PC refresh suggestions

NutterzUK

NutterzUK

NutterzUK

Associate
Joined
18 Feb 2010
Posts
940
Hi,

As a full time software engineer, and as someone who enjoys playing games, I spend an awful lot of time on my PC. I have always built them, and a few years ago I would have known exactly which CPU architecture I want and which memory, but it has been a while since I looked into it. I've come in to some money and my PC isn't running quite as well as I'd like it to, so it's time for a refresh. I'd like to limit myself to spending £800, but if it's a case that spending a bit more gives me something substantially better I can spend a few hundred more maybe up to £1,200.

Current Specs (thinking about upgrading these parts):
- Maximus VII ranger Z97
- i5-4690 (Haswell, 3.5Ghz).
- 16Gb DDR3 Dual Channel
- Samsung EVO 830 250gb (C: [Operating system etc]) - 50gb free
- Samsung EVO 750 250gb (D: [Games etc]) - nearly full - 100gb free.

Current Specs (happy with):
- AX1200i PSU.
- NZXT h440 case
- GTX 970 (Think this is fine for Rocket League/ESO/League of legends.
- GTX 950 (Left over from when I used to mine).
- Predator Z35 monitor
- Corsair mouse
- Corsair K95 RGB Platinum

My thinking is:
- I'd like a new CPU, as mine is slow and IntelliJ which I use for development seems hungry for it.
- I have read good things about the m.2 SSDs, I don't know anything about them, but if they'll give me a real boost for loading times (Particularly elder scrolls online), I'd like one.
- I realise a new CPU will mean a new motherboard, and if I'm doing that, I will probably end up with DDR4.
- I'm not going to overclock anything. I used to do this and it was extremely time consuming and it meant always fixing something. I'd rather just pay more than overclock things.
- I love Corsair, as a heads up. If I have the choice between components and one is a Corsair, I'd buy that on the grounds I've never had a problem with them.

Thinking of buying:
CPU 8700k Coffee lake: https://www.overclockers.co.uk/inte...ocket-lga1151-processor-retail-cp-63s-in.html £259.99*

Motherboard: https://www.overclockers.co.uk/giga...cket-1151-ddr4-atx-motherboard-mb-55x-gi.html £119.99*

16gb DDR4 2666: https://www.overclockers.co.uk/cors...hannel-kit-red-cmk16gx4m2a2666-my-454-cs.html £199.99*

500GB 960 EVO x4 NVME: https://www.overclockers.co.uk/sams...-3.0-x4-nvme-solid-state-drive-hd-22h-sa.html. £239.99

Comes to £830.

Questions:
- ALL recommendations would be a huge help. Should I wait for the next architecture?
- Is there a hardware fix for any of the meltdown issues that I should wait for - does this even matter?
- Should I switch to AMD instead?
- Will the 960 EVO work happily at full speed with that new motherboard and GTX 970 and 950?
- Faster memory?
- Benchmarks show the CPU at 34% faster 'effective speed': http://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Core-i7-8700K-vs-Intel-Core-i5-4690K/3937vs2432. Will the DDR4 and SSD change make a big difference too?
 
Can't really fault your list, might want to add thermal Grizzlie paste, £5 coffeelake runs hot .

8700 no K is now finally a great price ! All 6 cores boosting to 4.3ghz and 4.6ghz for single/dual core ops .

Team group gets a lot of love here !

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £435.88 (includes shipping: £9.90)


And to cool it

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £358.84 (includes shipping: £9.90)​
​

Or hopefully you've got a damn good air cooler !​
 
orbitalwalsh said:
Can't really fault your list, might want to add thermal Grizzlie paste, £5 coffeelake runs hot .

8700 no K is now finally a great price ! All 6 cores boosting to 4.3ghz and 4.6ghz for single/dual core ops .

Team group gets a lot of love here !

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £435.88 (includes shipping: £9.90)


And to cool it

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £358.84 (includes shipping: £9.90)
​
Or hopefully you've got a damn good air cooler !​
Click to expand...


Thank you for the suggestions! I really appreciate the time to help, thank you :).

Good shout on that. I'll replace the memory with the 32gb 2400Mhz Team Group!
About the cooler, I agree - but I do have a huge Raijintek air cooler at the moment. My worry is that there isn't much space at the top of the h440 case for a 360mm radiator. I'd much prefer it, as it would look a lot better and would no doubt perform better. I might get away with it, I see you picked one which is very thin and the case does have 3x 120mm fan spaces at the top. I've popped it into my basket for now, I think it should just about fit - we'll find out!

