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so im getting ready to pull the trigger on a new computer build but i have no idea what im doing. I would love some feedback.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant
CPU: Intel Core i7-6800K 3.4GHz 6-Core Processor ($439.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i v2 70.7 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($94.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Asus SABERTOOTH X99 ATX LGA2011-3 Motherboard ($303.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair Dominator Platinum 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($229.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($157.30 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 1080 8GB ROG STRIX Video Card ($714.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Fractal Design Define XL R2 (Black Pearl) ATX Full Tower Case ($109.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($96.82 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: LG WH14NS40 Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NSC0B DVD/CD Writer ($19.49 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $2307.51
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-09-14 09:05 EDT-0400

Holy Piece of Cookie With Some Wine, do you need/want to control the Space Shuttle? 'Cause that's a PC that can do that.

Well, assuming you want a super-top-of-the-line PC good for the next few years, looks good. I'd say it's a comparatively cheap case when balanced against other parts, but I don't really see why you'd need a bigger/more expensive one; someone else might point out some more connector possibilities though I don't see anything missing from that one.

Other than that ,the only thing I can offer is penis envy.

Bubble181 said:

Holy Piece of Cookie With Some Wine, do you need/want to control the Space Shuttle? 'Cause that's a PC that can do that. Other than that ,the only thing I can offer is penis envy.

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haha i last built a computer when i was in my early 20's so im overdue

I'd say it's a comparatively cheap case when balanced against other parts, but I don't really see why you'd need a bigger/more expensive one;

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i had a hard time finding a case that was plain design with no lights and windows.

Ye GODS what a beast that thing is.

made some changes, because screw it i came this far.
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant
CPU: Intel Core i7-6800K 3.4GHz 6-Core Processor ($439.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i v2 70.7 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($94.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Asus SABERTOOTH X99 ATX LGA2011-3 Motherboard ($303.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair Dominator Platinum 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($229.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 850 Pro Series 512GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($220.35 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 1080 8GB ROG STRIX Video Card ($714.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Fractal Design Define XL R2 (Black Pearl) ATX Full Tower Case ($109.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair 860W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($205.98 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: LG WH14NS40 Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NSC0B DVD/CD Writer ($19.49 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $2479.72
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-09-14 17:33 EDT-0400
went with the most robust version of the PSU and upgraded the ssd to the pro version.

Well, I'd drop the ssd and get an M.2 ssd. This plugs into the M.2 slot on your motherboard which is a four lane pcie slot.

In other words the drive you've selected tops out at 500MB/s, but the drive I'm suggesting tops out at 2,500MB/s, a five fold increase.

Samsung 950 PRO Series - 512GB PCIe NVMe - M.2 Internal SSD (MZ-V5P512BW

This gives me 12-20 second boot times on my machine, and should give you substantially similar times on yours.

Given you're going high end on everything else, I figured you should know about the new M.2 storage slot that your motherboard probably already has.

stienman said:

Well, I'd drop the ssd and get an M.2 ssd. This plugs into the M.2 slot on your motherboard which is a four lane pcie slot.

In other words the drive you've selected tops out at 500MB/s, but the drive I'm suggesting tops out at 2,500MB/s, a five fold increase.

Samsung 950 PRO Series - 512GB PCIe NVMe - M.2 Internal SSD (MZ-V5P512BW

This gives me 12-20 second boot times on my machine, and should give you substantially similar times on yours.

Given you're going high end on everything else, I figured you should know about the new M.2 storage slot that your motherboard probably already has.

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what if my computer never goes offline? that adds like another 120 to the build from something that started at 1500 before i started talking to people.

Well, being able to load your game content 5 times faster is somewhat of a bonus.

But yeah, there's definitely a cost increase, and while the speed difference is notable, a regular ssd will certainly do what you need it to do.

stienman said:

Well, being able to load your game content 5 times faster is somewhat of a bonus.

