Gaming rig, but well out of the loop and coming from a ProLiant Gen8 Microserver!

KungFuSpaghetti

KungFuSpaghetti

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Hi all,

New to the forum and just after some advice for a decent spec gaming rig. I'm completely out of the PC hardware loop, but after recently doing a few upgrades to my Gen8 and doing some moderate gaming, it's given me the FPS bug again! Max budget is around £1500 for the base unit, but I'll need everything!

My Gen8 is as fast as it will ever really be whilst remaining quiet, low heat and reliable, but will happily play GTA 5 in ultra @ 1080p (no idea on fps I'm getting, as it's connected up to my Samsung 8000 series TV).

Spec for my Gen8 if anyone is interested (as the new rig will need to blitz the performance of this):
HP ProLiant Gen8 Microserver
Intel Xeon 1265L V2 quad core (2.5ghz/3.5ghz boost clock)
16GB 1600mhz Hynix DDR3
Gigabyte Geforce GTX 1050ti OC (low profile)
x1 128GB Kingston SSD
x2 2TB WD Red
x2 6TB WD Red

The server is mainly used as a Plex/Mezzmo server, web browsing and playing GTA5 and Quake (yes... the old one!). It's limited by power (200w PSU) and space, as it only fits low profile single slot cards, so I have had to modify the motherboard tray and the LP bracket on the 1050ti.
 

Quartz

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So you'll be gaming at 1080p. And since the PC will be in the living room it will need to be quiet and look nice. I suggest an ITX cube case - the Coolermaster Elite 110 got the thumbs up from my sister-in-law. A black one will look like a speaker from a distance. At the high end, look at the Streacom DB10.

I assume you already have a 2.4 GHz wireless mouse and keyboard, plus game controller.
 

KungFuSpaghetti

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Hi Quartz, you're spot on there, will be in the living room for a while, so a quiet setup is an absolute necessity! Not so much bothered how it looks to a degree, as I can either house it in the TV stand/unit like I have with my microserver. Main thing is the noise, but again, even if it was going straight into a home office I'd want it as quiet as possible. I'll check those cases out though, so thanks for the recommend :)

I do already have a wireless keyboard and mouse yeah, I have the Logitech K750 which so far has been brilliant for gaming on and I have a Razer mouse (not sure which model).

With regards to CPU and motherboard, I'm thinking I'll stick with Intel still, as I've had nothing but positive experiences with my Xeon. What are the general thoughts on using a Xeon for gaming, as I was going to put the Xeon 1290 V2 in my microserver, but decided it was A) overkill and B) would need additional cooling due to running at a higher wattage. The motherboard is the next issue, do I go for a full size or a micro one?
 

covenantuk

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I've just built a microATX system around the Corsair 240 - it'll fit the bill and if you have a more modern living area it's available in white. I replaced stock fans with eLoops and it's whisper quiet.

My build log is here, will post the final photos today: https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/threads/family-and-heat-friendly-matx-build.18774056/

For you I'd recommend the following;

My basket at Overclockers UK:

Total: £1,642.50
(includes shipping: £11.70)
​


If you want to keep closer to budget you can drop the Samsung M2 (I have one and it's a lightning fast system drive), drop to a 500GB storage drive (or opt for hard disk) and go to 8GB RAM. You could probably also pick up one or two things off Members Market.

It's watercooled on GPU as well as CPU so it should be silent at idle under eLoops. I have an air cooled 1080 and even then and the system doesn't make any noise at all in normal office/web use.

The core is essentially the same spec as 8Packs Kaby Lake bundle here so it should be 4.9ghz capable with his BIOS settings:
https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/t...9ghz-upgrade-bundle-gamers-paradise.18764245/
 
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Quartz

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I have read that the CLC coolers are often noisier than the air coolers. Don't bother with the NVME drive since you're getting a large SSD. Or get a 1 TB NVME drive and drop the SSD. The white case will stand out like a sore thumb. Consider instead the Prodigy M mATX case. Apart from being black, it can host larger fans which will make for a quieter system.
 

covenantuk

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"I have read".

They aren't, I'm using this exact cooler and this case with 3 eLoops. It's silent. They make the case in both black and white and whether it stands out or not depends on your house/decor. In my house a black box sticks out. The Prodigy is a decent case though

To get 4.9ghz reliably you'll need a 240mm AIO which is a tight fit in the Prodigy. Depends what the OP is after
 
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KungFuSpaghetti

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Thanks chaps, this is really helpful info and exactly what I'm after, because like I said, I'm so far out of touch with the PC gaming world the last machine I built when I was into this stuff was an AMD Athlon 1.4ghz when they seemed to be at their peak! lol

With regards to the CPU side of things, would I see much benefit of an overclocked system over the regular OEM clocked one, as the motherboard looks significantly more expensive than others I've seen, but again, I don't really understand the chipset differences... I do however think whatever I do I'll be going for Asus on the mobo front as I always used these in the past and they were super reliable!

