New PC required to last

MDian

MDian

MDian

Associate
Joined
20 Aug 2013
Posts
112
Hi all, been a while. So I need a new gaming PC but haven't built for a few years, so a little rusty on specific hardware to choose that compliments it.

Budget it around £1,000 which doesn't sound a lot, but I already have the GPU (Evga 1080 - I'll upgrade this down the line when it no longer can handle max settings), plus peripherals, monitors (Asus Pred 2k), and 500GB Samsung 850 ssd.

I'm sold on the Intel 7700K with the Corsair 100i v2, with a possibility of a small overclock though that really isn't my thing.

I'm considering Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB ram at 3200mhz simply because of value versus slower ram. I'm told not to consider 32GB, it just isn't worth it yet.

What I'm mostly unsure on is motherboard (I'd like to stick with Asus where possible for this) and have been told to 'future proof', get m.2 and u.2 built-in, though for now, I'll use my current SSD. Thinking Asus Z270F or Z270E (though I don't really need the wifi which seems to be the difference).

Also need a PSU, again, told up to around 700-800w is fine and again, would like to stick with Corsair as I've always used them. Fully modular, but can never under the difference between MX, CX, RM etc etc.

Finally, a suitable case with cooling fans. I'm attracted to NZXT cases, as well as Corsair though not for any logical reason. I'm not overly fussed by RBG, just want to ensure it can breath with the 2 cpu fans and 3 additional fans (excluding psu fan).

Opinions appreciated, especially on the motherboard to match the cpu and ram, plus psu and case.
 
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My basket at Overclockers UK:

Total: £1,066.46
(includes shipping: £12.60)



​

Due to (limited) supply and (plenty of) demand, the 8700K price is about £40 higher than it should be. More supply is expected around 1st November if you can wait.

650W is more than you need, and will comfortably handle a more powerful card like the GTX 1080Ti. Seasonic is the company that produced the best Corsair PSUs (Corsair don't make them themselves), and that Focus Plus 650W Gold with 10 year warranty is a no-brainer and has excellent reviews.
 
if your not worried about OCing the CPU- i5 8400- will perform just under i5 8600 at stock or overclocked and around i7 7700k stock - paring with faster ram increases its performance like it does for ryzen

nice bored- but flashy, not to OTT or expensive like the Gaming 7 and believe it was one of the fastest selling z370 here and on a few other sites

if you havent seen NZXT new H series! go go go go dont it now! paired with their kraken AIO to- bit Overkill! but looks nice

My basket at Overclockers UK:

Total: £1,047.00
(includes shipping: £14.10)



​
 
Thanks so far. This is my basket so far (though I appreciate bundles and dare I say it alternative suppliers might be cheaper)

My basket at Overclockers UK:

Total: £957.05
(includes shipping: £11.10)



​

Bear in mind I already have the 1080 GPU and monitors. Quite happy with CPU and MOBO choice, though mainly because of being brand specific. Trying to determine the best case to suit the H115i rad at the top, with fans to suit.
 
Danny75 said:
How come 7700K?
Click to expand...
Rightly or wrongly, isn't it generally considered the best bang for your buck in a gaming rig at present? I know the 8th generation CPU's from Intel possibly offer more long term gains, but cost much more too and need more overclocking to get them up to a similar speed as the 7700k (assuming slower because of the additional 2 cores).
 
MDian said:
Rightly or wrongly, isn't it generally considered the best bang for your buck in a gaming rig at present? I know the 8th generation CPU's from Intel possibly offer more long term gains, but cost much more too and need more overclocking to get them up to a similar speed as the 7700k (assuming slower because of the additional 2 cores).
Click to expand...

No. The i5-8600K is the equivalent of the 7700K and is cheaper (and will be even cheaper in a few weeks). Its six cores/six threads come out to the same as the four core/eight thread 7700K. All the benchmarks are confirming what had been known for a while, which is that each extra thread equals about a half-core in performance, so to speak.

https://www.techspot.com/review/1505-intel-core-8th-gen-vs-amd-ryzen/

But that's besides the point when you can afford the 8700K which already beats 8600K/7700K in a few games, plus long term gains which you mentioned. I feel it would be a pity to spend so much on that power supply and pass up on not getting the 8700K.

