Best products from r/PcMasterRaceBuilds

Some bits of advice:

1. That Xeon has a 3.3GHz clock. While people will tell you the Xeon works "just as well as an i7", individual clock speed has a pretty decent influence on game performance. I was able to get my hands on an i7-4790k at 4.4GHz (without overclocking!) a few months ago for $238.99 shipped from jet.com. Might want to give a closer look at your CPU choice and check for deals. (/r/buildapcsales should help)
   
   
2. If you're not overclocking, I don't see much of a reason to drop 100 bucks on a liquid CPU cooler. You could put that money towards many different things: a secondary monitor, a mouse and keyboard upgrade, storage upgrade, etc. Even throw it in the bank and save the money.
   
   
3. That's the exact motherboard I have in my rig, the GA-Z97M-DS3H. Works great - My only complaint with it is that there's only one system fan header, meaning if you intend to set up more than one case fan (which of course you do - that case comes with two fans installed) then you'll need a fan splitter similar to this unless you plug your fans directly into the PSU using molex converters, which won't allow your computer to regulate fan speed based on performance.
   
   
4. RAM choice looks good. A good price for 16 GB DDR3 RAM nowadays is $60. I was able to get 16 GB of Patriot RAM from frys.com for $52 after rebate for my build during one of their promotional code deals. They say the brand and speed don't make much of a difference for RAM, so just look out for deals and you might be able to save a buck or two here.
   
   
5. SSD choice is a decent one, and at a great price, but consider also looking into the very popular Samsung 850 EVO or Sandisk Ultra II. I've seen people recommend against the Kingston SSDNow, but I don't have any personal experience with it. I personally have the Sandisk Ultra II and my sister has the 850 EVO (I also have one in my laptop). Can't comment on long-term reliability as all these were purchased less than two years ago but they all work great so far.
   
   
6. Great GPU choice. I would look out for sales on /r/buildapcsales for this piece as well. I was able to get a refurb GTX 970 for $240 from EVGA, and I've seen new R9 390s around that price too. Could probably save at least $20 buying on sale. But definitely good choice with the 8GB model.
   
   
7. I also have the same exact case. No issues with it - love the look and has good enough airflow. Cable management isn't stellar but it's there.
   
   
8. That's a good PSU. People typically recommend the SuperNOVA G2 or GS series or a Seasonic PSU (of which I have this one), but this SuperNOVA NEX scored an 8.5 on jonnyguru, where its lowest scoring category is "Value", which doesn't really say much about its performance. Looks solid to me.
   
   Overall great build. You can save some money here and there. My total build cost about $800 with an i7-4790k and GTX 970. You can probably get yours to about that price with some tweaking and smart buying. Good luck! And let me know if you have questions.

I'm not able to answer all of you're questions, but I'll kick off your post by answering the ones that I can:
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> 1) ... Am I over and/or under purchasing at any spots? Especially when it comes to CPU Cooling and Power Supplies, I really have no idea what I am looking at when choosing between them.

Other people here will be able to better answer this question -- but generally for high end gaming I see people shooting for the 700-850W mark on power supplies. I personally run an 850. A lot of people say that's overkill, but if you're purchasing a decent psu brand, at least bronze certified, the worst that happens is you're spending $20 for the security that you're not under buying. It won't over-power your computer if that's your concern.

As for the cooler -- it really depends on how much you'd like to overclock. If you're not pushing the line, this cooler is probably a little bit overkill, but if you have the money and the space in your case, cooler's always better.

> 2) ... Is this an easy problem to solve?

No idea, sorry =/

> 3) I want to take advantage of the G-Sync feature

Yep you're good to go.

> 4) I considered adding another 16 GB of RAM

Probably overkill for gaming and easily upgradable if you change your mind. The one thing I will point out here is that this Noctua cooler may prevent you from fitting 4 sticks of RAM on your motherboard. Just something to keep in mind.

> 5) Is there any reason not to go ahead and build this now?

You may want to take a look at the Black Friday deals coming up, but likely it won't save you a ton of money on primary components like these. We will see some next gen CPUs early-ish 2018 as well as Nvidia's next cards, but it's not like you'd be postponing only a month -- there's no known date, so it depends on how much you want a PC, and how "current" you need your parts to be. My thought is, just go for it.

> 6) Any other comments or concerns that stem from the selected parts?

I'm an Intel guy, especially when it comes to gaming, so I tend to recommend the 8700k -- but a ton of people love Ryzen too. Just do you.

> 1) What do I need to make sure that I am ready to put this together?

I've got one of these at home, and I love it. Other than that all hardware should come with mounting brackets and stuff that you need. Looks like your case comes with 3 stock fans -- I can't speak to quality or that specific case's airflow, but it's definitely plenty to get you up and running. Once you're overclocking and/or monitoring temps, you can decide if you need more/better fans for your case. Some people like to purchase thermal paste separately for higher quality stuff, but your parts should come with enough.

