New gaming rig after 8 years!

[snipes]

Looking for comments & suggestions for this rig. It's predominantly for high end gaming, also I'm really into modding games such as Skyrim/Fallout etc so need something that can easily handle the many, many mods I'd like to use.

Got a budget of around 2k...could maybe stretch to 2.5k if the gains were worth it. Also hoping to find a decent monitor to compliment the build.

I have a large Steam library so considering a second ssd exclusively for games rather then sharing with the os/programmes.

Thanks in advance.

Case
GAME MAX FALCON BLACK GAMING CASE (RGB LED)
Overclocked CPU
Overclocked Intel® Core™ i7-8700K Six Core (3.7GHz @ up to 4.8GHz)
FREE Warhammer: Vermintide 2 & XMorph Defense w/ select Intel CPUs!
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
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1080 - DVI, HDMI, 3x DP - GeForce GTX VR Ready!
Get The Crew 2 with select NVIDIA GeForce GTX GPUs!
1st Hard Disk
5TB SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 128MB CACHE
1st M.2 SSD Drive
250GB SAMSUNG 970 EVO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3400MB/R, 1500MB/W)
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 H100i V2 Hydro Series High Performance 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 [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
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
FAST TRACK 5 WORKING DAY DISPATCH
Quantity
1

Price £1,872.00 including VAT and delivery

 

[SpyderTracks]

What screen res and refresh rate do you use?

So far the only thing I would change would be the case, I’d go for something a bit more high end on a build like that. Also I’d consider quiet fans for the water cooler, the stock ones can be noisy.

 

[Oussebon]

And the better thermal paste.

As above, what monitor are you using?

If 1080p, anything over a 1070 is major overkill. You could go for the 1070 ti which offers nearly all the performance of a 1080 but for £50 or so less:

 

[snipes]

Thanks for the replies.

My monitor went kaput so at the mo I'm just using an old samsung at 1080p (1920x1080) 60Hz, hence why I am looking to purchase a much better suited alternative.

I hadn't paid too much attention to the case and fans as I wanted to tie down my base build first but I will definitely bare your suggestions in mind

What are most people using nowadays for their hd's? a single ssd for os, prog's, games etc or seperate ones? My current pc is deathly slow so I'm eager for this new build to be as fast as possible within budget.

Thanks again

 

[SpyderTracks]

Thanks for the replies.

My monitor went kaput so at the mo I'm just using an old samsung at 1080p (1920x1080) 60Hz, hence why I am looking to purchase a much better suited alternative.

I hadn't paid too much attention to the case and fans as I wanted to tie down my base build first but I will definitely bare your suggestions in mind

What are most people using nowadays for their hd's? a single ssd for os, prog's, games etc or seperate ones? My current pc is deathly slow so I'm eager for this new build to be as fast as possible within budget.

Thanks again

I’m on an older platform so using 1x 500gb ssd for is and games and a couple of 7200rpm’s for data.

These days think the general consensus is an M2 for os and games (I think your plan of having a separate one for games library has weight if you have that many) and 7200rpm for data.

The M2 drive you chose is excellent!

 

[Oussebon]

What's your budget for the monitor?

£500-£600 should net you 1440p 144hz gsync, which would be fine with a GTX 1070 ti / GTX 1080. e.g. Dell S2716DG as per Spyder's sig.

WRT SSDs and HDDs, it's very easy to swap games between drives. It takes a few mouse clicks in steam, and the process is similarly easy for many other game clients even when they don't explicitly support that (cut/paste files, point game client to new location, load game).

So you can easily go with a 250gb SSD or 500gb SSD for OS, programs, plus favourite games, and swap other games over from your HDD as and when you get bored of one and want to start another.

 

[Scott]

This is maxing out your budget but it's about as good as it gets right now. You could play the waiting game for the next gen of GPU, but there's always a next gen on the horizon.....

Would happily play anything at 1440p and will stretch into good rates with 4k titles. It's also ideally suited for VR gaming if you plan on getting into that side of things. The only problem you face is monitor selection. To make the most of it you would ideally need a 4k G-Sync panel. I think they will run you around £700 for a decent one.

