Need help building a system for 1440P/1600P gaming please

texasjohn

texasjohn

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TL;DR... I'd like to build a system for £1000-1500 depending on how much I spend on a monitor. Am I wasting a ton of money going for the LG 38" 1600p (£899) when the 32" AOC 1440p can be had at £199 right now? Total budget is £2000 +/- £100. Need a mechanical keyboard and mouse as well.


Good morning folks. Your input and advice would be much appreciated. I've a venerable old i5-650 that I put a new PSU, GTX750 and SSD in last year, but I'm not sure if I'm up to the challenge of a full build from scratch...is it that hard? So I've been looking at the OC Black Friday deals for pre-built systems, but I'm willing to take on the challenge for a build.

I've been looking at this and it appeals, although I'd not choose that case personally and I think the processor is an older generation? Comes with a free keyboard and mouse bundle (although I'm sure you're paying for it in the price of the deal somehow - nothing's ever 'free' :D ).

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/radiance-gamer-asus-aura-sync-rgb-gaming-pc-fs-1am-og.html

This is a bit more. I know little about AMD but appears to be one of their higher end chips.

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/ocuk...ming-pc-amd-ryzen-1800x-8-core-fs-1c2-og.html

Basically the starting point is either the AOC 32" monitor or LG 38" linked below, I know there is a massive price difference and the 38" will eat into the budget. If I go super wide it needs to be an LG because of Sony PS3 (playing GT5 and GT6) display integration.

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/aoc-...reesync-widescreen-led-monitor-mo-04g-ao.html
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/lg-3...-super-wide-curved-led-monitor-mo-149-lg.html

The motherboard needs to have SPDIF out for audio, or I guess a soundcard with that facility could be included in the build. Sound goes out to an AV Receiver, would I be better having dedicated sound? Support for SLI would be nice for future upgrading too.

I'd like a midi case, something quiet, discrete and simple in metal, with 5.25" bays behind a panel as I'll be putting an optical drive in. I'm not bothered about lighting but if the motherboard supports it then great. The Fractal R4 and Coolermaster Silencio 352/452 appeal. I know there are some lovely aluminium cases out there and buying an external DVD-RW isn't out of the question.

Will I warrant a 1070 card? What about cooling? Do I really need liquid cooled?

I hope that's enough to go on so far. I'll check back to the thread regularly to answer any questions.

In terms of games I play on the current computer - Civilization 6 (slowly lol), Diablo 3. I'd like to be able to play Player Unknown Battlegrounds, Assetto Corsa and other similar games on this new machine. I guess I'll need a 1060 at the minimum but 1070 would be nice.

Thank you in advance for your advice!
 
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orbitalwalsh

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What's your current PSU model and make ?

If your after a new build but don't like what's on offer at ocuk, you can post this thread up or a list to customer service and they can build it for a charge on top along with the warranty .

If your after a solid case with front drive bay
My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £86.09 (includes shipping: £11.10)​
​

On sale to and is quiet

If your not to fussed with overclocking or having them overclock, i5 8400 is a solid chip or Ryzen 1600 for the same price paired up to very good Team Group 3000hz ram - some pre-build come with 2400hx which can cripple Ryzen systems performance

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £406.47 (includes shipping: £10.50)​
​


My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £519.47 (includes shipping: £10.50)​
​

Both have black Friday savings .

The VA freesync screen you mentioned is best parked up with an AMD GPu but doesn't have to , this is currently a killer deal , and would do nicely with that screen

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £429.89 (includes shipping: £9.90)​
​

Both CPU choices have their stock cooler but if you'd like something to push the Ryzen chip or to keep it quiet and on sale


My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £140.88 (includes shipping: £9.90)​
​
 

texasjohn

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orbitalwalsh said:
What's your current PSU model and make ?
Click to expand...

Thank you very much for the advice above. Guidance like memory speed strangling the AMD Ryzen is the kind of thing I just don't know about.

As for the PSU, it's a 550W unit from PC World, eVGA I think. The PSU died one evening so it was a case of going out and getting what I could straight away. I'll be passing the 'old' PC over to my boy so he can play on it.
 

texasjohn

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Based on your recommendations, with a couple of tweaks here and there. See any issues or conflicts between components in the following list? I realise that I've missed out the optical drive of course.