> 2) Water cooling seems awesome but is also terrifying. Can I get by without it?

Same. I use an air cooler, smaller than the one you're buying, and I'm overclocking -- granted it's a modest overclock, but I haven't even bothered pushing temps. Air cooling is fine unless you need the looks, or need to go the extra mile, overclocking.

> 3) What are you guys playing that will look fucking sweet on this new setup?

The truth is the games I play are mostly not meant to be pretty or even really played on Ultra (PUBG and Overwatch mainly) but I love the look and feel of Destiny, Wolfenstein, Fallout 4, Witcher 3, and Titanfall 2.

> 4) I also need a new chair

This is what I use. Though my wife gave me the "no racecar chair" mandate.

> 5) ... static can be an issue when putting this all together.

I have wooden floors, so I've never had an issue -- but I know several people that have built on carpet without problem. Not really a question I can speak to though.

I just built a PC with a i9-9900k and a 2080 Super. It’s a beast, I’m very happy with it.

So naturally, I’d definitely recommend a 2080 or a 2080 super. Especially if you plan on using an ultrawide monitor.

If you find a regular 2080 for a good price, go for it. It dropped a bit in price, so it’s a good deal. But if you’re willing to spend a little more coin, the 2080 super for the little bit of extra performance isn’t a bad choice either.

PSU:
Please whatever you do, make sure to not skimp on power supplies. You want a high quality PSU to ensure every component is getting adequate power and that the power is fed from a well engineered unit.

Personally, I am using a CORSAIR HXi Series, HX850i, 850 Watt, 80+ Platinum Certified PSU . It is a very nice PSU, but the price is a little high for it. I’d probably recommend this one if you have an existing Corsair eco system, since it’d fit right in, or just as an enthusiast purchase.

Otherwise, my PSU recommendation for you would be an EVGA SuperNOVA 850 G+, 80 Plus Gold 850W . Well built, 10 year warranty, and a reasonable price. Very good pick.

750w is enough, but I personally like the little bit of extra headroom with the 850 power supplies. The more headroom you have, the quieter and longer your PSU will live. Also having extra could be useful for future proofing. Just a peace of mind thing.

Somebody rang?

Oh look, a server build! Luckily for you, I work for a HUMONGOUS hosting company.

I've analyzed the config...here's my two cents:

Too bad you already bought the board because you can't take advantage of the most vital difference between an LGA 2011 i7 and a Xeon E5: ECC support. You would need a real server/workstation board. Gigabyte, Asus, Supermicro and Tyan make the best ones.

Without ECC, you're at a higher risk for filesystem corruption in the form of silent data corruption. Use the ZFS filesystem if possible to mitigate this.

More memory problems: You've got a dual channel kit on a quad channel board. How much performance you'll lose depends on your workload but what I'm most concerned about is reliability. Some systems won't even POST without at least 1 DIMM in each channel. Check your motherboard manual for memory configuration details.

The CPU is overkill for what is essentially a NAS but it could make for some good home lab fun for VM environments. Use the performance or sell the board and get something tiny and efficient like an Atom C2550 or 2258 mobo such as the Supermicro A1SRM-2558F.

The PSU is not server grade and I recommend getting something that is. I like to see 80 Plus Gold circuits in servers these days as only the lesser circuits are Bronze now. I put Seasonic X in mine and I don't worry about caps popping and screwing over my data....the same can't be said about the Evga 600B with it's tier 2 caps. It's good for a budget game box but I wouldn't trust it for 24/7 operational stuff.

Change your hard disks!! I don't recommend using desktop drives in a server if you need to depend on it; they don't hold up well under 24/7 use and they can cause issues with RAID controllers, especially when they start failing with media errors. Go for Seagate Constellation ES or WD Red Pro, WD SE, RE or Gold drives depending on your workload and speed needs. HGST Ultrastar and even Deskstar NAS are good options as well.

Red vs Red Pro: WD Red is slow, cheap and reliable. Red Pro is fast, not as cheap and more reliable.

For the cooler i'd recommend getting something like an kraken x62 or x72, purely because i have the x62.

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Those are black tubed and have adjustable led display/lights and presets, so you can set it to red to fit your theme.

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The corsair H100i is mostly black with a bit of a silvery colour on it, not much but its noticeable, you can adjust the logo to any colour.

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The Cooler Master - MasterAir maker and V8 GTS are both air coolers with red leds, but to be honest they've been praised for looking pretty, but i'm sure they dont cool to well and are probably very loud.

