Building My First Gaming PC: Suggestions?

[PaIadin]

So I am going to build my first PC in about a decade and was looking for some advice. Here is my current plan:

http://pcpartpicker.com/list/jJ7kwV

Any suggestions or improvements?

[customiiguy]

Looks like top of the line to me

[Nguyen]

Get an i5 and save some money. Also, use microcenter to buy a CPU and Mobo combo. The have teh best deals.

[castgold]

The EVGA 1080 cards are having issues of catching on fire, but they released a patch that is supposed to resolve the cooling problem. I've been running my 980 ti for a little over a year on a 55" 4k monitor and it's been great on max resolution and motion rendering, with a short HDMI 2.0 cable. I wouldn't get too caught up with the SSDs. I was having a talk with Micro Center's returns desk and they see a number of them exhibit their limited write/re-write capabilities.

Everything else looks good. What about audio and mouse?

https://www.extremetech.com/computing/238633-evga-gtx-1080s-1070s-allegedly-exploding-due-improper-vrm-cooling

[afteractionreport]

Scrap the liquid cool heatsink and get a noctua...

[OutlawStar]

Upgrade the power supply to way more than you need, I'd say 1000w or higher, gold or platinum.

The closed loop water cooler you have picked out does as good as a top of the line air cooler such as a noctua NHD14 (or whatever the part number is). However the noctua will be $40-50 cheaper. Water coolers only start being advantageous when you've got a 360mm or 480mm radiator and you want to overclock both the CPU and GPU.

DO NOT "save money" by going with an i5. The i7 is better; it doesn't look like you're operating with a tiny budget, you will be cutting performance by dropping to the i5 and with all the new hardware hungry games coming out, they're designing them around the i7 architecture.

[Darryl Licht]

So I am going to build my first PC in about a decade and was looking for some advice. Here is my current plan:

http://pcpartpicker.com/list/jJ7kwV

Any suggestions or improvements?

A few comments from someone with over 25 years as a system builder...

You didn't state how many video cards your going with, or how many mechanical hdd's , yet I see two ssd's listed.

So my first Q is: why two SSD's? Just get one large enough to support your OS along with your most commonly used apps and games, use a mechanical HDD for data, other apps, and user files.

Also why not go with a BluRay drive? It will play CDs and DVD's and is only about $10 more.

Until some of these Q's are answered its crazy for ppl to blindly state "get a higher wattage PSU!" Bigger isn't always better, or needed!

Use one of the many PSU calculators out there on the net to compute your system requirements than add 10-20% for expansion and overhead. You don't need 1000 - 1200 watts if your system only requires 550-650! <-- which is about right for your setup with a single graphics card.

Let me know either in this thread or via PM... also newegg is one of the best out for price, service, and support! and if you live in so cal they are fast!

[Nguyen]

Upgrade the power supply to way more than you need, I'd say 1000w or higher, gold or platinum.

The closed loop water cooler you have picked out does as good as a top of the line air cooler such as a noctua NHD14 (or whatever the part number is). However the noctua will be $40-50 cheaper. Water coolers only start being advantageous when you've got a 360mm or 480mm radiator and you want to overclock both the CPU and GPU.

DO NOT "save money" by going with an i5. The i7 is better; it doesn't look like you're operating with a tiny budget, you will be cutting performance by dropping to the i5 and with all the new hardware hungry games coming out, they're designing them around the i7 architecture.

A lot of fud in this post. I'll find my way out.

[OutlawStar]

A lot of fud in this post. I'll find my way out.

Don't be a jackass. i5s are the lesser performers as proven by intels nomenclature and metrics. It doesn't make sense to choose a lesser component to "save money". That closed loop cooler is proven to be only on par with the air cooler for more money. More PSU is never a bad thing, the price difference is so minimal it doesn't make sense to only get a power supply just enough plus 10%. Thats like getting a truck to tow only what you need today, without any consideration for what you may tow in the future.

[Albs]

Don't be a jackass. i5s are the lesser performers as proven by intels nomenclature and metrics. It doesn't make sense to choose a lesser component to "save money". That closed loop cooler is proven to be only on par with the air cooler for more money. More PSU is never a bad thing, the price difference is so minimal it doesn't make sense to only get a power supply just enough plus 10%. Thats like getting a truck to tow only what you need today, without any consideration for what you may tow in the future.

No one said anything about i5 having better performance than an i7, it's just a waste if you're not planning on using the i7 to its full potential.

OP states this is his first Gaming PC, so with that said...most people, including gamers, should be fine with a Core i5 desktop CPU. Core i7 chips tend to help more with engineering, video editing, audio post-production, and other tasks that require as many processor threads as possible.

[OutlawStar]

While that is true, i7s will last longer against newer AAA titles, and have enough horsepower to do more than what he needs. To save 5-10% on a build and lose notable performance doesn't makes sense. Given the 1080 and i7, the build isn't heavily constrained by a budget. There isn't a point in "saving money" by dropping to a lesser processor.

[yellowsulphur]

If you plan on doing any streaming of your gameplay then definitely get an i7. Nvidia's nvenc is horrid at low bit rates.

[Albs]

While that is true, i7s will last longer against newer AAA titles, and have enough horsepower to do more than what he needs.

Wow, stop spreading FUD.

To save 5-10% on a build and lose notable performance doesn't makes sense.

Are you talking about performance in general or gaming? Generally it'll depend on your workload, if you're multi-tasking then you're sure. But if we're talking purely gaming here, you're entirely wrong.

Comparing i5-6600K to OP's i7-6700K, they both have 4 cores and the biggest difference is that there's 2x more threads on the i7-6700k. More threads = better multi-tasking which is better if you're streaming,etc, if you're purely gaming, you will HARDLY if any at all see any performance difference when gaming.

In terms of gaming only, go test out a system with i5-6600K & i7-6700K and tell me what notable difference you're referring to because I have no clue what you're talking about.

[Darryl Licht]

Wow... settle down peoples!

Lots of opinions here on what's best hardware. OP definitely is not doing a budget build. I always have said buy the best/fastest you can afford. Seems like the OP has deep pockets, so i7 wins vs i5 in every respect there!

If you don't believe me then here:

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2404674,00.asp

However, that performance difference and extra $ spent wont be apparent for most gamers and it wont be of much benefit to a gaming only pc. Now if you are doing CPU intensive ops like video transcoding or CAD... then the i7 will have tangible "seat of the pants" benefits.

It all comes down to money and your attitude towards it. Some of us like to spend it like wildfire, some like to save it.

OP... will you be overclocking this CPU? If so, do your homework on which i7 or i5 is currently the best for OC.

[Albs]

Wow... settle down peoples!

Lots of opinions here on what's best hardware. OP definitely is not doing a budget build. I always have said buy the best/fastest you can afford. Seems like the OP has deep pockets, so i7 wins vs i5 in every respect there!

However, that performance difference and extra $ spent wont be apparent for most gamers and it wont be of much benefit to a gaming only pc. Now if you are doing CPU intensive ops like video transcoding or CAD... then the i7 will have tangible "seat of the pants" benefits.

It all comes down to money and your attitude towards it. Some of us like to spend it like wildfire, some like to save it.

OP... will you be overclocking this CPU? If so, do your homework on which i7 or i5 is currently the best for OC.

I agree with you 100%.

I'm not debating about what's the best hardware. I don't think anyone here is denying that i7 beats i5 in all aspect.

If we're debating about whether or not i7 beats i5 in purely gaming, then that's a debate on it own.

Now if you have money to spend and don't care about price, then there's really nothing to discuss.

I just see a lot of FUD here, that is all.