Assembling a Gaming PC, would like some input

[wormer]

Dear Everyone,
First of all: thanks! Have gotten into a new PC assembly business a week ago, and thanks to the Tom's Hardware community I might soon be finished .
Following is the spec I've assembled. I'd like your opinion about it.
Info: The pc is used for gaming (no video editing), I'm not upgrading from an old system.

• 
  ■ CPU : Intel Core I5 6600K 3.5Ghz 6MB Cache s1151
  ■ CPU cooler: Noctua NH-D15 (Does it suit the cpu?)
  ■ Motherboard: Asus Z170-A LGA1151, Intel Z170, DDR4, 3xPCI-E
  ■ Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws-V 2x8GB DDR4 3000Mhz CL15 Kit
  ■ Video Card: Asus GTX970 STRIX OC DirectCU II 4GB GDDR5 (Should I take another brand?)
  ■ SSD Drive: Samsung 850 EVO Series MZ-75E500 500GB SSD Sata III
  ■ Storage Drive: Western Digital Caviar Red WD20EFRX 2TB Sata III (with all the coloring system, I don't know whether it's the right drive for the job...)
  ■ PSU: Antec 1000W Active PFC Modular 80+ PLATINUM HCP-1000 PSU
  ■ Screen: Samsung S24D300HS 24' LED (No idea about this one... still have to do my homework on screens)

Other than general impression, and the thoughts I've written about components, I'm wondering about the following:

■ Will my PSU suffice?
■ There's a war going regarding the video card (GTX970 vs. R9 390). I went for Nvidia due to familiarity, despite the competitor having twice the VRAM... Am I wrong?
■ Due to living outside of US/UK, the rig is of a 2385 USD price in my local currency 🙁 (including windows). If at all possible, should you recommend any component replacement, I'd be eternally grateful if you'd recommend it from the quality standpoint other than a price. I'm just afraid the price argument won't be valid for me 🙁.

Thanks in advance,
A.

 

[Rookie_MIB]

PSU is serious overkill from a wattage point of view. Just as a general guessitmate on the wattage:

CPU: 80w
MOBO: 50w
Drives/Fans: 50w
GTX970: 150w
Total rough wattage comes out to about 330ish watts with everything running full tilt.

Now, normally they recommend that your wattage estimate land somewhere between 50-75% of your PSU rated wattage IF you aren't overclocking. In that case, your build would easily be handled by a PSU in the 500-600w range. You're about double. You can easily scale that down to a high quality 600w unit and probably save some decent money there without sacrificing the quality of the build one bit.

For example:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151119&cm_re=seasonic_gold-_-17-151-119-_-Product

Beyond that the build looks good. And if you want to go with that high end PSU you can, it'll work fine, but it's far more than you would ever need for this specific build...

 

[wormer]

Dear Rookie_MIB,

Kind words are always good to hear! Thanks for the input!
For future reference: where do I get the wattage of ... "stuff" to estimate my needs?

Edit: found this one: CoolerMaster 650W 80+ Gold V650 as a substitute

Thanks again!

A.

 

[ben001]

CPU cooler: Yes it will but you need a good spacious case for better airflow. : http://www.noctua.at/main.php?show=productview&products_id=68&lng=en&set=1

Video Card: MSI would be a reasonable & better choice to go with still, Asus is good enough. (In my opinion)
Storage: Mainly in WD: Blue & black are better for gaming and other purposes. You should get either of them. WD red series meant for NAS storage drive. check there official website for information.

1. That power supply is an overkill for that card even for SLI. The card hardly draws 145W and the 500 is minimum system requirement. So, any psu from Tier 1 or 2 (550-600W) for single will be enough & a high quality 750W/850W for dual (850W for safe).

2. Do involve for performance & power efficiency not for war. Yes, it's true that 390 got more VRAM which looks like can run games for more durable years. The radeon is slightly better than 970. I would pick 970. You can see the report here which will help you to decide : http://www.techspot.com/review/1019-radeon-r9-390x-390-380/page3.html

Hope this helps you.

 

[Rookie_MIB]

Dear Rookie_MIB,

Kind words are always good to hear! Thanks for the input!
For future reference: where do I get the wattage of ... "stuff" to estimate my needs?

A.

Well, first up if you build it with pcpartpicker.com - it'll give you a 'wattage estimate' up in the top. Did you build it that way?

If not, usually some rough rules of thumb: 'Big' Intel desktop cpu is 80-90w. 'Small' one is about 50w. AMD cpu - big ones - 90-120w. Small ones about 70w. motherboards are about 50w draw with ram. drives and fans (unless it's a ridiculous setup) about 50w. GPUs are the big variation. For Nvidia, from 960->980ti, you're looking at a range of 120w to 250w. AMD gpus will run a lot hotter, usually you need to check reviews to find their wattage.

 

[KiddRedd96]

You can use PC Partpicker to add all the parts in the build and it'll display the total wattage on the "My System Build" page.

 

[wormer]

Well, first up if you build it with pcpartpicker.com - it'll give you a 'wattage estimate' up in the top. Did you build it that way?

