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

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.
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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)​
​
 

southernorth

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

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £1,515.86 (includes shipping: £14.10)
​
Click to expand...
I would still stick to the non-X 1700, as you can overclock a bit on the stock cooler. The 1700X only offers a bit more overclocking headroom anyway.

Just make sure you're happy with the GPU now, as GTX 1080 for ~£70 less or GTX 1080TI for £50 more would both give more performance (much moreso for the ti) but you lose Freesync. Unfortunately VEGA isn't so easy to recommend based on price/performance compared to the high-end Pascal cards. It really depends how important FreeSync is to you. Are you particularly bothered by screen tearing or?
 

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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southernorth

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texasjohn said:
This one was cheaper and five year warranty but the clock speeds seemed much lower... https://www.overclockers.co.uk/asus...dr5x-pci-express-graphics-card-gx-406-as.html
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You can't really compare clock speeds from VEGA to Pascal evenly due to differing architectures. Should also basically ignore the listed speeds for 1080's, as most boost to ~1900mhz when gaming (it's an auto-overclocking feature called GPU Boost 3.0)

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £1,696.06 (includes shipping: £11.10)
​


A 1080 means you can drop down to a 550w-650w PSU, so you save money there.

Of the cards in that basket, the best overall is the AORUS - best cooler (lowest temps and noise).

The other gigabyte has a slightly worse cooler, so will run a bit hotter and louder, but benefits from UK RMA like the AORUS (1 week turnaround time usually) and there is a Gigabyte rep on these forums should you need help.

The Palit has a good cooler (so low noise and temps) but only a 2 year warranty and for RMA you would likely have to send the card all the way to the SE Asia - which would mean roughly a month turnaround.


The ASUS card you linked is even cheaper, but has a blower style cooler like the VEGA 56 we talked about previously - so it will run hot and loud. Not great if you prioritize low noise, which you have mentioned as being important.


And this for a 1080ti:

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £689.89 (includes shipping: £9.90)​
​
 
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southernorth

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texasjohn said:
Thanks again for the advice. One final question - 1080 or save £100 (assuming the Aorus) and go with a 1070Ti? Monitor I have in mind the ultra wide, either 1440P or that LG 38" 1600P, as a reminder.

I'd pick this one https://www.overclockers.co.uk/asus...ddr5-pci-express-graphics-card-gx-41t-as.html
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The cheaper Gigabyte 1080 card should come with a free copy of Destiny 2 (would ask customer services about that one).

If you got the cheaper Gigabyte 1080 and sold the code or ~£25 that would be my pick. I think 470 for a 1070ti is too much, as that's approaching 1080 pricing.

I wouldn't pay more than 430-440 for a 1070ti.
 
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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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southernorth

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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)
​
 
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orbitalwalsh

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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
 

tamzzy

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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)​
​
 

southernorth

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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...
All great builds. Just need to see if OP is set on an ultrawide or not.
 

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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tamzzy

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texasjohn said:
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.
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no single gpu can push 4kx60hz reliably yet. 1440p is a better option. (i currently run a 3770k with a 1080ti with a 4k monitor - i game at 1440p resolution)

texasjohn said:
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.
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that is quite true and i agree, but how likely are you to upgrade again in the near future, given that the 8700k will last for a good few years yet. case in point are all the people who bought 2600k in 2012 and are just now upgrading to the 8700k - that's 5 years (and 6 processor generations) in between.

texasjohn said:
Why not a (for example) AMD 1800X and 1080TI
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better to get a 1700 and then overclock - more value for money - and yes, can also pair that with a 1080ti, no problems

texasjohn said:
SPDIF audio out and reasonable sound
Click to expand...
most high end, current generation motherboards have these. the gigabyte motherboard in my spec certainly does
 
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