Gaming Spec PC

[Drennor]

Hi everyone, just wondering what you make of this machine. I plan to use it primarily for gaming. I am not looking to change my monitor just yet, its a BenQ 241VW which as max/native resolution 1920*1200. So for now since I won't be running anything on 4k or even 1440 then I figured the GTX 1070 would be more than enough to handle anything out there but still give me wiggle room should I upgrade my monitor in the next year or so.

I also noted from some other posts on gaming rigs that the reco was to use the M.2 as boot drive and then a regular HDD for everything else. Would that be better than say just going for a 1TB SSD and use it for everything? I see the M.2 drive is way faster then even the regular SSD drive so thinking windows will boot super fast with it...

Also whilst here, I heard a lot about these newish G-Sync monitors. Anyone have any thoughts on how good these are and if they are worth the price?

Thanks in advance for your feedback!


Case
COOLERMASTER MASTERCASE PRO 5 GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Processor i7-7700k (4.2GHz) 8MB Cache


FREE Halo Wars 2 with select INTEL® CPUs!
Motherboard
Gigabyte Z270X-Ultra Gaming: ATX, LG1151, USB 3.1, SATA 6GBs - RGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3000MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1070 - DVI, HDMI, 3 x DP - GeForce GTX VR Ready!
1st Hard Disk
2TB 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
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Memory Card Reader
USB 3.0 EXTERNAL SD/MICRO SD CARD READER
Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W CS SERIES™ 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
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY 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
Genuine Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Google Chrome™
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 8 to 10 working days
Quantity
1

Price £1,658.00 including VAT and delivery

Unique URL to re-configure : https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations//GPv!FDpt!m/

 

[keynes]

Do you have a budget? You could get a pre-overclocked system and since your primary drive is an ssd you won't benefit from a hybrid secondary drive, you could downgrade to a standard HDD. Regarding gsync monitors they are more expensive and it depends on your budget.

 

[Drennor]

I've had a slight change of mine and decided I can tap my budget up to about 2200. Therefore was thinking about upgrading to:
1080 gtx
256 SSD boot up drive
1TB SSD for fast loading games
32gb ram future proofing.

Not decided on the boot up SSD to go m.2 or normal SSD drive.
Is there much gain from getting over clocked cpu?

 

[Stephen M]

16GRAM is easily enough for now and easy to add later if it ever becomes needed. The fast 7200rpm HDDs are very good if you want to consider one of those and the m2 would be the best drive for the OS.

 

[jerpers]

Spending that much, you might as well get it overclocked. It does benefit some games and certainly VR. An SSD for games is a luxury TBA. I only have it for complete silence.

 

[keynes]

32gb ram would be a waste if it is mainly for gaming. I would suggest a gtx 1080 with a decent 1440p monitor rather than 32gb ram or 1tb ssd

 

[Oussebon]

+1 to all the above.

Something like:


Case
COOLERMASTER MASTERCASE PRO 5 GAMING CASE
Overclocked CPU
Overclocked Intel® Core™i7-7700k Quad Core (4.20GHz @ up to 4.8GHz)
Motherboard
ASUS® ROG STRIX Z270E GAMING: LG1151, USB 3.1, SATA 6GB, Wi-Fi - RGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1080 - DVI, HDMI, 3x DP - GeForce GTX VR Ready!
1[SUP]st[/SUP] Hard Disk
2TB SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 64MB CACHE
M.2 SSD Drive
256GB SAMSUNG PM961 M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 2800MB/R, 1100MB/W)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Memory Card Reader
USB 3.0 EXTERNAL SD/MICRO SD CARD READER
Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W CS SERIES™ 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
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY 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
Genuine Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc DVD & 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)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 8 to 10 working days
Quantity
1

Price £1,753.00 including VAT and delivery

Unique URL to re-configure : https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-z270-overclocked/g6QJEABm4x/

Would leave you about enough for a 144hz 1440p gsync monitor.

 

[Drennor]

Thanks all for your very helpful feedback. It's given me some food for thought.

I'm liking the look of that last spec posted by Oussebon. I see the mobo has 4 slots for RAM so I could easily upgrade to 32GB in the future if it ever became necessary. I've not really considered going OC on the CPU before. Would that mastercase pro 5 and Noctua cooling be sufficient for that OC'd CPU or would I be better considering one of the slightly more expensive water cooling options?

 

[Oussebon]

The Noctua is pretty well as good as the H80i anyway. It should be more than adequate, and also quieter than the water coolers. That said, if you want the H100i V2 cooler (with the quiet fans) for even lower temps, there's nothing wrong with that either.

