• Hardware

  • Help building a Gaming/Development PC

What do you guys think of this build:

1X NZXT S340 CA-S340W-B1 Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Case USB 3.0 /win for $74.00

1X Thermaltake Smart SE SPS-630M 630W PSU for $69.00

1X Intel Skylake i5-6500 3.20GHz- 6M/LGA1151 Original Boxed CPU for $198.00

1X MSI Z170A GAMING M3 (DDR4) USB 3.1 (LGA1151) for $159.00

1X HyperX Fury 16GB (2 x 8GB) 288-Pin DDR4 2400 (PC4 19200) Desktop Memory Model HX424C15FBK2/16 for $70.00

1X Kingston HyperX Savage SHSS37A/240G 2.5" 240GB SATA III Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) for $97.00

1X WD 1TB WD1003FZEX 7200RPM SATAIII 64MB Black Edition internal HDD for $80.00

1X Asus STRIX-GTX970-DC2OC-4GD5 GeForce GTX 970 4GB DDR5 for $369.00

1X Samsung LS24D300HS/ZN 24" LED Full HD monitor for $159.00

1X Microsoft Wired Desktop 400 USB Key+Mouse Spill-Resistant Design for $17.00

1X Assembly $10.00

Discount $6.00

Subtotal of complete systems would be $1296.00

Total with 10% V.A.T. and $10.00 volume shipping of Complete system within Beirut area would be $1437.00USD only.


This is pcandparts offer, anything I should add/replace? I'll be using it for gaming (Fallout 4, GTA V, CS:GO, etc..) and development (Visual Studio, Android Studio, maybe a VM..)
I'm thinking of replacing the CPU with Skylake 3.40 GHz - i7-6700 (+100$), how much difference does it make?
Any insight (even on other parts) would be helpful.
For only gaming and development I don't think you need an SSD...
I brought an SSD a few years ago and the only "noticeable" thing I've found was booting windows in like 15 sec, a bit faster in rendering video as well.

You're buying an overclock motherboard with a locked CPU so it's a waste of money, get an unlocked CPU or if you're not into overclocking get a cheaper board (maybe Gigabyte GA-H110M-S2HP or Gigabyte GA-B150M-D3H)

The 970 is the perfect gpu for a single full-hd monitor (I have it and I'm very satisfied! average fps: 50 - about 70 in the city, ~40 in the wood though-in GTAV with i7 2600K) But if I were you and I am not in a hurry I'd wait for Pascal.

I highly recommend the Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000 for coding(I use it at work it's great)

I think 16GB are a bit overkill (I am using 6gb and play smoothly + (visual studio and a lots of opened firefox/chrome tab)) but hey if I were building one for myself I may get 64GB and create a ram disk(that's what I am planning to do soon honestly - I wanted to change my whole system before and move to lga-2011-v3 but I end up repairing my old buddy so I am waiting until it cracks)

Ditch the assembly and DIY!
scorz wroteFor only gaming and development I don't think you need an SSD...
I brought an SSD a few years ago and the only "noticeable" thing I've found was booting windows in like 15 sec, a bit faster in rendering video as well.
I worked with and without SSD, it really does make a difference.
scorz wroteYou're buying an overclock motherboard with a locked CPU so it's a waste of money, get an unlocked CPU or if you're not into overclocking get a cheaper board (maybe Gigabyte GA-H110M-S2HP or Gigabyte GA-B150M-D3H)
I highly recommend the Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000 for coding(I use it at work it's great)
Noted.
scorz wroteThe 970 is the perfect gpu for a single full-hd monitor (I have it and I'm very satisfied! average fps: 50 - about 70 in the city, ~40 in the wood though-in GTAV with i7 2600K) But if I were you and I am not in a hurry I'd wait for Pascal.
I wanted to get the R9 390 which is better, but I have no idea why the 970 is cheaper here.
Pascal won't be released until June I guess and I can't wait that long.
scorz wroteI think 16GB are a bit overkill (I am using 6gb and play smoothly + (visual studio and a lots of opened firefox/chrome tab)) but hey if I were building one for myself I may get 64GB and create a ram disk(that's what I am planning to do soon honestly - I wanted to change my whole system before and move to lga-2011-v3 but I end up repairing my old buddy so I am waiting until it cracks)
Well, I know 8GB are enough, maybe 12GB at most, but it's like the cheapest part in the entire build, maybe I'll get 2 x 4GB first then another 4GB later if needed.
scorz wroteDitch the assembly and DIY!
I barely know anything about hardware, don't want to end up sticking something in the wrong hole.

