Second DS PC for gaming.

Start by saying my first DS PC is now 6 years old and has had many upgrades done to it over the years with no problems but recently the PSU died, not a huge fix really but its about time for a core components upgrade, which of course turns into almost a whole new computer. Since DS did such an amazing job on my first build and I have recommended them for years to others, I am now back for my second gaming rig...


Budget:
Under $2000

Expectations:
Capable of playing games on high settings with minimum 60fps. Future 4k gaming and future VR gaming.

Usage:
Large screen gaming, high res video playback.

Special Needs:
I have a GTX Titan X and all the optical drives and HDDs will be carried over from first DS computer.



(Config # 1460559)

$1,933.00

Chassis
Chassis Model: Corsair Carbide Quiet 400Q

Core Components
Processor: Intel Core i7 6700K 4.0GHz (Codename Skylake) (Unlocked CPU) (Quad Core)
Motherboard: ASUS Z170-A (Intel Z170 Chipset) (Up to 4x PCI-E Devices)

System Memory: 16GB DDR4 2666MHz Corsair Dominator Platinum DHX (Extreme-Performance)

Power Supply: 850W EVGA SuperNOVA


Storage / Connectivity
Storage Set 1: 1x SSD (250GB Samsung 850 EVO)
Internet Access: High Speed Network Port (Supports High-Speed Cable / DSL / Network Connections)

Graphics / Multimedia
Graphics Card(s): 1x - No Thanks (Titan X will be installed)

Digital Storm Engineering
Extreme Cooling: H20: Stage 2: Corsair H100i GTX - 240mm Radiator Liquid CPU Cooler

Chassis Fans: Corsair Airflow Performance Edition (Up to 6 Fans)

Boost Processor: Stage 2: Overclock CPU - Up to 4.8GHz (Depends on Cooling and Motherboard)

Software
Windows OS: Microsoft Windows 7 Professional (64-Bit Edition)



Just to be clear, The GPU, optical drives and storage drives will be supplied by me from previous computer, as well as possibly an old legacy PCI sound card until I decide to upgrade later.

Feel free to chime in with any advice and or criticisms on what I have put together. Overall, I like the design of the case and am pretty happy with the selection of components with a few exceptions.

One question I have is why no more EVGA brand motherboards. I'm assuming the answer is that they may not be as overclock friendly or reliable in DS opinion but when I bought my first DS gaming PC 6 years ago I was able to match all EVGA components and that made me happy. Gigabyte is ok but the 2 choices available are not my favorites and Asus as a brand has never been my favorite.

My last gripe about it is simply the price. I don't really feel I'm getting as much value out of this build as the one I built 6 years ago. Things like clicking on "no thanks" for a GTX 1060 and only getting 150 dollars back is a little head scratching at times and makes you wonder where the extra money is going. That being said though I'll try not to gripe about it too much as I really could not have been happier with the reliability of the last system and I do very much appreciate the testing that goes into the systems before ship.


What do you think guys?

Edited by EdgeCrusher - 28 Jul 2016 at 12:39pm

Really the most important things here will be the core components like the mobo, cpu and ram.

I have a Titan X now but I buy new graphics cards all the time. The "flagship" Titan X was obsolete almost before I got it home but that just how it is. I refuse to go to SLI, and will always stick with whatever the best single card solution from Nvidia is.

I don't actually own a 4k TV yet, I'm waiting for a large sized one that can do 1080 120hz and 4k at 60hz all chroma 4.4.4 but I haven't seen one yet. By the time I actually find one that has all that and a decent input lag number and buy it, they will have 1280's with VR2 and 8k capabilities or whatever. So I'll prob be in the market again then.

Yeah its too bad about the EVGA boards. I kind of knew about special requests and sending them parts to use and such but just seems like its asking for something to not work right, whether in transit, assembly or something else.

The build you put up is nice and I know I could shave a few dollars off here and there on my build without hurting performance much but the longer I play around in the configurator, the more stuff seems to get added into my builds. I did manage to get myself back down to a smaller SSD which saves a lot. I opted to go with the 850 watt PSU instead of the 750 but you guys can tell me if its a waste or not. Again, I will not be going SLI.

If you review my build again you will see I picked the 2666 corsair not the 3000 (not 3200 btw). I had done a lot of research since your post about this in the last thread. You are correct that the timings are lower on the lower frequency ram. Just as I was wrong about frequencies being a real determinant of speed I think you might be wrong in assuming that the latency numbers are as well. Doing the equations that put both those numbers into consideration it will give you "true latency" which basically hasn't changed much at all in years. The 3000 may actually have a true latency better then 2666 but in an unperceivable amount.

Also you chose the DS branded stuff and you seemed pretty adamant in the last thread that "you need to know what your getting". Corsair is fine with me as a brand as apposed to the unknown.

Again in the end I chose 2666 as you can see but I say this because if I were you I might not be trying so hard to dissuade people from getting the 3000 if they really wanted it.

About the PSU, that's pretty much all I needed to know there. I'll probably nock it back a notch. I had a 1000w corsair in the machine that just died. it was 6 years old, I knew it was more then I needed in the old system but didn't really know if having an 850 here might extend the life of it over a 750. (IE working not as hard)

About the Noctua, I also did much reviewing after your endorsement and there is no denying it is a quality air cooler with great reviews and scores. Scores that amaze people when they compare almost exactly to the Corsair h100i GTX AIO cooler. Which also has a great track record over the years for cooling and reliability. In the end I just prefer the looks and compactness of the AIO, and always have with no problems to report, so ill stick with the corsair on this one.

Lastly, about the special ordering and all that. I simply have bad luck sometimes I guess and I can just foresee a bad board being sent to DS and then this whole process of whose fault and responsibility and RMA's and blah. I love EVGA but I just don't think I want to even take the small risk. I have a massive aneurism starting just thinking about having to ship another PC from DS to me as it is. My brother works at fed-ex, man those people get paid dirt and don't care a wink about your packages. They get tossed hard all the time (not from my bro of course because he's the exception right).

Major props for sure to DS for their nice packaging jobs though. Before my first DS computer I bought an IBuyPower machine. Thing was terribly packaged and came in pieces, reassembled and it never worked, I just returned it and went DS right after, no exchange or second try. I can't deal with carelessness like that. Saying it was a night and day difference between the care and packaging is an understatement.

Sorry not sure how it happened but somehow I loaded the wrong build and it had the higher speed ram.

as for aio coolers like I said expect it to last about 3 years or so and going by what we see in the forum the pumps do fail, granted the ones that are working fine don't come here to say they are working fine but there area a few people who's pumps have failed, so I'm just going by what I see here and what I would do if it was my build. But if you still want to go with the aio then so be it, its your pc, I'm just providing info.

If you don't want to go evga mobo that is cool also again I'm just providing info, at the end you must go with what makes you happy.

I would drop the oc to stage 1, but thats just me, I don't like high vcore, and I'm not sure what you guys are ending up with as far as vcore goes in the 4.8GHz range from DS.