I think I'm pretty happy with the whole set up now, my only remaining concern being that the motherboard says:

1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x16 (PCIEX16) * For optimum performance, if only one PCI Express graphics card is to be installed, be sure to install it in the PCIEX16 slot. 1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x4 (PCIEX4) * The PCIEX4 slot shares bandwidth with the PCIEX1_2, 3, 4 slots. The PCIEX4 slot operates at up to x1 mode when the PCIEX1_2, 3, or 4 slot is populated. 4 x PCI Express x1 slots (All of the PCI Express slots conform to PCI Express 3.0 standard.)

This would mean by 970 takes the PCI-e x16 and the 950 the x4. Does this impact the SSD at all? Also, do I need to worry about cooling this SSD? Maybe something like: https://www.overclockers.co.uk/ek-water-blocks-ek-m.2-nvme-heatsink-red-hs-009-ek.html?
 
 
lee32uk said:
Which raijintek cooler do you have ?
Click to expand...

I don't have the box anymore, but I'm pretty sure it's the "EREBOSS". It's massive, has a hole in the top of it for placing a screw in - my screwdriver wasn't even long enough so I had to borrow one from an electrician. It has the one thin fan at one end like on the EREBOSS product page.

Here it is:
 
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orbitalwalsh said:
Good review on the cooler

https://www.eteknix.com/alphacool-eisbaer-lt-360-cpu-liquid-cooler-review/amp/

Wait, that cooler should handle it :)

Worth trying it with thermal Grizzlie paste first
Click to expand...

I've got some arctic silver kicking around which I've had for,.. ummm... 6-7 years, as well as some thermal paste remover, so I should be good to go if that's still OK. However, I don't have any of the gubbins which will have come with the monster-sized CPU cooler, so I'm hoping it uses the same brackets which is already on. If it does, I can just swap it over onto the new motherboard/CPU with what I have. If it requires some kind of different mounting then I'll be in a spot of trouble (Which may be frustrating if I've taken everything to bits and have no PC) - if that is the case, which I doubt as it's socket 1150 to 1151 then it's off to the local "World of PCs" (*sigh*) on the day. It looks like 1150/1151 are the same in terms of mounts (https://www.quora.com/Can-an-LGA-1150-CPU-cooler-fit-on-an-LGA-1151-CPU-socket).

I'll remove the aio cooler and add a long screwdriver to the basket which gets me back into the £800s:

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £889.95 (includes shipping: £0.00)​
​
 
Would honestly use Thermal Grizzlie - ornage is the new black sort of thing , and does have higher heat transfer properties .
Can't stress enough how much Intel messed up the TIM and heatspreader on the last 2/3 gens of chip !

See how you get on, specially with MCE enabled in bios, if it's running hot or loud first try a proper stand 25mm thick fan to replace that thin one.
Fail that, AIO
 
NutterzUK said:
Brilliant, thanks! I think I have a plan then :). Thank you for all of the help lee32uk and orbitalwalsh!
Click to expand...

Awesome, let us know how you get on. That cooler looks a beast with such a thin fan on it ;(

Heads up, rear looks like it's set up as an intake , would clash with the CPU coiler which is pushing air in that direction .

B9NWtDx.jpg
 
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orbitalwalsh said:
Awesome, let us know how you get on. That cooler looks a beast with such a thin fan on it ;(

Heads up, rear looks like it's set up as an intake , would clash with the CPU coiler which is pushing air in that direction .

B9NWtDx.jpg
Click to expand...

Nice! The fan on the back is an exhaust (going out of the case) - it's the one that came with the NZXT case and I haven't changed it in any way. I did have to double check though! I think it'll be this weekend coming up when I rebuild everything. I'm quite looking forwards to getting rid of some of that dust too! I might add a pressured air can whilst I'm at it. I don't really get the chance to mess around with my PC very often so I am looking forwards to giving it a bit of TLC. I'll post up some pics when I'm done.
 
Loading times in ESO are mostly improved by reducing the number of addons you have installed. My partner is temporarily running ESO off a 2.5" 5.4k rpm laptop HDD, connected via USB, and it's not that much slower than my 32GB & overclocked 5820k running it off a m.2 pciex4 SSD. Was a bit of an eye opener for me tbh :( She also has 4GB ram, an i3 CPU (actually higher clock speed than my computer) & nvidia 570 GTX...

Also ESO is mostly CPU bound, clock speed is more important than cores. I'd seriously consider the 8700k (as per origial post) instead due to higher base clock speed (& overclocking ease - i know you said you wouldn't but it might breathe an extra year into it's life in a few years time) Downside is really only costing a bit more and TDP, so may be a little noisier.
 
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