Another new PC build
 

Just wanted to see what you guys thought. I know there are some like minded folks on here.

I really liked Ryzen but the deals where so good on the Intel stuff I couldn't refuse. Plus, I game, I don't do Photoshop etc, and I will keep my 6 core 12 thread machine for a streaming box etc. The 7700k is still the winner in single threaded applications, and 4 cores and 4 threads on this is plenty for maxed out upcoming AAA titles at 4k.

My original plan was to reuse a bunch of parts from my current rig, but as I got deeper in, the hardware deals are SO GOOD right now that I am only going to end up reusing my SLI 970s, and my PSU from my current box, both of which will be replaced in upcoming months.

I put the REAL price I paid for everything, and everything is brand new with the exception of the aforementioned GPUs and PSU.

Oddly enough, every single lowest price thing on PC partpicker I was able to find cheaper elsewhere, mostly through www.reddit.com/r/buildapcsales, which included the free p400 case with the mobo purchase. I am REALLY in love with the case, except for the possible airflow restriction on the front, and I do plan to mod the front panel for straight through airflow. I also really wanted to go with the Cryorig A80, which is a 280x27mm radiator, but its sold out everywhere, so I 'settled' on the A40 ultimate which is the big body 240x38mm radiator, at the cost of about 1 degree Celsius in performance. You can also see that I only went with a single 500GB m.2 NVMe drive, and that is because I basically leave everything in the cloud and download on demand since I have gigabit internet, but I will add a mechanical HDD to it next month when I also upgrade to a big boy monitor setup. After Vega releases I will see what GPU prices do, and end up with a couple of 1070s or 1080s, or possibly a vega GPU depending on the market.

The 7700k will be delidded before it goes in the machine. I did not list the 24 dollar delidding tool and the 10 dollar liquid metal for that. I will be shooting for AT LEAST a 4.8 ghz stable OC, and I will definitely push it to 5 to see how it handles it. All in all, I got away for a thousand bucks. Not bad for a top of the line gaming PC.

Here we go!

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i7-7700K 4.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($295.00)
CPU Cooler: CRYORIG - A40 ULTIMATE 83.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($128.00)
Motherboard: ASRock - Z270 Taichi ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($189.00)
Memory: Corsair - Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($98.00)
Storage: Samsung - 960 EVO 500GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($219.00)
Video Card: EVGA - GeForce GTX 970 4GB Superclocked ACX 2.0 Video Card (2-Way SLI)
Video Card: EVGA - GeForce GTX 970 4GB Superclocked ACX 2.0 Video Card (2-Way SLI)
Case: Phanteks - ECLIPSE P400 ATX Mid Tower Case ($0.00)
Power Supply: Corsair - 850W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($0.00)
Operating System: Microsoft - Windows 10 Pro OEM 64-bit ($32.00)
Total: $961.00
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-05-24 19:35 EDT-0400

Tell me what you guys think, and where you think I ****ed up!

Stable OC @ 5.0 ghz at 1.3v even. Gaming temps hover around high 30s low 40s at 5 gigs. REALLY in love with this Cryorig cooler.

come at me bros.

What would be the average price for a PC that could handle gaming but also handle Photoshop work as well? Just checking since I'll be PC shopping probably in the next 6 months.

How did the delid go?Thought about doing the same to my 6700k, but I'm probably more limited by the silicon itself than temperature.

Is the WANNACRY virus built in?

If your going that route you need to do a Ryzen build. You can get away for a grand if you shop right and want a powerful system. 6 months fom now I may give you different advice. Hardware is very fluid right now with lots of new releases and price changes coming rapidly.

uhhhh no i dont leave my shit unpatched

Super easy.

TBH I was nervous as ****!

Here is the delidding tool I used.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Intel-CPU-De...-/192162690814

If you watch the guys video he makes it look like you have to strain and work at etc.


Once it was tight, I just gave the allen wrench some muscle and it literally slid right off like butter. No issues whatsoever. Cleaned it all up with rubbing alcohol and a Q tip, and used

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

for the liquid metal. Once it was all cleaned up I just put a BB sized amount on the die, and spread it around with a q-tip. I placed the processor in the mobo socket and positioned the IHS on top, clamped it down and voila. MEGA GREAT TEMPS. I am pumped it was so easy and just makes all the difference in the world.

