[New Partial Setup] Need Feedbacks & Recommendations

[CI]

Haven't touch this part of the forums for a very long time...

My PC apparently died last night after ~6 years of service so now considering doing a major replacement. Looking at the pricelists, tentatively gathered following parts.

Mobo + CPU: Gigabyte Z170X-UD5 + i7 6700K = $858
HSF: No idea. Any recommendation and price? (Normal use, not overclocking)
RAM: 2x 16GB GSkill 2400MHz CL15 DDR4 = $468
Main HDD (OS + applications): Samsung 512GB NVMe M.2 = $529
Casing: CM 690 III = $128
PSU: No idea. Any recommendation and price for good modular PSU taking into account future needs? <$150?
DVD-RW drive: No idea. Which brand/model is good? All of them at $25.
Soundcard: Creative SB ZX = $199

So far total: ~$2,207

Will be reusing:
- All existing HDDs/SSD and cablings
- GPU
- OS (Going to upgrade current Win7 to Win10 along the way)
- Monitor
- Mouse & Keyboard
- Speaker & Headphone

Future planning:
- The motherboard is the cheapest I can find offering dual M.2 slots. Will be getting another M.2 SSD in future.
- GPU will be replaced after nVidia/AMD releases the next gen later this year.
- Max out RAM to 64GB once the price is low enough, probably another 2 years?

PC will be to process photos, edit and render 4K timelapse and games.

Is SLS still the better place for the parts above, or some can get better deal online?

Thank you hor!

 

[Entry Level PC]

Too high end for moi.

 

[CI]

Too high end for moi.

Where got? Maybe parts more expensive but still similar 5hit underneath...

Might be changing mobo tho. Getting dual M.2 to work efficiently seems kinda tricky. Apparently implementation varies.

Oh yeah, still sticking to single GPU for future. So, any suggestions?

 

[Smokey.B]

Why not Bluray instead of dvd ?

 

[bunnypangsai]

not oc-ing why buy oc board and cpu? waste marnee

 

[CI]

Why not Bluray instead of dvd ?

No use for blu-ray leh. DVD-writer already barely used. Throw in just in case only. My old system still use IDE DVD-writer!

not oc-ing why buy oc board and cpu? waste marnee

Z170 for dual M.2 slots lor. Apparently it doesn't work quite the way I thought it does. Still researching. Otherwise I would save the money and get more storage instead. Anyway, tentative specs only so mean nothing yet.

 

[enenyi]

Its more worth to buy X99 + i7-5820k combo rather than i7-6700k + Z170 for ur usage. Overclock it to squeeze much more juice during video editing. The 2 extra cores really make a lot of improvement vs higher clock speeds but lesser cores.

 

[CI]

Its more worth to buy X99 + i7-5820k combo rather than i7-6700k + Z170 for ur usage. Overclock it to squeeze much more juice during video editing. The 2 extra cores really make a lot of improvement vs higher clock speeds but lesser cores.

Wah, that one easily >$1K for mobo + CPU, beyond my threshold liao. Even cheapest also $900+. Really not into overclocking. And no dual M.2.

But will keep in mind if really budget stretch that far. Thanks!

 

[enenyi]

Wah, that one easily >$1K for mobo + CPU, beyond my threshold liao. Even cheapest also $900+. Really not into overclocking. And no dual M.2.

But will keep in mind if really budget stretch that far. Thanks!

If u have no care for aesthetics or no preferred brand, MSI X99 SLI Plus + Intel i7-5820k selling $941 at PCThemes. Even if u have no intention to overclock, running it at stock settings will already be more powerful than i7-6700k at stock settings during photo/video editing, since got 2 extra cores to help out.

And y u need dual M.2 on the motherboard so desparately? Intel i7-5820k has 28 PCIe lanes, so u can run ur GPU at max PCIe speed and still run 3 PCIe SSDs at PCIe3.0 x4 speeds. So u can buy like 3 Intel 750 SSDs? If not, can just buy m.2 to pcie adapters and connect 3 pieces of Samsung 950 Pro directly to the PCIe slots?