 

[Drennor]

Had more time to think about all the advice here (and other posts on the forums) and as I'm now getting close to completing Skyrim I'm about a week or so out from ordering. So here is an updated plan of the PC. Now I am sure somewhere I read that getting the AIO water cooler with the R5 case was a waste due to them being mounted on at the top, is that right? Essentially I don't care too much about what the case looks like as long as it keeps my machine cool and quieter is a nice bonus. I also took off the extra 2 optional fans since the AIO cooler took up the space.

Case

FRACTAL DEFINE R5 BLACK QUIET MID-TOWER CASE


Overclocked CPU

Overclocked Intel® Core™i7-7700k Quad Core (4.20GHz @ up to 4.8GHz)


Motherboard

ASUS® ROG STRIX Z270E GAMING: LG1151, USB 3.1, SATA 6GB, Wi-Fi - RGB Ready!


Memory (RAM)

16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 8GB)


Graphics Card

8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1080 - DVI, 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


M.2 SSD Drive

256GB SAMSUNG SM961 M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3100MB/R, 1400MB/W)


DVD/BLU-RAY Drive

NOT REQUIRED


External DVD/BLU-RAY Drive

8x Slim USB 2.0 External DVD-RW


Memory Card Reader

USB 3.0 EXTERNAL SD/MICRO SD CARD READER


Power Supply

CORSAIR 650W CS SERIES™ 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

ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY 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

Genuine Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence

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

Cost: 1,992 inc VAT

Also looking at 1440 IPS monitor like the Acer Predator XB271HU (around 600 quid). If anyone is well up on monitors would be good to hear your thoughts on that choice please

 

[Oussebon]

Now I am sure somewhere I read that getting the AIO water cooler with the R5 case was a waste due to them being mounted on at the top, is that right?

Sorry, that will probably have been me ranting about that as it's one of my pet hates. To be fair, the R5 is a very good case regardless of that, offering good cooling performance, a sturdy build, and a decent range of features. But one of those features (that you're paying for) is its ability to do all that while mitigating noise. PCS's decision to install the radiators at the top may give a slight thermal advantage over mounting it at the front (I assume that's why they do it). But they have to take 2 of the panels off at the top to fit the radiator there which lets noise out and dust in. Which is a shame.

Personally I would probably stick with the Noctua paired with a Fractal R5 as it's quiet, more than sufficient, and doesn't undermine the acoustic performance.

If going for an H100i V2 cooler I'd probably go for a less expensive case like the NZXT S340, which is a good performer and costs a decent chunk less.

By the same token I wouldn't buy extra case fans from PCS with the R5 (or any of the other Fractal Define cases) since they'll get put on the roof too. If I wanted more cooling I'd buy a fan elsewhere and install it as a 2nd front intake (which would help cool the GPU even more and possibly assist with boost clocks).

DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
NOT REQUIRED

External DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
8x Slim USB 2.0 External DVD-RW

The R5 can take internal DVD drives. An internal one is about £10 cheaper, and as a very slight bonus will be hidden behind the sound-dampened front panel of the R5 which soaks some of the noise of the disk spinning.

 

[jerpers]

It is a bit of a faf but you can get the R5 specced with the H100 and move it yourself afterwards. If you are going that route, you will need to confirm with PCS that they will provide the spare top covers and get yourself an adaptor to mount the HDD in one of the 5.25" bays. That way, the HDD cage can come out and plenty of room for the radiator.

As mentioned above, it definitely does not need the extra fans.

 

[Drennor]

Thanks once again for all your advice. Think I will stick to the noctua and I might ask PC spec if they would consider putting an extra fan in the front instead of the top. When I asked them about my earlier spec they suggested an external dvd drive as an internal one can slow down boot up. If I set it as boot device after the m.2 drive would that stop it slowing down?

 

[Oussebon]

When I asked them about my earlier spec they suggested an external dvd drive as an internal one can slow down boot up.

I hadn't really heard that. While I don't presume to question PCS's expertise with their particularly hardware configurations it should strike me as a little odd if that were universally true, or if the impact was particularly large, otherwise nobody would buy them and the forums would be full of people advising potential customers not to buy internal DVD drives.

 

[Drennor]

Had a chat with them over the phone today just before clicking proceed on my order. They said it shouldn't slow it down at all unless using it for some dual boot system and windows should boot up within about 15 seconds

I know it is only processing day 1 and I don't expect to see any changes on there for a few days but I can't help checking the status of it every 5 mins hahah. 5 years ago I was doing the exact same thing!

 

[Oussebon]

I remember the feeling! Keep us posted