BlinkBuilds
Description
This is my gaming rig. I recently turned 14, and for Christmas and my birthday I got some new parts and I put them to work. I mainly play Source engine games and heavily modded MC (although that takes it's toll after 4 years of playing it haha) but I recently got into video editing so that required something better than my previous FX-6300.
I knew I didn't want to overclock to begin with because I wasn't willing to pay the $20 for the K series and get $50 more for the Z board (I'll explain how I ended up with that) and I decided that the i5-6500 was the best bang for my buck in the i5 Skylakes. I got the cooler mainly because I wanted extreme quiet (and good temps too) and the H60 is great at that. According to Speccy idle temps are 60-70 F and active about 80 F, which is fantastic. I have it connected to an AF120 on the front of the case.
The reason I have the Z board is because my original board from my parents (GA-H170-Gaming 3) had bent pins. I got a Micro Center manager decision deal and got a new one for $50. That one was DOA (no bent pins) and then Micro Center had no more H boards left so they gave me the Z board for $10 more. My neighbor took me up there (parents were busy, he's into this stuff too) and I had $10 on me so I bought it because it was a sweet deal. That one worked.
Storage is nothing complicated, the MX300 is a great bang for your buck SSD, speeds are fast and are close to advertised. The HDD is actually from an old external hard drive that I took out, so far doing fine and no signs of failure. I'm not sure of the exact model but it's a Samsung HDD.
My graphics card right now I'm pretty sure is a bottleneck but for the one more month I plan on having it, it's fine. Great snappy card, though I wouldn't recommend it in this GPU generation and the prices for it are terrible. Get an RX 460 for the same performance for cheaper. The STRIX version is designed well and stays cool. It doesn't turn on its fans normally until about 70 C.
The case is a great value and still is relevant too. Lots of space for fans and drives (3 HDD spaces, 2 2.5 SSD spaces) but the cable management is a bit lacking. Comes with a window too.
PSU is nothing special, mainly got it for the modularity but I enjoy the comfort of knowing that it's Gold rated compared to my previous Bronze 500W.
My peripherals are what was good on Amazon and Redragon makes great cheap stuff. I did reviews on my YouTube channel for more info.(keyboard review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-TuXNTyQH4 mouse review https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=osKkImoBtdg)
That's about it, I plan on giving my old parts to my little brother so he can get off of his iPad. Hope you enjoyed the read.
Part Reviews
CPU
The best Skylake i5 that you can't overclock. It's the exact same thing as 6600k but no overclocking.
Motherboard
Has all the bells and whistles you could need. Could use a few more USB slots but that's just me. Has two M.2 slots. LEDs are pretty neat too. (Yellow)
Storage
Speeds are close to advertised, and a great value. I would recommend this SSD for just about anyone.
Video Card
Great card, HORRIBLE pricing. Does a great job cooling but don't pay 160 for this. Get an RX 460/470 for same performance.
Case
Not overly big nor small either, just the right size. Looks nice, but for pet owners such as myself it's quite annoying having the buttons on top, which my cat loves to press. Has a hard drive caddy that can fit up to 3 drives (which should be more than enough for most people) and 2 2.5 inch SSD slots. It is kinda that there's no PSU sleeve to hide those wires. Overall a great value, oh and it has a case window too.
Power Supply
It hasn't blown up yet plus it has a lot of modularity options.
Case Fan
Keeps things cool but a bit loud. I'll recommend getting a motherboard with fan speed control or something like the NZXT Sentry Mix 2 for it. An unfortunate fan LED placement leaves them look like swastikas though.
Fan Controller
Plenty of fan headers but the cables are very difficult to remove for cable management. I cut myself trying to get one off.
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