Gaming machine need advice for PSU and CPU cooler

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Souli
Posts: 46
Joined: Wed Nov 22, 2006 8:44 am

Gaming machine need advice for PSU and CPU cooler

Post by Souli » Wed May 25, 2016 7:21 am

Hey guys,
I'm building a rig for a friend so there is no need to go as silent as I normally would go. I will list the parts that are already decided on:

i7-6700K
Scythe Ninja 4
Asus Z170M Plus
2x8Gb Kingston DDR4-2133
Fractal Define Mini
Samsung Evo 850 500Gb
GTX 1080 as soon as good silent custom cards are available


What I'm not sure about is which CPU cooler and PSU I will take. I want a 80 Plus Platinum if possible but there aren't so many options. What about the Super Flower Leadex Platinum 550W?
Last edited by Souli on Wed May 25, 2016 2:36 pm, edited 1 time in total.

quest_for_silence
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Re: Gaming machine need advice for PSU and CPU cooler

Post by quest_for_silence » Wed May 25, 2016 9:43 am

Souli wrote:What I'm not sure about is which CPU cooler and PSU I will take. I want a 80 Plus Platinum if possible but there aren't so many options. What about the Super Flower Leadex Platinum 550W?
CPU cooler: Scythe Kotetsu? The CPU will run without overclocking so only stock cooling is required. I have not checked if the heatsink fits into the Phenom yet but I don't think it should be a problem. It is a micro ATX case after all.

First of all, the Phenom (not M) proved to be too hot (starving for air) to run quietly an high performance rig (check the relevant SPCR test): now the M has a totally different frame, so YMMV (I guess it will be better) but the lack of unobstructed inlets remains.
Said that, the Leadex Platinum is a nice option: given the lack of ventilation I'd rather a fully fanned unit, like the Be Quiet P11 Dark Power Pro.
About the CPU, even if you won't overclock it, it's still an 8 threads unit, so with the most severe stresses it will run noticeably hotter (10°C?) than a competing Core i5, I'd use a more massive Scythe Ninja 4 instead of the more modest Kotetsu, or maybe a slanted TR Macho variant, paired with a 140mm rear exhaust.

CA_Steve
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Re: Gaming machine need advice for PSU and CPU cooler

Post by CA_Steve » Wed May 25, 2016 10:40 am

The OC3D review for the Phenom M is worth reading for the discussion on clearances and competing airflow which is a lot different than the Mini-ITX version. CPU clearance is ~160mm, so +1 for Luca's suggestions. The PSU and Gfx card can and will compete for space. OC3D had a modular 160mm PSU in their review and found the modular cables on the top row limited gfx card length from 12.6" to 11.4". If you needed to use the bottom row of modular cables, this reduced gfx card length to 9.8".

Also, Intel's memory controller might not be as flat vs RAM speed as originally thought. There may be some small benefit for the new top end gfx cards like the GTX 1080 if coupled with faster than 2133 speed RAM, like 3000. Not a big price jump.

Souli
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Re: Gaming machine need advice for PSU and CPU cooler

Post by Souli » Wed May 25, 2016 12:38 pm

thanks for the reply guys. The case was not my decision but rather the guy that I build it for wants it :mrgreen: So I'm trying to make it work. What would be an adequate SPCR Micro ATX case choice? Maybe I can sway him after all...

The PSU won't interfere with the GPU because I can mount it up top in the second PCIE slot so it can take the fresh air from the mesh on top.

What difference is there in a semi ventilated and fully ventilated PSU? The fan of the Leadex should start if it gets too hot anyway.

nster
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Re: Gaming machine need advice for PSU and CPU cooler

Post by nster » Wed May 25, 2016 12:51 pm

The i7 6700K runs much hotter than the i5 6600K in my experience, is HT and $100 less in his pocket really worth it for his use case scenario?

Also, 2600+ RAM is probably almost the same price, why not go with that.

Souli
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Re: Gaming machine need advice for PSU and CPU cooler

Post by Souli » Wed May 25, 2016 1:13 pm

Yea I can upgrade the RAM no problem on that front.

Well the heat is no issue if I don't have to build a complete silent system. So why not go with the i7 :wink:

edh
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Re: Gaming machine need advice for PSU and CPU cooler

Post by edh » Wed May 25, 2016 1:14 pm

Souli wrote:Well the heat is no issue if I don't have to build a complete silent system. So why not go with the i7 :wink:
Aren't there other things you could spend the money on instead?

