4K Gaming ~ £2000 budget

S

Sam70

Active member
Hi everyone!

First of all, thanks for accepting me as this is my first post in the PCS forum.

Just want to check with you guys before placing my order, my goal is to build a decent 4k gaming system with the below spec. Wouldn't mind saving a few bucks to buy a proper keyboard - mouse as well.

As a monitor I have an LG 27UD69P-W 27" 4K UHD.

What do you think? Is there anything I could change / improve in my build?

Thanks to all of you!


Case
FRACTAL FOCUS G BLACK GAMING CASE (Window)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Six Core Processor i7-8700k (3.7GHz) 12MB Cache
Motherboard
Gigabyte Z370 AORUS Ultra Gaming: ATX, LG1151, USB 3.1, SATA 6GBs - RGB Ready
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!
1st Hard Disk
1TB SEAGATE FIRECUDA 3.5" SSHD - UP TO 5X FASTER THAN HDD!
M.2 SSD Drive
256GB SAMSUNG SM961 M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3100MB/R, 1400MB/W)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
NOT REQUIRED
Power Supply
CORSAIR 550W VS SERIES™ VS-550 POWER SUPPLY
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
Corsair H100i V2 Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
EK-TIM ECTOTHERM THERMAL COMPOUND
LED Lighting
50cm Green LED Strip
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 Home 64 Bit - inc DVD & Single Licence
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
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 7 to 9 working days
Quantity
1

Price £1,963.00 including VAT and delivery
 
L

Lockstar

Silver Level Poster
Hello, the foundations of your spec are good, there are just a few changes that could be made :)

Case
FRACTAL FOCUS G BLACK GAMING CASE (Window)

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)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE RGB DDR4 3000MHz (2 x 8GB)

Graphics Card
11GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1080 Ti - HDMI, 3x DP GeForce - GTX VR Ready!

1st Hard Disk
500GB Samsung 850 EVO 2.5" SSD, SATA 6Gb/s (upto 540MB/sR | 520MB/sW)

2nd Hard Disk
2TB SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 64MB CACHE

DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
NOT REQUIRED

Power Supply
CORSAIR 750W 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
EK-TIM ECTOTHERM 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 Home 64 Bit - inc DVD & Single Licence

Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language

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 Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)

Price £2,088.00 including VAT and delivery


Here's what I went with. I'll explain all the changes I made.

Personally, I think you will get the best out of the i7 8700k if you overclock it. You can increase the clock speed from 3.7ghz to up to 4.8ghz, which is quite a large increase. Creating a pre-overclocked build doesn't cost any more either, which is good and will benefit you because it saves you from having to overclock it yourself.

Now, about the RAM. The RAM I chose for you was actually a little bit cheaper, but will do you better when gaming. You chose a 3200mhz RAM, which will not benefit you, since higher Mhz speeds will only be of use if you are doing lots of rendering, so will not benefit you. Instead, I chose a cheaper 16GB RAM which is 3000Mhz, so still quite high anyways, but has RGB, which should hopefullu improve the lighting you experience in games.

I changed a lot about the storage devices. Instead of having a M.2 SSD, you can have 2 Hard Disks, one of which is an SSD anyway. The Samsung 850 EVO is a 500GB drive in this case, and is also pretty fast. I highly recommend you install the OS on it, which PC Specialist will do if you set it to be your first primary hard disk (like I have). That means you can install the OS on it and be able to install a few games on it too. I also thought that you might want more than 1TB of storage on your drive, so instead I recommend a 2 or 3TB SATA, and they aren't too bad, but trust me, 1TB HDDs will run out quick, which is why I recommend at least 2TB on your drive. Your choice completely though, these are purely recommendations.

I also changed the PSU. Instead of a 550W PSU, I think 750W is more suitable, since your build will need at least 505W to power, and it's good to have spare power because if you upgrade parts like your graphics cards, they will increase the power consumption. It was quite cheap to increase from 550W to 750W, so that will benefit you.

