Desktop Computers

Obsidian

<Bronze Donator>
749
1,166
Well you can actually sort of tell what everything is by looking at the pics of the build. Seems like they picked pretty good parts across the board except for maybe the power supply, but I can actually just reuse my existing PC Power and Cooling 1000W 80+ Gold. This is what the prebuilt PC is (and apparently I don't get how to do links on this forum, but the price is lowest on pcpartpicker):

CPU:Intel Core i7-5820K 3.3GHz 6-Core Processor $379
CPU Cooler:Corsair H55 Water/Liquid CPU Cooler $49
Motherboard:MSI X99A SLI PLUS $229
Memory:Corsair Vengeance $184 (it's actually not this particular set, but you can tell by the picture that it's some variety of Corsair Vengeance and this is the cheapest available for arguments sake)
Storage:SAMSUNG Data Center 240GB SSD $139
Storage:Seagate Barracuda 3TB HD $84 (you can't tell what this component is again, so I'm just listing the cheapest 3TB HD available)
Video Card:MSI GTX 980 4GD5T OC 4GB $513
Case:Rosewill Stryker M $65
Power Supply:Cougar SL600 600W PSU $56
Optical DriveAsus DRW-24F1ST DVD/CD Writer $18
OS:Windows 10 Home 64 bit $91
KB/MouseThermaltake Commander Bundle $20
Wireless Adapter:Belkin N150 Wireless Adapter $6

Your build doesn't include the 3TB HD ($84), the DVD drive ($18), the OS ($91), the KB/Mouse ($20) or the Wireless Adapter ($6). It also reduces the RAM by half (might not make a difference, but minimum $65 difference). It improves the SSD (-$20) and improves the graphics card (-$93). The cost difference of these parts is in favor of the prebuilt by $171 and your build is still $100 more (so theoretical $271 difference). Also the processor in your build is a 4 core, whereas the prebuilt is a 6 core. You have one of the cheapest coolers available in your build, while the prebuilt has a (hypothetically) better liquid cooler. With the liquid cooler, I'd imagine that the prebuilt could be overclocked to reach the same 4.0 ghz as your processor, and it would have the advantage of 6 vs 4 cores. I know that doesn't really make a huge difference right now (in gaming at least), but in my minimal amount of research it sounds like additional cores may have a benefit in dx12. Also the x99 chipset apparently supports quad channel ram vs dual channel ram in the z170. I have no idea if this has any tangible benefits, but I'll throw it out there. Maybe I'm crazy but it still seems to me like the prebuilt is a better buy, especially considering some of these options I threw on the prebuilt were the lowest cost option available which might not be what's actually in there.


That is not a skylake CPU, that's last gen Haswell, and not a great Haswell at that.

Here's a much better build for only ~$100 more

PCPartPicker part list/Price breakdown by merchant

CPU:Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor($399.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler:Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler($24.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard:Asus Z170-A ATX LGA1151 Motherboard($151.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory:G.Skill Ripjaws 4 series 16GB (4 x 4GB) DDR4-2800 Memory($119.99 @ Newegg)
Storage:Samsung 850 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive($159.88 @ OutletPC)
Video Card:MSI GeForce GTX 980 Ti 6GB Video Card($606.98 @ Newegg)
Case:Corsair 500R Black ATX Mid Tower Case($69.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply:SeaSonic G-750 750W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply($102.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Total:$1636.70
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-11-16 17:39 EST-0500

Much better CPU, better motherboard, better SSD, better power supply, less Ram but you don't need 32GB, same video card

The problem with that prebuilt, is who knows what brand of parts could be in it. Might be a shit power supply, might be a shitty SSD, the RAM might be cheap with poor latency. Who knows.

Alternately, if you don't want to do a Skylake build, and you're ok with Haswell, you could put together a great i7 system for probably $200 less than that prebuilt with a better CPU, and better brand of parts.
 

Mist

Eeyore Enthusiast
<Gold Donor>
30,435
22,254
Wow, at those prices for a 6700k I'd rather have a 5820k.

Can X99 boards boot from m.2?
 

Mist

Eeyore Enthusiast
<Gold Donor>
30,435
22,254
That said, Broadwell-E is right around the corner. Too bad it won't have that sweet L4 cache like Broadwell C did.
 

Joeboo

Molten Core Raider
8,157
140
Need a robot watching for SSD deals.
I think the Slickdeals mobile app has some customization where you can have it alert you if there are new posts containing the key words of your choosing.

Set it up for "SSD" and you should be good
 

Cinge

Ahn'Qiraj Raider
7,018
2,098
Hoping to find a really good deal on mobo/cpu + ram this holiday. Need to upgrade my i7 920 finally(though it still runs everything fine, even fallout 4, granted with a lot turned off). And i figure its time to upgrade to 16gb ram from 8. If I get really lucky maybe ill get a upgrade to my 760 also.

When I game I only game, maybe with browser open in background with 10 or so tabs always open. So I figure a i5 is fine. Are there brands of mobos I should stay away from? As for RAM I'm not too picky and will probably just grab some gskill or corsair.

Regarding CPU coolers. I bought this :XIGMATEK Dark Knight II SD1283 Night Hawk Edition CPU Cooler with Stealth Aerospace Industry Thermal conductive ceramic coating ALL intel AMD IVY BRIDGE compatible - Newegg.com5 years ago. Should I replace it?

