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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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.
 

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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)
​
 

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.
 

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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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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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!
 

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.
 

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southernorth said:
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.
Click to expand...

Looks like there is a VEGA/CPU/Mobo/RAM bundle on the horizon, "available soon" according to the link:

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/rx-v...gaming-16gb-3200mhz-8-pack-ram-bu-02p-gi.html
 

texasjohn

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southernorth said:
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.
Click to expand...

What do you reckon? Other than the evident budget creep.

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £1,515.86 (includes shipping: £14.10)​
​
 

texasjohn

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Not particularly worried about FreeSync / tearing. I'll amend the basket to the 1700 and take a look at the 1080 cards or even back to the 1070TI MSI we were discussing further up in the thread. Cheers.

Ok so (on the 1080 I just picked the one with the highest clock speeds for around the £500 mark. Appreciate others have a longer warranty, so open to advice)...

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £1,394.36 (includes shipping: £12.60)
​
 
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texasjohn

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Decisions decisions. Spend the money on VEGA and save on FreeSync monitor, or spend a bit less on a GPU and pay the G-Sync tax on a monitor?

My VEGA & FreeSync basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £2,190.18 (includes shipping: £22.50)
​


My 1070Ti basket at Overclockers UK:
1 x Bitfenix Formula Series 750W 80 Plus Gold Power Supply= £82.99
1 x Team Group Dark Pro "8Pack Edition" 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C14 3200MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black/= £188.88
1 x Bitfenix Alchemy 3.0 Magnetic Addressable RGB LED Strip - 30cm= £22.99
1 x ID-Cooling Auraflow RGB Watercooling Unit - 240mm= £57.95
1 x AMD Ryzen 7 Eight Core 1700 3.70GHz (Socket AM4) Processor - Retail= £229.99
1 x Gigabyte GA-AB350-Gaming 3 AMD B350 (Socket AM4) DDR4 ATX Motherboard= £86.99
1 x Anidees AI-Crystal Cube Lite ATX-Cube Tempered Glass - Black= £112.99
1 x Akasa Vegas X7 RGB LED Fan - 120mm= £12.95
1 x Corsair Gaming K55 + HARPOON RGB Gaming Keyboard and Mouse Combo= £74.99
1 x Asus External Slimline DVD Re-Writer, USB, 8x, Black, Cyberlink Power2Go 7 - Black (SDRW-08D2S-U LIT= £26.99
1 x Devolo WiFi Repeater N300 Range Extender (09423)= £19.99
1 x AOC AGON AG352UCG 35" 3440x1440 IPS G-SYNC 100Hz WideScreen UltraWide Curved LED Monitor - Black/Si= £799.99
1 x Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1070Ti Gaming 8192MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card= £458.99
Total: £2,199.18 (includes shipping: £22.50)
​

My 1080 basket at Overclockers UK:
1 x Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1080 WindfForce 8192MB GDDR5X PCI-Express Graphics Card (GV-N1080WF3OC-8GD)= £529.99
1 x Bitfenix Formula Series 750W 80 Plus Gold Power Supply= £82.99
1 x Team Group Dark Pro "8Pack Edition" 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C14 3200MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black/= £188.88
1 x Bitfenix Alchemy 3.0 Magnetic Addressable RGB LED Strip - 30cm= £22.99
1 x ID-Cooling Auraflow RGB Watercooling Unit - 240mm= £57.95
1 x Anidees AI-Crystal Cube Lite ATX-Cube Tempered Glass - Black= £112.99
1 x AMD Ryzen 7 Eight Core 1700 3.70GHz (Socket AM4) Processor - Retail= £229.99
1 x Gigabyte GA-AB350-Gaming 3 AMD B350 (Socket AM4) DDR4 ATX Motherboard= £86.99
1 x AOC AGON AG352UCG 35" 3440x1440 IPS G-SYNC 100Hz WideScreen UltraWide Curved LED Monitor - Black/Si= £799.99
1 x Akasa Vegas X7 RGB LED Fan - 120mm= £12.95
1 x Corsair Gaming K55 + HARPOON RGB Gaming Keyboard and Mouse Combo= £74.99
1 x Asus External Slimline DVD Re-Writer, USB, 8x, Black, Cyberlink Power2Go 7 - Black (SDRW-08D2S-U LIT= £26.99
1 x Devolo WiFi Repeater N300 Range Extender (09423)= £19.99
Total: £2,270.18 (includes shipping: £22.50)



​
NB I realise that PSU is probably a bit overkill for the 1070Ti but I didn't update it with the SuperFlower that I've got saved in my wishlist.



On the display side of things, of course going the FreeSync/AMD route offers not only a wider option of monitors as we know, but some cracking budget options such as the VA AOC 1440 or one of these two monsters...a 49" would likely result in an angry wife, but I guess I could just hide behind the monitor and never be found...


My basket at Overclockers UK:
 
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texasjohn

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southernorth said:
Does it absolutely need to be an ultrawide? As there are some FreeSync alternatives which are better in some ways (high refresh rate and better colours) for much less money.

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £2,089.20 (includes shipping: £22.50)
​
Click to expand...


@southernorth Hello and thanks for the suggestions as always.

Doesn’t absolutely have to be ultra wide, in fact 16:9 has its benefits. When I see the 32" AOC for £199 and even 4K 40"+ for around £600 I do question the value for money aspect of a 21:9 (or wider).

Just looking for something a bit more substantial than the 24” Acer S240HL that I have at present.


orbitalwalsh said:
You can find Aorus gtx 1080 11gbps for £530 . Have mine OC to 12gbps which the 1070ti just can't match.

And the above bundle, if your going Asus, Hero . To be honest Hero , Taichi or Aorus 7 if your looking at x370 chipset and Strix , Gaming 3 or Pro 4 for b350
Click to expand...

@orbitalwalsh Cheers for the guidance on motherboards and chipsets. If I was to run a 1080 or even a 1080TI graphics card, would you not just go the whole hog and get a 4k (FreeSync) 16:9 screen? I might be wrong but all the 4K screens seem to top out at 60Hz. Bear in mind I'm used to 60Hz and 1080P.

tamzzy said:
if you're gonna spend that much, at least get a 8700k and a 1080ti.
i know that the monitor is freesync and i've specced a 1080ti, but honestly, with the 1080ti, it'll push 1440p @ 75hz, making adaptive v-sync (freesync/gsync) a bit of a moot point anyway.

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £2,133.95 (includes shipping: £15.30)
​
Click to expand...

@tamzzy Thank you - That looks like a good use of the budget however I'd kind of sided with the AMD CPUs as I understand there are a couple of future generations that will use the motherboard whereas with the Intel I believe that there isn't much future headroom for a CPU upgrade.

Why not a (for example) AMD 1800X and 1080TI? I know from the advice given above and reading around that the Coffee Lake is better for pure gaming.

The only real criteria I had for the motherboard until I started posting here (purely because I don't know much about these things) was that it would be good if it had a SPDIF audio out and reasonable sound, as I use an optical cable connected onto an AV receiver.
 
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texasjohn

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Maybe I go with something like that AOC for now and upgrade the monitor next year or two. 32” is a big step up from what I have now.

I have nothing else that will exploit the 4K capability like a PS Pro or BT TV so it seems the wrong time for me to start splashing out on 4K, as nice as they are.

As for size of display, even if I bolt it to the wall it’s going to be at most 80-90cm away from me. I think I’ll be sat too close to something any bigger than about 36-38” if it’s 16:9.
 
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