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!

 

[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....

 

[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....

 

[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

 

[Arthalen]

Ok, my Stubborn Intel Bone was making me really look at a 7820x, but there's too much coverage on its short comings in terms of Power Draw, heat output and also those VRM temperature issues the X299 boards have / are suffering.

I was willing to pay the price premium for the 7820x and its board, but not with all these cooling issues too, especially if it means more money spent on a cooling solution and a less than stellar case.

So my Reasonable Bone has kicked in, and I'm re-evaluating Ryzen. Besides speedy memory (thank you for the previous explanation), what else do I need to keep my eyes open for? I assume Nvidia cards are perfectly fine, or would Vega be worth looking at again?

I'm looking particularly at the 8 core 1700/1800 parts...

 

[Arthalen]

I think the Apex, Extreme and Aorus Gaming 7 have the coolest VRMs but having to de-lid as expensive CPU :/

Delidding isn't really an option for me, I'd rather have the warranty :/

 

[Arthalen]

Mhhhm.

I got a nice reply from Mr. 8Pack regarding cooling a 7820X, but still thinking Ryzen is the way forward..

 

[Arthalen]

Thread ripper ever tempt you ?

Perhaps, but the 12C and 16C parts are certainly out of my budget range, and does the 8C part really offer that much more than a 1700/1700X/1800X ?

The Vega 56 cards have just shot up in price by £100ish so not that attractive any more.

Noted, thanks.

 

[Arthalen]

ThreadRipper: quad-channel and 64 PCIe lanes
Ryzen: dual-channel and 24 PCIe lanes

Gotcha. So not a huge deal of true use to myself, then.

I've been reading up on a lot of problems about Ryzen related to VMware Workstation, some with workarounds and some issues with no fixes at present. It's enough to start putting me off Ryzen.

Arrgghh.

It seems like every corner I turn there's drawbacks and issues and problems with any of my possible choices.

 

[Arthalen]

@Arthalen: if Ryzen isn't compatible with your application than you have no choice - it has to be Team Blue CPU . The only AMD CPU that is compatible at the moment seems to be their Epyc one.
@BongoHunter: yes, there will be more differences than just those two I listed, good you mentioned it

Oh-tay

Time to suck it up then, and stay with the corporate giants of Intel & Nvidia. *Le Sigh*.

 

[Arthalen]

Just out of interest, as Ive got a licence for vmware workstation - what doesn't work with it?

The main culprit seem to be Linux distros, which I'm forseeing problems with typical enterprise OVF deployed appliances - like VCentre! I have other linux distro-based appliances to test in the home lab as well, including a Meru wireless controller, Citrix Netscalers and some HP JetNexus load balancers. So I don't want to really take that risk and end up waiting on either a BIOS update or for Vmware to update Workstation.

 

[Arthalen]

On a seperate note, I think I have a spec I'm reasonably happy with (for now) and the-power-that-be* could be reasoned with to allow the extra budget (£2K for the PC alone) to still get my monitor of choice.

My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x Intel Core i7-7820X 3.6GHz (Skylake X / Basin Falls) Socket LGA2066 Processor - Retail= £499.99
• 1 x Asus TUF X299 Mark2 (Socket 2066) Intel X299 ATX Motherboard= £229.99
• 1 x Team Group Night Hawk LED 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-24000C16 3000MHz Dual Channel Kit - White Light (THW= £124.99
• 1 x Samsung 960 EVO Polaris 250GB M.2 2280 PCI-e 3.0 x4 NVMe Solid State Drive= £149.99
• 1 x Inno3D GeForce GTX 1080Ti Gaming OC 11264MB GDDR5X PCI-Express Graphics Card (N108T-1SDN-Q6MNX)= £709.99
• 1 x Corsair TX750M 750W 80 Plus Gold Semi Modular Power Supply (CP-9020131-UK)= £102.95
• 1 x Noctua NH-D15 Dual Radiator Quiet CPU Cooler with two NH-A15 Fans= £82.99

Total: £1,912.59
(includes shipping: £11.70)



​

A couple of notes:

• Yes, it only has 16GB of RAM in Dual Channel. That will be remedied immediately at the next pay-day to 32GB, and then gently grow upto 64GB using 2x8GB kits.
• The RAM is on the QVL list for the board - hurrah
• The PSU got a stunning review by JonnyGuru
• Is there a better Cooler? Will I have clearance issues with populating all the ram slots eventually?
• About £100ish left for a case .. I could squeeze £130-50ish if I'm really cheeky. Suggestions?