The final thing I recommend is that you change from Standard Warranty to Silver Warranty. It's only £5 and will give you a year on collect and return instead of a month. That is useful, for example, something goes horribly wrong with the PC (shouldn't, but a good warranty is a nice backup), then you can return it as long as it's within a year from when you bought it, instead of what would've been a month.

Enjoy your build, you'll have a great time gaming on that monster, but to run on 4K at 60fps+, you may have to reduce *some* graphics settings on more recent and graphically advanced games, since 4K is still quite hard to run. But on earlier games, it should run butter smooth. 8.2 million pixels of detail awaits you my friend! Good luck!


Edit: Is it possible that you can put a link to the site that you're buying the monitor from, so I can have a look? Thanks!
 
Last edited:
Oussebon

Oussebon

Multiverse Poster
I also changed the PSU. Instead of a 550W PSU, I think 750W is more suitable, since your build will need at least 505W to power,
Click to expand...
It won't. In fact what PCS say is:

[FONT=&quot]You have selected a 750W power supply, but based on our calculations you actually only need a 650W power supply. We have calculated your specification to require around 505W of power including a 20% allowance. Although it is not a mandatory requirement to select a lower wattage power supply, doing so will save you money and the last thing we'd like to do is over charge you![/FONT]
Click to expand...
So it would use around 420W max plus a 20% allowance as headroom.

I agree the OP should go with a TXm PSU as they're gold rated and modular, and that even if a 650W PSU is all that's needed a 750W PSU is only £6 more anyway, so hardly a tragic waste of cash.

But It is worth noting that the PC even under torture load will consume nowhere near 500W of power. :)

Very much agreed about the overclocking.

Note that although the base frequency is 3.7GHz, the 6-core turbo is 4.3GHz across all 6 cores with 4.7GHz single core. However, upto 4.8GHz across all 6 cores is still a good boost for the roughly £10 price difference

If you need to save money on Lockstar's build, ditch the 850 Evo SSD and switch to a 256gb PM961 which will save ~£50. A 256gb PM961 is only £7 more than a 250gb 860 Evo.
 
L

Lockstar

Silver Level Poster
Stop, Ouessebon, it's my turn :p

I'd go for the 750W anyway because, as you said Ouessebon, it's not that much more expensive and will future-proof your PC for upgrades. In this generation of PC gaming, upgrades are coming fast, so it's good to be ready for them.
 
Last edited:
S

Sam70

Active member
Lockstar said:
Hello, the foundations of your spec are good, there are just a few changes that could be made :)

Case
FRACTAL FOCUS G BLACK GAMING CASE (Window)

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)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE RGB DDR4 3000MHz (2 x 8GB)

Graphics Card
11GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1080 Ti - HDMI, 3x DP GeForce - GTX VR Ready!

1st Hard Disk
500GB Samsung 850 EVO 2.5" SSD, SATA 6Gb/s (upto 540MB/sR | 520MB/sW)

2nd Hard Disk
2TB SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 64MB CACHE

DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
NOT REQUIRED

Power Supply
CORSAIR 750W 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
EK-TIM ECTOTHERM 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 Home 64 Bit - inc DVD & Single Licence

Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language

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 Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)

Price £2,088.00 including VAT and delivery


Here's what I went with. I'll explain all the changes I made.

Personally, I think you will get the best out of the i7 8700k if you overclock it. You can increase the clock speed from 3.7ghz to up to 4.8ghz, which is quite a large increase. Creating a pre-overclocked build doesn't cost any more either, which is good and will benefit you because it saves you from having to overclock it yourself.

Now, about the RAM. The RAM I chose for you was actually a little bit cheaper, but will do you better when gaming. You chose a 3200mhz RAM, which will not benefit you, since higher Mhz speeds will only be of use if you are doing lots of rendering, so will not benefit you. Instead, I chose a cheaper 16GB RAM which is 3000Mhz, so still quite high anyways, but has RGB, which should hopefullu improve the lighting you experience in games.