But yeah, there's definitely a cost increase, and while the speed difference is notable, a regular ssd will certainly do what you need it to do.

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oh this thing isnt for gaming its for watching anime in 4k 3d :3

Bones said:

oh this thing isnt for gaming its for watching anime in 4k 3d :3

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... you don't need almost ANY of what you have picked out to do that >_<

Well, 4k. I don't even know if 4k THREE D anime is a thing.

Yeesh, if you're going to go 6800k, why not go 6850k or E5-1650 v4? Either one is only +$200, but you get 12 more PCIe lanes (6800 only gets 28, 6850 gets 40) and slightly faster clocks. I'm pretty sure the 6850k is just a detuned Xeon E5-1650 v4 anyway, especially once you compare the two.
No time to research everything right now, but if you go the M.2 route like @stienman suggests (and I will second, if only to keep your other slots free), keep in mind those things can get plenty hot during use, so you're going to want to plan on some extra cooling for that area unless you find a cooler brand (newer ones are available but I don't know how they perform) or you're going to want to mount it in an M.2 PCIe carrier card to allow better air OR just bite the bullet and get a pure PCIe drive. Right know the fastest M.2 is the Samsung SM951 NVMe (NOT the AHCI one!), and the fastest PCIe card is the Intel 750. The Samsung is cheaper, but it only goes up to 512GB ($300, about the same price as the Intel 750 400GB) while the Intel can get you up to 1.2TB (though for $800). FYI these are both x4 drives. x8 drives are becoming available, but you probably don't want one since the cheapest ones are > $3000.

--Patrick

PatrThom said:

Yeesh, if you're going to go 6800k, why not go 6850k or E5-1650 v4? Either one is only +$200, but you get 12 more PCIe lanes (6800 only gets 28, 6850 gets 40) and slightly faster clocks. I'm pretty sure the 6850k is just a detuned Xeon E5-1650 v4 anyway, especially once you compare the two.
No time to research everything right now, but if you go the M.2 route like @stienman suggests (and I will second, if only to keep your other slots free), keep in mind those things can get plenty hot during use, so you're going to want to plan on some extra cooling for that area unless you find a cooler brand (newer ones are available but I don't know how they perform) or you're going to want to mount it in an M.2 PCIe carrier card to allow better air OR just bite the bullet and get a pure PCIe drive. Right know the fastest M.2 is the Samsung SM951 NVMe (NOT the AHCI one!), and the fastest PCIe card is the Intel 750. The Samsung is cheaper, but it only goes up to 512GB ($300, about the same price as the Intel 750 400GB) while the Intel can get you up to 1.2TB (though for $800). FYI these are both x4 drives. x8 drives are becoming available, but you probably don't want one since the cheapest ones are > $3000.

--Patrick

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i only went to the 6800 because it was only a few hundred more board and processor than a 6700, but going up the 6850 now puts my build at almost 3k from a starting point of 1500 off the initial build i thought was great. I literally have no idea what pats even talking about, and im trying to understand but it seems to almost going beyond what i need. I am not a hardcore gamer, im hardly a gamer at all, i was just trying to build a solid high-end computer for when i do feel like playing the next big game here and there. what really confuses me is everyone has different advice. my build has been growing in scale because it has been a little "well you have this one why not spend x more and go up to y?" after a dozen times im now at a computer im not sure i really want anymore.

Bones said:

i only went to the 6800 because it was only a few hundred more board and processor than a 6700, but going up the 6850 now puts my build at almost 3k from a starting point of 1500 off the initial build i thought was great. I literally have no idea what pats even talking about, and im trying to understand but it seems to almost going beyond what i need. I am not a hardcore gamer, im hardly a gamer at all, i was just trying to build a solid high-end computer for when i do feel like playing the next big game here and there. what really confuses me is everyone has different advice. my build has been growing in scale because it has been a little "well you have this one why not spend x more and go up to y?" after a dozen times im now at a computer im not sure i really want anymore.

