First build ever, judge my build!

[SwellSeth]

Hi! I am a newbie to building PCs and have recently made my first gaming PC that I plan to purchase by the end of this summer. I have a budget of around $1500, including monitors and operating systems.

I would love some input and criticism from a community like this to help guide me in the right direction. I will briefly go over my reasons for selecting which part. Thanks in advance everyone!

My first build!

CPU: Intel - Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor
I mainly picked this CPU because of it's decent price per GHz and lack of overclocking. I have no plans of overclocking my PC because I don't have a proper understanding of it. This CPU is the best value I could find for a CPU with no built-in overclocking.

CPU Cooler: Cooler Master - Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM
I've heard lots of good things about this cooler, was also pretty cheap. Not much to say honestly.

Motherboard: ASRock - H97M Anniversary Micro ATX LGA1150
So this is probably the most blind pick I've done for this entire build. It has 1 PCi express slot but I'm debating on weather to get a second one in case I plan on upgrading in the future, but I don't really feel like the price two graphics cards is worth the slight increase in performance.

I'm not sure what to look for in a motherboard and weather this is a solid purchase. It fits all my needs for what I'm buying but I don't know if I should go all out and buy a better one. Any feedback for this is greatly appreciated.

Memory: Kingston - HyperX Fury Black 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDDR3-1600
There was a lot of conflict on weather to get 8GB or 16GB but I ended up settling on 16GB because of how I sometimes do video editing and rendering. I also do some music recording and think that this would greatly help with all of those. Aside from that, RAM is RAM I guess.

Storage: Samsung - 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" SSD and Western Digital - BLACK SERIES 2TB 3.5" 7200 RPM HD
I need a LOT of storage for family pictures and videos. Also, I want to try installing my operating system and some of my favourite games on the SSD. Both brand are ones that I trust and have used before for external hard drives and upgrading my current computer.

Graphics Card: Gigabyte - GeForce GTX 1060 6GB WINDFORCE OC 6G
Out of everything on my list, I've spent the most time on this. Comparing performance over price, the 1060 seemed to still have relatively great specs compared to the 1080 variants and for a WAY better price for me. The monitor I currently have uses DVI connectors so I don't have a problem with the 2 DVI ports. I've heard pretty good things about this graphic card and am pretty set on this one, otherwise I would still be up late at night reading different reviews for every graphics card ever. Would love to hear what you guys think of this card!

Case: Cooler Master - n200 MicroATX Mini Tower
First off, I have already purchased this case. So any chance of me switching this is pretty low. I believe that this case (while not that ascetically pleasing) is a solid case with its multiple places to install fans. I'm pretty ocd with the idea of keeping my PC cool and this case fixes just that. Plus it was pretty affordable and if I can save money anywhere I'm okay with saving money on the case.

Power Supply: EVAG - SuperNOVA G2 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX
This power supply has enough watts for what I'm running and seems pretty reliable from reviews I've read. Also, the fact that it's fully modular is really appealing to me. I know that picking a power supply is important and choosing the right supply is a must, and this seems like the one tot me. I would love feed back on this part choice, too.

And that's basically it. I made this list around a year ago and I'm super excited to start building it this year! However, I admit I am having second doubts. Hopefully you guys can help guide me and make my first build as best as it can be! Again, any feedback is appreciated!


Thank you guys so much,

Seth

 

[Aeacus]

Since you asked criticism and guidance, here it comes.

To put it short, your CPU-MoBo-RAM combo is outdated.
During the last year, there's been plenty of new hardware releases, both from the blue team (Intel) and red team (AMD).

For latest tech, here's what you'd be looking:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 1500X 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($233.75 @ shopRBC)
Motherboard: MSI - B350M PRO-VDH Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard ($107.57 @ Amazon Canada)
Memory: Corsair - Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2666 Memory ($179.90 @ Amazon Canada)
Storage: Samsung - 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($115.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Storage: Seagate - BarraCuda 4TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($129.99 @ Amazon Canada)
Video Card: Gigabyte - GeForce GTX 1060 6GB 6GB WINDFORCE OC 6G Video Card ($379.99 @ Memory Express)
Case: Cooler Master - N200 MicroATX Mini Tower Case (Purchased For $0.00)
Power Supply: EVGA - SuperNOVA G2 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($99.99 @ Amazon Canada)
Total: $1247.18
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-07-28 11:44 EDT-0400

Changes made
CPU: i5-4460 (Haswell) -> Ryzen 5 1500X (Ryzen)
CPU cooler: Hyper 212 EVO -> none
MoBo: ASRock H97M -> MSI B350M
RAM: Kingston (2 x 8GB) DDDR3-1600 -> Corsair (2 x 8GB) DDDR4-2666
HDD: WD Black (2TB) -> Seagate (4TB)

Reasons why
CPU: With latest 4 core, 8 threads CPU from AMD, your PC performs far better than with i5-4460. Especially in video rendering since Ryzen CPUs dominate the market with excellent multi-core performance. Though, latest Intel CPUs beat AMD CPUs in single-core and quad-core performance, making them better at web browsing and gaming where games don't use more than 4 cores.
comparison: http://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Core-i5-4460-vs-AMD-Ryzen-5-1500X/2310vs3921

CPU cooler: You don't need dedicated CPU cooler since Ryzen 5 1500X comes with AMD Wraith cooler that is more than enough to cool your CPU.

MoBo: With Ryzen CPU, you'll need 300-series MoBo. So, put in B350 chipset MoBo from MSI which has 4 RAM slots for easier RAM upgrade.
Though, the best part with Ryzen CPUs is, that you can OC all of them when needed. Only Intel is the one who releases overclockable CPUs separately by adding K suffix behind CPU model (e.g i5-6600K) to know the difference.

