New build for someone else

[Maril]

I was asked to build a computer for a close relative because they liked what I had done with my own. This person has an old vista that has a long list of problems and I nearly heaved it out of her window. Problem is that while she does know what she wants, I'm facing a bit of a dilemma picking the parts.

So far, she made me a list of what she'd like the computer to be able to handle. These include:

- multitasking
- good enough to play the latest games (on ultra)
- able to handle photoshop
- able to play HD 1080p videos.
- chance to upgrade in the future
- support for windows 10

I was thinking of the components and I think these should suffice:

- MSI GTX 970 4G (I heard this has memory problems but it should run games on ultra and have good FPS. HD videos will be a piece of cake and it's future-proof.)
- Depending on the build, some EVGA PSU. So far I'm going for the SuperNOVA, 80plus.
- Sandisk SSD 240 GB (I have a HDD for scrap files.)

CPU, DVD-RW, MOBO, RAM and COOLING are all open. I'm completely lost if I should go with skylake or something older. i7 should handle multitasking well but i5 processors sound fine to me. Air or water cooling? I'd be glad if someone helped me a bit. The price should stay under 1100-1200 but she's willing to pay a bit more. At least that's what I understood. I just need some guidelines and propositions here. Thanks in advance.

 

[emeck]

What resolution would she be using it at?
what kind of upgrades?
do you already have OS?
what colors?

does she NEED a disk drive?

Until you respond, you can probably look at this, this should perform very well, though you cant use normal i5s and i7s since the xeon chipsets and z/h170 chipsets are not compatible with each other.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1240 V5 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($269.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: CRYORIG H7 49.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($34.50 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Asus E3 PRO GAMING V5 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($145.00 @ Amazon)
Memory: G.Skill TridentZ Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($87.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Sandisk SSD PLUS 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($64.00 @ Amazon)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 970 4GB Twin Frozr V Video Card ($295.00 @ Newegg)
Case: Fractal Design Define R5 w/Window (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($119.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA G2 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($99.99 @ Amazon)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($18.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) ($86.86 @ Amazon)
Total: $1222.31
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-03-30 21:56 EDT-0400

 

[Maril]

She's planning to change her display so I can't really say anything but I have a good 1600x900 display I plan to give to her since I need a new one.

Upgrades pertaining to GPU, PSU and CPU mostly, I think. The 16 gigs of RAM will be enough for her.

Win 10 will be the OS. Yes, we have it.

As for the colours, I know she's a great fan of silver, grey and white so no striking reds and blues and greens. Obviously the only red will be in the GPU but I don't think she'll mind that.

She needs a disk drive for her scrap files, photos and whatnot. I wouldn't want to put those into SSDs since that's where the OS and her most important programs go. I know she could get external storage but I want to get rid of that HDD since it works just fine.

I really like the list you came up with. I'm taking that cooler and PSU you provided. I'm not really sure about a Xeon based system though. I know they can be really good but I have no experience working with them and there's the issue of ECC RAM. Also, I'd rather go with MSI mobos too (personal grudge speaking here).

edit.

CPU: how about i7-6700K?
MOBO: MSI z170A pc mate
COOLER: CRYORIG H7
RAM: F4-2133C15Q-16GRR
STORAGE: Sandisk 240GB SSD, 250 GB HDD
GPU: GTX MSI 970 4G
CASE: Fractal Design Define R5?
PSU: EVGA SuperNOVA 650W G2, 80+
OD: Asus DRW-24...
OS: Win 10

Edit: I'll ask her about the case. She'll respond today.
Edit: She likes your case. We'll probably take that as well if nothing unexpected pops up.

