~$1.5-2k computer build help

[hayze]

So I apologize in advance this thread might be bit long. It's probably about that time I invest into new computer parts. I'm trying to make a near perfect build and color matching is a must, so this will limit me on choices and buying cheaper.

My budget not sure, just best bang for my bucks obviously.

What am I using my PC for?
I don't PC game too much anymore, but when I do it's mostly Overwatch, BF4, and BF1. I also want to run a virtual machine in the back running linux almost at all times. This VM will only be used for me to learn coding, I know it can be achieved in windows but what fun is that.

Things I will NOT be purchasing:
HDD
SDD
windows

I have not picked out every part so far, I'm mostly posting this now because two Items that I'm looking at are currently on sell, saving me almost $40 so I'd be willing to purchase those and keep them in my closest until I get my near perfect build. So feel free on only answering some of my questions if you like.

My theme:
I'm shooting for a black and white computer build, with blue lighting (well RGB but will probably mostly use just blue). My Idea is to have an all white mobo with black parts, such as RAM, Video card (with white accents/lighting possibly), PSU cords. Black fans with white LED/RGB. I want to use white light one fans because I don't want my case drowned in blue lighting, more so accented in it, so having two light strips top and bottom or where ever might be best are blue, with blue RAM LED, then my mobo below has blue. I do want to try and make everything RGB so if I ever get bored of my colors I can change that, because white and black build with any lighting color looks pretty sick.

Parts:
Phantek Eclipse p400
GIGABYTE GA-Z270X Designare (1 of 2 on sale)

NZXT Kraken 140mm
So I absolutely love the look of this water cooler, just the price kind of turns me away. Any suggestion on a watercooler with RGB lighting that might be cheaper?

CORSAIR Vengeance RGB 16GB DDR4 3000(2 of 2 on sale)
Again RGB is a must. Like I said early I want a linux VM, I currently have 24GB which is perfect for me, but of course I do not have that option. Would 16GB be enough for a VM and gaming at the same time? 10GB for windows, 6GB for VM?? I feel like 32GB I could upgrade to down the road when I actually get more serious about it. Also do I need RAM speed of 3000, would I see any difference from 2400?

Now the CPU, I kind of randomly chose an i7 6700 for a price perspective. Would I notice a performance difference between that and an i5 6600k? Also I was leaning towards Ryzen due to the fact I want to run a VM. But AMD does not have the mobo color scheme and lighting that I want.

GPU
I will be playing on a 27in 1440p monitor and a refresh rate of...well that's what I'm still trying to decide. I have read that anything over 75hz you don't see much of a difference. is 144hz worth it?
if so then would a 1080 be worth getting?

PSU
would like to have cables in black paracord. I'm assuming 800-850w gold standard would be enough with some head room? suggests would be helpful. full modular, color of unit does not matter since it will be hidden.

Sound Card
I love good sound quality. I use Vmoda m100 as my headset, and a pair of bose speakers. Do I need to splurge on this to get solid sound quality? I also want to plug my guitar up to my pc.

Again sorry for the long post, I just don't want to get something and be like shoot maybe I should have gone with something else. I spent multiple hours just making sure that's the case I wanted, my color scheme and what not, so I still have a lot of research a head of me but would greatly appreciate everyone elses input.

Thanks

 

[spentshells]

I will refrain for adding anything beyond .... that motherboard really is something else

 

[FD2Raptor]

For 1080p@144hz:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i7-7700K 4.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($329.00 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: NZXT - Kraken X52 Rev 2 73.1 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($149.99 @ B&H)
Motherboard: Gigabyte - GA-Z270X-DESIGNARE ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($156.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair - Vengeance RGB 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($312.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Asus - GeForce GTX 1070 8GB Video Card ($389.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Phanteks - Enthoo Pro M Acrylic ATX Mid Tower Case ($89.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Corsair - RMx 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Case Fan: NZXT - Aer RGB120 (3-pack) 61.4 CFM 120mm Fans ($74.89 @ SuperBiiz)
Case Accessory: NZXT - Hue+ LED Controller ($59.99 @ Amazon)
Monitor: AOC - G2460PG 24.0" 1920x1080 144Hz Monitor ($349.99 @ Best Buy)
Total: $1983.80
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-06-09 02:54 EDT-0400

