First gaming PC build

[ant1greeny]

I'm looking to build my first gaming PC.
I've already posted this but here is my final build I'm considering.
I have a few questions about it though:
1. Do I need thermal paste?
2. Is this all the components I need? Are there any additional wires or anything?
3. What settings could I play on new AAA games on at 1080p 60fps? I'm aiming for very high or ultra but think that might be out of reach.
Any criticism and improvements are welcome, but my budget is £1000 (the lower the better though).
I know the mouse and keyboard are pretty bad, but I'm on a tight budget so will upgrade later. I'll also buy an SSD later.

CPU
Intel core i5-6400 2.7GHz quad-core processor
£149

CPU COOLER
Noctua NH-U12S 55.0 CFM
£50

MOBO
ASRock Z170 Pro4S ATX LGA1151
£93

RAM
Corsair Vengeance LPX 8GB (2x4GB) DDR4-2400
£43

HARD-DRIVE
Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM
£37

GPU
XFX Radeon R9 390 8GB
£250

CASE
NZXT S340 ATX Mid Tower Case
£56

POWER SUPPLY
EVGA SuperNOVA G2 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply
£75

WIRELESS NETWORK ADAPTER
TP-Link Archer T2U 802.11a/b/g/n/ac USB 2.0
£16

MONITOR
LG 23MP67VQ 60Hz 23.0"
£117

KEYBOARD
A4Tech G800V Wired Gaming Keyboard
£18

MOUSE
Gigabyte GM-FORCE M7 Wired Optical Mouse
£15

TOTAL £919

Thanks in advance.

 

[JQB45]

You do not need an after market cooler with the i5-6400. If you still decide to get the Noctua you will not need to purchase thermal paste separately as it comes with a decent tube of paste.

 

[ant1greeny]

So the stock cooler would be fine, but I would need to buy thermal paste?
Is everything else ok? (I'm not wasting money anywhere or a part isn't good enough)?

 

[JQB45]

The stock cooler comes with a layer of thermal paste already applied to it.
You don't need a Z170 motherboard with a CPU that is locked such as the i5-6400.
Get an H170 motherboard if they are cheaper to save some money, otherwise Z170 is ok.
In a DDR4 system I like to see 16GB of RAM, but thats up to you.

 

[BadActor]

Actually, you can overclock the the locked processors now using Z170 boards, so keeping the Noctua might be an option if you think you might ever want to overclock. There are some disadvantages to bclk overclocking these CPU's, namely the loss of on board graphics and the ability to monitor core temperatures, but I have seen the 6400 OC'd to 4.4 and the 6500/6600 even higher. Your build looks very good though, should have no problems. You should get very good FPS on ultra in just about any game. A few titles may take tweaking to your settings to get the 60 FPS. Witcher 3 is one that humbles any video card.

http://overclocking.guide/asrock-z170-non-k-overclocking-guide/

 

[JQB45]

Overclocking a non-k CPU sounds nice and all but I'd be especially worried that I couldn't monitor the temperatures.

 

[BadActor]

I agree. If you knew for a fact you wanted to overclock, I would use a unlocked CPU. I think where overclocking these will shine is further down the road when they need the extra boost to keep up with the latest software.

 

[JQB45]

I agree. If you knew for a fact you wanted to overclock, I would use a unlocked CPU. I think where overclocking these will shine is further down the road when they need the extra boost to keep up with the latest software.

That makes sense, good point.

 

[ant1greeny]

I should have mentioned I am not planning on overclocking.
So here are the changes so far:
-Stock CPU cooler instead of Noctua
-H170 MOBO instead of Z170 (would the ASRock H170 Pro4S ATX LGA1151 be fine?)
For now I'm going to stay with 8GB RAM as 16GB costs a bit too much (I know it would still be within £1000 but I'm trying to minimise unecessary costs).
Is the fact that the processor is 2.7GHz a problem? From what I've read that's quite low (typically I see 3.2GHz is common).
I've heard that AMD GPUs produce a lot of heat, so I'm a bit nervous about using the stock cooler. Obviously I would prefer this to save money, but not if it meant overheating was likely.

 

[BadActor]

The H170 will still be fine.The TurboBoost speed of the processor is what you want to look at, which is 3.3. They just downclock when not under a load to save power. The newer AMD cards are not as bad as far as heat goes compared to the older ones, but they still use more power than the NVIDIA's. If you find that temps are higher than you like, you can always add the cooler later. I don't think you will have a problem.

 

[ant1greeny]

That's probably a good idea about adding a cooler later if need be.
So about the processor, is 2.7GHz what it will run at if I don't overclock and 3.3GHz is the maximum when overclocked?
And also, I'm think of buying parts 2nd hand and have been told that 2nd hand parts are usually fine except for MOBO, case, and power supply. Is this true? I would only buy from sellers who have 100% positive feedback on eBay.

 

[BadActor]

It will run at reduced clock speeds until the load increases to where the extra performance is needed. It happens nearly instantaneously.

http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/architecture-and-technology/turbo-boost/turbo-boost-technology.html

 

[ant1greeny]

Ok I think I understand and thanks for the link.
The total is now down from £919 to £857 (if I buy everything new) which is far lower than I expected to be paying!

 

[BadActor]

Maybe you can use the savings to get an SSD. Not necessary for gaming, but for everything else you do on your PC, totally worth it.

 

[ant1greeny]

Yeah, I've heard they're really useful for cutting down loading times, so I'll either buy one or improve another part.
Anyway thanks for your help, it's been really useful.

 

[JQB45]

Since you're going to buy parts used. I just wanted to mention SSD's should not be purchased used or refurbished.

 

[ant1greeny]

So everything apart from SSD, power supply, MOBO, and case is OK to buy used?

 

[JQB45]

I see no reason you can't buy a used case, the only moving part in the case is the on/off and reset switches. Just make sure you can live with the aesthetics of the design and that its of decent quality. I reused an old cheap Thermaltake case when I rebuilt this system I'm using now.

When I have a spare $90-$120 to spend I'll upgrade the case, but for now it does the job.