My Powersupply is :CORSAIR TX Series CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V v2.3 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Compatible with New 4th Gen CPU Certified Haswell Ready - Newegg.com. Not sure I need to place it, even though its 5 years old. I don't overclock anything and just run GPU/Sound/ssd/hdd w/ 5 small fans + 1 large fan.
 

jeydax

Death and Taxes
1,390
851
Mobo's (personal opinion here) stick with Gigabyte or ASUS with a slight edge to Gigabyte. I've used ASRock in my HTPC build and is an OK option too.

G.Skill or Corsair is dead on with what my personal preference is for RAM as well.

For cooling, yes I'd replace what you linked. You don't OC so you don't need a closed loop cooling system - or really anything extravagant. If you want a very very good (arguably the best) air cooling solution get theNoctua NH-D15for $105 or a cheaper and probably the better optionfor youwould be theCooler Master Hyper 212 EVOfor $29 which should work just fine.

No need to replace the power supply if it is running fine now.
 

Amzin

Lord Nagafen Raider
2,917
361
I was planning on building a new rig next year in Q1 sometime, but it occurs to me that it makes more sense to do it around the holidays when I can hunt sales down. I'm trying to decide if I even need a whole new one though. My CPU still looks competitive but I'm not really sure how CPUs compare up. Here's my specs:

CPU: i7-2700K 3.5 GHz
RAM: G. Skill Ripjaws 2 x 4GB
Video Card: NVidia GeForce GTX 770
MOBO: Some LGA 1155
PSU: Thermaltake 750W

So can I do fine just upgrading to a 900 series GPU? Despite the high clock speed, is my CPU aged beyond a reasonable use? I know I need more RAM for sure. I don't need new HDD or monitors or anything else.
 

jooka

marco esquandolas
<Bronze Donator>
14,417
6,135
Are you just buying to buy? You didn't mention any troubles regard to playing games or whatever.
 

Joeboo

Molten Core Raider
8,157
140
I was planning on building a new rig next year in Q1 sometime, but it occurs to me that it makes more sense to do it around the holidays when I can hunt sales down. I'm trying to decide if I even need a whole new one though. My CPU still looks competitive but I'm not really sure how CPUs compare up. Here's my specs:

CPU: i7-2700K 3.5 GHz
RAM: G. Skill Ripjaws 2 x 4GB
Video Card: NVidia GeForce GTX 770
MOBO: Some LGA 1155
PSU: Thermaltake 750W

So can I do fine just upgrading to a 900 series GPU? Despite the high clock speed, is my CPU aged beyond a reasonable use? I know I need more RAM for sure. I don't need new HDD or monitors or anything else.
That system will still run every game great with a good video card upgrade. Grab a 970/390 or better and you're gtg for another year or two. Another 8GB of RAM will be nice too, and an SSD if you don't have one.
 

Amzin

Lord Nagafen Raider
2,917
361
Yea I have an SSD. Fallout 4 runs pretty well, Black Ops 3 not so much. Other games are generally fine on low-medium at least but I miss my high settings. It had just been so long since I bought anything I assumed my whole rig was out dated, but when I started looking at pieces I realized it didn't look so bad.

So yea, I'd be happy to invest instead in a better GPU and 8 or so more RAM. Of the 900 series (want to stick with NVidia for sure), what is the best bang for the buck? It looks like the price jumps a shitton past the 970 from my brief perusal.

Edit: While I'm at it... would I regret adding 2 x 8GB sticks of RAM to my 2 x 4 GB? Is it safer to keep all sticks the same size?

I'm much more of a software guy I guess >.<
 

Fiyero_sl

shitlord
403
0
Anyone have the MX line of Asus monitors? They look really nice. Any big drawbacks to those over other IPS monitors for gaming?
 

Joeboo

Molten Core Raider
8,157
140
Yea I have an SSD. Fallout 4 runs pretty well, Black Ops 3 not so much. Other games are generally fine on low-medium at least but I miss my high settings. It had just been so long since I bought anything I assumed my whole rig was out dated, but when I started looking at pieces I realized it didn't look so bad.

So yea, I'd be happy to invest instead in a better GPU and 8 or so more RAM. Of the 900 series (want to stick with NVidia for sure), what is the best bang for the buck? It looks like the price jumps a shitton past the 970 from my brief perusal.

Edit: While I'm at it... would I regret adding 2 x 8GB sticks of RAM to my 2 x 4 GB? Is it safer to keep all sticks the same size?

I'm much more of a software guy I guess >.<
You should be fine mixing and matching ram. It'll basically all run at whichever the slowest set is. .. the lowest common denominator. So if your existing ram is 1600 mhz, don't bother paying extra for 1833 or 2133 on the new RAM. Just get 1600 again.

And yes, the Nvidia 970 is definitely the best bang for your buck on performance. I have one and I can still run all games on ultra at 1440p resolution. It's a great card. Sure you can get more performance jumping to a 980ti but at that point yoy are paying double the price for a ~20% performance gain, which just wasnt worth it to me personally. A 970 will do great for another year or two And you can revisit a complete rebuild at that point (once directx 12 is out and we really know how it scales with new processors)