Modern Skylake gaming build

[Phrantic]

Hey guys, it's been a while. I'm on the market for a new pc that must handle some gaming, Photoshop, web development (IntelliJ) and the like. It'll be running Windows 10.

I think I want a build that supports the latest standards (Skylake architecture, DDR4, PCI-e SSD, USB 3.1 Type C). I'm willing to pay a little (not a great deal) more than the bang for buck ratio if this means better future potential with improved driver support and upgradeable parts.

Overclocking would be nice I suppose but not for the first year or two, maybe never. Any Skylake build should handle a slight bit of overclocking so I'm not sure it'll be a factor.

Now, below prices are in Euros but they convert to just about the same in $'s.

Processor: Intel Core i5 6600K - €247
Intel Core i5-6600K Boxed - Prijzen - Tweakers

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z170-H3DP - €120
Gigabyte GA-Z170-HD3P - Prijzen - Tweakers

Memory: 2x 4GB Crucial Ballistix DDR4-2400MHz - €52
Crucial Ballistix Sport BLS2C4G4D240FSA - Prijzen - Tweakers

Graphics: Sapphire Nitro AMD R9 390 8 GB - €360
Sapphire NITRO R9 390 8G D5 - Prijzen - Tweakers

Power: Be Quiet! System Power 7 450W - €55
be quiet! System Power 7 450W - Prijzen - Tweakers

Storage: I still don't know that much about PCI-e storage. Can I buy this with a PCI-e adapter later? All the PCI-e interfaced cards seem incredibly expensive so for now I may carry over my Samsung 840 EVO till they become more mainstream.
Samsung SM951 256GB - Prijzen - Tweakers

Case: Couldn't really care. I'll pick a decent ATX case.

Budget's not set to anything, but if you consider above prices, I'd say €1000 is fair for a new build.

Thoughts?

 

[PP Mguire]

PSU won't work, it's too low of wattage. I would also consider a 970 over a 390 instead.

I wouldn't get the SM951. If you have an 840 EVO it's still perfectly fine and later when you want to buy an M.2 you can simply put it on the M.2 slot on the motherboard.

 

[Phrantic]

I've seen the benchmarks for the GTX970 vs the 390. The latter wins in most cases, especially on high resolution gaming which I intend to do (1440p). I'd need to hear good arguments to change my mind.

I would consider another PSU if you think I should. Is 450W really too little these days? I've always built rigs with that kind of power.

Does any M.2 SSD make full use of PCI-e SSD speed? Is it worth waiting around for it?

 

[PP Mguire]

To the card argument, heat and power draw are excellent reasons why not to buy the 390. A 450w PSU will not carry the draw from a 390 and a Skylake chip. An AIB 390 only scores a few percent higher than a reference 970 @ 1440 which is only going to equate to an average of 5 or less FPS vs the extra 100+w of draw and equally the extra amount of heat dumping into your case. Performance summary here.

An AIB 390 will take north of 300W by itself and you don't want to run a budget PSU near max capacity on GPU alone. At a minimum I'd buy this PSU.
Seasonic M12II Evo 520W - Prijzen - Tweakers

M.2 utilizes either SATA or PCI-E. The Samsung SSD you linked is an M.2 unit using a 4x PCI-E setup. My HyperX Predator is also a 4x SSD. If you look for something like a Samsung 850 EVO M.2 that will be SATA. The difference between the two would be a PCI-E M.2 uses PCI-E lanes to communicate with your system, while the SATA M.2 uses a SATA communication which will utilize a SATA port in your bios and be limited to SATA 3 speeds like a standard 2.5" drive. In any case the Samsung M.2 you linked in the OP will operate at speeds over 1000GB/s read/write sequential but your IOPS will be relative to your current 840 EVO so you won't see much of a difference. This is coming from somebody who upgraded to a HyperX Predator from a Corsair Neutron GTX. It's nice as a slap on the board with no cables thing, but in practicality the money saved to buy a better GPU or such would be better. Say, 980 from a 970/390.

 

[Phrantic]

I'll go with you on the Seasonic. I always hear great things about the brand. Just thought the one I linked wasn't considered "budget" considering it's made by FSP. Don't want to take chances in that department though.

Your heat vs power argument makes sense, though I'm finding it hard to quantify the difference. This source notes "It is true that the 970 is slightly more power efficient, but not by much. At load, the 970 was found to be only 9-40 watts more efficient, depending on the game. As far as temperatures go, the 970 runs about 4 degrees C cooler than the 390 (at least this version of the card). I'm also sure that with driver optimizations, that the 390 will pull slightly ahead."

However, seeing as the differences are so minor I don't want to debate this - either card will be fine, and I may switch to the GTX 970 once I pull the trigger if availability nudges me in that direction.

Good story on the SSD's there, backed up by some benchmarks I read. Maybe interesting in future, for now the EVO will keep up.

 

[PP Mguire]

OEMs don't really mean much, CWT makes a lot of Corsair's higher end units but without the input of Corsair I wouldn't purchase a CWT unit....if that makes sense. With how small the physical casing is I'd be willing to bet the BeQuiet! is marking a peak rating of 450w rather than continuous.

Tom's is ****, and for the love of god please never listen to their user base. The article they linked is also not very reliable. TPU measures card consumption from the source rather than from the wall. This provides a much more reliable source than those (like myself) who don't have the equipment to properly test power draw. On that note, a 970 has a maximum draw of 169W where the 390 caps 323W. That's 150W, not 9-40. In terms of heat output, 150w is a BIG difference, and I can attest to this since I previously had 980 SLI and went to Titan X SLI which is almost 100W per card. In terms of "efficiency", the 390 and 390x are the exact same cards as the 290 and 290x with 8GB, so no, there isn't any extra efficiency. In fact in most all cases I've seen the 390 and 390x use more power than the predecessors.

All in all, the 390 and 390x at 1440p do in fact perform slightly better at greater hit to power draw and heat. If this is something you really want to deal with, by all means. If it was me I'd get the 970 any day. My roomie has one and I never hear his fans kick in.