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Case wise i'd suggest something like an inwin 805 red: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Win-805-Type-Aluminium-Case/dp/B016NHPB1G

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or an NZXT h700 red: https://www.amazon.co.uk/NZXT-ca-h700-W-br-PC-Casing-Black/dp/B076JF2494/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1536256289&sr=8-3-fkmr0&keywords=h700+red

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The NZXT S340 is also a good pick.

Those are what i'd recommend for convince sake, but if you have time and energy, you can get something like a p5 / p5 tg/ p3 / p7 from thermaltake and add rgb fans and led strips and components to get the desired theme.

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These recommendation are just on what i find visually appealing,

Hopefully I can answer a couple questions for you;

Price really depends on brand and what you want out of it, personally I have the ASUS Z97-A which is a board I love which I got at what I believe to be a fair price ($150) As you can see it has three PCIe x16 lanes, which may be a little overkill but if I ever wanted to use SLI I could easily fit three full video cards happily in there. Ports and specifics are not what you should be too focused on. Obviously you need USB and SATA ports and stuff like that, but all of that stuff is fairly standard across all motherboards. Most commonly you'll have more ports than what you need. The CPU socket needs to match the CPU size, most commonly you'll see an LGA 1150 for intel, and for AMD they have the AM2, AM3 etc. If you are using a Skylake Intel Chip, than you need a board with the newer LGA 1151 board. It is very important that the CPU you order fits in the motherboards socket, or else when you put the two together it wont boot up and you'll be dead in the water.

You should use https://pcpartpicker.com/ to map out a build. Its a great tool that will let you know if you have any incompatibilities in your rig before you spend a dime.

Good luck with your build, feel free to PM me with any other questions, I'm on mobile all the time so I should get back to you pretty quickly.

Thanks man, i really appreciate it. Wow, that is such a cheap power supply! Will that fit in my computer? Im just worried about how hard it would be to remove my old one as its a prebuilt and looks like its in some kind of steel box. Ill ask a friend if he could help me, because replacing the power supply for $35.00 seems like a no brainier.

However for now, i think with the amount i use my computer, and with the current card i have, i think im just going to get a 1050ti or a rx460.

Right now, the rx460 is only $85.00 after rebate.

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125897&ignorebbr=1

This is the best price i can find on a 1050ti, I wouldnt mind paying
$115. But is it is evga a good brand and signifigantly better than rx460

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MF7EQJZ/?tag=pcpapi-20

Just an update - I've opened it up or some further info:
PSU Pentium p4 e650x 650W
Had a look at the CPU cooler - I've no idea how to identify it but I'm pretty sure its this from the serial number https://www.amazon.co.uk/Intel-Cooler-LGA1150-1155-E97378-001/dp/B00BQ1C4SS

Thinking about going for a 1050 ti since it's affordable and sounds like it would suit my needs. Are these all fairly equivalent?

https://www.scan.co.uk/products/evga-geforce-gtx-1050-ti-gaming-4gb-gddr5-graphics-card-768-core-1290mhz-gpu-1392mhz-boost?gclid=CI232_ru3tQCFcO17Qod1nMO_Q

https://www.box.co.uk/Asus-Phoenix-GeForce-GTX-1050-Ti-4GB-Pho_2034657.html

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Zotac-GeForce-1050Ti-Mini-Graphics/dp/B01M8M5T4T?tag=georiot-pcg-21&ascsubtag=pcg-313788699-21

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Asus-Phoenix-GeForce-NVIDIA-GTX-1050TI-4GB-Graphics-Card-From-Argos-on-ebay-/352096492684?epid=2059785045&hash=item51fa961c8c:g:FOAAAOSwCmZZTjHb#shpCntId

Thanks again you guys are awesome! (Y)

Your build is relevant (not sure about the CPU but if what it's says in the specs is true than sure). Buy a smaller ssd (put your operating system on it) and pair it with a 1tb hd. Do you really need a sound card? If anything I'm just curious if it really helps or just an expensive add on. There are much cheaper motherboards out there. Your CPU comes with a stock cooler but if you want to over clock than keep with what you got. Buy a cheaper monitor like this. You probably don't need the thermal compound because cpus come with it pre applied. Finally Ethernet is always better than wifi.

I wouldn't get a 1000w PSU becasue the price isnt worth just for same or slightly less noise. A high end PSU, like the G3 you have, is going to be less noisy than your GPU so I wouldn't worry about it. Or you can get a be quiet! straight power for a bit more but it will more quiet than the g3 without needing to buy a 1k watt psu.

