I really appreciate the feedback and advice. :)
 
Thanks stulid - appreciate the further feedback.

It is gaming, but it's also virtualisation. I will need W10 Pro for this and I will need to create several VMs replicating a multi-site setup to create multiple Active Directory forests along with a hybrid cloud environment.

The virtual environment won't be spun up all the time (as it will be a lab), and when it's not I'll be gaming.

I see you're supporting Z170/Skylake over X99 - could I ask your reasons, I really want to understand the thoughts behind that choice more than anything else. :)

TIA. :)
 
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