First ever PC build - Opinions & advice welcome!

MetallicCabbage · 28 Mar 2017 at 20:33

Hey chaps & chapesses!

So I've been planning this build for around 2 years now (build date kept on getting pushed back for financial reasons) and come next month I'll finally be able to afford all the bits I want! Wooo!

I'm looking to get a pretty high end build suited for pretty much everything - gaming, video & photo editing, programming, virtual machines etc etc.

Here's what I'm currently thinking:

CPU: Intel i7 6850k -------------------------------- ~£550
CPU cooler: Noctua NH-U14S ----------------------- ~£50
Motherboard: Asus X99-Deluxe II ------------------ Bought for £388 (£358 after £30 cashback)
RAM: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB DDR4 3000MHz ~£120
GPU: Asus ROG STRIX 1080Ti ---------------------- ~£800
SSD: 1x 256GB Samsung 850 Pro ----------------- Bought for £77
SSD: 1x 1TB Samsung 850 Pro -------------------- Bought for £312
PSU: Corsair HX850i ------------------------------ ~£150
Case: Corsair Air 540 (White) -------------------- ~£150
OS: Windows 10 Professional -------------------- ~£200
Monitors: 3x Dell U2515H (1440p) ---------------- Bought for a total of £615

Making for a potential total of a whopping ~£3,382!

As you can see, some of the parts I've already bought as they were really good deals at the time (and still are, look at those SSD prices!). The motherboard I literally bought yesterday because of the £30 cashback offer ending at the end of the month. What are your thoughts guys? Things like the CPU cooler, RAM, PSU and case I'm relatively undecided on but the rest is pretty nailed on I think ...unless you can change my mind!

Also worth noting, due to the price hike in RAM lately I think I'll stick to 16GB for the time being and just upgrade to 32GB if needed in the future, unless there's a really good reason to jump straight into 32GB now? I'll also probably get a big HDD in the future too for general data.

stulid · 28 Mar 2017 at 20:47

The case is great to build in, Ive used it twice now on friends builds.

The PSU is good but there are some slightly cheaper yet still exceptional alternatives,

My basket at Overclockers UK:

1 x Super Flower Leadex II 850W 80 Plus Gold Modular Power Supply - White= £109.99
1 x EVGA SuperNova G3 850W 80 Plus Gold Modular Power Supply= £138.95
1 x Super Flower Leadex Platinum 850W Fully Modular "80 Plus Platinum" Power Supply - Black= £139.99

Total: £400.03
(includes shipping: £11.10)

The Noctua cooler is also excellent at being quiet+cool and easy to fit.

mickyflinn · 28 Mar 2017 at 20:47

Dont waste your money on the 6850k get the 6800k.

MetallicCabbage · 28 Mar 2017 at 21:06

stulid said:
The case is great to build in, Ive used it twice now on friends builds.

The PSU is good but there are some slightly cheaper yet still exceptional alternatives,

My basket at Overclockers UK:

1 x Super Flower Leadex II 850W 80 Plus Gold Modular Power Supply - White= £109.99

1 x EVGA SuperNova G3 850W 80 Plus Gold Modular Power Supply= £138.95

1 x Super Flower Leadex Platinum 850W Fully Modular "80 Plus Platinum" Power Supply - Black= £139.99

Total: £400.03
(includes shipping: £11.10)

The Noctua cooler is also excellent at being quiet+cool and easy to fit.

Brilliant, thanks for that. Shall have a look into these.

Regarding the case, would you say the cube style is better than traditional?

mickyflinn said:
Dont waste your money on the 6850k get the 6800k.

Interesting, any reason for this?

stulid · 28 Mar 2017 at 21:11

MetallicCabbage said:
Brilliant, thanks for that. Shall have a look into these.

Regarding the case, would you say the cube style is better than traditional?

No as there are also some excellent tower cases available from the likes of Phanteks that are also relatively easy to build in mainly due to the ample space available.

