Thoughts on my new toy?

[jim]

Thank you all for taking the time to take a look and for commenting.

The reason for the 8TB of storage is that I have quite a few movies already (no, not pr0n!), a large DVD library which is in the process of being digitalised, RAW images, loads of games and a sizable music collection. I also want to have some storage space to spare. I was playing with the idea of putting both HDDs into RAID, but would be interested to hear why that's maybe not a good idea (@Jim).

FYI, given that the legal status of digitising DVDs is dubious, it's not something that HEXUS permits discussion of - I appreciate that you likely weren't aware of that policy so no worries, but just wanted to make it clear.

Anyway, that makes sense. Kalniel has explained the issue with RAID - from my perspective if you go for RAID 0, you get increased complication and risk of failure in exchange for an irrelevant increase in speed, and if you go for RAID 1 you get improved reliability against disk failure, but you're still just as vulnerable to accidental deletion, cryptolocker, corruption etc and you've spent double the amount on a drive. If you need 8TB, run them separately and put say music on one, then games on another. And back them up either online or to an external disk. If you need 4TB then have the drive internal for storage, and use the other drive externally.

Also, the Black drives are ridiculously expensive. I would get the Seagate or the WD Blue for storing music etc. Maybe if you're running games on the drives you'd want a 7200rpm drive, but TBH just put your games on the SSD.

The SSD size might be a little OTT though, so I'll have a think about possibly going down to 256GB or even 128GB (although, again, I'm a fan of having space to spare and I am always astounded by Windows' ability to mushroom in size in no time at all). In addition to the OS, though, a small number of programs will also be installed on the SSD, so it's not strictly speaking just for Windows.

256GB would be ample for that. But if you're a big gamer, put your games on the SSD. Then 512GB or even 1TB may make sense. 1TB SSDs went for £150 around Black Friday / Christmas period.

The reason for going for the Pro, rather than the EVO, SSD was simply that I read good reviews of the Pro series. Having read around M.2 SSDs, I have noticed that installing one of them interferes with other ports in Z170 mainboards. Also, I am not sure I need the extra speed to be honest and they are not yet that easy to come by where I'm at.

You don't need to spend extra for the Pro, the Evo will be fine. And no, I wouldn't worry about an M.2 drive.

The case is large enough to house the Macho Rev B (unless the manufacturer's spec sheet is lying). @outwar6010: what cooler do you suggest? What's "aio"?

AIO = All In One, i.e. a watercooler like the Corsair H-series, e.g. H100i. They're quieter and better at cooling, but they're more expensive and some of them have leaked which is a risk some people don't want.

Lastly, the GTX970 isn't going to last forever, I'm aware of that. Initially, the plan was to get that one now and then upgrade the GPU in the near future (the hope being that the rest of the computer will be good for quite a few years and that no components will need replacing too soon). However, if I save a few quid on the SSD and other bits, I might try looking into a GTX980. On the FreeSync v. GSync debate, I am hoping that GSync screens will come down in price eventually and, until they do, my current screen will suffice.

Makes sense. Personally I wouldn't bother with the GTX980 though, I think if you want NVIDIA it's either GTX 970 or you go all out for the 980 Ti. But GTX 970 and wait I think is most sensible.

[Boon72]

I have a 120gb SSD for Windows 10 in my PC with only 55gb used as most of my installs are on the 1tb HDD, I 2nd the 2 x 8gb over 4x4gb as you've room to upgrade later on

[holy god of nil]

As I think Jim suggests just up there, I've skimmed to here, why not keep the movie/dvd collection on a large external hard drive even if you just buy a hard drive and pop it in a decent enclosure. That way it's portable and you only have to access it when needed.

[jazzmatazz2623]

I've revised the build based on some of the comments above and some further research and it now looks like this (revised components underlined):

Case: Fractal Design Define R5 Black
PSU: Seasonic P-660 Platinum (instead of be-Quiet! Dark Power Pro P11 650W)
MoBo: ASUS Z170 PRO GAMING
CPU: Intel Core i7-6700 3.4Ghz (instead of Intel Core i7-6700L 4Ghz)
CPU cooler: Noctua NH-U14S (instead of Thermalright HR-02 Macho Rev. B)
RAM: Corsair DIMM 16 GB DDR4-2800 (2x8GB) (instead of 4x4GB RAM sticks)
GPU: ASUS 4GB STRIX-GTX980-DC2OC (instead of ASUS 4GB STRIX-GTX970-DC2OC)
SSD: Samsung 850 Evo 2,5" 256 GB (instead of Samsung 850 Pro 2,5" 512 GB)
HDDs: 2x Western Digital WD4003FZEX 4 TB
Optical drive: LG Electronics BH16NS55
Screen: An old Samsung SyncMaster 226BW (for now)

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Thank you all for taking the time to take a look and for commenting.

