Spec me a gaming PC for £1,500

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So looking to move away from my MacBook Pro and into the world of gaming PC's.
I have around £1,500 to spend on the PC. With a budget of £2,000 I would imagine this would leave me with enough left over for a decent monitor, keyboard, mouse and OS? Please let me know if not!!

Having a look around ************ I've seen this system, what do people think of it and where could I improve on it?
Thanks.

Intel - Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor
Corsair - H100i v2 70.7 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler
Gigabyte - GA-Z170X-Gaming 7 ATX LGA1151
Avexir - Core Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400
Crucial - MX300 525GB 2.5" Solid State Drive
Western Digital - Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5"
EVGA - GeForce GTX 1080 8GB FTW Gaming ACX 3.0
Define R5 - Midi Tower Case
Corsair - RMx 750W 80+ Gold

Also, as a first build in about 10 years I'm not sure how confident I am with the water cooled setup, any other suggestions?
 
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I'd suggest deciding on a monitor (or a few monitor options) before deciding on the rest of the build. The monitor will deliver the experience, the PC will power it. Just as an example - that build would be overpowered for a 1080p monitor. Likewise, say you could squeeze in a 24-27" 2560x1440 120+Hz Gsync, and had to drop down to a GTX 1070 for now, it might be worth it (and bearing in mind the most common upgrade throughout the life of a gaming PC is video card/s, as their performance improves by greater leaps and bounds every year or two).

As far as that spec goes, there are newer Intel KabyLake CPUs (e.g. i7-7700K) and Z270 motherboards. Memory you should aim for 3000/3200MHz as a few games do benefit. PSU a quality 550W will do for a single card, 750W for 2 x GTX 1080s but a bit tight for 2 x GTX 1080Tis (with CPU and GPU overclocking). The trend is now a single powerful card instead of SLI/CrossFire, as some games don't play well (or at all) with two cards, and a single GPU (GTX 1080Ti) is now powerful enough to run games well at even 4K resolution. Mounting a liquid cooler can often be easier than mounting a big air cooler. If it goes above the video card, i.e. on the top, then a video card with a backplate can offer some protection in case of a rare leak.

You should also consider AMD Ryzen 6-core or 8-core CPU. Suggest you read some reviews and weigh the pros and cons v Intel 7700K.

So if you can list a few monitors that catch your eye, and their price (without linking to OcUK competitors), we can suggest some PC specs with what's left in the total budget. I'd aim for monitors around £500, give or take. Some examples below:

My basket at Overclockers UK:

Total: £2,517.45
(includes shipping: £22.50)



​
 
If you're deadest on Intel then I'd look at a 7700k with a z270 motherboard. Much the same as the 6700k and Z170, but a newer generation so its a little faster overclocks a little better and the motherboards have newer features. If you're not super fussed about the Intel branding its worth thinking about an AMD 1600, core for core, clock for clock its a little slower than the Intel, but a fair bit cheaper with more cores and with them better performance in multi-threaded applications and multitasking.
 
This example build with Ryzen 6-core (air cooled) and GTX 1080 would leave you just about enough for the best-priced Dell S2716DG you can find:

My basket at Overclockers UK:

Total: £1,509.86
(includes shipping: £14.10)



​


SLI would not be an option with this PSU and motherboard.
 
My basket at Overclockers UK:

Total: £1,551.78
(includes shipping: £14.10)





No SLI possible with this PSU and motherboard either. Smaller SSD and HDD. Non-modular PSU and cheaper cooler (still decent for a mild OC).​
 
Okay so this is the spec I am now working with and attempting to get it closer to the £2k budget (including monitor).

CPU Intel - Core i7-7700K 4.2GHz Quad-Core Processor
CPU Cooler Corsair - H100i v2 70.7 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler
Motherboard Asus - STRIX Z270-E GAMING ATX LGA1151 Motherboard
Memory Corsair - Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3200 Memory
Storage Samsung - 960 EVO 250GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive
Storage Seagate - Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
Video Card Asus - GeForce GTX 1080 8GB STRIX Video Card
Case NZXT - S340 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case
Power Supply EVGA - SuperNOVA G2 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply
Operating System Microsoft - Windows 10 Pro OEM 64-bit
Monitor Dell - S2716DG 27.0" 2560x1440 144Hz Monitor
Total £2220.04

There is also this spec with slightly cheaper components but it has an IPS monitor.

CPU Intel - Core i7-7700K 4.2GHz Quad-Core Processor
CPU Cooler Corsair - H100i v2 70.7 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler
Motherboard MSI - Z270 KRAIT GAMING ATX LGA1151 Motherboard
Memory Corsair - Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3200 Memory
Storage Samsung - 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive
Storage Seagate - Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
Video Card EVGA - GeForce GTX 1080 8GB ACX 3.0 Video Card
Case NZXT - S340 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case
Power Supply EVGA - SuperNOVA G2 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply
Operating System Microsoft - Windows 10 Pro OEM 64-bit
Monitor Acer - XB271HU bmiprz 27.0" 2560x1440 165Hz Monitor
Total £2032.59

Any suggestions on either of these?
Thanks again.
 
So I've done a bit more tinkering in order to get this below the £2,000 budget.
Any suggestions on the following?

Intel - Core i5-7600K 3.8GHz Quad-Core Processor
Cooler Master - Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler
Asus - PRIME Z270-A ATX LGA1151 Motherboard
Corsair - Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3200 Memory
Samsung - 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive
Seagate - Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
EVGA - GeForce GTX 1080 8GB FTW Gaming ACX 3.0 Video Card
NZXT - S340 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case
EVGA - SuperNOVA G2 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply
Acer - XB271HU bmiprz 27.0" 2560x1440 165Hz Monitor
TOTAL £1914.10
 
Go with Ryzen over an i5 imo.


My basket at Overclockers UK:

Total: £1,928.57
(includes shipping: £14.70)



​
 
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