RH also wants a new computer

[Richard Hakluyt]

I'm looking at this build :

Case
SHARKOON VG4-W GAMING CASE (Green LED)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Processor i7-4790k (4.0GHz) 8MB
Motherboard
ASUS® Z97-P: ATX, LG1150, USB 3.0, SATA 6GBs
Memory (RAM)
32GB HyperX BEAST DUAL-DDR3 2133MHz X.M.P (4 x 8GB KIT)
Graphics Card
4GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 970 - 2 x DVI, HDMI, DP - GeForce GTX VR Ready!
1st Hard Disk
2TB Samsung 850 EVO 2.5" SSD, SATA 6Gb/s (upto 540MB/sR | 520MB/sW)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Processor Cooling
CoolerMaster Hyper 212 EVO (120mm) Fan CPU Cooler
Power Supply
CORSAIR 750W CS SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
Sound Card
Creative Sound Blaster® Audigy™ FX OEM
Wireless/Wired Networking
USB Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 4 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Operating System
Genuine Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
DVD Recovery Media
Windows 10 (64-bit) Home DVD with paper sleeve
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 365
Anti-Virus
BullGuard™ Internet Security - Free 90 Day License inc. Gamer Mode
Keyboard & Mouse
LOGITECH® K120 USB KEYBOARD
Mouse
LOGITECH® OPTICAL USB MOUSE
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 4 to 6 working days

The most demanding use is for games, probably the worst being Elder Scrolls Online which I like to play at the highest settings because then it is really pretty 

I'd be grateful if some of our resident computer experts would look the spec over and suggest improvements and/or substitutions. I'll say right now that I know the 2TB SSD is a luxury, but I'm an idle man and don't want the hassle of multiple storage devices.

[Liep]

[Vricklund]That case. [/Vricklund]

[Richard Hakluyt]

 

Might be best to stay with a coolermaster case.

[Jaron]

Sheesh, I thought my 16GB of Ram was overkill.

[Norgy]

Why aren't you going for the latest I7s, RH?

If the case fits it, I can heartily recommend a closed-loop cooler, as the 4xxx series run a little too warm for my taste. The Corsair H60 or similar should do the trick.

And honestly, with that MB, you don't need a soundcard unless you're going to full blast the whole of Lancashire with EUIV music. I'd rather go for some good speakers or a headset.

[Richard Hakluyt]

Thanks for your advice Norgy, I'd heard about the lack of a need for a soundcard but wasn't sure.

Concerning the CPU I'm not really sure where the sweetspot is nowadays. On my current machine the big bottleneck seems to be the ageing hard drive, hence the switch to all SSD.

I'll take a look at the cooling, hate it when the machine runs hot.

[Norgy]

Thanks for your advice Norgy, I'd heard about the lack of a need for a soundcard but wasn't sure.

Concerning the CPU I'm not really sure where the sweetspot is nowadays. On my current machine the big bottleneck seems to be the ageing hard drive, hence the switch to all SSD.

I'll take a look at the cooling, hate it when the machine runs hot.

The Skylake processors are generally performing better, but then again, built on an even smaller scale and run hot. I can't fault you for picking a 4790k. It's in my opinion the best processor not priced into irrelevance.
The Samsung EVO drives really are the bees-knees. I've had issues with Crucial and Kingston's drives, but Samsung seem to know what they are doing.

Soundcards in general are a thing of the past. You get Dolby Surround right out of the box with most motherboards nowadays.

Getting a closed-loop cooler will make the rest of the components run less hot too, as the air will be blown out of the case. I might have considered a custom-cooled GFX card, but if you're not planning on adding another, the nVidia coolers are okay(ish). If you do consider one, I can heartily recommend the MSI Gaming series' cooling. It hardly breaks sweat and is almost utterly silent. Might have to add another fifty quid to the budget, but take away the soundcard, and you're likely at the same cost or thereabouts. And a GTX 970 is the sweetspot for price-performance now. I did consider a GTX Titan X, but spending more on a graphics card than on a holiday seemed, well, wrong.