 

[Mac070]

Yes that cooler is great . Water cooling needs maintained a lot . I would honestly go for the Cryorig H5 Universal as it would cool better and doesn't have ram interference. Cryorig is the best in the cooling industry soo.....
Dont cheap out on the power supply as the G2/B2/P2 are great choices . Get the cheapest one from that list I provided .
Also if she likes white then the Source 210 is a good case. Otherwise I found the NZXT S340 pretty cool

 

[Maril]

Yes that cooler is great . Water cooling needs maintained a lot . I would honestly go for the Cryorig H5 Universal as it would cool better and doesn't have ram interference. Cryorig is the best in the cooling industry soo.....
Dont cheap out on the power supply as the G2/B2/P2 are great choices . Get the cheapest one from that list I provided .
Also if she likes white then the Source 210 is a good case. Otherwise I found the NZXT S340 pretty cool

Yeah, haha. I'm not being cheap here. I have the G2 and I can tell it's great. Actually, I should probably change it. Thanks for telling me.

We looked at the s340 series and Source series but she said she like the black better and to my mind, Fractal Design had better cooling options and airflow than NZXT's cases did.

By the way, is the list looking good? Would you pick Xeon over i7-6700K?

 

[Mac070]

Yah but what I'm saying is the B2/G2/P2 are all very similiar quality . So whatever one is cheapest then go for lol but the P2 is best

 

[emeck]

Looking into your feedback, i have made a list with a 6700k and an msi mobo, ive set the color scheme to more of a black/silver since there is not much in the white area.
This is the best i can think of as of now that will fit your budget well enough, with great quality.

If her main monitor were to be at 900p, the 970 would have been way overkill, in fact the one i put may still be, but will give room for 1080p if she goes for that. (the new gpu would also be for the budget)

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($348.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: CRYORIG H5 Universal 65.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($46.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: MSI Z170A SLI PLUS ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($139.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Corsair Dominator Platinum 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($109.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Sandisk SSD PLUS 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($62.99 @ Micro Center)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R9 380X 4GB NITRO Video Card ($224.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Fractal Design Define R5 w/Window (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($119.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA G2 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($99.99 @ Amazon)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($18.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) ($86.86 @ Amazon)
Total: $1259.77
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-04-02 00:10 EDT-0400

It is the hefty premium for the 6700k that i originally chose the xeon for you, though this will definately last many years.

 

[Maril]

Yah but what I'm saying is the B2/G2/P2 are all very similiar quality . So whatever one is cheapest then go for lol but the P2 is best

I checked with the local sellers and they do not have P2 models. I'll just have to content myself with G2. But thanks for the suggestions! I'll be looking into how they are

 

[Maril]

Looking into your feedback, i have made a list with a 6700k and an msi mobo, ive set the color scheme to more of a black/silver since there is not much in the white area.
This is the best i can think of as of now that will fit your budget well enough, with great quality.

If her main monitor were to be at 900p, the 970 would have been way overkill, in fact the one i put may still be, but will give room for 1080p if she goes for that. (the new gpu would also be for the budget)

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($348.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: CRYORIG H5 Universal 65.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($46.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: MSI Z170A SLI PLUS ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($139.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Corsair Dominator Platinum 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($109.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Sandisk SSD PLUS 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($62.99 @ Micro Center)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R9 380X 4GB NITRO Video Card ($224.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Fractal Design Define R5 w/Window (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($119.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA G2 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($99.99 @ Amazon)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($18.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) ($86.86 @ Amazon)
Total: $1259.77
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-04-02 00:10 EDT-0400

It is the hefty premium for the 6700k that i originally chose the xeon for you, though this will definately last many years.

Everything looks great. Just a question, why do you think I should not go with pc mate? I'm currently using SLI PLUS model of the previous generation but I don't know about building her system with it. Wouldn't pc mate suffice? Oh, and I'm voting your proposition as the solution. Thanks again! (https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/Z170A-PC-MATE.html#hero-overview)

 

[emeck]

The pc mate should do just fine, i just did not select it for asthetic purposes.
I personally do not like brown PCBs, but then, thats probably just me here.

 

[Maril]

The pc mate should do just fine, i just did not select it for asthetic purposes.
I personally do not like brown PCBs, but then, thats probably just me here.

All right. That shouldn't be a problem for her but I do understand. I personally wouldn't pick brown either but since this is not about us, it'll do. Thanks again!