Confused

Guys , I am looking to buy a new Desk top PC , Predominantly for gaming . Something that will enable me to play games maxed out on all settings and will perform well at least for the foreseeable future
Trouble is I have no idea what components are best ... I was thinking about something with an i9 processor with 3 graphics cards and liquid cooling . But then I could be wasting my Money judging by some of the comments I have read in threads so far .
Then I recall one person suggested posting a price tag and asking you guys to suggest a build , which I thought was a great idea and so I decided to try ......

£5000
performance and sound quality mean a lot to me
I would be using a 4G smart tv as a monitor
the man o war head set
I would be using the PC predominantly for Gaming , but also a little Video editing and graphic design ( amature stuff not proffessional )
any and all help and suggestions are greatly appretiated

It would probably help to know what games in particular you'd like to play, that can make a difference to the spec...

Oh, and welcome to the fora!

I was thinking about something with an i9 processor with 3 graphics cards and liquid cooling . But then I could be wasting my Money judging by some of the comments I have read in threads so far .

Click to expand...

I think that would be a bit of a waste of money.

1) modern gaming doesn't really support multi GPU setups beyond 2 GPUs. 3 GPUs would only be useful for professional uses like 3D rendering. Even video editing often will see no real benefit from more than 1 GPU, though it depends on the software and the work being done. 2 GPUs, maybe - 3, right out.

2) An i9 CPU isn't the best gaming CPU available. An i7 8700k would generally outperform it. An i9's strength is its 10+ cores, whereas many games don't even take advantage of the 6 cores an i7 8700k offers. And the 8700k has higher frequencies, which in general games do like. Video editing can benefit from an i9's cores, however sometimes an i7 8700k's integrated graphics (which the i9 lacks) can be leveraged to actually give similar or better performance than an i9. So I'm not convinced the i9 is your best play.

3) There are 2 kinds of liquid cooling. Closed loop, sealed units which are very common, very effective, and need no special maintenance beyond the regular dusting etc any PC needs. The open loop liquid cooled solutions are hundreds and hundreds of £ more expensive, and ultimately not necessary for a PC with these kinds of uses. They do have some merits, but arguably not that outweigh the huge costs. Also they require special maintenance.

As for the sound quality, I would suggest sticking with the onboard sound which is quite decent. See how you find this. If you decide it's lacking, then you should investigate external DACs and proper hi-fi gear instead of gamer-marketed sound cards. Also, with a multi GPU system the fewer additional expansion cards inside the case the better, probably.

The system below proposes 2 x GTX 1080 tis. You need to be aware of 2 things:
a) new GPUs are rumoured to be launching this summer, with the most recent saying 30th August. These will generally offer more performance for a lower price than the previous generation -ti model. So you may want to wait.
b) not all games will benefit from multiple GPUs. See: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/foru...-Hardware-FAQs&p=397288&viewfull=1#post397288 for some information.



Case
CORSAIR CARBIDE SERIES™ AIR 540 GAMING 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
Get £25 Restaurant Choice Voucher w/ select GIGABYTE Motherboards!
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
11GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1080 Ti - HDMI, 3x DP GeForce - GTX VR Ready!
2[SUP]nd[/SUP] Graphics Card
11GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1080 Ti - HDMI, 3x DP GeForce - GTX VR Ready!
1[SUP]st[/SUP] Hard Disk
3TB SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 64MB CACHE
1[SUP]st[/SUP] M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SAMSUNG 970 EVO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3400MB/R, 2500MB/W)
The Crew 2 FREE with select SAMSUNG NVMe SSDs!
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
NOT REQUIRED
Power Supply
CORSAIR 850W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
Corsair H115i PRO 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 802.11N 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 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KUK-00001]
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 (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
BullGuard™ Internet Security - Free 90 Day License inc. Gamer Mode
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 12 to 14 working days
Quantity
1

Price £3,095.00 including VAT and delivery

Unique URL to re-configure : https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-z370-overclocked/HyEuPqb49A/

Thank you for your quick reply , Plenty of good advice and very much appretiated , I will review all you have said and make a decision when I return from My pending holiday ( 14 days from sat 28/07/2018 ) Obviously I will be very quiet on here for those 14 days so anyone posting a reply after saturday please dont think me rude for not replying ...I will read all when I return . Many thanks in advance ... BTW the Build looks great and I take on board about the pend new GPU ... For that reason I will think on it till I get back :yes:

