Spec Me a £2400 Gaming Rig

[Arthalen]

As title, but has to include a monitor. Base requirements:

• Gaming is Priority 1
  • I'd like to game at 2560x1440, 16:9, with high Hz and with some kind of Sync technology
  • A monitor recommendation is needed. I'm currently inclined towards a Asus Swift PG278QR, unless there is a better recommendation out there.
  • Gaming is mainly FPS games, with some 3rd person RPGs, MMOs and Elite Dangerous thrown in.
    
• I will also use the PC for some VMware workstation work, namely 4x ESXi servers for lab testing VMware technologies
  • This benefits from CPU Mhz as much as Core count, there's no need to go overboard on the core count. Remember Priority 1 above.
  • 32GB Ram please, with a view to going to 64GB in the (near) future
    
• Other notes:
  • Large budget is to make the platform last for a good 5-6 years like my current i7 950, bar any future graphics card upgrades needed for future games
  • Storage wise, I'd like 1x M2 SSD with a view to going to 2 of them in the (near) future.
  • I also have a pair of OCZ Arc 240GB 6Gb/s SSDs that I want to mount, for a total of 4 drives
  • Happy with an external DVD/RW for the occasional DVD watch. I tend to buy a lot of CDs and rip them for my iPhone - old fashioned I know, but I like collecting CDs

Outside of this budget, I'd like a recommendation on:

• A Cracking gaming mouse. It doesn't need Super Hi DPI, but I have large meat-hook style hands that need something comfortable and accurate for FPS play. Currently have a Razer Mamba that isn't quite big enough and is going faulty on me, set at 1800 DPI.
  
  
• A nice set of 2.0 Speakers for my desk. I've been eyeing up the Creative Gigaworks T40s for years, but wondered if there something better for my CD collection to sound through?

Have at that little lot, you expert OcUK'ers!

 

[orbitalwalsh]

@Arthalen

One a quoted another member

https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/posts/31172371/

Looking at more details of your special needs to be heavily tweaked , but from a gaming point of view- you get the rough idea

 

[David Bisset]

I'll leave most of it to others, but as someone with jumbo hands I find the mionix naos 7000 excellent.

 

[maltrabob]

CPU: any Ryzen 7 six core will do for WQHD resolution gaming
DDR4: i would go for 3200 Mhz as total minimum, you'll need 16GB sticks if you want to go 64GB so it's either G.Skill Trident Z or Corsair Vengeance, but looking at the prices you can forget it as it would consume 1/3 of your budget instantly
MoBo: any high-end board based on X370 chipset (Gaming 7, CH6, Taichi etc.)
SSD: M2 have tendency to overheat when close to GPU and it can affect their performance, I would stick to wired 6G
GPU: GTX 1070, GTX 1080, GTX 1080 Ti as sadly AMD has nothing to offer at the moment
LCD: if you need some kind of sync and go Nvidia then be prepared to fork out quite a premium for G-Sync monitor. Monitors supporting AMD's FreeSync tech are cheaper but there isn't a good GPU to pair it with atm.
Mouse: Corsair M65 FPS or PRO
Speakers: Audioengine A2+ or Q Acoustics BT3

 

[Arthalen]

Thanks for the advice so far, everyone.

DDR4: i would go for 3200 Mhz as total minimum, you'll need 16GB sticks if you want to go 64GB so it's either G.Skill Trident Z or Corsair Vengeance, but looking at the prices you can forget it as it would consume 1/3 of your budget instantly

This caught my eye - care to explain a little? Does Ryzen really want/need really fast ram to get the best out of it?

At the moment, I'm weighing up options between an 1800X and a i7-7820X, and it may come down to price - if I save on CPU (£100?) & Motherboard (£50-£75?) but then have to fork out a bunch more on memory, it may end up being a wash....