***Phanteks Pro M Acrylic for better liquid cooling support. Since the P400/P400S cannot support a liquid radiator in the top meaning the Kraken X52 would have to be mount at the front which would disrupt/compromise the cooling setup for the build (as exhaust, then you'll only have one aft intake fan, any top intake fans would have to fight the physic of hot air going up and therefore generating much more noise; as intakes then the air coming into your case will be pre-warmed with the heat from the CPU providing less effective cooling to the GPU and the VRM of the motherboard). You can opt for a 120/140mm AIO to use as aft exhaust, but then you'd be paying twice the money for less cooling power than a good mid-range air cooler.
***Corsair RMx 550W better fit the opening on the PSU cover of the Pro M (160mm long) and sufficient for the GTX1070 (single 200W a card; single GTX1080Ti ~300W). 850W is for SLI-ing GTX 1080 Ti. 1000W+ is for.... I don't know? Someone building a big RAID array + 4x mid-high-tier AMD GPU mining coins?
***Four DIMMs kit Vengeance RGB fill up the RAM slots for better color lighting. Plus there are already titles that will require more than 8GB RAM for 1080p, leaving 10GB for OS+game won't leave you with much time before a new upgrade may be required.
***GTX 1070 will give you uncompromising performance for 1080p@144hz. And 24" is just about right size for 1080p, as 27" would be for 1440p. 144hz is worth it since your games are FPS leaning. If you were mostly playing RTS/RPG then 144hz wouldn't mean anything.
***7700k instead since you're already opting for Z270 chipset MB and an expensive liquid AIO, it would be a shame to try saving ~$30-$50 now only to find out you'd need to spend ~$300 for the i7k as the only upgrade option in the future to extend the life of this build. And since many games are taking 4 cores minimum approach, if you are going to run a VM in the background, 8+ threads of i7 is a must (doubly so since BF1, a CPU heavy title, is in your list).
***NZXT Hue+ for advanced lighting control + a few LED strips + three AER RGB 120mm fans that can be control/sync with said LED strips with the use of the Hue+ from the CAM software. While the NZXT Kraken X52 will give you that RGB AIO which can also be controlled with the same CAM software as the Hue+. Between the Hue+ and the Kraken they will occupy both USB 2.0 header on the Designare.

Cooling setup: Kraken 2x120mm top exhaust, Aer RGB 3x120mm intakes, 1x Phanteks F-140SP Black/White exhaust (included with the Pro M) with slow fan speed, and the one F-140SP included at the front removed.

OR: Kraken 2xAer RGB top exhaust, 1x Aer RGB 120 aft exhaust, 2x Phanteks F-140SP B/W fans front intakes @ higher fan speed, two 120mm aer non-rgb fan included with the Kraken removed.

The Pro M with Tempered Glass was on sale a few days earlier would have looked great with the lighting.

 

[hayze]

FD2Raptor I definitely appreciate your response. If I were to switch cases I'd just spend the little extra on the tempered glass.
Now the PSU what if I want to get the 1080 or even the 1080ti? would I probably need about 650w? because on neweggs PSU calculator they say about 668w for a PSU. I'm also really leaning towards the 1080 because I want to play 1440p, which going with a 1080 would bring me up $100-150, then the 1080ti would be about $300-350 more plus +300 more for 1440p monitor. Which I could squeeze out the money for.

Now I watched some videos 1070 vs 1080 on 1440p on bf1, I think they had about a 15fps difference, would this be much of a difference. Also would possibly running SLI in the future give any benefit to 1440p gaming? I know BF1 would take advantage of this.

Also looks like I'm going to have to buy a video card first, I came back to my computer to wake it up, now I have green pixels dancing every where with black lines flashing here and there -_-

 

[FD2Raptor]

I'm also really leaning towards the 1080 because I want to play 1440p, which going with a 1080 would bring me up $100-150, then the 1080ti would be about $300-350 more plus +300 more for 1440p monitor. Which I could squeeze out the money for.