Might last you another 8 years though

Case
FRACTAL DEFINE S BLACK GAMING CASE (Window)
Overclocked CPU
Overclocked Intel® Core™ i7-8700K Six Core (3.7GHz @ up to 4.8GHz)
FREE Warhammer: Vermintide 2 & XMorph Defense w/ select Intel CPUs!
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF Z370-PLUS GAMING: ATX, LGA1151, 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!
Get The Crew 2 with select NVIDIA GeForce GTX GPUs!
1st Hard Disk
5TB SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 128MB CACHE
1st M.2 SSD Drive
250GB SAMSUNG 970 EVO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3400MB/R, 1500MB/W)
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
COOLER MASTER MASTERGEL MAKER THERMAL 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
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
NO RECOVERY MEDIA REQUIRED
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 365 (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
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 6 to 8 working days
Quantity
1

Price £2,017.00 including VAT and delivery

Unique URL to re-configure : https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-z370-overclocked/85WMUenwWk/

 

[Oussebon]

+£90 for Windows, right?

Could claw back £50 and go with the Noctua cooler, which is more than sufficient

 

[Scott]

+£90 for Windows, right?

Could claw back £50 and go with the Noctua cooler, which is more than sufficient

Oops, yes... fair point. I always deselect windows as I assume everyone has it by now

 

[snipes]

I’m on an older platform so using 1x 500gb ssd for is and games and a couple of 7200rpm’s for data.

These days think the general consensus is an M2 for os and games (I think your plan of having a separate one for games library has weight if you have that many) and 7200rpm for data.

The M2 drive you chose is excellent!

Yep I am seriously considering maybe a 250GB M2 for my os etc and a 500Gb M2 for games...possibly a tad overkill but I seem to flick from game to game a lot plus those mods rack up serious space after a while. Thanks for your help

 

[snipes]

What's your budget for the monitor?

£500-£600 should net you 1440p 144hz gsync, which would be fine with a GTX 1070 ti / GTX 1080. e.g. Dell S2716DG as per Spyder's sig.

WRT SSDs and HDDs, it's very easy to swap games between drives. It takes a few mouse clicks in steam, and the process is similarly easy for many other game clients even when they don't explicitly support that (cut/paste files, point game client to new location, load game).

So you can easily go with a 250gb SSD or 500gb SSD for OS, programs, plus favourite games, and swap other games over from your HDD as and when you get bored of one and want to start another.

I'd say with a max budget of 2.5k I would probably allocate around £500 for a monitor, I will take a look at the one you have mentioned.
Is there any drawback to having games & os on the same drive? I have always had them on seperate drives....probably just my ocd but I prefer it like that!!
Thanks buddy.

 

[snipes]

The_Scotster...that rig looks great, really appreciate the help.

A few queries...Is there much difference between the Gigabyte UG mobo I picked and the ASUS® TUF Z370-PLUS GAMING mobo you suggested? Aside from it being £20 less?

On the graphics card...the price differnece between the 1080 and the 1080Ti is over £200...does the performance increase warrant this or would I be better served putting the extra £200 towards a monitor?

Thanks for your help.

 

[Oussebon]

Ultra Gaming has USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type C, unlike the TUF which has Type A only. Ultra Gaming also supports SLI (though depending on the PSU you pick, may be a non-issue anyway).

Gigabyte Ultra Gaming may also have better onboard sound (I think the TUF might only have ALC887 but I won't even attempt to look up the Asus site on this wifi...)

 

[Scott]

The_Scotster...that rig looks great, really appreciate the help.

A few queries...Is there much difference between the Gigabyte UG mobo I picked and the ASUS® TUF Z370-PLUS GAMING mobo you suggested? Aside from it being £20 less?

On the graphics card...the price differnece between the 1080 and the 1080Ti is over £200...does the performance increase warrant this or would I be better served putting the extra £200 towards a monitor?

Thanks for your help.

I would personally choose the Gigabyte but I was trying to claw back as much of the funds as I could as it would only really make a difference if you needed it's features. If the £20 makes no odds then go with the GB.

