Building a Beast - Need advice finishing up the build.

[Zzera]

First time poster on the forums. Building my dream gaming rig and wanted to get some advice that will help me in picking out the remaining pieces. Lets jump right to it.

What I have ordered so far:
Case - Phanteks Enthoo Pro Full Tower
Mobo - GIGABYTE G1 Gaming GA-Z170X-Gaming 7 (rev. 1.0) LGA 1151 Intel Z170 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.1 USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
CPU - Intel Core i7-6700K 8M Skylake Quad-Core 4.0 GHz LGA 1151 91W BX80662I76700K Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 530
HDD - Seagate Desktop HDD ST1000DM003 1TB 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive Bare Drive
SSD - SAMSUNG 850 EVO 2.5" 250GB SATA III 3-D Vertical Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) MZ-75E250B/AM

Need:
GPU - I'm pretty sure I will be getting the GTX 1080 of some form. (GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 1080 XTREME Gaming Premium Pack Video Card is the top runner so far but welcome discussion/opinions on a different 1080 card or even why I should consider something else.)
RAM - This is where I'm the most unsure. How much improvement would 32gb DDR4 be over 16gb DDR4 when this PC will be mostly used for gaming? 2133 Mhz vs 3000Mhz? 4x4gb or 2x8gb? Also the motherboard lists the following as compatible RAM:
DDR4 3866*(*O.C)/ 3733*/ 3666*/ 3600*/ 3466*/ 3400*/ 3333*/ 3300*/ 3200*/ 3000*/ 2800*/ 2666*/ 2400*/ 2133
Does this mean to get anything over 2133 the RAM is being overclocked? Is this dangerous, shorten RAM lifespan, etc.?
Right now considering two options but open to other options and largely depends on feedback I get here: 1)HyperX FURY 16GB (2 x 8GB) 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM DDR4 2133 (PC4 17000) or 2)G.SKILL Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM DDR4 3000 (PC4 24000)
PSU - Two questions here. 1)750W or 850W? 2)I've never used a Full Tower Case before and have read a few enough to worry me about cable lengths especially considering I will be utilizing the case's cable hiding feature and routing everything behind the motherboard. Is this something to worry about?
CPU Cooling - Looking at Corsair Hydro Series H100i V2 Extreme Performance Water / Liquid CPU Cooler. 240mm but have never used water cooling. Any advice for any CPU coolers welcomed.

Thanks for taking the time to read and help a fellow gamer out! Will share the complete build with pics when done if any interest!

 

[FourTet]

About the memory speed, I recently read this (http://www.legitreviews.com/ddr4-memory-scaling-intel-z170-finding-the-best-ddr4-memory-kit-speed_170340). It saying that the 2666mhz ram is the best value for money, as there is no performance improvement with higher clock ram dimms.

If you want some serious jump in RAM performance, you might want to take a look at an x99 mobo as they are quad channel (z170 is dual channel).


About getting a full tower... many, many moons ago (about 20 years) I got a full tower PC, and it was a waste of space. Ask yourself if you really need those 4 5.25-inch slots for dvd/blueray (or 5 1/4" floppy) drives . I'm now building a new PC and I'm thinking of getting a case without any 5.25" slots.

 

[BadBoyGreek]

If you don't plan to overclock, any RAM matching your CPU's spec will suffice. No need to go out and buy the fastest RAM if you're not going to push the CPU.

Using a single GTX 1080, 750w PSU will be more than enough. If you ever plan to go SLI, then I'd suggest a minimum of 850w just to have the extra headroom.

And about the case, don't focus so much on size as functionality. If you can fit everything you need into a mid-tower, have good airflow etc. then you don't "need" a full tower

 

[geofelt]

To answer your questions:

1. I like EVGA as a brand for their USA based forum and support.
I might pick the GTX1080SC version. The FTW and classified versions are marginally faster, but the SC has been well binned and comes with a factory warranted overclock. Do not be swayed by the versions with fancy coolers which sell for more. The supplied cooler from any card will do the job in a well ventilated case like yours.
You can look at the boost clock numbers and you will find that there is not a great deal of difference among all the cards.