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You should scrap the build, write down a list of goals (which should look roughly like the one below) and ask for advice that expressly sticks to said goals.

1. Price target of $X,XXX, hard limit at $Y,YYY.
2. Watch 4k 3d weaboo trash with no stutter :3
3. Occasional gaming, would like to be able to run new games at [low/mid/high/ultra] settings for Z years.
4. Misc: BluRay capabilities, storage size/speed, OS, screen number/sizes, expandability, ...

Ive done that twice already -_-. Thats how i got to the current 2k build thats turning into 3k because i dont know what im dont know shit and people give me advice and like i stated and it grows. I think ok cool i should be good and then someone says well you came this far spend the extra and do this lol

I sometimes feel like I'm just a shill for the place, but still: try looking at http://www.logicalincrements.com/ . The PC as posted above is already about 90% of the "extremist" build - the very highest tier before "monstrous, unlimited".

Typically, there's always a way to improve your PC by "just a little more". If you're not really a power gamer and just want to be able to play games at good quality for the next 2 or 3 years, you'll frankly be well served by the "Exceptional" tier; possible with one or two little extras depending on personal preference.
Death by committee ;-)

If you were aiming for AWESOME COSMIC POWER then you should seriously consider the CPU (and SSD) change(s).
If this is merely going to be A Solid Performer For Many Years To Come, then you should (mostly) follow @Denbrought's advice and scrap the build in favor of reevaluating your component choices based on your criteria.
The LGA2011-v3 socket is by definition in the "Enthusiast/Workstation" category. Choosing a board based on that socket for your build automatically means you're going to be spending noticeably more in order to take advantage of what it offers over and above the usual LGA1151 socket, otherwise you would've gone with the (cheaper and smaller) other one to begin with.

--Patrick

Bones said:

Ive done that twice already -_-. Thats how i got to the current 2k build thats turning into 3k because i dont know what im dont know shit and people give me advice and like i stated and it grows. I think ok cool i should be good and then someone says well you came this far spend the extra and do this lol

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Price goals hard limits are key. If someone wants to add $150 in, say, the GPU, then you need to find $150 in savings from other components. This keeps the price bloat at bay.

To further clarify my last post, if you're not going to take advantage of all the extras you get with an LGA2011-v3 socket, then you probably shouldn't build around one.

--Patrick

I dont have an issue with the build i just want you to explain to me like the idiot i am why i need to make these upgrades to the parts. When you say tech specs it means nothing to me lol.

Bones said:

I dont have an issue with the build i just want you to explain to me like the idiot i am why i need to make these upgrades to the parts. When you say tech specs it means nothing to me lol.

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Well, most of them come down to "it'll be slightly faster". But that might be too dumbed down ;-)

As for his processor suggestion - it's more or less "if you're buying a Ferrari anyway, might as well get the one with the extra horsepower - that last couple of dollars extra won't make the difference and why settle for "almost the very best"".
As for stienman's suggestion as to SSD - an SSD that goes directly on your motherboard will always be faster than one where everything still has to pass through mundane things like cables. The connector type it uses is waaay faster than anything you can do through cables. The difference is....well, not as big as between a "regular" HDD and an SSD, but still quite noticeable. His 12-20 seconds is, frankly, slow - I manage that with a regular old SSD as a boot drive. With a "clean" install, your PC will probably boot faster than your monitor can power on.

I understand all that, but what pat was talking about is where i am confused really. I might later add another 1080 depending on how nvdias sli shakes out so i understand needing more "channels". Im sorry im an idiot, i really appreciate the help.

Bones said:

Im sorry im an idiot, i really appreciate the help.

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If you are building your own PC, then you are NOT an idiot.
I'll try to sit down tonight and ELI5 my way through your build, assuming our kid stays in bed this time.