 

[StarShock]

The whole ryzen faster memory thing isn't really as important as people make it sound. Its absolutely true that you see more of a boost from faster memory than you see with intel, but at most its a couple % and you get diminishing returns from higher than 3200, the sweet spot is 3000 - 3200 memory. So its not like its not going to work with slower memory, its really just a case of not wanting to leave some performance on the table. If you can get more performance for an extra few quid on a faster memory kit then hey, go for it. It also becomes more difficult to get high speed when you're using bigger memory kits, so the sweet spot of cost to performance goes down further. If you're determined to use 16gb kits its likely not worth the cost to go faster than 3000mhz

 

[orbitalwalsh]

^^^ depends on application, gaming I've found nothing . Recently done build for a friend's Raytracing Ryzen 7 machine and can save off a few hours off renders that take at least 24 hours ....

 

[StarShock]

I do think though if you're looking at going as high as 64gb of ram I would seriously consider one of the HEDT platforms, if for nothing other than the quad channel memory.

 

[Quartz]

I will also use the PC for some VMware workstation work, namely 4x ESXi servers for lab testing VMware technologies

Do you mean that you will be connecting to 4 different servers or that you will be running 4 VMs? If the latter, I strongly suggest you buy a second box for your VMs.

 

[Arthalen]

Do you mean that you will be connecting to 4 different servers or that you will be running 4 VMs? If the latter, I strongly suggest you buy a second box for your VMs.

I'll be running 4 VM'd ESXi Servers within Workstation, with an initial allocation 12GB/6GB/4GB/4GB of RAM, hence my want for 32GB of RAM. With my current Rig having 24GB in a 6x4GB config, I'm <seriously> limited with what I can do outside of the VCenter Host as I'm running it in a 10GB/4GB/4GB/2GB config at the moment. I'd like to eventually get to a place where I can host a NSX lab properly alongside some Windows Server OSes, meaning I likely need to go above 32GB in the Rig upto 64GB so I have plenty of room for the Lab and for running my OS.

I don't have the budget, space, or WAF* for a 2nd box for this kind work, and since a gaming rig with double the ram serves perfectly for a home Vmware lab.

An important note I suppose is that the lab isn't on 24/7, I get specific training days from work where I'll spend my time tinkering. Evening / Weekends its all Gaming and a little Surfing.

*Wife Acceptance Factor. Inversely proportional to Waggro, I find....

 

[orbitalwalsh]

Mmm thread ripper..even if it's just the 1900x 8 core 16 threads which is roughly £50 more then x370 1800x 8 core 16 thread version .
Least you can run a lot of ram

 

[Quartz]

I'll be running 4 VM'd ESXi Servers within Workstation,

So you're going to be running VMs inside VMs?

 

[ExoMale]

maybe with alterations somewhere then you could fit your 27" desired screen in to the mix.

My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x 8Pack Approved - Elite Tier Ryzen 7 Asus Bundle: AMD 1700 @ 3.90GHz = £654.79
  • Memory:Team Group Dark T-Force 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-24000C16 3000MHz Dual Channel Kit - Grey (TDGED416G300
• 1 x Zotac GeForce GTX 1080Ti Mini 11264MB GDDR5X PCI-Express Graphics Card (ZT-P10810G-10P)= £698.99
• 1 x Crucial MX300 525GB SSD M2 2280 6Gbps 3D Nand Solid State Drive (CT525MX300SSD4)= £149.99
• 1 x Asus External Slimline DVD Re-Writer, USB, 8x, Black, Cyberlink Power2Go 7 - Black (SDRW-08D2S-U LIT= £22.99
• 1 x XFX XTR Series 750W 80 Plus Gold Fully Modular Power Supply= £119.99
• 2 x Phanteks Eclipse P400 Midi Tower Case - Gun Metal Window= £64.99
• 1 x Cooler Master Devastator II Combo, Blue LED, Keyboard and Mouse Bundle= £27.95
• 1 x Creative Gigaworks T40 Series II 2.0 Speaker System (51MF1615AA003)= £99.95
• 1 x AOC AGON AG241QG 24" 2560 x 1440 TN G-Sync 165Hz Widescreen LED Multimedia Monitor - Black/Red= £449.99

Total: £2,388.16
(includes shipping: £33.54)



​

 

[David Bisset]

Don't know much about your specific VM use but could probably use memory deduplication to reduce VMs RAM footprint? Less secure if they were shared with outside parties but doesn't sound like that's the case.