2. For gaming, 8gb is fine. If you will be multitasking, then 16gb. I see no need for more unless you will be running 64 bit enabled apps that can use ram as a workfile. Ram running at 1.2v will likely max out at 2400 speed. Anything faster is better binned ram that can be overclocked to higher speeds.
But, higher speeds are accompanied by higher cas numbers, negating most of the benefit. One figure of merit is to divide the speed by the cas number, higher is better.
One negative of ram running at >1.2v is an impact on overclocking; it might cost you a multiplier as I found out in my simple experiments.
Here is a good article on skylake ram scaling:
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article1478-page1.html
Do not pay extra for fancy heat spreaders. They cost more and are worthless unless you are a record seeking ram overclocker.
Corsair LPX and g.skil Ares are good low profile kits.
I suggest a 16gb kit(2 x 8gb) of DDR4 2400 speed with low cas numbers. If you find 1.2v 2666 speed, ok there too.

3. PSU. A GTX1080 will run very nicely on a 520w psu.
http://www.realhardtechx.com/index_archivos/Page362.htm
Nothing wrong with 750w.
A PSU will only use the wattage demanded of it, regardless of it's max capability.
750w is sufficient for even a Titan X pascal if such an update is ever needed.
I would not plan on dual cards as an upgrade; there are issues with dual cards.
So not a big reason for a 850w or stronger psu.
Most important is to but a top quality psu.
Tier 1 or 2 from a list such as this:
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-2547993/psu-tier-list.html
Seasonic is always good.
With a psu mounted on the bottom, you may be short on the 8 pin cpu cable which is usually on the top of the motherboard.
High quality power supplies will have long enough cables.
Seasonic will have specs on cable lengths if you want to check.
Regardless, cpu power cable extenders are cheap and will do the job.

4. CPU cooling.
skylake runs cool. exotic cooling is not needed.
I suggest a Noctua NH-U12s or NH-U14s. The s variants are redesigned to offset from the pcie x16 slot to ckear graphics cards with backplates. They are also designed to clear tall heat spreaders.

5. Hard drive:
Love the ssd for windows. With the lower prices for ssd's, I can't help but think that you would be better off withy a 5oogb ssd or even 1tb and omit the hard drive.
You can always add a hard drive later if you will store large sequential files such as videos.
Seagate is not the best anyway, wd seems to be more reliable.
My canned rant on liquid cooling:
------------------------start of rant-------------------
You buy a liquid cooler to be able to extract an extra multiplier or two out of your OC.
How much do you really need?
I do not much like all in one liquid coolers when a good air cooler like a Noctua or phanteks can do the job just as well.
A liquid cooler will be expensive, noisy, less reliable, and will not cool any better
in a well ventilated case.
Liquid cooling is really air cooling, it just puts the heat exchange in a different place.
The orientation of the radiator will cause a problem.
If you orient it to take in cool air from the outside, you will cool the cpu better, but the hot air then circulates inside the case heating up the graphics card and motherboard.
If you orient it to exhaust(which I think is better) , then your cpu cooling will be less effective because it uses pre heated case air.
And... I have read too many tales of woe when a liquid cooler leaks.
google "H100 leak"
-----------------------end of rant--------------------------

Your pc will be quieter, more reliable, and will be cooled equally well with a decent air cooler.

 

[Zzera]

To answer your questions:

1. I like EVGA as a brand for their USA based forum and support.
I might pick the GTX1080SC version. The FTW and classified versions are marginally faster, but the SC has been well binned and comes with a factory warranted overclock. Do not be swayed by the versions with fancy coolers which sell for more. The supplied cooler from any card will do the job in a well ventilated case like yours.
You can look at the boost clock numbers and you will find that there is not a great deal of difference among all the cards.