--Patrick

If you are buying a computer that you simply want to last for a decade and don't really need all that horsepower, in other words if you aren't playing latest and greatest games at 4K and want to do so for the next few years, then you're really going overboard. It'd be far better to set your limit at $1,000 then save the other $1,000 to buy a new computer in five years. That $1,000 five years from now will buy you a much better computer ham you can buy today for $2,000 or even $3,000.

It's fun to buy and have the latest and greatest, but on the price to performance curve you're already spending a great deal of money for 5-10% performance improvements. That's why people are suggesting high end upgrades, your current build is a lot of money for very small improvements.

So if you really are just looking for a media machine that can play today's and tomorrow's games well enough that will last five years, you should be budgeting closer to $1,000.

stienman said:

if you really are just looking for a media machine that can play today's and tomorrow's games well enough that will last five years, you should be budgeting closer to $1,000.

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I'd say closer to $1500, but that's only because NVIDIA pretty much gets to dictate top-end GPU prices right now.

--Patrick

PatrThom said:

I'd say closer to $1500, but that's only because NVIDIA pretty much gets to dictate top-end GPU prices right now.

--Patrick

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Yeah, but honestly unless you're a rabid gamer looking for 60+ fps from 1080p then you don't need to spend even $300 on a vidja card. A $150 card will run a 4k display just fine for all media needs, and will give you 1080p at 30fps for the casual gamer.

But I still don't have a good handle on the requirements he's trying to fulfill, so all I can do is guess.

Right, a good portion of the price is going to come down to whether or not he can get by without a GTX 1080 ($650) or GTX 1070 ($410) based on requirements.

--Patrick

stienman said:

Yeah, but honestly unless you're a rabid gamer looking for 60+ fps from 1080p then you don't need to spend even $300 on a vidja card. A $150 card will run a 4k display just fine for all media needs, and will give you 1080p at 30fps for the casual gamer.

But I still don't have a good handle on the requirements he's trying to fulfill, so all I can do is guess.

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I'm getting 1080p at 60fps from a card that was $210 3 years ago - the AMD Radeon R9 270x. I really don't hear the siren's call of 4k, TBH. Right now is a great time to be a gamer with cheap 1080p performance - the savings of which can be put toward a 27" monitor, imo.

Right now, the only reason to spend more than $200 on a new GPU is 4k gaming, or 1080p VR (because it needs at least 120fps, 60 for each eye).

The entire cost of the whole machine I am using right now was $900 (reusing monitor, kb/mouse).

I just want to be able to watch 4k shit when its around and play games on looks good settings. As i stated i have no idea what im doing and everytime i show a revised build it seems to go up another couple notches. First build was 1500 and i thought it great lol.

The horsepower required to decode 4k video is less than that required to keep 3D graphics going 60fps on a 1920x1080 display. A whole LOT less, especially since many chips now have specialized hardware to do just that.

--Patrick

Bones said:

I just want to be able to watch 4k shit when its around and play games on looks good settings. As i stated i have no idea what im doing and everytime i show a revised build it seems to go up another couple notches. First build was 1500 and i thought it great lol.

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Like I said....Go look at logicalincrements and start there; it's a far cry from perfect, but all their build suggestions "make sense" - in the sense that they won't suggest a vastly underpowered GPU with a powerful CPU, or a system that doesn't have enough power to properly use the graphics card, or whatever. Pick and match a bit between the Outstanding and Exceptional levels and you'll end up with a very performant PC, for half the money you were going to spend, and still better than what most of us are gaming with.

Feel free to donate half the saved money to Belgian Owl Rescue, account number available upon request :-P

Im just buying the rig, i already have the monitors and other accessories. I just wanted a nice computer that can do newer games on decent settings and eventually 4k when its not 800-1500 for a 32" monitor lol

Bones said:

I understand all that, but what pat was talking about is where i am confused really.

