Looking for advice on first build

[Deanoreido]

Looking to build my first PC and honestly don't know where to start with all the different versions of graphics cards motherboards etc.

I'm looking to see if anyone can help me out for a rough build costing total 2000-2500 GBP including monitor.

I'm coming from Xbox one X so looking for improvements on that.

I play mostly rocket league, elder scrolls online and destiny.

Any help is greatly appreciated
Thanks

 

[Deanoreido]

If you're gaming at 1440p a 2070Super would suffice.

I would definitely swap out the 1Tb PICe 4 NVME for a standard 2TB PCIe 3 NVMe drive (or 2 x 1TB drives) - double the storage, similar price and no discernible speed difference for gaming.

Monitor?

*I would also get rid of competitor links.

Links removed, apologies for that.

The reason I chose 2080 super is to open up the possibility of 4k gaming on some titles of I chose to? Or am I going in the complete wrong direction here?

 

[Deanoreido]

Only thing to note with the 2080 super in that spec - it ties you into a Gsync monitor going forward.
Thats more money than freesync monitors, yes nvidia say they support some freesync displays but... not a lot.

Are gsync monitors far better than freesync?

 

[Deanoreido]

Fair enough, I guess this is exactly why I come to ask these questions!

I guess I'll need to reconsider the build completely

 

[Deanoreido]

well, not really. just needs some tweaking. spending money in the wrong places (eg waste of £50 for fans you don't need, pcie4 ssd etc)

Fair enough, what would you change in it?

I'm guessing firstly back to the 2070 super
Then, changing the ssd from the pcie4 to 2gb of pc ie.

The fans were there from a case I had, but it wouldn't fit th e 2080 super so they can be disregarded based on whatever case is suggested

 

[Deanoreido]

Apologies I never noticed your build above.

in relation to the case, it only comes with 1 fan installed and you haven't suggested any additional case fans above the alphacool eisbaer water cooling unit, would this be suffice?

to be clear, I'm not asking in a cheeky way, completely from a first time builder noob perspective.

is the eisbaer difficult to set up?

Thanks

 

[Deanoreido]

I don't see his problem at all, I've genuinely took the advice and builds people are sending me... Going away and looking at the recommendations they give and coming back with queries to clear up any confusion I myself have on it.

@tamzzy I've been looking up the alphacool more since my last post and I'm finding limited reviews on it (in the past few years), has the system been superseded in 2019 by a new AIO system... Ie. Corsair, nxt etc. This is just going by basing my information on all of the 'top aio coolers ' and is there a significant increase in Cooling over air such as the dark rock pro?

Thanks again and apologies, it's a lot of money to spend to be unsure

 

[Deanoreido]

yes, it's been superceeded by the eisbaer extreme


they're basically all from the same manufacturer. they're all much of a muchness because there are only a handful of oems.
asetek makes corsair, nzxt, ocuk unbranded, evga, thermaltake
cooler master makes their own
alphacool makes alphacool, bequiet and fractal design
enermax makes their own
dont know about raijintek, silverstone


the top end air coolers perform equally to the top end aio coolers

reasons to get a air cooler:
nothing much to go wrong
(usually cheaper than an aio equivalent)

reasons to get an aio cooler:
looks better
easier to install
one might not want a 1.2kg lump of metal hanging off the mobo

Ah fair enough makes sense.

I'm seeing @PhilipOmnis thread as well atm (he's very similar price) and I'm in a similar boat to him.... Undecided on EXACTLY what I want.

@tamzzy @Plec you guys are both great thanks, it's just trying to get to the bottom of exactly what's the best I could do for my budget.

I really can't work out what would be the best of the two for me to go for since you make fair points about either air or aio @tamzzy

 

[Deanoreido]

yeah. tbh, both of you guys could probably have the same build spec


there's no right or wrong answer, just depends on what you need want
for example: me - all my previous builds have been either aio cooled or custom water cooled, but i've just built a small air-cooled build, because aio cooled cpu and gpu wouldn't have fitted in the case that i wanted.
see if it sparks any inspiration https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/threads/tamzzys-back-to-air-cooling-itx-build.18862455/

I contacted Overclockers re: LG 27GL850-B as suggested in the built you sent.