The reason for the 8TB of storage is that I have quite a few movies already (no, not pr0n!), a large DVD library which is in the process of being digitalised, RAW images, loads of games and a sizable music collection. I also want to have some storage space to spare. I was playing with the idea of putting both HDDs into RAID, but would be interested to hear why that's maybe not a good idea (@Jim).

The SSD size might be a little OTT though, so I'll have a think about possibly going down to 256GB or even 128GB (although, again, I'm a fan of having space to spare and I am always astounded by Windows' ability to mushroom in size in no time at all). In addition to the OS, though, a small number of programs will also be installed on the SSD, so it's not strictly speaking just for Windows.

The reason for going for the Pro, rather than the EVO, SSD was simply that I read good reviews of the Pro series. Having read around M.2 SSDs, I have noticed that installing one of them interferes with other ports in Z170 mainboards. Also, I am not sure I need the extra speed to be honest and they are not yet that easy to come by where I'm at.

The 4x4GB DDR4 Ram was partially to do with ease of purchase (2X8GB sticks are oddly difficult to come by in Germany, where I'd put this system together) and partially to take advantage of quad channel. However, keeping 2 RAM slots on the mainboard free does also appeal, so I'll look into that again.

The case is large enough to house the Macho Rev B (unless the manufacturer's spec sheet is lying). @outwar6010: what cooler do you suggest? What's "aio"?

Lastly, the GTX970 isn't going to last forever, I'm aware of that. Initially, the plan was to get that one now and then upgrade the GPU in the near future (the hope being that the rest of the computer will be good for quite a few years and that no components will need replacing too soon). However, if I save a few quid on the SSD and other bits, I might try looking into a GTX980. On the FreeSync v. GSync debate, I am hoping that GSync screens will come down in price eventually and, until they do, my current screen will suffice.

Dude,the G-SYNC screens use a low volume custom scaler and Freesync uses newer generation standard scalers which will become more and more common.

You can get Freesync monitors with decent specs for £200 as the hardware behind it is part of a VESA standard. Even Intel has said they will look to support the hardware too at some point. That will always make Freesync cheaper as it will be supported by more scaler makers.

I would probably seriously consider an R9 390.

Also the GTX980 is not really worth it with the R9 390X being under £300. Not even the biggest Nvidia fans I know on OcUK even recommend the GTX980 now as its pricing is neither here nor there.

Edit!!

This monitor is under £200:
https://www.scan.co.uk/products/24-a...hdmi-dvi-d-sub

The Sapphire R9 390 Nitro can be had for around £250:
http://m.ebuyer.com/724601#fo_c=951&...6379&pkw=&pmt=

So,for little more than the cost of the GTX980 you get both.

Second Edit!

I see you are going with a non-K Core i7 6700. If overclocking remember you need to disable most of the power saving options and run the CPU at full speed IIRC. Also the temperature sensor does not work properly and any microcode updates from Intel might stop you overclocking - there might be one incoming for the bug that was reported. OFC,it might be fine especially if motherboard companies factored that in.

If you are not overclocking then I would ditch that cooler! Get something like a £20 to £25 if you want better noise profile than stock.

The motherboard is quite expensive if you are not overclocking too.

Plus, the other thing is if you are willing to spend that kind of money on a CPU and motherboard, you might want to consider the Core i7 5820K too.

[DanceswithUnix]

You can Freesync monitors with decent specs for £200 as the hardware behind it is part of a VESA standard.

My wife has an AOC 144Hz freesync monitor that was £190 and is very happy with it.

Even <£100 monitors are starting to come with Freesync: http://www.novatech.co.uk/products/m...G2260VWQ6.html

OK that isn't a proper gaming 120Hz+ monitor, but 48 to 75Hz is better than 60Hz fixed.

The time for Nvidia to act if they wanted to drop prices on Gsync was about 3 months ago. If they didn't then I wonder if perhaps they can't.

Edit to add: Cat has found the one we got, and we did get it from Scan. Very nice it is too.