Stupid question maybe but will that all fit in the R4 case?

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £1,502.20 (includes shipping: £15.30)
​
 

southernorth

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texasjohn said:
Based on your recommendations, with a couple of tweaks here and there. See any issues or conflicts between components in the following list? I realise that I've missed out the optical drive of course.

Stupid question maybe but will that all fit in the R4 case?

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £1,502.20 (includes shipping: £15.30)
​
Click to expand...
The case says it supports 'some' 240mm radiator when top mounted. So the Bequiet AIO might fit, or might not. You're using fairly low profile RAM so that should give it best chances of fitting.

I'd recommend a different PSU (one from below, 550w+ is fine for this setup) and maybe a different case with better water cooling support. If you removed and relocated the HDD cages in the Fractal you'd probably be able to fit a 240mm rad at the front instead of the top. Anyway, the cases below have better water cooling support.



My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £457.88 (includes shipping: £28.02)



Instead of a 240mm AIO you could use a dual-tower air cooler. The decent air coolers perform similar to the 240mm aios but are less noisy, won't leak fluid onto your PC (however unlikely) and don't take up multiple fan slots. Usually have much longer warranties as well.

​
 
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tamzzy

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a bit overbudget because of the 500gb ssd, but i think its worth it as you can then put your games on the ssd instead of the hdd, given that nowadays games are hitting 60-70gb+
also, the 8600k would be a better choice currently if you are just gaming, although in the future (?how long) the 8c16t of the 1700x may be better

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £1,568.72 (includes shipping: £15.90)
​
 

texasjohn

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Thanks guys, much appreciated. Saved me a few quid on that PSU too.

I’m happy to lose the AIO and go air cooled, also I really like the look of the Corsair Carbide case so siding with that option. The silver Raijintek is lovely as well but a little more expensive of course.

The 5.25 bay requirement isn’t that important, I can go with an external optical.

As for my use, yeah it’s just gaming and if the Intel is a better choice then perhaps I should go that way.

I can live without the HDD in short term as well if I went with the 500GB SSD.
 

southernorth

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texasjohn said:
Thanks guys, much appreciated. Saved me a few quid on that PSU too.

I’m happy to lose the AIO and go air cooled, also I really like the look of the Corsair Carbide case so siding with that option. The silver Raijintek is lovely as well but a little more expensive of course.

The 5.25 bay requirement isn’t that important, I can go with an external optical.

As for my use, yeah it’s just gaming and if the Intel is a better choice then perhaps I should go that way.

I can live without the HDD in short term as well if I went with the 500GB SSD.
Click to expand...
That Corsair case is reviewed well:
https://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/7944/corsair-carbide-270r-mid-tower-chassis-review/index7.html
http://www.guru3d.com/articles-pages/corsair-carbide-270r-review,1.html

The aspects of the case that some reviewers disliked:
  • Subjective red led fan
  • Lack of dust filers on the top and front
  • Awkwardly positioned case IO

If you wanted similarly priced and reviewed alternatives, there is the NZXT 340 and Phanteks P400s.
 
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Tom898

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texasjohn said:
Thanks guys, much appreciated. Saved me a few quid on that PSU too.

I’m happy to lose the AIO and go air cooled, also I really like the look of the Corsair Carbide case so siding with that option. The silver Raijintek is lovely as well but a little more expensive of course.

The 5.25 bay requirement isn’t that important, I can go with an external optical.

As for my use, yeah it’s just gaming and if the Intel is a better choice then perhaps I should go that way.

I can live without the HDD in short term as well if I went with the 500GB SSD.
Click to expand...

I saw it was mentioned above, but the Intel i5-8400 can be had elsewhere for ~180 quid. If you don't want to overclock then there's no reason paying the extra £70 for an 8600k really, also if you pair it with tamzzy's spec above (which is great), it'll bring you bang on 1500. For pure gaming Intel is better as it has stronger performance per core, Ryzen benefits mainly if you want to game and do other things at the same time as they can make use of the other cores/threads.
 

texasjohn

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Right so this is where I've got to. The one thing I have a lot of is desk space, so I've got a bit mad £ wise with the case...you only live once etc! I could save a ton of money by dropping the monitor and going to the AOC 32" of course.