Now I watched some videos 1070 vs 1080 on 1440p on bf1, I think they had about a 15fps difference, would this be much of a difference. Also would possibly running SLI in the future give any benefit to 1440p gaming? I know BF1 would take advantage of this.

Also looks like I'm going to have to buy a video card first, I came back to my computer to wake it up, now I have green pixels dancing every where with black lines flashing here and there -_-

Sorry to hear that it seems like your video card had failed.

If you do go with 1440p then the Dell S2714DG, 27" 1440p 144hz with Gsync is $554.97 @ Amazon, roughly $200 more than the AOC G2460PG is a very good choice. Gsync range for the Dell screen is 30-144hz.

The GTX1080 would be better than the GTX1070 for 1440p@144hz, but if you're going for 144hz then the GTX1080 Ti would deliver that performance for longer w/o needing an upgrade; i.e. within the same game, a GTX 1080 should provide smoother experience compare to a GTX 1070, but since the GTX1080 is only about 10-15% faster than a GTX1070, I'd say that both will become insufficient for the task at around the same time.

So, maybe a multi-stage upgrade to avoid overshooting your budget instead of a completely new build right away? A 1080Ti + 650W(single)/1000W(SLI) PSU + 1440p144hz screen now (maybe including the HUE and its LED strips) and the rest sometime later?

While SLI-ing can improve performance, personally I feel that SLI (or CF) as an upgrade gives the best bang for your bucks when you can find somebody selling their old card for cheap (but still within the warranty period by the manufacturer) to upgrade or a retailer clearing stock; I don't know how it might be for you, but for example, recently I've seen clearing stock price for Galax GTX980 Ti HOF for about the same as the avg price of new GTX1060/RX480/580 where I am, so that's what I would be aiming for if I was thinking of SLI as an upgrade option rather than having to buy new at full or with just 5-10% sale price to do SLI/CF; i.e. if you buy a 2nd hand 1080 Ti from somebody who just have to have the best/latest when they sell their card/cards to move to Vega/Volta rather than buying a new 1080 Ti then SLI may be worth the $$$-to-performance upgrade.

Now the PSU what if I want to get the 1080 or even the 1080ti? would I probably need about 650w? because on neweggs PSU calculator they say about 668w for a PSU.

Online PSU calculator almost always inflate their numbers because they have to deal with uninformed people who buy PSU based on the watts a PSU said it has rather than looking up actual quality of said PSU.

An OCed 7700k draw up to 100W under stress load. A GTX 1070 draw roughly north of 200W depends on specific version of the card. MB ~ 40W, DDR4 ~ 15W (4 DIMMs), Phanteks 140mm fans ~ 1.8W/each, LED strips ~30W, Kraken AIO ~25-30W, Aer 120mm fan ??? (NZXT provide no info on power draw of any of their component). So the build has a ~430W maximum load with the 1070 (with single SSD/HDD) and the RMx can handle that 78% rated capacity just fine. And if it weren't for the extra power draw of the LED strips and the liquid AIO, that 550W would be able to handle a 7700k+single GTX1080 Ti.

When you change that 1070 to a GTX 1080 the power draw increase by ~50W, and another ~50W when you move up to the 1080 Ti. So while technically, a good 550W can still handle that load, but it will do so under high temps because of the higher load on its components which naturally resulting in higher fan speed, more noise and a lower life expectancy (PSU fan failure is the more common cause for it to stop functioning and need to be sent to warranty service than outright PSU circuitry failure). So if you want to go to 1080 Ti then yes, 650W is recommended, but not because the system will draw 600W+.

It's at 850W where you gain just enough wattage for a second 1080 Ti, but for that power load, a 1000W PSU would be the better choice, doubly so if SLI is going to be a later upgrade (because capacitor degrade over time therefore by the time you want to get a second 1080Ti, the 850W PSU may no longer able to provide the full 850W to support that second 1080 Ti; remember each GTX1080 draw ~50W less than the Ti so a total of ~100W less in SLI config which mean SLI-1080 non-Ti should still be fine with a 850w PSU).