 

[CI]

If u have no care for aesthetics or no preferred brand, MSI X99 SLI Plus + Intel i7-5820k selling $941 at PCThemes. Even if u have no intention to overclock, running it at stock settings will already be more powerful than i7-6700k at stock settings during photo/video editing, since got 2 extra cores to help out.

And y u need dual M.2 on the motherboard so desparately? Intel i7-5820k has 28 PCIe lanes, so u can run ur GPU at max PCIe speed and still run 3 PCIe SSDs at PCIe3.0 x4 speeds. So u can buy like 3 Intel 750 SSDs? If not, can just buy m.2 to pcie adapters and connect 3 pieces of Samsung 950 Pro directly to the PCIe slots?

You can blame this Intel diagram for the dual M.2 slots obsession.

Had the impression dual M.2 slots will be connected directly off the 2 x4 lanes direct to the CPU. Seems not quite the case in reality when implemented by the mobo manufacturers.

I am reading the MSI X99A mobo manual which is much clearer in how the routing goes. Presumably with a 28-lane CPU, I can run 3-way configuration:
- Native M.2 slot at x4 speed for 1st M.2 stick
- 1st PCIe slot PCI_E1 at x8 speed for GPU
- 3rd PCIe slot PCI_E3 at x8 speed for 2nd M.2 stick with PCIe adapter (practical usage only at x4 speed)
- 5th PCIe slot PCI_E5 at x8 speed for 3rd M.2 stick with PCIe adapter (practical usage only at x4 speed)
- 6th PCIe slot PCI_E6 disabled

Everything will be direct connect to CPU without touching the PCH/DMI bus. Sounds quite ideal actually. More specialized than I had originally intended. I'll look deeper into it.

 

[CI]

Update on tentative specs (changes in red, awaiting recommendations in blue):

Mobo + CPU: MSI X99A SLi PLUS + i7 5820K = $941
HSF: No idea. Any recommendation and price? (Normal use, not overclocking. Best those easy to mount type )
RAM: 2x 16GB GSkill 2400MHz CL15 DDR4 = $468
Main HDD (OS + applications): WD Red 3TB = $173
Casing: CM 690 III = $128
PSU: Seasonic M12-II Modular 620W = $115 (This one OK?)
DVD-RW drive: No idea. Which brand/model is good? All of them at $25.
Soundcard: Creative SB ZX = $199

Total: $2,049

Thought about it last night. Will hold off the Samsung 512GB M.2 and maybe wait for 1TB NVMe stick available first before buying. Get a WD 3TB as a temp stand-in. Next time re-use for video storage.

 

[*adiBOY]

Update on tentative specs (changes in red, awaiting recommendations in blue):

Mobo + CPU: MSI X99A SLi PLUS + i7 5820K = $941
HSF: No idea. Any recommendation and price? (Normal use, not overclocking. Best those easy to mount type )
RAM: 2x 16GB GSkill 2400MHz CL15 DDR4 = $468
Main HDD (OS + applications): WD Red 3TB = $173
Casing: CM 690 III = $128
PSU: Seasonic M12-II Modular 620W = $115 (This one OK?)
DVD-RW drive: No idea. Which brand/model is good? All of them at $25.
Soundcard: Creative SB ZX = $199

Total: $2,049

Thought about it last night. Will hold off the Samsung 512GB M.2 and maybe wait for 1TB NVMe stick available first before buying. Get a WD 3TB as a temp stand-in. Next time re-use for video storage.

I would recommend a WD Black 2TB instead.

 

[CI]

I would recommend a WD Black 2TB instead.

Already got an existing assortment of Black and Red drives to be re-used so I'll make do with a new Red as OS drive for the time being. Later change to SSD for OS, can reuse this one as video storage. Long term use for video storage use Black too extravagant liao.

 

[watzup_ken]

I do feel if you are not overclocking, it is quite a waste of money to get the K series CPU. There is quite a sizeable premium between a K and a non K part. The money would be better spent buying your M.2 SSD.

