New PC Build Help

[OhhPaigey]

Hi, I'm new to building PCs and I'm looking for some help before I spend a bunch of money.

I would like to build a pretty good PC that will let me play games on high/max settings and stay above 60 FPS, Battlefield 1 for example, or many of the other new games coming out this holiday season. I also like to stream games occasionally, and that's something my current PC doesn't work well with.

I need help choosing parts for the tower. I have a monitor and everything else. I also have a GTX 970 I recently bought, but I think I will probably have to replace it with a 1070-1080 to achieve what I want to do.

I'm Canadian and I would like to order these parts through NCIX.com, because they also have an option to build your PC for you, which I would like to do this time around.

My price range is around 2500-3000.

Edit: I messed around on this site and picked things mostly based on ratings lol.. idk if I'm missing anything, and it's a bit expensive. http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/list/zCRh9W

Thank you very much for your time.

 

[g-unit1111]

That build looks pretty solid - the only thing I would say is that if you want to save some money you could drop the 1TB SSD to a 250GB and then add a 1TB mass storage drive, and then drop one of the sets of RAM. That would put you well below $2500.

 

[OhhPaigey]

Thanks for your reply and suggestions.

I kind of like the idea of 1 main SSD, but yeah it is quite expensive. My main problem I've noticed with my current build, is a lot of games and launchers and what not automatically install onto the SSD, making moving it over to the HDD a nightmare.

A few things I'm not too sure on about the build is the PSU, tower, motherboard and CPU cooler. Are any of those going to bottleneck something? Do I need a CPU cooler like that, is the tower good? Also I assume the DVD/CD writer is pretty basic (not much to choose from there?)

Do I need anything else like a sound card, network adapter, case fans, thermal compound (don't even know what that is), ect?

Also, is there any possible way to need more than 16 GB of RAM? Is there any performance difference for having 16GB vs 32GB, I never really bothered tracking that tbh, right now with my computer at idle I use about 3.8GB. Not sure how much that goes up in-game or while streaming.

Also, one last thing. GTX 1080 vs 1070? I'm playing on a 1080p monitor currently. I may upgrade eventually, but not atm.

 

[CV_Taihou]

If you're just playing on 1080p a 1070 is fine. That said, if you plan to upgrade within a year or so I'd say it's probably a better idea to go with the 1080 now. Regarding the dual drive setup (SSD and HDD), if NCIX builds the machine for you they should be able to partition the two and make it so the PC gives you the option of choosing where stuff installs. Mine is like that currently and it works fine. I threw this together as an alternative to consider. This assumes you are planning to overclock the CPU of course

PCPartPicker part list: http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/list/cg8sKZ
Price breakdown by merchant: http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/list/cg8sKZ/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($439.99 @ NCIX)
CPU Cooler: be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 3 67.8 CFM Fluid Dynamic Bearing CPU Cooler ($99.99 @ NCIX)
Motherboard: MSI Z170A GAMING M5 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($219.99 @ NCIX)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($109.97 @ NCIX)
Storage: Crucial MX300 525GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($159.99 @ NCIX)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($67.99 @ NCIX)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1080 8GB G1 Gaming Video Card ($819.99 @ NCIX)
Case: Phanteks Enthoo Pro ATX Full Tower Case ($124.99 @ NCIX)
Power Supply: Corsair RMx 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($99.98 @ NCIX)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($29.98 @ NCIX)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit ($124.99 @ NCIX)
Total: $2297.85
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-10-14 20:52 EDT-0400

 

[OhhPaigey]

Thanks for your help! I will check out the motherboard differences once I get home.

 

[OhhPaigey]

If you're just playing on 1080p a 1070 is fine. That said, if you plan to upgrade within a year or so I'd say it's probably a better idea to go with the 1080 now. Regarding the dual drive setup (SSD and HDD), if NCIX builds the machine for you they should be able to partition the two and make it so the PC gives you the option of choosing where stuff installs. Mine is like that currently and it works fine. I threw this together as an alternative to consider. This assumes you are planning to overclock the CPU of course

PCPartPicker part list: http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/list/cg8sKZ
Price breakdown by merchant: http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/list/cg8sKZ/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($439.99 @ NCIX)
CPU Cooler: be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 3 67.8 CFM Fluid Dynamic Bearing CPU Cooler ($99.99 @ NCIX)
Motherboard: MSI Z170A GAMING M5 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($219.99 @ NCIX)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($109.97 @ NCIX)
Storage: Crucial MX300 525GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($159.99 @ NCIX)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($67.99 @ NCIX)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1080 8GB G1 Gaming Video Card ($819.99 @ NCIX)
Case: Phanteks Enthoo Pro ATX Full Tower Case ($124.99 @ NCIX)
Power Supply: Corsair RMx 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($99.98 @ NCIX)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($29.98 @ NCIX)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit ($124.99 @ NCIX)
Total: $2297.85
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-10-14 20:52 EDT-0400

What if I'm not considering overclocking? I mean it would be nice to learn how to do, but I really have no idea and wouldn't be comfortable doing something like that myself.

 

[CV_Taihou]

If you plan on building an OC build in the future, you'd be better off getting the components you need now rather than later IMO. You don't need to overclock in order to play games, so you can leave almost everything alone. Later on when you want to try dabbling in it, everything is already in place for you to do so

 

[OhhPaigey]

Thank you, my last question would be, is now a good time to order something like this?

I know with electronics, they're constantly becoming out dated ect. but are we about to get new releases that will lower/outdate these parts, or are they going to be out for awhile?

 

[g-unit1111]

Thanks for your reply and suggestions.

I kind of like the idea of 1 main SSD, but yeah it is quite expensive. My main problem I've noticed with my current build, is a lot of games and launchers and what not automatically install onto the SSD, making moving it over to the HDD a nightmare.

Storage is one of those things that I only buy out of necessity and it's also something that I wouldn't spend tons of money on. If you have any SSD in any form whether it's SATA, PCI-e or M2, then that will be the speed of your primary HD.

A few things I'm not too sure on about the build is the PSU, tower, motherboard and CPU cooler. Are any of those going to bottleneck something? Do I need a CPU cooler like that, is the tower good? Also I assume the DVD/CD writer is pretty basic (not much to choose from there?)

I have the same PSU and tower. And those are among the best you can buy currently. You can't go wrong there. As far as cooler goes I wouldn't bother with a CLL - get something from Phanteks, Noctua, or Cryorig to start with.

Also, is there any possible way to need more than 16 GB of RAM? Is there any performance difference for having 16GB vs 32GB, I never really bothered tracking that tbh, right now with my computer at idle I use about 3.8GB. Not sure how much that goes up in-game or while streaming.

For gaming no. If you plan on doing something else besides gaming then you can always add more if you need it.

Thank you, my last question would be, is now a good time to order something like this?

If you're ready to actually hit the buy button now, then yes. I never say wait for Black Friday / Cyber Monday because the always in demand items - CPUs, GPUs, motherboards, high end PSUs, any towers of decent quality, are never going to be discounted. What gets discounted during the holidays is high yield, low end junk that the stores can't move the rest of the year. Oh sure there will be a 850W PSU for $30, but it is not something you want powering your system.