If not, usually some rough rules of thumb: 'Big' Intel desktop cpu is 80-90w. 'Small' one is about 50w. AMD cpu - big ones - 90-120w. Small ones about 70w. motherboards are about 50w draw with ram. drives and fans (unless it's a ridiculous setup) about 50w. GPUs are the big variation. For Nvidia, from 960->980ti, you're looking at a range of 120w to 250w. AMD gpus will run a lot hotter, usually you need to check reviews to find their wattage.

Dear Rookie_MIB,
After building it in the site of the store, I rewritten it into the pcpartpicker.com, and you're absolutely right!
I found a nice Coolermaster 650W 80+ gold PSU at the retailer .

CPU cooler: Yes it will but you need a good spacious case for better airflow. : http://www.noctua.at/main.php?show=productview&products...

Video Card: MSI would be a reasonable & better choice to go with still, Asus is good enough. (In my opinion)
Storage: Mainly in WD: Blue & black are better for gaming and other purposes. You should get either of them. WD red series meant for NAS storage drive. check there official website for information.

1. That power supply is an overkill for that card even for SLI. The card hardly draws 145W and the 500 is minimum system requirement. So, any psu from Tier 1 or 2 (550-600W) for single will be enough & a high quality 750W/850W for dual (850W for safe).

2. Do involve for performance & power efficiency not for war. Yes, it's true that 390 got more VRAM which looks like can run games for more durable years. The radeon is slightly better than 970. I would pick 970. You can see the report here which will help you to decide : http://www.techspot.com/review/1019-radeon-r9-390x-390-...

Hope this helps you.

Dear Ben001,
Thanks again for the input! I live in a hot country (in the summer), thus picked GTX970 due to lower operating temp. It's hard to compare reviews of the same video card from different manufacturers, thus: Do MSI usually do better in Nvidia cards?

I don't plan to OC or SLI, thus already taking down the PSU .

For no apparent reason there are no 2T blue version HD at the store 🙁. Since my current laptop has total of 700 GB of storage which was more than enough for me for the past 4 years, I decided to go towards: Western Digital Caviar Black WD1003FZEX 1TB Sata

 

[Rookie_MIB]

Dear Rookie_MIB,
After building it in the site of the store, I rewritten it into the pcpartpicker.com, and you're absolutely right!
I found a nice Coolermaster 650W 80+ gold PSU at the retailer .

I would -not- get the Coolermaster without digging into some reviews. Corsair has upped their game when it comes to PSUs, the Coolermasters can still be problematic. The one I listed was a 550w Seasonic which a top tier PSU designer/fabricator and price wise would save you $170ish on your build alone.

Antec, XFX, EVGA, Corsair, and Seasonic are for the most part all excellent PSUs and have something in your wattage in a reasonable price range.

Pick anything off this list in the Tier1/Tier2 category.

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-2547993/psu-tier-list.html

 

[ben001]

Well, first up if you build it with pcpartpicker.com - it'll give you a 'wattage estimate' up in the top. Did you build it that way?

If not, usually some rough rules of thumb: 'Big' Intel desktop cpu is 80-90w. 'Small' one is about 50w. AMD cpu - big ones - 90-120w. Small ones about 70w. motherboards are about 50w draw with ram. drives and fans (unless it's a ridiculous setup) about 50w. GPUs are the big variation. For Nvidia, from 960->980ti, you're looking at a range of 120w to 250w. AMD gpus will run a lot hotter, usually you need to check reviews to find their wattage.

Dear Rookie_MIB,
After building it in the site of the store, I rewritten it into the pcpartpicker.com, and you're absolutely right!
I found a nice Coolermaster 650W 80+ gold PSU at the retailer .

CPU cooler: Yes it will but you need a good spacious case for better airflow. : http://www.noctua.at/main.php?show=productview&products...

Video Card: MSI would be a reasonable & better choice to go with still, Asus is good enough. (In my opinion)
Storage: Mainly in WD: Blue & black are better for gaming and other purposes. You should get either of them. WD red series meant for NAS storage drive. check there official website for information.

1. That power supply is an overkill for that card even for SLI. The card hardly draws 145W and the 500 is minimum system requirement. So, any psu from Tier 1 or 2 (550-600W) for single will be enough & a high quality 750W/850W for dual (850W for safe).

2. Do involve for performance & power efficiency not for war. Yes, it's true that 390 got more VRAM which looks like can run games for more durable years. The radeon is slightly better than 970. I would pick 970. You can see the report here which will help you to decide : http://www.techspot.com/review/1019-radeon-r9-390x-390-...

Hope this helps you.

Dear Ben001,
Thanks again for the input! I live in a hot country (in the summer), thus picked GTX970 due to lower operating temp. It's hard to compare reviews of the same video card from different manufacturers, thus: Do MSI usually do better in Nvidia cards?

I don't plan to OC or SLI, thus already taking down the PSU .

For no apparent reason there are no 2T blue version HD at the store 🙁. Since my current laptop has total of 700 GB of storage which was more than enough for me for the past 4 years, I decided to go towards: Western Digital Caviar Black WD1003FZEX 1TB Sata

Video Card: Yes, MSI generally maintain balance performance from other after market cards.

Storage: WD Blue available till 1TB, you can add another if you want and caviar black would be a great choice.
Power supply: This will help you get right power supply unit http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-2547993/psu-tier-list.html and Cooler Master V series psu's are very good.