Building a new PC! - FINISHED with New Photos!!!

[Schuetzenman]

I thought I would share this pending event. After 7 years I'm going to build a new desk top / gaming PC. I purchased the parts now I'm waiting for them to come in. I will follow up with photos once the majority of the parts arrive, all I have at present are a few extension cables and the CPU chip which is an Intel Skylake i5. It is the 6600k unlocked chip running native at 3.5 Ghz. I picked that up locally at Microcenter because they had the best deal on CPU chips over any source I've been able to find anywhere on the web. All of it will go in a Define R4 "Silent" case wit window. Hey you have to see all the new hotness after you build it right! Here is the parts list with piece prices.

1. ASUS ROG MAXIMUS VIII RANGER LGA 1151 Intel Z170 $189.99
2. 2 year extended warranty on the Mother Board. $25
3. Core I5-6600K Sky Lake 3.5 Ghz. $233.19 Price dropped $10 bucks, got my refund already!
4. Extension Cables , Raidmax Brand, 3 pieces $20.97
5. Diamond Thermal Paste. Antec Brand $9.99
6. Samsung 850 Evo 2.5" 250 GB SSD 79.99
7. G.SKILL RIPJAWS KM780 RGB Mechanical Gaming Keyboard $159.99
8. G.Skill Trident Z 16 GB (4x4 GB) DDR4 3200 speed. $139.99
9. WD Black 2TB Hard drive 7200 RPM 64 mb cache $116.99
10. EVGA 220-G2-0750-XR 80 Plus Gold, 10 yr. Warranty $109.99
11. LG WH16NS40 BD Rwriter 16x speed & Nero 12 72.99 $72.99
12. Be Quiet Silent Wings 2, 140 mm 1000 RPM 15.8DB $67.6
13. Be Quiet Dark Rock 3 CPU Cooler 190 TDP $ 74.9
    
14. 
    

Total: $1,301.58

[ltorlo64]

Sounds like you will have a pretty good system when you are done.

[Helen Keller]

i need to do the same over winter, just have to get a big external drive to put all my local steam content on .

[cevulirn]

I build myself a new computer this summer, then the skylake processors and DDR4 comes out!

I don't see a video card?

[Schuetzenman]

On the Video Card or lack there of, that is the one component I'm going to recycle from the current rig. It is a GTX780 Poseidon that I scored a hell of a deal on in October a year ago. After rebate $295! I think it can still handle what gaming has to throw at it especially with the upgrade to the Z170 board, DDR4 ram and the Skylake i5 chip. Honestly I should see a hell of a bump in performance. If I don't I think it might be my older BenQ monitor. I might have to pop for something new, maybe even 3D capable.

By the way if you look back at the list you'll see prices adjusted down a bit. Microcenter dropped the cost of the Intel i5 6600K CPU by $10 bucks over night. I swong by after work and got my 10 bucks and 60 cents of GA tax back. So right now people these chips are $219.99 at Microcenter. By contrast Newegg is $269.99! There is no better deal on the i5 unlocked 6600k CPU anywhere right now. Hellen Keller, if you have the coin availabe and were looking at the 6600K best jump on it now IMO.

Aside from the monitor issue already mentioned I'm toying with the idea of getting a DXracer chair for the PC desk. The chair I have now looks ghetto fabulous. The vinyl is flaking off on the floor showing the fabric binder layer.

[Schuetzenman]

I build myself a new computer this summer, then the skylake processors and DDR4 comes out!

I don't see a video card?

About a Z97 build (assuming you did Intel board and CPU), there isn't a giant leap forward in performance over the Gen 5 chips like the 4790K i7 or the i5 4690K, so don't feel bad about it. The only reason I'm doing Skylake is that the cost difference isn't huge to step up to the latest technology thanks to the Black Friday and Cyber Monday / Cyber Week special prices. Before this came up I was still looking at the 4690K and DDR3 1866 Ram with Z97 board. When it all shook out there wasn't even a $100 buck difference from the 5th gen to the 6th gen build cost after the holiday dicounts kicked in.

