first time build, little nervous.

angel102

angel102

angel102

Associate
Joined
1 Feb 2013
Posts
359
Hello there, as thread title says, I am going to be building my first full system from scratch, have always used either junk systems from what will be unnamed pc/electronics high street shop, or a prebuilt overclockers system from many years ago, while I am reasonable confident with the small stuff, this will be my first system so a little nervous, just wanted some input with the following items and some general advice for a novice really, It will be generally for gaming and (when I upgrade the gt1030) 4k media.

I do already have a CX750M psu that I picked from the bones of the local Maplin store when it went under for a great price, I will also be reusing my current graphics card for a couple of months so I don't need one for now. Does anything stick out in terms of compatibility to you guys and girls?
Seen some discussions about ram speeds but from what I can work out ram speeds for coffelake won't get much benefit above 2666mhz, Or atleast anything above that will be limited to 2666mhz without XMP so is it worth staying with the 3000mhz?

I am initially not going to be overclocking the CPU until I am more comfortable with starting from scratch, but down the line it is something I will look at hence the 8600k, as for cooling I don't think I will need more than the preinstalled case fans I think? I know I will need to add when I do look at overclocking the CPU and upgrading the GPU down the line?

Thanks for the help

edit, is it worth getting an ifixit kit or similar for this? aside from general screwdrivers I don't really have any other tools. budget wise I do have some wiggle room, but don't really want to be going above about a grand unless I have to.





My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £969.42 (includes shipping: £12.60)​
​
 
Last edited:
Tbh, I'd rather get an 8700 (non-k) + b360 board, than a 8600k + z370 board.
Also a cheaper case, (you're spending 10% of your budget on a part that won't affect performance much, for most of the time)
And also a sata3 SSD rather than an nvme SSD as you're on a budget. Can get a 480gb SSD for the same price. Capacity is king, if you're wanting to spec to a budget.
 
I agree with the recommendation from @tamzzy. Here's an example basket:

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £840.62 (includes shipping: £11.70)



The extra 6 threads of the i7-8700 may offer better longevity - as future games/apps start using the extra threads more optimally.


If you did want to stick with 8600k, I'd recommend a better motherboard and CPU cooler; the current one would likely be inadequate for a ~5ghz overclock.​
 
Last edited:
tamzzy said:
Tbh, I'd rather get an 8700 (non-k) + b360 board, than a 8600k + z370 board.
Also a cheaper case, (you're spending 10% of your budget on a part that won't affect performance much, for most of the time)
And also a sata3 SSD rather than an nvme SSD as you're on a budget. Can get a 480gb SSD for the same price. Capacity is king, if you're wanting to spec to a budget.
Click to expand...

wouldn't I be losing a lot when it comes to overclocking down the line though, even without the hyperthreading?

I get the point on the case, but I went through pretty much all of them and none of them took my eye except the fractal, and given I will end up looking at it practically every day in the room I do really like it, not at all fussed on RGB or glass panels in general, but I like the tint and the aesthetics, build quality and relative easy maintenance.
 
angel102 said:
wouldn't I be losing a lot when it comes to overclocking down the line though, even without the hyperthreading?
Click to expand...
No.
https://www.anandtech.com/show/11859/the-anandtech-coffee-lake-review-8700k-and-8400-initial-numbers
Scroll down to near the bottom to see the turbo clocks.
(Sorry on my phone so can't link images)
8700 has better turbo clocks than 8600/k. So you won't lose much in single threaded workloads in comparison. But will gain loads in multithreaded workloads due to having multithreading.
 
Tbh, the only mid-high end consumer intel chips I'd recommend getting are the 8400/8700/8700k. The rest are outclassed in price-v-performance by ryzen. Hands down.
(8700k only because it's the best gaming chip)
 
okay, so decided to upgrade the motherboard to the Asrock Extreme 4 and the cooler to the Brocken 3, my old rig had the K2 Mount Doom and the cooling was phenomenal on a 3470k clocked to 4.4ghz so I certainly have a liking for the Alpenfohn range.

