Please check over this build before I press the button

lumencreative · 25 Aug 2017 at 08:25

Following on from my previous threads, I've decided to bit the bullet and build a new PC. I'm going to use the SSD that I've currently got in my PC (and do a clean install). My SSD is a 250GB Hynix SL308 and I've been quite happy with it. I'm also planning on sticking a 1TB WD Blue drive I have lying around in to store my 300GB+ of Dropbox files.

So here's the components I'm looking at. The computer will be used for print design of anything from business cards, to 3m long banners. My biggest unknown is the GPU because I usually only have £30-40 ones to enable me to run dual screen, but I think the GTX1050 will help with Photoshop (Couldn't quite justify the extra cost of the ti model).

Asus Prime Z270-K Motherboard
Intel Core i5 7600K CPU
16GB (2x8GB) Corsair DDR4 Vengeance LPX Black, PC4-24000 Ram
Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1050 OC 2GB GPU
630W ThermalTake Smart SE
Fractal Design R5 White

Does this all look ok? I've gone for this specific board because it has dual m.2 ports for if I want to upgrade further in the future.

lumencreative · 25 Aug 2017 at 09:11

Danny75 said:
Re-using that PSU or buying new?

The parts listed from the Asus Prime down are parts I'm planning on buying

lumencreative · 25 Aug 2017 at 09:32

Danny75 said:
Is it this one? http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/thermaltake-smart-630-w-power-supply-review/

There are better choices. What warranty does it come with and how much are you paying for it?

Yeh that's the one. It's got a 12 month warranty and is costing £49.99. Had a look at the usual ones like the budget corsair models and the reviews didn't look too good.

lumencreative · 25 Aug 2017 at 10:08

Danny75 said:
Two things: I would avoid buying any PSU with only 12 months warranty. It's old platform too, no longer listed on Thermaltake's website. And the reviews you've probably seen for budget Corsairs are for VX (yes, avoid) or for the older CX range (green label not new grey label). The newer grey label CX/CX-M range have a 5 year warranty, all black cables, better capacitors etc and can be found for £50 or less. You only need a 350W or 450W good quality PSU. Something like a SuperFlower Golden Green 350/450W 80+Gold or Corsair CX 450 or CX-M 450 80+Bronze (again, grey label not green) can often be found for £50 or less. Cougar GX-S 450W 80+Gold isn't a terrible choice either. All of these have a 5-year warranty and are better quality.

Thanks Danny, I will swapt the PSU for the CX550 in that case

Danny75 said:
Do you have a cooler for that CPU?

I will be using the stock cooler for the time being (the computer's already costing way more than I expected...last time I built a Core i5 PC (only about 2 years ago), the total machine cost was about £300 cheaper than this machine's costing.

Danny75 said:
As for motherboard, on the Asus Prime Z270-K if you occupy the second M.2 socket (whether SATA or PCIe mode) you will lose SATA ports 5 and 6. There are other motherboards on which all SATA ports can be used in combination with two M.2 SSDs in PCIe mode. The MSI Z270 PC Mate for example. If that's not a bother and you can't see your storage plans exceeding four SATA drives and you like the Asus, go for it.

To be honest, I'm not a big fan of MSI boards. I usually buy Gigabyte boards but they only seem to have one M.2 socket (unless I go ridiculously expensive). a lot of my files will be stored on our server, and I guess once I eventually upgrade to M.2 drives, if I use both sockets, 4 SATA ports would be fine for traditional big capacity drives.

lumencreative · 25 Aug 2017 at 11:09

Danny75 said:
You're welcome. The 7700K doesn't bring a stock cooler.

I'd get the CX-M 450 over the CX 550 for your needs. It's semi-modular, less cable clutter. You're only going to use like 150-200 watts max. If you overclock the CPU at some point, then anything around 225-275 watts max. But up to you. I mean, if you may add a powerful gaming card at some point, then yeah 550 makes more sense.

Doh! Thanks Intel haha. Any recommendations for a cooler? Part of me wants to get a sealed water cooler (used to have one last time I built a PC) but I've no plans to overclock so not sure it's justified.

lumencreative · 29 Aug 2017 at 12:10

CAT-THE-FIFTH said:
I probably would get a Ryzen 5 1600 if you are doing productivity stuff TBH,and Coffee Lake is out in a few months,so its probably the worst time to get a Core i5 7600K as Intel is demoting the whole line to Core i3 status with a massive cost reduction. The Core i5 7600K also lacks a cooler too. So even if you stay with Intel a Core i5 8600K looks a far better bet.

I've heard that Coffee Lake may not be out now til 2018 and tbh, I'm not sure I can put up with my current PC for that long (either that or I'll end up spending the money on something else). I dunno, there's just something about AMD PC's that I'm not a huge fan of. Will have a look at some reviews/comparisons.

lumencreative · 29 Aug 2017 at 13:40

I've just been looking at prices/reviews, and a Ryzen 5 1600 with a similar spec motherboard to the Asus Prime will work out about £13 cheaper than the i5 7600k with Asus Prime board, but a lot of the benchmarks suggest the i5 is much better in single-quad core applications than the Ryzen whereas obviously the Ryzen will wipe the floor with anything that can use more than 4 cores/threads.