Need Black Friday Gaming build advice... $1000 budget

[LazarusLong]

I am close to a Micro Center. I have two SSD drives (one already loaded with Windows 10 Enterprise). I need advice. I want to get a good motherboard and am considering spending a little more to get a GTX 1080 GPU.

I am currently torn between the i5 6600k and i7 6700k CPU's. Micro Center has a great deal on both right now...

http://www.microcenter.com/product/451883/Core_i7-6700K_SkyLake_40GHz_LGA_1151_Boxed_Processor

$260

http://www.microcenter.com/product/451885/Core_i5-6600K_SkyLake_35GHz_1151_Boxed_Processor

$180

I really need advice on the best Motherboard, Cooling, Memory and power supply.


Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

[LazarusLong]

One additional consideration. I want to eventually use this build for VR with either the Occulus Rift or Vive or future variant.

 

[EarthDog]

What are your uses for the PC?

If you plan on a sine card, any 550W psu will be plenty for a single 1080 amd intel cpu, with both overclocked. You want a Tier 1 bang for your buck... evga supernova g2 550W. Tier 2 amd save some money.. evga 500b.

Regarding your motherboard. Honestly, most any will do in the z170 line at $150+. Just make sure it has the features you need, the look you want, at the lowest price.

Memory sweetspot is ddr4 3000-3200 cl14/15. I like gskill, but again, most any will do.

 

[peche]

what you already have sir? just 2 SSD's?
you cannot compare i5 vs i7.... im my opinion get the i7, unlocked i7 if possible, resale value on future is better, also the ram now days makes no difference, so dont turn your mind on it, let it pass,

Regards,

 

[lukart]

Go with the Asrock Z170 Extreme 6, excellent mobo for the price asked.
http://pcpartpicker.com/product/q8M323/asrock-z170-extreme6-atx-lga1151-motherboard-z170-extreme6

IF you want something less expensive, get the extreme 4 which is a steal for 115$..

 

[Vayra86]

One additional consideration. I want to eventually use this build for VR with either the Occulus Rift or Vive or future variant.

In that case, go for as much CPU punch as your money can reasonably get, because VR likes high FPS, and high FPS requires CPU. i7 6700k and mainstream/decent cooling (don't go overboard, 25-40 bucks is the sweet spot for cpu coolers where 25 bucks can do just as well as 40 in most cases) so you can push it to 4.5 Ghz stable. i7 also clocks higher out of the box and for a part that you won't be upgrading so much, I'd definitely take the 80 dollar hit in this specific case (I generally lean more towards i5 for most gaming, its hard to justify i7 at its full price).

However, be careful with 'eventually I want to' because the hardware you buy today, is 'legacy' before you know it. Not to mention the fact that VR is still very young, very clunky and very much a performance hog. Take a realistic guess on how long it will take before you enter the VR realm for sure, and decide accordingly. If its more than 1 year ahead from now, don't go the i7 route.

 

[P4-630]

because VR likes high FPS, and high FPS requires CPU. i7 6700k

Since when do you need a skylake i7 for VR?

So basically for VR you'll need a good GPU.

 

[Vayra86]

Since when do you need a skylake i7 for VR?

View attachment 81358

Since when is 'VR Ready' a solid indicator of VR performance? And did you note the fine print text below that result?

'Please note that while your systems' rendering power isn't limited by CPU...'

Also, I base what I'm saying on real life scenario where I am trying to push 1080p @ 120 fps and often see CPU bottlenecking @ 4.2 Ghz on Ivy (on a MUCH weaker GTX 780ti, even). Define 'needs'... if you're in the market for a build now and there is 80 bucks between the i7 and the i5...

 

[LazarusLong]

Thanks for all the feedback everyone. Here is the build I ended up going with. Not bad for Black Friday.

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/v3f3m8