New member first post could use some feedback

Hardware Build a PC
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So some background, I live in the US and up until recently I was on a Network Admin track at the Community Collage level until I changed my major for reasons I’ll not go into here, but they’re good reasons.

Anywho, for years now I’ve been wanting to build my own PC and over the last few weeks I’ve been checking out the videos on the Level 1 Techs YouTube channel during lunch at work.

My history with PCs deals with working out software issues for myself and friends, I do a lot of HDD formats, virus removal and system tweaking. I also repair not only PCs (HDDs, screens, etc) but phones, tablets anything really. I consider myself more of an advanced user, yet far from an expert.

As I’ve already said I’ve wanted to build a PC for a long time and I would like some feedback on the components I’ve chosen so far, most I’ve selected from watching Wendell on YouTube. This is what I’d like to use, I’m not TOO worried about cost, I don’t have an unlimited budget, but I would/will consider any and all suggestions even if it costs a little more, though less is defiantly better. But I’d like to keep it at/under $2000

WD Blue SATA 6Gb/s 2.5 Inch 500GB Internal SSD Solid State Drive (WDS500G1B0A)

Though I have considered using a M.2 SSD, I want to put my OS (W10) and install all of my programs on the SSD and do all of my storage ie movies, music, documents etc on a HDD. I don’t know much about M.2 though are they bootable drives?

WD Black 2TB Performance Desktop Hard Disk Drive - 7200 RPM SATA 6 Gb/s 64MB Cache 3.5 Inch - WD2003FZEX

I have 4 of these drives in a Qnap NAS set up in RAID 5 with 1 of the drives set as a hot spare right now and I really like the drives. I’d like to put the same RAID setup in my build, if not at first then in the future but it’ll probably go in from jump, though this is one area I may compromise to keep costs down.

Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 DRAM 3000MHz C15 Desktop Memory Kit - Black (CMK16GX4M2B3000C15)

I’m seriously considering just buying 2 of these sets and installing 32GB RAM from the beginning. Though if I needed to keep cost down I’ll just go with 16GB to start.

ASUS ROG Maximus IX Hero LGA1151 DDR4 DP HDMI M.2 USB 3.1 ATX Motherboard

I’m not completely settled on this MB, but I do really like it mostly for esthetic reasons. I don’t really plan on over clocking my CPU. My approach is to buy a MB that has the capability by design then with “normal” use the life span of the board (and components) will most likely last me worry free for as long as I own the PC :slight_smile:

Intel 7th Gen Intel Core Desktop Processor i7-7700K (BX80677I77700K)

I just really want an i7 and have since they were first announced.

Fractal Design Cooler FD-WCU-CELSIUS-S24-BK

Not sold on this cooler, but I do want a closed loop liquid cooler as I want a case with a glass/plexiglass side window to show off my build to my non-tech friends, and the heat management over just a block would be better at keeping temps as low as I possibly could :grin:

Fractal Design FD-CA-MESH-C-BKO-TG Case

I really like the look of this case, though they are getting hard to find, there are a few others I like and I would settle for something else but the case HAS to be black and it HAS to have a side panel to see inside the case. As well as being able to hold the RAID array if I do choose to go that route.

On startup I’ll use a wired keyboard and mouse, but once the OS is installed I’ll be moving to a Logitech wireless keyboard and mouse setup.

I’m having trouble finding a PSU that I feel comfortable about buying. I’ve read a lot of reviews over the last couple of days and I see a lot of DOAs and system frying catastrophic failures very early on in the PSUs deployment, I’ve been looking at tier lists for 2017 and even the ones recommended by JonnyGURU seem to be having these issues. Though I have been considering the EVGA SuperNOVA 850 Platinum. I will be plugging this build into a UPS too. But I could use a few suggestions here.

Also I’ve not decided on if I want to run a video card in this build or use the onboard HDMI, I’ll be using a 55" Samsung television as a display. I’d like to run multiple displays with this PC and multi task with it but with the cost ATM a graphics card may have to wait? Not to mention I’d need a 40’ or 50’ HDMI cable to reach where I would put a second display. Though if I kill the RAID array idea, and just go with 16GB memory I would have the money for a good video card.