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Many of the specs you quote up top are kind of like going into an auto dealership:
You: "And I want it to have a 3-ton hitch."
AD: "Are you going to be hooking up a 3-ton trailer?"
You: "Nah, not really."
AD: "Then why do you want a 3-ton hitch?"
You: "I want it to be really strong!"
AD: "But you're never going to use it to its full potential. Wouldn't a 1-1/2 ton hitch be cheaper and easier to manage?"
You: "Yes, but then it wouldn't be a 3-ton!"

I mean, this is grossly oversimplified, but hopefully this gets the idea across.
I promise I'll put at least an hour into trying to make this easier to understand when I'm not being forced to deal with the public.

--Patrick

Like i said i have been building off of others advice, my build is a reflection of your answers of what i should buy.

You could easily build a 4k video watching station for under $1000. You definitely don't need a GTX1080 to do that. 4k GAMING is what that is for.

GasBandit said:

I'm getting 1080p at 60fps from a card that was $210 3 years ago - the AMD Radeon R9 270x. I really don't hear the siren's call of 4k, TBH. Right now is a great time to be a gamer with cheap 1080p performance - the savings of which can be put toward a 27" monitor, imo.

Right now, the only reason to spend more than $200 on a new GPU is 4k gaming, or 1080p VR (because it needs at least 120fps, 60 for each eye).

The entire cost of the whole machine I am using right now was $900 (reusing monitor, kb/mouse).

Click to expand...

I feel like the best bang for buck right now, if you're looking to upgrade to a newer monitor for gaming purposes, is 2K. You can push 2K resolution at 60+ fps with all of the current gen cards (gtx 1070+ and whatever the AMD equivalent is) while moving up to 4K means that even with the ultra high end (gtx 1080, possibly 2) you're still going to have trouble with high framerates.


But this is purely from a gaming perspective.

stienman said:

Yeah, but honestly unless you're a rabid gamer looking for 60+ fps from 1080p then you don't need to spend even $300 on a vidja card. A $150 card will run a 4k display just fine for all media needs, and will give you 1080p at 30fps for the casual gamer.

But I still don't have a good handle on the requirements he's trying to fulfill, so all I can do is guess.

Click to expand...

I'm with Steinman on this one. I upgraded my machine recently. Whole new build, except for the hard drive. And I think I was in the $700 range. The machine should easily last me 3 years with the kind of gaming I do, at which point I won't mind plonking down another $700.

Hmm, i guess ill start fresh tomorrow.

Bones said:

Hmm, i guess ill start fresh tomorrow.

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Is 4K streaming of media really the main use for the computer? Because if you weren't joking about that, I don't think you need nearly that much beef.

Ravenpoe said:

Is 4K streaming of media really the main use for the computer? Because if you weren't joking about that, I don't think you need nearly that much beef.

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seriously, i mostly use this thing for watching movies and animu. I hardly even game atp. I have no idea what i should be looking at for parts for a system thats usually just used for watching streaming video, an occasional pc game, and chatting on discord.

Aha! Finally, some stated requirements.
Ok, I have no idea how long this post is gonna go, or whether I'll still be awake by the time it's done.

The reason people (myself included) were throwing heavy hardware at you is that your choice of CPU and motherboard are the ones that a guy at home trying to do 3D fluid simulation or video editing might choose. You don't put 6 cores/12 threads of server-grade silicon into your box unless you plan on mating them with a lot of other high-end hardware for churning through lots of transcoding, 3D models, scientific simulation, or the like.
These days, the majority of games run just fine on only 2 cores, which means any of a number of 4-core processors will easily be able to meet your needs for many years to come. Also they are much cheaper. Video decoding doesn't even need 4 cores, it can easily get by with only two, but I'd still recommend at least 4 for future-proofing. The only question is whether to get an i7 model that supports "hyper threading" (HT) or an i5 model that does not, and the answer to that question is a) Can you afford it (i7 processors tend to cost a bit more than i5) and b) do you see yourself doing any transcoding in the future? If so, then get an i7, because the ability to process an extra 4 threads will really save you time (about 30-40%) when converting between video formats.
If you are wondering why I am not recommending AMD CPUs, that's because they are not competitive on the high end. That might change early next year with their Zen chips, but those aren't here right now.