The Ti is a monster card, unfortunately it's priced as such. It's a tricky situation to be honest. Until the price hike I was set to splurge on a Ti but just before I pulled the trigger the prices went crazy with the miners buying them all. They've started to come down in price but aren't quite palatable for me yet (I don't want to spend more than £750 and I'm after the xtreme version). However, the performance increase, IMO, DOES warrant the price difference. It's an absolute monster.

The real question is will you use it. If high end VR and 4k gaming isn't in your relatively near future plans then I wouldn't bother. I wouldn't even bother with the 1080 to be fair as it's pretty much made redundant with the aforementioned 1070Ti. You have to think about when you want to spend money again though. If you're thinking another year or 2 then a new card then consider what you want to do within that time. If you want something that'll last 3-4 years then I would suggest the Ti is the way to go.

Either go low or go high, I don't think there is any middle ground right now

 

[Oussebon]

It's also worth bearing in mind that next gen GPUs are finally expected in the next few months. Ofc there's always new tech around the corner, but if you only buy a new system every 8 years and you're about to drop £750 on a GPU, it could be worth waiting until July/Aug for the GTX 1180.

 

[snipes]

So...waited to see the performance of the latest gpu's.......thinking of plumping for the 1080ti. Any particular reason I should choose the 2080 over this?

This is the spec I am looking towards, 1st ssd for os and progs, 2nd for games.

Case
COOLERMASTER MASTERCASE H500P GAMING CASE
Overclocked CPU
Overclocked Intel® Core™ i7-8700K Six Core (3.7GHz @ up to 4.8GHz)
FREE PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, Battlefield 1 & More! w/ select Intel CPUs!
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
NOT REQUIRED
1st M.2 SSD Drive
250GB SAMSUNG 970 EVO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3400MB/R, 1500MB/W)
2nd M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SAMSUNG 970 EVO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3400MB/R, 2500MB/W)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
NOT REQUIRED
Memory Card Reader
USB 3.0 EXTERNAL SD/MICRO SD CARD READER
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 H100x 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 802.11N 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

Looking to pair it with an Acer XB281HK. I have around a £500 budget for a monitor.
May get a larger primary ssd but other than this any suggestions or comments would be appreciated.

 

[Oussebon]

What's the budget for the system and what did the above cost?

 

[snipes]

That would help wouldn’t it!

Cost is £2466.00
My budget was around 2.5k and £500 for a monitor.

 

[Scott]

I know holding off is horrible but it may be worthwhile seeing what sort of pricing is involved with the intel refresh next month. That way you can judge a 8700k vs 9700k and the 1080ti vs 2080 prices a little more accurately.

If a 9700k and 2080 are similarly priced to the 8700k and the 1080ti then it's a no-brainer to go with the new tech. However, if you can save a couple of £100 by sticking with the older gen then it will likely be warranted.

 

[Oussebon]

I'd actually make the case for the RTX 2080 here. At PCS's prices it's about £75 more than their 1080 ti.

It does offer on average better performance in today's titles. While that may be a lower rate of frames-per-£, it's still better performance, it's a high end one for 4k gaming where you'll probably want an extra 5fps here and there. The £75 or so price increase is still lower than what the Asus GTX 1080 tis PCS were selling cost - and they added far less performance.

So while a 'luxury' item I'd still say it's probably worth buying for this build, which is definitely not a budget build, regardless of what kind of mileage you get out of ray tracing and DLSS in the future.

It's worth noting that if you dropped the SSD to a 500gb SX6000, and the PSU to 650W, you could include a GTX 2080 ti for ~£2520

Independently of all of the above I'm not convinced about the storage:

1st M.2 SSD Drive
250GB SAMSUNG 970 EVO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3400MB/R, 1500MB/W)
2nd M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SAMSUNG 970 EVO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3400MB/R, 2500MB/W)

This sees you putting the OS on the smaller and therefore slower drive. Also there's no performance advantage to be had for games to be on a separate drive. I'd stick to a single 1TB drive in all honesty.