This PC will mostly be used as a media center, running VLC or Kodi, though I may play a select game or two like Skyrim or one of the Fallouts (or all). I’ve never really gotten into gaming on a serious side of things, and I’ve always had a console, so gaming on a PC would be a switch. Of course it will also be used for collage homework, Facebook, surfing the web from time to time :smirk:

I know its’ been a long post, and if you made it to the end I would really appropriate any feedback you might offer on my first PC build

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Hi, welcome.

PSUs I’ve used corsair and antec in the past and none have had problems. The antec survived a dead short and melted one of the cables but lives on ( > 12 years ). Recently I’ve used evga and they function, look and feel top quality. No complaints so far.

Video card maybe find an AMD RX4## for a bargain.

Good luck.

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Hey…
PSU: Seasonic and FSP. I don’t trust other brands, since they are just rebranded models mainly from Cut. But CWT doesn’t sell directly. Seasonic and FSP are the best when it comes to power supplies.
For the case, may I recommend Arc Midi R2? I personally use that case and after 3-4 years I still believe this to be the best case Fractal Design ever made.
The rest is basically fine. I don’t see a reason to spend that much money on 7700k for media center. You can get the same result with Ryzen 3 1200 for 110$, but the choice is yours…

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PSU - EVGA are great. They are made by Super Flower which are tried and true PSU’s, with an excellent reputation.

CPU - i7 7700k is overkill for your use and I cannot recommend it to anyone unless they are looking for maximum performance in gaming. And unless it is a very specific purpose build I would not recommend a quad core. I would suggest an AMD Ryzen 1600 or wait a little longer and for Intel’s next generation which will bring 6 cores to mainstream Intel platform.

MB - See CPU

If you are going to play any games I would highly suggest a graphics card. A nvidia GTX 1050 Ti or better. AMD has good graphics cards but are over priced or unavailable. A RX 570 or better is good if you can find one at or near MSRP.

Go M.2 if you can, specifically NVMe. Yes they are and best boot drives.

What is your second display? If it is a TV like your Samsung, this could all be done through your network if they have WIFI or Ethernet.

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Thanks for the replies.

I’ve been reading troubling reviews on them, I was going to go with a Corsair but for the last year you see quite a few DOAs and system killers. So IDK. The EVGA one I mentioned, while there have been a few DOA reports (it happens from time to time), I haven’t seen any where they’ve fried the whole system. If I put this kind of money into a PC I’ll be madder than hell if it fries shortly after deployment.

I’ll look into it, I was just contemplating one of the NVIDA cards and those look to be a couple of hundred cheaper.

Mostly because I can :sunglasses:

I do realize it’s over kill for what is mostly going to be a media center, but I would like to do some multi tasking work with it, AND I’d also like to move my gaming to a PC based platform, so I will most likely begin gaming on this system, though it won’t be on any kind of serious level like many get into.

I always find myself wanting to do something with a computer only to be limited by what ever OE system (usually a Dell) I happen to be running at the time. That’s why I’ve never gamed on a PC, the PCs I’ve had have never been capable of running the games I may want to play in a given moment. With this system I don’t want to be restricted by it, so its more of a future proofing mind set than anything.

As for the case you suggested, it has promise. It would definitively hold a RAID array with no problem.

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You do not want the i7 7700K then. Get a six core minimum. Or bump up to an 8 core Ryzen 1700. If you really want Intel their next generation will be out soon on different MB. Wait.

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I don’t know yet. Right now I run my video files through my laptop (which sometimes has weird rendering issues), and I have my Lenovo all in one on the coffee table. So I’m seriously considering getting a modest display for the coffee table then I can go down to 1 PC when at home, retire my laptop to school work and travel duties when I go mobile for work, and sell off the Lenovo.

As a side note, my Samsung can only be stream to over wireless I’ve tried to get a wired signal from my PC to it and they just don’t support wired connectivity. The only good the RJ45 jack on the TV is if one uses it for Net Flicks, unless the newer models (with in the last year) addressed this issue my TV isn’t even a year old. The issue with that for me is that my entire network is hard wired where it concerns my computers network communications. The only router I use is for my IoT, it’s network interface is isolated from my primary network for security concerns.