Apparently the next batch of these is not due with Overclockers until September, and the person who emailed back said that due to the amount of Pre-Orders of the monitor currently, he doubted that there would be enough stock for me to get one from that batch.

Is there any other suggestions on monitors etc? Or buying from US and getting shipped over? I've not had computer parts shipped from US before so not sure if it's safe or risky due to the shipping.

Cheers again,
Dean

 

[Deanoreido]

I was looking at the same monitor for mine and noticed this alternatives would be nice. Although most of the reviews state it's the best at this price range and size.

Sorry, what alternative? I think you may have forgotten to link it haha!

 

[Deanoreido]

Ah no sorry I'm on the look out aswell not seen anything similar!

Ah fair fair, misunderstanding on my part sorry!

Hopefully we find an alternative.

Cheers

 

[Deanoreido]

Hi All.

eventually got the build complete and thank you to everyone here for the help, especially @Plec @orbitalwalsh and @tamzzy

Tamzzy will be glad to know I didn't go absolutely mad with the RGB on the build.. haha.

Only some slight issues when building:
- Need to buy a fan controller(recommendations???) the MOBO I got, most of the Fan headers are at the very bottom of the Motherboard, whereas most of my fans are top of my case. Need to buy some fan extension leads or a fan controller for these. Currently have 1 x fan on top plugged into the connecter for the X62, 1 x fan into a fan header, and 1 x fan plugged into the AIO_PUMP on the MOBO which means that it is just always on
- Graphics card seemed very very very awkward to slot into place even with 3 bays at the back removed, felt really iffy forcing it in, had to bend the two metal plates at back to fit into the case OK. Now fine.
- NZXT Cam software is literal aids. That is all.
- Behind Desk Cable Management - TO DO. Looking at possibly instlaling some sort of cable routing on the back of the desk though this is to come as currently in the middle of re-arranging the room etc.

Went for the following, which I know is a tad overkill for what I want but it sets me up for the future:


CPU
AMD Ryzen 7 3700X 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor £319.99

CPU Cooler
NZXT Kraken X62 Rev 2 98.17 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler £136.21

Motherboard
Asus TUF GAMING X570-PLUS (WI-FI) ATX AM4 Motherboard £227.97

Memory
Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory £109.39

Storage
Crucial P1 500 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive £63.99

Storage
Crucial P1 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive £114.94

Video Card
Gigabyte GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER 8 GB GAMING OC Video Card £734.99

Case
Phanteks ECLIPSE P350X ATX Mid Tower Case £62.98

Power Supply
Corsair TXM Gold 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply £80.00

Case Fan
be quiet! SilentWings 3 pwm 59.5 CFM 140 mm Fan £18.00

Case Fan
hbe quiet! SilentWings 3 pwm 59.5 CFM 140 mm Fan £18.00

Case Fan
be quiet! SilentWings 3 PWM 50.5 CFM 120 mm Fan £16.78

Monitor
Dell S2716DG 27.0" 2560x1440 144 Hz Monitor £428.23

Keyboard
Corsair K70 RGB RAPIDFIRE Wired Gaming Keyboard £95.47

Mouse
Logitech G305 (Black) Wireless Optical Mouse £39.99

Headphones
Kingston HyperX Cloud II 7.1 Channel Headset £78.98

Speakers
Logitech Z625 200 W 2.1 Channel Speakers £55.00
Total (Purchased): £2600.91

Build Images:

 

[Deanoreido]

Here's Firestrike Benchmark - https://www.3dmark.com/fs/20332456

Here's Userbenchmark (managed to get a 75Mhz gpu core OC, 500 memory clock OC, Standard Precision Boost Drive (Game mode on AMD Ryzen Master)
- https://www.userbenchmark.com/UserRun/19822647

As you can see the RAM is lacking a little, is there anything I could do about that or would it not be worth it?

