PC Build Specs - Thoughts?

greentea

greentea

greentea

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12 Aug 2017
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I have a budget of £1300 and it's for gaming. I was thinking of changing CPU to i7-7700. Any thoughts overall? Thanks :)

CPU - Ryzen 6 core
MOTHERBOARD - AM4 B350 with latest memory BIOS
RAM - 16 gig of 3200MHz memory
STORAGE HD - 2TB drive
OS HD - 240gig Solid State Drive
CASE - Discreet black case with front and rear fans for airflow - windowed
GRAPHICS - GTX1070 with 8 gig of vRAM - 1070 - 1440p resolution
POWER SUPPLY - 600W modular
OS - Windows 10 (DX12 graphics card)
 
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I personally prefer the Ryzen build - will have better longevity (socket support for ~4 years) and the extra cores/threads of the 1600 will come into their own with future games (plus cool running compared to the toasty 7700K).

But either build would be a great gaming build at 1440p.

Did you want none window case suggestion?
 
Plec said:
I personally prefer the Ryzen build - will have better longevity (socket support for ~4 years) and the extra cores/threads of the 1600 will come into their own with future games (plus cool running compared to the toasty 7700K).

But either build would be a great gaming build at 1440p.

Did you want none window case suggestion?
Click to expand...

Thanks for your opinion. Is water cooling still a fair suggestion (a friend suggested I should but I'm unsure) if I stick to the Ryzen build (I'm quite new at all of this).
After some further thought I don't think I would mind a window case. Some suggestions would be appreciated, thanks
 
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Enthoo Evolv ATX Tempered glass is my fav windowed case. If you want something with the window on the right, Corsair 600C is a solid choice, but your parts will be upside down. Which is fine. They won't complain.

Definitely take the Ryzen CPU over the 7700K. More future proof.

Build looks good. Just got to nail down some specific parts. You want to go with 3000Mhz or 3200Mhz RAM for Ryzen as it helps the perf.

Liquid cooling isn't necessary for either the Ryzen 4 to 8 core chips or the Intel 4 core chips. The only setups where it's necessary right now are the high end of the HEDT market. You would want liquid cooling for a 16 core Threadripper, for example, definitely.

You can happily go with a decent 120-140mm single tower air heatsink for either of the chips you are considering and be perfectly fine.

If you want extreme cooling for some reason that doesn't necessarily mean going to water. There are behemoth air coolers like the NHD15 that are peers performance wise to units like the H100 from Corsair. These can be a pain in the rear end if you need to do any work around your CPU socket down the line, like changing the RAM, necessitating the removal of the monster heatsink so you can access the area around the socket.

The reasoning I have to go for air over water is three fold:

1)Cost is lower

2)Air coolers don't leak

3)Fewer points of failure. Leaks, pump failure, fan failure vs just fan failure. Fans are cheap to replace. Entire AIO air coolers are not. AIO pumps fail at 4-6 years.

If your heatsink fan fails, get a new one. You can use an air cooler for 10 years+ as long as mounts are available for the socket you have at that time. For example socket 1156 came out in either 2009 or 2010 I don't remember. Point is it's been 8 years since then, and a cooler you bought for your 1156 machine would have worked for 1155, 1150, 1151, and no doubt, the next socket Intel is pointlessly bringing out for the 3XX series chipsets so people have to buy a new motherboard :P. And so on.

JM2C
 
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mistersprinkles said:
Enthoo Evolv ATX Tempered glass is my fav windowed case. If you want something with the window on the right, Corsair 600C is a solid choice, but your parts will be upside down. Which is fine. They won't complain.

Definitely take the Ryzen CPU over the 7700K. More future proof.

Build looks good. Just got to nail down some specific parts. You want to go with 3000Mhz or 3200Mhz RAM for Ryzen as it helps the perf.

Liquid cooling isn't necessary for either the Ryzen 4 to 8 core chips or the Intel 4 core chips. The only setups where it's necessary right now are the high end of the HEDT market. You would want liquid cooling for a 16 core Threadripper, for example, definitely.

