New Skylake 1080 Velox Build - Feedback Welcome

Good Morning DS Community,

Strong possibility I'll pull the trigger today. Hoping to get any last second feedback before I commit. Should have done this several weeks ago but rather foolishly opted to inquire on a Sunday which happens to be the day I'll likely buy it:

Budget:
$3500ish but no hard budget

Expectations:
Solid performance at 1440p for 2-3 years, then upgrade to another single GPU to last another couple years. Then assess new available CPUs and maybe throw in another MOBO/CPU and start over again because I love this Velox case.

Usage:
75% Gaming, 25% Web Browsing/Videos on a 27" 1440p 144hz monitor. Maybe go 4K down the road but no rush at all. Wide variety of games styles to include real time and turn based strategy (CIV6 will be a big one), FPS (BF1!), and Total War Games (Warhammer!). If my room mate moves out I'll need to get my own Vive but it's not a priority.

Special Needs:
None but I'm pretty anti-SLI and anti-Liquid anything. Could be convinced otherwise but it would be a tough sell. Noctua seems to get like 90% liquid performance, is more quiet, and doesn't risk leaking into my > $3k computer so that's...yeah.

Saved Ticket #: 1446604

Specifications:

Chassis Model
Special Deal Hot Seller - Digital Storm Velox

Exterior Finish
Standard Factory Finish

Trim Finish
Standard Factory Finish

Processor
Intel Core i7 6700K 4.0GHz (Codename Skylake) (Unlocked CPU) (Quad Core)

Motherboard
ASUS Z170 PRO GAMING (Intel Z170 Chipset) (Up to 5x PCI-E Devices)

System Memory
32GB DDR4 2666MHz Digital Storm Certified Performance Series
[+$112]

Power Supply
850W EVGA SuperNOVA [+$68]

Storage / Connectivity

Expansion Bay
Not Available

Optical Drive
DVD-R/RW/CD-R/RW (DVD Writer 8x / CD-Writer 8x) (Internal)

Storage Set 1
1x SSD (500GB Samsung 850 EVO)[+$88]

Storage Set 2
1x Storage (2TB Western Digital - Black Edition) [+$87]

Set 1 Raid Options
No Thanks

Internet Access
High Speed Network Port (Supports High-Speed Cable / DSL / Network Connections)

Multimedia

Graphics Card(s)
1x GeForce GTX 1080 8GB (EVGA SC ACX 3.0) (VR Ready)[+$0]

Sound Card
Integrated Motherboard Audio

HPC Processor
No Thanks

Engineering

Extreme Cooling
AIR: Stage 2: Noctua NH-D15 (Extreme Performance) [+$20]

Cable Management
Premium Cable Management (Strategically Routed & Organized for Airflow)

Airflow Control
Digital Storm Thermal Management Control Board & Software [+$99]

Internal Lighting
Digital Storm RGB LED Lighting System (Requires Thermal Management Control Board & Software)[+$39]

Chassis Fans
Corsair Airflow Performance Edition (Up to 6 Fans)[+$99]

Chassis Mod's
No Thanks

Noise Reduction
No Thanks

Overclocking

CPU Boost
Stage 2: Overclock CPU - Up to 4.8GHz (Depends on Cooling and Motherboard)[+$20]

Graphics Boost
Yes, Overclock the video card(s) as much as possible with complete stability [+$45]

OS Boost
option- No Thanks, Please do not tweak the services on the operating system

Aware the RAM and PSU are probably overkill but for like $150 to upgrade both of them I figured why not.

Thanks for looking.

even if you win the silicon lottery you're not going to be able to get a great oc with that cooler and keep the temps reasonable.  perhaps 200MHz  on the boost clock @mid 80's C under load if all goes well and your entire system air flow is good. 

it's a great air cooler, but they do have limitations.  as the heat rises your fan speed will ramp up to about 1,600 rpm as well.  just some things to keep in mind.

if you're looking at a more aggressive oc, or if you want your noise and max temps to be lower you'll need to go with liquid cooling.  

if you try to oc that proc over 4.4GHz on air i guarantee you'll see peak temps go over 75C after a while.  ideally, you don't want to see your cpu go over 70C for long periods of time (like a multi-hours long gaming session).  

since you brought up Tweaktown, from their own review of Skylake on D15:  "A good CPU cooler like the NH-D15 or a Corsair H110i GT can handle 1.4-1.44v depending on the frequency, but I only needed 1.35v to get 4.8GHz under AIDA64 for an hour, and my temperatures didn't go above 80C". 

like i said, +200MHz on the boost a D15 can handle safely 24/7.   and from my own personal experience with an I7 [email protected] in a single loop w/2 980ti's (with 3 rads of varying sizes and 15 fans), i've seen my temps peak while gaming close to 70C at times (especially on those warmer days). 

but hey, as in all things, ymmv...  

Great feedback from all, much thanks.

Couple comments/questions:

PSU: Concur w/ DST4ME. Taking her down to the good version 750W EVGA.

RAM: Think 32GB is still looking good for me. I have concerns re: games already suggesting 12GB so if I want this thing to last a while, another $120 seems like good peace of mind just to know I'm good to go regardless if I need it or not. Plus I'm a news junky and technical data analyst so if I have ever have 4 news sites open along w/ 4 Excel sheets, CIV6, and whatever other odds and ends I should be good to go and then some.

CPU OC: Should I take this down to the Stage I Max 4.4mhz? Don't care about the extra $20 but if the extra 5% of performance is going to cause all sorts of voltage, heating, longevity issues I'd rather slap the table at 4.4 and be good to go. For my uses, 4.4 but peace of mind > 4.6 or greater but need to be more worried about thermal concerns and whatnot.

Thanks again all.

Order just submitted!

Thanks all for the quick feedback. Resulted in some good last second tweaks to the build.

Now I assume the torture begins...

Originally posted by HalfCentaur Order just submitted! Thanks all for the quick feedback. Resulted in some good last second tweaks to the build. Now I assume the torture begins...

Wonderful.. now if you want that "Verified Customer" badge just make certain your email address for the forums matches exactly the one you used for the order...

And welcome to the DS family!

Was informed last night they're inventory was wrong and that if I want the thermal management board it's going to be another 3 week wait. I appreciate the notification but as you can imagine I'm pretty bummed.

So I responded that if they feel comfortable in my system being able to adequately keep cool/quiet with just the BIOS to proceed without.

Thinking about it and did some more research and am curious how a MOBO w/ 5 fan headers can control 9 fans?

By my count my Velox will have 3 intake on front, 2 exhaust up top, 1 exhaust back, 1 intake on side, and 2 on the Noctua CPU cooler.

Should I just eat the 3 weeks or do you guys think the BIOS/MOBO can do it?

Originally posted by bprat22 I personally wouldn't use their thermal/ fan control board. Bios and various mobo programs like FanXpert, etc can easily handle any tweaking. A mobo fan header can handle multiple fans. An example is the Noctus's two fans would be both connected to the cpu_fan header. Fans not needing adjustment can also be connected directly to the psu through one of the 4 pin peripheral molex connectors. Whether you want to wait is up to you of course, but not necessary. Hope this helps.

I concur