[Cypher]

Only $11,301.58 what a steal

I will probably have to build a new PC in the next year or so. I love the process but it is a lot of work because by the time I need to build a new system every 3 years or so the hardware scene changes completely. I usually end up with one previous release of most hardware to get the most bang for my buck. It take a lot of time for me to research the best stuff to get, its to the point I would save money in time just buying the best of everything and put it together, lol.

[Helen Keller]

a $11,000 computer , it better suck and make dinner.

[Schuetzenman]

Pardon my typing skills but at least it got somebody to read this post. It is now corrected, $1,301.58. This is the most I've ever spent to build one. This is because I'm finally not purchasing bottom tier boards, ram, power supplies or CPU chips. Also I'm going Intel for the first time, I've always been an AMD CPU guy but then again I was always an Nvidia GPU lover. Never have liked ATI / Radeon GPU cards.

I'm going to take a lot of photos of the components and the build once the bits n pieces come in. Most of it isn't supposed to come in until Monday or Tuesday next week.

[cevulirn]

FYI, Microcenter will match Newegg pricing if you ask nicely, (on exact same item of course.)

[Schuetzenman]

FYI, Microcenter will match Newegg pricing if you ask nicely, (on exact same item of course.)

Yes, I know but even matching the price, on this build there were two realities; 1. New Egg had equal or better prices and 2. Sales tax always made the match unfavorable, I'd be spending a good deal more coin to purchase from Microcenter even with a match. The only exception was the 6600k i5 Skylake CPU chip. Even with sales tax that one was over 30 bucks less. I spent a grand total of $2.99 in shipping on all the items I got from NE. It saved me about $66 bucks to mail order the components.

[Schuetzenman]

Finally! The big box showed up last night. I spent the evening going over the items shipped and reading the manuals.


Probably not going to start on this until Friday evening, maybe even Saturday. I'm still debating should I just get another case or reuse the Define R4 that I just got a year ago? Also trying to decide to go with a 24" or 27" G-Sync monitor. The prices sure do jump up with those 3 extra inches of screen.

Going Clockwise starting at the top of the photo: 4, Silent Wings 2 case fans from BeQuiet, Dark Rock 3 CPU heat sink and cooler from BeQuiet, EVGA fully modular power supply 80+ Gold rated, 2 TB Western Digital Black Hard Drive, LG Blueray read write drive, 4x4 3200 G.Skill TridentZ Ram set, Samsung 850 Evo 250 Gb size (the OS will be on this, files and programs on the 2 TB WD Black drive), Asus Hero VIII Ranger Motherboard. Not pictured is the Intel 6600K Skylake CPU chip. I picked that up locally at the best price anywhere from Microcenter. Anyone interested in doing a Skylake CPU chip based PC check out Microcenter, they smoke everyone on the CPU price.

[L1A1Rocker]

It's been a LOOONNG time sense I built a system (think AT board). My PC interest tapered off when games went to an online system requirling a pay to play thing. Maybe I'm just getting old and cantankerous.

Good luck with your build! I'll be watching your build. I'm curious how the older vid card will do with the new system.

[abpt1]

I thought I would share this pending event. After 7 years I'm going to build a new desk top / gaming PC. I purchased the parts now I'm waiting for them to come in. I will follow up with photos once the majority of the parts arrive, all I have at present are a few extension cables and the CPU chip which is an Intel Skylake i5. It is the 6600k unlocked chip running native at 3.5 Ghz. I picked that up locally at Microcenter because they had the best deal on CPU chips over any source I've been able to find anywhere on the web. All of it will go in a Define R4 "Silent" case wit window. Hey you have to see all the new hotness after you build it right! Here is the parts list with piece prices.