On to the motherboard. It used to be that the northbridge chip (usually the biggest one on there) ruled just about everything, but so many things have moved to the CPU now that it's not as busy as it once was. This is what I was getting at with "PCIe lanes" in my first CPU recommendation. See, even if the board has 50 PCIe lanes or some other ridiculous number traced onto it, all those lanes have to connect to stuff at both ends, so if your CPU doesn't have enough connections to actually use all those lanes, a bunch of them will just stay dark and unused. When you remember that one graphics card can command 16 all by itself (that's what the "x16" stands for in "PCIe x16"), you can see how much of a difference there would be between your CPU having 28 v. 40. Nowadays, the northbridge chip mainly does a sort of "plumbing" job to bind your CPU and RAM to each other and to the rest of the board, but it still has some other functions, like running your SATA or M.2 ports or the like. Features vary depending on which northbridge (or "PCH" (Platform Control Hub) as Intel likes to call them) is installed on your board AND for this reason your choice of motherboard is probably THE MOST IMPORTANT choice you make when deciding a build, as it is the part that joins all the other components together AND it dictates so many of your other choices.

So here's my advice. Decide which processor "family" you want to go with first based on the performance/price you're looking for, and then decide which motherboard to slide under it based on what you're going to be doing with that processor. For instance, if you won't be using dual graphics cards, then you don't need a full-sized motherboard with extra slots. If you are going to want 6 hard drives in your system to hold all your movies, then get something that has 8 SATA ports to plug them all into.
If you are looking for top end "consumer" processors, right now that means your choice is between these three (oldest to newest): i7-4790k (Haswell), i7-5775c (Broadwell), or i7-6700k (Skylake). All of these run about $330 right now. Their i5-equivalents are the i5-4690k (Haswell), i5-5675c (Broadwell), or i5-6600k (Skylake). The i5's run about $50-$75 cheaper than their i7 counterparts. If you want to see how the i7 variants compare against one another, you can click here for one of the few reviews out there I know of that includes benchmarks of all three (among others). You'll probably be surprised at how closely they perform (at stock speeds, no overclocking applied). If you want to compare the i7 features side-by-side, you can click here to get the skinny directly from Intel (or click here for the i5 comparison). I know you won't necessarily know what all the rows mean (even I don't know what all of 'em mean), but you can see things like operating temperature, maximum resolution using built-in video (All of 'em can do 4k UHDTV @60Hz with just the built-in GPU and no graphics card!), maximum amount of RAM supported, whether or not they support integrated VGA out, or other things you might be interested in knowing (or asking). You might even find the integrated video is good enough for what little gaming you do, and so decide to skip buying a GPU completely for a couple years. It's quite do-able.

This might be more than you wanted, it might be less, there might even be an inaccuracy or two. But lemme know if it helps.

--Patrick

so one last question, as far as it seems, should i keep the m2 os drive ssd and the 1080 or drop back to the regular ssd and 1070? my build is now sitting just under 2400(which is more than doable for me) with the first set and changing back to the 6700K and a sabertooth mk 1 board. if that seems like a doable mix for what I have said im going to pull the trigger today.

i fell like it will be a good mix of enthusists and not crazy mad power either.
so in short.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant
CPU: Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($339.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i v2 70.7 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($94.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Asus SABERTOOTH Z170 MARK 1 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($249.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair Dominator Platinum 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($229.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 950 PRO 512GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($315.62 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 1080 8GB ROG STRIX Video Card ($714.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Fractal Design Define XL R2 (Black Pearl) ATX Full Tower Case ($109.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($96.82 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: LG WH14NS40 Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NSC0B DVD/CD Writer ($19.49 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $2311.83
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-09-16 08:11 EDT-0400
does that make more sense for a user like me?