Another great thing about this build was that I planned correctly, had everything on hand, and put it all together in one fell swoop, and it all just worked from the get go. No tweaks needed in the bios, no nothing needed except to install my monitoring tools and then I went to work OCing. Only took me a few tries to find a stable 5.0 clock and away we go~

Don't really see much to gripe about. I've got my own personal opinions when it comes to SLI and AIO coolers, but you do you.

I've yet to use the MyDigitalSSD m.2 but if I were building a pc today that would be my drive of choice. It's not as good of a performer as the EVO but in the real world what are you really going to notice? I like that the MyDigitalSSD uses MLC giving it really good endurance scores and it comes with 2 more years of warranty.

And I still can't give up my optical drive. I have too many CDs to rip and I still buy CDs, plus old games I get nostalgic for every now and then.

You wont notice it in regular duty, only in file transfers. I just got a smokin deal on it and for the little price diff I said meh, why not, will look good in benchmarks and I have the file transfer overhead if needed.

As for AIO coolers, never had any issues with them (my original h100 is still running strong after 5 years) and they always keep the temps down, quieter than air and cheaper than custom loop. These cryorig coolers are incredible, compared to a custom loop you are talking a few C of difference. Hell of a value.

SLI has never ever ever ever caused me an issue, I see a lot of complaints about it but MOST of them come from people regurgitating what they have heard and they don't have first hand experience. It isn't 2001 anymore and the shit just works. Plus, the GPUs are recycled from my old PC, and I will be upgrading in the future. Could be talked into going single card in the right situation, but will have to see what happens to the market when Vega hits.

I havent used my optical drive on my old rig since 2012 when I built it and installed windows using a disc lol. i actually tested it a few days ago and it doesnt even work, who would have known LOL

My beef with SLI is the added heat from a second card and not all games utilizing a dual GPU setup.

Sure there are games that dont use SLI, but they tend to be few and far between nowadays, and if they dont, they arent much of a GPU hog anyway, and but if they arent using it the other card runs at idle so no extra heat really in that situation. GPU temps are not an issue if you have a good card with an aftermarket cooler, and use fan control software. My cards never get over about 55c at prolonged usage with both GPUs running maxed out at 100 percent.

One thing I did in this build compared to my other is I front mounted the AIO this time instead of top mounted.

Check this out for why~

<iframe width="854" height="480" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/xNAMxZgvves" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>


10C better processor temps in an open fan GPU environment! WOW! No change in reference style blowers, but this right here shows that you can offset any added internal case heat by configuring your build correctly.

Even though it goes against every bone in my body, I'm half tempted to say **** it and make my next build, which is maybe 2 months down the road, an AMD build.

I would literally gain nothing by doing it. The sole reason would be just to give AMD a little more market share and hope the Ryzen chips age better as more games start to move towards more threads.

Either way I doubt there would be any buyers remorse. I just have little faith in AMD's ability to keep up.

Threadripper should be out then. It's going to kick Intel's ass at that price point. 16 cores/32 threads and 64 PCIe lanes for $849? Wow.

I think Ryzen is really going to mature into a nice platform for AMD. I didn't feel super awed by the release at first, but I think the next reiterations and the maturation of software support is going to make it extremely competitive down the road.

I really have no interest in Threadripper. It's more like r5 1600 or maybe r7 1700 if I just want to splurge for no reason at all vs Coffee Lake.

At the same time intel is going to claim less cores same power for a little bit more with the new i9s etc.

Competition is a good thing.

If you can afford SLI, go for it.

If not, no big deal.

Not sure what case fans come with the P400, but make sure you get the right ones.

I just ordered the Enthoo Pro M Acrylic because I really like the open airflow design and the fact that it came with two PH-F140SP's which look to be really good fans according to the specifications. Just got the case the other day and mine most certainly came with two F140MP's installed which are radiator fans with higher static pressure and quite a bit lower cfm. Pretty disappointed with that. This was my first purchase of a Phanteks item and it's going to be interesting to see how well their customer service is. I have heard mixed reviews and depending on how this turns out they may have gained or lost a customer.

The phantek fans that come with it are the phantek 120 static pressure non-silent ones, i forget the model number.. (just looked at them, they are PH-F120MP) My entire front intake is the cryorig fans/radiator set up, with one phanteks fan exhausting out the back, and the one that came in the front moved to intake via the top rear spot. Its working fabulously. Right now my normal gaming load is 39-42c @ 5.0 ghz so I am in good shape cooling wise.

