Newbie looking for help

I am a first-time gaming PC builder and I believe I have a specific problem this community might be able to help with, it's just a basic question - I don't want to get into overclocking right now, I just want a high performance system that will meet my relatively modest gaming needs. I'm about to buy a chip - do I go with i5-7600k or the i5-7400? The difference in cost is significant to me and I don't think the performance kick will even be noticeable if I'm not overclocking anyway. Am I correct? Also, at these prices, I have the option to swap out the chip later if I decide to try overclocking the CPU. My case will allow for it, and the motherboard is a z270.

Yup.
You won't notice any difference in performance. It might be measurable but no one cares about a couple of extra benchmark score points or 2 extra FPS.
And yeah you can upgrade the chip later on as long as it fits the 1151 socket.

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Thank you! And you're correct, I won't be benchmarking or anything of the sort.

I would go so far as to say if its your first one, dont worry about a Z270. H270 is the same performance, none of the overclocking feature-set. You can get a lot of board for the money from an H270.

Overclocking is lame anyway. It turns into a virtual dick measuring contest.

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Okay my wallet is really liking what you're saying right now, Adubs. This sounds like good advice. Thanks. Any brand or specific board recommendations for the H270?

Update: browsing through the choices and it doesn't look like there is a significant difference in price between the H270 and the Z270. That said, I think I'll take your advice anyway. While some of the H270 boards are priced about the same as the Z270 SLI I had selected originally, I found what looks like a well-reviewed Asus H270 board for just over $100. Thanks again for the help.

Hell man, if you dont plan on doing SLI, or m.2, or any other fancy schtuff you could go with a B250. Its not like its going to hurt frame rates in game really.

As far as brands or specific boards, that really depends on who you ask. I personally have used in the past Asus, EVGA, Gigabyte and Asrock. As of late, im getting really fed up with gigabyte but have never been disappointed in Asrock. Part of that I think is due to expectations. asrock is (to me) a cheaper brand so I expect less of it, whereas gigabyte, I will hold to a higher standard. I dont think anything is truly "bad" other than say biostar...ive had my own dealings with them.

Again its really just a matter of preference, and I'm pretty meh. I'm more of a numbers guy. If a board on newegg has 4/5 eggs and 20+ reviews, I tend to believe its a halfway decent board.

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Feel free to post what parts you intend on using and myself or others can help you pick suitable parts.

So my other option is to stick with my PCPartpicker build, here (updated with the H270 board - mind you I would like an M.2 option in the future):

https://pcpartpicker.com/user/Kosteo/saved/Kgrpgs

Udpate: dropped the RAM down to 2400 since the board specs say that's the max. That knocked $30 off the total too.
Also my reasoning for the additional 140mm fan is because I want that case optimized for temperature. I hear the Kabylakes run hotter than people expected them to. I intend to mount that right above the single 140mm the case comes equipped with (for intake). There is only room for 1 120mm for exhaust.

So skylake is anything 6000 series (6th gen), kabylake is 7000 series (7th gen).

The i3 really does pack a good punch for the price in terms of gaming. The i5 is probably best bang for buck but if you're feeling like you cant afford it, the i3 would probably do just fine.

You dont really need the CPU cooler, the stock intel one would do ok for that build. Though its never a terrible idea to have overkill on cooling.

I would go with a 2x8GB kit on the ram instead of 4x4GB so you can upgrade if you want but thats a judgement call really.

I just got the i7 7700k, it does run pretty warm, warmer than expected. That said its running happily overclocked at 4.7Ghz @ 65c max with my H100 GTX.

I think the lower models will run just fine heat wise.

A solid Idea. I find that having more intake than exhaust usually reduces dust as well.

Okay good to know - I think I am going to avoid the temptation to try overclocking right now. I am just not "there" yet when it comes to how serious I want to get with my gaming. As good as the deal sounds, I can actually do better price-wise, which is reflected in that partpicker link below.

Regarding the cooler/fan. Won't the stock fan blow dust all over my motherboard?

Honestly the pcpartpicker link as it is right now is pretty solid for the money. Not much different than what I would pick for myself. If I were to change anything I would go for an equivalent corsair PSU but thats just me.

There has to be dust to begin with. If you're putting the extra intake fan at the front, theres a dust mesh and should really minimize the amount of dust. Like I said previously when you run more intake than exhaust, you usually end up with less dust.

What happens is, because there is more intake than exhaust, you generate positive pressure relative to the air outside the case. This then pushes air out of the cracks and crevices of the case that dont have mesh to filter out dust. Its not going to prevent everything but I have been running my case like this for over a year and have very minimal dust. I have not had to clean it in that time.

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Thanks again for the help! I am glad I finally ran into someone knowledgeable to tell me I would benefit from another fan up front, that just makes sense to me but it's nice to hear it confirmed.

If there isn't much difference in cost, the Z270 may be worth considering if you think there is any chance at all in the future you may want to grab a K SKU chip and overclock. It's not all e-peen and benchmarks, there's a lot of free performance to be had. Many of us OC just moderate amounts, mostly not caring about benchmarks and topping any charts. If you can get Z270 for within like $20 to $25, I think it's worthwhile. Just my .02 though :)

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Hmm ... I can get this guy for another $15: https://pcpartpicker.com/product/KvvZxr/msi-z270-a-pro-atx-lga1151-motherboard-z270-a-pro

As a consequence, I'm going to want to spend more on RAM so I can get the 3200 or better, so in truth it raises the effective cost (for me) by about $40-$50. Conundrum!

Honestly, it will be nice having Z270, you may regret it if you don't. It gives you much, much better upgrade path in the future. Back in 2014 I was cheap, and to save myself $30 I got a cheap board with a Haswell i5. Within months I was super depressed, I regretted it so badly, because newer stuff came out, and the prices dropped on unlocked i5's and i7's, and my board couldn't handle any of it.

I would seriously consider it, I'm one of those guys who thinks it's totally worth spending a little more to have a good board. That board you posted looks nice, I like MSI, I have their X99A SLI-Plus right now, very, very happy with it.

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Okay what do you think of this? What if I go with a Z270 but step down the RAM from the board max specs and keep that around the DDR4 2400 level, then upgrade RAM along with a better CPU should I decide to overclock at some point? Am I going to run into problems with using 2400 on a Z270?

Should have no problem at all. That's what I'm running.

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2400 is just fine, hell I'm running it with my 5820K, totally fine. The only time Ram speed effects performance now days, is when you're running a very high end Cpu and Gpu, it can effect frame rates on the very, very high end. For example if you have a 144hz display, and you're trying to average max frame rate, it can actually have a small effect, but I'm talking about super high end stuff, like a Titan X Pascal and an extremely high end Cpu. This was noticed recently by Digital Foundry, it's a total edge case.

For the average user and gamer, Ram speed will almost never have any real impact on performance. You'll be just fine with 2400. Also if you grab a high end Cpu later, you can always try overclocking the Ram a little as well, you may not even need to buy better Ram.

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Convincing - thanks again.

You're welcome! Good luck.

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