[scaryjim]

Even <£100 monitors are starting to come with Freesync: http://www.novatech.co.uk/products/m...G2260VWQ6.html

OK that isn't a proper gaming 120Hz+ monitor, but 48 to 75Hz is better than 60Hz fixed. ...

Let's be honest, if you're building a 1080p gaming rig to a budget you're probably realistically looking for 48 - 75fps as a target for most games: an R9 380 should handle that quite comfortably, and I believe it also supports AMD's frame rate target technology so you can simply set 75Hz as the target and freesync will keep you synced to your monitor across the full range...

[kalniel]

Let's be honest, if you're building a 1080p gaming rig to a budget you're probably realistically looking for 48 - 75fps as a target for most games: an R9 380 should handle that quite comfortably, and I believe it also supports AMD's frame rate target technology so you can simply set 75Hz as the target and freesync will keep you synced to your monitor across the full range...

Yeah that's a nice solution and optimal for the benefit felt - above 75Hz the sync benefits get much harder to notice I'm sure.

But equally a monitor with good but fixed refresh modes is OK if you're going overkill on the GPU.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Let's be honest, if you're building a 1080p gaming rig to a budget you're probably realistically looking for 48 - 75fps as a target for most games: an R9 380 should handle that quite comfortably, and I believe it also supports AMD's frame rate target technology so you can simply set 75Hz as the target and freesync will keep you synced to your monitor across the full range...

Its a bit depressing - I remember talking about that £100 monitor a few months ago,and most people are not aware of the cheaper FreeSync monitors under £250.
AMD marketing really needs to get its arse into gear - if this was Nvidia they would be shouting from the roofs about it.

[OniDooM]

Dude,the G-SYNC screens use a low volume custom scaler and Freesync uses newer generation standard scalers which will become more and more common.

You can get Freesync monitors with decent specs for £200 as the hardware behind it is part of a VESA standard. Even Intel has said they will look to support the hardware too at some point. That will always make Freesync cheaper as it will be supported by more scaler makers.

I would probably seriously consider an R9 390.

Also the GTX980 is not really worth it with the R9 390X being under £300. Not even the biggest Nvidia fans I know on OcUK even recommend the GTX980 now as its pricing is neither here nor there.

Edit!!

This monitor is under £200:


The Sapphire R9 390 Nitro can be had for around £250:


So,for little more than the cost of the GTX980 you get both.

Second Edit!

I see you are going with a non-K Core i7 6700. If overclocking remember you need to disable most of the power saving options and run the CPU at full speed IIRC. Also the temperature sensor does not work properly and any microcode updates from Intel might stop you overclocking - there might be one incoming for the bug that was reported. OFC,it might be fine especially if motherboard companies factored that in.

If you are not overclocking then I would ditch that cooler! Get something like a £20 to £25 if you want better noise profile than stock.

The motherboard is quite expensive if you are not overclocking too.

Plus, the other thing is if you are willing to spend that kind of money on a CPU and motherboard, you might want to consider the Core i7 5820K too.

I agree, Freesync will be widely available for cheaper than GSYNC and most people I see these days (on Reddit) recommend the 390 over a 970.

[DanceswithUnix]

Yeah that's a nice solution and optimal for the benefit felt - above 75Hz the sync benefits get much harder to notice I'm sure.

But equally a monitor with good but fixed refresh modes is OK if you're going overkill on the GPU.

One feature of latest Freesync drivers is that if your frame rate drops below the minimum frame rate of the monitor it will try and smooth it out (the bit that Nvidia used to be better at). That requires a range of 2.5x lowest to highest as a minimum, and that cheap monitor is 75/48 = 1.5 range. I think my Benq is 144/40, so ratio of 3.6

I do seem to be able to get away with 1440p with just a 2GB R9 285, occasionally I can feel it go a bit lumpy for a frame or two but generally it copes far better than I expected it to. Which rather ruins my excuse for giving the 285 to my son and getting a 390

Edit to add: According to the table on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FreeSync that cheap monitor is 35 to 75 Hz which is actually rather nicer if true. There are quite a lot of monitors in that table!

[jazzmatazz2623]

Thanks everyone. On thing to keep in mind though is that Radeon cards on the whole use up more power and give off more heat than their Nvidia equivalents...

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Thanks everyone. On thing to keep in mind though is that Radeon cards on the whole use up more power and give off more heat than their Nvidia equivalents...

Its not that much in reality - its going to take a very long time for it to make any difference! A mate is running an overclocked FX6350 and an R9 390 perfectly fine off a three year old Antec 550W PSU.