Suitable build for an EVGA 1080ti

Cabunag

Member
I just bought an EVGA 1080ti card i feel that my old computer is holding it back a bit.

Its an I7-3820 [email protected] on a Asrock X79 Extreme 4 Motherboard with 16 Gig Ram

I have hear that PCspecialist are are quite good and reliable, so mabye some advice on a build
would be helpful, i am not a Hardcore Gamer with unlimited funds, round about 800 Pounds.

I guess its the CPU motherboard and ram thats most important in the build i already have
a fast SSD drive.

It would be great if the Motherboard could be upgraded with a faster CPU if needed in a few
years, any advice would be greatly appreciated, thank you. 20180423_173018 (1).jpg
 

Scott

Behold The Ford Mondeo
Moderator
Something like this perhaps....

Case
FRACTAL DEFINE S BLACK GAMING CASE (Window)
Overclocked CPU
Overclocked Intel® Core™ i5-8600K Six Core (3.6GHz @ up to 4.6GHz)
Motherboard
ASUS® PRIME Z370-P: ATX, LGA1151, USB 3.1, SATA 6GBs
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
INTEGRATED GRAPHICS ACCELERATOR (GPU)
1st Hard Disk
500GB SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 16MB CACHE
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
NOT REQUIRED
Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W TXm SERIES™ SEMI-MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
Noctua NH-U14S Ultra Quiet Performance CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
COOLER MASTER MASTERGEL MAKER THERMAL COMPOUND
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)
USB Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
NO RECOVERY MEDIA REQUIRED
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 5 to 7 working days
Quantity
1

Price £845.00 including VAT and delivery

Unique URL to re-configure : https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-z370-overclocked/!CVvPnwcx!/


The CPU could be upgraded to the i7 in future but to be honest, it would be better to consider spending the extra just now over upgrading later as it's more cost effective. If your case is half decent you could send that in and that would save you some money :)

Depending on the RAM you have, you could also use this and lower the configuration to the minimum.

I've not included Windows 10 as I presume you already have the installation. That's what has allowed for such a monster spec for the budget.
 

Oussebon

Multiverse Poster
I just bought an EVGA 1080ti

i am not a Hardcore Gamer with unlimited funds

i feel that my old computer is holding it back a bit.
How do you feel the old PC is holding it back? Framerate drops in certain games? What games/ what circumstances?

What else do you use the PC for other than gaming? Any video editing? 3D rendering? What software do you use?

For gaming, what monitor do you use?

It would help to know that to potentially suggest alternative specs :)

It would be great if the Motherboard could be upgraded with a faster CPU if needed in a few years
Yes it would. Unfortunately, Intel seem to generally require a new motherboard for a new generation of CPU - not to mention that in a few years we'll be on DDR5 RAM too. So I would count on a CPU upgrade not being possible, rather than expecting that it will be.

I'd strongly agree with the above that if you were going to go for an i7 CPU upgrade down the line, it would make much, much more sense to just buy it outright now.
 

Cabunag

Member
Many thanks for all the replies here is a benchmark i just run

http://www.userbenchmark.com/UserRun/8525159

The monitor i have just now is a ASUS MG28UQ, 4K (3840x2160) Gaming Monitor, 1ms, DP, HDMI, USB 3.0 , FreeSync, 28 inch

The game i have a problem with is X Plane 11 when running in 4k it can drop to about 20FPS i believe it a hard game to run, the settings where not Ultra

Ashes of Singularity can drop to 40 FPS if it a big game on 4K on 1080 resolution will go over 140FPS

I have Win 10 on it just use it for casual gaming and Web Stuff u usually Play RTS Games Elite Dangerous looks great in 4K

I heard all the hype about this card being able to get over 60 FPS in games, my PC is quite old now, over five years i have had it, perhaps a Motherboard and new CPU with faster ram might help it, or am i expecting just too much
from the card, thanks for your time.
 

Oussebon

Multiverse Poster
The first thing I'd suggest is to completely ignore Userbenchmark. And then ignore it some more for good measure. It's fun, but useless for actually telling you about your PC's performance. Last time I checked it bundled overclocked and stock clocked CPU res.

