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Looking for a Skylake Rig

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Matt N View Drop Down
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    Posted: 22 Sep 2015 at 12:14am
Oh the originality of this thread title. Nothing changes in 5 years. LOL

Time to start a Skylake me thinks. I'm not entirely set on which components yet, but will most definitely be the i7 6700K, unless something else pops out in the next couple of months.

Build size I'll be looking at MITX. Definitely have my eye on the Obsidian 250D. I've gone huge, now I want to try tiny.

http://www.corsair.com/en-gb/obsidian-series-250d-mini-itx-pc-case

I'm also pretty keen on trying my hand at water-cooling this time around.

Plus I also have the AMD vs nVidia battle in my head. I'm leaning toward the R9 390X.

http://www.ebuyer.com/714700-sapphire-nitro-r9-390x-tri-x-oc-8gb-gddr5-dual-link-dvi-hdmi-11241-00-20g

Martin - What was you thinking for your build?


Originally Posted by MartinW

I use mine for spare knickers when I'm traveling.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote MartinW Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 22 Sep 2015 at 9:55am
6700K Matt. Not sure if I'll de-lid yet or not. Probably not.

16gb DDR4, might wait for the new GSKill Trident Z.

Might even go for SLI, as I don't flightsim much these days. Having said that, SLI does now provide some kind of an advantage in FSX as we are now using higher resolutions and add-on's that make more use of the GPU. And then we have P3D to consider.

Asus Z170 Deluxe or Z170-A.

Will be full size ATX in a Lian Li X510. Although I'm building an ITX system for my daughter about the same time.

Probably single rail PSU. Not that multi-rail is an issue. PCIe power cables are fed from separate rails so amperage is met, just that I've always gone for single rail. Single rail or multi-rail is an argument that still rages on.

Samsung Pro SSD possibly. Don't think I'll be going down the M.2 PCIe boot drive root, despite the speeds being blisteringly fast.




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MartinW View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote MartinW Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 22 Sep 2015 at 10:05am
The Obsidian 250D gets great reviews Matt. My daughter's specified the following for her ITX build, in champagne gold...

http://www.lian-li.com/en/dt_portfolio/pc-q36/

What kind of water cooling? All In One or full blown loop? I'm still a bit wary of AIO coolers, so will probably go for the new NH-D15S. Not ruled it out completely though.

If you do go the AIO route you'll probably need better fans, the ones that come with the AIO's are usually crap. Noctua NF-F12's are nice, great static pressure for rads. Worst fans are the Kraken X60 fans so the reviews say. Apparently, even in quiet mode they're annoying.

Many of the AIO manufactures cheat, they whack super high RPM fans on the rads and then proclaim to have the best cooler. Rarely do you see AIO's compared to the best air coolers on equal terms, with the same fans. How would the D15 perform with the same fans as the Kraken X60? A lot closer I'm sure you'll agree.

For GPU, I'm probably going GTX 980ti. Perhaps the EVGA KINGPIN. EVGA bin them for overclocking capability.



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Matt N View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Matt N Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 22 Sep 2015 at 9:29pm
That Lian li ITX looks pretty good. Does it fit a full ATX Power Supply?

I was looking at smaller ITX cases at first, some which wasn't much larger than a games console, but these were limited to an SFX Power Supply, and with water cooling in the equation, there wasn't much space.

Yep - This time round I want to do a full custom loop. CPU and GPU.

I'm stumped on the GPU choice at the moment. I heard there's meant to be quite a leap forward next year with Pascal. So I may end up running air cooling, with a cheaper/second hand GPU until something which catches my eye comes along. It'll save having to undo, and redo the cooling loop, and change GPU blocks etc.

I've got my eye on this beauty depending when I introduce water into the system.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Koolance-5-25-Drive-Reservoir-Pump/dp/B006JCH4N4

Shame they don't seem to sell it in the UK yet. Looking at a few comments on various forums there may be a few reliability issues which I hope they manage to sort.

