4K console killer PC build?

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tkline

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Jan 29, 2016
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I would like to ditch my current console and build an all new gaming PC that will be used for nothing but gaming on a 4K TV. This is the system I came up with on PC Park Picker

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/nyfGZ8

It's too pricey though, at over $1700. I may be able to skip the video card and use the 1070 I have in my desktop PC, and just use the on board graphics there since I won't be gaming on it anymore. But is a 1070 good enough for 4K?

Also I could probably save a bit on the storage with a smaller M2 drive, but I thought this would be a good way to go since I wouldn't need to have any other internal drives, since space will be tight in the case. 1TB should be more than enough for the games I play and new ones I will pick up later. I spoiled myself going with all SSDs on my desktop, I don't think I can ever go back to a traditional hard drive ever again. And I love the idea of M2's plugging right into the motherboard and not needing any cables.

Any advice on what I can take away or change to make it cheaper, but without sacrificing performance too much? I want something that will be great now, but will also be able to last several years without an upgrade. I'd like to be below $1000.
 
Solution
Hellfire13
Looks ok, but not sure why you went with 8 cores. Unless you need brute compute power for stuff like modelling/rendering/game designing/engineering/etc, you wont be really needing 8 physical cores.
Also go with 3000 or 3200 mhz ram. Ryzen shines with higher ram. Something like this is more balanced...

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 1600 3.2GHz 6-Core Processor ($197.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: Gigabyte - GA-AB350N-Gaming WIFI (rev. 1.0) Mini ITX AM4 Motherboard ($114.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($124.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial - MX300 1.1TB M.2-2280 Solid State...
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yeah I think my problem with the hard drives is once I saw how fast a SSD was, I never wanted to go back to a slow drive ever again :) I hate waiting for things to load. When I play games on my Xbox One, I start thinking.. wow, this would load so much faster on a PC.

I thought about doing a small m.2 and then having a separate 1TB SSD for storage, but it seemed more efficient to just use the one m.2 for now, and then when I start running out of space I can add more. I'll be able to fit 3 SSDs in that case, or 2 + 1 larger hard drive if I decide to go that route. I don't really have a large library of games, so I think I'll be OK for a while.
 
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@tkline - the xbone only has sata 2 internal though , & the stock drive is a 5400rpm model too.

Disaster really for a console, cripples loading speeds

Stick a decent 7200rpm usb3 drive on there & the games load twice as fast as from the internal.

Those tosh 3tb drives are blistering fast for a traditional platter drive in my experience ,$75 for 3tb storage ?? That's a bargain IMO.
 
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I'll think about it :) If I do end up needing lots of storage that will likely be the best way to go. I'm looking into some other cases as well just to see what's out there. There's some pretty nice ones from Fractal Designs that use a normal ATX motherboard. I still think I may go with the Phanteks shift though, really like the look.

Just thought of something else! So, I was planning to connect this the same way I have my xbox and my cable box... hdmi cable going into my home theater receiver, for audio and switching around to different components, and then another hdmi cable going from my receiver to my TV which basically acts as just a monitor. I don't use the tv speakers at all. Anyway.. will the hdmi cable going from the PC carry the audio from the PC as well, or will I need to connect that separately maybe with an optical cable? I'd prefer to just have 1 cable.
 
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HDMI audio:
You would use HDMI from the graphics card, then select "HDMI" audio in Playback Devices or via other software.

This uses the graphics card, so it's not onboard or from a sound card. If you have an HDMI receiver you can switch HDMI input to the HDTV (i.e. BluRay player) just fine.

TOSLINK is another option though that would come from a sound card or onboard output which may make switching between various HDMI devices a hassle since you'd now have to be switching the BluRay sound in somehow.

HDMI via HDMI switching receiver makes the most sense.
 
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Cool, sounds good :) That's what I thought, just wanted to make sure.

So, side note.. been reading about Nvidia and Steam stream boxes, where you just keep everything on your regular PC and stream your games to your TV over wifi.
https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/shield/games/gamestream/

Are those things any good? I kinda get the idea I'd get better performance out of a dedicated system connected right to the tv, but it seems like a cool idea if it works. Seems too good to be true but I was reading some good reviews. Or are they more like an Apple TV kind of box where it's made more for watching Netflix, and you can also play some games too?
 
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^ cool idea - with the subscription service where you stream from their servers you're limited to their games library though which is 'small'

If you're talking about still throwing a powerful gaming build together but in a different room & having something smaller under the TV then yes it works.

A barebone system with 4gb ram & a pentium would stream from that PC using steam link streaming.

You are limited to limited nitrate 5.1 pcm audio though & you're going to need an incredibly fast network to steam at 4k.
1080p & 1440p isn't really an issue - there is some quality loss on the picture at high bitrate stream settings but its negligible.