I changed a lot about the storage devices. Instead of having a M.2 SSD, you can have 2 Hard Disks, one of which is an SSD anyway. The Samsung 850 EVO is a 500GB drive in this case, and is also pretty fast. I highly recommend you install the OS on it, which PC Specialist will do if you set it to be your first primary hard disk (like I have). That means you can install the OS on it and be able to install a few games on it too. I also thought that you might want more than 1TB of storage on your drive, so instead I recommend a 2 or 3TB SATA, and they aren't too bad, but trust me, 1TB HDDs will run out quick, which is why I recommend at least 2TB on your drive. Your choice completely though, these are purely recommendations.

I also changed the PSU. Instead of a 550W PSU, I think 750W is more suitable, since your build will need at least 505W to power, and it's good to have spare power because if you upgrade parts like your graphics cards, they will increase the power consumption. It was quite cheap to increase from 550W to 750W, so that will benefit you.

The final thing I recommend is that you change from Standard Warranty to Silver Warranty. It's only £5 and will give you a year on collect and return instead of a month. That is useful, for example, something goes horribly wrong with the PC (shouldn't, but a good warranty is a nice backup), then you can return it as long as it's within a year from when you bought it, instead of what would've been a month.

Enjoy your build, you'll have a great time gaming on that monster, but to run on 4K at 60fps+, you may have to reduce *some* graphics settings on more recent and graphically advanced games, since 4K is still quite hard to run. But on earlier games, it should run butter smooth. 8.2 million pixels of detail awaits you my friend! Good luck!


Edit: Is it possible that you can put a link to the site that you're buying the monitor from, so I can have a look? Thanks!
Click to expand...


Hi Lockstar and Oussebon!

Thanks a lot these are all golden information for me! Will definitely switch the PSU to the 750W and go for a fatter HDD, also completely agree with the OC of the CPU! Do you think the Hydro cooling system will be enough to cool down the OC CPU?

As for the monitor I already bought it a couple of months ago from Amazon as I found a very good deal around ~ £400 :/

I cannot think about pushing the build more than this without spending hundreds bucks more but any hints you might have I would love if you can share them with me!

Thanks!!!

Sam
 
S

Sam70

Active member
Thanks to both of you! Definitely going to implement all the changes you suggested :)

Do you think the Hydro cooling system will be enough to cool down the OC CPU?

Ps. I bought the monitor already a couple of months ago as I found a good deal around ~ £400 :/
 
S

Sam70

Active member
Thanks Oussebon, will surely take that into account.

A bit undecided about the HDD - If I go for a 500gb EVO as a main HDD is this going to be faster than a M.2 Slot with a 256gb PM961? Or is the other way around? (I see that the 256gb PM961 has faster writing speed) Also I bet I can install the OS on the M.2 (or not?) I will just have a bit less memory than the 500gb EVO.
 
Oussebon

Oussebon

Multiverse Poster
The PM961 is much, much faster than an 850 Evo for read speeds and writing.

But you get less space, obviously, and it's not like an 850 Evo is slow.

However, bear in mind that you can move steam games between drives within Steam using just a few button presses, so swapping your favourite games from an HDD to the SSD, and moving games you've stopped playing so much off the SSD is very simple.
 
L

Lockstar

Silver Level Poster
Ah, ok. Well I guess I’m waiting for an invite xD

By the way, Sam, is your monitor a G-Sync monitor?
 
S

Sam70

Active member
Lockstar said:
Ah, ok. Well I guess I’m waiting for an invite xD

By the way, Sam, is your monitor a G-Sync monitor?
Click to expand...

No, unfortunately is not :/ It has a freesync which I believe will not go along with the 1080 ti right? Is there any way to make the 2 works together?

I changed the case and I am now going with the Fractal Meshua, really like it! I will order the system in 2/3 weeks as I will be travelling outside of the UK but I literally cannot wait to test it!
 
Oussebon

Oussebon

Multiverse Poster
It's quite a popular entry level 4k gsync monitor (insofar as there's anything entry-level about 4k and gsync...). It's often discounted to £400 on certain websites. Seems like every few weeks or months the price is slashed for a bit.
 
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