computer building (iso suggestions...)
5Hopefully not mediocre… I haven’t built a pc in 6ish years… Which leads me to why I need to build a pc… I haven’t in 6ish years… The last one I built I used the stock intel CPU cooler… Which I am gathering doesn’t exist now… I’m looking for something Quietish, but decent… I mean I used to use the STOCK intel Cooler… and it was good enough… Not sure If I’ll build with the i7-8700K or wait for 9th gen at this point… upgrading from a i7-3770… 
Likely keeping vid card… geforce 980 ti,
looking at using it for streaming, gaming, and a lab machine… So… if someone has suggestions on motherboards too… I’d be ok with that… I want to keep 4 (or more) slots for memory… I currently am running 32 GB. I may go to 64GB…
Other needs:
3 1x (or higher) PCIE slots-- I may be able to do without… but I have some stuff I want to move over wireless card, usb controller,
also suggestions on a case… I currently have an in Win BUC (https://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/InWin/BUC/) discontinued 
but its on the tall and large side… I’d love a mid tower or a smallish full tower for it to fit next to the desk instead of on the desk… (closet office)
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I unfortunately don’t have any suggestions for you, given that I’m typing this on a mostly stock HP desktop I bought from woot back in January of 2012… i5-2400, 8GB ram, 1TB HDD which I finally added a 256GB SSD to, and a Radeon 7850 a friend was getting rid of…
Best of luck on your build, some day I’ll convince myself that I’m worthy of a new computer. Probably next year… while technically capable, the 7850 isn’t doing the best of jobs pushing the 43" 4k Acer I picked up
What is your CPU now? TBH The new 10 series Nvidia cards way outperform the 9 Series and the extra REAL ram is awesome (I was burned on the 970, your 980 doesnt have that issue but the 10 series has a lot more).
I was also check out AMD too. They are doing real well for bang for buck these days.
@darkzrobe I’m not worried about the gpu as much. I can do VR, I’m happy. But the CPU is a 3rd gen Core i7 Intel. Which with the recent vulnerability will have significant impact for me to be using it as a hyper v server…
Also what are you using this thing for? Seems like you may have more specs than you need. But then again I am a crazy person who builds terrible things at my house.
@darkzrobe hyper v lab is the hardest I push it currently on cpu. Running 4 server 2016 and 3 win 10 clients it is a bit sluggish.
@sohmageek Ryzens I think have better multicore performance than Intels 7th Gen. However Intel did start releasing better chips again so there is the i7-8700K. Good luck!
As far as the CPU cooler goes this one is pretty nice and it’s quiet. http://a.co/5WbgIbL comes with both Intel and AMD attachments.
Don’t look at me, I’m using an original I5 laptop because I’m too lazy to build a new machine.
@cranky1950 lol
sent from my i7-2620m laptop
@communist Hay, I spent a hundred fifty bucks on this thing.
I believe the low end CPUs still come with coolers, just nothing in the higher tiers because most people building gaming rigs are going to scrap them anyhow so it’s a way to shave price without impacting margin… or something like that.
Do need more information about intended uses before I can be all that helpful. 980 Ti is a pretty solid performer even with the 10 Ti series out, unless your answers surprise me I’m going to go against @darkzrobe here and suggest keeping it for another 2 years or so and going for an 11 Ti series whenever those come out (or whatever the hell NVidia does with their numbering at that point).
I’d also differ with @x9715 on the CPU cooler front. I don’t believe in water cooling for the sake of water cooling and nothing you’ve said so far indicates to me a need for it.
@jbartus What CPU’s would you consider if I want to play Steam games, but would like to keep Win7? (I’ve been told that the latest Core CPU’s and Ryzen require Win10?) Tried Win10, was rather unimpressed. Have a spare copy of Win7 that’s paid for.
@2many2no Just remember Windows 7 is end of life Jan 2020. After that they will no longer be patching it.
