Final questions before I dive in

[EskimoJoe]

Alright, hopefully this will be the last thread from me regarding parts lists for awhile 

I decided to up my budget to around 1500 with peripherals, and this is what I'm looking at now.

http://pcpartpicker.com/user/eskimojoe4269/saved/#view=CDnLkL

And for some reason, doing this from Afghanistan just prior to going home leaves me with a never-escaping feeling of uncertainty. So, some questions.

With the CPU, Intel Core i5-6600K, would it be worth upping that to the I7-6700k for about ~100 more dollars?  I think so, but I'm wondering what the impact of either would be when paired with the GTX 1070 or even a 1080 in the future? I've read some reviews, and I'm not sure I'm understanding the impact that one or the other might have, even if it's minimal.

With the MOBO, every one I seem to look into has about 50/50 good/bad reviews. How do I find 'the right one'? Is it one of those things you have to kinda just take a leap and see how it works? I've never messed with BIOS settings, IO shields, OC'ing etc. and from what I've gathered some are easier to work with than others.

And with hunting for deals,  do any of you have an easy way to go about that?  I've noticed PC partpicker updates their prices it seems like daily, but aside from seeing if every website has their own deals going on, any tips?

Almost done with phase 1 : planning 

[Bizman]

For the CPU, the leap from 3.5 to 4 GHz may look big, but you most likely wouldn't notice it in real use. If you'd someday find the extra .5 GHz would be nice to have, you'll be able to get it a little used much cheaper.

I'd also take a closer look at the features of the motherboards. There's twenty full ATX sized Z170 Gigabyte motherboards from $ 81 to 256. The chipset being the same, there's no measurable speed difference. The price variation comes from built-in features. Check what you need and choose accordingly. There's a comparison tool on Gigabyte's site. - Also note that the Z series enables overclocking, the H series are as fast at standard clocks.

Gigabyte is a reputable manufacturer, mine has lasted for 8 years now without issues. It's always a 50/50 thing when people compare apples to oranges. I mean, for someone having 3 pci-e 16x slots for three video cards is a must, someone else is happy with one. One wants a 7.1 built-in sound system, the other will get an external DAC anyway. You see what I mean?

[EskimoJoe]

For the CPU, the leap from 3.5 to 4 GHz may look big, but you most likely wouldn't notice it in real use. If you'd someday find the extra .5 GHz would be nice to have, you'll be able to get it a little used much cheaper.

I'd also take a closer look at the features of the motherboards. There's twenty full ATX sized Z170 Gigabyte motherboards from $ 81 to 256. The chipset being the same, there's no measurable speed difference. The price variation comes from built-in features. Check what you need and choose accordingly. There's a comparison tool on Gigabyte's site. - Also note that the Z series enables overclocking, the H series are as fast at standard clocks.

Gigabyte is a reputable manufacturer, mine has lasted for 8 years now without issues. It's always a 50/50 thing when people compare apples to oranges. I mean, for someone having 3 pci-e 16x slots for three video cards is a must, someone else is happy with one. One wants a 7.1 built-in sound system, the other will get an external DAC anyway. You see what I mean?

Thanks Bizman, I truly appreciate your advice. I'll skip out on other CPU, and look a little deeper into motherboard features.

I always feel like I'm heading in the right direction with the help of this unruly crew 

[DaddyAce]

Hi EskimoJoe,

One thing to consider on mobo is to make sure you have enough USB ports for your peripherals, and if you are buying a case that has USB ports in the front, that your mobo will have provision to attach to those too.  Can help you avoid having to add that stuff in later, useless ports on your case, etc.....Have fun with your build!

[Easyscor]

Particularly USB 3.0.
You won't notice the difference for joysticks etc, but for flash drives it's MUCH better.

[DaddyAce]

Particularly USB 3.0.
You won't notice the difference for joysticks etc, but for flash drives it's MUCH better.

Oh yes, I agree, and I think my Mobo has USB 3.1 which is even faster.  A friend came over recently with a bunch of pics and video he took on a trip we did together this summer...he said this is going to take a while....but he had a new flash drive and we plugged it into one my USB 3.1 ports, and we downloaded 6 GB in a very short time.