Last question, what would you recommend for a CPU? You have the pcandparts items list, will an i7 (even if it's older) make any noticeable difference?
Thanks man.
get an ssd and keep the 16gb memory. that's the norm now.

you still need to get a decent cpu cooler, as the stock one is really bad.

any other PSU you can get?
Well if you're going to get an older CPU (Haswell) you'll need another mother board (LGA 1150)
Reviews showed that skylake is slightly better than haswell but the good is that it consumes less power

Take a look at this: https://lebgeeks.com/forums/viewtopic.php?id=16853

@MrClass If he's not going to overclock stock will be ok no?
Okay so it's
Skylake 3.20 GHz - i5-6500 $198.00 or
Skylake 3.40 GHz - i7-6700 $308.00

Is it worth the 100$? How much will it be noticeable (no rendering)?
Builds Note / Recommendations:

1- Thermaltake Smart SE SPS-630M 630W is a tier 4 PSU , not recommended for gaming builds & OC of high end GPU , go with a Tough Power Series 80-Plus Gold / Platinum Certified (Normal or Smart DPS G Editions) , Cooler-master V Series. Corsair HX Series.


2- While an i5 is not a bad choice, the idea that stepping up to an i7 is useless for gaming is outdated. Buy a late model i7 - 3770k, 4770k, 4790k, 6700k and you won't need a replacement for years. Therefore I recommend to go with either an Haswell i7 4790 or Skylake 6700 , -k or None K Editions.

Very interesting testing / recommendations you can have a look at:

PC Gamer: "I’d say for the vast majority of gamers, the sweet spot lies somewhere between a quad-core with Hyper-Threading and a six-core on the Intel side of the aisle. A Skylake Core i5-6600K will be fine for DirectX 11 games and probably the vast majority of the early DirectX 12 games, but the lack of Hyper-Threading will eventually hurt. For AMD fans, that means a six-core FX or eight-core FX part".

http://www.pcworld.com/article/3039552/hardware/tested-how-many-cpu-cores-you-really-need-for-directx-12-gaming.html

https://youtu.be/ocwwaVGUFtk

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2016-what-is-the-fastest-gaming-cpu

3- SSD: A 120 GB one will not harm at all when you install the OS on it.

4-A none stock Intel CPU Cooler , even if you don't want to OC - a Thermal Take Contac 21 , a Cooler master Evo 212 , or Thermal Take Frio 12 or 14 Silent will make you CPU hover 25-30 Degrees Celsius on idle and between 50- 60 Degrees Celsius on heavy PC Gaming.


Good Luck , and post for us some pictures on your finished build.
For gaming only it's almost the same,
but since you're a developer yes it's worth the 100$ because the i7 support hyper-threading you got 4 cores/8 threads plus 2mb cache.
It actually depends on what you want to develop. But I doubt you'll be heading into AAA games so yes, any PC would do the trick with a decent CPU.
@Tech Guru
Thanks man, I'll make a final decision for the SSD (120-240) and RAM(8-12-16).


Thank you guys that was really helpful (better than /r/buildapc)

-Thermaltake PS-TPD-0750MPCG ToughPower Gold 750W PSU (+50$)
-Gigabyte GA-H110M-S2HP (-80$)
-ThermalTake CL-P002-AL14BL-B Frio Silent 14 (+50$)
-Skylake 3.40 GHz - i7-6700 (+110$)

Any more comments/changes?
@Tech Guru

Yeah I've seen it earlier, I think it's a bit overpriced and since I'm paying that much getting a new build is always better.

Thanks man.
Shit I forgot,
PCE 1500 UPS M8 Series 600W (2x Batteries) $70.00

Is this UPS enough? If not which one I should get? (cheapest possible)