 

[orbitalwalsh]

@ExoMale swap mini for black OC Ti, views of the To mini are loud and hot and throttles . Only worth it for itx build

Kitguru has a review up

 

[Arthalen]

First of all, I just realised that my Sig is actually out of date. I currently run a X5650 @ 3.0Ghz, not an i7 950 - same generation of tech, but its a 6C/12C server processor, not the quad core that the 950 was.

So you're going to be running VMs inside VMs?

Yep, as I currently do now, I just need more RAM to do more with it for VSAN and NSX testing.

Don't know much about your specific VM use but could probably use memory deduplication to reduce VMs RAM footprint? Less secure if they were shared with outside parties but doesn't sound like that's the case.

This is a little complicated to explain - ESXi works very well at shared memory between VMs, by unallocating memory not in use. I.E if your VM on ESXi is only using 2.5GB out of 4GB, then its only using 2.5GB out of the ESXi Hosts memory. However, those ESXi VMs themselves really need to have exclusive memory given to them in first place, because trying to share memory in the Workstation product is just a steam roll into huge performance problems with it all. Essentially, despite the two levels of virtualisation, if you give your VMs with in ESXi the full amount of RAM, it works incredibly well.

maybe with alterations somewhere then you could fit your 27" desired screen in to the mix.

My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x 8Pack Approved - Elite Tier Ryzen 7 Asus Bundle: AMD 1700 @ 3.90GHz = £654.79
  • Memory:Team Group Dark T-Force 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-24000C16 3000MHz Dual Channel Kit - Grey (TDGED416G300
• 1 x Zotac GeForce GTX 1080Ti Mini 11264MB GDDR5X PCI-Express Graphics Card (ZT-P10810G-10P)= £698.99
• 1 x Crucial MX300 525GB SSD M2 2280 6Gbps 3D Nand Solid State Drive (CT525MX300SSD4)= £149.99
• 1 x Asus External Slimline DVD Re-Writer, USB, 8x, Black, Cyberlink Power2Go 7 - Black (SDRW-08D2S-U LIT= £22.99
• 1 x XFX XTR Series 750W 80 Plus Gold Fully Modular Power Supply= £119.99
• 2 x Phanteks Eclipse P400 Midi Tower Case - Gun Metal Window= £64.99
• 1 x Cooler Master Devastator II Combo, Blue LED, Keyboard and Mouse Bundle= £27.95
• 1 x Creative Gigaworks T40 Series II 2.0 Speaker System (51MF1615AA003)= £99.95
• 1 x AOC AGON AG241QG 24" 2560 x 1440 TN G-Sync 165Hz Widescreen LED Multimedia Monitor - Black/Red= £449.99

Total: £2,388.16
(includes shipping: £33.54)
​

This is really nice, I appreciate the effort put in. I have a cracking Keyboard already, a Ducky Zero MX Red that has stood the test of time over the last 4 years and is still flying strong. Not sure why I need two cases

 

[ExoMale]

@ExoMale swap mini for black OC Ti, views of the To mini are loud and hot and throttles . Only worth it for itx build

Kitguru has a review up

ah right okay good to know cheers, was the cheapest in stock that wasnt a reference model is the only reason for that choice, the case would accommodate the bigger versions anyways, was just thinking budget like

 

[ExoMale]

First of all, I just realised that my Sig is actually out of date. I currently run a X5650 @ 3.0Ghz, not an i7 950 - same generation of tech, but its a 6C/12C server processor, not the quad core that the 950 was.



Yep, as I currently do now, I just need more RAM to do more with it for VSAN and NSX testing.



This is a little complicated to explain - ESXi works very well at shared memory between VMs, by unallocating memory not in use. I.E if your VM on ESXi is only using 2.5GB out of 4GB, then its only using 2.5GB out of the ESXi Hosts memory. However, those ESXi VMs themselves really need to have exclusive memory given to them in first place, because trying to share memory in the Workstation product is just a steam roll into huge performance problems with it all. Essentially, despite the two levels of virtualisation, if you give your VMs with in ESXi the full amount of RAM, it works incredibly well.



