Advice Needed: Custom Build i7-8700K for Gaming, Video Editing and Design (Adobe CC)

Hi Guys,

It has been a while since I built a PC myself and so thought this time I could use some help. This is the reason I decided upon PC Specialist help build my new PC this time as the current one I am using was built nearly 10 years ago. I felt that if I chosen better components it would save me in the long run as I would not need to upgrade so soon.

As of right now, the main use of the build will be Gaming, Streaming, Video Editing and Design using the Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign etc). I have posted the details of the build below but would like to know whether or not you think certain components could be changed, added or removed entirely? Any help would be very muc apprectiated, thank you.

Case
CORSAIR CRYSTAL SERIES 460X RGB GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i7 Six Core Processor i7-8700k (3.7GHz) 12MB Cache
FREE Warhammer: Vermintide 2 & XMorph Defense w/ select Intel CPUs!
Motherboard
ASUS® ROG MAXIMUS X HERO: ATX, LGA1151, USB 3.1, SATA 6GBs - RGB Ready
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3000MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
8GB ASUS ROG STRIX GEFORCE GTX 1070 Ti - DVI, HDMI, DP
1st Hard Disk
250GB Samsung 860 2.5" EVO SSD, SATA 6Gb/s (upto 550MB/sR | 520MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk
4TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA PRO 3.5", 7200 RPM 128MB CACHE
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
NOT REQUIRED
Power Supply
CORSAIR 550W 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 Cooler w/ PCS Liquid Series Ultra Quiet Fans
Thermal Paste
COOLER MASTER MASTERGEL MAKER THERMAL COMPOUND
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
WIRELESS 802.11 AC1200 867Mbps/5GHz, 300Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD
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 Professional 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence
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 Gold Warranty (2 Year Collect & Return, 2 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
SATURDAY DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (BEFORE 12 NOON)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 3 to 5 working days
Quantity
1

Price £2,313.00 including VAT and delivery

First out the window:

Graphics Card
8GB ASUS ROG STRIX GEFORCE GTX 1070 Ti - DVI, HDMI, DP

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The Asus cards have a huge, ridiculous price premium versus the regular cards, while offering no or barely any extra performance.

For example, the Asus 1070 ti is over £50 more than the non Asus GTX 1080. Just get a non-Asus GTX 1080 and win all around.

In terms of performance:

Motherboard
ASUS® ROG MAXIMUS X HERO: ATX, LGA1151, USB 3.1, SATA 6GBs - RGB Ready

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This motherboard is super, super expensive. Do you need anything it offer than the Gigabyte Ultra Gaming does not? - The Ultra gaming already being very expensive, but a lot less so while still being crammed with features.

1st Hard Disk
250GB Samsung 860 2.5" EVO SSD, SATA 6Gb/s (upto 550MB/sR | 520MB/sW)

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Go for the PM961 M.2 SSD Drive from the M.2 SSD Menu on the basis that it's much faster and little more expensive

2nd Hard Disk
4TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA PRO 3.5", 7200 RPM 128MB CACHE

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The Pro HDDs are very expensive and probably not worth it for your needs since you'd want all your project files and favourite games on the SSD anyway.




The CPU.
For video editing and streaming, it is likely the R7 2700x is a better buy.
For straight gaming, the 8700k wins out. It wins in PS overall, though by a fairly close margin.

See:
Streaming and Gaming: https://www.gamersnexus.net/hwrevie...w-game-streaming-cpu-benchmarks-memory/page-3
Premiere Pro: https://www.techspot.com/review/1613-amd-ryzen-2700x-2600x/page2.html
Photoshop: https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/a...Performance-AMD-Ryzen-2-vs-Intel-8th-Gen-1136

You may want to consider an R7 2700x on an X470 motherboard. Or, if sticking with the i7 8700k, get it pre-overclocked from this configurator: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-z370-overclocked

Processor Cooling
Corsair H60 Hydro Cooler w/ PCS Liquid Series Ultra Quiet Fans

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This cooler will be less effective and more expensive than the Noctua air cooler.

Thanks for the feedback. As of right now, I am not opposed to changing the GFX Card or the Motherboard. I did a little research and the ASUS® ROG MAXIMUS X HERO seemed like a good board. But I would be happy to choose the Gigabyte Ultra Gaming. Althoguh what is your opinion of the ASUS® ROG STRIX Z370-E GAMING and will the Gigabyte Ultra Gaming be a good choice to use with the Adobe Creative Suite?

In regards to the CPU, I was also contemplating getting the Ryzen 7 2700X as it seemed to perform better with multi-tasking and video editing etc. However, I read that there were some update issues when it came to using the Adobe software (maybe I am wrong). This was the reason why I ultimately opted for the i7 was mainly due to avoid any compatibility issues now and in the future.