@darkzrobe I’m hoping to use it as long as I can, then find a Linux distro I like. Of course, I’m assuming Steam will continue to port games to Linux (or maybe Windows will be less of a clusterfuck by then.)
I already do most secure stuff on my Chromebook.
@2many2no Not all games are on Linux and linux has some issues with rendering games. But you can sort your list by which games work on Linux which is nice and figure out if it is worth it. I did the Linux gaming for a while then went back. Windows 8.1 may be a option if the forced windows updates bothers you.
@darkzrobe If they don’t port more games to Linux, I may have to eventually move to Win10.
My experience with Win10 was that it really doesn’t do anything that Win7 already does, but everything is moved around or hidden. I rolled back because I got tired of looking for things that should have been easy to do. Also, MS seems to want to adopt the Apple model for their app store where everything is paid or subscription, but when you finally find stuff that works among the little that is there, they drop support. I have an unsupported Zune and now Groove music is gone. Fool me twice.
At least with a Chromebook, there’s more apps than you can use, and many (good ones) are free. I don’t particularly care too much that Google siphons up all my information, since MS, Apple, and my ISP do that too, but they charge for the “service.”
Whatever, I’ll roll with it. Not a lotta choices.
@2many2no Hence the recommendation for Windows 8.1, While it did change from 7 it currently isnt moving everything on every update.
I am a Windows and Linux System Admin for my employer and I am very angry at Windows right now. So I feel ya.
@darkzrobe Literally the only reason I have a Windows computer is for taxes. It’d be nice if Quicken or H & R would port their software to chromebooks.
@rtjhnstn Dont most of those software have web versions? What about wine in linux?
@2many2no It does take a little doing, but you can configure win 10 to work pretty similarly to win 7. I mainly did it to prevent autoupdates too quickly and to disable all the alexa features, but I’ve been happy with the results.
@Pantheist cortana* not alexa
@2many2no I’m firmly in the Intel camp until AMD manages to prove they can actually sustain what they’ve been up to lately with challenging Intel so I’m not read up on where the line is for AMD CPUs but for Intel chips you can’t go past Skylake on 7. You can find a comprehensive list of Skylake processors on Wikipedia to guide you in your search. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skylake_(microarchitecture)
Good luck on the Linux front. I’ve never had the patience to deal with that whole mess for gaming, too much like doing work just to get things running stable. And that’s ignoring how cramped my game selection would become. Set up a dual boot for a job once I got with a gaming company for testing purposes a few years back and couldn’t wait to get back to Windows every time.
For what it’s worth I’m a fan of Windows 10. The shuffling around of some things is annoying but manageable with a bit of patience. It took me under a month to get used to it when my clients were all clamoring for the free upgrades so I could support it competently. It’s also a lot more efficient in my experience than 7 was running faster even on older hardware. I know some people are unhappy about the forced updates but as an IT professional I am personally thrilled by them.
@jbartus @darkzrobe @Pantheist Thanks.
I may have to bite the bullet and move on to Win10, at least on a new build, since Skylake is already getting a little long in the tooth. Learning the ins & outs of a new OS is a good thing, right? I don’t mind auto updates, but I am wary of the “deprovements” we get at work. (Of course, those are driven by the need for Fed Reg compliance: Here’s your new version, slower and more tedious than before.)
I’m actually more bothered by the app store and the subscription based apps. I like buying software and using it as long as I want, only buying the new version when I think it is worthwhile. And apps generally are just paralyzed versions of the website (YouTube.)
I guess I’m a semi-luddite. Most of my new music is in the cloud, but I still buy what I like instead of paying a subscription. I will only step onto the slippery slope if I have one foot firmly anchored in the past.
Your knowledge, as always, is appreciated.
@2many2no As it stands now Windows 10 should not be a subscription OS. But more like a rolling OS like Debian. However Microsoft does like to use the words “Software as a Service” So who knows what they will do.
