New gaming PC with Win7

Toonhaze

Reputable
Aug 21, 2016
68
0
4,640
Hi

I want to buy a new PC for work and gaming. I would like to avoid Windows 10 for as long as I can and stick to Win7 for now. I might do a Win7 / Win10 dual boot some day when Win10 is required.

I am aiming at hardware like: Skylake CPU, LGA1151 Motherboard and around 16 to 32 GB DDR4 RAM (plus a Nvidia Geforce GTX 1060 or 1070).

I heard that my limitations with using Win7 are going to be: USB3, SATA, SSD, DirectX 12. But I am not sure what exactly. Can someone please elaborate?

I don't mind a slight reduction in performance, but how much are we talking about approximately?

Also, can anyone please recommend me a specific hardware setup that is going to run fine on Windows 7? A setup that is powerful but compatible with Win7 and that is going to last for at least a couple of years.

Thanks in advance :)



 
Solution
Try giving correct information from the start. Creating a build to match the requirements is not an easy task and doing that twice for a single thread is a pain.
From next time try giving complete details about what you want and for what purpose.

Here is the build:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-6800K 3.4GHz 6-Core Processor ($419.99 @ B&H)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H110i GTX 104.7 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Asus X99-A II ATX LGA2011-3 Motherboard ($225.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($72.25 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2...
Ditto.
You can also upgrade from Windows 7 to Windows 10 for free even though the free upgrade period has ended by using a sort of cheat method, going through the download page for people with need for assisted services offered in Win 10.
Just install Windows 7, and download from this link and go through the installation process:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/accessibility/windows10upgrade?tduid=
 

Toonhaze

Reputable
Aug 21, 2016
68
0
4,640

Toonhaze

Reputable
Aug 21, 2016
68
0
4,640


Well, let's say that my primary focus is to run a hardware system that is not gimped by Windows 7 way too much. I read that Win7 can't be installed on LGA 1151 systems but some people found a workaround for that.

I would love a fast PC that can run games as well and open my Adobe programs fast. So, I assume that I need an SSD, but what about that Win7 limitation?

Other than that, I don't need the fastest PC in the world.

 
Here's a 1080 SLI i7 6700k build with 32GB of RAM, a great cooler and PSU, as well as my personal favorite case.
Feel free to pick up a Phanteks 2m LED strip to go with it, as both sides are tempered glass, and a 1m is included.
It also comes in black and white.
Cablemod also do a great range of custom cables. You want modflex, or standard in the prearranged kits under the E-Series for EVGA G2 power supplies.
You'll also want a 1440p 144hz monitor to take full advantage of this build.
Do you need that included in the budget?
you want
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($319.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: NZXT Kraken X61 106.1 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($114.49 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming 7 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($199.99 @ B&H)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($124.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($89.39 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($74.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1080 8GB G1 Gaming Video Card (2-Way SLI) ($629.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1080 8GB G1 Gaming Video Card (2-Way SLI) ($629.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Phanteks Enthoo Evolv ATX Glass ATX Mid Tower Case ($189.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: EVGA 850W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($114.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $2478.80
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-08-21 09:55 EDT-0400
 
Rendering build I mentioned above, go with this over the 6700k build if you're into overclocking and want fast CPU speeds in adobe applications for rendering etc. as it has 6 hyperthreaded cores compared to the 4 of the i7 at minimal additional cost.
If you're fine with a huge cooler blocking some of the visuals, I can get a beefy air cooler in which performs the same for about $30 less. Up to you.
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-5820K 3.3GHz 6-Core Processor ($369.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: NZXT Kraken X61 106.1 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($114.49 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: Asus X99-A II ATX LGA2011-3 Motherboard ($225.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($124.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($89.39 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($66.03 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1080 8GB G1 Gaming Video Card ($629.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Phanteks Enthoo Evolv ATX Glass ATX Mid Tower Case ($189.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: EVGA 850W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($114.99 @ NCIX US)
Monitor: Dell S2716DG 27.0" 144Hz Monitor ($549.89 @ Amazon)
Total: $2475.74
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-08-21 10:00 EDT-0400
 

Toonhaze

Reputable
Aug 21, 2016
68
0
4,640


I talked with the OP of that topic and he told me that the problem persists even after the update. If I could solve that white box flashing on Win10, I would gladly use Win10 instead of Win7. But for now my main focus is to get hardware that is not slowed too much by Win7, because I might still upgrade to Win10 in the future, or at least make Win7 / Win10 dual boot.
 
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($319.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i v2 70.7 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($91.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Asus MAXIMUS VIII HERO ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($199.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR4-2800 Memory ($134.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Sandisk X400 512GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($128.98 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($47.49 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 1080 8GB STRIX Video Card (2-Way SLI) ($629.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 1080 8GB STRIX Video Card (2-Way SLI) ($629.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: NZXT Phantom (Black) ATX Full Tower Case ($109.99 @ B&H)
Power Supply: Corsair 850W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($151.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $2445.38
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-08-21 10:11 EDT-0400
 
also, games are moving away from SLI. with your budget, maybe a single Titan X can fit?