Have you seen this site? Pretty good for pricing comparisons.

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com


Originally Posted by MartinW

I use mine for spare knickers when I'm traveling.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote MartinW Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 23 Sep 2015 at 10:00am
Quote That Lian li ITX looks pretty good. Does it fit a full ATX Power Supply?


Max PSU for Katy's case is 200mm. So should be fine.


Quote Yep - This time round I want to do a full custom loop. CPU and GPU.



Nice, very nice. Tell you what appeals to me and would be my choice if I went for a full loop... rigid tubing. Looks great. With nice tall reservoir. The Koolance kit looks nice. I love those tall cylinder reservoirs though.


http://www.watercoolinguk.co.uk/cat/Cylinder-Reservoirs_226.html

Yep, there's a partpicker article on the Asus PC DIY site. Lots of other good stuff there too...

https://pcdiy.asus.com/2015/07/asus-pcdiy-pc-part-picker-special-live-cast-qa-giveaways-more/





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Matt N View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Matt N Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 23 Sep 2015 at 11:09pm
I'll have a look into those rigid tubes. Never knew they existed, but look pretty good!

Originally Posted by MartinW

I use mine for spare knickers when I'm traveling.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote MartinW Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 24 Sep 2015 at 8:41am
Available in all kinds of materials Matt. Acrylic, brass, plexi. All kinds of colour's, there's even glass tubing now.





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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Matt N Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 26 Sep 2015 at 10:44pm
I've been looking at the GTX 980 / 980Ti again. Seems to perform better than the AMD Fury X, and cheaper. After a bit more reading up, the AMD 390X seems to be slightly crippled as its based on the 290X.

Anyway, whats happened to EVGA's 10 year warranty on their GPU's? I was shocked to see its dropped to just 3 years now. Zotac offers 5 years which is pretty decent.
Originally Posted by MartinW

I use mine for spare knickers when I'm traveling.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote MartinW Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Sep 2015 at 9:37am
Yep, It'll be GTX 980ti for me. Great card. In some reviews it approaches the Titan for performance.

It's also available in a full non-reference design, enhanced by Asus, EVGA etc. For example the Asus Strix with it's fantastic cooler and aerospace grade components.

https://www.asus.com/uk/Graphics-Cards/STRIXGTX980TIDC3OC6GD5GAMING/

I'll be going for the EVGA GTX 980ti KINGPIN though I reckon. 14+3 Power Phase Digital VRM, ACX 2.0 cooler etc...

EVGA bin the KINGPIN's GPU. You get a choice of 4 pre binned GPU's, choose your GPU's approximate overclock ability.

http://www.evga.com/articles/00944/EVGA-GeForce-GTX-980-Ti-KINGPIN/#BuyNow

I noticed that re the warranty. Mind you, most enthusiasts will be replacing their graphics cards by 3 years.

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Matt N Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29 Sep 2015 at 11:47pm
That Asus card is a beast! Shocked

I'm still at a loss as to which GPU to opt for. Either go cheap for a year and wait for Pascal, or jump in now and keep it for a good few years.

I'll be looking at 4K as well, as my last setup was donated to my sister, and I downsized to a Macbook. Bootcamp has been nice with Battlefield 4, but my stats have gone down the swanny, as I just can't seem to aim anymore. I'm putting it down to lag, and bad wifi - Not my tactics LOL

This Acer monitor has caught my eye. I remember when they used to have a really bad name, but seem to have bought their standard up in the last few years. Just need it to drop to the £350/£375 mark.

http://www.acer.co.uk/ac/en/GB/content/model/UM.HS7EE.001

In other news I've ordered my case - the Corsair 250D.