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What I mean by multi tasking is working on a paper while watching a video file, maybe do some online research while this goes on. And if I’m playing a game having an online game-guide open on a second monitor. If this is still the case I’ll rethink this build…

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The i7 7700K will do that. But here is the thing. The i7 7700K is expensive and IMO serves only one single purpose, maximum FPS in games. But it is not going to give you a pleasurable experience playing games with on board graphics.

You could get a Ryzen 5 1600 and a nvidia gtx 1050 Ti for $30 more than a i7 7700k. That extra $30 would spank an i7 7700k with on board graphics senseless in games. It would also be much better at multitasking.

Trust me, I get “want”. I buy what I want all the time and it is not always practical. But if you are not pairing that i7 7700k with a GTX 1080 Ti at 1440 I don’t see the point.

The network, you have experience so I will leave that to you.

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More and more I’m considering killing the RAID array in this build and putting a graphics card in, since I want to dual display and do away with a PC that’s going to have to be my route. I briefly looked into the CUP you suggested, I have to get ready for work so I’ll get more in-depth later when I can research motherboards. Thing is I have NEVER owned an AMD CPU, never even seen one other than a picture, I’ve always gone Intel, I’ve considered using an AMD before, maybe I need to revisit that idea again.

Thanks again for the input.

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PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i7-7700K 4.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($315.00 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Fractal Design - Celsius S24 87.6 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($109.89 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock - Z270 Extreme4 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($111.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Team - T-Force / Night Hawk 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($144.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung - 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($89.99 @ B&H)
Video Card: MSI - GeForce GTX 1060 6GB 6GB GT OCV1 Video Card ($264.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Fractal Design - Meshify C ATX Mid Tower Case ($101.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA - SuperNOVA G3 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($70.98 @ Newegg)
Case Fan: Fractal Design - X2 GP-12 (Black) 52.3 CFM 120mm Fan ($12.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $1222.78
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-08-24 05:54 EDT-0400

So… the case comes with two 120mm fans. I added a third; same model fan as the included case fans. The radiator could go in the top as an exhaust, and the three fans could go in the front as intakes.

If you ever plan on playing any game like Skyrim, or Fallout 4… get a discrete GPU.

The EVGA PSU is made by Super Flower. Good unit.

The RAM is made with Samsung B-Die, the best there is. I am not so sure how good the “TEAM” IC(Internal Circuitry) is, GSkill might be better for overclocking the RAM. I don’t think you will want to push extreme clocks (way above the rated speed), or the tightest timings, on the RAM though.

You absolutely do not need an expensive motherboard. You will not gain any performance whatsoever from one. Features are something more expensive boards will have over the lesser boards.

You will definitely save money by going with a Ryzen 5 1600 ($260 6-core) without any major loss of performance in games, but a more improved multi-threaded performance over the 7700K. Go with want you want though. The Ryzen 5 1400 is $200 and is like the 7700K with it’s 4 cores/8 threads. Ryzen CPUs will not clock any higher than roughly 4.0GHz, the 7700K should have no issue hitting 4.5GHz-4.7GHz (maybe higher).

The graphics card I have here is a solid 1920x1080 performer, but I did not pick it for it’s superb quality or cooling. It was the cheapest of any GTX 1060 6GB, RX480, or RX580 that I could find. The current prices for GPUs are greatly inflated.

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If you like pc gaming you will probably want something better then the 1060, if not it will just sit there, I would try the iGPU first.
I’m a PSU agnostic, according to reviews my LiteON and RaidMax PSU’s should have torched my house long ago. As long as it is UL listed I sleep like a baby.
If you have sensitive hearing they make fanless cpu coolers made just for HTPC’s.
It is ok the have more then one build, lots more fun then running 50 feet of hdmi cable :slight_smile:
Welcome to the forum!

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Why would you not want a GTX 1060 for gaming at 1920x1080? If he plans on playing even a six year old game like Skyrim, the iGPU will not cut it.

I don’t understand.

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In reality Ryzen 3 1200 with RX 560 will be just fine for what he wants. The combo will be way cheaper than the 7700K itself. So yeah.
Just get Seasonic PSU… Don’t buy rebrands…

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If he really plans to game at all, the 560 at his $2000 budget is a bit weak. I currently game with this level of GPU power (R9 280), I figure let the man enjoy his infrequent gaming with ease.