For example - https://www.overclockers.co.uk/phanteks-enthoo-luxe-midi-tower-case-white-ca-005-pt.html - I am currently using the black version of this and its easy to build in and make it look neat.

Also available in black with a large glass window - https://www.overclockers.co.uk/phanteks-enthoo-luxe-glass-midi-tower-case-gun-metal-ca-066-pt.html

Is it the quietest case I've ever used? Nope, but its not loud.

MetallicCabbage · 28 Mar 2017 at 21:14

stulid said:
No as there are also some excellent tower cases available from the likes of Phanteks that are also relatively easy to build in mainly due to the ample space available.

Any recommendations?

stulid · 28 Mar 2017 at 21:17

See above.

MetallicCabbage · 28 Mar 2017 at 21:42

stulid said:
No as there are also some excellent tower cases available from the likes of Phanteks that are also relatively easy to build in mainly due to the ample space available.

For example - https://www.overclockers.co.uk/phanteks-enthoo-luxe-midi-tower-case-white-ca-005-pt.html - I am currently using the black version of this and its easy to build in and make it look neat.

Also available in black with a large glass window - https://www.overclockers.co.uk/phanteks-enthoo-luxe-glass-midi-tower-case-gun-metal-ca-066-pt.html

Is it the quietest case I've ever used? Nope, but its not loud.

Awesome, thanks for that. So of the two (Air 540 vs the Phantek) you prefer the Phantek?

stulid · 28 Mar 2017 at 21:50

Yes its more my style and fits on my desk alongside two monitors.

lee32uk · 28 Mar 2017 at 22:01

MetallicCabbage said:
Interesting, any reason for this?

The 6850K has 40 pcie lanes against 28 on the 6800K but if you are not going to use them all then save money and go with the 6800K. Also did you not consider Ryzen ?

StarShock · 29 Mar 2017 at 16:22

lee32uk said:
The 6850K has 40 pcie lanes against 28 on the 6800K but if you are not going to use them all then save money and go with the 6800K. Also did you not consider Ryzen ?

It is worth considering a Ryzen 7, with its extra cores it should handily beat either the 6800k or 6850k in most workloads, and only trail behind it a few % in gaming. and likely save you a few pounds

stulid · 29 Mar 2017 at 16:45

You've already bought the board so unless you want to send it back.

MetallicCabbage · 30 Mar 2017 at 18:53

lee32uk said:
The 6850K has 40 pcie lanes against 28 on the 6800K but if you are not going to use them all then save money and go with the 6800K. Also did you not consider Ryzen ?

That makes sense but I will potentially add more PCIe components in the future like an m.2 or another 1080Ti. I did consider Ryzen but I've had my heart set on Intel for a few years now, I don't like the idea of spending this amount of money and then thinking it's not the system I really wanted

stulid said:
You've already bought the board so unless you want to send it back.

That wasn't me who said that

lee32uk · 30 Mar 2017 at 20:33

MetallicCabbage said:
That makes sense but I will potentially add more PCIe components in the future like an m.2 or another 1080Ti. I did consider Ryzen but I've had my heart set on Intel for a few years now, I don't like the idea of spending this amount of money and then thinking it's not the system I really wanted

You can still do SLI and add an M.2 SSD on 28 lanes as it would be x16/x8 for the gpu's and x4 for the SSD.

MetallicCabbage · 30 Mar 2017 at 20:43

lee32uk said:
You can still do SLI and add an M.2 SSD on 28 lanes as it would be x16/x8 for the gpu's and x4 for the SSD.

Would that not be at the expense of performance though?

lee32uk · 30 Mar 2017 at 21:50

MetallicCabbage said:
Would that not be at the expense of performance though?

No you shouldn't see any real difference. Link below shows a single GTX 1080.

http://www.gamersnexus.net/guides/2488-pci-e-3-x8-vs-x16-performance-impact-on-gpus