You can happily go with a decent 120-140mm single tower air heatsink for either of the chips you are considering and be perfectly fine.

If you want extreme cooling for some reason that doesn't necessarily mean going to water. There are behemoth air coolers like the NHD15 that are peers performance wise to units like the H100 from Corsair. These can be a pain in the rear end if you need to do any work around your CPU socket down the line, like changing the RAM, necessitating the removal of the monster heatsink so you can access the area around the socket.

The reasoning I have to go for air over water is three fold:

1)Cost is lower

2)Air coolers don't leak

3)Fewer points of failure. Leaks, pump failure, fan failure vs just fan failure. Fans are cheap to replace. Entire AIO air coolers are not. AIO pumps fail at 4-6 years.

If your heatsink fan fails, get a new one. You can use an air cooler for 10 years+ as long as mounts are available for the socket you have at that time. For example socket 1156 came out in either 2009 or 2010 I don't remember. Point is it's been 8 years since then, and a cooler you bought for your 1156 machine would have worked for 1155, 1150, 1151, and no doubt, the next socket Intel is pointlessly bringing out for the 3XX series chipsets so people have to buy a new motherboard :p. And so on.

JM2C
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Thanks for the suggestions and explanation - it's good to know why to choose one over the other. The Enthoo Evolv case looks really great too so you've definitely got me interested now. Is rgb lighting worth that extra more?
 
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greentea said:
Thanks for the suggestions and explanation - it's good to know why to choose one over the other. The Enthoo Evolv case looks really great too so you've definitely got me interested now. If I get a windowed case, is rgb lighting worth that extra more?
Click to expand...

Obviously :p. If you're throwing down the cash for the windowed case, especially glass windowed, you need to light up your internals. I would urge you to consider getting the B350 Strix board and pairing it with other ROG AURA accessories like air coolers, fans, RGB lighting, etc. Then you can control the color of everything from one unified location. You can even get Strix GPUs that have Aura RGB.

Don't forget the RGB keybo, mouse, and headset, and of course, the all important RGB light strip for the back of your desk.

Corsair makes the K70 RGB, a plethora of RGB mice, and the VOID RGB headset. I recommend all three. They are good products. Some people have complained that their K70 RGB started having lighting issues after awhile. I've had mine for over 3 years with zero issues though.

Best mouse overall IMO though is the Zowie FK1.

Which brings me to another biscuit- you want premium peripherals. Sure, get the machine now with a 20 squid keybo/mouse bundle and get by for a few months but if you really want to pwn those noobz you need a quality mechanical keyboard and premium mouse. :)
:)
 
mistersprinkles said:
Obviously :p. If you're throwing down the cash for the windowed case, especially glass windowed, you need to light up your internals. I would urge you to consider getting the B350 Strix board and pairing it with other ROG AURA accessories like air coolers, fans, RGB lighting, etc. Then you can control the color of everything from one unified location. You can even get Strix GPUs that have Aura RGB.

Don't forget the RGB keybo, mouse, and headset, and of course, the all important RGB light strip for the back of your desk.

Corsair makes the K70 RGB, a plethora of RGB mice, and the VOID RGB headset. I recommend all three. They are good products. Some people have complained that their K70 RGB started having lighting issues after awhile. I've had mine for over 3 years with zero issues though.

Best mouse overall IMO though is the Zowie FK1.

Which brings me to another biscuit- you want premium peripherals. Sure, get the machine now with a 20 squid keybo/mouse bundle and get by for a few months but if you really want to pwn those noobz you need a quality mechanical keyboard and premium mouse. :)
:)
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I'll have a little look into what you suggested and yes, that was the idea, stick to my current mouse before upgrading. That Zowie FK1 definitely intrigues me though because of its similarity to my current one. Is it the mouse you use?
 