Just to give a headsup about RAM; I had serious issues with the XMP profiles in BIOS on two builds. Fiddling around with it just isn't fun. So I set the timings manually instead, and avoided BSODs.

[Barrister]

A few odd mixes of wildly expensive parts (2 TB SSD), and then very budget priced pieces.  I would have gone for a Skylake processor rather than a two year old Haswell.  That would also bring you up to a Z-170 motherboard, which will give you a few new features like a USB type-c connector.

Everything I've read suggests that 32GB of RAM is wild overkill.  I really don't care for the case, but that's a matter of personal choice.

Unless you're doing some overclocking, or running dual graphic cards, air cooling should be just fine.  My own case fans never even spool up it runs so cool.

[Richard Hakluyt]

So......er........why would a USB type-c connector be desirable  ? The Skylake processors.........how much of an edge does a reasonably priced one have over the older 4790k?


I take your point about the SSD and may yet get the far cheaper 1 TB drive. The RAM is not really very expensive and my rationale for excess RAM is better safe than sorry.


Incidentally I won't be building the computer myself, there's a firm over in Yorkshire that I'll order it from once I get my specs sorted.

[Barrister]

So......er........why would a USB type-c connector be desirable  ? The Skylake processors.........how much of an edge does a reasonably priced one have over the older 4790k?


I take your point about the SSD and may yet get the far cheaper 1 TB drive. The RAM is not really very expensive and my rationale for excess RAM is better safe than sorry.


Incidentally I won't be building the computer myself, there's a firm over in Yorkshire that I'll order it from once I get my specs sorted.

USB type-C - it's supposedly the way of the future.  It's more of a future-proofing exercise at this point though.

Skylake?  It's 5-10% more efficient than the previous generation, at the same cost.  If you already had a Haswell computer it wouldn't be worthwhile to upgrade, but building new it would seem to be the way to go.  I think it's a better expense for "better safe than sorry" than is RAM, which is trivial to upgrade later on.

But anyways, if you've got money to burn I'd spend it on an even nicer video card (though the 970 is pretty good already).

[Norgy]

Skylake processors are slightly more energy efficient, but I'd stick with the 4790k.

The Skylake series are also harder to keep cool.

[crazy canuck]

Richard,


Rather than buying a bunch of RAM to future proof yourself I think it makes more sense to get the latest generation of motherboard and go with a Skylake processor.

I am very happy with mine and my air cooling fans are fine for the job.

[viper37]

So......er........why would a USB type-c connector be desirable  ? The Skylake processors.........how much of an edge does a reasonably priced one have over the older 4790k?

The edge is minimal.  Not enough to upgrade your existing CPU, but enough to consider it for a new purchase.

I take your point about the SSD and may yet get the far cheaper 1 TB drive. The RAM is not really very expensive and my rationale for excess RAM is better safe than sorry.

32 is overkill, but if it's cheap, go for it, 16 will soon be the new minimum as 64 bit games finally arrive on the market.

That Soundblaster card does not offer you much more than your integrated sound card.  If you want to buy a sound card, go for the Recon3D Fatal1ty Champion (I like the front panel to plug headsets) or one of the Z series.  If you don't want to spend that money, than ditch that basic soundblaster card, you'll save a little money.

[Richard Hakluyt]

Thanks for your input CC and viper 

I've put the purchase on hold for the time being, a massive housekeeping operation has moved my current computer's performance back above the line of acceptable performance.

I'll necro this thread when the situation changes. The further delay in upgrading probably means that Skylake cpu, latest gen motherboard and all SSD are more or less certainties.

Interesting that my current machine is 40 months old and can still hold its own, the pace of change in hardware does seem to have slowed in recent years.

[Martinus]

Get a Mac.