 

[nexusRAGER]

looks good

 

[enenyi]

Update on tentative specs (changes in red, awaiting recommendations in blue):

Mobo + CPU: MSI X99A SLi PLUS + i7 5820K = $941
HSF: No idea. Any recommendation and price? (Normal use, not overclocking. Best those easy to mount type )
RAM: 2x 16GB GSkill 2400MHz CL15 DDR4 = $468
Main HDD (OS + applications): WD Red 3TB = $173
Casing: CM 690 III = $128
PSU: Seasonic M12-II Modular 620W = $115 (This one OK?)
DVD-RW drive: No idea. Which brand/model is good? All of them at $25.
Soundcard: Creative SB ZX = $199

Total: $2,049

Thought about it last night. Will hold off the Samsung 512GB M.2 and maybe wait for 1TB NVMe stick available first before buying. Get a WD 3TB as a temp stand-in. Next time re-use for video storage.

CPU Cooler: CoolerMaster Hyper 212X - $69 (PCThemes)
SSD: Just get Adata SP550 120GB SSD will do. $69. Install OS and photo/video editing programs.
PSU: Shld be okay
DVD: Any brand will do.

 

[enenyi]

I do feel if you are not overclocking, it is quite a waste of money to get the K series CPU. There is quite a sizeable premium between a K and a non K part. The money would be better spent buying your M.2 SSD.

Remember that he is going to do photo/video editing. Even without overclocking, a 6-core i7-5820k would be much better than a 4-core i7-6700 for his usage. And the i7-5820k he can further overclock to gain more power when he needs to in future, hence postponing his CPU chip upgrade path by a few years.

 

[CI]

ok, thanks for the suggestions.

Went to PCT to buy yesterday but no stock. Have to wait till Monday. Bought only a few components first. Meanwhile, here's updated setup:

Mobo + CPU: MSI X99A SLi PLUS + i7 5820K = $941
HSF: CoolerMaster Hyper 212X = $69 <Purchased>
RAM: 2x 16GB GSkill 2400MHz CL15 DDR4 = $468
Main HDD (OS + applications): WD Red 3TB = $175 <Purchased>
Casing: CM 690 III = $128
PSU: Seasonic M12-II Modular 620W = $115 <Purchased>
DVD-RW drive: Samsung 24x DVD-Writer = $23.69 <Purchased>
Soundcard: Creative SB ZX = $199

Thinking of fine-tune the purchase, change 2x 16GB to 4x 8GB. Cheaper and can make use of quad channel but apparently no realworld benefit changing dual to quad so purely save money.

 

[kimsix]

ok, thanks for the suggestions.

Went to PCT to buy yesterday but no stock. Have to wait till Monday. Bought only a few components first. Meanwhile, here's updated setup:

Mobo + CPU: MSI X99A SLi PLUS + i7 5820K = $941
HSF: CoolerMaster Hyper 212X = $69 <Purchased>
RAM: 2x 16GB GSkill 2400MHz CL15 DDR4 = $468
Main HDD (OS + applications): WD Red 3TB = $175 <Purchased>
Casing: CM 690 III = $128
PSU: Seasonic M12-II Modular 620W = $115 <Purchased>
DVD-RW drive: Samsung 24x DVD-Writer = $23.69 <Purchased>
Soundcard: Creative SB ZX = $199

Thinking of fine-tune the purchase, change 2x 16GB to 4x 8GB. Cheaper and can make use of quad channel but apparently no realworld benefit changing dual to quad so purely save money.

Hi, i buy my rams from Amazon, it takes about 1 week free shipping to reach, it is much cheaper. Use 4x8GB for X99 so you can properly feed the 6 cores during 4K rendering.

 

[CI]

Hi, i buy my rams from Amazon, it takes about 1 week free shipping to reach, it is much cheaper. Use 4x8GB for X99 so you can properly feed the 6 cores during 4K rendering.

Not this round. Buy the key parts from the same place to play safe. The last thing I need is some new part cock up end up hard to troubleshoot and getting pushed here and there. Maybe when upgrading RAM down the road will do that.