Please help me compare my options

ThisNameIsInUse

ThisNameIsInUse

ThisNameIsInUse

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Joined
1 Sep 2015
Posts
16
Location
Swindon
Hello world,

It's been 8 years since I last built a PC, and that was for home theatre use rather than gaming. To say I'm out of touch is a bit of an understatement. The last time I built a PC for gaming was when Need for Speed was a new game! I've been a console boy for many years now but another mid life crisis is calling and I want to return to a spot of PC gaming. This also needs to do a bit of video editing, but nothing professional.

I've flicked through my collection on steam, and the specs I need to run my currently owned games/games on my wish list are a quad core 3ghz CPU, 8Gb RAM and a GTX 770/R9 280X. Graphics cards I'm way off with, is OpenGL still a thing? :D

So, my first step was naturally to think of future proofing and I went straight for this:

My basket at Overclockers UK:
  • 1 x Titan Virtual Force VR Gaming PC - Intel Core i5 6600K @ 4.5GHz, Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 8GB Graphic = £1,430.04
    • Processor:Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz (Skylake) Socket LGA1151 Processor - OEM
    • Memory:Kingston Fury Black 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-19200C15 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black (HX424C15FB2K2/1
    • Graphics Card:OcUK GeForce GTX 1070 "Founders Edition" 8192MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card
    • Primary Drive:Samsung PM951 128GB M.2 PCI-e 3.0 x 4 NVMe Solid State Drive (MZVLV128HCGR-00000)
    • Secondary Drive:Seagate 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache HDD - OEM (ST2000DM001)
    • Operating System:Microsoft Windows 10 64-Bit DVD - OEM (MS-KW9-00139)
    • LED Lighting:Unwanted
    • Case:Phanteks Eclipse P400 Midi Tower Case - Gun Metal Window
    • Virtual Reality Headset:Unwanted

Total: £1,444.14
(includes shipping: £14.10)
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It's about £1,444.14 more than I'd like to spend, but I think it's worth the money. It vastly exceeds the spec I'd need to run my intended games though. The main ones were Euro Truck Simulator 2 and Flight Simulator X. I'm expecting to buy some newer games on the PC rather than console though so this would help with that.

The alternative was going completely the other way, and seeing how little could be spent to meet the requirements.

My basket at Overclockers UK:
  • 1 x OcUK Kinetic F1 - AMD FM2+ Configurable Micro ATX DDR3 Gaming PC = £524.94
    • Processor:AMD Kaveri A8-7670K 10 Compute Core APU w/ Radeon R7 Graphics (4 CPU + 6 GPU Compute Cores) - Retai
    • Memory:Team Group Vulcan GOLD 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-17100C11 2133MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLYED38G2133HC11ADC01
    • Operating System:Microsoft Windows 10 64-Bit DVD - OEM (MS-KW9-00139)
    • Case:Kolink KLM-001 Micro-ATX Case - Black
    • Optical Drive **Not Compatible with Kolink Victory Case**:Unwanted
    • Graphics Card:OcUK GeForce GTX 950 "Reference Design" 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card
    • Storage Mechanical Hard Drive:Unwanted
    • Security Software:Unwanted
    • Build Time:Standard Build Systems - Dispatched within 7 working days
    • Warranty:OcUK Standard System Warranty - 3 Year (24 Month C&R + 12 Month Labour)
    • WIFI:Unwanted
    • Primary Solid State Drive / Hard Drive:Seagate SSHD 7200RPM 3.5" 2TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST2000DX001) SSHD Hybrid Drive

Total: £539.04
(includes shipping: £14.10)
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It's well under half the price and will run the two games mentioned... I think. I'm a little unsure on the CPU as it seems to be combined CPU and GPU but I've specced a graphics card too. Perhaps that wasn't needed. Probably overspecced against the rest of the setup!

Finally, I thought for a 4k gaming machine, I'd need a 4k monitor to make the most of it then it all starts adding cost. Perhaps I'd go in the middle, and ended up with this:

My basket at Overclockers UK:
  • 1 x OcUK Kinetic VR Gaming PC - Intel Core i5 6500, Nvidia GeForce GTX 970 4GB = £797.04
    • Case:Kolink Satellite Micro-ATX Cube Case - Black
    • Processor:Intel Core i5-6500 3.20GHz (Skylake) Socket LGA1151 Processor - Retail
    • Memory:Kingston Fury Black 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-19200C15 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black (HX424C15FB2K2/1
    • Graphics Card:Asus GeForce GTX 970 TURBO OC 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card
    • Primary Solid State Drive / Hard Drive:Seagate SSHD 7200RPM 3.5" 2TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST2000DX001) SSHD Hybrid Drive
    • Secondary Mechanical Hard Drive:Unwanted
    • Operating System:Microsoft Windows 10 64-Bit DVD - OEM (MS-KW9-00139)
    • Virtual Reality Headset:Unwanted
    • WiFi:Unwanted

Total: £811.14
(includes shipping: £14.10)
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I think it will most likely be a comparison between the Titan Virtual Force and the Kinetic VR. I'm sure I'm missing something with the Kinetic F1 and have specced it beyond what it should be.

How future proof is the Titan Virtual Force over the Kinetic VR? Am I going to notice any difference at all until I get newer games? I'm sure I would editing videos but that's just a few times a year.
 
