Gaming PC Rebuild Research Questions

[Guest]

I am in the process of rebuilding my three-year-old Gaming PC due to a failure on the mother. Originally I was going to rebuild the PC over this summer, but because I will need the computer for school purposes before then, I decided to do the rebuild now. This may be a long post, but I have both questions about and recommendations for various components before I begin searching for parts in the rebuild process. At the end of the post, I will list the components of my current build. Thanks in advance.

1. What is the current Intel CPU lineup?

2. What is the current LGA socket type for the Intel CPU?

3. I am assuming that I should go with DDR4 RAM sticks. If so, what specs such as latency should I look for in gaming RAM sticks? Also, I am planning to install 16GB of RAM with two 8GB RAM sticks. Is 16GB enough or should I increase the RAM speed to 32GB?

4. For a Blu Ray Drive, I have the Asus BW-12B1ST/BLK/G/AS. It runs on a SATA 3GB connection. It has mostly been used to run games and rip music CDs. Right now I plan to hold on to it for my next build. Will this drive still be capable of meeting my needs or should I switch to a SATA 6GB Blu Ray drive?

5. Is a 7200 rpm hard drive sufficient or should I go with a 10000 or 10025 rpm hard drive or hybrid drive?

6. I am not a heavy smart phone photo taker. I occasionally connect my phone via USB to transfer photos. Currently I am assuming that I may be better off with USB 3.1 as a replacement to USB 3.0, but should I get USB Type-C ports added to my computer or would I be ok with USB 3.1?

7. I will be listing the components in my current computer build at the end of this post. The following list is the parts that I intend to save and reuse on my next build. Are there any additional components that you would recommend that I either save or replace?
- Blu Ray drive
- Asus GTX 970 Strix (I will replace this card over the summer. I prefer to hold off replacing the card in case Nvidia either releases an update or successor to the GTX 1000 series. If not, then I will either go with a GTX 1070 or 1080.)
- Creative Sound Blaster Omni 5.1 External sound card
- Corsair 600T Silver ATX Mid Tower Case

8. The case fans that are currently in my Corsair 600T Silver ATX Mid Tower Case have served me well. I am willing to purchase the same models in the rebuild. However, I am open to suggestions on potentially better models. My only requirement is that they are as quiet as possible. It would also be nice if the fans have an option to shut off the lights if they are equipped with lighting. The fans are two Aerocool Silent Master 200B 76.0 CFM 200mm fans and one Aerocool Shark 82.6 CFM 120mm fan. What are your suggestions on case fans?

9. My Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo CPU fan has served me well. However, I have found it to be an inconvenience when trying move around it to adjust wire and other hardware connections inside the case. Also, trying to screw it in from the bottom of the motherboard has been a pain. I do not plan to overclock, but I am looking for a reliable standard or liquid cooling CPU fan capable of handling the CPU heat generated from gaming. I would also like the CPU fan to be mounted flat against the motherboard and, if possible, be screwed down from the top of the motherboard. Like the case fans, I want the CPU fan to be as quiet as possible. What are your suggestions for CPU fans?

10. I am planning to replace the two Linksys Wi-Fi routers in my house which my family has used for the last five to seven years. I am looking at the current 802.11ac standard. Besides gaming at 1080p, I stream Netflix, Hulu, Youtube, HBO, CBS, and Amazon Prime at 1080p. I don't know about future plans for 4KTV. What Wi-Fi routers would you recommend?
• I plan to add an 802.11ac Wi-Fi antenna card via PCI Express on the next build. I am uncertain on how powerful an antenna that I need. When I go back to school, I intend to connect my computer to the Internet via Ethernet. Price is not really the issue here, but at around $120, I suspect that the Asus 4x4 802.11ac Wireless-AC3100 PCIe Adapter (PCE-AC88) may be overkill for my 1080p gaming and streaming needs. If this antenna is indeed overkill, what alternative antennas would you recommend?

11. I am currently using a little over half of my 256GB SSD storage capacity. I have Windows 10, documents, and the software for my hardware components stored on the SSD. Should I stick with 256 GB or upgrade to a 500 or 512GB SSD?

12. I would also like your recommendation on motherboards for the following components and connections that I am listing below:
- Internal Hardware
1. Blu Ray Drive (My current Asus Blu Ray drive uses SATA 3GB but I will replace it if I would get better performance from a SATA 6GB Blu Ray drive)
2. Front mounted USB 3.1 expansion card (I will include USB Type-C if you guys recommend the Type-C connection)
3. SSD (SATA 6GB)
4. Two hard drives (SATA 6GB)
5. ASUS GTX 970 Strix GPU (I will replace this card this summer with either a GTX 1070 or 1080 or its updated version or successor)
6. Wi-Fi-antenna card (PCI Express)
7. If necessary, A USB 3.0 or 3.1 expansion card
- Internal connections
1. Corsair 600T's four USB 2.0 ports
2. Corsair 600T's single USB 3.0 port
3. Front mounted USB 3.1 Expansion card
3. Slot for a USB 3.0 or 3.1 internal Expansion card if necessary
- External connections
1. Logitech G710+ keyboard (Two USB2.0 plugs)
2. Logitech G19 keypad (USB2.0)
3. Logitech G600 MMO mouse (USB2.0)
4. Webcam (USB2.0)
5. External sound card (USB2.0)
6. External hard drive (USB3.0)
7. Printer (USB2.0)
Total External USB Connections
1. USB 2.0: 7
2. USB 3.0: 1

The list below is that of my current setup. The only changes that I have made since I completed this build are boosting the RAM from 8GB to 16GB, adding an external soundcard, upgrading from a GTX 770 to a GTX 970, and upgrading from Windows 7 to Windows 10.