You raise a good point on going to an i7 over the i5k, will have to really think about that one
 
cheaper and vastly better. my advice:

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £899.61 (includes shipping: £11.70)​
​
 
I would download windows from Microsoft site and then buy a key online for £10, that'll save you a few quid

I did this last week after getting fed up with the "please activate windows" watermark for a few months and worked fine
 
tamzzy said:
cheaper and vastly better. my advice:

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £899.61 (includes shipping: £11.70)
​
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply, like I mentioned earlier I really am set on the fractal case, I also don't want a micro-ATX board, not just because I want more room in the future for alterations/expansions, I physically want something bigger as to be perfectly honest I have hands like shovels so I like the extra room to work with when installing/maintaining, plus I've never really been bothered about minimalist or space saving. I think I will go for the 8700 as well though.

Aside from the obvious capacity difference, doesn't the samsung M.2 970 polaris SSD vastly outperform the SATA 860 EVO?
 
angel102 said:
Aside from the obvious capacity difference, doesn't the samsung M.2 970 polaris SSD vastly outperform the SATA 860 EVO?
Click to expand...

watch and you can make your own decision. (skip to 3:40 for comparison)

IMHO capacity trumps speed, especially as you're only getting a small 240gb nvme ssd

angel102 said:
I really am set on the fractal case, I also don't want a micro-ATX board
Click to expand...
k.

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £953.51 (includes shipping: £12.60)
​

board OOS at ocuk currently though.
 
angel102 said:
I like the extra room to work with when installing/maintaining
Click to expand...
you know that board layouts are exactly the same right. the only difference is that matx has 4 expansion slots and atx has 7.
everything north and south of the expansion slots are of (basically) a standard spec
 
angel102 said:
Aside from the obvious capacity difference, doesn't the samsung M.2 970 polaris SSD vastly outperform the SATA 860 EVO?
Click to expand...

I have some 850 Evos (sata) and 960 Evos (NVME) and find the difference in speed noticeable, quite a few people on the forums are of the opinion that it's not worth having that performance though as it's quite a slim difference if just gaming, but when the difference between a 250gb 860 Evo and 970 Evo is only £15 I would say go with the high performance option unless you really need the extra capacity.
 
BongoHunter said:
I have some 850 Evos (sata) and 960 Evos (NVME) and find the difference in speed noticeable, quite a few people on the forums are of the opinion that it's not worth having that performance though as it's quite a slim difference if just gaming, but when the difference between a 250gb 860 Evo and 970 Evo is only £15 I would say go with the high performance option unless you really need the extra capacity.
Click to expand...

decided to split the difference between capacity and speed and get the https://www.overclockers.co.uk/wd-b...-solid-state-drive-wds512g1x0c-hd-541-wd.html, costs 50quid more than the EVO 970 sale price and slightly slower but 500gb capacity.
 
BongoHunter said:
Seems like a good choice - still much quicker than a SATA drive and good price too at only £10 more than the equivalent capacity 860 Evo
Click to expand...
yeah, that's my thinking as well, I know Samsung have a peerless reputation for their SSD's but as far as I can tell the WD Blacks are still pretty decent as well, been doing a lot of jiggery pokery today and think I settled for this...

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £1,000.37 (includes shipping: £12.60)​
​
compromised on the board since I won't be overclocking but went for the i7-8700 instead of the i5-8600k, and spent the extra on the SSD I want to thank the people who gave their advice,very much appreciated, hope to have it ordered by midweek, so wish me luck!
 
okay so order is in, finally settled on this config...

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £1,008.42 (includes shipping: £12.60)​
​

eyes got a little bit big for my wallet, but will just have to look away when the bill comes in I guess, changed my mind yet again on the motherboard which might be a bit overkill since it wont be paired with a K cpu but I do like the features it has for the price and the ram can still be played with.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom