Hi Guys!

First off, lets start by saying two things. Firstly, I am a university student, hardcore Microsoft Surface lover, and have never gamed until now. When my top-of-the-line Microsoft Surface Book i7 had a faulty screen, I did a warranty replacement and got a new one. I had the same problem with the new one as well so I decided to just return everything, buy a Surface Pro 3 i5, and put the rest of the money towards a hell of a computer. Secondly, I did not pay as much as you see in the bottom total price. I paid less than $3000 CAD for the PC including our amazing 13% tax. That includes everything. How? Well boxing day, BestBuy employee pricing, and well, a month of deal hunting. And lets not forget PartPicker's price drop notification that probably saved me over $500. The price that you see at the bottom is not the price I paid because that is how much you would pay if you bought that exact build yourself today. Oh and keep in mind, it is all Canadian Dollar so $1 USD is like $1.30 CAD.

What's this build for? This build is for a guy who basically wanted a computer that would basically perform as good as possible for the things I will outline at the end. It's for someone who is fed-up with laptops and wanted something I can easily upgrade, maintain, fix, or really change it up any way I want. I will be using this for programming, media creation, and yes, gaming!

CPU Intel Core i7 6850K

The i7-6850K is probably the least-bought "K" CPU from Intel's entire 6th generation lineup, and believe me it is not worth the price that you see. I did not pay even half of that, I got it through Intel directly through a connection for a lot cheaper, and at that price it is absolutely killer. It has 6-cores, and supports 40 lanes of PCIe. I did overclock this badboy to 4.3 GHz, but could have easily pushed it to 4.6, however, I didn't think it was worth it as I'm not really going to be using this for intense gaming or rendering movies. It runs really cool, and packs a heck of a punch!

CPU Cooler Corsair H100i V2

Corsair absolutely nailed it with the H100i V2. It is probably the best performance per dollar ratio from all of them. Even under gaming load my Overclocked hexa-core processor never goes above 40*C. One thing it definitely is not, is stunning. I mean look at it, its bland. It wont make your palms sweaty, knees weak, arms heavy. I mean it performs like a Ferrari, but looks like a Camry. Honestly, I wished I had spent a little more and gotten the NZXT X52. Also note that although the case supports 280mm rad, it only fits at the front with additional bracket support. I wanted to use the build in top-rad support so 240 it is. Also, on this case the rad will with the logo upside down (see pics).

Motherboard Asus X99 A-II

Im not going to pretend it great, its not. Its nothing fancy, but just the best x99 board I can get for $300. Again I wish I had spent a little more getting the Asus x99 Delux II, better features and more reliable. My reasons for this are not unfounded. The processor can't recognize my ram in one of the slots so it would only show 8GB and would BSOD. I used a different slot but I don't want to deal with this when paying so much for parts. Get a Motherboard with some good stars. But onto the good things: built-in basic LEDs, RGB header (I was so happy when I realized this had it that I almost cried.), M.2 PCIe Support, like a billion SATA6 ports, and well its price. It also comes with some good things in the box. If anything, I wish it had Wi-Fi, more built-in lighting, another M.2, but hey for $300 im not exactly complaining. (I am, but oh well do something...)

Memory (RAM) G.Skill Ripjaws V 16GB

Do you want DDR4 RAM, 3000MHz, and well black colour? Get this. Trust me, I probably spent a good 6 hours comparing price vs. performance vs. looks for 16GB RAM, this was the best option. Yes sure Dominator Platinums look good as hell. But when you are a (sort-of) broke University student, you will cut a corner somewhere. It hasn't given me any issues or anything so I wont complain (for real this time). Just know that this specific model isn't on the Qualified Vendors List for the motherboard I have, the slower speed one is though, and it works properly at 3000Mhz so oh well QVL, screw it, I like living on the edge.