[Skuzzy]

It is not the number of USB ports that are critical.  If you have 50 USB ports, but only one internal USB hub, then most of the ports will be useless as there will be no way for that one hub to sink the current required of that many USB devices.

The critical thing to look for is the number of USB ports per USB hub.

[DaddyAce]

Thanks for the clarification Skuzzy. 

Follow up question.  How do you know how many hubs a board has and how many USB ports each hub will support?  Eg, one of the features I like about my MSI B150 Gaming M3 is that it has 8  USB ports in the back panel, and connectors for each pair of the USB 2 and USB 3.1 ports on the front of my case.  I normally have my mouse, Trackir, throttle, pedals, and joystick connected via the USB ports, and sometimes add in printer, external HDD, and or flash drive....never had any issues, in contrast with my previous machine where I added on an external powered hub.  You have me curious now so I checked my mobo manual, MSI website, Bios, and can find no info on limitations to using ports, or any info on the number of hubs.  I do find 2 different hubs listed in device manager.  Do you mean your comment to imply that just because a manufacturer supplies a certain number of USB connectors, we cannot assume we can use them all at the same time?   Thanks!

 

[Skuzzy]

The number of USB hubs will be built into the Intel motherboard chipset.  Check the Intel WEB site to see how many any given chipset has.

Manufacturers might add a third party USB hub, in which case it will require a different driver and can usually be found in the motherboard documentation.

[DaddyAce]

Okay in my case the B-150 chipset supports up to 6 USB 3 and 12 USB 2 ports: 
http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/chipsets/business-chipsets/b150-chipset.html

Thank you Skuzzy!

[Skuzzy]

Unfortunately, it seem Intel is no longer showing the actual number of hubs in the chipset.  The maximum number of ports is based on the total current the chipset will sink.  Unfortunately, if you plug in some very high current devices, it will wreak havoc with that total number of ports.

Somewhere, they have to show the number of hubs.  Motherboard designers need that information.

[EskimoJoe]

I dove in and bought my parts. There were some items that I could certainly have saved by skimming on (like the memory, for sure) but in the end I'm generally happy, with my selection overall. The biggest hurdle I faced was ordering from Afghanistan without a US shipping address, which my step-dad was a huge help in by offering to hold the parts until I get home (soon!).


CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor
CPU Cooler: CRYORIG H7 49.0 CFM CPU Cooler 
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z170X-UD3 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard 
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3200 Memory
Storage: Kingston SSDNow V300 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive 
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive 
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1070 8GB G1 Gaming Video Card 
Case: Corsair SPEC-02 ATX Mid Tower Case 
Power Supply: Corsair RMx 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer 
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit
Case Fan: ARCTIC Arctic F14 PWM 77.3 CFM  140mm Fan   (2x)
Case Fan: ARCTIC Arctic F12 PWM CO 74.0 CFM  120mm Fan  (2x)
Monitor: Asus VG248QE 24.0" 144Hz Monitor

Total: $1459.86 (partpicker total)
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-11-28 12:36 EST-0500

In the end, with some extra warranties, I ended up paying a total of $1556, but I expect this computer to last me at least a good 5 years minimum.

There was a lot to learn, and I thank you all for helping me get this far. I'll post pictures when I get it all put together in hopefully a month 

[Bizman]

That's a really serious gaming system you've got there! The price doesn't look bad at all considering you've got a 144 Hz monitor included. 

[zack1234]

Before you dive in you have to send me $100 for your insurance

[EskimoJoe]

That's a really serious gaming system you've got there! The price doesn't look bad at all considering you've got a 144 Hz monitor included. 

Yeah! I started with a pretty low budget and modest intentions, but when I got more into it I started getting addicted.. and lo, here I am 

The monitor had some reviews saying the color is weirdly calibrated, but with some changing of the settings seems to work fine. When I showed my buddy the list, he was surprised that it was the same one he had and how cheap it was. About 180 on sale, plus a $10 Display Port cable, and a 4 year replacement plan (with shipping to Alaska in mind, at the time) I think I got a pretty sweet price.

Before you dive in you have to send me $100 for your insurance

Credit or Debit... Is what we usually ask before we swipe somebody's buttcrack to front-side with our hand when searching a person