New Gaming PC Build December 2015


My job provides several really awesome benefits, one of which is some money each year we can use for things like keeping our computers updated.  With the end of the fast approaching and my 2015 allowance about to expire, I decided I would throw all of it and more at building really nice new gaming rig.

[skip to the bottom for the quick component list and some pictures]

I started with the decision to go ahead and jump on the Intel Skylake train and picked up a i7-6700 from my sort-of-local Microcenter, and decided to cool it via a Corsair Hydro Series H100i GTX, I used a smaller model in my current machine and it has worked great.

Next up for a motherboard for that CPU to live on, I decided on a Gigabyte G1 GA-Z170X-Gaming 7 which I picked up on sale from NewEgg.

Then I tossed into my cart 32gig of DDR4-2666 memory in the form of a set of two of this pair CORSAIR Vengeance LPX 8gig sticks.

Next onto the most expensive part, the video card.  I currently have an Nvidia Geforce 970 and it works very well as long as I don’t try to push the full resolution of silly wide monitor.  So I figured, what the heck go big and for this new rig I picked up a 980ti from Gigabyte.

I decided not to bother with a “data drive” (aka traditional HD) just yet, since I have an extra 1tb drive already, but I did want to have a SSD as my boot drive. Sure it’s not one of the new super slick PCIe drives but this Samsung 850 EVO 500GB has been reviewed well and the price was right.

The last main part I need was a PSU. I’ve learned from the past not to skimp on a power supply so with with previous good experience it was easy to spend a bit of extra money on Corsair RM Series 750.

Finally I looked around my house and all the old cases I had to see if I had one I could re-use. Saddly the only one big enough to hold my new video card, was my current case, and since I’m keeping this machine as a second gaming rig I would need a new case. Out of all PC parts I really don’t like shopping for cases online. The physical nature of the case is so important, thankfully there are several awesome people out there that some how get / review lots of cases. Now I might have gone a bit overboard, but for this machine I decided to try this Phantex Enthoo Pro case.

Edit 1:

Also I should mention that for a data drive I’m currently using I had an extra Western Digital 1Tb drive in the house. This is going to need to be upgraded ASAP, since games and dev builds chew up space.

Edit 2:

For the record this rig will currently be using the three monitor setup the old machine was using. That monitor setup is anchored by the LG 34″ in center, flanked by a seven year old Dell 24″ and a ten year old Dell 20″ monitor.

And my existing Keyboard (logitech G710+) and Mouse(logitech G500) are fine, so I’ll just keep using them.

New Gaming Rig (codename: DarkTower)

CPU:Intel  i7-6700

Cooler: Corsair Hydro Series H100i GTX

MB:  Gigabyte G1 GA-Z170X-Gaming 7

Memory: 2 x CORSAIR Vengeance LPX 8gig

VideoCard: Nvidia Geforce 980ti from Gigabyte.

SSD: Samsung 850 EVO 500GB

PSU: Corsair RM Series 750

Case: Phantex Enthoo Pro case.

HDD: Western Digital 1Tb Blue

 

Daytime Exterior side shot.

The illuminated back plate has already proven awesome.

I’m really happy about how clean the inside is.

 


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