re: Building new gaming PC ~ Help needed!

Here's a foundational part list:

PCPartPicker part list: LINK

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($244.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($34.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z170XP-SLI ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($118.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: GeIL EVO POTENZA 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($35.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($149.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($71.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA 750W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $708.92

I deliberately left out a case and GPU from the list because cases are preference-based (I'm not sure why you want a full tower, though. Full towers are oversized for builds like these).

I left out the GPU because I would recommend you wait until the summer if you can stand it. New GPUs from both AMD and NVIDIA are going to be announced at Computex. If they end up being higher end cards that you can't afford, you'll still potentially see a price drop on existing cards like the GTX 970 and R9-390. If you had to buy a card today, I'd recommend the 390. And a 1440p monitor.

The list I posted above will provide for basic, respectable overclocking. For advanced overclocking, I might recommend a CPU/mobo/cooler combo like this:

PCPartPicker part list: LINK

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($244.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D15 82.5 CFM CPU Cooler ($88.64 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: MSI Z170A GAMING M5 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($156.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $482.61

So, an extra $80 or so. I wouldn't expect $80 worth of performance gains over the other setup, though. Advanced overclocking is more of a hobby than a practical application.

I am not against liquid cooling, but the kind that I recommend goes way beyond reasonable spending. I used to recommend all-in-one coolers like the Corsair H80/H100/etc. for high-end builds. But it's become increasingly obvious that they are kind of loud for what they do, and they needlessly introduce an additional point of failure -- the pump. Some people advise against them because they're afraid of leaks, but that's the least of my worries in a closed loop system. I just don't want novices to get complacent with an all-in-one loop and not notice when the pump fails, and wonder why their gaming performance has plummeted. You try gaming on a failed pump for too long with an overclocked CPU, it'll kill it. But mostly, I just think they offer little performance gains for a lot of money.

For liquid cooling, a custom loop is the way to go. But you're looking at spending $300 minimum for a CPU/GPU cooling system. My liquid cooling system uses nearly $1,000 in parts:



The tangible benefits (significantly reduced noise and all the overclocking headroom the CPU and GPU can handle) are nice, but not even close to being worth what I spent. Like above, this is strictly a hobby expense, taken to an extreme.