If you do decide on a different PSU, do remember that the Pro M (as well as the high-end EVOLV) has an opening on its PSU cover ~160 mm / 6.3" long so PSU shorter than that (like the SuperNOVA G3) will not look good in it.

***Edit***
Newegg Combo: 7700k+Z270xDesignare:
https://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.3517773

 

[lrrelevant]

+1 For the Phanteks Enthoo Pro M. The ability to mount the cooler on top is very nice, especially if you go with a 240-280mm water loop (Kraken X52 is AWESOME!!). Suggestion: Looking at this build, it is obviously very flashy. Have you taken a look at the Corsair 570X case? I'm certain you will love it, and it comes with 3 RGB fans.

If you somehow can squeeze out the money for a 1080Ti with a 27" 1440p 144hz, you will have a gaming experience not many have, worth the extra couple of hundred bucks IMO. Another option could be a 240hz 1080p monitor (i own one, particularly the Asus PG258Q), and it literally feels smooth as real life. It's really amazing, and i can recommend it aswell. People saying they can't tell the difference between 240hz and 144hz are either blind or don't have the hardware to run it.

 

[hayze]

Yeah I'm definitely gonna go for the 1440p monitor, because down the road I know I'm going to want one. As awesome as a 1080 240hz sounds I think I would kick myself in the butt not going for the 1440p since I'm already spending a lot. I usually buy parts as I need them, but if I want to get a new CPU I need a new mobo and RAM, and now GPU since my went bad lol. This is what I'm upgrading from. it's about time too lol.

i7 950 3.06ghz (bought in 2010)
sabertooth x58
24gb 1600 RAM
GTX 770 4GB

I will be getting the 1080ti though is there really a difference between these 4? I understand clock speed but seems like any 1080ti can get close to 2000hz if someone really wanted that.
GIGABYTE AORUS - https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125954
GIGABYTE AORUS - https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125953
ASUS ROG GeForce - https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814126187
ASUS ROG GeForce - https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814126186

I probably don't want the gigabyte because it has some orange on it =/

And yes I'm definitely going for flashy I have always wanted to build a sexy looking computer, just never had the money till now.
Th corsair 570x is very tempting, but the cable management at the bottom kind of sucks, and looked like a tight fit for the rad up top? plus it's almost double the price, but I do really like it.

What 650w power supply should I get?

Nice combo find raptor! Thank you!

 

[FD2Raptor]

The main difference between those cards are: the "Xtreme" version of the AORUS and the "O" version of the STRIX are factory-overclocked (the Xtreme has LED on its backplate, and extra year of warranty with registration, and there was a Xtreme Premium edition with extra hardwares to bring HDMI&USB3.0 to the front for easier connectivity for VR hardware), but with how nVidia Boost tech now automatically does the OC for you based on GPU silicon quality and the card temps, in the real world, there's barely any difference between the one that is pre-OCed and the one that isn't. One would just be paying more money to those manufacturers in hope that they would give the more expensive version a better binned chip that can reach higher clock, but really, it isn't called the silicon lottery for nothing.

Hardware Canucks said that the 570x top rad mount isn't offset enough to clear the taller Vengeance LED, only the low profile and w/o any LED, Vengeance LPX. So if you go with the 570x you're either going to have to switch to non led, low profile LPX RAM or try to find thin 15mm fan and hope that those will fit and still deliver on the cooling front.

As for 650W PSU, if used with the Pro M, you should be looking at either the FSP Hydro G, or Corsair RMx; EVGA SuperNOVA G3 is good but probably not quite the right choice for this case aesthetic-wise since it's only 150mm long; depends on how you plan the lighting, the SuperNOVA G2 650W (165mm long) and its yellow 80+Gold logo might not clash too much with your color scheme (the Seasonic PRIME Gold 650W, 170mm long however might be too long); you can check out desegura build on PCPP with the G2 + Kraken + Pro M + lighting on his Gurren Lagann build to see how it could look, just keep in mind the components that are different between his and your build.

 

[hayze]

Hey man I appreciate all the help you gave me! I ended up buying all my stuff last night, so I should be getting it all in the mail sometime this week. Pretty excited to play some 1440p haha.