Thoughts?

 

[Arthalen]

Case really depends on what you prefer - looks, silence, airflow, midi tower or bigger etc. I ended up buying Phanteks Enthoo Pro M Glass because of its great airflow and reviews. But I really like the looks of Phanteks Enthoo ATX Glass and Raijintek Asterion Classic. Unfortunately it's more looks than airflow so I had to pass those two. Dozens of cases to pick from, just go through them all and if something catches your eye read a review. Corsair Obsidian or Crystal Series are popular too.

I think Airflow is my first priority - perhaps something with three fans in front for maximum airflow input? The Corsair Crystal 460X has caught my eye, as has the Fractal Define Meshify C. Checking out the Phantek cases now though...

 

[Arthalen]

The Noctua D15S has better Ram compatibility up to 65mm. You can move the fan up on the D15 although you would need a case big enough to allow for the extra fan height. There are other coolers such as the Alpenfohn Brocken 3 and Cryorig R1 Universal that have good Ram clearance.


My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x Cryorig R1 Universal Dual Tower CPU Heatsink with 140mm Fan - White = £62.99
  • Coloured Trim:Unwanted
  • AM4 Bracket:Unwanted
• 1 x Alpenfohn Brocken 3 CPU Cooler - 140mm= £42.95
• 1 x Noctua NH-D15S Dual Radiator Quiet CPU Cooler= £72.95

Total: £189.39
(includes shipping: £10.50)



​

Thanks for the tip. Air cooling might prove problematic thinking about it, as there will be RAM sticks either side of the CPU socket when fully populated. Need to investigate further.

 

[Arthalen]

He said Any decent air or 240 AIO. I'm inclined to opt for the Air option to help ensure good airflow around the VRMs.

 

[Arthalen]

I've just spotted the Cryorig A40 AIO cooler... with its directable fan on top of the CPU block for specifically keeping airflow up around the CPU socket. Thoughts?

 

[Arthalen]

Just thought I'd post back with where I ended up on my purchase, and how the first week has been.

Intel i7 7820x 8c/16t
Noctua D15
Asus Prime x299 Deluxe
16GB 2x8 Corsair Vengeance LPX 3Ghz
Zotac 1080Ti
Samsung 256GB 960 Pro M2 SSD
Corsair TX750 PSU
Corsair Crystal 460X case
Asus RoG Swift 27" IPS 1440p Monitor
Roccat Cone mouse

Still to buy:
Further 16GB 2x8 Corsair Cengeane LPX
Creative T40 2.0 Speakers

The build was surprisingly easy, despite the massive amount of options offered by the Motherboard and some difficulty with cable routing on case. The cooler is incredible, and fits really well in the with the LPX Ram although upgrading the memory will most likely mean removing the cooler.

Temps are brilliant, no worries there one little bit. CPU temps don't really push above 45deg with this setup, even in Shadow of Mordor.

The SSD and UEFI bios combination is legendary. Booting into Windows takes bare seconds, program loads are next to instant.

The screen is an absolute joy to behold. A little IPS glow, but nothing that colourful, fast moving G-Sync'd games just completely ignores

Speaking of which... Benchmarked Shadow of Mordor at 1440p on absolutely Ultra maxed settings:

Highest FPS: 201 FPS
Average FPS: 141 FPS(!)
Lowest FPS: 67 FPS

It's an absolute joy to play at such graphics quality, with such great responsive frame rates.

Did I pay well over the odds? Yes, yes I did.

Would I do it again? Hell yes.

I'll see if I can get some benchies done comparing this too my old Bloomfield rig. Other than that, thanks for all the advice and seeya in several years when it's time to replace this beast