Go for the PM961 M.2 SSD Drive from the M.2 SSD Menu on the basis that it's much faster and little more expensive

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How do I choose this SSD from the list? From what I can see only the 250GB Samsung 860 2.5" EVO SSD, SATA 6Gb/s (upto 550MB/sR | 520MB/sW) is availble and there are no other options.

Lastly, should I wish to overclock in the near future do you think Noctua air cooler would be sufficient? Could you also recommend an alertnative that would fit with the colour scheme of the build? I don't think the brown of the Noctura will fit with everything else colour wise. Do you think the COOLERMASTER HYPER 212X would be a good option? Thanks again for your help.

How do I choose this SSD from the list? From what I can see only the 250GB Samsung 860 2.5" EVO SSD, SATA 6Gb/s (upto 550MB/sR | 520MB/sW) is availble and there are no other options.

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the M.2 SSD Menu It's a separate menu under the rest of the storage options

I did a little research and the ASUS® ROG MAXIMUS X HERO seemed like a good board. But I would be happy to choose the Gigabyte Ultra Gaming. Althoguh what is your opinion of the ASUS® ROG STRIX Z370-E GAMING and will the Gigabyte Ultra Gaming be a good choice to use with the Adobe Creative Suite?

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In terms of performance, they will all be exactly the same.

The Hero gets good reviews because it's more expensive than Jeremy Clarkson's car insurance and has every feature you can imagine. So it gets nice reviews.

But unless you intend to build a custom loop liquid cooling solution for your PC, you probably don't need tools to measure water flow.
If you're not going to use liquid nitrogen to so extreme overclocking, you don't need a motherboard that has an LN2 mode...
If your case doesn't have USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type C on the front panel (and let's face it, hardly any cases do) you don't need a mobo with support for a front panel USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type C connector...
etc, etc

The Ultra Gaming has:
2 way SLI support (same as Hero X)
2 M.2 slots both capable of support PCIe NVMe SSDs (same as Hero X)
USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type C at the rear (same as Hero X)
8 channel audio (same as Hero X, though with a different chip)
No thunderbolt support (same as Hero X)

etc.

Versus the Ultra Gaming, the Z370E has front panel USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type C support (as above, pointless because your case doesn't and even if it did you don't need this), and onboard 867mbps wifi and bluetooth.

However, it's £35 more than an Ultra Gaming and an AC1200 wifi card. Plus the Z370E also has 1 less USB port.

In other words, I don't think you need or would get any benefit off anything above the Ultra Gaming.

However, I read that there were some update issues when it came to using the Adobe software (maybe I am wrong). This was the reason why I ultimately opted for the i7 was mainly due to avoid any compatibility issues now and in the future.

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I hadn't heard this, though I hadn't been looking for it either. Are you sure it was the R7 2700x and not the first generation of Ryzen when it came out last year? Ryzen was very new and different when it first came out, and various things improved with patches to software, BIOS and microcode updates, etc. I hadn't heard of any new issues specific to the new R7 2700x.

Lastly, should I wish to overclock in the near future do you think Noctua air cooler would be sufficient? Thanks again for your help.

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It would be more than sufficient. However, if overclocking I suggest buying a pre-overclocked system from PCS. The cost difference is about £10, for which you get the overclock ready applied and covered by their warranty.

Thanks again for your advice.

The Ultra Gaming has:
2 way SLI support (same as Hero X)
2 M.2 slots both capable of support PCIe NVMe SSDs (same as Hero X)
USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type C at the rear (same as Hero X)
8 channel audio (same as Hero X, though with a different chip)
No thunderbolt support (same as Hero X)

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So basically, what you're saying is Gigabyte Z370 AORUS Ultra Gaming is exactly the same but for less money? Well that sounds like a good deal then.

It would be more than sufficient. However, if overclocking I suggest buying a pre-overclocked system from PCS. The cost difference is about £10, for which you get the overclock ready applied and covered by their warranty.

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I had a look on the PCS' website once more and the 2700X is not under the Configure Overclocked PCs, from what I can see it only goes up to 1700X. But I am currently creating new quote based on your feedback with an overclocked i7-8700K. Could you also recommend an alertnative that would fit with the colour scheme of the build? I don't think the brown of the Noctura will fit with everything else colour wise. Do you think the COOLERMASTER HYPER 212X would be a good option or maybe something else?

I hadn't heard this, though I hadn't been looking for it either. Are you sure it was the R7 2700x and not the first generation of Ryzen when it came out last year? Ryzen was very new and different when it first came out, and various things improved with patches to software, BIOS and microcode updates, etc. I hadn't heard of any new issues specific to the new R7 2700x.

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Well what I heard was mostly from some friends but maybe you're right and things have changed with the 2700X. Thanks again for your all your help.

It would be more than sufficient. However, if overclocking I suggest buying a pre-overclocked system from PCS. The cost difference is about £10, for which you get the overclock ready applied and covered by their warranty.