Souli
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Re: Gaming machine need advice for PSU and CPU cooler

Post by Souli » Wed May 25, 2016 1:20 pm

Why exactly? He gets more performance out of the i7 than the i5 for the future. If I go for a i5 I would not take the 6600K but rather the normal 6600 since they have the same Turbo Speed anyway and I can save money on the H170 chipset.

edit: I convinced him to go with a Fractal Define Mini. CPU cooler will be the Scythe Ninja 4.
So only missing a PSU now. The Corsair RMx 550W looks also very nice specially for the price. It is only Plus rated and not Platinum like the Leadex though.

quest_for_silence
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Re: Gaming machine need advice for PSU and CPU cooler

Post by quest_for_silence » Wed May 25, 2016 10:37 pm

Souli wrote:thanks for the reply guys. The case was not my decision but rather the guy that I build it for wants it :mrgreen: So I'm trying to make it work. What would be an adequate SPCR Micro ATX case choice? Maybe I can sway him after all...

I see you did: the Define Mini may deserve better fans, whether you want to go along that route, I think the Arc sibling is interesting too.

Souli wrote:What difference is there in a semi ventilated and fully ventilated PSU? The fan of the Leadex should start if it gets too hot anyway.

Particularly in a cramped enclosure like the Phenom, a fully fanned unit helps to prevent the heat build up by "speeding up" air recirculation.

Souli wrote:The Corsair RMx 550W looks also very nice specially for the price. It is only Plus rated and not Platinum like the Leadex though.

The RM550x has probably the best value, among the quiet, high quality PSUs, and the efficiency difference is not that important (2-3W at most) IMO.

nster
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Joined: Thu Jul 09, 2015 2:21 am

Re: Gaming machine need advice for PSU and CPU cooler

Post by nster » Wed May 25, 2016 11:43 pm

Souli wrote:Why exactly? He gets more performance out of the i7 than the i5 for the future. If I go for a i5 I would not take the 6600K but rather the normal 6600 since they have the same Turbo Speed anyway and I can save money on the H170 chipset.

edit: I convinced him to go with a Fractal Define Mini. CPU cooler will be the Scythe Ninja 4.
So only missing a PSU now. The Corsair RMx 550W looks also very nice specially for the price. It is only Plus rated and not Platinum like the Leadex though.
i5 6600K usually isn't much more and provides a better resale value, and just in case he wants to OC later, he can. I like to slightly overclock and slightly undervolt CPUs usually, which tend to decrease or at least keep power consumption equal for better performance. i5 6600 doesn't have any disadvantages that I know of apart from the locked CPU factor, though if you want to save money, the i5 6400 is usually about the best $/perf

Gaming performance-wise, the $100 on the CPU will be a huge waste and be better spent on basically anything else, even when using higher-end GPUs: http://www.anandtech.com/show/9483/inte ... eration/16 http://www.kitguru.net/components/cpu/l ... -review/8/

We are talking noticeable differences in terms of power consumption. According to Tom's Hardware, CPU consumption while gaming on a discrete GPU for the i5 was ~52W vs ~76W, or a hair over 45% more. source: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/sky ... 52-11.html. According to http://www.eteknix.com/intel-core-i7-67 ... review/13/, an i5 6600K @4.9Ghz consumes less than an i7 6700K at stock by almost 30 Watts, or stock vs stock by 54 Watts! Here: http://www.hardwareluxx.com/index.php/r ... ml?start=5 the difference is over 25%. Over at http://www.kitguru.net/components/cpu/l ... -review/9/ the difference seems to be negligeable for some reason. Still overall, including the experience from forum members etc, the i7 6700K defintively tends to run hotter than the i5 6600(K)

If you care about noise at all, or if you are the type of person to bother picking up a $100 bill if you drop it, then go with the i5 lol (exaggerating a bit for effect :P)
Last edited by nster on Thu May 26, 2016 1:01 am, edited 1 time in total.

Souli
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Re: Gaming machine need advice for PSU and CPU cooler

Post by Souli » Wed May 25, 2016 11:45 pm

k then I'll stick to the Corsair since it costs only 2/3 of the Leadex.

ggumdol
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Re: Gaming machine need advice for PSU and CPU cooler

Post by ggumdol » Thu May 26, 2016 1:40 pm

While I don't find it reasonable to buy K-series CPU for its higher resellability, I think that it actually makes sense to go for a top-end CPU which will not bottleneck the performance of GTX 1080. There are just a couple of triple-A games highly reliant on CPU. Also, the overall CPU technology has been saturated and we are likely to use the same CPU for much longer time (5 years plus) than before.

On the other hand, if you are absolutely satisfied with gaming in 60 fps, any Skylake i5 CPU will do for probably all games released in recent years. As far as my experience goes, there is a law of very rapidly diminishing returns from 50 fps. Personally, I think each and every fps beyond 50 fps is a waste of energy.

Souli
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Re: Gaming machine need advice for PSU and CPU cooler

Post by Souli » Tue May 31, 2016 12:30 am

ggumdol wrote:While I don't find it reasonable to buy K-series CPU for its higher resellability, I think that it actually makes sense to go for a top-end CPU which will not bottleneck the performance of GTX 1080. There are just a couple of triple-A games highly reliant on CPU. Also, the overall CPU technology has been saturated and we are likely to use the same CPU for much longer time (5 years plus) than before.
that was my reason to go for it

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