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greentea said:
There's a lot to think about for lighting it up ha, I'll have a little look into what you suggested and yes, that was the idea, stick to my current mouse and keyboard before upgrading. That Zowie FK1 definitely intrigues me though because of its similarity to my current one. Is it the mouse you use? And yeah, I had actually already looked at the Corsair K70 Cherry MX Red Keybo
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I use a Zowie FK1, prior to that I used a Steelseries Xai for years. I picked the Zowie because it was highly rated and the same shape as my previous mouse. I'm right handed but I can't stand right handed mice. The Zowie FK1 is used by a lot of CS GO pros and is very highly regarded and comes in 3 sizes, 2, 1 and 1+ from small to large for various hand sizes. It's an exceptional mouse.
 
mistersprinkles said:
I use a Zowie FK1, prior to that I used a Steelseries Xai for years. I picked the Zowie because it was highly rated and the same shape as my previous mouse. I'm right handed but I can't stand right handed mice. The Zowie FK1 is used by a lot of CS GO pros and is very highly regarded and comes in 3 sizes, 2, 1 and 1+ from small to large for various hand sizes. It's an exceptional mouse.
Click to expand...

My basket at Overclockers UK:

Total: £1,141.91
(includes shipping: £12.60)



​

Also removing the case fan that comes with the case and replacing it (just the 1 fan with the case) with 3 proper decent fans which will run off a fan splitter cable to the motherboard and also a 240GIG Sandisk Solid State Drive for the operating system, Windows 10 OS and EK-Cable Y-Splitter 3-Fan PWM (10cm) : to split the load on the motherboard from the 3 Thermaltake case fans

Last question being what would you recommend as a monitor. I've £150 - £200 or so to spend so budget shouldn't be an issue. I've looked at 144hz and 24"/26" but was unsure what would be best
 
Plec said:
I personally prefer the Ryzen build - will have better longevity (socket support for ~4 years) and the extra cores/threads of the 1600 will come into their own with future games (plus cool running compared to the toasty 7700K).

But either build would be a great gaming build at 1440p.

Did you want none window case suggestion?
Click to expand...

I just mentioned in the post above the actual parts if you were curious and about the monitor
 
greentea said:
My basket at Overclockers UK:

Total: £1,141.91
(includes shipping: £12.60)



​

Also removing the case fan that comes with the case and replacing it (just the 1 fan with the case) with 3 proper decent fans which will run off a fan splitter cable to the motherboard and also a 240GIG Sandisk Solid State Drive for the operating system, Windows 10 OS and EK-Cable Y-Splitter 3-Fan PWM (10cm) : to split the load on the motherboard from the 3 Thermaltake case fans

Last question being what would you recommend as a monitor. I've £150 - £200 or so to spend so budget shouldn't be an issue. I've looked at 144hz and 24"/26" but was unsure what would be best
Click to expand...

What's the fan for? I'd go Noctua or Corsair ML. Thermaltake is a pretty janky company.
 
@greentea

My basket at Overclockers UK:

Total: £1,296.11
(includes shipping: £15.30)



​

​
 
I would go with a GTX 1070 as well, and spend a bit more on monitor. Rather than GTX 1080 and a £150-200 monitor. If I've understood correctly, @greentea already has Windows and a Sandisk 250GB SSD, or will have. And he's willing to add up to £200 more to a system worth £1,150. So £1,350 in total including monitor.


My basket at Overclockers UK:

Total: £1,347.19
(includes shipping: £0.00)



​

The discount code for the monitor is: LG100

Freesync won't be used with an Nvidia card but you'll get very nice frames. IPS, 144Hz, 34", Curved. It's pretty much without competition at that pricepoint, with the £100 discount. It also gives you free shipping.

The PSU is slightly more efficient than the Golden Green and currently cheaper, on offer. As a bonus it also has all-black cables.

Stuck with same case and same board since you seem to be going for a red theme. Added red led RAM and three red led fans. The existing case fan could be made use of in the bottom-front position, to cool the drives under the PSU shroud, and the additional three centre & top-front and rear.
 
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