Also, I like to fan splitters instead of a fan controller. I use this this one and it works great

You're welcome.:-). Oh and also, you can get an i5 7500 instead of an i5 7600k. They are around 40 dollars cheaper and only have 9% less power. they perform about the same while gaming. Also, this is a better deal on a GTX 1060. And this is a good deal on 8gb ram. Also, a z270 seems overkill for your build if you don't plan on over clocking. A b150 or a b250 would suit you better.This is a good deal. If you get a 120gb SSD, the 1tb hard drive I mentioned, the nzxt s340, the ram I showed you and the b150 that I showed you, you will probably be able to fit in a GTX 1080 instead of a GTX 1060, which is much better. It can run the games you mentioned at 1440p at 144fps on ultra settings or even 4k at 60 fps. Try this list

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Type|Item|Price

----|:----|:----
CPU | Intel - Core i5-7500 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor | $197.68 @ OutletPC
CPU Cooler | Cooler Master - Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler | $26.88 @ OutletPC
Motherboard | MSI - B250 PC MATE ATX LGA1151 Motherboard | $81.98 @ Newegg
Memory | Crucial - 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory | $68.95 @ Amazon
Storage | Kingston - A400 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive | $57.99 @ Amazon
Storage | Western Digital - Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive | $46.88 @ OutletPC
Video Card | Asus - GeForce GTX 1080 8GB ROG STRIX Video Card | $559.99 @ SuperBiiz
Case | NZXT - S340 (Black/Red) ATX Mid Tower Case | $64.99 @ Newegg
Power Supply | Corsair - CXM 550W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply | $43.98 @ Newegg
| Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts |
| Total (before mail-in rebates) | $1189.32
| Mail-in rebates | -$40.00
| Total | $1149.32
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-08-28 03:56 EDT-0400 |

This is a great build. You chose parts that are balanced and complement each other well. Good job!

Only thing is, I would switch to an MSI motherboard. Gigabyte boards don’t have the best reputation…

MSI Pro Series Intel B250 LGA 1151 DDR4 HDMI USB 3.1 ATX Motherboard (B250 PC MATE) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N4LCX2D/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_LI7Zzb45R8NMK

Hey bud, I took a look at your computer and the internal PSU, as far as I could find all the information online. You'll want another PSU like this one here. It's inexpensive and it's the current one I have in my build, works very well. Less than $35 too, so if you're trying to stay under a budget of $300 then you still have over $250 for a graphics card.

If you decide to go down that route, and get, say, an RX570, you'll be looking at a total cost of ~$240. You'll have to remove your old power supply and all it's wiring, install the now power supply, and re-route the new power supply's cables to all your components. It's not hard to do, it's pretty much plug-and-play once you identify which wires go where. With that and the new graphics card, you'll be good to go.

OR, if you decide you'd rather go the 1050ti route, all you'll have to do is plug in the new graphics card and presto, you're done. No need to mess with power stuff. And you're only in $120.

Hope that all helps!

Oh, I also need a monitor but I'll probably use a tv(I know huge bottleneck) until black Friday. I was looking at the one you recommended or this one as its a 1440p 1ms 144hz TN panel with LFC and great colors recreation(as TN usually don't have great colors). https://www.amazon.com/GFT27DB-27-Inch-Monitor-Speakers-FreeSync/dp/B07NBM6KYH/ref=sr_1_1?crid=JYBOMANL52QW&keywords=viotek+gft27db&qid=1570923616&sprefix=viotek%2Caps%2C196&sr=8-1

I just noticed in the PCPP you changed the motherboard, the one you posted appears to have 4 6gb SATA ports, If I want to do SSD+HHD+optical will I need that motherboard? The original one I posted only appears to have two on it.

Thanks again!

Edit- Looks like it has "SATA: 4X SATA3" I think I just didnt see them because two are stacked vertically next to two horizontal ones. Any idea what the "Gaming" version of the motherboard changes?

Sorry i just woke up and my brain doesn't work properly lol, i will have 4 fans in total, this have 4 connections, one will go to the motherboard and the rest to the fans, so i'll need one more connector for the other fan.

EDIT: Ah nevermind i can connect that one fan directly to the motherboard, i forgot about that lol.

https://www.amazon.com/AOC-G2460PF-24-Inch-Gaming-Monitor/dp/B01BV1XBEI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1479607012&sr=8-1&keywords=aoc+freesync AOC makes great budget monitors

Also now is an excellent time to buy as there are several deals right now.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07QXLFLXT/ref=s9_acss_bw_cg_PCLTMC_3c1_w?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=merchandised-search-2&pf_rd_r=VRYNBKNRR0HY52DTH0JS&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=af322382-9237-4a3b-b1f9-1684d360a9b9&pf_rd_i=565108

Did you put a Z170 so he could upgrade the GPU later?

If not, he could get MSI H110M Gaming mobo instead for $69.99 from Amazon?

This one is officially recommended by PCMR in their build guide.

This one is something else I am looking at.

Both feature 144hz, 1ms response time and both are 1920x1080 displays.