 

[Deanoreido]

why
QLC nand is fine for a storage drive...i wouldn't use it as a main OS drive

I saw it on deal at the time of buying, not noticed any issues at all with read/write speeds and/or windows startup. Is there a considerable difference to your average user?

Looks really good!

Handy hint for those with front AIO.

If you mount with fan in push, you need a fan with high static pressure or normally run at faster speeds. If you run it in pull, doesn't need to be so high , Al about amount of airflow it can shift

Not sure what nzxt stock fans are like, but personally with 2 Silent Wing 3s... I'd be swapping them over (if they are 140mm units )

So just to confirm, you`d look to mount the fans on the opposite side?... i.e. in the inside side of the case? If so, how would this effect my other case fans orientation?

Thanks again,
Dean

 

[Deanoreido]

why
QLC nand is fine for a storage drive...i wouldn't use it as a main OS drive

Still within returns time scale atm, any recommendations on what'd be best for this then.. I'd probably keep the 1TB with games on it, and replace the 500GB one. Budget I'd say is max 110.

 

[Deanoreido]

more about drive endurance. with windows swap files and constant read/writes - QLC doesn't have enough write endurance if you want to keep the drive for any length of time.
QLC: crucial p1 500gb = 200tb, 1tb = 400tb
TLC: sabrent rocket (1tb) = MyDigitalSSD BPX Pro = 1660tb
TLC: corsair mp 510 960gb = 1700tb
TLC: Adata XPG SX8200 Pro 1tb = 640tb

fair enough, from the ones mentioned which would you choose?

 

[Deanoreido]

I've got 2x mp510 960gb drives.
But sabrent rocket is best bang/buck right now...so I'd go for that if I had to buy again right now.
Only downside is that RMA for sabrent is the USA, rather than EU for Corsair, and Glasgow for crucial.
Also need to register to get the full 5 year warranty (not that hard to do).

Just to confirm it is the above?

Thanks again Tamzzy, I`ll get it ordered up if so, then once here - transfer OS and Return the 512gb crucial.
Dean

 

[Deanoreido]

Yes it counts as a competor as I'd remove the link.

And yes, that is the drive

Thank ya, link removed. Yeah I`ve been thinking that myself.. hahaha

 

[Deanoreido]

To be honest, I'd suggest you return both crucial drives lol. As you can no doubt see, the sabrent is cheaper than the 1tb crucial P1!

ach! You've convinced me hahahah!

2 x 1TB Sabrent Rockets ordered. Also got a little USB 3.0 Hub free! Be here monday, so it'll be the job on monday of:
- Remove Secondary P1 NVME,
- Install Sabrent NVME 1TB(1) - Migrate Windows 10 install over.
- Clear P1 NVME which currently has windows install on, and remove.... Any best methods you'd recommend to make sure everything is clear?
- Re install Secondary P1 NVME. Transfer Files over to the Sabrent NVME 1TB(1).
- Clear Secondary P1 NVME and Remove.
- Install Sabrent NVME 1TB (2) - Transfer required files from Sabrent NVME 1TB (1) Over...

God this is just hassle. But I don't want to have to re-download all my games again and the ballache that was windows with me only having a MAC in the house prior.

So yeah, recommendations to ensure the P1 NVME's are completely clear of info before sending back? I've got til 21st Sept to send back so not too bad.

 

[Deanoreido]

https://uk.crucial.com/gbr/en/support-storage-executive

Use sanitise drive option

Brilliant, thanks ya! you're a star!

Now, just to wait on Oribital to come back to me with optimal setup of the fans in the case.

To confirm, I've got the following:
1 x 120mm Phanteks Included Fan
2 x 140mm Be Quiet Silent Wings. (1 of these is currently still in its box!)
1 x 120mm Be Quiet Silent Wings.
2 x 140mm NXT Fans (Included witrh X62)

Temperatures do seem OK...though getting the optimal setup is always important to me.

Under benchmark testing or sustained gaming Graphics card = 70 degrees. CPU sits at around 61 under load (cinebench for example)