On the one hand, for "mostly watching videos and occasionally playing a game", that's still fairly overkill. On the other hand, that build looks to me like it'll give you everything you want and will do so for many years to come.
As for video card... A 1070 will be more than enough, and an upgrade in 2 or 3 years to whatever-they-call-them-by-then-a-1150-or-something might be more cost efficient.

Bubble181 said:

On the one hand, for "mostly watching videos and occasionally playing a game", that's still fairly overkill. On the other hand, that build looks to me like it'll give you everything you want and will do so for many years to come.
As for video card... A 1070 will be more than enough, and an upgrade in 2 or 3 years to whatever-they-call-them-by-then-a-1150-or-something might be more cost efficient.

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agreed im going with what i had and replaced the 1080 with the 1070, ill keep the M2 drive though its dumb and overkill, but now if i decide to be an uber gamer later im set lol

Only got 20min before I have to leave for work, but want to recommend you take the price savings you got from stepping down to the 1070 and put that into the PSU. Spring $200 for the Seasonic Prime 750 (or the Seasonic Prime 850 if you're going to add a second GPU later) and then never have to worry about your PSU again (they come with a 10yr warranty). They are expensive, but independent testing repeatedly shows that nothing else compares to them. Nothing.

Also, get a USB 2TB external or something for backup. They're only $60-ish. Avoid future sobbing.

--Patrick

PatrThom said:

Only got 20min before I have to leave for work, but want to recommend you take the price savings you got from stepping down to the 1070 and put that into the PSU. Spring $200 for the Seasonic Prime 750 (or the Seasonic Prime 850 if you're going to add a second GPU later) and then never have to worry about your PSU again (they come with a 10yr warranty). They are expensive, but independent testing repeatedly shows that nothing else compares to them. Nothing.

Also, get a USB 2TB external or something for backup. They're only $60-ish. Avoid future sobbing.

--Patrick

Click to expand...

already did so lol, ill get the external in the near future. I have a 500 GB already so that can be my stopgap for now.

Thanks to all of you for your help and advice. I have a strange mux of parts i would have never considered if not for you folks. I have one more question while im waiting for it to arrive. anyone have any suggestions on case fans and cables? Sounds crazy i know but just felt worth asking. Looking at 140 mm fans for the bix and need sata cables for my new drives as ill be keeping the current computer intact. Thanks again!

Bones said:

Thanks to all of you for your help and advice. I have a strange mux of parts i would have never considered if not for you folks. I have one more question while im waiting for it to arrive. anyone have any suggestions on case fans and cables? Sounds crazy i know but just felt worth asking. Looking at 140 mm fans for the bix and need sata cables for my new drives as ill be keeping the current computer intact. Thanks again!

Click to expand...

Usually the motherboard comes with a couple SATA cables.

Last time I built a pc I think I had more cables left over than I began with. Well, more or less There were cables with the HDD, with the MB, with the graphics card,....

We could have just as much of a discussion on fans as we do on any other part.
But you're basically going to have to choose between 3-pin (dumb-fixed speed) and 4-pin (PWM-variable speed) fans.
Variable-speed ones are quieter.

And then there's the bearing type.
Ball bearings usually last the longest, but are the noisiest.
Sleeve bearings are the least expensive and work great...until they dry out.
Fluid Dynamic Bearing (FDB) are an improved sleeve bearing.
And then there are the magnetic ones that have no bearings.

--Patrick

If you need cheap cables, here's what you do.


Step one, find a radioshack near you. There's probably one close, they built those things all over.

Step two, go to its closeout sale, as it's probably going out of business.

Step three: realize that all they sell is cell phones, silently decree that they deserved to die, and go back home to order online.

One of my previous jobs was managing a now closed radioshack!

PatrThom said:

We could have just as much of a discussion on fans as we do on any other part.
But you're basically going to have to choose between 3-pin (dumb-fixed speed) and 4-pin (PWM-variable speed) fans.
Variable-speed ones are quieter.