I bet they switch your fans out if you ask

I've called them and was told to email support with a copy of my invoice. Haven't heard back from them yet. If I don't hear by Monday I will be calling them again.

Well they replied to the email with a tracking number. I just hope english isn't the first language of the person who wrote the email, because it reads like they are only shipping one fan, but they also mentioned the "truck number." We'll see.

my guess is there is little to no difference in actual case temps due to changing those fans out. You should do some prime 95 or aida 64 testing with both sets and see how it goes~

Well the SP's arent PWM fans so on the whole they should keep the case cooler since they'll be max speed all the time and they still have a pretty decent static pressure rating.

I was going to purchase 2 more SP fans and have 2 intake with 1 rear and 1 top exhaust. I may use the MP as exhaust since I plan on putting a fat air cooler in my build like the NH-D15 or the Cryorig, Phanteks, be Quiet variants.

EDIT: I actually just went to go double check their plug after I read a forum post and they seem to be "frankenfans." I thought it was odd that they didn't have a model identification on the sticker, but the plug is 3 pin. So what they shipped was a SP motor with a MP propeller. Seems weird.

get that cryorig man you know its the bomb!

Everyone that gets them seems to rave about them but I haven't read any comparisons that corroborate the claims. It's also typically the most expensive of the dual tower coolers. Just not sure. I'm ultimately a bang for the buck kind of guy and the Phanteks cooler can be found on some really good sales in the $60 range but I just built someone a computer with the NH-D15 and for a big cooler it was stupid easy to work with. Noctua is on point with their mounting bracket ease of use.

I have the r1 ultimate it's easy as hell to install, so no worries there. That being said if you can get the phanteks for $60 just do it. The difference in temperatures between all those big towers is a couple degrees at most.

The other thing that turns me off on the Cryorig and the be Quiet! is the inability to adjust the fans in case of a RAM issue. I think the Cryorig is offset so it may not be an issue, but I'm not in love with potentially having to spend a bunch more money on a low profile kit with equal timings and speed just to be compatible with a cpu cooler.

The R1 universial was made for ram compatibility. It's offset towards the rear with a slim front fan. The r1 ultimate will have standard compatibility for a heat sink that large.

That's right where they lose me, because the fan can only be adjusted up or down a very minimal amount thanks to the way it attaches to the tower.

The D15 with stock fan placement clears, I believe, 32mm for RAM and 64mm without the fan. The build I just did the guy ordered G.Skill V RAM which is like 42mm or something and he bought my Arc Midi R2 which I had on hand and all I had to do was just raise the fan hanging over the RAM slots by the difference and it fit like a charm. Phanteks uses the same type of design but their cooler is a bit taller stock, however the Pro M case is wider than the Arc Midi R2. So there shouldn't be any issues with just raising the fan.

Why does Noctua have to make their equipment so damn ugly? It's like they don't care about the aesthetics aspect of a build.

They do have products that are black, but they are industrial and not quite as good and louder.

Not sure why they stick with the brown/tan combo but it doesn't really seem to affect their sales. Personally I dont really care about all the RGB or color matching stuff.

Phanteks would be the best bet if you were going for a color theme since their tower comes in black, blue, red, white, and I think orange or yellow.

True it doesn't seem to hurt their sales though I've passed them by on my 3 builds because of how they look even though they are so highly rated.
End of day there are a lot of different coolers out there that get the job done just fine and instead of baby poop brown I'd rather look at this

https://attach.mobile01.com/attach/2...433f524669.jpg

Personally, I'd rather look at this

https://maingearzone-maingear1.netdn...gallery/10.jpg

But it's not worth the hassle, imo. Can you imagine if one of those RAM goes bad? Dear lord.

Right? That's what I want to do for my next build but soft line not hard line. That is some ninja level work in that build.

Figured I'd jump in here and ask: will a core i5/7400 and a gtx 1060 with 3gb be above average and enough for high quality gaming and potentially VR? 8gb ram expands to 16gb. ?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I'd get the i5 6600 for 10 bucks more and get the 1060 6gb variant instead of the 3gb variant. The 1060 might be kind of iffy for VR. If you can swing a 1070 I'd definitely do that instead.