Just my tuppence.
 
I would go with the build @Danny75 did at the top of this thread, the i7 coffee lake is great for gaming and the rest of the components are solid and will complement your gtx 1080
 
MDian said:
Thanks so far. This is my basket so far (though I appreciate bundles and dare I say it alternative suppliers might be cheaper)

My basket at Overclockers UK:

Total: £957.05
(includes shipping: £11.10)



​

Bear in mind I already have the 1080 GPU and monitors. Quite happy with CPU and MOBO choice, though mainly because of being brand specific. Trying to determine the best case to suit the H115i rad at the top, with fans to suit.
Click to expand...


A 550W/650W psu would be enough for a single GTX 1080 spec. I would go with the Seasonic Focus Gold in Danny's spec myself. If you want Corsair then the RMx is solid. Not really worth the extra for a Platinum unit imo.
 
MDian said:
Rightly or wrongly, isn't it generally considered the best bang for your buck in a gaming rig at present? I know the 8th generation CPU's from Intel possibly offer more long term gains, but cost much more too and need more overclocking to get them up to a similar speed as the 7700k (assuming slower because of the additional 2 cores).
Click to expand...

Actually the i3 8100 and 8400 are best bang for price to performance , with 8400 being the best cost to performance ratio from Intel in a long long while, as others have stated , i5 K - gone up in price unfortunately , but will drop down as stock levels increase
 
orbitalwalsh said:
Actually the i3 8100 and 8400 are best bang for price to performance , with 8400 being the best cost to performance ratio from Intel in a long long while, as others have stated , i5 K - gone up in price unfortunately , but will drop down as stock levels increase
Click to expand...
You're bang on. Previously it would have been the R5 1600 that everyone was recommending over the Kaby Lake i5 but now that Intel have responded the new new Coffee Lake i5 with 6 cores is definitely the best value chip right now.

It matches the previous Kaby Lake i7 and the i5 8400 in a good Z370 motherboard with a bit of multicore enhancement witchcraft performs within touching distance of the new Coffee Lake i7s.

Buy the i5 8400 now with a decent Z370 motherboard and you've no need for a top notch air cooler or AIO. Then if you really find the need for an i7 you have that option and should have some price drops further down the road
 
TallPaul1878 said:
You're bang on. Previously it would have been the R5 1600 that everyone was recommending over the Kaby Lake i5 but now that Intel have responded the new new Coffee Lake i5 with 6 cores is definitely the best value chip right now.

It matches the previous Kaby Lake i7 and the i5 8400 in a good Z370 motherboard with a bit of multicore enhancement witchcraft performs within touching distance of the new Coffee Lake i7s.

Buy the i5 8400 now with a decent Z370 motherboard and you've no need for a top notch air cooler or AIO. Then if you really find the need for an i7 you have that option and should have some price drops further down the road
Click to expand...

Just waiting on the board for my little experiment , got 2 sets of ram up to 4000hz in theory, so will see if it's the board or the CPU IMC that gives up the ghost first (have 8600k)
 
You could also save a bit of money on the CPU cooler by going for:

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/noct...pu-cooler-with-two-nh-a15-fans-hs-026-nc.html

It performs very similarly to the 240mm AIOs, but has a longer warranty (6 year, which would be satisfy your built to last requirement) and can't leak fluid all over your PC. A leak is very unlikely, but is still a consideration.


Also, a few of the motherboards around the price range of the Strix-H come with free stuff, but the Strix does not. Gigabyte throws in Steam vouchers, MSI throws in Project Cars 2.


