THE IRONCLAD

Welcome, today I am looking to answer a common question on the dual-boxing.com forums...

WE START WITH THE QUESTION
It comes in different forms, "What kind of computer would you suggest for boxing?" That question gets asked periodically, and it's not always easy to answer. Recently for example someone asked about the minimum requirements for five boxing. Since this is a hobby that isn't supported by Blizzard, we don't know. Though if I were to guess, you could probably get away with something in the $700 range at very low graphical settings. At that budget, you might seriously consider secondhand parts, where the hot cards of yesteryear can be had a fraction of their original retail cost.

But, though the Super Budget Frankenrig is certainly plausible, that's not the topic of discussion today. No, today I'm going to be talking about putting on the big boy pants and building a rig that's not only capable of boxing, but capable of running your team comfortably on a large screen for less than the price of one of Mirai's Titan Xs...
 

THE GOODS
CPU: Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor | $319.99 @ Amazon
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO | $24.88 @ OutletPC
Motherboard: Asus Z170-A ATX LGA1151 Motherboard | $134.99 @ Amazon
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 | 67.99 @ Newegg
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" | $47.49 @ OutletPC
Graphics: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1070 8GB G1 Gaming | $429.00 @ B&H*
Case: NZXT S340 (White) | $59.99 @ Newegg
PSU: EVGA 850W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular | $99.99 @ Newegg

* Pricing and availability are still a major consideration for the 10 series video cards, for a tighter budget consider a 980 TI. As of this writing they can be had new or used for around $400.

Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts.
Total before mail-in rebates: $1156.33
Total after mail-in rebates: $1116.33

Generated by [PCPartPicker](http://pcpartpicker.com) 2016-08-12 12:24, prices subject to change.

RATIONALE
I tried to stay brand agnostic, and simply go where the seeming best bang for the buck was. Generally speaking this meant looking at the rating on PCPartpicker as well as the number of ratings, and the price. In some cases however, I also took into account reviews from reputable sources like Tek Syndicate, PCPerspective, etc. I understand however, there are a few areas of possible contention here, so I'll attempt to address my choices now. First, let's address the two major component choices: the processor and the video card.

Previously I had been recommending the last generation processors, the 4690k and 4790k. These are still perfectly capable parts, however as pricing and availability have gotten better for Skylake in recent months the difference between the last gen I7 and this one is 335.99 for the 4790K vs 319.99 for the 6700K, a $16 difference in favor of the new chip. The differences in the processors are close enough for most people to not care, but the addition of better connectivity and support with the Skylake platform as well as the comparable price make it a pretty clear choice.

You may also be wondering why in the world I've put a $24 cooler on here, mainly because the processor doesn't come with one. Skylake is actually a pretty cool chip on it's own. And the EVO will definitely give you some room for a modest overclock. However, if you really want to get serious about ramping this thing up you can always invest in something stouter down the line.

As for the video card, I've run as many as ten clients on a system running a 980 TI and this processor. I'm confident that a 980 TI or 1070 (which performs basically the same) will be more than sufficient for boxing in Legion. Both the TI and the 1070 are in sort of a weird place at the moment however, it's the same pricing and availability shenanigans we saw with the Skylake chips this time last year. The 10 series cards are the new hotness. So, some days you'll see silly prices listed. I would call the one I've listed in this build reasonable, but the same card may show up for $500+ on another day. So, be aware that price and availability are still something to watch out for.

Similarly, with the 980 TI we're seeing a lot of cases of retailers clearing out their stock to make room for the 10 series cards. So, I've seen sales like the MSI 980 TI Lightning edition card going as low as $380. If you're okay with going used, you can also find TIs for sub $400 regularly. So, if you're really on a tight budget this is definitely worth consideration. Of course, my standard disclaimer about buying secondhand apply.

Finally, there's the power supply. I chose this particular PSU because it comes incredibly highly rated, this is infact the exact PSU I use in my personal rig. And I will be using it for the foreseeable future when building a PC for clients. But you might, rightly be wondering why I chose the 850W variant, when even in SLI the 1070 won't require nearly that much juice. There are two very simple answers to that, first I wanted to compensate not only for potential SLI of the 1070, but also the more power hungry 980 TI. Additionally, having room for the addition of more drives, lights, etc seems like a good call. But the big reason for choosing the 850 over say the 650 or even 750? Money. The 850 costs a whopping $7 more than the 650. And a mere $5 more than the 750w.

You may disagree, and that's fine, but personally, I feel like the extra 200w is worth $7.

Beyond that, I've tried to stick to parts that I know are well rated and liked by users, with a general black and white theme in mind (though that wasn't my original intention, I was just looking for good parts at a low/reasonable price).

UPGRADES & ADDITIONS
Currently in the build I have a single 1TB listed, a more than capable hard drive, however one of the first things I would do with this system personally is add an SSD. A pair of Samsung 250gb EVOs for example would be a perfect fit. I like to keep my OS, software and wow on one SSD. With my Steam folder on the second. I'd also grab a second HDD, the first can be for mass storage (screenshots, files, prictures, etc). The second can be configured as a an automatic backup drive, in the unlikely event that your C drive dies.

For someone really looking to push the 6700k, the first thing you'll want to look into is a better cooler. So, with that I have two suggestions. If you're looking for a better air cooler, the Noctua NH-D14 is a highly regarded cooler more than capable of letting the chip stretch it's legs, with the added bonus of being incredibly quiet. If you're looking to run an AIO water cooler however, you might consider the Corsair H100i GTX. I use the 110i myself, and it's actually very quiet and capable. Though I did also replace the fans with Corsair SP fans, that are FAR quieter than the stock ones.


On the subject of upgrades, now would be a good time to consider doubling down. Another kit of ram would give you a full 32gb, though if you're going to be heavily overclocking your system you may consider possible stability issues here. Additionally, a second graphics card (1070 or 980 TI depending on which direction you went). If you're going this route you might take a serious look at the hard SLI bridges such as this one from EVGA.

Fully upgraded, the Ironclad comes in at just over $1800 (as of 8/12/2016), the parts list can be found at the link below
http://pcpartpicker.com/list/whQfPs

As usual, if you have comments, corrections, or questions feel free to do so below or find me on the dual-boxing.com forums...

K