Worth building?

camsham76

camsham76

camsham76

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11 May 2016
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6
First time poster so be gentle!

Here goes... I want a PC to use for serious DSLR photo editing (potentially a little 4k video editing) as well as general office stuff with lots of stuff open at the same time. Low noise is important to me as this computer will live at the writing desk in my livingroom. I would like access to usb type C and reasonable future upgrade options.

I have two questions.

1. I like the look of this spec. Are there any obvious flaws or substantial improvements that alternative (similarly priced) components would provide?

Intel Core i7-5820K 3.3GHz 6-Core - £315
Corsair CMK16GX4M2B3200C16 Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4 3200 MHz CL16 XMP 2.0 High Performance Desktop Memory Kit - Black - £75
Asrock Z170 Extreme 4 Motherboard - £140
Samsung EVO 850 SSD 500GB - £110
Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 3TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive - £70
Asus Strix GTX 970 GPU - £275
Corsair CS 650 PSU - £80
be quiet! Shadow Rock 2 51.4 CFM Rifle Bearing CPU Cooler - £31
Fractal Design Define S with Window / Black - £69

2. Is it worth building this myself or can I buy something equivalent and reasonably upgradable off the shelf?

Please forgive me if anything I've said makes no sense. The last time I built a PC was about 13 years ago!
 
Hi,

That does seem good apart from the PSU.

Ones like the EVGA G2/GS or Superflower leadex range have a passive fan mode at low temps, better internal parts and probably a longer warranty.

The ASUS Strix card is good as that is also passive at low load.

X99 has a quad channel RAM controller so try a 4x4GB kit.

The board is not right for that CPU.


My basket at Overclockers UK:

Total: £886.93
(includes shipping: £0.00)
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​


Then add a GFX card and a HDD.

Remember GTX1070 will be out in June.
 
The cpu and motherboard are incompatible. You need an x99 board for the i7 5820K, or an i7 6700K if you want to keep the ASRock Z170 board.
 
stulid said:
Nope.
Click to expand...

I see. That's good news. :)

What is the advantage of that mobo over the cheaper one? Is it just the ability to have two GPUs? If I don't really play graphically intensive games (Yes, I'm old!) is the ASRock Z170 board sufficient?

Is the 6700k better, worse or just different than the 5820K?
 
If you can possibly wait a month or two, do so. There's a lot of upgrades just around the corner directly for the components you're looking to put into your build. These upgrades may also alter the pricing of existing products.

There's a bunch of Broadwell E CPUs about to be released, including the successor to the i7-5820k, the i7-6800k. This will also use the X99 platform. There's also a bunch of new X99 boards being released too, some at a slightly lower price point than the current crop of X99 boards with slightly improved features. If you find this is a little more than you want to spend, a Z170 system with an i7-6700k should do you just fine too.

Likewise there's also a replacement for the GTX 970 just around the corner, the GTX 1070 which looks likely to launch at roughly the same price point. This could be an important upgrade if you want to work with 4k content and monitors.

As others have said, 3200 Mhz RAM is overkill. So unless the price difference is insignificant, 2400 or 2666 Mhz is fine.

Also, why get a windowed case if low noise is important? The Define S is a nice case, but you might find the Define R5 is even quieter (I did a build recently with the R5 and it is essentially totally silent when under normal, non-gaming, load).

I'd also suggest taking a look at Noctua coolers if you want silent operation under normal load.

Definitely do a self-build if you can, you'll get all the components exactly how you want.
 
Sounds like its worth waiting until July/August?
I'll take a look at that case you suggest as I really don't need the window and quiet running is important.

Are X99 boards better than the Z170 even if gaming isn't a big part of my usage? Will quad core be noticeably worse or is it the future proofing angle that makes X99 a better choice? I'm willing to spend more on the mobo if that gives me more longevity in the system.
 
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camsham76 said:
Sounds like its worth waiting until July/August?
I'll take a look at that case you suggest as I really don't need the window and quiet running is important.

Are X99 boards better than the Z170 even if gaming isn't a big part of my usage? Will quad core be noticeably worse or is it the future proofing angle that makes X99 a better choice? I'm willing to spend more on the mobo if that gives me more longevity in the system.
Click to expand...

If you can wait until July/August then definitely do it. There's always something new around the corner of course, but this current round of CPU and GPU releases is likely to be quite significant.

X99 vs Z170 is swings and roundabouts and you'll get people stating the case for both here. Essentially, either is going to give you good service for the forseeable future, both for productivity and gaming.

Whether a faster clocked quad core (like the 6700k) or a slightly slower clocked hex core (like the 5820k or 6800k) is better rather depends on the applications you are likely to run.

For photo editing a 6700k is likely to have the edge as Photoshop (and similar apps) tends to favour faster cores and don't tend to gain much from extra cores.

For video editing and rendering a 5820k or 6800k will likely have the edge as most video editing and 3D apps can usually take advantage of the extra cores.

For gaming, the jury is out - currently the 6700k is king but for DX12 games hex cores are likely to pull ahead.

It's hard to advise what is best until we see the launch prices of the i7-6800k, i7-6850k and the new X99 boards. Then it'll be the case of comparing against what the price of the 6700k and a decent Z170 board is at that time.
 
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