Picked it up for £59 with Barclaycard Beat my Price.

https://www.bespokeoffers.co.uk/consumer/beatmyprice/

You don't need to be with Barclaycard either. Just find a price, paste the weblink, and they'll find it cheaper. There's a few shops they won't accept, I mainly use Amazon links.
Originally Posted by MartinW

I use mine for spare knickers when I'm traveling.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote MartinW Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 30 Sep 2015 at 9:39am
I thought about 4K myself but reckon I'll probably go for 1440P. One of the things that concerns me about 4K is Windows text size. I gather it's better in W10 as you can resize, but not sure if I'll go with that or stay on W7. Last thing I want is super small text in games. Seems to me there are still plenty of issues with W10 re drivers and bugs.

Was thinking possibly an Asus 27 inch 1440P G-synch monitor. Not sure yet though. Reckon it will be at least three weeks possibly more before I'm in a position to build. I gather Asus are soon to release a 1440P IPS panel, 144htz refresh rate.

Are you going W10 matt, or sticking to W7?

Re waiting for Pascal... that's the eternal dilemma with PC gear, there's always something just around the corner. I tend to just dive in rather than bothering about what might come next. Unless it's immanent of course.

That Acer monitor looks lovely Matt. Not sure about Acer, are they a reliable make? Have a BenQ at the moment, it's been great.

What are you thinking for SSD? I may go for a Samsung 840 Pro. Research still to do though. For katy's ITX system, I reckon I'll just install an M.2 PCIe, as she doesn't need much capacity so should be affordable. Will save space in the small form factor case too, as it slots into the motherboard.




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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Matt N Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 30 Sep 2015 at 8:47pm
4K doesn't seem too bad menu wise.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdx7pXKVwZ8

I'll have to give BF4 a go in native settings on my Mac, which is 2880 x 1800 (I think?). Remembering its on a 15.4" screen. I've been playing it on 1920 x 1200 for a few months to help with the frame rate.

I'll report my findings.

I'll be using W10. I've got it running in Bootcamp on the Mac at the moment, very happy with it.

I need to have a look into the reliability of Acer. There's quite a bit of buzz about them online at the moment though. I was thinking of going through Costco for the monitor, because their returns policy is second to none. (I should know, having worked there for a few years now)

My last monitor was a Dell, my sister has it now, still working nicely. I got that one from PCBuyit, with a nice pixel guarantee.

I have no idea about the SSD yet. I'll probably go for a 500GB, as they've slipped down in price over the years. I remember when I got my first SSD, a tiny 64GB just for the OS, it was around £2 a GB!

I saw the PCIe SSD on Linus Tech Tips, definitely a good space saver if you have a spare PCIe slot.

Originally Posted by MartinW

I use mine for spare knickers when I'm traveling.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Slopey Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 30 Sep 2015 at 9:18pm
Acer are a better make than BenQ imho, but you can't been BenQ for price - I've used their stuff for years and never had a problem with it - same with Acer, I have several of their standard monitors, no issues.

Anyone else considering ultra-wide?  I'm thinking of swapping out my tripleheaded setup (with 3x acer monitors) for a single ultra-wide (for now - I'd like 3 but can't drive it from the gfx card).

Currently running a GTX970 Strix which is pretty good, but it has the 3.5Mb memory limit then it slows down (4Gb my ass).  That's on an i7 920 (which is still going strong!).

Will likely build a new machine next year which will be current gen proc plus a Titan.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Matt N Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 30 Sep 2015 at 10:54pm
Hi Slopey,

That's good to hear about Acer. I remember years ago they were known for poor quality, but looking at the reviews about them, especially their monitors, they've seemed to have turned things around.

I did have a glance over the ultra wide line up, but they won't fit on my desk. Big smile

Are you using Windows 10 Slopey? How're you finding it with FSX?

I've got you a couple of screen shots Martin, one with W10 scaling, and one without, in a resolution of 2880 x 1800.

No scaling:

150% Scaling:

When I first used W7 in bootcamp the scaling was a bit blurred in places, but all looks good in W10.