RAM: Since newest tech supports only DDR4 RAM, put in 2666 Mhz RAM and 2x 8GB sticks for dual-channel.

HDD: With far less money, you can have double the storage space. So, replaced your HDD with Seagate 4TB HDD.
If you don't trust Seagate and want to have WD drive then with little additional cost, you can have double the storage space,
pcpp: https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/products/compare/XtjG3C,jp2rxr/


All-in-all, this Ryzen build is about $100 CAD cheaper than your initial build in pcpp.

Here's also a comparison between your initial Haswell build (as a base) and my suggested Ryzen build (as an alternative):

Userbenchmark PC Build Comparison

Baseline Bench: Game 66%, Desk 65%, Work 43%
CPU: Intel Core i5-4460
GPU: Nvidia GTX 1060-6GB
SSD: Samsung 850 Evo 250GB
HDD: WD Black 2TB (2013)
RAM: HyperX Fury DDR3 1600 C10 2x8GB
MBD: Asrock H97M Anniversary

Alternative Bench: Game 68%, Desk 75%, Work 58%
CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 1500X
GPU: Nvidia GTX 1060-6GB
SSD: Samsung 850 Evo 250GB
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 4TB (2016)
RAM: Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 2666 C16 2x8GB
MBD: MSI B350M PRO-VDH (MS-7A38)


Some feedback about components that i didn't replace.

SSD: Samsung 850 Evo is solid SSD to go for and by the cost to performance ratio, it's the best 250GB SSD currently on the market.

GPU: While i prefer MSI Gaming X series GPUs due to their quietness, excellent cooling and good looks, they also cost quite a bit. Though, MSI GTX 1060 Gaming X 6G does have a bit better base and boost clocks than Gigabyte GTX 1060 Windforce OC 6GB GPU, but the additional price ($45 CAD) isn't worth it (unless you really like MSI Gaming X series GPUs as i do 😀).
Here's some further reading about different GTX 1060 6GB GPUs,
link: https://gpunerd.com/guides/best-gtx-1060-brand

Case: Since you already have a case, didn't put new case into the build.

PSU: EVGA Supernova G2 550 is great quality PSU made by Super Flower and it will power your PC well for years to come.
Though, i, personally, would go with Seasonic Focus+ 550 PSU for few reasons:
1. Longer warranty. Evga unit has 7 years of warranty while Seasonic unit has 10 years of warranty.
2. Newer technology. Evga unit first came out in 2015, Seasonic unit came out few months ago.
3. Quieter fan. Evga unit has double ball bearing fan in it while Seasonic unit has fluid dynamic bearing fan in it.
4. Smaller dimensions. Evga unit is 165mm long while Seasonic unit is only 140mm long. With smaller PSU, you have more room for cable management, especially in smaller case.

Evga, specs: https://www.evga.com/products/product.aspx?pn=220-G2-0550-Y1#
Seasonic, specs: https://seasonic.com/product/focus-plus-550-gold/
pcpp: https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/products/compare/qYTrxr,bkp323/

 

[SwellSeth]

Wow, didn't even realize how outdated my initial build really was! Should have done a lot more comparisons. Thank you for taking the time to thoroughly respond to my post and give your suggestions, really appreciate it!

CPU:
You've convinced me to switch to the Ryzen build. Double the amount of threads with the AMD CPU sounds really appealing to me for the same price, not to mention the extra GHz. And reading reviews on it's included cooler, it sounds very promising.


Motherboard:
Like you said, the switch to Ryzen AMD means a switch in chip sockets. Seems more ideal than my original ASRock board, and the upgraded DDR4 with extra slots will most likely be used by me in my inevitable future upgrade.


Memory:
Not too sure how much of a difference the DDR4 will have over the DDR3, but newer technology is obviously going to beat older ones. And like I always say, RAM is RAM, can't really go wrong with it.


The simple switch of those three parts has really optimized my build! Thank you again for all the time and effort you put into critiquing it! I'm really looking forward to building this!

Seth

 

[Aeacus]

You're welcome.

As far as RAM goes, here's comparison between your picked DDR3 RAM and my suggested DDR4 RAM,
link: http://ram.userbenchmark.com/Compare/HyperX-Fury-DDR3-1600-C10-2x8GB-vs-Corsair-Vengeance-LPX-DDR4-2666-C16-2x8GB/m42910vs3545

With RAM, only thing to watch out is the speed of the RAM sticks. While with DDR3, the stock speeds were 1066/1300/1600 Mhz, then for DDR4 on 100-series MoBos (e.g Z170 chipset), the stock DDR4 speed is 2133 Mhz. With newest tech, on 200-series Intel MoBos, the stock DDR4 RAM speed is 2133/2400 Mhz. While on AMD 300-series MoBos, the stock RAM speed is 2133/2400/2666 Mhz.

Since the speed difference between 2133 Mhz and 2666 Mhz is small, there's also little performance increase. Though, Intel Z-series MoBos and AMD B- and X-series MoBos support RAM OC (overclocking) and you can use much faster RAM than stock DDR4 speeds specify.

For example, in my Skylake build (full specs with pics in my sig), i have Z170 chipset MoBo that supports CPU and RAM OC and thanks to the Intel XMP, i'm running my Kingston Savage RAM at speeds of 3000 Mhz. Performance gain from 2133 Mhz to 3000 Mhz is considerable, especially in games.

Since AMD Ryzen CPUs have issues running RAM faster than 2666 Mhz, i didn't put faster RAM into your build. That and i also didn't want to push your budget since faster RAM is more expensive (unless there's a limited time sale).

Here's also a good video to watch that covers the different DDR4 RAM speeds and what's the sweet spot in RAM speeds,
youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_Yt4vSZKVk