Building a Gaming PC

Just having a look around at water coolers and noticing they all come with fans built on. The HAF-X I'm looking at comes with a metric f**kton of fans already, presumably I'll need to replace one with the liquid cooler fan? This is the kind of thing I'd probably work out myself if I was able to just buy stuff and physically examine it in detail. If I'm actually reaaaaaally wrong about that and it doesn't actually come with the fans then I'll be looking for a lot more fans to put in.

I figured it would make sense to go with a Cooler Master system for cooling simply for some consistency. My current gaming laptop is a Cooler Master build as far as I'm aware (it came in a box from them anyway).

 

So in terms of 140mm fan liquid cooler systems, this seems to be the only available option on Newegg which isn't too much at £100. In terms of fixing the reservoir to the CPU, is there any variation in size or is there a standard size?

(Projected cost update: ~£1780)

EDIT: I have found the socket compatibility and alas it doesn't seem to be compatible with the LGA 1151. I'm going to assume that its compatibility with the LGA 1150 would still not be good enough as what little I do know about CPUs is that everything about them is super precise.

EDIT2: So this seems to be a cheaper alternative that is compatible.

 

Well I've spent my day starting on a schematic for me to work out precisely every part I'll need (down to tha last cable) and may have got carries away with the motherboard details...

Now the main question I have regarding the layout of the motherboard is how clear it will be exactly what all of the various multi-pin connectors are for. Those that are labelled in the diagram are labelled in other websites.

EDIT: zooming in on the image on Newegg does show me some of the circuit-board's labelling so I am able to determine some of the connectors based on that (e.g. top right white 4-pin connector is for the water pump on liquid coolers).

 

Here's a .pdf of the file so far.

Also just submitted a few invoices so should be in receipt of just over £3000 in the coming weeks. This means I can soon actually start to buy parts. Will still try and confirm a complete build before buying anything to avoid buying the wrong stuff because I'm stupid like that.

 

I'm looking at SSDs and I've seen good reviews suggesting the Samsung 850 EVO is pretty much one of the best. However I'm just looking at the ports and it's a SATA 3 interface which as far as I can see would not be compatible with the Z170 mobo. Am I being thick or is that correct?

 

Sounds perfect then. None in stock on Newegg but Scan have me covered for that, along with the case. Price pretty much as I had estimated too which is good!

 

I'll probably document the whole process because I'm a nerd, even if I don't have the expertise yet

 

So currently more or less finalised what I'm after. Attached is a .jpg export of the vector file, and below is the list of components and links to each:

Case: HAF-X (£150)
MoBo: ASUS Z170-DELUXE LGA 1151, Intel Z170 Chipset (£210)
CPU: Intel Core i7-6700K, Quad 4.0 GHz (£242)
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 SC Edition (£580)
Memory: G.SKILL TridentZ 32GB (2x16GB) 288pin (£125)
Boot drive: Samsung EVO 850, 256GB SSD (£72)
Storage dive: WD Black 3TB HDD - 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s (£106)
Cooling: Corsair Hydro H90 140mm HP Liquid Cooling System (£77)
OS: Windows 10 Home, 32/64bit English (£85)

Total cost: ~£1660

This leaves me with a fair bit of budget to buy a decent monitor, and the Acer 23.8" G247HYU seems like a decent one to go for, and at £190 it seems cheap enough as well. Any other recommendations? Aiming for 24" ideally.

 

Update, now with second build suggestions courtesy of Acorn! Called them your builds for simplicity even if some of the parts are my additions/sourcing.

King8Bit Build (£1910)
Case: HAF-X (£132)
PSU: SILVERSTONE ST70F-ESG 700W ATX12V (£69)
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 EVGA SC (£580)
CPU: Intel Core i7-6700K Quad 4.0GHz (£242)
MoBo: ASUS Z170-DELUXE LGA 1151 Intel Z170 (£210)
SSD: Samsung 850 EVO, 256GB (£72)
HDD: WD Black 3TB HDD - 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s (£106)
RAM: G.SKILL TridentZ 32GB (2x16GB) 288pin F4-3200C16D-32GTZA (£124)
Cooling: Corsair Hydro H90 140mm HP Liquid (£72)
OS: Windows 10 Pro 64-bit DVD English (£119)
Monitor: 23.8" Acer Zeroframe 2560x1440 60Hz 4ms (£190)

Acorn Build (£2065)
Case: HAF-X (£132)
PSU: SILVERSTONE ST70F-ESG 700W ATX12V (£69)
GPU: Gigabyte NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 (£630)
CPU: Intel Core i7-6700K Quad 4.0GHz (£242)
MoBo: ASUS ROG MAXIMUS VIII HERO ALPHA (£193)
SSD: Samsung 850 PRO, 256GB (£87)
HDD: HGST Ultrastar 7k4000 (0F14683) 4TB (£167)
RAM: G.SKILL TridentZ 32GB (2x16GB) 288pin (£141)
Cooling: Corsair H100i V2 Hydro/Water CPU Cooler (£90)
OS: Windows 10 Pro 64-bit DVD English (£119)
Monitor: 23.8" Acer Zeroframe 2560x1440 60Hz 4ms (£190)

As you can see there's certain things that are the same for both. Still shopping around and went to a local shop here called Maplins today where the sales guy suggested they could potentially get a lot of the stuff for less, especially if buying large amounts of stuff. Going to send them the product codes to see what price they can offer me. We'll see what they can do!

 

It's funny what you're saying about M2 SSDs, I had pretty much the same said to me at the shop I went into yesterday morning. That guy seemed pretty damn pleased to have someone in there to talk PC components at. He was pretty keen on me looking at them as well.

In terms of RAM, it's not just gaming. My work involves some technical software that could use a little bit more speed. Also this is future-proofing. I ain't planning on replacing much for the next 5 years or so. On 16GB at the moment, and just going for the 32GB means I'm pretty much set for a long time.

The case is something I'm pretty set on. I want to have decent airflow (sure it will be loud) so keeping the two seperate means I always have the option to switch around if I need/want to.

PSU-wise, I did see a 750W PSU at the shop yesterday and wonder if it might make sense to get that extra 50W just to make sure I'm set. In my job I spend a lot of time dealing with power limits and having spare is always a good buffer. Not sure how well that transfers across to PCs but I know that drawing too much is pretty darn bad when it comes to mains power. Cable lengths are cable lengths, can't do much about that and can always lengthen them if I have to.

HDD: My initial thought was to go with WD as I've never had issues with WD or Seagate drives, but Acorn's input suggested the SAS drive would serve me better.

You can say what you like about graphics cards, but I've always had NVIDIA GPUs and they've never let me down. They provide me with the usability I want and I can't say I've had any issues with them. The Gigabyte version is probably my favourite of the two as it also allows for monitor upgrades when prices drop on 4k in the next few years.


@Supplice

TL;DR:
- SSD: I'm looking at that option
- RAM: Nah I want 32GB
- Case/cooling: I like the shiz I got here
- PSU: Cross that bridge when I get to it
- HDD: Still not sure
- GPU: You ain't got no pancake mix in thar