Originally Posted by MartinW

I use mine for spare knickers when I'm traveling.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote MartinW Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 01 Oct 2015 at 9:57am
Originally posted by Matt Matt wrote:

I saw the PCIe SSD on Linus Tech Tips, definitely a good space saver if you have a spare PCIe slot.


The Z170 Asus boards have a dedicated slot on the motherboard Matt. No spare PCIe slot required. With the Z170 Deluxe, they do also provide an M.2 PCIe card that does require a slot though. With that guy utilised as well you can raid them. Asus provide a U.2 adapter too.

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-214-SA

Samsung SM951 512GB M.2 PCI-e 3.0 x 4 NVMe Solid State Drive (MZVPV512HDGL-00000)


Originally posted by Slopey Slopey wrote:

Will likely build a new machine next year which will be current gen proc plus a Titan.


I gather there'll be other architectures available by then, in addition to Skylake. Skylake S, Broadwell K, Broawell E etc.

Considered a Titan myself. GTX 980ti comes close though, just somewhat less CUDA cores, VRAM etc but loads cheaper. Titan is reference design of course, whereas the 980ti is available with a full non-reference design, better cooling and components.

Originally posted by Matt Matt wrote:

I've got you a couple of screen shots Martin, one with W10 scaling, and one without, in a resolution of 2880 x 1800.


Thanks Matt, much appreciated. Maybe I will switch to W10, not sure, read about plenty of bugs, FSX, P3D issues and driver problems, kind off putting me off till a few updates have been released. Read the other day that W10 has been the most unstable Windows release since Windows ME.



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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Matt N Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 03 Oct 2015 at 12:00am
I think I may be out of luck with M.2 on a ITX board. They seem to use an E Key for WiFi, rather than a longer memory Key.

ITX Z170 boards are still scarce at the moment, so someone might pop something out the bag soon.

I tested BF4 this evening at 2880 x 1800, the in game menus were fine under W10, scaled up nice and big. I'm pretty sure under W7 everything went tiny, which was why I stayed under 1920 x 1200.

Originally Posted by MartinW

I use mine for spare knickers when I'm traveling.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote MartinW Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 03 Oct 2015 at 9:33am
The Asus Z170i Pro Gaming board should be out soon Matt, and it does have M.2 support. The on-board M.2 connector is actually on the back of the board.


https://www.asus.com/Motherboards/Z170I-PRO-GAMING/

Might get this board for Katy.




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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Matt N Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 03 Oct 2015 at 12:50pm
I was actually scrutinising that board last night on Scan.com

It was really bugging me where the M.2 was positioned, never realised it was on the back.

Paired with one of these it would be rather nice. Smile

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/512gb-samsung-sm951-m2-(22x80)-pcie-30-(x4)-ahci-ssd-mlc-nand-read-2150mb-s-write-1500mb-s-90k-70k-i
Originally Posted by MartinW

I use mine for spare knickers when I'm traveling.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote MartinW Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 03 Oct 2015 at 2:03pm
I didn't realise where the M.2 slot was either, till I watched the video.

Have you checked out the EVGA boards? The EVGA Z170 Stinger looks a great board.

http://www.evga.com/Products/Product.aspx?pn=111-SS-E172-KR

That's the same SM951 I linked to at OCUK by the way. 20 quid cheaper at Scan though.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Matt N Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 03 Oct 2015 at 6:12pm
I've had a look at EVGA, especially the Stinger, but it only takes M.2 Key E, which limits its usage.

I've found this AS Rock board which seems pretty nice. Got the option for rear M.2 as well.

http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/Fatal1ty%20Z170%20Gaming-ITXac/

I didn't realise those cards were both the same at first glance, Scan's had a slightly different manufacture code. Just realised its the way they've listed it.

I'm wondering how reliable these M.2 cards are. I've seen a few forums scare mongering about heat issues with the mounting on the rear boards. Mine may be worse as the board will be horizontal. Although watercooling will help keep the case cooler.
Originally Posted by MartinW

I use mine for spare knickers when I'm traveling.
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