As for the case, white would probably look better in our living room, as all of our furniture is solid wood and antique white (my wife is addicted to buying furniture from HomeBird...!).

I could probably ditch the 128GB SSD as I can pick up unlimited supplies of Kingston 128GB drives from work (within reason!). I know they are not the quickest SSD's out there, but it's free :)
 

covenantuk

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Running at stock will be just fine - just most people like to squeeze a bit more out :)

They do a cheaper version of the Strix motherboard, but not in mATX. It's got Wifi built in but if you're not after that or the overclocking then the Asus Prime equivalents will run stock just fine but won't run SLi if you're ever thinking of that route:
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/asus...151-ddr4-micro-atx-motherboard-mb-68y-as.html

However the Gigabyte Z170 chipset board will do everything and is in the same price range if you want to go that way
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/giga...151-ddr4-micro-atx-motherboard-mb-535-gi.html

NVMe is significantly faster than an SSD,, though if you get one for free that seems a decent saving.

Whatever case you go for, check that the GPU fits it - I've checked the MSI for the Corsair and it's fine, but some GPUs are significantly bigger than stock size and can have issues in mATX and ITX cases
 

Njl82

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KungFuSpaghetti said:
Hi all,

New to the forum and just after some advice for a decent spec gaming rig. I'm completely out of the PC hardware loop, but after recently doing a few upgrades to my Gen8 and doing some moderate gaming, it's given me the FPS bug again! Max budget is around £1500 for the base unit, but I'll need everything!

My Gen8 is as fast as it will ever really be whilst remaining quiet, low heat and reliable, but will happily play GTA 5 in ultra @ 1080p (no idea on fps I'm getting, as it's connected up to my Samsung 8000 series TV).

Spec for my Gen8 if anyone is interested (as the new rig will need to blitz the performance of this):
HP ProLiant Gen8 Microserver
Intel Xeon 1265L V2 quad core (2.5ghz/3.5ghz boost clock)
16GB 1600mhz Hynix DDR3
Gigabyte Geforce GTX 1050ti OC (low profile)
x1 128GB Kingston SSD
x2 2TB WD Red
x2 6TB WD Red

The server is mainly used as a Plex/Mezzmo server, web browsing and playing GTA5 and Quake (yes... the old one!). It's limited by power (200w PSU) and space, as it only fits low profile single slot cards, so I have had to modify the motherboard tray and the LP bracket on the 1050ti.
Click to expand...

Hi,

I was wondering how you got the 1050ti to fit? I've seen a few say they use it but can't figure out how to sit it in with the bracket. Would really appreciate any guidance or help.

Thanks
Nick
 

Kenjowen

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I realise this is an old post but I am also wondering how you got the 1050ti to fit? I'm trying to decide if I should get the 1030 for half the cost or is the 1050 ti far better...?

Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1050 Ti OC Low Profile 4G GeForce GTX 1050 Ti 4GB GDDR5 - graphics cards (NVIDIA, GeForce GTX 1050 Ti, 7680 x 4320 pixels, 1303 MHz, 1417 MHz, 7680 x 4320 pixels)


Gigabyte GeForce GT 1030 Silent Low Profile 2G

*** REMOVED COMPETITOR LINK ***
 
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KungFuSpaghetti

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Kenjowen said:
I realise this is an old post but I am also wondering how you got the 1050ti to fit? I'm trying to decide if I should get the 1030 for half the cost or is the 1050 ti far better...?

Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1050 Ti OC Low Profile 4G GeForce GTX 1050 Ti 4GB GDDR5 - graphics cards (NVIDIA, GeForce GTX 1050 Ti, 7680 x 4320 pixels, 1303 MHz, 1417 MHz, 7680 x 4320 pixels)

Gigabyte GeForce GT 1030 Silent Low Profile 2G

*** REMOVED COMPETITOR LINK ***
Click to expand...

Pretty easy really, but it did mean taking a grinder to the motherboard tray and the GPU bracket to make it single slot width. In hindsight I should have used a hacksaw, then I wouldn't have needed to do as much filing!

Basically as long as the card width wont cause the fan shroud to foul on the ATX power connector, it will fit with some butchery. For me it was well worth it, as it was my main and only PC at the time, so I used to play GTA 5 a lot!
 
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Kenjowen

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Thanks for the reply! Hopefully the info may also be helpful for others..... I been using it as a Plex server but now it's my only PC and I'd like to use it for photo editing in Lightroom and also playing games so I'll give it a try.

Did you take any photos of how the back and motherboard look after. Any chance you could post them? It looks like the DVI is on the right hand part of the metal. Did you cut that side off entirely to make it fit band leave yourself with the two hdmi + DP or cut the metal on the motherboard tray to make the whole thing fit?

Thanks again!

Ken
 

KungFuSpaghetti

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No problem Ken, found the thread where someone has done it with a guide. It's very straight forward to do and it's a huge performance jump. I had a gtx 750ti before but the 1050ti is a big leap!
 
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