1. ASUS ROG MAXIMUS VIII RANGER LGA 1151 Intel Z170 $189.99
2. 2 year extended warranty on the Mother Board. $25
3. Core I5-6600K Sky Lake 3.5 Ghz. $233.19 Price dropped $10 bucks, got my refund already!
4. Extension Cables , Raidmax Brand, 3 pieces $20.97
5. Diamond Thermal Paste. Antec Brand $9.99
6. Samsung 850 Evo 2.5" 250 GB SSD 79.99
7. G.SKILL RIPJAWS KM780 RGB Mechanical Gaming Keyboard $159.99
8. G.Skill Trident Z 16 GB (4x4 GB) DDR4 3200 speed. $139.99
9. WD Black 2TB Hard drive 7200 RPM 64 mb cache $116.99
10. EVGA 220-G2-0750-XR 80 Plus Gold, 10 yr. Warranty $109.99
11. LG WH16NS40 BD Rwriter 16x speed & Nero 12 72.99 $72.99
12. Be Quiet Silent Wings 2, 140 mm 1000 RPM 15.8DB $67.6
13. Be Quiet Dark Rock 3 CPU Cooler 190 TDP $ 74.9

Total: $1,301.58

ASUS is my go to.......As an Network admin/field tech for 12years and a lifetime geek ....You chose wisely !

[O.S.O.K.]

Wish I had money and time to game. lol That's sounds like a good set up. I have enjoyed getting my ass kicked on Call of Duty and such in the past.

[Schuetzenman]

It's been a LOOONNG time sense I built a system (think AT board). My PC interest tapered off when games went to an online system requirling a pay to play thing. Maybe I'm just getting old and cantankerous.

Good luck with your build! I'll be watching your build. I'm curious how the older vid card will do with the new system.

Well though most games are in the cloud now reference Steam Client, most are not pay to play. World of Warcraft a.k.a. WOW and Eve On line are two that are. I don't do those. I like a good FPS, First Person Shooter types and turn based strategy; Civilization, X-Com Enemy Within, and some like Fallout 3 or The Elder Scrolls, Skyrim.

[Schuetzenman]

ASUS is my go to.......As an Network admin/field tech for 12years and a lifetime geek ....You chose wisely !

Thanks for the chosing wisely comment. I've been studying the new gen hardware sizing up abilities and costs since July. Hitting the Black Friday Cyber Monday / Cyber Week deals saved me at least a couple hundred bucks. Checking prices on the same items this week they have gone up 30 to 50 bucks each.

Oh and a bit of an update; I picked up an Acer 27" G-Sync monitor and a second 2 TB Western Digital 7200 rpm hard drive this afternoon. I'm going to set up a Raid 1 with the two WD hard drives.

[Schuetzenman]

Finally was putting Windoze 10 on today and clicked install Pro when my copy was only licensed for Home. What an epic cluster fuck since then. I just got the home version installed having to make an instal USB flash drive on my lap top then transfer it to that new PC and hard drive I'm building. Taking lots of photos, just haven't had time to edit them for upload and posting yet. I start with what the beast looked like before I took it's 2008 vintage guts out of it. More later.

[l921428x]

Waiting with anticipation. I don't game but I have built my last 3 PC's. I do enjoy
the shiny parts and boards and chips and fans.

[Schuetzenman]

A brief update. Finally got my hard drives sorted out, meaning; installed, formated and set up as Raid 1. My first Raid Array! I had to call Microshaft twice to resolve issues. Once you find out what the answer is, no problem to apply the fix. So now I have a 250 Gb Samsung 850 Evo running the OS and Steam with a 2 TB Raid 1 array (1.89 Tb) for all other programs and file storage. For those that don't know Raid 1 uses 2 equal Hard Disk Drives and mirrors the data on both. This way should one drive die, the data is safe on the other. Simply unplug the defective drive and plug in a new identical drive and the PC will write the good drive info to the new drive for you without you having to tell it to do so. So I'm using 4 Tb of storage to fail safe 2 Tb of data.

This morning's project is to tidy up the cabels behind the motherboard tray and then close it all up. Then put all the boxes and assorted stuff away. Oh, btw I tried it on 1 game last night, Killing Floor 2. Holy Shit it was awesome! No tearing, no stuttering, very 3D looking though I was not using 3D function (don't own any glasses and emitter).