What should I change and why?

[SKIPPY PB]

I just finished my latest build and got everything sorted out. Everything is working very well now. Here it is with a PC part picker link. I do only have one stick of memory at the moment but will get another soon. Its got a spinner for a hard drive which I didn't bother putting. I have a bunch of hd's on hand so it sort of irrelevant.


http://pcpartpicker.com/p/rYBgMp


I spent $20 on the MOBO and $20 on the PSU. The optical drive really isn't necessary I just have it there in case I need to use it for something and I will probably take it out and put it in its box until that time comes. I have a 23" Alienware monitor 1920x1080 running 1080i or p by an HDMI cable. Should I try a DVI cable instead, I hear these are better in some cases if your not running 4K.

I am looking to pick out some potential replacement parts on the weaker categories and made grab them if amazing deals come along. I'm not a heavy gamer nor do I do any work that requires anything drastic I just like building things. I do however play games like counter-strike and have messed around with metal gear solid since it came with my graphics card. I mess around with a few 3d modeling/rendering programs like blender and such, etc. This is all in the hobby category. So where should I go from here?

C&C?
Thoughts?


What would you change and why?

 

[N3rdR4ge]

Two major downfalls of your build:

1) DDR Ram is meant to be run in dual channels or pairs. The manufacturer sells them in kits for a reason. Unless they are manufactured together, it is not guaranteed they will work even with the same make/model. Running a single stick is still do-able, but less efficient in terms of heat and speed.

2) CX power supplies are one of the base models offered by corsair. They are made for basic home/business machines. By no means are you supposed to run overclocking builds with moderate graphics cards with that psu. Also, you are really pushing it with 430w on a base model psu like that. They are known to commonly fail when being pushed to hard. You are potentially running it around 80% load at all times which is no good.

http://www.corsair.com/en/psus/cx-series
"CX Series PC power supplies are an excellent choice for basic system builds"


Other comments:

Not that this is a downfall, but you would have been much better off getting air cooling than an expensive water cooler. A $25 Hyper 212 evo would have easily handled a large overclock. The $85 dollar difference could have went to a better psu, more ram and a better motherboard. You are going to be paying an extra $20-30 because you are buying that second ram stick separately. Also, you could have easily budgeted skylake here.

 

[SKIPPY PB]

Two major downfalls of your build:

1) DDR Ram is meant to be run in dual channels or pairs. The manufacturer sells them in kits for a reason. Unless they are manufactured together, it is not guaranteed they will work even with the same make/model. Running a single stick is still do-able, but less efficient in terms of heat and speed.

2) CX power supplies are one of the base models offered by corsair. They are made for basic home/business machines. By no means are you supposed to run overclocking builds with moderate graphics cards with that psu. Also, you are really pushing it with 430w on a base model psu like that. They are known to commonly fail when being pushed to hard. You are potentially running it around 80% load at all times which is no good.

http://www.corsair.com/en/psus/cx-series
"CX Series PC power supplies are an excellent choice for basic system builds"


Other comments:

Not that this is a downfall, but you would have been much better off getting air cooling than an expensive water cooler. A $25 Hyper 212 evo would have easily handled a large overclock. The $85 dollar difference could have went to a better psu, more ram and a better motherboard. You are going to be paying an extra $20-30 because you are buying that second ram stick separately. Also, you could have easily budgeted skylake here.

I see, good information. Price isn't really an issue, im not looking to spend 10K but I don't mind a little here and there. Its much cheaper than playing around with the car. Since I am taking a break from that I have some room to play around every now and then. I did piece this together over time and did buy the motherboard before skylake was made available publically if I remember correctly. My other build was LGA 1150 so that kind of pushed me on the path to get another 1150 CPU.

I do agree the h100i in a way is a waste of money, the same way people think Alienware products are. It is kind of overkill for my current set up and would probably be better suited on a AMD FX9370 or whatever that new 220 watt 8-core CPU is called.

The PSU's I really don't know much about, but I see a lot of people saying you need 1500/3000/5000 watts or its worthless shit. From my automotive experiance I feel like they where just hopping on the fanboy wagon thinking bigger is better. So I opt'd for the $20 PSU for a temporary solution just to get things up and running. According to PCPartPicker that build should be around 330-watts or so. What would be a good PSU to go for?

I heard that PSU's run best when running at 50%, so about a 650-watt PSU would be most efficient for this current set up if that is correct.

I didn't know that RAM stick where best when pair'd together from the factory but that makes sense and its good to know. I could buy a 2 pack of the stick I have and then use the single from the current build for the next build or sell it. I have also heard that memory runs much "better" in a dual channel configuration. Why two 4GB sticks are better than one 8GB stick. However I have also heard that running two 8's for 16 total is better than running 4 x 4's for 16 in some cases because it puts more load on the memory controller.


Currently I am thinking motherboard, RAM and PSU are next on the list.

Does a 750-watt seem like a good target for a PSU?


EDIT: I forgot to say thanks for the response.

 

[N3rdR4ge]

everything you said is pretty much correct about the ram and psu.

for the psu wattage, i think you will be much better off with a good quality 550w or 650w as long as you plan to stick with the gtx 960. more wattage is never a bad thing. the system will only draw the power it needs. though your system is rated at 330w, it can potentially draw a decent amount more under load, especially when overclocking. overclocking adds around 50w.

there are a lot of companies that use poorly made components or mis-advertize power supplies.
examples are:
-low quality capacitors that don't have long lifespans
-unusually thin wiring
-poor placement of components that can cause shorts
-badly made switches
-incorrect wattage ratings
-rating the max output rather than the continuous output
-lacking the proper protective measures

here are two threads that can help you pick a psu:
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-2547993/psu-tier-list.html
https://community.newegg.com/eggxpert/computer_hardware/f/135081/t/45344.aspx
---I've seen Tier two 550w go for as low as 26.99

 

[SKIPPY PB]

everything you said is pretty much correct about the ram and psu.

for the psu wattage, i think you will be much better off with a good quality 550w or 650w as long as you plan to stick with the gtx 960. more wattage is never a bad thing. the system will only draw the power it needs. though your system is rated at 330w, it can potentially draw a decent amount more under load, especially when overclocking. overclocking adds around 50w.

there are a lot of companies that use poorly made components or mis-advertize power supplies.
examples are:
-low quality capacitors that don't have long lifespans
-unusually thin wiring
-poor placement of components that can cause shorts
-badly made switches
-incorrect wattage ratings
-rating the max output rather than the continuous output
-lacking the proper protective measures

here are two threads that can help you pick a psu:
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-2547993/psu-tier-list.html
https://community.newegg.com/eggxpert/computer_hardware/f/135081/t/45344.aspx
---I've seen Tier two 550w go for as low as 26.99

Good stuff. I have to read up on the PSU category some. Right now im thinking getting a 2x8GB pair of that ram and maybe using the solo stick for another build.

Is it possible to running two different sticks of ram in the same computer, even if it is less than optimal? I have a 8gb stick of Crucial Sport XT 1866mhz in my htpc build. Can I throw the 8GB stick of 2400mhz HyperX ram with it without harming anything? Will it just run at whichever of the two has lower specs?

 

[N3rdR4ge]

it wouldnt necessarily be less optimal, just might not work at all. doesnt hurt to try. and yea itll adjust to the slower stick.