4k resolution is very demanding on the GPU. Before deciding it's the CPU that's at fault, I'd suggest monitoring CPU and GPU load while gaming, particularly when you get FPS drops.

You can use something like MSI Afterburner to display information on screen, overlayed on top of your game. Make sure to watch the load on each CPU thread (all 8, not just the overall load for the CPU).

If your GPU is at 100% load (which displays as 99% for Nvidia GPUs) when you get FPS drops then there's a fair chance the GPU can't handle those settings in those particular gaming scenarios.

If your GPU is at a lower % of its load, but perhaps the CPU or a single thread of the CPU is at high load, that could indicate a CPU bottleneck.

Also make sure to monitor temperatures and frequencies for both the CPU and the GPU, in case high temps are affecting performance.

The CPU you have is a reasonably old quad core and so it could well be the bottleneck, especially for things like strategy games and simulators where CPU performance can be quite important. But worth checking before you buy anything I'd say, since it costs nothing and since you'll likely want to do a bit of this kind of monitoring on any new system anyway :)
 
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Cabunag

Member
will this be ok for an EVGA 1080ti i have

Case
PCS 6003B BLACK CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i7 Quad Core Processor i7-7700k (4.2GHz) 8MB Cache ()
Motherboard
ASUS® PRIME Z270-K: ATX, LGA1151, USB 3.1, SATA 6GBs
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3000MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
NONE, I ALREADY HAVE A GRAPHICS CARD
1st Hard Disk
500GB SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 16MB CACHE
2nd Hard Disk
2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA PRO 3.5", 7200 RPM 128MB CACHE
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W TXm SERIES™ SEMI-MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
Corsair H60 Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)
USB Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Genuine Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KK3-00002]
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 365
Anti-Virus
BullGuard™ Internet Security - Free 90 Day License inc. Gamer Mode
Browser
Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 4 to 6 working days
Quantity
1

Price £1,046.00 including VAT and delivery

Any comments must welcome
 

Oussebon

Multiverse Poster
It would be a waste of money versus an 8th Gen Intel spec - where an 8th Gen i5 like that in The Scotster's build will give the same performance as a 7th Gen i7 - or better.

The i7 7700k is pretty much entirely obsolete.

Also the case is very basic and will not help the cooling of a powerful and hot GPU like a 1080 ti.

The Pro drives are very expensive and not worth it versus regular HDDs for gaming. You should also be looking at an SSD for your OS + programs/ favourite games. But you can drop the SSD and add one later yourself with no wasted £.

I would still encourage you to do a bit of monitoring on your old system to see where the performance issues are - if only so that you get a better measurement of the performance difference of a new system.

If the budget is ~£1050 then:


Case
FRACTAL DEFINE S BLACK GAMING CASE (Window)
Overclocked CPU
Overclocked Intel® Core™ i7-8700K Six Core (3.7GHz @ up to 4.8GHz)
---FREE Warhammer: Vermintide 2 & XMorph Defense w/ select Intel CPUs!
Motherboard
ASUS® PRIME Z370-P: ATX, LGA1151, USB 3.1, SATA 6GBs
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
INTEGRATED GRAPHICS ACCELERATOR (GPU)
1[SUP]st[/SUP] Hard Disk
250GB WD Blue™ 3D NAND 2.5" SSD, (upto 550MB/sR | 525MB/sW)
2[SUP]nd[/SUP] Hard Disk
2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 64MB CACHE
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
NOT REQUIRED
Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W TXm SERIES™ SEMI-MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
Noctua NH-U14S Ultra Quiet Performance CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
COOLER MASTER MASTERGEL MAKER THERMAL COMPOUND
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)
USB Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
NO RECOVERY MEDIA REQUIRED
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 4 to 6 working days
Quantity
1

Price £1,057.00 including VAT and delivery

Unique URL to re-configure : https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-z370-overclocked/j9!bEA8Z!S/
 
Last edited:
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