I had a look on the PCS' website once more and the 2700X is not under the Configure Overclocked PCs, from what I can see it only goes up to 1700X. But I am currently creating new quote based on your feedback with an overclocked i7-8700K. Could you also recommend an alertnative that would fit with the colour scheme of the build? I don't think the brown of the Noctura will fit with everything else colour wise. Do you think the COOLERMASTER HYPER 212X would be a good option or maybe something else?

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Sorry, my bad, that was a bit ambiguous on my part. If going for the i7 8700k, go for an overclocked system

As you say, PCS don't offer the R7 2700x overclocked, possibly as the performance gains are a little more complicated than with Intel CPUs. Or possibly because it's still quite new and they didn't offer overclocked Ryzen gen 1 CPUs for ages. I dunno

Could you also recommend an alertnative that would fit with the colour scheme of the build? I don't think the brown of the Noctura will fit with everything else colour wise. Do you think the COOLERMASTER HYPER 212X would be a good option or maybe something else?

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The CM212x might be a little bit low-end for an overclocked i7. If not the Noctua, then the H100i.

The H100i's stock fans can apparently be quite loud (though they are very good). If you're particularly sensitive to noise, you may want to go for the one with the PCS quiet fans.

So basically, what you're saying is Gigabyte Z370 AORUS Ultra Gaming is exactly the same but for less money? Well that sounds like a good deal then.

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Pretty much.

Do check what the others have to offer if you like, in case there's something very niche that you need that I haven't thought of. But in general the Ultra Gaming will give people all the features they need and more, without costing any more than it has to.

As you say, PCS don't offer the R7 2700x overclocked, possibly as the performance gains are a little more complicated than with Intel CPUs. Or possibly because it's still quite new and they didn't offer overclocked Ryzen gen 1 CPUs for ages. I dunno

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Ok, no problem. I just thought I was missing something like when I couldn't spot the PM961 M.2 SSD Drive.

Do check what the others have to offer if you like, in case there's something very niche that you need that I haven't thought of. But in general the Ultra Gaming will give people all the features they need and more, without costing any more than it has to.

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Thank you and based on what you have said I have made quite a few changes to the build. But I am happy to wait to see if anyone else has any other input before purchasing everything tomorrow. However one last thing, do you happen to know anything about the PCS SR-621GG TEMPERED GLASS CASE? It looks quite similar to the CORSAIR CRYSTAL SERIES 460X RGB GAMING CASE but is around £20 cheaper.

Although, this is what the build looks like so far. Once again any feedback you may have is very much appreciated. Thanks again

Case
CORSAIR CRYSTAL SERIES 460X RGB GAMING CASE or PCS SR-621GG TEMPERED GLASS CASE

Overclocked CPU
Overclocked Intel® Core™ i7-8700K Six Core (3.7GHz @ up to 4.8GHz)

Motherboard
Gigabyte Z370 AORUS Ultra Gaming: ATX, LG1151, USB 3.1, SATA 6GBs - RGB Ready

Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3000MHz (2 x 16GB)

Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1080 - DVI, HDMI, 3x DP - GeForce GTX VR Ready!

2nd Hard Disk
5TB SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 128MB CACHE

1st M.2 SSD Drive
256GB SAMSUNG PM961 M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 2800MB/R, 1100MB/W)

Power Supply
CORSAIR 550W TXm SERIES™ SEMI-MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET

Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)

Processor Cooling
Corsair H100i V2 Hydro Cooler w/ PCS Liquid Series Ultra Quiet Fans

Thermal Paste
COOLER MASTER MASTERGEL MAKER THERMAL COMPOUND

Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)

Wireless/Wired Networking
WIRELESS 802.11 AC1200 867Mbps/5GHz, 300Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD

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 Professional 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence

Warranty
3 Year Gold Warranty (2 Year Collect & Return, 2 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)

Price £2,187.00 including VAT and delivery

Unique URL to re-configure : https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-z370-overclocked/!8TPvazk7v/


or


Case
CORSAIR CRYSTAL SERIES 460X RGB GAMING CASE or PCS SR-621GG TEMPERED GLASS CASE

Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 7 2700X Eight Core CPU (3.7GHz-4.35GHz/20MB CACHE/AM4)

Motherboard
Gigabyte X470 AORUS Ultra Gaming: ATX, USB 3.1, SATA 6GBs - RGB Ready

Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3000MHz (2 x 16GB)

Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1080 - DVI, HDMI, 3x DP - GeForce GTX VR Ready!