Storage Samsung 960 EVO 250 GB M.2*

The best. Absolutely the best. No question about it. Believe me. No this isn't Trump speaking, its the truth. You think your Intel 750 is the best right? I thought so too, but oh my luck, this is an absolutely blessed SSD. Its M.2, NVMe, PCIe, and its Samsung, It basically ticks off all the boxes. It is super fast and, well, reliable. What else do you want from an SSD? Its not going to make you breakfast, you need a stove for that. But then I guess it would definitely open that word document with the boiled egg recipes on it at insane speeds. I guess us computer guys sometimes need a reminder on how to boil an egg or two. Not judging... Oh and the 960 Pro is a little better but that doesn't count...

• Samsung 850 Evo 250GB I didn't want to saturate the above drive with useless school documents and programs so I got this as a main storage drive. It is super fast, its reliable, and it looks good. Imagine a Lamborghini with a speed limit of like 200Km/h rather than whatever it actually is. The SATA6 is the hardware limitation on this but it literally performs at the theoretical maximum speeds so get this because unless you are crazy you don't need the 960 evo or anything else. Its one of the best SATA SSD on the market.

• Western Digital Blue 320GB I got this for like $15 refurbished off of Newegg , I literally use it to save desktop backgrounds and well, need I say more...? Don't use this as a main drive unless you're the type of guy who likes driving behind old grannies going 20 below the limit. Its loud (not really but compared to SSDs what isn't loud?), its ugly (It's a big ugly 3.5" hard drive, don't expect it to be pretty), and its slow (read above). Get it for $15, not for anything more than that.

Video Card Asus GeForce GTX 1070 ROG STRIX O8G

My favourite part. It has one of the fastest clock speeds on the market, has really nice LEDs, additional fan headers, and only uses on 8-pin power connector. There really isn't a better a GTX 1070 that this, unless you count that ugly Gigabyte one. But lets pretend that doesn't exist okay? It also differs from most 1070s because it has 2 HDMI ports and 2 Display Ports, which is great for people who don't like using adapters to connect it to more than one monitor. The card has really really good looks. It has 3 fans, 3 fan modes, customizeable lighting, and is so silent I never hear it. Want something that will give you nerdgasmic feelings? This.

Case Cooler Master MasterCase Pro 5

As a first-time builder this was probably one of the easiest cases to build in. It is really spacious, has great airflow and has support for 6 fans and rads in the front, top, and back. Did I mention that it is also fully modular. Yeah that is the icing on top. I recently bought the tempered glass side-panel for a lot more than I should have, but it completes the look really well. It even has its own lock and key for that much more of a coolness factor. (I mean who is going to break into your PC when you're glued to it?). If you want something small, sleek and not so killer? Get a S340 Elite. If you want to be big, bold, and "insert something savvy that will get me more "up-votes", this is the one, it has great functionality and looks.

Powersupply EVGA SuperNova 750 G2

Behind every successful computer build is a relentless and hardworking power supply that's often hidden under compartments and often forgotten about. That is exactly the case here. It powers my PC, doesn't give me a headache, and came in some fancy packaging. That's more than enough to get a recommendation from me. It also has an eco-mode for you people who love silent PCs, I dont really mind when dragons breathe fire (when my PC is running), but this is really silent as it is so fret-not.

Monitor Samsung 28" 4K U28E590D

I work at Best Buy and on the day after boxing day someone returned this unused so I asked my manager for a deal and well, lets just say I was extremely happy. This monitor is great, it has 1 ms response time, has great colours, its big, and its reliable. Yes its 60Hz, so don't eat me for that but its not like I can even do 140FPS 4K gaming anyways so I'm happy. I would definitely recommend this to anyone who can get it for even $500. It has 2 HDMI, 1 DP, and an audio pass-through. I connected my Surface Dock and ChromeCast to it so its just really easy to use.

Other Things

Let me know in the comments if you would like me to talk about my keyboard, mouse, speakers, and anything else really. I'm really happy with this PC, and I think I've left a few things that I can upgrade in the future which is good because I get bored easily, and well lets just say the NZXT x52 is irresistible, but that's a story from another time. Enjoy!

Thanks For The Featured I feel honoured!