Sounds good, have a nice holiday and keep us posted

Oldguy said:

Thank you for your quick reply , Plenty of good advice and very much appretiated , I will review all you have said and make a decision when I return from My pending holiday ( 14 days from sat 28/07/2018 ) Obviously I will be very quiet on here for those 14 days so anyone posting a reply after saturday please dont think me rude for not replying ...I will read all when I return . Many thanks in advance ... BTW the Build looks great and I take on board about the pend new GPU ... For that reason I will think on it till I get back :yes:

Click to expand...

Be aware that prices change all the time as PCS replenish used stock, so don't be surprised if the price has changed a liitle by the time you get back. That's just a fact of commercial life I'm afraid.

Have a good holiday! And if you're coming to Crete PM me....

Yes I do Understand that prices fluctuate almost on a daily basis ... I am more interested in making sure that I get the best pc spec for my needs . I recently had a little windfall and decided to treat myself ... its not something I can do as and when I would like I have alocated £5000 tops to the project and I am looking to buy something that isnt going to be obsolete a month after I purchase it . Something that hopefully can cope with the next generation games and do it smoothly .
I am off to Turkey on Saturday 28 th July My flight is at 5.30 pm and it is for 14 nights . I get back Sun 12th Aug Thank you all for the good advice and best Wishes I want you all to know that I appretiate all the advice and I will be reading very carefully everything posted when I return
One change I think I will make to the spec above is to have a soundblaster card installed . I have always been told that on board things are not such a good idea from the point of view that if they go wrong its easier to replace if its Modular rather than on board and I never knew there was 2 diff Water cool sys so I learned something new today ...thank you all again

Regarding the Soundblaster card, my personal advice would be to wait and see. The on board audio on the motherboard Oussebon selected will be perfectly fine for all but very serious audio work. PCS have an open case policy and fitting a sound card later won't invalidate the warranty unless you're careless and break something. It's nice having a windfall but there's no point in throwing money away. As far as failure is concerned, the on board audio is no more likely to fail than any other part of the motherboard and if you buy the silver warranty (and for £5 why would you not?) then you'll get 1 years collect and return protection too.

Enjoy Turkey, we've sailed quite a bit of the Turkish coast in our time, it's a beautiful country. Three bits of advice if you've never been; don't disrespect their flag (it's very important to them), don't disrespect Kemal Ataturk, and don't disrespect Islam. It's worth remembering too that you're in an Islamic country so think about what you're wearing when off the beach (especially the ladies in your party). You'll find most Turkish people friendly and helpful if you're sensitive to all that.

Agree with Ubuysa about the sound card, on board stuff is pretty decent these days and if you are wanting a really top quality music experience then a proper music system is the way to go. My laptop, albeit connected to decent but not expensive speakers, provides a good sound experience for me and I am a music lover with a wide range of stuff including opera and classical.

I think you should focus on graphics cards, Processors, RAM and hard disk if you want to have a perfect gaming PC.

RjMaan said:

I think you should focus on graphics cards, Processors, RAM and hard disk if you want to have a perfect gaming PC.

Click to expand...

That's a bit like saying 'if you want your car to perform well you should put petrol in the tank'....

Oldguy said:

One change I think I will make to the spec above is to have a soundblaster card installed . I have always been told that on board things are not such a good idea from the point of view that if they go wrong its easier to replace if its Modular rather than on board

Click to expand...

Just posting this now as I'll forget by the time the OP returns from hols.

1) agreed with the others, the onboard sound is pretty good. worth trying that out before buying any extra sound cards

2) the motherboard's onboard sound is a chip/set of chips attached to the motherboard. You'll get it anyway.

3) in the very unlikely event the onboard sound dies, you can just add a sound card then

4) if you get your sound via HDMI/DP from the GPU, that will be handling the sound anyway

5) if you want better sound, look into some proper hi fi gear. But do try out the motherboard's sound first

6) buying a sound card, or any PCIe card, that you don't need will just clog up the inside of the case and potentially impede airflow

There's not much point buying a sound card just for redundancy.