2nd Hard Disk
4TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 5400RPM, 256MB CACHE

1st M.2 SSD Drive
256GB SAMSUNG PM961 M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 2800MB/R, 1100MB/W)

Power Supply
CORSAIR 550W TXm SERIES™ SEMI-MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET

Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)

Processor Cooling
CoolerMaster Hyper 212X (120mm) Fan 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
WIRELESS 802.11 AC1200 867Mbps/5GHz, 300Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD

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 Professional 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence

Warranty
3 Year Gold Warranty (2 Year Collect & Return, 2 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)

Price £2,013.00 including VAT and delivery

Unique URL to re-configure : https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-pc/4uvEKTfNJV/

However one last thing, do you happen to know anything about the PCS SR-621GG TEMPERED GLASS CASE?

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I believe it's an OEM case made by Solleron. I'm sure it's fine but you aren't likely to find many reviews of it online as a result. Since it's aimed at companies like PCS to use rather than also being widely available for individual enthusiasts, hardware websites are unlikely to have reviewed the SR-621GG

Also the fans are LED only, not RGB LED.

Either spec is a very valid option.

Note in the AMD build you went with a 4tb regular HDD rather than 5TB (the 4tb regular HDDs sold by PCS, curiously, are 5400rpm rather than 7200rpm).

Note in the AMD build you went with a 4tb regular HDD rather than 5TB (the 4tb regular HDDs sold by PCS, curiously, are 5400rpm rather than 7200rpm).

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Yes, you're right, this is a mistake as I too noticed that the speed was 5400rpm and not 7200rpm and so I opted for 5TB.

Also the fans are LED only, not RGB LED.

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I had to look up what the difference is between LED and RGB but from what I saw the LED lights are just one colour and cannot change independently like RGB. However, from the webiste below it appears I can choose which colour I want the LED to be i.e. white?
http://www.solleron.com.tw/product_sr621gg.php

Lastly, I had a look at the Threadripper 1900X and it doesn't seem to be that much more. Do you think this CPU is worth the money compared to the i7-8700k or Ryzen 7 2700x? I went ahead and put a build together but from what I could see the components I could choose were limited compared to the other builds which was slightly disappointing.

Case
COOLERMASTER MASTERCASE MC600P GAMING CASE

Overclocked CPU
Overclocked AMD Threadripper 1900X 8 Core (3.8GHz @ up to 4.0GHz)

Motherboard
ASUS® PRIME X399-A (DDR4, 6Gb/s, CrossFireX/SLI) - RGB Ready!

Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3000MHz (2 x 16GB)

Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1080 - DVI, HDMI, 3x DP - GeForce GTX VR Ready!

2nd Hard Disk
5TB SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 128MB CACHE

1st M.2 SSD Drive
256GB SAMSUNG PM961 M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 2800MB/R, 1100MB/W)

Power Supply
CORSAIR 1000W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET (The 850W is out of stock :/)

Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)

Processor Cooling
Corsair H100i V2 Hydro Cooler w/ PCS Liquid Series Ultra Quiet Fans

Thermal Paste
COOLER MASTER MASTERGEL MAKER THERMAL COMPOUND

Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)

Wireless/Wired Networking
WIRELESS 802.11 AC1200 867Mbps/5GHz, 300Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD

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 Professional 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence

Warranty
3 Year Gold Warranty (2 Year Collect & Return, 2 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)

Price £2,441.00 including VAT and delivery

Unique URL to re-configure : https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations//yqYPvQVWtj/

Do you think this CPU is worth the money compared to the i7-8700k or Ryzen 7 2700x?

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Absolutely not. It's slower than an R7 2700x. The only reason to go for it would be if you needed more PCIe lanes off the motherboard, which you won't.

The 1900x is pretty much the same as the 1800x, except that it fits the X399 motherboards. The 1800x is made obsolete by the 2700x. Not to mention the huge extra expense, while getting a slower CPU.

I'd stick to either the 8700k (overclocked) on the Z370 platform, or the R7 2700x on X470.

Absolutely not. It's slower than an R7 2700x. The only reason to go for it would be if you needed more PCIe lanes off the motherboard, which you won't.

The 1900x is pretty much the same as the 1800x, except that it fits the X399 motherboards. The 1800x is made obsolete by the 2700x. Not to mention the huge extra expense, while getting a slower CPU.

I'd stick to either the 8700k (overclocked) on the Z370 platform, or the R7 2700x on X470.

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Ha ok, no problem. I will follow your advice, thanks again!

The fans on the SR-621GG are white and you can't change the colour as far as I know. The Corsair 460x has RGB LED fans, which you can control the colour of.

LED means just 1 colour. RGB LED means you can change the colour.

Oussebon said:

The fans on the SR-621GG are white and you can't change the colour as far as I know. The Corsair 460x has RGB LED fans, which you can control the colour of.

LED means just 1 colour. RGB LED means you can change the colour.

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Thanks again for your help as I have now ordered everything. I went with the overclocked 8700k with The Corsair 460x case.

Sounds good - keep us posted with how you find it once it arrives, if you have the time