My recommendation is use a local account on that machine. When the windows 10 install comes to the part where you create the accounts there should be a way to back out of the microsoft account and use local only. Then once you are in the OS you can sign in to the apps you want to use without converting the account.
You can still purchase software for some things. If you are looking for office the name of the suite right now is Office 2016. Office 365 will be subscription based. I would look to see if your work or school has a program where you can get Office 2016 for $10. Otherwise Office Home and Student from amazon may be the cheapest route… Or 365 if you need something weird and always the latest and greatest.
Should you want to go without office LibreOffice is the open source free one.
Also I really dont use any of the apps. And you dont have to use them too. Webpages and a good browser is how I get to the world and not a fan of this “App” movement.
@darkzrobe Wholly agree on apps.
And LibreOffice rocks.
I have no need for a super high end system. Built this one a year and a half ago. A few tweaks and add-ons here and there but these are the basics. Looking at the parts now, I’d say more of them have gone up in price since I bought them. I put out at least $100 less than the current prices showing.
https://pcpartpicker.com/user/Cinoclav/saved/yP2nnQ
@cinoclav rocking on board graphics?
@jbartus I am. I don’t play games at all. When I built it I figured I’d see how it ran and decide if I wanted to add a graphics card. I’ve had no need, so it’s happily humming along with what’s on board.
You should totally put on of those case cooling fans with the LED lights on it! So cool!
I recently upgraded the core of my system (motherboard, CPU, RAM) for about $220. I’m satisfied with the graphics on the CPU. Not a racehorse, but good enough.
https://pcpartpicker.com/list/HgWpxY
My pc building $.02 :
Quiet cases are nice, especially if you’re over flashy led cases. One thing to keep in mind with a good quiet case is if it’s got noise dampening material it will also retain heat. Fans make noise. Its a hard tradeoff to get right. That said I’ve loved my corsair case.
Another bit of advice : don’t cheap out on the PSU. A good one will last you 10 years and will pay for any damaged parts if their supply gives up the ghost in a bad way. This lesson I learned the hard way.
@LordSalem oh I know about the psu. That’s why I won’t reuse my current one
I’ve been happy with it. But I want to ensure good operation. Things moving to new pc are: ssd/HD’s/Blu-ray(may go external I can’t remember the last time I used a disc), some pci-e 1x cards. That’s it 
Sorry I wasn’t clear (exhausted when typing) gpu is mostly for VR and it’s sufficient I’ll upgrade in a few years when I can no longer run newer games at low quality and/or it won’t keep up with VR (I have an oculus rift) cpu issues are when I’m running hyper v lab. It typically has 3-5 server 2016 and 3-5 win 10 boxes. That’s also the memory load. Sccm lab and/or lab to test something for work.
I may end up using the old pc as part of the lab and the rest on the new. The issue is the labs usually come as one zip file from Microsoft and are good for about 6 months before I need to refresh or sometimes I can rearm for another 6 months. They are not production totally lab environment.
@sohmageek You’re outta luck if you want to avoid Windows 10 and use current processors: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4012982/the-processor-is-not-supported-together-with-the-windows-version-that
If you are trying to use any of these or newer, they are only supported on the newest versions of Windows (desktop & server)-
Intel seventh (7th)-generation processors
AMD “Bristol Ridge”
You won’t get any updates if you do install Windows 7 onto them, and I’m pretty sure the CPU vendors aren’t providing drivers for them (unless you bought a machine from an OEM that specifically made them available).
With that in mind, have you considered Ryzen? Especially if you want features that Intel normally considers business/server, or just relegates to the top tiers, you can get a lot (if you’re looking for lots of processing power and cores, check out Threadripper).
@dashcloud I’m on 10 now. I don’t mind it. I dislike the update process with 7. They really need a sp3 or a roll up 2 which includes ru1.
I’ve looked. And it looks like they are about tied for how much I want to spend.