 
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Hmm .. yeah, I would probably be better off with a dedicated system. My wifi isn't the greatest since our router is 2 floors away. I have an extender that works good, but I run into lag sometimes when I play on my xbox. It would annoy me if it started getting pixelated a lot. I doubt it would be fast enough for 4k streaming too.

So I've been reading that instead of running 2 video cards with SLI, I could have one for the graphics and another card that doesn't have to be the same for physics. Would it give me 4K power out of my 1070, if I did that and maybe bought a 1050 to do the physics? Would that give me better power than say 1 1080 card?

I would need a different case and full size motherboard too, but I guess that's not the end of the world. Just wondering if it might be worth it to go that route.
 
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^ no , pyysx is fairly worthless now , only a handful of games support it , the 1070 is strong enough to run physx & graphics, physx can also be offloaded to the CPU instead (I've not seen anyone test it but I would assume a ryzen 1600 would handle it without a single drop in fps)

Sli - not worth it either IMO , support in the last 2 years has become worse & worse, the 1050ti & 1060 don't even support it which shows what nvidia themselves think

 
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I do have an extender, it works good, but I just don't trust that my home wifi network will be good enough to stream 4k wifi and i don't want to spend the money on a streaming box and not find that out till I get my 4K tv later on. Building PCs is fun for me, and I'd rather just have a dedicated gaming system that I can slowly upgrade every year or so, rather than a console that's way less powerful that only gets a refresh every 5 years.

I've also been thinking about streaming TV apps like netflix, and I don't think I need a box that can do that.. all of the TVs I've been looking at are smart TVs and they already have those apps built in, so it seems redundant to get a streaming box that can do that too. So I'd rather just try and focus on building a a great $1000 game system, not including the video card since I'm gonna repurpose the 1070 from my old PC. I think the 1070 will be ok for me for now, and then hopefully around xmas time I can pick up a 1080 or 1080ti when I get my 4k tv. I think i also decided to go with a smaller m.2 card for just the OS, and get a big 3TB 7200 rpm drive for storing all the games. I love M.2 drives for the idea of having less cables, but I'll get tons more bang for my buck with an old school drive.
 
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Was just thinking about the audio again. I am going to be connecting to a 7.1 home theater receiver. Will the onboard audio be good enough for that? Or would I need a dedicated sound card? Seems like sound cards would be a waste these days, yet companies are still making them. I’d prefer to just use my 1 HDMI cable to connect everything, but if it’s going to make a big difference I might consider it. I like being able to hear bad guys when they're creeping up behind me :)
 
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Thought of some other new questions.. When it comes to gaming and cooling, is it generally better to have better cooling for the CPU or GPU? I will have room for 1 AIO liquid cooler in the Phanteks Shift case that I want to get, but it seems like they are mostly all used for CPU cooling. I’ve seen some video cards with a built in liquid cooler though. So in a system that’s going to be used for gaming 99.384% of the time, would I be better off eventually investing in a liquid cooled video card, and stick with a regular fan cooler for my CPU?

Also, is Displayport better than HDMI in general? If so would it be worth it to try and find a 4K TV that can support that, rather than HDMI?
 
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Usually the cpu is under more load than the gpu at any point of time, unless you are playing gpu heavy games. So the priority comes to cpu first. Ideally for a 24x7 gaming rig, water cooling both is recommended, but you can only choose one there. You can look at custom loops as well, but they are usually a bit tedious to setup.
As for DisplayPort, its faster in data transfer speed, but that doesnt mean you have to go 4k for that. Remember, most 4k monitors dont go over 60hz, so if you are into esports games like Overwatch or Dota 2, the refresh rate can be a problem on 4k display.
http://www.pcgamer.com/whats-the-difference-between-hdmi-displayport-and-dvi/
 
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OK I'll stick with the CPU. The taller Shift X case would have room for both, but I don't think that will fit in my TV stand. Custom loops look cool, but having never done one before I'd be too scared to try it now and risk springing a leak and ruining my PC. I figured an all in 1 liquid cooler would probably work better and be less of a risk
 
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I’ve been doing a lot of research getting ready for my new build, and I’m starting to think that maybe I can save a bit. I was looking into the Pentium G4560 and it seems like it will be perfectly capable of doing 4k gaming with the right video card. I might be able to save quite a bit of cash that way. Or, will it start to lag behind a lot over the next couple of years as new games come out? I was thinking I could start with that, and then upgrade to a 7700k in a year or 2 when hopefully the prices come down… assuming I could just swap out the processors and that’s all?

Or, what about a Ryzen 3 instead of Pentium.. They seem to be about the same in some videos I’ve seen, assuming I could also upgrade to an R7 later on too...

So I put this together now (again, using the 1070 card from my current PC). I haven’t decided if I want to go with the Node 202 case or get the new Phanteks Shift. Will probably do the latter..

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/kdCL3F
 
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