Example: I just started up Hellblade. Beautiful looking game. I have to disable my second monitor and OC the card to 1125MHz (950MHz base) to run the game at roughly a 45 FPS average at 1920x1080. The card gets hot (75+ degrees) even with all my 7 case fans moving the maximum amount of air and the video card fans turned to up to a tolerable 65%.

Oh, and settings… have to spend 5-10 minutes tinkering with video settings for demanding titles as well… just for playable frame rates.

I do this for any demanding title I choose to try out. I would rather not have to.

Just for fun:

Sidenote: This was weird. I have not watched any video on GPU performance (recently), or Hellblade (ever). As soon as I typed it on this post… it appeared on my Youtube recommended section. I am nuts, right?

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But for the casual gamer (very casual) is over clocking really necessary? I understand the concept but what will a .3 GHz increase (The i7 base clock is around 4.2 already I believe) really get me?

I look at it as though it is designed for more than what I’m going to expose it to, it’s not so much about performance increase for me as it is future proofing and durability, longevity if you will. ANDDDD a lot of esthetics have gone into my choice as well, I’d say that more than anything. I don’t mind spending money if it’s good quality and will be usable for a long time to come.

Like I said above I don’t mind spending the money, I would really like a card that has at least 2 HDMI ports on it though.

I don’t mind running the cable at all, like I said in an earlier reply my entire network is hard wired. Also I don’t want to run 2 PCs to be honest, it’s hard on the power bill.

Thanks

Cheap isn’t a concern for me, again I don’t mind buying quality, if in a couple of years I want to add in an upgrade I want to be able to do it, it’s why I want to go with an i7. Heck for no more than I’ll probably do with this build I could probably get away with a i5 or a Pentium. My list was almost $2000 total, I’m building flashy because I want to not because I need to, but I do need to keep it within reason.

I don’t want to build for the here and now, I want some overhead room for the future. I am, at some point, going to give the ole Programing Class at school a go again, I also plan on doing some Data Base work on it next year for my agency, so there has to be room for flexing. I almost went with an i9 build but just the CPU and Mother Board pushed me to my budget cap.

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Wasting money is not buying quality…

Then get Ryzen 6 core. The platform is newer, better, more open for everything. It’s also cheaper and there is neglegable performance difference.

Here’s a reason. i7 is not worth it anymore. At least not with Ryzen available. i7 is not the best anymore. Not by a long shot.

Then get yourself the similarly priced Ryzen 7 1700, that have twice more cores and twice more threads than the i7. Believe me, the Z270/7700K is a dead platform. New upcoming Intel CPUs will also require new motherboards. The Ryzen AM4 platform will be available up to 2020. Also more cores are going to work better with heavy workloads and stuff…
Seriously, if you are going heavy work, go Ryzen 7. i7 is pointless today. Unless you are exclusively gaming, and it seems like you are not gaming much.

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No, the boost goes up to 4.5 GHz without any OC. You will be fine gaming on this for roughly 5 years at stock speeds (probably longer), if things progress in the same manner as the last 5-10 years. What you get is the option to OC, if that day comes where you need more CPU power.

Ultimately it is up to you. If you are looking at longevity and durability, a $150 will often outlast a $400 as frequently as a $400 board will outlast a $150 board. A.K.A.: No difference, luck of the draw. Expensive boards fail too.

Aesthetics is about what you want. Go for it.

Graphic card tiers are extensively tested for use cases. The more you spend, the more you get. GPU performance has been increasing at a pretty high rate. I took the most common resolution and suggested the best absolute value for gaming at that 1920x1080. The next step up would be a GTX 1070, or the new Vega 56.

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I doubt that very much. Most Team group 3000 is Hynix and 3200 RGB or LED is Samsung “S” die. I have not seen a certified test on these but laws of averages would dictate…

Their Dark pro series is typically Samsung B die.

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You, are correct sir. The higher frequency T-Force (3733MHz) kit is Samsung B-Die. The 3200MHz seems to be “S”, and… the 3000MHz is Hynix.

Thank you for the correction.