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-6800K 3.4GHz 6-Core Processor ($419.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212X 82.9 CFM CPU Cooler ($39.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Asus X99-A/USB 3.1 ATX LGA2011-3 Motherboard ($193.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Aegis 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($119.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: A-Data Premier 960GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($208.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Hitachi Deskstar 7K2000 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($50.00 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX Titan X 12GB Video Card ($999.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Phanteks Enthoo Pro ATX Full Tower Case ($84.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: XFX TS 750W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply ($89.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Monitor: AOC U2879VF 28.0" 60Hz Monitor ($299.99 @ Best Buy)
Total: $2487.90
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-08-21 10:11 EDT-0400

6-core/12 thread CPU, Titan X, 32 GB RAM in quad-channel, a 1TB SSD + 2 TB HDD, and I even fit in a 4K monitor, the advantages of a single GPU should make this very worthwhile.
 
Yup, all of them. :)
I would recommend my own through no bias at all, as I believe it offers the best performance out of the three, and a good balance of components.
The 5820k performs identically to the 6800k.
Let me start by dissecting Dranzer's build.
The choice of CPU and CPU cooler is decent enough, the motherboard is overpriced, Storage is severely lacking (Poor performance SSD, small HDD space), graphics cards are good, case is HUGE (I owned the original phantom, that thing is a nightmare after a while), PSU is excessive, and no monitor is included, not very good value.

Comparing to my own, I have a 6 core hyperthreaded CPU compared to a 4 core HT, 32GB of RAM, a better CPU cooler, faster SSD, a 2TB HDD, a single 1080, a pretty case, a great value power supply and a 1440p 144hz G-Sync monitor.
Just to note, I could have also gone 1080 SLI easily and still beaten Dranzer's build in terms of performance by cutting down on the case, but i've left room open for SLI in the future and added a great monitor instead.
@Sqrl, may I ask why you've put a Titan in?
That thing is terrible for gaming, and overpriced at $1000 for 1070 performance with a bit more VRAM.
A 1080 will perform better than it in almost every application, two will perform even better.

@OP, if you have any other questions let me know, I think i've justified the selections pretty well. ;)
 


OP never asked for a monitor.
SanDisk SSD is a good one I have used it.
HDD capacity is a bit low for that high budget build agreed.
 

Toonhaze

Reputable
Aug 21, 2016
68
0
4,640


Nope. I have a nice Dell 27" 1080p monitor and I am satisfied with it. I have to say that my title is probably not accurate. Gaming is secondary for me. Sure, it's nice to be able to run all games smoothly on everything maxed out but mainly I want to be able to open Adobe programs fast.

I am using Adobe Flash / Animate CC, Adobe Premiere and After Effects (plus Source Filmmaker and 3D programs like Maya, Blender, etc). So, I am planning on doing lots of heavy rendering of 2D and 3D graphics. I want programs to open FAST and perform fast. And the rendering should also be fast :)

Also I am working with sound and music: Steinberg Cubase, Sony Sound Forge. So there are also some heavy VSTs like Omnisphere.

I imagine I need around 32GB DDR4 RAM, right?

I always assumed that it's a waste of money to buy the newest hardware as you usually end up paying around 100% more for 20% increased performance. But right now money is not the issue and I would gladly pay extra for something that is fast and stable.

I am looking for a powerful setup which can hold at least a couple of years (5+ years would be great).

I am looking for the best quality SSD drive which has minimal chance of errors and BSOD. (I heard it was the case with some SSDs)

And I wouldn't mind if my new PC didn't sound like a vacum cleaner, so silent cooling would be awesome :)

Thanks again for all the feedback
 
Try giving correct information from the start. Creating a build to match the requirements is not an easy task and doing that twice for a single thread is a pain.
From next time try giving complete details about what you want and for what purpose.

Here is the build:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-6800K 3.4GHz 6-Core Processor ($419.99 @ B&H)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H110i GTX 104.7 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Asus X99-A II ATX LGA2011-3 Motherboard ($225.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($72.25 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($72.25 @ Newegg)
Storage: Sandisk Ultra II 480GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($128.99 @ Best Buy)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($60.00 @ Amazon)
Video Card: NVIDIA TITAN X PASCAL ($1200.00)
Case: Corsair 450D ATX Mid Tower Case ($109.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair 750W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($114.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $2504.44
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-08-23 10:32 EDT-0400
 
Solution

Toonhaze

Reputable
Aug 21, 2016
68
0
4,640


I apologize, I haven't thought this through from the start. But yes, working / gaming PC.

Thanks for everyone's answers! :)