3gb isnt going to be enough for VR. Now, if you are talking about a DECENT gaming rig with that setup? On 1080p you are probably just fine, and 8gb is enough for that too. You're not going to be gaming on Ultra type settings with 60 fps on that rig, but some games you will be able to play at high and most at medium and keep those frames up.

thanks for the feedback - yep, if I'm going to do this, I want to plan for VR and 4K.....so maybe step up a bit from what I described earlier.

the specs I mentioned were a pre-built machine. I'd like to build my own, but not sure how good I'll be at it.

But either way, thanks for the feedback.....as always, you get what you pay for!

It's easy. If 12 year olds can do it you can do it.

If you want to do 4k and VR expect to invest more money.

If its me, I would do something similar to what I built in the OP, but add in a 1070 or two instead of holding out on my 970s.

Also if your going to wait a little bit, we are in the midst of a CPU showdown and I expect the performance per dollar to keep rising.

If this is a new build I actually wouldn't go with a Intel CPU.

Ryzen is the performance/dollar winner at the moment. With optimization it has come within a few percentage points in singlethreaded tasks of Intel, and it blows it out of the water when it comes to multithreaded performance. Plus you get way more cores and threads for your money with Ryzen. Finally, 1151 socket is a dead architecture. You won't be able to upgrade your processor down the road with Intel without forking out money for a whole new setup. Whereas Ryzen's AM4 socket architecture is going to last until at least 2020.

So, with that said, I would be looking at a Ryzen 1600, 1600x, 1700, or 1700x depending on what your want to spend and then for a GPU a 1070.

Be aware that no single GPU out there can do 4k 144hz gaming right now, not even a 1080ti. A better goal to shoot for is 2k 144hz gaming, which 1070 can do on some titles, but if you want to be able to do it on most titles and be future proof for A+ games, you might have to consider investing in a 1080, or waiting until VEGA comes out and see what kind of performance it offers. 2k 60hz gaming can easily be done by the 1070, but my concern is VR really needs a high framerate, so if you're going for a VR capable rig you might as well be using a 2k 144hz monitor.

Uhhh???? What?

1151 is the new socket that replaced 1150 and was brand new with Sky Lake. Coffee Lake will use 1151 as well because Intel has abandoned their previous tic-toc model so there's no telling how long 1151 will last.

Coffee Lake/Cannon Lake will be the last ones to use 1151.

fwiw, I'm running a similar setup and play everything on the highest settings possible. Never had it dip below 60fps.

MSI Z270, i57600k oc'd, GTX 1060 6Gb. It might have to do with the games though. Been playing mostly World of Warships, Dark Souls 3, Witcher 3, Diablo 3 and Player unknown. FPS always chillin between 60-70. Some 1080p 144hz monitor I think its AOC? I wanted to spend more, but 1K was the budge the wife set lol.

Link?

Under the previous model of intel tic-toc, Kaby Lake would have been the last.

I ended up getting the ASUS G20.......i7 7600, with a GTX 1070 and 16mb ram.

Smokin' deal at 999!

Not bad!

Reusing case mobo and storage im assuming

Reusing an old 170 series mobo with that new chip? That doesn't seem good. Would have to flash bios upgrade wouldn't he? What's a "G20"?

Probably this. Open box

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/asus-rog...?skuId=5614801

oooh i see

Oh. Ok.

yep - that's the one.

happy so far.

It was open box, but everything was packaged new - so couldnt tell it was used.

What type of cpu cooler did you get on that store bought rig?

Another new PC build
 

Haven't bought anything for it yet except an SSD. I've read quite a few reviews that it runs pretty quiet and cool.

I can vouch for the quiet part. It's damn near silent


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Getting a bit nervous over the future of GPU prices. Miners are going nuts right now. They've already run out the stock of RX 580's and shit and now 1070's are flying off the shelves. Just checked my PCPartpicker build and the EVGA 1070 I had on there is $80 higher because Amazon, Newegg, Superbiiz, etc are all out of stock. Only Best Buy has it in stock.

Bitcoin is driving up GPU prices? **** you guys.

And 3rd party vendors are about to release GPUs specifically for cryptocurrency mining. They dont even have outputs to help lessen the cost. Once those become a thing it will stablize.

Not Bitcoin. Ethereum. I'm seriously considering selling my R9 390 as I could get $350 for it. The problem is I have a freesync monitor and I really don't want to have to switch to an Nvidia card.