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £2,213.21 (includes shipping: £15.30)
​
 
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tamzzy

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umm, yeah, think you may need a 1080ti to push frames for that res and refresh rate lol.
(and that price creep escalated quickly) and for £2k, i'd definitely be looking at 8700k and a 1080ti. dunno if i could justify lumping what is effectively 50% of the budget on a case and monitor.
 

texasjohn

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tamzzy said:
umm, yeah, think you may need a 1080ti to push frames for that res and refresh rate lol.
(and that price creep escalated quickly) and for £2k, i'd definitely be looking at 8700k and a 1080ti. dunno if i could justify lumping what is effectively 50% of the budget on a case and monitor.
Click to expand...

Man maths price creep :D

I'm sat on the fence about the monitor, as that AOC 32 1440P is less than a quarter of the price of the LG 38. As for the case, I saw it and fell in love. Yes it's not cheap but it will potentially last me forever (see what I mean about man maths :) ). I've asked the OC folks to price up the build, I can always drop the LG monitor off the list anyway and replace it with the AOC (it won't affect the build labour time in any way), so £2.2k suddenly becomes £1.5k.


Edit: I think I will go with the 32" AOC, I don't want to have to go to a 1080Ti just to drive the 1600P Ultra wide.

Is it worth chucking a couple of RGB strips into the mix and perhaps an RGB fan or two? I don't know. I've had a quick look online and it's not an expensive component.
 
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tamzzy

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texasjohn said:
Is it worth chucking a couple of RGB strips into the mix and perhaps an RGB fan or two?
Click to expand...

rgb is a fad, i personally dont buy into it, but its personal taste, up to you really.
i'd much rather spend that £50 or so quid on the actual components that matter :p

texasjohn said:
Would I need some kind of controller or is it software controlled via Windows?
Click to expand...

some motherboards have an internal header to control it all. i know asus does, not too sure about the gigabyte boards. either way it's an extra program you'll have to install
 

texasjohn

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tamzzy said:
rgb is a fad, i personally dont buy into it, but its personal taste, up to you really.
i'd much rather spend that £50 or so quid on the actual components that matter :p



some motherboards have an internal header to control it all. i know asus does, not too sure about the gigabyte boards. either way it's an extra program you'll have to install
Click to expand...

Yup, I think I'll leave it. Thanks for the advice!
 

southernorth

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texasjohn said:
Right so this is where I've got to. The one thing I have a lot of is desk space, so I've got a bit mad £ wise with the case...you only live once etc! I could save a ton of money by dropping the monitor and going to the AOC 32" of course.

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £2,213.21 (includes shipping: £15.30)
​
Click to expand...
My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £2,157.42 (includes shipping: £22.50)


The monitor is a compromise and could indeed be swapped for the cheaper AOC monitor. Anyway, it's VA instead of IPS but 100hz with FreeSync. Almost everything in that basket is discounted due to black friday/cyber monday.​
 
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texasjohn

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Almost everything in that basket is discounted due to black friday/cyber monday.
Click to expand...

Looks like a super set of kit. I keep getting told I’m better off with Intel for gaming but I’m not precious about Intel and Nvidia, just that’s all I’ve been used to for many years. I think I had a couple of AMD based PCs fifteen or twenty years ago, back in the Diablo 1 days :)

Isn’t the VEGA up there with the GTX1080? Of course it also exploits the Freesync monitors...

Also, mining coins... Not something I do, but I could.
 

southernorth

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texasjohn said:
Looks like a super set of kit. I keep getting told I’m better off with Intel for gaming but I’m not precious about Intel and Nvidia, just that’s all I’ve been used to for many years. I think I had a couple of AMD based PCs fifteen or twenty years ago, back in the Diablo 1 days :)

Isn’t the VEGA up there with the GTX1080? Of course it also exploits the Freesync monitors...

Also, mining coins... Not something I do, but I could.
Click to expand...
Yeah the VEGA 64 competes most often with the GTX 1080. It does cost a bit more than some of the 1080's, but it's liquid cooled so will run quiet and cool. Gigabyte warranty also means UK RMA, which is great.

The only slight reservation I have about that system is the CPU, due to its low clock speed. However, you can just overclock the 1700 and if necessary get a new CPU until 2020 - as AMD is supporting the AM4 socket 'til then. But at 3440x1440p you would be more GPU bound anyway, so the CPU is less of a factor overall.
 
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