Don't screw yourself over. Get a machine with some real testosterone.

This is what I would buy if I were to buy a new gaming PC today:

i7 6700K
Cooler Master Hyper 212
ASUS Z170-A
2X8GB DDR4 (probably 2400Mhz)
250GB SSD
1TB HDD (2TB if I had a lot of games)
GTX 1070 GPU
Seasonic SSR-G-650 power supply (or equivalent EVGA G2)
Corsair 400C case

optional:
optical drive
RGB LED light strips
additional case fans
 
I would ignore the AMD CPUs for now. The APUs aren't bad, but even one of the cheaper i5s will out power them.

4k will need a very powerful graphics setup. Even a single GTX 1080 can struggle, so I'd stick to 1080p or 1440p and get a decent mid-range build.

I would probably go with something like:

i5 6600K or i5-6600 if you're never going to overclock
Alpenfohn Brocken ECO CPU cooler
ASUS Z170-A
2X8GB DDR4 (probably 2400Mhz)
250GB SSD
1TB HDD - Unless you have a lot of games 1TB will be more than enough
GTX 1070 - if this is too expensive, consider an RX 480 or GTX 1060 depending on whether you prefer Nvidia or AMD
EVGA GS 550W, G2 550W or G2 650W
Cases are very much a personal taste, so go with whatever will fit your hardware and you like the look of!
 
Thanks both, I'm glad those are two pretty similar suggestions, that helps point me in the right direction a lot!

So I can see that I've probably underspecced the SSD drive a little and overspecced the HDD. I've got a microserver which I'm using (or should be if I'd stop using it as a main pc) for storage, so it shouldn't need to store masses of videos, photos and music.

I've no current plans for overclocking though I wouldn't rule it out in the future. An alternative could be to grab a DEFCON 2s upgrade bundle that is already overclocked for me. £ vs performance on that front I suspect.

I think I can rule out case lights and pretty cases at the moment. My fancy vision for the office doesn't have the PC as a centre point. My son will need a new pc in a year or two and he'll be a little bit older then. Maybe making a cool looking PC will entice him into learning all about the components. Then he can keep up to date instead of me :D

I'll stick with the GTX 1070 for now. The cheapest are about in line with what I would ordinarily pay up to for a graphics card, and I can man maths the price of others in the range once I've worked out how they differ.
 
What case have you got at the moment. The maximum length of the graphics card can be a major issue. Nothing worse than getting a long/tall GPU and finding it won't fit in the case...

The Defcon 2s looks like a pretty decent bundle actually. I'd get the Alpenfohn Matterhorn option with it, which cuts the bundle price by ~£55.
 
I've got an old, basic but probably pretty spacious midi tower case in the loft but am looking to buy a new one. The other case is an Antec Fusion used for my old HTPC which is nice, but not appropriate I don't think.

Looking at the be quiet! Silent Base 800. The graphics card I've picked so far is the MSI GTX 1070 Gaming X, which is 279mm long. The be quiet! case says it can take 290mm cards with the HDD enclosure and 400mm without so looks ok.
 
Sounds sensible, it's only a few quid.

Here's where I am now, slightly random order as I've removed and added stuff:

My basket at Overclockers UK:

Total: £1,367.66
(includes shipping: £0.00)
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I may add a couple of other HDD to add to my server as well but it's not relevant to the build so I've not done that just yet.
 
That cable tie stuff is great. I've got a roll of it somewhere, but it's really handy and re-usable.

I see you've gone down the whole "pimp-my-PC" route with the LEDs!

On the CPU cooler front, I would suggest either the Brocken or Matterhorn. They're easier to fit. I have an 212 EVO and the bracket can be a total pain at times.

Cracking PSU choice, the G2 650W is an excellent unit and will be more than enough for any single GPU setup.

You can probably get rid of the extra SATA leads. The motherboard will come with at least 2 and if you don't have an optical drive, that's all you need.
 
I didn't mean to get fancy lights, but the case was black and orange and having a car with that colour scheme, it's a bit of a weak spot. Only a few quid extra for a bit of fun.

On the cooler front I went with 212 EVO because it had lots of reviews. Now swapped to the Brocken ECO.

Good point on the SATA leads. I wasn't sure if I'd get any (at least one of the drives is OEM) and so left them in because I could always use them with the server. Saying that has made me think about it some more and the server is already wired up for extra drives so don't need them there either.

My basket at Overclockers UK:

Total: £1,358.08
(includes shipping: £0.00)
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That's £9 saved :D

Might add a wheel and joystick and press the check out button... or dig the old joystick out of the garage but I think buying a new one is easier.

Oh and maybe a copy of Windows 10. Using my MSDN subscription might be a bit of a stretch of the terms!
 
Yeah, the Brocken and 212 are pretty similar but the brackets on the EVO can be a pain to line up at times.

Both drives are OEM, but as mentioned, the board comes with at least 2. In case you're unaware, an OEM CPU only has a 1 year warranty, compared to 3 for the retail version.
 
Are the Phanteks Multicolour RGB LED strips compatible with anything other than a few Phanteks cases?

EDIT: Oh the first review/comment says it's compatible with the Hue. Nice.
 
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