Here's a list of the 'best' Z370 motherboards, based on VRM design and component quality:

**This list is based on the most extreme overclocking with an i7 8700k, using LN2 etc. For an average overclock with a 240mm AIO/dual-tower air cooler 'top of midrange' or 'midrange' is more than good enough.

cec2b48f_z370lineup-WIP.png
 
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Thanks for the replies. Is that cooler (air) capable of running the 8700k, with or without overclocking? I though water cooled was the only way to go now! Ok, this was the planned purchase, but given the information above, I'll do some more research on mobo's, so just posting this here for my own reference:

My basket at Overclockers UK:

Total: £1,056.05
(includes shipping: £11.10)



​
 
MDian said:
Thanks for the replies. Is that cooler (air) capable of running the 8700k, with or without overclocking? I though water cooled was the only way to go now! Ok, this was the planned purchase, but given the information above, I'll do some more research on mobo's, so just posting this here for my own reference:

My basket at Overclockers UK:

Total: £1,056.05
(includes shipping: £11.10)



​
Click to expand...

for extra £10 , take the 8 Pack ram- even at default its faster - seems coffee loves ram speed - see if that board can take you to 4000hz land- ram should be able to hit that just fine

My basket at Overclockers UK:

Total: £218.69
(includes shipping: £8.70)



​
 
MDian said:
Thanks for the replies. Is that cooler (air) capable of running the 8700k, with or without overclocking? I though water cooled was the only way to go now! Ok, this was the planned purchase, but given the information above, I'll do some more research on mobo's, so just posting this here for my own reference:

My basket at Overclockers UK:

Total: £1,056.05
(includes shipping: £11.10)



​
Click to expand...
Yes the Noctua is more than capable of cooling an 8700k at stock or overclocked.


This is one of many reviews that all have the same basic conclusion - the Noctua DH-15 performs very similarly to 240mm AIO coolers, but is quieter.

Another review featuring the Kraken X62, a very well regarded 280mm AIO, shows the Noctua performing very similarly but again is quieter.

The only draw backs I can think of for the Noctua are the subjective fans colours, and potentially coming into space conflicts if you have a really tall RAM heatspreader. But, the RAM you've selected should have no trouble with space. It's also a big cooler, but I've found a few builds using it an the NXZT case you've linked and it does fit:

https://www.reddit.com/r/pcmasterrace/comments/5yy4hu/noctua_nhd15_cooler_in_a_nzxt_s340_case/


The bottom line is that the Noctua is cheaper, has similar thermal performance but runs much quieter and will likely last much longer than these 240/280mm AIO coolers.



I would get a different PSU aswell - https://www.overclockers.co.uk/seas...plus-gold-modular-power-supply-ca-05q-ss.html

650w is plenty for a 1080ti/8700k build, even with overclocking. This Seasonic unit is incredibly well reviewed and also on offer at OCuk.
 
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Are you sure on the 7700k? Z270 is a dead-end platform with no real upgrade path at all. That said though, it still is a mega mega good chip for it's price :)
 
I'm being steered towards 8700k with a Z270 @CyberScy so all good there, I hadn't realised that the newer chips were soon to be released and have more cores.

I'm sold on the Noctua as I personally prefer air cooled anyway, plus I'd like to keep the PC as quiet as possible, but I must say, who thought brown was a good idea! I'd perhaps need to find a rival air cooled unit, maybe BeQuiet Dark Rock Pro 3???

Will consider the Seasonic PSU too, though I should add that whilst I may run a stock or overclocked 8700K initially, plus the 1080 GPU, I may add a further 1080 at some point, or even swap it out for a 1080TI or TitanX, and don't fancy swapping out the power supply, even though modular!
 
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CyberScy said:
Are you sure on the 7700k? Z270 is a dead-end platform with no real upgrade path at all. That said though, it still is a mega mega good chip for it's price :)
Click to expand...
Yeah Dark Pro 3 would be the alternative, I can find it for under £50 (compared to £78 for the Noctua)

A detailed comparison:
https://www.anandtech.com/show/9415/top-tier-cpu-air-coolers-9way-roundup-review/14


The negatives for the Pro 3 is that the mounting system makes it hard to install, the tower fin-array isn't as well shaped to accommodate tall RAM sticks and the warranty is only 3 years v 6 for the Noctua

Apart from that, it performs slightly worse than the Noctua thermally and acoustically. But, for a £25+ saving it could be worth it.
 
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