New build - Thoughts for just gaming/bang for buck.

S

smoothsailing

Member
Hello lovely people,

Can you please give me your thoughts on the below build for the price of 1.6k GBP?

Thanks!

Case
NZXT S340 MID TOWER GAMING CASE (BLACK/BLUE)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5 Six Core Processor i5-8400 (2.8GHz) 9MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® PRIME Z370-P: ATX, LGA1151, USB 3.1, SATA 6GBs
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3000MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1070 Ti - DVI, HDMI, 3 x DP - GeForce GTX VR Ready!
1st Hard Disk
120GB WD Green™ 2.5" SSD, SATA 6Gb/s (upto 545MB/sR)
2nd Hard Disk
1TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 32MB CACHE
Power Supply
CORSAIR 550W VS SERIES™ VS-550 POWER SUPPLY
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
CoolerMaster Hyper 212X (120mm) Fan 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
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account

Monitor
ASUS VG248QE 24" 3D 144Hz GAMING DISPLAY

G430 headset, G213 Keyboard and the G402 mouse also coming !

Any input?

Thanks guys!
 
J

Jayke

New member
Looks good - you'll be running 144fps on most games at high/max settings.

You're overspending slightly on the PSU, you don't need 550W for this build, 450 is more than adequate.

With the money saved, you could push the GPU up to a 1080 and it won't make too much difference to your overall cost.
 
S

smoothsailing

Member
thanks for the reply Jayke!

Yes I went a little over on the PSU, but thought for "future-proofing" just incase I upgrade I will still have a little power to play with.

Also, I have been told that my GPU will most likely be Palit, or ZOtac. I have no experience with Palit cards (may old one was Zotac and was great), and can't seem to find any solid reviews/comparisons with the likes of MSI/other cards. Any thoughts? Will be be up to par?
 
S

sebthi

Active member
Very nice build!

Similar to what I've just ordered. I went for a more expensive case (Fractal Define R5), more expensive 256Gb Samsung PM961 SSD, 2TB HDD and the more expensive ASUS TUF370 mobo instead. According to Oussebon who's around here a lot, the mobo makes little or no difference to gaming performance: I just liked the mobo I ordered.

But my GPU will be the 6GB GTX 1060, so you win the GPU p***ing contest! :stuart:.

I didn't include a monitor: I'll use my existing, way-below-spec 1440x900 monitor (so the GPU will be twiddling its thumbs and yawning at how boring its life is) for the moment while I research the best options.

I've read good reviews of the ASUS VG248QE. Some reviewers did note that the colour-balance is awful out of the box, but this can be vastly improved by tweaking the settings. I think there's even some recommended settings listed in one review.

Have you considered a G-Sync monitor, given that you've got a very nice nVidia GPU in there? They do tend to be more expensive, unfortunately.

Alternatives for the monitor which I've researched (PCS may not stock all of these):

AOC G2460PQU: another 144Hz 1080 monitor, similar price to your Asus
AOC G2460PG: remarkably cheap 144Hz 1080 monitor with G-Sync
and going up quite a bit in price...
Acer Predator XB241H: 180Hz 1080 with G-sync
and my favourite, though pricy:
AOC AG241QG: 165Hz 2560x1440 with G-sync.

That last one seems to be selling too well: the suppliers with the lowest prices are often out of stock.

This Dutch site does very thorough monitor reviews: uk.hardware.info

Concerning the PSU: the 550W is only £3 more than the 450W, so I went for it. I heard the opposite from what Jayke suggested: that in my build, 550W is safer, especially if I eventually upgrade to a power-hungry 1080Ti.
 
R

rtho

Active member
You could change the HD's setup for very little extra.

1st Hard Disk 1TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 32MB CACHE
1st M.2 SSD Drive 250GB WD Blue™ 3D NAND M.2 SSD (up to 550MB/sR | 525MB/sW)

Otherwise nice choice. Just a thought, you have not included a WiFi card.

Case NZXT S340 MID TOWER GAMING CASE (BLACK/BLUE)
Processor (CPU) Intel® Core™i5 Six Core Processor i5-8400 (2.8GHz) 9MB Cache
Motherboard ASUS® PRIME Z370-P: ATX, LGA1151, USB 3.1, SATA 6GBs
Memory (RAM) 16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3000MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card 8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1070 Ti - DVI, HDMI, 3 x DP - GeForce GTX VR Ready!
1st Hard Disk 1TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 32MB CACHE
1st M.2 SSD Drive 250GB WD Blue™ 3D NAND M.2 SSD (up to 550MB/sR | 525MB/sW)
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 CoolerMaster Hyper 212X (120mm) Fan 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
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)
Monitor ASUS VG248QE 24" 3D 144Hz GAMING DISPLAY
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 8 to 10 working days
Quantity 1

Price £1,574.00 including VAT and delivery

Unique URL to re-configure : https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-z370-pc/NyuQDC9YY5/
 
S

smoothsailing

Member
Thanks rtho for the reply!

Hmm you are right about the HD and SSD, ill look into it!

Any thoughts about the GPUs used by PCS? I have been reading and they are usually Palit or ZOtac cards. Are they on par with MSI, EVGA and the like?
 
Last edited:
R

rtho

Active member
Palit and Zotac have both been around for a long time. PCS have been using them for years, so must be good quality or they would change supplier.

I had a Palit in one of my first pc's, never gave it a thought and never had any problems at all, just updating the drivers from time to time.

Not sure what warranty you choose, but for £5 extra you can get 1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour
 
S

smoothsailing

Member
ok good to hear.

What confuses me is that the parts should come with their own warranty, shouldn't they?in addition to PCS warranty surely?

which is normally about 3-5 years.
 
Oussebon

Oussebon

Multiverse Poster
I believe they do have their own warranty, though do check with PCS first.

Palit and Zotac are both respected brands. Their lineups like Jetstream and Amp! cards are as well known as EVGA's SCs, MSI's Gaming X, and Asus's Strix.

Rtho's spec above looks very good.

I'd be temped by the £5 warranty upgrade too, and I'd recommend the PM961 SSD over the WD Blue as it's a lot faster for not a huge amount extra £. Alternatively I'd suggest an 850 Evo SSD from the Hard Disk menu instead, as it's similar or faster than a WD Blue and doesn't use up an M.2 slot.

You could also consider the AOC G2460PF monitor. It's a bit cheaper and has Freesync, which could be useful if your next upgrade is an AMD GPU. It doesn't have built in speakers though afaik.
 
S

smoothsailing

Member
Hi Oussebon,

Thanks for the constructive information! Much appreciated.

I will have to double check the warranty as I have another thing in mind.

I can see that the Z370P has a max supported RAM speed of 2666 Mhz, and anything above that would be considered an OC (XMP profile?)

So im wondering, if I enable the XMP profile to use my RAM at the advertised speed, and something that the board was designed for essentially, would this in turn cause problems with the warranty?

Thanks for the suggestions, they are great and much appreciated.

Kind regards,

Smoothsailing
 
Last edited:
Oussebon

Oussebon

Multiverse Poster
I can see that the Z370P has a max supported RAM speed of 2666 Mhz, and anything above that would be considered an OC (XMP profile?)

So im wondering, if I enable the XMP profile to use my RAM at the advertised speed, and something that the board was designed for essentially, would this in turn cause problems with the warranty?
Click to expand...
If you buy 3000MHz RAM with the PC, PCS will have set the XMP profile for you, and it's all covered by the warranty.

It's not "real" overclocking like if you decide to give your CPU 2 volts and see what happens.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top