Are these components compatible?

[will_taylor13]

I'm looking to build a gaming PC. I have picked out the following components:

Case - NZXT S340
PSU - Corsair Builder Series CXM 750W
MoBo - MSI Z97S SLI Krait Edition ATX
CPU - Intel Core i5-6600K
CPU Cooler - Cooler Master RR-H6V2-13PK-R1
Memory - HyperX FURY Series 8gb DDR3
GPU - EVGA NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 Superclocked with ACX 2.0

I'm just wondering if these components are compatible. Thanks.

 

[Barty1884]

In short, no.

You've got a Z97 board (Haswell) there, with a Skylake (ix-6xxx) CPU. You should be looking for a Z170 board.

With an appropriate Z170 board, you'll also need DDR4 RAM (avoid any "Skylake" boards than can use DDR3).

As much as the CM 612 is supposedly "better", a 212 EVO performs equally well, and it's cheaper.

The CX line of PSUs are no good. Look for an EVGA Supernova (P2, G2, B2) or an XFX or SeaSonic unit - 500W should be sufficient for that build.

 

[will_taylor13]

In short, no.

You've got a Z97 board (Haswell) there, with a Skylake (ix-6xxx) CPU. You should be looking for a Z170 board.

With an appropriate Z170 board, you'll also need DDR4 RAM (avoid any "Skylake" boards than can use DDR3).

As much as the CM 612 is supposedly "better", a 212 EVO performs equally well, and it's cheaper.

The CX line of PSUs are no good. Look for an EVGA Supernova (P2, G2, B2) or an XFX or SeaSonic unit - 500W should be sufficient for that build.

What improvements would you recommend? I'm not looking to spend much more than around £1000.

 

[Barty1884]

What improvements would you recommend? I'm not looking to spend much more than around £1000.

From the parts you've listed, I would assume you're going for a gaming rig here? 1,000 budget should be no problem at all.

Assuming you have a mouse/monitor/keyboard, but need an OS. Obviously, changes can be made if any of those assumptions are wrong.

You were on to the right idea with an i5, and I would base your build around an i5 + GTX 970 pairing, in the S340 case you picked.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor (£189.59 @ Aria PC)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i GTX 70.7 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler (£92.64 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z170XP-SLI ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (£109.99 @ Novatech)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2666 Memory (£45.95 @ Aria PC)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£58.74 @ Aria PC)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£35.98 @ CCL Computers)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB Superclocked ACX 2.0 Video Card (£259.99 @ Dabs)
Case: NZXT S340 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case (£58.60 @ Aria PC)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA G2 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (£67.98 @ CCL Computers)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) (£72.30 @ CCL Computers)
Total: £991.76
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-01-11 22:40 GMT+0000

 

[will_taylor13]

What improvements would you recommend? I'm not looking to spend much more than around £1000.

From the parts you've listed, I would assume you're going for a gaming rig here? 1,000 budget should be no problem at all.

Assuming you have a mouse/monitor/keyboard, but need an OS. Obviously, changes can be made if any of those assumptions are wrong.

You were on to the right idea with an i5, and I would base your build around an i5 + GTX 970 pairing, in the S340 case you picked.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor (£189.59 @ Aria PC)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i GTX 70.7 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler (£92.64 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z170XP-SLI ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (£109.99 @ Novatech)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2666 Memory (£45.95 @ Aria PC)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£58.74 @ Aria PC)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£35.98 @ CCL Computers)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB Superclocked ACX 2.0 Video Card (£259.99 @ Dabs)
Case: NZXT S340 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case (£58.60 @ Aria PC)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA G2 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (£67.98 @ CCL Computers)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) (£72.30 @ CCL Computers)
Total: £991.76
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-01-11 22:40 GMT+0000

Thanks for your help. I am going for a gaming rig. I already have a 1tb hard drive with win10 installed from a previous PC, should I use the money I'd save on upgrading the GPU to a 980?

 

[Barty1884]

Thanks for your help. I am going for a gaming rig. I already have a 1tb hard drive with win10 installed from a previous PC, should I use the money I'd save on upgrading the GPU to a 980?

Did Windows 10 come with a prior PC? Or was it W7/8/8.1? If it did, it was very likely OEM and you won't be able to transfer to a new setup.

On the rare chance it was a retail copy, you'll be able to move it, but (no offence) considering you're asking the question, I'll assume it was OEM.

Having an HDD you can use will save you the 35quid from the new HDD, absolutely. You can drop the SSD if you want, that won't give you any gaming benefit anyway. The 980 is a good card, but I don't personally see the price to performance justification for it. The 970 is more than sufficient for most needs (although if you want to spend the extra on it, I'm sure you won't regret it).

 

[will_taylor13]

Thanks for your help. I am going for a gaming rig. I already have a 1tb hard drive with win10 installed from a previous PC, should I use the money I'd save on upgrading the GPU to a 980?

Did Windows 10 come with a prior PC? Or was it W7/8/8.1? If it did, it was very likely OEM and you won't be able to transfer to a new setup.

On the rare chance it was a retail copy, you'll be able to move it, but (no offence) considering you're asking the question, I'll assume it was OEM.

Having an HDD you can use will save you the 35quid from the new HDD, absolutely. You can drop the SSD if you want, that won't give you any gaming benefit anyway. The 980 is a good card, but I don't personally see the price to performance justification for it. The 970 is more than sufficient for most needs (although if you want to spend the extra on it, I'm sure you won't regret it).

It came with Windows 7 and I then upgraded to Windows 10. I'll stick with the 970 then and go for the SSD. Thanks for all your help.

 

[Barty1884]

Yeah, that's an OEM version. You'll need to perform a clean install anyway, and the license won't activate on a new setup. You need a new copy of Windows.

No worries. Keep us posted on your build?

 

[will_taylor13]

Yeah, that's an OEM version. You'll need to perform a clean install anyway, and the license won't activate on a new setup. You need a new copy of Windows.

No worries. Keep us posted on your build?

I'm ordering the components bit by bit so I can build up the money, any suggestions into what order I should get components??
I'll let you know how it all goes.

 

[Barty1884]

I'd suggest you save the money up & order at one time. It becomes quite a complicated return process if you happen to get a defective item and you go past a retailers return policy date. Then you deal with RMAs which can take time.

HDDs, SSDs, GPUs and PSUs (although not often the GPU without a new PSU) you can use in the meantime, so those are probably the only components I would say you could order earlier than others (but only if you plan to use them! not if they're going to sit & wait).