Upgrading to Skylake, need some help with Mobo and RAM

[SteffanDavies]

I'm ditching my old Q6600 and upgrading to i5-6600K. Looking for cheap but decent Z motherboard and DDR4 RAM because I'm on a tight budget (500-600€ including CPU)


Approximate Purchase Date: Next month

Budget Range: 500€ +-

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming

Are you buying a monitor: No

Parts to Upgrade: CPU, Mobo, RAM

Do you need to buy OS: No

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: None, I may actually get the parts from local store, but online isn't out of the question

Location: Portugal/Europe

Parts Preferences: None

Overclocking: Yes

SLI or Crossfire: No

Monitor Resolution: 1920x1080

- A Z motherboard for overclocking a 6600K on air. Don't need SLI/Crossfire as I'm only using 1 GPU (R7 260x).

- DDR 4 RAM, leaning towards 16GB (I don't think 8GB is futureproof)

PC mostly used for gaming. As far as I know, RAM speed doesn't have a substantial effect on performance, does this mean I should be looking at cheaper 2400Mhz RAM Kits? Is it worth overclocking RAM at all?

 

[imsqam]

Here is my suggestion. The RAM sweet spot for Skylake seems to be in the 2666-3200 range. If you are going to overclock you will want some headroom to accomodate so I would look for some 3000 so you can work up to that point. Having said this, the difference is not huge. I would buy 8GB of higher ram than 16GB of lower ram. Current games rarely require more than 8GB of ram and I don't see that changing in the foreseeable future.

I posted the local websites I used for pricing below the build information.

PCPartPicker part list: http://es.pcpartpicker.com/p/mkwtjX
Price breakdown by merchant: http://es.pcpartpicker.com/p/mkwtjX/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor (€285.00)
CPU Cooler: Zalman CNPS10X Performa CPU Cooler (€33.95)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z170-HD3 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (€119.90)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws 4 Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-3000 Memory (€79.00)
Total: €517.85
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-02-09 19:51 CET+0100

http://www.microcaos.pt/componentes-processadores-socket-1151/10549-cpu-intel-core-i5-6600k-35-ghz-6mb-cache-lga-1151-1010546.html
https://translate.google.ca/translate?hl=en&sl=pt&u=http://www.kuantokusta.pt/informatica/Componentes/Motherboards/Gigabyte-Z170-HD3-p-1-438252&prev=search
http://www.f13pc.pt/loja/detalhes.php?id=7648
http://www.f13pc.pt/loja/detalhes.php?id=3950

http://www.gskill.com/en/wheretobuy/list/pt

 

[SteffanDavies]

Here is my suggestion. The RAM sweet spot for Skylake seems to be in the 2666-3200 range. If you are going to overclock you will want some headroom to accomodate so I would look for some 3000 so you can work up to that point. Having said this, the difference is not huge. I would buy 8GB of higher ram than 16GB of lower ram. Current games rarely require more than 8GB of ram and I don't see that changing in the foreseeable future.

I posted the local websites I used for pricing below the build information.

PCPartPicker part list: http://es.pcpartpicker.com/p/mkwtjX
Price breakdown by merchant: http://es.pcpartpicker.com/p/mkwtjX/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor (€285.00)
CPU Cooler: Zalman CNPS10X Performa CPU Cooler (€33.95)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z170-HD3 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (€119.90)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws 4 Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-3000 Memory (€79.00)
Total: €517.85
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-02-09 19:51 CET+0100

http://www.microcaos.pt/componentes-processadores-socket-1151/10549-cpu-intel-core-i5-6600k-35-ghz-6mb-cache-lga-1151-1010546.html
https://translate.google.ca/translate?hl=en&sl=pt&u=http://www.kuantokusta.pt/informatica/Componentes/Motherboards/Gigabyte-Z170-HD3-p-1-438252&prev=search
http://www.f13pc.pt/loja/detalhes.php?id=7648
http://www.f13pc.pt/loja/detalhes.php?id=3950

http://www.gskill.com/en/wheretobuy/list/pt

Hi and thanks for the response! As I had no answers since I posted I decided to go with an AsRock Z170 Pro4 (10 phase for OC) at around 125€ and 2x8GB Gskill Ripjaws 2400 for 88€. Should last me a while.

 

[imsqam]

They are good brands so it should do you well. Enjoy.