This is really nice, I appreciate the effort put in. I have a cracking Keyboard already, a Ducky Zero MX Red that has stood the test of time over the last 4 years and is still flying strong. Not sure why I need two cases

ha fair enough, i know you asked for a mouse, just put a bundle for an option, ive only ever had one proper gaming mouse and was a razor brand, did well till the cord at the mouse part started breaking, thing was too fast for me, so im not good suggesting those items.. i use a white wireless HP k/b & mouse from some old fancy desktop i assume lol

ha good eye, i didnt realize it had selected it as i clicked and nothing happened so did it again, well you might fancy 2 systems or one case might have issues or missing things ha

 

[BongoHunter]

I'm not sure what to advise on the monitor front, but that AOC from a previous reply looks like good value.

I've recently moved from a long lived x5660 system and wanted another system that would last a while - so went for threadripper.
Loads of PCI-E expansion for future upgrades, and can get up to 128 gb of RAM - though the below memory selection could be swapped to 4x8GB to benefit from quad channel, but you mentioned a future upgrade - and 16GB sticks will let you hit the boards maximum eventually.
This is slightly over budget with a monitor thrown in I would think, but definitely meet your longevity requirement. Mobo's dont need loads of integrated features on threadripper systems, as you have loads of room for expansion, though the board below still has 2xM2 and a decent Intel NIC.

My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x AMD Ryzen Threadripper Eight Core 1900X 4.00GHz (Socket TR4) Processor - Retail= £518.99
• 1 x Asus Prime X399-A AMD X399 (Socket TR4) E-ATX Motherboard= £289.99
• 1 x Corsair Vengeance LPX 32GB (2x16GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C16 3200MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black (CMK32GX4M2D3= £299.99
• 1 x Phanteks Enthoo Pro Mid Tower Case - Black= £87.95
• 1 x Palit GeForce GTX 1080 Jetstream 8192MB GDDR5X PCI-Express Graphics Card= £499.99
• 1 x XFX XTR Series 750W 80 Plus Gold Fully Modular Power Supply= £119.99
• 1 x Samsung 960 EVO Polaris 500GB M.2 2280 PCI-e 3.0 x4 NVMe Solid State Drive= £229.99
• 1 x Noctua NH-U14S TR4-SP3 CPU Cooler - 140mm= £74.99

Total: £2,134.18
(includes shipping: £12.30)



​

If you do go threadripper, make sure whatever memory you get is on the QVL for the motherboard - or at least well reported to work.

 

[maltrabob]

This caught my eye - care to explain a little? Does Ryzen really want/need really fast ram to get the best out of it?
At the moment, I'm weighing up options between an 1800X and a i7-7820X, and it may come down to price - if I save on CPU (£100?) & Motherboard (£50-£75?) but then have to fork out a bunch more on memory, it may end up being a wash....

Ryzen's memory scales well up to 3466 MHz based on tests I looked at in the past. Also you can see more benefits with tighter timings over higher frequencies. I looked into memory kits again and can recommend you this 64 GB kit which is a good compromise of speed, timings and value: https://www.overclockers.co.uk/cors...00mhz-quad-channel-kit-red-led-my-48m-cs.html

It says it is a quad-channel but that is only a language of marketing, you can run it in a dual-channel configuration flawlessly. Also, you absolutely don't need to pay extra for ThreadRipper and expensive motherboard that comes with it and you don't need a R7 1800X either. Best value now is either R7 1700 or R7 1700X (I would get the latter as it now sits at the price point where R7 1700 was sitting a few weeks back). Quad-channel in real life scenarios has very little advantage over dual-channel, in my opinion it's not worth the extra cash unless you are running applications that are heavily dependent on memory bandwidth.


Some interesting articles to look at:

https://community.amd.com/community...emory-oc-showdown-frequency-vs-memory-timings

https://www.pcworld.com/article/298...e-shocking-truth-about-their-performance.html

//regarding your speakers: I think those Creative Gigaworks T40 Series II speakers are really good so you don't need to spend £200 for those I posted