Component Selection Price
CPU

Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor
$252.98 Buy
CPU Cooler

Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler
$34.99 Buy
Motherboard

Asus Maximus VI Hero ATX LGA1150 Motherboard
Memory

Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory
$84.99 Buy
Storage

Samsung 840 Pro Series 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive
$249.88 Buy

Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
$71.99 Buy

Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
$71.99 Buy
Video Card

Asus GeForce GTX 770 2GB DirectCU II Video Card
Case

Corsair 600T Silver ATX Mid Tower Case
Power Supply

SeaSonic M12II 650W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply
Optical Drive

Asus BW-12B1ST/BLK/G/AS Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer
$119.89 Buy
Wireless Network Adapter

TP-Link TL-WDN4800 PCI-Express x1 802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi Adapter
$35.90 Buy
Case Fan

Aerocool Silent Master 200B 76.0 CFM 200mm Fan
$20.98 Buy

Aerocool Silent Master 200B 76.0 CFM 200mm Fan
$20.98 Buy

Aerocool Shark 82.6 CFM 120mm Fan
$10.98 Buy
Total: $975.55

 

[uberman]

Where to start. Intel has the new Kaby lake processors but seeing as how they don't bring that much to the table a Skylake like a 6600 or 6700 is almost the same so it boils down to mostly price. Unfortunately AMD wont have anything new for awhile so Intel is where its at.
1151 is the current socket and most of the manufacturers have a board with all the features you are looking for. Check here on Toms for reviews and esp. Best CPUs-Motherboards etc articles for some comparisons.16 gigs of some halfway decent ram is fine for 99 percent of the things most people do. The effect of high clocked ram is negligible for most things except overclocking etc.
If your blueray drive works it will be fine to reuse.
7200 rpm drive is fine for storage. SSDs are pretty cheap now .A 500 gig Samsung is cheaper than a 10000 rpm hd.
Fans to me are fans - they work or they don't. Mostly your preference.
CPU coolers also as long as it works. But I do like my Corsair AIO H90.

 

[gondo]

Wow long post.

In a nutshell here you go:

- Intel is the current king with AMD releasing their ZEN any day now. The I5 is the value leader with the I7 the king. Kaby Lake is the new Intel architecture which was just released as the successor to Skylake. The 7000 series CPUs are the new Kaby Lake stuff from Intel.

- As for a motherboard, check out the Z270 based boards as they are the top performers. H270 boards are still great and more mainstream and cheaper than Z270. Get a board that has the features you need such as onboard sound with headphone amp, wifi, etc... If you don't need those, don't pay for them.

- 8GB of RAM is enough, 16GB is good. More than 16GB is a waste unless you need it. For your case, gaming and production 16GB is fine. With the above motherboards you'll be in DDR-4 territory. The standard speed is 2133MHz. You can get higher speed RAM for the same price if you want to overclock. Let's say you choose 2600MHz RAM, just get the lowest lattency based on price. You'll be looking at 16-16-16-26 for latency maybe the odd 15 thrown in. Don't worry too much about latency. I like GSkill, Geil, Corsair, Crucial. I've had good luck with those brands.

- As for the heatsink. You always need access to the back of the motherboard to screw the brackets on since they are so heavy. The backplate is always required. Better cases have a cutout in the back of the tray so you can access the heatsink backplate with the motherboard installed. Your case has such a cutout. Any good heatsink will be a tower style with side mounted fans like your Coolermaster. It's a great heatsink and I'd keep it. The only great heatsinks with top mounted fans would be in the case of a waterblock for liquid cooling. No fans required. I'm an EKWB fanboy when it comes to liquid cooling. Good quality and everything you need from one manufacturer. They have all in one kits available as well.

- For the harddrive your 256GB SSD is fine for windows, programs, and a few games. If you run out of space and need more to install extra games add a second SSD in the future. For now the current SSD is fine. FOr a storage drive, 7200RPM is plenty. 10,000 won't help as a storage drive. The only benefit of a 10,000 rpm drive is the extra warranty. WD Black is 5 years compared to 3 for the Blue series. But it's not worth the extra cost as a storage drive.

- Your blueray drive is fine. SATA 6 won't make a difference.

- USB Type C is just the connector type. 3.1 is the speed. The motherboard will surely have USB 3.1 for higher speeds and power delivery. Some of the Asus Z270 boards have 2 USB 3.1 ports. One is the older style type A square connector, and the other is the newer Type C connector. Most boards come with a USB 3.1 port, whether or not it's type C or not depends on the board. You can still plug a cable that has Type C connector on 1 end and type A on the other into your standard USB 3.1 port for charging your cell phone. It's rare to have a device with a Type C connector at both ends of the cable. The MACbook is one and it's used as the power source for charging it to say goodbye to the old laptop power supply.

- For fans check out Noctua. The best fans on the market.

This should clarify a few of the basics, so you can get down to the selection of exact parts you want.