And then there's the bearing type.
Ball bearings usually last the longest, but are the noisiest.
Sleeve bearings are the least expensive and work great...until they dry out.
Fluid Dynamic Bearing (FDB) are an improved sleeve bearing.
And then there are the magnetic ones that have no bearings.

--Patrick

Click to expand...

So what you are saying is i need a 3 ton hitch!

But seriously, is there a primer somewhere i can read?

Bones said:

One of my previous jobs was managing a now closed radioshack!

Click to expand...

If only they had actually done it.

Bones said:

is there a primer somewhere i can read?

Click to expand...

There has to be, but with technology changing, they aren't always up to date. Lemme see...
This article is from 2006, but much of it is still relevant.
Keep in mind this article only covers axial fans (ones that look like window fans), not centrifugal ones (ones that look like floor blowers).

--Patrick

Noctua NF-A14 industrialPPC-3000 PWM seems like a solid fan? it has good reviews and they seem to be well known for pushing high amounts of air at lower rpms. my board supports more than enough 4-pin fans so would these be a good investment in the future?

Noctua is a well-known fan brand. Biggest priorities are probably going to be whether or not they physically fit.
4-pin fans are usually better these days because the motherboards/software are smarter about controlling fan speed.

--Patrick

THANK YOU EVERYONE! HAL Mk II is up and running, i accidentally fried my old storage drive with all my random junk on it, which sucks, but is just stuff, nothing world ending. I wonder what is best? maybe a WD black/blue to replace it? the other question i have is my network drive doesnt seem to show up on my new computer, any one remember how you get that to appear?

edit: I has dumb, i have access to my back-up NAS again. i just needed to log my network credentials.

1) How much storage space do you need?
2) Can you get/do you want a SSHD in that capacity?
These two questions are going to dictate your choice of mfr.

--Patrick

Im not sure, but its going to be my drive for things i dont want to use the m.2 os ssd for. Ill have my regular used programs on the ssd, do i need the ssd/hdd combo for any particular reason? I figured 2-6 tb wd. But if you guys have other advice im all ears.

You only need the SSHD if speed matters. If your secondary drive is going to be nothing more than a big storage unit, or it's going to be used only when copying something big back and forth, then it probably doesn't matter. One bit of advice, though--don't get a drive that says "NAS-ready" or "TLER-enabled" or something like the WD Red or Seagate's NAS line. Those drives are engineered to not care as much about disk errors, which is great when you have multiple drives sharing the data, but not so great when it's the only other drive in your computer. Right now the most reliable seems to be HGST, and if you're not actually going to be doing anything intensive with the drive, you should be able to get by with any slower/low-power versions they might have.

--Patrick

Im thinking either a 2 or 4 tb wd blue or black grade drive

Blue is supposed to be their average hard drive, middle of the road for everyone.
Black is their performance line, supposed to be for people who want the most performance out of their drive but for some reason don't want to buy a SSD.

--Patrick

Anecdotally, I've had less data corruption problems with my blacks than my blues, though the blues have been ok.

I'd like to point out our discussion on hard drives from over in the other thread as well. You may find useful data in there.

--Patrick

Im assuming the blacks have tighter tolerances, but its just going to be for photos, converted optical media, dropbox, and occasionally steam games i dont want to write to my ssd. So blue?

There's usually a price premium for the blacks because of their "enhanced performance." I honestly don't know if there's any enhanced durability to go with it. Nobody seems to build a mechanical hard drive with longevity in mind, they only seem to build them for size.
There used to be a green tier, but those were rolled into the blue lineup a while back. So now you just have to look for the -X or -Z ending to tell whether it's a 7200 or 5400 RPM version, respectively.

--Patrick

Ended up buying a wd 4tb black drive. I am a consumer whore

...with a lot of storage.

--Patrick