2. For gaming, 8gb is fine. If you will be multitasking, then 16gb. I see no need for more unless you will be running 64 bit enabled apps that can use ram as a workfile. Ram running at 1.2v will likely max out at 2400 speed. Anything faster is better binned ram that can be overclocked to higher speeds.
But, higher speeds are accompanied by higher cas numbers, negating most of the benefit. One figure of merit is to divide the speed by the cas number, higher is better.
One negative of ram running at >1.2v is an impact on overclocking; it might cost you a multiplier as I found out in my simple experiments.
Here is a good article on skylake ram scaling:
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article1478-page1.html
Do not pay extra for fancy heat spreaders. They cost more and are worthless unless you are a record seeking ram overclocker.
Corsair LPX and g.skil Ares are good low profile kits.
I suggest a 16gb kit(2 x 8gb) of DDR4 2400 speed with low cas numbers. If you find 1.2v 2666 speed, ok there too.

3. PSU. A GTX1080 will run very nicely on a 520w psu.
http://www.realhardtechx.com/index_archivos/Page362.htm
Nothing wrong with 750w.
A PSU will only use the wattage demanded of it, regardless of it's max capability.
750w is sufficient for even a Titan X pascal if such an update is ever needed.
I would not plan on dual cards as an upgrade; there are issues with dual cards.
So not a big reason for a 850w or stronger psu.
Most important is to but a top quality psu.
Tier 1 or 2 from a list such as this:
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-2547993/psu-tier-list.html
Seasonic is always good.
With a psu mounted on the bottom, you may be short on the 8 pin cpu cable which is usually on the top of the motherboard.
High quality power supplies will have long enough cables.
Seasonic will have specs on cable lengths if you want to check.
Regardless, cpu power cable extenders are cheap and will do the job.

4. CPU cooling.
skylake runs cool. exotic cooling is not needed.
I suggest a Noctua NH-U12s or NH-U14s. The s variants are redesigned to offset from the pcie x16 slot to ckear graphics cards with backplates. They are also designed to clear tall heat spreaders.

5. Hard drive:
Love the ssd for windows. With the lower prices for ssd's, I can't help but think that you would be better off withy a 5oogb ssd or even 1tb and omit the hard drive.
You can always add a hard drive later if you will store large sequential files such as videos.
Seagate is not the best anyway, wd seems to be more reliable.
My canned rant on liquid cooling:
------------------------start of rant-------------------
You buy a liquid cooler to be able to extract an extra multiplier or two out of your OC.
How much do you really need?
I do not much like all in one liquid coolers when a good air cooler like a Noctua or phanteks can do the job just as well.
A liquid cooler will be expensive, noisy, less reliable, and will not cool any better
in a well ventilated case.
Liquid cooling is really air cooling, it just puts the heat exchange in a different place.
The orientation of the radiator will cause a problem.
If you orient it to take in cool air from the outside, you will cool the cpu better, but the hot air then circulates inside the case heating up the graphics card and motherboard.
If you orient it to exhaust(which I think is better) , then your cpu cooling will be less effective because it uses pre heated case air.
And... I have read too many tales of woe when a liquid cooler leaks.
google "H100 leak"
-----------------------end of rant--------------------------

Your pc will be quieter, more reliable, and will be cooled equally well with a decent air cooler.

Wow, what a welcome to the forums! Can't thank you enough for your extremely informative reply. Not only is this helpful for the build but I am also currently studying for the CompTIA A+ 901-902 and there is a lot of good info here. Thank you thank you thank you!
1. EVGA GTX1080SC it is.
2. Decided on CORSAIR Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM DDR4 2400 (PC4 19200).
3. Seasonic 750 Platinum looks good to me.
4. The research prior to the post already had my eyes on the Noctua brand but omg are those things hideous or what!?!? Any other top notch air coolers that don't look like a 1970s Buick? I have the windowed case and was really hoping to build something that looked great also.
5. I see what you are saying and will consider this for sure.